Association of the rs3743205 variant of DYX1C1 with dyslexia in Chinese children

<p>Abstract</p> <p><b>Background</b></p> <p>Dyslexia is a learning disability that is characterized by difficulties in the acquisition of reading and spelling skills independent of intelligence, motivation or schooling. Studies of western populations have suggested that <it>DYX1C1 </it>is a candidate gene for dyslexia. In view of the different languages used in Caucasian and Chinese populations, it is therefore worthwhile to investigate whether there is an association of <it>DYX1C1 </it>in Chinese children with dyslexia.</p> <p>Method and Results</p> <p>Eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped from three hundred and ninety three individuals from 131 Chinese families with two which have been reported in the literature and six tag SNPs at <it>DYX1C1</it>. Analysis for allelic and haplotypic associations was performed with the UNPHASED program and multiple testing was corrected using false discovery rates. We replicated the previously reported association of rs3743205 in Chinese children with dyslexia (<it>p</it>_{<it>corrected </it>}= 0.0072). This SNP was also associated with rapid naming, phonological memory and orthographic skills in quantitative trait analysis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest that <it>DYX1C1 </it>is associated with dyslexia in people of Chinese ethnicity in Hong Kong.</p

Syntactic and discourse skills in Chinese adolescent readers with dyslexia: a profiling study

This study aims to investigate the relation of syntactic and discourse skills to morphological skills, rapid naming, and working memory in Chinese adolescent readers with dyslexia and to examine their cognitive-linguistic profiles. Fifty-two dyslexic readers (mean age, 13;42) from grade 7 to 9 in Hong Kong high schools were compared with 52 typically developing readers of the same chronological age (mean age, 13;30) in the measures of word reading, 1-min word reading, reading comprehension, morpheme discrimination, morpheme production, morphosyntactic knowledge, sentence order knowledge, digit rapid naming, letter rapid naming, backward digit span, and non-word repetition. Results showed that dyslexic readers performed significantly worse than their peers on all the cognitive-linguistic tasks. Analyses of individual performance also revealed that over half of the dyslexic readers exhibited deficits in syntactic and discourse skills. Moreover, syntactic skills, morphological skills, and rapid naming best distinguished dyslexic from non-dyslexic readers. Findings underscore the significance of syntactic and discourse skills for understanding reading impairment in Chinese adolescent readers

Why Don’t Diabetes Patients Achieve Recommended Risk Factor Targets? Poor Adherence versus Lack of Treatment Intensification

BackgroundDespite the availability of effective hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia therapies, target levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c), and hemoglobin A1c control are often not achieved.ObjectiveTo examine the relative importance of patient medication nonadherence versus clinician lack of therapy intensification in explaining above target cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor levels.DesignCross-sectional assessment.ParticipantsIn 2005, 161,697 Kaiser Permanente Northern California adult diabetes patients were included in the study.Measurement"Above target" was defined as most recent A1c &gt;/=7.0% for hyperglycemia, LDL-c &gt;/=100 mg/dL for hyperlipidemia, and SBP &gt;/=130 mmHg for hypertension. Poor adherence was defined as medication gaps for &gt;/=20% of days covered for all medications for each condition separately. Treatment intensification was defined as an increase in the number of drug classes, increased dosage of a class, or a switch to a different class within the 3 months before or after notation of above target levels.ResultsPoor adherence was found in 20-23% of patients across the 3 conditions. No evidence of poor adherence with no treatment intensification was found in 30% of hyperglycemia patients, 47% of hyperlipidemia patients, and 36% of hypertension patients. Poor adherence or lack of therapy intensification was evident in 53-68% of patients above target levels across conditions.ConclusionsBoth nonadherence and lack of treatment intensification occur frequently in patients above target for CVD risk factor levels; however, lack of therapy intensification was somewhat more common. Quality improvement efforts should focus on these modifiable barriers to CVD risk factor control