Connecting perception and production in early Catalan-Spanish bilingual children: language dominance and quality of input effects.

This study investigates perception and production of the Catalan mid-vowel /e/-/ɛ/ contrast by two groups of 4.5-year-old Catalan-Spanish bilingual children, differing in language dominance. Perception was assessed with an XAB discrimination task involving familiar words and non-words.

Assessing the Magnitude and Direction of Asymmetry in Unilateral Jump and Change of Direction Speed Tasks in Youth Female Team-Sport Athletes.

The direction of inter-limb asymmetries and the change of direction (COD) deficit are two aspects that have increased in recent years. The main objective of the present study was to assess the magnitude of neuromuscular asymmetries in an elite youth female team-sports sample and determine its directionality. Secondary objectives were to evaluate the relationship between COD deficit, linear speed and COD time performance.

Sex and Maturation Differences in Performance of Functional Jumping and Landing Deficits in Youth Athletes.

Context: Understanding how neuromuscular and biomechanical deficits that are associated with knee injuries change as youth mature may improve injury prevention strategies in this population.

Objective: To investigate sex and maturation differences in jump-landing technique performance in youths using a practical clinical tool.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Placental malaria in women with South-East Asian ovalocytosis.

Malaria during pregnancy, which is characterized by the accumulation of infected erythrocytes in the placenta, often has severe consequences for the mother and newborn. We assessed the effect of the genetic trait South-East Asian ovalocytosis (SAO) on placental malaria in women from Papua New Guinea. In children, this trait confers protection against cerebral malaria, but not against mild malaria disease, malaria parasitemia, or severe malaria anemia.

Polymerase chain reaction diagnosis and the changing pattern of vector ecology and malaria transmission dynamics in papua new Guinea.

The ecology and behavior of most of the 11 known members of the Anopheles punctulatus group remain unresolved and only the morphologic species An. farauti, An. koliensis, and An.

Ability of Plasmodium falciparum to invade Southeast Asian ovalocytes varies between parasite lines.

Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of the most lethal form of human malaria, uses multiple ligand-receptor interactions to invade host red blood cells (RBCs). We studied the invasion of P falciparum into abnormal RBCs from humans carrying the Southeast Asian ovalocytosis (SAO) trait. One particular parasite line, 3D7-A, invaded these cells efficiently, whereas all other lines studied invaded SAO RBCs to only about 20% of the extent of normal (non-SAO) cells.

Plasmodium falciparum: distribution of msp2 genotypes among symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals from the Wosera region of Papua New Guinea.

The merozoite surface protein 2 (MSP2) is a leading asexual-stage malaria vaccine candidate that has already proven to have an effect in phase I/IIb vaccine trials, where it was tested in combination with other antigens. Alleles of msp2 fall within two major allelic families, 3D7 and FC27. We analyzed the msp2 genotype in 306 asymptomatic and 63 symptomatic infections from the Wosera region of Papua New Guinea.

Geographical structure of diversity and differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic infections for Plasmodium falciparum vaccine candidate AMA1.

Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is a prime malaria vaccine candidate. Antigenic diversity within parasite populations is one of the main factors potentially limiting the efficacy of any asexual-stage vaccine, including one based on AMA1. The DNA coding for the most variable region of this antigen, domain I, was sequenced in 168 samples from the Wosera region of Papua New Guinea, including samples from symptomatic and asymptomatic infections.