Estrategias didácticas y pedagógicas que se deben implementar para que estudiantes becarios de la Academia de Ingles del Norte provenientes de instituciones públicas desarrollen la competencia comunicativa en lengua extranjera de acuerdo con su contexto social y académico

Anexos trabajo de gradoLa presente investigación tiene como finalidad destacar las estrategias didácticas y pedagógicas que se deben implementar para que estudiantes becarios de la academia de ingles del norte provenientes de instituciones públicas desarrollen la competencia comunicativa en lengua extranjera de acuerdo con su contexto social y académico, y desde un marco teórico y práctico desarrollar un plan pedagógico que fomente la adquisición de una segunda lengua de acuerdo con los diferentes estilos de aprendizaje y promover escenarios de interacción bilingüe. Se implementó una secuencia didáctica a través de la cual se logró que los estudiantes mejoraran la competencia y se apropiaran del idioma, obteniendo resultados satisfactorios gracias a las actividades y estrategias implementadas durante el desarrollo de esta.The purpose of this research is to highlight the didactic and pedagogical strategies that must be implemented so that scholarship students from the North English Academy from public institutions develop communicative competence in a foreign language in accordance with their social and academic context, and from a theoretical and practical framework develop a pedagogical plan that encourages the acquisition of a second language in accordance with the different learning styles and promote bilingual interaction scenarios. A didactic sequence was implemented through which students improved their competence and took ownership of the language, obtaining satisfactory results thanks to the activities and strategies implemented during its development

Advancing Research on Racial–Ethnic Health Disparities: Improving Measurement Equivalence in Studies with Diverse Samples

To conduct meaningful, epidemiologic research on racial–ethnic health disparities, racial–ethnic samples must be rendered equivalent on other social status and contextual variables via statistical controls of those extraneous factors. The racial–ethnic groups must also be equally familiar with and have similar responses to the methods and measures used to collect health data, must have equal opportunity to participate in the research, and must be equally representative of their respective populations. In the absence of such measurement equivalence, studies of racial–ethnic health disparities are confounded by a plethora of unmeasured, uncontrolled correlates of race–ethnicity. Those correlates render the samples, methods, and measures incomparable across racial–ethnic groups, and diminish the ability to attribute health differences discovered to race–ethnicity vs. to its correlates. This paper reviews the non-equivalent yet normative samples, methodologies and measures used in epidemiologic studies of racial–ethnic health disparities, and provides concrete suggestions for improving sample, method, and scalar measurement equivalence

Socioeconomic disparities and asthma treatments

Asthma is the most prevalent chronic illness in the United States. Disparities in asthma treatment in the emergency department prognosticate asthma outcomes in children and adult asthma patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between socio-economic/demographic factors (i.e., ethnicity, income level, insurance type, and location) of asthma patients and receipt of asthma treatment, evaluation, and management in emergency departments in Maryland. Methods: This study was a non-experimental research design. The representative population consisted of 146 adults and children with asthma in Maryland. One-hundred-forty-six cases with codes for management, evaluation, and treatment of mild, moderate, and severe persistent asthma symptoms were extracted from the 2009 State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD). Frequency distribution of the population by marital status, length of stay, gender, ethnicity, admission source, and admission type was displayed. The significance of ethnicity, income level, location, insurance type and management, evaluation, and treatment of mild, moderate, and severe persistent asthma was tested. Results: The number of African Americans presenting themselves to the emergency department for evaluation and management for mild persistent asthma was significantly higher than expected, X² (6, n = 107) = 17.213, p = .009. This was inconsistent with the literature which stated that African Americans and Hispanics used the emergency department more than any other ethnicity. No significance was found between location and asthma treatment, management, and evaluation; health insurance status and asthma treatment, management, and evaluation; income and asthma treatment, management, and evaluation. Gender was independent from age at admission, length of stay, number of procedures, and total charges. Conclusion: Inconsistent with the literature review the results of this study did not show significance the study variables except for relationship for ethnicity and asthma treatment, evaluation, and management

Unintended Consequences: The Impact of the Juvenile Justice System on Our Communities

The panel focussed the impact of the juvenile justice system in the community and addressed issues such as the automatic prosecution of youth as adults

A content analysis of popular smartphone apps for smoking cessation

BACKGROUND: Smartphone applications (apps) are increasingly available for smoking cessation. PURPOSE: This study examined the content of popular apps for smoking cessation for both iPhone and Android operating systems in February 2012. METHODS: A total of 252 smoking-cessation apps were identified for the iPhone and 148 for the Android. Across both operating systems, the most popular apps were identified (n=47 for the iPhone and n=51 for the Android) and analyzed for their (1) approach to smoking cessation and (2) adherence to an index based on the U.S. Public Health Service’s Clinical Practice Guidelines for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence. Where available, apps were coded for frequency of downloads. The analysis took place in 2012. RESULTS: Overall, popular apps have low levels of adherence, with an average score of 12.9 of a possible 42 on the Adherence Index. No apps recommended calling a quitline, and only a handful of apps recommended using approved medications (4.1%). Android apps in the sample were downloaded worldwide between 310,800 and 1,248,000 times per month. For both the iPhone and Android, user ratings were positively associated with scores on the Adherence Index. For the iPhone, display order was also positively associated with scores on the Adherence Index. CONCLUSIONS: Apps could be improved by better integration with the Clinical Practice Guidelines and other evidence-based practices

Role of CYP2E1 Immunoglobulin G4 Subclass Antibodies and Complement in Pathogenesis of Idiosyncratic Drug-Induced Hepatitis

Idiosyncratic drug-induced hepatitis (IDDIH) is the third most common cause for acute liver failure in the United States. Previous studies have attempted to identify susceptible patients or early stages of disease with various degrees of success. To determine if total serum immunoglobulin subclasses, CYP2E1-specific subclass autoantibodies, complement components, or immune complexes could distinguish persons with IDDIH from others exposed to drugs, we studied persons exposed to halogenated volatile anesthetics, which have been associated with IDDIH and CYP2E1 autoantibodies. We found that patients with anesthetic-induced IDDIH had significantly elevated levels of CYP2E1-specific immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) autoantibodies, while anesthetic-exposed healthy persons had significantly elevated levels of CYP2E1-specific IgG1 autoantibodies. Anesthetic IDDIH patients had significantly lower levels of C4a, C3a, and C5a compared to anesthetic-exposed healthy persons. C1q- and C3d-containing immune complexes were significantly elevated in anesthetic-exposed persons. In conclusion, our data suggest that anesthetic-exposed persons develop CYP2E1-specific IgG1 autoantibodies which may form detectable circulating immune complexes subsequently cleared by classical pathway activation of the complement system. Persons susceptible to anesthetic-induced IDDIH develop CYP2E1-specific IgG4 autoantibodies which form small, nonprecipitating immune complexes that escape clearance because of their size or by direct inhibition of complement activation

Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation, the Neighborhood Socioeconomic Environment, and Obesity Among Blacks and Mexican Americans

We used cross-sectional data on 2,660 black and 2,611 Mexican-American adult participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999–2006) to investigate the association between metropolitan-level racial/ethnic residential segregation and obesity and to determine whether it was mediated by the neighborhood socioeconomic environment. Residential segregation was measured using the black and Hispanic isolation indices. Neighborhood poverty and negative income incongruity were assessed as mediators. Multilevel Poisson regression with robust variance estimates was used to estimate prevalence ratios. There was no relationship between segregation and obesity among men. Among black women, in age-, nativity-, and metropolitan demographic-adjusted models, high segregation was associated with a 1.29 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00, 1.65) times higher obesity prevalence than was low segregation; medium segregation was associated with a 1.35 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.70) times higher obesity prevalence. Mexican-American women living in high versus low segregation areas had a significantly lower obesity prevalence (prevalence ratio, 0.54; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.90), but there was no difference between those living in medium versus low segregation areas. These associations were not mediated by neighborhood poverty or negative income incongruity. These findings suggest variability in the interrelationships between residential segregation and obesity for black and Mexican-American women