A Gene Selection Approach based on Clustering for Classification Tasks in Colon Cancer

Gene selection (GS) is an important research area in the analysis of DNA-microarray data, since it involves gene discovery meaningful for a particular target annotation or able to discriminate expression profiles of samples coming from different populations. In this context, a wide number of filter methods have been proposed in the literature to identify subsets of relevant genes in accordance with prefixed targets. Despite the fact that there is a wide number of proposals, the complexity imposed by this problem (GS) remains a challenge. Hence, this paper proposes a novel approach for gene selection by using cluster techniques and filter methods on the found groupings to achieve informative gene subsets. As a result of applying our methodology to Colon cancer data, we have identified the best informative gene subset between several one subsets. According to the above, the reached results have proven the reliability of the approach given in this paper

A data mining framework based on boundary-points for gene selection from DNA-microarrays: Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma as a case study

[EN] Gene selection (or feature selection) from DNA-microarray data can be focused on different techniques, which generally involve statistical tests, data mining and machine learning. In recent years there has been an increasing interest in using hybrid-technique sets to face the problem of meaningful gene selection; nevertheless, this issue remains a challenge. In an effort to address the situation, this paper proposes a novel hybrid framework based on data mining techniques and tuned to select gene subsets, which are meaningfully related to the target disease conducted in DNA-microarray experiments. For this purpose, the framework above deals with approaches such as statistical significance tests, cluster analysis, evolutionary computation, visual analytics and boundary points. The latter is the core technique of our proposal, allowing the framework to define two methods of gene selection. Another novelty of this work is the inclusion of the age of patients as an additional factor in our analysis, which can leading to gaining more insight into the disease. In fact, the results reached in this research have been very promising and have shown their biological validity. Hence, our proposal has resulted in a methodology that can be followed in the gene selection process from DNA-microarray data

An Ensemble Framework Coping with Instability in the Gene Selection Process

[EN] This paper proposes an ensemble framework for gene selection, which is aimed at addressing instability problems presented in the gene filtering task. The complex process of gene selection from gene expression data faces different instability problems from the informative gene subsets found by different filter methods. This makes the identification of significant genes by the experts difficult. The instability of results can come from filter methods, gene classifier methods, different datasets of the same disease and multiple valid groups of biomarkers. Even though there is a wide number of proposals, the complexity imposed by this problem remains a challenge today. This work proposes a framework involving five stages of gene filtering to discover biomarkers for diagnosis and classification tasks. This framework performs a process of stable feature selection, facing the problems above and, thus, providing a more suitable and reliable solution for clinical and research purposes. Our proposal involves a process of multistage gene filtering, in which several ensemble strategies for gene selection were added in such a way that different classifiers simultaneously assess gene subsets to face instability. Firstly, we apply an ensemble of recent gene selection methods to obtain diversity in the genes found (stability according to filter methods). Next, we apply an ensemble of known classifiers to filter genes relevant to all classifiers at a time (stability according to classification methods). The achieved results were evaluated in two different datasets of the same disease (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma), in search of stability according to the disease, for which promising results were achieved

Superando los principales inconvenientes de la clase al revés

El esquema de clase al revés es cada vez más utilizado. Grosso modo, el estudiantado prepara ciertos contenidos y realiza un trabajo centrado en su aplicación, que entrega antes de la clase correspondiente. El profesorado, entonces, analiza los trabajos, otorga “recompensas” por el esfuerzo realizado y prepara la clase según el análisis efectuado. Sin embargo, este esquema presenta dos inconvenientes: el volumen de trabajo a realizar cuando se tienen grupos grandes (más de 60–70 estudiantes por profesor) y el dilema de dilucidar la autoría del trabajo previo. Si bien el primero puede resultar descorazonador, el segundo es demoledor. En esta ponencia, vamos a describir el mecanismo que hemos puesto en práctica en los dos últimos cursos de una asignatura que impartimos con el fin de resolver, fundamentalmente, el primer inconveniente e intentar paliar el segundo. Demostraremos que el tiempo dedicado al análisis y preparación de la clase a partir del trabajo previo es constante con independencia del número de alumnos por profesor, obteniendo resultados de aprendizaje similares estadísticamente a los obtenidos con la aplicación de un esquema más convencional.The flipped classroom approach is increasingly being used. In general, students learn about some concepts and carry out a task focused on their application which they submit before the corresponding class. Then, lecturers review the tasks taking notes, give some reward for the work done and prepare a lecture according to their notes. However, there are two drawbacks to this approach: the amount of work to be done with large groups of students (more than 60–70 per lecturer) and the question of the authorship of the submitted tasks. While the first might be discouraging, the second could be devastating. In this article, we will describe the approach that we have followed during the last two courses in a particular subject. We have pursued a twofold purpose: on the one hand, greatly reduce the amount of work to be done and, on the other, try to relieve cheating. We will show that the time spent preparing the lecture from the submitted tasks is constant no matter the number of students, obtaining learning results statistically similar to those achieved with a more standard flipped classroom approach

Ontomastitis: ontología para la mastitis bovina

Mastitis is a cow disease caused by an infection in the mammary gland due to bacteria entering through the skin. This disease can have repercussions directly on the quality of the milk and thus, on the incomes of the producers. Therefore, the objective of this work was creating ontology with mastitis in order to provide a tool for veterinarians, which helps in the search of information related to different cases and treatments. Methontology and Protégé methodologies were respectively used in order to develop and formalize the ontology. As a result of the process, it was obtained an ontology integration model for mastitis, with an information system for medical diagnose

An agent-based clustering approach for gene selection in gene expression microarray

Gene selection is a major research area in microarray analysis, which seeks to discover differentially expressed genes for a particular target annotation. Such genes also often called informative genes are able to differentiate tissue samples belonging to different classes of the studied disease. Despite the fact that there is a wide number of proposals, the complexity imposed by this problem remains a challenge today. This research proposes a gene selection approach by means of a clustering-based multiagent system. This proposal manages different filter methods and gene clustering through coordinated agents to discover informative gene subsets. To assess the reliability of our approach, we have used four important and public gene expression datasets, two Lung cancer datasets, Colon and Leukemia cancer dataset. The achieved results have been validated through cluster validity measures, visual analytics, a classifier and compared with other gene selection methods, proving the reliability of our proposal

Análisis y desarrollo de las competencias personales y profesionales del profesor tutor de TFG

Durante este curso hemos conseguido llevar a cabo sólo una parte de los objetivos que teníamos previstos. No obstante, hemos constatado la relevancia del tema que estamos trabajando en los foros a los que hemos asistido, por lo que nos ha animado a pedir una continuación del proyecto para el próximo curso. En primer lugar, hemos llevado a cabo una revisión bibliográfica acerca de las competencias personales y profesionales que debe tener un buen profesor de educación superior. Estas competencias son el punto de partida para desempeñar con eficacia la función de tutorizar un TFG. Las conclusiones de esta revisión apuntan a la consideración de tres dimensiones fundamentales: las competencias personales, las pedagógicas y las técnicas. Sobre estas dimensiones se ha empezado a construir un cuestionario de evaluación de competencias. Durante este curso se han confeccionado los ítems y se ha pasado la primera batería a profesores expertos en dirigir TFGs con el objeto de obtener la validez de contenido del instrumento. En el futuro nos queda aplicar el cuestionario a profesores y alumnos para llevar a cabo el trabajo psicométrico, así como diseñar el protocolo de actuación que mejore la actuación docente de los profesores que dirigen un TFG

Mejora de las competencias personales y profesionales del profesor tutor del Trabajo Fin de Grado (TFG)

Durante este curso hemos continuado la labor que comenzamos el curso pasado. Hemos constatado la relevancia del tema que estamos trabajando en los foros a los que hemos asistido. Después de llevar a cabo la revisión bibliográfica acerca de las competencias personales y profesionales que debe tener un buen profesor de educación superior, llegamos a la conclusión de que existen tres dimensiones fundamentales: las competencias personales, las pedagógicas y las técnicas. Sobre estas dimensiones hemos construido un cuestionario de evaluación de competencias, lo hemos cribado con la ayuda de un grupo de expertos nombrado “ad hoc” y lo hemos digitalizado . Nos encontramos en la fase de pilotaje, en que se va a aplicar el cuestionario a profesores y alumnos para llevar a cabo el trabajo psicométrico. Una vez que tengamos estos primeros resultados realizaremos el muestreo a gran escala, con el objeto de diseñar el protocolo de actuación que mejore la actuación docente de los profesores que dirigen un TFG

En red-damos: Tejiendo experiencias de transformación educativa

28 páginasEste libro nace de las experiencias de docentes de diferentes niveles educativos, quienes realizan aportes a la comprensión y aplicación de diversos medios didácticos para el favorecimiento del aprendizaje en sus estudiantes. En este contexto, se busca que los principales lectores sean colegas docentes de latitudes y contextos variados, pero con similar entusiasmo por intervenir en su ejercicio pedagógico.Primera edició