Investigating oculomotor control during the learning and scanning of character strings

Word spacing plays an important role in both word identification and saccadic targeting in the reading of spaced languages (e.g., English), however, the spacing facilitation is not present when word spacing is added in normally unspaced Chinese text in Chinese native speakers (e.g., Grade-3 children, young adults, old adults). Frequency effects are well-documented in the reading of normal text. However, it remains controversial as to whether frequency effects would occur in non-reading tasks, such as searching for a target in normal text or text-like strings. Furthermore, it is unclear whether spacing would also play an important role in the guidance of eye movement control in text-like string scanning as it does in the reading of spaced languages. In three experiments, the present thesis examined how exposure frequency effects are established during the learning of novel stimuli in a learning session (Landolt-C clusters in Experiment 1 vs. pseudowords in Experiments 2 & 3) and how the simulated exposure frequency would affect the scanning of longer strings with or without boundary demarcation cues (spaced vs. unspaced shaded vs. unspaced) in a scanning session. Importantly, the present thesis investigated whether learning and scanning of novel character strings would be qualified by the stimulus type (Landolt-C vs. English pseudoword) and the population (English native speakers vs. Chinese participants). In Experiment 1, robust interactive effects between exposure frequency and learning blocks (e.g., learning rate effects) occurred during the learning of target stimuli. However, the exposure frequency effects did not carry over to the scanning session. Robust spacing effects occurred. Spacing facilitated eye movements to a greater degree than the shading manipulation. In Experiments 2 & 3, again, robust learning rate effects occurred in learning target pseudowords. The exposure frequency was simulated successfully and effectively during learning, however, the exposure frequency showed no influence on eye movements in the scanning session. The meta-analysis across the three experiments demonstrated that learning was more effective using pseudoword stimuli relative to Landolt- C stimuli, and more effective in Chinese participants than English participants. Generally, the degree of shading facilitation was much smaller in the scanning of Landolt-C strings compared to pseudoword strings and it was smaller for English participants relative to Chinese participants. The constant occurrence of learning rate effects across experiments suggests the replicability and reliability of the current character learning paradigm. Spacing facilitation constantly occurred in scanning either Landolt-C strings or pseudoword strings, indicating that spacing plays an important role in non-reading string scanning tasks. The absence of exposure frequency effects in the scanning session across three experiments seems to suggest that exposure frequency effects might not occur in string scanning when the task is to search for a pre-learnt target in the string. The differential pattern of shading and spacing facilitation between Chinese participants and English participants suggests an influence from the writing system of the native language on eye movements in the current string scanning

Causal inference in network experiments: regression-based analysis and design-based properties

Network experiments have been widely used in investigating interference among units. Under the ``approximate neighborhood interference" framework introduced by \cite{Leung2022}, treatments assigned to individuals farther from the focal individual result in a diminished effect on the focal individual's response, while the effect remains potentially nonzero. \cite{Leung2022} establishes the consistency and asymptotic normality of the inverse-probability weighting estimator for estimating causal effects in the presence of interference. We extend these asymptotic results to the Hajek estimator which is numerically identical to the coefficient from the weighted-least-squares fit based on the inverse probability of the exposure mapping. The numerically equivalent regression-based approach offers two notable advantages: it can provide standard error estimators through the same weighted-least-squares fit, and it allows for the integration of covariates into the analysis. Furthermore, we introduce the regerssion-based network-robust variance estimator, adopting the form of the Heteroskedasticity and Autocorrelation Consistent estimator, and analyze its asymptotic bias. Recognizing that the variance estimator can be anti-conservative, we propose an adjusted variance estimator to improve empirical coverage. Although we focus on regression-based point and variance estimators, our theory holds under the design-based framework, which assumes that the randomness comes solely from the design of network experiments and allows for arbitrary misspecification of the regression models

The effectiveness of remote delivered intervention for loneliness reduction in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundRemotely delivered intervention is widely applied to loneliness treatment in older adults, but the effect is controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of remotely delivered intervention on loneliness using a systematic review and meta-analysis.MethodsThe PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, CINAHL (EBSCO), PsycINFO (EBSCO) databases were searched for studies, the search ended on 7 July 2021. Thirteen randomized controlled trials of remotely delivered intervention compared with usual care, brief contact, or no intervention for loneliness were included. A random-effects model measured estimation of loneliness reduction. Furthermore, standardized mean differences (SMDs), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), publication bias, and heterogeneity were calculated. Subgroup analysis was used to explore the factors that might affect the treatment effects.ResultsThe evidence of remotely delivered intervention on loneliness reduction was certain (SMD = −0.41 [95% CI, −0.70 to −0.13]). Media subgroup analysis supported the effectiveness of intervention delivered by video call (SMD = −0.54 [95% CI, −0.83 to −0.25]); treatment strategy subgroup analysis found evidence to support the effectiveness of increasing social support and maladaptive social cognition treatment strategy (SMD = −0.47 [95% CI, −0.77 to −0.18] and SMD = −1.04 [95% CI, −1.98 to −0.10], respectively); participants subgroup analysis shown the effectiveness of intervention for older adults living in LTC and social isolation (SMD = −1.40 [95% CI, −2.43 to −0.36] and SMD = −0.55 [95% CI, −0.74 to −0.36], respectively); group format subgroup analysis testified the effectiveness of intervention carried out in individual format (SMD = −0.39 [95% CI, −0.71 to −0.07]); measurement time points subgroup analysis found the positive effect of intervention at 3 months and 3 to 6 months stage (SMD = −0.33 [95% CI, −0.52 to −0.14] and SMD = −0.32 [95% CI, −0.57 to −0.07], respectively). Significant publication bias was detected (p < 0.05), and the heterogeneity of the studies was substantial.ConclusionThis systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrate that remotely delivered intervention can reduce loneliness in older adults, and it appears to be affected by media type, treatment strategy, participants characteristics, group format, and measurement time points

A photo-responsive F-box protein FOF2 regulates floral initiation by promoting FLC expression in Arabidopsis.

Floral initiation is regulated by various genetic pathways in response to light, temperature, hormones and developmental status; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the interactions between different genetic pathways are not fully understood. Here, we show that the photoresponsive gene FOF2 (F-box of flowering 2) negatively regulates flowering. FOF2 encodes a putative F-box protein that interacts specifically with ASK14, and its overexpression results in later flowering under both long-day and short-day photoperiods. Conversely, transgenic plants expressing the F-box domain deletion mutant of FOF2 (FOF2ΔF), or double loss of function mutant of FOF2 and FOL1 (FOF2-LIKE 1) present early flowering phenotypes. The late flowering phenotype of the FOF2 overexpression lines is suppressed by the flc-3 loss-of-function mutation. Furthermore, FOF2 mRNA expression is regulated by autonomous pathway gene FCA, and the repressive effect of FOF2 in flowering can be overcome by vernalization. Interestingly, FOF2 expression is regulated by light. The protein level of FOF2 accumulates in response to light, whereas it is degraded under dark conditions via the 26S proteasome pathway. Our findings suggest a possible mechanistic link between light conditions and the autonomous floral promotion pathway in Arabidopsis

Problems and Addressing Strategies in Community-based Management of Osteoarthritis: a Systematic Review

Background Osteoarthritis is a common chronic disease in middle-aged and elderly people, which seriously affects their quality of life. Carrying out community-based management of osteoarthritis is conducive to the optimization of healthcare resource allocation and the improvement of the overall prevention and treatment level of osteoarthritis. However, current community-based management of osteoarthritis has many problems and is not effectively. Objective To perform a review and comparative analysis of the developments in foreign and domestic community-based management of osteoarthritis, and strategies addressing the existing problems, providing evidence for improving strategies regarding community-based management of osteoarthritis to improve the treatment and prognosis of osteoarthritis patients in China. Methods From October 2020 to January 2021, Studies related to osteoarthritis management in Chinese published from January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2020 were searched from databases of CNKI, Wanfang Data and CQVIP using "骨关节炎" plus "管理", "骨关节炎" plus "模式", "骨关节炎" plus "策略" as the search terms, and those in English published during the same period were searched from databases of PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library using osteoarthritis and management, mode or strategy as the search terms. After excluding duplicates or those about self-management of osteoarthritis, the enrolled studies about community-based management of osteoarthritis were analyzed using systematic analysis. Results Altogether, 2 695 studies were retrieved, 2 642 of them were excluded, and the other 53 were included. Five studies were about surveys on the management of osteoarthritis in the community, all of which revealed the lack of coordination and purpose in community-based management of osteoarthritis at home and abroad, and the key treatments are relieving symptoms, delaying cartilage degradation, and reducing the possibility of developing deformities, but the efficacies of such treatments were unsatisfactory, and symptoms often recurred. Moreover, community-based management modes of osteoarthritis in China were undiversified, mostly were various types of health education. Six studies proposed that the management of osteoarthritis in the community may be influenced by insufficient understanding of osteoarthritis in patients and their families, insufficient understanding and undervaluing of osteoarthritis in some primary care physicians, and uncoordinated healthcare resources, and put forward that a variety of factors led to the lack of coordination and purpose in the management of osteoarthritis in the community. There were three articles referring the significance of community-based osteoarthritis management, which highlighted that community-based osteoarthritis management could relieve pain, delay disease progression, and improve the quality of life in patients, and improve patients' satisfaction with treatment and services by healthcare professionals, as well as optimize the use of healthcare resources. There were 39 studies related to the strategies for community-based osteoarthritis management, 22 of which involved systematic management strategies, including 18 studies of multi-disciplinary or integrated management models and four studies of hierarchical management. As a whole, China's successful experience of managing diabetes and hypertension in the community has provided new ideas for the prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis, but most of the strategies were in the developmental stage, and their applications in practice needed further research. The remaining 17 studies involved various non-systematic community-based management strategies of osteoarthritis, including eight centering on health education, three focusing on internet-based management approaches, two involving telephone-based management, two focusing on non-drug management, and two focusing on written guidance. Conclusion There are problems in the community-based management strategies of osteoarthritis, including uncoordinated management, unsound methods, and imperfect systems. The referential community-based management strategies for osteoarthritis include: multidisciplinary or comprehensive management, hierarchical management and other systematic management strategies; making full use of medical techniques and tools (such as e-health, remote management, and health manuals) ; optimizing resource allocation (such as adding osteoarthritis management as a national essential public health project, and increasing government policy support for osteoarthritis management)

Auditory Distraction During Reading: Investigating the Effects of Background Sounds on Parafoveal Processing

Previous research suggests that unexpected (deviant) sounds negatively affect reading performance by inhibiting saccadic planning, which models of reading agree takes place simultaneous to parafoveal processing. The present study examined the effect of deviant sounds on foveal and parafoveal processing. Participants read single sentences in quiet, standard (repeated sounds), or deviant sound conditions (a new sound within a repeated sound sequence). Sounds were presented with a variable delay coincident with the onset of fixations on target words during a period when saccadic programming and parafoveal processing occurred. We used the moving window paradigm (McConkie & Rayner, 1975) to manipulate the amount of information readers could extract from the parafovea (the entire sentence or a 13-character window of text). Global, sentence-level analyses showed typical disruption to reading by the window, and under quiet conditions similar effects were observed at the target and post-target word in the local analyses. Standard and deviant sounds also produced clear distraction effects of differing magnitudes at the target and post-target words, though at both regions, these effects were qualified by interactions. Effects at the target word suggested that with sounds, readers engaged in less effective parafoveal processing than under quiet. Similar patterns of effects due to standard and deviant sounds, each with a different time course, occurred at the post-target word. We conclude that distraction via auditory deviation causes disruption to parafoveal processing during reading, with such effects being modulated by the degree to which a sound’s characteristics are more or less unique

Cross-talk between cuproptosis and ferroptosis regulators defines the tumor microenvironment for the prediction of prognosis and therapies in lung adenocarcinoma

Cuproptosis, a newly identified form of programmed cell death, plays vital roles in tumorigenesis. However, the interconnectivity of cuproptosis and ferroptosis is poorly understood. In our study, we explored genomic alterations in 1162 lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) cohort to comprehensively evaluate the cuproptosis regulators. We systematically performed a pancancer genomic analysis by depicting the molecular correlations between the cuproptosis and ferroptosis regulators in 33 cancer types, indicating cross-talk between cuproptosis and ferroptosis regulators at the multiomic level. We successfully identified three distinct clusters based on cuproptosis and ferroptosis regulators, termed CuFeclusters, as well as the three distinct cuproptosis/ferroptosis gene subsets. The tumor microenvironment cell-infiltrating characteristics of three CuFeclusters were highly consistent with the three immune phenotypes of tumors. Furthermore, a CuFescore was constructed and validated to predict the cuproptosis/ferroptosis pathways in individuals and the response to chemotherapeutic drugs and immunotherapy. The CuFescore was significantly associated with the expression of miRNA and the regulation of post-transcription. Thus, our research established an applied scoring scheme, based on the regulators of cuproptosis/ferroptosis to identify LUAD patients who are candidates for immunotherapy and to predict patient sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs