The role of morphological markedness in the processing of number and gender agreement in Spanish: an event-related potential investigation

Current morphological theory assumes that feature values, such as masculine and feminine or singular and plural, are asymmetrically represented. That is, one member of the opposition (e.g. feminine for gender, plural for number) is assumed to be marked, and the other one, unmarked. The present study examines how these asymmetries impact agreement resolution in Spanish. Agreement was manipulated between a noun acting as head of a relative clause and an adjective located inside the relative clause (e.g. catedral que parecía inmensa “cathedral that looked huge”). Half of the nouns were feminine (marked) and the other half, masculine (unmarked). Half of the nouns were used in the plural (marked) and the other half, in the singular (unmarked). Twenty-seven Spanish native speakers read 240 sentences while their brain activity was recorded with EEG and performed a grammaticality judgment. Results showed that both number and gender violations elicited a central-posterior P600, a component associated with syntactic repair, and a late anterior negativity, argued to reflect working memory costs. Only the P600 was affected by markedness. It started earlier for violations where the mismatching feature was marked. Moreover, it was larger for errors where the mismatching feature was marked, although this amplitude modulation only emerged for number, possibly due to differences in how number and gender cues were realized (i.e. both masculine and feminine showed overt inflection, but singular was uninflected relative to plural). These results suggest that the parser is sensitive to markedness asymmetries in the course of online processing

Tutoring Multilingual Students: Shattering the Myths

This is the author's accepted manuscript, made available 18 months after publication with the permission of the publisher.The increasing linguistic and cultural diversification of North America has resulted in large numbers of multilingual students attending college and university and seeking curricular and extracurricular support with reading and writing (Ruecker, 2011; Teranishi, C. Suárez-Orozco, & M. Suárez-Orozco, 2011). In the past, learning and writing centers hired “ESL specialists” to provide support. But this model, given the ubiquity of multilingual students in higher education today, is no longer sustainable. Instead, all tutors must learn the skills necessary to support the academic literacy development of these writers, and that means that the way tutors are trained must change. Because the lived reality of the majority of tutors (and center administrators) is monolingual (Bailey, 2012; Barron & Grimm, 2002), examining the myths generally held about multilingual students is essential to both our development as tutors and the development of our students as academic readers and writers of English. Only after raising critical awareness about these “misguided ideas” will training specific to tutoring multilingual students make sense and be put into practice (Gillespie & Lerner, 2008, p. 117). In this article, I present and challenge myths about multilingual writers and myths about how to tutor them

Tetanus toxin Hc fragment induces the formation of ceramide platforms and protects neuronal cells against oxidative stress

Tetanus toxin (TeTx) is the protein, synthesized by the anaerobic bacteria Clostridium tetani, which causes tetanus disease. TeTx gains entry into target cells by means of its interaction with lipid rafts, which are membrane domains enriched in sphingomyelin and cholesterol. However, the exact mechanism of host membrane binding remains to be fully established. In the present study we used the recombinant carboxyl terminal fragment from TeTx (Hc-TeTx), the domain responsible for target neuron binding, showing that Hc-TeTx induces a moderate but rapid and sustained increase in the ceramide/sphingomyelin ratio in primary cultures of cerebellar granule neurons and in NGF-differentiated PC12 cells, as well as induces the formation of ceramide platforms in the plasma membrane. The mentioned increase is due to the promotion of neutral sphingomyelinase activity and not to the de novo synthesis, since GW4869, a specific neutral sphingomyelinase inhibitor, prevents neutral sphingomyelinase activity increase and formation of ceramide platforms. Moreover, neutral sphingomyelinase inhibition with GW4869 prevents Hc-TeTx-triggered signaling (Akt phosphorylation), as well as the protective effect of Hc-TeTx on PC12 cells subjected to oxidative stress, while siRNA directed against nSM2 prevents protection by Hc-TeTx of NSC-34 cells against oxidative insult. Finally, neutral sphingomyelinase activity seems not to be related with the internalization of Hc-TeTx into PC12 cells. Thus, the presented data shed light on the mechanisms triggered by TeTx after membrane binding, which could be related with the events leading to the neuroprotective action exerted by the Hc-TeTx fragment

Genetic landscape of 6089 inherited retinal dystrophies affected cases in Spain and their therapeutic and extended epidemiological implications

Inherited retinal diseases (IRDs), defined by dysfunction or progressive loss of photoreceptors, are disorders characterized by elevated heterogeneity, both at the clinical and genetic levels. Our main goal was to address the genetic landscape of IRD in the largest cohort of Spanish patients reported to date. A retrospective hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out on 6089 IRD affected individuals (from 4403 unrelated families), referred for genetic testing from all the Spanish autonomous communities. Clinical, demographic and familiar data were collected from each patient, including family pedigree, age of appearance of visual symptoms, presence of any systemic findings and geographical origin. Genetic studies were performed to the 3951 families with available DNA using different molecular techniques. Overall, 53.2% (2100/3951) of the studied families were genetically characterized, and 1549 different likely causative variants in 142 genes were identified. The most common phenotype encountered is retinitis pigmentosa (RP) (55.6% of families, 2447/4403). The most recurrently mutated genes were PRPH2, ABCA4 and RS1 in autosomal dominant (AD), autosomal recessive (AR) and X-linked (XL) NON-RP cases, respectively; RHO, USH2A and RPGR in AD, AR and XL for non-syndromic RP; and USH2A and MYO7A in syndromic IRD. Pathogenic variants c.3386G > T (p.Arg1129Leu) in ABCA4 and c.2276G > T (p.Cys759Phe) in USH2A were the most frequent variants identified. Our study provides the general landscape for IRD in Spain, reporting the largest cohort ever presented. Our results have important implications for genetic diagnosis, counselling and new therapeutic strategies to both the Spanish population and other related populations.This work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) of the Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS; PI16/00425 and PI19/00321), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER, 06/07/0036), IIS-FJD BioBank (PT13/0010/0012), Comunidad de Madrid (CAM, RAREGenomics Project, B2017/BMD-3721), European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), the Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE), Fundación Ramón Areces, Fundación Conchita Rábago and the University Chair UAM-IIS-FJD of Genomic Medicine. Irene Perea-Romero is supported by a PhD fellowship from the predoctoral Program from ISCIII (FI17/00192). Ionut F. Iancu is supported by a grant from the Comunidad de Madrid (CAM, PEJ-2017-AI/BMD7256). Marta del Pozo-Valero is supported by a PhD grant from the Fundación Conchita Rábago. Berta Almoguera is supported by a Juan Rodes program from ISCIII (JR17/00020). Pablo Minguez is supported by a Miguel Servet program from ISCIII (CP16/00116). Marta Corton is supported by a Miguel Servet program from ISCIII (CPII17/00006). The funders played no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, manuscript preparation and/or publication decisions

The World at America\u27s Doorstep: Service Learning in Preparation to Teach Global Students

Immigration trends in the United States necessitate the preparation of new K-12 teachers to teach diverse populations and to recognize the capabilities of immigrant and refugee children. Transformative learning that results from service learning offers a promising opportunity for preservice teachers to gain awareness and change their attitudes toward these children. This study examined the role of service learning where undergraduate education students tutored at a local refugee agency or elementary school. An analysis of their journal entries indicated changes in beliefs and attitudes toward refugee and other immigrant children, including the acknowledgement of their motivation and determination when confronted by challenges not faced by students born in the United States