It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
IMAGE: MANGROVE ECOSYSTEMS OF QESHM ISLAND IN THE PERSIAN GULF, IRANview more
CREDIT: NEDA BIHAMTA TOOSI
Mangrove forests are an essential component of the coastal zones in tropical and subtropical areas, providing a wide range of goods and ecosystem services that play a vital role in ecology. They are also threatened, disappearing, and degraded across the globe.
One way to stimulate effective mangrove conservation and encourage policies for their protection is to carefully assess mangrove habitats and how they change, and identify fragmented areas. But obtaining this kind of information is not always an easy task.
“Since mangrove forests are located in tidal zones and marshy areas, they are hardly accessible,” says Dr. Neda Bihamta Toosi, postdoc at Isfahan University of Technology in Iran working on landscape pattern changes using remote sensing. In a recent study in the journal Nature Conservation, together with a team of authors, she explored ways to classify these fragile ecosystems using machine learning.
Comparing the performance of different combinations of satellite images and classification techniques, the researchers looked at how good each method was at mapping mangrove ecosystems.
“We developed a novel method with a focus on landscape ecology for mapping the spatial disturbance of mangrove ecosystems,” she explains. “The provided disturbance maps facilitate future management and planning activities for mangrove ecosystems in an efficient way, thus supporting the sustainable conservation of these coastal areas.”
The results of the study showed that object-oriented classification of fused Sentinel images can significantly improve the accuracy of mangrove land use/land cover classification.
“Assessing and monitoring the condition of such ecosystems using model-based landscape metrics and principal component analysis techniques is a time- and cost-effective approach. The use of multispectral remote sensing data to generate a detailed land cover map was essential, and freely available Sentinel-2 data will guarantee its continuity in future,” explains Dr. Bihamta Toosi.
The research team hopes this approach can be used to provide information on the trend of changes in land cover that affect the development and management of mangrove ecosystems, supporting better planning and decision-making.
“Our results on the mapping of mangrove ecosystems can contribute to the improvement of management and conservation strategies for these ecosystems impacted by human activities,“ they write in their study.
Mangrove ecosystems on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf, Iran
CREDIT
Neda Bihamta Toosi
Research article:
Soffianian AR, Toosi NB, Asgarian A, Regnauld H, Fakheran S, Waser LT (2023) Evaluating resampled and fused Sentinel-2 data and machine-learning algorithms for mangrove mapping in the northern coast of Qeshm island, Iran. Nature Conservation 52: 1-22. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.52.89639
IMAGE: BERTI SIVERTSEN, EDUCATIONAL LEADER AT BERG KINDERGARTEN IN TRONDHEIM, PROFESSOR MILA VULCHANOVA AND ELLEN SAXLUND, LECTURER AT A LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN BÆRUM WITH SOME OF THE STUFFED ANIMALS THEY USE TO HELP ASSESS LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION AND PROFICIENCY. FOR EXAMPLE, TEACHERS OR OTHERS CONDUCTING AN ASSESSMENT PERFORM DIFFERENT ACTIONS WITH THE MONKEY, LIKE MAKING IT JUMP, AND THEN ASK THE CHILD TO TELL THEM WHAT IT’S DOING. THE ASSESSORS ARE LOOKING FOR THE CHILD TO IDENTIFY THE ACTION AND USE THE CORRECT VERB.view more
CREDIT: PHOTO: IDUN HAUGAN NTNU
Children learn to understand language and to speak largely independently of cognitive functions like spatial awareness, working (short-term) memory and perception (interpreting and organizing sensory impressions), according to established theory and tradition within linguistics.
Professor Mila Vulchanova at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) heads the university's language laboratory and studies language learning. Her findings over several years have challenged this linguistic assumption and demonstrated clear associations between language development and cognitive skills.
Found new links
Vulchanova’s latest research is based on data from the largest cohort study conducted in Norway. The Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), under the auspices of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, is one of the world's largest health surveys, with data from 114 500 children, 95 000 mothers and 75 000 fathers.
Mila Vulchanova and research colleagues from NTNU, the University of Oslo, Statped and the University of Melbourne have now catalogued new links between language development and cognitive skills.
Cognitive skills are a collective term for our ability to concentrate, pay attention, remember, our sense perception, logical reasoning and problem solving.
Non-verbal tests reveal a lot about children's language development
Language comprehension tests are naturally used to investigate whether children have language development challenges. Vulchanova's research shows that non-verbal tests are also very important for cataloguing language difficulties, what types of language challenges the child has, and in particular the severity of the language difficulties.
Researchers analysed data from more than 500 8-year-old children in the research project.
“We analysed extensive data on the language and cognitive status of children with language difficulties and compared them with children who have typical language development. The analyses show that the severity of the language difficulties can also be predicted based on cognitive markers. These are discoveries that pave new paths for research in this field,” says Vulchanova.
Cognitive markers include logical reasoning, such as recognizing similarities between concepts or discovering connections between graphic patterns. Cognitive markers are mapped based on both verbal and non-verbal tests.
How the balance between verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills affects language skills is a field that has been relatively unexplored in the past.
Which cognitive measurements and methods best predict the severity of language disorders in children is not yet well known, either.
The new research findings are contributing to finding answers to these questions.
Early and correct assessment is important
An early assessment of a child's language difficulties and correctly identifying the severity of the language difficulties is key. The right training and support can then be implemented, for example via a speech therapist, and contribute to better language development.
“Our findings support the importance of measuring both verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills. In this way, we can identify which dimensions are affected and require special attention in children with language difficulties," Vulchanova said.
“Our findings also point to the potential for training cognitive skills as a strategy to support language skills,” she said.
Different testing methods
One of the six testing methods used to assess the 8-year-olds is called block design and involves recognizing patterns and seeing which patterns fit into the context.
Another test assesses the child’s ability to recognize similarities and serves as a bridge between verbal and non-verbal skills. A sample question could be, "What is the connection between a sea and a river?" Here the child needs to understand what the words mean and also connect that they both involve water.
“We identify specific verbal and non-verbal cognitive tests that differentiate between typical children and children with language difficulties, as well as the severity of language difficulties,” says Vulchanova.
“What distinguished the group with mild language impairment from the group with typical language development were the scores on the pattern recognition test (block design) and the similarity test (the similarity between, for example, sea and river), as well as performance on logical reasoning, vocabulary, understanding daily sequences and tasks and non-word repetition,” she says.
In the non-word test, the children have to read short words and sort them as being either real words or non-words.
“All the verbal cognitive results could predict severe language problems versus typical language development,” says Vulchanova.
Providing training to others
Three people are gathered in Vulchanova's office to plan training sessions in language testing. They plan to hold courses for educational professionals, including kindergarten staff, people in the schools' PPT service, speech therapists and kindergarten pedagogues and teach them methods that they can use to survey the children's language skills.
The course holders are Vulchanova, Berit Sivertsen, educational leader at Berg kindergarten in Trondheim and Ellen Saxlund, a lecturer at a secondary school in Bærum. Both Sivertsen and Saxlund have taken master's degrees at NTNU's Department of Language and Literature and have had Vulchanova as their supervisor.
The researchers use various objects in their course, such as a picture book, toys and stuffed animals – including a little monkey. All these items are included in the new Reynell test that Vulchanova and colleagues have adapted and standardized for the Norwegian language.
Stuffed animals are part of testing
“We perform different actions with the monkey, like making it jump, and then we ask the child to tell us what it’s doing. We’re looking for the child to identify the action and use the correct verb,” says Saxlund.
Sivertsen pulls out a rabbit from the bag of testing materials.
“We also test children’s understanding of prepositions by asking them to place the rabbit on top of, next to or below another object,” she says.
Mila Vulchanova takes out a picture book with pictures of figures performing various actions, including a rabbit brushing a monkey. Here the children have to point out the correct pictures based on questions about what the figures are doing and who is doing what. The use of verbs in active and passive voice is key for this test.
Vulchanova stresses that language proficiency is linked to all cognitive abilities.
In their analysis, the researchers summarize:
Our findings support the importance of measuring both verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills in order to identify the most vulnerable dimensions in children with language difficulties, but also with regard to diagnosis.
The findings also point to the potential for targeting underlying cognitive skills as a strategy to support language skills.
We suggest that future interventional studies focus on the effect of non-verbal cognitive skills on language development in children with language difficulties.
Language difficulties in children – and their severity – should be identified early. The right training and support can then be put into place and contribute to better language development.
CREDIT
Photo: Idun Haugan / NTNU
JOURNAL
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders
COLUMBUS, Ohio – While some ambitious high school students may load up on extracurricular activities to help them get into college, a new study suggests they may be trying too hard.
Researchers at The Ohio State University found that students who participated in one school sport and one other non-sport extracurricular activity were indeed more likely than those who did not have these pursuits to go to college – and to go to more selective colleges, as well.
But participating in two or more extracurricular activities of either type gave no advantage over taking part in just one, according to the study, published recently in PLOS ONE.
“Some people might think that if participating in one extracurricular activity is good, then participating in many must be better. But that is not what we found,” said James Tompsett, lead author of the study and a PhD student in sociology at Ohio State
The data from the study can’t say why, but one reason may be that more than one activity just takes too much time, said study co-author Chris Knoester, professor of sociology at Ohio State.
“It’s hard to do multiple activities well, and too many may pull you away from academics, which are also obviously very important for getting into college,” Knoester said.
“In addition, you may get all the advantages you need from just one good extracurricular activity of each type — which may be very all-consuming, these days.”
The findings came from a study that showed how the cumulative advantages of children from well-off families – including their superior access to extracurricular activities – help them get into colleges, and more selective colleges.
The researchers analyzed data from the Educational Longitudinal Survey, a nationally representative sample of high school students. This study included 10,320 students from 682 schools.
The first wave of data was collected in 2002 when the students were in 10th grade. The ELS also collected follow-up data two and four years later.
Results showed that 88% of 12th grade athletes attended any college, compared to 71% of non-athletes. Athletes were also more likely to attend 4-year schools compared to 2-year schools, and likelier to attend a more selective college than non-athletes.
In addition, 87% of students participating in non-sports activities in 12th grade attended college, compared to 71% of those who didn’t participate. They were also more likely to attend 4-year schools and more selective colleges.
While this study can’t show how out-of-classroom activities help students, other research suggests some reasons, Knoester said.
“Extracurricular activities may help students build character and learn how to persist in the face of challenges – characteristics that can help students succeed in college,” Knoester said.
“These activities can also signal to people making college admissions decisions that these students have the traits that are necessary to thrive in college.”
But extracurricular activities don’t act alone – they are part of a larger pattern that connects a family’s socioeconomic status to whether a student goes to college and, if they do, whether they can attend a more selective college, the study showed.
This study measured socioeconomic status based on both parents’ education and occupation, as well as family income.
“We found what is pretty obvious: Families with higher socioeconomic status have an important advantage when it comes to college attendance,” Tompsett said.
Results showed that 96% of those from the highest socioeconomic status background went to any college, compared to 80% of those from average socioeconomic status backgrounds. Only 57% of those from low socioeconomic backgrounds went on to college.
High socioeconomic status students also were more likely to attend 4-year schools and more selective colleges.
Advantaged backgrounds help young people in a variety of ways, including through the out-of-classroom activities available to them.
“Parents who are higher in socioeconomic status are more likely to enroll their children in extracurricular activities, and they are more likely to live in areas where these extracurricular activities are available,” Tompsett said.
In addition, socioeconomic status is related to college expectations, academic achievement scores, and attending well-resourced high schools that together contribute to the cumulative advantage of higher-status families, Knoester said.
“The unequal educational outcomes that we see begin from advantages and disadvantages in the families that children come from,” he said. “They affect many of the opportunities that children have, including their access to extracurricular activities.”
IMAGE: TWO NURSES MONITOR THE BLOOD PRESSURE OF A PREGNANT STUDY PARTICIPANT WHO IS RECEIVING IV IRON AS PART OF THE LANDMARK TRIAL.view more
CREDIT: CREDIT: ELISABETH MAMANI-MATEGULA, THE TRAINING AND RESEARCH UNIT OF EXCELLENCE (MALAWI).
A world-first study exploring new ways to fight anaemia in developing nations has found a single iron infusion can significantly reduce iron deficiency in pregnant women, compared with daily tablets.
The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends oral iron taken twice daily as the standard of care in developing nations, but adherence to this treatment is poor.
The finding, driven by a collaboration between Australian and Malawian researchers, paves the way for more effective health policies to reduce the global health burden of anaemia, which remains one of the most avoidable causes of illness and death in resource-poor nations.
The research is published in The Lancet.
At a glance
First trial to give ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) iron infusions to pregnant women in a developing nation. FCM is a common treatment for iron-deficient pregnant women in high-income countries like Australia.
The study showed a single iron infusion given during the second trimester significantly reduced iron deficiency in pregnant women, compared to daily iron supplements currently recommended by the WHO.
The Malawi-based trial of 862 women could lead to urgently needed new treatment options for iron deficient women in resource-poor communities.
Iron deficiency is a major public health burden in resource-poor countries and a key precursor to anaemia – a condition affecting nearly half of all pregnancies in Africa. It occurs when a person lacks oxygen-carrying red blood cells (haemoglobin) and iron.
While the WHO recommends oral iron tablets taken twice daily for pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa, less than 30% of the population consumes this recommended dose.
Ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) is a 15-minute iron infusion treatment widely given to iron-deficient pregnant mothers in developed countries.
In efforts to find more effective ways of treating iron-deficient patients, WEHI researchers worked with Malawian scientists at the Training Research Unit of Excellence and Kamuzu University of Health Sciences to compare FCM to standard-of-care oral iron.
Half of the Malawian women (431) in their second trimester received FCM, while the other half took standard-of-care oral iron.
Professor Sant-Rayn Pasricha, a leading anaemia expert and Division Head in WEHI’s Population Health and Immunity Division, said the trial was four times larger than the one conducted to bring FCM onto the market.
“When we first set out to do this trial, people thought we were trying to achieve the impossible,” Professor Pasricha, also a haematologist, said.
“We proved that FCM can not only be safely administered in a complex resource-limited setting like Malawi, but can also reduce the iron deficiency component of anaemia by around 60% – a significantly better result than the oral iron currently recommended in these populations.
“The results show women who received FCM throughout the trial had a substantial reduction in iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia during their third trimester, at delivery and 4-weeks post-partum.
“This will open a whole new field of research that was previously thought impossible and could help transform health policies in vulnerable communities.
“I’m tremendously excited that a medicine widely used in high-income nations might have an application to help women in Sub-Saharan Africa and other resource-poor settings. Our next task is to identify those women who have the best chance of benefiting from the IV treatment.”
A study nurse screens a pregnant participant for anaemia by collecting a blood sample for haemoglobin.
CREDIT
Credit: Elisabeth Mamani-Mategula, the Training and Research Unit of Excellence (Malawi)
Unique health challenges
Pregnant women with anaemia are at elevated risk of complications, including post-partum haemorrhage, stillbirth and low birthweight.
Despite the substantial improvements in iron levels, the trial found FCM was not superior to oral iron in reducing the overall burden of anaemia in pregnant women and did not reduce incidences of low birthweight or anaemia in women at the time of delivery.
Researchers say this is because anaemia can be driven by more than iron-deficiency in developing nations.
“For example, conditions like malaria and HIV, which are common in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, can drive up inflammation in the body and prevent access to stored iron,” Professor Kamija Phiri, a leading epidemiologist and Director of the Training and Research Unit of Excellence, said.
“Additionally, haemoglobinopathies – a group of inherited blood disorders predominantly affecting red blood cells – are common in the region and cause anaemia.”
Professor Pasricha says the results emphasise the urgent need for new mechanisms to address these unique health challenges.
“Over half of participants had inflammation in their bodies, despite testing negative for malaria,” he said.
“With some parasites able to hide in the placenta during pregnancies, it is likely that current tests are not sensitive enough to help us understand a mother’s complete health status and flow-on risks to her unborn child.
“While you can do a blood test to detect determinants of anaemia, like ferritin, in developed nations, there is no such tool in place for these parts of the world to measure iron status.
“Our study shows there is an urgent need for field-friendly testing capabilities for iron status and causes of anaemia, which will provide critical insight into how and where medicines like FCM should be used.”
With FCM remaining an expensive treatment option, researchers hope the promising results of the trial can encourage philanthropic efforts to further research the intervention and make it more accessible to women in low-income settings.
The research team is currently tracking the mothers involved in this study and their babies to assess whether the intervention will impact on anaemia prevalence, post-partum depression and child neurodevelopment.
The study, “Ferric Carboxymaltose versus standard-of-care oral iron to treat second-trimester anaemia in Malawian pregnant women: a randomised controlled trial,” is published in The Lancet. (DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00278-7). The research was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant awarded to Professor Pasricha.
IMAGE: AVERAGE COMBINED INDEX OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF BANKS AND ITS GROWTH RATE IN 2010–2018view more
CREDIT: XUANLI XIE AND SHIHUI WANG
In recent years, digital technologies like big data, artificial intelligence and cloud computing have prompted transformation in many industries. The financial sector has been no exception, introducing novel services like digital payment, BigTech lending and robo-advisors. Although the technology entrants may led the transformation in the early years, commercial banks have become the major participants by taking the advantage of digital technologies to stay competitive and offer improved customer services.
In 2020, the total investment of Chinese banks in financial technology reached CNY 207.8 billion, a 20% increase over 2019. Notably, some banks invested more than 4% of their revenues in technology, with the six largest banks invested CNY 116.5 billion in financial technology in 2022, an increase of 8.42% from 2021.
In a study published in KeAi journal China Economic Quarterly International, researchers in China constructed an index system to quantitatively measure digital transformation of commercial banks in the country. Study authors Xuanli Xie and Shihui Wang from the National School of Development, and Institute of Digital Finance, Peking University, present the trend and characteristics of digital transformation of commercial banks in China, as well as empirically test the impact of digital transformation on bank performance and competitiveness.
“The index system of digital transformation consists of three dimensions: strategy transformation, business transformation and management transformation. Strategy transformation refers to banks’ strategic attention to digital technology, which is measured by the frequency of keywords related to digital technology in annual reports of banks. Business transformation focuses on the degree of integrating digital technology into banks’ financial services. Management transformation focuses on the degree of integrating digital technology into governance structure and organizational management of banks,” explained Xie.
The annual average of digital transformation index of 221 sampled commercial banks in China increased from 14.20 in 2010 to 63.16 in 2018, rising year by year, though the growth rate declined gradually. “Although digital transformation of banks does not directly improve the overall performance of banks, it enhances the profitability of deposit and loan business and bank efficiency,” added Xie. “More importantly, digital transformation of banks can reduce the competitive pressure from new technology entrants. Also, bank digital transformation accelerates the exit of offline channels.”
The study results further underscored the importance of digital transformation for banks to gain competitive advantage and succeed in the digital era.
“Our index system of digital transformation of banks enables quantitative measurement of digital transformation of banks and has high generalizability for digital transformation in other industries. said Wang. “The empirical analyses of the impact of digital transformation on bank performance also shows the value of digital transformation, which provides supporting evidence for relevant policies.”
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Contact the corresponding author: Xuanli Xie, xxl@nsd.pku.edu.cn
The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
IMAGE: FLOWCHART OF THIS RESEARCH: HOW TO CONVERT EGGSHELL WASTE INTO BIOACTIVE MATERIALS FOR BONE REGENERATIONview more
CREDIT: QIANLI MA
Autologous and allogeneic bone grafts are considered the gold standard when it comes to reconstructing bones, largely due to their bioactive compounds and osteoblastic cells that can generate new bone effectively. However, limited supply, donor-site complications, and risk of disease transmission have deterred its widespread use.
In contrast, xenograft materials represent a feasible alternative because they are safe to use and come in abundance; even though they stem from mammalian tissue which is costly, poses environmental risks and ethical issues especially in underprivileged regions. Nonetheless, xenograft materials do have their limitations. Most commercialized xenograft materials are prepared from mammalian tissue with heavy bio-cost, environmental pollution and potential ethical issues, especially in underdeveloped areas.
Therefore, a top priority of bone graft materials development is to obtain safe, modifiable, and environmentally friendly synthetic biomaterials capable of replacing natural graft materials—the exact motivation that spurred a new discovery by an international team of researchers.
In the study, the team developed a dissolution-precipitation method to convert eggshells into endotoxin-free and immunocompatible amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) particles. "Eggshells is an ideal raw material to synthesize bone graft materials as it contains plenty of calcium and phosphorous components,” said first author of the study, Dr Qianli Ma Qianli Ma the Department of Biomaterials at the University of Oslo (UiO). “In addition, some trace elements associated with bone regeneration, such as magnesium and strontium, are also found in eggshell."
Further, the team established a novel 3D spheroid model for studying the osteogenic activity of eggshell ACP in vitro. In the model, ACP materials were observed to interact with osteoblasts more realistically, and were safe, cell-friendly and effective in promoting bone regeneration.
"This technique promises to create an unlimited supply of bioactive and sustainable bone graft materials while reducing the environmental pollution,” said senior and corresponding author Professor Håvard Jostein Haugen, who is from the same department at UiO. “The osteoblastic spheroids constructed in the study provided a more practical biomaterial research model, reflecting the three-dimensional interactions between cells and biomaterials."
The researchers hope their latest findings, published in the KeAi journal Smart Materials in Medicine, would inspire further work on converting ordinary food waste into high value-added biomaterials. Meanwhile, the team is working towards an ideal in vitro model that can replace in vivo research in animal models.
OSTEOGENIC EGGSHELL ACP MATERIALS IN 3D SPHEROIDS: EGGSHELL ACP ENCOURAGES OSTEOBLASTS TO PRODUCE A LARGE AMOUNT OF OPN AND COLLAGEN I FOR SUPPORTING BONE FORMATION
CREDIT
QIANLI MA
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Contact the corresponding author: Håvard Jostein Haugen, Department of Biomaterials, Institute of Clinical Dentistry, University of Oslo, Norway. h.j.haugen@odont.uio.no
The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
Eggshell-derived amorphous calcium phosphate: Synthesis, characterization and bio-functions as bone graft materials in novel 3D osteoblastic spheroids model
