Molecular Characterization of Iranian Patients with Possible Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant disorder of lipoprotein metabolism caused mainly by mutations in the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and apolipoprotein B 100 (APOB) genes. Until now, the molecular basis of FH has been demonstrated in detail in many populations, but there is still very limited Molecular data concerning FH in Iran. The aim of this study was to characterize the LDLR and APOB gene mutations in an Iranian population. A total of 30 non-related Iranian possible FH subjects were studied. Diagnosis of FH was based on the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network diagnostic criteria. All samples were initially tested for three common APOB gene mutations including R3500Q, R3500 W and R3531C using PCR-RFLP assay. Subsequently, promoter and coding region of the LDLR gene was screened by PCR-SSCP analysis and positive results were confirmed by DNA sequencing. Four previously reported polymorphisms 1413G > A, 1725C > T, 1773T > C and 2140 + 5G > A were found in ~17% (5/30) of population studied. Moreover, no variation was found in APOB gene. Our data indicated that LDLR and APOB gene mutations have not contribution to possible FH in Iranian population studied here. However, we examined three common APOB mutations and LDLR in only 30 patients, and to determine the role of these genes in developing FH in Iran, more FH samples and populations needed to be investigated for the mutations of the related genes.     

How do different cognitive and linguistic variables contribute to reading in Arabic? A cross-sectional study from first to sixth grade

The contribution of linguistic and cognitive variables to reading processes might vary depending on the particularities of the languages studied. This view is thought to be particularly true for Arabic which is a diglossic language and has particular orthographic and morpho-syntactic systems. This cross-sectional study examined the contribution of phonological, orthographic, morphological, semantic, syntactic, visual perception, rapid automatic naming and phonological working memory abilities to decoding and fluency (the two components of reading). The results, obtained from 1305 native Arabic-speaking children in first–sixth grade, were analyzed using path models. The analysis revealed that memory and orthographic knowledge contributed to both components of reading, while phonological awareness contributed mainly to decoding and rapid automatic naming contributed to fluency. The contribution of morphology to the two components, which appeared already in the first grade, was weak and inconsistent. Finally, the results showed that visual perception, semantics, and syntax predicted neither decoding nor fluency. The data presented here suggest that reading development in Arabic differs from other languages, a finding that might explain certain difficulties in reading acquisition in Arabic. The results are discussed in the light of previous findings in the literature and the specific features of Arabic.     

A computational approach for predicting plant canopy induced wind effects on the trajectory of golf shots

Large-eddy simulation of atmospheric flow is combined with golf ball trajectory modeling that incorporates local plant canopy information to predict the trajectory of a golf shot at any hole on a golf course in a variety of wind conditions. The model is applied to examine golf shots on hole 12 of the Augusta National Golf Club, which is particularly well known for its wind-induced difficulty. The results indicate that the tree canopies around this hole play a significant role in golf ball trajectories and also induce a strong directional sensitivity on the landing spot of the ball for this hole.     

The impact of organizational factors on management information system success: An investigation in the Iran's agricultural extension providers

Information system success has been widely discussed in the past two decades. As systems and technologies are being improved and developed, discussions on their effectiveness and evaluation on their success have been continuously debated by researchers, scholars and practitioners throughout the years. Besides the major concern of IS effectiveness, factors influencing IS effectiveness are also important. One of these factors is the organizational factor. Using perceptual measures, this study aims to investigate the influence of organizational factors on MIS success. Survey questionnaires were gathered from 132 Extension Managers from Iran's Agricultural Extension Providers. Seven items were identified to influence MIS success. They are IS department structure, top management support, management style, managerial IT knowledge, goal alignment, resources allocation and IS infrastructure. The study also identified five MIS success dimensions; systems quality, information quality, perceived Ease of use, organizational impact and individual impact. The study found that the MIS success variables are significantly and highly correlated. The study also found all the organizational factors are significantly correlated to the five IS success factors investigated; the system quality, information quality, perceived ease of use, organizational impact and individual impact. Multiple regression analyses also found goal alignment as the highest predictor of IS success, followed by IS department structure, IS infrastructure and management style.     

How simple is reading in Arabic? A cross‐sectional investigation of reading comprehension from first to sixth grade

This study aimed to examine, from a cross‐sectional perspective, the extent to which the simple view of reading (SVR) model can be adapted to the Arabic language. This was carried out by verifying, in both beginning and more skilled readers, whether the unique orthographical and morphological characteristics of Arabic contribute to reading comprehension beyond decoding and listening comprehension abilities. Reading comprehension was evaluated in a large sample of first to sixth‐grade Arabic‐speaking children. The participants' decoding and listening comprehension abilities were investigated together with their orthographic and morphological knowledge. Path analysis indicated that reading comprehension was moderately explained by the SVR (56–38%). Orthographic and morphological knowledge explained an additional 10–22% of the variance beyond that explained by the basic SVR components. These findings demonstrate that certain linguistic aspects of Arabic impact reading processes differently when compared with other languages. The psycholinguistic implications of these findings are discussed in the light of previous findings in the literature.

What is already known about this topic?

• The ‘simple view of reading’ model explains reading comprehension as the product of decoding and listening comprehension.
• This model explains between 70% and 83% of the variance in reading comprehension in English, in which the contribution of decoding and listening comprehension varies as a function of the level of the readers.
• Orthographic transparency and other unique characteristics of the languages studied might influence reading comprehension in these languages

What does this paper add?

• Arabic is a diglossic language that is characterised by relatively unique orthographic and morphological features for which the validity of the simple view of reading (SVR) has not been tested.
• The basic components of the SVR (decoding and listening comprehension) have explained between 56% and 38% of the variance in reading comprehension in children from the first to the sixth grade.
• Decoding, as one of the basic components of the SVR, failed to contribute to reading comprehension when orthography and morphology were considered.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• This large‐scale cross‐sectional study is the first of its type to assess reading comprehension in Arabic.
• The study justifies the necessity to assess the suitability of the SVR in languages with very specific linguistic characteristics such as Arabic.
• The results emphasise the necessity of considering the complex orthography and the rich morphology of Arabic for improving teaching, assessment and intervention.

     

Document vector representations for feature extraction in multi-stage document ranking

We consider a multi-stage retrieval architecture consisting of a fast, “cheap” candidate generation stage, a feature extraction stage, and a more “expensive” reranking stage using machine-learned models. In this context, feature extraction can be accomplished using a document vector index, a mapping from document ids to document representations. We consider alternative organizations of such a data structure for efficient feature extraction: design choices include how document terms are organized, how complex term proximity features are computed, and how these structures are compressed. In particular, we propose a novel document-adaptive hashing scheme for compactly encoding term ids. The impact of alternative designs on both feature extraction speed and memory footprint is experimentally evaluated. Overall, results show that our architecture is comparable in speed to using a traditional positional inverted index but requires less memory overall, and offers additional advantages in terms of flexibility.     

Spicing Up Information Literacy Tutorials: Interactive Class Activities That Worked

The Future Voices in Public Services column is a forum for students in graduate library and information science programs to discuss key issues they see in academic library public services, to envision what they feel librarians in public service have to offer to academia, to tell us of their visions for the profession, or to tell us of research that is going on in library schools. We hope to provide fresh perspectives from those entering our field, both in the United States and other countries. Interested faculty of graduate library and information science programs, who would like their students' ideas represented in these pages, are invited to contact Nancy H. Dewald at nxd7@psu.edu.

Neda Zdravkovic is studying at The School of Information Management at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Here she describes the student-centered and activity-based teaching approach used in some information literacy courses, including analysis of the student feedback received.

The School of Information Management at Victoria University of Wellington teaches the only postgraduate library studies program in New Zealand. Students take courses on campus and by distance learning, using CD-ROM and Web-based materials, as well as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) conferencing. The School is a member of the WISE (Web-based Information Science Education) consortium, sharing online courses with similar programs worldwide. From 2010, the current MLIS qualification will be replaced by postgraduate Certificate, Diploma and Master's degrees in Information Studies. The broad-based program allows students to specialize in Library Studies or in Archives and Records. Students come to the school from Asia, the United States, and New Zealand.     

Effects of Nanoliposomal and Pegylated Nanoliposomal Artemisinin in Treatment of Breast Cancer

This study is aimed to investigate the nanoliposomal artemisinin preparation, and its implementation on breast cancer cells. Side effects have been one of the common challenges of drug usage, as well as cancer treatment. In order to reduce such effects, nanotechnology has been a great help. Nanoliposomes are provided through reverse phase evaporation. In this method, certain proportions of phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol and artemisinin were mixed together. Besides, the obtained formulation was pegylated by using polyethylene glycol 2000 in order to increase its stability and solubility. The mean diameter of non-pegylated and pegylated liposomal artemisinin was determined by Zeta sizer system. The percent of drug released from liposome was performed by dialysis. The encapsulation efficiency of both formulations was estimated by spectrophotometry method. As a result, encapsulation and drug release of nanoliposomal formulation were more than the pegylation of the same formulation. In addition, this study indicated that cytotoxicity effect of pegylated nanoliposomal artemisinin was more, in comparison with nanoliposomal artemisinin.