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Editorial

Editorial

El presente texto, revisado y actualizado, fue presentado como desarrollo de la conferencia inaugural del IV Congreso Internacional del Español: Innovación, tecnología y comunicación en español (Salamanca, julio de 2016) para ser publicado en las Actas de dicho encuentro. Transcurrido casi un año sin que tales actas hayan sido publicadas, se comparten aquí aquellos contenidos, que reflexionan, de forma muy genérica, sobre el papel de las nuevas tecnologías en el aula de español lengua extranjera.

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo describir, razonar y justificar las decisiones didácticas que fundamentan las gramáticas papELEs y eleFANTE. Se pretende que el lector disponga de criterios para analizar estas obras (y, con ellos, también otras gramáticas); conocer, por consiguiente, algunos de los medios implicados en una eventual implantación en el aula (o como material de estudio); y, tal vez, apropiarse de algunas de las pautas seguidas cuando confeccione y/o adapte materiales didácticos, preferentemente gramaticales. Como se verá, las decisiones didácticas que se relatan intervienen en todos y cada uno de los aspectos de las obras, desde la gráfica hasta los ejercicios pasando por un largo etcétera que incluye los contenidos, la formulación de las soluciones, los ejemplos, la metalengua, etc

El objetivo de este artículo es reflexionar acerca del concepto y el diseño de exámenes de español como lengua extranjera. Con criterios empíricos se subrayan las limitaciones técnicas de las pruebas y la pobreza de información que ofrecen a docentes y a candidatos sobre su actuación. El trabajo propone algunas alternativas que deben ser refrendadas en situaciones de aula.

Para muchos grupos indígenas amazónicos, el mambeadero es un espacio masculino por excelencia. El mambe es esencial para el proceso de conocimiento y curación, que en el mambeadero adquiere también una función ritual. En este espacio nocturno, se discuten cuestiones cotidianas de la comunidad, temas políticos y se realizan curaciones. Entre estos grupos indígenas, sólo los hombres p reparan el mambe, y sólo ellos y las mujeres ancianas mambean, algo que viene determinado desde el mito de origen. Sin embargo, la mujer está presente en el mambeadero, con la caguana y con su presencia, no en el semicírculo, pero sí alrededor, en el fogón o en la hamaca, escuchando o aprendiendo. A pesar de esto, el papel de la m ujer en estos espacios no recibe mucha importancia en el ámbito académico. Este trabajo abordó el cómo la mujer se ha ido abriendo espacio y participando de manera más activa en el contexto urbano de la ciudad de Leticia. Es un proceso con tensiones: malestares y conflictos, acompañado de aprendizaje para indígenas y no indígenas que entablan diálogo con estos grupos que en Leticia ya están organizados. Desde la perspectiva de algunos de sus actores (hombres y mujeres), se analizando la participación de la mujer, momentos, temáticas, dificultades, resistencias y logros construidos, en discusión con las prácticas culturales tradicionales que suelen resistirse a este tipo de transformaciones en las relaciones entre los géneros. Dentro de los hallazgos está la manera como la mujer indígena se hace presente y participa de los espacios políticos alrededor del mambeadero, y el papel central que tiene la mujer indígena en la venta del mambe en este espacio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) requires innovative therapeutic strategies to counteract its progression and metastatic potential. Since the majority of patients are diagnosed with advanced metastatic disease, treatment strategies targeting not only the primary tumor but also metastatic lesions are needed. Tumor-Associated Macrophages (TAMs) have emerged as central players, significantly influencing PDAC progression and metastasis. Our objective was to validate an innovative therapeutic strategy involving the reprogramming of TAMs using lipid nanosystems to prevent the formation of a pro-metastatic microenvironment in the liver., Results: In vitro results demonstrate that M2-polarized macrophages lose their M2-phenotype following treatment with lipid nanoemulsions composed of vitamin E and sphingomyelin (VitE:SM), transitioning to an M0/M1 state. Specifically, VitE:SM nanoemulsion treatment decreased the expression of macrophage M2 markers such as Arg1 and Egr2, while M1 markers such as Cd86, Il-1b and Il-12b increased. Additionally, the TGF-βR1 inhibitor Galunisertib (LY2157299) was loaded into VitE:SM nanoemulsions and delivered to C57BL/6 mice orthotopically injected with KPC PDAC tumor cells. Treated mice showed diminished primary tumor growth and reduced TAM infiltration in the liver. Moreover, we observed a decrease in liver metastasis with the nanoemulsion treatment in an intrasplenic model of PDAC liver metastasis. Finally, we validated the translatability of our VitE:SM nanosystem therapy in a human cell-based 3D co-culture model in vivo, underscoring the pivotal role of macrophages in the nanosystem's therapeutic effect in the context of human PDAC metastasis., Conclusions: The demonstrated effectiveness and safety of our nanosystem therapy highlights a promising therapeutic approach for PDAC, showcasing its potential in reprogramming TAMs and mitigating the occurrence of liver metastasis., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: All in vivo procedures in mice were conducted in accordance with protocols approved by the local Animal Experimental Ethics Committee of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PA 34–2012) or the Use Committee for Animal Care from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) (Ref# CEI-25–587) and the Comunidad de Madrid (PROEX 335/14 or 294/19). Consent for publication: All authors agree with the publication Competing interests: The authors declare the following competing financial interest(s): M.d.l.F. is the co-founder and CEO of DIVERSA Technologies SL. The remaining authors declare no competing of interest., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Staphylococcus aureus prosthetic valve endocarditis (SAPVE) is a serious infection with high mortality. The main objective of this study was to identify factors associated with in-hospital mortality., Methods: From January 2008 to December 2021, consecutive patients from a Spanish cohort of infective endocarditis with a definitive diagnosis of SAPVE were analyzed., Results: During the study period, 219 cases of definitive SAPVE were diagnosed, which accounted for 16.7% of a total of 1309 cases of definitive prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE). Patients presented advanced age and marked comorbidity. There was a higher incidence of persistent bacteremia, septic shock, stroke, and acute kidney injury than in cases of PVE caused by other microorganisms. Methicillin resistance was not associated with differences in clinical presentation, echocardiographic findings, or mortality. Only 50.6% of the patients with surgical indications (88 patients) underwent surgery. Overall, in-hospital mortality was 47.9%. The variables associated with in-hospital mortality were age (OR:1.03, 95% CI: 1.00-1.05; p = 0.016), heart failure (OR:2.86, 95% CI: 1.53-5.32; p = 0.001), acute kidney injury (OR:2.42, 95%CI:1.28-4.58; p = 0.006), stroke (OR:3.53, 95%CI:1.79-6.96; p < 0.001) and surgery indicated but not performed (OR:2.01, 95%CI:1.06-3.8; p = 0.030). On the other hand, the performance of surgery per se in patients with SAPVE, regardless of whether there was a surgical indication according to the guidelines, was not associated with a reduction in in-hospital mortality., Conclusions: SAPVE is characterized by high mortality, which is more marked in patients who present a surgical indication but do not undergo surgery., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Bladder cancer treatment via intravesical drug administration achieves reasonable survival rates but suffers from low therapeutic efficacy. To address the latter, self-propelled nanoparticles or nanobots have been proposed, taking advantage of their enhanced diffusion and mixing capabilities in urine when compared with conventional drugs or passive nanoparticles. However, the translational capabilities of nanobots in treating bladder cancer are underexplored. Here, we tested radiolabelled mesoporous silica-based urease-powered nanobots in an orthotopic mouse model of bladder cancer. In vivo and ex vivo results demonstrated enhanced nanobot accumulation at the tumour site, with an eightfold increase revealed by positron emission tomography in vivo. Label-free optical contrast based on polarization-dependent scattered light-sheet microscopy of cleared bladders confirmed tumour penetration by nanobots ex vivo. Treating tumour-bearing mice with intravesically administered radio-iodinated nanobots for radionuclide therapy resulted in a tumour size reduction of about 90%, positioning nanobots as efficient delivery nanosystems for bladder cancer therapy., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objectives: The aim was to assess the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the prevalence, relative incidence (RI), incidence density (ID), ratio of rate incidence (RRI), rate of incidence density (RID), and relative risks (RR) of healthcare-onset Clostridioides difficile infection (HO-CDI) as well as its correlation with the antibiotic consumption., Methods: Demographic and analytical data of adult patients exhibiting diarrhoea and testing positive for C. difficile were systematically collected from a tertiary care hospital in Madrid (Spain). The periods analysed included: prepandemic (P0), first pandemic-year (P1), and second pandemic-year (P2). We compared global prevalence, RI of HO-CDI per 1,000-admissions, ID of HO-CDI per 10,000-patients-days, RRI, RID, and RR. Antibiotic consumption was obtained by number of defined daily dose per 100 patient-days., Results: In P0, the prevalence of HO-CDI was 7.4% (IC95%: 6.2-8.7); in P1, it increased to 8.7% (IC95%: 7.4-10.1) (p = 0.2), and in P2, it continued to increase to 9.2% (IC95%: 8-10.6) (p < 0.05). During P1, the RRI was 1.5 and RID was 1.4. However, during P2 there was an increase in RRI to 1.6 and RID to 1.6. The RR also reflected the increase in HO-CDI: at P1, the probability of developing HO-CDI was 1.5 times (IC95%: 1.2-1.9) higher than P0, while at P2, this probability increased to 1.6 times (IC95%: 1.3-2.1). There was an increase in prevalence, RI, ID, RR, RRI, and RID during the two postpandemic periods respect to the prepandemic period. During P2, this increase was greater than the P1. Meropenem showed a statistically significant difference increased consumption (p < 0.05) during the pandemic period. Oral vancomycin HO-CDI treatment showed an increase during the period of study (p > 0.05)., Conclusions: Implementation of infection control measures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic did not appear to alleviate the burden of HO-CDI. The escalation in HO-CDI cases did not exhibit a correlation with overall antibiotic consumption, except for meropenem., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work presented in this article. The authors received no external funding from any of the commercial companies for this study., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CPNs) have emerged as advanced polymeric nanoplatforms in biomedical applications by virtue of extraordinary properties including high fluorescence brightness, large absorption coefficients of one and two-photons, and excellent photostability and colloidal stability in water and physiological medium. In addition, low cytotoxicity, easy functionalization, and the ability to modify CPN photochemical properties by the incorporation of dopants, convert them into excellent theranostic agents with multifunctionality for imaging and treatment. In this work, CPNs were designed and synthesized by incorporating a metal oxide magnetic core (Fe 3 O 4 and NiFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles, 5 nm) into their matrix during the nanoprecipitation method. This modification allowed the in vivo monitoring of nanoparticles in animal models using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intravital fluorescence, techniques widely used for intracranial tumors evaluation. The modified CPNs were assessed in vivo in glioblastoma (GBM) bearing mice, both heterotopic and orthotopic developed models. Biodistribution studies were performed with MRI acquisitions and fluorescence images up to 24 h after the i.v. nanoparticles administration. The resulting IONP-doped CPNs were biocompatible in GBM tumor cells in vitro with an excellent cell incorporation depending on nanoparticle concentration exposure. IONP-doped CPNs were detected in tumor and excretory organs of the heterotopic GBM model after i.v. and i.t. injection. However, in the orthotopic GBM model, the size of the nanoparticles is probably hindering a higher effect on intratumorally T2-weighted images (T 2 WI) signals and T 2 values. The photodynamic therapy (PDT)-cytotoxicity of CPNs was not either affected by the IONPs incorporation into the nanoparticles.

Background.  Because most infections caused by carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) begin during hospitalization, there are limited data about community-onset (CO) infections caused by CPE. Our aim is to describe the frequency of CO infections caused by CPE as well as the clinical features of CO bloodstream infections (CO-BSIs). Methods.  This study includes retrospective case series of CO infections caused by CPE in a tertiary hospital from January 2010 to July 2014. Any clinical sample with a positive culture for CPE that had been ordered by primary care doctors or by doctors at the emergency room (ER) were classified as CO. Epidemiological and microbiological features of CO cases were assessed as were clinical features of CO-BSIs. Results.  Of 780 clinical samples with CPE, 180 were requested at the ER or by primary care doctors (22.9%), 150 of which were produced by Klebsiella pneumoniae (83.3%). The bla OXA-48 gene was detected in 149 isolates (82.8%) followed by the bla VIM gene, 29 (16.1%). Sixty-one patients (33.9%) had a prior history of CPE infection/colonization. Thirty-four of the 119 (28.6%) patients without prior history of CPE infection/colonization did not fulfill Friedman criteria for healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Considering previous hospitalization of up to 12 months as a criterion for defining HAI, only 16 (13.4%) cases were identified as community-acquired infections. The most frequent positive sample was urine (133 of 180; 73.9%). Twenty-one (11.7%) patients had a BSI, 9 of them secondary to urinary tract infections (42.9%). Thirty-day crude mortality among patients with BSI was 23.8% (5 of 21). Conclusions.  Community-onset infections caused by CPE are an important subgroup of all CPE infections. The urinary tract is the main source. Bloodstream infections accounted for more than 10% of the cases.

Every year about 40,000 new patients are diagnosed as having squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) and nearly 60% of this population present with locally-advanced, but non-metastatic, disease. For many years, radiation therapy (RT) alone has been the standard non-surgical treatment for locally-advanced disease. Nevertheless, even the most effective RT regimens (the once-daily, hyperfractionation, or accelerated fractionation) show an improvement in local control rates of 50%-70% and disease-free survival rates of 30%-40%. These modest results have stimulated the search for novel strategies combining RT and chemotherapy. Several chemotherapeutic agents have been tested in combination with RT and cisplatin appears to be the most powerful agent in the treatment of locally-advanced head and neck tumours; as has been demonstrated in a large meta-analysis and, recently, in two multi-centred randomised trials. Based on these results, concurrent chemo-radiotherapy may be considered the standard adjuvant treatment for locally-advanced head and neck tumours.