No. 9, September 2021: Leaders’ Perspectives on the Preparation of Bilingual/Dual Language Teachers

This research and policy brief uplifts findings from a 2020 survey of 223 California school district leaders. Findings regarding the preparation of beginning bilingual/dual language educators indicate that leaders rated teachers’ linguistic competencies in two languages as the most important ability, followed by teachers’ understanding of bilingualism and biliteracy development and linguistic pedagogical knowledge. Respondents rated beginning bilingual teachers’ preparation to meet the needs of their districts/schools as “moderately well” (M=3.1 out of 5). The brief concludes by identifying policy recommendations for state and local levels as well as for institutions of higher education policies and practice in this statewide “new ecology of biliteracy”: (1) data collection and reporting on bilingual teacher demographics and authorization; (2) increased quality of fieldwork and clinical experiences for future bilingual teachers; (3) increased funding for bilingual teacher preparation programs to diversity pipelines into bilingual education preparation programs, recruitment, support, and program completion; and (4) differentiated professional development experiences for beginning bilingual teachers including mentoring, learning communities, and cross-departmental teams.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceel_education_policybriefs/1008/thumbnail.jp

Classical and semi-classical energy conditions

The standard energy conditions of classical general relativity are (mostly) linear in the stress-energy tensor, and have clear physical interpretations in terms of geodesic focussing, but suffer the significant drawback that they are often violated by semi-classical quantum effects. In contrast, it is possible to develop non-standard energy conditions that are intrinsically non-linear in the stress-energy tensor, and which exhibit much better well-controlled behaviour when semi-classical quantum effects are introduced, at the cost of a less direct applicability to geodesic focussing. In this article we will first review the standard energy conditions and their various limitations. (Including the connection to the Hawking--Ellis type I, II, III, and IV classification of stress-energy tensors). We shall then turn to the averaged, nonlinear, and semi-classical energy conditions, and see how much can be done once semi-classical quantum effects are included.Comment: V1: 25 pages. Draft chapter, on which the related chapter of the book "Wormholes, Warp Drives and Energy Conditions" (to be published by Springer), will be based. V2: typos fixed. V3: small typo fixe

Maslinic Acid, a Natural Triterpene, Induces a Death Receptor-Mediated Apoptotic Mechanism in Caco-2 p53-Deficient Colon Adenocarcinoma Cells

Maslinic acid (MA) is a natural triterpene present in high concentrations in the waxy skin of olives. We have previously reported that MA induces apoptotic cell death via the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway in HT29 colon cancer cells. Here, we show that MA induces apoptosis in Caco-2 colon cancer cells via the extrinsic apoptotic pathway in a dose-dependent manner. MA triggered a series of effects associated with apoptosis, including the cleavage of caspases -8 and -3, and increased the levels of t-Bid within a few hours of its addition to the culture medium. MA had no effect on the expression of the Bax protein, release of cytochrome-c or on the mitochondrial membrane potential. This suggests that MA triggered the extrinsic apoptotic pathway in this cell type, as opposed to the intrinsic pathway found in the HT29 colon-cancer cell line. Our results suggest that the apoptotic mechanism induced in Caco-2 may be different from that found in HT29 colon-cancer cells, and that in Caco-2 cells MA seems to work independently of p53. Natural antitumoral agents capable of activating both the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways could be of great use in treating colon-cancer of whatever origin.This study was supported by grants Group BIO 157 from the Technology and Innovation Council of the Andalucian regional government and AGL2006-12210-C03-02/ALI, SAF2005-01627, ISCIII-RTICC (RD06/0020/0046) from the Spanish government and European Union FEDER funds

Chemical composition and antigenotoxic properties of Lippia alba essential oils

The present work evaluated the chemical composition and the DNA protective effect of the essential oils (EOs) from Lippia alba against bleomycin-induced genotoxicity. EO constituents were determined by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis. The major compounds encountered being citral (33% geranial and 25% neral), geraniol (7%) and trans-β-caryophyllene (7%) for L. alba specimen COL512077, and carvone (38%), limonene (33%) and bicyclosesquiphellandrene (8%) for the other, COL512078. The genotoxicity and antigenotoxicity of EO and the compounds citral, carvone and limonene, were assayed using the SOS Chromotest in Escherichia coli. The EOs were not genotoxic in the SOS chromotest, but one of the major compound (limonene) showed genotoxicity at doses between 97 and 1549 mM. Both EOs protected bacterial cells against bleomycin-induced genotoxicity. Antigenotoxicity in the two L. alba chemotypes was related to the major compounds, citral and carvone, respectively. The results were discussed in relation to the chemopreventive potential of L. alba EOs and its major compounds

Excursions into the Evolution of Early-Type Galaxies in Clusters

Recent observations have revealed that early-type galaxies (ETG) in clusters comprise an old galaxy population that is evolving passively. We review some recent observations from the ground and from HST that show that ETG have undergone a significant amount of luminosity evolution. This evolution is traced by two projections of the fundamental plane (FP): the size-magnitude relation (SMR) and the color-magnitude relation (CMR). We will briefly discuss the relevance of all these results in the context of the universality of the IMF.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proccedings of "New Quests in Stellar Astrophysics: The Link Between Stars and Cosmology, Chavez et al. ed

The Rossiter-McLaughlin effect in Exoplanet Research

The Rossiter-McLaughlin effect occurs during a planet's transit. It provides the main means of measuring the sky-projected spin-orbit angle between a planet's orbital plane, and its host star's equatorial plane. Observing the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect is now a near routine procedure. It is an important element in the orbital characterisation of transiting exoplanets. Measurements of the spin-orbit angle have revealed a surprising diversity, far from the placid, Kantian and Laplacian ideals, whereby planets form, and remain, on orbital planes coincident with their star's equator. This chapter will review a short history of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, how it is modelled, and will summarise the current state of the field before describing other uses for a spectroscopic transit, and alternative methods of measuring the spin-orbit angle.Comment: Review to appear as a chapter in the "Handbook of Exoplanets", ed. H. Deeg & J.A. Belmont

The effect of systematic pediatric care on neonatal mortality and hospitalizations of infants born with oral clefts

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) increase mortality and morbidity risks for affected infants especially in less developed countries. This study aimed at assessing the effects of systematic pediatric care on neonatal mortality and hospitalizations of infants with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) in South America.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The intervention group included live-born infants with isolated or associated CL/P in 47 hospitals between 2003 and 2005. The control group included live-born infants with CL/P between 2001 and 2002 in the same hospitals. The intervention group received systematic pediatric care between the 7^thand 28^thday of life. The primary outcomes were mortality between the 7^thand 28^thday of life and hospitalization days in this period among survivors adjusted for relevant baseline covariates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were no significant mortality differences between the intervention and control groups. However, surviving infants with associated CL/P in the intervention group had fewer hospitalization days by about six days compared to the associated control group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Early systematic pediatric care may significantly reduce neonatal hospitalizations of infants with CL/P and additional birth defects in South America. Given the large healthcare and financial burden of CL/P on affected families and the relatively low cost of systematic pediatric care, improving access to such care may be a cost-effective public policy intervention.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00097149">NCT00097149</a></p

Description of the methodology used in an ongoing pediatric care interventional study of children born with cleft lip and palate in South America [NCT00097149]

BACKGROUND: The contribution of birth defects, including cleft lip and palate, to neonatal and infant mortality and morbidity is substantial. As other mortality and morbidity causes including infections, hygiene, prematurity, and nutrition are eradicated in less developed countries, the burden of birth defects will increase proportionally. METHODS/DESIGN: We are using cleft lip and palate as a sentinel birth defect to evaluate its burden on neonatal and infant health and to assess the effectiveness of systematic pediatric care during the first month and first two years of life in decreasing this burden. The neonatal intervention, consisting of weekly pediatric evaluation and referral to appropriate care, is delivered to about 696 infants born with cleft lip and/or palate in 47 hospitals in South America. Neonatal mortality in this group will be compared to that in a retrospective control group of about 464 infants born with cleft lip and/or palate in the same hospitals. The subgroup of infants with isolated clefts of both the lip and palate (about 264) is also randomized into two groups, intervened and non-intervened, and further followed up over 2 years. Intervened cases are evaluated by pediatricians every three months and referred for appropriate care. The intervened and non-intervened cases will be compared over study outcomes to evaluate the intervention effectiveness. Non-intervened cases are matched and compared to healthy controls to assess the burden of cleft lip and palate. Outcomes include child's neurological and physical development and family social and economic conditions. DISCUSSION: Large-scale clinical trials to improve infant health in developing countries are commonly suggested, making it important to share the methods used in ongoing studies with other investigators implementing similar research. We describe here the content of our ongoing pediatric care study in South America. We hope that this may help researchers targeting this area to plan their studies more effectively and encourage the development of similar research efforts to target other birth defects or infant outcomes such as prematurity and low birth weight

Preliminary molecular genetic analysis of the Receptor Interacting Protein 140 (RIP140) in women affected by endometriosis

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a complex disease affecting 10–15% of women at reproductive age. Very few genes are known to be altered in this pathology. RIP140 protein is an important cofactor of oestrogen receptor and many other nuclear receptors. Targeting disruption experiments of nrip1 gene in mice have demonstrated that nuclear receptor interacting protein 1 gene (nrip1), the gene encoding for rip140 protein, is essential for female fertility. Specifically, mice null for nrip1 gene are viable, but females are infertile because of complete failure of mature follicles to release oocytes at ovulation stage. The ovarian phenotype observed in mice devoid of rip140 closely resembles the luteinized unruptured follicle (LUF) syndrome that is observed in a high proportion of women affected of endometriosis or idiopathic infertility. Here we present a preliminary work that analyses the role of NRIP1 gene in humans. METHODS: We have sequenced the complete coding region of NRIP1 gene in 20 unrelated patients affected by endometriosis. We have performed genetic association studies by using the DNA variants identified during the sequencing process. RESULTS: We identified six DNA variants within the coding sequence of NRIP1 gene, and five of them generated amino acid changes in the protein. We observed that three of twenty sequenced patients have specific combinations of amino-acid variants within the RIP140 protein that are poorly represented in the control population (p = 0.006). Moreover, we found that Arg448Gly, a common polymorphism located within NRIP1 gene, is associated with endometriosis in a case-control study (59 cases and 141 controls, p(allele positivity test )= 0.027). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that NRIP1 gene variants, separately or in combinations, might act as predisposing factors for human endometriosis