Brightest Cluster Galaxies at the Present Epoch

We have observed 433 z<=0.08 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in a full-sky survey of Abell clusters. The BCG Hubble diagram is consistent to within 2% of a Omega_m=0.3, Lambda=0.7 Hubble relation. The L_m-alpha relation for BCGs, which uses alpha, the log-slope of the BCG photometric curve of growth, to predict metric luminosity, L_m, has 0.27 mag residuals. We measure central stellar velocity dispersions, sigma, of the BCGs, finding the Faber-Jackson relation to flatten as the metric aperture grows to include an increasing fraction of the total BCG luminosity. A 3-parameter "metric plane" relation using alpha and sigma together gives the best prediction of L_m, with 0.21 mag residuals. The projected spatial offset, r_x, of BCGs from the X-ray-defined cluster center is a gamma=-2.33 power-law over 1<r_x<10^3 kpc. The median offset is ~10 kpc, but ~15% of the BCGs have r_x>100 kpc. The absolute cluster-dispersion normalized BCG peculiar velocity |Delta V_1|/sigma_c follows an exponential distribution with scale length 0.39+/-0.03. Both L_m and alpha increase with sigma_c. The alpha parameter is further moderated by both the spatial and velocity offset from the cluster center, with larger alpha correlated with the proximity of the BCG to the cluster mean velocity or potential center. At the same time, position in the cluster has little effect on L_m. The luminosity difference between the BCG and second-ranked galaxy, M2, increases as the peculiar velocity of the BCG within the cluster decreases. Further, when M2 is a close luminosity "rival" of the BCG, the galaxy that is closest to either the velocity or X-ray center of the cluster is most likely to have the larger alpha. We conclude that the inner portions of the BCGs are formed outside the cluster, but interactions in the heart of the galaxy cluster grow and extend the envelopes of the BCGs.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

The Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5): a measurement tool for eliciting patients’ reports of non-adherence

Aims: This study aimed to develop a questionnaire measure of patients' adherence to medications to elicit patients' report of medication use. The reliability and validity were assessed in patients with hypertension. Additional analyses were performed on other patient groups. Methods: Using a cross‐sectional study design, a 10‐item version of the Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS)© Professor Rob Horne was piloted in two samples of patients receiving treatment for hypertension (n=50 + 178), asthma (n=100) or diabetes (n=100) at hospital outpatient or community clinics in London and the South‐East of England. Following principal components analysis, five items were retained to form the ‘MARS‐5'©Professor Rob Horne. Evaluation comprised internal reliability, test‐retest reliability, criterion‐related validity (relationship with blood pressure control) and construct validity (relationship with patients' beliefs about medicines). Results: The MARS‐5 demonstrated acceptable reliability (internal and test‐retest) and validity (criterion‐related and construct validity). Internal reliability (Cronbach's α) ranged from 0.67 to 0.89 across all patient groups; test‐retest reliability (Pearson's r) was 0.97 in Hypertension. Criterion‐related validity was established with more adherent hypertension patients showing better blood‐pressure control (χ2=4.24, df=1, p<0.05). Construct validity with beliefs about medicines was demonstrated with higher adherence associated with stronger beliefs in treatment necessity, and lower concerns. Conclusions: The MARS‐5 performed well on several psychometric indicators. It shows promise as an effective self‐report tool for measuring patients' reports of their medication use across a range of health conditions

Prospects for detection and application of the alignment of galaxies with the large-scale velocity field

Studies of intrinsic alignment effects mostly focus on the correlations between the shapes of galaxies with each other or with the underlying density field of the large scale structure of the Universe. Lately, the correlation between the shapes of galaxies and the large-scale velocity field has been proposed as an additional probe of the large scale structure. We use a Fisher forecast to make a prediction for the detectability of this velocity-shape correlation with a combination of redshifts and shapes from the 4 MOST +LSST surveys, and radial velocity reconstruction from the Simons Observatory. The signal-to-noise ratio for the velocity-shape (dipole) correlation is 23, relative to 44 for the galaxy density-shape (monopole) correlation and for a maximum wave number of 0.2 Mpc-1 . Increasing the signal-to-noise ratio for higher values of the maximum wave numbers (respectively, 56 and 69, for a maximum wave number of 1 Mpc-1 ) indicate potential gains in the nonlinear regime. Encouraged by these predictions, we discuss two possible applications for the velocity-shape correlation. Measuring the velocity-shape correlation could improve the mitigation of selection effects induced by intrinsic alignments on galaxy clustering. We also find that velocity-shape measurements could potentially aid in determining the scale dependence of intrinsic alignments when multiple shape measurements of the same galaxies are provided

Auditory perception in individuals with Friedreich’s Ataxia

INTRODUCTION: Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is an inherited ataxia with a range of progressive features including axonal degeneration of sensory nerves. The aim of this study was to investigate auditory perception in affected individuals. METHODS: Fourteen subjects with genetically defined FRDA participated. Two control groups, one consisting of healthy, normally hearing individuals and another comprised of subjects with sensorineural hearing loss, were also assessed. Auditory processing was evaluated using structured tasks designed to reveal the listeners' ability to perceive temporal and spectral cues. Findings were then correlated with open-set speech understanding. RESULTS: Nine of 14 individuals with FRDA showed evidence of auditory processing disorder. Gap and amplitude modulation detection levels in these subjects were significantly elevated, indicating impaired encoding of rapid signal changes. Electrophysiologic findings (auditory brainstem response, ABR) also reflected disrupted neural activity. Speech understanding was significantly affected in these listeners and the degree of disruption was related to temporal processing ability. Speech analyses indicated that timing cues (notably consonant voice onset time and vowel duration) were most affected. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that auditory pathway abnormality is a relatively common consequence of FRDA. Regular auditory evaluation should therefore be part of the management regime for all affected individuals. This assessment should include both ABR testing, which can provide insights into the degree to which auditory neural activity is disrupted, and some functional measure of hearing capacity such as speech perception assessment, which can quantify the disorder and provide a basis for interventio

Eating and feeding disorders in pediatric age

Eating and feeding disorders are common in pediatric age and may be important to discover and recover the early symptoms in order to optimize the treatment and management

Motor skills in children with primary headache: A pilot case-control study

Background: Headache is the most common painful manifestation in the developmental age, often accompanied by severe disability such as scholastic absenteeism, low quality of academic performance and compromised emotional functioning. The aim of the study is to evaluate praxic abilities in a population of children without aural migraine. Materials and methods: The test population consists of 10 subjects without migraine without aura (MwA), (8 Males) (mean age 8.40, SD ± 1.17) and 11 healthy children (7 Males) (mean age 8.27; SD ± 1.10; p = 0.800). All subjects underwent evaluation of motor coordination skills through the Battery for Children Movement Assessment (M-ABC). Results: The two groups (10 MwA vs 11 Controls) were similar for age (8.40 ± 1.17 vs 8.27 ± 1.10; p = 0.800), sex (p = 0.730), and BMI (p = 0.204). The migraine subjects show an average worse performance than the Movement ABC; specifically, migraineurs show significantly higher total score values (31.00 ± 23.65 vs 4.72 ± 2.61; p = 0.001), manual dexterity (12.10 ± 11.20 vs 2.04 ± 2.65; p = 0.009) and balance (14.85 ± 10.08 vs. 1.04 ± 1.05; p &lt;0.001). The mean percentile of migraine performance is significantly reduced compared to controls (9.00 ± 3.82 vs 51.00 ± 24.34, p &lt;0.001) (Table 1). Conclusion: Migraine can alter many cognitive and executive functions such as motor skills in developmental age

Neuropsychomotricity in water: A new rehabilitative tool for neruodevelop-mental disorders

Neuropsychomotricity in water is a rehabilitative practice that avails itself just of the liquid element, as a mediator of relationships: in water yes they upset all dynamics, be they relational, of equilibrium, of movement and perception, due to the fact that proprioceptive sensations, created by bodily contact with water, they are different than those generated by contact with air

Visuospatial skills in children affected by primary nocturnal enuresis: Rehabilitative proposals

The sphincterial control problems in childhood are very common, with relevant comorbidities (i.e.: difficulty in academic performance, sleep disturbances, minor neurological signs) involved in the complex process of maturation and learning, such as to cause a great deal of discomfort and related disorders in affected subjects. Enuresis is characterized by the involuntary urination in the absence of a physical disorder, socially unacceptable in places and at one stage of life where such control is acquired by the majority of subjects (about 5 years). The present study aims to evaluate the visuospatial skills in children affected by primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (PMNE). 31 PMNE children (16 males and 15 females) (mean age 10.87, SD ± 1.68) and 61 healthy children (32 males, 29 females) (mean age 11.03, SD ± 1.85, p = 0687) were evaluated for visuomotor skills with the Visual-Motor Integration Scale (VMI). PMNE subjects show a worse performance on average to VMI, especially in the total visual-motor integration test. This finding emphasizes the importance of a framework for global and more complex than is commonly implemented, across the border but framing the subject of enuretic symptoms in a more global perspective

Animals-assisted therapy: A brief review

In rehabilitative setting, the presence of animals can be considered as an important stimulus for verbal and social communication, and for mood regulation. Interaction with an animal is beneficial for children's development and numerous psychological tests have revealed that growing up with pets has a beneficial effect on children's self-esteem and self-confidence, can improve empathy, a sense of responsibility and cognitive development, as well as social status within the peer group

Psychopathological and psychodynamic hypotheses for pediatric stuttering

Stuttering is a common language alteration in pediatric age consisting in repetitions and blocks, which entail a break in the rhythm and melody of the speech. According to the WHO it is a disorder of the rhythm of the word, the subject knows precisely what he would like to say, but at the same time he is not able to say it. It is a great inconvenience for those affected, also because the slowing down of speaking is not about thought or cognitive skills