Reading development in bilingual pupils

The subjects are a group of bilingual pupils in 3rd grade. They live in an area dominated by Norwegian, but their parents have chosen Sámi as their first language in school. The pupils communicate in Sámi with one or both parents, the teacher, classmates during lessons, and in some cases other family members. In play, both in their neighbourhood and school, the children use Norwegian. Earlier research has showed that bilingualism for some groups has a positive effect on education, for other a negative effect. The motivation for this study is to describe the language environment and the pupils' reading competence in the context described above. The most of the children manage decoding rather well, and the decoding mistakes are of the same types in both languages. There is a connection between decoding proficiency and understanding of the text, but this is complex. The reading comprehension for all the children was at least twice as good for Norwegian texts compared with Sámi texts, for some of the children more than three times better. There was a clear connection between the children's language environment and their comprehension of the texts from school books written for the class level

A new therapy for highly effective tumor eradication using HVJ-E combined with chemotherapy-0

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "A new therapy for highly effective tumor eradication using HVJ-E combined with chemotherapy"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/5/28</p><p>BMC Medicine 2007;5():28-28.</p><p>Published online 21 Sep 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2039728.</p><p></p>n the dorsa of BALB/c mice reached 5 mm in diameter, HVJ-E (5000 HAU, i.t.), HVJ-E/BLM (5000 HAU, i.t.), CDDP (i.p.), or CDDP (i.p.) plus HVJ-E/BLM (5000 HAU, i.t.) was administered. The tumor diameter was measured every 3 days. Results are expressed as the mean (n = 8 per group). Data are representative of each group. Two independent experiments were performed. CDDP and HVJ-E/BLM treated tumor growth was strongly suppressed compared with saline treated tumors (control). *p < 0.05. By contrast, no significant difference (NS) was seen between control and CDDP alone. Results were statistically analyzed using the Steel-Dwass test. (B) The body weight of each groups. Data are expressed as means ± SD. No significant difference was seen in all groups

A new therapy for highly effective tumor eradication using HVJ-E combined with chemotherapy-2

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "A new therapy for highly effective tumor eradication using HVJ-E combined with chemotherapy"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/5/28</p><p>BMC Medicine 2007;5():28-28.</p><p>Published online 21 Sep 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2039728.</p><p></p>and one (single) or three (multiple) injections of HVJ-E/BLM were intradermally re-challenged with 5 × 10parental CT-26 cells on day 10 after CDDP administration (arrow). The initial (upper) and re-challenged (lower) tumor volumes per mouse were assessed (mean value ± standard deviation). p < 0.05, single vs multiple injection, Student's test. The control mice were age-matched mice that were intradermally inoculated with CT-26 cells. (B) Eradication rate of initial or re-challenge tumor. On day 31 after CDDP administration (on day 16 after re-challenge) the tumors – whether visible or invisible – were examined

Novel Anti-Microbial Peptide SR-0379 Accelerates Wound Healing via the PI3 Kinase/Akt/mTOR Pathway

<div><p>We developed a novel cationic antimicrobial peptide, AG30/5C, which demonstrates angiogenic properties similar to those of LL-37 or PR39. However, improvement of its stability and cost efficacy are required for clinical application. Therefore, we examined the metabolites of AG30/5C, which provided the further optimized compound, SR-0379. SR-0379 enhanced the proliferation of human dermal fibroblast cells (NHDFs) via the PI3 kinase-Akt-mTOR pathway through integrin-mediated interactions. Furthermore SR-0379 promoted the tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in co-culture with NHDFs. This compound also displays antimicrobial activities against a number of bacteria, including drug-resistant microbes and fungi. We evaluated the effect of SR-0379 in two different would-healing models in rats, the full-thickness defects under a diabetic condition and an acutely infected wound with full-thickness defects and inoculation with <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>. Treatment with SR-0379 significantly accelerated wound healing when compared to fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2). The beneficial effects of SR-0379 on wound healing can be explained by enhanced angiogenesis, granulation tissue formation, proliferation of endothelial cells and fibroblasts and antimicrobial activity. These results indicate that SR-0379 may have the potential for drug development in wound repair, even under especially critical colonization conditions.</p></div

Lead optimization from the angiogenic peptide AG30/5C.

<p>A) Major metabolites of AG30/5C determined by MALDI-TOF MS. The parent compound (AG30/5C) was incubated with rat serum <i>in vitro</i> 60 minutes. The metabolites were identified by comparison with the pre-incubation peptide. B) Sequences and net charges of AG30/5C and AG30/5C-derived peptides (SR-0007 and SR-0379). The lysine (K) of SR-007 was replaced with D-lysine in SR-0379. C) Effect of AG30/5C (10 μg/ml) and SR-0007 (10 μg/ml) on HUVECs proliferation. N = 3 per group. *P<0.05 vs. control. D) Effect of AG30/5C (10 μg/ml) and SR-0007 (10 μg/ml) on tube formation. The formation of capillary-like structures was observed in co-cultures of HUVECs and NHDFs. N = 5-12 per group. *P<0.05 vs. control. E) Stability of SR-0007 and SR-0379 in rat and human sera. SR-0007 and SR-0379 were quantified before or after incubation <i>in vitro</i> with rat and human sera for either 3 or 10 minutes. N = 2.</p

Cellular function of SR-0379.

<p>A) Effect of SR-0379 on NHDFs proliferation. NHDFs were treated with SR-0379 (1, 3 and 10 μg/ml) or FGF2 (0.1 μg/ml). N = 4 per group. *P<0.05 vs. control. B) The upper panel shows representative pictures of tube formation in a co-culture of HUVECs and NHDFs (Control, FGF2: 0.2 μg/ml) and SR-0379 (10 μg/ml). The lower panel shows the effects of SR-0379 on tube formation in a co-culture of HUVECs and NHDFs. N = 5 per group. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 vs. control. C) The upper panel shows representative pictures of the migration induced by FGF2 (0.1 μg/ml) and SR-0379 (10 μg/ml). The lower panel shows the effects of FGF2 (0.1 μg/ml) and SR-0379 (1 and 10 μg/ml) on migration. N = 4 per group. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 vs. control, #P<0.01 vs. SR-0379 (1 μg/ml). D) The upper panel shows representative pictures of the fibroblast-collagen-matrix contraction assay with FGF2 (0.3 μg/ml) and SR-0379 (1, 3, 10 and 30 μg/ml). The lower panel shows the effects of FGF2 (0.3 μg/ml) and SR-0379 (1, 3, 10 and 30 μg/ml) on fibroblast-collagen matrix contraction. N = 3 per group. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 vs. control.</p

<i>In vitro</i> activities of SR-0379 against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi.

<p>The scores indicate the MICs (mg/ml) for gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and fungi. MICs represent the individual data from two independent experiments.</p><p>NT: Not tested.</p

MICs of several compounds against <i>E. coli</i>, <i>P. aeruginosa</i> and <i>S. aureus</i>.

<p>The scores indicate the MICs (mg/ml) for <i>E. coli</i>, <i>P. aeruginosa and S. aureus</i>. MICs represent the individual data from two independent experiments.</p

<i>In vitro</i> activities of SR-0379 against seven strains of drug-resistant bacteria.

<p>MICs represent the individual data from two independent experiments.</p

Effects of SR-0379 and FGF2 on the full-thickness skin infected wound model.

<p>A) Representative pictures of full-thickness skin flaps in uninfected, saline (control), SR-0379 (1 mg/ml) and FGF2 groups (0.125 mg/ml) on days 8 and 15. B) Quantification of the infected wound area is represented as a percentage of the initial wound area. N = 5 per group. **P<0.01 vs. control, ##P<0.01 vs. FGF2. C) Effects of SR-0379 (1, 10 and 100 μg/disc) on the healing of paper disc implantation in rats. N = 4-5 per group. **P<0.01 vs. control, #P<0.05 vs. 1 μg/disc. D) Effects of SR-0379 (0.5 and 5 μg) on the healing of an experimental open wound in rats. N = 3-4 per group. *P<0.05 vs. control, #P<0.05 vs. 0.5 μg.</p