Reader Reads Research Articles

A-348 Portable aptamer-based home monitoring system for blood phenylalanine measurement

Abstract Background Aptatek BioSciences, Inc. has developed a home monitoring tool for blood phenylalanine (phe) levels. The Aptatek system integrates a proprietary aptamer assay approach with a user-friendly handheld, smartphone-enabled test platform. PKU (phenylketonuria), is an inborn error of phenylalanine (Phe) metabolism If undiagnosed or untreated, phe accumulates in all body tissues, including the blood and brain, where it is especially neurotoxic and when untreated it can cause significant cognitive impairment and neurological defects. PKU management targets maintaining blood Phe concentration within the therapeutic range (120-360uM) to avoid severe neurological sequelae, mainly through nutritional therapy. Methods PheCheck™ includes a portable hand-held reader, software accessible as a mobile phone application, and a disposable single-use lateral flow cassette, blood collection, cap, and buffer chamber. PheCheck™ detects phe by binding of the phe in a small blood sample using small molecule-specific DNA aptamers. A patient (or caregiver) collects 5μl of capillary blood using a lancet to lance the fingertip and use the collection cap to collect the specimen. Once collected, the specimen is placed into the buffer chamber where the blood is diluted and processed in preparation for a lateral flow assay. The buffer chamber is placed on top of a lateral flow cassette to release the solution into the cassette. The lateral flow cassette is inserted into a small electronic reader after specimen incubation. The reader will detect a fluorescent signal from the strip and report the quantitative Phe concentration present in the specimen to the integrated mobile phone application. The reader has a simple design with a single operating push button, USB data connection port, and replaceable battery compartment. The reader reads the output of the lateral flow cassette and reports the result to a Smartphone app. The app is designed to either display the quantitative results or store the results without displaying the quantitative value. Results Twelve patients were trained on the PheCheck system and observed using the system for self-testing. Patients also prepared dried blood spot cards for comparative testing using LC-mass spectrometry. Patients were asked to return to the clinic within two weeks to retest. The blood phenylalanine levels measured by the PheCheck system were within targeted standard deviation of the dried blood spots demonstrating the feasibility of portable home-based testing for routine monitoring of blood phenylalanine levels in phenylketonuria patients. Such a portable system would enable real time monitoring and adjustment of diet or therapy for chronic diseases such as PKU. Conclusions Aptatek has developed a DNA aptamer based portable monitor for measuring blood phenylalanine levels. The system quantitatively measures phenylalanine from a 5-microliter finger stick blood sampler. Aptamer-based detection of phenylalanine provides reliable quantitation across a wide clinical concentration range and encouraging performance relative to gold standard testing of venous blood draw or dried blood spots. Analysis of samples from patients on Palynziq indicate that the PheCheck system could provide more reliable testing than venous blood draws. The system shows strong promise for routine home monitoring of blood phe levels by patients.

ENHANCING SECURITY MEASURES IN STUDENT HOUSING THROUGH ADVANCED ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEMS

Student housing is adapting to meet the requirements of modern education. Safety has a significant impact on modern education in many different ways including physical well-being, emotional and psychological health, legal and ethical responsibilities and parental confidence. To keep student housing safe, ensuring the effectiveness of access control policies is vital. Student housing provides seat wise residence facilities to the students. Generally, students and allowed guests can enter and leave the student housing frequently. It often becomes difficult to keep track of each entry and exit manually. Therefore, unauthorized entry and exit can happen. This raises security concern. Several access control policies are currently being implemented. Biometric access control, smart card and video surveillance are some of them. A case study of access control policy using smart card is shown in our work. Our smart ID card-based housing system allows only valid person to enter the student housing, keeps track of each entry and exit and digitally manages seat allocation. RFID based card is used as smart ID card. Each student and guest who has permission to enter the student housing has the card. RFID reader reads the card to verify a student or a guest. Detail information of the student or guest is instantly visible to the security guard during entry or leaving the housing. Security guard can check the entry and exit history and assigned ID cards. Our system also gives student housing authority the convenience to manage and allocate seat digitally. Seat management includes creating and updating seat number, room number. Seat allocation includes assigning seat to the students, exchanging seat between students. Introducing our system to a student housing can increase its security by keeping tracks of all entries and exits and it can also help the housing authority to manage and allocate seat without any paperwork hassle.

Activation of ASL signs during sentence reading for deaf readers: evidence from eye-tracking

Abstract Bilinguals activate both of their languages as they process written words, regardless of modality (spoken or signed); these effects have primarily been documented in single word reading paradigms. We used eye-tracking to determine whether deaf bilingual readers (n = 23) activate American Sign Language (ASL) translations as they read English sentences. Sentences contained a target word and one of the two possible prime words: a related prime which shared phonological parameters (location, handshape or movement) with the target when translated into ASL or an unrelated prime. The results revealed that first fixation durations and gaze durations (early processing measures) were shorter when target words were preceded by ASL-related primes, but prime condition did not impact later processing measures (e.g., regressions). Further, less-skilled readers showed a larger ASL co-activation effect. Together, the results indicate that ASL co-activation impacts early lexical access and can facilitate reading, particularly for less-skilled deaf readers.

How Do We Craft Autoethnography? A Modest Review

I am writing this review as an essential reading for readers and writers of the book—Crafting Autoethnography: Processes and Practices of Making Self and Culture, edited by Jackie Goode, Karen Lumsden, and Jan Bradford, which explores the art of crafting autoethnography (Goode et al., 2023). As a novice autoethnographer, I have grappled with challenges and explored borders while shaping my narrative as a self-narrator of autoethnographic writing. So, in this review, I have attempted to engage readers by offering the invitation, encouraging initial reading as entry to the book, subsequent re-entry, and eventual exit as my evaluation of the book. This book resonates with me, emphasizing the significance of writing our lives and stories, developing self-awareness through performative, philosophical, and artistic writing, and shaping our identity—advocacy and transformation. Through diverse perspectives—from sociology to the visual arts—the contributors of the book illuminate their processes, inviting novice and veteran autoethnographers to write to explore the intricate craft of autoethnography.

On the Hm-Regularity for Second Order Elliptic Equations

Our primary objective in this paper is to discuss the Hm-Regularity for second order elliptic equations over Sobolev Spaces. We here consider the cases m = 1 and m≥ 2 separately. We revisit some elementary concepts in Functional Analysis and Abstract Harmonic Analysis before providing a proper definiton to the notion of weak solution of a Dirichlet Problem. While towards the later stages, we shall classify different types of regularity conditions, the main focus lies upon deducing appropriate ellipticity conditions in support of commenting about the existence and uniqueness of the weak solutions to a given problem. Appropriate references are provided in the bibliography section to facilitate further reading for ardent readers and researchers in this field

On the Hm-Regularity for Second Order Elliptic Equations

Our primary objective in this paper is to discuss the Hm-Regularity for second order elliptic equations over Sobolev Spaces. We here consider the cases m = 1 and m≥ 2 separately. We revisit some elementary concepts in Functional Analysis and Abstract Harmonic Analysis before providing a proper definiton to the notion of weak solution of a Dirichlet Problem. While towards the later stages, we shall classify different types of regularity conditions, the main focus lies upon deducing appropriate ellipticity conditions in support of commenting about the existence and uniqueness of the weak solutions to a given problem. Appropriate references are provided in the bibliography section to facilitate further reading for ardent readers and researchers in this field

The role of prosodic sensitivity and executive functions in L2 reading: The moderated mediation effect

Abstract Prosody refers to stress and intonation patterns in a language. Previous studies have found that prosodic sensitivity (PS) and executive functions can affect reading comprehension in first (L1) and second languages (L2). The current study examined these factors among a group of L1 Mandarin speakers learning L2 English who participated in a series of tasks measuring phonological awareness, Mandarin tone sensitivity, English PS, along with three specific executive functions – namely, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory. The results demonstrated that Mandarin tone sensitivity and cognitive flexibility mediated English PS and reading. A simple slope analysis showed that PS positively predicted word reading for readers with higher but not lower cognitive flexibility. These results imply that PS in L2 reading is affected by both prosodic transfer of L1 tone sensitivity and cognitive flexibility.

An Analysis of the Translation Strategy of Pound's "The Jade stairs" from Bakhtin's Dialogism

The poet Pound's Cathay is a translation and interpretation of ancient Chinese poetry that has not only contributed to the development of modern Western poetry but has also served as a bridge between Eastern and Western cultures. Although the translation of Pounds Cathay has received mixed reviews, the translation strategy uesd by Pound, as a successful example of intercultural communication, is wothy of our consideration and study. Therefore, based on Bakhtin's theory of dialogism, this paper analyses and compares Pound's translation of Li Bai's "The Jade Stairs" in the Cathay to analyze the context and impact of the use of the first and third person used in the translation on the reader's reading. In this way, we explore Pound's translation strategies and the reasons for the success of the Cathay and provide more experiences and references for promoting the dissemination of classical Chinese culture and increasing the intercultural communications between East and West.

Adaptive short-term plasticity in the typical reading network

The left temporo-parietal cortex (TPC) is crucial for phonological decoding, i.e., for learning and retaining sound-letter mappings, and appears hypoactive in dyslexia. Here, we tested the causal contribution of this area for reading in typical readers with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and explored the reading network's response with fMRI. By investigating the underlying neural correlates of stimulation-induced modulations of the reading network, we can help improve targeted interventions for individuals with dyslexia. 28 typical adult readers overtly read simple and complex words and pseudowords during fMRI after effective and sham TMS over the left TPC. To explore differences in functional activation and effective connectivity within the reading network, we performed univariate and multivariate analyses, as well as dynamic causal modeling. While TMS-induced effects on reading performance and brain activation showed large individual variability, multivariate analyses revealed a shift in activation in the left inferior frontal cortex for pseudoword reading after effective TMS. Furthermore, TMS increased effective connectivity from the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex to the left TPC. In the absence of effects on reading performance, the observed changes in task-related activity and the increase in functional coupling between the two core reading nodes suggest successful short-term compensatory reorganization in the reading network following TMS-induced disruption. This study is the first to explore neurophysiological changes induced by TMS to a core reading node in typical readers while performing an overt reading task. We provide evidence for remote stimulation effects and emphasize the relevance of functional interactions in the reading network.

Angiography with cone-beam CT versus contrast-enhanced MRI for living donor transplant imaging: Is MRI enough?

The purpose of this study is to compare the subjective and objective quality and confidence between conventional angiography with cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the preoperative evaluation of potential donors for living donor liver transplant. Seventeen patients undergoing preoperative donor evaluation for living donor liver transplantation that underwent angiography with CBCT and contrast-enhanced MRI for evaluation of hepatic vascular anatomy were included in the study. Four attending radiologists interpreted anonymized, randomized angiography with CBCT images and MRIs, rating the diagnostic quality and confidence of their interpretation (on a 3-point scale) for each element, as well as clinically relevant measurements. Overall, the readers rated the quality of angiography with CBCT to be higher than that of MRI (median [interquartile range] = 3 (2, 3) vs. 2 (1-3), p < 0.001) across all patients. Readers of angiography with CBCT had more confidence in their interpretations as an average of all elements evaluated than the MRI readers (3 (3) vs. 3 (2, 3), p < 0.001). When the same reader interpreted both MRI and CBCT, the right hepatic artery diameter (3.8 mm ± 0.72 mm vs. 4.5 mm ± 1.2 mm, p < 0.005) and proper hepatic artery diameter (4.43 mm ± 0.98 mm vs. 5.4 mm ± 1.05 mm, p < 0.003) were significantly different between MRI and CBCT. There was poor interrater reliability for determining segment IV arterial supply for both modalities (κ < 0.2). Angiography with CBCT provides higher subjective diagnostic quality and greater radiologist confidence than MRI. The difference in measurements between CBCT and MRI when the same reader reads both studies suggests CBCT adds additional information over MRI evaluation alone.

Early reading profiles of L2 English learners: how orthographic knowledge predicts reading comprehension

ABSTRACT This study examined the nature of orthographic knowledge in second langauge (L2) literacy acquisition among Chinese young readers of English as a foreign language (EFL). One hundred and four third-grade Chinese EFL children participated in this study and they completed a battery of reading measures, including phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Drawing upon hierarchical regression and path analysis, the study found that orthographic knowledge and vocabulary knowledge explained a unique proportion of variance in L2 English reading comprehension after phonological awareness was accounted for. It was also observed that vocabulary knowledge had a mediating effect on both orthographic knowledge and reading comprehension, whereas phonological awareness did not induce mediating patterns. These findings substantiate the unique contribution of orthographic knowledge to L2 English reading comprehension, and provide empirical evidence for the current models of reading for young L2 English readers.

아동 독서를 위한 파라텍스트의 활용 연구

This study aims to find a reading method that can apply youtube reading contents for children, treating a new type paratext that appeared in the digital media environment. Through this, it is intended to confirm the new value and utility interacting between paratext in the digital media environment and reading behavior. As a result, youtube reading contents for children interacts with the maintext and constructs the meaning of the text, provides scaffolding to the reader's reading behavior, and becomes a literacy sponsor in the reading process. Therefore, the results of this study are meaningful in that they recognized media and reading behavior as a complementary relationship and suggest that it is necessary to study the various interactions between the digital media and the reading behavior.

Exploring the different cognitive, emotional and imaginative experiences of autistic and non-autistic adult readers when contemplating serious literature as compared to non-fiction.

Recent research has demonstrated how reflections on serious literature can challenge dominant social-deficit views of autism. This method enables autistic readers to explore social realities more slowly and carefully, encouraging detail-focused considerations. Previous research has also shown that autistic and non-autistic readers reflecting on serious literature together are able to achieve mutuality in a way that enables them to overcome the double empathy problem. However, the advantages of reading aloud designs have yet to be explored with autistic and non-autistic readers due to previous concerns amongst autistic people on the issue of being read aloud to. The present study aimed to explore how an adapted shared reading design that compared serious literature and non-fiction would enable autistic and non-autistic readers to imaginatively engage in the reading experience. Seven autistic and six non-autistic participants read 8 short text extracts alone while listening to pre-recorded audio of an experienced reader reading each text aloud. Participants completed a reflective questionnaire for each text and a follow-up interview where moving parts of the text were then re-read aloud before discussion. Half of these texts were serious literature, while the other half were non-fiction. Similarly, half of the texts explored fictional social realities that depicted a lack of mutuality, or non-fiction accounts of autism; while the other half explored broader emotional experiences. Thematic and literary analysis of participant reflections and follow-up interviews revealed three main themes: (1) From Surface Reading to Intuitive Engagement, (2) Imaginative Feeling and (3) Going Forward from the Reading Experience. The findings showed that autistic readers were better able to hold onto the detailed complexity of serious literature, while non-autistic readers tended to reduce information down to key ideas and understandings for later generalization. Findings are discussed in relation to future shared reading designs.

An IoT-Based Parking System to Prevent Unauthorized Vehicles

Abstract: In India, a family needs at least two cars since traffic congestion has become a serious problem, therefore parking space is at a premium, which means the emptor is less of a need. Because all work nowadays has been done online, an IoT-based smart parking system is the only viable option. By utilizing IoT sensors to detect and monitor security, locate parking lots, and reserve spaces, the smart parking system can make parking easier and more convenient for all users, thereby showing how the IoT can be widely used by a wide range of people in their everyday lives to make life easier and more convenient. To lessen traffic and make parking simpler, low-cost technology is being used. By minimizing traffic congestion and requiring less time for parking. In the smart parking system, information about the parking area is gathered through a website, and parking spaces may be reserved and tagged. RFID Tag reader reads the tags on the cars in the parking lot's designated area, which are subsequently displayed on the LCD screen and the main gate. A specific parking lot has been reserved for the automobile. Programming an IoT product using the Arduino IDE software on an Arduino Nano based on automated parking system control using codes is made simple and powerful using the ESP8266. The most important benefit is that it saves time and money, and provides security control.

Profiling Adult L2 Readers in English Bridge Programs: A Not-So-Simple View of L1 Effect.

This study aimed to validate the Simple View of Reading (SVR) in L2 English readers with alphabetic and morphosyllabic L1 writing system backgrounds. Forty-five L2 English learners enrolled in American university bridge programs completed a set of tasks that measured real word decoding efficiency, pseudoword decoding efficiency, linguistic (listening) comprehension, passage reading comprehension, and word meaning inferencing. There were two major findings: (1) only pseudoword decoding efficiency predicted passage reading comprehension in learners with a morphosyllabic L1, whereas both pseudoword decoding efficiency and linguistic comprehension were significant predictors in learners with an alphabetic L1; (2) pseudoword decoding efficiency was a significant predictor of word meaning inferencing in learners with a morphosyllabic L1, and moderated the effect of real word decoding efficiency on word meaning inference in learners with an alphabetic L1. The findings indicate the complex relationships among word decoding, linguistic comprehension, and passage reading comprehension in adult L2 English learners.

Obuchowski-Rockette analysis for multi-reader multi-case (MRMC) readers-nested-in-test study design with unequal numbers of readers.

The Obuchowski-Rockette method has been an important tool for analyzing multi-reader multi-case (MRMC) radiologic imaging data. Although the typical study design for such studies has been the factorial design, where each reader reads each case using each test (modality), sometimes a reader-nested-in-test design is more appropriate. We consider such an example in this talk, where 53 Australian and 15 Singaporean breast radiologists interpreted the same test in their respective locations. In this paper we show how the Obuchowski-Rockette method can be used for analysis of such data, without assuming that the number of readers is the same for each test.

The dynamic relationship between phonological awareness, morphological awareness and character reading in chinese early readers: a three-year longitudinal study

The dynamic relationship between phonological awareness, morphological awareness and character reading in chinese early readers: a three-year longitudinal study

Radiologists' performance in reading digital breast tomosynthesis with and without synthesized views for cancer detection.

The study aims to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of radiologists and radiology trainees in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) alone vs DBT plus synthesized view (SV) for an understanding of the adequacy of DBT images to identify cancer lesions. Fifty-five observers (30 radiologists and 25 radiology trainees) participated in reading a set of 35 cases (15 cancer) with 28 readers reading DBT and 27 readers reading DBT plus SV. Two groups of readers had similar experience in interpreting mammograms. The performances of participants in each reading mode were compared with the ground truth and calculated in term of specificity, sensitivity, and ROC AUC. The cancer detection rate in various levels of breast density, lesion types and lesion sizes between 'DBT' and 'DBT + SV' were also analyzed. The difference in diagnostic accuracy of readers between two reading modes was assessed using Man-Whitney U test. p < 0.05 indicated a significant result. There was no significant difference in specificity (0.67-vs-0.65; p = 0.69), sensitivity (0.77-vs-0.71; p = 0.09), ROC AUC (0.77-vs-0.73; p = 0.19) of radiologists reading DBT plus SV compared with radiologists reading DBT. Similar result was found in radiology trainees with no significant difference in specificity (0.70-vs-0.63; p = 0.29), sensitivity (0.44-vs-0.55; p = 0.19), ROC AUC (0.59-vs-0.62; p = 0.60) between two reading modes. Radiologists and trainees obtained similar results in two reading modes for cancer detection rate with different levels of breast density, cancer types and sizes of lesions (p > 0.05). Findings show that the diagnostic performances of radiologists and radiology trainees in DBT alone and DBT plus SV were equivalent in identifying cancer and normal cases. DBT alone had equivalent diagnostic accuracy as DBT plus SV which could imply the consideration of using DBT as a sole modality without SV.

Reading and spelling profiles of adult poor readers: Phonological, orthographic and morphological considerations.

Reading and spelling skills are important to communicate in today's literate society, however, the underlying processes of spelling skills are under-researched compared to reading skills. Our goals were to (a) study how the component skills of phonological, orthographic and morphological awareness are different in adults with and without reading difficulties, and (b) characterize the relationship between the component skills and reading and spelling performance in both skilled and poor readers. Participants (N=37, N=15 with reading impairments and N=22 skilled readers) took part in the study where they completed several literacy-based measures. We performed a series of mixed ANOVAs to study the between-group differences in performance and the relationship between different literacy outcomes, respectively. We found evidence for poor phonological and morphological awareness in the poor readers compared to the skilled readers. We also found differential relationships between the component skills and reading and spelling behavior. Specifically, sound awareness was significantly related to reading and spelling measures in the skilled readers, whereas morphological and sound awareness played an important role in the same skills in the poor readers. We discuss these findings in the context of potential remediation strategies for adults with persistent literacy impairments.

A leading bibliometric author does not have a dominant contribution to research based on the CJAL score: Bibliometric analysis

A total of 22,367 bibliometric articles have been indexed by Web of Science (WoS). The most significant contribution to the field has not yet been identified through bibliometric analysis. A comparison of individual research achievements (IRAs) and trend analysis of article citations are required after extracting bibliometric articles. The study aimed to confirm whether the leading author has a dominant RA and which articles are worth reading for readers using trend analysis. We identified authors with at least 100 articles related to bibliometrics in the WoS core collection. A total of 399 articles were collected to cluster author collaborations. Co-word analysis and chord diagrams were used to match chief authors in clusters with Keywords Plus in WoS core collection. The category, journal impact factor, authorship, and L-index (CJAL) score and the absolute advantage coefficient (AAC) were used to compare IRAs and identify the leading author who dominated the field significantly beyond the next 2 authors. In addition to network charts and chord diagrams, 4 visualizations were used to report study results, including a Sankey diagram, a dot plot, a temporal trend graph, and a radar plot. The temporal bubble graph was used to select articles that deserve to be read. The top 3 authors were Lutz Bornmann, Yuh-Shan Ho, and Giovanni Abramo, with CJAL scores of 176.22, 176.02, and 112.06, respectively, from Germany, Italy, and Taiwan. Based on the weak dominance coefficient (AAC = 0.20 < 0.70), it is evident that the leading bibliometric author has no such significant power beyond the next 2 leading authors in IRAs. A trend analysis of the last 4 years was used to illustrate the 2 articles that deserve to be read. Three leading authors were identified through a co-word analysis of bibliometrics. There was no evidence of an author who possessed a dominant position due to a lower AAC on the leading author. The CJAL score and the AAC can be applied to many bibliographical studies in the future rather than being limited to bibliometric studies that evaluate the leading authors in a field, as we did in this study.