Prolonged rupture of the fetal membranes and neonatal outcome

Peer Reviewe

A novel approach (the CRATER method) for assessing tsunami vulnerability at the regional scale using ASTER imagery

We present here a novel method to assess coastal vulnerability to tsunami based on GIS (Geographical Information System), ASTER imagery (Advanced Spaceborn Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) and SRTM-3 elevation model (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission-3). We developed this method within the CRATER project (Coastal Risk Analysis for Tsunamis and Environmental Remediation) and applied it on the whole western coast of Thailand. As result, we generated a set of vectorial vulnerability maps with a geometrical resolution of 90m (scale 1:450 000). This approach provides a low-cost and quick tool to analyse extended coastal tracts, and prioritize investments for prevention measures or for further high-resolution analysis

Isolation rearing alters social behaviors and monoamine neurotransmission in the medial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens of adult rats

Isolation rearing induces profound behavioral and neurochemical abnormalities in rodents. However, there is some controversy regarding the effect of isolation rearing on social behaviors and monoamine neurotransmission in mesolimbic and mesocortical areas. In the current study, we aimed to address these issues and demonstrated that isolation rearing from weaning to adulthood resulted in increased playful fighting and social contact behaviors. Isolation-reared rats also manifested increased dopamine and serotonin levels in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) as well as an increase in serotonin turnover in the NAc. This study provides additional evidence that social isolation induces alterations in behavior and in the brain. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Orthographic influences on division of labor in learning to read Chinese and English: Insights from computational modeling

Learning to read in any language requires learning to map among print, sound and meaning. Writing systems differ in a number of factors that influence both the ease and the rate with which reading skill can be acquired, as well as the eventual division of labor between phonological and semantic processes. Further, developmental reading disability manifests differently across writing systems, and may be related to different deficits in constitutive processes. Here we simulate some aspects of reading acquisition in Chinese and English using the same model for both writing systems. The contribution of semantic and phonological processing to literacy acquisition in the two languages is simulated, including specific effects of phonological and semantic deficits. Further, we demonstrate that similar patterns of performance are observed when the same model is trained on both Chinese and English as an "early bilingual". The results are consistent with the view that reading skill is acquired by the application of statistical learning rules to mappings among print, sound and meaning, and that differences in the typical and disordered acquisition of reading skill between writing systems are driven by differences in the statistical patterns of the writing systems themselves, rather than differences in cognitive architecture of the learner