READING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS OF VOCABULARY AND PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

This study was designed to examine the relative contributions to EFL learners’ reading comprehension of vocabulary size and phonological awareness, potentially significant for the mainly Japanese university students who were the subjects of the study, because of the transfer of L1 reading behaviors which may interfere with fluent reading in English which is a growing necessity for the ‘global human resources’ Japan needs to participate fully in international society. Since both vocabulary size and pronunciation are known to be related to reading skill, this study measured learners’ vocabulary size, phonemic distinction ability, and reading comprehension ability, all using well-known standard tests. A further test of general awareness of English phonology, suggested by Coulson et al. (2013), was also carried out. The results were then statistically examined for any possible correlations, and what they might tell us about the relationships between these various abilities. Although no evidence was found to support a strong relationship between vocabulary alone and reading comprehension, there were indications of interaction between phonological awareness and vocabulary. A relationship between aural phonological distinction ability and reading comprehension was clearly indicated, and there was strong evidence of an effect for the subjects’ first language. These results suggest that phonological knowledge does, indeed, have a part to play in reading comprehension, and possibly reading speed. This underlines the importance of reading aloud practice and encouraging learners’ to acquire accurate pronunciation when teaching reading

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON RELIABILITY BETWEEN ONLINE AND PAPER-BASED VERSIONS OF A TEST FOR READING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

The aim of this study is to examine how reliable the results of the internet-based version of a reading test are, with a view to replacing paper tests with the online versions. This is of increasing importance as universities focus on improving efficiency and supporting SDGs by going paperless. The study was also suggested by the need to test reading comprehension of larger numbers of students across the university and deliver meaningful results on which to base intensive programs of instruction quickly. The Extensive Reading Foundation’s online reading test and the (now discontinued) Edinburgh Project for Extensive Reading’s placement test (paper-based), were administered to university students under controlled conditions, and the data was analyzed for possible relationships. An initial one-way ANOVA analysis of the results suggested little evidence of a relationship between online and paper-based test scores. However, further analysis using other measures found evidence of interaction between them, and a second ANOVA analysis, only of scores for students who had completed all versions of the test found a significant relationship. Familiarity with both versions of the test was considered as a possible factor. Although this is only a small-scale study, the findings help to support the argument for adopting the online version of the test, with its various potential benefits to schools and educators

Synthesis, structural characterization, antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects of aziridine, 2-aminoethylaziridine and azirine complexes of copper(II) and palladium(II).

The synthesis, spectroscopic and X-ray structural characterization of copper(II) and palladium(II) complexes with aziridine ligands as 2-dimethylaziridine HNCH2CMe2 (a), the bidentate N-(2-aminoethyl)aziridines C2H4NC2H4NH2 (b) or CH2CMe2NCH2CMe2NH2 (c) as well as the unsaturated azirine NCH2CPh (d) are reported. Cleavage of the cyclometallated Pd(II) dimer [μ-Cl(C6H4CHMeNMe2-C,N)Pd]2 with ligand a yielded compound [Cl(NHCH2CMe2)(C6H4CHMe2NMe2-C,N)Pd] (1a). The reaction of the aziridine complex trans-[Cl2Pd(HNC2H4)2] with an excess of aziridine in the presence of AgOTf gave the ionic chelate complex trans-[(C2H4NC2H4NH2-N,N′)2Pd](OTf)2 (2b) which contains the new ligand b formed by an unexpected insertion and ring opening reaction of two aziridines (“aziridine dimerization”). CuCl2 reacted in pure HNC2H4 or HNCH2CMe2 (b) again by “dimerization” to give the tris-chelated ionic complex [Cu(C2H4NC2H4NH2-N,N′)3]Cl2 (3b) or the bis-chelated complex [CuCl(C2H2Me2NC2H2Me2NH2-N,N′)2]Cl (4c). By addition of 2H-3-phenylazirine (d) to PdCl2, trans-[Cl2Pd(NCH2CPh)2] (5d) was formed. All new compounds were characterized by NMR, IR and mass spectra and also by X-ray structure analyses (except 3b). Additionally the cytotoxic effects of these complexes were examined on HL-60 and NALM-6 human leukemia cells and melanoma WM-115 cells. The antimicrobial activity was also determined. The growth of Gram-positive bacterial strains (S. aureus, S. epidermidis, E. faecalis) was inhibited by almost all tested complexes at the concentrations of 37.5–300.0 μg mL−1. However, MIC values of complexes obtained for Gram-negative E. coli and P. aeruginosa, as well as for C. albicans yeast, mostly exceeded 300 μg mL−1. The highest antibacterial activity was achieved by complexes 1a and 2b. Complex 2b also inhibited the growth of Gram-negative bacteria. Graphical abstract: Synthesis, structural characterization, antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects of aziridine, 2-aminoethylaziridine and azirine complexes of copper(ii) and palladium(ii

Power Doppler ultrasonography is useful for assessing disease activity and predicting joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving tocilizumab—preliminary data

To evaluate the responsiveness of power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS) in comparison with conventional measures of disease activity and structural damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving tocilizumab (TCZ). Seven RA patients with active arthritis were enrolled in the study and prospectively monitored for 12 months. They were treated with TCZ (8 mg/kg) every 4 weeks as monotherapy or in combination with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Clinical, laboratory, and ultrasound examinations were conducted at baseline, 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Power Doppler (PD) signals were graded from 0 to 3 in 24 joints, and total PD score was calculated as the sum of scores of individual joints. One-year radiographic progression of the hands was estimated by using Genant-modified Sharp scoring. The averages of the clinical parameters rapidly improved, and all patients achieved good response within 6 months based on standard 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28). Although the average total PD score declined in parallel with clinical improvement, radiography of the hands showed progression of destruction in the joints where PD signals remained, even among clinical responders. ΔSharp score correlated with the time-integrated value (TIV) of total PD scores (Δtotal Sharp score: r = 0.77, P = 0.04; Δerosion: r = 0.78, P = 0.04; Δjoint-space narrowing (JSN): r = 0.75, P = 0.05), but not with TIVs of clinical parameters including DAS28. PDUS can independently evaluate disease activity in RA patients receiving TCZ and is superior to DAS28, especially in predicting joint destruction

Drug retention rates and relevant risk factors for drug discontinuation due to adverse events in rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving anticytokine therapy with different target molecules

Objective: To compare reasons for discontinuation and drug retention rates per reason among anticytokine therapies, infliximab, etanercept and tocilizumab, and the risk of discontinuation of biological agents due to adverse events (AE) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Method: This prospective cohort study included Japanese RA patients who started infliximab (n=412, 636.0 patientyears (PY)), etanercept (n=442, 765.3 PY), or tocilizumab (n=168, 206.5 PY) as the first biological therapy after their enrolment in the Registry of Japanese Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients for Long-term Safety (REAL) database. Drug retention rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. To compare risks of drug discontinuation due to AE for patients treated with these biological agents, the Cox proportional hazard model was applied. Results: The authors found significant differences among the three therapeutic groups in demography, clinical status, comorbidities and usage of concomitant drugs. Development of AE was the most frequent reason for discontinuation of biological agents in the etanercept and tocilizumab groups, and the second most frequent reason in the infliximab group. Discontinuation due to good control was observed most frequently in the infliximab group. Compared with etanercept, the use of infliximab (HR 1.69; 95% CI 1.14 to 2.51) and tocilizumab (HR 1.98; 95% CI 1.04 to 3.76) was significantly associated with a higher risk of discontinuation of biological agents due to AE. Conclusions: Reasons for discontinuation are significantly different among biological agents. The use of infliximab and tocilizumab was significantly associated with treatment discontinuation due to AE compared with etanercept

Proteomics of endometrial cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis

This review discusses the current status of proteomics technology in endometrial cancer diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. The first part of this review focuses on recently identified biomarkers for endometrial cancer, their importance in clinical use as well as the proteomic methods used in their discovery. The second part highlights some of the emerging mass spectrometry based proteomic technologies that promise to contribute to a better understanding of endometrial cancer by comparing the abundance of hundreds or thousands of proteins simultaneously.Parul Mittal, Manuela Klingler-Hoffmann, Georgia Arentz, Chao Zhang, Gurjeet Kaur, Martin K. Oehler, and Peter Hoffman

SOCIAL AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN MODERN BRITAIN THROUGH THE CONTEMPORARY DETECTIVE NOVEL: Received: 30th April 2021; Revised: 3rd August 2021, 4th December 2021; Accepted: 17th December 2021

The aim of this paper is twofold: to examine how present-day detective novels reflect Britain’s geographic, social, and linguistic diversities in a way that perhaps no other single genre of fiction does, and to consider how this differs from those works that are generally regarded as the classic examples in this field. Current writing in this category exhibits various characteristics that distinguish these works from older works, and these features are reviewed and possible reasons for the recent diversification considered. However, attention is also paid to the fact that there are, nonetheless, modern works which seem to more closely follow the model of the ‘traditional’ detective story. It is possible that there are two distinct trends involved, which overlap in some areas to complement each other in terms of filling the various niches in the readership of detective fiction. This is essentially an empirical study, based on the author’s extensive reading of detective fiction, both classic and contemporary, over a number of years. Although much of this was originally done as a hobby, personal observation of the extremely wide-ranging nature of the modern British detective novel led to a desire to examine the diversity of the genre in detail

On Representations of Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism : Representing Dualism

研究動向/Survey Article