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This article studies students' use of sentence variety in an ESL writing course. The study includes three sentence features: (a) sentence types, (b) sentence combining, and (c) sentence patterns. Although sentence variety is part of the curriculum, the actual use of sentence structures has not been measured so far. By understanding students' use of sentence structures, it is possible to propose valid curricular changes in the language program. This quantitative project has been carried out by analyzing 36 paragraphs written by students in the first writing course of a B.A. in English. The study included 433 sentences. Each sentence was examined individually. Data shows that 14.54% of the sentences presented a type of error. The types of errors included were the following: 12 fragments (2.77%), 29 fused sentences (6.69%), and 22 comma splices (5.08%). The remaining number of traditional sentences studied was 370 (85.45%). Results demonstrate that students favor certain types of structures and ignore others. Therefore, the demands of the curriculum and the written production of students lack coherence. Consequently, curricular changes must be incorporated to improve students' written production.

Objective: Complications from diabetic foot wounds, including bacterial infection, ulceration and gangrene, are major causes of hospitalisation and are responsible for 85% of amputations in patients with diabetes. Given that orally administered investigational therapeutic Cytoreg (Cytorex de Venezuela SA, Venezuela), a defined aqueous mixture of hydrofluoric, hydrochloric, sulfuric, phosphoric, citric and oxalic acids, has been shown to increase levels of arterial blood oxygen in a Wistar rat model, oral and oral+topical Cytoreg were tested on patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) under a humanitarian, compassionate-use protocol. Method: All patients received oral Cytoreg (5.0 ml concentrate in fruit juice) for 30 days; half also received weekly wound washing with Cytoreg concentrate in isotonic saline (1:50 volume/volume) (oral+topical group). In addition to standard clinical observations, wounds were monitored against the Saint Elian checklist system for the diabetic foot. Results: A total of 10 patients took part in the study. Complete wound closure was observed in 4/5 patients in the oral+topical group; in the remaining patient, necrotic and fibrin tissues on the wound edges were eliminated. Half (2/4) of the patients receiving oral-only Cytoreg experienced complete wound closure; one patient in this group was removed prematurely because of an unrelated illness and was not replaced. During the study, no significant differences were observed between groups in either the oxygen saturation of the affected tissues or in insulin and glycaemia levels (p<0.05). Significant increases in arterial haemoglobin and arterial oxygen partial pressure (p<0.05) were observed, and significant decreases were measured in the levels of glycosylated haemoglobin, aspartate aminotransferase, glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, creatine and urea (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study justify an expanded clinical study for the treatment of DFUs with Cytoreg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article studies English as a foreign language (EFL) students' production of English words that contain silent letters. The difficulties faced by Spanish native speakers when pronouncing words with silent letters in English have not been deeply studied. The study was conducted in a Costa Rican public university with 46 EFL students during one semester. Students were recorded while reading a set of given sentences that included silent letters. Then, three raters evaluated students' pronunciation using a checklist. Data suggests that 1) around one-fourth of students have significant problems with the pronunciation of words with silent letters, 2) particular pronunciation rules prove more challenging for native Spanish speakers, 3) certain words negatively affect students' performance. These results are consistent with the literature surveyed. Students' scores suggest that the pronunciation of silent letters has not been adequately approached in pronunciation courses. These results should promote a curricular change where silent letter rules are progressively and systematically incorporated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Via Inveniendi et Iudicandi is the property of Universidad Santo Tomas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)