Computer-assisted early inclusion of authentic Slavic materials

The author discusses Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Polish, and Russian text taggers, available at http://www.asusilc.net/cgi-bin/newtepajgu.pl. The taggers allow the user to paste in a text, copied from an on-line source and have it tagged with English glosses. They furthermore offer the option of displaying the full inflection of each inflected word form in the text. The taggers are designed with an eye toward securing optimum authenticity and learner autonomy. The present paper summarizes theoretical background of this project and its achievements hitherto. It furthermore identifies major problem areas of this project and outlines its envisaged development hence.El autor trata las expresiones en lengua bosnia, croata, servia, polaca y rusa, disponibles en http://www.asusilc.net/cgi-bin/newtepajgu.pl. Estas frases y párrafos ya elaborados permiten que los usuarios los‘“peguen” en un texto, los copien de una fuente “on-line” y visualizarlos traducidos momentáneamente en lengua inglesa. También permiten la opción de mostrar la inflexión de cada palabra y sus morfemas. Estos textos gozan de una autenticidad óptima y favorecen el aprendizaje autónomo. Este artículo se propone resumir el marco teórico de este proyecto didáctico y dar a conocer algunos de sus logros hasta el momento presente. Además, identifica alguna áreas problemáticas del proyecto y trata de dar soluciones para su desarrollo posterior

On-line Delivery for Serbo-Croatian (Bosniac, Croatian, Serbian): Tailoring Technology to the Learner

Tbis paper discusses the project of full on-line delivery of an introductory Serbo-Croatian (Bosniac, Croatian, Serbian) course at the Arizona State University Critical Languages Institute. The issue of tailoring technology to meet diversified needs of a wide range of learners (from heritage speakers of the three Serbo-Croatian speaking ethnic communities to professional non-heritage learners) is in the center of the discussion

Altered cytokine expression of peripheral blood lymphocytes in polymyositis and dermatomyositis

Objective: To investigate the intracellular and soluble cytokine levels and T cell subsets in peripheral blood of patients with active and inactive polymyositis and dermatomyositis. Methods: The frequencies of T and B lymphocytes, T helper (Th), and T cytotoxic (Tc) cells and of interferon γ (IFNγ), interleukin (IL)4, and IL10 expression of CD4+ or CD8+ cells were determined by flow cytometry. The concentrations of soluble cytokines were measured with commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assays. Results: In active dermatomyositis there was a decreased percentage of T (CD3+) lymphocytes and Tc (CD8+) lymphocytes, decreased IFNγ expression of CD4+ and CD8+ cells, but an increase in B and IL4 producing CD4+ lymphocyte frequencies. These prominent changes disappeared in the inactive stage of the disease. In polymyositis no significant change in these lymphocyte subsets or in intracellular cytokine expression could be detected in either the active or the inactive form. The frequency of IL4+/IFNγ+ Th cells was calculated and a significantly increased Th2/Th1 frequency was found in active dermatomyositis, and a decreased frequency in inactive dermatomyositis, compared with the control population. Conclusions: There appears to be a difference between polymyositis and dermatomyositis in the level of peripheral blood lymphocytes and their intracellular cytokine content. These findings provide further evidence for a difference in the pathogenesis of polymyositis and dermatomyositis