The Effects of Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Scaffolding on University Students' Grammar Acquisition

This study investigated the extent to which two approaches to scaffolding, namely the Symmetrical and/or Asymmetrical. Scaffolding could contribute to the acquisition of grammar among Iranian EFL second-year university students. To fulfill this objective, 65 female college students who aged between 19 and 24 were selected through convenience sampling. Two types of instruments, including a grammar test and a set of two way tasks were used for the purpose of this study. After taking a pretest, they were divided into two groups of: Symmetrical scaffolding (SS), Asymmetrical scaffolding (AS). The experimental group AS received instruction according to asymmetric strategy while the experimental group SS was instructed via the symmetric strategy. To answer the research questions, a post-test was conducted and its results were analyzed using independent and paired t-test. The results showed that AS scaffolding is a more fruitful strategy in improving participant's grammar achievement. The results could have some implications for instructors and teachers

Investigating Pausology of Lower-intermediate and Skilled EFL Learners’ Writing and its Relation to Writing Genres: A Keystroke Logging Study

Writing has been a challenging skill for EFL learners to master since they need to learn not only lexical and grammatical resources but also planning and idea presentation in different genres. In this regard, pausological details of a piece of writing (i.e., where and when the pauses take place) can provide a bulk of information about EFL learner’s writing behavior. The present study was, therefore, conducted to examine the pause duration and location of lower-intermediate and skilled EFL learners' writing and their relation to writing genres. For the collection of data, 20 EFL learners (10 lower-intermediate and 10 advanced) took part in the study. Using keystroke logging, writing tasks on five genres of descriptive, personal narrative, argumentative, and persuasive text, as well as a job application, were given to the participants. The recorded data included the percentage of pause duration and pause location (within words, before words, before sentence, and before paragraph) of the lower-intermediate and skilled L2 writers. The statistical analysis of the data indicated that although there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the overall means of pause duration on five genres, the advanced group had higher means on job application and persuasive writing. Moreover, significant differences between groups on different types of pause locations were found between the two groups. Practical implications for education are further discussed

The effect of serum levels of vitamin D in stone recurrencein patients with urinary tract stone

Introduction: The role of vitamin D in kidney stone disease and its effect on stone formation is still controversial. Objectives: To find out the possible role of 25(OH) D3 as an intrinsic factor in urinary calcium stone formers (SFs; individuals with one episode during the last 5 years and individuals with more than one episode during the last 5 years), we investigated the effect of serum levels of vitamin D on recurrence of urinary stones in SFs and control subjects (non-SFs). Patients and Methods: A total of 30 patients with first episode of urolithiasis (group A) and 30 patients with more than one episode of urolithiasis during the last 5 years (group B) aged 18 or older enrolled in this study and underwent metabolic evaluation including the measurement of serum level of 25(OH)D3, parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcium and uric acid. Thirty age and sex-matched patients who had never urinary stone episode (non-SFs) were considered as control group. The patients in this study were selected among those admitted in Urology Department of Kashani hospital during the last year. Individuals excluded from the study were subjects with hyperparathyroidism or with the previous history of hyperparathyroidism. Results: Mean level of 25(OH) D3 was positively correlated with recurrent stone (mean 19.89±7.6 in the control group versus 47.21±19.77 in the group with the recurrent stone disease). The recurrent stone group (SFs) had the higher serum level of 25(OH) D3 than the control. No correlation was observed between the serum levels of PTH and 25(OH) D3 (r =0. 13, P =0.11) in both control and urinary SFs group. Conclusion: High serum level of vitamin D has an important effect on the pathogenesis of repeated urolithiasis. High serum levels of 25(OH) D3 were detected in the group with recurrent kidney stone disease. But it seems there was no relation between serum level of vitamin D3 and one episode of urolithiasis. Based on the results of this study, the high level of vitamin D3 may have a significant role in inducing the recurrence of urinary stone

Association between Clinical Symptoms and Histological Features of Molars with Acute Pulpitis

Introduction: Diagnosis of dental pulp status on the basis of clinical signs in many cases helps clinicians to better resolve patient problems. Various studies have shown no correlation between clinical and histologic findings. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the associations between clinical findings and histological features in extracted decayed teeth with acute pulpitis. Materials and Methods: One hundred permanent cavitated human teeth with mature apices and pulpitis, which were extracted for reasons not related to the present study, were evaluated. Demographic, clinical, and radiographic data were collected using pre-designed questionnaires. After tooth extraction, 5 micron-thick slices were prepared for microscopic assessment. General pathologist evaluated reactions to stimuli in all areas of the pulp tissue under a light microscope. When present, inflammation was classified according to the type and spread of cell detected and other histological findings, such as abscess formation, pulp stones, and pulpal fibrosis, were also recorded. Results: We found significant associations between pain characteristics, such as pain type and duration, and histological status.  Acute inflammation, severe chronic inflammation, and liquefactive necrosis increased with pain severity. Various histological sections showed the absence of pulpal inflammation. Conclusions: We found a good agreement of patients’ pain histories and pain characteristics with histological pulp status. Thus, the use of specified CHARTs and SCALEs that help patients provide the most accurate responses to questions about pain would aid the diagnosis of pulp status. In cases with an accurate pulpal diagnosis, the clinicians can manage pulpal protection when it is possible

Comparison of the value of multidetector-row computed tomography in diagnosis of biliary obstruction reasons with the results obtained from invasive procedures

زمینه و هدف: تصویر برداری تشخیصی نقش اساسی در تشخیص غیر تهاجمی علل انسداد صفراوی و غربالگری بیماران با ریسک بالا را دارا می باشد. این مطالعه با هدف مقایسه ارزش سی تی اسکن مولتی اسلایس در تشخیص علل انسداد صفراوی با یافته های حاصل از روش های تهاجمی انجام شده است. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه توصیفی ـ تحلیلی به روش سرشماری، کلیه بیمارانی که از بهمن ماه 1388 تا خرداد ماه 1390، (50 بیمار)، دارای تشخیص انسداد صفراوی، بر مبنای یافته های کلینیکی و سونوگرافیک بودند، با روش سی تی اسکن مولتی اسلایس (MDCT) بررسی شدند و گزارش رادیولوژی آن ها با یافته های حاصل از سایر روش های تهاجمی شامل تکنیک کلانژیوگرافی معکوس از طریق آندوسکوپ (ERCP)،PTC (Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography) و یا جراحی مورد مقایسه قرار گرفت. یافته ها: یافته ها نشان داد که حساسیت، ویژگی و دقت سی تی اسکن مولتی اسلایس در تشخیص علل بدخیم انسداد صفراوی به ترتیب 100، 4/88 و 94، در تشخیص علل خوش خیم انسداد صفراوی به ترتیب 75، 100 و 96، در تشخیص سنگ صفراوی به ترتیب 4/94، 100 و 98 بود و رابطه معنی داری بین شدت اتساع مجاری صفراوی و خوش خیم بودن یا بدخیم بودن عامل انسدادی وجود داشت (001/0>P). نتیجه گیری: بر مبنای یافته های این مطالعه، سی تی اسکن مولتی اسلایس روشی سریع ،غیر تهاجمی و با دقت بالا در تشخیص علل انسداد صفراوی و افتراق عوامل انسدادی خوش خیم از عوامل بدخیم بوده و برنامه ریزی قبل از عمل جراحی مفید می باشد

Systematic review of the role of medicinal plants and derived components on reduction of cyclophosphamide-induced toxicity in male genital system

زمینه و هدف: داروی شیمیایی سیکلوفسفامید علی رغم اثرات دارویی چشمگیری که در درمان بیماری های متعدد به ویژه سرطان دارد با عوارض جانبی متعددی همراه می باشد که کاربرد آن را تا حدودی محدود نموده است. این مطالعه مروری قصد دارد اثرات محافظتی گیاهان دارویی و ترکیبات مشتق شده از آن ها را بر کاهش عوارض حاصل از داروی سیکلوفسفامید بر روی دستگاه تناسلی نر مرور و نقش گیاهان را در خصوص کاهش این عوارض جانبی مورد بررسی و تحلیل قرار دهد. روش بررسی: برای انجام این مطالعه مروری واژگان کلیدی سیکلوفسفامید، دستگاه تناسلی نر، سمیت، سرطان، شیمی درمانی، عوارض جانبی در ترکیب با واژگان گیاهان دارویی، داروهای گیاهی و ترکیبات طبیعی از پایگاه های اطلاعاتی ISI، پابمد، اسکاپوس و گوگل اسکالر جستجو شدند. بر اساس معیارهای انتخاب تعداد 20 مقاله که در محدوده سال 2000 تا 2015 منتشر شده بودند انتخاب و وارد مطالعه شدند. یافته ها: از میان 20 مقاله، 13 مقاله مربوط به عصاره­ های گیاهی، 3 مقاله مربوط به ترکیبات فعال گیاهی، 2 مقاله مربوط به اسانس های روغنی و 2 مقاله نیز مربوط به دارو های گیاهی بودند که مشخصات پایه ای آن ها، تاثیر محافظتی این گیاهان و همچنین ترکیبات موثر آن­ها بر روی سمیت دستگاه تولید مثلی جنس نر ناشی از تجویز سیکلوفسفامید مورد بحث قرار گرفت. نتیجه گیری: نتایج این مطالعه نشان داد، گیاهانی که دارای ترکیبات آنتی اکسیدانی نظیر فلاونوئیدها هستند قادرند سمیت ناشی از تجویز سیکلوفسفامید را که سبب بروز استرس اکسیداتیو و افزایش رادیکال­های آزاد می­گردند، در بافت بیضه کاهش دهند؛ لذا پیشنهاد می گردد گیاهانی که اثرات آنتی اکسیدانی چشمگیری دارند در کنار داروی سیکلوفسفامید تجویز و اثرات محافظتی آن ها نسبت به گیاهان و ترکیبات مشتق شده از آن ها که اثرات محافظتی آنها بررسی شده است مقایسه گردد

TraVaG: Differentially Private Trace Variant Generation Using GANs

Process mining is rapidly growing in the industry. Consequently, privacy concerns regarding sensitive and private information included in event data, used by process mining algorithms, are becoming increasingly relevant. State-of-the-art research mainly focuses on providing privacy guarantees, e.g., differential privacy, for trace variants that are used by the main process mining techniques, e.g., process discovery. However, privacy preservation techniques for releasing trace variants still do not fulfill all the requirements of industry-scale usage. Moreover, providing privacy guarantees when there exists a high rate of infrequent trace variants is still a challenge. In this paper, we introduce TraVaG as a new approach for releasing differentially private trace variants based on \text{Generative Adversarial Networks} (GANs) that provides industry-scale benefits and enhances the level of privacy guarantees when there exists a high ratio of infrequent variants. Moreover, TraVaG overcomes shortcomings of conventional privacy preservation techniques such as bounding the length of variants and introducing fake variants. Experimental results on real-life event data show that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art techniques in terms of privacy guarantees, plain data utility preservation, and result utility preservation