Metacognition and headache: which Is the role in childhood and adolescence?

Headache, in particular migraine, is one of the most frequent neurological symptoms in children and adolescents and it affects about 60% of children and adolescents all over the world. Headache can affect several areas of child’s functioning, such as school, physical activities, peer, and family relationship. The global and severe burden of this disease requires a multidisciplinary strategy and an effective treatment addressed all of the patient’s needs and based on cutting-edge scientific research. In recent years, research has focused on cognitive factors specifically in functions called metacognitive processes. Metacognition can be defined as the knowledge, beliefs, and cognitive processes involved in monitoring, control, and assessment of cognition. Metacognition seems to be closely related to the ability of theory of mind, the ability to infer, and reason about the mental states of other people in order to predict and explain own behavior. Recent studies found a relationship between metacognitive skills and anxiety, depression, motivation, academic performance, human social interactions, and stress symptoms. This relationship is very interesting for headache treatment, because these factors are the most commonly reported triggers in this disorder and there is a high comorbidity with anxiety and depression in children and adolescents with headache. So, headache and these comorbidities, in particular anxiety and depression, may have in common persistent and maladaptive patterns of thinking which are related to maladaptive metacognitive beliefs. Further research should assess metacognitive processes of children and adolescents with headache in order to increase their ability to control their own cognitive processes and consequently monitor factors which may trigger the attacks

Headache and alexithymia in children and adolescents: what Is the connection?

Background: Headache is one of the most common complaints in children and adolescents and comorbidity rates are very high and the major associated diseases are depression, anxiety, atopic disorders, sleep, and behavioral disorders. In recent years, it has been highlighted that difficulties regulating emotions such as alexithymia have also been associated with diagnosis of somatization. Methods: We carried out a mini review analyzing the relation between alexithymia and primary headache (e.g., migraine and tension type headache) in children and adolescents by synthesizing the relevant studies in the literature on PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. Search terms were "alexithymia" combined with the "primary headache," "migraine," "tension type headache," "children," and "adolescents." Results: All analyzed studies found higher levels of alexithymia in children and adolescents with headache than control groups but there are different opinions about the relationship between headache and alexithymia. For example, some studies suggest that the association between headache and alexithymia in children may be due to an incomplete development of emotive competency or a general immature cognitive development, instead other studies found a correlation between headache symptoms, insecure attachment, and alexithymia. There seems to be also differences between children with migraine compared to those with tension type headache (TTH). Conclusion: There are some studies on adults suffering from headache or migraine and alexithymia, but there is only a moderate amount of research on pediatric age with different opinions and theories about this relationship. Further studies on children and adolescents are necessary to effectively understand this relationship and to help children to reduce headache and improve emotional consciousness

Hadronic interactions of primary cosmic rays with the FLUKA code

The measured fluxes of secondary particles produced by the interactions of cosmic rays with the astronomical environment represent a powerful tool to infer some properties of primary cosmic rays. In this work we investigate the production of secondary particles in inelastic hadronic interactions between several cosmic rays species of projectiles and different target nuclei of the interstellar medium. The yields of secondary particles have been calculated with the FLUKA simulation package, that provides with very good accuracy the energy distributions of secondary products in a large energy range. An application to the propagation and production of secondaries in the Galaxy is presented.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; Contribution to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, July 30 to August 6, The Hague, Netherlands; fixing a typo in the y-axis label of Fig.

DNA Strand-Transfer Activity in Pea (\u3ci\u3ePisum sativum\u3c/i\u3e L.) Chloroplasts

The occurrence of DNA recombination in plastids of higher plants is well documented. However, little is known at the enzymic level. To begin dissecting the biochemical mechanism(s) involved we focused on a key step: strand transfer between homologous parental DNAs. We detected a RecA-like strand transfer activity in stromal extracts from pea (Pisum sativum L.) chloroplasts. Formation of joint molecules requires Mg2+, ATP, and homologous substrates. This activity is inhibited by excess single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), suggesting a necessary stoichiometric relation between enzyme and ssDNA. In a novel assay with Triton X-100-permeabilized chloroplasts, we also detected strand invasion of the endogenous chloroplast DNA by 32P-labeled ssDNA complementary to the 16S rRNA gene. Joint molecules, analyzed by electron microscopy, contained the expected displacement loops. The downloadable document attached here contains only an abstract, acknowledgment of research funding, and a link to the full text on the Plant Physiology website

DNA Strand-Transfer Activity in Pea (\u3ci\u3ePisum sativum\u3c/i\u3e L.) Chloroplasts

The occurrence of DNA recombination in plastids of higher plants is well documented. However, little is known at the enzymic level. To begin dissecting the biochemical mechanism(s) involved we focused on a key step: strand transfer between homologous parental DNAs. We detected a RecA-like strand transfer activity in stromal extracts from pea (Pisum sativum L.) chloroplasts. Formation of joint molecules requires Mg2+, ATP, and homologous substrates. This activity is inhibited by excess single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), suggesting a necessary stoichiometric relation between enzyme and ssDNA. In a novel assay with Triton X-100-permeabilized chloroplasts, we also detected strand invasion of the endogenous chloroplast DNA by 32P-labeled ssDNA complementary to the 16S rRNA gene. Joint molecules, analyzed by electron microscopy, contained the expected displacement loops. The downloadable document attached here contains only an abstract, acknowledgment of research funding, and a link to the full text on the Plant Physiology website

The impact of heavy quark mass effects in the NNPDF global analysis

We discuss the implementation of the FONLL general-mass scheme for heavy quarks in deep-inelastic scattering in the FastKernel framework, used in the NNPDF series of global PDF analysis. We present the general features of FONLL and benchmark the accuracy of its implementation in FastKernel comparing with the Les Houches heavy quark benchmark tables. We then show preliminary results of the NNPDF2.1 analysis, in which heavy quark mass effects are included following the FONLL-A GM scheme.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; to appear in the proceedings of DIS 2010, Firenz

The cubic period-distance relation for the Kater reversible pendulum

We describe the correct cubic relation between the mass configuration of a Kater reversible pendulum and its period of oscillation. From an analysis of its solutions we conclude that there could be as many as three distinct mass configurations for which the periods of small oscillations about the two pivots of the pendulum have the same value. We also discuss a real compound Kater pendulum that realizes this property.Comment: 25 pages 4figure

Trabajos Preliminares para Determinar toxicidad de los extractos Pulmonares en Semen Porcino Refrigerado

La distribución de la inseminación artificial en la industria porcina se ha visto afectada por la baja supervivencia de los espermatozoides durante la criopreservación lo que supone un inconveniente en el transporte del material genético. La incorporación de agentes tensoactivos en la crio preservación de semen porcino ha significado un gran avance en la eficiencia de esta biotecnología. Estudios realizados en diferentes especies, determinaron efectos positivos en la interrelación de los componentes de los diluyentes con los lípidos y proteínas de la membrana plasmática de los espermatozoides. El tejido pulmonar posee agentes surfactantes naturales como fosfolípidos, dipalmitoilfosfatidilcolina (DPPC), fosfatidilcolina insaturada, fosfatidilglicerol, fosfatidilnositol y proteínas: SP-A, SP-B, SP-C y SP-D. Es importante determinar si en los extractos pulmonares existen efectos benéficos en la crioconservación de semen de cerdo. Por lo tanto, el objetivo del presente trabajo fue determinar la ausencia de efectos tóxicos de dichos extractos sobre los espermatozoides del verraco. Se evaluó el semen de dos verracos en tres eyaculados diferentes, adicionando 2.5, 5 y 10 % de extractos pulmonares, tomando como parámetros, la relación vivos/muertos, Test hiposmótico e integridad acrosómica, y se los comparó con una muestra de semen conservada en diluyente comercial. Las medias resultantes para host fueron 63.08, 55.75 y 49.33, para el medio con diluyente y  62.28, 54.72 y 48.47  para el para los medios con el agregado de extractos pulmonares a 0, 24 y 48 horas respectivamente. Para la relación vivos/muertos las medias fueron 53.83, 48.17 y 41.67 para el medio con diluyente y 54.39, 47.33 y 41.24 para los medios con el agregado de extractos pulmonares a las 0, 24 y 48 horas respectivamente. Las medias para integridad acrosómica fueron 91.68, 83.08 y 72.75 para el medio con diluyente y 90.30, 81.28 y 71.75 para los medios con el agregado de extractos pulmonares, a las 0, 24 y 48 horas. Los resultados no muestran diferencias, por lo tanto no se observa toxicidad en ninguna de las concentraciones de extractos pulmonares utilizadas

Progress in the Neural Network Determination of Polarized Parton Distributions

We review recent progress towards a determination of a set of polarized parton distributions from a global set of deep-inelastic scattering data based on the NNPDF methodology, in analogy with the unpolarized case. This method is designed to provide a faithful and statistically sound representation of parton distributions and their uncertainties. We show how the FastKernel method provides a fast and accurate method for solving the polarized DGLAP equations. We discuss the polarized PDF parametrizations and the physical constraints which can be imposed. Preliminary results suggest that the uncertainty on polarized PDFs, most notably the gluon, has been underestimated in previous studies.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; to appear in the proceedings of DIS 2010, Firenz