Citizenship and plurilingual social actors in Spain and Japan: methodological aspects and introduction to exploratory analysis regarding the plurilingual competition category

La competencia plurilingüe y pluricultural se refiere a la capacidad de usar los idiomas con fines comunicativos y de participar en una relación intercultural en la que una persona, como agente social, domina, en diferentes grados, varios idiomas y tiene experiencia en diversas culturas. Partiendo del marco teórico y de una revisión sobre la problemática, se elabora un sistema de categorías en tres bloques: tipos de ciudadanía, competencia plurilingüe y competencia pluricultural. Este sistema resulta de utilidad para la configuración del cuestionario CYASPS® “Ciudadanía y actor social plurilingüe en la educación superior” y para la sistematización de los datos y el análisis de la información, el cual se realiza con apoyo del programa de análisis estadístico SPSS. En lo que respecta al bloque de "competencia plurilingüe", al centrarse en las ventajas de la educación plurilingüe, una gran parte de las respuestas de la muestra de profesorado universitario de las universidades españolas y japonesas seleccionadas reconocen la existencia de una conexión entre competencia plurilingüe y competencia pluricultural.Plurilingual and pluricultural competence refers to the ability to use languages for communicative purposes and to participate in an intercultural relationship in which a person, as a social agent, dominates -with different degrees- several languages and has experience of various cultures. From the theoretical framework and the review around the problem, a categories system is elaborated in three blocks: types of citizenship, plurilingual competence and pluricultural competence. This system is useful for the configuration of the questionnaire CYASPS® “citizenship and plurilingual social actor in Higher Education” and for the systematization of data analysis with the support of the statistical analysis program SPSS. Regarding the block “plurilingual competence”, focusing in the advantages of plurilingual education, a large part of the sample of professors’ responses from selected Spanish and Japanese universities show an acknowledgment of the existing connection between plurilingual competence and pluricultural competence

Ciudadanía y actores sociales plurilingües en España y Japón: aspectos metodológicos e introducción al análisis exploratorio de la categoría sobre competencia plurilingüe

Plurilingual and pluricultural competence refers to the ability to use languages for communicative purposes and to participate in an intercultural relationship in which a person, as a social agent, dominates -with different degrees- several languages and has experience of various cultures. From the theoretical framework and the review around the problem, a categories system is elaborated in three blocks: types of citizenship, plurilingual competence and pluricultural competence. This system is useful for the configuration of the questionnaire CYASPS® "citizenship and plurilingual social actor in Higher Education" and for the systematization of data analysis with the support of the statistical analysis program SPSS. Regarding the block "plurilingual competence", focusing in the advantages of plurilingual education, a large part of the sample of professors' responses from selected Spanish and Japanese universities show an acknowledgment of the existing connection between plurilingual competence and pluricultural competence.La competencia plurilingüe y pluricultural se refiere a la capacidad de usar los idiomas con fines comunicativos y de participar en una relación intercultural en la que una persona, como agente social, domina, en diferentes grados, varios idiomas y tiene experiencia en diversas culturas. Partiendo del marco teórico y de una revisión sobre la problemática, se elabora un sistema de categorías en tres bloques: tipos de ciudadanía, competencia plurilingüe y competencia pluricultural. Este sistema resulta de utilidad para la configuración del cuestionario CYASPS® "Ciudadanía y actor social plurilingüe en la educación superior" y para la sistematización de los datos y el análisis de la información, el cual se realiza con apoyo del programa de análisis estadístico SPSS. En lo que respecta al bloque de "competencia plurilingüe", al centrarse en las ventajas de la educación plurilingüe, una gran parte de las respuestas de la muestra de profesorado universitario de las universidades españolas y japonesas seleccionadas reconocen la existencia de una conexión entre competencia plurilingüe y competencia pluricultural.Universidad Pablo de Olavid

Acute non-heparin-induced thrombocytopenia during hemodiafiltration in a patient with multiple myeloma

This report demonstrates that not only heparin‐induced thrombocytopenia, but also hemodialysis conditions (platelet activation due to hemodiafiltration and heparin underdosing) may markedly reduce the platelet count and cause clotting in the hemodialysis circuit in patients in a hypercoagulable state. The clot prevention effects of bortezomib are therefore of great importance

Gender-specific associations of vision and hearing impairments with adverse health outcomes in older Japanese: a population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: Several epidemiological studies have shown that self-reported vision and hearing impairments are associated with adverse health outcomes (AHOs) in older populations; however, few studies have used objective sensory measurements or investigated the role of gender in this association. Therefore, we examined the association of vision and hearing impairments (as measured by objective methods) with AHOs (dependence in activities of daily living or death), and whether this association differed by gender. METHODS: From 2005 to 2006, a total of 801 residents (337 men and 464 women) aged 65 years or older of Kurabuchi Town, Gunma, Japan, participated in a baseline examination that included vision and hearing assessments; they were followed up through September 2008. Vision impairment was defined as a corrected visual acuity of worse than 0.5 (logMAR = 0.3) in the better eye, and hearing impairment was defined as a failure to hear a 30 dB hearing level signal at 1 kHz in the better ear. Information on outcomes was obtained from the town hall and through face-to-face home visit interviews. We calculated the risk ratios (RRs) of AHOs for vision and hearing impairments according to gender. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up period of 3 years, 34 men (10.1%) and 52 women (11.3%) had AHOs. In both genders, vision impairment was related to an elevated risk of AHOs (multi-adjusted RR for men and women together = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.05-2.44), with no statistically significant interaction between the genders. In contrast, a significant association between hearing impairment and AHOs (multi-adjusted RR = 3.10, 95% CI = 1.43-6.72) was found only in the men. CONCLUSION: In this older Japanese population, sensory impairments were clearly associated with AHOs, and the association appeared to vary according to gender. Gender-specific associations between sensory impairments and AHOs warrant further investigation

Negative assimilation:how immigrants experience economic mobility in Japan

This paper examines the economic mobility of foreign migrants in Japan. In a country that is largely regarded as homogeneous and closed to outsiders, how and to what extent do immigrants achieve economic success? A survey conducted by the authors revealed that the conventional assimilationist perspective does not fully explain immigrants’ economic success in Japan. Migrants from the West experience what Chiswick and Miller (2011) refer to as “negative assimilation.” That is, their earnings decline over time in Japan. While negative assimilation was not clearly observed among immigrants from neighboring Asian countries, wages among them did not increase with the length of their stay in Japan. For both groups, the skills they brought from abroad were found to be largely accountable for their economic success, while locally specific human capital, such as education acquired in the host society, did not contribute to their earnings

Serum antioxidants and age-related macular degeneration among older Japanese.

From the perspective of human nutrition, the prevention of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) through diet control is feasible and desirable. We investigated the relationship between serum antioxidants and AMD in the community-dwelling older Japanese eating a typical Japanese diet. In this study, 722 subjects aged 65 years or older (297 males and 425 females) who had gradable fundus photographs were included. The subjects were divided into three groups of early or late AMD or non-maculopathy. Serum antioxidants (alpha-, gamma-tocopherols, retinol, beta-cryptoxanthin, alpha-, beta-carotenes, lycopene, and lutein and zeaxanthin) were measured with high-performance liquid chromatography. To clarify the combined effect as the group of the antioxidants, we defined the carotene family (alpha-, beta-carotenes and lycopene) and carotenoid family (beta-cryptoxanthin, alpha-, beta-carotenes, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin). Tertiles of each serum antioxidant were obtained and the prevalence of early or late AMD was compared with univariate or multivariate analysis. The overall prevalence of early AMD was 4.4% (95% confidence interval: 3.1-6.2) and late AMD was 1.1% (0.5-2.2). Only alpha-tocopherol and beta-cryptoxanthin were related to late AMD as single antioxidants. On the other hand, the carotene and carotenoid families as a combination of antioxidants were protectively associated with late AMD. No relationship was found between serum antioxidants and early AMD. Our findings support the hypothesis that a combination of serum antioxidants obtained from the traditional Japanese diet is protective for late AMD, but not for early AMD

The Pacific lineage (2E) of JC polyomavirus is prevalent in Sumba Island, Eastern Indonesia

Recent studies have identified a Pacific lineage (2E) of JC polyomavirus (also designated as JC virus or JCV) that occurs in both Island Southeast Asia and Oceania, but not in mainland Asia. It has been postulated that this lineage traveled with Austronesian-speaking people who are now spread throughout Island Southeast Asia and Oceania (excluding Australia and inland and southern New Guinea). However, to date, the 2E lineage has been identified in Southeast Asia only in populations of the Philippine islands. Here we report that a high incidence of the 2E lineage was detected in the people of Sumba Island, eastern Indonesia