Lesson study as a tool for rebuilding teachers' practical thinking: a bridge between espoused theories and theories-in-use

This Lesson Study forms part of the research work carried out by the Spanish team, in order to analyse the potential of this professional teacher development methodology for the reconstruction of teachers' practical thinking. It is a qualitative research process which involves the monitoring of seven infant school teachers during two school cycles. The teachers developed a Lesson Study over this period, with a practical thinking case study being carried out both before and after. This paper focuses on the Lesson Study case study. The Lesson Study was developed independently by the group of teachers, who were advised throughout by the undersigned researchers. At the same time, the researchers carried out a case study focusing on the Lesson Study being developed by the teachers. Findings/Conclusions: - From the start of the Lesson Study, we can find evidence of changes in the practical thinking of the teachers involved, which led to immediate changes in their classroom practice. - The development of the Lesson Study brought about significant reflection with regards to the Infant Education curriculum, in some cases resulting in substantial modification to the way it is implemented in their different classrooms. - The teachers pointed out the value of cooperative work on several different occasions. - They also emphasised the high level of learning they achieved by observing how their colleagues developed the lesson designed by the group using different strategies and data collection instruments, such as documentation inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, when reflecting on their own practice. On the whole, we can state that the cooperative design work of this lesson showed the contrast between the espoused theories of the participants and their theories-in-use, conditioned fundamentally by their work contexts and previous experience. Lesson Study is a way to bring these two poles closer together, enriching teachers with strategies to help detect contradictions in their practice and to resolve them and feel more comfortable with what they do.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Modelización de la curva de fluencia en condiciones de deformación en caliente del aluminio puro (99.87%)

A lo largo de la historia, la conformación en caliente ha sido utilizada para dar a los metales la forma deseada. Hoy en día, sin embargo, y gracias al avance en conocimiento de materiales, la deformación en caliente no sólo proporciona la geometría deseada sino las características mecánicas. Para ello es indispensable un adecuado diseño del proceso de termoconformado. Desde este punto de vista, la obtención de una ecuación constitutiva basada en modelos existentes para la fluencia en caliente del material y del aluminio en particular con una pureza del 99.87%, se convierte en una tarea primordial y que para nuestro caso en particular hemos hecho uso del Modelo de Strim, Mecking y Bergstrom. Para este propósito, los ensayos de deformación en caliente (compresión uniaxial) fueron llevados a cabo en un intervalo de velocidades de deformación de 10ˉ¹, 10ˉ² y 10ˉ³ sˉ¹ y a una temperatura de 250, 300, 350 y 400ºc previo tratamiento térmico de recosido a 400ºc durante 20 minutos con el fin de obtener una estructura homogénea (granos equiaxiales). Las curvas de fluencia o de estado estable fueron simuladas en un programa por ordenador que permitieron obtener importantes parámetros involucrados en la deformación en caliente tales como el término de endurecimiento por deformación U(.b)² y el término de ablandamiento por restauración dinámica ()

A computational model coupling mechanics and electrophysiology in spinal cord injury

Traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury have recently been put under the spotlight as major causes of death and disability in the developed world. Despite the important ongoing experimental and modeling campaigns aimed at understanding the mechanics of tissue and cell damage typically observed in such events, the differenti- ated roles of strain, stress and their corresponding loading rates on the damage level itself remain unclear. More specif- ically, the direct relations between brain and spinal cord tis- sue or cell damage, and electrophysiological functions are still to be unraveled. Whereas mechanical modeling efforts are focusing mainly on stress distribution and mechanistic- based damage criteria, simulated function-based damage cri- teria are still missing. Here, we propose a new multiscale model of myelinated axon associating electrophysiological impairment to structural damage as a function of strain and strain rate. This multiscale approach provides a new framework for damage evaluation directly relating neuron mechanics and electrophysiological properties, thus provid- ing a link between mechanical trauma and subsequent func- tional deficits

Lesson Study and the development of teaching competences: from practical knowledge to practical thinking

Este artículo pretende mostrar la prometedora relación entre los procesos generados por las Lesson Studies y el desarrollo del pensamiento práctico en la formación docente, tanto inicial como permanente, a través de dos investigaciones . Para ello proponemos ampliar el foco de interés de las Lesson Study no sólo a la mejora de la “lección” o de la “enseñanza” (Lesson), en definitiva de la práctica, sino también a la reconstrucción y mejora del conocimiento práctico de los docentes. Creemos que esta propuesta metodológica reúne una serie de estrategias básicas que con algunos matices o variaciones desarrollados en el contexto español , permite también reconstruir el pensamiento práctico de los docentes tanto en el marco de la formación inicial como permanente, precisamente cuando trabajan cooperativamente sobre una lección en un proyecto de enseñanza que pretende provocar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Determinación de plomo en sangre de perros de la ciudad de Toluca, México

Con el objeto de valorar los niveles de plomo (Pb) sanguíneos en perros, considerar el grado de exposición al Pb en el área en donde conviven con sus dueños, contribuir a la obtención de datos epidemiológicos y de riesgo a esté elemento que puede afectar su estado de salud y del mismo humano; se realizaron muestreos en clínicas veterinarias de la ciudad de Toluca, México; obteniendo 300 muestras sanguíneas mediante venopunción cefálica, colectando 3-5 mL en tubo de vidrio con heparina. Cada una de las muestras fue procesada por digestión ácida, procediendo a la determinación de Pb, mediante espectrofotometría de absorción atómica. Para el reporte de resultados, se empleo el método descriptivo, y los valores se compararon con los reportados en la literatura. Del total de muestras recolectadas solamente en 8 se encontraron cantidades detectables a Pb y en 292 muestras la concentración encontrada fue menor al límite mínimo (cantidad mínima detectable de 0.005 ppm). Las cantidades detectadas estuvieron en un rango de 0.0599 - 0.1060 ppm que fue el valor mínimo y el máximo respectivamente; con un valor promedio de las concentraciones de 0.0858 ± 0.1370. Del total de las muestras, se obtuvo una mayor proporción de hembras que de machos con 167 y 133 respectivamente. Con respecto al sexo, con valores detectables, se obtuvo en la mayoría de hembras; así mismo, con respecto a la edad los valores obtenidos fueron en animales adultos (de 3 a 8 años). En cuanto a la raza, destaca la existencia de un mayor número de perros criollos, seguido de otras razas. Y con respecto a los lugares de procedencia, los lugares que resaltan con detección de Pb fueron: San Pedro Totoltepec (4/8) San Felipe Tlalmimilolpan (2/8), la Crespa y San Juan Tilapa. Las condiciones de terreno (topográfia y ubicación), actividades antropogénicas (industria), así como el trafico vehicular, son los principales factores que pudieron influir sobre los datos obtenidos; sin embargo es importante considerar las condiciones de hábitat o lugares de permanencia de los perros muestreados. La toxicidad del Pb está en relación tanto de la dosis como del tiempo de exposición, por lo que se debe garantizar la detección temprana y el control de la fuente de exposición para minimizar las consecuencias sobre la salud de nuestras mascotas

Actividad extracurricular en el ámbito de la Ingeniería para la competencia genérica de comunicación escrita

El objetivo de este trabajo es describir una actividad formativa extracurricular para la competencia de comunicación escrita, que puede ser fácilmente reproducida en otros centros y universidades. Para ello, en este trabajo se indica el marco en el que se pueden desarrollar las competencias genéricas y se analiza brevemente la actividad propuesta a través de sus resultados de aprendizaje, y cómo estos favorecen e influyen en otras competencias genéricas como la capacidad creativa y el aprendizaje para toda la vida.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Changes in Cortical Plasticity Across the Lifespan

Deterioration of motor and cognitive performance with advancing age is well documented, but its cause remains unknown. Animal studies dating back to the late 1970s reveal that age-associated neurocognitive changes are linked to age-dependent changes in synaptic plasticity, including alterations of long-term potentiation and depression (LTP and LTD). Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques enable measurement of LTP- and LTD-like mechanisms of plasticity, in vivo, in humans, and may thus provide valuable insights. We examined the effects of a 40-s train of continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) to the motor cortex (600 stimuli, three pulses at 50 Hz applied at a frequency of 5 Hz) on cortico-spinal excitability as measured by the motor evoked potentials (MEPs) induced by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation before and after cTBS in the contralateral first dorsal interosseus muscle. Thirty-six healthy individuals aged 19–81 years old were studied in two sites (Boston, USA and Barcelona, Spain). The findings did not differ across study sites. We found that advancing age is negatively correlated with the duration of the effect of cTBS (r = −0.367; p = 0.028) and the overall amount of corticomotor suppression induced by cTBS (r = −0.478; p = 0.003), and positively correlated with the maximal suppression of amplitude on motor evoked responses in the target muscle (r = 0.420; p = 0.011). We performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based individual morphometric analysis in a subset of subjects to demonstrate that these findings are not explained by age-related brain atrophy or differences in scalp-to-brain distance that could have affected the TBS effects. Our findings provide empirical evidence that the mechanisms of cortical plasticity area are altered with aging and their efficiency decreases across the human lifespan. This may critically contribute to motor and possibly cognitive decline

Shoc2/Sur8 protein regulates neurite outgrowth

This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.-- et al.The Shoc2 protein has been implicated in the positive regulation of the Ras-ERK pathway by increasing the functional binding interaction between Ras and Raf, leading to increased ERK activity. Here we found that Shoc2 overexpression induced sustained ERK phosphorylation, notably in the case of EGF stimulation, and Shoc2 knockdown inhibited ERK activation. We demonstrate that ectopic overexpression of human Shoc2 in PC12 cells significantly promotes neurite extension in the presence of EGF, a stimulus that induces proliferation rather than differentiation in these cells. Finally, Shoc2 depletion reduces both NGF-induced neurite outgrowth and ERK activation in PC12 cells. Our data indicate that Shoc2 is essential to modulate the Ras-ERK signaling outcome in cell differentiation processes involved in neurite outgrowth.GL, TG and LMD were recipients of fellowships from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC) (to GL, TG), and Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS) (to LMD). LSR held a postdoctoral research contract from CIBERNED. This work was supported by FIS grant (PI10/00815) to JLO; CIBERNED to MC; SAF2008-01951, Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (CAM) SSAL-0202-2006-01 and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED) to TI; FIS grant PI12/00775 and ISCIII-RETIC (Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer) RD12/0036/0027 from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III to PSG; and FIS grants (PI09/0562 and PI13/00703), ISCIIIRETIC (RD06/0020/0003 and RD12/0036/0021), and the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) to JMR.Peer Reviewe

Surgical treatment for colorectal cancer: Analysis of the influence of an enhanced recovery programme on long-term oncological outcomes-a study protocol for a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction The evidence currently available from enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programmes concerns their benefits in the immediate postoperative period, but there is still very little evidence as to whether their correct implementation benefits patients in the long term. The working hypothesis here is that, due to the lower response to surgical aggression and lower rates of postoperative complications, ERAS protocols can reduce colorectal cancer-related mortality. The main objective of this study is to analyse the impact of an ERAS programme for colorectal cancer on 5-year survival. As secondary objectives, we propose to analyse the weight of each of the predefined items in the oncological results as well as the quality of life. Methods and analysis A multicentre prospective cohort study was conducted in patients older than 18 years of age who are scheduled to undergo surgery for colorectal cancer. The study involved 12 hospitals with an implemented enhanced recovery protocol according to the guidelines published by the Spanish National Health Service. The intervention group includes patients with a minimum implementation level of 70%, and the control group includes those who fail to reach this level. Compliance will be studied using 18 key performance indicators, and the results will be analysed using cancer survival indicators, including overall survival, cancer-specific survival and relapse-free survival. The time to recurrence, perioperative morbidity and mortality, hospital stay and quality of life will also be studied, the latter using the validated EuroQol Five questionnaire. The propensity index method will be used to create comparable treatment and control groups, and a multivariate regression will be used to study each variable. The Kaplan-Meier estimator will be used to estimate survival and the log-rank test to make comparisons. A p value of less than 0.05 (two-tailed) will be considered to be significant. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Aragon Ethical Committee (C.P.-C.I. PI20/086) on 4 March 2020. The findings of this study will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals (BMJ Open, JAMA Surgery, Annals of Surgery, British Journal of Surgery). Abstracts will be submitted to relevant national and international meetings.The present research study was awarded a Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación health research project grant (PI19/00291) from the Carlos III Institute of the Spanish National Health Service as part of the 2019 call for Strategic Action in Health

Shoc2/Sur8 Protein Regulates Neurite Outgrowth

The Shoc2 protein has been implicated in the positive regulation of the Ras-ERK pathway by increasing the functional binding interaction between Ras and Raf, leading to increased ERK activity. Here we found that Shoc2 overexpression induced sustained ERK phosphorylation, notably in the case of EGF stimulation, and Shoc2 knockdown inhibited ERK activation. We demonstrate that ectopic overexpression of human Shoc2 in PC12 cells significantly promotes neurite extension in the presence of EGF, a stimulus that induces proliferation rather than differentiation in these cells. Finally, Shoc2 depletion reduces both NGF-induced neurite outgrowth and ERK activation in PC12 cells. Our data indicate that Shoc2 is essential to modulate the Ras-ERK signaling outcome in cell differentiation processes involved in neurite outgrowth.This work was supported by FIS grant (PI10/00815) to JLO; CIBERNED to MC; SAF2008-01951, Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (CAM) S-SAL-0202-2006-01 and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED) to TI; FIS grant PI12/00775 and ISCIII-RETIC (Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer) RD12/0036/0027 from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III to PSG; and FIS grants (PI09/0562 and PI13/00703), ISCIII-RETIC (RD06/0020/0003 and RD12/0036/0021), and the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) to JMR. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S