Assistive technologies for learning are aimed at promoting academic skills, such as reading and mathematics. These technologies mainly embrace mobile and web apps addressed to children with learning ...difficulties. Nevertheless, most applications lack pedagogical foundation. Additionally, the task of selecting suitable technology for educational purposes becomes challenging. Hence, this protocol posits the psychophysiological assessment of an online method for learning (OML) named Smartick. This platform comprises reading and math activities for learning training. In this protocol, individual monitoring of each child is proposed to determine the progress in learning caused by Smartick.
One hundred and twelve children aged between 8 and 12 who present reading or math difficulty after a rigorous psychometric evaluation will be recruited. The study comprises four sessions. In sessions 1 and 2, collective and individual psychometric evaluations will be performed, respectively. Reading and mathematical proficiency will be assessed, as well as attentional levels and intellectual quotient. Subsequently, each child will be semi-randomly assigned to either the experimental or control groups. Afterward, a first EEG will be collected for all children in session 3. Then, experimental groups will use Smartick for 3 months, in addition to their traditional learning method. In contrast, control groups will only continue with their traditional learning method. Finally, session 4 will consist of performing a second psychometric evaluation and another EEG, so that psychophysiological parameters can be encountered that indicate learning improvements due to the OML, regardless of the traditional learning method at hand.
Currently, few studies have validated learning improvement due to assistive technologies for learning. However, this proposal presents a psychophysiological evaluation addressed to children with reading or math difficulties who will be trained with an OML.
Binaural beats (BB) consist of two slightly distinct auditory frequencies (one in each ear), which are differentiated with clinical electroencephalographic (EEG) bandwidths, namely, delta, theta, ...alpha, beta, or gamma. This auditory stimulation has been widely used to module brain rhythms and thus inducing the mental condition associated with the EEG bandwidth in use. The aim of this research was to investigate whether personalized BB (specifically those within theta and beta EEG bands) improve brain entrainment. Personalized BB consisted of pure tones with a carrier tone of 500 Hz in the left ear together with an adjustable frequency in the right ear that was defined for theta BB (since
f
c
for theta EEG band was 4.60 Hz ± 0.70 SD) and beta BB (since
f
c
for beta EEG band was 18.42 Hz ± 2.82 SD). The adjustable frequencies were estimated for each participant in accordance with their heart rate by applying the Brain-Body Coupling Theorem postulated by Klimesch. To achieve this aim, 20 healthy volunteers were stimulated with their personalized theta and beta BB for 20 min and their EEG signals were collected with 22 channels. EEG analysis was based on the comparison of power spectral density among three mental conditions: (1) theta BB stimulation, (2) beta BB stimulation, and (3) resting state. Results showed larger absolute power differences for both BB stimulation sessions than resting state on bilateral temporal and parietal regions. This power change seems to be related to auditory perception and sound location. However, no significant differences were found between theta and beta BB sessions when it was expected to achieve different brain entrainments, since theta and beta BB induce relaxation and readiness, respectively. In addition, relative power analysis (theta BB/resting state) revealed alpha band desynchronization in the parieto-occipital region when volunteers listened to theta BB, suggesting that participants felt uncomfortable. In conclusion, neural resynchronization was met with both personalized theta and beta BB, but no different mental conditions seemed to be achieved.
The impact of binaural beats (BBs) on human cognition and behavior remains and various methods have been used to measure their effect, including neurophysiological, psychometric, and human ...performance evaluations. The few approaches where the level of neural synchronicity and connectivity were measured by neuroimaging techniques have only been undertaken in spontaneous mode. The present research proposes an approach based on the oddball paradigm to study BB effect by estimating the level of attention induced by BBs. Evoked activity of 25 young adults between 19 and 24 years old with no hearing impairments nor clinical neurological history were analyzed. The experiment was conducted in two different sessions of 24.5 min. The first part consisted of 20-min BB stimulation in either theta (BB
θ
) or beta (BB
β
). After the BB stimulation, an oddball paradigm was applied in each BB condition to assess the attentional effect induced by BBs. Attention enhancement is expected for BB
β
with respect to BB
θ
. Target event related potentials (ERPs) were mainly analyzed in the time and time–frequency domains. The frequency analysis was based on continuous wavelet transform (CWT), event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP), and inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC). The study revealed that the P300 component was not significantly different between conditions (BB
θ
vs. BB
β
). However, the target grand average ERP in BB
θ
condition was mainly composed of 8 Hz-frequency components, appearing before 400 ms post-stimulus, and mainly on the centro-parietal regions. In contrast, the target grand average ERP in BB
β
condition was mainly composed of frequency components below 6 Hz, mainly appearing at 400 ms post-stimulus on the parieto-occipital regions. Furthermore, ERPs in the BB
θ
condition were more phase locked than the BB
β
condition.
The relevance of affective information triggers cognitive prioritisation, dictated by both the attentional load of the relevant task, and socio-emotional abilities. This dataset provides ...electroencephalographic (EEG) signals related to implicit emotional speech perception under low, intermediate, and high attentional demands. Demographic and behavioural data are also provided. Specific social-emotional reciprocity and verbal communication characterise Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and may influence the processing of affective prosodies. Therefore, 62 children and their parents or legal guardians participated in data collection, including 31 children with high autistic traits (x̄age=9.6-year-old, σage=1.5) who previously received a diagnosis of ASD by a medical specialist, and 31 typically developed children (x̄age=10.2-year-old, σage=1.2). Assessments of the scope of autistic behaviours using the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales (ASRS, parent report) are provided for every child. During the experiment, children listened to task-irrelevant affective prosodies (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, neutral and sadness) while answering three visual tasks: neutral image viewing (low attentional load), one-target 4-disc Multiple Object Tracking (MOT; intermediate), one-target 8-disc MOT (high). The EEG data recorded during all three tasks and the tracking capacity (behavioural data) from MOT conditions are included in the dataset. Particularly, the tracking capacity was computed as a standardised index of attentional abilities during MOT, corrected for guessing. Beforehand, children answered the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, and resting-state EEG activity of children was recorded for 2 minutes with eyes open. Those data are also provided. The present dataset can be used to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of implicit emotion and speech perceptions and their interaction with attentional load and autistic traits. Besides, resting-state EEG data may be used to characterise inter-individual heterogeneity at rest and, in turn, associate it with attentional capacities during MOT and with autistic behavioural patterns. Finally, tracking capacity may be useful to explore dynamic and selective attentional mechanisms under emotional constraints.
•Cluster analysis related clinical histories with effects of acoustic therapies.•Neural activity decreased after the neuromodulation acoustic treatment.•Neural activity reduction over frontal lobe is ...due to tinnitus perception decreased.•Neural activity decreased on left hemisphere due to pleasant sound habituation.
Tinnitus is an auditory condition with no effective treatments. Seven of the 25 most widely used treatment are sound based therapies, but no methods to select an appropriate one have been established.
Therefore, this investigation aimed to establish a method to select an appropriate acoustic therapy by finding comparable psycho-neurological effects. For that purpose, 71 Mexican volunteers (60 tinnitus sufferers and 11 controls) followed one of five two-month treatments that aimed to (1) diminish the level of attention towards tinnitus via neuro-modulation, (2) habituate to tinnitus by retraining or (3) to relieve distress (binaural beats and music). From the treatment outcomes, six features were defined: (1) hearing loss, (2) anxiety level, (3) stress level, (4) overall amount of neural electrical response to acoustic therapy, (5) EEG channel wherefrom the maximum neural response was obtained, and (6) assigned group. Then, a cluster analysis based on the k-means method was undertaken.
As a result, a strong structure (silhouette measure = 0.798) of six clusters showed that tinnitus sufferers who reported diminution of stress and anxiety, and no side effects, mainly proceeded from neuro-modulation treatments. Furthermore, most of tinnitus sufferers who reported increase of anxiety mainly proceeded from tinnitus retraining and binaural beats. Finally, tinnitus sufferers who only reported anxiety diminution mainly proceeded from tinnitus retraining and music therapy.
Taken together, these findings are a guideline to select an appropriate therapy according to clinical history and psycho-neurological effects, what has not been proposed until now.
A series of conformationally restricted difluoroboron β-diketonate complexes (BF2bdks) was easily synthesized from (Z)-2-(1-arylhydroxyliden)-1-indanone derivatives in good to excellent yields. These ...dyes displayed the lowest energy absorption maxima in the range of 370–408 nm and possess molar absorption coefficients (ε) ranging from 8000 to 47 000 M−1cm−1 in CH2Cl2. All the absorption spectra of the BF2bdks systems were red shifted (5–43 nm) as compared to the parent difluoroboron 1,3-diphenyl-β-diketonate complex (BF2dbm). Their emission maxima were centered on 406–432 nm and the fluorescence quantum yields (Φ) were in the range of 0.33–0.87, which are in all cases much higher than the found for BF2dbm. These observations demonstrate the effectiveness of improving the dye quantum yield by restricting the intramolecular C–C bond rotation.
Display omitted
•Facile access to conformationally restricted difluoroboron β-diketonate complexes.•Photophysical properties in solution are disclosed.•Restricting the intramolecular C–C bond rotation as strategy to improve the fluorescence quantum yields of BF2bdks.
Los Azufres
spa consists of a hydrothermal spring system in the Mexican Volcanic Axis. Five samples (two microbial mats, two mud pools and one
cenote
water), characterized by high acidity (pH between ...1 and 3) and temperatures varying from 27 to 87 °C, were investigated for their microbial diversity by Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) and 16S rRNA gene library analyses. These data are the first to describe microbial diversity from
Los Azufres
geothermal belt. The data obtained from both approaches suggested a low bacterial diversity in all five samples. Despite their proximity, the sampling points differed by their physico-chemical conditions (mainly temperature and matrix type) and thus exhibited different dominant bacterial populations: anoxygenic phototrophs related to the genus
Rhodobacter
in the biomats, colorless sulfur oxidizers
Acidithiobacillus
sp. in the warm mud and water samples, and
Lyzobacter
sp.-related populations in the hot mud sample (87 °C). Molecular data also allowed the detection of sulfate and sulfur reducers related to
Thermodesulfobium
and
Desulfurella
genera. Several strains affiliated to both genera were enriched or isolated from the mesophilic mud sample. A feature common to all samples was the dominance of bacteria involved in sulfur and iron biogeochemical cycles (
Rhodobacter
,
Acidithiobacillus
,
Thiomonas
,
Desulfurella
and
Thermodesulfobium
genera).
Introducción: México ocupa el segundo lugar del mundo en obesidad infantil. El impacto de la obesidad sobre la salud integral es evidente; sin embargo, la evidencia de su influencia sobre el ...rendimiento académico en adolescentes mexicanos es todavía escasa. Objetivo: comparar el rendimiento académico de estudiantes de secundaria en función de su Índice de Masa Corporal (IMC). Material y métodos: estudio transversal en muestra probabilística de 156 estudiantes. Se tomó peso y talla y se clasificó el IMC según los criterios de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS). Para medir el rendimiento académico se utilizó la calificación promedio. Se aplicó estadística descriptiva y Chi cuadrado para comparar grupos. Resultados: 50% mujeres; la media de edad fue de 13,1 años (desviación típica DT= 0,94). El 32,7 % presentaron obesidad, 19,2 % sobrepeso y el 48,1 % peso normal. La media de calificación fue 8,6 (DT= 0,82), el 42,3% tenía un rendimiento académico alto, el 38,5% un rendimiento medio y el 19,2% un rendimiento bajo. El rendimiento alto fue más frecuente en el grupo de obesidad (40,9%), seguido de peso normal (36,4%) y sobrepeso (22,7%). Al comparar el rendimiento académico en los grupos por IMC, se encontraron diferencias estadísticas (p=0,01). Conclusiones: la prevalencia de sobrepeso y obesidad es más alta que la media nacional. Existen diferencias en el rendimiento académico en función del IMC. Los adolescentes con obesidad presentaron un rendimiento escolar más alto.
The physiopathology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is mediated by proinflammatory cytokines, some of which are regulated by the JAK/STAT pathway. Tofacitinib is a JAK inhibitor, but its role in the ...regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) is unknown. There is also no information regarding the role of miRNAs in the clinical relapse/remission of RA. The present project aims to identify a signature profile of miRNA expression in a subgroup of RA patients who had to discontinue tofacitinib treatment (because of the ending of a 5-year open-label clinical trial) and to describe the expression of miRNAs during RA remission or flare-up. The relative expression of 61 miRNAs was determined in serum samples with the Firefly™ BioWorks assay. Statistical analysis was performed by means of Student's t-test and heatmap analysis was performed with Firefly™ Analysis Workbench software and in the software GraphPad® Prism v5.0. Target prediction and Gene Ontology analysis were carried out using bioinformatic tools. We found a distinctive signature of miRNA expression associated with relapse, featuring upregulated expression of hsa‑miR‑432‑5p (p < 0.05). We also found upregulation of hsa‑miR‑194‑5p (p < 0.05) in samples of patients with RA flare-up. Gene Ontology analysis of the target genes for hsa‑miR‑432‑5p was performed to identify relevant pathways associated with relapse; the implications of these pathways in the physiopathology of RA are discussed. Tofacitinib treatment does not have a direct effect on the expression of measured miRNAs. The changes in hsa‑miR‑432‑5p and hsa‑miR‑194‑5p are associated with the regulation of proinflammatory pathways and RA flare-up.
•hsa‑miR‑432‑5p is downregulated in patients achieving clinical remission.•Treatment with Tofacitinib does not affect miRNA expression directly.•Patients with relapse have a specific miRNA signature as measured by Firefly Bioworks.•hsa‑miR‑194-5p is upregulated during RA flare-up patients suggesting that this miRNA could be used as a biomarker for relapse.
Possible ionospheric effects of the Morelian meteoroid that passed and exploded over Mexico on 19 February 2020 (18 February 2020 local time) were estimated. The meteoroid trajectory, velocity and ...time of occurrence were calculated based on outdoor camera records. Modeling was used to estimate the meteoroid initial diameter, density, mass, velocity, energy and their change during its flight in the atmosphere. The ensemble of ionospheric scintillation indices calculated from the high-rate GNSS data and the filtered slant Total Electron Content data were used to reveal the presence of ionospheric disturbances generated by shock waves excited by the meteoroid flight and explosion. The first ionospheric responses to phenomena accompanying the meteoroid were detected (2.5–3.5) min after the explosion. The disturbances were attenuated quickly with distance from their source and were rarely recorded by GNSS receivers located more than 600 km from the meteoroid explosion site. The ionospheric disturbances of intermediate-scale, small-scale, shock-acoustic-wave-scale and sometimes medium-scale were revealed. The detected disturbances corresponded to the range of acoustic-gravity waves. An asymmetry of the disturbance manifestation in different directions was observed. The obtained results are in accordance with results of the observation of other meteoroids. Although the object was smaller and of less energy than other known meteoroids, it is an interesting case because, to the best of our knowledge, it isthe first known to us low-latitude meteoroid with the detected ionospheric effects.
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