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PubMed2006

Proton beam writing of three-dimensional nanostructures in hydrogen silsesquioxane.

Proton beam writing (p-beam writing) is a promising new direct-write lithographic technique for three-dimensional nanofabrication. In p-beam writing a megaelectronvolt proton beam is focused to a sub-100-nm spot size and scanned over a suitable resist material. Unlike electrons, when a proton beam interacts with resist it follows an almost straight path resulting in high aspect ratio structures with vertical, smooth sidewalls. The secondary electrons induced by the primary proton beam have low energy and therefore limited range, resulting in minimal proximity effects. Hydrogen silsesquioxane has been identified as a superior resist for p-beam writing, allowing the production of high-aspect-ratio structures down to 22 nm.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1978

Variations in cerebral organization as a function of handedness, hand posture in writing, and sex.

During the past century, it has become increasingly apparent that there is a great deal of variation in the direction and degree of cerebral lateralization, a plurality of people having language and related functions strongly specialized to the left hemisphere and visuospatial functions strongly specialized to the right, with substantial minorities manifesting various deviations from this pattern. In particular, in 35%-50% of sinistrals and 1%-10% of dextrals, the right hemisphere is specialized for linguistic skills, and in some unknown fraction of the two handedness groups, verbal and/or spatial abilities are, to varying extents, bilateralized. Levy (1973) suggested that the hand posture adopted during writing might be an index of the lateral relationship between the dominant writing hand and the language hemisphere, a normal posture indicating contralateral language specialization, and an inverted posture indicating ipsilateral language specialization. In the present investigation, two tachistoscopic tests of cerebral lateralization, one measuring spatial functions and one measuring verbal function, were administered to 73 subjects classified by handedness, hand posture during writing, and sex. Among both dextral and sinistral subjects with a normal writing posture, language and spatial functions were specialized to the contralateral and ipsilateral hemispheres, respectively, and lateral differentiation of the brain was strong. The reverse was seen in subjects having an inverted writing posture. In all groups, females were less laterally differentiated than males. In 70 out of 73 subjects, the direction of cerebral laterization was accurately predicted by handedness and hand posture. The 3 subjects (2 females and 1 male) who failed to manifest the predicted relations were all left-handers having an inverted hand posture . In this group, lateral differentiation was so weak that the reliability of the tachistoscopic tests was reduced, and we attribute these three predictive failures to this cause. Thus, almost all of the variation in the lateral organization of the brain was accounted for by handedness, hand posture, and sex.

Cerebral Cortex↗

PubMed2005

Persuasive writing in children, adolescents, and adults: a study of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic development.

PURPOSE: Persuasive writing is a demanding task that requires the use of complex language to analyze, discuss, and resolve controversies in a way that is clear, convincing, and considerate of diverse points of view. This investigation examined selected aspects of later language development in the context of persuasive writing. The purpose of the study was to obtain current information that could be used to design collaborative instruction involving speech-language pathologists and classroom teachers. In schools today, these professionals often work closely together to facilitate students' language development, including their ability to write persuasively. METHOD: Persuasive writing was investigated in typically developing children, adolescents, and adults (N = 180) whose mean ages were 11, 17, and 24 years, respectively. Each participant wrote an essay on the controversial topic of animals being trained to perform in circuses. Following this, the essays were examined in detail, focusing on selected aspects of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic development. RESULTS: Performance improved in each of these domains during the years between childhood and adulthood. Age-related changes included gradual increases in essay length; mean length of utterance; relative clause production; and the use of literate words, including adverbial conjuncts (e.g., typically, however, finally), abstract nouns (e.g., longevity, respect, kindness), and metalinguistic and metacognitive verbs (e.g., reflect, argue, disagree). In addition, older writers produced a greater number of different reasons in their essays and were more likely to acknowledge diverse points of view as compared to younger writers, thereby evidencing greater flexibility of thought. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The study offers useful implications for speech-language pathologists and classroom teachers working together to improve students' persuasive writing skills. Suggestions are offered for ways to accomplish this by focusing on key aspects of later language development in the areas of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Is slowly progressive anarthria a "pure" motor-speech disorder? Evidence from writing performance.

It is usually assumed that writing is normal in patients with anarthria, but a careful examination of the literature shows that they produce deletions, transpositions and insertions. Indeed, a matter of debate concerns the distinction between primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and slowly progressive anarthria (SPA). If writing deficits were purely linguistic errors, then there would be no reason to consider slowly progressive anarthria as distinct from non-fluent PPA. We report the case of a patient with SPA in whom writing abilities were specifically assessed. No lexical-semantic deficits were detected, but errors were deletions, substitutions or transpositions, with no frequency, length or lexicality effect; moreover, controls produced the same kind of errors during articulatory suppression. It is suggested that subvocal rehearsal plays a role in writing, allowing the conversion/assembly of the phonological string in a graphemic representation. Therefore, writing deficits do not appear to have a linguistic basis and SPA seems distinguishable from nonfluent forms of aphasia.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

An X-linked three allele model of hand preference and hand posture for writing.

This paper describes a genetic model of hand preferences for writing and for handwriting posture (HWP). The challenge of devising an X-linked model for these aspects of human handedness was posed by the results of a large family handedness study (McKeever, 2000) that showed evidence of such linkage. Because X-linkage for handedness has been widely regarded as untenable, the prospects for developing such a model were not initially encouraging, but ultimately a viable model did suggest itself. Family studies of handedness and leading theories of handedness are briefly described, as is some of the research on HWP motivated by the theory of Levy and Nagylaki (1972). It is argued that there is evidence that HWP reflects a biological dictate and not just individual "choices" or "adaptations" to writing in a left-to-right direction with the left hand. The model proposes that inverted handwriting posture is not necessarily highly related to speech and language lateralities of sinistrals, but that it reveals an interhemispheric mediation of writing. It is hypothesised that it reflects a specialisation of the left angular gyrus (with some possible extension into the supramarginal gyrus) for the storage of movement and timing sequences of cursive writing, and right hemisphere motor programming of the motor output of writing. It is also argued that no family handedness study conducted to date is adequate for testing the predictions of extant handedness theories, and the often wide variations between the results of family handedness studies are noted. It is suggested that fMRI studies could definitively test the HWP hypotheses of the model and that the hypothesis of X-linkage could be tested definitively should studies of the human genome identify a gene for handedness.

Chromosomes, Human, X↗

PubMed2003

The effects of reading-writing direction on the asymmetry of space perception and directional tendencies: a comparison between French and Tunisian children.

We compared the influence of reading and writing habits on the asymmetry of space perception and the directional tendencies of French and Tunisian right-handers, aged 5, 7, and 9 years. By comparing two groups of children who use the opposite direction for writing (from left to right for French, from right to left for Arabic), before and after being taught to read in school, we evaluated the impact of writing direction on these asymmetries. A bisection task, a circle-drawing task, and a dot-filling task were used to assess spatial asymmetries and directional tendencies. On the bisection task, a group difference emerged at 9 years, with the French children bisecting the line to the left of the true centre, and the Tunisian children showing no bias. On the circle-drawing task, there was a group difference from 7 years on, as the French children, but not the Tunisian children, used increasing counterclockwise movements. Finally, on the dot-filling task performed with the right hand, the French children filled in significantly more dots when going from left to right from 7 years on, whereas Tunisian children filled in more dots when going from right to left. These results show the impact of basic tendencies in younger children (ipsilateral bias in line bisection, clockwise direction in circle drawing, outward tendency for horizontal displacement in dot filling), as well as the impact of writing direction on spatial asymmetries after learning to read. The results are also discussed in reference to the differences between the two languages, the closeness of the French direction of writing to spontaneous neural-based tendencies, and the influence of learning French at age 8 for the Tunisian children.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1984

The location of speech and writing functions in the frontal language area. Results of extraoperative cortical stimulation.

In three patients stimulation of the frontal speech area resulted in one or more of the following symptoms: speech arrest, writing arrest, or impaired rapid alternating movements of the tongue, fingers or toes. Speech arrest could be altered at individual points either with or without impairment of rapid movements or writing, but writing was not impaired without concomitant difficulties with either speech or rapid finger movements. Our data suggest that the frontal speech area may function to integrate complex motor functions, some speech related and others not. We also confirm previous conclusions that Exner's writing centre is not separate from Broca's area and that the writing defect in Broca's aphasia can occur without involvement of the motor strip.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Gelatine lifting, a novel technique for the examination of indented writing.

The limitations of the examination of indented writing impressions using electrostatic detection are often paper related. Paper types such as glossy paper, paper of high basis weight, and lithography or gravure-printed papers often give rise to problems resulting in a decrease in sensitivity or a lack of detection altogether. In this paper, a novel technique for the examination of indented writing is presented, which is in a sense complimentary to the technique of electrostatic detection as it is especially suitable for glossy-coated and printed paper types and can in some instances also deal with paper types of higher basis weight. Indented writing grooves will normally contain more particles than the surrounding nonindented areas due to damage of the surface layer resulting in a build-up of filler powder. The method presented uses black gelatine lifter slabs to lift the paper dust image off the surface of the paper. This image can quite easily be photographed using near-to-coaxial lighting. The gelatine lifting method outperforms oblique lighting for the detection of indented writing and is almost as sensitive as electrostatic detection if compared on the types of paper where both perform well. The main advantage of this new technique is, however, that it is especially suitable for those types of paper where electrostatic detection fails and is therefore a welcome addition to the range of methods available to a forensic document examiner for the examination of indented writing.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1994

Writing tremor after discrete cortical infarction.

BACKGROUND: Hand tremor is a rare manifestation of stroke, and writing tremor has not been reported to be produced by stroke. We describe a patient who developed a unilateral hand tremor mimicking primary writing tremor after discrete cerebral cortical infarction. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 67-year-old man developed mild right hemiparesis. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed a discrete cortical infarct in the left frontal area. After recovery of motor power, the patient showed significant right hand tremor exclusively during writing or similar motor activities including tooth brushing or shaving. The tremor was temporarily alleviated by clonazepam but persisted until 7 months of follow-up. Medical history suggested that the patient had mild essential tremor, but he did not experience tremor on writing before the onset of stroke. CONCLUSIONS: This observation suggests that unilateral hand tremor mimicking primary writing tremor may be produced by cortical infarction. It remains unclear whether the patient's previous essential tremor played an additional role in the development of this symptom.

Aged↗

PubMed1998

Vernacularisation of medical writing in English: a corpus-based study of scholasticism.

This article proposes a model for linguistic analysis of scientific thought-styles, combining quantitative and qualitative analyses in the variationist frame and focusing on writings of the scholastic period. The first part of the article considers factors that led to the vernacularisation of scientific writings in fifteenth-century England and the sources, underlying traditions and audiences of these writings. The empirical part focuses on two features typical of scholasticism: references to authorities and the use of prescriptive phrases. The results show statistical differences between varieties of writing. A close semantic analysis reveals a pattern which is related to the underlying layers of tradition and to the sociohistorical background of the texts. The material comes from a computer-readable Corpus of Early English Medical Writing 1375-1750, which the authors are compiling at the University of Helsinki.

History, Early Modern 1451-1600↗

PubMed1975

Behavioral self-management in story writing with elementary school children.

The effect of self-management procedures on objective writing responses and on the subjectively assessed quality of children's writing was investigated. All experimental procedures were applied to each of the 37 children in a regular Grade 3 class, and 14 of these children were randomly selected for data collection. Following baseline conditions, self-assessment plus self-recording of writing responses was introduced. This did not increase the number of sentences, number of different action words, or number of different describing words, or improve the quality of the stories. Self-determined and self-administered reinforcement was added to the self-assessment and self-recording procedures contingent on each of the writing responses in turn. Rates of responding were substantially increased and the stories received higher subjective ratings of quality from two independent judges. An increase in on-task behavior was correlated with self-reinforcement of writing responses.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1982

Reverse-process sinistral cursive in dextrads: a mirror-writing variant.

A loop executed clockwise in conventional (left to right) cursive writing is performed counterclockwise in classical (right to left) mirror writing. This rotational reversal appears integral to and inseparable from the mirror-writing phenomenon. Yet in Reverse Process Sinistral Cursive, which proceeds left to right, the rotational component escapes its embeddedness in the conventional mirror form and finds individual, overt expression. The product represents a compromise between the competing and often contradictory demands of innate rotational tendencies, legibility, continuity of movement, and conventional writing style. In dextrads, it reflects difficulty in meeting the unaccustomed demands of translating right-sided movement patterns into left-handed writing performance.

Dominance, Cerebral↗

PubMed2000

A lower incidence of left-handed writing among young adults in Bulgaria than in the USA.

The incidence of left-handed writing among 590 young Bulgarian adults was 6.4%, significantly lower than that reported in two studies of students in the United States. Of those writing with the right hand, 10.8% stated that they had been forced to change their preferred hand for writing. The parents of the Bulgarian sample had a similar low incidence of left-handed writing (5.9%). Left-handed writing was almost three times more likely if one or both of the parents wrote with the left hand.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

A study of 60- to 89-mo.-old children's skill at writing numerals.

The skill of writing numerals necessitates a certain developmental maturity. Studying the age at which children start to develop this skill and assessing problems they encounter while writing numerals should give direction to their training. From 8 schools a total of 267 children, ages 60 to 89 mo., were asked to write the numerals 1 to 9. Analysis showed that 80% of the children wrote most of the numerals correctly, 15% wrote inverted numerals, 2.0% wrote some numerals as letters, and 4% did not write certain numerals at all. In addition, 64% of children ages 60 to 65 mo. gave correct responses, and the perception of correct responses increased across age groups until 95% were correct in the group who were 84 to 89 mo. There was no significant difference between girls and boys in these writing skills.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Quality of medical order writing in general practice facilities (Sousse, Tunisia)].

BACKGROUND: A medical order is a medical and legal document; careful writing of this document enables the reduction of many therapeutic errors. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of order writing in Tunisian primary healthcare centres. METHODS: This was a transversal descriptive survey of 2586 medical orders. The quality of the writing was assessed using two parameters: its legibility and the information delivered in it. RESULTS: Among the main results, 36% of orders contained at least 50% of the items retained, 25% of orders were completely illegible, and the quality of writing was considered good in 14% of cases. DISCUSSION: The study showed that hand-written orders in primary healthcare are far from complying with the medico-legal requirements. The teaching of order-writing technique and its computerisation are needed to improve the quality of medical prescribing.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

How to write effective business letters: scribing information for pharmacists.

Pharmacists frequently write letters but lack specific training on how to do it well. This review summarizes strategies for improving business correspondence, emphasizes basic writing guidelines, and offers practical advice for pharmacists. The first steps for effective communication are careful planning and identifying the main message to be conveyed. The purpose for writing should be stated in the opening paragraph of the letter. To ensure a successful outcome, actions needed should be clearly summarized and visually highlighted. The tone of the letter should reflect a reasonable speech pattern, not the cryptic writing found in many scientific papers. The layout of the letter should be inviting, which is readily achievable through judicious use of word processing. Many delivery options are available, such as traditional postal services, express mail, and facsimile transmission. Readers are encouraged to test these basic writing principles and decide for themselves whether these recommendations affect the success of business correspondence.

Correspondence as Topic↗

PubMed2005

[Writing, aging and Alzheimer's disease].

Writing is a complex and fragile cognitive function, that appeared very late in the history of mankind, and that also develops quite late in individuals. Aging does not induce changes in the lexical, semantic and syntaxic parameters of the writing description of a complex image. In the same way, spelling is not significantly altered through aging. Spelling errors are rare among seniors: they only concern infrequent words and mostly respect their pronunciation. The most frequent errors are about accents or double letters. Margins get smaller, seniors raise their pens less often and the pressure and width of writing decrease with age. Writing get progressively disorganized during Alzheimer's disease. The content of texts is primarily affected, texts becoming shorter and less coherent. Then, spelling is altered by regularization errors which are an evidence of lexical agraphia. Then, lexical agraphia gets worse and rapidly becomes mixed, combining lexical and phonological features. Finally, dementia worsens along with a massive deterioration of graphic features and spatial organization. Agraphia of Alzheimer's disease comes from a progressive and hierarchized disorganization of the various components of language and writing, due to the brain lesions in several associative areas, i.e. the parietal, temporal, occipital and frontal regions.

Aged↗

PubMed1999

Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized trial.

CONTEXT: Nonpharmacological treatments with little patient cost or risk are useful supplements to pharmacotherapy in the treatment of patients with chronic illness. Research has demonstrated that writing about emotionally traumatic experiences has a surprisingly beneficial effect on symptom reports, well-being, and health care use in healthy individuals. OBJECTIVE: To determine if writing about stressful life experiences affects disease status in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis using standardized quantitative outcome measures. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial conducted between October 1996 and December 1997. SETTING: Outpatient community residents drawn from private and institutional practice. PATIENTS: Volunteer sample of 112 patients with asthma (n = 61) or rheumatoid arthritis (n = 51) received the intervention; 107 completed the study, 58 in the asthma group and 49 in the rheumatoid arthritis group. INTERVENTION: Patients were assigned to write either about the most stressful event of their lives (n = 71; 39 asthma, 32 rheumatoid arthritis) or about emotionally neutral topics (n = 41; 22 asthma, 19 rheumatoid arthritis) (the control intervention). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Asthma patients were evaluated with spirometry and rheumatoid arthritis patients were clinically examined by a rheumatologist. Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 2 weeks and 2 months and 4 months after writing and were done blind to experimental condition. RESULTS: Of evaluable patients 4 months after treatment, asthma patients in the experimental group showed improvements in lung function (the mean percentage of predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1] improved from 63.9% at baseline to 76.3% at the 4-month follow-up; P<.001), whereas control group patients showed no change. Rheumatoid arthritis patients in the experimental group showed improvements in overall disease activity (a mean reduction in disease severity from 1.65 to 1.19 [28%] on a scale of 0 [asymptomatic] to 4 [very severe] at the 4-month follow-up; P=.001), whereas control group patients did not change. Combining all completing patients, 33 (47.1%) of 70 experimental patients had clinically relevant improvement, whereas 9 (24.3%) of 37 control patients had improvement (P=.001). CONCLUSION: Patients with mild to moderately severe asthma or rheumatoid arthritis who wrote about stressful life experiences had clinically relevant changes in health status at 4 months compared with those in the control group. These gains were beyond those attributable to the standard medical care that all participants were receiving. It remains unknown whether these health improvements will persist beyond 4 months or whether this exercise will prove effective with other diseases.

Adaptation, Psychological↗