Teaching American English Pronunciation in a Spanish Speaking Context: A Guide for EFL Teachers in Chile

This field project addresses the lack of education surrounding pronunciation teaching, and it specifically responds to the opportunities available within English as a Foreign Language settings. This project is especially relevant to English language teachers who would like to study pronunciation teaching and its history. The objective of this research is to inform educators of the validity of teaching pronunciation and to teach educators effective strategies that can be used. Theories of Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis form the foundation of this project, as well as theories of Interlanguage and Markedness. The literature review includes extensive research into the subject matter of pronunciation teaching and Contrastive Analysis. The project is a video-lecture series to support the pronunciation instruction for native Spanish speakers. The Contrastive Analysis is between English and Spanish, and the video-lecture series was made for a specifically Chilean audience

Regulation of the High Affinity IgE Receptor (FcεRI) in Human Neutrophils: Role of Seasonal Allergen Exposure and Th-2 Cytokines

The high affinity IgE receptor, FcεRI, plays a key role in the immunological pathways involved in allergic asthma. Previously we have demonstrated that human neutrophils isolated from allergic asthmatics express a functional FcεRI, and therefore it was of importance to examine the factors regulating its expression. In this study, we found that neutrophils from allergic asthmatics showed increased expression of FcεRI-α chain surface protein, total protein and mRNA compared with those from allergic non asthmatics and healthy donors (p<0.001). Interestingly, in neutrophils isolated from allergic asthmatics, FcεRI-α chain surface protein and mRNA expression were significantly greater during the pollen season than outside the pollen season (n = 9, P = 0.001), an effect which was not observed either in the allergic non asthmatic group or the healthy donors (p>0.05). Allergen exposure did not affect other surface markers of neutrophils such as CD16/FcγRIII or IL-17R. In contrast to stimulation with IgE, neutrophils incubated with TH2 cytokines IL-9, GM-CSF, and IL-4, showed enhanced FcεRI-α chain surface expression. In conclusion, these results suggest that enhanced FcεRI expression in human neutrophils from allergic asthmatics during the pollen season can make them more susceptible to the biological effects of IgE, providing a possible new mechanism by which neutrophils contribute to allergic asthma

Autologous bone marrow stromal cells loaded onto porous hydroxyapatite ceramic accelerate bone repair in critical-size defects of sheep long bones.

The ability of marrow-derived osteoprogenitor cells to promote repair of critical-size tibial gaps upon autologous transplantation on a hydroxyapatite ceramic (HAC) carrier was tested in a sheep model. Conditions for in vitro expansion of sheep bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) were established and the osteogenic potential of the expanded cells was validated. Ectopic implantation of sheep BMSC in immunocompromised mice led to extensive bone formation. When used to repair tibial gaps in sheep, cell-loaded implants (n = 2) conducted a far more extensive bone formation than did cell-free HAC cylinders (n = 2) over a 2-month period. In cell-loaded implants, bone formation was found to occur both within the internal macropore space and around the HAC cylinder while in control cell-free implants, bone formation was limited mostly to the outer surface and was not observed in most of the inner pores. As tested in an indentation assay, the stiffness of the complex HAC-bone material was found to be higher in cell-loaded implants compared to controls. Our pilot study on a limited number of large-sized animals suggests that the use of autologous BMSC in conjunction with HAC-based carriers results in faster bone repair compared to HAC alone. Potentially this combination could be used clinically in the treatment of extensive long bone defects

Reconstruction of extensive long-bone defects in sheep using porous hydroxyapatite sponges.

The capacity of hydroxyapatite (HA) implants to support large defect repair in weight-bearing long bones of large size animals was investigated. Diaphyseal resections 3.5 cm of the tibia were performed in five adult sheep. They were substituted with HA macroporous ceramic cylinders anatomically shaped, and an external fixator was assembled. The sheep were sacrificed at 20, 40, 60, 120, and 270 days after surgery, respectively. Histology and micro X-ray study of resected implants and adjacent tissues showed proper integration of ceramic with newly formed periosteal bone as early as 20 days after surgery. In one sheep, the external fixator was removed 5 months after surgery. The animal gained the ability to walk with no functional impairment until it was sacrificed 4 months later. At this time, extensive integration of ceramic with bone was detected radiographically and confirmed by a morphological study of the resected sample. Our data indicate that large defects in a weight-bearing long bone can be repaired to the extent necessary for full functional recovery in large animals. These data set the stage for further intervention on material properties as well as for preliminary attempts to use ceramic prostheses for reconstruction of large bone defects in humans