Systematic versus informal application of culturally relevant pedagogy: Are performance outcomes different? A study of college students

In a field study, the effects on academic performance of two different applications of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) in the classroom were measured. As per the requirements of such pedagogy, both entailed modes and contents of instruction that attend to the specific cultural characteristics of the learners. However, in one condition (systematic CRP application), emphasis on culturally relevant contents extended to both instruction and assessment, whereas in another condition, they were largely confined to instruction (informal CRP application). Students of Middle Eastern descent who were enrolled in either a history or a critical thinking course were exposed to one of the two conditions. During the first half of the semester, midterm and assignment performance did not significantly differ. However, performance during the second half of the semester and attendance rates were higher for the systematic CRP condition. These findings suggest that emphasis on culturally relevant content encompassing both learning and assessment can be beneficial to academic performance but its fruits become tangible only with sustained exercise.    &nbsp

Emotion and Judgment in Young Women of a Society in Transition

The present study asked whether emotional responses to narratives of moral transgressions are shaped by the reader’s assumed relationship with the injured party (i.e., oneself, familiar other, and unfamiliar other). Its goal was to test a cultural, religious, and individualistic account of such responses in young females of a traditional society in transition towards a sustainable integration into the global economy. To this end, female college students from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were asked to identify their emotional reaction to each of several moral transgressions, report its intensity and then judge the severity of the transgression. In agreement with the religious norm hypothesis, whereby others are to be treated as oneself, reported emotions, affective intensity, and moral judgment did not change with students’ relationship with the injured party. The only exception was students’ lenient judgment when feeling angry for being the victim of a transgression, which underlies the tenet of forgiveness in religious doctrine

Bilingualism and Self-Perception: Self-Efficacy through the Veil of Two Languages

This chapter is concerned with the relationship between language, as the vehicle of a person’s culture, and self-assessment of one’s capabilities (i.e., self-efficacy) via conventional self-report measures. It relies on the assumption that a language “is ‘a veil’ over the reality of the culture in which it is used, involving an agreement of its users about what there is to be seen and how it should be seen”. Thus, the information weighted and integrated into judgments of one’s self-efficacy is filtered through, and thus it is shaped by cultural schemas which are elicited by the language used to formulate such judgments. Evidence that supports this viewpoint is reviewed

A Panel of Eight miRNAs Is Deregulated in HTLV-2 Infected PBMCs and BJABGu Cell Line

Despite human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and HTLV-2 being retroviruses closely related at a genomic level, HTLV-2 differs from HTLV-1 in terms of pathogenicity in both single infection and coinfection contexts. Moreover, the HTLV-2 association with clinical outcomes is still debated and several mechanisms underlying HTLV-2 infection remain unexplored as well. Cellular miRNAs are key factors in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and they are known to be potential targets for several pathogens to control the host microenvironment and, in particular, escape immune responses. Here, we identified a HTLV-2-related signature of eight miRNAs (miR-125a-3p, miR-381-3p, miR-502-5p, miR-708-5p, miR-548d-5p, miR-548c-5p, miR-1-3p, and miR-511-5p) in both HTLV-2 infected PBMC and BJABGu cell lines. Altered miRNA expression patterns were correlated with the impairment of Th cell differentiation and signaling pathways driven by cytokines and transcriptional factors such as the Runt-related transcription factor (RUNX) family members. Specifically, we demonstrated that the RUNX2 protein was significantly more expressed in the presence of Tax-2 compared with Tax-1 in an in vitro cell model. To the best of our knowledge, these data represent the first contribution to elucidating the HTLV-2 mediated alteration of host cell miRNA profiles that may impact on HTLV-2 replication and persistent infection

Angiopathic activity of LRG1 is induced by the IL-6/STAT3 pathway

Leucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) is a secreted glycoprotein that under physiological conditions is produced predominantly by the liver. In disease, its local induction promotes pathogenic neovascularisation while its inhibition leads to reduced dysfunctional angiogenesis. Here we examine the role of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in defective angiogenesis mediated by LRG1. IL-6 treatment induced LRG1 expression in endothelial cells and ex vivo angiogenesis cultures and promoted vascular growth with reduced mural cell coverage. In Lrg1<sup>-/-</sup> explants, however, IL-6 failed to stimulate angiogenesis and vessels exhibited improved mural cell coverage. IL-6 activated LRG1 transcription through the phosphorylation and binding of STAT3 to a conserved consensus site in the LRG1 promoter, the deletion of which abolished activation. Blocking IL-6 signalling in human lung endothelial cells, using the anti-IL6 receptor antibody Tocilizumab, significantly reduced LRG1 expression. Our data demonstrate that IL-6, through STAT3 phosphorylation, activates LRG1 transcription resulting in vascular destabilisation. This observation is especially timely in light of the potential role of IL-6 in COVID-19 patients with severe pulmonary microvascular complications, where targeting IL-6 has been beneficial. However, our data suggest that a therapy directed towards blocking the downstream angiopathic effector molecule LRG1 may be of greater utility

Changes in CD4+ cells’ miRNA expression following exposure to HIV-1

Background: MiRNAs inhibit HIV-1 expression by either modulating host innate immunity or by directly interfering with viral mRNAs. Here, we investigated the miRNA profile that discriminates different classes of HIV-1 infected patients from multiple exposed uninfected individuals. Methods: The expression levels of 377 miRNAs were selectively analyzed in CD4+ cells isolated from whole blood of HIV-1 \ue9lite LTNP (\ue9LTNP), naive, and multiply exposed uninfected individuals (MEU). MiRNA extraction was performed by the mirVana miRNA Isolation Kit (Ambion) and their expression was subsequently examined by real-time PCR-based arrays. The expression of miRNAs was also determined in primary culture of CD4+T cells and monocyte-macrophages infected in vitro by R5 strains. Expression of Dicer and Drosha was evaluated by real-time PCR. Results: We only considered miRNAs that were expressed in the 70% of patients of at least one class and varied by at least 1 log10 from healthy controls. Out of 377 miRNAs, 26 were up-regulated, while 88 were down-regulated. Statistical analysis showed that 21 miRNAs significantly differentiated \ue9LTNP from MEU and 23 miRNAs distinguished naive from MEU, while only 1 (miR-155) discriminated \ue9LTNP from naive. By hierarchical clustering of the miRNAs according to patient class, \ue9LTNP clustered with naive whereas all MEU subjects grouped together. The Dicer and Drosha expression in the patient classes correlated with miRNA profile changes. Among miRNAs differentially expressed in patient classes, 32 were detected in in vitro infection model: the most of the up-regulated miRNAs were expressed in monocyte-macrophages, whereas the most of the down-regulated miRNAs were expressed in T lymphocytes. Conclusions: These findings support that miRNA profile could be the result not only of a productive infection, but also of the exposure to HIV products that leave a signature in immune cells. These data provide some intriguing issues relative to the development of HIV vaccines targeting viral proteins