Multidisciplinary Learning, Another way of Teaching Maths in Engineering

Multidisciplinary training is widely appreciated in industry and business, and nevertheless usually is not addressed in the early stages of most undergraduate programs. We outline here a multidisciplinary course for undergraduates studying engineering in which mathematics would be the common language, the transverse tool. The goal is motivating students to learn more mathematics and as a result, improve the quality of engineering education. The course would be structured around projects in four branches in engineering: mechanical, electrical, civil and bio-tech. The projects would be chosen among a wide variety of topics in engineering practice selected with the guidance of professional engineers. In these projects mathematics should interact with at least two other basic areas of knowledge in engineering: chemistry, computers science, economics, design or physics

Fiabilidad de una escala para la evaluación de competencias enfermeras: estudio de concordancia.

Introducción Evaluar las competencias es una cuestión de importancia que ocupa un lugar primordial en el contexto de la educación superior. Para ello, es necesario disponer de instrumentos que reúnan criterios de validez y fiabilidad, y que puedan ser utilizados en escenarios de desempeño, capacidad y actuación profesional. Por esta razón, nos planteamos el siguiente objetivo: determinar la concordancia intra e interobservador de una escala para la evaluación de competencias enfermeras (ECOEnf) en España. Material y método Estudio observacional, descriptivo y transversal para evaluar la fiabilidad mediante el análisis de concordancia intra e interobservadores de la escala «ECOEnf». Se utilizó la prueba no paramétrica Tau-b de Kendall para establecer la correlación, aplicada a la misma población, en el mismo tiempo, por 2 observadores diferentes. Resultado La concordancia intraobservador se obtuvo una excelente consistencia interna (r = 0,98). Respecto a la concordancia entre observadores se mostraron escasos ítems con una correlación menor de 0,5; sin embargo, todos los ítems cumplen con una buena fiabilidad, estadísticamente significativa, p valor < 0,05. Conclusión En general, al realizar la correlación entre los resultados de la herramienta medido 2 veces por diferentes observadores en el mismo momento se encontró estadísticamente una buena concordancia, por lo cual se considera un instrumento fiable para ser utilizado en la evaluación de las competencias enfermeras en España.post-print507 K

InnovÁvila: Propuestas de innovación en la Escuela Universitaria de Educación y Turismo de Ávila para la excelencia docente

Memoria ID-038. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2018-2019

Drosophila Araucan and Caupolican Integrate Intrinsic and Signalling Inputs for the Acquisition by Muscle Progenitors of the Lateral Transverse Fate

A central issue of myogenesis is the acquisition of identity by individual muscles. In Drosophila, at the time muscle progenitors are singled out, they already express unique combinations of muscle identity genes. This muscle code results from the integration of positional and temporal signalling inputs. Here we identify, by means of loss-of-function and ectopic expression approaches, the Iroquois Complex homeobox genes araucan and caupolican as novel muscle identity genes that confer lateral transverse muscle identity. The acquisition of this fate requires that Araucan/Caupolican repress other muscle identity genes such as slouch and vestigial. In addition, we show that Caupolican-dependent slouch expression depends on the activation state of the Ras/Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase cascade. This provides a comprehensive insight into the way Iroquois genes integrate in muscle progenitors, signalling inputs that modulate gene expression and protein activity

Dendritic cell deficiencies persist seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 infection induces an exacerbated inflammation driven by innate immunity components. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a key role in the defense against viral infections, for instance plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs), have the capacity to produce vast amounts of interferon-alpha (IFN-α). In COVID-19 there is a deficit in DC numbers and IFN-α production, which has been associated with disease severity. In this work, we described that in addition to the DC deficiency, several DC activation and homing markers were altered in acute COVID-19 patients, which were associated with multiple inflammatory markers. Remarkably, previously hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients remained with decreased numbers of CD1c+ myeloid DCs and pDCs seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, the expression of DC markers such as CD86 and CD4 were only restored in previously nonhospitalized patients, while no restoration of integrin β7 and indoleamine 2,3-dyoxigenase (IDO) levels were observed. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the immunological sequelae of COVID-19

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

SARS-CoV-2 viral load in nasopharyngeal swabs is not an independent predictor of unfavorable outcome

The aim was to assess the ability of nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load at first patient’s hospital evaluation to predict unfavorable outcomes. We conducted a prospective cohort study including 321 adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 through RT-PCR in nasopharyngeal swabs. Quantitative Synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA cycle threshold values were used to calculate the viral load in log10 copies/mL. Disease severity at the end of follow up was categorized into mild, moderate, and severe. Primary endpoint was a composite of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and/or death (n = 85, 26.4%). Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load over the second quartile (≥ 7.35 log10 copies/mL, p = 0.003) and second tertile (≥ 8.27 log10 copies/mL, p = 0.01) were associated to unfavorable outcome in the unadjusted logistic regression analysis. However, in the final multivariable analysis, viral load was not independently associated with an unfavorable outcome. Five predictors were independently associated with increased odds of ICU admission and/or death: age ≥ 70 years, SpO2, neutrophils > 7.5 × 103/µL, lactate dehydrogenase ≥ 300 U/L, and C-reactive protein ≥ 100 mg/L. In summary, nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral load on admission is generally high in patients with COVID-19, regardless of illness severity, but it cannot be used as an independent predictor of unfavorable clinical outcome

Estimaciones puntuales y en norma para operadores relacionados con el semigrupo de Ornstein-Uhlenbeck

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Matemáticas. Fecha de lectura: 30-9-199

Iro-C genes regulate lateral transverse muscle identity by modulating the expression of downstream target genes.

Trabajo presentado en la 51st Annual Drosophila Research Conference, celebrada en Washington, DC, EEUU, del 7 al 11 de abril de 2010Peer Reviewe

Elementos reguladores de la expresión de los genes del complejo Iroquois en el gen adyacente Sosondowah mantienen ligados a estos genes a lo largo de la evolución

Resumen del póster presentado al XXXIV Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, celebrado en Barcelona del 5 al 8 de septiembre del 2011.Con frecuencia, genes que codifican para proteínas similares y que participan en los mismos procesos se encuentran agrupados formando complejos génicos. Este es el caso de los genes de complejo Iroquois(C-Iro) de Drosophila que se agrupan en una región genómica de aproximadamente 150 kb. La estructura en forma de complejos ha evolucionado independientemente en otros grupos animales, encontrándose por ejemplo los genes Iroquois de vertebrados (denominados genes Irx) agrupados en dos complejos génicos. Los diferentes genes Iro presentan patrones de expresión muy variados a lo largo del desarrollo, controlados por enhancers específicos de posición que con frecuencia actúan simultáneamente sobre dos o más de los genes del complejo. Estos elementos reguladores se localizan en las amplias regiones intergénicas de los C-Iro. Se ha propuesto que el mantenimiento de la estructura en complejos génicos a lo largo de la evolución se debería a la presencia de los elementos reguladores compartidos, que dejarían de funcionar correctamente en caso de desensamblaje de los complejos. En casi todos los organismos bilaterales estudiados, el gen Sosondowah (Sowah) está ligado a los genes Iroquois, lo que sugería la existencia de una relación funcional entre ambos. En este trabajo demostramos en Drosophila que sowah, que no está funcionalmente relacionado con los genes del C-Iro, alberga elementos enhancer de la expresión de dichos genes en los discos imaginales de ala y de pata y en el embrión. Por tanto, sugerimos que el estrecho ligamiento de sowah con los genes del C-Iro a lo largo de la evolución se debe a la existencia de elementos reguladores de la expresión de los genes del C-Iro dentro de sowah y/o en espacio intergénico entre dicho gen y el C-Iro.Peer reviewe