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Using a longitudinal sample of young Chinese students (fall and spring in grades 1 and 2: times 1-4, respectively) and growth curve analysis, this study examined whether the initial status and growth rates of compounding awareness from time 1 to time 4 uniquely contribute to reading comprehension at time 4 and whether word-reading efficiency at time 4 mediates the association between initial status and growth in compounding awareness and reading comprehension at time 4. The results indicated that initial status and growth rates of compounding awareness made a significant direct contribution to reading comprehension at the end of second grade after controlling for IQ, phonological awareness, and vocabulary knowledge. The relationship between initial status and growth rates of compounding awareness and reading comprehension were fully mediated by word-reading efficiency. The findings underscore the importance of growth in compounding awareness for reading comprehension and add to the literature about the nature of the morphological awareness and reading comprehension relationship in Chinese.

Cross-language transfer of awareness of the structure of compound words was investigated among native speakers of Chinese who were learning English as a second language. Chinese fifth graders received instruction in the morphology of four types of compound words in either Chinese or English. They then completed both the Chinese and English versions of a compound word structure analogy task. Compared with children who received no instruction, children who received instruction in Chinese were able to transfer knowledge they had acquired of compound types in Chinese to comparable types in English. Reverse transfer from English to Chinese was found among children with high reading proficiency.

Previous research has shown that the presence of English word spellings facilitates children's oral vocabulary learning. Whether a similar orthographic facilitation effect may exist in Chinese is interesting but not intuitively obvious due to the character writing system representing morphosyllabic but not phoneme-size information, and the more direct semantic-orthography mapping but less consistent orthography and pronunciation correspondence in Chinese. The current study aims to examine whether semantic and phonological information provided by character radicals affects oral vocabulary learning of Chinese children. Twenty-four second graders studied made-up associations between 12 spoken labels and pictures accompanied either by accurate phonological information characters, misleading phonological information characters, or no orthography. Half of phonologically accurate or misleading characters were semantically accurate or misleading. Pictures prompted recall of spoken labels without orthography present on tests. Results showed that exposure to characters which accurately represent sounds and meanings during learning did not enhance recall of the spoken labels compared to no orthography in early trials. But exposure to characters, which misrepresent sounds and meanings, significantly impeded vocabulary learning compared to no orthography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three wood-inhabiting fungal species, Xylodon laceratus, X. montanus, and X. tropicus spp. nov., were collected from southern China, here proposed as new taxa based on a combination of morphological features and molecular evidence. Xylodon laceratus is characterized by the resupinate basidiomata with grandinioid hymenophore having cracked hymenial surface, and ellipsoid basidiospores; X. montanus is characterized by the annual basidiomata having the hard, brittle hymenophore with cream hymenial surface, and ellipsoid to broadly ellipsoid basidiospores (3.9–5.3 × 3.2–4.3 µm); and X. tropicus is characterized by its grandinioid hymenophore with buff to a pale brown hymenial surface and subglobose basidiospores measuring 2–4.8 × 1.6–4 µm. Sequences of ITS and nLSU rRNA markers of the studied samples were generated, and phylogenetic analyses were performed with maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony, and Bayesian inference methods. The ITS+nLSU analysis of the order Hymenochaetales indicated that the three new species clustered into the family Schizoporaceae, located in genus Xylodon; based on further analysis of ITS dataset, X. laceratus was a sister to X. heterocystidiatus; X. montanus closely grouped with X. subclavatus and X. xinpingensis with high support; while X.tropicus was retrieved as a sister to X. hastifer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While financial toxicity (FT) is prevalent in patients with cancer, young and middle-aged patients with stroke are also affected by FT, which can exacerbate their physical and psychological challenges. Understanding the patient's experience and response measures can further understand the impact of FT on patients with stroke, to help alleviate FT. However, little is known concerning the experience of patients with stroke with FT or their coping strategies. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the experiences of FT in young and middle-aged patients with stroke and their coping strategies., Methods: A phenomenological method was utilized. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 young and middle-aged stroke patients (aged 18-59) between October 2022 and March 2023. The participants were recruited from a tertiary hospital in Shanghai, China. The research team used NVivo 12.0 software. Giorgi's phenomenological analysis method was used to analyse the interview data., Results: The interview results were divided into two categories in terms of patients' experiences of FT and their coping strategies. Nine subthemes were constructed. The experience category included four subthemes: (1) taking on multifaceted economic pressure, (2) dual choice of treatment, (3) decline in material living standards, and (4) suffering from negative emotions such as anxiety and depression. The coping strategy category included five subthemes: (1) reducing expenses, (2) improving living habits, (3) proactive participation in medical decision-making, (4) making a job position choice, and (5) seeking social support., Conclusions: FT in young and middle-aged patients with stroke, which affected their physical and mental health, led them to implement strategies for dealing with FT. The Chinese government needs to broaden the reach of health insurance coverage and advance the fairness of healthcare policies. Healthcare professionals must pay active attention to FT in such patients in terms of strengthening their health education and considering their needs and preferences. Patients need to improve their sense of self-efficacy, actively reintegrate into society, and adhere to rehabilitation and treatment. Individuals at a high risk of stroke are recommended to purchase health insurance. Multifaceted efforts are needed to reduce the impact of FT in young and middle-aged patients with stroke., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Identifying a metastasis-correlated immune cell composition within the tumor microenvironment (TME) of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) will help to develop promising and innovative therapeutic strategies. However, the dynamics of immune cell lineages in the TME of advanced PDAC remains elusive., Methods: Twenty-six samples from 11 patients (including 11 primary tumor tissues, 10 blood, and 5 lymph nodes) with different stages were used to develop a multiscale immune profile. High-dimensional single-cell analysis with mass cytometry was performed to search for metastasis-correlated immune changes in the microenvironment. The findings were further validated by published single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data and multiplex fluorescent immunohistochemistry., Findings: High-dimensional single-cell profiling revealed that the three immune-relevant sites formed a distinct immune atlas. Interestingly, the PDAC microenvironment with the potential for metastatic spread to the liver was characterized by a decreased proportion of CD103 + PD-1 + CD39 + T cells with cytotoxic and exhausted functional status and an increased proportion of CD73 + macrophages. Analysis of scRNA-seq data of PDAC further confirmed the identified subsets and revealed strong potential interactions via various ligand-receptor pairs between the identified T subsets and the macrophages. Moreover, stratified patients with different immune compositions correlated with clinical outcomes of PDAC., Conclusions: Our study uncovered metastasis-correlated immune changes, suggesting that ecosystem-based patient classification in PDAC will facilitate the identification of candidates likely to benefit from immunotherapy., Funding: This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the Shanghai International Science and Technology Collaboration Program, the Shanghai Sailing Program, and the Key Laboratory of diagnosis and treatment of severe hepato-pancreatic diseases of Zhejiang Province., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

An easy scoring system to predict the risk of poor outcome after mechanical thrombectomy among the elderly is currently not available. Therefore, we aimed to develop a nomogram for predicting the probability of negative prognosis in aged patients with acute ischemic stroke undergoing thrombectomy. In addition, we sought to investigate the association between histological thrombus composition and stroke characteristics. To this end, we prospectively studied a developed cohort using data collected from a stroke center from November 2015 to December 2019. The main outcome was functional independence, defined as a modified Rankin Scale score ≤ 2 at 90 days following a mechanical thrombectomy. A nomogram model based on multivariate logistic models was generated. The retrieved thrombi were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and assessed according to histological composition. Our results demonstrated that age ≥ 72 years was independently associated with poor outcome. A total of 304 participants completed the follow-up data to generate the nomogram model. After multivariate logistic regression, five variables remained independent predictors of outcome, including older age, hemorrhagic transformation, thrombolysis in cerebral infarction score, National Institute of Health Stroke score, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and were used to generate the nomogram. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of the model was 0.803. The clots from elderly subjects with large-artery atherosclerosis, anterior circulation, and successful recanalization groups had a higher percentage of fibrin compared to those of younger patients. This is the first nomogram to be developed and validated in a stroke center cohort for individualized prediction of poor outcome in elderly patients after mechanical thrombectomy. Clot composition provides valuable information on the underlying pathogenesis of oxidation in older patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Longyan Meng et al.)

This study aims to explore the associations between FVII gene polymorphisms (R353Q, 5'F7, and -402G/A) and lower extremity deep venous thrombosis (LEDVT) in a Chinese Han population. LEDVT patients (153) and healthy people (174) were, respectively, as case and control groups and evaluated related biochemical indicators. Gene polymorphisms of R353Q, 5'F7, and -402G/A of FVII, serum FVII level, antithrombin activity, plasma fibrinogen content, and plasma D-dimer (D-D) level were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), ELISA, chromogenic substrate assay, coagulating assay, and Immunoturbidimetry assay, respectively. Compared with the control group, the case group had a higher level of body mass index (BMI), glucose, and fibrinogen, and lower level of total cholesterol (TC). Notable differences were found in GG genotype, G and A alleles, as well as distribution of recessive model of -402G/A. The serum FVII level of GG genotype was higher than that of GA and AA genotypes. FIB and D-D had a higher level had a lower level in GG genotype when compared with GA and AA genotypes. Smoking, drinking, serum FVII level, and -402G/A-GG were the independent risk factors for LEDVT. This study demonstrates that -402G/A of FVII may be a risk factor for LEDVT patients in a Chinese Han population., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Xenotransplantation has drawn increased attention in recent years as a potential solution to the scarcity of human source donor organs. Researchers have highlighted the need to characterize the influence of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) in xenotransplantation. Screening and analyzing the presence and subtype of PERV in donor source animal breeds could provide basic parameters to evaluate the biological safety of xenotransplantation from pigs to humans. We bred a new miniature porcine herd (XENO-1) after decades of investigation, the herd was purpose bred to produce a potential donor animal source for xenotransplantation. To this end we studied the animals' PERV expression characteristics., Methods: We randomly selected 37 animals of the herd, PCR and RT-PCR based on specific primers were utilized to determine their PERV viral subtype. High fidelity PCR and restriction enzyme digestion were employed for variants detection. To thoroughly understand the PERV expression pattern, quantitative PCR was applied to measure mRNA expression levels in different tissues, At last, transfection capacity was assessed using a in vitro co-culture system., Results: Our results revealed that the XENO-1 herd was free of PERV-C and exhibited low levels of PERVs in different tissues compared to commercial pig (landrace). The XENO-1 herd showed unique variants of A/B recombination. In addition, even though there were A/B variants in the XENO-1 herd, co-culturing revealed no evidence of PERV transmission from XENO-1 tissue to human cells., Conclusion: Overall, Our results displayed an unique PERV expression pattern in a new pig herd and demonstrated its non-transfection capacity in vitro. Data in the research indicate that XENO-1 animals can serve as a better potential donor source for xenotransplantation.