Proyecto eMadrid: metodologías educativas, ludificación y calidad

Esta comunicación presenta un conjunto de trabajos de investigación sobre metodologías docentes, ludificación y calidad realizados en el seno del proyecto eMadrid, de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. En primer lugar se resumen los trabajos realizados en los dos primeros años del proyecto. Posteriormente se presentan las líneas de trabajo previstas para los dos años restantesEstos trabajos se han financiado parcialmente por el proyecto eMadrid (S2013/ICE-2715) de la Comunidad de Madrid, los proyectos FLEXOR (TIN2014-52129-R), RESET (TIN2014-53199-C3-1-R) e iProg (TIN2015-66731-C2-1-R) del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, y el proyecto “Adaptación de la metodología PhyMEL a la formación clínica mediante el uso de simuladores” financiado por la empresa Medical Simulato

Neocortical tissue recovery in severe congenital obstructive hydrocephalus after intraventricular administration of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells

BACKGROUND: In obstructive congenital hydrocephalus, cerebrospinal fluid accumulation is associated with high intracranial pressure and the presence of periventricular edema, ischemia/hypoxia, damage of the white matter, and glial reactions in the neocortex. The viability and short time effects of a therapy based on bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) have been evaluated in such pathological conditions in the hyh mouse model. METHODS: BM-MSC obtained from mice expressing fluorescent mRFP1 protein were injected into the lateral ventricle of hydrocephalic hyh mice at the moment they present a very severe form of the disease. The effect of transplantation in the neocortex was compared with hydrocephalic hyh mice injected with the vehicle and non-hydrocephalic littermates. Neural cell populations and the possibility of transdifferentiation were analyzed. The possibility of a tissue recovering was investigated using 1H High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H HR-MAS NMR) spectroscopy, thus allowing the detection of metabolites/osmolytes related with hydrocephalus severity and outcome in the neocortex. An in vitro assay to simulate the periventricular astrocyte reaction conditions was performed using BM-MSC under high TNFα level condition. The secretome in the culture medium was analyzed in this assay. RESULTS: Four days after transplantation, BM-MSC were found undifferentiated and scattered into the astrocyte reaction present in the damaged neocortex white matter. Tissue rejection to the integrated BM-MSC was not detected 4 days after transplantation. Hyh mice transplanted with BM-MSC showed a reduction in the apoptosis in the periventricular neocortex walls, suggesting a neuroprotector effect of the BM-MSC in these conditions. A decrease in the levels of metabolites/osmolytes in the neocortex, such as taurine and neuroexcytotoxic glutamate, also indicated a tissue recovering. Under high TNFα level condition in vitro, BM-MSC showed an upregulation of cytokine and protein secretion that may explain homing, immunomodulation, and vascular permeability, and therefore the tissue recovering. CONCLUSIONS: BM-MSC treatment in severe congenital hydrocephalus is viable and leads to the recovery of the severe neurodegenerative conditions in the neocortex. NMR spectroscopy allows to follow-up the effects of stem cell therapy in hydrocephalus.España Instituto Carlos III , PI15/00619 (to AJJ), PI19/00778 (to AJJ and PPG), PI15/00796, and PI18/01557España Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte FPU13/02906España, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad RYC-2014-16980España, FEDER Andalucía y Universidad de Málaga UMA18-FEDERJA-27

The N-terminal intrinsically disordered domain of mgm101p is localized to the mitochondrial nucleoid.

The mitochondrial genome maintenance gene, MGM101, is essential for yeasts that depend on mitochondrial DNA replication. Previously, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it has been found that the carboxy-terminal two-thirds of Mgm101p has a functional core. Furthermore, there is a high level of amino acid sequence conservation in this region from widely diverse species. By contrast, the amino-terminal region, that is also essential for function, does not have recognizable conservation. Using a bioinformatic approach we find that the functional core from yeast and a corresponding region of Mgm101p from the coral Acropora millepora have an ordered structure, while the N-terminal domains of sequences from yeast and coral are predicted to be disordered. To examine whether ordered and disordered domains of Mgm101p have specific or general functions we made chimeric proteins from yeast and coral by swapping the two regions. We find, by an in vivo assay in S.cerevisiae, that the ordered domain of A.millepora can functionally replace the yeast core region but the disordered domain of the coral protein cannot substitute for its yeast counterpart. Mgm101p is found in the mitochondrial nucleoid along with enzymes and proteins involved in mtDNA replication. By attaching green fluorescent protein to the N-terminal disordered domain of yeast Mgm101p we find that GFP is still directed to the mitochondrial nucleoid where full-length Mgm101p-GFP is targeted

Inequality, Fiscal Capacity and the Political Regime: Lessons from the Post-Communist Transition

Using panel data for twenty-seven post-communist economies between 1987-2003, we examine the nexus of relationships between inequality, fiscal capacity (defined as the ability to raise taxes efficiently) and the political regime. Investigating the impact of political reform we find that full political freedom is associated with lower levels of income inequality. Under more oligarchic (authoritarian) regimes, the level of inequality is conditioned by the state’s fiscal capacity. Specifically, oligarchic regimes with more developed fiscal systems are able to defend the prevailing vested interests at a lower cost in terms of social injustice. This empirical finding is consistent with the model developed by Acemoglu (2006). We also find that transition countries undertaking early macroeconomic stabilisation now enjoy lower levels of inequality; we confirm that education fosters equality and the suggestion of Commander et al (1999) that larger countries are prone to higher levels of inequality.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57211/1/wp831 .pd

A broad distribution of the alternative oxidase in microsporidian parasites

Microsporidia are a group of obligate intracellular parasitic eukaryotes that were considered to be amitochondriate until the recent discovery of highly reduced mitochondrial organelles called mitosomes. Analysis of the complete genome of Encephalitozoon cuniculi revealed a highly reduced set of proteins in the organelle, mostly related to the assembly of ironsulphur clusters. Oxidative phosphorylation and the Krebs cycle proteins were absent, in keeping with the notion that the microsporidia and their mitosomes are anaerobic, as is the case for other mitosome bearing eukaryotes, such as Giardia. Here we provide evidence opening the possibility that mitosomes in a number of microsporidian lineages are not completely anaerobic. Specifically, we have identified and characterized a gene encoding the alternative oxidase (AOX), a typically mitochondrial terminal oxidase in eukaryotes, in the genomes of several distantly related microsporidian species, even though this gene is absent from the complete genome of E. cuniculi. In order to confirm that these genes encode functional proteins, AOX genes from both A. locustae and T. hominis were over-expressed in E. coli and AOX activity measured spectrophotometrically using ubiquinol-1 (UQ-1) as substrate. Both A. locustae and T. hominis AOX proteins reduced UQ-1 in a cyanide and antimycin-resistant manner that was sensitive to ascofuranone, a potent inhibitor of the trypanosomal AOX. The physiological role of AOX microsporidia may be to reoxidise reducing equivalents produced by glycolysis, in a manner comparable to that observed in trypanosome

Global Governance and the Emergence of Global Institutions for the 21st Century

All those who despair at the state of the world and its multiple problems will find in this book ambitious but reasonable proposals that will give our globalized world the institutions of international governance necessary to resolve pressing problems including peace, security, and climate change. This title is also available as Open Access

Management of Symptomatic Gallbladder Lithiasic Disease During Pregnancy

The objective of this research was to determine the type of management of symptomatic gallbladder lithiasic disease (GLD) in the Obrero Hospital No. 1, Bolivia. A Case Series study design from January to December 2013 was conducted. The prevalence of GLD in pregnant patients was 4.2% (18 patients), of which 12 (66.7%) were operated and 6 patients (33.3%) subjected to medical treatment. The mean age was 28.83 years (SD± 5.328). The preoperative diagnoses were acute or exacerbated GLD in 12 cases (66.6%), acute pancreatitis of lithiasic origin in 3 (16.7%) and obstructive jaundice due to choledocholithiasis in 3 cases (16.7%). The mean gestational age was 16.83 weeks (SD± 8.155). During the first trimester of pregnancy 5 cases (27.7%) were observed; during the second quarter 10 cases (55.6%) and 3 cases (16.7%) during the third trimester. Only 3 cases (16.6%) were nulliparous. Average leukocyte count was 10632 x mm³ (SD± 2748.038), and 66% had leukocytosis and left deviation. Of the 12 operated, 10 laparoscopic cholecystectomy were described and in two cases also bile duct exploration was performed. Balanced general anesthesia was used in 10 cases (83.4%), in one TIVA (total intravenous anaesthesia) (8.3%) and one spinal (8.3%). The pneumoperitoneum always performed with open Hasson technique. The average operative time was 47.5 minutes (SD± 16.989) and hospital stay of 5.44 days (SD± 3.568). Comparing stay, patients undergoing surgery have a longer hospital stay compared with those who received medical treatment (6.16 vs. 4 days). No fetal complications occurred, including maternal and fetal mortality or premature contractions requiring treatment. Laparoscopic surgery appears to be a safe option and may be the form of treatment when the GLD is persistently symptomatic, preferably during the second trimester of pregnancy

TweetLID : a benchmark for tweet language identification

Language identification, as the task of determining the language a given text is written in, has progressed substantially in recent decades. However, three main issues remain still unresolved: (1) distinction of similar languages, (2) detection of multilingualism in a single document, and (3) identifying the language of short texts. In this paper, we describe our work on the development of a benchmark to encourage further research in these three directions, set forth an evaluation framework suitable for the task, and make a dataset of annotated tweets publicly available for research purposes. We also describe the shared task we organized to validate and assess the evaluation framework and dataset with systems submitted by seven different participants, and analyze the performance of these systems. The evaluation of the results submitted by the participants of the shared task helped us shed some light on the shortcomings of state-of-the-art language identification systems, and gives insight into the extent to which the brevity, multilingualism, and language similarity found in texts exacerbate the performance of language identifiers. Our dataset with nearly 35,000 tweets and the evaluation framework provide researchers and practitioners with suitable resources to further study the aforementioned issues on language identification within a common setting that enables to compare results with one another

EXD2 governs germ stem cell homeostasis and lifespan by promoting mitoribosome integrity and translation

Mitochondria are subcellular organelles critical for meeting the bioenergetic and biosynthetic needs of the cell. Mitochondrial function relies on genes and RNA species encoded both in the nucleus and mitochondria, as well as their coordinated translation, import and respiratory complex assembly. Here we describe the characterization of exonuclease domain like 2 (EXD2), a nuclear encoded gene that we show is targeted to the mitochondria and prevents the aberrant association of mRNAs with the mitochondrial ribosome. The loss of EXD2 resulted in defective mitochondrial translation, impaired respiration, reduced ATP production, increased reactive oxygen species and widespread metabolic abnormalities. Depletion of EXD2/CG6744 in D.melanogaster caused developmental delays and premature female germline stem cell attrition, reduced fecundity and a dramatic extension of lifespan that could be reversed with an anti-oxidant diet. Our results define a conserved role for EXD2 in mitochondrial translation that influences development and aging

Carbon uptake by mature Amazon forests has mitigated Amazon nations' carbon emissions

Background: Several independent lines of evidence suggest that Amazon forests have provided a significant carbon sink service, and also that the Amazon carbon sink in intact, mature forests may now be threatened as a result of different processes. There has however been no work done to quantify non-land-use-change forest carbon fluxes on a national basis within Amazonia, or to place these national fluxes and their possible changes in the context of the major anthropogenic carbon fluxes in the region. Here we present a first attempt to interpret results from groundbased monitoring of mature forest carbon fluxes in a biogeographically, politically, and temporally differentiated way. Specifically, using results from a large long-term network of forest plots, we estimate the Amazon biomass carbon balance over the last three decades for the different regions and nine nations of Amazonia, and evaluate the magnitude and trajectory of these differentiated balances in relation to major national anthropogenic carbon emissions. Results: The sink of carbon into mature forests has been remarkably geographically ubiquitous across Amazonia, being substantial and persistent in each of the five biogeographic regions within Amazonia. Between 1980 and 2010, it has more than mitigated the fossil fuel emissions of every single national economy, except that of Venezuela. For most nations (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname) the sink has probably additionally mitigated all anthropogenic carbon emissions due to Amazon deforestation and other land use change. While the sink has weakened in some regions since 2000, our analysis suggests that Amazon nations which are able to conserve large areas of natural and semi-natural landscape still contribute globally-significant carbon sequestration. Conclusions: Mature forests across all of Amazonia have contributed significantly to mitigating climate change for decades. Yet Amazon nations have not directly benefited from providing this global scale ecosystem service. We suggest that better monitoring and reporting of the carbon fluxes within mature forests, and understanding the drivers of changes in their balance, must become national, as well as international, priorities