Marcos Jesús Iglesias Martínez

Age-related increase in oxidized proteins in mouse synaptic mitochondria

Since it has been proposed that oxidized protein accumulation plays a critical role in brain aging, we have investigated the effect of a thiolic antioxidant on protein carbonyl content in synaptic mitochondria from female OF-1 mice. At 48 weeks of age, a control group was fed standard food pellets and another group received pellets containing 0.3% (w/w) of N-acetylcysteine. A 24-week treatment resulted in a significant decrease in protein carbonyl content in synaptic mitochondria of the N-acetylcysteine-treated animals as compared to age-matched controls.

Depletion of cytosolic GSH decreases the ATP levels and viability of synaptosomes from aged mice but not from young mice

The effect of glutathione depletion on the viability of freshly isolated synaptosomes from whole brain was investigated in young and aged mice. Aging did not influence the GSH and ATP levels and the viability of these synaptosomes. However depletion of glutathione caused by the cytosolic glutathione inhibitor diethyl maleate (1 mM) resulted in a significant decline, after 60 min of incubation, in ATP levels and viability in the synaptosomes from aged mice but not in those from young mice. When synaptosomes were incubated in the presence of the mitochondrial glutathione inhibitor ethacrynic acid (0.2 mM) there was a similar decline in glutathione, ATP levels and synaptosomal viability, both in young and aged mice. These results emphasize the relative importance of the cytosolic glutathione pool for the maintenance of the plasma membrane integrity in synaptosomes from aged mice.

Propuesta de regulación de la conciliación estudiantil-familiar en la Educación Superior

The student-life balance is the right that guarantees the equilibrium between ensuring the fulfillment of academic obligations and family responsibilities. In the current university curricula, the requirement to fulfill a certain number of classroom credits and other measures implemented by the European Space of Superior Education, pose a problem for students who need to reconcile parenthood with their training. In this research, we use a qualitative methodology based on the analysis of documentary content. We review the different international studies that investigate the resources, policies and lines of action that enable this balance in the context of Higher Education. And we discuss the information contained in the websites of various national and international universities. The results show that Spanish universities do not offer policies or concrete actions, highlighting the absence of a legal framework to support and ensure the student-life balance at university. To conclude, we propose some regulatory measures, as genuine equal options, to avoid discriminatory situations.

Diseño curricular en la educación universitaria: estudio de caso

Today university teachers face a lot of challenges derived from designing and implementing the new curricula, immersed in a structural change of teaching and methodologies focused on the students’ learning. This paper provides the results of a research on a professional development experience centred on the elaboration of teaching guides for different subjects from the perspective of the research-based design. That experience is part of a wider University of Alicante teaching project with more than fifty per cent of its teachers taking part in it. The research methodology is mainly qualitative and the results explicit that, front the point of view of the participant teachers, the experience is a relevant referent for both curricular change and teaching culture; change that is aligned with the EHEA convergence process.