El perfil de clima escolar: estudio transcultural de la validez de una batería de cuestionarios para evaluar el clima escolar

This paper studies the validity of the School Climate Battery of Questionnaires for Secondary and High School Teachers (SCBQSHST). The battery includes five questionnaires: Quality of Leadership, Quality of Teachers' Support, School Motivational Orientation, Quality of Students' Attitude, and Quality of Parental Support. A total of 178 teachers from Costa Rica were compared with 343 Spanish teachers. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the questionnaires allow assessing teachers' perceptions of the different dimensions of school climate in a valid and reliable way in both Spain and Costa Rica. Differences in the perception of Spanish and Costa Rican teachers about school climate shown by multigroup confirmatory factor analyses are discussed as well as theoretical and practical implications.Este artículo estudia la validez de la Batería de cuestionarios sobre clima escolar para profesores de Secundaria y Bachillerato (BQCE-SB). La batería incluye cinco cuestionarios: calidad de liderazgo, calidad de apoyo docente, orientación motivacional del centro, calidad de las actitudes de los estudiantes y calidad del apoyo de los padres. Un total de 178 docentes de Costa Rica se compararon con 343 docentes españoles. Los análisis factoriales confirmatorios mostraron que los cuestionarios permiten evaluar de manera válida y confiable las percepciones de los docentes sobre las diferentes dimensiones del clima escolar, tanto en España como en Costa Rica. Se discuten las diferencias en la percepción de los docentes españoles y costarricenses sobre el clima escolar que muestran los análisis factoriales confirmatorios multigrupo, así como sus implicaciones teóricas y práctica

Vulnerables.

Universidad Pablo de OlavideMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación CSO2009-06819-EUniversidad de Granada 1975-200

DIATOMS AND DINOFLAGELLATES DIVERSITY INHABITING A COASTAL UPWELLING SYSTEM: A METABARCODING APPROACH

Small eukaryotic plankton has been traditionally characterized using conventional microscopy techniques. Current advances in sequencing technologies allow the cost-effective study the diversity within microbial plankton based on DNA sequences. This technique has been implemented in the last 15 years for investigating prokaryotic diversity, but its application to unravel the diversity and ecology of eukaryotic organisms is still incipient. In this study we analyze the diversity of the diatoms and dinoflagellates in the marine communities using rDNA sequencing techniques, as well as the taxonomic resolution provided by the V4 region of the 18S rRNA gene. Twenty monthly 6L seawater samples for DNA metabarcoding were collected and filtered through 3 μm polycarbonate filter in a station off the Ría de A Coruña (NW Iberian Peninsula). DNA was extracted, the V4 region of the 18S rRNA was PCR amplified and subsequently sequenced using the High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) platform Illumina. Amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were differentiated using DADA2 implemented in R. Sequences were aligned against PR2 v4.12.0 and SILVA 132 18S rRNA databases as references, as well as studied using BLAST and phylogenetic trees. Sequence-based taxonomic approach found 128 and 416 metabarcodes corresponding to diatoms and dinoflagellates, respectively. Sequences had limited resolution at species or even genus level, and overall the taxonomic resolution of diatoms was substantially higher than those of dinoflagellates

Nano- and microplankton diversity inhabiting a coastal upwelling system: a metabarcoding approach

Small eukaryotic plankton has been traditionally characterized using conventional microscopy techniques. Current advances in sequencing technologies allow the costeffective study the diversity within microbial plankton based on DNA sequences. This technique has been implemented in the last 15 years for investigating prokaryotic diversity, but its application to unravel the diversity and distribution of eukaryotic organisms is still incipient. Alleged advantages of this approach include the ability of detecting the smaller fraction of the community that trend to be overlooked in microscopy studies, as well as improving the resolution of taxonomic identification for groups whose morphological study is challenging due the paucity of morphological characters. In this study we characterize the diversity of the nano- and microplankton marine communities using microscopy and rDNA sequencing techniques. The aim of this work is to compare results of both techniques, assessing whether rDNA data can provide new insights into the study of the diversity of eukaryotic planktonic communities. Twenty monthly samples were collected in a station off the Ría de A Coruña (NW Iberian Peninsula). Planktonic samples for DNA studies were collected by filtering seawater samples through a 3 μm pore size polycarbonate filter. DNA was extracted, the V4 region of the 18S rRNA was PCR amplified and subsequently sequenced using the High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) platform Illumina. Amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were differentiated using DADA2 implemented in R. Sequences were aligned against PR2 v4.12.0 and SILVA 132 18S rRNA databases as references. Microscopic identification of plankton taxa (phytoplankton and protozoa) was made using the Uthermöhl technique. In total 1182 ASVs were identified based on rDNA data, which contrasts with only 65 species identified by microscopy. Morphological identifications of eukaryotic plankton was restricted mainly to diatoms, dinoflagellates and ciliates, while rDNA data allowed the detection of additional taxonomic groups (i.e. protist). Some of them were very abundant, such as the algae Cryptophyceae and Mamiellophyceae or the heterotrophs Ascomycota or parasitic Stramenopiles. Therefore, our study further evidenced that DNA metabarcoding is a valuable tool to uncover part of the great diversity within microbial plankton, improving the detection of small eukaryotes

Mesoscopic model and free energy landscape for protein-DNA binding sites: Analysis of cyanobacterial promoters

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.The identification of protein binding sites in promoter sequences is a key problem to understand and control regulation in biochemistry and biotechnological processes. We use a computational method to analyze promoters from a given genome. Our approach is based on a physical model at the mesoscopic level of protein-DNA interaction based on the influence of DNA local conformation on the dynamics of a general particle along the chain. Following the proposed model, the joined dynamics of the protein particle and the DNA portion of interest, only characterized by its base pair sequence, is simulated. The simulation output is analyzed by generating and analyzing the Free Energy Landscape of the system. In order to prove the capacity of prediction of our computational method we have analyzed nine promoters of Anabaena PCC 7120. We are able to identify the transcription starting site of each of the promoters as the most populated macrostate in the dynamics. The developed procedure allows also to characterize promoter macrostates in terms of thermo-statistical magnitudes (free energy and entropy), with valuable biological implications. Our results agree with independent previous experimental results. Thus, our methods appear as a powerful complementary tool for identifying protein binding sites in promoter sequences.This work was supported by the Spanish Goverment under DGICYT Projects No. FIS2011-25167, BFU2009-07424, BFU2012-31458 cofinanced by FEDER funds, Gobierno de Aragon (projects B18 and E19), “Proyecto Intramural” (BIFI) and Spanish government fellowship FPU-2012-2608 (RTR).Peer Reviewe

Ethanol Consumption Affects Neuronal Function: Role of the Mitochondria

Ethanol is a licit drug consumed by a large part of the population, from adolescence to adulthood. High ethanol consumption is a public health problem due to its addictiveness and the risk it produces of developing other diseases, including cardiovascular, hepatic, and mental pathologies. Different patterns of ethanol consumption and its toxic effects in the brain have been reported. Current studies suggest to mitochondria, one of the principal mediators for ethanol neurotoxicity. In this chapter, we will review the effects of ethanol on neurons in different scenarios of ethanol consumption and its relation with mitochondrial function. Finally, we will propose a mechanism of ethanol toxicity in which the mitochondria are the main mediator and in which the mitochondrial alterations correlate with the severity of ethanol consumption. Thus, improving mitochondrial health of brain cells could be considered as a potential therapeutic target to treat ethanol-associated disorders

El asesoramiento en educación especial en los servicios de CAM y USAER para fortalecer en la zona la gestión escolar

Trabajo que presenta un proyecto de intervención que tiene el objetivo de mejorar a través de estrategias de innovación las prácticas del asesor educativo en el Centro de Atención Múltiple (CAM) y en la Unidad de Servicios de Atención a la Escuela Regular (USAER). La innovación consiste en transformar el proceso de planeación del asesor en el ámbito pedagógico curricular, para que desarrolle habilidades que mejoren su participación en el proceso de intervención de los servicios de CAM y USAER

Vulcanismo relacionado con las formaciones la boca y minas viejas en los alrededores de Galeana, N.L. y su vínculo con la mineralización de barita

Un vulcanismo que cubre el intervalo Triásico Superior a Jurásico Superior (Figuras 1 y 2) se ha reportado en las localidades Valle de Huizachal - Cañón La Boca, Tamps., así como en Aramberri - San Paulo Tranquitas, N.L., aunque no existe consenso en cuanto a su proceso de origen y su marco tectónico. Salvador (1987) lo vinculó a un ambiente de rift. Barboza-Gudiño et al. (1998) señalaron que las rocas volcánicas triásicas y jurásicas del extremo oriental de México están asociadas a la fragmentación de Pangea, o a una cuenca de tras-arco. Posteriormente, Barboza-Gudiño et al. (2008) lo atribuyeron sólo a un margen activo del suroeste de Norteamérica. Fastovsky et al. (2005) consideraron que el vulcanismo sin-sedimentario del Cañón de Huizachal (Cd. Victoria, Tamps; Figura 1) está relacionado con un arco activo del Jurásico Temprano. En esta misma zona, Rubio- Cisnero et al. (2011) indicaron que los lechos rojos representan flujos de sedimentos afectados por vulcanismo sin-sedimentario, vinculado a un régimen de arco durante el Jurásico Temprano. García-Obregón (2008) indicó la afinidad de las riolitas Huizachal con un ambiente de arco volcánico continental

Antimonene-modified screen-printed carbon nanofibers electrode for enhanced electroanalytical response of metal ions.

A two-dimensional (2D) Sb-modified screen-printed carbon nanofibers electrode (2D Sbexf-SPCNFE) was developed to improve the stripping voltammetric determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II), taking advantage of the synergistic effect between the two nanomaterials. The surface morphology of the 2D Sbexf-SPCNFE was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The analytical performance of 2D Sbexf-SPCNFE was compared to those presented by screen-printed carbon electrodes modified with 2D Sbexf (2D Sbexf-SPCE) and the corresponding bare electrodes: screen-printed carbon nanofibers electrode (SPCNFEbare) and screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCEbare). After optimizing the experimental conditions, the 2D Sbexf-SPCNFE exhibited much better analytical parameters compared to the other assessed sensors. Analysis in 0.01 mol L−1 HCl (pH = 2) using 2D Sbexf-SPCNFE showed excellent linear behavior in the concentration range of 2.9 to 85.0 µg L−1 and 0.3 to 82.0 µg L−1 for Cd(II) and Pb(II), respectively. The limits of detection after 240 s deposition time for Cd(II) and Pb(II) were 0.9 and 0.1 µg L−1, and sensitivities between 1.5 and 3 times higher than those displayed by SPCEbare, SPCNFEbare, and 2D Sbexf-SPCE were obtained. Finally, the 2D Sbexf-SPCNFE was successfully applied to the determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II) traces in a certified estuarine water sample