The Impact of Long-Term Teaching Abroad in Ecuador

Research has been conducted on the benefits of studying abroad and short-term teaching abroad (one year or less); however, little research has been conducted about teachers who teach abroad long-term. This study investigated the experiences of teachers who have taught abroad in Ecuador for two years or more. This study specifically examined the teachers’ reasons for going to Ecuador, staying and teaching in Ecuador long-term, as well as the professional, cultural, and personal skills acquired. A qualitative approach was selected in order to understand their perceptions as educators who have made the decision to teach abroad long-term in Ecuador. The interviews incited discussion about cultural experiences and the skills and lessons learned that have impacted their professional and personal growth. Keywords: teaching abroad, international teaching, study abroad, global educator, intercultural competenc

Effects of a Multimodal Approach on EFL University Students’ Attitudes Toward Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Teaching William Shakespeare’s plays has long been argued as too difficult for ESL/EFL learners. However, Shakespeare can be considered a valuable and authentic material for teaching language learners and teaching Shakespeare’s plays in the language classroom can lead to a meaningful language learning experience. This study examined the implementation of a multimodal teaching approach to teaching Romeo and Juliet in an ESL/EFL university classroom in Ecuador, and whether this approach would improve students’ attitudes toward reading Shakespeare. Index Terms: multimodal teaching, teaching Shakespeare, language teaching, teaching Romeo and Julie

An Empirical Study of Ecuadorian University EFL Learners’ Comprehension of English Idioms Using a Multimodal Teaching Approach

The present study investigated the effect of using a multimodal teaching approach toward teaching English idioms to Ecuadorian EFL students. The control group was taught 20 English idioms using a traditional teaching method and the experimental group was taught the same 20 English idioms using a multimodal teaching approach. An idiom comprehension quiz was administered to both groups with the experimental group scoring significantly higher than the control group. The study provides pedagogical suggestions on using a multimodal approach to teaching English idioms

Precursor Lesions of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma: Morphological and Molecular Characteristics

The lack of proven screening tools for early detection and the high mortality of ovarian serous carcinoma (OSC), particularly high grade, have focused attention on identifying putative precursor lesions with distinct morphological and molecular characteristics. The finding of occult invasive and intraepithelial fallopian tube carcinomas in prophylactically removed specimens from asymptomatic high-risk BRCA 1/2-mutation carriers supports the notion of an origin for OSC in the fallopian tube. The intraepithelial carcinomas have been referred to as serous intraepithelial carcinomas (STICs) but our own findings (unpublished data) and recent reports have drawn attention to a spectrum of changes that fall short of STICs that we have designated serous tubal intraepithelial lesions (STILs)

Validation of the Symptoms and Functioning Severity Scale in Residential Group Care

Tests that measure the emotional and behavioral problems of children and youth are typically not normed and standardized on youth diagnosed with disruptive behavior, particularly those youth in residential care. Yet professional standards mandate that before instruments are used with a specific population the psychometric properties need to be studied and re-established: specifically, psychometric properties, including validity, need to be evaluated (AERA, APA, & NCME, 1999). The purpose of the present study was to assess the validity characteristics of the Symptoms and Functioning Severity Scale (SFSS; Bickman, et al., 2010), a widely used test developed for use in outpatient clinics, with youth in a residential care program. The convergent validity of the SFSS was established with the large correlations (.78-.86) with the CBCL. Several binary classification analyses including specificity, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, positive and negative likelihood ratios, and the Youden Index supported the validity of the SFSS. However, the sensitivity index was somewhat low indicating the test may produce a high level of false negatives. Limitations, future research and implications are discussed

Psychometric Evaluation of the Symptoms and Functioning Severity Scale (SFSS) Short Forms with Out-of-Home Care Youth

BACKGROUND—There is a need for brief progress monitoring measures of behavioral and emotional symptoms for youth in out-of-home care. The Symptoms and Functioning Severity Scale (SFSS; Bickman et al., 2010) is one measure that has clinician and youth short forms (SFSS-SFs); however, the psychometric soundness of the SFSS-SFs with youth in out-of-home care has yet to be examined. OBJECTIVE—The objective was to determine if the psychometric characteristics of the clinician and youth SFSS-SFs are viable for use in out-of-home care programs. METHODS—The participants included 143 youth receiving residential treatment and 52 direct care residential staff. The current study assessed internal consistency and alternate forms reliability for SFSS-SFs for youth in a residential care setting. Further, a binary classification test was completed to determine if the SFSS-SFs similarly classified youth as the SFSS full version for low- and elevated-severity. RESULTS—The internal consistency for the clinician and youth SFSS-SFs was adequate (α = .75 to .82) as was the parallel forms reliability (r = .85 to .97). The sensitivity (0.80 to 0.95), specificity (0.88 to 0.97), and overall accuracy (0.89 to 0.93) for differentiating low and elevated symptom severity was acceptable. CONCLUSIONS—The clinician and youth SFSS-SFs have acceptable psychometrics and may be beneficial for progress monitoring and additional research should clarify their potential for progress monitoring of youth in out-of-home programs

Preferential, enhanced breast cancer cell migration on biomimetic electrospun nanofiber ‘cell highways’

BACKGROUND: Aggressive metastatic breast cancer cells seemingly evade surgical resection and current therapies, leading to colonization in distant organs and tissues and poor patient prognosis. Therefore, high-throughput in vitro tools allowing rapid, accurate, and novel anti-metastatic drug screening are grossly overdue. Conversely, aligned nanofiber constitutes a prominent component of the late-stage breast tumor margin extracellular matrix. This parallel suggests that the use of a synthetic ECM in the form of a nanoscale model could provide a convenient means of testing the migration potentials of cancer cells to achieve a long-term goal of providing clinicians an in vitro platform technology to test the efficacy of novel experimental anti-metastatic compounds. METHODS: Electrospinning produces highly aligned, cell-adhesive nanofiber matrices by applying a strong electric field to a polymer-containing solution. The resulting fibrous microstructure and morphology closely resembles in vivo tumor microenvironments suggesting their use in analysis of migratory potentials of metastatic cancer cells. Additionally, a novel interface with a gel-based delivery system creates CXCL12 chemotactic gradients to enhance CXCR4-expressing cell migration. RESULTS: Cellular dispersions of MCF-10A normal mammary epithelial cells or human breast cancer cells (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) seeded on randomly-oriented nanofiber exhibited no significant differences in total or net distance traveled as a result of the underlying topography. Cells traveled ~2-5 fold greater distances on aligned fiber. Highly-sensitive MDA-MB-231 cells displayed an 82% increase in net distance traversed in the presence of a CXCL12 gradient. In contrast, MCF-7 cells exhibited only 31% increase and MCF-10A cells showed no statistical difference versus control or vehicle conditions. MCF-10A cells displayed little sensitivity to CXCL12 gradients, while MCF-7 cells displayed early sensitivity when CXCL12 concentrations were higher. MDA-MB-231 cells displayed low relative expression levels of CXCR4, but high sensitivity resulting in 55-fold increase at late time points due to CXCL12 gradient dissipation. CONCLUSIONS: This model could create clinical impact as an in vitro diagnostic tool for rapid assessment of tumor needle biopsies to confirm metastatic tumors, their invasiveness, and allow high-throughput drug screening providing rapid development of personalized therapies. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2407-14-825) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Prognostic and predictive value of circulating tumor cells and CXCR4 expression as biomarkers for a CXCR4 peptide antagonist in combination with carboplatin-etoposide in small cell lung cancer: exploratory analysis of a phase II study.

Background Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 (CXCR4) expression in CTCs and tumor tissue were evaluated as prognostic or predictive markers of CXCR4 peptide antagonist LY2510924 plus carboplatin-etoposide (CE) versus CE in extensive-stage disease small cell lung cancer (ED-SCLC). Methods This exploratory analysis of a phase II study evaluated CXCR4 expression in baseline tumor tissue and peripheral blood CTCs and in post-treatment CTCs. Optimum cutoff values were determined for CTC counts and CXCR4 expression in tumors and CTCs as predictors of survival outcome. Kaplan-Meier estimates and hazard ratios were used to determine biomarker prognostic and predictive values. Results There was weak positive correlation at baseline between CXCR4 expression in tumor tissue and CTCs. Optimum cutoff values were H-score ≥ 210 for CXCR4+ tumor, ≥7% CTCs with CXCR4 expression (CXCR4+ CTCs), and ≥6 CTCs/7.5 mL blood. Baseline H-score for CXCR4+ tumor was not prognostic of progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS). Baseline CXCR4+ CTCs ≥7% was prognostic of shorter PFS. CTCs ≥6 at baseline and cycle 2, day 1 were prognostic of shorter PFS and OS. None of the biomarkers at their respective optimum cutoffs was predictive of treatment response of LY2510924 plus CE versus CE. Conclusions In patients with ED-SCLC, baseline CXCR4 expression in tumor tissue was not prognostic of survival or predictive of LY2510924 treatment response. Baseline CXCR4+ CTCs ≥7% was prognostic of shorter PFS. CTC count ≥6 at baseline and after 1 cycle of treatment were prognostic of shorter PFS and OS

Precursor lesions of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma: morphological and molecular characteristics

The lack of proven screening tools for early detection and the high mortality of ovarian serous carcinoma (OSC), particularly high grade, have focused attention on identifying putative precursor lesions with distinct morphological and molecular characteristics. The finding of occult invasive and intraepithelial fallopian tube carcinomas in prophylactically removed specimens from asymptomatic high-risk BRCA 1/2-mutation carriers supports the notion of an origin for OSC in the fallopian tube. The intraepithelial carcinomas have been referred to as serous intraepithelial carcinomas (STICs) but our own findings (unpublished data) and recent reports have drawn attention to a spectrum of changes that fall short of STICs that we have designated serous tubal intraepithelial lesions (STILs)

Genetic deletion of skeletal muscle iPLA2γ results in mitochondrial dysfunction, muscle atrophy and alterations in whole-body energy metabolism

Skeletal muscle is the major site of glucose utilization in mammals integrating serum glucose clearance with mitochondrial respiration. To mechanistically elucidate the roles of iPL