Hacia la competencia comunicativa a través de la eficiencia y la coherencia en la gestión por proyecto en la carrera de Mecanización Agropecuaria de la Universidad Agraria de La Habana

La gestión por proyecto puede contribuir a la transformación del logro de la competencia comunicativa en cursos de idiomas para el pregrado de carreras no-filológicas, si se logra con ella la eficiencia y la coherencia. Tradicionalmente la atención instructiva e investigativa del docente de inglés en la Universidad Agraria de la Habana, UNAH, ha estado centrada en la instrucción, especialmente en la metodología de la enseñanza, sin acudir al referente de gestión del conocimiento. Así es que con ese estilo de desempeño laboral, no se ha reparado en balancear egresos con ingresos, en función de resultados instructivos eficientes, entiéndase por ello de más impacto social en el aprendizaje-producción de conocimientos. Sin embargo, por ser esta actuación no-sostenible, económicamente, se hace necesario extender la cultura de desempeño laboral del docente y del estudiante a hacia una gestión más eficiente de sus intelectos. En este sentido, el presente artículo explica la primera fase de una experiencia investigativa en materia de gestión de la docencia, llevada a cabo en el Departamento de Idiomas para la Disciplina Lengua Inglesa, de la Carrera Ingeniería en Mecanización de la Producción Agropecuaria. Con este artículo, esperamos argumentar cómo el docente, a través de la gestión participativa por proyectos, pudiera lograr mejor competencia comunicativa en sus estudiantes, como el resultado de ser más eficiente y más coherente en su desempeño laboral.If efficiency and coherence are achieved, as a result from applying a participatory project management strategy to make language students become communicatively competent, then project management can make a contribution to transforming the achievement of such a competent user of the target language in question. Traditionally, teaching and research focus, when achieving communicative competence in language courses for undergraduates, in the context of La Habana Agrarian University’s non-philological majors, has been based on not observing the need to balance costs with a corresponding returning input of resources. Today, such a productive behaviour is non-sustainable, for it leads to achieving linguistic goals at an unnecessarily high cost. In the context of this discussion, we present the first stage of a research experience that is being carried out by the Language Department English Language Discipline Teaching Committee for the Agricultural Mechanization major. With this article, we expect to discuss the way instructors could use project management to minimize costs, by maximizing efficiency through overall coherent teaching management, in their quest for making their students achieve competence.Eje: Educación Universitaria ReflexionesRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Hacia la competencia comunicativa a través de la eficiencia y la coherencia en la gestión por proyecto en la carrera de Mecanización Agropecuaria de la Universidad Agraria de La Habana

La gestión por proyecto puede contribuir a la transformación del logro de la competencia comunicativa en cursos de idiomas para el pregrado de carreras no-filológicas, si se logra con ella la eficiencia y la coherencia. Tradicionalmente la atención instructiva e investigativa del docente de inglés en la Universidad Agraria de la Habana, UNAH, ha estado centrada en la instrucción, especialmente en la metodología de la enseñanza, sin acudir al referente de gestión del conocimiento. Así es que con ese estilo de desempeño laboral, no se ha reparado en balancear egresos con ingresos, en función de resultados instructivos eficientes, entiéndase por ello de más impacto social en el aprendizaje-producción de conocimientos. Sin embargo, por ser esta actuación no-sostenible, económicamente, se hace necesario extender la cultura de desempeño laboral del docente y del estudiante a hacia una gestión más eficiente de sus intelectos. En este sentido, el presente artículo explica la primera fase de una experiencia investigativa en materia de gestión de la docencia, llevada a cabo en el Departamento de Idiomas para la Disciplina Lengua Inglesa, de la Carrera Ingeniería en Mecanización de la Producción Agropecuaria. Con este artículo, esperamos argumentar cómo el docente, a través de la gestión participativa por proyectos, pudiera lograr mejor competencia comunicativa en sus estudiantes, como el resultado de ser más eficiente y más coherente en su desempeño laboral.If efficiency and coherence are achieved, as a result from applying a participatory project management strategy to make language students become communicatively competent, then project management can make a contribution to transforming the achievement of such a competent user of the target language in question. Traditionally, teaching and research focus, when achieving communicative competence in language courses for undergraduates, in the context of La Habana Agrarian University’s non-philological majors, has been based on not observing the need to balance costs with a corresponding returning input of resources. Today, such a productive behaviour is non-sustainable, for it leads to achieving linguistic goals at an unnecessarily high cost. In the context of this discussion, we present the first stage of a research experience that is being carried out by the Language Department English Language Discipline Teaching Committee for the Agricultural Mechanization major. With this article, we expect to discuss the way instructors could use project management to minimize costs, by maximizing efficiency through overall coherent teaching management, in their quest for making their students achieve competence.Eje: Educación Universitaria ReflexionesRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Enhanced alkaline hydrolysis and biodegradability studies of nitrocellulose-bearing missile propellant

Large amounts of energetic materials which have been accumulated over the years in various manufacturing and military installations must be disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. Historically, the method of choice for destruction of obsolete or aging energetic materials has been open burning or open detonation (OB/OD). This destruction approach has become undesirable due to air pollution problems. Therefore, there is a need for new technologies which will effectively and economically deal with the disposal of energetic materials. Along those lines, we have investigated a chemical/biological process for the safe destruction and disposal of a double base solid rocket propellant (AHH), which was used in several 8 inch projectile systems. The solid propellant is made of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin as energetic components, two lead salts which act as ballistic modifiers, triacetin as a plasticizer and 2-Nitrodiphenylamine (2-NDPA) as a stabilizer. A process train is being developed to convert the organic components of the propellant to biodegradable products and remove the lead from the process stream. The solid propellant is first hydrolyzed through an enhanced alkaline hydrolysis process step. Following lead removal and neutralization, the digested liquor rich in nitrates and nitrites is found to be easily biodegradable. The digestion rate of the intact ground propellant as well as the release of nitrite and nitrate groups were substantially increased when ultrasound were supplied to the alkaline reaction medium compared to the conventional alkaline hydrolysis. The effects of reaction time, temperature, sodium hydroxide concentration and other relevant parameters on the digestion efficiency and biodegradability have been studied. The present work indicates that the AHH propellant can be disposed of safely with a combination of physiochemical and biological processes

Globally increased ultraconserved noncoding RNA expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Transcribed ultraconserved regions (T-UCRs) are a class of non-coding RNAs with 100% sequence conservation among human, rat and mouse genomes. T-UCRs are differentially expressed in several cancers, however their expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has not been studied. We used a qPCR array to profile all 481 T-UCRs in pancreatic cancer specimens, pancreatic cancer cell lines, during experimental pancreatic desmoplasia and in the pancreases of P48Cre/wt; KrasLSL-G12D/wt mice. Fourteen, 57 and 29% of the detectable T-UCRs were differentially expressed in the cell lines, human tumors and transgenic mouse pancreases, respectively. The vast majority of the differentially expressed T-UCRs had increased expression in the cancer. T-UCRs were monitored using an in vitro model of the desmoplastic reaction. Twenty-five % of the expressed T-UCRs were increased in the HPDE cells cultured on PANC-1 cellular matrix. UC.190, UC.233 and UC.270 were increased in all three human data sets. siRNA knockdown of each of these three T-UCRs reduced the proliferation of MIA PaCa-2 cells up to 60%. The expression pattern among many T-UCRs in the human and mouse pancreases closely correlated with one another, suggesting that groups of T-UCRs are co-activated in PDAC. Successful knockout of the transcription factor EGR1 in PANC-1 cells caused a reduction in the expression of a subset of T-UCRs suggesting that EGR1 may control T-UCR expression in PDAC. We report a global increase in expression of T-UCRs in both human and mouse PDAC. Commonalties in their expression pattern suggest a similar mechanism of transcriptional upregulation for T-UCRs in PDAC.Supported by grants R21/R33CA114304 and U01CA111294. G.A.C. is supported as a Fellow at The University of Texas MD Anderson Research Trust, as a University of Texas System Regents Research Scholar and by the CLL Global Research Foundation. Work in Dr. Calin’s laboratory is supported in part by a 2009 Seena Magowitz–Pancreatic Cancer Action Network AACR Pilot Grant, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the RGK Foundation and the Estate of C. G. Johnson, Jr. A.C.P.A.P. was supported by NIH fellowship 5F31CA142238

CCAT2, a novel noncoding RNA mapping to 8q24, underlies metastatic progression and chromosomal instability in colon cancer

The functional roles of SNPs within the 8q24 gene desert in the cancer phenotype are not yet well understood. Here, we report that CCAT2, a novel long noncoding RNA transcript (lncRNA) encompassing the rs6983267 SNP, is highly overexpressed in microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer and promotes tumor growth, metastasis, and chromosomal instability. We demonstrate that MYC, miR-17-5p, and miR-20a are up-regulated by CCAT2 through TCF7L2-mediated transcriptional regulation. We further identify the physical interaction between CCAT2 and TCF7L2 resulting in an enhancement of WNT signaling activity. We show that CCAT2 is itself a WNT downstream target, which suggests the existence of a feedback loop. Finally, we demonstrate that the SNP status affects CCAT2 expression and the risk allele G produces more CCAT2 transcript. Our results support a new mechanism of MYC and WNT regulation by the novel lncRNA CCAT2 in colorectal cancer pathogenesis, and provide an alternative explanation of the SNP-conferred cancer risk

Gestión por proyecto: una solución metodológica para lograr la eficiencia en contexto del aprendizaje de la lengua inglesa para la carrera de Estudios Socioculturales de la UNAH.

En el contexto de la enseñanza-aprendizaje de inglés en la Carrera de Estudios Socioculturales de la UNAH, la gestión por proyecto se argumenta como una necesidad metodológica que permita al docente y al estudiante alcanzar la eficiencia en la producción del conocimiento, entendido esto como el logro de la competencia comunicativa. Para mediar en el proceso del logro de esta competencia, se propone una batería de variables cualitativas, conformada por la “coherencia”, es decir, que las normas para el desempeño concuerden con el desempeño; la “pertinencia”, o el mayor valor social posible del proyecto; la “producción científica”, o la socialización del conocimiento resultante; la “relevancia”, o su mayor reconocimiento social posible; y el “impacto”, o la transformación más eficiente del objeto de investigación, en ese orden lógico, consecutivo, de subordinación metodológica. En este sentido, este artículo da a conocer la argumentación que sustenta esta propuesta, la cual debe resultar, como señalamos en el logro de la competencia comunicativa, como criterio del logro de la eficiencia.Eje: Educación universitaria: Experiencias educativasRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

MiR-543 regulates the epigenetic landscape of myelofibrosis by targeting TET1 and TET2

Myelofibros is (MF) is a myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by cytopenia and extramedullary hematopoiesis, resulting in splenomegaly. Multiple pathological mechanisms (e.g., circulating cytokines and genetic alterations, such as JAK(V617F) mutation) have been implicated in the etiology of MF, but the molecular mechanism causing resistance to JAK(V617F) inhibitor therapy remains unknown. Among MF patients who were treated with the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib, we compared noncoding RNA profiles of ruxolitinib therapy responders versus nonresponders and found miR-S43 was significantly upregulated in non responders. We validated these findings by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. in this same cohort, in 2 additional independent MF patient cohorts from the United States and Romania, and in a JAK2(V617F) mouse model of MF. Both in vitro and in vivo models were used to determine the underlying molecular mechanism of miR-543 in MF. Here, we demonstrate that miR-543 targets the dioxygenases ten-eleven translocation 1 (TET1) and 2 (TET2) in patients and in vitro, causing increased levels of global 5-methylcytosine, while decreasing the acetylation of histone 3, STAT3, and tumor protein p53. Mechanistically, we found that activation of STAT3 by JAKs epigenetically controls miR-543 expression via binding the promoter region of miR-543. Furthermore, miR-543 upregulation promotes the expression of genes related to drug metabolism, including CYP3A4, which is involved in ruxolitinib metabolism. Our findings suggest miR-543 as a potentially novel biomarker for the prognosis of MF patients with a high risk of treatment resistance and as a potentially new target for the development of new treatment options

N-BLR, a primate-specific non-coding transcript leads to colorectal cancer invasion and migration

Background: non-coding RNAs have been drawing increasing attention in recent years as functional data suggest that they play important roles in key cellular processes. N-BLR is a primate-specific long non-coding RNA that modulates the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, facilitates cell migration, and increases colorectal cancer invasion. Results: we performed multivariate analyses of data from two independent cohorts of colorectal cancer patients and show that the abundance of N-BLR is associated with tumor stage, invasion potential, and overall patient survival. Through in vitro and in vivo experiments we found that N-BLR facilitates migration primarily via crosstalk with E-cadherin and ZEB1. We showed that this crosstalk is mediated by a pyknon, a short ~20 nucleotide-long DNA motif contained in the N-BLR transcript and is targeted by members of the miR-200 family. In light of these findings, we used a microarray to investigate the expression patterns of other pyknon-containing genomic loci. We found multiple such loci that are differentially transcribed between healthy and diseased tissues in colorectal cancer and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Moreover, we identified several new loci whose expression correlates with the colorectal cancer patients' overall survival. Conclusions: the primate-specific N-BLR is a novel molecular contributor to the complex mechanisms that underlie metastasis in colorectal cancer and a potential novel biomarker for this disease. The presence of a functional pyknon within N-BLR and the related finding that many more pyknon-containing genomic loci in the human genome exhibit tissue-specific and disease-specific expression suggests the possibility of an alternative class of biomarkers and therapeutic targets that are primate-specific

Tumor surveillance by circulating microRNAs: a hypothesis

A growing body of experimental evidence supports the diagnostic relevance of circulating microRNAs in various diseases including cancer. The biological relevance of circulating microRNAs is, however, largely unknown, particularly in healthy individuals. Here, we propose a hypothesis based on the relative abundance of microRNAs with predominant tumor suppressor activity in the blood of healthy individuals. According to our hypothesis, certain sets of circulating microRNAs might function as a tumor surveillance mechanism exerting continuous inhibition on tumor formation. The microRNA-mediated tumor surveillance might complement cancer immune surveillance