A linguistic dissociation in Williams syndrome: Good at gender agreement but poor at lexical retrieval

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rareneuro-developmental disorder characterised byspared language in the face of serious deficitsin nonlinguistic cognitive abilities. Weconducted a study on ten WS individuals inwhich gender agreement and gender assignmentwere assessed by means of two tasks: gendercategorisation and gender concord. Subjectsperformed gender categorisation to real nounswhose gender was regular or exceptional giventheir ending, and to invented nouns which werecomposed of nonword or word stems and realword-endings. The same material was used in thegender concord task in which subjects had tomatch the items with the appropriate form ofthe article and the adjective carrying genderagreement. In the gender categorisation of realwords, WS were lower than controls but bothgroups demonstrated a similar sensitivity togender-ending regularities. In the gendercategorisation of nonwords, the results showeda clear dissociation. The WS subjects producedmore ending-consistent responses than thecontrols. Contrary to the controls, WS reliedheavily on the gender clue provided by theending even when the gender of the word evokedby the stem of the invented word was opposed tothat evoked by the ending. Participants with WSwere not influenced by the specific word evokedby the stem of the invented word. In the secondtask (concord task), the WS subjects performed well although lower than thecontrols. We concluded that the WS people werenot impaired in gender agreement which relieson syntactic rules and/or on the extraction ofregularities but experienced difficulties inretrieving lexical instances.     

彩超与TCD联合检查头臂型大动脉炎的价值

目的：探讨经颅多普勒与彩色多普勒超声联合检查头臂型大动脉炎的价值。方法：应用彩超和TCD检查7例头臂型大动脉炎患者的颅内和颅外动脉．分析二维及血流动力学指标。结果：头臂型大动脉炎病变多位于颅外动脉起始段或近心端（84％）；颅外段动脉狭窄程度与颅内动脉流速呈大致负相关；结论：彩超与TCD联合检查头臂型大动脉炎，对于了解动脉炎所致血管狭窄的分布情况及分析颅外动脉狭窄或闭塞对颅内循环的影响具有重要诊断价值。     

Antiphospholipid syndrome:a survey of clinical characters in ten cases

INTRODUCTIONAPSisthesumtotalthatcoversaseriesofclinicalmanifestations,causedbyantiphospho lipidantibodies (APL)associatedwithhabitualabortionorintrauterinefetaldeath ,arterialandvenousthrombus,thrombocytopeniaandhemo lyticanemia.APL ,acomplement fixingant…     

The efficacy of `whole word' versus `analytic' reading instruction for children with Down syndrome

An intervention study was conducted toinvestigate whether children with Down syndrome(DS) would benefit from an `analytic' approachto reading instruction, which encompassedexplicit training in phonological awareness.Participants were seven English-speakingchildren with DS aged 8;6 (years;months) to11;1, who demonstrated little or nononword-reading ability prior to intervention.The children received weekly instruction (forsix weeks) in reading aloud 30 regularly speltmonosyllables (e.g., ten, bake) using an`analytic' approach, in which words werelearned by combining onsets with rimes (fourchildren), or a `whole-word' approach (threechildren). Participants' oral reading wasassessed pre- and post-intervention using areading test comprising the 30 trained wordsand 30 untrained (generalisation) words. Mostchildren (six out of seven) read more trainingwords correctly after intervention than before,with significant improvement shown by fourchildren (two trained analytically, and twotrained with whole words). More importantly,reading of generalisation words improvedsignificantly in only three children, all ofwhom had received analytic training. It wasconcluded that children with DS benefit from ananalytic approach to reading instruction, eventhough their auditory-verbal memory (assessedusing digit span) is poor.     

扭曲的国家认同——《鱼尾狮旁的尤利西斯》中的斯德哥尔摩情结

作为一个多元种族国家,新加坡必然要在国民中培养国家认同感。新加坡英文诗人唐爱文（EdwinThumboo）所写的诗歌《鱼尾狮旁的尤利西斯》有“新加坡史诗”之称,通过斯德哥尔摩综合征这个视角分析诗歌中描述的新加坡的历史、种族融合和图腾以及书写诗歌所用的语言,可以看到其试图呼吁构建起的国家认同实际上是在殖民下滋长的一种扭曲的心态。     

Long-term high fructose and saturated fat diet affects plasma fatty acid profile in rats

As the consumption of fructose and saturated fatty acids (FAs) has greatly increased in western diets and is linked with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a moderate (10 weeks) and a prolonged (30 weeks) high fructose and saturated fatty acid (HFS) diet on plasma FA composition in rats. The effects of a few weeks of HFS diet had already been described, but in this paper we tried to establish whether these effects persist or if they are modified after 10 or 30 weeks. We hypothesized that the plasma FA profile would be altered between 10 and 30 weeks of the HFS diet. Rats fed with either the HFS or a standard diet were tested after 10 weeks and again after 30 weeks. After 10 weeks of feeding, HFS-fed rats developed the metabolic syndrome, as manifested by an increase in fasting insulinemia, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as well as by impaired glucose tolerance. Furthermore, the plasma FA profile of the HFS group showed higher proportions of monounsaturated FAs like palmitoleic acid [16:1(n-7)] and oleic acid [18:1(n-9)], whereas the proportions of some polyunsaturated n-6 FAs, such as linoleic acid [18:2(n-6)] and arachidonic acid [20:4(n-6)], were lower than those in the control group. After 30 weeks of the HFS diet, we observed changes mainly in the levels of 16:1(n-7) (decreased) and 20:4(n-6) (increased). Together, our results suggest that an HFS diet could lead to an adaptive response of the plasma FA profile over time, in association with the development of the metabolic syndrome.     

地方高校教师代谢综合征的慢性运动改善研究——以武夷学院教师为例

采用教师年度体检报告作为基本资料,运用数理统计方法对武夷学院教师代谢综合征确诊（IDF定义）情况进行分析,结果显示：讲师职称以上教师的代谢综合征确诊患者比率为16.6%（X2=15.2,P〈0.01）,表现为确诊率随年龄的增大而递增的特征。研究认为＂健身走＂、＂慢跑步＂作为主要运动锻炼方式,对代谢综合征具有预防与改善作用（X2=7.14,P〈0.01）,但存在需提升运动量问题。建议：体检是高校教师了解个人健康状况、早期发现疾病线索和健康隐患的重要渠道。由于教师对体检结论重视不够,导致错过运动预防、改善或治疗代谢综合征的有利时机。应在教师中进行健康教育和慢性运动处方相关知识的辅导,培养坚持运动锻炼的良好习惯。     

Gorham-Stout syndrome in mainland China: a case series of 67 patients and review of the literature

Objective:Gorham-Stout syndrome (GSS) is a rare disorder of uncertain etiology and unpredictable prognosis. This study aims to present a comprehensive understanding of this rare entity. Methods:A literature search in PubMed and three Chinese databases was performed to screen histologically proven GSS cases among Chinese residents in the mainland. We analyzed the patients’ clinical characteristics, the value of different treatment modalities and their influence on the clinical outcome. Results:Sixty-seven cases were finally enrolled. There were 43 men (64.2%) and 24 women (35.8%). The mean age at diagnosis was 28 years (1.5-71 years). The most common clinical symptoms included pain (n=40, 59.7%), functional impairment (n=13, 19.4%), and swelling (n=12, 17.9%). The radiographic presentation of 37 cases (55.2%) was disappearance of a portion of the bone. The others presented as radiolucent foci in the intramedullary or subcortical regions. A total of 42 cases provided data on therapy, these included surgery (n=27, 40.3%), radiation therapy (n=6, 9.0%), surgery combined with radiation therapy (n=2, 3.0%), and medicine therapy (n=7, 10.4%). For 30 of these 42 cases, follow-up data were available:21 cases had the disorder locally controlled and 9 had a symptom progression. Fortunately, the disease is not fatal in the majority of cases. Conclusions:GSS has no specific symptoms and it should be taken into consideration when an unclear massive osteolysis occurs. The efficacies of different treatment modalities are still unpredictable and further research is required to assess the values of different treatments.     

Why and how people of limited intelligence become calendrical calculators

Abstract

Calendrical calculation is the rare talent of naming the days of the week for dates in the past and future. Calendrical savants are people with low measured intelligence who have this talent. This paper reviews evidence and speculation about why people become calendrical savants and how they answer date questions. Most savants are known to have intensively studied the calendar and show superior memory for calendrical information. As a result they may answer date questions either from recalling calendars or by using strategies that exploit calendrical regularities. While people of average or superior intelligence may become calendrical calculators through internalizing formulae, the arithmetical demands of the formulae make them unlikely as bases for the talents of calendrical savants. We attempt to identify the methods used by a sample of 10 savants. None rely on an internalised formula. Some use strategies based on calendrical regularities probably in conjunction with memory for a range of years. For the rest a decision between use of regularities and recall of calendars cannot be made.