Background The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 pandemic has exposed surgeons to hazardous working conditions, imposing the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) use during surgery. The use of such equipment may affect their non-technical skills, augment fatigue, and affect performance. This study aimed to assess the surgeons' perceptions of the impact of wearing PPE during emergency surgery throughout the pandemic. Methods An international cooperation group conducted an anonymous online survey among surgeons from over 30 countries, to assess perceptions about the impact of PPE use on non-technical skills, overall comfort, decision making, and surgical performance during emergency surgery on COVID-19 patients.Results Responses to the survey (134) were received from surgeons based on 26 countries. The vast majority (72%) were males. More than half of the respondents (54%) felt that their surgical performance was hampered with PPE. Visual impairment was reported by 63%, whereas 54% had communication impediments. Less than half (48%) felt protected with the use of PPE, and the same proportion perceived that the use of such equipment influenced their decision making. Decreased overall comfort was cited by 66%, and 82% experienced increased surgical fatigue. Conclusions Surgeons perceived impediment for both visibility and communication, and other non-technical skills while using PPE on emergency surgery in COVID-19 patients. Their perceived lack of protection and comfort and increased fatigue may have inhibited their optimal surgical performance. More attention should be placed in the design of more user-friendly equipment, given the possibility of a second wave of the pandemic.

IntroductionRecent research has determined Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) to be an independent predictor of mortality in patients with traumatic inferior vena cava (IVC) injuries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of GCS, as well as other factors previously described as determinants of mortality, in a cohort of patients presenting with traumatic IVC lesions.MethodsA 7-year retrospective review was undertaken of all trauma patients presenting to a tertiary care trauma center with trauma related IVC lesions. Factors described in the literature as associated with mortality were assessed with univariate analysis. ANOVA analysis of variance was used to compare means for continuous variables; dichotomous variables were assessed with Fischer’s exact test. Logistic regression was performed on significant variables to assess determinants of mortality.ResultsSixteen patients with traumatic IVC injuries were identified, from January 2005 to December 2011. Six patients died (mortality, 37.5%); the mechanism of injury was blunt in one case (6.2%) and penetrating in the 15 others (93.7%). Seven patients underwent thoracotomy in the operating room (OR) to obtain vascular control (43.7%). Upon univariate analysis, non-survivors were significantly more likely than survivors to have lower mean arterial pressures (MAP) in the emergency room (ER) (45.6 +/- 8.6 vs. 76.5 +/- 25.4, p = 0.013), a lower GCS (8.1 +/- 4.1 vs. 14 +/- 2.8, p = 0.004), more severe injuries (ISS 60.3 +/- 3.5 vs 28.7 +/- 22.9, p = 0.0006), have undergone thoracotomy (83.3% vs. 16.6%, p = 0.024), and have a shorter operative time (105 +/- 59.8 min vs 189 +/- 65.3 min, p = 0.022). Logistic regression analysis revealed GCS as a significant inverse determinant of mortality (OR = 0.6, 0.46-0.95, p = 0.026). Other determinants of mortality by logistic regression were thoracotomy (OR = 20, 1.4-282.4, p = 0.027), and caval ligation as operative management (OR = 45, 2.28-885.6, p = 0.012).ConclusionsGCS, the need to undergo thoracotomy, and caval ligation as operative management are significant predictors of mortality in patients with traumatic IVC injuries.

Este artículo presenta una investigación cuyo objetivo es el de conocer la percepción que tiene el profesorado de la Universidad de Salamanca sobre la integración de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en las diferentes modalidades que emplea en su práctica docente (Proyecto de investigación subvencionado por La Junta de Castilla y León, orden EDU/1933/2008). En base a una muestra representativa por rama y categoría profesional de 161 docentes, con una metodología cuantitativa, un método no experimental y descriptivo; se muestra como los profesores emplean y compatibilizan las diferentes modalidades docentes, desarrollando metodologías de trabajo tanto autónomo como colaborativo, donde perciben a las TIC como recursos docentes parcialmente integrados. Así mismo, a pesar de la existencia de estudios previos que constatan que el género del docente y su edad son variables influyentes, los resultados obtenidos en esta investigación muestran que el género del docente y la edad son factores que no influyen significativamente en la integración de las TIC a la docencia.

Gene selection is a major research area in microarray analysis, which seeks to discover differentially expressed genes for a particular target annotation. Such genes also often called informative genes are able to differentiate tissue samples belonging to different classes of the studied disease. Despite the fact that there is a wide number of proposals, the complexity imposed by this problem remains a challenge today. This research proposes a gene selection approach by means of a clustering-based multi-agent system. This proposal manages different filter methods and gene clustering through coordinated agents to discover informative gene subsets. To assess the reliability of our approach, we have used four important and public gene expression datasets, two Lung cancer datasets, Colon and Leukemia cancer dataset. The achieved results have been validated through cluster validity measures, visual analytics, a classifier and compared with other gene selection methods, proving the reliability of our proposal.

Resumen: El presente estudio, a partir de la opinión de los estudiantes de las diferentes titulaciones del ámbito de la Educación, valora el empleo de una metodología docente gamificada con Kahoot en la enseñanza universitaria, donde el smartphone se convierte en un recurso educativo. Para ello, se lleva a cabo una investigación no experimental de carácter descriptivo, aplicando un cuestionario electrónico a una muestra de 241 estudiantes de Educación Primaria (69), Educación Infantil (78), Pedagogía (73) y Educación Social (29). Los resultados obtenidos muestran como los alumnos valoran positivamente el empleo de Kahoot, sobre todo como herramienta de autoevaluación. Además evidencian que les satisface su uso formativo y que, como futuros docentes, la emplearían. Sin embargo, a pesar de que reconocen que la metodología gamificada aumenta su motivación por la materia, no están convencidos de que sea más efectiva que otras metodologías tradicionales.

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ResumenEn este trabajo se muestra el comportamiento multivariante de la escala IL-HUMASS, compuesta de 26 ítems de escala tipo Likert y 4 dimensiones teóricas, para la evaluación del nivel autopercibido en competencias informacionales. Se aplica la escala a una muestra de 402 sujetos, futuros profesores de educación secundaria en España. La técnica de escalamiento multidimensional mediante ALSCAL, muestra dos dimensiones de máxima explicación que explican el 95.9% de la varianza de la matriz. Las dimensiones tienen que ver con la familiaridad con el desempeño propuesto en el ítem en primer lugar, y con el componente instrumental o cognitivo del ítem, en segundo lugar. Se concluye relacionando estas dos dimensiones con las dimensiones teóricas de la escala inicial. En las conclusiones se señala la importancia de tener en cuenta las dos dimensiones obtenidas, además de las dimensiones teóricas señaladas, a la hora de diseñar escalas relacionadas con la evaluación de competencias informacionales.Palabras clave: alfabetización informacional, escalamiento multidimensional, análisis psicométrico, educación secundaria AbstractThe multivariate characteristics of the IL-HUMASS scale are studied. This scale is formed by 26 Likert scale items and 4 dimensions and evaluate the information literacy self-perceived level of students. A sample of 402 subjects, all of them Spanish future teachers from secondary education, is obtained. It is implemented a multidimensional scaling technique by ALSCAL based on the distance matrix from the data. The results detected two empirical dimensions, which accounted for 95.9% of the variance. The first dimension is related to the level of familiarity with the content of the item and the second dimension is related to cognitive or instrumental aspect of the item. In the conclusions, two dimensions obtained are connected with the original scale, in relation to the four theoretical dimensions. On the other hand, the conclusions highlight the importance of considering the two dimensions obtained, in addition to the classical dimensions, in the design of assessment scales of the construct information literacy.

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