Predictors of Variation in Maternal Talk to Children: A Longitudinal Study of Low-Income Families

Objective. The goals of this study were (1) to examine the extent of variation in amount and lexical diversity of maternal talk to young children within a sample of low-income families, (2) to determine the patterns of change over time in maternal talk during the early childhood years, and (3) to consider specific predictors of variation in maternal communicative input. Design. Low-income mother – child dyads (n = 108) were videotaped at child ages 14, 24, and 36 months during semistructured play in the home. Videotapes were transcribed and analyzed using the conventions of the Child Language Data Exchange System to determine amount (word tokens) and lexical diversity (word types) of maternal talk to children. Background information collected from mothers at study entry served as predictors of variation in communicative input. Individual growth modeling methods were used to analyze data. Results. Mothers varied greatly in the number of tokens and types produced during interaction. Mothers were found to increase in their total amount of talk and diversity of vocabulary as children aged. In addition to child age, maternal education, language and literacy skills, depression, and age helped explain variation in level of maternal talk, but none of the predictors explained variation in growth. Different combinations of predictors explained variation in tokens versus types. Conclusions. Findings highlight the importance of studying specific predictors of parental talk to children, as even in low-income samples large variation in communicative input is evident

Seismic imaging of the lithospheric structure of the Zagros mountain belt (Iran)

International audienceWe present a synthesis and a comparison of the results of two temporary passive seismic experiments installed for a few months across Central and Northern Zagros. The receiver function analysis of teleseismic earthquake records gives a high-resolution image of the Moho beneath the seismic transects. On both cross-sections, the crust has an average thickness of 43±2 km beneath the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt and the Central domain. The crust is thicker beneath the hanging wall of the Main Zagros Reverse Fault (MZRF), with a larger maximum Moho depth in Central (69±2 km) than in Northern Zagros (56±2 km). The thickening affects a narrower region (170 km) beneath the Sanandaj-Sirjan zone of Central Zagros and a wider region (320 km) in Northern Zagros. We propose that this thickening is related to overthrusting of the crust of the Arabian margin by the crust of Central Iran along the MZRF considered as a major thrust fault cross-cutting the whole crust. The fault is imaged as a lowvelocity layer in the receiver function data of the Northern Zagros profile. Moreover, the crustal-scale thrust model reconciles the imaged seismic Moho with the Bouguer anomaly data measured on the Central Zagros transect. At upper mantle depth, P-wave tomography confirms the previously observed strong contrast between the faster velocities of the Arabian margin and the lower velocities of the Iranian micro-blocks. Our higher-resolution tomography combined with surface-wave analysis locates the suture in the shallow mantle of the Sanandaj-Sirjan zone beneath Central Zagros. The Arabian upper-mantle has shield-like shear-wave velocities, while the lower velocities of the Iranian upper mantle are likely due to higher temperature. But these velocities are not low enough and the low-velocity layer not thick enough to conclude on a delamination of the lithospheric mantle lid beneath Iran. The lack of a high-velocity anomaly in the mantle beneath Central Iran suggests that the Neotethyan oceanic lithosphere is probably detached from the Arabian margin

Research-to-Practice Brief: Promising Evidence that Early Head Start Can Prevent Child Maltreatment

This brief addresses two main questions in a sample of Early Head Start eligible children: 1) the number and type of maltreatment episodes and 2) the impact of Early Head Start on child and family involvement in the child welfare system. These findings are especially important given the lack of scalable and effective preventive interventions. In addition, they are also timely given the recent interest in fostering collaborations between early care and education programs and child welfare agencies, agencies responsible for overseeing child protection from maltreatment (OHS & ACYF, 2010; ACYF & OHS, 2011; ACYF & OCC, 2011). The current study represents a first look at the impact of Early Head Start on child maltreatment. We are continuing to collect data and will have more information in the upcoming years

Comparative Local Case Study of Coniferous Forest Litter of the "Pinus halepensis Mill" in Arid and Semi-arid Areas of Western Algeria

Forest tree species produce litter, which is the plant/soil interface that ensures the maintenance of soil fertility whose properties depend on the botanical species considered. The differences of properties are marked in the nature of the decomposition processes and the forms of humus which result from it. In this study, the physicochemical characteristics and biological activity of litter were compared in coniferous plots located in the semi-arid and the arid zones of western Algeria. The objective of this work was to characterize and compare the physical-chemical properties and microbiological characteristics of softwood forest litter in the semi-arid and arid areas of western Algeria. We analyzed the properties of 50 samples of Aleppo pine litter collected from five stations in each zone. Analysis results show a highly significant difference (p<0.05) in the physical-chemical properties between the semi-arid and arid zone: humidity (20.7% – 6.51%), pH (5.98 – 6.14), conductivity (0.42 mS/cm – 0.65 mS/cm), carbon (45.74% – 73.42%), nitrogen (1.17% - 0.86%) and C/N ratio (37.47 – 73.42). A comparison of the mean of microbial biomass and their efficacy reveals what is homogeneous in both zones, with a small difference in basal respiration. The heterogeneity of these results indicates that such observations still need to be made in other forests of the Algerian territory in order to better understand the functioning of forest ecosystems and the effect of climate on these compartments, especially soil

Assessment of diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer cases at two cancer centers in E gypt and T unisia

The diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer ( IBC ) is largely clinical and therefore inherently somewhat subjective. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnosis of IBC at two centers in N orth A frica where a higher proportion of breast cancer is diagnosed as IBC than in the U nited S tates ( U . S .). Physicians prospectively enrolled suspected IBC cases at the National Cancer Institute ( NCI ) –  C airo, E gypt, and the I nstitut S alah A zaiz ( ISA ), T unisia, recorded extent and duration of signs/symptoms of IBC on standardized forms, and took digital photographs of the breast. After second‐level review at study hospitals, photographs and clinical information for confirmed IBC cases were reviewed by two U . S . oncologists. We calculated percent agreement between study hospital and U . S . oncologist diagnoses. Among cases confirmed by at least one U . S . oncologist, we calculated median extent and duration of signs and S pearman correlations. At least one U . S . oncologist confirmed the IBC diagnosis for 69% (39/50) of cases with photographs at the NCI ‐ C airo and 88% (21/24) of cases at the ISA . All confirmed cases had at least one sign of IBC (erythema, edema, peau d'orange) that covered at least one‐third of the breast. The median duration of signs ranged from 1 to 3 months; extent and duration of signs were not statistically significantly correlated. From the above‐mentioned outcomes, it can be concluded that the diagnosis of a substantial proportion of IBC cases is unambiguous, but a subset is difficult to distinguish from other types of locally advanced breast cancer. Among confirmed cases, the extent of signs was not related to delay in diagnosis. The diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer ( IBC ) is largely clinical and therefore inherently somewhat subjective. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the diagnosis of IBC at two centers in N orth A frica, where a higher proportion of breast cancer is diagnosed as IBC than in the U nited S tates ( U.S. ). The diagnosis of a substantial proportion of IBC cases at the study centers was unambiguous, but a subset was difficult to distinguish from other types of locally advanced breast cancer.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97479/1/cam448.pd

Maltreated children use more grammatical negations

Many studies reveal a strong impact of childhood maltreatment on language development, mainly resulting in shorter utterances, less rich vocabulary, or a delay in grammatical complexity. However, different theories suggest the possibility for resilience – a positive adaptation to an otherwise adverse environment – in children who experienced childhood maltreatment. Here, we investigated different measures for language development in spontaneous speech, examining whether childhood maltreatment leads to a language deficit only or whether it can also result in differences in language use due to a possible adaptation to a toxic environment. We compared spontaneous speech during therapeutic peer-play sessions of 32 maltreated and 32 non-maltreated children from the same preschool and equivalent in gender, age (2 to 5 years), home neighborhood, ethnicity, and family income. Maltreatment status was reported by formal child protection reports, and corroborated by independent social service reports. We investigated general language sophistication (i.e., vocabulary, talkativeness, mean length of utterance), as well as grammatical development (i.e., use of plurals, tense, grammatical negations). We found that maltreated and non-maltreated children showed similar sophistication across all linguistic measures, except for the use of grammatical negations. Maltreated children used twice as many grammatical negations as non-maltreated children. The use of this highly complex grammatical structure shows an advanced linguistic skill, which shows that childhood maltreatment does not necessarily lead to a language deficit. The result might indicate the development of a negativity bias in the structure of spontaneous language due to an adaptation to their experiences

Mixed-Method Evaluation of a Community Pharmacy Antimicrobial Stewardship Intervention (PAMSI)

The community pharmacy antimicrobial stewardship intervention (PAMSI) is multi-faceted and underpinned by behavioural science, consisting of the TARGET Antibiotic Checklist, staff e-Learning, and patient-facing materials. This mixed-method study evaluated the effect of PAMSI on community pharmacy staffs' self-reported antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) behaviours. Data collection included staff pre- and post-intervention questionnaires, qualitative interviews, and TARGET Antibiotic Checklists. Quantitative data were analysed by a multivariate ordinal linear mixed effect model; qualitative data were analysed thematically. A total of 101 staff participated from 66 pharmacies, and six completed semi-structured interviews. The statistical model indicated very strong evidence ( < 0.001) that post-intervention, staff increased their antibiotic appropriateness checks and patient advice, covering antibiotic adherence, antibiotic resistance, infection self-care, and safety-netting. Staff reported feeling empowered to query antibiotic appropriateness with prescribing clinicians. The TARGET Antibiotic Checklist was completed with 2043 patients. Topics patients identified as requiring advice from the pharmacy team included symptom duration, alcohol and food consumption guidance, antibiotic side-effects, and returning unused antibiotics to pharmacies. Pharmacy staff acknowledged the need for improved communication across the primary care pathway to optimise antimicrobial use, and PAMSI has potential to support this ambition if implemented nationally. To support patients not attending a pharmacy in person, an online information tool will be developed

Nicotinamide Protects against Ethanol-Induced Apoptotic Neurodegeneration in the Developing Mouse Brain

BACKGROUND: Exposure to alcohol during brain development may cause a neurological syndrome called fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Ethanol induces apoptotic neuronal death at specific developmental stages, particularly during the brain-growth spurt, which occurs from the beginning of third trimester of gestation and continues for several years after birth in humans, whilst occuring in the first two postnatal weeks in mice. Administration of a single dose of ethanol in 7-d postnatal (P7) mice triggers activation of caspase-3 and widespread apoptotic neuronal death in the forebrain, providing a possible explanation for the microencephaly observed in human FAS. The present study was aimed at determining whether nicotinamide may prevent ethanol-induced neurodegeneration. METHODS AND FINDINGS: P7 mice were treated with a single dose of ethanol (5g/kg), and nicotinamide was administered from 0 h to 8 h after ethanol exposure. The effects of nicotinamide on ethanol-induced activation of caspase-3 and release of cytochrome-c from the mitochondria were analyzed by Western blot ( n = 4–7/group). Density of Fluoro-Jade B–positive cells and NeuN-positive cells was determined in the cingulated cortex, CA1 region of the hippocampus, and lateral dorsal nucleus of the thalamus ( n = 5–6/group). Open field, plus maze, and fear conditioning tests were used to study the behavior in adult mice ( n = 31–34/group). Nicotinamide reduced the activation of caspase-3 (85.14 ± 4.1%) and the release of cytochrome-c (80.78 ± 4.39%) in postnatal mouse forebrain, too. Nicotinamide prevented also the ethanol-induced increase of apoptosis. We demonstrated that ethanol-exposed mice showed impaired performance in the fear conditioning test and increased activity in the open field and in the plus maze. Administration of nicotinamide prevented all these behavioral abnormalities in ethanol-exposed mice. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that nicotinamide can prevent some of the deleterious effects of ethanol on the developing mouse brain when given shortly after ethanol exposure. These results suggest that nicotinamide, which has been used in humans for the treatment of diabetes and bullous pemphigoid, may hold promise as a preventive therapy of FAS