Interactive Learning Environments for the Educational Improvement of Students With Disabilities in Special Schools

Providing an inclusive and quality education for all contributes toward the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. High-quality learning environments based on what works in education benefit all students and can be particularly beneficial for children with disabilities. This article contributes to advance knowledge to enhance the quality of education of students with disabilities that are educated in special schools. This research analyses in which ways, if any, interactive learning environments can be developed in special schools and create better learning opportunities for children with disabilities. A case study was conducted with students with disabilities (N = 36) and teaching staff in a special school, involving interviews and focus groups. We argue that rethinking the learning context by introducing instruction models based on interaction benefit children with disabilities and provide high-quality learning and safe and supportive relationships for these students, thereby promoting their educational and social inclusion

Pathways to Equitable and Sustainable Education through the Inclusion of Roma Students in Learning Mathematics

Education is a key feature in the development of an agenda for a sustainable world. Education usually is associated with developing a responsible and ethical citizenship, aware of the main challenges for a sustainable development. Mathematics used to play a role as gatekeeper to achieve good educational performance. This article explores six case studies of Roma developing successful learning stories in learning mathematics. We identify five main characteristics in their educational trajectories that may explain Roma students' success in the school. This article moves forward previous studies characterizing Roma cultural features of mathematics learning, reporting stereotypes towards Roma in school. We conclude that in order to promote educational inclusion, successful stories may inform effective educational programs that, ultimately, may lead towards a sustainable education, including students from the most disadvantaged groups, as in the case of the Roma people

El asentamiento neolítico de Limoneros (Elche, Alicante).

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de las intervenciones de urgencia llevadas a cabo en el yacimiento de Limoneros, asentamiento al aire libre ocupado durante la primera mitad del V milenio cal BC localizado al sur de la ciudad de Elche (Alicante), en la llanura aluvial del río Vinalopó. Durante los trabajos de excavación se reconocieron distintas estructuras negativas entre las que destacan dos tramos de foso, silos y cubetas, estructuras que quedaron amortizadas en última instancia como zonas de desecho. El análisis global de las evidencias recuperadas permite caracterizar las actividades desarrolladas por una comunidad campesina en un espacio geográfico articulado por el Vinalopó, ámbito en el cual se ha documentado un buen número de asentamientos asociados a este momento, convirtiéndose en un marco referente para explicar la expansión y consolidación de las sociedades neolíticas en el sur del Levante peninsular.

5to. Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad. Memoria académica

El V Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad, CITIS 2019, realizado del 6 al 8 de febrero de 2019 y organizado por la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, ofreció a la comunidad académica nacional e internacional una plataforma de comunicación unificada, dirigida a cubrir los problemas teóricos y prácticos de mayor impacto en la sociedad moderna desde la ingeniería. En esta edición, dedicada a los 25 años de vida de la UPS, los ejes temáticos estuvieron relacionados con la aplicación de la ciencia, el desarrollo tecnológico y la innovación en cinco pilares fundamentales de nuestra sociedad: la industria, la movilidad, la sostenibilidad ambiental, la información y las telecomunicaciones. El comité científico estuvo conformado formado por 48 investigadores procedentes de diez países: España, Reino Unido, Italia, Bélgica, México, Venezuela, Colombia, Brasil, Estados Unidos y Ecuador. Fueron recibidas un centenar de contribuciones, de las cuales 39 fueron aprobadas en forma de ponencias y 15 en formato poster. Estas contribuciones fueron presentadas de forma oral ante toda la comunidad académica que se dio cita en el Congreso, quienes desde el aula magna, el auditorio y la sala de usos múltiples de la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, cumplieron respetuosamente la responsabilidad de representar a toda la sociedad en la revisión, aceptación y validación del conocimiento nuevo que fue presentado en cada exposición por los investigadores. Paralelo a las sesiones técnicas, el Congreso contó con espacios de presentación de posters científicos y cinco workshops en temáticas de vanguardia que cautivaron la atención de nuestros docentes y estudiantes. También en el marco del evento se impartieron un total de ocho conferencias magistrales en temas tan actuales como la gestión del conocimiento en la universidad-ecosistema, los retos y oportunidades de la industria 4.0, los avances de la investigación básica y aplicada en mecatrónica para el estudio de robots de nueva generación, la optimización en ingeniería con técnicas multi-objetivo, el desarrollo de las redes avanzadas en Latinoamérica y los mundos, la contaminación del aire debido al tránsito vehicular, el radón y los riesgos que representa este gas radiactivo para la salud humana, entre otros

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

A randomized, double-blind study on the efficacy of oral domperidone versus placebo for reducing SARS-CoV-2 viral load in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients in primary health care

15 p.-3 fig.-3 tab.Introduction:The clinical effect of domperidone against COVID-19 has been investigated in a double-blind phase III clinical trial (EudraCT number 2021-001228-17). Domperidone has shown in vitro antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and potential immudolatory properties through the stimulation of prolactin secretion.Patients and methods:The efficacy of oral domperidone plus standard of care (SOC; n = 87) versus placebo plus SOC (n = 86) was evaluated in a 28-day randomized double-blind multicentre study in primary health care centres. A total of 173 outpatients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 were included. Three daily doses of 10 mg (30 mg/day) of domperidone or placebo were administered for 7 days. Reduction of viral load on day 4 was the primary efficay endpoint. It was estimated in saliva samples by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), as the cycle thresholds detected ORF1ab, N Protein and S Protein genes.Results:A significant reduction in the viral load was observed (p < 0.001) from baseline to days 4, 7 and 14 of the three genes studied with non-significant differences between domperidone and placebo groups. Twenty-three patients (13.3%) experienced adverse events, 14 patients in the domperidone group (16.1%) and 9 patients in the placebo group (10.5%). No patients needed to be hospitalized.Conclusion: Results do not prove the use of domperidone as antiviral in patients with COVID-19.This research was funded by CSIC (grant no. PIE 201980E024) and by the European Commission: NextGeneration EU (Regulation EU 2020/2094) through CSIC’s Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global). The study sponsor was Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, M.P. (CSIC), Madrid, Spain. The sponsor was involved in the design, data interpretation, manuscript review and the decision to submit the article for publication.Peer reviewe

Multiancestry analysis of the HLA locus in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases uncovers a shared adaptive immune response mediated by HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes

Across multiancestry groups, we analyzed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations in over 176,000 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus controls. We demonstrate that the two diseases share the same protective association at the HLA locus. HLA-specific fine-mapping showed that hierarchical protective effects of HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes best accounted for the association, strongest with HLA-DRB1*04:04 and HLA-DRB1*04:07, and intermediary with HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:03. The same signal was associated with decreased neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem brains and was associated with reduced tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and to a lower extent with increased Aβ42. Protective HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes strongly bound the aggregation-prone tau PHF6 sequence, however only when acetylated at a lysine (K311), a common posttranslational modification central to tau aggregation. An HLA-DRB1*04-mediated adaptive immune response decreases PD and AD risks, potentially by acting against tau, offering the possibility of therapeutic avenues

Vers l’inclusion au-delà des murs de l’école :

Garantir l’inclusion éducative de tous les élèves dans un environnement marqué par la diversité constitue un défi majeur. Bien que l’éducation et la pédagogie inclusive aient intégré le besoin d’une compréhension plus large du concept d’inclusion, les liens entre intégration scolaire et sociale afin de garantir le droit de chaque enfant à la réussite scolaire ont été moins explorés. Le présent article examine une approche inclusive fondée sur la communauté, qui montre comment le modèle d’une école inclusive pourrait renforcer l’inclusion sociale. Cette école a développé les Actions Éducatives à Réussite définies par la recherche INCLUD-ED (Sixième programme-cadre de la Commission européenne). En partant des améliorations ayant donné lieu à des interventions dans différents milieux, on souhaiterait attirer l’attention sur la façon dont les pratiques inclusives peuvent favoriser l’inclusion sociale des enfants et des familles issus de milieux défavorisés. Les principales conclusions identifient des stratégies pour l’inclusion dans les écoles primaires, y compris des membres de la famille et participants en dehors de l’école. Les considérations concernant la transférabilité des actions éducatives à réussite permettant de surmonter l’inégalité éducative et sociale font l’objet de débat dans les zones défavorisées.Ensure inclusive education for all students in contexts of diversity is a major challenge. Although the need for a wider understanding of the concept of inclusion has been assumed in education, the links between educational and social inclusion to ensure the right of every child to school success has been less explored. The EU funded research INCLUD-ED (6th Framework Programme) has identified Successful Educational Actions (SEAs) which are achieving school success for all students in contexts of diversity, avoiding any type of segregation, and contributing to inclusive education. Such actions have demonstrated to be successful in the diverse contexts where they have been observed; therefore they can be transferred to other contexts to improve educational outcomes. This paper explores the transferability of the SEAs beyond the field of education. The SEAs have brought educational improvement in socially and economically disadvantaged contexts. We draw on the case of a highly socially degraded neighborhood in Spain to analyze the impact achieved by the SEAs on the improvement of social conditions in the area. This will lead us to discuss the transferability of successful actions on social inclusion to overcome the disadvantage of other marginalized areas in Europe