Learning and Processing Abstract Words and Concepts: Insights From Typical and Atypical Development

The paper describes two plausible hypotheses concerning the learning of abstract words and concepts. According to a first hypothesis, children would learn abstract words by extracting co-occurrences among words in linguistic input, using, for example, mechanisms as described by models of Distributional Semantics. According to a second hypothesis, children would exploit the fact that abstract words tend to have more emotional associations than concrete words to infer that they refer to internal/mental states. Each hypothesis makes specific predictions with regards to when and which abstract words are more likely to be learned; also they make different predictions concerning the impact of developmental disorders. We start by providing a review of work characterizing how abstract words and concepts are learned in development, especially between the ages of 6 and 12. Second, we review some work from our group that tests the two hypotheses above. This work investigates typically developing (TD) children and children with atypical development (developmental language disorders [DLD] and autism spectrum disorder [ASD] with and without language deficits). We conclude that the use of strategies based on emotional information, or on co-occurrences in language, may play a role at different developmental stages.     

建国初期中医理论核心概念研究的得失

建国初期的中医理论研究涉及核心概念的各个方面,奠定了转型期中医理论的基础。考察表明,此间证候、证、病机、辨证和辨证论治这些基本概念本身和相互间均存在一定的逻辑矛盾。揭示这些问题,有助于时下相关问题的解决。     

The concepts in poorly differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid: a review article

Poorly differentiated carcinomas of the thyroid have evolved over the past half century into a specific entity in the classification of thyroid carcinomas. The need for a consensus diagnostic criteria has been stressed in view of the wide discrepancies and confusion among pathologists and clinicians. This review attempts to understand the concept, the evolution, clarity and validity of the concepts in poorly differentiated carcinomas of the thyroid.     

The neural representation of abstract words may arise through grounding word meaning in language itself

In order to describe how humans represent meaning in the brain, one must be able to account for not just concrete words but, critically, also abstract words, which lack a physical referent. Hebbian formalism and optimization are basic principles of brain function, and they provide an appealing approach for modeling word meanings based on word co‐occurrences. We provide proof of concept that a statistical model of the semantic space can account for neural representations of both concrete and abstract words, using MEG. Here, we built a statistical model using word embeddings extracted from a text corpus. This statistical model was used to train a machine learning algorithm to successfully decode the MEG signals evoked by written words. In the model, word abstractness emerged from the statistical regularities of the language environment. Representational similarity analysis further showed that this salient property of the model co‐varies, at 280–420 ms after visual word presentation, with activity in regions that have been previously linked with processing of abstract words, namely the left‐hemisphere frontal, anterior temporal and superior parietal cortex. In light of these results, we propose that the neural encoding of word meanings can arise through statistical regularities, that is, through grounding in language itself.     

Analyses and Declarations of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Canned Seafood May Help to Quantify Their Dietary Intake

The American Heart Association (AHA) recently confirmed common recommendations of one to two fish dishes per week in order to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD). Nevertheless, the natural fluctuations of lipids and fatty acids (FA) in processed seafood caught little public attention. Moreover, consumers of unprocessed seafood in general do not know how much omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3 FA) within servings they actually ingest. The few studies published until today considering this aspect have been re-evaluated in today’s context. They included four observational studies with canned fatty coldwater fish (mackerel and herring from the same region, season, producer and research group). Their outcomes were similar to those conducted in the following years using supplements. Cans containing seafood (especially fatty coldwater fish) with declared content of omega-3 FA are ready-to-use products. Human studies have shown a higher bioavailability of omega-3 FA by joint uptake of fat. Canned fatty coldwater fish contain omega-3 FA plus plenty of fat in one and the same foodstuff. That suggests a new dietary paradigm with mixed concepts including several sources with declared content of omega-3 FA for reducing the cardiovascular risk and other acknowledged indications.     

医学生性相关问题的知识、态度、行为的调查分析

我国大学生一般处于18～23岁这个年龄阶段,性生理与性心理逐渐趋向成熟,其性兴趣,性兴奋,性需求的程度随年龄而逐渐增加。学习掌握性相关知识是大学生身心发育的需要。大学生应具有与其年龄和文化程度相应的性知识水平。但是许多调查表明多数大学生仅在中学里接受过有关性生理卫生方面的知识,而在大学里,无论是医学院校还是非医学院校都很少     

Psyche, personality and gut functions

Psychological factors are widely held to be important for the orderly function of the gastrointestinal tract as well as for the development and course of disorders affecting the gut. Evidence supporting these assumptions is scarce, although it has become clear that intestinal functions are influenced by the state of central nervous activation, i.e. by satiation, relaxation and sleep as well as hunger, tension and rage. Freud assumed that the accumulation of an unabreacted quota of affect induced defence or repression and a conversion of emotion into bodily symptoms. Subsequently, disorders such as globus sensation, diffuse oesophageal spasm and ‘cardiospasm’ were viewed as conversion symptoms. Other concepts claimed an aetiological role of specific conflicts, certain affective states and ‘inappropriate perpetuations of organ reactions adaptive to, or protective against, some stress in human life’. However, these and other psychosomatic concepts could not be verified. Conversely, an illness exacerbation may precipitate a disruption in a patient's adjustment to his/her environment and interfere with his/her ability to fight the disease. Psychotherapeutic interventions may help patients to cope with their illness and its consequences and possibly alter the course of disease. Psychosocial factors may determine a patient's reactions to, and handling of, a disease and thus should not escape the physician's attention.     

Thinking about the idea of consent in data science genomics: How ‘informed’ is it?

In this paper we argue that ‘informed’ consent in Big Data genomic biobanking is frequently less than optimally informative. This is due to the particular features of genomic biobanking research which render it ethically problematic. We discuss these features together with details of consent models aimed to address them. Using insights from consent theory, we provide a detailed analysis of the essential components of informed consent which includes recommendations to improve consent performance. In addition, and using insights from philosophy of mind and language and psycholinguistics we support our analyses by identifying the nature and function of concepts (ideas) operational in human cognition and language together with an implicit coding/decoding model of human communication. We identify this model as the source of patients/participants poor understanding. We suggest an alternative, explicit model of human communication, namely, that of relevance-theoretic inference which obviates the limitations of the code model. We suggest practical strategies to assist health service professionals to ensure that the specific information they provide concerning the proposed treatment or research is used to inform participants’ decision to consent. We do not prescribe a standard, formal approach to decision-making where boxes are ticked; rather, we aim to focus attention towards the sorts of considerations and questions that might usefully be borne in mind in any consent situation. We hope that our theorising will be of real practical benefit to nurses and midwives working on the clinical and research front-line of genomic science.     

Are We Closer to International Consensus on the Term ‘Food Literacy’? A Systematic Scoping Review of Its Use in the Academic Literature (1998–2019)

(1) Background: The term ‘food literacy’ has gained momentum globally; however, a lack of clarity around its definition has resulted in inconsistencies in use of the term. Therefore, the objective was to conduct a systematic scoping review to describe the use, reach, application and definitions of the term ‘food literacy’ over time. (2) Methods: A search was conducted using the PRISMA-ScR guidelines in seven research databases without any date limitations up to 31 December 2019, searching simply for use of the term ‘food literacy’. (3) Results: Five hundred and forty-nine studies were included. The term ‘food literacy’ was used once in 243 articles (44%) and mentioned by researchers working in 41 countries. Original research was the most common article type (n = 429, 78%). Food literacy was published across 72 In Cites disciplines, with 456 (83%) articles from the last 5 years. In articles about food literacy (n = 82, 15%), review articles were twice as prevalent compared to the total number of articles (n = 10, 12% vs. n = 32, 6%). Fifty-one different definitions of food literacy were cited. (4) Conclusions: ‘Food literacy’ has been used frequently and broadly across differing article types and disciplines in academic literature internationally. However, agreement on a standardised definition of food literacy endorsed by a peak international agency is needed in order to progress the field.