“Fake News” or Real Science? Critical Thinking to Assess Information on COVID-19

Few people question the important role of critical thinking in students becoming active citizens; however, the way science is taught in schools continues to be more oriented toward “what to think” rather than “how to think.” Researchers understand critical thinking as a tool and a higher-order thinking skill necessary for being an active citizen when dealing with socio-scientific information and making decisions that affect human life, which the pandemic of COVID-19 provides many opportunities for. The outbreak of COVID-19 has been accompanied by what the World Health Organization (WHO) has described as a “massive infodemic.” Fake news covering all aspects of the pandemic spread rapidly through social media, creating confusion and disinformation. This paper reports on an empirical study carried out during the lockdown in Spain (March–May 2020) with a group of secondary students (N = 20) engaged in diverse online activities that required them to practice critical thinking and argumentation for dealing with coronavirus information and disinformation. The main goal is to examine students’ competence at engaging in argumentation as critical assessment in this context. Discourse analysis allows for the exploration of the arguments and criteria applied by students to assess COVID-19 news headlines. The results show that participants were capable of identifying true and false headlines and assessing the credibility of headlines by appealing to different criteria, although most arguments were coded as needing only a basic epistemic level of assessment, and only a few appealed to the criterion of scientific procedure when assessing the headlinesThis work was supported by the project ESPIGA, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Education and Universities, partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Grant code: PGC2018-096581-B-C22S

Aniversario de Alfred Russel Wallace

ReviewReseñ

Aniversario de Alfred Russel Wallace

ReviewReseñ

Automatic left ventricle volume calculation with explainability through a deep learning weak-supervision methodology

[EN] Background and objective: Magnetic resonance imaging is the most reliable imaging technique to assess the heart. More specifically there is great importance in the analysis of the left ventricle, as the main pathologies directly affect this region. In order to characterize the left ventricle, it is necessary to extract its volume. In this work we present a neural network architecture that is capable of directly estimating the left ventricle volume in short axis cine Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the end-diastolic frame and provide a segmentation of the region which is the basis of the volume calculation, thus offering explain-ability to the estimated value. Methods: The network was designed to directly target the volumes to estimate, not requiring any labeled segmentation on the images. The network was based on a 3D U-net with extra layers defined in a scan-ning module that learned features like the circularity of the objects and the volumes to estimate in a weakly-supervised manner. The only targets defined were the left ventricle volumes and the circularity of the object detected through the estimation of the pi value derived from its shape. We had access to 397 cases corresponding to 397 different subjects. We randomly selected 98 cases to use as test set. Results: The results show a good match between the real and estimated volumes in the test set, with a mean relative error of 8% and a mean absolute error of 9.12 ml with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.95. The derived segmentations obtained by the network achieved Dice coefficients with a mean value of 0.79. Conclusions: The proposed method is capable of obtaining the left ventricle volume biomarker in the end-diastole and offer an explanation of how it obtains the result in the form of a segmentation mask without the need of segmentation labels to train the algorithm, making it a potentially more trustworthy method for clinicians and a way to train neural networks more easily when segmentation labels are not readily available.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Consel-leria d'Educacio, Investigacio, Cultura i Esport, Generalitat Valenciana (grants AEST/2019/037 and AEST/2020/029) , from the Agencia Valenciana de la Innovacion, Generalitat Valenciana (ref. INNCAD00/19/085) , and from the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnologico Industrial (Programa Eurostars2, actuacion Interempresas Internacional) , Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (ref. CIIP-20192020) .Pérez-Pelegrí, M.; Monmeneu, JV.; López-Lereu, MP.; Pérez-Pelegrí, L.; Maceira, AM.; Bodi, V.; Moratal, D. (2021). Automatic left ventricle volume calculation with explainability through a deep learning weak-supervision methodology. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine. 208:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmpb.2021.106275S1820

End-systole and end-diastole detection in short axis cine MRI using a fully convolutional neural network with dilated convolutions

[EN] The correct assessment and characterization of heart anatomy and functionality is usually done through inspection of magnetic resonance image cine sequences. In the clinical setting it is especially important to determine the state of the left ventricle. This requires the measurement of its volume in the end-diastolic and end-systolic frames within the sequence trough segmentation methods. However, the first step required for this analysis before any segmentation is the detection of the end-systolic and end-diastolic frames within the image acquisition. In this work we present a fully convolutional neural network that makes use of dilated convolutions to encode and process the temporal information of the sequences in contrast to the more widespread use of recurrent networks that are usually employed for problems involving temporal information. We trained the network in two different settings employing different loss functions to train the network: the classical weighted cross-entropy, and the weighted Dice loss. We had access to a database comprising a total of 397 cases. Out of this dataset we used 98 cases as test set to validate our network performance. The final classification on the test set yielded a mean frame distance of 0 for the end-diastolic frame (i.e.: the selected frame was the correct one in all images of the test set) and 1.242 (relative frame distance of 0.036) for the end-systolic frame employing the optimum setting, which involved training the neural network with the Dice loss. Our neural network is capable of classifying each frame and enables the detection of the end-systolic and end-diastolic frames in short axis cine MRI sequences with high accuracy.Funding sources This work was partially supported by the Conselleria d'Innovació, Universitats, Ciència i Societat Digital, Generalitat Valenciana (grants AEST/2020/029 and AEST/2021/050) .Pérez-Pelegrí, M.; Monmeneu, JV.; López-Lereu, MP.; Maceira, AM.; Bodi, V.; Moratal, D. (2022). End-systole and end-diastole detection in short axis cine MRI using a fully convolutional neural network with dilated convolutions. Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics. 99:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compmedimag.2022.102085189

Ideas, emotions and arguments of in-training teachers on the Ebola virus

Se discuten algunos resultados de una propuesta didáctica sobre el virus del Ébola realizada en formación inicial de profesorado de primaria. La secuencia se desarrolla el mismo año que se produce la epidemia de Ébola en África y la entrada del virus en España. Requiere aplicar conocimientos para elaborar y evaluar cómo tiene lugar el proceso de transmisión del virus del Ébola, y tomar decisiones argumentadas sobre medidas preventivas en contextos reales. Las preguntas de investigación que guían este trabajo son: 1) ¿Cómo son las emociones e ideas de los futuros docentes acerca del virus del Ébola? 2) ¿Qué factores sociales se identifican en la elaboración de argumentos para la toma de decisiones sobre la prevención de este virus? Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que la alarma social generada por el Ébola contribuye a incrementar el estigma social sobre esta enfermedad, relegada hasta hace poco al continente africano y la necesidad de trabajar los problemas de salud en contexto para mejorar la formación científica de los futuros docentes y ayudar a superar estigmas sobre éstas.Neste estudo são discutidos os resultados de uma proposta didática sobre o vírus Ébola, desenvolvida na formação inicial de professores para os primeiros anos de escolaridade. A proposta teve lugar no mesmo ano em que houve a epidemia de Ébola na África e a entrada do vírus em Espanha. A sequência requereu o desenvolvimento de conhecimentos para analisar a forma como se processa a transmissão do vírus Ébola e tomar medidas preventivas informadas em contextos reais. As questões de pesquisa que orientam este trabalho são: 1) Quais são as emoções e ideias de futuros professores sobre vírus Ébola? 2) Que fatores sociais são identificados no desenvolvimento de argumentos para a tomada de decisões sobre a prevenção deste vírus? Os resultados mostram que o alarme social gerado pelo Ébola contribui para aumentar o estigma social sobre a doença, relegada há até pouco tempo ao continente Africano. Também faz-se necessário tratar, de forma contextualizada, problemas de saúde para melhorar a formação científica dos futuros professores e ajudar a superar estigmas associados a esses problemas.The results of a teaching unit about the Ebola virus, developed in initial training of Primary teachers, are discussed in here. The sequence takes place in the same year as the Ebola outbreak in Africa, and the appearance of the virus in Spain. The unit requires application of knowledge to understand and assess the transmission processes of Ebola, and to make supported decisions on preventive measures to be implemented in real-life contexts. The research questions that guide this paper are: 1) What emotions and ideas do future teachers have the Ebola virus? 2) What social factors can be identified in the decision-making argumentation process focusing the prevention of this virus? Results show that the social alarm generated by Ebola has contributed to the increase of the disease’s social stigma, that up until recently solely affected the African continent. Addressing health problems in real life contexts is necessary in order to improve future teachers’ literacy in health issues, as well as to provide a way of overcoming disease stigma.Agradecimientos al proyecto EDU2015-66643-C2-2-P, del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España.S

Dietary Tryptophan Induces Opposite Health-Related Responses in the Senegalese Sole (Solea senegalensis) Reared at Low or High Stocking Densities With Implications in Disease Resistance

High rearing densities are typical conditions of both inland and onshore intensive aquaculture units. Despite obvious drawbacks, this strategy is nonetheless used to increase production profits. Such conditions inflict stress on fish, reducing their ability to cope with disease, bringing producers to adopt therapeutic strategies. In an attempt to overcome deleterious effects of chronic stress, Senegalese sole, Solea senegalensis, held at low (LD) or high density (HD) were fed tryptophan-supplemented diets with final tryptophan content at two (TRP2) or four times (TRP4) the requirement level, as well as a control and non-supplemented diet (CTRL) for 38 days. Fish were sampled at the end of the feeding trial for evaluation of their immune status, and mortalities were recorded following intra-peritoneal infection with Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida. Blood was collected for analysis of the hematological profile and innate immune parameters in plasma. Pituitary and hypothalamus were sampled for the assessment of neuro-endocrine-related gene expression. During the feeding trial, fish fed TRP4 and held at LD conditions presented higher mortalities, whereas fish kept at HD seemed to benefit from this dietary treatment, as disease resistance increased over that of CTRL-fed fish. In accordance, cortisol level tended to be higher in fish fed both supplemented diets at LD compared to fish fed CTRL, but was lower in fish fed TRP4 than in those fed TRP2 under HD condition. Together with lower mRNA levels of proopiomelanocortin observed with both supplementation levels, these results suggest that higher levels of tryptophan might counteract stress-induced cortisol production, thereby rendering fish better prepared to cope with disease. Data regarding sole immune status showed no clear effects of tryptophan on leucocyte numbers, but TRP4-fed fish displayed inhibited alternative complement activity (ACH50) when held at LD, as opposed to their HD counterparts whose ACH50 was higher than that of CTRLfed fish. In conclusion, while dietary tryptophan supplementation might have harmful effects in control fish, it might prove to be a promising strategy to overcome chronic stress-induced disease susceptibility in farmed Senegalese sole

Ideas, emociones y argumentos del profesorado en formación acerca del virus del Ébola

Se discuten algunos resultados de una propuesta didáctica sobre el virus del Ébola realizada en formación inicial de profesorado de primaria. La secuencia se desarrolla el mismo año que se produce la epidemia de Ébola en África y la entrada del virus en España. Requiere aplicar conocimientos para elaborar y evaluar cómo tiene lugar el proceso de transmisión del virus del Ébola, y tomar decisiones argumentadas sobre medidas preventivas en contextos reales. Las preguntas de investigación que guían este trabajo son: 1) ¿Cómo son las emociones e ideas de los futuros docentes acerca del virus del Ébola? 2) ¿Qué factores sociales se identifican en la elaboración de argumentos para la toma de decisiones sobre la prevención de este virus? Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que la alarma social generada por el Ébola contribuye a incrementar el estigma social sobre esta enfermedad, relegada hasta hace poco al continente africano y la necesidad de trabajar los problemas de salud en contexto para mejorar la formación científica de los futuros docentes y ayudar a superar estigmas sobre éstas.