Incorporating Sight-Reading Into the Private Violin Lesson

Sight-reading is a necessary skill for violin students of all ages. Whether a student is in a school orchestra, preparing for an audition, interested in playing chamber music at a wedding or special event, or aspiring to be a professional orchestral musician, the ability to sight-read well and comfortably is invaluable. Many students tend to cringe at the thought of sight-reading, especially in an audition or in a public setting, and the initial reading of a new solo piece can be daunting. Therefore, it is necessary to teach sight-reading in the private lesson environment. More specifically, it is important to focus on developing particular musical skills necessary for sight-reading. Chapters 1 and 2 will include a list of core sight-reading skills, a review of existing string sight-reading method books, and information from three private violin teachers about their methods, philosophies, and resources. Supported by research about best practices for teaching sight-reading, current method books on the market, and interviews of the three private teachers, Chapter 3 contains a one-year plan for integrating sight-reading into the private lessons for an eighth grade violin student.</p

Neuroanatomical Correlates of Fluid Intelligence in Healthy Adults and Persons with Vascular Risk Factors

The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of regional brain changes on cognitive decline and the modifying influence of vascular risk (VR) factors. We present latent difference score analyses of associations among 5-year changes in 12 regional brain volumes and age-sensitive cognitive functions in 87 adults (32 with identifiable VR factors). We found reliable individual differences in volume change for 11 of the 12 brain regions but not in the cognitive measures that showed average longitudinal decline. Thus, associations between rates of change in fluid intelligence and brain volumes could not be assessed. We observed, however, that lower levels of fluid intelligence were associated with smaller prefrontal and hippocampal volumes. Lower fluid intelligence scores were also linked to greater longitudinal shrinkage of the entorhinal cortex (EC). After accounting for the effects of age, sex, and VR factors, the orbitofrontal cortex and the prefrontal white matter (PFw) volumes as well as the 5-year change in the EC volume predicted fluid intelligence level. VR was independently associated with smaller prefrontal volumes and lower fluid intelligence. Thus, prefrontal and medial-temporal systems may play different roles in age-related differences and changes in cognitive performanc

Knee power is an important parameter in understanding medial knee joint load in knee osteoarthritis.

Calder, K. M., Acker, S. M., Arora, N., Beattie, K. A., Callaghan, J. P., Adachi, J. D., & Maly, M. R. (2014). Knee Power Is an Important Parameter in Understanding Medial Knee Joint Load in Knee Osteoarthritis: Knee Power and OA. Arthritis Care & Research, 66(5), 687–694. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.22223Objective To determine the extent to which knee extensor strength and power explain variance in knee adduction moment (KAM) peak and impulse in clinical knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods Fifty-three adults (mean ± SD age 61.6 ± 6.3 years, 11 men) with clinical knee OA participated. The KAM waveform was calculated from motion and force data and ensemble averaged from 5 walking trials. The KAM peak was normalized to body mass (Nm/kg). The mean KAM impulse reflected the mean total medial knee load during stride (Nm × seconds). For strength, the maximum knee extensor moment attained from maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC) was normalized to body mass (Nm/kg). For power, the maximum knee extensor power during isotonic contractions, with the resistance set at 25% of MVIC, was normalized to body mass (W/kg). Covariates included age, sex, knee pain on the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, gait speed, and body mass index (BMI). Relationships of the KAM peak and impulse with strength and power were examined using sequential stepwise forward linear regressions. Results Covariates did not explain variance in the KAM peak. While extensor strength did not, peak knee extensor power explained 8% of the variance in the KAM peak (P = 0.02). Sex and BMI explained 24% of the variance in the KAM impulse (P < 0.05). Sex, BMI, and knee extensor power explained 31% of the variance in the KAM impulse (P = 0.02), with power contributing 7% (P < 0.05). Conclusion Knee extensor power was more important than isometric knee strength in understanding medial knee loads during gait.Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Grant Number: 102643Canadian Institutes of Health Research Joint Motion Program Postdoctoral FellowshipNetwork Scholar Award through The Arthritis Society/Canadian Arthritis NetworkTier I Canada Research Chair in Spine Biomechanics and Injury PreventionAlliance for Better Bone Health Chair in RheumatologyNew Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Researc

Comparison of methods for in-house screening of HLA*B57:01 to prevent abacavir hypersensitivity in HIV-1 care

Abacavir is a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor used as part of combination antiretroviral therapy in HIV-1-infected patients. Because this drug can cause a hypersensitivity reaction that is correlated with the presence of the HLA-B*57:01 allotype, screening for the presence of HLA-B*57:01 is recommended before abacavir initiation. Different genetic assays have been developed for HLA-B*57:01 screening, each with specific sensitivity, turnaround time and assay costs. Here, a new real-time PCR (qPCR) based analysis is described and compared to sequence specific primer PCR with capillary electrophoresis (SSP PCR CE) on 149 patient-derived samples, using sequence specific oligonucleotide hybridization combined with high resolution SSP PCR as gold standard. In addition to these PCR based methods, a complementary approach was developed using flow cytometry with an HLA-B17 specific monoclonal antibody as a pre-screening assay to diminish the number of samples for genetic testing. All three assays had a maximum sensitivity of >99. However, differences in specificity were recorded, i.e. 84.3%, 97.2% and >99% for flow cytometry, qPCR and SSP PCR CE respectively. Our data indicate that the most specific and sensitive of the compared methods is the SSP PCR CE. Flow cytometry pre-screening can substantially decrease the number of genetic tests for HLA-B*57:01 typing in a clinical setting

Comprehensive characterization of LEDGF/p75 in a HIV-1-infected patient cohort

BACKGROUND: Lens epithelium derived growth factor/transcriptional co-activator p75 (LEDGF/p75) is an important cellular co-factor for the HIV enzyme integrase. In the present study, we evaluated if genetic variation in the LEDGF/p75 gene and mRNA expression levels might explain differences in HIV disease progression. METHODS: Samples were derived from a therapy-naïve patient cohort from the Ghent University Hospital and from the long-term-non-progressor patient Spanish RIS cohort. A comprehensive genomic scan of the coding region and 3’UTR of LEDGF/p75 was performed using high resolution melting curve analysis and Sanger sequencing to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS). In addition, LEDGF/p75 mRNA expression levels were determined from patient PBMCs using RT-qPCR with validated reference genes for normalization. RESULTS: In total 325 patient samples were investigated, of which 291 (90%) of Caucasian and 34 (10%) of African origin, and among which a large group of Elite controllers (n=49) and Viremic controllers (n=62). In these samples, 24 SNPs were analyzed, including 5 in the coding region (2 synonymous and 3 non-synonymous), 17 in the flanking non-coding regions and in the 3’UTR, and two additional tagSNPs as described by Madlala et al. (Aids, 2011) in two South African cohorts. One SNP in the 3’UTR region (rs2737835, n=46) had a higher representation in Caucasian Elite controllers and was correlated with lower LEDGF/p75 mRNA levels (P=0.047) and with a slower CD4 decline (P= 0.042). rs2737828 (n=13) was under-represented in Caucasian HIV patients and linked to lower LEDGF/p75 expression (P=0.013). The presence of intron SNP (rs16933270, n=6) was associated with a slower CD4 decline in African patients (P=0.017), and this CD4 decline was comparable with that of African slow disease progressors. Interestingly, the presence of one tagSNP (rs12339417, n=95) was significantly correlated with a decreased viral load, but in contrast to the results of Madlala et al. (Aids, 2011), this SNP was not correlated with the CD4 slope and neither with LEDGF/p75 mRNA levels. CONCLUSIONS: Although the data of the present investigation was not entirely comparable with the results of Madlala et al. (Aids, 2011), our data supports their hypothesis that host factors influence HIV disease progression. The observed differences between the European and South African cohorts may be of ethnical origin, or due to different infection phases. In the investigated cohorts, two SNPs were associated with lower LEDGF/p75 mRNA expression in Caucasians, and one SNP was associated with slower disease progression in Africans. The significant correlation with the tagSNP (rs12339417) and the decreased viral load is surprising as this was not correlated with a delayed CD4 decline, nor with LEDGF/p75 expression. This might indicate that either conformational changes or factors upstream of mRNA transcription might influence the action of LEDGF/p75 in these HIV patients

Improving productivity and worker conditions in assembly : part 2 : rapid deployment of learnable robot skills

Collaborative robots (cobots) have a strong potential to improve both productivity as well as the working conditions of assembly operators by assisting in their tasks and by decreasing their physical and cognitive stress. The use of cobots in factories however introduces multiple challenges: how should the overall assembly architecture look like? How to allocate specific (sub)tasks to the operator or the cobot? How to program and deploy the cobot? How to make changes to the robot program? In this paper dilogy, we briefly highlight our recent contributions to this field. In part I we presented our collaborative architecture for human-robot assembly tasks and discussed the working principles of our task allocation framework, based upon agent capabilities and ergonomic measurements. In this second part we focus on our programming by demonstration approach targeted at expediting the deployment of learnable robot skills

The Psychotropic Education and Knowledge test for nurses in nursing homes: striving for PEAK performance

Objectives: The psychotropic education and knowledge test for nurses in acute geriatric care (PEAK-AC) measures knowledge of psychotropic indications, doses and adverse drug reactions in older inpatients. Given the low internal consistency and poor discrimination of certain items, this study aims to adapt the PEAK-AC, validate it in the nursing home setting and identify factors related to nurses’ knowledge of psychotropics. Method: This study included nurses and nurse assistants employed by nursing homes (n = 13) and nursing students at educational institutions (n = 5) in Belgium. A Delphi technique was used to establish content validity, the known groups technique for construct validity (n respondents = 550) and the test-retest procedure for reliability (n respondents = 42). Internal consistency and item analysis were determined. Results: The psychotropic education and knowledge test for nurses in nursing homes (PEAK-NH) (n items = 19) demonstrated reliability (k = 0.641) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.773). Significant differences between group median scores were observed by function (p < 0.001), gender (p = 0.019), educational background (p < 0.001), work experience (p = 0.008) and continuing education (p < 0.001) for depression, delirium and pharmacotherapy topics. Items were acceptably difficult (n items = 15) and well-functioning discriminators (n items = 17). Median PEAK-NH score was 9/19 points (interquartile range 6-11 points). Respondents’ own estimated knowledge was related to their PEAK-NH performance (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The PEAK-NH is a valid and reliable instrument to measure nurses’ knowledge of psychotropics. These results suggest that nurses have limited knowledge of psychotropic use in nursing homes and are aware of their knowledge deficits. The PEAK-NH enables educational initiatives to be targeted and their impact on nurses’ knowledge to be tracked