Evaluating New Approaches of Intervention in Reading Difficulties in Students with Dyslexia: The ilearnRW Software Application

The aim of this paper is to increase knowledge and understanding on how the implementation of language content through specialized software, such as the “Integrated Intelligent Learning Environment for Reading and Writing-iLearnRW”, can enhance learning during intervention procedures to enhance reading skills for children with dyslexia.The iLearnRW software is a newly designed tool that makes use of innovative technology and provides individualized intervention through games that incorporate learning activities, addressing those language areas that are most challenging for children with dyslexia in a highly entertaining and motivating way. Individualized intervention is provided through an underlying user profile, which incorporates these language features and is constantly updated as the child uses the software playing games, presenting language material selected based on his difficulties and recording his progress. A group of 78 students (52 male, 26 female) diagnosed with dyslexia, aged between 9 and 11 years old, was assessed for phonological, morphological and vocabulary skills. The students logged in the iLearnRW software on a mean of 14.18 days over a six-month intervention. After the 6-month intervention, the students were assessed once again on the same skills so as to establish the tool’s effectiveness.The results’ analysis revealed the following: (i) there was a strong constructional linkage between the profile entries of the sample, the language content of the tasks of the screening test as well of the games and its effectiveness in the students’ performance; (ii) the students who received specific guidance by their teachers, obtained higher success rates in most of the games than the students without any guidance, and (iii) the quantity of the language content and the time playing were not correlated with the students’ performance in the software’s games. Keywords: Digital technology, assistive computer software, dyslexia, learning environmen

Comparative analysis of xenobiotic metabolising N-acetyltransferases from ten non-human primates as in vitro models of human homologues

Xenobiotic metabolising N-acetyltransferases (NATs) perform biotransformation of drugs and carcinogens. Human NAT1 is associated with endogenous metabolic pathways of cells and is a candidate drug target for cancer. Human NAT2 is a well-characterised polymorphic xenobiotic metabolising enzyme, modulating susceptibility to drug-induced toxicity. Human NATs are difficult to express to high purification yields, complicating large-scale production for high-throughput screens or use in sophisticated enzymology assays and crystallography. We undertake comparative functional investigation of the NAT homologues of ten non-human primates, to characterise their properties and evaluate their suitability as models of human NATs. Considering the amount of generated recombinant protein, the enzymatic activity and thermal stability, the NAT homologues of non-human primates are demonstrated to be a much more effective resource for in vitro studies compared with human NATs. Certain NAT homologues are proposed as better models, such as the NAT1 of macaques Macaca mulatta and M. sylvanus, the NAT2 of Erythrocebus patas, and both NAT proteins of the gibbon Nomascus gabriellae which show highest homology to human NATs. This comparative investigation will facilitate in vitro screens towards discovery and optimisation of candidate pharmaceutical compounds for human NAT isoenzymes, while enabling better understanding of NAT function and evolution in primates