COEDU-IN Project: an inclusive co-educational project for teaching computational thinking and digital skills at early ages

Learning to program is the new literacy of the 21st century. Computational thinking, closely related to programming, requires thinking and solving problems with different levels of abstraction and is independent of hardware devices. The early childhood education stage provides teachers with the opportunity to lay the foundations for a comprehensive quality education using innovative tools and technologies. Educational robotics in early childhood education becomes a tool that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge to children, playfully, based on the principles of interactivity, social interrelationships, collaborative work, creativity, constructivist and constructionist learning, and a student-centered didactic approach, allowing in turn that student can acquire digital competencies and develop logical and computational thinking in an underlying way. This project explores the current state of teaching and learning computational thinking and programming in early childhood education in an inclusive manner. Moreover, the lack of diversity and inequality is particularly latent in science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Therefore, this work considers this problem and presents an inclusive coeducation approach to this new literacy, eliminating gender stereotypes and extending them to people with Down syndrome and hospitalized minors

La utilización de la metodología ApS refuerza la adquisición de competencias a largo plazo

[EN] Service-learning (SL) is a methodology that contributes to the formation of values and the citizenship of university students, who can acquire a relevant role in the construction of a more dignified, inclusive, cohesive and equitable citizenship. The objective of the work is to quantify how the SL methodology implemented in a subject improves the competences of the students in the same course of implementation and after one year of implementation. Four experimental groups were formed: a) group LS-course 2017-2018; b) group NO-LS-course 2017-2018; c) group LS-course 2018-2019; d) group NO-LScourse 2018-2019. Each one of the groups was evaluated during the academic year 2018-2019 in the competencies developed in the subject Clinical Neurology applied to the speech therapist where the LS project is implemented. The results were compared by means of a t-Student. The results showed that the LS-course 2018-2019 group of students obtained significantly higher grades than the NO-LS-course 2018-2019 group. Surprisingly, this result was maintained during the academic year 2018-2019, in the students where the LS project had been implemented in the academic year 2017-2018, so that the LScourse 2017-2018 group continued to maintain higher and significantly higher grades than the NO-LS- course 2017-2018.[ES] El aprendizaje-servicio (ApS) es una metodología que contribuye a la formación en valores y para la ciudadanía de los estudiantes universitarios, los cuales pueden adquirir un papel relevante en la construcción de una ciudadanía más digna, inclusiva, cohesionada y equitativa. El objetivo del trabajo es cuantificar cómo la metodología ApS instaurada en una asignatura mejora las competencias del alumnado en el mismo curso de implantación y pasado un año de la implantación. Para ello se han formaron cuatro grupos experimentales: a) grupo ApS-curso 2017-2018; b) grupo NO-ApS-curso 2017-2018; c) grupo APS-curso 2018-2019; d) grupo NO-ApS-curso 2018-2019. Cada uno de los grupos fue evaluado durante el curso 2018-2019 en las competencias desarrolladas en la asignatura Neurología clínica aplicada a la logopeda donde se implanta el proyecto ApS. Los resultados se compararon mediante un t-Test. Los resultados mostraron que el grupo de alumnos ApS-curso 2018-2019 obtuvieron notas significativamente superiores al grupo NO-ApS curso 2018-2019. Sorprendentemente, este resultado se mantenía durante el curso 2018-2019, en los alumnos donde se había implantado el proyecto ApS en el curso 2017-2018, de forma que el grupo ApS curso 2017-2018 seguía manteniendo notas superiores y significativamente superiores respecto al grupo NO-ApS-curso 2017-2018.Innovation Project Universitat de Valencia nº UV-SFPIE_RMD18-841128.Perez Gil, T.; Martinez Gisbert, N.; Soler Molina, V.; Puchades Diaz, S.; Gimenez Martínez, E.; Hurtado Vizcaino, C.; Ortiz Masià, D. (2019). La utilización de la metodología ApS refuerza la adquisición de competencias a largo plazo. En IN-RED 2019. V Congreso de Innovación Educativa y Docencia en Red. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 343-352. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2019.2019.10417OCS34335

La metodología ApS refuerza la adquisición de competencias generales y específicas

[EN] Service-learning (SL), through a process of action-reflection-action collaborates in an efficient and practical way to the consolidation of basic and specific competencies that contribute to a successful life and good social functioning. The aim of the work is to analyse how the SL methodology improves general and specific competences in the students. To this end, two experimental groups were formed: a) SL group; b) NO-SL group (control). Each of the groups was evaluated in specific competences (exploration of cranial pairs) and general competences (communication, adaptation,..). The results were compared using the t-Student test. The results showed that the SL group significantly improved, in a majority way, the competences evaluated in relation with the control group.[ES] El Aprendizaje-Servicio (ApS), mediante un proceso de acción-reflexión-acción colabora de manera eficiente y práctica a la consolidación de competencias básicas y específicas que contribuyen a una vida exitosa y al buen funcionamiento social. El objetivo del trabajo es analizar cómo la metodología ApS mejora competencias generales y específicas en el alumnado. Para ello se han formaron dos grupos experimentales: a) grupo ApS; b) grupo NO-ApS (control). Cada uno de los grupos fue evaluado en competencias específicas (exploración de pares craneales) y generales (comunicación, adaptación, etc.). Los resultados se compararon mediante el test t-Student. Los resultados mostraron que el grupo ApS mejoraban significativamente, de forma mayoritaria, las competencias evaluadas respecto al grupo control.Innovation Project Universitat de Valencia nº UV-SFPIE_RMD18-841128.Perez Gil, T.; Martínez Gisbert, N.; Soler Molina, V.; Puchades Díaz, S.; Giménez Martínez, E.; Hurtado Vizcaíno, C.; Ortiz-Masià, D. (2019). La metodología ApS refuerza la adquisición de competencias generales y específicas. En IN-RED 2019. V Congreso de Innovación Educativa y Docencia en Red. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1529-1536. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2019.2019.10376OCS1529153

S100b in acute ischemic stroke clots is a biomarker for post-thrombectomy intracranial hemorrhages

Background and purposePost-thrombectomy intracranial hemorrhages (PTIH) are dangerous complications of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) following mechanical thrombectomy. We aimed to investigate if S100b levels in AIS clots removed by mechanical thrombectomy correlated to increased risk of PTIH.MethodsWe analyzed 122 thrombi from 80 AIS patients in the RESTORE Registry of AIS clots, selecting an equal number of patients having been pre-treated or not with rtPA (40 each group). Within each subgroup, 20 patients had developed PTIH and 20 patients showed no signs of hemorrhage. Gross photos of each clot were taken and extracted clot area (ECA) was measured using ImageJ. Immunohistochemistry for S100b was performed and Orbit Image Analysis was used for quantification. Immunofluorescence was performed to investigate co-localization between S100b and T-lymphocytes, neutrophils and macrophages. Chi-square or Kruskal-Wallis test were used for statistical analysis.ResultsPTIH was associated with higher S100b levels in clots (0.33 [0.08–0.85] vs. 0.07 [0.02–0.27] mm2, H1 = 6.021, P = 0.014*), but S100b levels were not significantly affected by acute thrombolytic treatment (P = 0.386). PTIH was also associated with patients having higher NIHSS at admission (20.0 [17.0–23.0] vs. 14.0 [10.5–19.0], H1 = 8.006, P = 0.005) and higher number of passes during thrombectomy (2 [1–4] vs. 1 [1–2.5], H1 = 5.995, P = 0.014*). S100b co-localized with neutrophils, macrophages and with T-lymphocytes in the clots.ConclusionsHigher S100b expression in AIS clots, higher NIHSS at admission and higher number of passes during thrombectomy are all associated with PTIH. Further investigation of S100b expression in AIS clots by neutrophils, macrophages and T-lymphocytes could provide insight into the role of S100b in thromboinflammation

Association of Candidate Gene Polymorphisms With Chronic Kidney Disease: Results of a Case-Control Analysis in the Nefrona Cohort

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major risk factor for end-stage renal disease, cardiovascular disease and premature death. Despite classical clinical risk factors for CKD and some genetic risk factors have been identified, the residual risk observed in prediction models is still high. Therefore, new risk factors need to be identified in order to better predict the risk of CKD in the population. Here, we analyzed the genetic association of 79 SNPs of proteins associated with mineral metabolism disturbances with CKD in a cohort that includes 2, 445 CKD cases and 559 controls. Genotyping was performed with matrix assisted laser desorption ionizationtime of flight mass spectrometry. We used logistic regression models considering different genetic inheritance models to assess the association of the SNPs with the prevalence of CKD, adjusting for known risk factors. Eight SNPs (rs1126616, rs35068180, rs2238135, rs1800247, rs385564, rs4236, rs2248359, and rs1564858) were associated with CKD even after adjusting by sex, age and race. A model containing five of these SNPs (rs1126616, rs35068180, rs1800247, rs4236, and rs2248359), diabetes and hypertension showed better performance than models considering only clinical risk factors, significantly increasing the area under the curve of the model without polymorphisms. Furthermore, one of the SNPs (the rs2248359) showed an interaction with hypertension, being the risk genotype affecting only hypertensive patients. We conclude that 5 SNPs related to proteins implicated in mineral metabolism disturbances (Osteopontin, osteocalcin, matrix gla protein, matrix metalloprotease 3 and 24 hydroxylase) are associated to an increased risk of suffering CKD

Genetic landscape of 6089 inherited retinal dystrophies affected cases in Spain and their therapeutic and extended epidemiological implications

Inherited retinal diseases (IRDs), defined by dysfunction or progressive loss of photoreceptors, are disorders characterized by elevated heterogeneity, both at the clinical and genetic levels. Our main goal was to address the genetic landscape of IRD in the largest cohort of Spanish patients reported to date. A retrospective hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out on 6089 IRD affected individuals (from 4403 unrelated families), referred for genetic testing from all the Spanish autonomous communities. Clinical, demographic and familiar data were collected from each patient, including family pedigree, age of appearance of visual symptoms, presence of any systemic findings and geographical origin. Genetic studies were performed to the 3951 families with available DNA using different molecular techniques. Overall, 53.2% (2100/3951) of the studied families were genetically characterized, and 1549 different likely causative variants in 142 genes were identified. The most common phenotype encountered is retinitis pigmentosa (RP) (55.6% of families, 2447/4403). The most recurrently mutated genes were PRPH2, ABCA4 and RS1 in autosomal dominant (AD), autosomal recessive (AR) and X-linked (XL) NON-RP cases, respectively; RHO, USH2A and RPGR in AD, AR and XL for non-syndromic RP; and USH2A and MYO7A in syndromic IRD. Pathogenic variants c.3386G > T (p.Arg1129Leu) in ABCA4 and c.2276G > T (p.Cys759Phe) in USH2A were the most frequent variants identified. Our study provides the general landscape for IRD in Spain, reporting the largest cohort ever presented. Our results have important implications for genetic diagnosis, counselling and new therapeutic strategies to both the Spanish population and other related populations.This work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) of the Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS; PI16/00425 and PI19/00321), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER, 06/07/0036), IIS-FJD BioBank (PT13/0010/0012), Comunidad de Madrid (CAM, RAREGenomics Project, B2017/BMD-3721), European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), the Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE), Fundación Ramón Areces, Fundación Conchita Rábago and the University Chair UAM-IIS-FJD of Genomic Medicine. Irene Perea-Romero is supported by a PhD fellowship from the predoctoral Program from ISCIII (FI17/00192). Ionut F. Iancu is supported by a grant from the Comunidad de Madrid (CAM, PEJ-2017-AI/BMD7256). Marta del Pozo-Valero is supported by a PhD grant from the Fundación Conchita Rábago. Berta Almoguera is supported by a Juan Rodes program from ISCIII (JR17/00020). Pablo Minguez is supported by a Miguel Servet program from ISCIII (CP16/00116). Marta Corton is supported by a Miguel Servet program from ISCIII (CPII17/00006). The funders played no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, manuscript preparation and/or publication decisions

Healthcare workers hospitalized due to COVID-19 have no higher risk of death than general population. Data from the Spanish SEMI-COVID-19 Registry

Aim To determine whether healthcare workers (HCW) hospitalized in Spain due to COVID-19 have a worse prognosis than non-healthcare workers (NHCW). Methods Observational cohort study based on the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry, a nationwide registry that collects sociodemographic, clinical, laboratory, and treatment data on patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in Spain. Patients aged 20-65 years were selected. A multivariate logistic regression model was performed to identify factors associated with mortality. Results As of 22 May 2020, 4393 patients were included, of whom 419 (9.5%) were HCW. Median (interquartile range) age of HCW was 52 (15) years and 62.4% were women. Prevalence of comorbidities and severe radiological findings upon admission were less frequent in HCW. There were no difference in need of respiratory support and admission to intensive care unit, but occurrence of sepsis and in-hospital mortality was lower in HCW (1.7% vs. 3.9%; p = 0.024 and 0.7% vs. 4.8%; p<0.001 respectively). Age, male sex and comorbidity, were independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality and healthcare working with lower mortality (OR 0.211, 95%CI 0.067-0.667, p = 0.008). 30-days survival was higher in HCW (0.968 vs. 0.851 p<0.001). Conclusions Hospitalized COVID-19 HCW had fewer comorbidities and a better prognosis than NHCW. Our results suggest that professional exposure to COVID-19 in HCW does not carry more clinical severity nor mortality

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Comparison of seven prognostic tools to identify low-risk pulmonary embolism in patients aged <50 years

publishersversionPeer reviewe

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio