Universidad Federico Henríquez y Carvajal

El currículo, la práctica docente y el enfoque de derechos humanos constituyen ejes fundamentales para la construcción de una educación intercultural crítica en contextos escolares diversos. La presente investigación tiene como objetivo analizar cómo se articulan el currículo, la docencia y los derechos humanos para promover un compromiso de asumir la interculturalidad crítica como orientación en el nivel primario de la República Dominicana. Utilizando un enfoque mixto que combina entrevistas a 15 docentes, directores y 15 técnicos docentes. Los resultados revelan que, si bien se valora la diversidad, existen limitaciones tanto de capacitación como organizativas para su implementación. Se plantea incorporar la competencia intercultural crítica como eje transversal del currículo, con énfasis en el respeto, la equidad y la justicia social. En conclusión, aunque persiste una voluntad clara, se identifica una falta de articulación entre la formación docente, las prácticas pedagógicas y las políticas institucionales; por tanto, se requieren transformaciones urgentes garantizando una educación situada, equitativa e inclusiva.

Caribbean area is considered a renewable energy hub when sustainable energy sources are considered. Renewable energy sources include solar, wind, hydropower, bioenergy, and geothermal energy. The PWRLINKCAR (Power Link Caribbean) project proposes the union of the electrical markets of Greater and Lesser Antilles for promoting the use of renewable energies. In this way, the integration of the electricity markets reduces energy stocks and electricity prices. Energy link geographical analysis is performed regarding the present infrastructures and the depth of the trajectory where submarine cable will be placed. Therefore, the cost of the power link is directly related to the depth of the ocean considering submarine cable performance and the installing process. The benefits of the interconnectivity are social, political, economic, and technical.

One of the most important challenges in endodontics is to have files that have excellent flexibility, toughness, and high fatigue life. Superelastic NiTi alloys have been a breakthrough and the new R-phase NiTi alloys promise to further optimize the good properties of NiTi alloys. In this work, two austenitic phase endodontic files with superelastic properties (Protaper and F6) and two austenitic phase files with the R-phase (M-wire and Reciproc) have been studied. The transformation temperatures were studied by calorimetry. Molds reproducing root canals at different angles (30, 45, and 70°) were obtained with cooling and loads simulating those used in the clinic. Mechanical cycles of different files were realized to fracture. Transformation temperatures were determined at different number of cycles. The different files were heat treated at 300 and 500 °C as the aging process, and the transformation temperatures were also determined. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the fractography and precipitates of the files. The results show that files with the R-phase have higher fracture cycles than files with only the austenitic phase. The fracture cycles depend on the angle of insertion in the root canal, with the angle of 70° being the one with the lowest fracture cycles in all cases. The R-Phase transformation increases the energy absorbed by the NiTi to produce the austenitic to R-phase and to produce the martensitic transformation causing the increase in the fracture cycles. Mechanical cycling leads to significant increases in the transformation temperatures Ms and Af as well as Rs and Rf. No changes in the transformation temperatures were observed for aging at 300 °C, but the appearance of Ni4Ti3 precipitates was observed in the aging treatments to the Nickel-rich files that correspond to those with the R transition. These results should be considered by endodontists to optimize the type of files for clinical therapy.

Las competencias digitales y emociones son dos temas que en la actualidad están influyendo en el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje, dada la situación de la educación tanto en la modalidad presencial y en línea, es relevante conocer cómo se encuentran los estudiantes y si hay alguna influencia entre estas variables. Por lo tanto, este estudio es de carácter cuantitativo, correlacional y transversal y tiene como objetivo identificar el nivel de competencia digital, inteligencia emocional y emociones positivas, identificar las diferencias entre competencias digitales, inteligencia emocional y emociones positivas en relación al sexo y edad e identificar la relación entre las competencias digitales y las emociones positivas de los estudiantes universitarios. Se obtuvo una muestra de 134 alumnos de distintas carreras. En los resultados se encontró que los alumnos universitarios tienen un nivel medio de competencias digitales, emociones positivas e inteligencia emocional. No se encontraron variaciones por sexo y edad en las dos primeras, pero en la tercera se halló que las mujeres tienen mejores puntajes en las dimensiones de atención y claridad en comparación con los hombres. Por último, se observó que hay una correlación positiva entre las competencias digitales y las emociones positivas, lo cual sugiere que si hay una influencia bilateral entre estas variables.

The aim of this work was to analyze and compare the effect of bone morphogenetic protein-7 on biological parameters related to implant osseointegration in an experimental animal model. Sixteen dental implants were placed in the tibias of four randomly selected minipigs for the following dental implant surface treatments: Group A: conventional treatment of the dental implant surface by SLA (n = 8) and Group B: treatment of the dental implant surface with carboxyethylphosphonic acid and bone morphogenetic protein-7 (n = 8). The animals were sacrificed one month after dental implants placement and a histomorphometric study was performed for the evaluation of bone-to-implant contact, corrected bone-to-implant contact, new bone formation, interthread bone density and peri-implant density using Student’s t-test and the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. The histomorphometric parameters bone-to-implant contact and corrected bone-to-implant contact showed statistically significant differences between the study groups; 34.00% ± 9.92% and 50.02% ± 10.94%, respectively (p = 0.004) for SLA and 43.08% ± 10.76% and 63.30% ± 11.30%, respectively (p = 0.003) for BMP-7. The parameters new bone formation, interthread bone density and peri-implant density did not show statistically significant differences between the study groups (p = 0.951, p = 0.967 and p = 0.894, respectively). Dental implant surfaces treated with carboxyethylphosphonic acid and BMP-7 improve the biological response of dental implants to osseointegration.

Osseointegration capacity and good mechanical behavior are key to the success of the dental implant. In many investigations, comparisons of properties are made using different dental implant designs and therefore the results can be influenced by the macrodesign of the dental implant. In this work, studies were carried out with the same dental implant model using different roughness and different materials—commercially pure titanium (grade 4) and zirconia. For this purpose, 80 smooth passivated titanium (Ti), 80 smooth zirconia (ZrO2), and 80 rough passivated titanium (Ti-R) dental implants were used. The samples were characterized by their roughness, wettability, surface energy, residual stresses, and fatigue behavior. The implants were implanted in minipigs for 4 and 12 weeks. The animals were sacrificed, and histological studies were carried out to determine the osseointegration parameters for each of the implantation times. Ti and ZrO2 dental implants have very similar wettability and surface energy properties. However, the roughness causes a decrease in the hydrophilic character and a decrease of the total surface energy and especially the dispersive component, while the polar component is higher. Due to the compressive residual stresses of alumina sandblasting, the rough dental implant has the best fatigue behavior, followed by Ti and due to the lack of toughness and rapid crack propagation the ZrO2 implants have the worst fatigue behavior. The bone index contact (BIC) values for 4 weeks were around 25% for Ti, 32% for ZrO2, and 45% for Ti-R. After 12 weeks the Ti dental implants increased to 42%, for Ti, 43% for ZrO2, and an important increase to 76% was observed for Ti-R implants. In vivo results showed that the key factor that improves osseointegration is roughness. There was no significant difference between ZrO2 and Ti implants without sandblasting.

Currently, dental implants have become a common and reliable treatment for restoring masticatory function in edentulous patients. Their surface topography is of great importance for the adhesion and remodeling of bone cells, both in the initial phases and over time, and different strategies have been proposed to improve the biological performance of conventional sandblasted, large-grit, acid-etched implant surfaces. Corrosion has been identified as one of the causes of implant failure due to contact with oral fluids. Carboxyethylphosphonic acid is a potent anticorrosive that would form stable bonds with titanium oxide, generating an organic layer on which modifications could be made to improve cell adhesion. Osteopontin is considered a molecule capable of improving the osseointegration of titanium. Our study evaluated the osseointegration capacity of titanium implants modified with carboxyethylphosphonic acid and functionalized with osteopontin in a minipig model. A total of 16 implants were inserted in the tibial diaphysis of two minipigs, 8 implants modified with carboxyethylphosphonic acid and functionalized with osteopontin from the experimental group and 8 from the control group with sandblasted, large-grit, acid-etched surface treatment. After 4 weeks, the animals were sacrificed and the samples were analyzed by histomorphometric analysis, assessing bone-implant contact, cortical bone-implant contact, percentage of new bone, peri-implant bone density and interthread bone area interthread. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS v.18. Statistical significance was found between groups for the percentage of new bone (p = 0.04) and for interthread bone area interthread (p = 0.01). Functionalization of titanium surfaces by osteopontin may be of interest for conditioning bone remodeling in the early stages of osseointegration, although more in vivo studies are needed to determine its real influence in this aspect.

Some research has suggested that dental plaque and saliva could be reservoirs of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and be capable of infecting or re-infecting the gastric mucosa after eradication, with certain studies showing a significant association between PD and gastric infection by this bacterium. An electronic search was performed in PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases with the terms “Helicobacter pylori AND periodontal diseases”; “Helicobacter pylori AND gingivitis”; “Helicobacter pylori AND chronic periodontitis”; “Helicobacter pylori AND periodontitis”; “Helicobacter pylori AND dental plaque”, to identify articles up to September 2021. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to assess study quality. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 2020 (Cochane Collaboration) software. A total of 1,315 studies were identified and 12 were included, analyzing 226,086 patients with mean age between 10.5 and 63.4 years. The prevalence of H. pylori in the oral cavity ranged from 5.4 to 83.3%. A random-effects model was used to analyze the presence of H. pylori and subgroups were made according to the method of evaluation (PCR or RUT). Statistical significance was found in the overall analysis (p = 0.01). There is no clear evidence that H. pylori present in oral bacterial plaque causes gastric infection and vice versa.Systematic Review Registrationwww.INPLASY.COM, identifier: INPLASY2021100097.

This research presents the results of an exploration of special education teachers' understanding of how their participation in workshop-based digital storytelling (DST) would enhance their professional development concerning inclusive education. This study evaluates the usability of the Smart Ecosystem for Learning and Inclusion (SELI) platform for supporting teachers during the workshop-based digital storytelling process. We used a convergent parallel mixed-method research design approach with 47 secondary school teachers working with disabled people in the Dominican Republic. The results of this study indicated that the SELI smart learning platform had shown good usability in supporting teachers during the workshop-based digital storytelling pedagogical process. Besides, two themes emerge regarding how workshop-based digital storytelling can contribute to teacher professional development for promoting inclusive education. The resulting themes are expressing, listening, and learning through digital storytelling; and driving change with digital storytelling to create more inclusive environments. Teachers who participated in the interviews were optimistic about DST implementation. They expressed that the workshop worked for multiple ways of expression, listening from and connecting with other stories, and learning through DST. Moreover, teachers could reflect their idea about using DST in terms of its potential impact on inclusion in the classrooms for driving change, building meaningful learning, and influential practice when used in the classroom. Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio exploratorio de la forma en que los maestros de educación especial comprenden que las narrativas digitales, basadas en talleres, mejorarían el desarrollo profesional en relación con la educación inclusiva. El estudio evalúa la usabilidad de la plataforma Smart Ecosystem for Learning and Inclusion (SELI) para apoyar a los docentes durante el proceso de narración digital basada en talleres. Utilizamos un enfoque de diseño de investigación de método mixto paralelo convergente con 47 profesores de secundaria que trabajan con personas discapacitadas en la República Dominicana. Los resultados de este estudio indicaron que la plataforma de aprendizaje inteligente SELI había demostrado una buena usabilidad para apoyar a los docentes durante el proceso pedagógico de la narración digital basada en talleres. Además, surgen dos temas sobre cómo la narración digital basada en talleres puede contribuir al desarrollo profesional de los docentes para promover la educación inclusiva. Los temas resultantes son la expresión, la escucha y el aprendizaje a través de la narración digital; e impulsar el cambio con la narración digital para crear entornos más inclusivos. Los maestros fueron optimistas respecto a la implementaión de narrativas digitales. Además, los maestros reflexionaron en términos del potencial impacto de las narrativas digitales en inclusión en el aula, como promotoras del cambio, construyendo aprendizaje significativo y promoviendo una práctica influyente.