Desarrollo de las competencias específicas relacionadas con la tecnología para las áreas de periodismo y comunicación audiovisual

Makings changes to learning standards that are suggested by EHEA are a good opportunity to enhance students’ professional competences about Journalism and Media Production. This approach involves difficult challenges, like skills in audiovisual technologies and limited resources to apply it. A combined methodology is proposed, putting together positive elements from self-learning, from collaboration environment, from the use of IT and from team work. Participating students have answered a survey asking them about the audiovisual technology role in their training and in the professional environment, and have produced some didactic videos their fellows could see to improve their skills in the use of technology.El cambio hacia los estándares formativos que moviliza el EEES constituye una oportunidad para mejorar el enfoque de la capacitación de los estudiantes de las áreas de Comunicación para el ejercicio profesional. Esta adaptación afronta algunos retos complicados, como son el necesario uso de las tecnologías audiovisuales o los recursos limitados para aplicarla. Se propone una metodología combinada, que reúne elementos positivos de la autoformación, del aprendizaje en entornos colaborativos, del uso de las TIC y del trabajo en equipo. Los alumnos participantes han contestado a un cuestionario que les pregunta sobre el papel de la tecnología audiovisual en su formación y en el entorno profesional y han realizado vídeos didácticos para ser utilizados por sus compañeros en la mejora de las capacidades de uso de la tecnología

Aprender a reconocer la manipulación en informativos de TV : el caso de Telemadrid, 2003-2012

Las noticias en formato audiovisual inundan las distintas pantallas, y en muchas ocasiones como elaboraciones y contenidos que sobrepasan los límites de la función informativa hacia la propaganda, la voluntad comercial o la opinión. Una sociedad democrática idealmente sana debería estar formada por ciudadanos capaces de seleccionar los mensajes de su interés, analizarlos y evaluar sus contenidos, diferenciando entre los que responden al derecho a la libertad de información y los que pretenden otras intenciones. Estos son algunos de los objetivos de la iniciativa para la alfabetización mediática e informacional (o, en sus siglas en inglés, MIL, Media Information Literacy). El establecimiento de la agenda, el estudio del énfasis, la enunciación o la reiteración de enunciados no son las únicas fórmulas de manipulación de los noticieros audiovisuales diarios. A algunos vicios periodísticos ya conocidos hay que añadir los procedimientos manipuladores que corresponden a las técnicas del montaje audiovisual. Partiendo de la premisa de que cualquier forma de construcción es manipulable, este trabajo propone un debate sobre las estructuras de montaje audiovisual a distintos niveles -programación, articulación de la escaleta de noticias, montaje-, con la finalidad de poner de relieve que, en muchas ocasiones, la mera formación en análisis de textos audiovisuales no es suficiente para desvelar prácticas de manipulación deshonesta en la construcción de la noticia y que, por lo tanto, es necesario que la alfabetización incluya un adiestramiento en las prácticas de producción profesionales, que capacite para detectar la intención manipulativa en el propio proceso de escritura audiovisual. Se utilizan como ejemplo, en este caso negativo, noticias y tratamientos informativos que Telemadrid ha mostrado en sus pantallas durante la década 2003-2012

Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in small areas of 33 Spanish cities

Background: In Spain, several ecological studies have analyzed trends in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality from all causes in urban areas over time. However, the results of these studies are quite heterogeneous finding, in general, that inequalities decreased, or remained stable. Therefore, the objectives of this study are: (1) to identify trends in geographical inequalities in all-cause mortality in the census tracts of 33 Spanish cities between the two periods 1996–1998 and 2005–2007; (2) to analyse trends in the relationship between these geographical inequalities and socioeconomic deprivation; and (3) to obtain an overall measure which summarises the relationship found in each one of the cities and to analyse its variation over time.Methods: Ecological study of trends with 2 cross-sectional cuts, corresponding to two periods of analysis: 1996–1998 and 2005–2007. Units of analysis were census tracts of the 33 Spanish cities. A deprivation index calculated for each census tracts in all cities was included as a covariate. A Bayesian hierarchical model was used to estimate smoothed Standardized Mortality Ratios (sSMR) by each census tract and period. The geographical distribution of these sSMR was represented using maps of septiles. In addition, two different Bayesian hierarchical models were used to measure the association between all-cause mortality and the deprivation index in each city and period, and by sex: (1) including the association as a fixed effect for each city; (2) including the association as random effects. In both models the data spatial structure can be controlled within each city. The association in each city was measured using relative risks (RR) and their 95 % credible intervals (95 % CI).Results: For most cities and in both sexes, mortality rates decline over time. For women, the mortality and deprivation patterns are similar in the first period, while in the second they are different for most cities. For men, RRs remain stable over time in 29 cities, in 3 diminish and in 1 increase. For women, in 30 cities, a non-significant change over time in RR is observed. However, in 4 cities RR diminishes. In overall terms, inequalities decrease (with a probability of 0.9) in both men (RR¿=¿1.13, 95 % CI¿=¿1.12–1.15 in the 1st period; RR¿=¿1.11, 95 % CI¿=¿1.09–1.13 in the 2nd period) and women (RR¿=¿1.07, 95 % CI¿=¿1.05–1.08 in the 1st period; RR¿=¿1.04, 95 % CI¿=¿1.02–1.06 in the 2nd period).Conclusions: In the future, it is important to conduct further trend studies, allowing to monitoring trends in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality and to identify (among other things) temporal factors that may influence these inequalities

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

La materialidad del sonido

La investigación sobre los procesos de producción sonora en la crea-ción de obras audiovisuales afectan, en términos generales, a cuestio-nes exclusivamente tecnológicas. Para valorar su rendimiento expresi-vo en la construcción del discurso es imprescindible que, de forma paralela, esta investigación se aborde también desde la perspectiva de la realización audiovisual.Para ello es necesario asumir que los conceptos básicos en los que se fundamenta el desarrollo tecnológico no han de ser necesariamente esenciales en los estudios que se plantean desde puntos de vista creati-vos.En particular es oportuno someter a examen el concepto de fidelidad y reivindicar las posibilidades emotivas, e incluso significantes, de formatos de producción sonora hoy en desuso

Heat wave intensity and daily mortality in four of the largest cities of Spain

In the current context of climate change, heat waves have become a significant problem for human health. This study assesses the effects of heat wave intensity on mortality (natural, respiratory and cardiovascular causes) in four of the largest cities of Spain (Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Seville) during the period between 1990 and 2014. To model the heat wave severity the Excess Heat Factor (EHF) was used. The EHF is a two-component index. The first is the comparison of the three-day average daily mean temperature with the 95th percentile. The second component is a measure of the temperatures reached during the three-day period compared with the recent past (the previous 30 days). The city-specific exposure-response curves showed a non-linear J-shaped relationship between mortality and the EHF. Overall city-specific mortality risk estimates in natural causes for 1st vs. 99th percentile increases range from the highest mortality risk with 2.73 (95% CI: 2.34–3.18) in Seville to a risk of 1.78 (95% CI: 1.62–1.97) and 1.78 (95% CI: 1.45–2.19) in Barcelona and Bilbao, respectively. When we compare our results with risk estimates for the analyzed Spanish cities in other studies, the heat wave related mortality risks seem to be clearly higher. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that different heat wave days of the same event do not present the same degree of severity/intensity. Thus, the intensity of a heat wave is an important mortality risk indicator during heat wave days. Due to the low number of studies on the EHF as a heat wave intensity indicator and heat-related mortality and morbidity, further research is required to validate its application in other geographic areas and focus populations

Do socioeconomic inequalities in mortality vary between different Spanish cities? a pooled cross-sectional analysis

Background: The relationship between deprivation and mortality in urban settings is well established. This relationship has been found for several causes of death in Spanish cities in independent analyses (the MEDEA project). However, no joint analysis which pools the strength of this relationship across several cities has ever been undertaken. Such an analysis would determine, if appropriate, a joint relationship by linking the associations found. Methods: A pooled cross-sectional analysis of the data from the MEDEA project has been carried out for each of the causes of death studied. Specifically, a meta-analysis has been carried out to pool the relative risks in eleven Spanish cities. Different deprivation-mortality relationships across the cities are considered in the analysis (fixed and random effects models). The size of the cities is also considered as a possible factor explaining differences between cities. Results: Twenty studies have been carried out for different combinations of sex and causes of death. For nine of them (men: prostate cancer, diabetes, mental illnesses, Alzheimer’s disease, cerebrovascular disease; women: diabetes, mental illnesses, respiratory diseases, cirrhosis) no differences were found between cities in the effect of deprivation on mortality; in four cases (men: respiratory diseases, all causes of mortality; women: breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease) differences not associated with the size of the city have been determined; in two cases (men: cirrhosis; women: lung cancer) differences strictly linked to the size of the city have been determined, and in five cases (men: lung cancer, ischaemic heart disease; women: ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, all causes of mortality) both kinds of differences have been found. Except for lung cancer in women, every significant relationship between deprivation and mortality goes in the same direction: deprivation increases mortality. Variability in the relative risks across cities was found for general mortality for both sexes. Conclusions: This study provides a general overview of the relationship between deprivation and mortality for a sample of large Spanish cities combined. This joint study allows the exploration of and, if appropriate, the quantification of the variability in that relationship for the set of cities considered.This article was partially funded by Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad via the research grant MTM2010-19528 (jointly financed with European Regional Development Fund), the FIS-FEDER projects: PI042013, PI040041, PI040170, PI040069, PI042602, PI040388, PI040489, PI042098, PI041260, PI040399, PI08/1488, PI08/0330 and by the CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Publica (CIBERESP), Spain

The EMECAM project: a multicentre study on air pollution and mortality in Spain: combined results for particulates and for sulfur dioxide

Objective: The EMECAM study is a collaborative effort to evaluate the impact of air pollution on mortality in Spain. In this paper the combined results are presented for the short term effects of particulates and sulfur dioxide on both daily mortality for all and for specific causes. Methods: The relation between daily mortality for all causes, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases, and air pollution for particulates (daily concentrations) and SO(2) (24 and 1 hour concentrations) was assessed in 13 Spanish cities for the period 1990–6. With a standardised method, magnitude of association in each city was estimated by Poisson regression in a generalised additive model. Local estimates were obtained from both single and two pollutant analyses. Lastly, combined estimates for each cause and pollutant were obtained. Results: For combined results, in single pollutant models a 10 µg/m(3) increase in the concentration of the mean of the concurrent and one day lag for black smoke was associated with a 0.8% (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.4 to 1.1%) increase in total mortality. The estimates for total suspended particles (TSPs) and particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter <10 µm (PM(10)) and total mortality were slightly lower. The same increase in concentrations of SO(2) was associated with a 0.5% increase in daily deaths. For groups of specific causes, higher estimations were found, specially for respiratory conditions. Peak concentrations of SO(2) showed significant associations with the three groups of mortality. When two pollutant analyses were performed, estimates for particulates, specially for black smoke, did not substantially change. The estimates for daily concentrations of SO(2) were greatly reduced, but, on the contrary, the association with peak concentrations of SO(2) did not show any change. Conclusions: There is an association between mortality and pollution through particulates among city populations in Spain. Peak rather than daily concentrations of SO(2) were related to mortality. Results suggest that populations in Spanish cities are exposed to health risks derived from air pollution