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La obra de María Acuña, poeta extremeña que murió inédita, sale a la luz gracias a esta edición de Isabel Balseiro, en la que repasa la trayectoria de esta arrolladora escritora que se vio influida por los principales movimientos y ambientes del siglo XX, pero que, al igual que muchas otras mujeres, quedó olvidada en los estudios literarios. Este poemario supone una invitación a la lectura de la obra de Acuña, a la vez que una reivindicación del hueco que como escritora merece.

The School of Engineering of the Polytechnic of Porto (ISEP) has embraced the DrIVE-MATH project, since September 2017. Active-learning (AL) techniques were implemented in several Math courses, namely Linear Algebra and Analytic Geometry, Probability and Statistics, Statistical Models, Computational Mathematics, and Differential and Integral Calculus I. In this paper, we will share the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the implementation of the active-learning (AL) environment in these courses. We will detail the courses' plans, emphasizing the syllabus, pedagogical methodologies, assessment methods, students' perceptions, and other related issues. Several questionnaires were posed to the students enrolled in these Math courses during the last three academic years. The statistical analysis of the gathered data provided valuable indications of students' perceptions on the effectiveness of several AL methods, on the development of their own essential (soft+hard) skills. These skills will be a valuable resource to their future professional and personal lives. The 5th Industrial Revolution is just around the corner.

In this paper we provide a description of the project DrIVE-MATH, highlighting the main goals, intellectual outputs, outcomes, the involved partners, and activities and reports from the three-years' project. At the end we discuss the impact of the new proposed Education models at various levels, from students, to HEIs, to stakeholders.

Galectin-3 is an endogenous lectin which binds mainly to β-galactosides on the cell surface and extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoproteins. In the thymus, this lectin is constitutively expressed, being involved in thymocyte adhesion, migration, and death. Galectin-3 has been related to type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease characterized by pancreatic β-cell destruction mediated by autoreactive T lymphocytes. Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice represent a suitable model to study type 1 diabetes, as they develop the disease like humans. We previously described important thymic alterations in these animals such as the development of giant perivascular spaces (PVS), characterized by the retention of T and B cells, intermingled with an ECM network, and associated with a defect in the expression of the fibronectin receptor VLA-5 and reduced sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor expression on developing thymocytes. In order to investigate galectin-3 expression in thymic microenvironmental cells and verify its interaction with cells and ECM molecules in PVS, we performed immunofluorescence following colocalization analysis in the thymic parenchyma of pre-diabetic NOD mice by confocal microscopy. In addition, thymocyte migration assays were performed to evaluate the effect of galectin-3 on NOD thymocyte migration. Herein, we showed a significant enhancement of colocalization with cortical and medullary thymic epithelial cells in NOD mice, as compared to controls. In the giant PVS of these animals, we observed a heterogeneous distribution of galectin-3, predominantly found in clusters of B lymphocytes and dendritic cells. Functionally, NOD thymocyte migratory response towards galectin-3 was impaired and a similar decrease was seen in transendothelial thymocyte migration. Taken together, our data provide the histological and functional background for a potential defective thymocyte migration involving galectin-3, thus placing this molecule as a further player in the intrathymic disturbances observed in pre-diabetic NOD mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The therapeutic potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (bmMSCs) to address heart failure needs improvement for better engraftment and survival. This study explores the role of metabolic sorting for human bmMSCs in coculture in vitro and on doxorubicin-induced heart failure mice models. Using functional, epigenetic, and gene expression approaches on cells sorted for mitochondrial membrane potential in terms of their metabolic status, we demonstrated that bmMSCs selected for their glycolytic metabolism presented proliferative advantage and resistance to oxidative stress thereby favoring cell engraftment. Therapeutic use of glycolytic bmMSCs rescued left ventricular ejection fraction and decreased fibrosis in mice models of acute heart failure. Metabolic changes were also related to epigenetic histone modifications such as lysine methylation. By targeting LSD1 (lysine-specific demethylase 1) as a conditioning agent to enhance the metabolic profile of bmMSCs, we deciphered the interplay between glycolysis and bmMSC functionality. Our study elucidates novel strategies for optimizing bmMSC-based treatments for heart failure, highlighting the metabolic properties of bmMSCs as a promising target for more effective cardiovascular regenerative therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to 10% of cases of gastric cancer are familial, but so far, only mutations in CDH1 have been associated with gastric cancer risk. To identify genetic variants that affect risk for gastric cancer, we collected blood samples from 28 patients with hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC) not associated with mutations in CDH1 and performed whole-exome sequence analysis. We then analyzed sequences of candidate genes in 333 independent HDGC and non-HDGC cases. We identified 11 cases with mutations in PALB2, BRCA1, or RAD51C genes, which regulate homologous DNA recombination. We found these mutations in 2 of 31 patients with HDGC (6.5%) and 9 of 331 patients with sporadic gastric cancer (2.8%). Most of these mutations had been previously associated with other types of tumors and partially co-segregated with gastric cancer in our study. Tumors that developed in patients with these mutations had a mutation signature associated with somatic homologous recombination deficiency. Our findings indicate that defects in homologous recombination increase risk for gastric cancer.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution era has arrived, according to the World Economic Forum. Everything is changing (viz., artificial intelligence, automation, intelligent robots, self-driving cars and genetic editing) and exciting opportunities accompanied with major challenges come to the surface. On the other hand, major difficulties may also rise, namely technological unemployment and poverty. How can governments, educators and parents prepare the present and future generations to thrive in this increasingly changing world? What is the Education of the Fourth Industrial Revolution age? The education of the new era must transform itself to be able to provide students with the scientific and soft skills needed in the 21st century. Students must actively apply and update their knowledge, must be critical thinkers, problem solvers, curious, imaginative, collaborative, communicators. As Alvin Toffler says in his book Future Shock (1970) 'The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.' DrIVE-MATH--Development of Innovative Mathematical Teaching Strategies in European Engineering Degrees' virtual team was designed to develop a novel and integrated framework to teach math classes in engineering courses, at the university level. Its major goal is to apply novel teaching methodologies to teach math courses to future engineers. DrIVE-MATH emerged from the need to prepare and develop essential competences in engineering students, key to their success in the rapidly changing and dynamic workplace. The teachers involved in the project strongly believe that the implemented active-learning methodologies provide better scientific and soft skills support to the future engineers. In this paper, we present the results of the first year (pilot) implementation of the project DrIVE-MATH at the School of Engineering of the Polytechnic of Porto.