Dilemmas and Paradoxes of English Language-and-Culture Teaching: Foreign or International?

The article presents the many dilemmas concerning the status of English language-and-culture (as a conjoint phenomenon) and the approach to teach it in a non-native environment. It especially focuses on the alternatives of teaching English as a foreign or as an international language, pointing to the problems relating to the choice of any of these particular frameworks.The article presents the many dilemmas concerning the status of English language-and-culture (as a conjoint phenomenon) and the approach to teach it in a non-native environment. It especially focuses on the alternatives of teaching English as a foreign or as an international language, pointing to the problems relating to the choice of any of these particular frameworks

Terminological and conceptual dilemma: strategies and processes as elicited through verbal reports on reading

The paper analyses the ways in which the terms processes and strategies are defined within literature reporting verbal protocols on reading. The main argument presented concerns the fact that distinguishing between the two terms in not always based on the same criteria

Indicators of Relatedness in Adolescent Male Groups: Toward a Qualitative Description

Self-determination theorists (SDT) argue that the satisfaction of the need for relatedness is essential for growth and well-being. However, the current research has yet to account for the unique ways in which adolescent males engage in behaviors to fulfill their need for relatedness within their peer groups. This qualitative study investigates relatedness in six 16-to 17-year-old adolescent males. Independent observations of videotape data and a collaborative analysis revealed 13 main indicators of moment-to-moment relatedness. These indicators include expressing belonging, referring to shared experiences, and helping others out. The indicators of relatedness are discussed in the context of SDT, and additional theoretical frameworks provide an integrative understanding of the construct. Implications for research on the need for relatedness across diverse settings and populations are discussed and the utility of the indicators for professionals who work with adolescent males is considered

Neurosarkoidoza — patomechanizm, objawy kliniczne, diagnostyka i leczenie

Neurosarkoidoza jest odmianą sarkoidozy — uogólnionej, przewlekłej choroby układu odpornościowego — przebiegającą z objawami ze strony ośrodkowego układu nerwowego. Jej etiologia nie jest dokładnie poznana. Najczęściej wymienia się przyczyny autoimmunologiczne, genetyczne, wirusowe i/lub bakteryjne oraz działanie związków nieorganicznych. Uwzględniając możliwą patogenezę choroby, stworzono dwa eksperymentalne modele zwierzęce — Mycobacterium tuberculosis i Propionibacterium acne. Sarkoidoza występuje zwykle między 20. a 40. rokiem życia. Podstawą rozpoznania jest stwierdzenie w badaniach obrazowych charakterystycznych ziarniniaków nieserowaciejących, które mogą występować w większości narządów wewnętrznych, najczęściej w płucach i węzłach chłonnych. W diagnostyce różnicowej pomocne są badania czynnościowe płuc oraz badanie odczynu tuberkulinowego. Istotną rolę w weryfikacji rozpoznania klinicznego odgrywa badanie histopatologiczne. Trudności diagnostyczne może sprawiać fakt, że w około 20% ziarniniaki ulegają serowaceniu, a kliniczne objawy choroby są często nieswoiste lub jej przebieg jest bezobjawowy. U niektórych chorych zmiany ustępują samoistnie, a w cięższych przypadkach podstawowe zastosowanie ma leczenie immunosupresyjne. Autorzy przedstawiają aktualne poglądy na temat patogenezy, diagnostyki oraz leczenia sarkoidozy, a zwłaszcza postaci choroby przebiegającej z zajęciem układu nerwowego (neurosarkoidoza)

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors in Regulation of Cytochromes P450: New Way to Overcome Multidrug Resistance?

Embryonic and tumour cells are able to protect themselves against various harmful compounds. In human pathology, this phenomenon exists in the form of multidrug resistance (MDR) that significantly deteriorates success of anticancer treatment. Cytochromes P450 (CYPs) play one of the key roles in the xenobiotic metabolism. CYP expression could contribute to resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy. CYP epoxygenases (CYP2C and CYP2J) metabolize about 20% of clinically important drugs. Besides of drug metabolism, CYP epoxygenases and their metabolites play important role in embryos, normal body function, and tumors. They participate in angiogenesis, mitogenesis, and cell signaling. It was found that CYP epoxygenases are affected by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα). Based on the results of current studies, we assume that PPARs ligands may regulate CYP2C and CYP2J and in some extent they may contribute to overcoming of MDR in patients with different types of tumours

Aromatisation of steroids in the bivalve Mytilus trossulus

In this study, we demonstrated the presence of the enzymatic complex able to perform aromatization (estrogen synthesis) in both, the microsomal and mitochondrial fractions of gills and gonads from Mytilus trossulus. Based on in vitro experiments, we highlighted the importance of temperature as the limiting factor of aromatisation efficiency (AE) in mussels. After testing range of temperatures (4–23 °C), the highest AE was found during incubation at 8 °C and pH 7.6 (41.66 pmol/h/mg protein in gills and 58.37 pmol/h/mg protein in gonads). The results were confirmed during field studies where the most efficient aromatisation occurred in bivalves collected in spring while the least effective in those collected in winter. During in vitro studies, AE turned out to be more intensive in female gonads than in male gonads. The process was also more intensive in mitochondrial fraction than in microsomal one (62.97 pmol/h/mg protein in male gills and 73.94 pmol/h/mg protein in female gonads). Enzymatic complex (aromatase-like enzyme) catalysing aromatisation in mussels was found to be insensitive to inhibitory effect of selective inhibitors of mammalian aromatase such as letrozole and anastrazole, suggesting its different structure from vertebrate aromatase. Further in vivo studies using 13C-labeled steroids at 8 °C temperature window confirmed that bivalves are able to uptake testosterone and androstenedione from the ambient environment and metabolise them to estrone and 17β-estradiol thus confirming endogenous estrogen’ synthesis

The use of supramolecular structures as protein ligands

Congo red dye as well as other eagerly self-assembling organic molecules which form rod-like or ribbon-like supramolecular structures in water solutions, appears to represent a new class of protein ligands with possible wide-ranging medical applications. Such molecules associate with proteins as integral clusters and preferentially penetrate into areas of low molecular stability. Abnormal, partly unfolded proteins are the main binding target for such ligands, while well packed molecules are generally inaccessible. Of particular interest is the observation that local susceptibility for binding supramolecular ligands may be promoted in some proteins as a consequence of function-derived structural changes, and that such complexation may alter the activity profile of target proteins. Examples are presented in this paper