Educational disadvantage in a changing economic context

Este articulo examina el impacto de los cambios en el contexto económico sobre la configuración de las expectativas educativas entre alumnos de 14 años. Analizamos las expectativas de los logros educativos condicionadas al rendimiento escolar y comparamos nuestros resultados entre países para distintos niveles de riqueza. Esperamos que un entorno económico cambiante tengo un impacto tanto sobre nivel general de las expectativas condicionadas como sobre el grado de desigualdad educativa por origen social. Empleando datos agrupados de encuestas TIMSS 2003, 2007 y 2011 sobre competencias de alumnos de 8.o curso, estimamos un conjunto de modelos multinivel de efectos aleatorios. Nuestros resultados confirman la existencia regularidades sistemáticas entre países y sugieren que las recesiones económicas conducen a un aumento de las desigualdades educativas por origen socialThis paper explores the impact of changes in the economic context on the configuration of educational expectations among 14 years old students. We analyze expectations of educational attainment conditional on school performance and compare our results across countries with varying levels of wealth. We expect a changing economic environment to impact both the overall level of conditional aspirations and the slope of educational inequality by social origin. Using pooled data from TIMSS 2003, 2007 and 2011 surveys of competences among 8th graders, we estimate a set of random constant multilevel models. Our results confirm the existence of systematic cross-country regularities and suggest that economic down times lead to a growth of educational inequalities by social background

Does Living in a Fatherless Household Compromise Educational Success? A Comparative Study of Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills

This study addresses the relationship between various family forms and the level of cognitive and non-cognitive skills among 15- to 16-year-old students. We measure cognitive skills using standardized scores in mathematics; non-cognitive abilities are captured by a composite measure of internal locus of control related to mathematics. A particular focus lies on father absence although we also examine the role played by co-residence with siblings and grandparents. We use cross-nationally comparable data on students participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment's release for 2012. By mapping inequalities by family forms across 33 developed countries, this study provides robust cross-country comparable evidence on the relationship of household structure with both cognitive and non-cognitive skills. The study produces three key results: first, the absence of fathers from the household as well as co-residence with grandparents is associated with adverse outcomes for children in virtually all developed countries. Second, this is generally true in terms of both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, although the disadvantage connected to both family forms is notably stronger in the former than in the latter domain. Finally, there is marked cross-national diversity in the effects associated with the presence in the household of siblings and especially grandparents which furthermore differs across the two outcomes considered

(Pathogenic mechanisms of "Streptococcus pneumoniae" involved in invasive disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Departamento de Microbiología III, leída el 16-06-2017Streptococcus pneumoniae, también conocido como neumococo, es uno de los patógenos humanos más importantes responsable de infecciones severas tales como neumonía bacteriémica y meningitis, así como de enfermedades no tan graves como neumonía adquirida en la comunidad, otitis media aguda, sinusitis y conjuntivitis (Bogaert et al., 2004), que afectan principalmente a niños, personas mayores de 65 años y pacientes inmunocomprometidos (Koedel et al., 2002; van der Poll y Opal, 2009). La enfermedad neumocócica es precedida por la colonización de la nasofaringe, que es particularmente común en niños con más de un serotipo colonizando simultáneamente (Bogaert et al., 2004). Se calcula que la tercera parte de las muertes anuales que se producen en el mundo son debidas a enfermedades infecciosas y, entre todas ellas, las enfermedades respiratorias son las responsables de la muerte de 4 millones de personas cada año (Morens et al., 2004). Según la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), la sepsis, la neumonía neonatal y la neumonía comunitaria en niños más mayores fueron responsables del 15% de las casi un millón de muertes anuales en niños menores de 5 años ocurridas en el 2015, siendo S. pneumoniae el causante más frecuente de neumonía infantil severa, tanto en países desarrollados como en aquellos en vías de desarrollo (OMS, 2016; UNICEF, 2015; UNICEF y WHO, 2006). La capsula polisacarídica está considerada como uno de los principales factores de virulencia de la bacteria (López y García, 2004), de la cual se han descrito más de 96 polisacáridos capsulares (CPS) diferentes (Jauneikaite et al., 2015). Las vacunas conjugadas existentes, como son la PCV7, PCV10 y PCV13, confieren protección frente a la enfermedad neumocócica invasiva (ENI) (Feikin et al., 2013; O'Brien y Levine, 2006). La activación de la cascada del complemento por anticuerpos específicos conduce a la formación del componente clave C3b, el cual juega un papel crucial en la defensa del hospedador frente a neumococo, recubriendo los microorganismos y estimulando la fagocitosis. Sin embargo, uno de los inconvenientes de las vacunas conjugadas es el limitado número de serotipos frente a los que protegen y, como consecuencia de la introducción de las mismas, el fenómeno conocido como reemplazo de serotipos o “capsular switching” (Coffey et al., 1991), que permite a los clones preexistentes de S. pneumoniae que expresan serotipos vacunales escapar de la inmunidad inducida por la vacunación mediante la adquisición de genes capsulares de neumococo no incluidos en las vacunas (Brueggemann et al., 2007; Golubchik et al., 2012)...Streptococcus pneumoniae, the pneumococcus, is an important human pathogen that usually colonizes asymptomatically the mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract in early childhood with more than one serotype colonizing the nasopharynx of the same individual at the same time (Bogaert et al., 2004). Once carriage is established, the microorganism may invade several sterile sites, leading to what is known as invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). Indeed, the pneumococcus is one of the major etiologic agents causing episodes of communityacquired pneumonia, bacteremia and meningitis. However, S. pneumoniae is also a major cause of non-invasive diseases such as non-bacteraemic pneumonia, acute otitis media, sinusitis and conjunctivitis, mainly in children, the elderly, and immunocompromised patients (Henriques- Normark and Tuomanen, 2013). More than 25% of the 57 million annual deaths worldwide are estimated to be directly related to infectious diseases. Particularly, respiratory infections are responsible of the death of 4 million people every year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), estimates of sepsis or pneumonia in neonates and also pneumonia in older children accounted for 15% of the nearly 1 million deaths of children younger than 5 years old reported in 2015, being Streptococcus pneumoniae the most common cause of severe pneumonia among children in more and less developed countries (OMS, 2016; UNICEF, 2015; UNICEF and WHO, 2006). The capsule is considered the main pneumococcal virulence factor and up to 96% distinct capsular polysaccharides (CPS) have been described (Jauneikaite et al., 2015). Current prophylactic measures against pneumococcal infections such as the introduction of PCV7, PCV10 and PCV13, are a highly efficient approach for preventing IPD. Activation of complement cascades by specific antibodies leads to the formation of C3b, the key complement component that is crucial in host defense against pneumococcus by coating the microorganism and stimulating phagocytosis (Markieswski and Lambris, 2007). However, among the main disadvantages of conjugated vaccines are the limited number of serotypes covered and the phenomenon known as “capsular switching” (Coffey et al., 1991) which allows pre-existing clones of S. pneumoniae expressing vaccine serotypes to escape vaccine-induced immunity by acquisition of capsular genes from non-vaccine serotypes (Brueggemann et al., 2007; Golubchik et al., 2012)...Depto. de Genética, Fisiología y MicrobiologíaFac. de Ciencias BiológicasTRUEunpu

¿Es la inversión pública en educación una política redistributiva?. Un análisis de la composición del gasto por nivel de enseñanza

In this article, we examine the redistributive nature of public educational spending through a cross-country analysis from 1960 to 1996. Existing studies on the determinants of the extent of public funding of education tend to give for granted its progressive nature. We question this view and, assuming that the redistributive nature of public education is conditional on how expenditure is allocated between the different levels of schooling, we provide evidence on the role of the ideological nature of the party in government and of the economic position of the median voter on the configuration of this policy.En este trabajo se discute y analiza la dimensión redistributiva del gasto público en educación mediante un examen comparado de una amplia muestra de países desarrollados entre 1960 y 1996. Los estudios existentes que examinan los determinantes de la financiación pública de la educación suelen suponer que ésta tiene un carácter progresivo. En nuestro análisis se cuestiona esta visión y, partiendo del supuesto de que es la composición del gasto entre los distintos niveles de enseñanza, y no el nivel de gasto total, lo que realmente tiene consecuencias distributivas, se aporta evidencia sobre el peso de la ideología del partido en el gobierno y la posición económica del votante mediano en la configuración de esta política

El papel de la educación en la transición demográfica de las mujeres madrileñas

This article explores the effects of the increasing educational attainment of several cohorts of women living in Madrid and born during the first half of the 20th Century on the historical change of their fertility behaviour. Data from the 1991 Spanish Population Census have been used. The characteristics of this dataset enable the focus on the reproductive trajectories of women in these cohorts based on parity progression. The conclusions point to a clear negative association between education and fertility on the one hand, and between education and marriage on the other. Both of these relationships prove relevant to understand changes in fertility and infertility in the time span considered.El presente trabajo examina desde una perspectiva longitudinal la influencia del creciente nivel educativo de varias cohortes de mujeres madrileñas nacidas en la primera mitad del siglo XX en el cambio histórico de sus pautas reproductivas. Los datos que sirven de base empírica a este artículo proceden del Censo de Población y Viviendas de 1991 y hacen posible un análisis de los efectos de la educación en las trayectorias reproductivas de las mujeres de estas cohortes basado en la progresión en la paridez. Las conclusiones señalan que existe en estas cohortes de mujeres una clara relación negativa entre educación y fecundidad, por una parte, y entre educación y matrimonio, por otra, que resulta fundamental para entender los cambios en la infecundidad y la fecundidad del periodo que se analiza

Variable phenotype in HNF1B mutations: extrarenal manifestations distinguish affected individuals from the population with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract

Background: Mutations in hepatocyte nuclear factor 1B (HNF1B) have been associated with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) in humans. Diabetes and other less frequent anomalies have also been described. Variable penetrance and intrafamilial variability have been demonstrated including severe prenatal phenotypes. Thus, it is important to differentiate this entity from others with similar clinical features and perform confirmatory molecular diagnosis. Methods: This study reports the results of HNF1B screening in a cohort of 60 patients from 58 unrelated families presenting with renal structural anomalies and/or non-immune glucose metabolism alterations, and other minor features suggesting HNF1B mutations. Results: This study identified a pathogenic variant in 23 patients from 21 families. The most frequent finding was bilateral cystic dysplasia or hyperechogenic kidneys (87% of patients). Sixty percent of them also fulfilled the criteria for impaired glucose metabolism, and these were significantly older than those patients with an HNF1B mutation but without diabetes or prediabetes (14.4 versus 3.3years, P<0.05). Furthermore, patients with HNF1B mutations had higher frequency of pancreatic structural anomalies and hypomagnesaemia than patients without mutations (P<0.001 and P = 0.003, respectively). Hyperuricaemia and increased liver enzymes were detected in some patients as well. Conclusions: Renal anomalies found in patients with HNF1B mutations are frequently unspecific and may resemble those found in other renal pathologies (CAKUT, ciliopathies). Active searching for extrarenal minor features, especially pancreatic structural anomalies or hypomagnesaemia, could support the indication for molecular diagnosis to identify HNF1B mutations

Evaluating Latency in Multiprocessing Embedded Systems for the Smart Grid

Smart grid endpoints need to use two environments within a processing system (PS), one with a Linux-type operating system (OS) using the Arm Cortex-A53 cores for management tasks, and the other with a standalone execution or a real-time OS using the Arm Cortex-R5 cores. The Xen hypervisor and the OpenAMP framework allow this, but they may introduce a delay in the system, and some messages in the smart grid need a latency lower than 3 ms. In this paper, the Linux thread latencies are characterized by the Cyclictest tool. It is shown that when Xen hypervisor is used, this scenario is not suitable for the smart grid as it does not meet the 3 ms timing constraint. Then, standalone execution as the real-time part is evaluated, measuring the delay to handle an interrupt created in programmable logic (PL). The standalone application was run in A53 and R5 cores, with Xen hypervisor and OpenAMP framework. These scenarios all met the 3 ms constraint. The main contribution of the present work is the detailed characterization of each real-time execution, in order to facilitate selecting the most suitable one for each application.This work has been supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain within the project TEC2017-84011-R and FEDER funds as well as by the Department of Education of the Basque Government within the fund for research groups of the Basque university system IT978-16. It has also been supported by the Basque Government within the project HAZITEK ZE-2020/00022 as well as the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain through the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI) within the project IDI-20201264; in both cases, they have been financed through the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional 2014-2020 (FEDER funds). It has also been supported by the University of the Basque Country within the scholarship for training of research staff with code PIF20/135

Variable phenotype in HNF1B mutations: extrarenal manifestations distinguish affected individuals from the population with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract

CAKUT; HNF1B; MODYCAKUT; HNF1B; MODYCAKUT; HNF1B; MODYBACKGROUND: Mutations in hepatocyte nuclear factor 1B (HNF1B) have been associated with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) in humans. Diabetes and other less frequent anomalies have also been described. Variable penetrance and intrafamilial variability have been demonstrated including severe prenatal phenotypes. Thus, it is important to differentiate this entity from others with similar clinical features and perform confirmatory molecular diagnosis. METHODS: This study reports the results of HNF1B screening in a cohort of 60 patients from 58 unrelated families presenting with renal structural anomalies and/or non-immune glucose metabolism alterations, and other minor features suggesting HNF1B mutations. RESULTS: This study identified a pathogenic variant in 23 patients from 21 families. The most frequent finding was bilateral cystic dysplasia or hyperechogenic kidneys (87% of patients). Sixty percent of them also fulfilled the criteria for impaired glucose metabolism, and these were significantly older than those patients with an HNF1B mutation but without diabetes or prediabetes (14.4 versus 3.3 years, P < 0.05). Furthermore, patients with HNF1B mutations had higher frequency of pancreatic structural anomalies and hypomagnesaemia than patients without mutations (P < 0.001 and P = 0.003, respectively). Hyperuricaemia and increased liver enzymes were detected in some patients as well. CONCLUSIONS: Renal anomalies found in patients with HNF1B mutations are frequently unspecific and may resemble those found in other renal pathologies (CAKUT, ciliopathies). Active searching for extrarenal minor features, especially pancreatic structural anomalies or hypomagnesaemia, could support the indication for molecular diagnosis to identify HNF1B mutations