Prior linguistic knowledge influences implicit language learning

Paper no. 0514Theme: Cooperative Minds: Social Interaction and Group DynamicsWe report three experiments that explore the effect of prior linguistic knowledge on implicit language learning. Native speakers of English and native speakers of Cantonese participated in implicit learning (IL) experiments that involved different learning materials. In Experiment 1, both participant groups showed evidence of learning a mapping between articles and noun animacy. In Experiment 2, neither group showed learning of the mapping between articles and a linguistically anomalous concept (the number of capital letters in an English word or the number of strokes in a Chinese character). In Experiment 3, the Chinese group, but not the English group, showed evidence of learning a mapping between articles and a concept derived from the Chinese classifier system. It was concluded that first language knowledge affected implicit language learning, and that IL, at least when natural language learning is concerned, is not a completely unconstrained domain-general mechanism.postprin

The Implicit Learning of Mappings between Forms and Contextually-Derived Meanings

The traditional implicit learning literature has focused primarily on the abstraction of statistical regularities in form-form connections. More attention has been recently directed toward the implicit learning of form-meaning connections, which might be crucial in the acquisition of natural languages. The current article reports evidence for implicit learning of a mapping between a novel set of determiners and thematic roles, obtained using a newly developed reaction time methodology. The results conclude that contextually derived form-meaning connections might be implicitly learned.published_or_final_versio

Recognising facial expressions in video sequences

We introduce a system that processes a sequence of images of a front-facing human face and recognises a set of facial expressions. We use an efficient appearance-based face tracker to locate the face in the image sequence and estimate the deformation of its non-rigid components. The tracker works in real-time. It is robust to strong illumination changes and factors out changes in appearance caused by illumination from changes due to face deformation. We adopt a model-based approach for facial expression recognition. In our model, an image of a face is represented by a point in a deformation space. The variability of the classes of images associated to facial expressions are represented by a set of samples which model a low-dimensional manifold in the space of deformations. We introduce a probabilistic procedure based on a nearest-neighbour approach to combine the information provided by the incoming image sequence with the prior information stored in the expression manifold in order to compute a posterior probability associated to a facial expression. In the experiments conducted we show that this system is able to work in an unconstrained environment with strong changes in illumination and face location. It achieves an 89\% recognition rate in a set of 333 sequences from the Cohn-Kanade data base

Impact of viral replication inhibition by entecavir on peripheral T lymphocyte subpopulations in chronic hepatitis B patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To investigate dynamic fluctuations of serum viral load and peripheral T-lymphocyte subpopulations of chronic hepatitis B patients and their correlation during entecavir therapy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty-five patients received entecavir 0.5 mg/d therapy. Serum HBV DNA load was measured by Real-Time-PCR, and the levels of peripheral T-lymphocyte subpopulations by flow cytometry biweekly, every four weeks and every eight weeks during weeks 1–12, 13–24 and 24–48, respectively. Multilevel modelling was used to analyse the relationship between these variables.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 55 patients, all HBeAg positive and with detectable HBV DNA, the majority (81.8%) had serum levels of HBV DNA over 10⁷copies per milliliter. HBV viral load dropped sharply during the first two weeks. In 28 and 43 patients, the level became undetectable from week 24 and 48, respectively. Using pre-therapy level as the reference, a significant decrease in CD8⁺T cells and increase in CD4⁺T cells were found from week 12. Both parameters and CD4⁺/CD8⁺ratio steadily improved throughout the 48 weeks. Multilevel analyses showed that the level of decrement of HBV DNA was associated with the increment of T-lymphocyte activities only in the later period (4–48 week). After 4 weeks of therapy, for each log₁₀scale decrement of HBV DNA, the percentage of CD4⁺lymphocyte was increased by 0.49 and that of CD8⁺decreased by 0.51.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>T-lymphocyte subpopulations could be restored partially by entecavir treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis B concurrently with reduction of viremia.</p

Successful reduced-intensity SCT from unrelated cord blood in three patients with X-linked SCID

We describe three males with X-linked SCID (X-SCID) who were successfully treated by reduced-intensity SCT from unrelated cord blood (CB). Mean age at transplant was 5.7 months (range, 3–9 months). Pre-transplant conditioning for all patients consisted of fludarabine (FLU) (30 mg/m2 per day) from day −7 to day −2 (total dose 180 mg/m2) and BU 4 mg/kg per day from day −3 to day −2 (total dose 8 mg/kg). All CB units were serologically matched at HLA-A, B and DR loci. Although two patients had suffered from fungal or bacterial pneumonia before transplantation, there were no other infectious complications during transplantation. All patients engrafted and achieved 100% donor chimerism. We also confirmed full donor chimerism of both T and B cells. Only one patient developed acute GVHD grade III, which was resolved by increasing the dose of oral corticosteroid. None of the patients has developed chronic GVHD during follow up for 21–77 months. None of the patient received i.v. Ig replacement post transplant, or showed delay in psychomotor development. Reduced-intensity conditioning consisting of FLU and BU and transplantation from unrelated CB was an effective and safe treatment for these patients with X-SCID

A Prompt to the Web: The Media and Health Information Seeking Behaviour

UNLABELLED: OBJECTIVE, DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The objective was to investigate media influence on consumers' health related behaviours. A cross-sectional survey of randomly selected adults (18+ years) residing in the Hunter Region of New South Wales Australia was conducted. The sample was selected using a combination of the white pages and random digit dialling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The proportions of respondents who recalled seeing or hearing about conditions or treatments in the media over the 12 months prior to interview (August 2009-August 2010) and their subsequent health related behaviour. RESULTS: Although most survey participants reported seeking health information from their doctors, around two-thirds of survey participants (551, 68.8%) recalled hearing, seeing or reading about one or more medical conditions (total = 1097 instances) in the mainstream media over the past 12 months. Almost 40% of respondents (307, 38.4%) stated that they had looked for more information about a condition as a result of hearing about it in the media, and most used the internet (269, 87.4%). More than a quarter of respondents (215, 26.9%) indicated that they had asked their doctor about a condition they had heard about in the media. Around half of those who asked their doctor (109, 50.6%) reported that their inquiry resulted in them receiving treatment, of whom almost half (53, 48.3%) reported being prescribed a medicine. CONCLUSION: The survey results show that consumers become aware of medicines through traditional media and then to learn more often turn to the internet where quality of information may be poor

Monoubiquitination of syntaxin 3 leads to retrieval from the basolateral plasma membrane and facilitates cargo recruitment to exosomes

Syntaxin 3 (Stx3), a SNARE protein located and functioning at the apical plasma membrane of epithelial cells, is required for epithelial polarity. A fraction of Stx3 is localized to late endosomes/lysosomes, although how it traffics there and its function in these organelles is unknown. Here we report that Stx3 undergoes monoubiquitination in a conserved polybasic domain. Stx3 present at the basolateral—but not the apical—plasma membrane is rapidly endocytosed, targeted to endosomes, internalized into intraluminal vesicles (ILVs), and excreted in exosomes. A nonubiquitinatable mutant of Stx3 (Stx3-5R) fails to enter this pathway and leads to the inability of the apical exosomal cargo protein GPRC5B to enter the ILV/exosomal pathway. This suggests that ubiquitination of Stx3 leads to removal from the basolateral membrane to achieve apical polarity, that Stx3 plays a role in the recruitment of cargo to exosomes, and that the Stx3-5R mutant acts as a dominant-negative inhibitor. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) acquires its membrane in an intracellular compartment and we show that Stx3-5R strongly reduces the number of excreted infectious viral particles. Altogether these results suggest that Stx3 functions in the transport of specific proteins to apical exosomes and that HCMV exploits this pathway for virion excretion

Rational use of antibiotics by community health workers and caregivers for children with suspected pneumonia in Zambia: A cross-sectional mixed methods study

Background: Antibiotic resistance is an issue of growing global concern. One key strategy to minimise further development of resistance is the rational use of antibiotics, by providers and patients alike. Through integrated community case management (iCCM), children diagnosed with suspected pneumonia are treated with antibiotics; one component of an essential package to reduce child mortality and increase access to health care for remote populations. Through the use of clinical algorithms, supportive supervision and training, iCCM also offers the opportunity to improve the rational use of antibiotics and limit the spread of resistance in resource-poor contexts. This study provides evidence on antibiotic use by community health workers (CHWs) and caregivers to inform iCCM programmes, safeguarding current treatments whilst maximising access to care. Methods: 1497 CHW consultations were directly observed by non-clinical researchers, with measurement of respiratory rate by CHWs recorded by video. Videos were used to conduct a retrospective reference standard assessment of respiratory rate by experts. Fifty-five caregivers whose children were prescribed a 5-day course of antibiotics for suspected pneumonia were followed up on day six to assess adherence through structured interviews and pill counts. Six focus group discussions and nine in depth interviews were conducted with CHWs and caregivers to supplement quantitative findings. Results: The findings indicate that CHWs adhered to treatment guidelines for 92 % of children seen, prescribing treatment corresponding to their assessment. However, only 65 % of antibiotics prescribed were given for children with experts' confirmed fast breathing pneumonia. Qualitative data indicates that CHWs have a good understanding of pneumonia diagnosis, and although caregivers sometimes applied pressure to receive drugs, CHWs stated that treatment decisions were not influenced. 46 % of caregivers were fully adherent and gave their child the full 5-day course of dispersible amoxicillin. If caregivers who gave treatment for 3 to 5 days were considered, adherence increased to 76 %. Conclusions: CHWs are capable of prescribing treatment corresponding to their assessment of respiratory rate. However, rational use of antibiotics could be strengthened through improved respiratory rate assessment, and better diagnostic tools. Furthermore, a shorter course of dispersible amoxicillin could potentially improve caregiver adherence, reducing risk of resistance and cost

Validation of the food allergy quality of life:parental burden questionnaire in the UK

Purpose - Food allergy can have a profound effect on quality of life (QoL) of the family. The Food Allergy Quality of Life—Parental Burden Questionnaire (FAQL-PB) was developed on a US sample to assess the QoL of parents with food allergic children. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the FAQL-PB in a UK sample and to assess the effect of asking about parental burden in the last week compared with parental burden in general, with no time limit for recall given. Methods - A total of 1,200 parents who had at least one child with food allergy were sent the FAQL-PB and the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ-PF50); of whom only 63 % responded. Results - Factor analysis of the FAQL-PB revealed two factors: limitations on life and emotional distress. The total scale and the two sub-scales had high internal reliability (all a > 0.85). There were small to moderate but significant correlations between total FAQL-PB scores and health and parental impact measures on the CHQ-PF50 (p < 0.01). Significantly greater parental burden was reported for the no-time limited compared with the time-limited version (p < 0.01). Conclusions - The FAQL-PB is a reliable and valid measure for use in the UK. The scale could be used in clinic to assess the physical and emotional quality of life in addition to the impact on total quality of life