Oral History Interview: Patricia Garza (Mechi)

This interview is one of series conducted concerning the Oral History of Appalachia. Mechi was an author, teacher, social worker, and healer. Her ancestry was Choctaw, Cherokee, and Irish. She discusses: living in Mexico before she moved to Appalachia; comparisons between Native American spirituality and Buddhism; her experiences with different religions; Native American culture; relationships between men and women and her views on the differences between men and women, with some discussion on abusive relationships; her social work; the government welfare program; her negative views about modern America; and her views on multicultural America.https://mds.marshall.edu/oral_history/1434/thumbnail.jp

Factores personales, familiares, escolares, culturales y sociales correlacionados con el rendimiento académico: estudio en alumnos de la Licenciatura en Administración de la UANL.

El rendimiento académico es un elemento relevante para la educación debido a que manifiesta el nivel de conocimientos que presenta un alumno en un área determinada. El objetivo del estudio fue identificar si el rendimiento académico (promedio de calificaciones) está relacionado con factores personales, familiares, escolares, culturales y sociales, y también con los programas educativos y los programas de entretenimiento y otras variables como el ingreso familiar, uso de la biblioteca y el consumo de medios. La muestra se conformó por 205 estudiantes de segundo semestre (85 hombres y 120 mujeres). Los participantes con edades que oscilan entre los 17 y 24 años que cursan la Licenciatura en Administración de la Facultad de Contaduría Pública y Administración, de la UANL. Los resultados indican que 6 de las 26 variables resultaron con correlación significativa: competencia cultural, alfabetización, competencia social, motivación intrínseca, estrategias de aprendizaje y hábitos de estudio

The Interpretation of N+N and V+N Compounds by Spanish Heritage Speakers

This study investigates how Spanish heritage language speakers interpret two types of compound constructions in Spanish: head-initial [N+N] N (e.g., obra cumber ‘masterpiece,’ lit. ‘work summit’) and exocentric [V+N] N (e.g., pelagatos ‘poor man,’ lit. ‘peel+cats’). It was hypothesized that the greater the exposure of participants to English (that has right-headed compounds) the less Spanish-like their pattern of interpreting N-N compounds as left-headed. Further, it was hypothesized that Spanish heritage language speakers who acquire the V-O construction early (prior to age 12) and are thus more likely to be familiar with the conventional mechanism of word formation with the V-N configuration would be more accurate in interpreting [V+N] N than [N+N] N compounds, regardless of their degree of English-exposure. Finally, it was predicted that compounds that are higher in semantic transparency/opacity would be interpreted more accurately than those lower in opacity. Spanish-English speakers were administered a compound interpretation task in which participants were to select the correct definition for 40 compound words in Spanish. Participants were classified into three groups: late sequential bilinguals who acquired Spanish monolingually in Mexico and learned English after age 12, early sequential bilinguals who acquired Spanish monolingually in the home but came into contact with English at approximately age 6 when they started school, and simultaneous bilinguals who acquired both languages early at home and for who English has been the language of instruction and the dominant language in most social contexts. The performance of these groups was compared to that of a control group consisting of Spanish-dominant speakers. The findings showed support for the first hypothesis: individuals who acquired English late were better in interpreting the compounds that those who had more exposure to English. The second hypothesis was also supported in that all groups bilinguals interpreted [V+N] N more accurately than [N+N] N compounds regardless of their degree of English-dominance. Finally, compound transparency affected interpretation accuracy. These findings indicate that bilinguals’ performance on compound interpretation in one of their languages in affected not only by linguistic factors (headedness, transparency) but also by bilinguals’ context of acquisition and use of their two languages

A Framework for Evaluating Learning Progressions on Features Related to Their Intended Uses

In recent years, learning progressions (LPs) have captured the interest of educators and policy makers. There have been numerous efforts to develop LPs aligned to college and career readiness standards, to unpack these standards, and to provide more clarity on the pathways students follow to reach them. There is great variation, however, in the structure, content, and features of LPs, and these have implications for the LP’s most appropriate use. The purpose of this research was to devise a framework to understand and evaluate key features of an LP, including its structure, content, usability, and validity evidence. We maintain that educators and other stakeholders should understand these key features so they can evaluate whether an LP is appropriate for an intended use

Estudio prospectivo y tetrospectivo de la incidencia y prevalencia de fracturas de la tercera falange en potros warmblood y su relación con la claudicación

La relación entre el excesivo recorte del casco y la conformación de este con la incidencia de fracturas de tercera falange ha sido previamente descrita, pero la presencia de signos clínicos de claudicación al momento de la fractura, así como la frecuencia y tiempo necesario para sanar no es bien entendida. El objetivo de este estudio es el evaluar la incidencia y prevalencia de la fracturas tipo VII de la tercera falange en potros de raza Warmblood e investigar la correlación entre la existencia de fractura y la manifestación de signos de claudicación. Este estudio fue realizado en un criadero en Montemorelos Nuevo León, México y se dividió en dos etapas. Durante la etapa retrospectiva se revisaron 698 expedientes médicos del período comprendido entre los años 2006 al 2013. Fueron incluidos aquellos que se encontraban en un rango de los 0 a 7 meses de edad, que presentaron signos de dolor y presentaban alguna fractura de tercera falange de cualquiera de los 4 miembros la cual fue diagnosticada mediante radiología. En la etapa prospectiva se incluyeron un total de 35 individuos, 23 potros y 12 potrancas a los cuales se les tomo una radiografía dorso proximal palmaro distal de 65º del casco en ambos miembros anteriores, en la primera semana de vida y después se repitió al primero, segundo, cuarto, sexto y octavo mes. Todos ellos vivieron bajo las mismas condiciones alimenticias, extensivas y de manejo. Los resultados del análisis de datos en la etapa retrospectiva demostraron que el proceso lateral palmar es el mas comúnmente afectado, contando con 19 fracturas del proceso palmar lateral derecho y 11 fracturas del proceso palmar lateral del miembro anterior derecho. En la etapa prospectiva 25 (71%) de los 35 individuos presentaron fractura tipo VII de la tercera falange en el periodo de tiempo establecido, de los cuales solo 2 de los 25 mostraron signos de dolor en el dígito. La mayor prevalencia de fracturas tipo VII es encontrada en ambos estudio retrospectivo y prospectivo se encuentra alrededor los 3 meses de edad y los datos encontrados demuestran que existe muy baja prevalencia de síntomas clínicos de dolor asociados a este tipo de fractura. ABSTRACT Introduction The relation between the effect of extensive hoof trimming and hoof conformation with the incidence of third phalanx fractures in foals has already been reported, but the presence of clinical signs at the time of the fracture, as well as the frequency and time necessary to heal is not well described. Objective The aim of this preliminary study is to evaluate the incidence and prevalence of type VII third phalanx fractures in Warmblood foals and investigate the correlation between the existence of a fracture and the manifestation of clinical sings of lameness. Material and Methods The study was performed in a breeding farm in Nuevo León, Mexico. The study was divided in two stages, during the first stage, 698 medical records were reviewed from the years 2006 to 2013 of foals ranging between 1 and 7 months of age, and only foals that were lame and had radiological evidence of a P3 fracture type VII, were included. On the second stage, a prospective study was designed in which radiographs of the third phalanx of both forelimbs of 35 foals were taken at 1week, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 months of age, all of them live under identical management conditions and are kept together as a group in grass paddocks. Results These records showed that the lateral palmar process of P3 was most commonly affected, involving 17 fractures in the right limb and 11 in the left limb. In this prospective study a total of 25 (71%) of the 35 foals had radiographic evidence of a type VII third phalanx fracture. Only 2 of the 25 showed signs of lameness at the time of the radiographic evaluation. In both prospective and retrospective study the higher prevalence of fractures was reported at the age of 3 months

The role of high mobility group of nucleosome binding proteins in stem cell biology and differentiation

The high mobility group of nucleosome binding proteins (HMGNs) are chromatin architectural proteins that bind specifically to nucleosomes and influence chromatin structure and DNA-dependent functions. However, the mechanisms underlying these events remain largely unknown. HMGN1 and HMGN2 are highly expressed by embryonic stem cells and are downregulated as differentiation proceeds. Nevertheless, embryonic and adult neural stem cells retain elevated levels of these proteins. Chromatin plasticity is essential for the pluri- and multipotency of stem cells and it is achieved by maintaining an open and dynamic chromatin conformation. Conversely, developmental potential seems to be restricted by chromatin condensation. The present work shows that loss of HMGN1 or HMGN2 in pluripotent embryonal carcinoma cells leads to increased spontaneous neuronal differentiation, which is accompanied by a reduction in pluripotency markers and higher gene expression of lineage-specific transcription factors. Inhibition of signalling pathways relevant for neurogenesis does not re-establish the phenotype observed in Hmgn2-knockout cells. Withdrawal of the factors sustaining pluripotency in embryonal carcinoma cells results in higher induction of pro-neural factors in cells lacking HMGN1 or HMGN2. Neural stem cells derived from Hmgn-knockout cells also display higher gene expression of pro-neural transcription factors and increased spontaneous neuronal differentiation. Loss of HMGN2 disrupts the active histone modification landscape, and therefore affects the chromatin structure at local and global levels. The proposition is that the local changes directly influence the transcription rates of pluripotency and lineage-specific transcription factors, while the global changes may restrict chromatin plasticity. The present data support a hypothesis whereby HMGNs contribute to the chromatin plasticity of stem cells by promoting an active histone modification landscape and open chromatin conformation, which are essential for preserving the self-renewal and developmental potential of stem cells