Abnormal expression of cerebrospinal fluid cation chloride cotransporters in patients with Rett Syndrome

Objective: Rett Syndrome is a progressive neurodevelopmental disorder caused mainly by mutations in the gene encoding methyl-CpG-binding protein 2. The relevance of MeCP2 for GABAergic function was previously documented in animal models. In these models, animals show deficits in brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of this disease. Neuronal Cation Chloride Cotransporters (CCCs) play a key role in GABAergic neuronal maturation, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor is implicated in the regulation of CCCs expression during development. Our aim was to analyse the expression of two relevant CCCs, NKCC1 and KCC2, in the cerebrospinal fluid of Rett syndrome patients and compare it with a normal control group. Methods: The presence of bumetanide sensitive NKCC1 and KCC2 was analysed in cerebrospinal fluid samples from a control pediatric population (1 day to 14 years of life) and from Rett syndrome patients (2 to 19 years of life), by immunoblot analysis. Results: Both proteins were detected in the cerebrospinal fluid and their levels are higher in the early postnatal period. However, Rett syndrome patients showed significantly reduced levels of KCC2 and KCC2/NKCC1 ratio when compared to the control group. Conclusions: Reduced KCC2/NKCC1 ratio in the cerebrospinal fluid of Rett Syndrome patients suggests a disturbed process of GABAergic neuronal maturation and open up a new therapeutic perspective

Virulence of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from the cheese dairy environment, other foods and clinical cases

The virulence potential of 51 Listeria monocytogenes isolates, including strains from cheese, cheese production environments and from human cases of listeriosis, was evaluated in this study. The isolates were used to infect HT-29 cell monolayers in an in vitro test of virulence, based on a plaque-forming assay (PFA). Fifteen selected isolates were used for subcutaneous footpad inoculation in mice and subsequent recovery of the bacterium from the spleen 3 days after inoculation. In the PFA, two isolates from milk (serovar 1/2a) were not significantly different (P,0.05) from the low-virulence strain (442) used as reference. Thirty-three isolates were not significantly different (P,0.05) from the virulent strain (EGDe) used as reference. Nine isolates were significantly more virulent (highly virulent) than the EGDe strain and seven isolates were significantly less virulent. The nine highly virulent isolates were either from humans (four), from cheese dairy environments (two isolates of a strain were found persistently in two dairies), from cheese (one), from milk (one) and the reference strain for serovar 1/2b (CECT 936). The two milk isolates with low virulence in the PFA were found to be virulent in mice. In conclusion, all the isolates from food and food-related environments were potentially virulent or highly virulent. These results stress the risk of listeriosis associated with the consumption of cheese contaminated with L. monocytogenes, and once more emphasize the importance of good manufacturing practices (GMPs) together with sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOPs) throughout the food chain

Technology: a strategic imperative for successful retailers

This author accepted manuscript is deposited under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC) licence. This means that anyone may distribute, adapt, and build upon the work for non-commercial purposes, subject to full attribution. If you wish to use this manuscript for commercial purposes, please contact [email protected]: In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology is rewriting the way consumers shop as well as the retail operating models. In this context, investment in new technologies is a strategic imperative for retailers striving to remain relevant and profitable. Using Kahn's Retail Success Matrix as the conceptual framework, the aim of the study is to propose a classification of emerging technologies based on their potential for sustaining retailers' competitive strategies. Design/methodology/approach: Following an initial qualitative study based on in-depth interviews and focus groups with 20 retail managers, the authors collected survey data from a sample of 168 retail and technology professionals. To achieve the research objectives, content, descriptive and multiple correspondence factor analyses were carried out. Findings: The data analyses result on a map that plots the technological solutions that retail experts identify as enablers of four key competitive strategies: product superiority, enhanced customer experience, frictionless shopping experience and operational excellence. Practical implications: This research work provides valuable insight into how retail companies can capitalise on technology to create or reinforce their competitive positioning. The framework acts as a guide for retail companies to assess their technology priorities. Originality/value: This exploratory empirical study is the result of a collaboration between academic researchers and retail professionals. Thus, it addresses challenges experienced by key stakeholders. The encompassing classification enables a better understanding of the impact of technology on retailers' competitive positioning.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Funding Agency #1) under Grant PID2020-113561RB-I00. This study benefited from the Professorship Excellence Program in accordance with the multi-year agreement signed by the Government of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Madrid (Line #3)

Digital maturity survey for Wales 2017

The Welsh Government and Cardiff Business School were successful in 2015 in gaining European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) for a programme of business support to assist Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across Wales to engage with superfast broadband infrastructure, other e-connectivity and consequently enabled technologies. This programme of support – The Superfast Broadband Business Exploitation (SBBE) programme - went live in January 2016 for a period of five years. Cardiff Business School is providing a research and intelligence function surrounding the programme of business support. The first substantive output from the research and intelligence function was to provide a report on the methods to be followed in developing a Digital Dashboard for Wales and a resulting economic impact assessment showing how SMEs have benefited from services levered by superfast broadband (WERU, 2016). This report then provides details of WERU’s first annual Digital Maturity Survey (2016). It sets out the results from a survey of 166 businesses in Wales, including their adoption of superfast broadband, their infrastructure and IT capabilities, and performance. The framework adopted for the annual digital maturity survey is set out in the Figure 0-1 below. This framework has been developed from a review of existing studies on digital maturity, and is intended to reflect the processes by which superfast broadband adoption both shapes, and is shaped by a businesses’ resources, the use and exploitation of broadband, and the subsequent performance impact. The main findings of the Digital Maturity Survey 2016 are that: - Most SMEs that participated in the survey have standard broadband, while only a third have adopted superfast broadband (defined as SMEs being able to achieve download speeds of at least 24Mbps). The majority of standard broadband users, however, are aware of, or interested in superfast broadband. Superfast broadband adoption rates vary significantly by business size, industry sector, geographical area and region. SMEs with superfast broadband are more likely to engage in innovation activity than standard broadband users. Innovation focus, however, is not influenced by broadband type, with both standard and superfast broadband users innovating in new service and products. - Only 15% of responding businesses had a dedicated IT budget. Although medium sized businesses have the highest average expenditure on broadband subscriptions in absolute terms, micro businesses have a higher average spend per employee on monthly broadband subscriptions. As businesses grow larger, high IT investment does not lead to improvements in performance amongst respondents. - Most SMEs have access to staff with adequate IT skills and capabilities. Nearly 60% of sampled SMEs employed staff with intermediate and above IT skills, 50% of SMEs have staff with knowledge of using cloud enabled services at business, and nearly two thirds of businesses in the whole sample have access to IT support. - SMEs with high IT capability – defined by the level of SMEs’ human IT-related resources - are concentrated in the information and communication and business services sectors. Micro and young SMEs, however, are the most digitally advanced businesses; yet their access to superfast broadband was reported to be constrained by its high associated costs. - SMEs are more confident in using e-commerce than wider digital technologies. Even businesses with high IT capability find it difficult to successfully implement digital technologies in their business. Overall, the more digitally mature businesses in the sample tended to perform better in terms of growth and innovation

Implementación de la hidroterapia en un tratamiento convencional para la parálisis cerebral infantil discinética. Comparativa de dos casos.

Introducción. La parálisis cerebral infantil (PCI) discinética es el segundo tipo de parálisis cerebral más frecuente. Hay una afectación de los ganglios basales, y se manifiesta mediante movimientos involuntarios y una alteración del tono y la postura. Al ser una patología crónica, las terapias tratan de mejorar la funcionalidad y frenar las deformidades. Las terapias empleadas son las basadas en tratamientos convencionales y la hidroterapia. Objetivos. Elaborar dos planes de tratamiento, uno convencional y otro combinando éste con la hidroterapia, para valorar la eficacia de ambos y si existe una diferencia importante en los resultados entre una terapia y otra. Metodología. Es un estudio de comparación entre grupos, GI (experimental) y GC (control), que valora las variables dependientes en la fase inicial, aplica dos variables independientes (terapias), una a cada grupo, y valora de nuevo las VD al final del estudio. Cada grupo está formado por un sujeto, de 15 años, que presenta una PCI distónica, manifestada con distonía y coreoatetosis. Desarrollo. Teniendo en cuenta los objetivos planteados y que éstos eran a largo plazo, se observan en ambos grupos unos resultados ligeramente positivos tras 6 semanas de tratamiento. Se evidencian más los resultados positivos a nivel del reforzamiento muscular, amplitudes articulares y deformidades. Conclusiones. A pesar de que la muestra es pequeña, ambos planes de tratamiento se muestran efectivos, sin llegar a presentar unos resultados más favorables una terapia sobre la otra. Son necesarios más estudios que comparen o evidencien la efectividad del programa de hidroterapia en este tipo de parálisis cerebral infantil

Cue-based decision rules of cleaner fish in a biological market task

To develop an evolutionary theory of social decision making, we require an understanding of how individuals utilize environmental cues to form decision rules. We exposed ‘cleaner’ fish (bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus) to a biological market task, where giving priority to an ephemeral (i.e. ‘visitor’ client) food plate, over a permanent (i.e. ‘resident’ client) plate, doubled the food reward. Previously published experiments revealed that adult cleaners from a complex social environment regularly solved this task and outperformed adult cleaners from a simple social environment as well as juveniles from both habitat types. In these studies, plates were differentiated by colour and/or colour pattern. However, client size is another potentially useful cue that may be used by cleaners to solve the biological market task in nature, as visitor clients are typically larger than resident clients. Here, we tested cleaners in a setting where plates differed only in size and not colour/pattern: the majority of cleaners exhibited a spontaneous preference for inspecting larger plates or were more likely to reach the task-solving criterion if the visitor plate was larger. All cleaners were able to solve the task when we incorporated both size and colour/pattern cues; however, only cleaners from the complex social environment settled on the more precise colour/pattern cue. In contrast, cleaners from the simple social environment relied on size as the primary, yet less precise, cue to solve the task. In conclusion, our results strongly suggest that intraspecific variation in the performance of cleaners in the biological market task is based on variation in the relative salience of available cues and correlates with variation in a cleaner's natural social environment. Variation in the relative salience of available cues may therefore explain a portion of the intra- and interspecific variance in cognitive performance and social behaviour documented in other animal species

Bullying victimization in young females with fragile-X-syndrome

The aim of this study is to investigate the risk associated with girls with fragile X syndrome (FXS) suffering bullying in the role of a victim and its effects on their adaptive behavior, socialization style, and emotional state. A neuropsychological assessment was carried out on a sample of 40 participants (26 FXS positive and 14 control group) using the following instruments: WISC-V, SENA, BAS-2, ABAS-II. The results show that the group of girls with FXS presented higher ratios of lack of social support and isolation from classmates. This finding suggests that problems with social interaction and communication in the group of girls with FXS could lead to difficulties in interpreting social signals and identifying situations of bullying correctly, placing them in a very vulnerable situation

Investigación en educación: los procesos de sistematización de experiencias educativas

Este artículo presenta la metodología de trabajo de investigación que se implementa en la Cátedra (oculto para revisión) que consiste en la sistematización de experiencias. Esta metodología, desde una perspectiva latinoamericana, apunta a reconocer la riqueza de conocimientos generados en la práctica, recuperar aquellos que han sido valiosos y pertinentes en diversos contextos y hacerlos comunicables para que otros puedan valerse de estas prácticas. Se parte de hacer un recorrido por esta metodología de trabajo y por compartir la implementación que se hace desde la Cátedra para enriquecer la trayectoria formativa de los estudiantes.Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Socia

Recuperar la teoría subyacente en la práctica educativa a partir de la sistematización de experiencias: compartiendo recorridos

La presente ponencia expondrá la metodología de trabajo que se está desarrollando en la Cátedra I “Prácticas de la Enseñanza” de la Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Social de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, en la cual a partir del presente año integra la Sistematización de Experiencias como eje vertebrador y articulador de las prácticas docentes. La mencionada cátedra es la última materia anual del Profesorado en Comunicación Social, y tiene como objetivo cerrar el proceso de la carrera por medio de la articulación de los saberes aprendidos durante la misma a través de la realización de prácticas profesionales en un espacio posible de inserción laboral del Profesor en Comunicación Social. El trabajo se realiza en parejas o tríos pedagógicos, apoyado por la orientación de los docentes a cargo de las comisiones mediante tutorías personalizadas, y sostenido a partir de la reflexión constante sobre la práctica realizadas semana a semana. El contexto formativo en el cual los estudiantes se insertan para profundizar en su recorrido es el Sistema Educativo Oficial, que integra aquellos espacios curriculares del Sistema Escolar, estatal, de nivel Secundario Orientado (Orientaciones en Comunicación y Ciencias Sociales), Institutos Superiores de Formación Docente, Educación para Adultos, etc. donde el Profesor en Comunicación Social tiene incumbencia, y la comunicación es objeto de conocimiento a modo de contenido a ser enseñado, y a su vez, dimensión constitutiva de las situaciones de enseñanza. En estos espacios la propuesta para la pareja pedagógica consiste en insertarse en una materia donde el Profesor en Comunicación Social tenga incumbencia, y elaborar una propuesta pedagógica que se integre en una Unidad Temática de la propuesta ya elaborada por el docente a cargo. Por último, se propone el trabajo de Sistematización de Experiencias, a partir de la recuperación, análisis y reflexión sobre las prácticas realizadas, a fin de consensuar cuáles han sido “Buenas Prácticas Docentes”, comprendidas éstas como decisiones acertadas al momento de implementar estrategias didácticas o decisiones sobre contenidos, que podrían señalarse como experiencias significativas que aporten a prácticas futuras.Eje 2. Comunicación/educación.Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Socia