Participación de las familias en la educación de estudiantes con discapacidad: desafíos y oportunidades para la inclusión y la equidad / Family involvement in the education of students with disabilities: Challenges and opportunities for inclusion and equity / Participação das famílias na educação de estudantes com deficiência: desafios e oportunidades para a inclusão e a equidade

En Colombia, el Decreto 1421 de 2017 reconoce a la familia como actor esencial en la participación efectiva del estudiantado con discapacidad. Se ofrece una reflexión sobre las barreras que las familias enfrentan al tratar de cumplir con las obligaciones enunciadas en esta normativa, y se proponen estrategias para incrementar su involucramiento. Las barreras actitudinales, físicas, comunicativas y sociales que afrontan las familias dificultan el éxito escolar de niños, niñas y adolescentes con discapacidad. Asimismo, el escaso reconocimiento de la diversidad lingüística, la geografía y el conflicto armado minimizan la presencia de estudiantes con discapacidad y sus familias en entornos escolares de algunas regiones del país. De otra parte, el enfoque unidireccional y centrado en las limitaciones del estudiante dificulta la participación y cumplimiento de las obligaciones escolares en algunos es-tablecimientos educativos. La generación de políticas con enfoque territorial que visibilicen las necesidades regionales y promuevan las diferencias lingüísticas y culturales, así como la toma de conciencia, el acompañamiento psicosocial, el trabajo colaborativo y la generación de espacios de empoderamiento, desde una perspectiva de derechos, pueden favorecer el rol de las familias para el logro de la inclusión y la equidad en la educación.

In Colombia, Decree 1421 of 2017 recognizes the family as a fundamental stakeholder in facilitating the meaningful participation of students with disabilities. This article offers insightful considerations regarding the challenges families face in fulfilling the obligations outlined by this regulation, and several strategies to enhance their engagement. The attitudinal, physical, communicative, and social barriers they encounter significantly impede children and adolescents with disabilities' academic success. In specific regions of the country, poor recognition of linguistic diversity, geography and armed conflict minimize the presence of students with disabilities and their families in school settings. Furthermore, the unidirectional approach focused on the student's limitations makes participating and fulfilling school obligations in some educational establishments difficult. The creation of territorial-focused policies that bring regional needs to the forefront and promote linguistic differences, coupled with fostering awareness, psychosocial support, collaborative work, and the development of empowering spaces from a rights-based perspective, may favor the role of families in achieving inclusion and equity in education

Na Colômbia, o Decreto 1421 do 2017 reconhece a família como ator essencial na participação efetiva de estudantes com deficiência. Este artigo oferece uma reflexão sobre as barreiras que as famílias enfrentam no cumprimento das obrigações estabelecidas por esta normativa e propõe algumas estratégias para aumentar sua participação. As barreiras atitudinais, físicas, comunicativas e sociais que as famílias enfrentam dificultam o sucesso escolar de crianças e adolescentes com deficiência. Em algumas regiões, a falta de reconhecimen-to da diversidade linguística, a geografia e o conflito armado minimizam a presença de estudantes com deficiência e suas famílias nos ambientes esco-lares. Por outro lado, a perspectiva unidirecional, focada nas limitações dos estudantes, dificulta a participação e o cumprimento das obrigações escolares em algumas instituições educacionais. A geração de políticas com enfoque te-rritorial, que visibilizem as necessidades regionais e promovam as diferenças linguísticas, bem como a conscientização, o acompanhamento psicossocial, o trabalho colaborativo e a geração de espaços de empoderamento, desde uma perspectiva de direitos, podem favorecer o papel das famílias para alcançar a inclusão e a equidade na educação.

Una díada de riesgo: periodontitis y COVID-19 / A risk dyad: periodontitis and COVID-19

RESUMEN Fundamento: La COVID-19 es una pandemia causada por el virus SARS-CoV-2 y su asociación con la periodontitis podría tener resultados adversos. Objetivo: Evaluar la asociación entre la periodontitis y los resultados adversos de la COVID-19. Desarrollo: Se realizó una revisión bibliográfica en Google Académico, SciELO y PubMed Central con los descriptores SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, periodontitis y enfermedad periodontal consultados en el DeCS. Se seleccionaron artículos a texto completo en español e inglés, principalmente de revistas arbitradas por pares. La periodontitis se asocia significativamente a la gravedad de la COVID-19. Los probables mecanismos que vinculan a la periodontitis con la COVID-19 grave son el favorecimiento de la replicación viral, la inflamación por disfunción inmune, la disbiosis con infección bacteriana sobreañadida y la presencia de comorbilidades. La toma de medidas de bioseguridad e higiene en la atención de los pacientes podría contribuir a un curso clínico más favorable de la COVID-19. Conclusiones: La periodontitis parece asociarse con resultados desfavorables de la COVID-19, lo que recalca la importancia de la atención estomatológica de estos pacientes.

ABSTRACT Background: COVID-19 is a pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus and its association with periodontitis could have adverse outcomes. Objective: To evaluate the association between periodontitis and adverse outcomes of COVID-19. Methodology: A literature review was performed in Google Scholar, SciELO and PubMed Central with the descriptors SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, periodontitis and periodontal disease consulted in DeCS. Full-text articles in Spanish and English were selected, mainly from peer-reviewed journals. Results: Periodontitis is significantly associated with COVID-19 severity. Probable mechanisms linking periodontitis with severe COVID-19 are favoring viral replication, inflammation due to immune dysfunction, dysbiosis with superimposed bacterial infection, and the presence of comorbidities. Taking biosecurity and hygiene measures in patient care could favor a more favorable clinical course of COVID-19. Conclusions: Periodontitis appears to be associated with unfavorable COVID-19 outcomes, emphasizing the importance of stomatologic care of these patients.

Deploying and Optimizing Embodied Simulations of Large-Scale Spiking Neural Networks on HPC Infrastructure.

Simulating the brain-body-environment trinity in closed loop is an attractive proposal to investigate how perception, motor activity and interactions with the environment shape brain activity, and vice versa. The relevance of this embodied approach, however, hinges entirely on the modeled complexity of the various simulated phenomena. In this article, we introduce a software framework that is capable of simulating large-scale, biologically realistic networks of spiking neurons embodied in a biomechanically accurate musculoskeletal system that interacts with a physically realistic virtual environment. We deploy this framework on the high performance computing resources of the EBRAINS research infrastructure and we investigate the scaling performance by distributing computation across an increasing number of interconnected compute nodes. Our architecture is based on requested compute nodes as well as persistent virtual machines; this provides a high-performance simulation environment that is accessible to multi-domain users without expert knowledge, with a view to enable users to instantiate and control simulations at custom scale via a web-based graphical user interface. Our simulation environment, entirely open source, is based on the Neurorobotics Platform developed in the context of the Human Brain Project, and the NEST simulator. We characterize the capabilities of our parallelized architecture for large-scale embodied brain simulations through two benchmark experiments, by investigating the effects of scaling compute resources on performance defined in terms of experiment runtime, brain instantiation and simulation time. The first benchmark is based on a large-scale balanced network, while the second one is a multi-region embodied brain simulation consisting of more than a million neurons and a billion synapses. Both benchmarks clearly show how scaling compute resources improves the aforementioned performance metrics in a near-linear fashion. The second benchmark in particular is indicative of both the potential and limitations of a highly distributed simulation in terms of a trade-off between computation speed and resource cost. Our simulation architecture is being prepared to be accessible for everyone as an EBRAINS service, thereby offering a community-wide tool with a unique workflow that should provide momentum to the investigation of closed-loop embodiment within the computational neuroscience community.

Exploring Parameter and Hyper-Parameter Spaces of Neuroscience Models on High Performance Computers With Learning to Learn.

Neuroscience models commonly have a high number of degrees of freedom and only specific regions within the parameter space are able to produce dynamics of interest. This makes the development of tools and strategies to efficiently find these regions of high importance to advance brain research. Exploring the high dimensional parameter space using numerical simulations has been a frequently used technique in the last years in many areas of computational neuroscience. Today, high performance computing (HPC) can provide a powerful infrastructure to speed up explorations and increase our general understanding of the behavior of the model in reasonable times. Learning to learn (L2L) is a well-known concept in machine learning (ML) and a specific method for acquiring constraints to improve learning performance. This concept can be decomposed into a two loop optimization process where the target of optimization can consist of any program such as an artificial neural network, a spiking network, a single cell model, or a whole brain simulation. In this work, we present L2L as an easy to use and flexible framework to perform parameter and hyper-parameter space exploration of neuroscience models on HPC infrastructure. Learning to learn is an implementation of the L2L concept written in Python. This open-source software allows several instances of an optimization target to be executed with different parameters in an embarrassingly parallel fashion on HPC. L2L provides a set of built-in optimizer algorithms, which make adaptive and efficient exploration of parameter spaces possible. Different from other optimization toolboxes, L2L provides maximum flexibility for the way the optimization target can be executed. In this paper, we show a variety of examples of neuroscience models being optimized within the L2L framework to execute different types of tasks. The tasks used to illustrate the concept go from reproducing empirical data to learning how to solve a problem in a dynamic environment. We particularly focus on simulations with models ranging from the single cell to the whole brain and using a variety of simulation engines like NEST, Arbor, TVB, OpenAIGym, and NetLogo.

Dying to cooperate: the role of environmental harshness in human collaboration.

It has been proposed that environmental stress acted as a selection pressure on the evolution of human cooperation. Through agent-based evolutionary modelling, mathematical analysis, and human experimental data we illuminate the mechanisms by which the environment influences cooperative success and decision making in a Stag Hunt game. The modelling and mathematical results show that only cooperative foraging phenotypes survive the harshest of environments but pay a penalty for miscoordination in favourable environments. When agents are allowed to coordinate their hunting intentions by communicating, cooperative phenotypes outcompete those who pursue individual strategies in almost all environmental and payoff scenarios examined. Data from human participants show flexible decision-making in face of cooperative uncertainty, favouring high-risk, high-reward strategy when environments are harsher and starvation is imminent. Converging lines of evidence from the three approaches indicate a significant role for environmental variability in human cooperative dynamics and the species-unique cognition designed to support it.

Una díada de riesgo: periodontitis y COVID-19 / A risk dyad: periodontitis and COVID-19

Fundamento: La COVID-19 es una pandemia causada por el virus SARS-CoV-2 y su asociación con laperiodontitis podría tener resultados adversos. Objetivo: Evaluar la asociación entre la periodontitis y los resultados adversos de la COVID-19. Desarrollo: Se realizó una revisión bibliográfica en Google Académico, SciELO y PubMed Central con los descriptores SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, periodontitis y enfermedad periodontal consultados en el DeCS. Se seleccionaron artículos a texto completo en español e inglés, principalmente de revistas arbitradas por pares. La periodontitis se asocia significativamente a la gravedad de la COVID-19. Los probables mecanismos que vinculana la periodontitis con la COVID-19 grave son el favorecimiento de la replicación viral, la inflamación por disfunción inmune, la disbiosis con infección bacteriana sobreañadida y la presencia de comorbilidades. La toma de medidasde bioseguridad e higiene en la atención de los pacientes podría contribuir a un curso clínico más favorable de la COVID-19. Conclusiones: La periodontitis parece asociarse con resultados desfavorables de la COVID-19, lo que recalcala importancia de la atención estomatológica de estos pacientes [AU]

Guillain-Barré syndrome in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Report of three cases / Síndrome de Guillain-Barré en pacientes con infección por SARS-CoV-2. Reporte de tres casos

ABSTRACT Several cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) associated with SARS-CoV-2 have been published, most being acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy. Between April and December 2020, 1,499 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were admitted to Hospital del Salvador, in Santiago, Chile, serving a population of 521,920 adults. In the same period, seven cases of GBS were admitted. Three females had a demyelinated type of GBS associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. All three presented with progressive flaccid symmetrical areflexic weakness with inability to walk, one needed intubation and mechanical ventilation due to SARS-CoV2 infection. All had a favorable, rapid response to intravenous immunoglobulin. In two patients, the onset of GBS was almost concomitant with SARS-CoV-2 infection. A causal relationship between SARS-CoV-2 and GBS has been questioned since no increase of GBS has occurred during the pandemic. However, a rise in GBS associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection could be hidden due to a general decrease of GBS due to the decrease of all other infections. Lack of reporting due to the pandemic could be an added factor.

Se han publicado varios casos de síndrome de Guillain Barre (SGB) asociados con el SARS-CoV-2, la mayoría de los cuales son polirradiculoneuropatía desmielinizante inflamatoria aguda. Entre abril y diciembre de 2020, se ingresaron 1.499 casos de infección por SARS-CoV-2 en el Hospital del Salvador de Santiago de Chile, que atiende a una población de 521.920 adultos. Durante el mismo período se admitieron siete casos de SGB. Tres pacientes de sexo femenino con SGB tipo desmielinizante asociado a una infección por SARS-CoV-2. Las tres presentaron debilidad simétrica, flácida y arrefléctica progresiva, con incapacidad para caminar, una necesitó intubación y ventilación mecánica debido a la infección por SARS-CoV2. Todas tuvieron una respuesta rápida y favorable a la inmunoglobulina intravenosa. En dos pacientes, la aparición de SGB fue casi concomitante con la infección por SARS-CoV-2. Una relación causal entre el SARS-CoV-2 y SGB ha sido cuestionada ya que no se ha producido ningún aumento de SGB durante la pandemia. Sin embargo, un aumento de SGB asociado con la infección por SARS-CoV-2 podría ocultarse en una disminución general de SGB debido a la disminución de todas las demás infecciones asociadas a este. La sub-notificación debido a la dimensión de la pandemia podría ser también un factor.

Guillain-Barré syndrome in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Report of three cases.

Several cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) associated with SARS-CoV-2 have been published, most being acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy. Between April and December 2020, 1,499 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were admitted to Hospital del Salvador, in Santiago, Chile, serving a population of 521,920 adults. In the same period, seven cases of GBS were admitted. Three females had a demyelinated type of GBS associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. All three presented with progressive flaccid symmetrical areflexic weakness with inability to walk, one needed intubation and mechanical ventilation due to SARS-CoV2 infection. All had a favorable, rapid response to intravenous immunoglobulin. In two patients, the onset of GBS was almost concomitant with SARS-CoV-2 infection. A causal relationship between SARS-CoV-2 and GBS has been questioned since no increase of GBS has occurred during the pandemic. However, a rise in GBS associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection could be hidden due to a general decrease of GBS due to the decrease of all other infections. Lack of reporting due to the pandemic could be an added factor.

Oxone®-Mediated TEMPO-Oxidized Cellulose Nanomaterial Ultrafiltration and Dialysis Mixed-Matrix Hollow Fiber Membranes.

Recent exploration of cellulose nanomaterials has resulted in the creation of Oxone®-Mediated TEMPO-Oxidized Cellulose Nanomaterials (OTO-CNMs). These materials, when incorporated into a polymer matrix, have properties showing increased flux, decreased membrane resistance, and improved clearance, making them an ideal material for dialysis. This study is the first to focus on the implementation of OTO-CNMs into hollow fiber membranes and a comparison of these membranes for ultrafiltration and dialysis. Ultrafiltration and dialysis were performed using bovine serum albumin (BSA), lysozyme, and urea to analyze various properties of each hollow fiber membrane type. The results presented in this study provide the first quantitative evaluation of the clearance and sieving characteristics of Oxone®-Mediated TEMPO-Oxidized Cellulose-Nanomaterial-doped cellulose triacetate mixed-matrix hemodialyzers. While the cellulose nanomaterials increased flux (10-30%) in ultrafiltration mode, this was offset by increased removal of albumin. However, in dialysis mode, these materials drastically increased the mass transfer of components (50-100%), which could lead to significantly lower dialysis times for patients. This change in the performance between the two different modes is most likely due to the increased porosity of the cellulose nanomaterials.

SpikingLab: modelling agents controlled by Spiking Neural Networks in Netlogo.

The scientific interest attracted by Spiking Neural Networks (SNN) has lead to the development of tools for the simulation and study of neuronal dynamics ranging from phenomenological models to the more sophisticated and biologically accurate Hodgkin-and-Huxley-based and multi-compartmental models. However, despite the multiple features offered by neural modelling tools, their integration with environments for the simulation of robots and agents can be challenging and time consuming. The implementation of artificial neural circuits to control robots generally involves the following tasks: (1) understanding the simulation tools, (2) creating the neural circuit in the neural simulator, (3) linking the simulated neural circuit with the environment of the agent and (4) programming the appropriate interface in the robot or agent to use the neural controller. The accomplishment of the above-mentioned tasks can be challenging, especially for undergraduate students or novice researchers. This paper presents an alternative tool which facilitates the simulation of simple SNN circuits using the multi-agent simulation and the programming environment Netlogo (educational software that simplifies the study and experimentation of complex systems). The engine proposed and implemented in Netlogo for the simulation of a functional model of SNN is a simplification of integrate and fire (I&F) models. The characteristics of the engine (including neuronal dynamics, STDP learning and synaptic delay) are demonstrated through the implementation of an agent representing an artificial insect controlled by a simple neural circuit. The setup of the experiment and its outcomes are described in this work.

Modulating Anti-MicroRNA-21 Activity and Specificity Using Oligonucleotide Derivatives and Length Optimization.

MicroRNAs are short, endogenous RNAs that direct posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression vital for many developmental and cellular functions. Implicated in the pathogenesis of several human diseases, this group of RNAs provides interesting targets for therapeutic intervention. Anti-microRNA oligonucleotides constitute a class of synthetic antisense oligonucleotides used to interfere with microRNAs. In this study, we investigate the effects of chemical modifications and truncations on activity and specificity of anti-microRNA oligonucleotides targeting microRNA-21. We observed an increased activity but reduced specificity when incorporating locked nucleic acid monomers, whereas the opposite was observed when introducing unlocked nucleic acid monomers. Our data suggest that phosphorothioate anti-microRNA oligonucleotides yield a greater activity than their phosphodiester counterparts and that a moderate truncation of the anti-microRNA oligonucleotide improves specificity without significantly losing activity. These results provide useful insights for design of anti-microRNA oligonucleotides to achieve both high activity as well as efficient mismatch discrimination.

Dental caries in 6-12-year-old indigenous and non-indigenous schoolchildren in the Amazon basin of Ecuador.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the caries experience among 6-12-year-old indigenous (Naporunas) and non-indigenous (recent settlers of mixed ethnic origin) schoolchildren, living in the Amazon basin of Ecuador. Cross-sectional data were obtained from 1,449 clinical exams according to the World Health Organization criteria. Nine (7.6%) indigenous and 3 (4.5%) non-indigenous children had no caries experience in their primary dentition at the age of 6. The mean dmft value (SD) among indigenous and non-indigenous children aged 6 was 6.40 (3.36) and 8.36 (3.93), respectively. Sixty-four (54.2%) indigenous and 29 (43.3%) non-indigenous children had no caries experience in their permanent first molars at the age of 6. Only 7 (6.26%) indigenous and 2 (2.60%) non-indigenous children were caries-free at the age of 12. The mean DMFT values (SD) for 12-year-olds were 4.47 (2.85) among indigenous and 5.25 (2.89) among non-indigenous children. Fillings were almost non existent. Caries rates were high among both groups, with untreated carious lesions predominating in all ages. The data of indigenous children suggest adoption of a non-traditional diet. An appropriate oral health response based primarily on prevention and health promotion is needed.

Dental caries in 6-12-year-old indigenous and non-indigenous schoolchildren in the Amazon basin of Ecuador

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the caries experience among 6-12-year-old indigenous (Naporunas) and non-indigenous (recent settlers of mixed ethnic origin) schoolchildren, living in the Amazon basin of Ecuador. Cross-sectional data were obtained from 1,449 clinical exams according to the World Health Organization criteria. Nine (7.6 percent) indigenous and 3 (4.5 percent) non-indigenous children had no caries experience in their primary dentition at the age of 6. The mean dmft value (SD) among indigenous and non-indigenous children aged 6 was 6.40 (3.36) and 8.36 (3.93), respectively. Sixty-four (54.2 percent) indigenous and 29 (43.3 percent) non-indigenous children had no caries experience in their permanent first molars at the age of 6. Only 7 (6.26 percent) indigenous and 2 (2.60 percent) non-indigenous children were caries-free at the age of 12. The mean DMFT values (SD) for 12-year-olds were 4.47 (2.85) among indigenous and 5.25 (2.89) among non-indigenous children. Fillings were almost non existent. Caries rates were high among both groups, with untreated carious lesions predominating in all ages. The data of indigenous children suggest adoption of a non-traditional diet. An appropriate oral health response based primarily on prevention and health promotion is needed.

O propósito deste estudo foi avaliar a experiência de cárie entre escolares indígenas (Naporunas) e escolares não-indígenas (colonizadores recentes de origem étnica variada) com idades entre 6 e 12 anos, residentes na bacia amazônica do Equador. Os dados transversais foram obtidos a partir de 1.449 exames clínicos realizados de acordo com os critérios da Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS). Nove (7,6 por cento) crianças indígenas e 3 (4,5 por cento) crianças não-indígenas não tiveram experiência de cárie na dentição decídua aos 6 anos. O valor médio do ceo-d (SD) entre os escolares indígenas e não-indígenas com idade de 6 anos foi de 6,40 (3,36) e 8,36 (3,93), respectivamente. Sessenta e quatro (54,2 por cento) escolares indígenas e 29 (43,3 por cento) escolares não-indígenas não tiveram experiência de cárie nos primeiros molares permanentes aos 6 anos. Apenas 7 (6,26 por cento) entre as crianças indígenas e 2 (2,6 por cento) entre as não-indígenas não apresentaram cárie aos 12 anos. Os valores médios de CPO-D para os escolares aos 12 anos foram de 4,47 (2,85) entre os escolares indígenas e 5,25 (2,89) entre os escolares não-indígenas. As restaurações foram praticamente ausentes. A incidência de cárie foi alta nos dois grupos, com predominância de lesões não tratadas em todas as idades. Os dados referentes aos escolares indígenas sugerem a adoção de uma alimentação não tradicional. Torna-se necessária uma resposta adequada de saúde oral, baseada principalmente na prevenção e promoção de saúde.