Children's categorisation of play and learning based on social context

While much time has been spent deliberating about the definition of play, little emphasis has been placed on what children themselves perceive as play. The aim of the present study was to examine social context as a cue for children's perceptions of play and learning. Ninety-two children aged between four and six years (mean four years nine months) participated in the study and completed the Activity Apperception Story Procedure. Children were asked to sort photographic stimuli into those they believed depicted play/not play and learning/not learning. Each of the stimuli were identified by independent raters as containing one of the following social cues; teacher absence (solitary activity, parallel activity or cooperative activity) or teacher presence (teacher involved activity or teacher directed activity). Findings revealed that children associated teacher absence with play. More specifically, children made links between play and the presence of peers (parallel and cooperative activity). Findings are discussed in relation to play in the early years curriculum, differences in children's early educational experiences and the importance of understanding children's perceptions of play.     

Kindergarten children's representation and understanding of written number symbols

Two samples of kindergarten children's representation and understanding of written number symbols were examined in two time points in one academic year. About 85% of Chinese five year olds (mean = 5 years 10 months) were able to use conventional number symbols to represent the quantity of 30 or larger. At the end of the kindergarten year, 94% of Chinese six year olds (mean = 6 years 4 months) were able to use conventional number symbols to represent the quantity of 100 or larger. Some Chinese six year olds had problems in representing written addition and subtraction tasks. Children's ability to represent written number symbols, ability to represent written addition and subtraction formula and their performance on written addition and subtraction were closely related. The performance of children in a university-affiliated childcare center was better than that of the center serving working-class families in Time 1, but the performance reversed at the end of the kindergarten year.     

Counterfactual (‘if only’) thinking in women with chronic widespread pain

The study explored the counterfactual thinking that women with chronic and widespread pain showed in response to what they themselves considered to be particularly stressful situations. Counterfactual thinking in 125 women sick‐listed due to chronic and widespread pain was investigated in terms of structure, function and control focus. The women were asked, for each of three types of problems that they indicated in a questionnaire to affect them most strongly, to describe a typical occurrence of it and to complete a counterfactual sentence in connection with it of the type ‘If only . . .’. The majority of counterfactuals pertained to predominantly somatic problems (e.g. musculo‐skeletal problems, pain and fatigue) classified as being affective rather than preparative and self‐focused rather than external, whereas in counterfactuals relating to predominantly psychological/psychosocial problems a preparative function and an external focus were more prominent. The numbers of problems listed and the numbers of situations responded to counterfactually were positively correlated. The counterfactuals, although often related to somatic problems, generally concerned psychological or psychosocial matters such as finances and paid or unpaid work. A contextual approach to elucidating counterfactual thinking based on subjects' own experiences is seen as providing valuable insight into what bothers them most. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The aging brain, a key target for the future: The protein kinase C involvement

The brain represents the primary centre for the regulation and control of all our body activities, receiving and interpreting sensory impulses and transmitting information to the periphery. Most importantly, it is also the seat of consciousness, thought, emotion and especially memory, being in fact able to encode, store and recall any information. Memory is really what makes possible so many of our complex cognitive functions, including communication and learning, and surely without memory, life would lose all of its glamour and purpose. Age-associated mental impairment can range in severity from forgetfulness at the border with pathology to dementia, such as in Alzheimer's disease. In recent years, one of the most relevant observations of research on brain aging relates to data indicating that age-related cognitive decline is not only due to neuronal loss, as previously thought; instead, scientists now believe that age-associated functional changes have more to do with the dysfunctions occurring over time. Within this context a prominent role is certainly played by signal transduction cascades which guarantee neuronal cell to elaborate coordinated responses to the multiple signals coming from the outside and to adapt itself to the environmental changes and requests. This review will focus the attention on protein kinase C pathway, with a particular interest on its activation process, and on the role of protein-lipid and protein-protein interactions to selectively localize the cellular responses. Furthermore, information is emerging and will be discussed on the possibility of mRNA stabilization through PKC activation. This review will also approach the issue on how alterations of these molecular cascades may have implications in physiological and pathological brain aging, such as Alzheimer's disease.     

一种较好的RNA分离制备方法及其在人胚RNA提取中的应用

以钒基核苷酸复合物为核酸酶抑制剂,从人胚组织中制备总RNA,所得产品几乎不含DNA和蛋白质,经过分离Poly(A)~ mRNA,证明制品有合成cDNA的完整功能,方法比较简捷,适于大量制备以满足分离mRNA 之需,并讨论了此法的优缺点。     

腹腔镜肝右后叶囊肿开窗引流术35例报告

目的：探讨肝右后叶肝囊肿的腹腔镜处理方法。方法：1998年1月～2005年12月对35例有症状的肝右后叶囊肿（21例主要位于Ⅵ段，14例主要位于第Ⅶ段）采用四孔法行囊肿开窗引流术。囊肿位于肝右后叶上段者采用肝上入路，胆囊牵引钳或三叶钳推压肝脏使其向前向下，暴露肝后囊肿，囊肿开窗，修剪带蒂大网膜放入囊肿。囊肿位于肝右后叶下段者采用肝下入路，超声刀切开肝结肠韧带，右三角韧带及肝肾间疏松组织，胆囊牵引钳抬起肝脏，囊肿开窗，大网膜放入囊腔引流。结果：35例肝右后叶肝囊肿均在腹腔镜下完成肝囊肿开窗引流术，无中转开腹手术。15例采用肝上入路，20例采用肝下入路。手术时间30～95min，平均46min。无手术并发症。35例病理检查结果均为先天性肝囊肿。术后症状均消失。术后住院2～5d，平均3．8d。35例随访6～36个月，平均34个月，33例无复发，2例（为肝上入路病例）囊肿未完全消失，但较术前明显缩小，无明显症状，观察半年未见增大。结论：肝下及肝上入路囊肿开窗引流是腹腔镜下处理肝右叶肝囊肿的有效方法。     

平衡法门控心血池显像评价不同分级前壁心肌梗死患者左室收缩及舒张功能

目的我们应用平衡法门控心血池显像技术对不同Killip分级的前壁心肌梗死患者进行左室总体和局部收缩和舒张功能参数的对比分析。方法对照组15例（G0）,前壁心肌梗死KillipⅠ级17例（G1）,前壁心肌梗死KillipⅡⅢ级12例（G2）。利用平衡法门控心血池显像技术评价3组的左室总体和局部的收缩与舒张功能。结果①左室整体收缩功能,在LVEF,ESC 2个参数中,G1比G0有显著差异（P<0.05）,G2分别比G1和G0有显著差异（P<0.05）。在PER、1/3EF、1/3ER 3个参数中,G2分别比G1和G0显著下降（P<0.05）。②左室总体舒张功能,在PFR、1/3FF、1/3FR、EDC中,G1比G0有显著差异（P<0.05）,G2分别比G1和G0有显著差异（P<0.05）。③左室局部收缩功能,在以LVREF为参数时,G1在4个节段比G0显著差异（P<0.05）,G2在所有6个节段中比G1和G0均显著下降（P<0.05）。④左室局部舒张功能,在以LVR1/3FF为参数时,G1在4个节段比G0显著下降（P<0.05）,G2在所有6个节段比G0和G1均显著下降（P<0.05）。结论前壁心肌梗死后出现心功能受损或心力衰竭的主要原因为左室重构。     

Noninvasive Intracranial Cerebral Flow Velocity Evaluation in the Emergency Department by Emergency Physicians

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) is an accepted modality for the evaluation of cerebral blood flow velocities. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of bedside TCD measurement in the emergency department (ED) with critically ill, intubated patients. METHODS: A prospective convenience sample of patients presenting to a university hospital over a two-month period underwent TCD evaluation of the middle cerebral artery. Intubated patients with head trauma and any patient requiring tracheal intubation were eligible. A 2-MHz Doppler probe was positioned over the temporal bone to acquire blood flow velocities. An emergency medicine resident and research assistant obtained measurements. Continuous TCD tracings were recorded on a video cassette recorder tape for quality assurance review and data collection. Vital signs and therapeutic interventions were also recorded. Flow velocities were measured in cm/s; the peak Resistance Index (RI) was calculated for each patient. RESULTS: A total of 30 patients were enrolled in the study. Adequate tracings were obtained in 25 patients (83%) without a disruption of resuscitation. Tracings could not be obtained in five patients; they were listed as TCD failures. However, in two of these patients, adequate flow velocity tracings were obtained after resuscitation. Four patients were evaluated during tracheal intubation. One patient was monitored successfully during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The median time required for data acquisition was 1.9 minutes. The mean highest RI for those who expired was 0.84. For those who survived, the mean highest RI was 0.52. The difference of 0.32 was statistically significant (p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Noninvasive blood flow velocity monitoring of the middle cerebral artery using TCD is feasible in the ED when performed at the bedside on intubated patients with traumatic brain injury and others during tracheal intubation and resuscitation.     

Pathophysiological aspects of brain edema

Summary Two mayor types of brain edema, related to two different pathomechanisms, can be recognized: 1)cytotoxic type-where the main feature is the swelling of cellular elements of brain parenchyma and 2)vasogenic type-where an increased vascular permeability leading to accumulation of edema fluid inthe extracellular spaces plays the principal role. In this type of edema, there is a close interrelationship between extravasation of serum proteins and retention of water in the brain tissue. In theischemic brain edema both cytotoxic and vasogenic mechanisms are involved. A biphasic opening of the blood-brain barrier, associated with vasogenic edema, is observed following release of major cerebral artery occlusion. The first opening of the barrier is related to a reactive hyperemia which follows promptly recirculation. The second opening, recognizable after a delay, is associated with a severe ischemic brain tissue injury.Dedicated to Prof. F. Seitelberger on the occasion of his seventieth birthday