The Role of Sign Language on Word Learning in 19 to 23 Month Old Infants

Claims that signing with infants benefits language development are examined. Fourteen infants aged 19 to 23 months were tested on their comprehension and production of novel labels in a word learning task. Infants participated in two conditions. In the Sign + Word condition, infants learned both a signed and vocal label for a novel toy, whereas in the Word Only condition, infants were taught only a vocal label for the novel toy. Results showed that when children participated first in the Sign + Word condition, their comprehension and production abilities were lower than when trained first in the Word Only condition. Previous exposure to sign language was not related to infants? performance on the word learning task, although there was a marginal effect of previous language ability on performance. Contrary to previous findings (e.g., Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown, 2000), the sign and word combination did not facilitate children?s learning of spoken labels. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed

SliceChip: Benchtop Fluidic Platform for Organotypic Culture and Serial Assessment of Human and Rodent Pancreatic Slices

Enzymatically isolated pancreatic islets are the most commonly used ex vivo testbeds for diabetes research. Recently, precision-cut living slices of human pancreas are emerging as an exciting alternative because they maintain the complex architecture of the endocrine and exocrine tissues, and do not suffer from the mechanical and chemical stress of enzymatic isolation. We report a fluidic pancreatic SliceChip platform with dynamic environmental controls that generates a warm, oxygenated, and bubble-free fluidic pathway across singular immobilized slices and continuously delivers fresh nutrients while removing harmful digestive enzyme. A degasser ensures the system remains bubble-free while systemic pressurization with compressed oxygen ensures slice medium remains adequately oxygenated. Computational modeling of perfusion and oxygen dynamics within SliceChip guide the system’s physiomimetic culture conditions. Serial assessments of pancreatic slice insulin secretion in response to glucose stimulations demonstrated the effectiveness of our system in preserving pancreatic islet function under physiological oxygen levels over several days. Fluorescent images acquired every 4 hours of transgenic murine pancreatic slices were reliably stable and recoverable over a 5-day period due to the inclusion of a 3D-printed bioinert metallic anchor that maintained slice position within the SliceChip. Our slice on a chip platform should expand the useability of human pancreatic slices for diabetes pathogenesis and the development of new therapeutic approaches, while also enabling organotypic culture and assessment of other tissue slices such as brain and patient tumors

Long-term maintenance rate fertilisation increases soil bacterial-archaeal community diversity in the subsoil and N-cycling potentials in a humid crop season

Among agronomical practices, fertilisation greatly influences soil microbial diversity and functionality and severely disturbs the global nitrogen (N) cycle. In this study, we assessed the effect of 16 years of mineral fertilisation (NPS) on soil bacterial-archaeal communities in a no-tillage experiment in a humid climate season. We used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and functional prediction of marker genes involved in the N cycle at two soil depths (0–5 and 5–10 cm). Samples were taken after soybean harvest in a wheat/soybean-maize crop sequence. At both soil depths, fertilisation increased the abundance of Proteobacteria while reducing the abundance of Verrucomicrobiota. Indicator species analyses revealed that MB-A2–108 (Actinobacteriota) and Nitrososphaeraceae (Archaea) were indicators of the low fertiliser rates at 0–5 cm. Instead, Rokubacteriales (Methylomirabilota) and Nitrolancea (Chloroflexi) were indicators of low and high rates, respectively, at 5–10 cm. Biological N–fixation genes (nifA, nifV nifHD1, and nifHD2) showed an inconsistent response depending on the soil depth. Yet, the high abundance of nifA revealed the presence of N-fixing microorganisms even at high levels of N fertilisation. The predominance of genes involved in the dissimilatory (nirB and nirK) and assimilatory (nirA) reduction of nitrate was steadily found at higher fertilisation. Given that the predecessor crop was a legume that did not receive N, our results revealed the substantial legacy of long-term N inputs on soil bacterial-archaeal diversity and N-cycling genes that might have been umpired by the current humid conditions.Instituto de Microbiología y Zoología Agrícola (IMYZA)Fil: Pin Viso, Natalia Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Microbiología y Zoología Agrícola; ArgentinaFil: Ortiz, Jimena. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Marcos Juárez; ArgentinaFil: Maury, Mariana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Marcos Juárez; ArgentinaFil: Frene, Juan Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Marcos Juárez; ArgentinaFil: Iocoli, Gastón Alejandro. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Lorenzón, Claudio Antonio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Marcos Juárez; ArgentinaFil: Rivarola, Maximo Lisandro. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Rivarola, Maximo Lisandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin