Children learn to read and write Chinese analytically

Recent progress in psycholinguistic research on written Chinese allows us to develop a\ud new approach to investigate the Chinese reading acquisition process. We\ud hypothesized that Chinese children, much like children learning an alphabetic script,\ud do not simply learn written words by rote. As they are taught words to be learned by\ud rote, they develop an implicit understanding of the formal and functional\ud characteristics of written Chinese. The formal characteristics refer to the graphic\ud structure and the positioning of the stroke-patterns, and the functional characteristics\ud refer to the semantic and phonological information conveyed in the stroke-patterns.\ud The studies reported were designed to investigate the nature of children's learning of\ud written Chinese. In two series of studies, a total of 236 children from Hong Kong, aged\ud four to nine, created and decoded novel Chinese compound words. Results showed\ud that young Chinese children attended to both the formal and functional constraints in\ud reading and writing tasks. In the judging task, 4-year-olds were able to identify the\ud type of orthographic elements - the stroke-patterns, but they could not place them in\ud legitimate positions. The 6-years-olds were able to refer both to the position and the\ud correct type of orthographic elements in differentiating pseudowords from nonwords.\ud In the writing and reading tasks, four and five-year-olds were unable to utilize the\ud semantic radicals to represent meaning, nor could they use the phonological\ud components for pronunciation; six-year-olds could use the semantic radicals to\ud represent meaning and only nine-year-olds could both use semantic radicals correctly\ud and systematically referred to the phonological components for pronunciation. A\ud significant age difference was found in all the experiments. The studies provide strong\ud evidence that learning compound words in Chinese is not a simple matter of\ud memorizing but involves the understanding of formal and functional constraints in the\ud script. A possible application of these findings lies in the new direction offered for\ud reading instruction where the non-generative, rote view of learning to read and write in\ud Chinese can be safely abandoned

THE PROBIOTIC POTENTIAL OF NON-TOXIGENIC BACTEROIDES FRAGILIS AND THE ROLE OF IL-22 IN COLITIS AND TUMORIGENESIS

Polysaccharide A (PSA), a highly immunogenic capsular component of non-toxigenic Bacteroides fragilis NCTC 9343 (NTBF), has been shown to promote host mucosal immune system development and to suppress inflammation in the gut. In stark contrast, enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF) induces IL-17 and is highly associated with inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer, rapidly inducing acute colitis and tumorigenesis in murine hosts. The interactions of these distinct B. fragilis molecular subtypes were studied to determine the impact of NTBF on ETBF disease. In specific pathogen free (SPF) C57BL/6 WT and MinApc716+/- mice, we show that sequential treatment (NTBF then ETBF three days later) blunted colitis and decreased tumor development. Mice receiving simultaneous NTBF and ETBF treatment exhibited severe colitis and pronounced tumor formation. Abrogated disease severity in sequentially treated mice was attributed to NTBF strain dominance and decreased IL-17, but ETBF colonization prior to or simultaneous with NTBF mitigates the anti-inflammatory effect of NTBF. Surprisingly, NTBF-mediated protection was independent of polysaccharide A (PSA), as sequentially infected mice receiving ΔPSA NTBF exhibited similar levels of protection. Further, SPF WT and Min mice mono-associated with PSA-competent or PSA-deficient NTBF exhibit similar T cell-derived regulation, IL-17, and IFNγ responses. Daily NTBF probiotic treatment of mice stably colonized with ETBF failed to disrupt both ETBF strain dominance and niche occupation. Our findings demonstrate that NTBF may offer protection against ETBF disease but only under certain conditions. Disease outcomes are independent of PSA

Imagining Fictional Faces

Fictional characters loom large in cultural traditions throughout recorded history, and are commonly portrayed in literature and visual arts. The persistence of these traditions demonstrates that information concerning the appearance of fictional characters - including facial appearance - can be preserved and shared among individuals. The current thesis is an attempt to understand the cognitive processes underlying mental imagery for fictional faces. It was already established that mental representations of real faces undergo qualitative change as visual exposure leads to familiarity. Fictional faces are never seen directly, though they may be represented in various ways. If fictional faces can acquire the psychological hallmarks of familiar faces, this would suggest alternative routes to face learning, besides natural visual exposure. To date however, this possibility has been largely ignored. The experiments in this thesis addressed learning of fictional faces by examining familiarity effects for fictional faces, and by assessing the consequences of reading descriptions on mental imagery for fictional characters. The main findings indicate that face representations and face learning may be more adaptable than previously assumed, accommodating photographic images, different types of drawings, and written descriptions. All of these representations can be quantified and compared using the common currency of social inference ratings. Written descriptions of physical and character attributes both contribute to mental imagery for faces, and these complementary types of information can converge on specific facial identities. As well as enriching our psychological understanding of face processing, the current thesis forms a bridge between the scientific study of faces, and portrayals of faces in the arts

Beverage intake and obesity in Australian children

Extent: 11p.BACKGROUND: There have been increases in the obesity and overweight rates in Australian children over the past 25 years and it has been suggested that sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) have played a role in this increase. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to: (1) examine SSB intakes in the 2007 Australian Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (2) relate SSB intake to rates of overweight and obesity, socio-economic status (SES), TV viewing time, and activity levels and (3) compare 2007 SSB intakes with data from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey. DESIGN: A computer assisted 24 h dietary recall in 4,400 children aged 2-16 years was performed. RESULTS: In the 2007 survey 47% of all children reported drinking SSBs with 25% consuming sugar sweetened soft drinks on the day of the survey. The mean consumption of soft drink was 436 g/d/consumer. Activity levels were unrelated to SSB consumption. Television viewing was positively related to soft drink consumption with a difference of 55 g/day from bottom to top tertile of time spent TV viewing (p = 0.015) in children aged 9-16 years. 55% of SSB consumption occurred at home and 10% occurred at school. Lower SES status was associated with a greater prevalence of SSB consumption- 30% for the lowest SES quartile vs 19% in the highest quartile. The proportion of overweight who consumed SSBs (which excludes 100% fruit) was not different from the nonoverweight children although the proportion of SSB consumers in the 6% of children who were obese was significant compared with the non-overweight children (59% vs 47%, p < 0.05). In the 2007 survey 23% of children were overweight (17%) or obese (6%) while in the 1995 survey this figure was 21%. The proportion of children consuming SSBs in 1995 and 2007 for selected age groups were: 2-3 years - 25.8% and 12.8% respectively and 4-7 years - 33.6% and 20.5% respectively (p < 0.001 for both). CONCLUSIONS: This cross-sectional data set provides evidence that SSB consumption for Australian children is still high despite the decrease since 1995 in some age groups. It provides little support to conclude that overweight in children is currently being driven by excessive SSB consumption although it may be factor in some obese children. Conclusions are limited by the cross sectional nature of the study.Peter M. Clifton, Lily Chan, Chelsea L. Moss, Michelle D. Miller and Lynne Cobia

Equilibrium shape of nano-cavities in H implanted ZnO

Thermally equilibrated nano-cavities are formed in ZnO by H implantation and subsequent high temperature annealing to determine the relative surface formation energies and step energies of ZnO from reverse Wulff construction and related analysis. H adsorption, vicinal surfaces, and surface polarity are found to play an important role in determining the final thermal equilibrium shape of the nano-cavities. Under H coverage, the O-terminated surface shows a significantly lower surface formation energy than the Zn-terminated surface

Impacts and measures covid-19 pandemic and tourism industry in Sabah

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant adverse influence on the country’s economic and social situation, especially with regard to the tourism industry. This study examines the implications of the global pandemic on the tourism industry in Sabah, the study will consider the impact of the movement control order (MCO) and other mitigating measures adopted by tourism industry players. The survey and focus group findings indicate that the pandemic has had a significant impact on the tourism industry in the state, compelling operators and policymakers to re-evaluate current response strategies. The adoption of the MCO in response to the pandemic has resulted in business interruptions and income loss for tourism industry service-providers, with most of them losing more than 80% of their revenues. Diversification is one of the strategies used by operators in the industry to ensure long- and short-term viability. Meanwhile, a government vaccination program is a long-term strategy aimed at ensuring that the tourism sector in Sabah can return to normalcy. As with any study, this study too has limitations in terms of the number of industry sectors studied and sample size used to collect data

Student learning venture overseas in the transnational research partnership – a Taiwan and US PIRE case study

Purpose – Transnational learning has become a mainstream issue in recent years due to the rise of global education. There are many kinds of overseas learning, including degree-seeking, joint/double degree, student exchange, internship, service learning and so on. The scope of learning may involve research, teaching/learning and community service. The purpose of the case study is to investigate how the Taiwanese students participating in an international internship project of the US–Taiwan Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) acquire professional knowledge and soft skills, including cross-cultural awareness, interdisciplinary communication, skill development and social networking. It also explores how a joint research project contributes into a collaborative educational program. Design/methodology/approach – To better understand participants' experiences in the PRIE, this study held three focus groups and seven in-depth interviews on the students, faculty members and project managers for data collection. Findings – Three major findings are shown in the study. First, participants agreed that the overall learning experiences in knowledge acquisition or skill development have been positive. Second, participants obviously expressed their greater interests in intercultural interaction with the locals, which did not happen quite often during the internship. Third, the extent of interest in applying for the PIRE deg ree program after the internship program is escalating year by year. Research limitations/implications – More investigation into participants’ social and cultural engagement in similar project will be needed for future research. Practical implications – The results will be implicated into other cross-border education project evaluation. Originality/value – This study manages to investigate the cross-border research initiative from different participants' perspectives and received comprehensive feedbacks

Isolation of indigenous strains of Paecilomyces lilacinus with antagonistic activity Meloidogyne incognita.

Ten indigenous isolates of Paecilomyces lilacinus (PL), were isolated from two black pepper farms in Sarawak heavily infested with root-knot nematodes (RKN) as an initiative to control RKN problem. All isolates showed varying degree in colonizing female nematodes. In the female nematode bioassay on water agar, both indigenous strains of PL namely PLA, PLB, and a commercial strain, PLM (as positive control) demonstrated highly significant colonization (>90%, P≤0.01) on female. In egg parasitism test, spore suspension (105 spore/mL) of the strains PLA, PLB and PLM exhibited 78.8%, 66.0% and 73.4% parasitism on eggs, respectively. Meanwhile, hatching of nematode eggs incubated in spore suspension of PLA, PLB and PLM for seven days were significantly reduced; 88-89% of eggs were hatch-inhibited as compared to control (26%). This illustrated both local isolates, PLA and PLB are comparable with PLM as biological control agents for managing RKN infestation on black pepper vines

Development and validation of creatinine-based estimates of the Glo- Merular Filtration rate equation from Chromium Edta Imaging in the multi-racial Malaysian population

Background Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is a reliable parameter for assessing kidney function. It is estimated from equations such as Cockcroft–Gault (CG), Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD), and Chronic Kidney Disease- Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI). However, these equations were derived using Western population demo- graphic data and had different performances when applied to other populations. Objectives. We developed a new equation (NE) based on the 51Cr EDTA measured GFR that can be used explicitly in the Malaysian multiracial population. Methods This was a cross-sectional study using the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) of pa- tients who underwent 51Cr-EDTA imaging at the Nuclear Medicine Centre, University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), from 2013 to 2021. This study had obtained approval from the Medical Research Ethics Committee, UMMC. Results Total data of 209 patients were recruited in this study. 105 were randomised in the development cohort, while 104 were in the validation cohort. A NE was developed based on data in the development cohort and then tested its performance in the validation cohort. The result showed that CKD-EPI had the highest correlation to 51Cr EDTA imaging measured GFR (r-value 0.82), followed by the NE (r-value 0.76). CG had the lowest bias (mean bias of 2.49), followed by the NE (mean bias of 3.52). CKD-EPI had the highest precision in estimating GFR (SD of 22.04ml/min), followed by the NE (SD of 25.05ml/min). CKD-EPI also had the highest accuracy (85.58% in P30 and 100% in P50, followed by MDRD (81.73% in P30 and 96.15% in P50). Conclusion The NE was less accurate than CKD-EPI and MDRD equation but generally has a rel- atively low bias of 3.52 ml/min. The limitation of the small sample size may limit the accuracy of the NE. Future studies with a larger sample size are needed to generate a more robust equation

Re-examination of siRNA specificity questions role of PICH and Tao1 in the spindle checkpoint and identifies Mad2 as a sensitive target for small RNAs

The DNA-dependent adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) Plk1-interacting checkpoint helicase (PICH) has recently been implicated in spindle checkpoint (SAC) signaling (Baumann et al., Cell 128(1):101–114, 2007). Depletion of PICH by siRNA abolished the SAC and resulted in an apparently selective loss of Mad2 from kinetochores, suggesting a role for PICH in the regulation of the Mad1–Mad2 interaction. An apparent rescue of SAC functionality by overexpression of PICH in PICH-depleted cells initially seemed to confirm a role for PICH in the SAC. However, we have subsequently discovered that all PICH-directed siRNA oligonucleotides that abolish the SAC also reduce Mad2 mRNA and protein expression. This reduction is functionally significant, as PICH siRNA does not abolish SAC activity in a cell line that harbors a bacterial artificial chromosome driving the expression of murine Mad2. Moreover, we identified several siRNA duplexes that effectively deplete PICH but do not significantly affect SAC functionality or Mad2 abundance or localization. Finally, we discovered that the ability of overexpressed PICH to restore SAC activity in PICH-depleted cells depends on sequestration of the mitotic kinase Plk1 rather than ATPase activity of PICH, pointing to an underlying mechanism of “bypass suppression.” In support of this view, depletion or inhibition of Plk1 also rescued SAC activity in cells harboring low levels of Mad2. This observation suggests that a reduction of Plk1 activity partially compensates for reduced Mad2 levels and argues that Plk1 normally reduces the strength of SAC signaling. Collectively, our results question the role of PICH in the SAC and instead identify Mad2 as a sensitive off target for small RNA duplexes. In support of the latter conclusion, our evidence suggests that an off-target effect on Mad2 may also contribute to explain the apparent role of the Tao1 kinase in SAC signaling (Draviam et al., Nat Cell Biol 9(5):556–564, 2007)