Are the Growth Standards of the World Health Organization Valid for Spanish Children? The SONEV Study

Background: The use of different growth tables to assess the population’s nutritional status has given rise to a series of limitations arising from the lack of consensus and uniform methodological criteria. This leads to a disparity of results that prevent an accurate and reliable diagnosis of whether a child is overweight or obese. Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop growth references for weight, height, and body mass index for Eastern-Spanish children from 6 to 16 years of age. Methods: The final sample used to fit the growth curves was made up of 1,102 observations. The 2007 WHO curves are currently used for Child Health Service Cards. Therefore, tomake the comparison of the internal values obtained as realistic as possible, the same construction method has been used for the internal curves, modeling age as a continuous variable and simultaneously adjusting the curves, smoothing them using cubic splines and further smoothing the edge effects by means of data extending above or below the upper and lower age limits. Results: Growth curves for percentiles were constructed for both sexes and higher values were noticeably found to set as growth-standard compared to WHO-standards. Conclusion: Our analysis shows that the WHO 2007 standard references are not suitable for Eastern-Spanish children. The standards shown in this study are much more realistic and current, and we believe that their use will help healthcare professionals more effectively combat the current epidemic of overweight and obesity.Nutrición humana y dietétic

Recognising oneself as educator. Findings from a case study conducted in the internship training for Social Education Bachelor's Degree.

In this paper I share the results of the analysis of a case study of a Social Education student through a qualitative enquiry with a narrative approach (Clandinin and Connelly, 1994, 2000; Van Manen, 2003, 1990). It delves into her experience and formative trajectory within the Practicum course of the Bachelor's Degree in Social Education at the University of Malaga (Spain); a course that took place during three consecutive years, oriented to the realisation of training practices in profesional contexts. The focus of this study, which is part of a larger thesis project, is to approach the development of professional knowledge in the initial training of social educators in the context of this subject. Being a social educator requires more than just knowing what to do and how to do it. Social education professionals develop their profession in situations and problems that cannot be solved by applying knowledge, but by developing practical knowledge that allows them to make situational judgements about what is appropriate and desirable (Biesta, 2013, 2017) at each moment and with each person. Initial training plays an important role in the development of professional identity and critical thinking that allows students to construct their own knowledge, which is indispensable for the educational profession exercise: determining who they want to be and how they want to do their profession. That is, learning to act on the basis of who they are, becoming aware of their own pedagogical being and taking responsibility for their actions (Blanco and Sierra, 2013). In this sense, this context of theoretical-practical and professional training is one of the most important and highly valued subjects within the Degree in Social Education, mainly due to its proximity to professional practice. During these practical periods, students attend socioeducational centres attached to the university, for several days a week, and are accompanied by an academic tutor.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Heat-priming during somatic embryogenesis increased resilience to drought stress in the generated maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) plants

Drought stress is becoming the most important factor of global warming in forests, hampering the production of reproductive material with improved resilience. Previously, we reported that heat-priming maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) megagametophytes during SE produced epigenetic changes that generated plants better adapted to subsequent heat stress. In this work, we tested, in an experiment performed under greenhouse conditions, whether heat-priming will produce cross-tolerance to mild drought stress (30 days) in 3-year-old priming-derived plants. We found that they maintain constitutive physiological differences as compared to controls, such as higher proline, abscisic acid, starch, and reduced glutathione and total protein contents, as well as higher ΦPSII yield. Primed plants also displayed a constitutive upregulation of the WRKY transcription factor and the Responsive to Dehydration 22 (RD22) genes, as well as of those coding for antioxidant enzymes (APX, SOD, and GST) and for proteins that avoid cell damage (HSP70 and DHNs). Furthermore, osmoprotectants as total soluble sugars and proteins were early accumulated in primed plants during the stress. Prolongated water withdrawal increased ABA accumulation and negatively affected photosynthesis in all plants but primed-derived plants recovered faster than controls. We concluded that high temperature pulses during somatic embryogenesis resulted in transcriptomic and physiological changes in maritime pine plants that can increase their resilience to drought stress, since heat-primed plants exhibit permanent activation of mechanisms for cell protection and overexpression of stress pathways that pre-adapt them to respond more efficiently to soil water deficit

Differences in Classification Standards For the Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in Children. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased dramatically all over the world in recent years. While obesity in adults can be easily measured using the BMI calculation, determining overweight and obesity in children is more controversial. The aim was to compare the three most used international classification systems (WHO 2007, CDC 2000 and Cole-IOTF) to determine overweight and obesity in infant and adolescent populations. We performed a systematic review in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines of articles comparing any of the three classification systems. The main findings were that the WHO 2007 criteria show the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity in the child and youth population. The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity was determined to be higher in boys than in girls in most studies, when analysing the classifications of the WHO 2007, CDC 2000 and Cole-IOTF together. However, there was a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity in girls than in boys when only the CDC 2000 and Cole-IOTF criteria were considered. Both the results of the review and the great heterogeneity found in the meta-analysis show that it is necessary to unify the criteria for the classification of childhood overweight and obesity. International standards are insufficient for working with the current population. A working group should be created to address this issue and agree on the unification of a gold standard, taking into account the geographical region, the ethnic groups and the age groups of the child and youth population and above all, the secular growth.Catholic University of Valencia for their contribution and help in the payment of the Open Access publication under grant number 2022-275-002. Likewise,Medicin

Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab Combination Therapy in the Treatment of Advanced Hepatocellular Cancer

Liver cancer, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma, is a global concern. This study focuses on the evaluation of Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab combination therapy as a promising alternative in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. The objectives of this systematic review include evaluating the efficacy of Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab combination therapy compared to conventional therapies with Sorafenib and other conventional therapies, analyzing the associated adverse effects, and exploring prognostic factors in the setting of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. A systematic literature review was carried out using the PubMed and Web of Science databases. Fifteen related articles were included and evaluated according to their level of evidence and recommendation. Results: The combination therapy of Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab, along with Sorafenib, showed positive results in the treatment of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Significant adverse effects were identified, such as gastrointestinal bleeding, arterial hypertension, and proteinuria, which require careful attention. In addition, prognostic factors, such as transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and vascular invasion, were highlighted as key indicators of hepatocellular carcinoma progression. Conclusions: The combination of Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab is shown to be effective in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, although it is essential to take into consideration the associated adverse effects. The prognostic factors identified may provide valuable information for the clinical management of this disease. This study provides a comprehensive overview of a promising emerging therapy for liver cancer.Medicin

Vitamin D Deficiency and COVID-19: A Biological Database Study on Pathways and Gene-Disease Associations

Vitamin D (VD) is a fat-soluble vitamin, and pivotal for maintaining health. Several genetic markers have been related to a deficient VD status; these markers could confer an increased risk to develop osteoporosis and other chronic diseases. A VD deficiency could also be a determinant of a severe COVID-19 disease. This study aimed to interrogate genetic/biological databases on the biological implications of a VD deficiency and its association with diseases, to further explore its link with COVID-19. The genetic variants of both a VD deficiency and COVID-19 were identified in the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) catalog and other sources. We conducted enrichment analyses (considering corrected p-values < 0.05 as statistically significant) of the pathways, and genedisease associations using tools, such as FUMA, REVIGO, DAVID and DisGeNET, and databases, such as the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO). There were 26 and 46 genes associated with a VD deficiency and COVID-19, respectively. However, there were no genes shared between the two. Genes related to a VD deficiency were involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, retinol, drugs and xenobiotics, and were associated with the metabolic syndrome and related factors (obesity, hypertension and diabetes mellitus), as well as with neoplasms. There were few enriched pathways and disease connections for the COVID-19-related genes, among which some of the aforementioned comorbidities were also present. In conclusion, genetic factors that influence the VD levels in the body are most prominently associated with nutritional and metabolic diseases. A VD deficiency in high-risk populations could be therefore relevant in a severe COVID-19, underlining the need to examine whether a VD supplementation could reduce the severity of this disease.Consejeria de Salud de la Junta de Andalucia - European Regional Development Fund (ERDF-FEDER) PECOVID-0200-202

Análisis de la eficiencia hospitalaria de Canarias

Es de vital importancia estudiar la eficiencia en el sector sanitario público y teniendo en cuenta la situación actual que reclaman los hospitales con recursos suficientes y gestionados eficientemente. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es analizar la eficiencia de los hospitales del Sistema Canario de Salud para el último año disponible en las estadísticas, 2017, mediante un modelo de frontera no paramétrico (DEA) en la modalidad BBC de rendimientos variables a escala con orientación al input y aportar, además, recomendaciones de mejora en los planteamientos de gestión a los hospitales. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que el Servicio Canario de Salud en el sector privado es altamente eficiente, mientras que el sector público tiene una eficiencia media, debido a un exceso de todos los inputs, que han de disminuir, gestionándolos más eficientemente para lograr un nivel óptimo de eficiencia técnica o global, especialmente los relacionados con el personal.It is of vital importance to study efficiency in the public health sector and taking into account the current situation that demands hospitals with sufficient resources and managed efficiently. The main objective of this work is to analyse the efficiency of the hospitals in the Canary Islands Health System for the last year available in the statistics, 2017, using a non-parametric frontier model (DEA) in the BBC modality of variable scale performance with an-input orientation, and also to provide recommendations for improvements in the management approaches to the hospitals. The results obtained show that the Canary Islands Health Service in the private sector is highly efficient, while the public sector has average efficiency, due to an excess of all inputs, which must be reduced, managing them more efficiently to achieve an optimum level of technical or overall efficiency, especially those related to personnel

Efecto del tratamiento por ultrasonidos en el zumo de manzana no clarificado

Póster presentado en: I Congreso CyTA Junior: 19 de mayo de 2017. IX Congreso CyTA-CESIA, Ayer, hoy y mañana de la Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, 16-19 de mayo de 2017, MadridMINECO y FEDER por la financiación del proyecto CTQ2015-64396-

Filtration of subcritical water hydrolysates from red macroalgae byproducts with ultraporous ceramic membranes for oligosaccharide and peptide fractionation

An ultrafiltration-based process for oligosaccharide and peptide fractionation from a macroalgae subcritical water hydrolysate was studied. A wide range of separation results was obtained depending on the membrane pore. 100 kDa cut-off size was enough for hydrolysate clarification with total retention of colloidal materials. Oligosaccharides present in the hydrolysate showed the highest retention with all membranes, glucans mostly, followed by galactans, and finally arabinans. Peptides obtained after subcritical water treatment were some of the lowest rejected compounds, even using a 5 kDa membrane. The increase in temperature from 20 to 50 ◦C and feed flow rate from 6.6 to 11.2 L/h enhanced permeate flux for 5 kDa membrane, without perturbing the membrane retention. The Hermia’s models identified the cake layer resistance as the major fouling resistance in hydrolysate filtrations at 20 ◦C, but standard pore blockage was the principal fouling mechanism at 50 ◦C. A fractionation process with sequential filtration stages at 20 ◦C and TMP = 1.1 bar was examined. Oligosaccharides were fractionated in the retentates of the sequential filtrations with 100, 5 and 1 kDa membranes. The final permeate collected from the 1 kDa membrane was freeze-dried to obtain a peptide-rich solid (71 wt%) that could be used in different applications.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación [grant number PID2019–104950RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033] and by the Junta de Castilla y León (JCyL) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERF) [grant number BU050P20]. E. Trigueros predoctoral contract was funded by the JCyL and the European Social Fund (ESF) by ORDEN EDU/574/2018

Podoplanin associates with CD44 to promote directional cell migration

This article is under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License.-- et al.Podoplanin is a transmembrane glycoprotein up-regulated in different human tumors, especially those derived from squamous stratified epithelia (SCCs). Its expression in tumor cells is linked to increased cell migration and invasiveness; however, the mechanisms underlying this process remain poorly understood. Here we report that CD44, the major hyaluronan (HA) receptor, is a novel partner for podoplanin. Expression of the CD44 standard isoform (CD44s) is coordinately up-regulated together with that of podoplanin during progression to highly aggressive SCCs in a mouse skin model of carcinogenesis, and during epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In carcinoma cells, CD44 and podoplanin colocalize at cell surface protrusions. Moreover, CD44 recruitment promoted by HA-coated beads or cross-linking with a specific CD44 antibody induced corecruitment of podoplanin. Podoplanin-CD44s interaction was demonstrated both by coimmunoprecipitation experiments and, in vivo, by fluorescence resonance energy transfer/fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FRET/FLIM), the later confirming its association on the plasma membrane of cells with a migratory phenotype. Importantly, we also show that podoplanin promotes directional persistence of motility in epithelial cells, a feature that requires CD44, and that both molecules cooperate to promote directional migration in SCC cells. Our results support a role for CD44-podoplanin interaction in driving tumor cell migration during malignancy.This work was supported by grant SAF2007-63821 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (to M.Q.), the Royal Society University Research Fellowship (to M.P.), Medical Research Council (to G.E.J.) EU FP7 T3Net Consortium (GEJ), and Cancer Research UK (to G.E.J. and E.M.V.).Peer reviewe