Prior knowledge of character locational stereotypes and representations during text comprehension.

Certain character locational stereotypes are expected to affect constructions of mental representations during text comprehension. The present study examined whether readers' prior knowledge of character locational stereotypes affects the construction of these character representations during text comprehension. Two short stories were presented to the participants. In one story, God, and two people wearing blue and green clothes, respectively, appeared in a room in that order (God condition). In the other, three people appeared in red, blue, and green clothes, respectively (three-people condition). The only difference between the two stories was the first character that appeared in the room. All participants were assigned to either the God or three-people condition. Participants read the story and provided an account of their own mental representation of where the three characters were located within the room, and explained the reasoning behind their descriptions. In the God condition, most participants stated that God was in the center (relative to the two people) because of locational stereotypes of God. In the three-people condition, most participants stated that the person in red was located in front of or closest to the participant because of the order in which the character appeared in the text. These results show that readers' prior knowledge of character locational stereotypes affects their mental representation of spatial relationships between characters during text comprehension.

Spatial term apprehension with a reference object's rotation in three-dimensional space.

It has been reported that the overall shapes of spatial categorical patterns of projective spatial terms such as above and below are not influenced by the rotation of a reference object on a two-dimensional (2D) upright plane. However, is this also true in three-dimensional (3D) space? This study shows the dynamic aspects of the apprehension of projective spatial terms in 3D space by detailing how the rotation of a reference object with an inherent front influences the apprehension of projective spatial terms on a level plane by mapping their spatial categorical patterns. The experiment was designed to examine how spatial categorical patterns on a level plane changed with the rotation of a reference object with an inherent front in 3D computer graphics space. We manipulated the rotation of a reference object with an inherent front at three levels (0 degrees , 90 degrees , and 180 degrees rotations) and examined how such manipulation changed the overall spatial categorical patterns of four basic Japanese projective spatial terms: mae, ushiro, hidari, and migi (similar to in front of, behind, to the left of, and to the right of in English, respectively). The results show that spatial term apprehension was affected by the rotation of the reference object in 3D space. In particular, rotation influenced the mae-ushiro and hidari-migi systems differently. The results also imply that our understanding of projective spatial terms on a level plane in 3D space is affected dynamically by visual information from 3D cues.

[Effects of administration of bifidobacteria on fecal microflora and clinical symptoms in infants with atopic dermatitis].

Fifteen children with atopic dermatitis who had Bifidobacterium-deficient microflora were selected for this study. Eight subjects in the bifidobacteria-administered group were given oral administration of lyophilized bifidobacteria (Bifidobacterium breve M-16V strain). The changes in fecal microflora and clinical symptoms were compared with the control group. In the bifidobacteria-administered group, the proportion of Bifidobacterium in the fecal microflora was increased (P=0.0173) and the proportion of aerobic bacteria was decreased (P=0.0499) after 1 month of administration. Furthermore, significant improvement of allergic symptoms (P=0.0176 in cutaneous symptom score, P=0.0117 in total allergic score) was also observed in the bifidobacteria-administered group. The tendency of allergic symptom improvement in the bifidobacteria-administered group was remarkable compared with the control group; however there was no correlation between changes in fecal microflora and allergic symptoms.

[Raynaud-like phenomenon in infants with atopic dermatitis: correlation with serum endothelin-1 levels].

Infants with severe atopic dermatitis (AD) sometimes have cold and pale fingers and toes as observed in patients with Raynaud-like phenomenon (RP). We tried to clarify the physiological mechanism of secondary RP in patients with AD. The correlation between serum endothelin-1 (ET-1) or nitrate (NO3) levels and the severity of AD was examined in 37 patients. As a result, RP was observed in 5 boys younger than 6 months of age and with severe AD. These 5 infants had high serum ET-1 levels. However, serum NO3 levels were only mildly elevated. These results suggest that secondary RP in AD may occur with elevated ET-1 caused by stressed and/or damaged endothelium in infants with severe AD.

Bowel wall thickening in infants with food allergy.

BACKGROUND: Food allergy may be partly due to impairment of the intestinal barrier and is frequently associated with atopic dermatitis (AD) in early life. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether bowel wall thickening, as demonstrated by US, is useful for the identification of food allergy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used US to study eight infants with food allergy and ten non-allergic controls to clarify whether specific intestinal findings in the jejunum, ileum and colon are present in infants with AD who have food allergy. RESULTS: Wall thickening was observed in all eight patients with food allergy, but only in the jejunum; it disappeared after elimination of suspected dietary allergens. Bowel wall thickening returned in the two allergic patients who received a food challenge test. CONCLUSIONS: Wall thickening of more than 2 mm on US in the jejunum in infants with AD may be a useful marker to evaluate the presence of food allergy and therapeutic effects.