Mapping of digital pedagogies in higher education

The purpose of this research is to analyse the evolution and trends of research into digital pedagogy in higher education through the application of bibliometric analysis and systematic review of scientific output. For the bibliometric analysis, the built-in functions of WoS were used, including Analyze results and Citation report. The VOSviewer software was employed to construct bibliometric maps. The analysis focuses on studies about digitalisation, university education and education quality, three categories that are grouped around digital pedagogies and methodologies. The sample contains 242 scientific publications, including articles (65.7%), publications published in the United States (17.7%) and publications financed by the European Commission (3.71%). Barber, W., and Lewin, C., are the authors with the greatest impact. The scientific output forms three networks: the "social network” (2000–2010), the "digitalisation network” (2011–2015) and the "network of the expansion of digital pedagogy” (2016–2023). The most-mature research (2005–2009) concerns the integration of technologies in education. The research with the greatest impact (2020–2022) looks at digital pedagogy and its implementation during the situation created by COVID-19. This research shows that digital pedagogy has come a long way over the last twenty years, but it is at the same time a topical area today. The paper opens up future paths for research such as the development of more-flexible pedagogies that can be adapted to different pedagogical scenarios.

Immune-Mediated Organ-Specific Reactions to COVID-19 Vaccines: A Retrospective Descriptive Study.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 caused the global COVID-19 pandemic and public health crisis, and it led to the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines, which can cause rare and typically mild hypersensitivity reactions (HRs). Delayed HRs to COVID-19 vaccines have been reported, and the excipients polyethylene glycol (PEG)2000 and polysorbate 80 (P80) are the suspected culprits. Skin patch tests do not help in diagnosing delayed reactions. We aimed to perform lymphocyte transformation tests (LTT) with PEG2000 and P80 in 23 patients with suspected delayed HRs. Neurological reactions (n = 10) and myopericarditis reactions (n = 6) were the most frequent complications. Seventy-eight percent (18/23) of the study patients were admitted to a hospital ward, and the median time to discharge was 5.5 (IQR, 3-8) days. Some 73.9% of the patients returned to baseline condition after 25 (IQR, 3-80) days. LTT was positive in 8/23 patients (5/10 neurological reactions, 2/4 hepatitis reactions and 1/2 rheumatologic reactions). All myopericarditis cases had a negative LTT. These preliminary results indicate that LTT with PEGs and polysorbates is a useful tool for identifying excipients as causal agents in HRs to COVID-19 vaccines and can play an important role in risk stratification in patients with HRs.

Estudio psicométrico piloto de un instrumento para evaluar el funcionamiento familiar: corresponsabilidad y consenso

Resumen: El objetivo del estudio es validar un Inventarlo que evalúa las dinámicas de corresponsabilidad y consenso familiar, donde la comunicación, la negociación de conflictos y las emociones son ejes centrales de la parentalidad positiva. 220 progenitores respondieron a un instrumento de 18 ítems. Se analizaron fiabilidad y validez de la prueba: consistencia interna, análisis diferencial de los ítems e invarianza de la medida. Se confirmaron 3 factores: imagen de matern idad/patern idad, comunicación emocional y consenso familiar;se mantuvo la invarianza configuracional pero no la métrica ni escalar. Género, nivel de estudios y ocupación laboral determinarían la competencia parental de ser padre y madre.Alternate :The goal of this study was the validation of an instrument to assess co-responsibility strategies and family agreement. Considering positive parenting as framework, communication, conflict negotiation and emotions constituted central axes. 220 parents completed an 18 Likert-item instrument. The reliability and validity of the instrument were analyzed: internal consistency, differential items functioning and the analysis of measurement invariance. A 3-factor structure was revealed: beliefs about motherhood and fatherhood, emotional communication and family agreement. Configurational invariance was maintained but not metric and scalar ones. Gender, educational level and labor occupation seemed to determine the parenting competence to be mother and father.

Two-year follow-up of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico.

Background: After the initial outbreak in China (December 2019), the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11th, 2020. This paper aims to describe the first 2 years of the pandemic in Mexico. Design and methods: This is a population-based longitudinal study. We analyzed data from the national COVID-19 registry to describe the evolution of the pandemic in terms of the number of confirmed cases, hospitalizations, deaths and reported symptoms in relation to health policies and circulating variants. We also carried out logistic regression to investigate the major risk factors for disease severity. Results: From March 2020 to March 2022, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Mexico underwent four epidemic waves. Out of 5,702,143 confirmed cases, 680,063 were hospitalized (11.9%), and 324,436 (5.7%) died. Even if there was no difference in susceptibility by gender, males had a higher risk of death (CFP: 7.3 vs. 4.2%) and hospital admission risk (HP: 14.4 vs. 9.5%). Severity increased with age. With respect to younger ages (0-17 years), the 60+ years or older group reached adjusted odds ratios of 9.63 in the case of admission and 53.05 (95% CI: 27.94-118.62) in the case of death. The presence of any comorbidity more than doubled the odds ratio, with hypertension-diabetes as the riskiest combination. While the wave peaks increased over time, the odds ratios for developing severe disease (waves 2, 3, and 4 to wave 1) decreased to 0.15 (95% CI: 0.12-0.18) in the fourth wave. Conclusion: The health policy promoted by the Mexican government decreased hospitalizations and deaths, particularly among older adults with the highest risk of admission and death. Comorbidities augment the risk of developing severe illness, which is shown to rise by double in the Mexican population, particularly for those reported with hypertension-diabetes. Factors such as the decrease in the severity of the SARS-CoV2 variants, changes in symptomatology, and advances in the management of patients, vaccination, and treatments influenced the decrease in mortality and hospitalizations.

Omicron-BA.1 Dispersion Rates in Mexico Varied According to the Regional Epidemic Patterns and the Diversity of Local Delta Subvariants.

PURPOSE: The Omicron subvariant BA.1 of SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in November 2021 and quickly spread worldwide, displacing the Delta variant. In this work, a characterization of the spread of this variant in Mexico is presented. METHODS: The time to fixation of BA.1, the diversity of Delta sublineages, the population density, and the level of virus circulation during the inter-wave interval were determined to analyze differences in BA.1 spread. RESULTS: BA.1 began spreading during the first week of December 2021 and became dominant in the next three weeks, causing the fourth COVID-19 epidemiological surge in Mexico. Unlike previous variants, BA.1 did not exhibit a geographically distinct circulation pattern. However, a regional difference in the speed of the replacement of the Delta variant was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Viral diversity and the relative abundance of the virus in a particular area around the time of the introduction of a new lineage seem to have influenced the spread dynamics, in addition to population density. Nonetheless, if there is a significant difference in the fitness of the variants, or if the time allowed for the competition is sufficiently long, it seems the fitter virus will eventually become dominant, as observed in the eventual dominance of the BA.1.x variant in Mexico.

The Alpha Variant (B.1.1.7) of SARS-CoV-2 Failed to Become Dominant in Mexico.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the emergence and rapid increase of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) lineage of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), first identified in the United Kingdom in September 2020, was well documented in different areas of the world and became a global public health concern because of its increased transmissibility. The B.1.1.7 lineage was first detected in Mexico during December 2020, showing a slow progressive increase in its circulation frequency, which reached its maximum in May 2021 but never became predominant. In this work, we analyzed the patterns of diversity and distribution of this lineage in Mexico using phylogenetic and haplotype network analyses. Despite the reported increase in transmissibility of the B.1.1.7 lineage, in most Mexican states, it did not displace cocirculating lineages, such as B.1.1.519, which dominated the country from February to May 2021. Our results show that the states with the highest prevalence of B.1.1.7 were those at the Mexico-U.S. border. An apparent pattern of dispersion of this lineage from the northern states of Mexico toward the center or the southeast was observed in the largest transmission chains, indicating possible independent introduction events from the United States. However, other entry points cannot be excluded, as shown by multiple introduction events. Local transmission led to a few successful haplotypes with a localized distribution and specific mutations indicating sustained community transmission. IMPORTANCE The emergence and rapid increase of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) lineage of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) throughout the world were due to its increased transmissibility. However, it did not displace cocirculating lineages in most of Mexico, particularly B.1.1.519, which dominated the country from February to May 2021. In this work, we analyzed the distribution of B.1.1.7 in Mexico using phylogenetic and haplotype network analyses. Our results show that the states with the highest prevalence of B.1.1.7 (around 30%) were those at the Mexico-U.S. border, which also exhibited the highest lineage diversity, indicating possible introduction events from the United States. Also, several haplotypes were identified with a localized distribution and specific mutations, indicating that sustained community transmission occurred in the country.

Metagenomic analysis reveals differences in the co-occurrence and abundance of viral species in SARS-CoV-2 patients with different severity of disease.

BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 infections have a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations whose causes are not completely understood. Some human conditions predispose to severe outcome, like old age or the presence of comorbidities, but many other facets, including coinfections with other viruses, remain poorly characterized. METHODS: In this study, the eukaryotic fraction of the respiratory virome of 120 COVID-19 patients was characterized through whole metagenomic sequencing. RESULTS: Genetic material from respiratory viruses was detected in 25% of all samples, whereas human viruses other than SARS-CoV-2 were found in 80% of them. Samples from hospitalized and deceased patients presented a higher prevalence of different viruses when compared to ambulatory individuals. Small circular DNA viruses from the Anneloviridae (Torque teno midi virus 8, TTV-like mini virus 19 and 26) and Cycloviridae families (Human associated cyclovirus 10), Human betaherpesvirus 6, were found to be significantly more abundant in samples from deceased and hospitalized patients compared to samples from ambulatory individuals. Similarly, Rotavirus A, Measles morbillivirus and Alphapapilomavirus 10 were significantly more prevalent in deceased patients compared to hospitalized and ambulatory individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Results show the suitability of using metagenomics to characterize a broader peripheric virological landscape of the eukaryotic virome in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with distinct disease outcomes. Identified prevalent viruses in hospitalized and deceased patients may prove important for the targeted exploration of coinfections that may impact prognosis.

Dominance of Three Sublineages of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in Mexico.

In this study, we analyzed the sequences of SARS-CoV-2 isolates of the Delta variant in Mexico, which has completely replaced other previously circulating variants in the country due to its transmission advantage. Among all the Delta sublineages that were detected, 81.5 % were classified as AY.20, AY.26, and AY.100. According to publicly available data, these only reached a world prevalence of less than 1%, suggesting a possible Mexican origin. The signature mutations of these sublineages are described herein, and phylogenetic analyses and haplotype networks are used to track their spread across the country. Other frequently detected sublineages include AY.3, AY.62, AY.103, and AY.113. Over time, the main sublineages showed different geographical distributions, with AY.20 predominant in Central Mexico, AY.26 in the North, and AY.100 in the Northwest and South/Southeast. This work describes the circulation, from May to November 2021, of the primary sublineages of the Delta variant associated with the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico and highlights the importance of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance for the timely identification of emerging variants that may impact public health.

Genomic Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 Isolated from Patients with Distinct Disease Outcomes in Mexico.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has shown a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic infections to severe disease and death. Pre-existing medical conditions and age have been mainly linked to the development of severe disease; however, the potential association of viral genetic characteristics with different clinical conditions remains unclear. SARS-CoV-2 variants with increased transmissibility were detected early in the pandemics, and several variants with potential relevance for public health are currently circulating around the world. In this study, we characterized 57 complete SARS-CoV-2 genomes during the exponential growth phase of the early epidemiological curve in Mexico, in April 2020. Patients were categorized under distinct disease severity outcomes: mild disease or ambulatory care, severe disease or hospitalized, and deceased. To reduce bias related to risk factors, the patients were less than 60 years old and with no diagnosed comorbidities A trait-association phylogenomic approach was used to explore genotype-phenotype associations, represented by the co-occurrence of mutations, disease severity outcome categories, and clusters of Mexican sequences. Phylogenetic results revealed a higher genomic diversity compared to the initial viruses detected during the early stage of the local epidemic. We identified a total of 90 single nucleotide variants compared to the Wuhan-Hu-1 genome, including 54 nonsynonymous mutations. We did not find evidence for the co-occurrence of mutations associated with specific disease outcomes. Therefore, in the group of patients studied, disease severity was likely mainly driven by the host genetic background and other demographic factors. IMPORTANCE The genetic association of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) with different clinical conditions remains unclear and needs further investigation. In this study, we characterized 57 complete SARS-CoV-2 genomes from patients in Mexico with distinct disease severity outcomes: mild disease or ambulatory care, severe disease or hospitalized, and deceased. To reduce bias related to risk factors the patients were less than 60 years old and with no diagnosed comorbidities. We did not find evidence for the co-occurrence of mutations associated with specific disease outcomes. Therefore, in the group of patients studied, disease severity was likely mainly driven by the host genetic background and other demographic factors.

Genetic Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Mexico during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

During the first year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Mexico, more than two million people were infected. In this study, we analyzed full genome sequences from 27 February 2020 to 28 February 2021 to characterize the geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 lineages and identify the most common circulating lineages during this period. We defined six different geographical regions with particular dynamics of lineage circulation. The Northeast and Northwest regions were the ones that exhibited the highest lineage diversity, while the Central south and South/Southeast regions presented less diversity with predominance of a certain lineage. Additionally, by late February 2021, lineage B.1.1.519 represented more than 89% of all circulating lineages in the country.

Chapter 11 - Innovative recombinant protein-based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2

Vaccines are a preparation of microorganisms or their components, including proteins, carbohydrates, or nucleic acids, which are administered to an organism to induce immunity. The goal of a vaccine is to protect an individual against disease in the future. Unlike vector-based vaccines, protein-based vaccines elicit a specific immune response, and are more immunogenic than nucleic acid vaccines. Genomics, biotechnology, and bioinformatics tools allow even a more targeted design of vaccine candidates, which includes only those parts or epitopes of the relevant antigens in the domains of biological importance. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses a mechanism of binding through the spike protein (S) to the angiotensin II converting enzyme (ACE2) that is expressed in several tissues in humans. Both, the SARS-CoV-2 genome, and the conformational structure of the S protein have been reported, increasing the possibilities of developing effective vaccines. Importantly, the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the S protein is a highly conserved, immunodominant antigen and antibodies against it have neutralizing capacity. Most of the vaccines in development against SARS-CoV-2 include this domain in their design. In this chapter we will describe the COVID-19 vaccines based on protein antigens, the clinical trials carried out and the capacity for a more effective design through the use of bioinformatics and biotechnology tools.

LA VIVENCIA DE LA SOLEDAD EN LA VEJEZ. UNA MIRADA EN TIEMPOS DE PANDEMIA

Sin duda, la soledad, el síntoma silencioso del coronavirus, ha sido la situación más experimentada y lejos de ser algo sencillo (Yanguas et al., 2018), dicho fenómeno comprende desde emociones hasta procesos cognitivos, incluye a la persona y a la comunidad, engloba variables intrapersonales y culturales, se relaciona con fragilidad y vulnerabilidad y un largo etcétera de cuestiones en las cuales residen tanto su complejidad como el desafío a nuestras sociedades. Envejecimiento global y la experiencia de soledad en la vejez El siglo XX nos legó una oportunidad sin precedentes: poder ser longevos (Dabove, 2020;Dabove et al., 2020) y produjo un cambio histórico en la posición del ser humano frente al tiempo, mostrando que la prolongación de la vida de una persona ya no es un tema individual, sino social. Entre los Estados miembros de la UE (Eurostat, 2020b), Letonia registró la mayor proporción de mujeres de 65 años o más que vivían solas (49%), seguida de Eslovenia y Alemania (ambos con un 45%), así como de Finlandia y República Checa (ambas con un 44%). Estas modificaciones pueden ser, como venimos diciendo, resultado de la jubilación, los sucesos vitales, las pérdidas (muerte de la pareja, familiares u otras relaciones de amistad), de factores materiales (status económico más bajo tras la dependencia de una pensión de jubilación), del deterioro de la salud (física, con la posterior dependencia y niveles de autonomía, o psicológica) o de la institucionalización.

Saliva Sampling and Its Direct Lysis, an Excellent Option To Increase the Number of SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Tests in Settings with Supply Shortages.

As part of any plan to lift or ease the confinement restrictions that are in place in many different countries, there is an urgent need to increase the capacity of laboratory testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Detection of the viral genome through reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) is the gold standard for this virus; however, the high demand of the materials and reagents needed to sample individuals, purify the viral RNA, and perform the RT-qPCR has resulted in a worldwide shortage of several of these supplies. Here, we show that directly lysed saliva samples can serve as a suitable source for viral RNA detection that is less expensive and can be as efficient as the classical protocol, which involves column purification of the viral RNA. In addition, it bypasses the need for swab sampling, decreases the risk of the health care personnel involved in the testing process, and accelerates the diagnostic procedure.

Genomic Analysis of Early SARS-CoV-2 Variants Introduced in Mexico.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected most countries in the world. Studying the evolution and transmission patterns in different countries is crucial to enabling implementation of effective strategies for disease control and prevention. In this work, we present the full genome sequence for 17 SARS-CoV-2 isolates corresponding to the earliest sampled cases in Mexico. Global and local phylogenomics, coupled with mutational analysis, consistently revealed that these viral sequences are distributed within 2 known lineages, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) lineage A/G, containing mostly sequences from North America, and lineage B/S, containing mainly sequences from Europe. Based on the exposure history of the cases and on the phylogenomic analysis, we characterized 14 independent introduction events. Additionally, three cases with no travel history were identified. We found evidence that two of these cases represented local transmission cases occurring in Mexico during mid-March 2020, denoting the earliest events described for the country. Within this local transmission cluster, we also identified an H49Y amino acid change in the Spike protein. This mutation represents a homoplasy occurring independently through time and space and may function as a molecular marker to follow any further spread of these viral variants throughout the country. Our results provide a general picture of the SARS-CoV-2 variants introduced at the beginning of the outbreak in Mexico, setting the foundation for future surveillance efforts.IMPORTANCE Understanding the introduction, spread, and establishment of SARS-CoV-2 within distinct human populations as well as the evolution of the pandemics is crucial to implement effective control strategies. In this work, we report that the initial virus strains introduced in Mexico came from Europe and the United States and that the virus was circulating locally in the country as early as mid-March. We also found evidence for early local transmission of strains with a H49Y mutation in the Spike protein, which could be further used as a molecular marker to follow viral spread within the country and the region.