Perceptual Learning Style Preference for Medical Terminology: A Case Study of 20 ESP Students

Due to the globalization, there has been a great demand for learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in different fields. How to teach medical terminology effectively to pre-service medical professionals is one of the main challenges that ESP instructors encounter in their English in Medicine classrooms. A variety of factors, including but are not limited to student learning style preference, prior knowledge, classroom facilities should be considered. In this study, we conducted a case study of 20 students in an ESP class to explore their learning style preference. This study employed two data collection instruments: questionnaire and interview. Data analysis interestingly revealed that the location of students’ secondary education has an influence on their perceptual learning style preference of medical terminology at tertiary level. Drawing on the results, this study argues for a balance between student learning preference and teaching mythology. Keywords: ESP, perceptual learning style preference, medical terminology DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/66-06 Publication date:March 31st 202

A Phenomenological Study of Writing Error Correction: Perspectives of an English Language Learner in Two Different Contexts

In second language writing, student errors in grammatical structure, word choice, or idea expression are a common phenomenon. How these errors should be treated poses a challenging question. In this qualitative study I attempt to explore the impacts of some current methods of error correction in second language writing through a phenomenological study of an English language learners who studied in Vietnam and the United States. The study participant was invited to reflect his learning experiences in an interview with the researcher. Theme-based analysis of the interview revealed that the manner in which teachers correct errors can have a considerable impact on student motivation to improve second language writing. The study participant indicated that over-correction of language errors inhibited his motivation to write in second language and that language teachers may consider providing an adequate amount of correction and feedback. Pedagogical recommendations are made to help teachers make appropriate corrections for their students’ writing papers. Keywords: second language writing, error correction, theme analysis DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/94-02 Publication date: December 31st 202

EFL Agreeing and Disagreeing Discourses in Facebook

Agreeing and disagreeing are two common speech acts that occur in social conversations. Driven by the fact that there are direct and indirect way for expressing agreement and disagreement, and there are also mitigating strategies to protect interlocutors from face-threatening in disagreeing discourses, this study examined EFL students’ use of discourse strategies in their Facebook interaction. Thirty-four pre-intermediate EFL students at a university in Vietnam took part in this study. Data analysis shows that direct discourses is linguistically limited while indirect ones exhibit wider language use. Students also demonstrate two different directions of using mitigating strategies for their disagreeing discourses. Some pedagogical implications are also suggested in this study. Keywords: agreeing, disagreeing, direct, indirect, strategies DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/86-03 Publication date: February 28th 202

Application of Google Docs in English for Specific Purposes Collaborative Writing

English language learners today have considerable opportunities to practice their writing skill via their peer interaction in Web 2.0 platforms, such as Blogs, Wikis, and Google Docs. Different studies have investigated the influence of these platforms on student writing collaboration and interaction, but few studies had explored factors that may affect English for Specific Purposes (ESP) student collaborative writing in Vietnamese settings. This study, therefore, attempts to explore the impact of four factors, namely gender, student attitudes towards learning English, student economic status, and availability of English at home on Google Docs-based interaction and collaborative writing outcome at a southern university in Vietnam. Fifty participants took part in this study and they worked collaboratively in small groups in Google Docs to finish two writing tasks and complete a survey afterwards. Analysis of their survey, interaction, and writing outcome suggests that gender, student attitudes towards learning English, and the number of books available at their homes have an impact on their writing outcome whereas their economic status did not seemingly affect their writing quality. Some pertinent pedagogical implications are also discussed in this paper. Keywords: Google Docs, collaborative writing, English for Specific Purposes DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/78-02 Publication date: April 30th 202

Carrot hairy roots (Daucus carota L.) characterisation and optimisation for high β‐carotene extraction

Hairy roots are widely known as a biological system for the production of highly diverse biomolecules. β‐carotene – a precursor for vitamin A – is known to be an anti‐oxidant and anti‐gastric cancer and protection agent against cardiovascular disease, heart disease and stroke. β‐carotene has been chemically synthesised and consumed by humans. However, the chemical process often produces a by‐product that may be harmful to human health. Therefore, this study established a protocol to induce hairy roots (HRs) from a Vietnamese carrot variety and produce natural β‐carotene. The Rhizobium rhizogenes ATCC15834 harbouring Ri plasmid and a Vietnamese carrot variety were used as materials for genetic transformation and HR induction studies. The result showed that approximately 50 HR lines were obtained. Culture medium supplemented with 30 mg/L of sucrose that gave the highest biomass of HR was shown in carrot HR line 30, which had a doubling time of 6.5 days. The highest content of β‐carotene extraction, at 128 mg/100g hairy roots, was achieved with a ratio volume (v/v) of 2‐propanol and plant samples of 20:1, followed by two hours’ incubation with 2‐propanol at 60 °C. Our study reveals a highly efficient protocol for Vietnamese carrot hairy root establishment and multiplication. A very efficient protocol for β‐carotene extraction from the hairy root was established to produce natural β‐carotene that achieves the same β‐carotene quantity as that produced by normal roots. This study provides new insight into the production of high‐content and natural β‐carotene for therapeutic application

Synthesis and biological evaluation of shikimic acid derivatives

From shikimic acid, new series of oseltamivir analogues containing either ether sulfur or ether oxygen at C-3 position were prepared and evaluated for their biological activities. This is the first report on synthesis of oseltamivir analogues with ether sulfur at C-3. Except for compounds 4d, 4f, 7c and 7d, the remaining compounds were found to be active against MCF-7, LU-1 and KB cell lines. As oseltamivir had no cytotoxicity against different cell lines such as MCF-7, LU-1, KB, MDCK, MRC-5, VERO, MK and 293, the modification of alkyl groups at C-3 of the oseltamivir ring framework could significantly increase the cytotoxicity for this class of compounds. Loss of neuraminidase inhibition activity of these synthetic oseltamivir analogues suggested that the alkyl ether groups at C-3 should be critical for their anti-neuraminidase activity

Structure elucidation off seven steroids from Sinularia conferta.

Seven steroids were isolated from the methanol extract of the soft corals Sinularia conferta. These steroids were elucidated as 7a-methoxyergosta-5,24(28)-diene-3b-ol (1), ergosta-5-ene-3β,7α-diol (2), 3β,7α-dihydroxyergosta-5,24(28)-diene (3), 3β-hydroxyergosta-5,24(28)-diene-7-one (4), ergosta-24(28)-ene-3β,5α,6β-triol-6-acetate (5), ergosta-24(28)-ene-3β,5α,6β-triol (6), and ergosta-3β,5α,6β-triol (7) by 1D and 2D-NMR experiments and comparison with reported data. Keywords. Sinularia conferta, Alcyoniidae, soft coral, steroid

CHOLESTANE-TYPE STEROIDS FROM THE OCTOCORAL Verrucella corona

Using various chromatographic separations, three cholestane-type steroids were isolated from the methanol extract of the octocoral Verrucella corona. Their structures were elucidated to be (22E)-cholesta-5,22-dien-3β-ol-7-one (1), trans-liagosterol (2), and guggulsterol-II (3), by detailed analysis of the 1D and 2D-NMR data as well as comparison with those reported. Among them, compound 2 showed significant cytotoxicity against eight human cancer cell lines as HepG2, HL-60, KB, LNCaP, LU-1, MCF7, SK-Mel2, and SW480

Evaluation of Xpert MTB/RIF and MODS assay for the diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) in children is rarely confirmed due to the lack of effective diagnostic tools; only 10 to 15% of pediatric TB is smear positive due to paucibacillary samples and the difficulty of obtaining high-quality specimens from children. We evaluate here the accuracy of Xpert MTB/RIF in comparison with the Micoroscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS) assay for diagnosis of TB in children using samples stored during a previously reported evaluation of the MODS assay. METHODS: Ninety-six eligible children presenting with suspected TB were recruited consecutively at Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City Viet Nam between May to December 2008 and tested by Ziehl-Neelsen smear, MODS and Mycobacterial growth Indicator (MGIT, Becton Dickinson) culture. All samples sent by the treating clinician for testing were included in the analysis. An aliquot of processed sample deposit was stored at −20°C and tested in the present study by Xpert MTB/RIF test. 183 samples from 73 children were available for analysis by Xpert. Accuracy measures of MODS and Xpert were summarized. RESULTS: The sensitivity (%) in detecting children with a clinical diagnosis of TB for smear, MODS and Xpert were 37.9 [95% CI 25.5; 51.6], 51.7 [38.2; 65.0] and 50.0 [36.6; 63.4], respectively (per patient analysis). Xpert was significantly more sensitive than smear (P=0.046). Testing of additional samples did not increase case detection for MODS while testing of a second sputum sample by Xpert detected only two additional cases. The positive and negative predictive values (%) of Xpert were 100.0 [88.0; 100.0] and 34.1 [20.5; 49.9], respectively, while those of MODS were 96.8 [83.3; 99.9] and 33.3 [19.6; 49.5]. CONCLUSION: MODS culture and Xpert MTB/RIF test have similar sensitivities for the detection of pediatric TB. Xpert MTB RIF is able to detect tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance within two hours. MODS allows isolation of cultures for further drug susceptibility testing but requires approximately one week to become positive. Testing of multiple samples by xpert detected only two additional cases and the benefits must be considered against costs in each setting. Further research is required to evaluate the optimal integration of Xpert into pediatric testing algorithms