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Shushaku Endo (1923-1996): his tuberculosis and his writings.

Shushaku Endo, one of the finest 20th century Japanese novelists, is not as well known in the West as some of his contemporary Japanese writers including, Yukio Mishima, Yasunari Kawabata, Kobo Abe, and Kenzaburo Oe. Mishima deals with turmoil of adolescence laced with surrealistic historical romance; Abe conjures strange, evocative images in the Kafkaesque tradition; Kawabata writes about loneliness and desolation; and Oe creates imaginary themes of life and myth that entwine and portray human predicaments. Kawabata and Oe both received Nobel Prizes in Literature. Endo's writing is different. He confronts problems pertaining to faith, morality, and individual responsibility. In his early years Endo struggled as a loner, an outsider, and a misfit. This pattern continued to a large extent into his adult life, most of which was consumed with fighting his life threatening tuberculosis. The agonies of his illness intensified his talent for exploring the complexity of human relationships.

History, 20th Century↗

Involving students in question writing: a unique feedback with fringe benefits.

A contest on question writing was organized during the undergraduate medical physiology teaching program. Students were asked to write and submit multiple-choice questions of the assertion-reasoning type (type E) in physiology. The winners were decided after the questions submitted were graded on a six-point scale (0-5) that considered both thematic novelty and construct correctness. Of the 100 students in the class, 37 participated in the contest, and a total of 912 questions was received. The contest encouraged the students to go through their subjects critically. The questions provided the instructor with insight into the learning habits and misconceptions of the students and provided the grist for animated discussions in tutorial classes. Although several types of errors were deciphered in these questions, with suitable modifications the questions helped the faculty build up a sizable question bank.

Education, Medical↗

Nondyslexic children with combined writing and arithmetic learning disabilities.

A common presenting problem of children in pediatric practice is the constellation of symptoms involving difficulty in completing assignments, trouble with written work, and organizational problems. Typically, these children do not have difficulty with reading but show problems with academic achievement. We have recently studied 29 children, aged 7 to 13, referred for learning problems. They were not dyslexic, that is their reading abilities were normal, but they had significant difficulty with written tests and assignments and problems with arithmetic. In addition to difficulty with eye-hand coordination as measured by a test of visual motor integration, these children showed poor performance on short-term memory tasks when compared with children who do not have writing or arithmetic problems. Suggested treatments include the use of tape recorders, typewriters, and calculators to help compensate for the writing and short-term memory difficulties associated with these learning problems. The pediatrician, acting as child advocate, can exert influence within the traditional school system to gain acceptance for use of learning aids by children with a developmental output disability.

Adolescent↗

Computerization in industry causes problems for people with reading and writing difficulties (dyslexia).

For 10 years computerization in industry has advanced at a rapid pace. A problem which has not received attention is that of people with reading and writing difficulties who experience severe problems when they have to communicate with a computer monitor screen. These individuals are often embarrassed by their difficulties and conceal them from their fellow workers. A number of case studies are described which show the form the problems can take. In one case, an employee was compelled to move from department to department as each was computerized in turn. Computers transform a large number of manual tasks in industry into jobs which call for reading and writing skills. Better education at elementary school and at the workplace in connection with computerization are the most important means of overcoming this problem. Moreover, computer programs could be written in a more human way.

Adult↗

Cognitive intervention in unemployed individuals with reading and writing disabilities.

Sixty native-born Swedish unemployed participants with reading and writing disabilities (R&WD) participated in a 20-week educational program aimed at improving reading and writing, verbal memory, self-confidence, and flexibility of perspectives. They were tested with a comprehensive battery (interviews, questionnaires, neuropsychological tests, and tests of academic achievement) before and after the intervention. Sixteen controls, matched for sex, age, education, and nonverbal IQ, participated in the pre- and posttest sessions but received only standard unemployment interventions. The educational program participants' performance in tests assessing spelling, decoding of letters, self-confidence, and flexibility improved significantly in comparison with the controls after the intervention. A significantly larger number of the participants had obtained work or started a regular education than expected. A substantial proportion of unemployed participants have R&WD and it appears that an intensive but fairly short educational program can improve their accessibility to the labor market and their motivation for study.

Aged↗

Phonological agraphia: writing by the lexical-semantic route.

Two writing routes (phonological and lexical) have been postulated. We studied four patients who had disruption of the phonological route (ie, inability to write pronounceable nonwords) but with a preserved lexical route. Results showed that the phonological route has two components: segmentation and phoneme-grapheme conversion. Disruption of either function may induce phonological agraphia. The preserved lexical route uses a whole-word mechanism and is strongly affected by semantic factors, such as imageability, emotionality, and grammatic class. Results of CT suggest that a portion of the supramarginal gyrus is the most likely anatomic substrate of phonological agraphia.

Adult↗

Primary writing tremor and myoclonic writer's cramp.

Four patients with primary writing tremor had a focal, task-specific tremor that responded to anticholinergic drugs. Physiologic features included EMG activity alternating in antagonist muscles, 5- to 20-microV cerebral potentials evoked by stretch of pronator teres, and no C-reflexes. Another patient had myoclonic jerks of the forearm on attempts to write ("myoclonic writer's cramp") that also responded to anticholinergic drugs; EMG activity appeared synchronously or alternating in antagonist muscles. These disorders have features of dystonia and enlarge the spectrum of writer's cramp.

Adult↗

Premature gestures: a speculative dialogue on Asian Pacific Islander lesbian and gay writing.

A collaborative exploration of the political realities and implications faced by self-identified Asian Pacific Islander lesbian and gay writers. Mixed-genre piece combining the essay and dialogue form, it contains sections co-written as well as individual pieces by the authors. The issues touched upon through this discussion are: available community-based and mainstream publishing venues, development of community-based writing, relation between grassroots political organizing and writing, API and lesbian/gay identity issues, internalized racism and homophobia, and other barriers for API lesbian and gay writers.

Acculturation↗

Model of linewidth for laser writing on a photoresist.

We present a theoretical model to describe the feature size produced by direct laser writing upon a photoresist relative to various experimental parameters. The model allows the number of parameters required for describing the linewidth to be reduced and shows how the description can be made in terms of the ratio of laser power to writing velocity. Both of the limiting cases of the truncation of the laser beam are analyzed; i.e., the case of a nontruncated (Gaussian) beam and the case of a strongly truncated beam (simplified with uniform illumination assumed). Experimental measurements are presented that are fitted to the model to permit its validity to be assessed and for a comparison of these two regimes, which are shown to be different.

Journal Article↗

Active aberration correction for the writing of three-dimensional optical memory devices.

We describe an active optical system that both measures and corrects the aberrations introduced when writing three-dimensional bit-oriented optical memory by a two-photon absorption process. The system uses a ferroelectric liquid-crystal spatial light modulator (FLCSLM) configured as an arbitrary wave-front generator that is reconfigurable at speeds as great as 2.5 kHz. A method of aberration measurement by the FLCSLM wave-front generator is described. The same device is also used to correct the induced aberrations by preshaping the wave fronts with the conjugate phase aberration as well as to scan the focal spot in three dimensions. Experimental results show the correction of both on- and off-axis aberrations, allowing the writing of data at depths as great as 1 mm inside a LiNbO3 crystal.

Journal Article↗

Write-once recording for multilayered optical waveguide-type holographic cards.

We propose a write-once recording technique for multilayered optical waveguide-type holographic cards. The card medium has a construction created by adding a recording layer and a holographic grating layer to the multilayered optical waveguide composed of core and cladding layers. Individual data for each medium were recorded as an arrangement of optically transparent holes formed in the recording layer. Holograms common to all media were designed in the holographic grating layer so that diffracted lights from the holograms could pass through the holes and focus on an image sensor. We succeeded in write-once recording with a memory capacity potential of more than 128 bits.

Journal Article↗

Optical waveguide writing with a diode-pumped femtosecond oscillator.

Optical waveguide writing is demonstrated by means of a diode-pumped cavity-dumped Yb:glass femtosecond laser oscillator with a pulse energy of 270 nJ at a 166-kHz repetition rate. Waveguides realized on an Er:Yb-doped phosphate glass are almost perfectly mode matched to standard single-mode fibers at 1.55 microm and show a 1.2-dB net gain in a standard telecommunications amplifier setup. Waveguide writing with a compact femtosecond laser oscillator is an important step toward introducing this technique into an industrial context.

Journal Article↗

Moving in the right direction: first step in writing for publication in nursing.

Current trends suggest that the dissemination of nursing knowledge and published papers in high quality journals bring further development in the professionalization of nursing. There is limited understanding of the factors that enable nurses' writing for publication, but an educational programme on publications skills development at all levels of nursing could act as a catalyst in this process of change. Nursing leaderships not only account for the responsibility to contribute to the nursing knowledge base through publications, but also to prepare future nurses in the same arena. The aims of the paper are to examine some issues regarding nursing publications, postgraduate nurses in particular, and suggest book reviews as a framework for the professional development of nurses in how to write for publication.

Humans↗

Right-left orientation and writing hand in children referred for neurodevelopmental assessment.

22 boys and 10 girls with school problems were referred to a pediatrician for medical and neurodevelopmental evaluation--children ranged in ages from 5-4 to 14-7. As part of the pediatric developmental assessment a simple test was used to evaluate each child's ability to identify his own right or left eye, ear, hand and foot. Hand preference for writing was also noted. 32 control children from the same population matched for age and sex with patients were also tested. Patients over 5 yr. old were more likely to have difficulty identifying right and left body parts than control children. All controls over age 7 correctly identified their body parts. 5 patients and 5 controls showed left-hand preference for writing. It is concluded that a more sensitive test for hand preference should be utilized as part of the pediatric neuro-developmental assessment.

Adolescent↗

Fingertip number-writing errors by psychiatric patients.

Records from 495 psychiatric patients from two neuropsychology laboratories indicated the Fingertip Number Writing test shows a significant and reliable left-hand advantage within and between laboratories. While the left-hand advantage may reflect a right-hemisphere superiority for tactile-spatial processing, it is not possible to distinguish between right hemispheric functional superiority and practice effects between hands because the standard fingertip writing task always starts with the right hand.

Dominance, Cerebral↗

Writing-hand differences in Kwakiutls and Caucasians.

Writing-hand differences in Kwakiutl Indians and Caucasians were compared between and within groups in a cross-cultural cross-sectional study. The Kwakiutl were less right-handed for writing at each of the three ages than the Caucasian sample. Current hypotheses on handedness do not account for the magnitude of these differences.

Adolescent↗

Relation of hand skill to spatial reasoning in male and female left-handers with left- and right-hand writing.

The relation of mental ability for spatial reasoning (Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Test) to hand skill assessed by peg-moving task was studied in normal left-handers. Nonlinear, quadratic relationships were established between these two parameters exhibiting different characteristics according to sex and writing hand. It was concluded that the contributions of the right and left cerebral hemispheres to the cognitive-motor output of the brain depend on sex and writing hand as well as the degree of left-handedness in left-handers.

Adolescent↗

Relation of spatial reasoning ability to hand performance in male and female left-handers to familial sinistrality and writing hand.

The relation of mental ability for spatial reasoning to hand performance was studied in male and female left-handers considering familial sinistrality and writing hand. Hand performance was assessed by a dot-filling test; hand preference was assessed by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (Geschwind scores). Nonverbal intelligence (spatial reasoning) was measured by the Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Test. The relationship between IQ and hand performance was found to be more complicated than expected. This was associated with sex, familial sinistrality, and writing hand, which created different patterns in interactions between motor and cognitive systems. It was concluded that the brain benefits from different strategies by using both hemispheres in a competitive and complementary manner where necessary to achieve a high visual-spatial performance depending upon genetic preprograms.

Adult↗