Syntactic Comprehension of Relative Clauses and Center Embedding Using Pseudowords

Relative clause (RC) formation and center embedding (CE) are two primary syntactic operations fundamental for creating and understanding complex sentences. Ample evidence from previous cross-linguistic studies has revealed several similarities and differences between RC and CE. However, it is not easy to investigate the effect of pure syntactic constraints for RC and CE without the interference of semantic and pragmatic interactions. Here, we show how readers process CE and RC using a self-paced reading task in Korean. More interestingly, we adopted a novel self-paced pseudoword reading task to exploit syntactic operations of the RC and CE, eliminating the semantic and pragmatic interference in sentence comprehension. Our results showed that the main effects of RC and CE conform to previous studies. Furthermore, we found a facilitation effect of sentence comprehension when we combined an RC and CE in a complex sentence. Our study provides a valuable insight into how the purely syntactic processing of RC and CE assists comprehension of complex sentences. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.1

Prognostic value of quality of life score in disease-free survivors of surgically-treated lung cancer

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.Abstract Background We aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of quality of life (QOL) for predicting survival among disease-free survivors of surgically-treated lung cancer after the completion of cancer treatment. Methods We administered the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30), the Quality of Life Questionnaire Lung Cancer Module (QLQ-LC13), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) to 809 survivors who were surgically-treated for lung cancer at two hospitals from 2001 through 2006. We gathered mortality data by linkage to the National Statistical Office through December 2011. We used Cox proportional hazard models to compute adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) to estimate the relationship between QOL and survival. Results Analyses of QOL items adjusted for age, sex, stage, body mass index, and physical activity showed that scores for poor physical functioning, dyspnea, anorexia, diarrhea, cough, personal strength, anxiety, and depression were associated with poor survival. With adjustment for the independent indicators of survival, final multiple proportional hazard regression analyses of QOL show that physical functioning (aHR, 2.39; 95 % CI, 1.13–5.07), dyspnea (aHR, 1.56; 95 % CI, 1.01–2.40), personal strength (aHR, 2.36; 95 % CI, 1.31–4.27), and anxiety (aHR, 2.13; 95 % CI, 1.38–3.30) retained their independent prognostic power of survival. Conclusion This study suggests that patient-reported QOL outcomes in disease-free survivors of surgically-treated lung cancer after the completion of active treatment has independent prognostic value for long-term survival

Clinical Role of Interstitial Pneumonia in Patients with Scrub Typhus: A Possible Marker of Disease Severity

Interstitial pneumonia (IP) frequently occurs in patients with scrub typhus, but its clinical significance is not well known. This study was designed to evaluate interstitial pneumonia as a marker of severity of the disease for patients with scrub typhus. We investigated clinical parameters representing the severity of the disease, and the chest radiographic findings for 101 patients with scrub typhus. We then compared these clinical factors between patients with and without IP. We also studied the relationship between IP and other chest radiographic findings. The chest radiography showed IP (51.4%), pleural effusion (42.6%), cardiomegaly (14.9%), pulmonary alveolar edema (20.8%), hilar lymphadenopathy (13.8%) and focal atelectasis (11.8%), respectively. The patients with IP (n=52) had higher incidences in episode of hypoxia (p=0.030), hypotension (p=0.024), severe thrombocytopenia (p=0.036) and hypoalbuminemia (p=0.013) than the patients without IP (n=49). The patients with IP also had higher incidences of pleural effusion (p<0.001), focal atelectasis (p=0.019), cardiomegaly (p<0.001), pulmonary alveolar edema (p=0.011) and hilar lymphadenopathy (p<0.001) than the patients without IP. Our data suggest that IP frequently occurs for patients with scrub typhus and its presence is closely associated with the disease severity of scrub typhus

The Impact of Intima-media Thickness of Radial Artery on Early Failure of Radiocephalic Arteriovenous Fistula in Hemodialysis Patients

This study was performed to investigate the impact of intima-media thickness (IMT) of radial artery on early failure of radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Ninety uremic patients undergoing radiocephalic AVF operation were included in this study. During the operation, 10-mm long partial arterial walls were removed with elliptical form for microscopic analysis. Specimens were stained with trichrome and examined by a pathologist blinded to the clinical data. And then AVF patency was followed up for 1 yr after the operation. Of the total 90 patients, 31 patients (34%) had AVF failure within 1 yr after the operation. Mean IMT was thicker in failed group (n=31) than in patent group (n=59) (486±130 µm vs. 398±130 µm, p=0.004). The AVF patency rate within 1 yr after the operation was lower in patients with IMT ≥500 µm (n=26) than in patients with IMT <500 µm (n=64) (p=0.017). Age was an independent risk factor of IMT. Diabetes mellitus tended to be independent risk factor but not statistically significant. Our data suggest that increased radial artery IMT is closely associated with early failure of radiocephalic AVF in HD patients

Ectopic Expression of OsDREB1G, a Member of the OsDREB1 Subfamily, Confers Cold Stress Tolerance in Rice

Plants adapt to adverse environmental conditions through physiological responses, such as induction of the abscisic acid signaling pathway, stomatal regulation, and root elongation. Altered gene expression is a major molecular response to adverse environmental conditions in plants. Several transcription factors function as master switches to induce the expression of stress-tolerance genes. To find out a master regulator for the cold stress tolerance in rice, we focused on functionally identifying DREB subfamily which plays important roles in cold stress tolerance of plants. Here, we characterized OsDREB1G (LOC_Os02g45450), a functionally unidentified member of the DREB1 subgroup. OsDREB1G is specifically induced under cold stress conditions among several abiotic stresses examined. This gene is dominantly expressed in leaf sheath, blade, node, and root. Transgenic rice overexpressing this gene exhibited strong cold tolerance and growth retardation, like transgenic rice overexpressing other OsDREB1 genes. However, unlike these rice lines, transgenic rice overexpressing OsDREB1G did not exhibit significant increases in drought or salt tolerance. Cold-responsive genes were highly induced in transgenic rice overexpressing DREB1G compared to wild type. In addition, OsDREB1G overexpression directly induced the expression of a reporter gene fused to the promoters of cold-induced genes in rice protoplasts. Therefore, OsDREB1G is a typical CBF/DREB1 transcription factor that specifically functions in the cold stress response. Therefore, OsDREB1G could be useful for developing transgenic rice with enhanced cold-stress tolerance

Clinicopathologic Factors Affecting Recurrence after Curative Surgery for Stage I Colorectal Cancer

Purpose: The objective of the current study was to identify the clinicopathological risk factors affecting recurrence after a curative resection for stage I colorectal cancer. Methods: We retrospectively studied 434 patients who underwent a curative resection for stage I colorectal cancer between January 1999 and December 2004. Postoperative oral chemotherapy was performed in 189 patients (45.3%). The following prognostic factors were correlated with recurrence: age, gender, preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level, location of tumor, T stage, size of tumor, histologic differentiation, growth pattern, and lymphovascular invasion. The median follow-up duration was 65 months. Results: The overall recurrence rate was 4.6% (20/434). The median time to recurrence was 33 months. Two-thirds of the recurrence occurred more than two years after surgery. Risk factors associated with recurrence were rectal cancer (P = 0.009), T2 stage (P = 0.010), and infiltrative growth pattern (P = 0.020). A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis demonstrated that the infiltrative growth pattern was an independent predictor for recurrence. Tumor cell budding was observed in all pathologic reviews with recurrence. Conclusion: Long-term follow-up is necessary for stage I colorectal patients with high risk factors like rectal cancer, T2 stage, and infiltrative growth pattern. © 2012 The Korean Society of Coloproctology

Herbal extract THI improves metabolic abnormality in mice fed a high-fat diet

Target herbal ingredient (THI) is an extract made from two herbs, Scutellariae Radix and Platycodi Radix. It has been developed as a treatment for metabolic diseases such as hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, and hypertension. One component of these two herbs has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperlipidemic, and anti-obesity activities. However, there have been no reports about the effects of the mixed extract of these two herbs on metabolic diseases. In this study, we investigated the metabolic effects of THI using a diet-induced obesity (DIO) mouse model. High-fat diet (HFD) mice were orally administered daily with 250 mg/kg of THI. After 10 weeks of treatment, the THI-administered HFD mice showed reduction of body weights and epididymal white adipose tissue weights as well as improved glucose tolerance. In addition, the level of total cholesterol in the serum was markedly reduced. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of the metabolic effects of THI in vitro, 3T3-L1 cells were treated with THI, after which the mRNA levels of adipogenic transcription factors, including C/EBPα and PPARγ, were measured. The results show that the expression of these two transcription factors was down regulated by THI in a dose-dependent manner. We also examined the combinatorial effects of THI and swimming exercise on metabolic status. THI administration simultaneously accompanied by swimming exercise had a synergistic effect on serum cholesterol levels. These findings suggest that THI could be developed as a supplement for improving metabolic status