1,675 research outputs found
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Effects of ADHD on writing composition product and process in school-age students
Objective: This study examined the relationship between ADHD and writing performance. Method: Students in Grades 3 to 7, 84 with ADHD and 135 age and gender-matched controls completed a writing task (including process logs), and measures of, working memory and attention. Results: Students with ADHD wrote texts of similar length but with poorer structure, coherence and ideation. 6.7% of the variance in writing quality was explained by whether or not the student had an ADHD diagnosis, after control for IQ and age-within-year, with students with ADHD producing text that was less coherent, well structured, and ideationally rich and to spend less time thinking about and reviewing their text. Half of the effect on text quality could be attributed to working memory and sustained attention effects. Conclusions: ADHD has some effect on writing performance which can, in part, be explained by working memory and attentional deficits
Valence changes associated with the metal-insulator transition in BiLaNiO
Perovskite-type BiNiO is an insulating antiferromagnet in which a charge
disproportionation occurs at the Bi site. La substitution for Bi suppresses the
charge disproportionation and makes the system metallic. We have measured the
photoemission and x-ray absorption (XAS) spectra of BiLaNiO
to investigate how the electronic structure changes with La doping. From Ni
XAS, we observed an increase of the valence of Ni from 2+ toward 3+.
Combined with the core-level photoemission study, it was found that the average
valence of Bi remains and that the Ni valence behaves as , that is, La substitution results in hole doping at the Ni sites. In
the valence-band photoemission spectra, we observed a Fermi cutoff for ,
consistent with the metallic behavior of the La-doped compounds. The Ni
XAS, Ni core-level photoemission, and valence-band photoemission spectra
were analyzed by configuration-interaction cluster-model calculation, and the
spectral line shapes were found to be consistent with the gradual Ni
Ni valence change.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure
Phase diagram of the Hubbard chain with two atoms per cell
We obtain the quantum phase diagram of the Hubbard chain with alternating
on-site energy at half filling. The model is relevant for the ferroelectric
perovskites and organic mixed-stack donor-acceptor crystals. For any values of
the parameters, the band insulator is separated from the Mott insulator by a
dimer phase. The boundaries are determined accurately by crossing of excited
levels with particular discrete symmetries. We show that these crossings
coincide with jumps of charge and spin Berry phases with a clear geometrical
meaning.Comment: 5 pages including 2 figures To be published in Phys. Rev. B (Rapid
Communications
Epigenetic regulatory pathways involving microRNAs may modulate the host immune response following major trauma
BACKGROUND
Posttraumatic nosocomial pneumonia is a common complication resulting in significant morbidity. Trauma-induced immunocompromise is associated with an enhanced susceptibility to pneumonia. In this study, we explore the hypothesis that posttranscriptional epigenetic regulation of gene expression may be an important factor in determining this immune phenotype. We describe the pattern of production of microRNAss (miRs) and their association with nosocomial pneumonia following severe trauma.
METHODS
A convenience sample of 30 ventilated polytrauma patients (UKCRN ID: 5637) and 16 healthy controls were recruited. Messenger RNA and protein levels of key cytokines were quantified within 2 hours of the injury and at 24 hours. Three miRs per cytokine were then selected based on miRBase target prediction scores and quantified using polymerase chain reaction. Nosocomial pneumonia was defined using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definitions.
RESULTS
Median Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 29, and 47% of the patients developed nosocomial pneumonia. miR-125a and miR-202 decreased by 34% and 77%, respectively, immediately following injury, whereas their target, IL-10, increased messenger RNA levels 3-fold and protein levels 180 fold. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and IL-12 gene expression decreased by 68% and 43%, respectively, following injury, and this was mirrored by a 10-fold increase in miR-181, an miR predicted to target TNF-α transcripts. Lower levels of miR-125a and miR-374b were associated with the later acquisition of hospital-acquired pneumonia.
CONCLUSION
Alteration in the expression of miRs with highly predicted complementarity to IL-10 and TNF-α may be an important mechanism regulating the posttraumatic immunosuppressive phenotype in intensive care unit patients.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Retrospective observational study, level III
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The semantic scope affects the minimal planning unit in sentence production
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Advance planning in written and spoken sentence production
Response onset latencies for sentences that start with a conjoined noun phrase are typically longer than for sentences starting with a simple noun phrase. This suggests that advance planning has phrasal scope, which may or may not be lexically driven. All previous studies have involved spoken production, leaving open the possibility that effects are, in part, modality-specific. In three image-description experiments (Ns = 32) subjects produced sentences with conjoined (e.g. Peter and the hat) and simple initial noun phrases (e.g. Peter) in both speech and writing. Production onset latencies and participants’ eye movements were recorded. Ease of lexical retrieval of sentences’ second noun was assessed by manipulating codability (Experiment 1) and by gaze-contingent name priming (Experiments 2 and 3). Findings confirmed a modality-independent phrasal scope for advance planning but did not support obligatory lexical retrieval beyond the sentence-initial noun. This research represents the first direct experimental comparison of sentence planning in speech and writing
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Syntactic planning and lexical access in written and spoken sentence production
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