The Effectiveness of Direct and Indirect Coded Written Feedback in English as a Foreign Language

Despite continuing interest in the relative effectiveness of different types of written corrective feedback in both second language (L2) research and classroom, no one type of written feedback has yet been conclusively shown to be more effective than another. The present study investigated the differential efficacy of two types of focused written corrective feedback, direct error correction and indirect coded feedback, for L2 development. Forty-three Korean English as a foreign language (EFL) learners from three intact classes at a university were assigned to a control group or one of two experimental groups (i.e., direct vs. indirect coded feedback). A pretest-post-test design was employed to assess improvement in learners ability to use the target structure, the past counterfactual conditional. Only the direct written feedback group significantly outperformed the control group on the post-test involving a new piece of writing. Results indicated that direct written feedback was more effective than indirect written feedback provided in the form of coded feedback in improving learners subsequent accuracy in using a complex syntactic structure in a short-term period

Isolation and Characterization of a Defensin-Like Peptide (Coprisin) from the Dung Beetle, Copris tripartitus

The antibacterial activity of immune-related peptides, identified by a differential gene expression analysis, was investigated to suggest novel antibacterial peptides. A cDNA encoding a defensin-like peptide, Coprisin, was isolated from bacteria-immunized dung beetle, Copris tripartitus, by using differential dot blot hybridization. Northern blot analysis showed that Coprisin mRNA was up-regulated from 4 hours after bacteria injection and its expression level was reached a peak at 16 hours. The deduced amino acid sequence of Coprisin was composed of 80 amino acids with a predicted molecular weight of 8.6 kDa and a pI of 8.7. The amino acid sequence of mature Coprisin was found to be 79.1% and 67.4% identical to those of defensin-like peptides of Anomala cuprea and Allomyrina dichotoma, respectively. We also investigated active sequences of Coprisin by using amino acid modification. The result showed that the 9-mer peptide, LLCIALRKK-NH2, exhibited potent antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus

Induction of Remission is Difficult due to Frequent Relapse during Tapering Steroids in Korean Patients with Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Polymyalgia rheumatica is an inflammatory disease affecting elderly and involving the shoulder and pelvic girdles. No epidemiological study of polymyalgia rheumatica was conducted in Korea. We retrospectively evaluated patients with polymyalgia rheumatica followed up at the rheumatology clinics of 10 tertiary hospitals. In total 51 patients, 36 patients (70.6%) were female. Age at disease onset was 67.4 yr. Twenty-three patients (45.1%) developed polymyalgia rheumatica in winter. Shoulder girdle ache was observed in 45 patients (90%) and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (> 40 mm/h) in 49 patients (96.1%). Initial steroid dose was 23.3 mg/d prednisolone equivalent. Time to normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 4.1 months. Only 8 patients (15.7%) achieved remission. Among 41 patients followed up, 28 patients (68.3%) had flare at least once. Number of flares was 1.5 ± 1.6. The frequency of flare was significantly lower in patients with remission (P = 0.02). In Korea, polymyalgia rheumatica commonly develops during winter. Initial response to steroid is fairly good, but the prognosis is not benign because remission is rare with frequent relapse requiring long-term steroid treatment

Biblioteca virtual redELE

Resumen tomado de la publicación. Memoría del máster (Universidad de Álcala, 2004). Incluye apéndices y glosarioEl presente estudio experimental investiga los efectos de la producción en la percepción y aprendizaje del pretérito indefinido y el pretérito imperfecto, así como los efectos relativos a dos tipos de tareas de producción- reconstrucción y redacción guiada. Participaron en el estudio cincuenta y nuevos estudiantes coreanos de español como lengua extranjera, divididos en tres grupos: a uno se le repartió la tarea de la redacción guiada; al otro la reconstrucción; y el grupo de control se encargo de la tarea de realce de input sí como la oportunidad de hacer los ejercicios de comprensión, y sus resultados se compararon. La comparación permitió concluir que sólo la tarea de reconstrucción pareció mejorar la percepción de la característica gramatical meta en ele input subsiguiente. Los resultados de la prueba no proporcionaron evidencia significativa de los efectos de la producción en el aprendizaje de las formas meta.MadridES

Factors encouraging mobile instant messaging service use in medical education

Background Mobile instant messaging services are being increasingly used for educational purposes, but their effectiveness in medical education is not well known. We assessed whether students’ use of Kakao Talk (a mobile instant messaging service) during the early period of a week of clinical education influenced its use for academic purposes during a later period of the same week. Methods The online communication records of 151 third-year medical students (in 39 clinical education groups) who used Kakao Talk during clinical education were reviewed. The 39 groups were categorized as low, middle, or high according to the number of total chats (on all subjects, not just academic) per student over five days. The relationship between the number of total chats during the first two days and the number of academic chats during the last three days (of five-day chatroom weeks) was analyzed. Results The number of total and academic chats over all five days, the first two days, and the last three days was highest in groups with the highest number of total chats per student. Similarly, the highest number of students posting total and academic chats was found in these groups. In addition, the number of academic chats per student and the frequency of questions raised by students were also highest in these groups. During the last three days, the number of students posting total chats was lower than that during the first two days, and the number of academic chats per student posting academic chats was higher. The number of total chats on the first or second day positively correlated with the maximum value of academic chats on the third to fifth days. Conclusion High frequency mobile instant messaging use early on in clinical education might encourage its use for academic purposes during later periods