Studies of intercellular Ca2+ signaling and gap-junction coupling in the developing cochlea of mouse models affected by congenital hearing loss

Connexin 26 (Cx26) and connexin 30 (Cx30) form gap junction channels that allow the intercellular diffusion of the Ca2+ mobilizing second messenger IP3. They also form hemichannels that release ATP from the endolymphatic surface of cochlear supporting and epithelial cells. Released ATP in turn activates G-protein coupled P2Y2 and P2Y4 receptors, PLC-dependent generation of IP3, release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores, permitting the regenerative propagation of intercellular Ca2+ signals. In the course of this work, we found that cochlear non-sensory cells of the greater and lesser epithelial ridge (GER and LER, respectively) share the same PLC- and IP3R-dependent signal transduction cascade activated by ATP. In addition, we demonstrated that ATP-dependent Ca2+ signaling activity in cochlear non-sensory cells is spatially graded from the apex to the base of the cochlea during the first postnatal week. Ca2+ signaling under these conditions depends on inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate generation from phospholipase C (PLC)-dependent hydrolysis of PI(4,5)P(2). Thus we analyzed mice with defective expression of PIPKIγ and found that (i) this enzyme is essential for the acquisition of hearing; (ii) it is primarily responsible for the synthesis of the receptor-regulated PLC-sensitive PI(4,5)P(2) pool in the cell syncytia that supports auditory hair cells and; (iii) spatially graded impairment of the PIP2-IP3-Ca2+ signaling pathway in cochlear non-sensory cells affects the level of gap junction coupling. Vice versa, we found defective gap junction coupling and intercellular IP3-dependent Ca2+ signaling the cochlea of mice with targeted ablation Cx26 or Cx30, as well as in mice knock in for a point mutation (Cx30T5M) associated with human congenital deafness. Altogether, our findings link bidirectionally defective hearing acquisition to Ca2+ signaling impairment and decreased biochemical coupling in the developing cochlea. Transduction of connexin deficient cochlear cultures with a bovine adeno associated virus vectors encoding Cx26 or Cx30 restored protein expression, rescued both gap junction coupling and Ca2+ signaling. Based on this work, we conclude that in vivo connexin gene delivery to the inner ear is a route worth exploring to rescue hearing function in mouse models of deafness and, in future, may lead to the development of therapeutic interventions in humans

Multinationals and Linkages: An Empirical Investigation

Several recent papers have used plant-level data and panel econometric techniques to carefully explore the existence FDI externalities. One conclusion that emerges from this literature is that it is difficult to find evidence of positive externalities from multinationals to local firms in the same sector (horizontal externalities). In fact, many studies find evidence of negative horizontal externalities arising from multinational activity while confirming the existence of positive externalities from multinationals to local firms in upstream industries (vertical externalities). In this paper we explore the channels through which these positive and negative externalities may be materializing, focusing on the role of backward linkages. In particular, we criticize the common usage of the domestic sourcing coefficient as an indicator of a firm?s linkage potential and propose an alternative, theoretically derived indicator. We then use plant-level data from several Latin American countries to compare multinationals? linkage potential to that of domestic firms. We find that multinational?s linkage potential in Brazil, Chile and Venezuela is higher than for domestic firms. For Mexico, we cannot reject the hypothesis that foreign and local firms have similar linkage potential. Finally, we discuss the relationship between this finding and the conclusions that emerge from the recent empirical literature.Foreign Direct Investment, Multinational Firms, Linkages, Spillovers, Economic Development.

The effective participation of the audience in the production of news: encouraging opportunities through data journalism

Digital tools allow and encourage users "to participate in the creation and circulation of media” (Lewis, 2012). This participation can be considered as a remedy against the growing disconnection between journalism and citizens, also as a formula for a greater democratization of the media (Negroponte, 1996 y Castells, 2001). However, most studies show that rarely the participation of the audience become significant, papers indicate that it is actually quite unusual to allow citizens to be part of the productive process. (Domingo et al., 2008). The journalistic organization has not transferred the power to the recipients and the interaction with the audience is only welcome as comments about the information (Peters & Witschge, 2014). This work aims to demonstrate how the Data Journalism comes to enable this effective participation of the audience in the process of news production. Our main objective is to define the terms in which the participation of the audience takes place in Data Journalism, we aim to categorize how and to what extent this relationship occurs and what benefits it brings to the information. To achieve the objectives set for this work we have analyzed the Data Journalism works awarded in the Data Journalism Awards since its foundation in 2012. These awards are the most prestigious of the world and they have also been the reference for other international researches because selecting award-winning works involves studying a sample with quality (Hermida, 2017; Ojo & Heravi, 2017). After an in-depth analysis, sixteen pieces were detected, of more than a hundred, in which citizen participation was perceived.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This research is part of the R + D project CS02015-64955-C4-3-

UIMA in the Biocuration Workflow: A coherent framework for cooperation between biologists and computational linguists

As collaborating partners, Barcelona Media Innovation Centre and GRIB (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) seek to combine strengths from Computational Linguistics and Biomedicine to produce a robust Text Mining system to generate data that will help biocurators in their daily work. The first version of this system will focus on the discovery of relationships between genes, SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) and diseases from the literature.

A first challenge that we were faced with during the setup of this project is the fact that most current tools that support the curation workflow are complex, ad-hoc built applications which sometimes make difficult the interoperability and results sharing between research groups from different and unrelated expert fields. Often, biologists (even computer-savvy ones) are hard pressed to use and adapt sophisticated Natural Language Processing systems, and computational linguists are challenged by the intricacies of biology in applying their processing pipelines to elicit knowledge from texts. The flow of knowledge (needed to develop a usable, practical tool) to and from the parties involved in the development of such systems is not always easy or straightforward.

The modular and versatile architecture of UIMA (Unstructed Information Management Architecture) provides a framework to address these challenges. UIMA is a component architecture and software framework implementation (including a UIMA SDK) to develop applications that analyse large volumes of unstructured information, and has been increasingly adopted by a significant part of the BioNLP community that needs industrial-grade and robust applications to exploit the whole bibliome. The use of UIMA to develop Text Mining applications useful for curation purposes allows the combination of diverse expertises which is beyond the individual know-how of biologists, computer scientists or linguists in isolation. A good synergy and circulation of knowledge between these experts is fundamental to the development of a successful curation tool

STEM Identity Authoring: Intergenerational Collaborative Learning in Informal STEM Programs

The problem this research addresses is the lack of opportunities for many people to develop positive identification with STEM fields (i.e., science, technology, engineering and math). This multiple case study will investigate STEM identity authoring in three intergenerational collaborative learning partnerships in an informal STEM program. Adults and high school teens were paired in two-day workshops to learn conservation science and geospatial technologies with the goal of designing and implementing community conservation projects and further developing their identification with STEM. This research examined how the design and implementation of intergenerational projects provided opportunities for: (1) adults and teens to demonstrate competence in STEM knowledge and understandings, (2) adults and teens to participate in the performances of STEM practices, and (3) adults and teens to be recognized for their competence in knowledge and performances of STEM fields. The study also examined how underlying social structures (e.g., race, gender, age, socioeconomic status) may have promoted or inhibited identification with STEM. Qualitative methods were used throughout. Data consisted of field observations of intergenerational teams followed by separate semi-structured interviews with each participant. Artifacts such as presentation posters, online maps and websites, educational materials (e.g., pamphlets and booklets) email and forum posts were used as secondary data sources. Findings inform how formal and informal STEM education programs can foster positive identification with STEM fields and lead to increased participation in STEM pursuits throughout the lifespan

Del Politainment a las redes sociales: ¿Ha servido a los políticos españoles participar del infotainment?

Las campañas de las elecciones generales del 20 de diciembre de 2015 y el 26 de junio de 2016 han marcado el asentamiento del politainment a España. La presencia de políticos en formatos televisivos de entretenimiento había sido minoritaria hasta entonces. Sin embargo, en parte por la influencia del mundo anglosajón, donde esta práctica tiene un largo recorrido, y, fundamentalmente, por el surgimiento de nuevos partidos políticos que se mueven con soltura en el medio televisivo, incluso los partidos tradicionales accedieron a participar en esta nueva forma de comunicación política entendiendo, entre otras ventajas, que le acercaba a un público que no consume usualmente espacios informativos. En este trabajo se ha seleccionado una muestra de más de veinte programas entre espacios informativos clásicos–desde ‘Los desayunos’ de TVE a las entrevistas en ‘Informativos Telecinco’- y productos del infotainment – desde ‘Salvados’ a ‘El Hormiguero’- en los que han participado líderes políticos nacionales de los cuatro partidos mayoritarios entre 2014 y 2016. Se ha analizado la repercusión de dichos formatos en Twitter para estudiar qué tipo de programa y qué cadena tienen más audiencia social y qué candidato rentabiliza mejor su participación en estos espacios televisivos en cuanto al crecimiento del número de seguidores. Se observa que los cabeza de cartel de las nuevas formaciones –Pablo Iglesias y Albert Rivera- tienen una mayor presencia en las redes sociales de partida pero no son los que mejor rentabilizan su paso por televisión –pues ahí destaca Pedro Sánchez- y que la participación en los programas clásicos de campaña electoral –debates- concita más audiencia televisiva y social que cualquier formato de entretenimiento.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech