Search

Much previous research has investigated the effect of domain-general memory processes on production and comprehension in conversation. In this paper, we present a paradigm in which common ground targets are kept consistent between a participant and two different speakers, and demonstrate a speaker effect that draws participants’ attention away from the common ground target in Experiment 1. Further, we hypothesise that one important factor that promotes speaker identity as a cue for memory processes is that speakers are in conversational partners’ shared attention at the memory coding phase. In Experiments 2 and 3, we demonstrate a non-speaker cue can give rise to a memory-based interference effect when the relevant contextual information is in shared attention but not when it is not. Our results provide an important insight into the interplay of domain-general memory mechanisms and domain specific biases for shared attention.

Currently, there are no approved specific antiviral agents for novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, 10 severe patients confirmed by real-time viral RNA test were enrolled prospectively. One dose of 200 mL of convalescent plasma (CP) derived from recently recovered donors with the neutralizing antibody titers above 1:640 was transfused to the patients as an addition to maximal supportive care and antiviral agents. The primary endpoint was the safety of CP transfusion. The second endpoints were the improvement of clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters within 3 d after CP transfusion. The median time from onset of illness to CP transfusion was 16.5 d. After CP transfusion, the level of neutralizing antibody increased rapidly up to 1:640 in five cases, while that of the other four cases maintained at a high level (1:640). The clinical symptoms were significantly improved along with increase of oxyhemoglobin saturation within 3 d. Several parameters tended to improve as compared to pretransfusion, including increased lymphocyte counts (0.65 × 10 9 /L vs. 0.76 × 10 9 /L) and decreased C-reactive protein (55.98 mg/L vs. 18.13 mg/L). Radiological examinations showed varying degrees of absorption of lung lesions within 7 d. The viral load was undetectable after transfusion in seven patients who had previous viremia. No severe adverse effects were observed. This study showed CP therapy was well tolerated and could potentially improve the clinical outcomes through neutralizing viremia in severe COVID-19 cases. The optimal dose and time point, as well as the clinical benefit of CP therapy, needs further investigation in larger well-controlled trials.

In this paper we consider the order of emergence of comprehension of wh-questions and polar-questions. We argue that considerations of complexity and input favour the earlier emergence of polar questions; on the other hand, if one assumes that question understanding emerges as a consequence of interactive learning this favours (certain) wh-questions, as well as a small subclass of polar questions. We offer corpus evidence from the Providence corpus that (a certain class of) wh-questions are in fact understood earlier than the polar-questions. We test this observation using elicitation studies on German and Chinese speaking children. Our results confirm the finding from the corpus study and are in line with an interactive learning perspective for the emergence of understanding of questions.

Currently, there are no approved specific antiviral agents for 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In this study, ten severe patients confirmed by real-time viral RNA test were enrolled prospectively. One dose of 200 mL convalescent plasma (CP) derived from recently recovered donors with the neutralizing antibody titers above 1:640 was transfused to the patients as an addition to maximal supportive care and antiviral agents. The primary endpoint was the safety of CP transfusion. The second endpoints were the improvement of clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters within 3 days after CP transfusion. The median time from onset of illness to CP transfusion was 16.5 days. After CP transfusion, the level of neutralizing antibody increased rapidly up to 1:640 in five cases, while that of the other four cases maintained at a high level (1:640). The clinical symptoms were significantly improved along with increase of oxyhemoglobin saturation within 3 days. Several parameters tended to improve as compared to pre-transfusion, including increased lymphocyte counts (0.65×109/L vs. 0.76×109/L) and decreased C-reactive protein (55.98 mg/L vs. 18.13 mg/L). Radiological examinations showed varying degrees of absorption of lung lesionswithin 7 days. The viral load was undetectable after transfusion in seven patients who had previous viremia. No severe adverse effects were observed. This study showed CP therapy was welltolerated and could potentially improve the clinical outcomes through neutralizing viremia in severe COVID-19 cases. The optimal dose and time point, as well as the clinical benefit of CP therapy, needs further investigation in larger well-controlled trials.Significance StatementCOVID-19 is currently a big threat to global health. However, no specific antiviral agents are available for its treatment. In this work, we explored the feasibility of convalescent plasma (CP) transfusion to rescue severe patients. The results from 10 severe adult cases showed that one dose (200 mL) of CP was welltolerated and could significantly increase or maintain the neutralizing antibodies at a high level, leading to disappearance of viremia in 7 days. Meanwhile, clinical symptoms and paraclinical criteria rapidly improved within 3 days. Radiological examination showed varying degrees of absorption of lung lesions within 7 days. These results indicate that CP can serve as a promising rescue option for severe COVID-19 while the randomized trial is warranted.

Word learning theories propose a dynamic development mechanism in which infants recruit statistical and perceptual cues at an earlier stage and social cues at a later stage, but it still remains unclear what promotes transition between the two stages. Recent studies have shown that the ostensive cue promotes infants’ social learning, de-emphasizing, and even denying, the contribution of their development of teleological cognition. The present study was operationalized to explore the influence of the bare teleological inference by teaching infants words in a monadic observational context where they were the only participants, and where no ostensive cues were provided by other agents. We utilized Woodward's (1998) experimental scheme and presented 12- and 17-month-old infants with a hand or a rod repeatedly approaching and grasping or touching a pair of objects, paired with two novel word labels respectively. In the test phase, where the position of objects was changed, two word–object associations were either switched or not. No detection of the changes was found for the non-intentional rod in both age groups. In contrast, with the intentional hand agent, the older group showed detection of the referential relation between word labels and objects, but the younger group simply showed sensitivity to the position. These findings provide an important insight into issues such as how infants used their teleological inference in word learning, and how multiple cues are integrated during the transition of infant word learning from statistic and perceptual learning to social and interactive learning.

The present studies examined the role of linguistic experience in directing English and Mandarin learners' attention to aspects of a visual scene. Specifically, they asked whether young language learners in these 2 cultures attend to differential aspects of a word-learning situation. Two groups of English and Mandarin learners, 6-8-month-olds (n = 65) and 17-19-month-olds (n = 91), participated in 2 studies, based on a habituation paradigm, designed to test infants' discrimination between actions and objects in dynamic events. In Study 1, these stimuli were presented in silence, whereas in Study 2, a verbal label accompanied videos. Results showed that 6-8-month-olds could discriminate action changes but not object changes, whereas 17-19-month-olds could discriminate both types of changes. However, there were only very subtle cross-linguistic differences in these patterns when the scenes were presented together with a verbal label. These findings show strong evidence for universal developmental trends in attention, with somewhat weaker evidence that the differences in the types of words Mandarin- versus English-learning children produce or are exposed to affect attention to different aspects of a scene in the first 2 years of life.

This work reports the synthesis, radiolabeling and preliminary biodistribution results in tumor-bearing mice of Tc-99m(CO)(3)-labeled pegylated (PEG) 2-nitroimidazoles for tumor hypoxia imaging. The novel 2-nitroimidazole derivatives were successfully synthesized by conjugation of tridendate chelators to 2-nitroimidazole via PEG(3) linker. Radiolabeling was performed in high yield with [Tc-99m(CO)(3)](+) core to get cationic [Tc-99m(CO)(3)(BPA-PEG(3)-NIM)](+), neutral [Tc-99m(CO)(3)(AOPA-PEG(3)-NIM)] and anionic [Tc-99m(CO)(3)(IDA-PEG(3)-NIM)](-) respectively, all of which were hydrophilic and stable at room temperature. Biodistribution studies in tumor-bearing mice showed that Tc-99m(CO)(3)-labeled pegylated 2-nitroimidazoles accumulated in the tumor with low uptake. Tc-99m-chelate and charge had significant impact on partition coefficient, radiotracer tumor uptake and pharmacokinetic properties. The results indicate the need for synthetic modification of the parent 2-nitroimidazole derivatives and the Tc-99m-chelate with a view to improve the tumor targeting efficacy and in vivo kinetic profiles.

Sorption of U(VI) from aqueous solution to decarbonated calcareous soil (DCS) was studied under ambient conditions using batch technique. Soil samples were characterized by XRD, FT-IR and SEM in detail and the effects of pH, solid-to-liquid ratio (m/V), temperature, contact time, fulvic acid (FA), CO2 and carbonates on U(VI) sorption to calcareous soil were also studied in detail using batch technique. The results from experimental techniques showed that sorption of U(VI) on DCS was significantly influenced by pH values of the aqueous phase, indicating a formation of inner-sphere complexes at solid–liquid interface, and increased with increasing temperature, suggesting the sorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. Compared to Freundlich model, sorption of U(VI) to DCS was simulated better with Langmuir model. The sorption equilibrium could be quickly achieved within 5 h, and sorption results fitted pseudo-second-order model well. The presence of FA in sorption system enhanced U(VI) sorption at low pH and reduced U(VI) sorption at high pH values. In absence of FA, the sorption of U(VI) onto DCS was an irreversible process, while the presence of FA reinforced the U(VI) desorption process reversible. The presence of CO2 decreased U(VI) sorption largely at pH >8, which might due to a weakly adsorbable formation of Ca2UO2(CO3)3 complex in aqueous phase.

The sorption of Eu(III) on calcareous soil as a function of pH, humic acid (HA), temperature and foreign ions was investigated under ambient conditions. Eu(III) sorption on soil was strongly pH dependent in the observed pH range. The effect of ionic strength was significant at pH 8. The type of salt cation used had no visible influence on Eu(III) uptake on soil, however at low pH values, the influence of anions was following the order: Cl− ≈ NO3 − > ClO4 −. In the presence of HA, the sorption edge obviously shifted about two pH units to the lower pH, whilst in range of pH 6–7, the sorption of Eu(III) decreased with increasing pH because a considerable amount of Eu(III) was present as humate complexes in aqueous phase, then increased again at pH > 11. The results indicated that the sorption of Eu(III) on soil mainly formed outer-sphere complexes and/or ion exchange below pH ~7; whereas inner-sphere complexes and precipitation of Eu(OH)3(s) may play main role above pH ~8.

This work reports the synthesis and preliminary biodistribution results of [131I]SIB-PEG4-CHC in tumor-bearing mice. The tributylstannyl precursor ATE-PEG4-CHC was synthesized by conjugation of ATE to amino pegylated colchicine NH2-PEG4-CHC. [131I]SIB-PEG4-CHC was radiosynthesized by electrophilic destannylation of the precursor with a yield of ~44%. The radiochemical purity (RCP) appeared to be >95% by a Sep-Pak cartridge purification. [131I]SIB-PEG4-CHC was lipophilic and was stable at room temperature. Biodistribution studies in tumor-bearing mice showed that [131I]SIB-PEG4-CHC cleared from background rapidly, and didn’t deiodinate in vivo. However, the poor tumor localization excluded it from further investigations as a tumor-targeted radiopharmaceuticals.

Children’s difficulty understanding passives in English has been attributed to the syntactic complexity, overall frequency, cue reliability, and/or incremental processing of this construction. To understand the role of these factors, we used the visual-world paradigm to examine comprehension in Mandarin Chinese where passives are infrequent but signaled by a highly valid marker (BEI). Eye-movements during sentences indicated that these markers triggered incremental role assignments in adults and 5-year-olds. Actions after sentences indicated that passives were often misinterpreted as actives when markers appeared after the referential noun (“Seal BEI it eat” → The seal is eaten by it). However, they were more likely to be interpreted correctly when markers appeared before (“It BEI seal eat” → It is eaten by the seal). The actions and the eye-movements suggest that for both adults and children, interpretations of passive are easier when they do not require revision of an earlier role assignment.

English learners typically have vocabularies that are dominated by nouns, whereas naturalistic observations, parental checklists and word mapping experiments reveal that verbs, primarily action words, are acquired early and in large quantities by learners of Mandarin Chinese. However, little research has examined whether English and Mandarin learners' early comprehension and production of nouns and verbs could be attributed to attentional patterns. In this study, we use a habituation paradigm to explore English- and Mandarin-learning infants' abilities to discriminate between Persons, Actions, and Objects presented without accompanying linguistic cues. The results revealed that English- and Mandarin-exposed 6–8 and 17–19 month-old infants showed similar patterns of attention. The younger infants showed significant increases to Person and Action changes only, whereas the older infants showed increased looking times to Person, Action, and Object changes, suggesting that the differential ease of acquiring verbs across languages might be attributed to cultural processes specific to word learning, rather than differences in early attentional preferences across cultures.

This work reports the synthesis, radiolabeling, and preliminary biodistribution results in tumor-bearing mice of 99mTc(CO)3(IDA-CPT). The novel camptothecin (CPT) derivate was successfully synthesized by conjugation of iminodiacetic acid (IDA) to camptothecin via a short carbonyl-methylene linker. Radiolabeling was performed in high yield with [99mTc(CO)3]+ core to get 99mTc(CO)3(IDA-CPT), which was hydrophilic and stable at room temperature. Biodistribution studies in tumor-bearing mice showed that 99mTc(CO)3(IDA-CPT) accumulated in the tumor with good uptake and retention. However, its clearance from normal organs was slow, resulting in poor T/NT ratios. Further modification on the linker or/and 99mTc-chelate to improve the tumor-targeting efficacy and in vivo kinetic profiles is currently in progress. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Background: Dried Whitmania pigra is used for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in traditional Chinese medicine and hot water and alcohol extracts also have anticogulant activity. However, a lower molecular weight and more stable anticogulant is needed. Objective: The objective of the following study is to purify and characterize of an anticoagulant oligopeptide from Hirudo (Whitmania pigra Whitman). Materials and Methods: Gel filtration on Sephadex G-50, ion exchange on diethylaminoethyl-cellulose, and semi-prepared high-performance liquid chromatography were used to purify Hirudo. Automated coagulation analyzer was used for evaluating anticoagulant activity. Molecular weight was measured by Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry. Amino acid sequence of the oligopeptide was measured by amino acid sequence analyzer. Results: A new anticoagulant, named whitide, isolated from Hirudo was purified, with a molecular weight 1997.1 Da. Amino acid sequence of the oligopeptide was identified as Gly-Pro-ALa-Gly-Hyp-Val-Gly-Ala-Hyp-Gly-Gly-Hyp-Gly-Val-Arg-Gly-Leu-Hyp-Gly-Asp-Arg-Gly. The results revealed that its amino acid sequence had strong homology to various types of collagen. Conclusion: Whitide might be an orally anticoagulant for its hot and trypsin stable.