Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period

The assessment of motor functioning in young children has become increasingly important in recent years with the acknowledgement that motor impairment is linked with cognitive, language, social and emotional difficulties. However, there is no one gold standard assessment tool to investigate motor ability in children. The aim of the current paper was to discuss the issues related to the assessment of motor ability in young pre-school children and to provide guidelines on the best approach for motor assessment. The paper discusses the maturational changes in brain development at the preschool level in relation to motor ability. Other issues include sex differences in motor ability at this young age, and evidence for this in relation to sociological versus biological influences. From the previous literature it is unclear what needs to be assessed in relation to motor functioning. Should the focus be underlying motor processes or movement skill assessment? Several key assessment tools are discussed that produce a general measure of motor performance followed by a description of tools that assess specific skills, such as fine and gross motor, ball and graphomotor skills. The paper concludes with recommendations on the best approach in assessing motor function in pre-school children

Shewanella pealeana sp. nov., a member of a microbial community associated with the accessory nidamental gland of the squid Loligo pealei.

A new, mesophillic, facultatively anaerobic, psychrotolerant bacterium, strain ANG-SQ1T (T = type strain), was isolated from a microbial community colonizing the accessory nidamental gland of the squid Loligo pealei. It was selected from the community on the basis of its ability to reduce elemental sulfur. The cells are motile, Gram-negative rods (2.0-3.0 microns long, 0.4-0.6 micron wide). ANG-SQ1T grows optimally over the temperature range of 25-30 degrees C and a pH range of 6.5-7.5 degrees C in media containing 0.5 M NaCl. 16S rRNA sequence analysis revealed that this organism belongs to the gamma-3 subclass of the Proteobacteria. The closest relative of ANG-SQ1T is Shewanella gelidimarina, with a 16S rRNA sequence similarity of 97.0%. Growth occurs with glucose, lactate, acetate, pyruvate, glutamate, citrate, succinate, Casamino acids, yeast extract or peptone as sole energy source under aerobic conditions. The isolate grows anaerobically by the reduction of iron, manganese, nitrate, fumarate, trimethylamine-N-oxide, thiosulfate or elemental sulfur as terminal electron acceptor with lactate. Growth of ANG-SQ1T was enhanced by the addition of choline chloride to growth media lacking Casamino acids. The addition of leucine or valine also enhanced growth in minimal growth media supplemented with choline. The results of both phenotypic and genetic characterization indicate that ANG-SQ1T is a Shewanella species. Thus it is proposed that this new isolate be assigned to the genus Shewanella and that it should be named Shewanella pealeana sp. nov., in recognition of its association with L. peale

Preparation of new 1,3-dibenzyl tetrahydropyridinylidene ammonium salts and their antimicrobial and anticellular activities

New 1,3 dibenzyl -tetrahydropyridinylidene ammonium salts have been prepared from unsubstituted or N-benzylated tetrahydropyridinylidene ammonium salts. The antiplasmodial and antitrypanosomal activities as well as their cytotoxic effects were determined using microplate assays. In addition, their activities against two gram positive and two gram negative bacteria strains and a yeast strain were examined. Furthermore, anticancer effects against two cell lines were investigated. Physicochemical parameters were calculated and structure-activity-relationships discussed. One compound showed antiplasmodial activity against a multiresistant strain of Plasmodium falciparum in subnanomolar concentration. Antitrypanosomal activities were detected in low nanomolar concentrations. A single compound was active against grampositive and gramnegative bacteria, as well as yeast. One compound inhibited the growth of a HCT cell line in low concentration