350 research outputs found
The long-term proficiency of early, middle, and late starters learning English as a foreign language at school: A narrative review and empirical study
Separating PIAAC competencies from general cognitive skills: A dimensionality and explanatory analysis
This study aims to investigate how test scores from PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) can be interpreted, by comparing the PIAAC competencies literacy and numeracy to reasoning and perceptual speed. Dimensionality analyses supported, that the PIAAC competencies can be separated into a common factor overlapping with reasoning and perceptual speed, and domain-specific factors. For the common and specific factors, relations to other variables were analyzed. The nested factor for PIAAC literacy was as expected unrelated to age, positively related to learning opportunities during one’s lifetime, and positively related to literacy skill use. The nested factor for PIAAC numeracy was also as expected unrelated to age, against expectation unrelated to learning opportunities during one’s lifetime, and as expected positively related to numeracy skill use. Results support the validity of the intended test score interpretation for PIAAC literacy, while results for PIAAC numeracy were less clear
Zum Zusammenspiel von Selbstwert, sozialer Herkunft und kognitiven Fähigkeiten für die Vorhersage des Bildungs- und Berufserfolgs im Erwachsenenalter
Evolution of the cutinase gene family: Evidence for lateral gene transfer of a candidate Phytophthora virulence factor
Drug retention and safety of TNF inhibitors in elderly patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Intercoder-reliability for coding occupations according to ISCO-88 and the validity of socio-economic status
Environmental Acidification Drives S. pyogenes Pilus Expression and Microcolony Formation on Epithelial Cells in a FCT-Dependent Manner
Group A Streptococcus (GAS, Streptococcus pyogenes) is a Gram-positive human pathogen responsible for a diverse variety of diseases, including pharyngitis, skin infections, invasive necrotizing fasciitis and autoimmune sequelae. We have recently shown that GAS cell adhesion and biofilm formation is associated with the presence of pili on the surface of these bacteria. GAS pilus proteins are encoded in the FCT (Fibronectin- Collagen-T antigen) genomic region, of which nine different variants have been identified so far. In the present study we undertook a global analysis of GAS isolates representing the majority of FCT-variants to investigate the effect of environmental growth conditions on their capacity to form multicellular communities. For FCT-types 2, 3, 5 and 6 and a subset of FCT-4 strains, we observed that acidification resulting from fermentative sugar metabolism leads to an increased ability of the bacteria to form biofilm on abiotic surfaces and microcolonies on epithelial cells. The higher biofilm forming capacity at low environmental pH was directly associated with an enhanced expression of the genes encoding the pilus components and of their transcription regulators. The data indicate that environmental pH affects the expression of most pilus types and thereby the formation of multicellular cell-adhering communities that assist the initial steps of GAS infection
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