Forum participation plugin for Moodle: development and discussion

At present, a large amount of software has been created to analyze social networks, such as libraries to access online social networking APIs, software to draw graphs and tools to use and analyze networks. In fact, and because of the use of Moodle as standard Learning Management System at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in 2009 was born the idea of creating a plugin for Moodle capable of analyzing forums in which students participate and of identifying the major players within the student network. This work is about the present state of such plugin, which provides useful information to teachers so that, through the use of social network analysis, allows them to make decisions to improve and promote participatory education. Here, we show the application of the plugin to three case studies, in two different universities, which allowed to evaluate its usefulness and to compare the information according to the variables that influenced each case study

A young double stellar cluster in a HII region, emerging from its parent molecular cloud

We report the properties of a new young double stellar cluster in the region towards IRAS 07141-0920 contained in the HII region Sh2-294. High-resolution optical UBVRI and Halpha images, near-infrared JHKs and H2 filter images were used to make photometric and morphological studies of the point sources and the nebula seen towards Sh2-294. The optical images reveal an emission nebula with very rich morphological details, composed mainly of UV scattered light and of Halpha emission. Contrasting with the bright parts of the nebula, opaque, elongated patches are seen. Our optical photometry confirms that the illuminator of the nebula is likely to be a B0.5V star located at a distance of about 3.2 kpc. Our near-IR images reveal an embedded cluster, extending for about 2 pc and exhibiting sub-clustering: a denser, more condensed, sub-cluster surrounding the optical high-mass B0.5V illuminator star; and a more embedded, optically invisible, sub-cluster located towards the eastern, dark part of the nebula and including the luminous MSX source G224.1880+01.2407, a massive protostellar candidate that could be the origin of jets and extended features seen at 2.12 micron. The double cluster appears to be clearing the remaining molecular material of the parent cloud, creating patches of lower extinction and allowing some of the least reddened members to be detected in the optical images. We find 12 MS and 143 PMS members using 3 different methods: comparison with isochrones in optical colour-magnitude diagrams, detection of near-IR excess, and presence of Halpha emission. The most massive star fits a 4 Myr post-MS isochrone. The age of the optically selected PMS population is estimated to be 7-8 Myr. The IR-excess population shows sub-clustering on scales as small as 0.23 pc and is probably much younger.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figure

Rendimiento de terneros alimentados con silo de maíz o láctico con un promotor de la fermentación ruminal

Se efectuó el engorde de 120 bovinos (296 &plusmn; 6,9 kg) machos cruzados de Cebú durante 120 días divididos en tres tratamientos. Tratamiento 1: 40 animales alimentados con ensilaje normal de maíz (EN). Tratamiento 2: n= 40 animales alimentados con ensilaje inoculado con probiótico láctico enriquecido en N no proteico (NNP) (EP). Tratamiento 3 (EPS): 40 bovinos alimentados con EP más un suplemento nitrogenado de lento consumo (SNLC). Se emplearon tres toros canulados para estudiar la cinética ruminal y la digestibilidad in vivo. La concentración de NH3 en el fluido ruminal fue significativamente menor en EN (15 mg/100 ml) que en EP y EPS (18 y 22 mg/100 ml, respectivamente). La degradabilidad in situ de la FND fue 28% en EN, 38% para EP y 48% en EPS (p<0,05). El coeficiente de digestibilidad aparente de la MS fue significativamente menor en EN (57%) comparado con 68% en EP y 70% en EPS. El consumo voluntario fue menor (p<0,05) en EN (90 g/kg0,75/d) comparado con 120 y 140 g/kg0,75/d para EP y EPS respectivamente. Se observó un aumento en la ingestión de N de 72 g/d (EN) a 218 g/d (EP) y 277 g/d en EPS, aunque no se observan diferencias en la eficiencia de utilización entre los tratamientos EP y EPS. La digestibilidad aparente del N aumentó de un 73% para EN a un 76% para EP y EPS. Las cuentas de lactobacilos fueron de 1,6 millones/ml en EN, 10,5 en EP, a 12,5 millones/ml en el EPS. La excreción de derivados púricos aumentó en las dos dietas con el probiótico (p<0,05). Las ganancias diarias de peso fueron diferentes (p<0,05) para las 3 dietas (0,874 kg/d para EN, 1,172 para EP y 1,250 para EPS). La oferta de ensilaje de maíz enriquecido con probióticos con o sin suplemento nitrogenado de lento consumo incrementó la ganancia de peso en bovinos en engorde mejorando el proceso de fermentación ruminal e incrementando la producción de proteína microbiana

Whole genome sequencing reveals widespread distribution of typhoidal toxin genes and VirB/D4 plasmids in bovine-associated nontyphoidal Salmonella

Aedes aegypti is the primary urban mosquito vector of viruses causing dengue, Zika and chikungunya fevers –for which vaccines and efective pharmaceuticals are still lacking. Current strategies to suppress arbovirus outbreaks include removal of larval-breeding sites and insecticide treatment of larval and adult populations. Insecticidal control of Ae. aegypti is challenging, due to a recent rapid global increase in knockdown-resistance (kdr) to pyrethroid insecticides. Widespread, heavy use of pyrethroid spacesprays has created an immense selection pressure for kdr, which is primarily under the control of the voltage-gated sodium channel gene (vgsc). To date, eleven replacements in vgsc have been discovered, published and shown to be associated with pyrethroid resistance to varying degrees. In Mexico, F1,534C and V1,016I have co-evolved in the last 16 years across Ae. aegypti populations. Recently, a novel replacement V410L was identifed in Brazil and its efect on vgsc was confrmed by electrophysiology. Herein, we screened V410L in 25 Ae. aegypti historical collections from Mexico, the frst heterozygote appeared in 2002 and frequencies have increased in the last 16 years alongside V1,016I and F1,534C. Knowledge of the specifc vgsc replacements and their interaction to confer resistance is essential to predict and to develop strategies for resistance management

A longitudinal study on perceived health in cardiovascular patients. The role of conscientiousness, subjective wellbeing and cardiac self-efficacy

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s most prevalent chronic disease and the leading chronic cause of morbidity. There are several psychosocial factors associated with quality of life during CVD. Our main objectives were to analyze the roles of conscientiousness, subjective wellbeing and self-efficacy beliefs. The sample comprised 514 patients (mean age 63.57 years) who were assessed twice over a nine-month interval. At Time 1, participants answered a questionnaire assessing conscientiousness, perceived subjective wellbeing (positive and negative affect, life satisfaction), cardiac self-efficacy and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The same variables (except for conscientiousness) were re-assessed at Time 2. Results showed that conscientiousness had a positive relation with subjective wellbeing, cardiac self-efficacy, and HRQoL at Time 1. Moreover, cardiac self-efficacy at Time 1 had a positive longitudinal effect on HRQoL at Time 2, while controlling for autoregressive effects. Mediation analyses indicated that the relationship between conscientiousness and HRQoL was mediated by positive affect and cardiac self-efficacy. These results suggest the usefulness of psychosocial interventions aimed at promoting positive affect and self-efficacy beliefs among CVD patients

Measurement of patients' knowledge of their medication in community pharmacies in Portugal

El objetivo do artículo es determinar el conocimiento de los pacientes sobre sus medicamentos. Estudio observacional descriptivo transversal. El conocimiento se midió mediante un cuestionario válido y fiable (CPM-PT-PT), a los pacientes que acudieron a las farmacias comunitarias participantes en el estudio solicitando uno o varios medicamentos en el Área Metropolitana de Lisboa. Se determinó el conocimiento en sus cuatro dimensiones: objetivo terapéutico, proceso de uso, seguridad y conservación de los medicamentos que el paciente utiliza. Participaron 35 farmacias, obteniéndose 633 pacientes válidos. El 82.5% (IC95%: 79,3%-85,3%) no conocen el medicamento que utilizan. En todos los ítems, hubo un alto porcentaje de pacientes con conocimiento incorrecto, destacando especialmente las precauciones (44,7%). La dimensión que menos conocen los pacientes fue la "seguridad del medicamento" (1,9%). 8 de cada 10 pacientes de la población no conocen el medicamento que utilizan. La mayor carencia de información correcta corresponde a la "seguridad" del medicamento.The scope of this article is to determine patients' knowledge about the medication they take. For this purpose, a cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study was conducted. Knowledge was measured by a valid and reliable questionnaire (CPM-PT-PT), given to the patients attending community pharmacies participating in the study, who had prescriptions for one or more drugs in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Knowledge was assessed in four dimensions: therapeutic objective, process of use, safety and maintenance of the medications that the patient takes. Thirty-five pharmacies participated, and 633 valid patients were obtained. Fully 82.5% (95% CI: 79.3% -85.3%) were uninformed about the nature of the drug they use. In all items, there was a high percentage of patients with incorrect knowledge, with emphasis on precautions (44.7%). The dimension that the patients were least aware of was "drug safety" (1.9%). Eight out of 10 patients in the population do not know what drug they use. The highest lack of correct information was with respect to the "safety" of the medication

Application of Machine Learning to Electroencephalography for the Diagnosis of Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Pilot Study

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome in which diagnosis is usually challenging. Biomarkers are needed for diagnosis and monitoring. In this study, we aimed to evaluate Electroencephalography (EEG) as a biomarker for the diagnosis of PPA. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 40 PPA patients categorized as non-fluent, semantic, and logopenic variants, and 20 controls. Resting-state EEG with 32 channels was acquired and preprocessed using several procedures (quantitative EEG, wavelet transformation, autoencoders, and graph theory analysis). Seven machine learning algorithms were evaluated (Decision Tree, Elastic Net, Support Vector Machines, Random Forest, K-Nearest Neighbors, Gaussian Naive Bayes, and Multinomial Naive Bayes). Results. Diagnostic capacity to distinguish between PPA and controls was high (accuracy 75%, F1-score 83% for kNN algorithm). The most important features in the classification were derived from network analysis based on graph theory. Conversely, discrimination between PPA variants was lower (Accuracy 58% and F1-score 60% for kNN). Conclusions. The application of ML to resting-state EEG may have a role in the diagnosis of PPA, especially in the differentiation from controls. Future studies with high-density EEG should explore the capacity to distinguish between PPA variants