Opening up towards children’s languages : enhancing teachers’ tolerant practices towards multilingualism

Mainstream teachers struggle with linguistic diversity, often leading to restricting multilingualism. Scientific research, however, recommends including pupils' home languages in school. Various qualitative studies have evaluated implementations in schools and indicated possibilities for improving teachers' attitudes towards multilingualism. This paper evaluates an experimental implementation targeting an increase in tolerance towards multilingualism. The implementation was facilitated by external school coaches and consisted of 3 experimental tools affecting the school. Data originated from 62 Flemish primary schools (of which half were experimental schools) that participated in 3 survey waves (2012 and 2014; 763 teachers completed both waves). We used multilevel regression. We concluded that the implementation leads to higher rates of tolerance. The fulfilment of the basic conditions needed for a successful change was important, and the linguistic diversity of the pupil population and the investment by external school coaches did not affect the tolerant practices of teachers towards multilingualism

Material driven design (MDD): A method to design for material experiences

Materials research constantly offers novel materials as better alternatives to convention. Functional aptness is taken for granted at the first commercial launch of a new material. Nevertheless, this alone may not be enough for its commercial success and widespread use. The 'material' should also elicit meaningful user experiences in and beyond its utilitarian assessment. This requires qualifying the material not only for what it is, but also for what it does, what it expresses to us, what it elicits from us, and what it makes us do. In search of a proper application through such an understanding, material scientists and industries have reached out to designers to guide the development of materials by experiential goals. However, how to design for experiences with and for a material at hand has been poorly addressed to date. In this article, we propose a method, Material Driven Design (MDD), to facilitate designing for material experiences. After explaining the theoretical foundation of the method, an illustrative case is presented-where 'coffee waste' is the subject of a design effort to conceive a new product concept. Finally, possible research directions are addressed to bring new insights to the effective application of the MDD method to diverse projects

Handedness correlates with the dominant parkinson side:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Parkinson's disease (PD) characteristically presents with asymmetrical symptoms, contralateral to the side of the most extensive cerebral affection. This intriguing asymmetry, even included in the definition for diagnosing PD, however, is still part of a mystery. The relation with handedness as a common indicator of cerebral asymmetry might provide a clue in the search for causal factors of asymmetrical symptom onset in PD. This possible relationship, however, is still under debate. The objective of this study was to establish whether a relation between handedness and dominant PD side exists. We searched for cross-sectional or cohort studies that registered handedness and onset side in PD patients in PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science from their first record until 14 February 2011. Data about handedness and dominant PD side was extracted. Authors who registered both but not described their relation were contacted for further information. Odds ratios (ORs) were analyzed with a fixed effect Mantel-Haenszel model. Heterogeneity and indications of publication bias were limited. Our electronic search identified 10 studies involving 4405 asymmetric PD patients. Of the right-handed patients, 2413 (59.5%) had right-dominant and 1644 (40.5%) had left-dominant PD symptoms. For the left-handed patients this relation was reversed, with 142 (40.8%) right-dominant and 206 (59.2%) left-dominant PD symptoms. Overall OR was 2.13 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.712.66). Handedness and symptom dominance in PD are firmly related with each other in such a way that the PD symptoms emerge more often on the dominant hand-side. Possible causal factors are discussed. (C) 2011 Movement Disorder Societ

Myoclonus-dystonia : distinctive motor and non-motor phenotype from other dystonia syndromes

Background: myoclonus-dystonia (M-D) due to a pathogenic variant of SGCE is an autosomal dominant inherited movement disorder. Apart from motor symptoms, psychiatric disorders are highly prevalent in patients with MD. Previous studies suggest, but never tested directly, that the type of psychiatric disorder differs between dystonia syndromes, probably related to disease specific pathology. Little is known about other non-motor symptoms (NMS) in M.D. Here, we systematically study NMS in M-D in direct comparison to other types of dystonia and healthy controls. Methods: Standardized questionnaires were used to assess type and severity of psychiatric co-morbidity, sleep problems, fatigue and quality of life. Results of M-D patients with a pathogenic variant of SGCE were compared to results of idiopathic cervical dystonia (CD) patients, dopa-responsive dystonia (DRD) patients with a pathogenic variant of GCH1 and controls. Results: We included 164 participants: 41 M-D, 51 CD, 19 DRD patients, 53 controls. Dystonia patients (M-D, CD and DRD) had an increased prevalence of psychiatric disorders compared to controls (56-74% vs. 29%). In M-D we found a significantly increased prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and psychosis compared to CD and DRD. All dystonia patients had more sleep problems (49-68% vs. 36%) and fatigue (42-73% vs. 15%) than controls. Compared to other dystonia subtypes, M-D patients reported less excessive daytime sleepiness and fatigue. Conclusion: Psychiatric comorbidity is frequent in all dystonia types, but OCD and psychosis are more common in M-D patients. Further research is necessary to elucidate underlying pathways

Somatostatin Receptor Scintigraphy in Medullary Thyroid Cancer

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a neuroendocrine tumor originating from the calcitonin‐secreting C cells. Surgery, consisting of a total thyroidectomy and an extensive lymph node dissection, is the only effective treatment in MTC; however, metastases are frequently found in the regional cervical lymph. The biochemical marker for MTC is calcitonin, and this is frequently used for the detection of persistent/residual/metastatic tumor. The value of 111In‐labeled somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) in patients with MTC is limited, with sensitivity ranging between 0 and 75%. Other scintigraphic imaging techniques such as 18F‐FDG PET, 18F‐DOPA PET, and PET imaging with 68Ga‐labeled DOTA peptides combined with CT imaging are upcoming. Treatment of patients with metastatic disease with the current available somatostatin analogues, octreotide and lanreotide, does not seem to have an effect on survival but may be considered to control flushing and diarrhea in some patients. Experience with peptide receptor radionuclide therapy is limited in this patient group and disappointing. New therapies in the treatment of metastatic MTC use target tyrosine kinase receptors inhibitors belonging to the same family group of proteins as RET

Cryptic invasion of a parasitic copepod: Compromised identification when morphologically similar invaders co-occur in invaded ecosystems

Despite their frequent occurrence and strong impacts on native biota, biological invasions can long remain undetected. One reason for this is that an invasive species can be morphologically similar to either native species or introduced species previously established in the same region, and thus be subject to mistaken identification. One recent case involves congeneric invasive parasites, copepods that now infect bivalve hosts along European Atlantic coasts, after having been introduced independently first from the Mediterranean Sea (Mytilicola intestinalis Steuer, 1902) and later from Japan (Mytilicola orientalis Mori, 1935). At least one report on M. intestinalis may have actually concerned M. orientalis, and M. orientalis thus qualifies as a "cryptic invader". Because these two parasitic copepods are morphologically similar, knowledge about their distribution, impact and interactions depends crucially on reliable species identification. In this study, we evaluated the reliability of morphological identification of these two species in parts of their invasive range in Europe (Dutch Delta and Wadden Sea) in comparison with molecular methods of well-established accuracy based on COI gene sequences and ITS1 restriction fragment length polymorphism. Based on seven easily measured or scored macro-morphological variables that were recorded for 182 individual copepods isolated from blue mussels (Mytilus edulis Linnaeus, 1758), principal component analysis showed two relatively distinct but overlapping morphological species groups for females, but no clear separation in males. Discriminant function analysis showed that the females can be discriminated reasonably well based on some of the morphological characteristics (identification error rate of 7%) while males cannot (error rate of 25%). The direction of the dorsolateral thoracic protuberances was identified as the most important trait for species discrimination, but among the morphological features checked, none could flawlessly discriminate between both species. We recommend the use of molecular techniques in future studies of invasive Mytilicola to reliably discriminate between the species. The morphological similarity of these two invaders suggests a more general problem of cryptic invasions and compromised identification of parasites in invaded ecosystems. This problem should be borne in mind whenever invasive parasites are investigated

The effect of metformin on cardiovascular risk profile in patients without diabetes presenting with acute myocardial infarction:data from the Glycometabolic Intervention as adjunct to Primary Coronary Intervention in ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (GIPS-III) trial

Objective: In patients with diabetes mellitus, metformin treatment is associated with reduced mortality and attenuation of cardiovascular risk. As a subanalysis of the Glycometabolic Intervention as adjunct to Primary Coronary Intervention in ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (GIPS-III) study, we evaluated whether metformin treatment in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) without diabetes improves the cardiovascular risk profile. Methods: A total of 379 patients, without known diabetes, presenting with STEMI were randomly allocated to receive metformin 500 mg twice daily or placebo for 4 months. Results: After 4 months, the cardiovascular risk profile of patients receiving metformin (n= 172) was improved compared with placebo (n= 174); glycated hemoglobin (5.83% (95% CI 5.79% to 5.87%) vs 5.89% (95% CI 5.85% to 5.92%); 40.2 mmol/mol (95% CI 39.8 to 40.6) vs 40.9 mmol/mol (40.4 to 41.2), p= 0.049); total cholesterol (3.85 mmol/L (95% CI 3.73 to 3.97) vs 4.02 mmol/L (95% CI 3.90 to 4.14), p= 0.045); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (2.10 mmol/L (95% CI 1.99 to 2.20) vs 2.3 mmol/L (95% CI 2.20 to 2.40), p= 0.007); body weight (83.8 kg (95% CI 83.0 to 84.7) vs 85.2 kg (95% CI 84.4 to 86.1), p= 0.024); body mass index (26.8 kg/m(2) (95% CI 26.5 to 27.0) vs 27.2 kg/m(2) (95% CI 27.0 to 27.5), p= 0.014). Levels of fasting glucose, postchallenge glucose, insulin, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and blood pressure were similar in both groups. Conclusions: Among patients with STEMI without diabetes, treatment with metformin for 4 months resulted in a modest improvement of the cardiovascular risk profile compared with placebo