Perspectivas de la Educación General Básica comparada con el Sistema Educativo anterior.

Considerando la educación como un proceso de comunicación psico-cultural, se propone un análisis de los elementos que componen la situación. Se analiza la estructura y función de la Educación Primaria y de la EGB para luego comparar ambos sistemas. Revisión del material documental disponible. Investigación de revisión histórica y análisis teórico. Trata los siguientes aspectos: A) Educación Primaria: 1.- Objetivos. Currícula. 2.- Dinámica del trabajo escolar. Preparación y realización. Control y evaluación del rendimiento. 3.- Formación de profesores. B) EGB: los mismos objetivos que en A. C) Análisis comparado de ambos sistemas. Caracterización de la EGB. Fuentes documentales primarias y secundarias. Textos legales. En la Enseñanza Primaria se identifican 3 momentos históricos caracterizados por la aparición de documentos legales cruciales. En los años 50, se introducen mejoras curriculares importantes y se recomendaba la lección como medio didáctico. En la reordenación posterior de los años 60, se impone el método de la unidad didáctica, aunque su escaso soporte teórico y práctico dificultó su aplicación. Por otro lado, la EGB no responde a los objetivos de adaptación a la vida actual. Es necesario considerar las diferencias individuales y los factores psicoevolutivos del alumno. Se dió una implantación súbita de la EGB, sin recursos para una adaptación didáctica de los profesores y los alumnos. La excesiva gradación de la EGB es contraria a una evaluación enfocada en el individuo, sin control de los efectos de la programación. En términos generales, la reforma que supuso la EGB se basó en criterios económico-políticos más que didácticos y pedagógicos. En el Libro Blanco de la educación de 1969 se plasmaban los objetivos socio-económicos de la época. Esta reforma supuso cierta adaptación del Sistema Educativo a los cambios sociales y económicos. El esfuerzo escolarizador no palió la deficiencia crónica de puestos. La valoración de los aspectos de calidad es más difícil, aunque cabe señalar el hecho positivo de la actualización de los contenidos curriculares. Fecha finalización tomada del código del documento.

Estudi comparatiu del rendiment acadèmic dels estudiants amb els títols de grau i amb els de l’ordenació anterior

La Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB), en el marc del procés d’adaptació dels ensenyaments universitaris a l’Espai Europeu d’Educació Superior (EEES), ha aplicat una sèrie de canvis en els títols de grau i màster oficials en relació amb els títols corresponents a l’anterior ordenació quant a la metodologia docent. Aquests canvis se centren fonamentalment a reforçar la planificació i coordinació docents, fomentar l’oferta d’activitats formatives que afavoreixin l’aprenentatge actiu i el treball autònom de l’estudiant i, finalment, aplicar tècniques d’avaluació alternatives a les tradicionals en un context d’avaluació contínua. El propòsit d’aquest treball és fer un estudi comparatiu, en termes estrictament quantitatius, del rendiment acadèmic entre els estudiants pertanyents a títols de grau i a títols de l’ordenació anterior. Per fer-ho, s’ha treballat amb les actes oficials de la població de 2.584 estudiants que varen començar una llicenciatura, diplomatura o enginyeria tècnica l’any acadèmic 2005-2006, així com les actes oficials de la població de 2.492 estudiants que varen començar un grau l’any acadèmic 2009-2010 a la UIB. Les dades analitzades fan referència al rendiment dels estudiants el segon curs de la titulació. Els resultats globals posen de manifest una millora dels resultats acadèmics dels estudiants amb la implantació dels títols adaptats a l’EEES. Així, si bé la taxa de rendiment (crèdits superats/matriculats) no varia, amb els títols de grau augmenta la taxa de crèdits avaluats (crèdits presentats/matriculats), en la d’èxit (crèdits superats/presentats), així com en la mitjana de les qualificacions de les assignatures. Les línies d’investigació futures en la UIB s’encaminaran a analitzar en un nivell més qualitatiu el grau d’adquisició de les competències i els resultats d’aprenentatge dels estudiants una vegada que hagin conclòs el pla formatiu.

Estudio contrastivo de la oferta acad??mica de Grado y anterior al Plan Bolonia en las Universidades P??blicas de la Comunidad de Madrid

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

Sistemas digitais directos vs indirectos : níveis de referência de diagnóstico locais na radiografia de tórax em projeção postero-anterior em dois hospitais portugueses

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar e comparar as doses de radiação recolhidas numa amostra de 69 pacientes, em dois hospitais, com diferentes métodos de aquisição de imagem digital, direta e indireta, que realizaram radiografia de tórax, em projeção postero-anterior (PA). Para os dois hospitais, a dose à entrada da pele (DEP) e efectiva (E), foram medidas usando o software PCXMC para comparação entre si e com referências internacionais. No Hospital A, com aquisição digital direta, a média de DEP foi de 0,089 mGy e a média de E foi 0,013 mSv. No Hospital B, com aquisição digital de indireta, a média de DEP foi de 0.151 mGy e a média de E foi 0.030mSv. Em ambos os hospitais, as doses médias não ultrapassaram os limites recomendados por lei (0,3 mGy). Para a radiografia de tórax PA, o nível de referência diagnostico (NRD) local calculado foi 0.107 mGy, para o Hospital A e 0.164 mGy, para o Hospital B. Na radiografia de tórax PA, a utilização de um sistema de aquisição direta implicou uma redução de dose de 41 %, concordante com as referências disponíveis que apontam para a redução da dose de cerca de 50 % entre os dois sistemas.

Anterior cingulate activity and level of cognitive conflict: explicit comparisons

The role of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in attention is a matter of debate. One hypothesis suggests that its role is to monitor response-level conflict, but explicit evidence is somewhat lacking. In this study, the activation of ACC was compared in (a) color and number standard Stroop tasks in which response preparation and interference shared modality (response-level conflict) and (b) color and number matching Stroop tasks in which response preparation and interference did not share modality (non-response-level conflict). In the congruent conditions, there was no effect of task type. In the interference conditions, anterior cingulate activity in the matching tasks was less than that in the standard tasks. These results support the hypothesis that ACC specifically mediates generalized modality-independent selection processes invoked by response competition.

Anticipatory activation in the amygdala and anterior cingulate in generalized anxiety disorder and prediction of treatment response

OBJECTIVE: The anticipation of adverse outcomes, or worry, is a cardinal symptom of generalized anxiety disorder. Prior work with healthy subjects has shown that anticipating aversive events recruits a network of brain regions, including the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex. This study tested whether patients with generalized anxiety disorder have alterations in anticipatory amygdala function and whether anticipatory activity in the anterior cingulate cortex predicts treatment response. METHOD: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed with 14 generalized anxiety disorder patients and 12 healthy comparison subjects matched for age, sex, and education. The event-related fMRI paradigm was composed of one warning cue that preceded aversive pictures and a second cue that preceded neutral pictures. Following the fMRI session, patients received 8 weeks of treatment with extended-release venlafaxine. RESULTS: Patients with generalized anxiety disorder showed greater anticipatory activity than healthy comparison subjects in the bilateral dorsal amygdala preceding both aversive and neutral pictures. Building on prior reports of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity predicting treatment response, anticipatory activity in that area was associated with clinical outcome 8 weeks later following treatment with venlafaxine. Higher levels of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity in anticipation of both aversive and neutral pictures were associated with greater reductions in anxiety and worry symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These findings of heightened and indiscriminate amygdala responses to anticipatory signals in generalized anxiety disorder and of anterior cingulate cortex associations with treatment response provide neurobiological support for the role of anticipatory processes in the pathophysiology of generalized anxiety disorder.

Altered anterior insula activation during anticipation and experience of painful stimuli in expert meditators.

Experientially opening oneself to pain rather than avoiding it is said to reduce the mind's tendency toward avoidance or anxiety which can further exacerbate the experience of pain. This is a central feature of mindfulness-based therapies. Little is known about the neural mechanisms of mindfulness on pain. During a meditation practice similar to mindfulness, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used in expert meditators (> 10,000 h of practice) to dissociate neural activation patterns associated with pain, its anticipation, and habituation. Compared to novices, expert meditators reported equal pain intensity, but less unpleasantness. This difference was associated with enhanced activity in the dorsal anterior insula (aI), and the anterior mid-cingulate (aMCC) the so-called ‘salience network’, for experts during pain. This enhanced activity during pain was associated with reduced baseline activity before pain in these regions and the amygdala for experts only. The reduced baseline activation in left aI correlated with lifetime meditation experience. This pattern of low baseline activity coupled with high response in aIns and aMCC was associated with enhanced neural habituation in amygdala and pain-related regions before painful stimulation and in the pain-related regions during painful stimulation. These findings suggest that cultivating experiential openness down-regulates anticipatory representation of aversive events, and increases the recruitment of attentional resources during pain, which is associated with faster neural habituation.

The anterior temporal lobes support residual comprehension in Wernicke’s aphasia

Wernicke’s aphasia occurs following a stroke to classical language comprehension regions in the left temporoparietal cortex. Consequently, auditory-verbal comprehension is significantly impaired in Wernicke’s aphasia but the capacity to comprehend visually presented materials (written words and pictures) is partially spared. This study used fMRI to investigate the neural basis of written word and picture semantic processing in Wernicke’s aphasia, with the wider aim of examining how the semantic system is altered following damage to the classical comprehension regions. Twelve participants with Wernicke’s aphasia and twelve control participants performed semantic animate-inanimate judgements and a visual height judgement baseline task. Whole brain and ROI analysis in Wernicke’s aphasia and control participants found that semantic judgements were underpinned by activation in the ventral and anterior temporal lobes bilaterally. The Wernicke’s aphasia group displayed an “over-activation” in comparison to control participants, indicating that anterior temporal lobe regions become increasingly influential following reduction in posterior semantic resources. Semantic processing of written words in Wernicke’s aphasia was additionally supported by recruitment of the right anterior superior temporal lobe, a region previously associated with recovery from auditory-verbal comprehension impairments. Overall, the results concord with models which indicate that the anterior temporal lobes are crucial for multimodal semantic processing and that these regions may be accessed without support from classic posterior comprehension regions.

Preserved emotional awareness of pain in a patient with extensive bilateral damage to the insula, anterior cingulate, and amygdala

Functional neuroimaging investigations of pain have discovered a reliable pattern of activation within limbic regions of a putative "pain matrix" that has been theorized to reflect the affective dimension of pain. To test this theory, we evaluated the experience of pain in a rare neurological patient with extensive bilateral lesions encompassing core limbic structures of the pain matrix, including the insula, anterior cingulate, and amygdala. Despite widespread damage to these regions, the patient's expression and experience of pain was intact, and at times excessive in nature. This finding was consistent across multiple pain measures including self-report, facial expression, vocalization, withdrawal reaction, and autonomic response. These results challenge the notion of a "pain matrix" and provide direct evidence that the insula, anterior cingulate, and amygdala are not necessary for feeling the suffering inherent to pain. The patient's heightened degree of pain affect further suggests that these regions may be more important for the regulation of pain rather than providing the decisive substrate for pain's conscious experience.

Histologic Evaluation of the Buccal and Lingual Bone Plates in Anterior Dog Teeth: Possible Influence on Implant Dentistry

Background: Recent studies in animals have shown pronounced resorption of buccal bone plate after immediate implantation. The sectioning of experimental material for histologic evaluation of the bone plates could provide valuable information about the possible effect of bone exposure in periodontal and implant surgeries. Methods: Twenty-four incisors were collected from dogs. After decalcification, the blocks were immersed in paraffin and bucco-lingual histologic sections were examined under light microscope. Some sections were reserved for immunohistochemical analysis. Results: The bone density, the width of the bone plates, and the percentage of vessels presented in the periodontal ligament and periosteum were analyzed in the buccal and lingual bone plates, which were divided corono-apically into thirds. The buccal bone plates showed statistically higher bone density compared to the lingual bone plates in the coronal thirds. The width of both bone plates increased from the coronal to the apical third, but all the buccal thirds were significantly thinner compared to the lingual thirds. No statistically significant differences were found between the bone plates for the percentage of area occupied by the blood vessels in the periodontal ligament or periosteum. Conclusion: It is reasonable to conclude that the higher bone density, represented by the lower number of marrow spaces, in association with the thinner aspect of the buccal bone plates made them more fragile to absorb compared to the lingual bone plates, especially during mucoperiosteal procedures. J Periodontol 2017;82:872-877.

A new Amphisbaena with chevron-shaped anterior body annuli from state of Pernambuco: Brazil (Squamata: Amphisbaenidae)

A new species of Amphisbaena is described from Fazenda Porto Seguro, municipality of Buique, state of Pernambuco, in the Caatingas of northeastern Brazil based on four specimens. The new species is a small and slender amphisbaenian with four precloacal pores, 333-337 body annuli, 22-23 tail annuli with discrete evidence of an autotomic site on the 10-12 tail annuli, and 14 dorsal and 17-18 ventral segments per annuli at midbody. The high number of body annuli, the presence of chevron-shaped anterior body annuli, and the fusion of frontal scales distinguish Amphisbaena supernumeraria sp. nov. from its congeners.