Developmental Delays in Executive Function from 3 to 5 Years of Age Predict Kindergarten Academic Readiness

Substantial evidence has established that individual differences in executive function (EF) in early childhood are uniquely predictive of children’s academic readiness at school entry. The current study tested whether growth trajectories of EF across the early childhood period could be used to identify a subset of children who were at pronounced risk for academic impairment in kindergarten. Using data that were collected at the age 3, 4, and 5 home assessments in the Family Life Project (N = 1,120), growth mixture models were used to identify 9% of children who exhibited impaired EF performance (i.e., persistently low levels of EF that did not show expected improvements across time). Compared to children who exhibited typical trajectories of EF, the delayed group exhibited substantial impairments in multiple indicators of academic readiness in kindergarten (Cohen’s ds = 0.9–2.7; odds ratios = 9.8–23.8). Although reduced in magnitude following control for a range of socioeconomic and cognitive (general intelligence screener, receptive vocabulary) covariates, moderate-sized group differences remained (Cohen’s ds = 0.2–2.4; odds ratios = 3.9–5.4). Results are discussed with respect to the use of repeated measures of EF as a method of early identification, as well as the resulting translational implications of doing so

Integrating Item Accuracy and Reaction Time to Improve the Measurement of Inhibitory Control Abilities in Early Childhood

Efforts to improve children’s executive function are often hampered by the lack of measures that are optimized for use during the transition from preschool to elementary school. Whereas preschool-based measures often emphasize response accuracy, elementary school-based measures emphasize reaction time (RT)—especially for measures inhibitory control (IC) tasks that typically have a speeded component. The primary objective of this study was to test in a preschool-aged sample whether the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT data resulted in improved scoring for three IC tasks relative to scores derived from accuracy data alone. Generally, the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT data resulted in modest improvements in the measurement precision of IC abilities. Moreover, the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT helped eliminate floor and ceiling effects that occurred when accuracy data were considered alone. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of scoring IC tasks in ways that are maximally informative for program evaluation and longitudinal modeling

Method for Angiographically Guided Fine-Needle Diathermy in the Treatment of Corneal Neovascularization

Purpose: To describe a method to assess corneal neovascular (CoNV) complexes and identify feeder vessels for selective arterial fine-needle diathermy (FND). Methods: In patients with CoNV, color photography and corneal indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) and fluorescein angiography are performed. After injection of indocyanine green and sodium fluorescein dye, videography and single-frame images of the region of interest are recorded. Videography is used to measure the time to leakage to assess vessel maturity to guide medical treatment and to discern afferent from efferent vessels. Single-frame images are then selected to locate the number of afferent vessels for surgery, which are selectively cut with a 25-gauge marked needle for the application of FND. Results: Angiography using fluorescein and indocyanine green allows the characterization of CoNV based on assessment of both morphologic (ICGA) and functional (fluorescein angiography) parameters. The time to leakage of fluorescein dye provides important functional information on vessel maturity and helps discern whether medical treatment should be followed before surgical. ICGA allows the identification and delineation of afferent feeder vessels even in the presence of corneal opacities affecting biomicroscopic visibility. Colocalizing the afferent vessel to a visible venous landmark or branch is helpful for placement of the incision and application of FND. Using the described approach, angiographically identified feeder vessels can be selectively treated by FND with minimal thermal energy applied to the corneoscleral limbus. Conclusions: The described method for angiographically guided assessment of CoNV is a useful approach for guiding the medical and surgical treatment of CoNV

Peri-exercise co-ingestion of branched-chain amino acids and carbohydrate in men does not preferentially augment resistance exercise-induced increases in PI3K/Akt-mTOR pathway markers indicative of muscle protein synthesis

The effects of a single bout of resistance exercise (RE) in conjunction with peri-exercise branched chain amino acid (BCAA) and carbohydrate (CHO) ingestion on skeletal muscle signaling markers indicative of muscle protein synthesis (MPS) were determined. It was hypothesized that CHO + BCAA would elicit a more profound effect on these signaling markers compared to CHO. Twenty-seven males were randomly assigned to CHO, CHO + BCAA, or placebo (PLC) groups. Four sets of leg presses and leg extensions were performed at 80% 1RM. Supplements were ingested 30 min and immediately prior to and after RE. Venous blood and muscle biopsy samples were obtained immediately prior to supplement ingestion and 0.5 hr, 2 hr, and 6 hr after RE. Serum insulin and glucose and phosphorylated levels of muscle insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1), protein kinase B (Akt), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), p70S6 kinase (p70S6K), and 4E binding protein 1 (4E-BP1) were assessed. Data were analyzed by two-way repeated measures ANOVA. Significant group x time interactions were observed for glucose and insulin (p \u3c 0.05) showing that CHO and CHO + BCAA were significantly greater than PLC. Significant time main effects were observed for IRS1 (p = 0.001), Akt (p = 0.031), mTOR (p = 0.003), and p70S6K (p = 0.001). CHO and CHO + BCAA supplementation significantly increased IRS-1 compared to PLC (p = 0.002). However, peri-exercise co-ingestion of CHO and BCAA did not augment RE-induced increases in skeletal muscle signaling markers indicative of MPS when compared to CHO

Lattice diffusion and surface segregation of B during growth of SiGe heterostructures by molecular beam epitaxy: effect of Ge concentration and biaxial stress

Si1-xGex/Si1-yGey/Si(100) heterostructures grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) were used in order to study B surface segregation during growth and B lattice diffusion. Ge concentration and stress effects were separated. Analysis of B segregation during growth shows that: i) for layers in epitaxy on (100)Si), B segregation decreases with increasing Ge concentration, i.e. with increased compressive stress, ii) for unstressed layers, B segregation increases with Ge concentration, iii) at constant Ge concentration, B segregation increases for layers in tension and decreases for layers in compression. The contrasting behaviors observed as a function of Ge concentration in compressively stressed and unstressed layers can be explained by an increase of the equilibrium segregation driving force induced by Ge additions and an increase of near-surface diffusion in compressively stressed layers. Analysis of lattice diffusion shows that: i) in unstressed layers, B lattice diffusion coefficient decreases with increasing Ge concentration, ii) at constant Ge concentration, the diffusion coefficient of B decreases with compressive biaxial stress and increases with tensile biaxial stress, iii) the volume of activation of B diffusion () is positive for biaxial stress while it is negative in the case of hydrostatic pressure. This confirms that under a biaxial stress the activation volume is reduced to the relaxation volume

Comparison of preservation and transportation protocols for preloaded Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) preparation is technically demanding and is a limiting factor for uptake of this kind of surgery. Supply methods that simplify the procedure for surgeons are key to increasing uptake. This study compares two different shipping protocols for DMEK. METHODS: An 8.5 mm DMEK graft was punched, marked and loaded for transportation in two different conditions: (A) endothelium trifolded inwards in organ culture conditions (n=7) and (B) endothelium rolled outwards in hypothermic conditions (n=7). Tissues were shipped from Italy to the UK, then analysed for orientation, endothelial cell density, denuded areas, cell mortality, triple viability staining (Hoechst/ethidium homodimer/calcein AM (HEC)), immunolocalisation of ZO-1 and Na/K-ATPase proteins, visualisation of actin filaments using phalloidin and histological analysis using H&E on paraffin-embedded sections. RESULTS: All tissues clearly showed the mark used for graft orientation. After shipping in condition A, there was an increase in cell mortality of 8.1% and in denuded areas of 22.4%, whereas for condition B there was an increase in cell mortality of 14.2% and in denuded areas of 34.3% after shipping. HEC staining revealed areas of viable cells and apoptotic cells, with large denuded areas found in the periphery for condition B and within folds for condition A. CONCLUSIONS: Prestripped preloaded DMEK grafts retained sufficient viable cells for transplantation, with condition A (endothelium-in) offering the advantage of greater flexibility of use due to a longer shelf-life. HEC analysis provides further detailed information as to the status of DMEK grafts and should be used in future similar studies

Scheduling language and algorithm development study. Volume 3, phase 2: As-built specifications for the prototype language and module library

Detailed specifications of the prototype language and module library are presented. The user guide to the translator writing system is included