Competencia social y educación cívica.

Aclarar el concepto de competencia social, aportando una visión completa que integre las distintas perspectivas existentes. Realizar un breve recorrido por el estado de la cuestión sobre el tema de la educación cívica. Alumnos de cinco a once años de tres escuelas elementales de un distrito suburbano de San Francisco. Los diferentes componentes del programa son: el aprendizaje cooperativo, cuyas actividades promueven tanto el logro de metas académicas como sociales; la disciplina inductiva, que hace referencia al manejo y dirección de la clase, centrándose en construir relaciones respetuosas y de apoyo entre todos lo miembros de la clase y se usa la enseñanza y las técnicas de solución de problemas, antes que las recompensas y castigos, para promover la responsabilidad y la competencia de los estudiantes; uso de la literatura y de otros medios para promover el entendimiento interpersonal y realzar los valores prosociales, destinado a comprender e integrar el contenido social y ético dentro del currículo; la ayuda y otras actividades prosociales para que toda la escuela se implique en el desarrollo sociomoral de los alumnos. . La educación debe ser la educación para la vida y, la competencia social, las habilidades sociales y el compromiso con los valores cívicos se presentan como indicadores de salud mental y calidad de vida pues favorecen el rendimiento académico, el ajuste y la mejora social, la asimilación de normas sociales, la autoestima y el desarrollo personal. Todos son indicadores del posterior funcionamiento social, académico y psicológico, es decir, están íntimamente vinculados con una mayor capacitación para la convivencia, la participación cívica, la responsabilidad y el cuidado de los otros..

Leyes de instrucción : reconocimiento constitucional y repercusión de las Leyes de libertad de imprenta y política presupuestaria en las mismas.

Establecer una nueva consideración de las leyes de instrucción, al situarlas entre su reconocimiento constitucional y las leyes de libertad de imprenta, pilares fundamentales de un estado de derecho. Por otra parte, reconocer los medios de que se ha valido el Estado para conseguir el control ideológico de la sociedad, su evolución y repercusiones. Por último, destacar la escasez económica del estado para lograr sus objetivos: conseguir una instrucción general obligatoria, uniforme y gratuita. Las fuentes utilizadas para la elaboración de este trabajo han sido tres: en primer lugar, las Leyes, Decretos y Circulares aparecidas en la Gaceta de Madrid -actual Boletín Oficial del Estado-; en segundo lugar, las recopilaciones Legislativas de Alcubilla, a partir de 1868, y las de Aranzadi, desde 1930; por último, los anuarios editados por los Ministerios correspondientes, como pueden ser los de Gobernación y Fomento, Corporaciones Locales o Comunidades Autónomas. Conceptos relacionados con la enseñanza, tales como general, uniforme, gratuita, escuela pública y escuela privada, con previa o sin previa censura y religión, formarán un todo interrelacionado a partir de la Constitución de 1812 y de su Ley de Instrucción, siendo habituales en las Constituciones posteriores y en las Leyes de Instrucción y de libertad de expresión. La relación entre nación e Instrucción ha sido tan estrecha en las Constituciones y Leyes de Instrucción que los fines de la educación coincidían con los del engrandecimiento y progreso de esa misma nación. El término uniforme, referido a la enseñanza, se encuentra en todo momento hasta nuestros días, excepto en la legislación de 1869. La relación de la edad y los niveles educativos ha estado más supeditada a la economía y a la edad laboral que a la atención y consideración del ritmo desigual de aprendizaje de los niños.

Aspectos organizativos de la integración del niño paralítico cerebral en la escuela ordinaria.

La integración y escolarización de los niños paralíticos cerebrales. Todo niño en edad escolar tiene derecho a recibir enseñanza obligatoria y gratuita en consideración estricta a su propia dignidad, independientemente de sus condiciones físicas y mentales; sin embargo, todo esto, que desde el punto de vista legal y moral parece estar reconocido y aceptado por todo el mundo, en la práctica no siempre se cumple. Cada escuela sobre todo si es pública debe hacerse cargo de cada niño y trabajar para que todos y cada uno de ellos pueda expresar y alcanzar, según sus posibilidades, los objetivos. Debería darse mucha importancia a la atención temprana, a la orientación a las familias y el seguimiento de cada caso por un equipo profesional, como condiciones para la futura escolarización de los niños disminuidos.

A comparison of three hearing aid manufacturers' recommended first fit to two generic prescriptive targets with the pediatric population

The purpose of this study is to compare three hearing aid manufacturers' recommended "First Fit" to the generic recommended fittings by DSL i/o and NAL-NL1 for a 12 month old child with varying degrees of sensorineural hearing loss.

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco: historia, identidad nacional y democracia (Del Historiador y el Ensayista)

El autor comenta la vocación de historiador de Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, resaltando sus fortalezas: la narratividad de los textos y la presentación humana de los personajes. Menciona, asimismo, que su límite radica en haber renunciado expresamente a los instrumentos metodológicos de análisis, lo que conduce a una interpretación maniquea sobre un tema central de la historia reciente del país, la polémica liberal-conservadora. Por otro lado, el autor resalta la vocación democrática de Pareja Diezcanseco. Su defensa de la soberanía nacional y la democracia lo ubican entre los forjadores de la nación ecuatoriana, por su preocupación en reflexionar sobre la identidad, sobre el mestizaje y su función en la construcción del país, su insistencia en la defensa y consolidación de la democracia se radicalizaron con el tiempo, como lo muestran su crítica de las dictaduras, su defensa de las garantías políticas, y sus postulados de cierta reforma social.

Determining the effect of asymmetric data on the variogram. I. Underlying asymmetry

Matheron's usual variogram estimator can result in unreliable variograms when data are strongly asymmetric or skewed. Asymmetry in a distribution can arise from a long tail of values in the underlying process or from outliers that belong to another population that contaminate the primary process. This paper examines the effects of underlying asymmetry on the variogram and on the accuracy of prediction, and the second one examines the effects arising from outliers. Standard geostatistical texts suggest ways of dealing with underlying asymmetry; however, this is based on informed intuition rather than detailed investigation. To determine whether the methods generally used to deal with underlying asymmetry are appropriate, the effects of different coefficients of skewness on the shape of the experimental variogram and on the model parameters were investigated. Simulated annealing was used to create normally distributed random fields of different size from variograms with different nugget:sill ratios. These data were then modified to give different degrees of asymmetry and the experimental variogram was computed in each case. The effects of standard data transformations on the form of the variogram were also investigated. Cross-validation was used to assess quantitatively the performance of the different variogram models for kriging. The results showed that the shape of the variogram was affected by the degree of asymmetry, and that the effect increased as the size of data set decreased. Transformations of the data were more effective in reducing the skewness coefficient in the larger sets of data. Cross-validation confirmed that variogram models from transformed data were more suitable for kriging than were those from the raw asymmetric data. The results of this study have implications for the 'standard best practice' in dealing with asymmetry in data for geostatistical analyses. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mesoporous concentric magnetic FePt core-shells nanoparticle with functionalized surfaces for capturing metal ions and DNA molecules

It is demonstrated that monodisperse magnetic FePt nanoparticle can be engineered into a protective dense silica layer, followed by concentric outer mesoporous silica layers with tailored -SH, -SO3H and -NH2 surface groups, these new materials can be used to capture heavy metal ions and DNA molecules from solution specifically by their internal or/and external functionalised surfaces by magnetic means.

Mesoporous concentric magnetic FePt core-shells nanoparticle with functionalized surfaces for capturing metal ions and DNA molecules

It is demonstrated that monodisperse magnetic FePt nanoparticle can be engineered into a protective dense silica layer, followed by concentric outer mesoporous silica layers with tailored -SH, -SO3H and -NH2 surface groups, these new materials can be used to capture heavy metal ions and DNA molecules from solution specifically by their internal or/and external functionalised surfaces by magnetic means.

Comparison of the antidiabetic activity of Berberis lyceum root extract and berberine in alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Berberine has been shown to have hypoglycaemic activity in several in vitro and in vivo models, although the mechanism of action is not fully known. Berberis lyceum Royle root produces high concentrations of berberine, and in traditional medicine, the whole extract of this plant is used widely to treat diabetes. The antidiabetic activity of the ethanol root extract of Berberis lyceum was compared with pure berberine in normal and alloxan-diabetic rats using similar doses of each. The concentration of berberine in the extract was determined to be 80% dry weight with only trace amounts of other alkaloids present. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of berberine and a whole extract of Berberis lyceum on blood glucose and other parameters associated with diabetes, to compare the effects of the crude extract with those of pure berberine and thus validate its use as a therapeutic agent, and finally to identify any contribution of the other components of the extract to these effects. Oral administration of 50 mg/kg of Berberis extract and berberine to normal and experimental diabetic rats produced a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in blood glucose levels from days 3-7 days of treatment. Significant effects were also observed on the glucose tolerance, glycosylated haemoglobin, serum lipid profiles and body weight of experimental animals. Berberis extract and berberine demonstrated similar effects on all parameters measured, and although the extract was comparable in efficacy to berberine, it did not produce any effects additional to those shown by pure berberine. The results support the use of the extract in traditional medicine, and demonstrate that apart from being a highly cost-effective means of treating with berberine, the total extract does not appear to confer any additional benefits or disadvantages compared with the pure compound. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Microglial activation correlates with severity in Huntington disease: a clinical and PET study

Background: Huntington disease ( HD) is characterized by the progressive death of medium spiny dopamine receptor bearing striatal GABAergic neurons. In addition, microglial activation in the areas of neuronal loss has recently been described in postmortem studies. Activated microglia are known to release neurotoxic cytokines, and these may contribute to the pathologic process. Methods: To evaluate in vivo the involvement of microglia activation in HD, the authors studied patients at different stages of the disease using [ C-11]( R)-PK11195 PET, a marker of microglia activation, and [ C-11] raclopride PET, a marker of dopamine D2 receptor binding and hence striatal GABAergic cell function. Results: In HD patients, a significant increase in striatal [ C-11]( R)-PK11195 binding was observed, which significantly correlated with disease severity as reflected by the striatal reduction in [ C-11] raclopride binding, the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale score, and the patients' CAG index. Also detected were significant increases in microglia activation in cortical regions including prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate. Conclusions: These [ C-11]( R)-PK11195 PET findings show that the level of microglial activation correlates with Huntington disease ( HD) severity. They lend support to the view that microglia contribute to the ongoing neuronal degeneration in HD and indicate that [ C-11]( R)-PK11195 PET provides a valuable marker when monitoring the efficacy of putative neuroprotecting agents in this relentlessly progressive genetic disorder.

Thalassaemia: its diagnosis and interpretation in past skeletal populations

The diagnosis of thalassaemia in archaeological populations has long been hindered by a lack of pathogonomic features, and the non-specific nature of cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis. In fact, clinical research has highlighted more specific diagnostic criteria for thalassaemia major and intermedia based on changes to the thorax (‘rib-within-a-rib’ and costal osteomas). A recent re-examination of 364 child skeletons from Romano-British Poundbury Camp, Dorset revealed children with general ‘wasting’ of the bones and three children who demonstrated a variety of severe lesions (e.g. zygomatic bone and rib hypertrophy, porotic hyperostosis, rib lesions, osteopenia and pitted diaphyseal shafts) that are inconsistent with dietary deficiency alone, and more consistent with a diagnosis of genetic anaemia. Two of these children displayed rib lesions typical of those seen in modern cases of thalassaemia. The children of Poundbury Camp represent the first cases of genetic anaemia identified in a British archaeological population. As thalassaemia is a condition strongly linked to Mediterranean communities, the presence of this condition in a child from England, found within a mausoleum, suggests that they were born to wealthy immigrant parents living in this small Roman settlement in Dorset. This paper explores the diagnostic criteria for genetic anaemia in the archaeological literature and what its presence in ancient populations can contribute to our knowledge of past human migration.

Proposing a way forward: a review of standardisation in the use of age categories and ageing techniques in osteological analysis (2004 to 2009)

This study assesses the current state of adult skeletal age-at-death estimation in biological anthropology through analysis of data published in recent research articles from three major anthropological and archaeological journals (2004–2009). The most commonly used adult ageing methods, age of ‘adulthood’, age ranges and the maximum age reported for ‘mature’ adults were compared. The results showed a wide range of variability in the age at which individuals were determined to be adult (from 14 to 25 years), uneven age ranges, a lack of standardisation in the use of descriptive age categories and the inappropriate application of some ageing methods for the sample being examined. Such discrepancies make comparisons between skeletal samples difficult, while the inappropriate use of some techniques make the resultant age estimations unreliable. At a time when national and even global comparisons of past health are becoming prominent, standardisation in the terminology and age categories used to define adults within each sample is fundamental. It is hoped that this research will prompt discussions in the osteological community (both nationally and internationally) about what defines an ‘adult’, how to standardise the age ranges that we use and how individuals should be assigned to each age category. Skeletal markers have been proposed to help physically identify ‘adult’ individuals.

Antioxidant activity of selected phenols and herbs used in diets for medical conditions.

The antioxidant capacity of some herbs used in dietology practice was determined by the DPPH free radical method, which was calibrated with ascorbic acid. Partially hydrophilic phenolic compounds are the most active compounds in plants, and therefore water was used as the extraction agent. Besides antioxidant capacity, the content of total phenolic compounds was also measured and a strong correlation between these two variables was found. The extracts of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.), peppermint (Mentha x piperita L.), oregano (Origanum vulgare L.), Greek oregano (Origanum heracleoticum L.), sage (Salvia officinalis L.) and winter savory (Satureja montana L.) showed very significant activity. It was comparable with the activity of green tea in the case of oregano and peppermint. Lower activity was observed in the case of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), marjoram (Majorana hortensis), hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.), sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), and lovage (Levisticum officinale Koch.). The inhibitory activity of the herb extracts was monitored also during the autooxidation of lard. Very high antioxidant capacity was observed mainly in sage samples, but also in marjoram and Greek oregano. The extracts of peppermint, oregano, rosemary, winter savory, lemon balm and hyssop showed middle activity comparable to that of alpha-tocopherol. The antioxidant capacity of sweet basil and lovage was insignificant.