Hemispheric dominance and language proficiency levels in the four macro skills of Western Mindanao State university college students

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between the hemispheric dominance (HD) and the English proficiency (EP) scores in the four macro skills of the Western Mindanao State University college students. It hypothesized that students’ HD would have a significant correlation a) with their EP scores in listening, speaking, reading and writing, b) with their global EP score, c) with both the macro and global scores when respondents would be grouped according to age, gender and area of specialization. In this study, there were 240 respondents selected through purposive, stratified, and random sampling techniques from the 5,096 students of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Education. Using the standardized HD Test, the standardized Listening and Reading Comprehension Tests, the researcher-made Speaking and Writing Skill Tests and Cloze Test and employing mainly the Pearson r for the statistical analysis, the study concluded: 1) that most of the students of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Education of Western Mindanao State University were left-brained (74.6%); 2) that the students were “good” in speaking, “fair” in listening and writing skills but “ poor” in reading and in global English; 3) that there was no significant relationship between the students’ hemisphericity and their EP scores in listening, speaking, reading, writing and global proficiency tests; and 4) that a significant relationship was shown between HD and EP scores when respondents were grouped according to age and area of specialization only.hemisphericity, language performance, English, hemispheric dominance, right brain, left brain, whole brain, speaking, listening, reading, writing

Hemispheric dominance and language proficiency levels in the four macro skills of Western Mindanao State university college students

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between the hemispheric dominance (HD) and the English proficiency (EP) scores in the four macro skills of the Western Mindanao State University college students. It hypothesized that students’ HD would have a significant correlation a) with their EP scores in listening, speaking, reading and writing, b) with their global EP score, c) with both the macro and global scores when respondents would be grouped according to age, gender and area of specialization. In this study, there were 240 respondents selected through purposive, stratified, and random sampling techniques from the 5,096 students of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Education. Using the standardized HD Test, the standardized Listening and Reading Comprehension Tests, the researcher-made Speaking and Writing Skill Tests and Cloze Test and employing mainly the Pearson r for the statistical analysis, the study concluded: 1) that most of the students of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Education of Western Mindanao State University were left-brained (74.6%); 2) that the students were “good” in speaking, “fair” in listening and writing skills but “ poor” in reading and in global English; 3) that there was no significant relationship between the students’ hemisphericity and their EP scores in listening, speaking, reading, writing and global proficiency tests; and 4) that a significant relationship was shown between HD and EP scores when respondents were grouped according to age and area of specialization only

Hemispheric dominance and language proficiency levels in the four macro skills of Western Mindanao State university college students

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between the hemispheric dominance (HD) and the English proficiency (EP) scores in the four macro skills of the Western Mindanao State University college students. It hypothesized that students’ HD would have a significant correlation a) with their EP scores in listening, speaking, reading and writing, b) with their global EP score, c) with both the macro and global scores when respondents would be grouped according to age, gender and area of specialization. In this study, there were 240 respondents selected through purposive, stratified, and random sampling techniques from the 5,096 students of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Education. Using the standardized HD Test, the standardized Listening and Reading Comprehension Tests, the researcher-made Speaking and Writing Skill Tests and Cloze Test and employing mainly the Pearson r for the statistical analysis, the study concluded: 1) that most of the students of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Education of Western Mindanao State University were left-brained (74.6%); 2) that the students were “good” in speaking, “fair” in listening and writing skills but “ poor” in reading and in global English; 3) that there was no significant relationship between the students’ hemisphericity and their EP scores in listening, speaking, reading, writing and global proficiency tests; and 4) that a significant relationship was shown between HD and EP scores when respondents were grouped according to age and area of specialization only

X chromosome inactivation does not necessarily determine the severity of the phenotype in Rett syndrome patients

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a severe neurological disorder usually caused by mutations in the MECP2 gene. Since the MECP2 gene is located on the X chromosome, X chromosome inactivation (XCI) could play a role in the wide range of phenotypic variation of RTT patients; however, classical methylation-based protocols to evaluate XCI could not determine whether the preferentially inactivated X chromosome carried the mutant or the wild-type allele. Therefore, we developed an allele-specific methylation-based assay to evaluate methylation at the loci of several recurrent MECP2 mutations. We analyzed the XCI patterns in the blood of 174 RTT patients, but we did not find a clear correlation between XCI and the clinical presentation. We also compared XCI in blood and brain cortex samples of two patients and found differences between XCI patterns in these tissues. However, RTT mainly being a neurological disease complicates the establishment of a correlation between the XCI in blood and the clinical presentation of the patients. Furthermore, we analyzed MECP2 transcript levels and found differences from the expected levels according to XCI. Many factors other than XCI could affect the RTT phenotype, which in combination could influence the clinical presentation of RTT patients to a greater extent than slight variations in the XCI pattern

X chromosome inactivation does not necessarily determine the severity of the phenotype in Rett syndrome patients

WOS: 000481590200024PubMed ID: 31427717Rett syndrome (RTT) is a severe neurological disorder usually caused by mutations in the MECP2 gene. Since the MECP2 gene is located on the X chromosome, X chromosome inactivation (XCI) could play a role in the wide range of phenotypic variation of RTT patients; however, classical methylation-based protocols to evaluate XCI could not determine whether the preferentially inactivated X chromosome carried the mutant or the wild-type allele. Therefore, we developed an allele-specific methylation-based assay to evaluate methylation at the loci of several recurrent MECP2 mutations. We analyzed the XCI patterns in the blood of 174 RTT patients, but we did not find a clear correlation between XCI and the clinical presentation. We also compared XCI in blood and brain cortex samples of two patients and found differences between XCI patterns in these tissues. However, RTT mainly being a neurological disease complicates the establishment of a correlation between the XCI in blood and the clinical presentation of the patients. Furthermore, we analyzed MECP2 transcript levels and found differences from the expected levels according to XCI. Many factors other than XCI could affect the RTT phenotype, which in combination could influence the clinical presentation of RTT patients to a greater extent than slight variations in the XCI pattern.Spanish Ministry of Health (Instituto de Salud Carlos III/FEDER) [PI15/01159]; Crowdfunding program PRECIPITA, from the Spanish Ministry of Health (Fundacion Espanola para la Ciencia y la Tecnologia); Catalan Association for Rett Syndrome; Fondobiorett; Mi Princesa RettWe thank all patients and their families who contributed to this study. The work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Health (Instituto de Salud Carlos III/FEDER, PI15/01159); Crowdfunding program PRECIPITA, from the Spanish Ministry of Health (Fundacion Espanola para la Ciencia y la Tecnologia); the Catalan Association for Rett Syndrome; Fondobiorett and Mi Princesa Rett