The development and provision of educational services for children with intellectual disabilities in Egypt Desenvolvimento e prestação de serviços educacionais para crianças portadoras de deficiência intelectual no Egito

This paper aims to provide an overview of the development and provision of educational services for children with intellectual disabilities in Egypt. Intellectual disability is a significant sub-average general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behaviour and manifested during the developmental period. The education of children with intellectual disabilities is a right endowed and authorised by the Egyptian government. The Ministry of Education in Egypt is keen to provide those children who have intellectual disabilities, along with other children with special needs, with an appropriate education that addresses their needs and allows them to live in society using their full potential, as typically developing children. Observations and interviews were carried out to collect further information about the educational services the children with intellectual disabilities receive in Egypt. The findings of this study indicated that, despite the efforts exerted by the Ministry of Education, to provide advanced and new services for children with intellectual disabilities, the provision may still need improvements. A series of recommendations was suggested to improve the services that children with intellectual disabilities receive in Egypt.Este artigo visa fornecer uma visão geral do desenvolvimento e prestação de serviços educacionais para crianças com deficiência intelectual no Egito. Deficiência intelectual é um prejuízo significante do funcionamento intelectual, concomitantemente a déficits no comportamento adaptativo, e que se manifesta durante o período de desenvolvimento. A educação das crianças com deficiência intelectual é um direito garantido e legitimado pelo governo egípcio. O Ministério da Educação no Egito está empenhado em fornecer a essas crianças, que têm deficiência intelectual, junto com outras crianças com necessidades especiais, uma adequada educação que atenda as suas necessidades e lhes permita viver em sociedade utilizando todo o seu potencial, como crianças com desenvolvimento típico. Observações e entrevistas foram realizadas para coletar informações adicionais sobre os serviços educacionais destinados a crianças com deficiência mental no Egito. Os resultados deste estudo indicaram que, apesar dos esforços promovidos pelo Ministério da Educação, para proporcionar serviços novos e avançados para crianças com deficiência intelectual, a prestação ainda precisa de melhorias. Uma série de recomendações foi sugerida para melhorar os serviços que as crianças com deficiência intelectual recebem no Egito

Verbal short‐term memory performance in pupils with Down Syndrome

Research has shown that verbal short‐term memory span is shorter in individuals with Down syndrome than in typically developing individuals of equivalent mental age, but little attention has been given to variations within or across groups. Differences in the environment and in particular educational experiences may play a part in the relative ease or difficulty with which children remember verbal material. This article explores the performance of 26 Egyptian pupils with Down syndrome and 26 Egyptian typically developing children on two verbal short‐term memory tests: digit recall and non‐word repetition tasks. The findings of the study revealed that typically developing children showed superior performance on these tasks to that of pupils with Down syndrome, whose performance was both lower and revealed a narrower range of attainment. Comparisons with the performance of children with Down syndrome in this study suggested that not only did the children with Down syndrome perform more poorly than the typically developing children, their profile also appeared worse than the results of studies of children with a similar mental age with Down syndrome carried out in western countries. The results from this study suggested that, while deficits in verbal short‐term memory in Down syndrome may well be universal, it is important to recognise that performances may vary as a consequence of culture and educational experiences. The significance of these findings is explored with reference to approaches to education and how these are conceptualised in relation to children with disabilities

Molecular Cloning and Expression Analysis of Geranyllinalool Synthase Gene (<i>SgGES</i>) from <i>Salvia guaranitica</i> Plants

Salvia guaranitica is considered one of the most significant medicinal and aromatic herbs in terms of nutritional and medical benefits due to its wealth of important active components. Among these compounds, terpenoids are the most prominent and abundant, particularly monoterpenes (C10), sesquiterpenes (C15), and diterpenes (C20). They are biologically advantageous to plants and perform a multitude of functions. The current study aimed to clone the S. guaranitica gene that encodes for geranyllinalool synthases (SgGES, EC: 4.2.3.144), with consideration for these features. The open reading frame of the 867-amino-acid protein encoded by SgGES consists of 2.721 base pairs. In addition, the SgGES protein has five domains that belong to the terpene synthase family, which are related to the terpene and terpenoid synthase domains. We manipulated and overexpressed the SgGES gene in Nicotiana tabacum to explore its function. When compared to the GUS control, the transgenic N. tabacum plants displayed an increase in leaf production and diameter when compared with the wild-type plants. Finally, analysis of transgenic plants using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) showed that SgGES is responsible for producing various terpene species, especially diterpenes