The literacy-related knowledge of the children in two Western Australian preprimary centres and the literacy-related practices in their homes

This study investigates both the literacy-related knowledge of two groups of children beginning their preprimary education and the literacy-related practices identified by their parents as taking place in their homes. The two groups of children were attending preprimary centres located in different suburbs of Perth; one was in a low socio-economic status northern suburb and the other was in a high socio-economic status inner metropolitan suburb. The results of a questionnaire about family literacy practices showed that there was a wide range of literacy-related practices and materials available in the majority of the households involved in the study. The results of assessment of the literacy-related knowledge of the children showed that the children had begun to develop knowledge in some areas of emergent literacy which have been shown by previous research to predict success in learning to read. These areas of knowledge were: recognition of letters of the alphabet, vocabulary, environmental print, concepts of print and grammatical and phonological awareness. Statistically significant differences were found between the mean scores for both groups of children for each of the assessment tasks measuring literacy-related knowledge. Observation of the parent responses to the questionnaire, indicated that there were also differences between the home literacy practices of the two groups in the frequency of joint book reading, the number of classes (other than preprimary) attended by the children, computer use and the parents\u27 expectations of their child\u27s eventual level of education. Several aspects of the children\u27s literacy-related knowledge (identification of letters of the alphabet, vocabulary, phonological awareness and grammatical awareness), were found to have statistically significant relationships with the home factors of frequency of joint book reading, teaching the letters of the alphabet, playing word and letter games, computer use and parent\u27s level of education. The results of this study have implications for teachers who are attempting to implement early intervention programs or planning for individual children in their classes. The methods of assessment of young children\u27s literacy-related knowledge need to be carefully chosen to be appropriate to the age and developmental level of the children. The tasks involved should measure specific areas of knowledge identified as predicting success in learning to read. The results of this study indicate that teachers may have children with a wide range of literacy-related knowledge entering their preprimary classes. In order to build on the skills and knowledge which these children bring with them, teachers need to acknowledge the rich and diverse context of home literacy practices rather than attempt to overcome the differences

Interactive Polymedia Pixel and Protocol for Collaborative creative content generation on urban digital media displays

This research is an investigation into a creative and technical 'pixel' element that may facilitate Urban Digital Media, a field that inhabits the intersection between architecture, information and culture in the arena of technology and building. It asks how contemporary requirements of public space in our everyday life, such as adaptability, new modes of communication and transformative environments that offer flexibility for future needs and uses, can be addressed by a new form of public display, assembled through the use of an advanced pixel, described as an interactive Polymedia Pixel with situated media device protocol. The weakness of many current media facades for building-scale interactive installation environments lies in the dearth of quality creative content and unresponsiveness in terms of potential human factors, richness of locative situation and contextual interaction (Sauer, 2004). Media facades have evolved from simple 2D visual displays to 3D voxel arrays for depicting static and moving images with a spatial depth dimension (Haeusler, 2009). As a subsequent step in this development, the research investigates a display that reacts to the need for empathetic and responsive urban digital media; integrates multiple modalities; smart energy-saving; and collaborative community engagement. The Polymedia Pixel, which is presented in its research and development in this paper, contributes to the evolution of building-scale interactive installation environments. The paper firstly discusses the attributes of the Polymedia Pixel in order to address the above mentioned weaknesses of public displays. In responding to these necessities, the prototype of the developed Polymedia Pixel with its technology is outlined. The Polymedia Pixel reserach aims to addres

Antibubbles and fine cylindrical sheets of air

Drops impacting at low velocities onto a pool surface can stretch out thin hemispherical sheets of air between the drop and the pool. These air sheets can remain intact until they reach submicron thicknesses, at which point they rupture to form a myriad of microbubbles. By impacting a higher-viscosity drop onto a lower-viscosity pool, we have explored new geometries of such air films. In this way we are able to maintain stable air layers which can wrap around the entire drop to form repeatable antibubbles, i.e. spherical air layers bounded by inner and outer liquid masses. Furthermore, for the most viscous drops they enter the pool trailing a viscous thread reaching all the way to the pinch-off nozzle. The air sheet can also wrap around this thread and remain stable over an extended period of time to form a cylindrical air sheet. We study the parameter regime where these structures appear and their subsequent breakup. The stability of these thin cylindrical air sheets is inconsistent with inviscid stability theory, suggesting stabilization by lubrication forces within the submicron air layer. We use interferometry to measure the air-layer thickness versus depth along the cylindrical air sheet and around the drop. The air film is thickest above the equator of the drop, but thinner below the drop and up along the air cylinder. Based on microbubble volumes, the thickness of the cylindrical air layer becomes less than 100 nm before it ruptures

Induced pluripotent stem cells as a model for diabetes investigation

Mouse and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may represent a novel approach for modeling diabetes. Taking this into consideration, the aim of this study was to generate and evaluate differentiation potential of iPSCs from lep(db/db) (db/db) mice, the model of diabetes type 2 as well as from patients with Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young 3 (HNF1A MODY). Murine iPSC colonies from both wild type and db/db mice were positive for markers of pluripotency: Oct3/4A, Nanog, SSEA1, CDy1 and alkaline phosphatase and differentiated in vitro and in vivo into cells originating from three germ layers. However, our results suggest impaired differentiation of db/db cells into endothelial progenitor-like cells expressing CD34 and Tie2 markers and their reduced angiogenic potential. Human control and HNF1A MODY reprogrammed cells also expressed pluripotency markers: OCT3/4A, SSEA4, TRA-1–60, TRA-1-81, formed embryoid bodies (EBs) and differentiated into cells of three germ layers. Additionally, insulin expressing cells were obtained from those partially reprogrammed cells with direct as well as EB-mediated differentiation method. Our findings indicate that disease-specific iPSCs may help to better understand the mechanisms responsible for defective insulin production or vascular dysfunction upon differentiation toward cell types affected by diabetes

ifet-1 is a broad-scale translational repressor required for normal P granule formation in C. elegans

Large cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein germ granule complexes are a common feature in germ cells. In C. elegans these are called P granules and for much of the life-cycle they associate with nuclear pore complexes in germ cells. P granules are rich in proteins that function in diverse RNA pathways. Here we report that the C. elegans homolog of the eIF4E-transporter IFET-1 is required for oogenesis but not spermatogenesis. We show that IFET-1 is required for translational repression of several maternal mRNAs in the distal gonad and functions in conjunction with the broad-scale translational regulators CGH-1, CAR-1 and PATR-1 to regulate germ cell sex determination. Furthermore we have found that IFET-1 localizes to P granules throughout the gonad and in the germ cell lineage in the embryo. Interestingly, IFET-1 is required for the normal ultrastructure of P granules and for the localization of CGH-1 and CAR-1 to P granules. Our findings suggest that IFET-1 is a key translational regulator and is required for normal P granule formation.Madhu S. Sengupta, Wai Yee Low, Joseph R. Patterson, Hyun-Min Kim, Ana Traven, Traude H. Beilharz, Monica P. Colaia, covo, Jennifer A. Schisa, and Peter R. Boa

CYSTM, a novel cysteine-rich transmembrane module with a role in stress tolerance across eukaryotes

Using sensitive sequence profile analysis, we identify a hitherto uncharacterized cysteine-rich, transmembrane (TM) module, CYSTM, found in a wide range of tail-anchored membrane proteins across eukaryotes. This superfamily includes Schizosaccharomyces Uvi15, Arabidopsis PCC1, Digtaria CDT1 and Saccharomyces proteins YDL012C and YDR210W, which have all been implicated in resistance/response to stress or pathogens. Based on the pattern of conserved cysteines and data from different chemical genetics studies, we suggest that CYSTM proteins might have critical role in responding to deleterious compounds at the plasma membrane via chelation or redox-based mechanisms. Thus, CYSTM proteins are likely to be part of a novel cellular protective mechanism that is widely active in eukaryotes, including humans

microRNA-Mediated Messenger RNA Deadenylation Contributes to Translational Repression in Mammalian Cells

Animal microRNAs (miRNAs) typically regulate gene expression by binding to partially complementary target sites in the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of messenger RNA (mRNA) reducing its translation and stability. They also commonly induce shortening of the mRNA 3′ poly(A) tail, which contributes to their mRNA decay promoting function. The relationship between miRNA-mediated deadenylation and translational repression has been less clear. Using transfection of reporter constructs carrying three imperfectly matching let-7 target sites in the 3′ UTR into mammalian cells we observe rapid target mRNA deadenylation that precedes measureable translational repression by endogenous let-7 miRNA. Depleting cells of the argonaute co-factors RCK or TNRC6A can impair let-7-mediated repression despite ongoing mRNA deadenylation, indicating that deadenylation alone is not sufficient to effect full repression. Nevertheless, the magnitude of translational repression by let-7 is diminished when the target reporter lacks a poly(A) tail. Employing an antisense strategy to block deadenylation of target mRNA with poly(A) tail also partially impairs translational repression. On the one hand, these experiments confirm that tail removal by deadenylation is not strictly required for translational repression. On the other hand they show directly that deadenylation can augment miRNA-mediated translational repression in mammalian cells beyond stimulating mRNA decay. Taken together with published work, these results suggest a dual role of deadenylation in miRNA function: it contributes to translational repression as well as mRNA decay and is thus critically involved in establishing the quantitatively appropriate physiological response to miRNAs

miR-222 isoforms are differentially regulated by type-I interferon

Endogenous microRNAs (miRNAs) often exist as multiple isoforms (known as "isomiRs") with predominant variation around their 3'-end. Increasing evidence suggests that different isomiRs of the same family can have diverse functional roles, as recently demonstrated with the example of miR-222-3p 3'-end variants. While isomiR levels from a same miRNA family can vary between tissues and cell types, change of templated isomiR stoichiometry to stimulation has not been reported to date. Relying on small RNA-sequencing analyses, we demonstrate here that miR-222-3p 3'-end variants >23 nt are specifically decreased upon interferon (IFN) β stimulation of human fibroblasts, while shorter isoforms are spared. This length-dependent dynamic regulation of long miR-222-3p 3'-isoforms and >40 other miRNA families was confirmed in human monocyte-derived dendritic cells following infection with Salmonella Typhimurium, underlining the breadth of 3'-length regulation by infection, beyond the example of miR-222-3p. We further show that stem-loop miRNA Taqman RT-qPCR exhibits selectivity between 3'-isoforms, according to their length, and that this can lead to misinterpretation of results when these isoforms are differentially regulated. Collectively, and to our knowledge, this work constitutes the first demonstration that the stoichiometry of highly abundant templated 3'-isoforms of a same miRNA family can be dynamically regulated by a stimulus. Given that such 3'-isomiRs can have different functions, our study underlines the need to consider isomiRs when investigating miRNA-based regulation.Charlotte Nejad, Katherine A. Pillman, Katherine J. Siddle, Geneviève Pépin, Minna-Liisa Änkö, Claire E. McCoy, Traude H. Beilharz, Lluís Quintana-Murci, Gregory J. Goodall, Cameron P. Bracken and Michael P. Gantie