The influence of cognitive ability in Chinese reading comprehension: can working memory updating change Chinese primary school students’ reading comprehension performance?

With the development of educational cognitive neuroscience, language instruction is no longer perceived as mechanical teaching and learning. Individual cognitive proficiency has been found to play a crucial role in language acquisition, particularly in the realm of reading comprehension. The primary objective of this study was to investigate two key aspects: firstly, to assess the predictive effects of the central executive (CE) on the Chinese reading comprehension scores of Chinese primary school students, and secondly, to explore the influence of CE training on the Chinese reading comprehension performance of Chinese primary school students. Chinese primary school students were recruited as participants. Experiment 1 used a Chinese N-back task, a Chinese Stroop task, and a number-pinyin conversion task to investigate the predictive effect of the CE components on Chinese reading comprehension. Experiment 2, based on the results of Experiment 1, used the Chinese character N-back training to explore the influence of updating training on Chinese reading comprehension. The findings from Experiment 1 underscored that CE had a predictive effect on Chinese reading comprehension scores. And updating had a prominent role in it. Experiment 2 revealed that the experimental group exhibited an enhancement in their updating performance following N-back training. Although the reading comprehension performance of the two groups after training did not produce significant differences in total scores, the experimental group showed maintained and higher microscopic reading comprehension scores than the control group in the more difficult post-test. In summary, this study yields two primary conclusions: (1) CE was able to predict Chinese reading comprehension scores. Updating has an important role in prediction. (2) Updating training enhances students’ updating performance and positively influences students’ Chinese microscopic reading comprehension performance

Controlling of structural ordering and rigidity of β-SiAlON:Eu through chemical cosubstitution to approach narrow-band-emission for light-emitting diodes application

The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (Contract Nos. MOST 104- 2113-M-002-012-MY3, MOST 104-2119-M-002-027-MY3 and 104-2923-M-002-007-MY3) and Australia Research Council (ARC, FT160100251). The contribution of A. L. was supported by the grant “Preludium” UMO-2014/13/N/ST3/03781 from the National Science Center. The contribution of S. M. was supported by the grant “Iuventus Plus” 0271/IP3/2015/73 from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. M. G. was supported by Polish National Center for Research and Development with grants no PBS3/A5/48/2015 and PL-TWII/8/2015.Narrow-band green-emitting phosphor β-SiAlON:Eu has been widely used in advanced wide-gamut backlighting de- vices. However, the origins for unusual sharp lines in photoluminescence emission at room temperature and tunable narrow-band- emission tailored by reducing Al-O in β-SiAlON:Eu are still unclear. Here, the presence of sharp-line fine structure in the emission spectra of β-SiAlON:Eu is mainly due to purely electronic transitions (zero phonon lines) and their vibronic repetitions resulted from the multi-microenvironment around Eu2+ ions that has been revealed by relative emission intensity of sharp line depends on excitation wavelength and monotonously increasing decay time. The specific features of the Eu2+ occupying interstitial sites indicate that the effect of crystal field strength can be neglected. Therefore the enhanced rigidity and higher ordering structure of β-SiAlON:Eu with decreasing the substitution of Si–N by Al–O become the main factors in decreasing electron–lattice coupling and reducing inhomo- geneous broadening, favouring the blue-shift and narrow of the emission band, the enhanced thermal stability, as well as the charge state of Eu2+. Our results provide new insights for explaining the reason for narrow-band-emission in β-SiAlON:Eu, which will deliver an impetus for the exploration of phosphors with narrow band and ordering structure.PostprintPeer reviewe

Vaccination mediates protection against Penicillium marneffei in BALB/c mice

P. marneffei is the unique thermal dimorphic fungus among Penicillium spp. which grows as mycelium at 25 ºC and as yeast at 37 ºC. Intravascular injection of lethal dose of P. marneffei spores might lead to systemic infections in BALB/c mice, and the hepatic tissue seemed to suffer from the most severe infection with significant high CFU value than other organs. In this study, we aimed at generating a candidate vaccine for P. marneffei using two independent approaches, recombinant Mp1p protein and live-attenuated strain vaccination. Antigenic mannoprotein Mp1p of P. marneffei strain PM1 was cloned and expressed in E. coli and Pichia pastoris, and these two types of recombinant Mp1p was used to perform vaccination study. Both subcutaneous administration of recombinant Mp1p with Freund’s Adjuvant and intraperitoneal injection of Mp1p with Sigma Adjuvant System elicited efficacious resistance against lethal dose challenge of PM1 in BALB/c mice. Four different strains PM1, PM18, PM25 and PM36 were chosen to detect the protective breadth of strain coverage of recombinant Mp1p and results showed that recombinant Mp1p only generated protection against strain PM1 but failed to resist against the infections of other P. marneffei isolates. Fungal burden and histopathological examination elucidated that recombinant Mp1p with SAS had efficacy in suppression and clearance of hepatic and splenic PM1 yeast cells, but failed to control the dissemination of PM25 which caused invasive hepatic and splenic infection and malignant inflammatory response. Thus, we hypothesized that recombinant Mp1p elicited a narrow breadth of strain coverage due to the high degree of polymorphism of MP1 and its homologues. Depletion of virulence gene MP1 from strain PM1 yielded one live-attenuated P. marneffei strain BC122. BC122 vaccinated mice were able to resist infections due to different P. marneffei isolates, including strain PM1, PM18, PM25 and PM36. Thus, it displayed wide strain coverage. Fungal burden analysis elucidated that both PM1 and PM25 yeast cells in mice spleens and livers presented a trend of clearance. H&E and GMS staining of vaccinated mice hepatic tissues founded that both PM1 and PM25 yeast cells were fast sequestered in granulomas and killed progressively, and many empty granulomas were seen since days 6 post-infection. Intracellular staining showed that the frequency of IFN-γ producing CD4+ T cells in hepatic tissue was significant higher than the peripheral blood, which might elucidate the influx of functional hepatic Th1 cells. The absolute number of hepatic Th1 cells in immunized mice were also significant greater than that of PBS control group. In addition, CD4 deficient mice seemed to be vulnerable even to the virulence attenuated strain BC122. Furthermore, the percentage of hepatic Th17 cells rocketed at days 2 post-infection then fast decreased to bottom out which was not consistent with the tendency of fungal clearance. Thus, we concluded that vaccine BC122 had elicited efficacious protection through hepatic Th1 cell immunity in BALB/c mice model. This preliminary study will help us to characterize the mechanisms of exclusive immune response against P. marneffei and provide informative reference for preventive or therapeutic strategies against penicilliosis.published_or_final_versionMicrobiologyDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph

Research on Impact Factors of Smart Elderly Care Mode and the Corresponding Industry: ──Taking Questionnaire Data of Some Cities in Jiangsu Province as An Example

With the development of Internet of things technology, the smart elderly care mode is attracting more and more attention. Based on the questionnaire data of adult residents in some cities of Jiangsu Province, this paper analyzes the multiple linear regression model between the intelligent elderly care mode and its possible influencing factors. And it can be found that for participants aged 59 and under, their educational level, blood type, professional identity and age have a significant impact on intelligent old-age care mode. For participants aged 60 and over, only their educational level and age have a significant impact on the smart old-age care approach. Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions about the development of industries related to intelligent elderly care to build an integrated intelligent community old-age care pattern, integrated pattern of intelligent home-based care or integrated smart home-based care service center, adjust and perfect the existing elderly care institutions, and improve intelligence old-age care institutions pattern to promote the development of intelligent industry related to smart elderly care

Genome-Wide Analysis of the Mads-Box Transcription Factor Family in <i>Solanum melongena</i>

The MADS-box transcription factors are known to be involved in several aspects of plant growth and development, especially in floral organ specification. However, little is known in eggplant. Here, 120 eggplant MADS-box genes were identified and categorized into type II (MIKCC and MIKC*) and type I (Mα, Mβ, and Mγ) subfamilies based on phylogenetic relationships. The exon number in type II SmMADS-box genes was greater than that in type I SmMADS-box genes, and the K-box domain was unique to type II MADS-box TFs. Gene duplication analysis revealed that segmental duplications were the sole contributor to the expansion of type II genes. Cis-elements of MYB binding sites related to flavonoid biosynthesis were identified in three SmMADS-box promoters. Flower tissue-specific expression profiles showed that 46, 44, 38, and 40 MADS-box genes were expressed in the stamens, stigmas, petals, and pedicels, respectively. In the flowers of SmMYB113-overexpression transgenic plants, the expression levels of 3 SmMADS-box genes were co-regulated in different tissues with the same pattern. Correlation and protein interaction predictive analysis revealed six SmMADS-box genes that might be involved in the SmMYB113-regulated anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway. This study will aid future studies aimed at functionally characterizing important members of the MADS-box gene family

Genome-wide analysis of basic helix–loop–helix superfamily members related to anthocyanin biosynthesis in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)

The basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) superfamily is considered the second largest transcription factor (TF) family. It plays regulatory roles in the developmental processes of plants and in their defense responses. In recent years, many bHLH superfamily genes have been identified and characterized in herbaceous and woody plants. However, the comprehensive genomic and functional analyses of these genes in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) have not been reported. In this study, 121 bHLH TFs were identified in the recently released eggplant genome. The phylogeny, gene structure and conserved motifs of the SmbHLH gene were comprehensively studied. Subsequently, the phylogenetic relationship between the bHLH of eggplant and the bHLH of other species was analyzed, and the proteins were classified into 17 subfamilies. Among these protein sequences, 16 subgroups were clustered into the functional clades of Arabidopsis. Two candidate genes (SmbHLH1, SmbHLH117) that may be involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis were screened. The tissue specificity or differential expression of the bHLH genes in different tissues and under various light and temperature conditions suggested the differential regulation of tissue development and metabolism. This study not only provides a solid foundation for the functional dissection of the eggplant bHLH gene family but may also be useful for the future synthesis of anthocyanins in eggplant

The Use of Lactic Acid Bacteria as a Probiotic in Swine Diets

As the resistance of pathogens to antibiotics and the possibility of antibiotic residues in animal products attract increasing attention, the interest in the use of alternatives to in-feed antibiotics has been growing. Recent research with Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in pigs suggests that LAB provide a potential alternative to antibiotic strategies. LAB include Lactobacillus species, Bifidobacterium spp, Bacillus spp, and some other microbes. LAB can adjust the intestinal environment, inhibit or kill pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract and improve the microbial balance in the intestine, as well as regulate intestinal mucosal immunity and maintain intestinal barrier function, thereby benefiting the health of pigs. The related mechanisms for these effects of LAB may include producing microbicidal substances with effects against gastrointestinal pathogens and other harmful microbes, competing with pathogens for binding sites on the intestinal epithelial cell surface and mucin as well as stimulating the immune system. In this review, the characteristics of LAB and their probiotic effects in newborn piglets, weaned piglets, growing pigs and sows are documented

The effects of cold stimulation and exercise on human health

Cold stimulation and exercise are two independent stimulus variables, each yielding unique impacts on human health. However, in many cases, individuals often encounter both factors simultaneously, particularly in colder regions where outdoor physical activity is prevalent. Despite numerous studies exploring the effects of cold exposure and exercise independently, only a limited number of comprehensive reviews have evaluated their combined influence on health. This review aims to bridge this gap by meticulously examining the potential benefits and detriments of both cold stimulation and exercise on human health. Specifically, the review focuses on their impacts on cardiovascular, respiratory, and immune function, as well as the favorable effects of moderate exercise on the human body. While evidence suggests that cold exposure can enhance health outcomes in certain disease contexts, it also poses risks, particularly for vulnerable populations. Furthermore, while moderate exercise is generally beneficial, engaging in physical activity in cold weather conditions can increase the risk of hypothermia, frostbite, and other cold-related injuries. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop safe and effective guidelines for exercising in cold weather, particularly for individuals living in colder regions. This review emphasizes the necessity for further research on the combined effects of cold stimulation and exercise, with the goal of informing public health policies and guidelines for physical activity in cold weather conditions