Structural Bioinformatics of Protein & DNA, as Early Stimulation in Basic Education of Rural and Indigenous Communities of Oaxaca

doi:10.4236/eng.2013.510B053

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Engineering, 2013, 5, 255-258

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/eng.2013.510B053 Published Online October 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/eng)

Structural Bioinformatics of Protein & DNA, as Early

Stimulation in Basic Education of Rural and Indigenous

Communities of Oax aca

Susana Lozano-Muniz1,2, Maria del Carmen Urzua-Hernandez2,3

1Biotechnology Institute, Universidad del Papaloapan, Tuxtepec, Mexico

2International Foundation for Biotechnology Research & Early Stimulation in the Culture of Health,

Nutrition, Sport, Art, Science, Technology & Society A.C., San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec, Mexico

3Facultad de Quimica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad de México, Mexico

Email: [email protected]

Received June 2013

ABSTRACT

As stated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, children have the right to go to school for free, to play, and to

have the same opportunity to develop and to learn to be responsible and useful [1]. Young children are curious by na-

ture and they have passion for learning [2]. An environment that encourages scientific thinking is what gives young

children the time, space and materials to exercise their curiosity [3]. The aim of this paper is to present a methodology

for the development of educational environments based on digital technology, internet and free programs available on

the web, for the use and application of structural bioinformatics protein and DNA, for early stimulation in basic educa-

tion at rural and indigenous communities in state of Oaxaca, conducted in On Line Learning & Training “OLL & T”.

The course is divided into 4 sections: 1) Introduction to the topic of protein and DNA structure; 2) Search in protein

data bank; 3) Download RasTop program and use it as bioinformatics tool; 4) Emulation of building a viral molecule.

Workshops were given to children in elementary, middle and high school at the Universidad Del Papaloapan during the

National Week of Science and Technology, every year in Oaxaca since 2007 to 2012 and in Monterrey 2010 at the Un-

iversidad Autonoma de Nuevo León. Conclusions: positive impact was achieved in basic education in the area of natu-

ral sciences by analyzing the molecular basis of protein and deoxyribonucleic acid, theoretically and practically, as a

support for teache r s.

Keywords: TICs; Childhood; Improvement; Achievement

1. Introduction

Mexico has important advances in the education system,

by the annual implementation of the test called The Na-

tional Assessment of Academic Achievement in Schools

test (for its acronym in Spanish ENLACE). This test re-

cognizes work strategies that allow the child to have bet-

ter (intellectual, social and physical ability). Fo r example,

nowadays, the use of the computer as a basic tool from

an early age begins to stimulate the child’s mind as it

activates his imagination and attention span; for this rea-

son it is important to basically outline the material re-

sources available to the School. Activities that can be

made through the Information & Communication Tech-

nology (TICs) in education are, in general, motivating to

the students for their interactivity, by the use of visuals,

colors and three dimensional figures and hearing, among

other advantages. We used National Institute of Statistics,

Geography and Informatics for its acronym in Spanish

(INEGI) data to make a situation analysis of social, edu-

cational and technology issues available on the Mexican

population [4]. The cons ensus of popula tion and housing

unit of measurement for thousands of inhabitants in 2010

registered a value of 112,337 [5].

Child Population: According INEGI [6] the percen-

tage of th e population aged 0 to 14 years in 1940 Tabas-

co is the entity that registered the highest value with

48.6% of its population in this age range, while the

record of Federal District is 34.5%, lower with all entities

in an increasing trend was observed up to 1970 years, in

which the maximum value in all of them emphasizing

Tabasco, Zacatecas and the highest values of 50.6 and

49.7% respectively.

1.1. Infant Mortality

To compare the states for 1990 the mortality rate and

percentage of population in rural areas, considering these

S. LOZANO-MUNIZ, M. DEL CARMEN URZUA-HERNANDEZ

256

as less than 2500 inhabitants, there is a direct relationship

between both indicators to percentile higher rates of rural

population are more higher, infant mortality being great-

er the difference in extreme values of each of these indi-

cators, to display the changing values in the entities we

see a general decrease in mortality of children under one

year or less marked decreases in the percentage rural

populat ion since t he 19 90-2005 period [7].

1.2. Educational Backwardness and Rural

Locations

The percentage of women over 14 who have not com-

pleted the 9 grades of compulsory basic education is ex-

pressed and localized mainly in the states with the high-

est proportion of people in rural areas. In recent decades

the gradual depletion of the educational lag kept a close

relation to the decline in mortality rates of children under

one year.

The schooling offers women a new larger social net-

work, reference groups and greater identification with the

modern world of health institutions, educational gap re-

duction between women could be related to an increased

interest in health services. That is possible with greater

approval preventive behaviors and new remedies which

contribute to increased survival of less than one year.

Reducing the educational gap between women could be

related to an increased interest in health services, allow-

ing greater approval of preventive behaviors and new

medicines also contributing to increased survival of chil-

dren less than one year [8].

2. Material and Methodology.

The co urse is divided into 4 sections:

2.1. Introduction to the Topic of Protein and DNA

Structure

1) The first questions the teacher asks the students are:

If the student heard about proteins? Which proteins they

know? Which Food has proteins? Why they believe the

human body requires protein? What happens when pro-

teins are ingested? Why it is necessary to take in food?

After analyzing the questions and possible answers, (is

introduced to the subject of the proteins by PowerPoint

presentation and bibliographic search in information net-

works. The subject of the proteins by PowerPoint pres-

entation and bibliographic search in information net-

works are introduced.)

2) They are taught by figures such as this formed the

primary, secondary, tertiary (is at this time which ex-

plains the issue of DNA) and quaternary structure. For

example, what is a linear sequence of aa, an alpha helix,

a beta folded parallel, one anti-parallel beta-sheet, a bar-

rel, a sequence of folded beta/alpha-beta helix folded

alpha helix sequence/corner/alpha helix, one beta se-

quence folded/corner/alpha helix-beta-sheet, beta barrels

a sequence, a sequence of alpha helices, beta pleated se-

quence, a sequence of alpha helices/beta fold, are shown

examples of quaternary structure of proteins, viral capsid,

membrane proteins, the relationship in size from water

molecules, aa, proteins, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA),

alpha helices, enzymes, antibodies, viruses, bacteria,

globule red and white blood cell. Teacher explains that

although proteins appear differently represented, they are

the same protein, or it can be similar, then the students

see the proteins in structure of bones, ribbons, spheres

(balls), globular, etc. After that continues with the fol-

lowing o bje c t ives of t he w orkshop [9].

2.2. Search in Protein Data Bank

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is one of the most useful

bioinformatics resources, this contains almost 84.966

three-dimensional structures of proteins. It is important

to note that each of these files contains the coordinates in

the space of all atoms in the protein (excluding hydro-

gens in many cases). If we consider that a protein has

many tens or even hundreds of waste, and that each of

them has about 10 atoms, how many numerical data are

required to form one of these files? Access is

http://www.pdb.org and each file has a four-character

identifier, often a number followed by three letters. The

teacher taught the children to access this bioinformatics

tool to search for proteins, to view them on line in Jmo

online, download protein information, and change the

display of this protein in various forms of representation

in Jmol online [10].

2.3. Download RasTop Program & Use It as

Bioinformatics Tool

RasTop is a program that unlike Jmol, KING, and Web-

Mol, requires downloading and installing before use. The

current version is 2.2 and you can get it for free at

http://www.geneinfinity.org/rastop/. RasTop is the heir

of a previous program called RasMol, can still be found

at http://www.openrasmol.org/. In our course, the stu-

dents are taught how to download and install the program.

Either way the program was previously installed, the

students seek the appropriate icon and open the se-

quences downloaded from the PDB in order to read the

structure, for this select File / Open and select the PDB

structure files are available and explore the different

menus an d buttons [11].

2.4. Emulation of Building a Viral Molecule

The students printed an icosahedron, cut it and pasted the

folds forming a three-dimensional structural protein of a

S. LOZANO-MUNIZ, M. DEL CARMEN URZUA-HERNANDEZ

257

virus, afte r analy zing t he vi ral st ruct ural pr otei n PDB [12].

3. Results

Workshops were given to children in elementary, middle

and high school at the University of Papaloapan in Tux-

tepec Oaxaca during the National Week of Science and

Technology, every year since 2007-2012 and in UANL

in Monterrey on 2010.

4. Discussions

As stated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child,

children have the right to go to school for free, to play,

and to have the same opportunity to develop and to learn

to be responsible and useful. Infant mortality is relevant-

ly as an indicator of parental education levels, which has

relation with the lack of health prevention measures, and

/or they can’t have a good job or to pay for health re-

sources, and in a rural places, they usually don’t have

appropriate health systems, so with this kind of work，we

try to support basic education in rural and indigenous

areas. Using this methodology in Early Learning in

Science and Technology, we will be able to stimulate and

intervene in the evolutionary development of children

enrolled in primary education, promote the scientific

development within the natural sciences area, positively

impact their curiosity to lear n and to use the Internet tool

available online. Basic educational teachers who accom-

pany their students are impressed by that information

available online. They taught both teachers and students

to visit the websites of protein databases. The workshop

is offered to students from rural and indigenous com-

munities in Oaxaca Tuxtepec, since 2007 to 2012 as in a

cosmopolitan city like Monterrey in 2010, during the

National Week of Science and Technology and observe

the following: that when students come from rural and

indigenous communities are interested to learn about

computer use as an innovation, and they are alert and

focus at class, because the teachers have indoctrinated

them to pay attention to instructor of the workshop, or do

not have access to this technological tool or as a teacher

usually do not know how to use it. In a city like Mon ter-

rey, they have frequent access to these tools whether at

home, school or cyber. It was also observed that these

pupils from cosmopolitan cities, have two possibilities,

one of which is familiarity with technological tools are

more knowledgeable and question incurred with respect

to the information provided in the workshop so that one

has to constantly prepare in the field to respond to these

questions or otherwise students may be constantly dis-

tracted, changed the screen saver to turn the computer on,

or some other settings the same as the wallpaper, font,

color, etc., during the time that the instructor tries to give

his workshop, that is, the slightest slip of the instructor

students are distracted doing what they most like to do on

your computer, and even trying to access your email ac-

count, chat or social network.

5. Conclusion

Early stimulation is a set of action s to promote the phys-

ical, mental and social aspects of any child, and even

helps to prevent child psychomotor retardation, cures and

rehabilitates motor impairment, sensory deficits, intel-

lectual disabilities, and language disord ers. This supports

the integration of these children to society, replacing the

burden of feeling useless for the joy of becoming a useful

individual and reducing the feeling of aggression, indif-

ference or rejection, and stimulating solidarity, coopera-

tion and hope. Educational backwardness and poverty are

the main factors that exist in the rural states, which affect

the child population, and lead to a high index of infant

mortality, relevant as an indicator of parental education

levels, which have relation to the lack of health preven-

tion measures, and /or they can’t have a good job to pay

for health resources, and in a rural places，they usually

don’t have appropriate health systems, so with this kind

of work we try to support basic education in rural and

indigenous areas..

6. Acknowledgements

We thank to CONACYT SEP SEB project No. 81936

and the support from International Foundation for Bio-

technology Research & Early Stimulation in the Culture

of Health, Nutrition, Sport, Art, Science, Technology &

Society A.C.

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