cleAR: an interoperable architecture for multi-user AR-based school curricula.

Although there are some experiences that demonstrate the validity of the use of augmented reality in schools to help students understand and retain complex concepts, augmented reality has not been widely adopted in the education sector yet. This is in part because it is hard to use augmented reality applications in collaborative learning scenarios and to integrate them in the existing school curricula. In this work, we present an interoperable architecture that simplifies the creation of augmented reality applications, enables multi-user student collaboration and provides advanced mechanisms for data analysis and visualization. A review of the literature together with a survey answered by 47 primary and secondary school teachers allowed us to identify the design objectives of cleAR, an architecture for augmented reality-based collaborative educational applications. cleAR has been validated through the development of three proofs of concept. cleAR provides a more mature technological ecosystem that will foster the emergence of augmented reality applications for education and their inclusion in existing school programs.

Addressing the Relationship Between Testosterone Levels and Urethral Stricture: A Case-Control Study.

PURPOSE: Hypoandrogenism may have an association with urethral stricture. This study aimed to identify and quantify the association between testosterone levels and urethral stricture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A case-control study was conducted from January 2019 to January 2021. The case group included patients diagnosed with anterior urethral stricture who visited our urethral office of the urology department, while the control group included patients who visited our practice due to clinical conditions unrelated to voiding. In both groups, a 10 cc blood sample collection was scheduled between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. The outcome was case/control status. The exposure variables were total testosterone, free testosterone, bioavailable testosterone, and hypoandrogenism (total testosterone < 300 ng/dL). The adjusted ORs were calculated for each exposure. Age, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and thyroxine levels were considered possible confounding factors. RESULTS: A total of 149 cases (mean age 59.5) were compared to 67 controls (64.3). Urethral stricture cases showed significantly lower mean total testosterone than controls (394 ng/dL vs 488 ng/dL). Similarly, the hypoandrogenism rate was significantly higher in the urethral stricture group (26% vs 7.5%). Each 100 unit increase in total testosterone was related to a 34% decrease in the odds of urethral stricture (adjusted OR 0.66, 95% CI: 0.51-0.86). Similarly, each increase of 1 unit of free testosterone and 10 units of bioavailable testosterone was associated with a decrease of 18% and 10%, respectively. A strong direct relationship was observed between hypoandrogenism and urethral stricture (adjusted OR 4.01, 95% CI: 1.37-11.7). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates an independent association between hypoandrogenism and anterior urethral stricture.

Effects of public health measures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the winter respiratory syncytial virus epidemic: An interrupted time series analysis.

BACKGROUND: Public health measures (PHM) designed to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic have influenced the epidemiological characteristics of other viral infections. Its impact on acute RSV bronchiolitis in infants of ≤24 months old has not been systematically studied in our setting. OBJECTIVES: To describe the monthly pattern of visits to the Paediatric Emergency Department (PED) of patients 0 to 14 years of age, the rate of patients diagnosed with RSV acute bronchiolitis per thousand inhabitants of 0 to 24 months, and the rate of them requiring hospital admission during the winter 2020-2021, in the context of local and national COVID-19 restrictions and compare them to the four previous seasons. METHODS: Interrupted time series analysis of patients assisted in the PED and diagnosed with or admitted for RSV acute bronchiolitis in a tertiary University Hospital from January 2016 to February 2020 (pre-intervention period) and from March 2020 to June 2021 (post-intervention period). INTERVENTION: Preventive PHM implemented by the Spanish government weighted by the Containment and Health Index of the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker. RESULTS: The intervention was followed by an immediate reduction of the rate of visits to the PED of -19.5 (95% confidence interval [CI] -24.0, -14.9) per thousand, and the rate of diagnoses and admissions for RSV acute bronchiolitis of -44.3 (95% CI -73.8, -14.8) and -1.4 (95% CI -2.7, -0.1) per thousand, respectively, with a delayed rebound. CONCLUSIONS: After the implementation of PHM to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection, an immediate and important decline in the visits to the PED was observed, with an upward change thereafter. There was also an initial reduction in the diagnoses of and admissions by RSV acute bronchiolitis. An upward trend was observed six to nine months after the usual time of the winter RSV epidemic, coinciding with the relaxation of the preventive PHM.

Estado actual del traumatismo craneoencefálico en niños en el estado de Querétaro.

No disponible.

Aurora kinase inhibition sensitizes melanoma cells to T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity.

Although immunotherapy has achieved impressive durable clinical responses, many cancers respond only temporarily or not at all to immunotherapy. To find novel, targetable mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy, patient-derived melanoma cell lines were transduced with 576 open reading frames, or exposed to arrayed libraries of 850 bioactive compounds, prior to co-culture with autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). The synergy between the targets and TILs to induce apoptosis, and the mechanisms of inhibiting resistance to TILs were interrogated. Gene expression analyses were performed on tumor samples from patients undergoing immunotherapy for metastatic melanoma. Finally, the effect of inhibiting the top targets on the efficacy of immunotherapy was investigated in multiple preclinical models. Aurora kinase was identified as a mediator of melanoma cell resistance to T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity in both complementary screens. Aurora kinase inhibitors were validated to synergize with T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro. The Aurora kinase inhibition-mediated sensitivity to T-cell cytotoxicity was shown to be partially driven by p21-mediated induction of cellular senescence. The expression levels of Aurora kinase and related proteins were inversely correlated with immune infiltration, response to immunotherapy and survival in melanoma patients. Aurora kinase inhibition showed variable responses in combination with immunotherapy in vivo, suggesting its activity is modified by other factors in the tumor microenvironment. These data suggest that Aurora kinase inhibition enhances T-cell cytotoxicity in vitro and can potentiate antitumor immunity in vivo in some but not all settings. Further studies are required to determine the mechanism of primary resistance to this therapeutic intervention.

Interrogating the 5'UTR tandem repeats of retrotransposon roo of Drosophila about horizontal transfer.

Horizontal transfer in Drosophila has been inferred for several families of transposable elements. Specifically, the retroelement roo has been suggested to have been horizontally transferred between the species D. melanogaster, D. simulans, D. sechellia and D. yakuba. The inferences were based on the observation that divergence between transposable elements in different species was lower than the divergence found in typical nuclear genes and in the incongruence of phylogenies of the species and their TEs. Here, we address the question of the possible horizontal transfer of roo between species of the Drosophila genus by studying the presence absence of a duplication of 99 bp in the 5'UTR of the transposon, as well as comparing the sequences of the paralogous and orthologous duplicated repeats within and between species. First, the repeats were only found in five species of the melanogaster subgroup. Second, the date of occurrence of the duplication event originating the repeats was posterior to the split of the subgroup. The duplication date suggests an origin previous to the split of D. simulans and D. sechellia and close to the divergence of D. melanogaster from the D. simulans complex. These data point to horizontal transfer to the afrotropical species D. yakuba and D. erecta from one of the cosmopolitan species D. melanogaster or D. simulans. We propose that the parasitoid wasp Leptopilina could have been the vector of horizontal transfer after the observation that a sequence of 845 bp with high homology to a fragment of roo was isolated from this wasp.

Troubleshooting Complex Vascular Cases in the Kidney Transplant Recipient: Vascular Anomalies, Challenging Vessel Diseases, and Procedural Disasters.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To update the most relevant literature regarding complex cases during kidney transplant setting that recipient presents by himself, especially during implantation surgery due to vascular diseases and/or urinary tract anomalies. RECENT FINDINGS: Increasing age of donors and recipients is leading to an increased complexity of kidney transplant implantation surgery. In addition, the high peripheral vascular disease prevalence worldwide increases difficulty of surgery and decreases long-term outcomes as well. Moreover, it also increases transplant morbidity and mortality, both overall and cardiovascular, and finally clearly decreases graft survival. However, dialysis alternative has even worse outcomes in terms of mortality, with a proportional risk of death 2.66 higher compared with transplanted patients. Aorto-iliac prosthesis and 3rd and 4th transplants in occupied iliac fossae do also represent a challenging situation with a clearly increased morbidity and mortality. In some of those particular conditions, orthotopic kidney transplant technique is an alternative with good functional and survival outcomes, but not exempt of complications. Kidney transplant in vascular complex recipients has worse outcomes compared with conventional non-risky population. It remains a challenging surgical and medical procedure with higher morbidity and mortality, and decreased graft survival. However, dialysis mortality is still even greater and a transplant attempt might be justified. Orthotopic kidney transplant technique might play a role in selected patients with aorto-iliac unworkable segments or even in patients with special urinary tract conditions.

Towards the elimination of hepatitis C: implementation of reflex testing in Andalusia.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: undiagnosed hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and/or inadequate access to care are barriers to the elimination of HCV. Reflex testing has proven to facilitate referral to care, treatment and viral elimination. In this study, a reflex testing program was implemented in Andalusia and its impact on access to care was evaluated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: an observational, retrospective and prospective study was performed across diagnostic laboratories responsible for HCV diagnosis in southern Spain. After surveying the barriers to performing reflex testing, the number of patients that were not referred for care in 2016 was retrospectively studied (pre-reflex cohort). Subsequently, several measures were proposed to overcome the identified barriers. Finally, reflex testing was implemented and its impact evaluated. RESULTS: the pre-reflex cohort included information from 1,053 patients. Slightly more than half of the patients (n = 580; 55%) visited a specialist for treatment evaluation during a median period of 71 days (interquartile range = 35-134) since the date of diagnosis. The post-reflex cohort (September 2017 to March 2018) included 623 patients. Only 17% (n = 106) of the patients had not been referred for care or evaluated for treatment in a median period of 52 days (interquartile range = 28-86). CONCLUSIONS: in 2016, nearly half of new HCV diagnoses in southern Spain were not referred for care. Barriers to the implementation of reflex testing were overcome in our study. Moreover, this strategy was effectively implemented in 2017. Reflex testing contributed to improving referral for care. This program will contribute to the micro-elimination of hepatitis C in Spain.

[Validation of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form in Chile]. / Validación de la versión en español del Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form en Chile, en una muestra de pacientes con depresión clínica.

BACKGROUND: Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) is an instrument to assess child abuse and neglect Aim: to adapt and confirm the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the CTQ-SF in Chile. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The CTQ-SF was applied to 89 clinically depressed subjects (77.5% women) who consulted at an outpatient mental health clinic. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability (Cronbach's α) tests, and convergent validity analyses with clinical markers of complex depression were carried out. RESULTS: The Chilean version of the CTQ-SF demonstrated an acceptable fit to a five-factor model, with adequate psychometric properties. The CFA revealed that a better fit to a five-factor model would be achieved after elimination of two items from the physical neglect scale, the less reliable scale of the questionnaire. The physical abuse scale discriminated between patients with a complex depression versus non-complex depression, and all the CTQ-SF's scales discriminated between patients with high suicide risk and/or history of psychiatric admissions versus those patients without this background. CONCLUSIONS: the Chilean version of the CTQ-SF shows evidence of structural and discriminant validity, and reliability, in a clinical sample. Better alternatives to specifically assess the physical neglect construct should be developed.

Blood safety in Mexico and a perspective on Latin America.

Blood safety has been of paramount concern worldwide over the last decades, and Latin America and Mexico are no exception. Factors of utmost importance include the use of highly efficient screening tests and the encouragement of voluntary donation. This review summarizes the current situation in Latin America and particularly in Mexico with respect to these key issues. Except for some specific regions, there is a lack of progress of voluntary donation in Mexico compared with other Latin American countries. A more efficient voluntary donation system could provide donors with lower prevalence of infectious agents such as human immunodeficiency, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C viruses. In Latin America, and specifically in countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Nicaragua, voluntary donation and blood safety are strongly encouraged. However, to date, in Mexico there has not been a specific blood safety project because of fragmentation of the health system model with structural differences among organisations. Although national policies are established to grant health coverages in Mexico, blood safety is still limited and outdated because of oversights in technical fields and regulations. Individual molecular biological tests for donor screening have recently been incorporated into the Mexican national regulations. Although the routine use of these tests as part of effective donor screening is still not compulsory, it is enabling a progressive improvement of blood safety.

Epidural Space Identification With Loss of Resistance Technique for Epidural Analgesia During Labor: A Randomized Controlled Study Using Air or Saline-New Arguments for an Old Controversy.

BACKGROUND: The best technique to identify the epidural space for labor analgesia is still unclear despite the publication of various randomized controlled studies and meta-analyses. Our aim was to assess the superiority of the saline loss of resistance (SLOR) technique over the air loss of resistance (ALOR) technique with respect to the quality of the block. METHODS: Consenting parturients admitted to our obstetric suite for spontaneous or induced labor were randomized to receive epidural analgesia using either the ALOR or SLOR technique. Our primary outcome was to compare the impact of the SLOR and ALOR technique on pain score improvement measured 30 minutes after administration of epidural block. Our secondary outcomes included the density of motor blockade and analgesic efficacy measured at 30 minutes. Primary and secondary outcomes were compared using the Student t test and Mann-Whitney U test. Statistical significance was set at P < .017 for primary and secondary outcomes, considering Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Other comparisons were considered exploratory. RESULTS: Four hundred parturients were included; 24 were excluded from the final analysis. After 30 minutes, pain score reduction (ALOR, 4.7 ± 2.9/10; SLOR, 4.9 ± 3.0/10; P = .49), motor block (ALOR, 1.4 ± 0.8; SLOR, 1.3 ± 0.8; P = .27), and efficacy of the block (ALOR, 1.0 ± 0.7; SLOR, 1.0 ± 0.6; P = .87) did not differ significantly between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Pain score reduction after 30 minutes and onset of the block were not affected by the technique used to locate the epidural space.

Oxidative potential (OP) and mineralogy of iron ore particulate matter at the Gol-E-Gohar Mining and Industrial Facility (Iran).

Concentrations of total suspended particulate matter, particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 µm (PM2.5), particulate matter <10 µm (PM10), and fallout dust were measured at the Iranian Gol-E-Gohar Mining and Industrial Facility. Samples were characterized in terms of mineralogy, morphology, and oxidative potential. Results show that indoor samples exceeded the 24-h PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentration limits (35 and 150 µg m-3, respectively) set by the US National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Calcite, magnetite, tremolite, pyrite, talc, and clay minerals such as kaolinite, vermiculite, and illite are the major phases of the iron ore PM. Accessory minerals are quartz, dolomite, hematite, actinolite, biotite, albite, nimite, laumontite, diopside, and muscovite. The scanning electron microscope structure of fibrous-elongated minerals revealed individual fibers in the range of 1.5 nm to 71.65 µm in length and 0.2 nm to 3.7 µm in diameter. The presence of minerals related to respiratory diseases, such as talc, crystalline silica, and needle-shaped minerals like amphibole asbestos (tremolite and actinolite), strongly suggests the need for detailed health-based studies in the region. The particulate samples show low to medium oxidative potential per unit of mass, in relation to an urban road side control, being more reactive with ascorbate than with glutathione or urate. However, the PM oxidative potential per volume of air is exceptionally high, confirming that the workers are exposed to a considerable oxidative environment. PM released by iron ore mining and processing activities should be considered a potential health risk to the mine workers and nearby employees, and strategies to combat the issue are suggested.

Consequences of a deficit in vitamin B6 biosynthesis de novo for hormone homeostasis and root development in Arabidopsis.

Vitamin B(6) (pyridoxal 5'-phosphate) is an essential cofactor of many metabolic enzymes. Plants biosynthesize the vitamin de novo employing two enzymes, pyridoxine synthase1 (PDX1) and PDX2. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), there are two catalytically active paralogs of PDX1 (PDX1.1 and PDX1.3) producing the vitamin at comparable rates. Since single mutants are viable but the pdx1.1 pdx1.3 double mutant is lethal, the corresponding enzymes seem redundant. However, the single mutants exhibit substantial phenotypic differences, particularly at the level of root development, with pdx1.3 being more impaired than pdx1.1. Here, we investigate the differential regulation of PDX1.1 and PDX1.3 by identifying factors involved in their disparate phenotypes. Swapped-promoter experiments clarify the presence of distinct regulatory elements in the upstream regions of both genes. Exogenous sucrose (Suc) triggers impaired ethylene production in both mutants but is more severe in pdx1.3 than in pdx1.1. Interestingly, Suc specifically represses PDX1.1 expression, accounting for the stronger vitamin B6 deficit in pdx1.3 compared with pdx1.1. Surprisingly, Suc enhances auxin levels in pdx1.1, whereas the levels are diminished in pdx1.3. In the case of pdx1.3, the previously reported reduced meristem activity combined with the impaired ethylene and auxin levels manifest the specific root developmental defects. Moreover, it is the deficit in ethylene production and/or signaling that triggers this outcome. On the other hand, we hypothesize that it is the increased auxin content of pdx1.1 that is responsible for the root developmental defects observed therein. We conclude that PDX1.1 and PDX1.3 play partially nonredundant roles and are differentially regulated as manifested in disparate root growth impairment morphologies.

How Do Deaf Children With and Without Cochlear Implants Manage to Read Sentences: The Key Word Strategy.

The aim of this study is to examine the mechanisms used by deaf children with and without cochlear implants (CIs) to read sentences and the linguistic bases (vocabulary and syntax) underlying those reading mechanisms. Previous studies have shown that deaf persons read sentences using the key word strategy (KWS), which consists of identifying some frequent content words and ignoring the function words. The present results show that deaf children, including those wearing CIs from an early age, do use the KWS. It is also shown that this tendency is related with a linguistic deficiency, especially with a poor ability to deal with function words. Furthermore, the age of implantation, and the degree of hearing loss for children without CIs, plays an important role in using the KWS. Some pedagogical consequences of this situation are considered.

The Type of Trypanosoma Cruzi Strain (Native or Non-Native) Used as Substrate for Immunoassays Influences the Ability of Screening Asymptomatic Blood Donors.

BACKGROUND: The origin (native or non-native) of Trypanosoma cruzi strains used as substrate for immunoassays may influence their performance. OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance of an immunoassay based on a native T. cruzi strain compared to another based on non-native T. cruzi strains, in asymptomatic blood donors from Mexico. METHODS: Serum samples from a tertiary referral center were tested by both ELISA-INC9 (native) and Chagatest (non-native) assays. All reactive serum samples were further analyzed by indirect immunofluorescence. RESULTS: Sera from 1,098 asymptomatic blood donors were tested. A 4.3 and 0.7% serum reactivity prevalence was observed using ELISA-INC9 and Chagatest, respectively (kappa = 0.13; -0.11 to 0.38). Subsequently, indirect immunofluorescence analyses showed higher positivity in serum samples reactive by ELISA-INC9 compared to those reactive by Chagatest (79 vs. 62.5%; p < 0.001). Furthermore, out of the 47 positive samples by both ELISA-INC9 and indirect immunofluorescence, only four (8.5%) were reactive in Chagatest assay. Meanwhile, four (80%) out of the five positive samples by both Chagatest and indirect immunofluorescence were reactive using ELISA-INC9. CONCLUSION: Immunoassays based on a native T. cruzi strain perform better than those based on non-native strains, highlighting the need to develop and validate screening assays in accordance to endemic T. cruzi strains.