Cognitive development in children with chronic protein energy malnutrition

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malnutrition is associated with both structural and functional pathology of the brain. A wide range of cognitive deficits has been reported in malnourished children. Effect of chronic protein energy malnutrition (PEM) causing stunting and wasting in children could also affect the ongoing development of higher cognitive processes during childhood (>5 years of age). The present study examined the effect of stunted growth on the rate of development of cognitive processes using neuropsychological measures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty children identified as malnourished and twenty as adequately nourished in the age groups of 5–7 years and 8–10 years were examined. NIMHANS neuropsychological battery for children sensitive to the effects of brain dysfunction and age related improvement was employed. The battery consisted of tests of motor speed, attention, visuospatial ability, executive functions, comprehension and learning and memory</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Development of cognitive processes appeared to be governed by both age and nutritional status. Malnourished children performed poor on tests of attention, working memory, learning and memory and visuospatial ability except on the test of motor speed and coordination. Age related improvement was not observed on tests of design fluency, working memory, visual construction, learning and memory in malnourished children. However, age related improvement was observed on tests of attention, visual perception, and verbal comprehension in malnourished children even though the performance was deficient as compared to the performance level of adequately nourished children.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Chronic protein energy malnutrition (stunting) affects the ongoing development of higher cognitive processes during childhood years rather than merely showing a generalized cognitive impairment. Stunting could result in slowing in the age related improvement in certain and not all higher order cognitive processes and may also result in long lasting cognitive impairments.</p

Assessment of Multi-Scale Approaches for Computing UV-Vis Spectra in Condensed Phases: Toward an Effective yet Reliable Integration of Variational and Perturbative QM/MM Approaches

Computational simulation of UV/vis spectra in condensed phases can be performed starting from converged molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and then performing quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) computations for a statistically significant number of snapshots. However, the need of variational solutions (e.g., ONIOM/EE) for a huge number of snapshots makes unpractical the use of state-of-the-art QM Hamiltonians. On the other hand, the effectivity of perturbative approaches (e.g., perturbed matrix method, PMM) comes at the price of poor convergence for configurations strongly different from the reference one. In this paper we introduce an integrated strategy based on a cluster analysis of the MD snapshots. Next, a representative configuration for each cluster is treated at the ONIOM/EE level, whereas local fluctuations within each cluster are described at the PMM level. Some representative systems (uracil in dimethylformamide and in water and tyrosine zwitterion in water) are analyzed to show the effectivity and flexibility of the proposed strategy

Computational Spectroscopy in Solution by Integration of Variational and Perturbative Approaches on Top of Clusterized Molecular Dynamics

Multiscale QM/MM approaches have become the most suitable and effective methods for the investigation of spectroscopic properties of medium-or large-size chromophores in condensed phases. On these grounds, we are developing a novel workflow aimed at improving the generality, reliability, and ease of use of the available tools. In the present paper, we report the latest developments of such an approach with specific reference to a general workplan starting with the addition of acetonitrile to the panel of solvents already available in the General Liquid Optimized Boundary (GLOB) model enforcing nonperiodic boundary conditions (NPBC). Next, the solvatochromic shifts induced by acetonitrile on both rigid (uracil and thymine) and flexible (thyrosine) chromophores have been studied introducing in our software a number of new features ranging from rigid-geometry NPBC molecular dynamics based on the quaternion formalism to a full integration of variational (ONIOM) and perturbative (perturbed matrix method (PMM)) approaches for describing different solute-solvent topologies and local fluctuations, respectively. Finally, thymine and uracil have been studied also in methanol to point out the generality of the computational strategy. While further developments are surely needed, the strengths of our integrated approach even in its present version are demonstrated by the accuracy of the results obtained by an unsupervised approach and coupled to a computational cost strongly reduced with respect to that of conventional QM/MM models without any appreciable accuracy deterioration

Growth Patterns of Neuropsychological Functions in Indian Children

We investigated age-related differences in neuropsychological performance in 400 Indian school children (5–15 years of age). Functions of motor speed, attention, executive functions, visuospatial functions, comprehension, learning, and memory were examined. Growth curve analysis was performed. Different growth models fitted different cognitive functions. Neuropsychological task performance improved slowly between 5 and 7 years, moderately between 8 and 12 years and slowly between 13 and 15 years of age. The overall growth patterns of neuropsychological functions in Indian children have been discussed with the findings reported on American children. The present work describes non-linear, heterogeneous, and protracted age trends of neuropsychological functions in Indian children and adolescents

Design of single switch-boosted voltage current suppressor converter for uninterrupted power supply using green resources integration

Introduction. Uninterrupted power supply is the major requirement in the areas since it involves human lives. In the current scenario the demand and price of fossil fuels is increasing rapidly and availability also is not sufficient to the needs, an alternative identification to power generation is solar and wind energies. The purpose of designing an aimed, single switch boosted voltage and current suppressor (SS-BVCS) converter topology that interfaces both the wind and solar hybrid model. The method involves in the proposed chopper converter is derived by simply merging a switch and a pair of diodes and CLC filter which is used in realization of zero voltage switching for the main switch and a reversing diode to extract high voltage gain. The designed SS-BVCS converter topology can able to have a tight self-control on two power-processing paths. The novelty of the SS-BVCS converter module is designed to ensure maximum throughput, feeding to the load with high quality uninterrupted output, by boosting the DC voltage to a required amount and thereby supressing the current. Practical value obtained by the developed model utilizes both the sources for supply to the load individually or combined based on the extraction availability of the feeder. Also, the proposed SS-BVCS module delivers with efficient lesser component count and gaining maximum power from the harvest of green energy.Вступ. Джерело безперебійного живлення є основною вимогою в галузях, що пов'язані з людськими життями. У поточній ситуації, коли попит та ціна на викопне паливо швидко зростають, а їх доступність також недостатня для задоволення потреб, альтернативною технологією виробництва електроенергії є сонячна та вітрова енергія. Метою є розробка цільової топології перетворювача з підвищеною напругою та пригнічувачем струму з одним перемикачем (SS-BVCS), яка взаємодіє як з вітровою, так і з гібридною моделлю сонячної енергії. Метод включає запропонований перетворювач переривника, отриманий шляхом простого злиття перемикача, пари діодів і CLC-фільтра, який використовується для реалізації перемикання при нульовому напрузі для основного ключа і реверсивного діода для вилучення високого коефіцієнта посилення по напрузі. Розроблена топологія перетворювача SS-BVCS може забезпечити жорсткий самоконтроль на двох ланцюгах обробки енергії. Новизна модуля перетворювача SS-BVCS призначена для забезпечення максимальної пропускної здатності, живлення навантаження з якісним безперебійним виходом шляхом підвищення напруги постійного струму до необхідної величини і, таким чином, придушення струму. Практична цінність, отримана завдяки розробленій моделі, дозволяє використовувати як джерела живлення навантаження окремо, так і комбіновано залежно від можливості відбору фідера. Крім того, запропонований модуль SS-BVCS забезпечує ефективне використання меншої кількості компонентів та отримання максимальної потужності за рахунок збирання зеленої енергії

OGFOD1 catalyzes prolyl hydroxylation of RPS23 and is involved in translation control and stress granule formation

2-Oxoglutarate (2OG) and Fe(II)-dependent oxygenase domain-containing protein 1 (OGFOD1) is predicted to be a conserved 2OG oxygenase, the catalytic domain of which is related to hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylases. OGFOD1 homologs in yeast are implicated in diverse cellular functions ranging from oxygen-dependent regulation of sterol response genes (Ofd1, Schizosaccharomyces pombe) to translation termination/mRNA polyadenylation (Tpa1p, Saccharomyces cerevisiae). However, neither the biochemical activity of OGFOD1 nor the identity of its substrate has been defined. Here we show that OGFOD1 is a prolyl hydroxylase that catalyzes the posttranslational hydroxylation of a highly conserved residue (Pro-62) in the small ribosomal protein S23 (RPS23). Unusually OGFOD1 retained a high affinity for, and forms a stable complex with, the hydroxylated RPS23 substrate. Knockdown or inactivation of OGFOD1 caused a cell type-dependent induction of stress granules, translational arrest, and growth impairment in a manner complemented by wild-type but not inactive OGFOD1. The work identifies a human prolyl hydroxylase with a role in translational regulation

K-Space at TRECVID 2008

In this paper we describe K-Space’s participation in TRECVid 2008 in the interactive search task. For 2008 the K-Space group performed one of the largest interactive video information retrieval experiments conducted in a laboratory setting. We had three institutions participating in a multi-site multi-system experiment. In total 36 users participated, 12 each from Dublin City University (DCU, Ireland), University of Glasgow (GU, Scotland) and Centrum Wiskunde and Informatica (CWI, the Netherlands). Three user interfaces were developed, two from DCU which were also used in 2007 as well as an interface from GU. All interfaces leveraged the same search service. Using a latin squares arrangement, each user conducted 12 topics, leading in total to 6 runs per site, 18 in total. We officially submitted for evaluation 3 of these runs to NIST with an additional expert run using a 4th system. Our submitted runs performed around the median. In this paper we will present an overview of the search system utilized, the experimental setup and a preliminary analysis of our results