Anticipation in the cognitive structure of speechreading in deaf pupils

Anticipation is one of the basic components in the cognitive structure of speechreading. In order to study the probability prediction ability, determining the skills for correct decoding and interpretation of visually perceived oral information by deaf people; an experiment has been carried out involving 91 pupils aged between 7 and 12, integrated into general education schools. Participants in the study have a hearing loss of ≥90 dB. The results obtained demonstrate a high degree of correlation between linguistic and meaningful prediction ability and children’s speechreading skills. There is also a directly proportional relationship between the chronological age of the students and the level of development of their anticipation ability

Preliminary analysis of immune activation in early onset type 2 diabetes

Introduction. First Nations and other Aboriginal children are disproportionately affected by cardiometabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes (T2D). In T2D, the disruption of insulin signalling can be driven by pro-inflammatory immunity. Pro-inflammatory responses can be fueled by toll-like receptors (TLR) on immune cells such as peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC, a white blood cell population). TLR4 can bind to lipids from bacteria and food sources activating PBMC to produce cytokines tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-1β. These cytokines can interfere with insulin signalling. Here, we seek to understand how TLR4 activation may be involved in early onset T2D. We hypothesized that immune cells from youth with T2D (n=8) would be more reactive upon TLR4 stimulation relative to cells from age and body mass index (BMI)-matched controls without T2D (n=8). Methods. Serum samples were assayed for adipokines (adiponectin and leptin), as well as cytokines. Freshly isolated PBMC were examined for immune reactivity upon culture with TLR4 ligands bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 2 and 0.2 ng/ml) and the fatty acid palmitate (200 µM). Culture supernatants were evaluated for the amount of TNF-α and IL-1β produced by PBMC. Results. Youth with T2D displayed lower median serum adiponectin levels compared to controls (395 vs. 904 ng/ml, p<0.05). PBMC isolated from youth with and without T2D produced similar levels of TNF-α and IL-1β after exposure to the higher LPS concentration. However, at the low LPS dose the T2D cohort exhibited enhanced IL-1β synthesis relative to the control cohort. Additionally, exposure to palmitate resulted in greater IL-1β synthesis in PBMCs isolated from youth with T2D versus controls (p<0.05). These differences in cytokine production corresponded to greater monocyte activation in the T2D cohort. Conclusion. These preliminary results suggest that cellular immune responses are exaggerated in T2D, particularly with respect to IL-1β activity. These studies aim to improve the understanding of the biology behind early onset T2D and its vascular complications that burden First Nations people

Growth parameters of probiotic strain Lactobacillus plantarum, isolated from traditional white cheese. Biotechnol Biotechnol Equip.

ABSTRACT media (MRS): (i) MRS-glucose; (ii) MRS-lactose; (iii) MRS-galactooligosaccharide; (iv) MRS-fructooligosaccharide were used. The strain growth, lactic acid production and carbon source utilization were monitored by pH and cell number determination, and HPLC analysis a

Duration of ammonite zones and characteristic Jurassic fossil taxa from the Pliensbachian–Aalenian successions of Bulgaria

The relative durations of ammonite biozones and selected ammonite taxa, as well as some bioevents associated with coeval Lower–Middle Jurassic benthic taxa are represented herein. Based on linked Sr-isotope data, we found a notable difference in the time spans of the zones and in the relative longevity of the guiding ammonite genera around the Pliensbachian/Toarcian (P/T) boundary. The last occurrences of the well-known late Pliensbachian bivalve taxa Gryphaea gigantea and Pseudopecten aequivalvis were dated at 184 Ma and 183.8 Ma, respectively. Recently defined Toarcian–Aalenian autochtonous brachiopod taxa (Bulgariarhynchia and Capillirhynchia brezenensis) were found to have significant taxonomic durations (2 Ma and 5 Ma). The Sr-isotope data also revealed ~2 Ma duration of seawater warming and 0.2 Ma fossil hiatus around the P/T boundary

Dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) VNTR polymorphism in major psychiatric disorders: family-based association study in the Bulgarian population

Objective: A 40-bp variable number tandem repeat in the 3′-UTR of dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) has been examined for association with major psychiatric disorders in several case–control studies. No significant results have been found. We used a new collection of parent–offspring trios to test for association with schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar 1 disorder (BPI) and schizoaffective (SA) disorder. Method: We genotyped trios from Bulgarian origin where the proband had SZ (178 trios), BPI (77 trios) and SA (29 trios). Alleles ranging from 5 to 11 repeats were observed. The results were analysed with the extended TDT (ETDT). Results: No preferential transmission of alleles was observed for any diagnostic group. The presence of allele DAT*10 was associated with the severity and frequency of auditory hallucinations, however, this result is not significant if corrected for multiple testing. Conclusion: Our results are in agreement with previous reports of a lack of association between this polymorphism and major psychiatric disorders

Laser-assisted approach for synthesis of plasmonic Ag/ZnO nanostructures

We report an experimental investigation on room-temperature synthesis of porous metal - semiconductor plasmonic nanocomposites by using laser deposition and annealing with nanosecond pulses. Ag/ZnO nanostructures are elaborated by using Ag-doped ZnO targets and the effects of silver concentration and laser annealing on the morphology and optical properties of the Ag/ZnO embedded nanostructures are studied. Ag-doped ZnO thin films are deposited by pulsed laser deposition on quartz substrates and subsequently laser annealed. Homemade Ag/ZnO targets with a silver doping concentration of 2, 4 and 6 at.%, prepared by ceramic technology, are exploited in the film deposition process. Then, the influence of laser irradiation on the microstructure and plasmon resonance absorption of the samples is investigated for three values of the number of laser pulses used for annealing. As the number of laser annealing pulses increases the resonance absorption is magnified. The net-like morphology of nanowires transforms to nanoparticles with increasing the silver concentration at the fixed number of ten laser annealing pulses. The composite systems show interesting plasmonic properties, which can be easily tuned by controlling the nanostructures morphology from nanowires through nanochains to nanoparticles. The experimental optical properties are in agreement with predictions of theoretical calculations showing that the extinction efficiency of AgNPs in ZnO environment peaks at about 490 nm