Beyond foreign language writing instruction: The need for literacy pedagogy

The situation we have found ourselves in after 1989 has all the signs of a literacy crisis. As academic teachers, we find the academic literacy skills of many our students below our expectations. Yet, we must not exclude such students, but admit them and find new ways to educate them, taking example from American institutions of higher education which faced a similar literacy crisis in the 1970s. We must provide literacy instruction for those students who lack the traditionally expected literacy skills. My point is that tertiary-level students in Poland should be offered such assistance as long as our goal is university education not only for the elite. For our democracy to thrive, its foundations need to be broadened, which means increasing the number of citizens with critical thinking/literacy skills. By organizing conferences like this one, we can build bridgeheads from which to launch not just writing instruction but literacy instruction in our tertiary education. The key point is understanding what is involved in the transition from being a teacher of the standard academic language to being a teacher of literacy

Parameters of the NERA spectrometer for cold and thermal moderators of the IBR-2 pulsed reactor

The inverted geometry time-of-flight spectrometer NERA designed for simultaneous investigation of elastic and inelastic neutron scattering was constructed on a 100 meter long flight path of the IBR-2 reactor at JINR, Dubna, Russia. Spectrometer parameters were optimized for the thermal neutron spectrum of a water moderator at 330 K. Recently, a new type of cold neutron source operating at 30 K was installed in the sector of six horizontal channels. The cold source in combination with the water moderator allows one to effectively use incident neutrons in wide range of wavelengths

The impact of Odra river waters on the seasonal and spatial

Abstract Primary production and chlorophyll a concentrations were measured in March and May 1996, July and October 1997. The study was carried out in the coastal zone adjacent to the mouths of the Świna and Dziwna, which together drain over 80% of the waters carried by the river Odra, and in the open Pomeranian Bay. Chlorophyll a concentrations in the entire Pomeranian Bay varied between 0.8 and 16.5 mg m . The waters of the river Odra reinforce eutrophication in the coastal zone of the Pomeranian Bay. The photosynthetic rate there is usually higher than in open bay waters

Generation of two induced pluripotent stem cell lines from psoriatic patient with cardiovascular comorbidity

Psoriasis (Ps) is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease characterized by thickened, red and scaly plaques. Systemic inflammation associated with psoriasis results in an increased risk of death due to the development of psoriasis-associated comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and metabolic syndrome. Although the cardiometabolic features in psoriasis are clinically well described, the underlying molecular mechanisms linking these comorbidities remain poorly understood. Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and skin fibroblasts (SFs) of psoriatic patients provides a novel approach to investigate the pathway by which cutaneous inflammation promotes CV complications in this disorder

Erasmus Mundus Master of Bioethics: a case for an effective model for international bioethics education

Designing bioethics curriculum for international postgraduate students is a challenging task. There are at least two main questions, which have to be resolved in advance: (1) what is a purpose of a particular teaching program and (2) how to respectfully arrange a classroom for students coming from different cultural and professional backgrounds. In our paper we analyze the case of the Erasmus Mundus Master of Bioethics program and provide recommendations for international bioethics education. In our opinion teaching bioethics to postgraduate international students goes beyond curriculum. It means that such a program requires not only well-defined goals, including equipping students with necessary skills and knowledge, but also it should first and foremost facilitate positive group dynamics among students and enables them to engage in dialogue to learn from one another

Cyclosporine A reduces microvascular obstruction and preserves left ventricular function deterioration following myocardial ischemia and reperfusion

Postconditioning and cyclosporine A prevent mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening providing cardioprotection during ischemia/reperfusion. Whether microvascular obstruction is affected by these interventions is largely unknown. Pigs subjected to coronary occlusion for 1 h followed by 3 h of reperfusion were assigned to control (n = 8), postconditioning (n = 9) or cyclosporine A intravenous infusion 10-15 min before the end of ischemia (n = 8). Postconditioning was induced by 8 cycles of repeated 30-s balloon inflation and deflation. After 3 h of reperfusion magnetic resonance imaging, triphenyltetrazolium chloride/Evans blue staining and histopathology were performed. Microvascular obstruction (MVO, percentage of gadolinium-hyperenhanced area) was measured early (3 min) and late (12 min) after contrast injection. Infarct size with double staining was smaller in cyclosporine (46.2 ± 3.1 %, P = 0.016) and postconditioning pigs (47.6 ± 3.9 %, P = 0.008) versus controls (53.8 ± 4.1 %). Late MVO was significantly reduced by cyclosporine (13.9 ± 9.6 %, P = 0.047) but not postconditioning (23.6 ± 11.7 %, P = 0.66) when compared with controls (32.0 ± 16.9 %). Myocardial blood flow in the late MVO was improved with cyclosporine versus controls (0.30 ± 0.06 vs 0.21 ± 0.03 ml/g/min, P = 0.002) and was inversely correlated with late-MVO extent ($R^{2}$ = 0.93, P\0.0001). Deterioration of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) between baseline and 3 h of reperfusion was smaller with cyclosporine (-7.9 ± 2.4 %, P = 0.008) but not postconditioning (-12.0 ± 5.5 %, P = 0.22) when compared with controls (-16.4 ± 5.5 %). In the three groups, infarct size (\beta = -0.69, P\0.001) and late MVO (\beta = -0.33, P = 0.02) were independent predictors of LVEF deterioration following ischemia/reperfusion (R^{2} = 0.73, P\0.001). Despite both cyclosporine A and postconditioning reduce infarct size, only cyclosporine A infusion had a beneficial effect on microvascular damage and was associated with better preserved LV function when compared with controls

Comparison of MRI lesion evolution in different central nervous system demyelinating disorders

Background and Objective: There are few studies that compare lesion evolution across different CNS demyelinating diseases, yet knowledge of this may be important for diagnosis and understanding differences in disease pathogenesis. We sought to compare MRI T2-lesion evolution in myelin-oligodendrocyte-glycoprotein-IgG-associated disorder (MOGAD), aquaporin-4-IgG-positive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (AQP4-IgG-NMOSD), and multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: In this descriptive study, we retrospectively identified Mayo Clinic patients with MOGAD, AQP4-IgG-NMOSD, or MS and: 1) brain or myelitis attack; 2) available attack MRI within 6 weeks; and 3) follow-up MRI beyond 6 months without interval relapses in that region. Two neurologists identified the symptomatic or largest T2-lesion for each patient (index lesion). MRIs were then independently reviewed by two neuroradiologists blinded to diagnosis to determine resolution of T2-lesions by consensus. The index T2-lesion area was manually outlined acutely and at follow-up to assess variation in size. Results: We included 156 patients (MOGAD, 38; AQP4-IgG-NMOSD, 51; MS, 67) with 172 attacks (brain, 81; myelitis, 91). The age (median [range]) differed between MOGAD (25 [2-74]), AQP4-IgG-NMOSD (53 [10-78]) and MS (37 [16-61]) (p<0.01) and female sex predominated in the AQP4-IgG-NMOSD (41/51 [80%]) and MS (51/67 [76%]) groups but not among those with MOGAD (17/38 [45%]). Complete resolution of the index T2-lesion was more frequent in MOGAD (brain, 13/18[72%]; spine, 22/28[79%]) than AQP4-IgG-NMOSD (brain, 3/21[14%]; spine, 0/34[0%]) and MS (brain, 7/42[17%]; spine, 0/29[0%]), p<0.001. Resolution of all T2-Lesions occurred most often in MOGAD (brain, 7/18[39%]; spine, 22/28[79%]) than AQP4-IgG-NMOSD (brain, 2/21[10%]; spine, 0/34[0%]), and MS (brain, 2/42[5%]; spine, 0/29[0%]), p< 0.01. There was a larger median (range) reduction in T2-lesion area in mm2 on follow-up axial brain MRI with MOGAD (213[55-873]) than AQP4-IgG-NMOSD (104[0.7-597]) (p=0.02) and MS, 36[0-506]) (p< 0.001) and the reductions in size on sagittal spine MRI follow-up in MOGAD (262[0-888]) and AQP4-IgG-NMOSD (309[0-1885]) were similar (p=0.4) and greater than MS (23[0-152]) (p<0.001)

Study of Tau-pair Production in Photon-Photon Collisions at LEP and Limits on the Anomalous Electromagnetic Moments of the Tau Lepton

Tau-pair production in the process e+e- -> e+e-tau+tau- was studied using data collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP2 during the years 1997 - 2000. The corresponding integrated luminosity is 650 pb^{-1}. The values of the cross-section obtained are found to be in agreement with QED predictions. Limits on the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau lepton are deduced.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.