Cultural myopia : a challenge to Spanish education

This paper considers current thinking about intercultural attitudes in Spain. It attempts to demonstrate reasons why the Spanish approach to interculturalism, particularly in schools, has not been at the forefront of societal, governmental, or educational thinking. Until the 1980s Spain's emigration exceeded those entering the country. Today, trends have changed. Following a brief historical account of Spain's pluralistic cultural roots, contemporary views are debated concerning the impact of recent immigration, signalling the dangers of ignoring immigrants' needs and abilities within the community. It is argued by the writers that opportunities are being missed in education (and elsewhere) by the cultural myopia influencing Spanish schools and society. The increasing inspection, linguistically and culturally, is diminishing opportunities for the celebration of the wider cultural diversity that exists. This paper seeks to rouse those in education, whose predispositions lie in societal hierarchy and cultural introversion.peer-reviewe

Cultural and ethnic diversity, cooperative learning and the teacher's role

No one could deny the evidence that we all live in an increasingly diverse and interdependent society. This diversity affects all fields of society. Education is certainly not an exception. To attain the best in their teaching (and, probably, also in their lives in general), teachers, and educators in general, have to be prepared to better understand this diversity, which can be displayed in a range of different languages or dialects, religious or ethical beliefs, ethnic groups, cultures, and so on. If teaching is a challenge, teaching for an intercultural understanding is even a greater one. The purpose of the paper is to show the utility of using cooperative (or collaborative) learning techniques in teaching. Within the paper we refer to a number of research projects and experiences which show that cooperative learning methods in multicultural settings are a highly recommendable tool for educators.peer-reviewe

Assessment of plasma chitotriosidase activity, CCL18/PARC concentration and NP-C suspicion index in the diagnosis of Niemann-Pick disease type C : A prospective observational study

Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a rare, autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in either the NPC1 or NPC2 genes. The diagnosis of NP-C remains challenging due to the non-specific, heterogeneous nature of signs/symptoms. This study assessed the utility of plasma chitotriosidase (ChT) and Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 18 (CCL18)/pulmonary and activation-regulated chemokine (PARC) in conjunction with the NP-C suspicion index (NP-C SI) for guiding confirmatory laboratory testing in patients with suspected NP-C. In a prospective observational cohort study, incorporating a retrospective determination of NP-C SI scores, two different diagnostic approaches were applied in two separate groups of unrelated patients from 51 Spanish medical centers (n = 118 in both groups). From Jan 2010 to Apr 2012 (Period 1), patients with ≥2 clinical signs/symptoms of NP-C were considered 'suspected NP-C' cases, and NPC1/NPC2 sequencing, plasma chitotriosidase (ChT), CCL18/PARC and sphingomyelinase levels were assessed. Based on findings in Period 1, plasma ChT and CCL18/PARC, and NP-C SI prediction scores were determined in a second group of patients between May 2012 and Apr 2014 (Period 2), and NPC1 and NPC2 were sequenced only in those with elevated ChT and/or elevated CCL18/PARC and/or NP-C SI ≥70. Filipin staining and 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC) measurements were performed in all patients with NP-C gene mutations, where possible. In total across Periods 1 and 2, 10/236 (4%) patients had a confirmed diagnosis o NP-C based on gene sequencing (5/118 [4.2%] in each Period): all of these patients had two causal NPC1 mutations. Single mutant NPC1 alleles were detected in 8/236 (3%) patients, overall. Positive filipin staining results comprised three classical and five variant biochemical phenotypes. No NPC2 mutations were detected. All patients with NPC1 mutations had high ChT activity, high CCL18/PARC concentrations and/or NP-C SI scores ≥70. Plasma 7-KC was higher than control cut-off values in all patients with two NPC1 mutations, and in the majority of patients with single mutations. Family studies identified three further NP-C patients. This approach may be very useful for laboratories that do not have mass spectrometry facilities and therefore, they cannot use other NP-C biomarkers for diagnosis