How to think and construct questions with, from and beyond the common pla-ces and classic debates around gender?

Presentación del número monográfico de "Quaderns de Psicologia" dedicado a visibilizar al-gunas de las herramientas teóricas, conceptuales y metodológicas utilizadas en la investiga-ción sobre el género, las relaciones de género y las diferencias sexuales: “Género, nuevos retos teórico-metodológicos".The special issue of "Quaderns de Psicologia" is devoted to visualize some of the theoreti-cal, conceptual and methodological tools used in research on gender, gender relations and sexual differences: "Gender, new theoretical-methodological challenges"

New Perspectives in Nanodosimetry

The biological effectiveness of ionizing radiation is closely related to the number and spatial distribution of its initial interactions within critical subcellular structures of nanometric size, such as the DNA. The detailed analysis of this interaction pattern is the main aim of nanodosimetry, which is the study of the stochastics of radiation interactions at the nanometre scale. At the Legnaro National Laboratories of the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics, the Startrack nanodosimetric counter is operative, which can measure the ionization yield in sensitive volumes of nanometric size. From these data, new track structure descriptors can be defined, which are measurable and directly correlated to given biological effects. This thesis aims at the development of new techniques and methodologies to be applied to the nanodosimetric analysis, in order to optimize the correlation between the physical description of track structure given by nanodosimetry and biological effects at cellular level, as a first step towards its application to radiation therapy and radiation protection

Género, nuevos retos teórico-metodológicos

Presentación del número monográfico de "Quaderns de Psicologia" dedicado a visibilizar algunas de las herramientas teóricas, conceptuales y metodológicas utilizadas en la investigación sobre el género, las relaciones de género y las diferencias sexuales: “Género, nuevos retos teórico-metodológicos"

Evolution of Scientific Production on Health Literacy and Health Education—A Bibliometric Analysis

In the last few years, there has been an emphasis on the importance of health literacy (HL) and health education (HE) as basic tools to empower individuals and the community. The increasing interest in HL and HE has been observed through the evolution of publications and the nature of the main trends in the last few years. Knowing how HL and HE have evolved in scientific publications can help us to identify trends and set work priorities in this scope. Based on this, a bibliometric analysis (from 2000 to 2021) was conducted in two phases: first, an analysis was performed on the publications included in the Web of Science (WOS); second, a more specific analysis was conducted on the Core Collection from WOS. The data were analyzed with two software programs, the and Bibliometrix package for RStudio, and VOSviewer to analyze number of publications, citations, authors, collaborations, keywords trends, keywords evolutions and clusters of related terms. A total of 1799 articles were found in the first phase, and 727 in the second. The results from both analyses showed that the publications increased unequally until 2020, and considerably decreased in 2021; however, in spite of this, the number of citations remained constant. Likewise, five word clusters related with HL and HE were identified. D. Nutbeam stood out as the most prolific author on the subject, the USA as the country with the most publications, and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health as having the most articles on the subject. This analysis may be a useful and helpful tool for future studies on the subject.This study has been co-financed under the RETSASO EFA 341/19 Project with FEDER funds. In addition, it has been subsidized by the DOTS University Chair (Chair for the Development of Healthy and Sustainable Organizations and Territoires), approved by agreement No. 193/2017 of the Governing Council of the University of Lleida on 19 July 2017

Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein specific antibodies are pathogenic

INTRODUCTION: Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) is a major non-collagenous component of cartilage. Earlier, we developed a new mouse model for rheumatoid arthritis using COMP. This study was undertaken to investigate the epitope specificity and immunopathogenicity of COMP-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). METHODS: B cell immunodominant regions on the COMP molecule were measured with a novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using mammalian expressed full-length mouse COMP as well as a panel of recombinant mouse COMP fragments. 18 mAbs specific to COMP were generated and the pathogenicity of mAbs was investigated by passive transfer experiments. RESULTS: B cell immunodominant epitopes were localized within 4 antigenic domains of the COMP but with preferential response to the epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like domain. Some of our anti-COMP mAbs showed interactions with the native form of COMP, which is present in cartilage and synovium. Passive transfer of COMP-specific mAbs enhanced arthritis when co-administrated with a sub-arthritogenic dose of a mAb specific to collagen type II. Interestingly, we found that a combination of 5 COMP mAbs was capable of inducing arthritis in naive mice. CONCLUSIONS: We have identified the specificities of mAbs to COMP and their contribution to the development of arthritis. These findings will further improve our understanding of the autoantibody mediated immunopathologies occurring widely in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as well as in other autoimmune disorders

Health literacy in childhood and adolescence. A bibliometric analysis of scientific publications and professionals’ involvement

Background: Health Literacy (HL) is a powerful tool to empower children and adolescents in their own health. School nurses are the professionals who, with their expertise in health promotion and education, can facilitate this literacy throughout the educational process. Purpose: To analyze the scientific production in HL in childhood and adolescence in the last two decades, and to determine the involvement of professionals in this field, with emphasis on nursing professionals. Methods: A bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature (from 2000 to 2021) of articles retrieved from the Web of Science database was carried out. Original articles in all languages were considered as inclusion criteria. Bibliometrix 3.1.4 package from RStudio and VOSviewer were used to analyze publications and explain main results about citations, authors, countries, keywords trends, evolution, clusters of related terms, and professionals’ involvement. Results: A total of 2032 articles were included in the analysis. The results of the analysis showed that both publications and citations increased substantially since 2014. The most prolific authors in this field are not the most cited so far. The countries that published the most during the period evaluated were the United States, Australia and Canada. The keyword clusters identified in this scientometric study made it possible to determine hotspots in the study of HL in childhood and adolescence, with “mental health” being one of the main terms identified. There are different health-related professionals who are publishing in this field; in spite of this, nurses are not visible as authors in the publications. Conclusion: The scientific literature on HL in childhood and adolescence is a growing field in which different professionals are involved. Despite the increase in the number of publications, and despite the role that nurses play in schools regarding HL, their presence in scientific production is practically nonexistent.This work was supported by DOTSS University Chair [193/2017]

Endoglycosidase treatment abrogates IgG arthritogenicity: Importance of IgG glycosylation in arthritis.

The glycosylation status of IgG has been implicated in the pathology of rheumatoid arthritis. Earlier, we reported the identification of a novel secreted endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase (EndoS), secreted by Streptococcus pyogenes that specifically hydrolyzes the beta-1,4-di-N-acetylchitobiose core of the asparagine-linked glycan of human IgG. Here, we analyzed the arthritogenicity of EndoS-treated collagen type II (CII) -specific mouse mAb in vivo. Endoglycosidase treatment of the antibodies inhibited the induction of arthritis in (BALB/c x B10.Q) F1 mice and induced a milder arthritis in B10.RIII mice as compared with the severe arthritis induced by non-treated antibodies. Furthermore, EndoS treatment did not affect the binding of IgG to CII and their ability to activate complement, but it resulted in reduced IgG binding to Fc gamma R and disturbed the formation of stable immune complexes. Hence, the asparagine-linked glycan on IgG plays a crucial role in the development of arthritis