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Knowledge of scientific inquiry (SI) is considered essential to the development of an individual's Scientific Literacy (SL) and therefore, SI is included in many international science education reform documents. Two previous large scale international studies assessed the SI understandings of students entering middle school and secondary students at the end of their formal K-12 science education. The purpose of this international project was to use the VASI-E to collect data on what primary level students have learned about SI in their first few years of school. This study adds to previous research to bridge the landscape of SI understandings now with representation from primary, middle and high school samples. A total of 4,238 students from 35 countries/regions spanning six continents participated in the study. The results show that globally, primary students are not adequately informed about SI for their age group. However, when compared with the students in the previous international studies (grades seven and 12), the primary students' understandings were surprisingly closer to the levels of understanding of SI of the secondary school students than those in the seventh grade study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background There is a high burden of depression globally, including in South Africa. Maternal depression is associated with poverty, unstable income, food insecurity, and lack of partner support, and may lead to poor outcomes for mothers and children. In South Africa one-third of working women are in informal work, which is associated with socioeconomic vulnerability. Methods A cross sectional survey explored work setting and conditions, food security and risk of depression among informal working women with young children (0–3 years). Depression risk was assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Score (EPDS) and Whooley score. Food insecurity was evaluated using Household Food Insecurity Access Scale. Data was analysed using SPSS and Stata. Results Interviews were conducted with 265 informal women workers. Types of work included domestic work, home-based work, informal employees and own account workers, most of whom were informal traders. Most participants (149/265; 56.2%) earned between US$70–200 per month, but some participants (79/265; 29.8%) earned US$200 per month (37/265; 14.0%). Many participants experienced mild (38/267; 14.3%), moderate (72/265; 27.2%) or severe (43/265; 16%) food insecurity. Severe food insecurity was significantly higher among participants with the lowest income compared to those with the highest income (p = 0.027). Women who received financial support from the baby’s father were less likely to be food insecure (p = 0.03). Using EPDS scores, 22/265 (8.3%) women were designated as being at risk of depression. This was similar among postnatal women and women with older children. Household food insecurity was significantly associated with depression risk (p

Background: Doxorubicin induces acute and chronic cardiotoxicity. This study is aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of vitamin E and levocarnitine (EL) as cardioprotective agents against acute doxorubicin cardiotoxicity in female adult breast cancer patients. Methods: A prospective, randomized controlled study was conducted in patients treated with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC). Patients were randomly assigned to EL plus AC or AC alone for the duration of 4 cycles. Cardiac enzymes (B-type natriuretic peptide, creatine kinase, troponin I (Trop)) and cardiac events were monitored during treatment to evaluate the cardioprotective efficacy of EL. Results: Seventy-four patients were recruited and received four cycles of chemotherapy. The intervention group (n = 35) showed a significant reduction in both the B-type natriuretic peptide and creatine kinase cardiac enzymes compared to the control group (n = 39). The median (IQR) change for BNP was 0.80 (0.00–4.00) for IG versus 1.80 (0.40–3.60) for CG groups (p < 0.001); creatine kinase was −0.08 (−0.25–0.05) for IG versus 0.20 (0.05–0.50) for CG (p < 0.001). The addition of EL decreased the cardiac events by 24.2% (p = 0.02). All adverse events were tolerable and manageable. Conclusion: This study supports the addition of EL as prophylaxis against acute doxorubicin cardiotoxicity and it was also very well tolerated by a majority of the patients. The co-administration of EL at higher doxorubicin (240 mg/m2) dose should be further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of the left inferior prefrontal cortex in semantic processing has been widely investigated in the last decade. Converging evidence from functional imaging studies shows that this region is involved in the "executive" or "controlled" aspects of semantic processing. In this study, we report a single case study of a patient, PW, with damage to the right prefrontal and temporal cortices following stroke. PW showed a problem in executive control of semantic processing, where he could not easily override automatic but irrelevant semantic processing. This case, thus, shows the necessary role of the right inferior prefrontal cortex in executive semantic processing. Compared to tasks previously used in the literature, our tasks placed higher demands on executive semantic processing. We suggest that the right inferior prefrontal cortex is recruited when the demands on executive semantic processing are particularly high. (Contains 3 figures.)