What does "being American" mean? A comparison of Asian American and European American young adults

Two studies found that the meaning of "being American" differs for Asian Americans and European Americans. In Study 1, Hmong and European American undergraduates described what "being American" meant to them. In Study 2, Chinese American and European American undergraduates described what "American culture" meant to them. Responses were coded for references to cultural exposure, customs/traditional behavior, ethnic diversity, political ideology, and patriotism. Across both studies, Asian Americans referred to American customs and traditional behavior more than European Americans. European Americans referred to patriotism more than Hmong (in Study 1) and to ethnic diversity more than Chinese Americans (in Study 2). The authors suggest that these differences reflect the distinct statuses, concerns, and experiences of Asian Americans and European Americans.     

Co-speech iconic gestures and visuo-spatial working memory

Three experiments tested the role of verbal versus visuo-spatial working memory in the comprehension of co-speech iconic gestures. In Experiment 1, participants viewed congruent discourse primes in which the speaker's gestures matched the information conveyed by his speech, and incongruent ones in which the semantic content of the speaker's gestures diverged from that in his speech. Discourse primes were followed by picture probes that participants judged as being either related or unrelated to the preceding clip. Performance on this picture probe classification task was faster and more accurate after congruent than incongruent discourse primes. The effect of discourse congruency on response times was linearly related to measures of visuo-spatial, but not verbal, working memory capacity, as participants with greater visuo-spatial WM capacity benefited more from congruent gestures. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants performed the same picture probe classification task under conditions of high and low loads on concurrent visuo-spatial (Experiment 2) and verbal (Experiment 3) memory tasks. Effects of discourse congruency and verbal WM load were additive, while effects of discourse congruency and visuo-spatial WM load were interactive. Results suggest that congruent co-speech gestures facilitate multi-modal language comprehension, and indicate an important role for visuo-spatial WM in these speech–gesture integration processes.     

住院医师医患沟通的问题及对策

医患沟通是新时代住院医师必须掌握的一门技能,是医学人文精神的体现。然而目前我国住院医师由于专业知识及技术的局限性,对医患沟通的认识存在着偏倚,以及我国医学教育缺乏沟通能力的培养,导致住院医师医患沟通能力缺乏,需要提高改善。本文基于当前医患关系以及住院医师医患沟通能力的现状,探讨为提高医疗服务质量,增进医患之间的相互理解和尊敬,创建和谐医疗关系,积极有效防范医疗纠纷,身为住院医师的我们应做些什么,做到什么。     

Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition: cross-language and writing system transfer

This study investigated cross-language and writing system relationship in biliteracy acquisition of children learning to read two different writing systems-Chinese and English. Forty-six Mandarin-speaking children were tested for their first language (Chinese-L1) and second language (English-L2) reading skills. Comparable experiments in Chinese and English were designed focusing on two reading processes-phonological and orthographic processing. Word reading skills in both writing systems were tested. Results revealed that Chinese onset matching skill was significantly correlated with English onset and rime matching skills. Pinyin, an alphabetic phonetic system used to assist children in learning to read Chinese characters, was highly correlated with English pseudoword reading. Furthermore, Chinese tone processing skill contributed a moderate but significant amount of variance in predicting English pseudoword reading even when English phonemic-level processing skill was taken into consideration. Orthographic processing skill in the two writing systems, on the other hand, did not predict each other's word reading. These findings suggest that bilingual reading acquisition is a joint function of shared phonological processes and orthographic specific skills.     

医护人员对癌症告知态度的调查研究

为了了解医护人员对癌症告知的态度,对634名医护人员进行问卷调查。结果显示,医护人员不十分赞同将真情完全告知患者,其告知意愿在一定程度上取决于患者的知情愿望,他们比较认同家属拥有决策权,且普遍认为患者不是充分知晓病情。因此,医护人员应该增强告知认识,尊重患者告知意愿,引导家属告知观念,努力提高患者知情程度。     

GENES, MIND AND CULTURE

Abstract. The 1981 book Genes, Mind and Culture by Edward O. Wilson and Charles J. Lumsden attempts to offer a comprehensive theory of the linkage between biological and cultural evolution. In the following 21 May 1982 radio broadcast, produced by Julian Brown under the auspices of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Wilson is joined by a philosopher, a geneticist, and a religion scholar in a discussion of "gene culture co-evolution" and of other issues raised by sociobiology. The discussion is introduced and chaired by the editor of Nature , John Maddox.     

Help-seeking behavior and attitude of Chinese Americans regarding psychological problems

Investigated the help-seeking behavior and attitude regarding psychological problems as mediated by mental health status, acculturation level, and sociodemographic characteristics in a community sample of Chinese Americans. Of the 128 respondents, 17 (13.3%) had consulted professional help for a nervous or emotional problem. Compared to the others, they reported significantly poorer mental health status (i.e., had more physical symptoms, had once come close to experiencing a "nervous breakdown," and had a relative who had been in treatment), and were more likely to be American-born. For those who had not previously sought help, attitude toward help seeking was examined. A positive attitude was mediated by superior English ability, being younger, married, and from a lower SES background. The findings suggested help-seeking behavior is primarily mediated by presence of need, whereas attitude reflected a general propensity. Acculturation was an important predictor of both behavior and attitude, with the less acculturated most in need of education about the utility of mental health service.     

线方向判断测验在神经内,外科临床的应用与评价

对200名正常人及168例脑损害病人分别进行了线方向判断测验的测查。发现在对照组中,年龄、性别、文化水平对测验成绩均有一定的影响,尤以文化水平的影响最为显著。各病种组与对照组比较,发现脑梗塞组与脑肿瘤组成绩比外伤组和血管畸形组为差。同时还发现所有病种组右脑损害患者分数均低于左脑损害患者。