Ética animal y selección de contenidos en Educación Primaria

Teniendo en consideración la importancia que los conocimientos de ciencias tienen en la sociedad actual y las amplias áreas temáticas que éstos abarcan, es necesario plantearse, desde la didáctica de las ciencias, no solamente qué contenidos se abordan y desde qué metodologías, sino también la justificación de los motivos de la elección. En este trabajo se tratan estos planteamientos y se justifica la elección de algunos contenidos, que debieran conducir a alcanzar en nuestro alumnado unas competencias científicas y en salud, acordes a las necesidades y expectativas de los jóvenes europeos del siglo actual.Teniendo en consideración la importancia que los conocimientos de ciencias tienen en la sociedad actual y las amplias áreas temáticas que éstos abarcan, es necesario plantearse, desde la didáctica de las ciencias, no solamente qué contenidos se abordan y desde qué metodologías, sino también la justificación de los motivos de la elección. En este trabajo se tratan estos planteamientos y se justifica la elección de algunos contenidos, que debieran conducir a alcanzar en nuestro alumnado unas competencias científicas y en salud, acordes a las necesidades y expectativas de los jóvenes europeos del siglo actual

Environmental Education toward Sustainable Development: Training Early-Ages Pre-Service Teachers to Design Their Own Scientific Didactic Proposals

This study was implemented with 540 early-ages pre-service teachers during three academic courses in Spain. Students designed their own didactic proposals with environmental education aim toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Countless initiatives are being implemented at all educational levels around the world to include these SDGs in didactic programs. However, traditional teaching methods are sometimes insufficient to achieve a “proactive attitude” toward environmental problems by pupils. Certain characteristics of teaching and learning in the early-ages are exploration, motivation, curiosity, questioning, dialogue, collaboration, and reasoning to establish connections between scientific concepts and their environment. Therefore, the study was induced by the interest of introducing scientific methodology to achieve environmental education aims. The design of scientific didactic proposals was helpful for early-years prospective teachers to acquire environmental education skills toward SDGs. They increased their knowledge regarding environmental issues and their feeling of moral obligation to protect the environment and self-reported pro-environmental behavior, being aware of their role as educators. However, future experiences will be specially intended to enhance the importance of met a cognitive and emotive learning in pupils, including observation, identification, argumentation, and discussion

Colaboración escuela-universidad para llevar la investigación a las aulas

En un contexto en el que la Comisión Europea apuesta por incluir nuevas formas de pedagogía y cambios para mejorar el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje de las ciencias, ya desde edades tempranas, investigadores del Grupo Beagle pertenecientes al Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón (IUCA), del Área de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales de la Universidad de Zaragoza vienen colaborando con diversos centros educativos implementando diversas actividades. Se ha venido colaborando con los/as maestros/as y alumnado de 7 centros educativos de Aragón y Minnesota, y, de forma esporádica, también con algunos otros centros más. En este sentido, los talleres incluidos en la semana de la ciencia, y proyectos como Iluminando lo Invisible, Trabajando con egagrópilas (durante 2019) y el proyecto "CienciaTE" (que comenzó en el año 2013) ponen el foco en facilitar herramientas didácticas (tanto recursos como metodología) a la medida de las necesidades e inquietudes de los docentes de infantil, primaria y secundaria. En las propuestas se utilizan metodologías de indagación centradas en la cooperación, la motivación, y el aprendizaje de las ciencias para explicar fenómenos cotidianos pensando, haciendo y comunicando resultados. Se busca de esta manera el superar las metodologías convencionales para enseñar ciencias, y el miedo al alumnado y profesorado por dicha materia, formando redes de comunicación y formación docente entre diversos niveles educativos desde infantil al universitario

Genetic Mouse Models as In Vivo Tools for Cholangiocarcinoma Research

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a genetically and histologically complex disease with a highly dismal prognosis. A deeper understanding of the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of human CCA will increase our current knowledge of the disease and expedite the eventual development of novel therapeutic strategies for this fatal cancer. This endeavor is effectively supported by genetic mouse models, which serve as sophisticated tools to systematically investigate CCA pathobiology and treatment response. These in vivo models feature many of the genetic alterations found in humans, recapitulate multiple hallmarks of cholangiocarcinogenesis (encompassing cell transformation, preneoplastic lesions, established tumors and metastatic disease) and provide an ideal experimental setting to study the interplay between tumor cells and the surrounding stroma. This review is intended to serve as a compendium of CCA mouse models, including traditional transgenic models but also genetically flexible approaches based on either the direct introduction of DNA into liver cells or transplantation of pre-malignant cells, and is meant as a resource for CCA researchers to aid in the selection of the most appropriate in vivo model system

The Multimode Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem for Repetitive Activities in Construction Projects

[EN] In construction projects, resource availability might limit the implementation of ideal schedules. Especially, when repetitive activities are involved, traditional resource¿constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) models fail to allocate the resource consumption in an efficient manner. Besides, actual models only provide local optimal solutions and do not incorporate activity acceleration routines. To fulfill this gap, partially, a mathematical optimization model, the multimode RCPSP for repetitive activities in construction projects, is proposed and solved to optimality; it takes into account acceleration routines under real construction scenarios using spreadsheets. The article shows a complete computational experimentation over a real construction project, considering several scenarios of resource availabilities and continuity conditions. The model allows analyzing the resources efficiency indexes comparing them to resource consumptions, continuity of activities, and objective functions that reveal that fragmented activities do not provide better resource efficiency outcomes.This research was partially supported by the FAPA program of Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia (code P14.246922.005/01). The authors would also like to thank the research group of Construction Engineering and Management (INgeco) at Universidad de los Andes.García-Nieves, J.; Ponz-Tienda, JL.; Salcedo-Bernal, A.; Pellicer Armiñana, E. (2018). The Multimode Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem for Repetitive Activities in Construction Projects. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering. 33(8):655-671. https://doi.org/10.1111/mice.12356S65567133

Patrimonio hidráulico histórico en el entorno de la ciudad de Teruel

Tener presente la historia de los regadíos del entorno de cualquier ciudad, comarca o territorio, así como la de su industria asociada tiene que ser como dice Julián Ortega “un instrumento de reflexión colectiva”. El entorno de la ciudad de Teruel, zona agrícola antes que ciudad, tiene todavía suficientes vestigios de su patrimonio industrial asociado al agua que bien merece un reconocimiento y una conservación en los términos y medios que sea posible. En estas páginas se lleva a cabo lo que se podría denominar un inventario para apoyar a esa reflexión

Ética animal y selección de contenidos en Educación Primaria

Teniendo en consideracio´n la importancia que los conocimientos de ciencias tienen en la sociedad actual y las amplias a´reas tema´ticas que e´stos abarcan, es necesario plantearse, desde la dida´ctica de las ciencias, no solamente que´ contenidos se abordan y desde que´ metodologi´as, sino tambie´n la justi cacio´n de los motivos de la eleccio´n. En este trabajo se tratan estos planteamientos y se justi ca la eleccio´n de algunos contenidos, que debieran conducir a alcanzar en nuestro alumnado unas competencias cienti´ cas y en salud, acordes a las necesidades y expectativas de los jo´venes euro- peos del siglo actual. OBJETIVOS: Argumentar la necesidad del trabajo en competencias de Salud. Averiguar intereses de los estudiantes de conocimientos relacionados con la ciencia de los estudiantes de Magisterio y de Educacio´n Primaria. Tener puntos de motivacio´n para eleccio´n de contenidos que a su vez tengan relevancia social

Abnormal activity in hypothalamus and amygdala during humour processing in human narcolepsy with cataplexy

Narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC) is a complex sleep-wake disorder, which was recently found to be associated with a reduction or loss of hypocretin (HCRT, also called orexin). HCRT is a hypothalamic peptide implicated in the regulation of sleep/wake, motor and feeding functions. Cataplexy refers to episodes of sudden and transient loss of muscle tone triggered by strong, mostly positive emotions, such as hearing or telling jokes. Cataplexy is thought to reflect the recruitment of ponto-medullary mechanisms that normally underlie muscle atonia during REM-sleep. In contrast, the suprapontine brain mechanisms associated with the cataplectic effects of emotions in human narcolepsy with cataplexy remain essentially unknown. Here, we used event-related functional MRI to assess brain activity in 12 NC patients and 12 controls while they watched sequences of humourous pictures. Patients and controls were similar in humour appreciation and activated regions known to contribute to humour processing, including limbic and striatal regions. A direct statistical comparison between patients and controls revealed that humourous pictures elicited reduced hypothalamic response together with enhanced amygdala response in the patients. These results suggest (i) that hypothalamic HCRT activity physiologically modulates the processing of emotional inputs within the amygdala, and (ii) that suprapontine mechanisms of cataplexy involve a dysfunction of hypothalamic-amygdala interactions triggered by positive emotion

Dose-finding study and pharmacogenomic analysis of fixed-rate infusion of gemcitabine, irinotecan and bevacizumab in pretreated metastatic colorectal cancer patients

BACKGROUND: To determine the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), maximum tolerated dose, recommended dose (RD) and preliminary evidence of activity of escalating doses of irinotecan (CPT-11) fixed-dose-rate infusional gemcitabine (FDR-GMB) and bevacizumab in pretreated metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. Pharmacogenomic analysis was performed to investigate the association between VEGF single-nucleotide polymorphisms and clinical outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 89 mCRC patients were recruited in a two-step study design; 28 were included in the dose-finding study and 59 in the pharmacogenomic analysis. The FDR-GMB of 1000 mg m⁻², bevacizumab 5 mg kg⁻¹ and CPT-11 doses ranging from 100 to 160 mg m⁻² were explored. The VEGF protein serum levels were quantified by EIA. Allelic discrimination was performed to genotype polymorphisms in the VEGF gene. RESULTS: CPT-11 RD was 150 mg m⁻². Diarrhoea and neutropenia were the DLT. After a median follow-up of 42 months, the median time to progression (TTP) and overall survival were 5.2 and 19.9 months, respectively. VEGF levels were significantly correlated with VEGF-2578AA and VEGF-460CC genotypes, and a trend was observed with VEGF+405GG genotype. The presence of any of these genotypes correlated with a longer median TTP (8.8 vs 4.5 months, P=0.04). CONCLUSION: The triplet combination tested in this study is effective and well tolerated. A possible predictive role for VEGF gene polymorphisms and baseline VEGF circulating levels is suggested