The effect of neighborhood size and regularity on reading Chinese in Hong Kong children

Also available in print.Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2007.A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, June 30, 2007.published_or_final_versionSpeech and Hearing SciencesBachelorBachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing Science

Resettled Refugee Families: Parenting Practices and Educational Involvement

In 2020, there are 25.9 million refugees worldwide. With the rapidly rising refugee population (over 600,000 from 2010 to 2020) in the United States, supporting resettled refugee families is a pressing issue, in which a comprehensive understanding of the refugee families is sorely needed. The purpose of this paper was to identify the challenges of resettled refugee families in their parenting practices and educational involvement. Entering a country with a different language and culture than their own, refugees, parents in particular, face numerous challenges upon relocation (e.g., refugee parents who raise their children in a new and unfamiliar environment have to balance between the new adaptation and the preservation of their original culture). This obstacle is manifested in their parenting practices and involvement in their children’s education and schooling as well as language barrier. We provided an overview of the parenting challenges and explored the cultural dissonance in parenting and its impact on family dynamics. Implications were provided to address the challenges refugee families face in the areas of systemic and personnel support, effective strategies, and family-school relations

El aprendizaje STEAM: una práctica inclusiva

The term STEAM refers to the study and teaching of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and art, which considers its application from the level of preschool education to higher education. The purpose of its methodology is oriented towards the development of critical and systemic thinking, self-management and institutional self-innovation. The methodology used was documentary, that is, based on a national and international bibliographic review on the STEAM approach, through specialized search engines: Concytec Library, Mendeley, Redalyc and Google Scholar. The STEAM approach represents a valuable contribution to the educational process to encompass the main actors in education, promote competencies, joint actions, of a collaborative nature, between teachers and students of any educational level. Therefore, there is a need to emphasize the promotion of science and technology throughout the entire educational chain based on the training of skills in children and young people, as well as the need to implement in the teachers a wide competence in pedagogy and technology, with flexible-creative and interdisciplinary thinking to propose the development of strategies and configure favorable learning environments.El término STEAM hace referencia al estudio y enseñanza de la ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería, matemáticas y arte, que considera su aplicación desde el nivel de la educación preescolar hasta los estudios superiores. La finalidad de su metodología se orienta hacia el desarrollo del pensamiento crítico y sistémico, la autogestión y la autoinnovación institucional. La metodología utilizada fue la documental, es decir, fundamentado en una revisión bibliográfica a nivel nacional e internacional sobre el enfoque STEAM, mediante los buscadores especializados: Biblioteca de Concytec, Mendeley, Redalyc y Google Académico. El enfoque STEAM representa para el proceso educativo un valioso aporte para abarcar a los actores principales de la educación, promover competencias, actuaciones en conjunto, de carácter colaborativo, entre docentes y estudiantes de cualquier nivel educativo. Por lo tanto, surge la necesidad de poner el énfasis en la promoción de las ciencias y tecnología a lo largo de toda la cadena educativa sobre la base de la formación de competencias en los niños y jóvenes, así como, la necesidad de implementar en los docentes una amplia competencia en pedagogía y en tecnología, con un pensamiento flexible-creativo e interdisciplinar para plantear el desarrollo de estrategias y configurar ambientes de aprendizaje favorables

Host and bacterial factors that regulate LC3 recruitment to Listeria monocytogenes during the early stages of macrophage infection

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial pathogen that can escape the phagosome and replicate in the cytosol of host cells during infection. We previously observed that a population (up to 35%) of L. monocytogenes strain 10403S colocalize with the macroautophagy marker LC3 at 1 h postinfection. This is thought to give rise to spacious Listeria-containing phagosomes (SLAPs), a membrane-bound compartment harboring slow-growing bacteria that is associated with persistent infection. Here, we examined the host and bacterial factors that mediate LC3 recruitment to bacteria at 1 h postinfection. At this early time point, LC3+ bacteria were present within single-membrane phagosomes that are LAMP1+. Protein ubiquitination is known to play a role in targeting cytosolic L. monocytogenes to macroautophagy. However, we found that neither protein ubiquitination nor the ubiquitin-binding adaptor SQSTM1/p62 are associated with LC3+ bacteria at 1 h postinfection. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by the CYBB/NOX2 NADPH oxidase was also required for LC3 recruitment to bacteria at 1 h postinfection and for subsequent SLAP formation. Diacylglycerol is an upstream activator of the CYBB/NOX2 NADPH oxidase, and its production by both bacterial and host phospholipases was required for LC3 recruitment to bacteria. Our data suggest that the LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP) pathway, which is distinct from macroautophagy, targets L. monocytogenes during the early stage of infection within host macrophages and allows establishment of an intracellular niche (SLAPs) associated with persistent infection

Longitudinal computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of COPD: Thoracic imaging network of Canada (TINCan) study objectives

Although the human and societal burden and cost of COPD is staggering, there are few clinical tools that provide earlier diagnoses or a means to regionally monitor disease in a way that might lead to improved therapies and outcomes. In acknowledgement of the current gaps in COPD therapy, the objective of the Thoracic Imaging Network of Canada (TINCan) is to improve COPD patient phenotyping through imaging, to provide methods and imaging-based intermediate endpoints for the development of new treatments, and to evaluate disease progression and patient-based outcomes in COPD patients and those at risk of COPD. Here we summarize and outline the TINCan study protocol and describe our objectives. TINCan is a prospective study that aims to identify and quantify novel COPD phenotypes from thoracic computed tomography (CT) and thoracic hyperpolarized noble gas magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 200 ex-smokers, 50 years of age or greater, including asymptomatic ex-smokers with normal pulmonary function and Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) Unclassified (U) , and GOLD stages I-IV patients. Baseline and 2-year follow-up measurements will be acquired using spirometry, plethysmography, diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (D

Hypothalamic AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Regulates Glucose Production

OBJECTIVE—The fuel sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the hypothalamus regulates energy homeostasis by sensing nutritional and hormonal signals. However, the role of hypothalamic AMPK in glucose production regulation remains to be elucidated. We hypothesize that bidirectional changes in hypothalamic AMPK activity alter glucose production. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—To introduce bidirec-tional changes in hypothalamic AMPK activity in vivo, we first knocked down hypothalamic AMPK activity in male Sprague-Dawley rats by either injecting an adenovirus expressing the dominant-negative form of AMPK (Ad-DN AMPK2 [D157A]) or infusing AMPK inhibitor compound C directly into the medio-basal hypothalamus. Next, we independently activated hypotha-lamic AMPK by delivering either an adenovirus expressing the constitutive active form of AMPK (Ad-CA AMPK1312 [T172D]