Leo van Lier: A scholar and teacher, a mentor and friend

In the summer of 1996, I started the TESOL program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and Leo was my professor in a number of courses, such as Language Analysis and Classroom Observations. His book Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy, and Authenticity, which became known to us as the “AAA book,” had just come out. He quickly captured us with his wit, fairness, and wisdom. As a novice teacher from abroad, I was clueless about his impact on the field at the time. In addition to drawing sentence trees in his Language Analysis class, Leo introduced us to his Introducing Language Awareness book, which everyone loved. By means of Leo’s “Grammar Stick de Luxe,” we rated native-speaker sentences on a scale in terms of what would be grammatically acceptable in what contexts: “It’s ten minutes in front of eight o’clock,” “There’s a big meeting ongoing right now.” Or: “The sporting neneks sang and ‘mengalaid’ through the night” (van Lier, 1995, p. 85). It was hilarious and eye-opening in that this went beyond the grammar books I had seen before, and it stuck with me. To this day, I still get giggles from my students whenever I introduce them to this exercise. Leo’s curiosity and playfulness as a teacher were contagious. He was never dismissive of our questions or suggestions, and there was never a bad idea. He supported each and every one as fully as he could. I was blessed to have him as a post-graduation mentor

Promoting learner autonomy through multiliteracy skills development in cross-institutional exchanges

This contribution presents findings from two empirical case studies, which followed a task-based telecollaborative learning format. Participants included student teacher trainees, tutors, and language learners from colleges/universities in Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The projects aimed at promoting learner autonomy through awareness raising of modes and meaning-making online and multiliteracy skills development based on hands-on analysis of web resources and social networking tools. It was hoped that this awareness would foster the teachers' own autonomy in virtual learning environments and enable them to design tasks which—in turn—would promote learner autonomy as understood by Palfreyman (2006): the informed use of a range of interacting resources in context. We argue that this awareness is reflected in enhanced multimodal communicative competence, i.e., “the ability to understand the combined potential of various modes for making meaning” (Royce, 2002, p. 92), and multiliteracy, with the latter allowing teachers and learners to realize the potential of blended and online only settings for language acquisition purposes. Ideally then, while becoming gradually more versed in multimodality and multiliteracy, learners can also take over more control and self-direct their own learning when working online (Benson, 2001) which are also characteristics of autonomy

Leo van Lier: A scholar and teacher, a mentor and friend

In the summer of 1996, I started the TESOL program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and Leo was my professor in a number of courses, such as Language Analysis and Classroom Observations. His book Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy, and Authenticity, which became known to us as the “AAA book,” had just come out. He quickly captured us with his wit, fairness, and wisdom. As a novice teacher from abroad, I was clueless about his impact on the field at the time. In addition to drawing sentence trees in his Language Analysis class, Leo introduced us to his Introducing Language Awareness book, which everyone loved. By means of Leo’s “Grammar Stick de Luxe,” we rated native-speaker sentences on a scale in terms of what would be grammatically acceptable in what contexts: “It’s ten minutes in front of eight o’clock,” “There’s a big meeting ongoing right now.” Or: “The sporting neneks sang and ‘mengalaid’ through the night” (van Lier, 1995, p. 85). It was hilarious and eye-opening in that this went beyond the grammar books I had seen before, and it stuck with me. To this day, I still get giggles from my students whenever I introduce them to this exercise. Leo’s curiosity and playfulness as a teacher were contagious. He was never dismissive of our questions or suggestions, and there was never a bad idea. He supported each and every one as fully as he could. I was blessed to have him as a post-graduation mentor

Osseous hemangioma of the seventh cervical vertebra with osteoid formation mimicking metastasis: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>We report the case of an osseous hemangioma located in the seventh cervical vertebra with reactive osteoid formation and non-typical findings in the radiological and the histopathological examination, mimicking metastasis of a malignant tumor. To our knowledge, this is the first description of such a case in the literature.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 44-year-old otherwise healthy Caucasian German woman presented with a discrete sensorimotor loss of both upper limbs. Radiologically, an osteolysis in the seventh cervical vertebra suggestive of metastasis of a malignant neoplasm was diagnosed. After performing corporectomy and cage implantation of C7 on the patient, the histopathological examination was complicated by marked osteoid formation obscuring the true diagnosis of an osseous hemangioma with reactive osteoid formation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Though hemangioma of the bone is a rare tumorous lesion in the cervical spine, it has to be taken into consideration as a reason for neck pain and sensomotoric loss of the upper limbs. Atypical radiological and histopathological presentations may hinder determination of the correct diagnosis. The treatment of such lesions must follow clinical guidelines but may be difficult to define in some cases when the correct diagnosis is not known at the time when therapy starts.</p

Therapy of intracellular Staphylococcus aureus by tigecyclin

BACKGROUND: In the fields of traumatology and orthopaedics staphylococci are the most frequently isolated pathogens. Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis are known to be the major causative agents of osteomyelitis. The increasing number of multiresistant Staphylococcus aureus and resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci as a trigger of complicated osteomyelitis and implant-associated infections is a major problem. Antibiotic therapy fails in 20% of cases. Therefore the development of novel antibiotics becomes necessary. METHODS: This study analyses tigecyclin, the first antibiotic of the glycylines, as a potential therapy for osteomyelitis caused by multiresistant Staphylococcus aureus. Therefore its intracellular activity and the potential use in polymethylmetacrylate-bone cement are examined. The intracellular activity of tigecyclin is determined by a human osteoblast infection model. The investigation of the biomechanical characteristics is conducted concerning the ISO 5833-guidelines. RESULTS: Tigecyclin shows in vitro an intracellular activity that ranges between the antimicrobial activity of gentamicin and rifampicin. A significant negative effect on the biomechanical characteristics with an impaired stability is detected after adding tigecyclin to polymethylmetacrylate-bone cement with a percentage of 1.225% per weight. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that tigecyclin might be a potent alternative for the systemic therapy of osteomyelitis and implant-associated infections whereas the local application has to be reconsidered individually

Therapy of intracellular Staphylococcus aureus by tigecyclin

Background: In the fields of traumatology and orthopaedics staphylococci are the most frequently isolated pathogens. Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis are known to be the major causative agents of osteomyelitis. The increasing number of multiresistant Staphylococcus aureus and resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci as a trigger of complicated osteomyelitis and implant-associated infections is a major problem. Antibiotic therapy fails in 20% of cases. Therefore the development of novel antibiotics becomes necessary. Methods: This study analyses tigecyclin, the first antibiotic of the glycylines, as a potential therapy for osteomyelitis caused by multiresistant Staphylococcus aureus. Therefore its intracellular activity and the potential use in polymethylmetacrylate-bone cement are examined. The intracellular activity of tigecyclin is determined by a human osteoblast infection model. The investigation of the biomechanical characteristics is conducted concerning the ISO 5833-guidelines. Results: Tigecyclin shows in vitro an intracellular activity that ranges between the antimicrobial activity of gentamicin and rifampicin. A significant negative effect on the biomechanical characteristics with an impaired stability is detected after adding tigecyclin to polymethylmetacrylate-bone cement with a percentage of 1.225% per weight. Conclusions: This study shows that tigecyclin might be a potent alternative for the systemic therapy of osteomyelitis and implant-associated infections whereas the local application has to be reconsidered individually.<br

The Role of Social Isolation and the Development of Depression: A Comparison of the Widowed and Married Oldest Old in Germany

Widowhood is common in old age, can be accompanied by serious health consequences and is often linked to substantial changes in social network. Little is known about the impact of social isolation on the development of depressive symptoms over time taking widowhood into account. We provide results from the follow-up 5 to follow-up 9 from the longitudinal study AgeCoDe and its follow-up study AgeQualiDe. Depression was measured with GDS-15 and social isolation was assessed using the Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS-6). The group was aligned of married and widowed people in old age and education through entropy balancing. Linear mixed models were used to examine the frequency of occurrence of depressive symptoms for widowed and married elderly people depending on the risk of social isolation. Our study shows that widowhood alone does not lead to an increased occurrence of depressive symptoms. However, "widowed oldest old", who are also at risk of social isolation, have significantly more depressive symptoms than those without risk. In the group of "married oldest old", women have significantly more depressive symptoms than men, but isolated and non-isolated do not differ. Especially for people who have lost a spouse, the social network changes significantly and increases the risk for social isolation. This represents a risk factor for the occurrence of depressive symptoms

Partizipation als zentrales Thema interdisziplinärer Nachhaltigkeitsforschung

Partizipation ist eine zentrale Voraussetzung für eine erfolgreiche Nachhaltigkeitstransformation in demokratischen Kontexten. Das ist Konsens in Politik und Wissenschaft und spiegelt sich in vielen Positionspapieren und Leitbildern sowie unzähligen Forschungsprojekten zu dem Thema wider. Gleichzeitig zeigt die Vielzahl an diesbezüglichen Forschungsprojekten und Publikationen jedoch auch die Herausforderungen gelingender Partizipation auf. Da Nachhaltigkeit ein inhärent interdisziplinäres Thema ist, ist es wichtig, Perspektiven unterschiedlicher Disziplinen auf Aspekte der Partizipation im Nachhaltigkeitskontext zusammenzubringen und diese verschiedenen Facetten zu beleuchten. Das hier vorliegende Papier stellt sich diesem Ziel. Es vereint Geograph*innen, Landschaftsökolog*innen, Politikwissenschaftler*innen, Soziolog*innen und Theolog*innen in der Identifikation relevanter konzeptioneller Fragestellungen und empirischer Entwicklungen. Die einzelnen Kapitel nehmen entsprechend aus unterschiedlichen disziplinären und interdisziplinären Perspektiven die Auseinandersetzung mit Bedarfen, Bedingungen oder Barrieren für Partizipation im Nachhaltigkeitskontext auf