Dise?o, implementaci?n y evaluaci?n de una secuencia did?ctica para el mejoramiento de la comprensi?n de lectura en estudiantes de medicina y cirug?a de la Universidad del Valle [recurso electr?nico]

Esta investigaci?n-acci?n se enmarca dentro del ?rea de ESP (English for Specific Purposes). La investigaci?n se realiz? en un curso de Textos Acad?micos I para estudiantes del programa del programa de Medicina y Cirug?a de la Universidad del Valle. El objetivo principal de la investigaci?n es dise?ar una secuencia did?ctica siguiendo la metodolog?a Task-Based Learning con el prop?sito de mejorar la compresi?n de lectura de textos especializados en los estudiantes del programa de medicina y cirug?a. La investigaci?n retoma varios aspectos importantes dentro del aula de clase como la metodolog?a de ense?anza, la motivaci?n por parte de los estudiantes y los procesos de compresi?n de lectura. Durante el proceso de investigaci?n y el dise?o de la secuencia did?ctica se identificaron diferentes aspectos que favorecen y desfavorecen la relaci?n ense?anza-aprendizaje en un curso de ESP. En el dise?o de la secuencia did?ctica se tuvo en cuenta el aprendizaje basado en tareas, los contenidos del curso de Lectura de Textos Acad?micos en ingl?s I y el ?rea espec?fica de conocimientos de los estudiantes. Despu?s de analizar los resultados de las cuatro actividades aplicadas se evidenci? una mejor?a notable en la comprensi?n de lectura de diferentes textos especializados, en relaci?n a la exploraci?n inicial realizada a trav?s del test diagn?stico.

Utilização de plantas medicinais no tratamento de feridas : perfil do stryphnodendron barbatiman

Introdução – O recurso à utilização de plantas com fins terapêuticos, é uma das mais antigas formas de prática medicinal da humanidade, sobretudo por parte da população de países menos desenvolvidos, que ainda hoje, segundo a Organização Mundial de Saúde, recorre, em muitas situações, à utilização das plantas medicinais como a única forma de acesso aos cuidados básicos de saúde. Porém, e apesar do advento da medicina moderna, que se correndo do avanço da biotecnologia, por meio da qual as plantas, consideradas medicinais, podem ter seu potencial terapêutico aprovado pela ciência para fins medicamentosos, uma parte significativa da comercialização de plantas medicinais continua a não ser feita em farmácias ou lojas de produtos naturais, mas sim comercializadas em feiras livres, pelos chamados raizeiros. Partindo deste enquadramento, os objetivos centrais desta investigação foram: identificar quais as espécies de plantas medicinais mais indicadas por comerciantes, raizeiros, no tratamento de feridas e que são comercializadas nas mais importantes feiras livres da cidade de Maceió, e caracterizar a fonte de conhecimento desses raizeiros, em relação às mesmas. Métodos – Realizou-se um estudo que seguiu os pressupostos de uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa, de matriz transversal, com recurso a uma amostra não probabilística, acidental e por conveniência constituída por 26 raizeiros, na sua maioria pertencentes ao do grupo etário dos 37-52 anos (46,14%), que desenvolvem a atividade comercial de plantas medicinais como sua única e/ou principal atividade produtiva (76,90%), e em que 50% são do sexo feminino. Como instrumento de recolha de dados recorreu-se à entrevista, a partir de convites efectuados pela autora do estudo na sequência da realização de visitas às principais feiras livres da cidade de Maceió-AL. Resultados – Os dados recolhidos pela totalidade das entrevistas permitiram constatar que o barbatimão (Stryphnodendron barbatiman) é a planta mais frequentemente indicada para o tratamento em feridas, logo seguida da Aroeira (MyracrodruonurundeuvaLâmina), e da Sambacaitá (Hyptis pectinata). As menos recomendadas são a Garra do Diabo (Harpagophytum procubens); a Jatobá (Hymenae acourbaril L.) e a Babosa (Aloe arborescens). A maioria dos raizeiros afirmaram também que recomendavam a “casca” e a “entre casca” como a forma farmacêutica mais eficaz. Em relação à aprendizagem/ conhecimento sobre a utilização medicinal do barbatimão (Stryphnodendron barbatiman): 69,3% dos raizeiros entrevistados afirmaram ter aprendido com familiares; 19,2 com amigos e 11,5% através de conversas com outros comerciantes do mesmo ramo de negócio. Cem por cento dos entrevistados afirmaram que o Stryphnodendron barbatiman, independetemente de ser a planta mais recomendada pelos raizeiros, é a planta mais procurada pela população e, que segundo a mesma, é a que apresenta um melhor resultado. Apenas 50% dos entrevistados refere que o barbatimão é armazenado seco e ensacado, e quanto questionados sobre a validade do mesmo, 69,3% dos raizeiros afirmaram que esse prazo é indeterminado. Quanto à duração da “terapia” pelo barbatimão, 100% dos raizeiros entrevistados, afirmaram que deve permanecer durante o tempo que o paciente ou o profissional de saúde que estiver acompanhando o caso, julgar necessário. Conclusões – Os resultados deste estudo vêm confirmar que o recurso à utilização de plantas com fins terapêuticos no tratamento de feridas, por parte da população brasileira, continua sendo muito usual, sendo o barbatimão (Stryphnodendron barbatimam) o mais indicado e conhecido pela cultura popular. Nesse sentido é relevante que, por um lado, o profissional de enfermagem, procure entender a utilização dessa planta medicinal, popularmente utilizada, com afirmativa de êxito, no tratamento de feridas, e por outro, entendemos ser necessária a realização de estudos multidisciplinares que permitam a ampliação e a profundidade dos conhecimentos das plantas medicinais, como agem, quais são os seus efeitos tóxicos e colaterais, e quais as suas verdadeiras indicações terapêuticas. Palavras-chave: Plantas Medicinais, Ferimentos e lesões, Tratamento, Enfermagem, Raizeiros.

Bioactivity, proximate, mineral and volatile profiles along the flowering stages of Opuntia microdasys (Lehm.): defining potential applications

Opuntia spp. flowers have been traditionally used for medical purposes, mostly because of their diversity in bioactive molecules with health promoting properties. The proximate, mineral and volatile compound profiles, together with the cytotoxic and antimicrobial properties were characterized in O. microdasys flowers at different maturity stages, revealing several statistically significant differences. O. microdasys stood out mainly for its high contents of dietary fiber, potassium and camphor, and its high activities against HCT15 cells, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus versicolor and Penicillium funiculosum. The vegetative stage showed the highest cytotoxic and antifungal activities, whilst the full flowering stage was particularly active against bacterial species. The complete dataset has been classified by principal component analysis, achieving clearly identifiable groups for each flowering stage, elucidating also the most distinctive features, and comprehensively profiling each of the assayed stages. The results might be useful to define the best flowering stage considering practical application purposes.

A Brief View of the ESP Approach

El artículo trata sobre el enfoque de inglés para fines específicos. Está dirigido a profesores de inglés general, aunque intenta también que la comunidad universitaria reconozca la importancia de evaluar la inversión de recursos en la enseñanza del inglés en función de sus resultados concretados. Se ofrece una descripción de las condiciones que se requieren para diseñar y efectuar estos cursos, acompañada de comentarios surgidos a partir de la experiencia del autor.This article provides information about the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Approach. Although it is intended for teachers of General English, it also aims for the university community as a whole to evaluate how resources are currently invested in English teaching, with regard to the results obtained. A description of the conditions required to design and implement those courses is presented, along with the author's comments based on his own experience.

EAP teachers' conceptions of and interactions with professional development: a phenomenographic investigation

This research explores the conceptions of professional development held by a group of teachers of English for academic purposes (EAP), the influence of their conceptions on their interaction with professional development activities and the learning outcomes resulting from this interaction.

Challenges for developing EAP practice in anglophone contexts

English for academic purposes (EAP), the academically-focused branch of English for specific purposes (Johns & Dudley-Evans, 1991), aims to facilitate learners’ participation in the English language academic community (Hyland & Hamp-Lyons,2002; Prosser, 1994). The EAP sector has expanded rapidly in recent years (Liyanage & Walker, 2014b) and now plays a significant role within Anglophone and non-Anglophone higher education contexts (Ashraf, Hakim, & Zulfiqar, 2014; Basturkmen, 2012; Kafle, 2014). Global trends which associate English and the West with educational prestige (Kubota & Lehner, 2004), assigning them a “perceived superiority” (Liyanage & Walker, 2014b, p. 165) over other languages and educational paradigms, have led considerable numbers of students to undertake English-medium higher education (Brown, 2014; Doiz, Lasagabaster, & Sierra, 2013; Kim, Tatar, & Choi, 2014). These developments have cemented the international status of the language, which has also has become the global medium for academic communication and a lingua franca in general (Hyland & Hamp-Lyons, 2002; Jenkins, 2011; Seidlhofer, 2005). Increased student mobility and preferences for English-medium education have been of particular economic significance to Britain, Australasia and North America, referred to as the BANA nations, which have experienced a boost in overseas enrolments (Andrade, 2006; Saw, Abbott, Donaghey, & McDonald, 2013; Terraschke & Wahid, 2011). Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are amongst the countries with the highest proportion of international tertiary enrolments globally (OECD, 2014), and the United States and Canada also host a significant number of overseas students (Choudaha & Chang, 2012; Siddiq, Nethercote, Lye, & Baroni, 2012).

Between Herbals et alia: Intertextuality in Medieval English Herbals

This study reports a corpus-based study of medieval English herbals, which are texts conveying information on medicinal plants. Herbals belong to the medieval medical register. The study charts intertextual parallels within the medieval genre, and between herbals and other contemporary medical texts. It seeks to answer questions where and how herbal texts are linked to each other, and to other medical writing. The theoretical framework of the study draws on intertextuality and genre studies, manuscript studies, corpus linguistics, and multi-dimensional text analysis. The method combines qualitative and quantitative analyses of textual material from three historical special-language corpora of Middle and Early Modern English, one of which was compiled for the purposes of this study. The text material contains over 800,000 words of medical texts. The time span of the material is from c. 1330 to 1550. Text material is retrieved from the corpora by using plant name lists as search criteria. The raw data is filtered through qualitative analysis which produces input for the quantitative analysis, multi-dimensional scaling (MDS). In MDS, the textual space that parallel text passages form is observed, and the observations are explained by a qualitative analysis. This study concentrates on evidence of material and structural intertextuality. The analysis shows patterns of affinity between the texts of the herbal genre, and between herbals and other texts in the medical register. Herbals are most closely linked with recipe collections and regimens of health: they comprise over 95 per cent of the intertextual links between herbals and other medical writing. Links to surgical texts, or to specialised medical texts are very few. This can be explained by the history of the herbal genre: as herbals carry information on medical ingredients, herbs, they are relevant for genres that are related to pharmacological therapy. Conversely, herbals draw material from recipe collections in order to illustrate the medicinal properties of the herbs they describe. The study points out the close relationship between medical recipes and recipe-like passages in herbals (recipe paraphrases). The examples of recipe paraphrases show that they may have been perceived as indirect instruction. Keywords: medieval herbals, early English medicine, corpus linguistics, intertextuality, manuscript studies

Access to medical records for research purposes:Varying perceptions across research ethics boards

Introduction: Variation across research ethics boards (REBs) in conditions placed on access to medical records for research purposes raises concerns around negative impacts on research quality and on human subject protection, including privacy. Aim: To study variation in REB consent requirements for retrospective chart review and who may have access to the medical record for data abstraction. Methods: Thirty 90-min face-to-face interviews were conducted with REB chairs and administrators affiliated with faculties of medicine in Canadian universities, using structured questions around a case study with open-ended responses. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded manually. Results: Fourteen sites (47%) required individual patient consent for the study to proceed as proposed. Three (10%) indicated that their response would depend on how potentially identifying variables would be managed. Eleven sites (38%) did not require consent. Two (7%) suggested a notification and opt-out process. Most stated that consent would be required if identifiable information was being abstracted from the record. Among those not requiring consent, there was substantial variation in recognising that the abstracted information could potentially indirectly re-identify individuals. Concern over access to medical records by an outside individual was also associated with requirement for consent. Eighteen sites (60%) required full committee review. Sixteen (53%) allowed an external research assistant to abstract information from the health record. Conclusions: Large variation was found across sites in the requirement for consent for research involving access to medical records. REBs need training in best practices for protecting privacy and confidentiality in health research. A forum for REB chairs to confidentially share concerns and decisions about specific studies could also reduce variation in decisions.

Good practice : communication skills in English for the medical practitioner. Teacher's book.

Recurso para médicos y estudiantes de medicina que necesitan el inglés para comunicarse con los pacientes. Se centra en las habilidades del lenguaje y la comunicación que los doctores necesitan para hacer las consultas más eficaces con los cinco elementos para una buena comunicación: comunicación verbal, escucha activa, administración de voz, comunicación no verbal y conciencia cultural. Enseña a los estudiantes a manejar un repertorio de situaciones como pueden ser historia del paciente, malas noticias de última hora, tratar diferentes tipos de pacientes. El libro del profesor ofrece las herramientas esenciales y los antecedentes necesarios para potenciar en el aula el inglés para médicos. En los clips de DVD se hace una réplica de escenarios clínicos simulados que es probable que encuentren en su labor profesional.

Good practice : communication skills in English for the medical practitioner. Student's book.

Recurso para médicos y estudiantes de medicina que necesitan el inglés para comunicarse con los pacientes. Se centra en las habilidades del lenguaje y la comunicación que los doctores necesitan para hacer las consultas más eficaces con los cinco elementos para una buena comunicación: comunicación verbal, escucha activa, administración de voz, comunicación no verbal y conciencia cultural. Enseña a los estudiantes a manejar un repertorio de situaciones como pueden ser historia del paciente, malas noticias de última hora, tratar diferentes tipos de pacientes. Los clips de audio hacen una réplica de escenarios clínicos simulados que es probable que encuentren en su práctica profesional.

Facilitating students' reflective practice in a medical course: literature review

Introduction:
Reflection and reflective practice is of increasing importance in medical education curricula. The aim of this review is to summarise the literature published around facilitating refection in a medical course, and to answer the question: What is the current evidence regarding learning and development moments across the medical curriculum in developing students' reflective practice?

Methods:
A review of the literature was undertaken using defined databases and the search terms 'medical students', 'medical education', 'reflection', 'reflect*' and 'medicine'. The search was limited to peer-reviewed published material in English and between the years 2001 and 2011, and included research, reviews and opinion pieces. Results: Thirty-six relevant articles were found, identifying enhancing factors and barriers to effectively teaching reflective practice within medical curricula, relating to: The breadth of the meaning of reflection; facilitating reflection by medical educators; using written or web-based portfolios to facilitate reflection; and assessing the reflective work of students.

Discussion:
A variety of reflective purposes was found in this literature review. Evidence indicates that, if students are unclear as to the purpose of reflection and do not see educators modelling reflective behaviours, they are likely to undervalue this important skill regardless of the associated learning and development opportunities embedded in the curriculum.