Vocabulary knowledge greatly affects writing performance (Stæhr in Lang Learn J 36:139–152, 2008; Johnson in Tesol J 7:700-715 2016), but little is known about the relative contribution of different ...dimensions of vocabulary knowledge to reading-to-write performance. The current study attempted to investigates the contribution of receptive/orthographic (RecOrth) vocabulary knowledge, productive/orthographic knowledge (ProOrth), productive/phonological (ProPhon) vocabulary knowledge and depth of vocabulary knowledge to reading-to-write scores. For this purpose, 154 Chinese English as foreign language (EFL) learners took a battery of vocabulary knowledge tests and a reading-to-write test. The extent to which vocabulary at different word frequencies predicted reading-to-write was also investigated. The results of regression indicated that ProOrth academic level, vocabulary depth, and RecOrth 2, 000 frequency level explained 40.2% of the reading-to-write score variance. Among the high-performing group, ProOrth academic and vocabulary depth were predictive of the reading-to-write score, while only ProOrth academic vocabulary explained the variance in the reading-to-write score for the low-performing group. The findings reveal the important relationship among dimensions of vocabulary knowledge and reading-to-write and stress the need for systematic vocabulary instruction.
Reading-to-write (RTW) tasks have been commonly employed in second language (L2) English academic writing pedagogy, and many studies have investigated the validity and reliability of RTW tasks in L2 ...English writing assessment. Meanwhile, few studies have examined the cognitive validity of RTW tasks, and the design and validation of such tasks in L2 Chinese academic writing assessment remain underexplored. This study develops a Chinese RTW task following a set of design criteria and procedures and evaluates its cognitive validity as an instrument of L2 Chinese academic writing assessment. The RTW task was administered to 15 undergraduate and 15 postgraduate L2 Chinese learners in an eye-tracking laboratory. Analyses of the task features and the eye-tracking and stimulated recall interview data suggested that the RTW task largely aligned with the characteristics of authentic tasks in real L2 Chinese academic writing contexts and elicited a representative range of cognitive processes in existing models of RTW cognitive processes. Many of these processes manifested in different ways between the two groups of participants at different L2 Chinese proficiency levels. Our findings have useful implications for understanding the cognitive validity of the RTW task in L2 Chinese writing assessment.
•A reading-to-write task was designed for assessing L2 Chinese academic writing.•The task was administered to 15 undergraduate and 15 postgraduate L2 Chinese learners.•Eye-tracking and stimulated recalled interview data were analyzed.•The task elicited representative cognitive processes in L2 Chinese academic writing.•Some cognitive processes manifested differently between the two groups of learners.
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•USP20 alleviates ischemic brain injury and cognitive deterioration in MCAO-operated mice.•USP20 reduces neuroinflammation and neuron death in MCAO mice.•USP20 interacts with PTEN to ...mediate neuroinflammation and neuron death.
Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death worldwide. The lack of effective pharmacotherapies for ischemic stroke is mainly attributed to the incomplete understanding of its pathogenesis. Deubiquitinase ubiquitin-specific protease 20 (USP20) plays an important role in regulating multiple cellular processes. However, its effects on cerebral ischemic stroke still remain unknown. In the present study, we found that USP20 expression was markedly increased in the early phase of ischemic stroke in mice with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) operation, and were then considerably decreased in mice with ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury. Double immunofluorescence staining showed USP20 abundance in both microglial cells and neurons. We then found that promoting USP20 expression remarkably ameliorated MCAO-induced ischemic brain injury, along with significantly reduced infarct volume, neurological scores and brain water contents. In addition, cognitive impairments in MCAO-operated mice were considerably alleviated by USP20 over-expression. Furthermore, USP20 over-expression dramatically restrained microglial activation, inflammatory response and neuronal death in mice with ischemic stroke. Moreover, our results indicated that phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression was highly decreased in the infarct areas of MCAO-treated mice, while being greatly rescued by USP20 over-expression. All these effects mediated by USP20 during cerebral I/R injury were confirmed in the cultured primary microglial cells and cortical neurons stimulated by oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R). Mechanistically, we found that USP20 directly interacted with PTEN. Notably, suppressing PTEN with its specific inhibitor dramatically abolished the function of USP20 to ameliorate neuroinflammation and neuron death induced by OGD/R. Collectively, our results illustrated that USP20 could effectively mitigate the severity of cerebral ischemic stroke and improve behavior deficits in MCAO-operated mice, and identified the USP20/PTEN axis as a promising therapeutic target for ischemic stroke treatment.
Based on the protective properties of polydopamine nanospheres for DNA probes against nuclease digestion, we have developed a DNase I-assisted target recycling signal amplification method for highly ...sensitive and selective detection of miRNA.
Dietary sodium and potassium consumption is associated with blood pressure levels. The objective of this study was to define a practical and low-cost method for the control of blood pressure by ...modification of these dietary cations in rural Chinese.
This study was a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial designed to establish the long-term effects of a reduced-sodium, high-potassium salt substitute (65% sodium chloride, 25% potassium chloride, 10% magnesium sulphate) compared to normal salt (100% sodium chloride) on blood pressure among high-risk individuals. Following a 4-week run-in period on salt substitute, participants were randomly assigned to replace their household salt with either the study salt substitute or normal salt for a 12-month period.
The mean age of the 608 randomized participants was 60 years and 56% of them were female. Sixty-four percent had a history of vascular disease and 61% were taking one or more blood pressure-lowering drugs at entry. Mean baseline blood pressure was 159/93 mmHg (SD 26/14). The mean overall difference in systolic blood pressure between randomized groups was 3.7 mmHg (95% confidence interval 1.6-5.9, P < 0.001). There was strong evidence that the magnitude of this reduction increased over time (P = 0.001) with the maximum net reduction of 5.4 mmHg (2.3-8.5) achieved at 12 months. There were no detectable effects on diastolic blood pressure.
Salt substitution produced a substantial and sustained systolic blood pressure reduction in this population, and should be actively promoted as a low-cost alternate or adjunct to drug therapy for people consuming significant quantities of salt.
A potassium chloride-containing salt substitute lowers blood pressure levels, but its overall acceptability has been of concern due to its potential adverse effects on food taste. In a large-scale, ...blinded randomised trial evaluating the comparative effects of a salt substitute (65 % sodium chloride, 25 % potassium chloride and 10 % magnesium sulphate) and a normal salt (100 % sodium chloride) on blood pressure, we collected data on the saltiness, flavour and overall acceptability of food. We performed this at baseline, 1, 6 and 12 months post-randomisation using 100 mm visual analogue scales for assessments of both home-cooked foods and a standard salty soup. The mean age of the 608 participants from rural northern China was 60 years and 56 % of them were females. In the primary analyses, the changes in the saltiness, flavour and overall acceptability of both home-cooked foods and a standard salty soup were not different between the randomised groups (all P>0·08). In the secondary analyses, weighting each of the data points according to the lengths of the respective follow-up intervals, the flavour of both home-cooked foods (mean difference = - 1·8 mm, P = 0·045) and a standard salty soup (mean difference = - 1·9 mm, P = 0·03) was slightly weaker in the salt substitute group. We conclude that salt substitution is both an effective and an acceptable means of blood pressure control. Possible small differences in flavour did not importantly deter the use of the salt substitute in this study group, although the acceptability of the salt substitute by a more general population group would need to be confirmed.
(1) Background: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an effective treatment for ulcerative colitis (UC). Metabolomic techniques would assist physicians in clinical decision-making. (2) Methods: ...Patients with active UC undergoing FMT were enrolled in the study and monitored for 3 months. We explored short-term changes in the serum metabolic signatures of groups and the association between baseline serum metabolomic profiles and patient outcomes. (3) Results: Forty-four eligible patients were included in the analysis. Of them, 50.0% and 29.5% achieved clinical response and clinical remission, respectively, 3 months post-FMT. The top two significantly altered pathways in the response group were vitamin B6 metabolism and aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis. Both the remission and response groups exhibited an altered and enriched pathway for the biosynthesis of primary bile acid. We found a clear separation between the remission and non-remission groups at baseline, characterized by the higher levels of glycerophosphocholines, glycerophospholipids, and glycerophosphoethanolamines in the remission group. A random forest (RF) classifier was constructed with 20 metabolic markers selected by the Boruta method to predict clinical remission 3 months post-FMT, with an area under the curve of 0.963. (4) Conclusions: FMT effectively induced a response in patients with active UC, with metabolites partially improving post-FMT in the responsive group. A promising role of serum metabolites in the non-invasive prediction of FMT efficacy for UC demonstrated the value of metabolome-informed FMT in managing UC.
Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is a very challenging disease, accounting for 2% to 9% of all new cancer cases. This type of tumor is a heterogeneous tumor whose primary site cannot be determined by ...standard examination. It has the characteristics of early metastasis, strong aggressiveness, and unpredictable mode of metastasis. Studies have shown that there is no consensus on the treatment of CUP and that there is a wide range of individual differences. In most cases, surgical removal of tumor is the most typical treatment for pelvic tumors. Herein, we report a case of a large pelvic tumor of unknown origin that had compressed the sigmoid colon and ureter and was completely removed by surgery. Postoperative diagnosis was pelvic metastatic squamous cell carcinoma.
A 68-year-old man with pelvic tumor who initially complained of recurrent low back pain and painful urination. The mass was initially diagnosed as a pelvic tumor of unknown origin. The patient underwent complete resection of the tumor by laparotomy. The tumor was pathologically diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma.
Based on the treatment experience of this case, surgery alone cannot improve the poor prognosis of CUP. Since chemotherapy and immunotherapy have achieved promising efficacy in various cancers, and immunotherapy has the characteristics of low side effects and good tolerability, we recommend that patients with CUP should receive chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy for better survival outcomes.
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