Discovery of a Nova-Like Cataclysmic Variable in the Kepler Mission Field

We announce the identification of a new cataclysmic variable star in the field of the Kepler Mission, KIC J192410.81+445934.9. This system was identified during a search for compact pulsators in the Kepler field. High-speed photometry reveals coherent large-amplitude variability with a period of 2.94 h. Rapid, large-amplitude quasi-periodic variations are also detected on time scales of ~1200 s and ~650 s. Time-resolved spectroscopy covering one half photometric period shows shallow, broad Balmer and He I absorption lines with bright emission cores as well as strong He II and Bowen blend emission. Radial velocity variations are also observed in the Balmer and He I emission lines that are consistent with the photometric period. We therefore conclude that KIC J192410.81+445934.9 is a nova-like variable of the UX UMa class in or near the period gap, and it may belong to the rapidly growing subclass of SW Sex systems. Based on 2MASS photometry and companion star models, we place a lower limit on the distance to the system of ~500 pc. Due to limitations of our discovery data, additional observations including spectroscopy and polarimetry are needed to confirm the nature of this object. Such data will help to further understanding of the behavior of nova-like variables in the critical period range of 3-4 h, where standard cataclysmic variable evolutionary theory finds major problems. The presence of this system in the Kepler mission field-of-view also presents a unique opportunity to obtain a continuous photometric data stream of unparalleled length and precision on a cataclysmic variable system.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. 8 pages, 7 figures, uses emulateapj

Flipped Classroom como apoyo a la docencia en las asignaturas de música en el grado de educación infantil

Aplicación del modelo didáctico "Flipped Classroom" en las asignaturas de música del Grado de Educación Infantil. Los contenidos teóricos del programa se mostraron, consecutivamente, a través de un conjunto de videos disponibles en el campus virtual de la asignatura, de una duración aproximada de quince minutos. Los archivos de video se subieron a la plataforma Moodle al menos cinco días antes de cada sesión, con lo cual, el grupo dispuso de tiempo suficiente para visionarlos desde casa. Las sesiones presenciales consistieron entonces, en la profundización de la teoría a través de ejercicios prácticos, tanto en grupo como individuales. Los resultados señalan que se modificó el rol pasivo del alumno, se fomentó el papel del docente como guía, y se aumentó el aprendizaje colaborativo y autónomo

Introducción de artículos de la prensa escrita en las clases de inglés de la especialidad de medicina

Se realizó un experimento que consistió en aplicar un conjunto de ejercicios con artículos de la prensa escrita relacionados con medicina, de corte social o médico, como medios de enseñanza en un grupo del quinto año de la especialidad de medicina de la carrera de Ciencias Médicas para fortalecer el desarrollo de las macrohabilidades o cuatro habilidades básicas del idioma inglés: Comprensión auditiva, expresión oral, lectura y escritura. Este trabajo facilitó la motivación de muchas clases de las asignaturas Inglés IX y X y el trabajo socio- político- ideológico. Elevó el nivel de las cuatro habilidades y aumentó el vocabulario técnico sobre medicina, así como la motivación por las clases de inglés y por la investigación científica lo que implica un mayor desarrollo técnico y profesional de nuestros futuros médicos

The role of virtual motor rehabilitation: a quantitative analysis between acute and chronic patients with acquired brain injury

"(c) 2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works."Acquired brain injury (ABI) is one of the main problems of disability and death in the world. Its incidence and survival rate are increasing annually. Thus, the number of chronic ABI patients is gradually growing. Traditionally, rehabilitation programs are applied to postacute and acute patients, but recent publications determine that chronic patients may benefit from rehabilitation. Also, in the last few years, the potential of virtual rehabilitation (VR) systems has been demonstrated. However, until now, no previous studies have been carried out to compare the evolution of chronic patients with acute patients in a VR program. To perform this study, we developed a VR system for ABI patients. The system, vestibular virtual rehabilitation (V2R), was designed with clinical specialists. V2R has been tested with 21 people ranging in age from 18 to 80 years old that were classified in two groups: chronic patients and acute patients. The results demonstrate a similar recovery for chronic and acute patients during the intervention period. Also, the results showed that chronic patients stop their improvement when they finish their training. This conclusion encourages us to direct our developments toward VR systems that can be easily integrated at home, allowing chronic patients to have a permanent VR training program.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia Spain: Projects Consolider-C (SEJ2006-14301/PSIC), "CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition, an initiative of ISCIII," and the Excellence Research Program PROMETEO (Generalitat Valenciana. Conselleria de Educacion, 2008-157).Albiol Pérez, S.; Gil-Gómez, J.; Llorens Rodríguez, R.; Alcañiz Raya, ML.; Colomer Font, C. (2014). The role of virtual motor rehabilitation: a quantitative analysis between acute and chronic patients with acquired brain injury. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. 18(1):391-398. https://doi.org/10.1109/JBHI.2013.2272101S39139818

Rangos percentiles para la valoración condición física de niños de la ciudad de Barranquilla

Physical fitness (PF) is closely related to health, physical activity and sports practice; includes multiple multisystemic abilities such as aerobic power, muscular strength, agility, and balance. The evaluation of the physical condition is essential for the identification of the health condition, athletic potential and classification of psychomotor deficiencies in children. The tests that allow its evaluation, classify children according to international reference values that differ from the anthropometric, biological and sociocultural characteristics of the different nations and regions. The objective of the present study is to construct the first percentile charts of four tests that reflect some of the components of PF in children from 6 to 10 years in Barranquilla city. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study, carried out in 3333 children aged between 6 and 10 years. Anthropometric characteristics were evaluated, and 4 specific fitness tests were performed for upper and lower extremity muscle strength, agility and aerobic power. The results allowed to strengthen the first normative tables for the classification of the physical condition of boys and girls living in Colombian Caribbean.La condición física está relacionada estrechamente con la salud, con la actividad física y la práctica de deportes; incluye múltiples atributos multisistémicos como la potencia aeróbica, la fuerza muscular, la agilidad y el equilibrio. La evaluación de la condición física es esencial para la identificación de la situación de salud, potencial atlético deportivo y clasificación de deficiencias psicomotoras en niños. Las pruebas que permiten su evaluación clasifican los niños de acuerdo con valores de referencia internacionales que difieren de las características antropométricas, biológicas y socioculturales de las diferentes naciones y regiones. El objetivo del presente estudio es construir las primeras cartas percentílicas de cuatro pruebas que reflejan algunos de los componentes de la CF en niños de 6 a 10 años de la ciudad de Barranquilla. Se presenta como un estudio descriptivo de corte transversal, realizado en 3333 niños con edades comprendidas desde los 6 a 10 años. Se evaluaron las características antropométricas y se realizaron 4 pruebas de condición física específicas para la fuerza muscular de extremidades superiores e inferiores, agilidad y potencia aeróbica. Los resultados permitieron consolidar las primeras tablas normativas percentílicas para la clasificación de la condición física de niños y niñas residentes en el caribe colombiano

Modelado del consumo energético de vehículos ferroviarios estacionados en cocheras

Los sistemas de ferrocarril urbano representan una solución con gran potencial para mejorar la movilidad en las áreas metropolitanas y reducir su contaminación ambiental. Sin embargo, en un contexto caracterizado por constantes subidas en el precio de la energía y donde otros medios de transporte están reduciendo significativamente su impacto medioambiental, estos sistemas deben mejorar su eficiencia energética para mantenerse como una de las opciones más interesantes de transporte sostenible. Los vehículos ferroviarios suelen mantener parte de sus sistemas auxiliares encendidos durante el tiempo que están fuera de servicio, entre otras razones, para facilitar las operaciones de limpieza y evitar el deterioro de ciertos componentes. En muchos casos, especialmente en los sistemas más antiguos que operan en climatologías adversas, esta práctica puede llegar a suponer consumos muy significativos. Así, investigaciones anteriores han demostrado experimentalmente que este consumo representa aproximadamente el 11% del consumo anual de un vehículo en el metro de Newcastle, Reino Unido, siendo el sistema de calefacción responsable de aproximadamente la mitad de dicho consumo. En este trabajo se presenta un modelo térmico de los vehículos del metro de Newcastle (Tyne and Wear Metro) para predecir su consumo de calefacción durante el tiempo que están estacionados en las cocheras. Una vez contrastado con datos experimentales, se pretende utilizar este modelo como herramienta de análisis de posibles mejoras para reducir dicho consumo

EFECTOS DE UN PROGRAMA ESTRUCTURADO DE ENTRENAMIENTO FUNCIONAL SOBRE LA CONDICIÓN FÍSICA SALUDABLE DE ADULTOS JÓVENES DE BARRANQUILLA (COLOMBIA)

Introduction: the structured programming of physical training helps to reduce the chances of suffering from chronic noncommunicable diseases, in the same way it increases the quality of people's health, especially in the cardiovascular, respiratory, neuromuscular and musculoskeletal systems. This facilitates the optimization of healthy physical condition, an aspect that favors the individual, the development of daily activities with maximum functionality, efficiency and effectiveness. Objective: To verify the effects of a structured program of functional training on muscular endurance in young adults. Materials and Methods: Type of quasi-experimental study, with pre intervention and post intervention evaluation in an experimental group. In 15 young adults attending a gym in the city of Barranquilla, the tests were applied: upper end muscle resistance without time limit, abdominal muscle resistance in 1 min, lower limb muscle resistance and flexibility, the intervention was performed with a structured program of functional training comparing pretest and postest. Results: significant changes were presented after the intervention, comparing the results of the pre-test with those of the post-test, in muscular resistance of the upper limbs (mean: 33.29 vs 45.57) P: 0.04, flexibility (mean: 13.57 vs. 3.86) P: 0.05. Conclusions: It can be seen that muscular endurance and flexibility capacities can be adapted in a positive way through an intervention with a structured program of functional training, for 8 weeks, with a frequency of three times per week for 45 minutes/day.Introducción: la programación estructurada del entrenamiento físico contribuye a reducir las probabilidades de padecer enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles, de igual manera aumenta la calidad de la salud de las personas, especialmente en los sistemas, cardiovascular, respiratoria, neuromuscular y musculoesquelético. Esto facilita la optimización de la condición física saludable, aspecto que favorece en el individuo el desarrollo de las actividades diarias con máxima funcionalidad, eficiencia y eficacia. Objetivo: Verificar los efectos de un programa estructurado de entrenamiento funcional sobre la resistencia muscular en adultos jóvenes. Materiales y Métodos: Tipo de estudio cuasi experimental, con evaluación pre intervención y post intervención en un grupo experimental. En 15 adultos jóvenes que asisten a un gimnasio de la ciudad de Barranquilla se aplicaron las pruebas: resistencia muscular del tren superior sin límite de tiempo, resistencia muscular del abdomen en 1 min, resistencia muscular de miembros inferiores y flexibilidad, la intervención se realizó con un programa estructurado de entrenamiento funcional comparando pre test y post test. Resultados: post intervención se presentaron cambios significativos comparando los resultados del pre test con los del post test, en resistencia muscular de miembros superiores (media: 33,29 vs 45,57) P: 0,04, flexibilidad (media: 13,57 vs 3,86)  P: 0,05. Conclusiones: Se puede constatar que las capacidades de resistencia muscular y flexibilidad se pueden adaptar de manera positiva a través de una intervención con un programa estructurado de entrenamiento funcional, por 8 semanas, con una frecuencia de tres veces por semana por 45 minutos/día

Replication of Human Norovirus in Mice after Antibiotic-Mediated Intestinal Bacteria Depletion

Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are the main cause of acute gastroenteritis causing more than 50,000 deaths per year. Recent evidence shows that the gut microbiota plays a key role in enteric virus infectivity. In this context, we tested whether microbiota depletion or microbiota replacement with that of human individuals susceptible to HuNoVs infection could favor viral replication in mice. Four groups of mice (n = 5) were used, including a control group and three groups that were treated with antibiotics to eliminate the autochthonous intestinal microbiota. Two of the antibiotic-treated groups received fecal microbiota transplantation from a pool of feces from infants (age 1-3 months) or an auto-transplantation with mouse feces that obtained prior antibiotic treatment. The inoculation of the different mouse groups with a HuNoVs strain (GII.4 Sydney [P16] genotype) showed that the virus replicated more efficiently in animals only treated with antibiotics but not subject to microbiota transplantation. Viral replication in animals receiving fecal microbiota from newborn infants was intermediate, whereas virus excretion in feces from auto-transplanted mice was as low as in the control mice. The analysis of the fecal microbiota by 16S rDNA NGS showed deep variations in the composition in the different mice groups. Furthermore, differences were observed in the gene expression of relevant immunological mediators, such as IL4, CXCL15, IL13, TNFα and TLR2, at the small intestine. Our results suggest that microbiota depletion eliminates bacteria that restrict HuNoVs infectivity and that the mechanism(s) could involve immune mediators

Infant Gut Microbial Metagenome Mining of α-l-Fucosidases with Activity on Fucosylated Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Glycoconjugates

The gastrointestinal microbiota members produce α-l-fucosidases that play key roles in mucosal, human milk, and dietary oligosaccharide assimilation. Here, 36 open reading frames (ORFs) coding for putative α-l-fucosidases belonging to glycosyl hydrolase family 29 (GH29) were identified through metagenome analysis of breast-fed infant fecal microbiome. Twenty-two of those ORFs showed a complete coding sequence with deduced amino acid sequences displaying the highest degree of identity with α-l-fucosidases from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Bacteroides caccae, Phocaeicola vulgatus, Phocaeicola dorei, Ruminococcus gnavus, and Streptococcus parasanguinis. Based on sequence homology, 10 α-l-fucosidase genes were selected for substrate specificity characterization. The α-l-fucosidases Fuc18, Fuc19A, Fuc35B, Fuc39, and Fuc1584 showed hydrolytic activity on α1,3/4-linked fucose present in Lewis blood antigens and the human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) 3-fucosyllactose. In addition, Fuc1584 also hydrolyzed fucosyl-α-1,6-N-acetylglucosamine (6FN), a component of the core fucosylation of N-glycans. Fuc35A and Fuc193 showed activity on α1,2/3/4/6 linkages from H type-2, Lewis blood antigens, HMOs and 6FN. Fuc30 displayed activity only on α1,6-linked l-fucose, and Fuc5372 showed a preference for α1,2 linkages. Fuc2358 exhibited a broad substrate specificity releasing l-fucose from all the tested free histo-blood group antigens, HMOs, and 6FN. This latest enzyme also displayed activity in glycoconjugates carrying lacto-N-fucopentaose II (Lea) and lacto-N-fucopentaose III (Lex) and in the glycoprotein mucin. Fuc18, Fuc19A, and Fuc39 also removed l-fucose from neoglycoproteins and human α-1 acid glycoprotein. These results give insight into the great diversity of α-l-fucosidases from the infant gut microbiota, thus supporting the hypothesis that fucosylated glycans are crucial for shaping the newborn microbiota composition