Search

Background: Pragmatics has generally been defined as the ability to use language in social situations, it is commonly regarded as the third major component of language ability. To date, there is no tool for assessing early pragmatic development of Chinese-speaking children. Aims: To describe the translation of the Language Use Inventory (LUI) from English to Mandarin Chinese and to report findings on the Chinese version's reliability, validity and developmental sensitivity. Methods & Procedures: The original English version of the LUI was translated into Mandarin Chinese. Parents of 177 typically developing (TD) toddlers and preschool children completed the inventory to examine its internal reliability and construct validity and how scores differed across ages and sexes. A total of 31 parents out of the 177 completed the LUI-Mandarin, again within 4 weeks, to assess test-retest reliability. To examine discriminative validity, 43 parents of age- and sex-matched TD children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) recruited from Nanjing Brain Hospital affiliated with Nanjing Medical University completed the LUI-Mandarin. Outcomes & Results: Cronbach's alpha values for the LUI-Mandarin's three parts and for 11 of 12 LUI-Mandarin subscales were 0.707-0.992, with most values in the 0.825-0.992 range. Test-retest reliability ranged from 0.66 to 0.95, indicating good to excellent reliability. Factor analysis of the LUI-Mandarin revealed two different factors, and the total variance explained was 74.38%. The LUI-Mandarin total scores and subscale scores increased with age for both boys and girls, providing evidence of the inventory's developmental sensitivity. Girls, however, had higher total scores than boys at earlier ages (18-23 months). The results of the discriminant validity study revealed that performance was significantly lower in the ASD group than in the TD group with respect to LUI total scores and subscale scores (except for subscale A). Conclusions & Implications: The LUI-Mandarin is the first and only questionnaire available in China that evaluates the pragmatic language skills of children aged between 18 and 47 months. The results of the study show that the LUI-Mandarin is a valid and reliable tool for Chinese toddlers and preschool children.

Recent advances in 3D bioprinting have transformed the tissue engineering landscape by enabling the controlled placement of cells, biomaterials, and bioactive agents for the biofabrication of living tissues and organs. However, the application of 3D bioprinting is limited by the availability of cytocompatible and printable biomaterials that recapitulate properties of native tissues. Here, we developed an integrated 3D projection bioprinting and orthogonal photoconjugation platform for precision tissue engineering of tailored microenvironments. By using a photoreactive thiol-ene gelatin bioink, soft hydrogels can be bioprinted into complex geometries and photopatterned with bioactive moieties in a rapid and scalable manner via digital light projection (DLP) technology. This enables localized modulation of biophysical properties such as stiffness and microarchitecture as well as precise control over spatial distribution and concentration of immobilized functional groups. As such, well-defined properties can be directly incorporated using a single platform to produce desired tissue-specific functions within bioprinted constructs. We demonstrated high viability of encapsulated endothelial cells and human cardiomyocytes using our dual process and fabricated tissue constructs functionalized with VEGF peptide mimics to induce guided endothelial cell growth for programmable vascularization. This work represents a pivotal step in engineering multifunctional constructs with unprecedented control, precision, and versatility for the rational design of biomimetic tissues.

Brain tumors are dynamic complex ecosystems with multiple cell types. To model the brain tumor microenvironment in a reproducible and scalable system, we developed a rapid three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting method to construct clinically relevant biomimetic tissue models. In recurrent glioblastoma, macrophages/microglia prominently contribute to the tumor mass. To parse the function of macrophages in 3D, we compared the growth of glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) alone or with astrocytes and neural precursor cells in a hyaluronic acid-rich hydrogel, with or without macrophage. Bioprinted constructs integrating macrophage recapitulate patient-derived transcriptional profiles predictive of patient survival, maintenance of stemness, invasion, and drug resistance. Whole-genome CRISPR screening with bioprinted complex systems identified unique molecular dependencies in GSCs, relative to sphere culture. Multicellular bioprinted models serve as a scalable and physiologic platform to interrogate drug sensitivity, cellular crosstalk, invasion, context-specific functional dependencies, as well as immunologic interactions in a species-matched neural environment.

Objective To evaluate the value of the systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII), CEA, Cyfra21-1, and NSE in predicting and diagnosing bone metastasis of lung cancer. Methods The clinical data of 618 patients with lung cancer were retrospectively analyzed. According to the bone metastasis at baseline, the data of the diagnosis group (patients with bone metastasis at baseline and patients without bone metastasis during follow-up) and the prediction group (patients with bone metastasis during follow-up and patients without bone metastasis during follow-up) were analyzed to determine the correlation between the above indicators and lung cancer bone metastasis. Results Predictive group: SII≥850 and NSE≥58.64 ng/ml were independent risk factors and independent predictors for lung cancer bone metastasis. The AUC of the combined SII+NSE model was 0.662, with a sensitivity of 54.5% and a specificity of 74.5%; it was superior to the predictive value of single factor (95%CI: 0.596-0.728; P < 0.001). Diagnostic group: lung adenocarcinoma, SII≥951.6, CEA≥5.14 ng/ml, NSE≥20.15 ng/ml, and Cyfra21-1≥3.94 ng/ml were independent risk factors for bone metastasis in lung cancer patients (P < 0.05). The AUC of SII alone in the diagnosis of lung cancer bone metastasis was 0.754. The AUC of the SII+Cyfra21-1 combined model was 0.82 which was the largest, with a sensitivity of 74% and a specificity of 78.5%; it was superior to any univariate AUC (P < 0.05). Conclusion The levels of SII, CEA, Cyfra21-1, and NSE in the bone metastasis group are significantly higher than those in the non-bone metastasis group. The predictive and diabnostic values would be improved further when SII combined with other single risk factors.