Remarks on Articulation of Outcome-Based Education in Graduate Education: A Practitioner -Action Research

This paper is intended primarily for the purpose of giving remarks to how Outcome-Based Education is being articulated in the graduate education as an auspicious avenue for practitioner-action research. Beaming with this paper, the goodness-of fit between Theory and Practice utilizing Outcome-Based Education through the presentation of Hatch and Schultz Model on organizational identity dynamics and Argyris leaning on scientific feedback loop models were underscored in the research of Cruz (2015) and Doctolero (2015). As discreetly used in this research, Hatch and Schultz eminently model Organizational Identity Dynamics tapping two concerns: (1) How learning outcomes are demonstrated by the learners as set by the Professors in the Institute of Education and (2) How pre-requisite skills on research are exhibited by the class in the Graduate Studies. Keywords: outcome-based education, graduate education, research skill, individual identity, and organizational mission and vision DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-24-07 Publication date:August 31st 202

A high-throughput screening identifies microRNA inhibitors that influence neuronal maintenance and/or response to oxidative stress

Oxidative stress; Small RNA sequencing; NeurodegenerationEstrés oxidativo; Secuenciación de ARN pequeño; NeurodegeneraciónEstrès oxidatiu; Seqüenciació d'ARN petit; NeurodegeneracióSmall non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs), including microRNAs (miRNAs) are important post-transcriptional gene expression regulators relevant in physiological and pathological processes. Here, we combined a high-throughput functional screening (HTFS) platform with a library of antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to systematically identify sncRNAs that affect neuronal cell survival in basal conditions and in response to oxidative stress (OS), a major hallmark in neurodegenerative diseases. We considered hits commonly detected by two statistical methods in three biological replicates. Forty-seven ASOs targeting miRNAs (miRNA-ASOs) consistently decreased cell viability under basal conditions. A total of 60 miRNA-ASOs worsened cell viability impairment mediated by OS, with 36.6% commonly affecting cell viability under basal conditions. In addition, 40 miRNA-ASOs significantly protected neuronal cells from OS. In agreement with cell viability impairment, damaging miRNA-ASOs specifically induced increased free radical biogenesis. miRNAs targeted by the detrimental ASOs are enriched in the fraction of miRNAs downregulated by OS, suggesting that the miRNA expression pattern after OS contributes to neuronal damage. The present HTFS highlighted potentially druggable sncRNAs. However, future studies are needed to define the pathways by which the identified ASOs regulate cell survival and OS response and to explore the potential of translating the current findings into clinical applications.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER funds (SAF2014-60551-R and SAF2017-88452-R). We acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MEIC) to the EMBL partnership and the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013-2017 (SEV-2012-0208). We acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science Innovation and Universities, Maria Maeztu Unit of Excellence Programme. We thank the staff of the Genomics Unit for the preparation of sRNA libraries and sequencing and the staff of the Biomolecular Screening and Protein Technologies Unit for their help in the setting up the high-throughput screening

Evolutionary Trends in the Mitochondrial Genome of Archaeplastida: How Does the GC Bias Affect the Transition from Water to Land?

[EN] Among the most intriguing mysteries in the evolutionary biology of photosynthetic organisms are the genesis and consequences of the dramatic increase in the mitochondrial and nuclear genome sizes, together with the concomitant evolution of the three genetic compartments, particularly during the transition from water to land. To clarify the evolutionary trends in the mitochondrial genome of Archaeplastida, we analyzed the sequences from 37 complete genomes. Therefore, we utilized mitochondrial, plastidial and nuclear ribosomal DNA molecular markers on 100 species of Streptophyta for each subunit. Hierarchical models of sequence evolution were fitted to test the heterogeneity in the base composition. The best resulting phylogenies were used for reconstructing the ancestral Guanine-Cytosine (GC) content and equilibrium GC frequency (GC*) using non-homogeneous and non-stationary models fitted with a maximum likelihood approach. The mitochondrial genome length was strongly related to repetitive sequences across Archaeplastida evolution; however, the length seemed not to be linked to the other studied variables, as different lineages showed diverse evolutionary patterns. In contrast, Streptophyta exhibited a powerful positive relationship between the GC content, non-coding DNA, and repetitive sequences, while the evolution of Chlorophyta reflected a strong positive linear relationship between the genome length and the number of genes.This research was funded by the European Commission (Environment - LIFE Programme) project for the Comunidad Valenciana (Spain), LIFE05 NAT/E/000060.Pedrola-Monfort, J.; Lázaro-Gimeno, D.; Boluda, CG.; Pedrola, L.; Garmendia, A.; Soler, C.; Soriano, JM. (2020). Evolutionary Trends in the Mitochondrial Genome of Archaeplastida: How Does the GC Bias Affect the Transition from Water to Land?. Plants. 9(3):1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9030358S1159

Prevalence of reduced lung diffusing capacity and CT scan findings in smokers without airflow limitation: a population-based study

Exercise; Lung Physiology; Tobacco and the lungEjercicio; Fisiología Pulmonar; Tabaco y pulmónExercici; Fisiologia pulmonar; Tabac i pulmóBackground Population distribution of reduced diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DLCO) in smokers and main consequences are not properly recognised. The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence of reduced DLCO in a population-based sample of current and former smoker subjects without airflow limitation and to describe its morphological, functional and clinical implications. Methods A sample of 405 subjects aged 40 years or older with postbronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity (FVC) >0.70 was obtained from a random population-based sample of 9092 subjects evaluated in the EPISCAN II study. Baseline evaluation included clinical questionnaires, exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) measurement, spirometry, DLCO determination, 6 min walk test, routine blood analysis and low-dose CT scan with evaluation of lung density and airway wall thickness. Results In never, former and current smokers, prevalence of reduced DLCO was 6.7%, 14.4% and 26.7%, respectively. Current and former smokers with reduced DLCO without airflow limitation were younger than the subjects with normal DLCO, and they had greater levels of dyspnoea and exhaled CO, greater pulmonary artery diameter and lower spirometric parameters, 6 min walk distance, daily physical activity and plasma albumin levels (all p<0.05), with no significant differences in other chronic respiratory symptoms or CT findings. FVC and exhaled CO were identified as independent risk factors for low DLCO. Conclusion Reduced DLCO is a frequent disorder among smokers without airflow limitation, associated with decreased exercise capacity and with CT findings suggesting that it may be a marker of smoking-induced early vascular damage.The EPISCAN II study has been a GlaxoSmithKline sponsored study (grant number: not applicable)

Unravelling young COPD and pre-COPD in the general population

COPD; General populationMPOC; Població generalEPOC; Población generalBackground Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is commonly diagnosed when the airflow limitation is well established and symptomatic. We aimed to identify individuals at risk of developing COPD according to the concept of pre-COPD and compare their clinical characteristics with 1) those who have developed the disease at a young age, and 2) the overall population with and without COPD. Methods The EPISCAN II study is a cross-sectional, population-based study that aims to investigate the prevalence of COPD in Spain in subjects ≥40 years of age. Pre-COPD was defined as the presence of emphysema >5% and/or bronchial thickening by computed chromatography (CT) scan and/or diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) 0.70. Young COPD was defined as FEV1/FVC <0.70 in a subject ≤50 years of age. Demographic and clinical characteristics were compared among pre-COPD, young COPD and the overall population with and without COPD. Results Among the 1077 individuals with FEV1/FVC 0.70, 350 underwent both DLCO testing and chest CT scanning. Of those, 78 (22.3%) subjects fulfilled the definition of pre-COPD. Subjects with pre-COPD were older, predominantly women, less frequently active or ex-smokers, with less frequent previous diagnosis of asthma but with higher symptomatic burden than those with young COPD. Conclusions 22.3% of the studied population was at risk of developing COPD, with similar symptomatic and structural changes to those with well-established disease without airflow obstruction. This COPD at-risk population is different from those that develop COPD at a young age.The EPISCAN II study was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline

Distribution and Outcomes of a Phenotype- Based Approach to Guide COPD Management: Results from the CHAIN Cohort

Rationale The Spanish guideline for COPD (GesEPOC) recommends COPD treatment according to four clinical phenotypes: non-exacerbator phenotype with either chronic bronchitis or emphy- sema (NE), asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS), frequent exacerbator phenotype with emphysema (FEE) or frequent exacerbator phenotype with chronic bronchitis (FECB). How- ever, little is known on the distribution and outcomes of the four suggested phenotypes. Objective We aimed to determine the distribution of these COPD phenotypes, and their relation with one-year clinical outcomes. Methods We followed a cohort of well-characterized patients with COPD up to one-year. Baseline characteristics, health status (CAT), BODE index, rate of exacerbations and mortality up to one year of follow-up were compared between the four phenotypes. Results Overall, 831 stable COPD patients were evaluated. They were distributed as NE, 550 (66.2%); ACOS, 125 (15.0%); FEE, 38 (4.6%); and FECB, 99 (11.9%); additionally 19 (2.3%) COPD patients with frequent exacerbations did not fulfill the criteria for neither FEE nor FECB. At baseline, there were significant differences in symptoms, FEV 1 and BODE index (all p<0.05). The FECB phenotype had the highest CAT score (17.1±8.2, p<0.05 compared to the other phenotypes). Frequent exacerbator groups (FEE and FECB) were receiving more pharmacological treatment at baseline, and also experienced more exacer- bations the year after (all p<0.05) with no differences in one-year mortality. Most of NE (93%) and half of exacerbators were stable after one year. Conclusions There is an uneven distribution of COPD phenotypes in stable COPD patients, with signifi- cant differences in demographics, patient-centered outcomes and health care resources use

Metastable polymorphic phases in monolayer TaTe2

Polymorphic phases and collective phenomena—such as charge density waves (CDWs)—in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) dictate the physical and electronic properties of the material. Most TMDs naturally occur in a single given phase, but the fine-tuning of growth conditions via methods such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) allows to unlock otherwise inaccessible polymorphic structures. Exploring and understanding the morphological and electronic properties of new phases of TMDs is an essential step to enable their exploitation in technological applications. Here, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is used to map MBE-grown monolayer (ML) TaTe2. This work reports the first observation of the 1H polymorphic phase, coexisting with the 1T, and demonstrates that their relative coverage can be controlled by adjusting synthesis parameters. Several superperiodic structures, compatible with CDWs, are observed to coexist on the 1T phase. Finally, this work provides theoretical insight on the delicate balance between Te…Te and Ta–Ta interactions that dictates the stability of the different phases. The findings demonstrate that TaTe2 is an ideal platform to investigate competing interactions, and indicate that accurate tuning of growth conditions is key to accessing metastable states in TMD

Burden of respiratory disease attributable to secondhand smoke exposure at home in children in Spain (2015)

This study aimed to estimate the number of incident cases and hospital admissions attributable to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure at home for asthma, otitis media (OM), and lower respiratory infections (LRI) in children in Spain. The burden of respiratory disease caused by SHS exposure was estimated in terms of incident cases and hospitalized cases for asthma, OM, and LRI. Estimates were calculated using the population attributable fraction. The age-specific (0-1 year, 0-4 years, 5-11 years, and 0-11 years) prevalence of SHS exposure in children was estimated through a telephone survey performed in a representative sample of Spanish households with children in 2016. The risk estimates for all diseases were selected from international meta-analyses. The number of hospitalized cases was obtained for each disease from the Hospital Minimum Data Set provided by the Ministry of Health of Spain. Incident cases were obtained from the Global Health Data Exchange. In 2015, SHS exposure caused an estimated total of 136,403 incident cases of the following respiratory diseases: 9058 (8.5%) cases of asthma, 120,248 (8.5%) of OM, and 7097 (13.5%) of LRI in children aged 0-14 years old in Spain. Likewise, SHS exposure caused a total of 3028 hospitalized cases, with 379 (8.5%) for asthma and 167 (8.5%) for OM in children 0-11 years old, and 2482 (11.6%) for LRI in children <2 years old. The high burden of respiratory disease attributed to SHS exposure supports the need to improve protection of children against SHS exposure by extending smoke-free regulations to homes and cars

InternationaL cross-sectIonAl and longItudinal assessment on aSthma cONtrol in European adult patients : the LIAISON study protocol

The study is funded by Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A., Parma, ItalyPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Work absence in patients with asthma and/or COPD:a population-based study

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma impact on work productivity, but their population-based burden and clinical predictors are understudied. In this observational, real-life study, work absence of 14,383 asthma and/or COPD patients present in the MAJORICA cohort (Spain) was compared with the general population. Using multivariable regression, we studied the association of work absence with demographic and clinical characteristics. Patients with asthma and/or COPD had more work absence than the general population (15.2% vs 8.9%, p <0.0001). Patients with asthma had more often periods of work absence compared to patients with COPD (16.0% vs 12.8%, p <0.0001). The number of days absent were, however, less in asthma than in COPD (median: 15 days [IQR: 5-51] vs 39 days [IQR: 13-134], p <0.001). Patients with asthma-COPD overlap were in between (14.5% with absence; median: 27 days [IQR: 10-82]). Comorbid anxiety, allergic rhinitis, and sleep apnoea were independently associated with more work absence