Assessing the Impact of Attendance Modality on the Learning Performance of a Course on Machines and Mechanisms Theory

University education approaches related to the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), have generally particularized on teaching activity and learning programs which are commonly understood as reoriented lessons that fuse theoretic concepts interweaved with practical activities. In this context, team work has been widely acknowledged as a means to conduct practical and hands-on lessons, and has been revealed to be successful in the achievement of exercise resolution and design tasks. Besides this, methodologies sustained by ICT resources such as online or blended approaches, have also reported numerous benefits for students’ active learning. However, such benefits have to be fully validated within the particular teaching context, which may facilitate student achievement to a greater or lesser extent. In this work, we analyze the impact of attendance modalities on the learning performance of a STEM-related course on “Machines and Mechanisms Theory”, in which practical lessons are tackled through a team work approach. The validity of the results is reinforced by group testing and statistical tests with a sample of 128 participants. Students were arranged in a test group (online attendance) and in a control group (face-to-face attendance) to proceed with team work during the practical lessons. Thus, the efficacy of distance and in situ methodologies is compared. Moreover, additional variables have also been compared according to the historical record of the course, in regards to previous academic years. Finally, students’ insights about the collaborative side of this program, self-knowledge and satisfaction with the proposal have also been reported by a custom questionnaire. The results demonstrate greater performance and satisfaction amongst participants in the face-to-face modality. Such a modality is prooven to be statistically significant for the final achievement of students in detriment to online attendance

Medición y evaluación de valores en contenidos audiovisuales desde un abordaje interdisciplinar

El siguiente estudio interdisciplinar realizado por LAICOM (Laboratorio de Análisis Instrumental de la Comunicación, UAB), parte de la revisión del concepto de calidad comunicativa y formula un inventario de 26 valores para el ámbito iberoamericano, seleccionados aplicando el análisis de contenido a tres documentos de gran consenso social: "Carta de Derechos Humanos" (1948), "Constitución Federal de Brasil" (1988) y "Constitución Española" (1978). Los valores se han definido en sus dimensiones social, humana y educativa. Finalmente, se propone y valida un protocolo basado en test de recepción, capaz de medir y comparar la carga de valores transmitida en cualquier proceso de comunicación. El protocolo ha sido experimentado y corregido aplicándolo a 2 grupos de 10 expertos que evaluaron 4 spots publicitarios, con los que, luego, se organizaron sendos grupos de discusión.This interdisciplinary research, carried out by LAICOM reviews the concept quality communication and designs a 26 values glossary within the ibero-American context. Values are selected by applying a content analysis to 3 documents of feat social consensus: the "Human Rights Act" (1948), the "Federal Brazilian Constitution" (1988), and the "Spanish Constitution (1978); and are defined in three dimensions: human, social and education. Finally, a protocol is proposed and validated by a test of reception, which serves to measure and compare the load of values transmitted by any process of communication. This protocol is tested and corrected through two focus groups of communication experts (10 each), who first had to evaluate 4 TV ads and second discuss about results collected

Values perception in food commercials with dietary strategies

En la actualidad, existe consenso son la influencia de la publicidad en los trastornos alimentarios. En particular, la publicidad utiliza imágenes corporales estereotipadas para extender y promocionar ideales físicos y hábitos alimentarios no saludables asociados con productos de comida y ropa dirigidos a jóvenes. El objetivo de este estudio es testar la percepción de 25 valores in tres anuncios dietéticos por parte de dos grupos de jóvenes participantes (con y sin trastornos alimentarios). Los resultados muestran que sólo el grupo con trastornos (ED) considera que estos anuncios son negativos para la salud, el bienestar, la familia y el esfuerzo, mientras que el grupo sin trastornos alimentarios los evalúa de forma ligeramente positiva. Estos resultados apuntan a una construcción mediática poco natural e interesada de los cánones de belleza y éxito.There is clear evidence today that advertising influences eating disorders. Particularly, advertising uses stereotyped body images to spread and promote physical ideals and non-healthy food habits associated with food and clothes products targeted at youth. The purpose of this is study is to test the perception of 25 values in three dietary commercials by two groups of young people (with and without eating disorders). Results show that only the group with those disorders (ED) consider these commercials to be negative in terms of health, well-being, family or effort, while the non-ED group assesses them slightly positively. These results point to the unnatural and self-interested social and media construction of beauty and success

Secondary tricuspid valve regurgitation : a forgotten entity

The tricuspid valve was virtually ignored for a long time in the past. However, the incidence of tricuspid insufficiency associated with left valvular disease is quite significant, ranging from 8% to 35% of cases. This is most common in conjunction with mitral valve disease but association with aortic valve pathology is not uncommon. It is most frequently related to rheumatic valve disease and much rarer in association with degenerative mitral valve disease. In most cases, the tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is so-called 'functional', corresponding to dilatation of the annulus, as a consequence of RV dilatation secondary to pulmonary hypertension. In 15-20% of cases, however, the injury can be organic, generally of rheumatic origin, but for the purposes of this work we will restrict our analysis to secondary (terminology now preferred over functional) TR. Originally, it was thought that in most patients with secondary TR, surgical treatment of the mitral valve disease would correct the problems of the right side and, hence, a conservative (no touch) approach to the tricuspid valve was recommended. More recently, however, it has become evident that in a significant number of cases secondary TR does not regress after appropriate correction of the left-side valvulopathy. Thus, the indications for surgery of the TR have moved towards a progressively more interventional attitude. Today, it is evident that we must intervene on the tricuspid valve in cases of obviously severe tricuspid insufficiency and in cases where perioperative detection of a more significant TR than expected is made, especially when triggered by increasing load conditions. In this work, we intend to review the current concepts on the anatomy, physiopathology, natural history, diagnosis and treatment of secondary TR

Angiogenic response in an in vitro model of dog microvascular endothelial cells stimulated with antigenic extracts from Dirofilaria immitis adult worms

Background Angiogenesis can occur under pathological conditions when stimuli such as inflammation, vascular obstruction or hypoxia exist. These stimuli are present in cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis (Dirofilaria immitis). The aim of this study was to analyze the capacity of D. immitis antigens to modify the expression of angiogenic factors and trigger the formation of pseudocapillaries (tube-like structures) in an in vitro model of endothelial cells. Methods The expression of VEGF-A, sFlt, mEndoglin and sEndoglin in cultures of canine microvascular endothelial cells stimulated with extract of adult worms of D. immitis obtained from an untreated dog (DiSA) and from a dog treated for 15 days with doxycycline (tDiSA), was determined by using commercial kits. The capacity of pseudocapillary formation was evaluated analyzing cell connections and cell groups in Matrigel cell cultures stimulated with DiSA and tDiSA. In both cases non-stimulated cultures were used as controls. Results First, we demonstrated that worms obtained from the dog treated with doxycycline showed a significantly lower amount of Wolbachia (less than 60%) than worms removed from the untreated dog. Only DiSA was able to significantly increase the expression of the proangiogenic factor VEGF-A in the endotelial cells cultures. None of the D. immitis extracts modified the expression of sFlt. tDiSA extract was able to modify the expression of the endoglins, significantly decreasing the expression of the pro-angiogenic mEndoglin and increasing the anti-angiogenic sEndoglin. The formation of pseudocapillaries was negatively influenced by tDiSA, which reduced the organization and number of cellular connections. Conclusions The ability of antigens from adult D. immitis worms to modify the expression of pro and anti-angiogenic factors in endotelial cell cultures was demonstrated, as well as the trend to form pseudocapillaries in vitro. The capacity of stimulation may be linked to the amount of Wolbachia present in the antigenic extracts

Emotion Regulation and Excess Weight: Impaired Affective Processing Characterized by Dysfunctional Insula Activation and Connectivity

Emotion-regulation strategies are understood to influence food intake. This study examined the neurophysiological underpinnings of negative emotion processing and emotion regulation in individuals with excess weight compared to normal-weight controls. Fifteen participants with excess-weight (body mass index >25) and sixteen normal-weight controls (body mass index 18-25) performed an emotion-regulation task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were exposed to 24 negative affective or neutral pictures that they were instructed to Observe (neutral pictures), Maintain (sustain the emotion elicited by negative pictures) or Regulate (down-regulate the emotion provoked by negative pictures through previously trained reappraisal techniques). When instructed to regulate negative emotions by means of cognitive reappraisal, participants with excess weight displayed persistently heightened activation in the right anterior insula. Decreased responsivity was also found in right anterior insula, the orbitofrontal cortex and cerebellum during negative emotion experience in participants with excess weight. Psycho-physiological interaction analyses showed that excess-weight participants had decreased negative functional coupling between the right anterior insula and the right dlPFC, and the bilateral dmPFC during cognitive reappraisal. Our findings support contentions that excess weight is linked to an abnormal pattern of neural activation and connectivity during the experience and regulation of negative emotions, with the insula playing a key role in these alterations. We posit that ineffective regulation of emotional states contributes to the acquisition and preservation of excess weight

Valores percibidos en la publicidad de alimentos por jóvenes con y sin trastornos de la conducta alimentaria

Advertising uses stereotyped body images to promote physical ideals and unhealthy eating habits related to food products which are targeted especially at young people. The purpose of this is study, carried out in Barcelona (Spain) in May 2013, was to test the perception of 139 young people of university age – with and without eating disorders – regarding 25 values in seven food commercials that did and did not use body image strategies. Results show that only the group of young people with eating disorders considered commercials using body image strategies to have a very negative influence on values such as health, well-being, family and effort. In contrast, the assessment of the two groups regarding the rest of the commercials greatly coincided. These results show that today’s university youth have accepted as normal a beauty canon based on the prevailing social and economic order, while young people in treatment for eating disorders have learned to denaturalize such messages.La publicidad utiliza imágenes corporales fuertemente estereotipadas para promocionar cánones físicos y conductas alimentarias no saludables asociadas a productos de alimentación dirigidos sobre todo a jóvenes. El objetivo de este estudio, realizado en Barcelona (España) durante el mes de mayo de 2013, es testear la percepción de 25 valores en siete spots televisivos de alimentación (con y sin estrategias de imagen corporal) en 139 jóvenes con y sin trastornos de la conducta alimentaria (TCA). Los resultados muestran que solo el grupo de jóvenes con TCA considera que los spots con una estrategia comercial basada en la imagen corporal influyen muy negativamente en valores como salud, bienestar, familia y esfuerzo. En cambio, se ha observado una gran coincidencia entre los dos grupos cuando se evalúan el resto de los spots. Estos resultados señalan que los jóvenes universitarios españoles de hoy han aceptado como normal un canon de belleza basado en el orden social y económico, mientras que los jóvenes en tratamiento por desórdenes alimenticios sí han aprendido a decodificar este tipo de mensajes

Valores percibidos en la publicidad de alimentos por jóvenes con y sin trastornos de la conducta alimentaria

La publicidad utiliza imágenes corporales fuertemente estereotipadas para promocionar cánones físicos y conductas alimentarias no saludables asociadas a productos de alimentación dirigidos sobre todo a jóvenes. El objetivo de este estudio, realizado en Barcelona (España) durante el mes de mayo de 2013, es testear la percepción de 25 valores en siete spots televisivos de alimentación (con y sin estrategias de imagen corporal) en 139 jóvenes con y sin trastornos de la conducta alimentaria (TCA). Los resultados muestran que solo el grupo de jóvenes con TCA considera que los spots con una estrategia comercial basada en la imagen corporal influyen muy negativamente en valores como salud, bienestar, familia y esfuerzo. En cambio, se ha observado una gran coincidencia entre los dos grupos cuando se evalúa el resto de los spots. Estos resultados señalan que los jóvenes universitarios españoles de hoy han aceptado como normal un canon de belleza basado en el orden social y económico, mientras que los jóvenes en tratamiento por desórdenes alimenticios sí han aprendido a decodificar este tipo de mensajes.Advertising uses stereotyped body images to promote physical ideals and unhealthy eating habits related to food products which are targeted especially at young people. The purpose of this study, carried out in Barcelona (Spain) in May 2013, was to test the perception of 139 young people of university age - with and without eating disorders - regarding 25 values in seven food commercials that did and did not use body image strategies. Results show that only the group of young people with eating disorders considered commercials using body image strategies to have a very negative influence on values such as health, well-being, family and effort. In contrast, the assessment of the two groups regarding the rest of the commercials greatly coincided. These results show that today's university youth have accepted as normal a beauty canon based on the prevailing social and economic order, while young people in treatment for eating disorders have learned to denaturalize such messages