Kaspar Explains: The Effect of Causal Explanations on Visual Perspective Taking Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Mapping monthly rainfall erosivity in Europe

Rainfall erosivity as a dynamic factor of soil loss by water erosion is modelled intra-annually for the first time at European scale. The development of Rainfall Erosivity Database at European Scale (REDES) and its 2015 update with the extension to monthly component allowed to develop monthly and seasonal R-factor maps and assess rainfall erosivity both spatially and temporally. During winter months, significant rainfall erosivity is present only in part of the Mediterranean countries. A sudden increase of erosivity occurs in major part of European Union (except Mediterranean basin, western part of Britain and Ireland) in May and the highest values are registered during summer months. Starting from September, R-factor has a decreasing trend. The mean rainfall erosivity in summer is almost 4 times higher (315MJmmha-1h-1) compared to winter (87MJmmha-1h-1). The Cubist model has been selected among various statistical models to perform the spatial interpolation due to its excellent performance, ability to model non-linearity and interpretability. The monthly prediction is an order more difficult than the annual one as it is limited by the number of covariates and, for consistency, the sum of all months has to be close to annual erosivity. The performance of the Cubist models proved to be generally high, resulting in R2 values between 0.40 and 0.64 in cross-validation. The obtained months show an increasing trend of erosivity occurring from winter to summer starting from western to Eastern Europe. The maps also show a clear delineation of areas with different erosivity seasonal patterns, whose spatial outline was evidenced by cluster analysis. The monthly erosivity maps can be used to develop composite indicators that map both intra-annual variability and concentration of erosive events. Consequently, spatio-temporal mapping of rainfall erosivity permits to identify the months and the areas with highest risk of soil loss where conservation measures should be applied in different seasons of the year

Monthly Rainfall Erosivity: Conversion Factors for Different Time Resolutions and Regional Assessments

As a follow up and an advancement of the recently published Rainfall Erosivity Database at European Scale (REDES) and the respective mean annual R-factor map, the monthly aspect of rainfall erosivity has been added to REDES. Rainfall erosivity is crucial to be considered at a monthly resolution, for the optimization of land management (seasonal variation of vegetation cover and agricultural support practices) as well as natural hazard protection (landslides and flood prediction). We expanded REDES by 140 rainfall stations, thus covering areas where monthly R-factor values were missing (Slovakia, Poland) or former data density was not satisfactory (Austria, France, and Spain). The different time resolutions (from 5 to 60 min) of high temporal data require a conversion of monthly R-factor based on a pool of stations with available data at all time resolutions. Because the conversion factors show smaller monthly variability in winter (January: 1.54) than in summer (August: 2.13), applying conversion factors on a monthly basis is suggested. The estimated monthly conversion factors allow transferring the R-factor to the desired time resolution at a European scale. The June to September period contributes to 53% of the annual rainfall erosivity in Europe, with different spatial and temporal patterns depending on the region. The study also investigated the heterogeneous seasonal patterns in different regions of Europe: on average, the Northern and Central European countries exhibit the largest R-factor values in summer, while the Southern European countries do so from October to January. In almost all countries (excluding Ireland, United Kingdom and North France), the seasonal variability of rainfall erosivity is high. Very few areas (mainly located in Spain and France) show the largest from February to April. The average monthly erosivity density is very large in August (1.67) and July (1.63), while very small in January and February (0.37). This study addresses the need to develop monthly calibration factors for seasonal estimation of rainfall erosivity and presents the spatial patterns of monthly rainfall erosivity in European Union and Switzerland. Moreover, the study presents the regions and seasons under threat of rainfall erosivity.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

Lung inflammation does not affect the clearance kinetics of lipid nanocapsules following pulmonary administration

Lipid nanocapsules (LNCs) are semi-rigid spherical capsules with a triglyceride core that present a promising formulation option for the pulmonary delivery of drugs with poor aqueous solubility. Whilst the biodistribution of LNCs of different size has been studied following intravenous administration, the fate of LNCs following pulmonary delivery has not been reported. We investigated quantitatively whether lung inflammation affects the clearance of 50nm lipid nanocapsules, or is exacerbated by their pulmonary administration. Studies were conducted in mice with lipopolysaccharide-induced lung inflammation compared to healthy controls. Particle deposition and nanocapsule clearance kinetics were measured by single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) imaging over 48 h. A significantly lower lung dose of (111)In-LNC50 was achieved in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated animals compared with healthy controls (p<0.001). When normalised to the delivered lung dose, the clearance kinetics of (111)In-LNC50 from the lungs fit a first order model with an elimination half-life of 10.5±0.9h (R(2)=0.995) and 10.6±0.3h (R(2)=1.000) for healthy and inflamed lungs respectively (n=3). In contrast, (111)In-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA), a small hydrophilic molecule, was cleared rapidly from the lungs with the majority of the dose absorbed within 20min of administration. Biodistribution to lungs, stomach-intestine, liver, trachea-throat and blood at the end of the imaging period was unaltered by lung inflammation. This study demonstrated that lung clearance and whole body distribution of lipid nanocapsules were unaffected by the presence of acute lung inflammation

A systematic review of the psychometric properties of self-report research utilization measures used in healthcare

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In healthcare, a gap exists between what is known from research and what is practiced. Understanding this gap depends upon our ability to robustly measure research utilization.</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>The objectives of this systematic review were: to identify self-report measures of research utilization used in healthcare, and to assess the psychometric properties (acceptability, reliability, and validity) of these measures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a systematic review of literature reporting use or development of self-report research utilization measures. Our search included: multiple databases, ancestry searches, and a hand search. Acceptability was assessed by examining time to complete the measure and missing data rates. Our approach to reliability and validity assessment followed that outlined in the <it>Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 42,770 titles screened, 97 original studies (108 articles) were included in this review. The 97 studies reported on the use or development of 60 unique self-report research utilization measures. Seven of the measures were assessed in more than one study. Study samples consisted of healthcare providers (92 studies) and healthcare decision makers (5 studies). No studies reported data on acceptability of the measures. Reliability was reported in 32 (33%) of the studies, representing 13 of the 60 measures. Internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha) reliability was reported in 31 studies; values exceeded 0.70 in 29 studies. Test-retest reliability was reported in 3 studies with Pearson's <it>r </it>coefficients > 0.80. No validity information was reported for 12 of the 60 measures. The remaining 48 measures were classified into a three-level validity hierarchy according to the number of validity sources reported in 50% or more of the studies using the measure. Level one measures (n = 6) reported evidence from any three (out of four possible) <it>Standards </it>validity sources (which, in the case of single item measures, was all applicable validity sources). Level two measures (n = 16) had evidence from any two validity sources, and level three measures (n = 26) from only one validity source.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This review reveals significant underdevelopment in the measurement of research utilization. Substantial methodological advances with respect to construct clarity, use of research utilization and related theory, use of measurement theory, and psychometric assessment are required. Also needed are improved reporting practices and the adoption of a more contemporary view of validity (<it>i.e.</it>, the <it>Standards</it>) in future research utilization measurement studies.</p

Spectral-temporal EEG dynamics of speech discrimination processing in infants during sleep

BACKGROUND: Oddball paradigms are frequently used to study auditory discrimination by comparing event-related potential (ERP) responses from a standard, high probability sound and to a deviant, low probability sound. Previous research has established that such paradigms, such as the mismatch response or mismatch negativity, are useful for examining auditory processes in young children and infants across various sleep and attention states. The extent to which oddball ERP responses may reflect subtle discrimination effects, such as speech discrimination, is largely unknown, especially in infants that have not yet acquired speech and language. RESULTS: Mismatch responses for three contrasts (non-speech, vowel, and consonant) were computed as a spectral-temporal probability function in 24 infants, and analyzed at the group level by a modified multidimensional scaling. Immediately following an onset gamma response (30-50 Hz), the emergence of a beta oscillation (12-30 Hz) was temporally coupled with a lower frequency theta oscillation (2-8 Hz). The spectral-temporal probability of this coupling effect relative to a subsequent theta modulation corresponds with discrimination difficulty for non-speech, vowel, and consonant contrast features. DISCUSSION: The theta modulation effect suggests that unexpected sounds are encoded as a probabilistic measure of surprise. These results support the notion that auditory discrimination is driven by the development of brain networks for predictive processing, and can be measured in infants during sleep. The results presented here have implications for the interpretation of discrimination as a probabilistic process, and may provide a basis for the development of single-subject and single-trial classification in a clinically useful context. CONCLUSION: An infant's brain is processing information about the environment and performing computations, even during sleep. These computations reflect subtle differences in acoustic feature processing that are necessary for language-learning. Results from this study suggest that brain responses to deviant sounds in an oddball paradigm follow a cascade of oscillatory modulations. This cascade begins with a gamma response that later emerges as a beta synchronization, which is temporally coupled with a theta modulation, and followed by a second, subsequent theta modulation. The difference in frequency and timing of the theta modulations appears to reflect a measure of surprise. These insights into the neurophysiological mechanisms of auditory discrimination provide a basis for exploring the clinically utility of the MM

Management of Acute Severe Colitis in the Era of Biologicals and Small Molecules

Acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) is a medical emergency which occurs in about 20%&ndash;30% of patients with ulcerative colitis during their lifetime, and does carry a mortality risk of 1%. The management of inflammatory bowel diseases has evolved with changes in objective patient monitoring, as well as the availability of new treatment options with the development of new biological and small molecules; however, data is limited regarding their use in the context of ASUC. This review aims to discuss the emerging data regarding biologicals and small molecules therapies in the context of ASUC

Reply to the comment on “Rainfall erosivity in Europe” by Auerswald et al.

5 Pags.- 1 Fig. Under a Creative Commons license: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)Recently, in the Auerswald et al. (2015) comment on “Rainfall erosivity in Europe”, 5 criticisms were addressed: i) the neglect of seasonal erosion indices, ii) the neglect of published studies and data, iii) the low temporal resolution of the data, especially of the maximum rain intensity, iv) the use of precipitation data instead of rain data and the subsequent deviation of the R-factor in Germany and Austria compared with previous studies, and v) the differences in considered time periods between countries. We reply as follows: (i) An evaluation of the seasonal erosion index at the European scale is, to our knowledge, not achievable at present with the available data but would be a future goal. Synchronous publication of the seasonal erosion index is not mandatory, specifically because seasonal soil loss ratios are not available at this scale to date. We are looking forward to the appropriate study by the authors of the comment, who assert that they have access to the required data. (ii) We discuss and evaluate relevant studies in our original work and in this reply; however, we cannot consider what is not available to the scientific community. (iii) The third point of critique was based on a misunderstanding by Auerswald et al. (2015), as we did indeed calculate the maximum intensity with the highest resolution of data available.(iv) The low R-factor values in Germany and the higher values in Austria compared with previous studies are not due to the involvement of snow but are rather due to a Pan-European interpolation. We argue that an interpolation across the borders of Austria creates a more reliable data set. (v) We agree that the use of a short time series or time series from different periods is generally a problem in all large-scale studies and requires improvement in the future. However, because this affects countries with a rather low variability of the R-factor in our study, we are confident that the overall results of the map are not biased. In conclusion, the Pan-European rainfall data compilation (REDES) was a great success and yielded data from 1541 stations with an average length of 17.1 years and a temporal resolution of < 60 min. However, a Pan-European data collection will never be complete without the help and supply of data from its users. Thus, we invite the authors of the comment to share their data in the open REDES to help build even better rainfall-erosivity maps at regional or European scales.Peer reviewe

Rainfall Erosivity in Europe

Rainfall is one the main drivers of soil erosion. The erosive force of rainfall is expressed as rainfall erosivity. Rainfall erosivity considers the rainfall amount and intensity, and is most commonly expressed as the R-factor in the USLE model and its revised version, RUSLE. At national and continental levels, the scarce availability of data obliges soil erosion modellers to estimate this factor based on rainfall data with only low temporal resolution (daily, monthly, annual averages). The purpose of this study is to assess rainfall erosivity in Europe in the form of the RUSLE R-factor, based on the best available datasets. Data have been collected from 1541 precipitation stations in all European Union (EU) Member States and Switzerland, with temporal resolutions of 5 to 60 min. The R-factor values calculated from precipitation data of different temporal resolutions were normalised to R-factor values with temporal resolutions of 30 min using linear regression functions. Precipitation time series ranged from a minimum of 5 years to a maximum of 40 years. The average time series per precipitation station is around 17.1 years, the most datasets including the first decade of the 21st century. Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) has been used to interpolate the R-factor station values to a European rainfall erosivity map at 1 km resolution. The covariates used for the R-factor interpolation were climatic data (total precipitation, seasonal precipitation, precipitation of driest/wet-test months, average temperature), elevation and latitude/longitude. The mean R-factor for the EU plus Switzerland is 722 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1), with the highest values (>1000 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1)) in the Mediterranean and alpine regions and the lowest (<500 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1)) in the Nordic countries. The erosivity density (erosivity normalised to annual precipitation amounts) was also the highest in Mediterranean regions which implies high risk for erosive events and floods

Risk factors for complications in patients with ulcerative colitis

BACKGROUND Patients with ulcerative colitis may develop extraintestinal manifestations like erythema nodosum or primary sclerosing cholangitis or extraintestinal complications like anaemia, malabsorption or they may have to undergo surgery. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate potential risk factors for complications like anaemia, malabsorption or surgery in ulcerative colitis. METHODS Data on 179 patients with ulcerative colitis were retrieved from our cross-sectional and prospective Swiss Inflammatory Bowel Disease Cohort Study data base for a median observational time of 4.2 years. Data were compared between patients with (n = 140) or without (n = 39) complications. Gender, age at diagnosis, smoking status, disease extent, delay of diagnosis or therapy, mesalamine (5-ASA) systemic and topical therapy, as well as other medication were analysed as potential impact factors. RESULTS In the multivariate regression analysis a delay of 5-ASA treatment by at least two months (odds ratio (OR) 6.21 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.13-18.14), p = 0.001) as well as a delay with other medication with thiopurines (OR 6.48 (95% CI 2.01-20.91), p = 0.002) were associated with a higher risk for complications. This significant impact of a delay of 5-ASA therapy was demonstrated for extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs) as well as extraintestinal complications (EICs). Extensive disease as well as therapy with methotrexate showed a significantly increased risk for surgery (extensive disease: OR 2.62 (1.02-6.73), p = 0.05, methotrexate: OR 5.36 (1.64-17.58), p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS A delay of 5-ASA therapy of more than two months in the early stage of ulcerative colitis (UC) constitutes a risk for complications during disease course. Extensive disease is associated with a higher risk for surgery