Rhythmic ostensive gestures: How adults facilitate infants´ entrance into early triadic interactions

For decades, the literature on the emergence of triadic interactions considers the end of the first year of life as the time when children become able to communicate with others intentionally about a referent. Prior to that, children only relate in dyads, either with someone else or with an object. However, several researchers claim that referents are not naturally given in human communication and that they need to be established in interaction with others. In this study, we focus on earlier triadic interactions initiated by adults, when young babies still require an adult to bring the material world within their reach. In these early triadic interactions, ostensive gestures (with the object in the hand) are one of the first means of enabling the establishment of shared reference. Such gestures are easier to understand since sign (gesture) and referent (object) coincide. We conducted a longitudinal study with 6 babies filmed at 2, 3 and 4 months old in interaction with their mothers and a sounding object (a maraca). We analyzed different communicative initiatives by the adult and the child’s responses. The results show that children come to understand the adult’s communicative intention gradually through interaction. Adults include children in organized communicative “niches” based on ostensive actions, both through ostensive gestures and demonstrations of the use of the object. Consequently, the first shared understandings between adult and child take place around the object and its uses. Rhythm is a powerful tool used to structure the interaction. Eventually, adults provide space to children to actively interact with the sounding object themselves. These results highlight the importance of considering ostensive actions as a communicative tool that favors joint attention and action. They also bring some light to the interdependence between a child who actively perceives and acts, and the structured situation that the adult organizes for themThis study was supported by the program for the Training of University Teachers (Formación de Profesorado Universitario - FPU) of the Spanish Ministry of Education granted to the first author [reference AP2009-4064]; and the R&D National Plan of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [grant number EDU2011-27840

Musical dynamics in early triadic interactions: a case study

This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01168-4Research of the last 30 years showed the importance of music for psychological development. Communicative musicality studies described musical organisations in dyadic interactions (adult–baby). However, other perspectives proposed that, from the beginning of life, there are early triadic interactions (adult–object–baby) that should also be analysed. Following previous research, we hypothesised that early triadic interactions have a structured musical organisation. We recorded a 2 month-old child interacting with his mother and an object in their home and performed a microgenetic quantitative–qualitative analysis. Given the child’s age, we focused on musical characteristics of the mother’s actions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to combine data processing provided by ELAN, Finale, and Matlab-MIRtoolbox. Our analysis shows that the child participates in triadic interactions in which the mother communicates about and through the maraca using musical resources in increasingly complex ways. Musical structuring happens at the intersegment, intrasequence, and intersequence levels, and involves different musical parameters. We suggest musical organisation in early triadic interactions follows a holographic structure in which each piece carries information about dynamic processes of different timescales. Results highlight the importance of considering objects and their uses to better understand early communicative musicalit

Reflexiones y propuestas para mejorar procesos de adecuación socio-técnica y políticas públicas de energías renovables : Talleres participativos ASADES 2012-2013

El trabajo presenta los resultados y aprendizajes generados a partir de la realización de talleres participativos de reflexión y discusión sobre los procesos de ‘transferencia tecnológica’ y políticas públicas de energías renovables. La iniciativa fue planteada por un equipo multidisciplinario e interinstitucional preocupado por esta temática y conformado espontáneamente en el marco del tema 12 de la reunión de ASADES. Los talleres estuvieron orientados a promover la interacción entre actores del sector científico-académico que desarrollan acciones en ER, motivando un abordaje socio- técnico de los procesos. Entre los resultados más significativos se destacan: avances en la reflexión y conceptualización del tema, análisis general de los proyectos y políticas de energías renovables en el país, y planteamiento de propuestas y estrategias para mejorar la articulación ‘ciencia-tecnología-sociedad’.This paper presents the results and learnings generated from the realization of workshops for reflection and discussion on the process of 'technology transfer' and renewable energy policies. The initiative was raised by a multidisciplinary and inter-institutional team worried about this subject, which was formed spontaneously in the work table 12 in the ASADES meeting. The workshops were designed to promote interaction between actors of the scientific and academic sectors who develop actions in renewable energies, motivating a socio-technical approach. The most significant results are: advances in reflection and conceptualization of the topic, overview of projects and public policies of renewable energies in the country, and formulation of proposals and strategies to improve the ‘science-technology-society’ articulation.Asociación Argentina de Energías Renovables y Medio Ambiente (ASADES

Preclinical studies of toxicity and safety of the AS-48 bacteriocin

The in vitro antimicrobial potency of the bacteriocin AS-48 is well documented, but its clinical application requires investigation, as its toxicity could be different in in vitro (haemolytic and antibacterial activity in blood and cytotoxicity towards normal human cell lines) and in vivo (e.g. mice and zebrafish embryos) models. Overall, the results obtained are promising. They reveal the negligible propensity of AS-48 to cause cell death or impede cell growth at therapeutic concentrations and support the suitability of this peptide as a potential therapeutic agent against several microbial infections, due to its selectivity and potency at low concentrations. In addition, AS-48 exhibits low haemolytic activity in whole blood and does not induce nitrite accumulation in non-stimulated RAW macrophages, indicating a lack of pro-inflammatory effects. The unexpected heightened sensitivity of zebrafish embryos to AS-48 could be due to the low differentiation state of these cells. The low cytotoxicity of AS-48, the absence of lymphocyte proliferation in vivo after skin sensitization in mice, and the lack of toxicity in a murine model support the consideration of the broad spectrum antimicrobial peptideThis research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2013-48971-C2-1-R, CSD2010-00065, and AGL2015-67995-C3-3-R, all including funds from the European Regional Development Funding, ERDF) and by the Research Groups (BIO160, CTS 944 and CTS 164, UGR) from Junta de Andalucía (Spain). The CIBER-EHD is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. RM-E is grateful for an FPU Grant (FPU14/01537) from the Ministry of Education, (Spain)

Políticas públicas y estrategias institucionales para el desarrollo e implementación de energías renovables en Argentina (2006-2016)

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las principales políticas de promoción para el desarrollo e adopción de las ER implementadas en Argentina en los últimos 10 años. Para ello se propone un abordaje teórico-metodológico socio-técnico que supere las visiones tradicionales estrictamente técnicas o económicas. Para ello se presentan, en primer lugar, la propuesta teórico-metodológica analizar las políticas y estrategias institucionales impulsadas en Argentina para el desarrollo e implementación de ER. A continuación se presenta un resumen de las diferentes experiencias, proyectos y políticas en Argentina a escala nacional, provincial y nacional-provincial, y finalmente se concluye con algunas observaciones acerca del proceso de construcción de funcionamiento de las mismas.The aim of this paper is analyze the public policies to promote the development and adoption of renewable energies implemented in Argentina in the last 10 years. This requires a theoretical and methodological approach that overcomes traditional views strictly technical or economical. In this work we show, in first place, the theoretical and methodological proposal to analyze the policies and strategies driven in Argentina for the development and implementation of renewable energies. Secondly, a summary of different experiences, projects and policies in Argentina at the national, provincial and national-provincial level is presented, and finally we concludes with some observations about the working/no working construction processes.Asociación Argentina de Energías Renovables y Medio Ambiente (ASADES

Políticas públicas y estrategias institucionales para el desarrollo e implementación de energías renovables en Argentina (2006-2016)

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las principales políticas de promoción para el desarrollo e adopción de las ER implementadas en Argentina en los últimos 10 años. Para ello se propone un abordaje teórico-metodológico socio-técnico que supere las visiones tradicionales estrictamente técnicas o económicas. Para ello se presentan, en primer lugar, la propuesta teóricometodológica analizar las políticas y estrategias institucionales impulsadas en Argentina para el desarrollo e implementación de ER. A continuación se presenta un resumen de las diferentes experiencias, proyectos y políticas en Argentina a escala nacional, provincial y nacional-provincial, y finalmente se concluye con algunas observaciones acerca del proceso de construcción de funcionamiento de las mismas.The aim of this paper is analyze the public policies to promote the development and adoption of renewable energies implemented in Argentina in the last 10 years. This requires a theoretical and methodological approach that overcomes traditional views strictly technical or economical. In this work we show, in first place, the theoretical and methodological proposal to analyze the policies and strategies driven in Argentina for the development and implementation of renewable energies. Secondly, a summary of different experiences, projects and policies in Argentina at the national, provincial and national-provincial level is presented, and finally we concludes with some observations about the working/no working construction processes.Tema 12: Aspectos socioculturales y socio-económicos de la transferencia de tecnología en energías renovables. Experiencias. Metodologías.Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

Políticas públicas y estrategias institucionales para el desarrollo e implementación de energías renovables en Argentina (2006-2016)

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las principales políticas de promoción para el desarrollo e adopción de las ER implementadas en Argentina en los últimos 10 años. Para ello se propone un abordaje teórico-metodológico socio-técnico que supere las visiones tradicionales estrictamente técnicas o económicas. Para ello se presentan, en primer lugar, la propuesta teóricometodológica analizar las políticas y estrategias institucionales impulsadas en Argentina para el desarrollo e implementación de ER. A continuación se presenta un resumen de las diferentes experiencias, proyectos y políticas en Argentina a escala nacional, provincial y nacional-provincial, y finalmente se concluye con algunas observaciones acerca del proceso de construcción de funcionamiento de las mismas.The aim of this paper is analyze the public policies to promote the development and adoption of renewable energies implemented in Argentina in the last 10 years. This requires a theoretical and methodological approach that overcomes traditional views strictly technical or economical. In this work we show, in first place, the theoretical and methodological proposal to analyze the policies and strategies driven in Argentina for the development and implementation of renewable energies. Secondly, a summary of different experiences, projects and policies in Argentina at the national, provincial and national-provincial level is presented, and finally we concludes with some observations about the working/no working construction processes.Tema 12: Aspectos socioculturales y socio-económicos de la transferencia de tecnología en energías renovables. Experiencias. Metodologías.Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

Are Strength Indicators and Skin Temperature Affected by the Type of Warm-Up in Paralympic Powerlifting Athletes?

(1) Background: the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of different types of warm-ups on the strength and skin temperature of Paralympic powerlifting athletes. (2) Methods: the participants were 15 male Paralympic powerlifting athletes. The effects of three different types of warm-up (without warm-up (WW), traditional warm-up (TW), or stretching warm-up (SW)) were analyzed on static and dynamic strength tests as well as in the skin temperature, which was monitored by thermal imaging. (3) Results: no differences in the dynamic and static indicators of the force were shown in relation to the different types of warm-ups. No significant differences were found in relation to peak torque (p = 0.055, F = 4.560, η2p = 0.246 medium effect), and one-repetition maximum (p = 0.139, F = 3.191, η2p = 0.186, medium effect) between the different types of warm-ups. In the thermographic analysis, there was a significant difference only in the pectoral muscle clavicular portion between the TW (33.04 ± 0.71 °C) and the WW (32.51 ± 0.74 °C) (p = 0.038). The TW method also presented slightly higher values than the SW and WW in the pectoral muscles sternal portion and the deltoid anterior portion, but with p-value > 0.05. (4) Conclusions: the types of warm-ups studied do not seem to interfere with the performance of Paralympic Powerlifting athletes. However, the thermal images showed that traditional warm-up best meets the objectives expected for this preparation phase.post-print1305 K

Common genetic variation in KATNAL1 non-coding regions is involved in the susceptibility to severe phenotypes of male infertility

Free PMC article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9546047/Background: Previous studies in animal models evidenced that genetic mutations of KATNAL1, resulting in dysfunction of its encoded protein, lead to male infertility through disruption of microtubule remodelling and premature germ cell exfoliation. Subsequent studies in humans also suggested a possible role of KATNAL1 single nucleotide polymorphisms in the development of male infertility as a consequence of severe spermatogenic failure. Objectives: The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the effect of the common genetic variation of KATNAL1 in a large and phenotypically well-characterised cohort of infertile men because of severe spermatogenic failure. Materials and methods: A total of 715 infertile men because of severe spermato genic failure, including 210 severe oligospermia and 505 non-obstructive azoospermia patients, as well as 1058 unaffected controls were genotyped for three KATNAL1 single-nucleotide polymorphism taggers (rs2077011, rs7338931 and rs2149971). Case–control association analyses by logistic regression assuming different models and in silico functional characterisation of risk variants were conducted. Results: Genetic associations were observed between the three analysed taggers and different severe spermatogenic failure groups. However, in all cases, the haplotype model (rs2077011*C | rs7338931*T | rs2149971*A) better explained the observed associations than the three risk alleles independently. This haplotype was associated with non-obstructive azoospermia (adjusted p = 4.96E-02, odds ratio = 2.97), Sertoli cell only syndrome (adjusted p = 2.83E-02, odds ratio = 5.16) and testicular sperm extraction unsuccessful outcomes (adjusted p = 8.99E-04, odds ratio = 6.13). The in silico analyses indicated that the effect on severe spermatogenic failure predisposition could be because of an alteration of the KATNAL1 splicing pattern. Conclusions: Specific allelic combinations of KATNAL1 genetic polymorphisms may confer a risk of developing severe male infertility phenotypes by favouring the overrepresentation of a short non-functional transcript isoform in the testis.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Spanish National Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (refs. SAF2016-78722-R and PID2020-120157RB-I00), the ‘Instituto de Salud Carlos III’ (Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias)/Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional ‘Una manera de hacer Europa’ (FIS/FEDER) (ref. DTS18/00101 to Sara Larriba), the Generalitat de Catalunya (ref. 2017SGR191), the ‘Ramón y Cajal’ program (ref. RYC-2014-16458) and the ‘Juan de la Cierva Incorporación’ program (ref. IJC2018-038026-I), as well as the Andalusian Government through the R&D&i Projects Grants for Universities and Public Research Entities (ref. PY20_00212), which include FEDER funds. Andrea Guzmán-Jiménez was a recipient of a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Professional Training (‘Becas de Colaboración en Departamentos Universitarios para el curso académico 2020/2021’). Patricia I. Marques is supported by the FCT post-doctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/120777/2016), financed from the Portuguese State Budget of the Ministry for Science, Tech nology and High Education and from the European Social Fund, available through the ‘Programa Operacional do Capital Humano’. João Gonçalves was partially funded by FCT/MCTES through national funds attributed to the Centre for Toxicogenomics and Human Health— ToxOmics (UID/BIM/00009/2016 and UIDB/00009/2020). Sara Larriba is sponsored by the Researchers Consolidation Program (ISCIII SNS/Dpt. Salut Generalitat de Catalunya) (CES09/020).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Common genetic variation in KATNAL1 non‐coding regions is involved in the susceptibility to severe phenotypes of male infertility

© 2022 The Authors. Andrology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Andrology and European Academy of Andrology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.Background: Previous studies in animal models evidenced that genetic mutations of KATNAL1, resulting in dysfunction of its encoded protein, lead to male infertility through disruption of microtubule remodelling and premature germ cell exfoliation. Subsequent studies in humans also suggested a possible role of KATNAL1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the development of male infertility as a consequence of severe spermatogenic failure. Objectives: The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the effect of the common genetic variation of KATNAL1 in a large and phenotypically well-characterised cohort of infertile men because of severe spermatogenic failure. Materials and methods: A total of 715 infertile men because of severe spermatogenic failure, including 210 severe oligospermia and 505 non-obstructive azoospermia patients, as well as 1058 unaffected controls were genotyped for three KATNAL1 single-nucleotide polymorphism taggers (rs2077011, rs7338931 and rs2149971). Case-control association analyses by logistic regression assuming different models and in silico functional characterisation of risk variants were conducted. Results: Genetic associations were observed between the three analysed taggers and different severe spermatogenic failure groups. However, in all cases, the haplotype model (rs2077011*C | rs7338931*T | rs2149971*A) better explained the observed associations than the three risk alleles independently. This haplotype was associated with non-obstructive azoospermia (adjusted p = 4.96E-02, odds ratio = 2.97), Sertoli-cell only syndrome (adjusted p = 2.83E-02, odds ratio = 5.16) and testicular sperm extraction unsuccessful outcomes (adjusted p = 8.99E-04, odds ratio = 6.13). The in silico analyses indicated that the effect on severe spermatogenic failure predisposition could be because of an alteration of the KATNAL1 splicing pattern. Conclusions: Specific allelic combinations of KATNAL1 genetic polymorphisms may confer a risk of developing severe male infertility phenotypes by favouring the overrepresentation of a short non-functional transcript isoform in the testis.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Spanish National Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (refs. SAF2016-78722-R and PID2020-120157RB-I00), the ‘Instituto de Salud Carlos III’ (Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias)/Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional ‘Una manera de hacer Europa’ (FIS/FEDER) (ref. DTS18/00101 to Sara Larriba), the Generalitat de Catalunya (ref. 2017SGR191), the ‘Ramón y Cajal’ program (ref. RYC-2014-16458) and the ‘Juan de la Cierva Incorporación’ program (ref. IJC2018-038026-I), as well as the Andalusian Government through the R&D&i Projects Grants for Universities and Public Research Entities (ref. PY20_00212), which include FEDER funds. Andrea Guzmán-Jiménez was a recipient of a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Professional Training (‘Becas de Colaboración en Departamentos Universitarios para el curso académico 2020/2021’). Patricia I. Marques is supported by the FCT post-doctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/120777/2016), financed from the Portuguese State Budget of the Ministry for Science, Technology and High Education and from the European Social Fund, available through the ‘Programa Operacional do Capital Humano’. João Gonçalves was partially funded by FCT/MCTES through national funds attributed to the Centre for Toxicogenomics and Human Health—ToxOmics (UID/BIM/00009/2016 and UIDB/00009/2020). Sara Larriba is sponsored by the Researchers Consolidation Program (ISCIII SNS/Dpt. Salut Generalitat de Catalunya) (CES09/020).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio