Efectos de los modos de presentación de información en la exactitud de la producción rítmica de estudiantes de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria

La presentación simultánea de información en diferentes modalidades perceptivas puede facilitar el aprendizaje de conceptos complejos y de procedimientos. Existe un número importante de trabajos sobre este tema en relación a diferentes áreas del currículo escolar. No obstante, en educación musical no existen muchos trabajos al respecto aun a pesar de que las ayudas visuales tienen, desde un punto de vista teórico, el potencial de facilitar la discriminación y la memoria auditiva mediante procesos asociativos, así como la mejora de destrezas motoras. Este trabajo ha intentado verificar si existe un efecto del modo de presentación uni-modal (tres modos exclusivos) versus bimodal (dos modos cruzados) en la reproducción de patrones rítmicos musicales. Para ello, se realizaron dos experimentos con alumnos de un Instituto de Educación Secundaria de la provincia de Valencia, España. En el primer experimento (N=50; 21 chicos y 29 chicas; 14-16 años) se realizó un diseño de contraste pretest-postest con cinco grupos. A cada grupo se le presentaron patrones rítmicos en un modo de presentación diferente: sólo imágenes estáticas que hacían flashes de acuerdo al patrón rítmico (V), sólo sonidos (A), sólo textos que representaban el patrón rítmico cuando se leía (T), sonidos e imágenes conjuntamente (AV), sonidos y texto conjuntamente (AT). En el segundo experimento (N=10; 3 chicos y 7 chicas; 16-18 años de edad) se realizó un diseño de medidas repetidas en el que a cada uno de los sujetos se le presentó la serie de patrones rítmicos en todos los modos antes descritos. Fueron medidas las covariables habilidades rítmicas, experiencias musicales previas, resultados académicos del curso anterior, preferencias sobre presentación de la información y sexo. Las tareas de test consistieron en escuchar 10 patrones propuestos, memorizarlos y reproducirlos motrizmente a través de un ordenador, el cual ejecutaba un programa informático ad hoc que facilitó los estímulos y la recogida y evaluación de los datos. Los resultados de ambos experimentos muestran una clara superioridad de los modos combinados (AV, AT) y de la presentación unimodal con audio (A) en la exactitud rítmica de las respuestas. En las conclusiones, se sugiere la utilidad de presentar la información rítmica sonora integrando otros medios junto al sonido en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje del ritmo musical, tanto en actividades perceptivas como productivas.Presentation of information in combined perceptual modalities could facilitate both the learning of complex concepts and procedures. There is an important amount of studies on this subject related to several school curriculum areas. Although, this is not the case in music education, despite the visual helps might have the potential to facilitate aural discrimination and memory by means of associative processes, as well as the enhancement of motor skills. This study have tried to discover if there is an effect of unimodal presentation mode (three exclusive modes) versus bimodal presentation mode (two crossed modes) in the reproduction of musical rhythm patterns. To do this, two experiments were carried out with Middle School children in Valencia, Spain. In the first experiment (N50; 21 boys; 29 girls; 14-16 years old) a contrast pretest-posttest design was adopted. Subjects were grouped in five conditions, each having information in one different mode: only static images (I) flashing the rhythm according to the proposed rhythm patterns; only sounds (A); only on-screen texts (T) that represented the rhythm pattern when reading; sounds and static images together (AV) and sounds and texts together (AT). In the second experiment a repeated measures design was adopted (N=10; 3 boys and 7 girls; 16-18 years old). Each subject had to do the tests in all experimental conditions aforementioned. Some intervening variables were measured: previous rhythm skills, previous musical experiences, school achievement of last year, preferences on modes of information presentation and gender. Test tasks were to hear in turn 10 proposed rhythm patterns, memorized them, and imitate them by means of a computer key. The computer ran an ad hoc computer program that provided stimuli, data gathering and assessment of responses. Results of both experiments show statistical differences in favor of groups AV, AT (bimodal) and A (unimodal). It is suggested the advantage of presenting rhythm information with sound together with other means in the teaching and learning music processes

RTVE’s transmedia strategy aimed at young audiences: the case of Playz (2017-2020)

Generally speaking, audio-visual consumption is changing. More specifically, in recent years young people have increased their viewing of content through the Internet, which is often supplied through online platforms. This article focuses on one the Playz platform, which is one of the key strategies being used by Spanish public television (RTVE), as it aims to reconnect with the new generations through transmedia narratives. Based on studies undertaken by Costa Sánchez (2013) and Cascajosa-Virino (2018), a content analysis of the series broadcast on Playz between 2017 and 2020 has been carried out, taking into account the duration, year of release, and number of episodes or seasons for each of them. This study confirms a clear interest by this platform in generating products that are innovative from their very conception. In fact, a large number of transmedia strategies have been identified, such as episodes turned into films, a high degree of interactivity with the audience, original music videos, promotional events and more, which is in line with Playz’s public service obligation to reach out to all types of audiences through all the platforms available to them.El consumo audiovisual está cambiando de manera general y, en concreto, la juventud ha incrementado durante los últimos años el visionado de contenidos a través de Internet, a menudo servidos a través de plataformas online. Este artículo se centra en una de esas, Playz, una pieza estratégica de la televisión pública española (RTVE), en su objetivo de reconectar con las nuevas generaciones a través de narrativas transmedia. Partiendo de los estudios acometidos por Costa Sánchez (2013) y por Cascajosa-Virino (2018), se ha realizado un análisis del contenido de las series de Playz entre 2017 y 2020, y se han tenido en cuenta desde la temática, hasta la duración, pasando por el número de capítulos o de temporadas de cada una de ellas. Este trabajo muestra el claro interés de esta plataforma por generar productos innovadores desde su misma concepción. De hecho, se han identificado un gran número de estrategias transmedia (capítulos convertidos en películas, alto grado de interactividad con la audiencia, vídeos musicales originales, actos promocionales…), que siguen la línea de la obligación de servicio público de Playz de acercarse a toda clase de público y desde todas las plataformas puestas a su alcance

Non invasive blood flow measurement in cerebellum detects minimal hepatic encephalopathy earlier than psychometric tests

AIM: To assess whether non invasive blood flow measurement by arterial spin labeling in several brain regions detects minimal hepatic encephalopathy.METHODS: Blood flow (BF) was analyzed by arterial spin labeling (ASL) in different brain areas of 14 controls, 24 cirrhotic patients without and 16 cirrhotic patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). Images were collected using a 3 Tesla MR scanner (Achieva 3T-TX, Philips, Netherlands). Pulsed ASL was performed. Patients showing MHE were detected using the battery Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score (PHES) consisting of five tests. Different cognitive and motor functions were also assessed: alterations in selective attention were evaluated using the Stroop test. Patients and controls also performed visuo-motor and bimanual coordination tests. Several biochemical parameters were measured: serum pro-inflammatory interleukins (IL-6 and IL-18), 3-nitrotyrosine, cGMP and nitrates+nitrites in plasma, and blood ammonia. Bivariate correlations were evaluated.RESULTS: In patients with MHE, BF was increased in cerebellar hemisphere (P = 0.03) and vermis (P = 0.012) and reduced in occipital lobe (P = 0.017). BF in cerebellar hemisphere was also increased in patients without MHE (P = 0.02). Bimanual coordination was impaired in patients without MHE (P = 0.05) and much more in patients with MHE (P < 0.0001). Visuo-motor coordination was impaired only in patients with MHE (P < 0.0001). Attention was slightly affected in patients without MHE and more strongly in patients with MHE (P < 0.0001). BF in cerebellar hemisphere and vermis correlated with performance in most tests of PHES [(number connection tests A (NCT-A), B (NCT-B)and line tracing test] and in the congruent task of Stroop test. BF in frontal lobe correlated with NCT-A. Performance in bimanual and visuomotor coordination tests correlated only with BF in cerebellar hemisphere. BF in occipital lobe correlates with performance in the PHES battery and with CFF. BF in cerebellar hemisphere correlates with plasma cGMP and nitric oxide (NO) metabolites. BF in vermis cerebellar also correlates with NO metabolites and with 3-nitrotyrosine. IL-18 in plasma correlates with BF in thalamus and occipital lobe.CONCLUSION: Non invasive BF determination in cerebellum using ASL may detect MHE earlier than the PHES. Altered NO-cGMP pathway seems to be associated to altered BF in cerebellum

Predictores del uso de la estrategia invasiva precoz en mujeres con síndrome coronario agudo sin elevación de ST

Objetivo: Identificar los determinantes asociados a la estrategia invasiva precoz (EIP) en mujeres con síndrome coronario agudo sin elevación de ST (SCASEST). Diseño: Estudio de cohortes retrospectivo. Análisis crudo y ajustado de la realización de EIP mediante regresión logística no condicional. Ámbito: Unidades coronarias participantes en 2010-2011 en el registro ARIAM-SEMICYUC. Pacientes: Cuatrocientas cuarenta mujeres con SCASEST. Se excluyeron 16 por datos insuficientes y 58 con coronariografía electiva (> 72 h). Variables analizadas: Demográficas, factores de riesgo coronario, medicación previa, comorbilidad. Características clínicas, analíticas, hemodinámicas y electrocardiográficas del episodio. Resultados: Las mujeres tratadas conservadoramente presentaban mayor edad, mayor prevalencia de anticoagulación oral, diabetes, lesiones coronarias previas e insuficiencia cardiaca (p 80 años y el aumento de la frecuencia cardiaca son factores independientes asociados al tratamiento conservador.To identify determinants associated to an early invasive strategy in women with acute coronary syndromes without ST elevation (NSTE-ACS).Design: A retrospective cohort study was made. Crude and adjusted analysis of the performance of the early invasive strategy using logistic regression.Setting: Coronary Units enrolled in 2010 - 2011 in the ARIAM-SEMICYUC registry.Patients: A total of 440 women with NSTE-ACS were studied. Sixteen patients were excluded due to insufficient data, together with 58 patients subjected to elective coronary angiography (> 72 h).Variables analyzed: Demographic parameters, coronary risk factors, previous medication, comorbidity. Clinical, laboratory, hemodynamic and electrocardiographic data of the episode. Results: Women treated conservatively were of older age, had oral anticoagulation, diabetes, previous coronary lesions, and heart failure (p 80 years (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.82, p=0.009), known coronary lesions (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.26-0.84, p=0.011), and heart rate (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.97-0.99, p=0.003) were independently associated to conservative treatment. Smoking (OR 2.50, 95% CI 1.20 to 5.19, p=0.013) and high-risk electrocardiogram (OR 2.96, 95% CI 1.72 to 4.97, p 80 years and increased heart rate were independent factors associated to conservative treatment

Comprehensive Fragment Screening of the SARS-CoV-2 Proteome Explores Novel Chemical Space for Drug Development

12 pags., 4 figs., 3 tabs.SARS-CoV-2 (SCoV2) and its variants of concern pose serious challenges to the public health. The variants increased challenges to vaccines, thus necessitating for development of new intervention strategies including anti-virals. Within the international Covid19-NMR consortium, we have identified binders targeting the RNA genome of SCoV2. We established protocols for the production and NMR characterization of more than 80 % of all SCoV2 proteins. Here, we performed an NMR screening using a fragment library for binding to 25 SCoV2 proteins and identified hits also against previously unexplored SCoV2 proteins. Computational mapping was used to predict binding sites and identify functional moieties (chemotypes) of the ligands occupying these pockets. Striking consensus was observed between NMR-detected binding sites of the main protease and the computational procedure. Our investigation provides novel structural and chemical space for structure-based drug design against the SCoV2 proteome.Work at BMRZ is supported by the state of Hesse. Work in Covid19-NMR was supported by the Goethe Corona Funds, by the IWBEFRE-program 20007375 of state of Hesse, the DFG through CRC902: “Molecular Principles of RNA-based regulation.” and through infrastructure funds (project numbers: 277478796, 277479031, 392682309, 452632086, 70653611) and by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program iNEXT-discovery under grant agreement No 871037. BY-COVID receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement number 101046203. “INSPIRED” (MIS 5002550) project, implemented under the Action “Reinforcement of the Research and Innovation Infrastructure,” funded by the Operational Program “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (NSRF 2014–2020) and co-financed by Greece and the EU (European Regional Development Fund) and the FP7 REGPOT CT-2011-285950—“SEE-DRUG” project (purchase of UPAT’s 700 MHz NMR equipment). The support of the CERM/CIRMMP center of Instruct-ERIC is gratefully acknowledged. This work has been funded in part by a grant of the Italian Ministry of University and Research (FISR2020IP_02112, ID-COVID) and by Fondazione CR Firenze. A.S. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [SFB902/B16, SCHL2062/2-1] and the Johanna Quandt Young Academy at Goethe [2019/AS01]. M.H. and C.F. thank SFB902 and the Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft for the Scholarship. L.L. work was supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR, NMR-SCoV2-ORF8), the Fondation de la Recherche Médicale (FRM, NMR-SCoV2-ORF8), FINOVI and the IR-RMN-THC Fr3050 CNRS. Work at UConn Health was supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health (R01 GM135592 to B.H., P41 GM111135 and R01 GM123249 to J.C.H.) and the US National Science Foundation (DBI 2030601 to J.C.H.). Latvian Council of Science Grant No. VPP-COVID-2020/1-0014. National Science Foundation EAGER MCB-2031269. This work was supported by the grant Krebsliga KFS-4903-08-2019 and SNF-311030_192646 to J.O. P.G. (ITMP) The EOSC Future project is co-funded by the European Union Horizon Programme call INFRAEOSC-03-2020—Grant Agreement Number 101017536. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEALPeer reviewe

Toward a CRISPR-Based Point-of-Care Test for Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus Detection

Implementing effective monitoring strategies is fundamental to protecting crops from pathogens and ensuring sufficient food supply as the global population continues to grow. This is especially important for emergent plant pathogens such as tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), which overcomes the genetic resistance resources used in tomato breeding against tobamoviruses and has become a pandemic in less than a decade. Here, we report the development of a CRISPR/Cas12a-based test to detect ToBRFV in the laboratory and potentially in a field setting. Using different tobamoviruses to assess specificity, our test showed a clear positive signal for ToBRFV-infected samples, whereas no cross-reactivity was observed for closely related viruses. Next, we compared the limit of detection of our CRISPR-based test with a widely used reference real-time quantitative PCR test, revealing similar sensitivities for both tests. Finally, to reduce complexity and achieve field applicability, we used a fast nucleic acid purification step and compared its results side by side with those of a commonly used column-mediated protocol. The new protocol saved time and resources but at the expense of sensitivity. However, it could still be useful to confirm ToBRFV detection in samples with incipient symptoms of infection. Although there is room for improvement, to our knowledge, this is the first field-compatible CRISPR-based test to detect ToBRFV that combines isothermal amplification with a simplified nucleic acid extraction protocol. [Graphic: see text] Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license

Predicting COVID19 pandemic waves including vaccination data with deep learning

[EN] IntroductionDuring the recent COVID-19 pandemics, many models were developed to predict the number of new infections. After almost a year, models had also the challenge to include information about the waning effect of vaccines and by infection, and also how this effect start to disappear.MethodsWe present a deep learning-based approach to predict the number of daily COVID-19 cases in 30 countries, considering the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) applied in those countries and including vaccination data of the most used vaccines.ResultsWe empirically validate the proposed approach for 4 months between January and April 2021, once vaccination was available and applied to the population and the COVID-19 variants were closer to the one considered for developing the vaccines. With the predictions of new cases, we can prescribe NPIs plans that present the best trade-off between the expected number of COVID-19 cases and the social and economic cost of applying such interventions.DiscussionWhereas, mathematical models which include the effect of vaccines in the spread of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic are available, to the best of our knowledge we are the first to propose a data driven method based on recurrent neural networks that considers the waning effect of the immunization acquired either by vaccine administration or by recovering from the illness. This work contributes with an accurate, scalable, data-driven approach to modeling the pandemic curves of cases when vaccination data is available.The authors have been supported by Valencian Government, Grant VALENCIA IA4COVID (GVA-COVID19/2021/100). The authors also want to thank their previous support by Grants FONDOS SUPERA COVID-19 Santander-CRUE (CD4COVID19 2020- 2021), Fundación BBVA for SARS-CoV-2 research (IA4COVID19 2020-2022), and the Valencian Government, which permitted to initiate this research line.Begga, A.; Garibo-I-Orts, Ó.; De María-García, S.; Escolano, F.; Lozano, MA.; Oliver, N.; Conejero, JA. (2023). Predicting COVID19 pandemic waves including vaccination data with deep learning. Frontiers in Public Health. 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.12793641

New Resources for the Specific and Sensitive Detection of the Emerging Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus

Plant viruses can evolve towards new pathogenic entities that may eventually cause outbreaks and become epidemics or even pandemics. Seven years ago, tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) emerged, overcoming the genetic resistance that had been employed for more than sixty years against tobamoviruses in tomato. Since then, ToBRFV has spread worldwide, producing significant losses in tomato crops. While new resistances are deployed, the only means of control is the implementation of effective prevention and eradication strategies. For this purpose, in this work, we have designed, assessed, and compared an array of tests for the specific and sensitive detection of the ToBRFV in leaf samples. First, two monoclonal antibodies were generated against a singular peptide of the ToBRFV coat protein; antibodies were utilized to devise a double-antibody-sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) test that sensitively detects this virus and has no cross-reactivity with other related tobamoviruses. Second, a real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) test targeting the RNA-dependent replicase open reading frame (ORF) was designed, and its performance and specificity validated in comparison with the CaTa28 and CSP1325 tests recommended by plant protection authorities in Europe. Third, in line with the tendency to use field-deployable diagnostic techniques, we developed and tested two sets of loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) primers to double-check the detection of the movement protein ORF of ToBRFV, and one set that works as an internal control. Finally, we compared all of these methods by employing a collection of samples with different ToBRFV loads to evaluate the overall performance of each test