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As a food, the cherry fruit is nutrient dense, with a relatively low caloric content and major amounts of important phytochemicals. The nutritional and functional properties of a Jerte Valley (Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain) cherry product were characterized with the aim of assessing its potential use in improving the antioxidant status in humans. The results showed the product to have high levels not only of nutritional compounds but also of bioactive compounds. In a subsequent placebo-controlled trial with human volunteers, the ingestion of this product improved their antioxidant status. This cherry-based product may therefore reliably be categorized as a natural antioxidant-enriched supplement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent emergence of innovative learning spaces, Future Classroom Lab (FCL), provides educators the use of physical learning spaces (to research, interact, exchange, develop, create, and present) and diverse technological tools to work according to active methodologies. Learners become more active in the learning process with the introduction of innovative learning environments that enable the application of interdisciplinary STEAM methodology and foster the development of 21st century competences. This study aims to uncover the probable link between application active and gamified STEAM educational interventions in the FCL and Pre-Service Teachers' (PSTs) affective domain. The findings obtained showed statistically significant variations and, therefore, positive effects on the PSTs' affective domain (self-efficacy, attitude, and emotion) after performing the intervention. The sample consisted of a total of 54 PSTs enrolled in the second year of Primary Education. Limited studies regarding the affective domain in the FCL were found, which restricted the comparison with prior research. This study has several implications, such as the introduction of innovative educational proposals to PSTs at the university level and, consequently, the implementation of similar interventions in elementary schools. This research intended to reveal how the different variables work as a support system for students' learning process in mathematics and science disciplines., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

During the last decade, there has been a strong emphasis on developing new instruction methodologies for the effective teaching of different contents. Here, it is important to teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, specially, in scientific and mathematical concepts. In the context of active learning and gamification, educational Escape Room - Breakout (ERB) could be a useful strategy to improve students' affective and cognitive domain towards STEM (science and mathematics). Thus, two didactic tools, based on an ERB, have been designed to teach science and mathematics contents. This research compares the influence of two ERBs (Science ERB and Mathematics ERB) in Pre-Service Teachers' (PSTs) affective domain (emotions, attitudes, and self-efficacy towards STEM) and cognitive domain (performance). Non-parametric statistical tests were used, the Mann-Whitney U test was applied to measure significant differences between the variables in the two ERBs. Spearman correlation coefficient was implemented to measure the correlations between the study variables. The results show that there is a significant increase in positive emotions in both ERBs. The emotions "joy", "fun", and "nervousness" are significantly higher after the Science ERB, and the emotion "fear" is lower with respect to the Mathematics ERB. In the self-efficacy and attitudes analysis, a significant increase of 8 items of the questionnaire is observed in the Mathematics ERB with respect to the Science ERB. According to performance analysis, PST grades have been increased after each ERB. Finally, the correlation analysis between variables indicates that positive emotions, high self-efficacy, and positive attitudes increase the PSTs' performance. Here, high values of these variables are related to high values on the theoretical content test after both ERBs. According to these results, the two ERBs used could have several advantages in the PSTs' affective and cognitive domain., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Objectives.: Motivation for the study: multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease that requires management by different disciplines. Data on Latin American patients is scarce, therefore, the usually used theoretical references are from other population groups. Main findings: sociodemographic (male), clinical (concomitant neurological diseases) and radiological (active lesions in magnetic resonance imaging) factors were found to be associated with disease progression. Implications: taking the above into account when approaching patients in daily clinical practice, it is possible to identify when their condition has greater possibilities of progression and thus eventually prevent complications. To determine the sociodemographic, clinical and radiological factors associated with time to disability progression in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS)., Materials and Methods.: Cross-sectional descriptive study with an analytical component, based on clinical records of patients at the Neurological Institute of Colombia, between 2013 and 2021. Progression to disability in MS patients was defined as the time to an increase of at least 0.5 points in the EDSS (Expanded Disability Status Scale) score, sustained for at least six months. A Cox regression model was used to estimate the survival function and Hazard Ratios (HR) with their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI)., Results.: We included 216 patients, of whom 25% progressed to disability, median survival was 78 months (95% CI: 70-83), active lesions (HR = 1.94; 95% CI: 1.10-3.44), cerebellar complications (HR = 2.03; 95% CI: 0. 99-4.16), being male (HR = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.32-4.73), and having neurological diseases (HR = 2.18; 95% CI: 1.03-4.61) were associated as risk factors. While relapsing remitting MS (HR = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.31-1.26) and age at diagnosis less than 40 years (HR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.53-1.76) were associated as protective factors., Conclusions.: Progression is affected by many factors, and there is no single independent factor.

Teaching mathematics in higher education has been followed traditionally by teacher-centered methodology. With this methodology, there are always certain difficulties in mathematics learning, revealing students are not capable of dealing properly with calculations and/or problems. This research presents the comparison and examination of two different instruction methodologies, traditional-classroom methodology (TCM) and flipped-classroom methodology (FCM) about self-belief of pre-service teacher (PST) in a mathematics course. Here, an open calculation based on numbers (ABN) method originally from the Spanish teaching methodology (abierto basado en números) was used in both teaching methodologies. The 274 PSTs participated in the course: 131 students to T-ABN and 143 students to F-ABN. The results after applying the questionnaire (Cronbach's α = 0.897) showed F-ABN had significant influences in PSTs' self-belief toward the course and made classes more interactive based on parametric-statistical tests. PSTs' self-belief for four studied groups (pre- and post-test in control and experimental group) indicated significant differences found by ANOVA test. Additionally, significant differences were only observed in educational background not in gender of PSTs' self-belief according to factorial ANVOA. In all cases, when significant differences were found, effect size and post-hoc tests were conducted. Therefore, more student-centered methodology allowed to build positive teaching/learning environment for PSTs as future teachers, which consequently expects better learning outputs for children as their future students., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Author(s).)