Teaching English as a foreign language: a case study from Poland

This article presents a detailed history of the development of a particular immersion program to teach English to young Polish students. The program draws support from two organizations, the Kościuszko Foundation and the Polish Scouting Organization. Kościuszko Foundation is dedicated to strengthening the ties between the United States and Poland as well as to increase knowledge of Poland’s history and culture in the United States. The cooperation of these two organizations developed an experience of immersion in language and cultural exchange. Both the teachers and the students in this program benefited from the opportunity to engage in a number of different types of language activities and cultural events through a summer camp experience. This program is, of course, unique, but the elements of context, culture and immersion could be used in other programs to develop English skills and knowledge in the context American culture

Spinal pain syndrome incidence among paramedics in Emergency Response Teams

INTRODUCTION: Spinal pain syndrome is a condition people of different ages suffer from. Its incidence is determined by many factors: age, gender, genetic disposition, lifestyle, the type and characteristics of one’s occupation, years of work experience. Paramedics are particularly vulnerable to musculoskeletal ailments, due to the professional activities carried out at work: lifting, moving, and carrying patients or medical equipment, crossing architectural barriers, forced posture during work, standing, walking, and sitting for long periods. The study aimed to indicate the effect of professional work on the incidence of spinal pain syndrome in paramedics working in mobile Emergency Response Teams. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research took place between May and September 2019, using diagnostic survey methodology on 238 (223 male, 15 female) paramedics in mobile Emergency Response Teams (ERT) operating in the Masovian voivodship. The mean age was 39.03 ± 9.27 years for males, 31.93 ± 7.76 years for females. The research tool was a self-developed questionnaire. RESULTS: All participants (100%) suffered from spinal pain syndrome. A majority of the participants (98; 41.18%) reported pain being located in the lumbar area and being related to lifting, moving and carrying patients in teams (149; 62.60%). CONCLUSIONS: Spinal pain syndrome is a widespread phenomenon among ERT paramedics. The incidence and nature of lumbar area pain are strictly related to the type of work paramedics do. Applying rules of work ergonomics and using aid affects incidence and decreases the frequency of SPS

Addressing climate change with behavioral science: a global intervention tournament in 63 countries

Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions’ effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future-generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior—several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people’s initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors

Outcomes with retrograde versus antegrade chronic total occlusion revascularization

Objectives The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of retrograde versus antegrade approach in chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Background The retrograde approach has increased the success rate of CTO PCI but has been associated with a higher risk for complications. Methods We conducted a meta-analysis of studies published between 2000 and August 2019 comparing the in-hospital and long-term outcomes with retrograde versus antegrade CTO PCI. Results Twelve observational studies (10,240 patients) met our inclusion criteria (retrograde approach 2,789 patients, antegrade approach 7,451 patients). Lesions treated with the retrograde approach had higher J-CTO score (2.8 vs. 1.9, p < .001). Retrograde CTO PCI was associated with a lower success rate (80.9% vs. 87.4%, p < .001). Both approaches had similar in-hospital mortality, urgent revascularization, and cerebrovascular events. Retrograde CTO PCI was associated with higher risk of in-hospital myocardial infarction (MI; odds ratio [OR] 2.37, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.7, 3.32, p < .001), urgent pericardiocentesis (OR 2.53, 95% CI 1.41-4.51, p = .002), and contrast-induced nephropathy (OR 2.12, 95% CI 1.47-3.08; p < .001). During a mean follow-up of 48 +/- 31 months retrograde crossing had similar mortality (OR 1.79, 95% CI 0.84-3.81, p = .13), but a higher incidence of MI (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.1-3.88, p = .02), target vessel revascularization (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.49-2.46, p < .001), and target lesion revascularization (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.33-3.28, p = .001). Conclusions Compared with antegrade CTO PCI, retrograde CTO PCI is performed in more complex lesions and is associated with a higher risk for acute and long-term adverse events

Apigenin and Hesperidin Downregulate DNA Repair Genes in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells and Augment Doxorubicin Toxicity

A number of studies have confirmed anti-tumor activity of flavonoids and their ability to enhance the effectiveness of classical anticancer drugs. The mechanism of this phenomenon is difficult to explain because of the ambivalent nature of these compounds. Many therapeutic properties of these compounds are attributed to their antioxidant activity; however, it is known that they can act as oxidants. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of apigenin and hesperidin on MCF-7 breast cancer cells with doxorubicin. The cytotoxic effect was determined using an MTT test and cell cycle analysis. To evaluate the possible interaction mechanism, reduced glutathione levels, as well as the DNA oxidative damage and the double strand breaks, were evaluated. Additionally, mRNA expression of genes related to DNA repair was assessed. It was demonstrated that flavonoids intensified the cytotoxic effect of doxorubicin despite flavonoids reduced oxidative damage caused by the drug. At the same time, the number of double strand breaks significantly increased and expression of tested genes was downregulated. In conclusion, both apigenin and hesperidin enhance the cytotoxic effects of doxorubicin on breast cancer cells, and this phenomenon occurs regardless of oxidative stress but is accompanied by disorders of DNA damage response mechanisms

Direct and Inverted Repeats Elicit Genetic Instability by Both Exploiting and Eluding DNA Double-Strand Break Repair Systems in Mycobacteria

<div><p>Repetitive DNA sequences with the potential to form alternative DNA conformations, such as slipped structures and cruciforms, can induce genetic instability by promoting replication errors and by serving as a substrate for DNA repair proteins, which may lead to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). However, the contribution of each of the DSB repair pathways, homologous recombination (HR), non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and single-strand annealing (SSA), to this sort of genetic instability is not fully understood. Herein, we assessed the genome-wide distribution of repetitive DNA sequences in the <em>Mycobacterium smegmatis</em>, <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</em> and <em>Escherichia coli</em> genomes, and determined the types and frequencies of genetic instability induced by direct and inverted repeats, both in the presence and in the absence of HR, NHEJ, and SSA. All three genomes are strongly enriched in direct repeats and modestly enriched in inverted repeats. When using chromosomally integrated constructs in <em>M. smegmatis</em>, direct repeats induced the perfect deletion of their intervening sequences ∼1,000-fold above background. Absence of HR further enhanced these perfect deletions, whereas absence of NHEJ or SSA had no influence, suggesting compromised replication fidelity. In contrast, inverted repeats induced perfect deletions only in the absence of SSA. Both direct and inverted repeats stimulated excision of the constructs from the <em>attB</em> integration sites independently of HR, NHEJ, or SSA. With episomal constructs, direct and inverted repeats triggered DNA instability by activating nucleolytic activity, and absence of the DSB repair pathways (in the order NHEJ>HR>SSA) exacerbated this instability. Thus, direct and inverted repeats may elicit genetic instability in mycobacteria by 1) directly interfering with replication fidelity, 2) stimulating the three main DSB repair pathways, and 3) enticing L5 site-specific recombination.</p> </div