Aspectos prácticos que deberían considerarse al examinar y leer un artículo publicado en revistas científicas del área clínica

En este artículo se intenta proporcionar a los estudiantes y recién egresados de la carrera de Ciencias Médicas, una herramienta de análisis para evaluar la creciente ola de publicaciones en el ámbito científico y médico. Se muestran las clasificaciones aceptadas de las publicaciones, los alcances y limitaciones que cada una de ellas conlleva así como diversas pautas críticas de análisis para evaluar el contenido informático de las publicaciones. Con el uso de estas herramientas, se espera que se perfeccione el espíritu crítico de lectura y se utilice mucho más eficientemente la posible trascendencia de la información proporcionada.Fil: Alvarez Toro, Edgardo Orozimbo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentin

Análisis de conceptos básicos de memoria y aprendizaje: ¿hasta que punto los "dogmas" cognitivos son realmente "dogmas"?

El aprendizaje como proceso se puede considerar un avance evolutivo importante para todos los sistemas vivientes que lo adquirieron en las tempranas épocas del desarrollo de la vida. La percepción de un entorno que tiene “pasado” y “presente” permitió a los animales primitivos adquirir una visión más completa del mundo que los rodeaba. El uso cognitivo de la información que está disponible en un sistema viviente se le reconoce ahora como “aprendizaje”. A pesar que han pasado muchos años y muchos investigadores han estado muy comprometidos en el estudio de la memoria y el aprendizaje, su intrincada naturaleza todavía no se comprende bien. En este trabajo se amplían muchos términos comunes en la investigación de este tema, como memoria, aprendizaje y ensayo redefiniéndose en un contexto más acotado con la intención de uniformar su comprensión. Se vuelve a discutir el modelo de aprendizaje en términos de un “circuito de aprendizaje”. También se amplía el concepto unificador de “engrama de la unidad vectorial de la memoria” para el proceso de aprendizaje y el almacenamiento de la información, descrito con anterioridad. Finalmente, las implicaciones del modelo propuesto se consideran en el contexto de patologías que producen déficit de memoria, evaluándose las predicciones del modelo con la evidencia comportamental de pacientes con lesiones localizadas en ciertas partes del cerebro.Learning can be considered a process that gave to living systems a significant evolutionary advance in the history of life. The capacity to distinguish that events in the environment have “past” or “present” permitted the primitive evolving organisms to acquire a convenient enriched vision of the their surrounding world. The appropriate use of the information available as experience in an organism now it is known as learning. In spite of many years of intense research, the complete understanding of memory and learning still is not clear. Debate and disagreements about the intrinsic nature of this neural process in the scientific community did not help in these years to sediment a clear-cut knowledge about this important brain function. Part of these issues appears to be linked to the semantic use of some terms implying different meanings to different investigators, and the strong belief in interpretations about learning that in time has been considered dogmas. In the present work, intent to emphasize the meaning of many terms by limiting its significance and extending an alternative point of view previously presented elsewhere, about memory and learning is done.Fil: Alvarez Toro, Edgardo Orozimbo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Ratti, Silvia Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentin

The Altered Behavioural Responses Displayed by Litter Rats After Chronic Administration of Non-Toxic Concentrations of ZnTe to Parent Rats Are Reversed by Simultaneous Folic Acid Treatment

Trace elements are an omnipresent group of chemical elements that are present practically in all types of environments sustaining life. Since its principal characteristic is the very low concentration in ground and water, it was thought that its importance to metabolic processes to the living cell was minimal. However, in the past 15 years knowledge has been accumulated regarding that these chemical elements have important influences on the cell dynamic homeostatic mechanisms. Previous evidence from our laboratory has shown that chronic administration of ZnTe to pregnancy, delivery and subsequent juvenile stages in rats affected several of its behavioural parameters related to motivated, lateralized exploration, social and defensive behaviour. In the third part of this study, the possible effect of folic acid (FolA) on the Te-induced behavioural changes was studied. Three experimental groups were formed, Control, animals treated with tap water; ZnTe, animals treated with the trace elements, and ZnTe+FolA, animals treated with the combination of ZnTe and FolA, in the same way that of the previous experiments. Results show the folic acid treatment did not counteract the increase of motor activity observed in those animals treated with ZnTe. However, in the exploration induced by novelty measured in the Double Lateral Hole-board Labyrinth, the corridor behavioural activity displayed by animals under the combination of FolA and ZnTe was similar to control and significantly different from the ZnTe-treated group. The left exploration bias naturally present in control, and blocked in the ZnTe-treated animals, was restored to control values in the FolA+ZnTe treated animals. A similar observation was found with the percentage of animals with left-bias exploration, where those rats treated with the combination of FolA and ZnTe reached similar values to control and significantly greater than the ZnTe-treated rats which were statistically lower than control. Social behaviour, inhibited by ZnTe was restored to normal in the FolA treated animals. A similar observation was found in the defensive behaviour test. Results are compatible with the idea that FolA, which is known as a methyl donor reagent, can restore the behavioural effects of ZnTe, giving support to previous results suggesting that trace elements could act by molecular mechanisms involving epigenetical modulation of DNA.Fil: Ratti, Silvia Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez Toro, Edgardo Orozimbo. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentin

Analysis of policy and legal frameworks, intervention models and intervention practices on commercial sexual exploitation of children in Chile: a discourse analysis approach

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) is a serious violation of the Human Rights with global and local implications. The multidimensionality of CSEC requires us to understand its historical elements, legal definitions, and psychosocial characteristics. International agencies, states, and national agencies (statutory and voluntary sectors) have agreed on an agenda of responses including research on CSEC, partnership and collaboration, legal changes and adjustment, promoting criminal prosecution, social policies and interventions for children and young people that have been made subject to CSEC. These interventions are diverse in their approaches, purposes, types of services, models, and critical points. In accordance with international agreements, the Chilean State recognised CSEC as a social problem and developed social policies, legal changes and intervention programmes across the country. In this context, practitioners have built a “know-how” of social intervention in CSEC based on technical guidelines (social policy on CSEC), institutional directions and pragmatic decisions from fieldwork reflexivity. However, there is no clear evidence about the rationale, models, practices, strategies and critical points in the interventions and weakness in the monitoring and evaluations. Applied Discourse Analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between different levels of social intervention on CSEC: policy, intervention models and practices. The research purpose was to describe, understand, and analyse the programmes of social intervention in CSEC, the social intervention models, and the interdisciplinary practices in Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, implemented in the decade of 2004-2014 in Chile. Government and alternative documents were analysed (13 each), discussion groups with interdisciplinary professional teams in CSEC (3), and a focus group (1) composed of policymakers, academics, researchers, police and judicial representatives was undertaken. These materials were data-managed and analysed using the software dedoose. All University of Edinburgh Research Ethics procedures were followed. The findings indicate that Government documents highlight two discursive styles: Mandatory and Pragmatic, regarding the intervention and the approaches used. These discourses (1) defined the interventions as a part of a system or building a network of services, (2) established a condition of the intervention that recognised children as a subject of law or recognised the specialised character of the intervention, and (3) based interventions on guidelines and ethical principles or challenges, and evidence-based approaches. Alternative documents developed a discursive style of Monitoring and Evaluation that emphasised (1) the complexity of CSEC and the need to develop responses, (2) then recognised challenges such a making visible CSEC and problems with the interventions; and finally (3) recommended the basis for the intervention. Mixed Stakeholders group (1) emphasised CSEC characteristics, and the institutional responses (2) specified the structure of the intervention, and (3) identified tensions and challenges in the adjustments of social policies and intervention practices, methodological needs, and the judicial system rationale and practices. These findings are significant because they help us to understand the processes involved in building appropriate and situated responses for children and young people that have been made subject to CSE on a local, regional and global level

Role of Zn and Te as environmental factors on the modulation of motivation and emotionality in the rat

En proyectos anteriores este laboratorio ha mostrado en ratas que los elementos inorgánicos, como Zn y Te, son capaces de alterar la normal expresión conductual de algunas funciones superiores del cerebro, de una manera similar a lo encontrado previamente en humanos. Tres aspectos de estas funciones fueron afectadas: respuestas conductuales cognitivas; respuestas naturales de interacción social y respuestas de defensa y de supervivencia. Estos efectos comportamentales, se encuentran ligados e influenciados por los mecanismos cerebrales que regulan la expresión emocional. Hasta la momento, no se sabe si las acciones de Zn o Te afectan las conductas de relación y enfrentamiento por una acción directa en estos circuitos neurales, o en realidad estos procesos se modifican en respuesta a cambios en los procesos emocionales.El presente proyecto, continuación de la línea de trabajo anterior, pretende en esta nueva etapa encontrar evidencias que permitan evaluar si los elementos traza primariamente, actúan en los circuitos emocionales del cerebro y como consecuencia, se afectan los procesos cognitivos, o simplemente su mecanismo de acción está centrado en la cognición, sin afectar la emocionalidad. Se trabajará con K2TeO3 para evaluar Te; ZnCl2 para evaluar Zn y ZnTe para estudiar la interacción de Zn y Te.Las evidencias a obtener con el desarrollo de este proyecto, permitirá ampliar y localizar los efectos de los elementos traza y su importancia como componentes ambientales en las comunidades humanas donde la geografía natural directamente expone estos elementos a las personas.Previous evidence from this laboratory has shown that the inorganic chemical elements, such as Zn and Te were able to modify the normal behavioural expression of some higher brain functions in the rat in a similar way to that found in humans. Three important parameters were affected; cognitive behavioural, social interaction, and survival responses. However, it is known that emotionality processes are able to affect the cognitive expression, raising the question if really the cognitive impair induced by trace elements is secondary to altered emotionality expression. Up to this moment, this issue has not been studied. The present project, continuing the research line of previous work, aims to get new evidence on the question if cognitive effects of trace elements are the consequence of an action directly on the emotionality neuronal circuits instead of actions on cognitive modulating neural circuits.These objectives will be performed using Zn, Te, or the combination Zn+Te (K2TeO3, ZnCl2, and ZnTe). It is expected that results from this study will clarify the brain mechanisms of the biological effects of trace elements in organisms, putting in perspective its projections to those people living in geographical zones where exposition to trace elements is unavoidable

La afectividad en el aula: Prácticas pedagógicas en la Carrera de Pedagogía en Inglés de la Universidad Andrés Bello, Sede Viña del Mar.

Tesis (Magíster en Dirección y Liderazgo para la Gestión Educacional)RESUMEN: En todo proceso de aprendizaje está presente el vínculo afectivo, sea de docente a docente, alumno a alumno o docente a alumno. Con el desarrollo biosicológico del individuo, es decir, a medida que avanza en su desarrollo personal, este vínculo va evolucionando de diferente manera. Esta investigación pretende mostrar cómo éste se hace presente en la relación profesores-estudiantes, en las prácticas pedagógicas en el aula, de la carrera de pedagogía en Inglés de la Universidad Andrés Bello, sede Viña del Mar, apoyándose, en lo teórico, en autores e investigadores que han desarrollado una fecunda labor en el campo mencionado, y, en lo práctico, en el desarrollo de un cuestionario, que se aplicó a 33 alumnos de la promoción 2008 de la citada carrera. El análisis de sus respuestas, que es lo grueso del trabajo, queda plasmado en una conclusión que podría ser sorprendente, considerando el nivel de educación al que apunta la investigación, dejando propuesta y enunciada la posibilidad que otra investigue la forma en que el vínculo afectivo profesor estudiante puede afectar otras áreas de la educación como, por ejemplo, el rendimiento académico y el logro de los aprendizajes.ABSTRACT: The affective liaison, professor-professor, student-student, and professor-student type of relationship, is present in any learning process. As the individual biopsicologically grows, in other words, as he develops himself, this bond evolves in different ways. This research intends to show how and in what way that bond ties up the relation between professors and students inside the pedagogical practices that take place within the career of Pedagogy in English at the Andres Bello University, on the Viña del Mar Campus. The theoretical framework considers authors and researchers who have contributed with some fruitful work on the subject matter. The method used to gather information is the questionnaire. It was handed to 33 students of the 2008 class. The analysis and interpretation of the answers given is captured in a quite surprising conclusion, considering the education level this is set at, and it provides fertile grounds for a future research to establish the form in which the professor-student bond may affect other educational areas such as those related to academic results and learning attainment

Bioinorganic chemistry of trace elements: Possible role in the epigenetic modulation of homoeostatic processes in complex organisms

Trace elements are well known in the geochemistry disciplines. However, its relationship to the biological and medical sciences is very recent. In spite that knowledge about the influence of environment in living processes is a traditional concept, until about the middle part of the 20 century, the possible influence on physiological functions of chemical elements present in waters and soil surrounding man habitat was not particularly investigated. Principal concern was concentrated to evaluate toxic actions of chemical elements on living systems. However, evidence showing that chemical elements are able to interact with enzymes, transcription factors and DNA in several living systems, put the inorganic elements into a new perspective. Higher concentrations of inorganic elements in the environment do not necessarily must be the only requirement for biological interactions in living systems. In the present paper historical aspects, some chemical properties of trace elements, an emphasized discussion about selenium and tellurium on functional processes in living systems are reviewed. In addition, hypothesis about the role of trace elements on epigenetic changes in the expression of gene action is also discussed.Fil: Ratti, Silvia Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentina; Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Laboratorio de Neuropsicofarmacología Experimental; Argentina;Fil: Cioccale, Marcela Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Geología Aplicada; Argentina;Fil: Carignano, Claudio Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; Argentina; Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas Aplicadas; Argentina;Fil: Alvarez Toro, Edgardo Orozimbo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentina