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The objective of this study was to examine the variables that affect the use of PowerPoint by university professors. Based on the revised unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT-2), a theoretical model adapted to the study context was proposed. The impact of the attitude towards PowerPoint, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivations, and habit, in the intention to use and actual use of PowerPoint was evaluated. A survey was applied to 106 university professors from two Spanish universities, and the theoretical model was subsequently tested using a path analysis. The results suggest the existence of a direct non-critical path consisting of social pressure and habit, and an indirect critical path consisting of performance expectancy via the attitude towards PowerPoint. This research highlights the importance of critical reflection in the use of technological tools such as PowerPoint in classrooms. The practical implications of these findings to improve pedagogical practices are discussed.

Adult performance of high ability individuals has seldom been researched. Current results suggest that adult excellence occurs at lower rates than high ability individuals identified in their infancy or youth, with few cases of high intellectual abilities among adults that yield excellence products. This paper focuses on the analysis of the relative frequency of biographical traits that are associated with high ability as well as to the opportunities that allow building particular knowledge structures that are nonconventional and support innovation in people who excelled. A retrospective biographical analysis was performed on a sample of 120 individuals that generated renowned excellence products, in different fields, in the XXth century. Variables associated to high abilities were: precocity; learning problems; social problems in school; and academic excellence. And the variables associated with the generation of knowledge structures that support innovation were: academic-professional continuity; strong influence of particular individuals; and high productivity. Significant differences were found, showing a low presence of the first four variables and a higher presence of the last three. It follows that the trajectory towards excellence does not seem to correlate with a high level of intellectual resources but with a certain use of sufficient resources, whether cerebral or external technological support.

Social scientists have long been interested in understanding the extent to which the typicalities of an object in concepts relate to its valuations by social actors. Answering this question has proven to be challenging because precise measurement requires a feature-based description of objects. Yet, such descriptions are frequently unavailable. In this article, we introduce a method to measure typicality based on text data. Our approach involves training a deep-learning text classifier based on the BERT language representation and defining the typicality of an object in a concept in terms of the categorization probability produced by the trained classifier. Model training allows for the construction of a feature space adapted to the categorization task and of a mapping between feature combination and typicality that gives more weight to feature dimensions that matter more for categorization. We validate the approach by comparing the BERT-based typicality measure of book descriptions in literary genres with average human typicality ratings. The obtained correlation is higher than 0.85. Comparisons with other typicality measures used in prior research show that our BERT-based measure better reflects human typicality judgments.

It has been postulated that advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and their soluble receptor (sRAGE) may play a relevant role as inducers in the chronic inflammatory pathway in various conditions, among them, in immune-mediated diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, previous studies show conflicting results about their association with SLE characteristics and their usefulness as disease biomarkers. We aimed to study the association of specific serum AGEs (pentosidine, Nξ-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML), Nξ-(carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL)), sRAGE levels and AGEs (specific serum AGEs and skin AGEs) to sRAGE ratios with various disease parameters, in order to clarify their potential as new biomarkers in SLE and to study their relationship with cardiovascular disease (CVD). To this aim, serum pentosidine, CML, CEL and sRAGE were measured via ELISA, and skin AGEs levels were measured by skin autofluorescence. Correlations of pentosidine levels with demographic and clinical data, indexes of activity, accrual damage and patient-reported outcomes were analyzed through multiple linear regression models, while correlations of the rest of the AGEs, sRAGE and AGE to sRAGE ratios (non-normal) were analyzed using both an OLS regression model and a GML. All of the analyses were adjusted for confounders. A total of 119 SLE patients were recruited. Serum AGEs and sRAGEs were significantly associated with SLE activity indexes and/or demographic or disease characteristics: pentosidine with pulmonary manifestations; CML with anti-dsDNA antibodies, IL-6, disease duration and non-Caucasian ethnicities; CEL with anti-dsDNA antibodies, IL-6 and accumulated number of manifestations; and sRAGE with male gender, photosensitivity and being on specific immunosuppressants. These results suggest that the AGE–sRAGE axis may serve as a novel biomarker for managing and prognosticating this disease. Its correlation with certain antibodies, demographics and disease presentations may indicate a distinct clinical phenotype associated with varying levels of AGEs and/or sRAGE. The significance of specific AGE/sRAGE ratios, introduced in this study for the first time, warrants additional investigation in forthcoming research. Our study did not confirm the link between serum AGEs and CVD, which merits further exploration through studies designed for this specific purpose.

Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) may play a relevant role as inducers in the chronic inflammatory pathway present in immune-mediated diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). AGEs concentrations have been associated, with discrepant results to date, with some parameters such as disease activity or accrual damage, suggesting their potential usefulness as biomarkers of the disease. Our objectives are to confirm differences in AGEs levels measured by cutaneous autofluorescence between SLE patients and healthy controls (HC) and to study their correlation with various disease parameters. Cross-sectional study, where AGEs levels were measured by skin autofluorescence, and SLE patients’ data were compared with those of sex- and age-matched HC in a 1:3 proportion through a multiple linear regression model. Associations of AGEs levels with demographic and clinical data were analyzed through ANOVA tests. Both analyses were adjusted for confounders. AGEs levels in SLE patients were significantly higher than in HC (p < 0.001). We found statistically significant positive associations with SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) and damage index (SDI), physician and patient global assessment, C-reactive protein, leukocyturia, complement C4, IL-6 and oral ulcers. We also found a negative statistically significant association with current positivity of anti-nuclear and anti-Ro60 antibodies. AGEs seem to have a contribution in LES pathophysiology, being associated with activity and damage and having a role as a new management and prognosis biomarker in this disease. The association with specific antibodies and disease manifestations may indicate a specific clinical phenotype related to higher or lower AGEs levels.

Introducción. Cada año miles de mujeres adolescentes son casadas de manera concertada en muchos lugares del mundo. Este tipo de prácticas son replicadas y extendidas en los contextos geográficos de inmigración como España. Sin embargo, debido al hermetismo de una tradición celebrada en el ámbito familiar y a la novedad del fenómeno en el país ibérico, se cuenta con pocos estudios que permitan conocer las representaciones, los sentimientos y las experiencias de las mujeres que han sido y son presionadas a contraer matrimonio. El motivo de la investigación es contribuir al conocimiento de tales representaciones en dos grupos de mujeres senegambianas del noreste de España. Metodología. El método utilizado fue el estudio de caso con grupos focales en torno a las siguientes categorías de análisis: elección de pareja, matrimonio, cohesión familiar y proyectos personales. Por una parte, un grupo de 11 mujeres adultas (25-40 años), casadas y con hijos; por otra, un grupo de ocho jóvenes (18-24 años) solteras y sin hijos. El acceso a los íntimos testimonios de las mujeres adultas fue el resultado de un complejo y largo proceso de construcción de la confianza con una de las investigadoras. El trabajo de campo transcurrió en la ciudad de Zaragoza entre 2015 y 2018. Resultados. Los resultados obtenidos reflejan el predomino de una experiencia insatisfactoria y dolorosa entre las adultas y las expectativas de una construcción conflictiva de la autonomía de las jóvenes. Los hallazgos sugieren la existencia de procesos de cambio transnacional en el caso de las jóvenes y de reproducción cultural en el caso de las adultas. Discusión. Una de las novedades de la investigación ha consistido en documentar que el cambio de las mujeres jóvenes está atravesado por tres ejes conflictuales interdependientes: intercultural, intergeneracional y de género. Conclusiones. Se recomienda que el trabajo social intercultural considere las experiencias, las expectativas y los conflictos existentes en este tipo de relaciones con el propósito de mejorar la intervención social.

PowerPoint is one of the most widely used technological tools in educational contexts, but little is known about the differences in usage patterns by faculty members from various disciplines. For the study we report in this article we used a survey specially designed to explore this question, and it was completed by 106 faculty members from different disciplines. The results suggest the existence of different patterns in the use of PowerPoint. In addition, the importance of habit in its use is highlighted. Those professors who reported greater dependence on PowerPoint tended to use PowerPoint primarily as study material for their students. We discuss the practical relevance of these results.

SMARCA4 is commonly inactivated in lung and ovarian cancers. Here the authors show that SMARCA4-deficient tumours have significantly reduced levels of the histone demethylases KDM6s and a strong dependency on these demethylases for tumour growth, so that they are vulnerable to KDM6s inhibition.

La inclusión requiere de una posición de los diferentes logros de cada cultura como referentes universales en los mismos términos que los propios, esto es, valorados en función de la aportación realizada. A pesar de ello, en los ámbitos educativos subyace una actitud etnocentrista que deslegitimiza el logro artístico de las culturas negroafricanas situándolas dentro de la esfera de lo primitivo o curioso. No obstante, los logros artísticos negroafricanos son claramente significativos tanto estética como conceptualmente, lo que nos permite reivindicar una didáctica específica en arte negroafricano distanciada de las premisas etnocéntricas así como de los procesos de deslegitimación y desestimación coloniales. Estos planteamientos han derivado en una discriminación formal y conceptual del objeto negroafricano, que hemos de rectificar incluyendo propuestas de integración no asimilacionista del arte negroafricano en las enseñanzas artísticas.

Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) may play a relevant role as inducers in the chronic inflammatory pathway present in immune-mediated diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). AGEs concentrations have been associated, with discrepant results to date, with some parameters such as disease activity or accrual damage, suggesting their potential usefulness as biomarkers of the disease. Our objectives are to confirm differences in AGEs levels measured by cutaneous autofluorescence between SLE patients and healthy controls (HC) and to study their correlation with various disease parameters. Cross-sectional study, where AGEs levels were measured by skin autofluorescence, and SLE patients' data were compared with those of sex- and age-matched HC in a 1:3 proportion through a multiple linear regression model. Associations of AGEs levels with demographic and clinical data were analyzed through ANOVA tests. Both analyses were adjusted for confounders. AGEs levels in SLE patients were significantly higher than in HC (p < 0.001). We found statistically significant positive associations with SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) and damage index (SDI), physician and patient global assessment, C-reactive protein, leukocyturia, complement C4, IL-6 and oral ulcers. We also found a negative statistically significant association with current positivity of anti-nuclear and anti-Ro60 antibodies. AGEs seem to have a contribution in LES pathophysiology, being associated with activity and damage and having a role as a new management and prognosis biomarker in this disease. The association with specific antibodies and disease manifestations may indicate a specific clinical phenotype related to higher or lower AGEs levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]