Production of Complex/Compounds Sentences in the Spontaneous Speech of Typically Developing Children and Children with Williams Syndrome

Literature claims individuals with Williams syndrome (WS), a rare congenital genetic mental retardation syndrome, easily engage in conversation and demonstrate unique and advanced linguistic skills compared to typically developing peers (TDP). These claims are supported by limited empirical evidence, however. One method of judging advanced linguistic skills is to compare the production of complex/compound sentences of children with WS and their TDP. The purpose of the study was to determine whether children with WS use more complex/compound sentences than children who are typically developing. Twelve subjects participated in the study. Six subjects with WS (SWS), mean age 15, and 6 subjects who are typically developing, mean age 6-4. Subjects were matched according to gender and verbal performance. Two judges evaluated 100 utterances (oral statements) from each of the12 subjects and determined the sentence type of each utterance. Compound, complex and complex/compound sentences were coded. Data were analyzed employing Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT), a set of computer programs designed to analyze and interpret language samples. The range, mean and standard deviation for each sentence type were computed. Results indicate TDP display a greater number of complex, compound and complex/compound sentences compared to SWS. Implications are discussed

Holographic prism projection: extinction rebellion & energy futures on sci-fi television

This study in media practice provides insights on video production for holographic prism projection, which has become more accessible as smart flat screens have become more available. The study reflects on the experiences of producing, installing and viewing a documentary video projected via holographic prism, titled ‘FarNearFutureNow.’ Engaging the participation of Extinction Rebellion (XR) members, this university-funded production included recording and combining interview footage with energy policy texts in the visual style of the hologram scene from Star Wars, the 1977 science-fiction film. With viewer co-experience, environmental politics and legacies of colonialism in mind, we produced a 5-minute video and prism projection system for public exhibition. FarNearFutureNow was produced through collective processes of gathering, assembling, reviewing, storyboarding, scripting and editing interview footage and other recordings as well as testing and fabricating installation materials. These production processes enabled us to understand the affordances of creative darkness in holographic production for disassociating and recombining visual elements. The hologram’s disassociated focus on a single object proved useful in drawing audience attention and for assembling non-fiction elements in sequences referencing popular fiction. It is also useful for showing radically different visual scales in sequence, and for simultaneously juxtaposing audio and visual scales

Development of Professional Identity Through Socialization in Graduate School

Professional identity is one outcome of successful socialization. The purpose of this study was to understand how socialization in graduate programs contributes to the development of professional identity for new professionals in student affairs. Via survey, we found significant relationships between program qualities, standards, activities, and experiences and measures of professional identity. Out-of-class experiences were perceived to have a strong influence than in-class experiences. Implications for graduate preparation programs and supervisors are discussed

Socialization to student affairs: Early career experiences associated with professional identity development

In this study, the authors propose and test a model of professional identity development among early career student affairs professionals. Using survey data from 173 new professionals (0-5 years of experience), factor analysis revealed three dimensions of professional identity: commitment, values congruence, and intellectual investment. Multivariate analyses found significant associations of age, master’s program characteristics, and influential people and experiences (e.g., interactions with professional colleagues and associations) with the dimensions of professional identity. Findings indicated key socialization experiences during and after graduate school were associated with the development of professional identity. We conclude with recommendations for practice and research

Functional identification of an aggression locus in the mouse hypothalamus

Electrical stimulation of certain hypothalamic regions in cats and rodents can elicit attack behaviour, but the exact location of relevant cells within these regions, their requirement for naturally occurring aggression and their relationship to mating circuits have not been clear. Genetic methods for neural circuit manipulation in mice provide a potentially powerful approach to this problem, but brain-stimulation-evoked aggression has never been demonstrated in this species. Here we show that optogenetic, but not electrical, stimulation of neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus, ventrolateral subdivision (VMHvl) causes male mice to attack both females and inanimate objects, as well as males. Pharmacogenetic silencing of VMHvl reversibly inhibits inter-male aggression. Immediate early gene analysis and single unit recordings from VMHvl during social interactions reveal overlapping but distinct neuronal subpopulations involved in fighting and mating. Neurons activated during attack are inhibited during mating, suggesting a potential neural substrate for competition between these opponent social behaviours

Sampling multiple life stages significantly increases estimates of marine biodiversity

Biodiversity assessments are critical for setting conservation priorities, understanding ecosystem function and establishing a baseline to monitor change. Surveys of marine biodiversity that rely almost entirely on sampling adult organisms underestimate diversity because they tend to be limited to habitat types and individuals that can be easily surveyed. Many marine animals have planktonic larvae that can be sampled from the water column at shallow depths. This life stage often is overlooked in surveys but can be used to relatively rapidly document diversity, especially for the many species that are rare or live cryptically as adults. Using DNA barcode data from samples of nemertean worms collected in three biogeographical regions—Northeastern Pacific, the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Tropical Pacific—we found that most species were collected as either benthic adults or planktonic larvae but seldom in both stages. Randomization tests show that this deficit of operational taxonomic units collected as both adults and larvae is extremely unlikely if larvae and adults were drawn from the same pool of species. This effect persists even in well-studied faunas. These results suggest that sampling planktonic larvae offers access to a different subset of species and thus significantly increases estimates of biodiversity compared to sampling adults alone. Spanish abstract is available in the electronic supplementary material.Fil: Maslakova, Svetlana A.. University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Ellison, Christina I.. University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Hiebert, Terra C.. University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Conable, Frances. University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Heapy, Maureen C.. University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Venera Pontón, Dagoberto E.. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; PanamáFil: Norenburg, Jon L.. National Museum Of Natural History. Departamento de Zoología. Area de Invertebrados; Estados UnidosFil: Schwartz, Megan L.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Boyle, Michael J.. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; PanamáFil: Driskell, Amy C.. National Museum Of Natural History. Departamento de Zoología. Area de Invertebrados; Estados UnidosFil: Macdonald, Kenneth S.. National Museum Of Natural History. Departamento de Zoología. Area de Invertebrados; Estados UnidosFil: Zattara, Eduardo Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Collin, Rachel. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Panam

Environmental and biological controls on Mg and Li in deep-sea scleractinian corals

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters 300 (2010): 215-225, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.09.029.Deep-sea scleractinian corals precipitate aragonite skeletons that provide valuable archives of past ocean conditions. During calcification biological mediation causes variability in trace metal incorporation and isotopic ratios of the aragonite such that signals caused by environmental controls can be overwhelmed. This complicates the interpretation of geochemical proxies used for paleo-reconstructions. In this study we examine the environmental controls on the Mg/Li ratio of 34 individuals from seven genera of deep-sea scleractinian corals: Desmophyllum, Balanophyllia, Caryophyllia, Enallopsammia, Flabellum, Trochocyanthus, and Lophelia. In addition we examine the distributions of Mg and Li in Desmophyllum and Balanophyllia using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Both Mg/Ca and Li/Ca ratios increased by more than a factor of 2 in the center of calcification regions compared to the outer, fibrous regions of the coral skeleton. As a result, replicate ~10 mg subsamples of coral show less variability in the Mg/Li ratio than Mg/Ca. Microscale Mg and Li results are consistent with Rayleigh-type incorporation of trace metals with additional processes dominating composition within centers of calcification. Comparison of Mg/Li to seawater properties near the site of collection shows that the ratio is not controlled by either carbonate ion or salinity. It appears that temperature is the major control on the Mg/Li ratio. For all 34 samples the temperature correlation (R2=0.62) is significantly better than for Mg/Ca (R2=0.06). For corals of the family Caryophyllidae the R2 value increases to 0.82 with the exclusion of one sample that was observed to have an altered, chalky texture. Despite this excellent correlation the scatter in the data suggests that the Mg/Li ratio of deep-sea corals cannot be used to reconstruct temperature to better than approximately ±1.6°C without better temperature control and additional calibration points on modern coral samples.Financial Support was provided by the USGS WHOI Co-operative agreement, NSF-ANT grant numbers 0636787 and 80295700 and the WHOI Ocean Life Institute. David Case was supported by the WHOI Summer Student Fellowship

Phylogenomics of the Reproductive Parasite Wolbachia pipientis wMel: A Streamlined Genome Overrun by Mobile Genetic Elements

The complete sequence of the 1,267,782 bp genome of Wolbachia pipientis wMel, an obligate intracellular bacteria of Drosophila melanogaster, has been determined. Wolbachia, which are found in a variety of invertebrate species, are of great interest due to their diverse interactions with different hosts, which range from many forms of reproductive parasitism to mutualistic symbioses. Analysis of the wMel genome, in particular phylogenomic comparisons with other intracellular bacteria, has revealed many insights into the biology and evolution of wMel and Wolbachia in general. For example, the wMel genome is unique among sequenced obligate intracellular species in both being highly streamlined and containing very high levels of repetitive DNA and mobile DNA elements. This observation, coupled with multiple evolutionary reconstructions, suggests that natural selection is somewhat inefficient in wMel, most likely owing to the occurrence of repeated population bottlenecks. Genome analysis predicts many metabolic differences with the closely related Rickettsia species, including the presence of intact glycolysis and purine synthesis, which may compensate for an inability to obtain ATP directly from its host, as Rickettsia can. Other discoveries include the apparent inability of wMel to synthesize lipopolysaccharide and the presence of the most genes encoding proteins with ankyrin repeat domains of any prokaryotic genome yet sequenced. Despite the ability of wMel to infect the germline of its host, we find no evidence for either recent lateral gene transfer between wMel and D. melanogaster or older transfers between Wolbachia and any host. Evolutionary analysis further supports the hypothesis that mitochondria share a common ancestor with the α-Proteobacteria, but shows little support for the grouping of mitochondria with species in the order Rickettsiales. With the availability of the complete genomes of both species and excellent genetic tools for the host, the wMel–D. melanogaster symbiosis is now an ideal system for studying the biology and evolution of Wolbachia infections

Safety of procuring research tissue during a clinically indicated kidney biopsy from patients with lupus: data from the Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network

Objectives In lupus nephritis the pathological diagnosis from tissue retrieved during kidney biopsy drives treatment and management. Despite recent approval of new drugs, complete remission rates remain well under aspirational levels, necessitating identification of new therapeutic targets by greater dissection of the pathways to tissue inflammation and injury. This study assessed the safety of kidney biopsies in patients with SLE enrolled in the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, a consortium formed to molecularly deconstruct nephritis.Methods 475 patients with SLE across 15 clinical sites in the USA consented to obtain tissue for research purposes during a clinically indicated kidney biopsy. Adverse events (AEs) were documented for 30 days following the procedure and were determined to be related or unrelated by all site investigators. Serious AEs were defined according to the National Institutes of Health reporting guidelines.Results 34 patients (7.2%) experienced a procedure-related AE: 30 with haematoma, 2 with jets, 1 with pain and 1 with an arteriovenous fistula. Eighteen (3.8%) experienced a serious AE requiring hospitalisation; four patients (0.8%) required a blood transfusion related to the kidney biopsy. At one site where the number of cores retrieved during the biopsy was recorded, the mean was 3.4 for those who experienced a related AE (n=9) and 3.07 for those who did not experience any AE (n=140). All related AEs resolved.Conclusions Procurement of research tissue should be considered feasible, accompanied by a complication risk likely no greater than that incurred for standard clinical purposes. In the quest for targeted treatments personalised based on molecular findings, enhanced diagnostics beyond histology will likely be required