Infants’ intentionally communicative vocalisations elicit responses from caregivers and are the best predictors of the transition to language: a longitudinal investigation of infants’ vocalisations, gestures, and word production

What aspects of infants’ prelinguistic communication are most valuable for learning to speak, and why? We test whether early vocalisations and gestures drive the transition to word use because, in addition to indicating motoric readiness, they 1) are early instances of intentional communication and 2) elicit verbal responses from caregivers. In study 1, 11-month-olds (N = 134) were observed to coordinate vocalisations and gestures with gaze to their caregiver’s face at above chance rates, indicating that they are plausibly intentionally communicative. Study 2 tested whether those infant communicative acts that were gaze-coordinated best predicted later expressive vocabulary. We report a novel procedure for predicting vocabulary via multi-model inference over a comprehensive set of infant behaviours produced at 11- and 12-months (n = 58). This makes it possible to establish the relative predictive value of different behaviours that are hierarchically organised by level of granularity. Gaze-coordinated vocalisations were the most valuable predictors of expressive vocabulary size up to 24 months. Study 3 established that caregivers were more likely to respond to gaze-coordinated behaviours. Moreover, the dyadic combination of infant gaze-coordinated vocalisation and caregiver response was by far the best predictor of later vocabulary size. We conclude that practice with prelinguistic intentional communication facilitates the leap to symbol use. Learning is optimised when caregivers respond to intentional vocalisations with appropriate language

Neurotoxin-mediated potent activation of the axon degeneration regulator SARM1

Axon loss underlies symptom onset and progression in many neurodegenerative disorders. Axon degeneration in injury and disease is promoted by activation of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-consuming enzyme SARM1. Here, we report a novel activator of SARM1, a metabolite of the pesticide and neurotoxin vacor. Removal of SARM1 completely rescues mouse neurons from vacor-induced neuron and axon death in vitro and in vivo. We present the crystal structure the Drosophila SARM1 regulatory domain complexed with this activator, the vacor metabolite VMN, which as the most potent activator yet know is likely to support drug development for human SARM1 and NMNAT2 disorders. This study indicates the mechanism of neurotoxicity and pesticide action by vacor, raises important questions about other pyridines in wider use today, provides important new tools for drug discovery, and demonstrates that removing SARM1 can robustly block programmed axon death induced by toxicity as well as genetic mutation

Patterns of wood carbon dioxide efflux across a 2,000-m elevation transect in an Andean moist forest

During a 1-year measurement period, we recorded the CO2 efflux from stems (RS) and coarse woody roots (RR) of 13–20 common tree species at three study sites at 1,050, 1,890 and 3,050 m a.s.l. in an Andean moist forest. The objective of this work was to study elevation changes of woody tissue CO2 efflux and the relationship to climate variation, site characteristics and growth. Furthermore, we aim to provide insights into important respiration–productivity relationships of a little studied tropical vegetation type. We expected RS and RR to vary with dry and humid season conditions. We further expected RS to vary more than RR due to a more stable soil than air temperature regime. Seasonal variation in woody tissue CO2 efflux was indeed mainly attributable to stems. At the same time, temperature played only a small role in triggering variations in RS. At stand level, the ratio of C release (g C m−2 ground area year−1) between stems and roots varied from 4:1 at 1,050 m to 1:1 at 3,050 m, indicating the increasing prevalence of root activity at high elevations. The fraction of growth respiration from total respiration varied between 10 (3,050 m) and 14% (1,050 m) for stems and between 5 (1,050 m) and 30% (3,050 m) for roots. Our results show that respiratory activity and hence productivity is not driven by low temperatures towards higher elevations in this tropical montane forest. We suggest that future studies should examine the limitation of carbohydrate supply from leaves as a driver for the changes in respiratory activity with elevation

Home-range use patterns and movements of the Siberian flying squirrel in urban forests: Effects of habitat composition and connectivity

Peer reviewe

Economic Analysis of Knowledge: The History of Thought and the Central Themes

Following the development of knowledge economies, there has been a rapid expansion of economic analysis of knowledge, both in the context of technological knowledge in particular and the decision theory in general. This paper surveys this literature by identifying the main themes and contributions and outlines the future prospects of the discipline. The wide scope of knowledge related questions in terms of applicability and alternative approaches has led to the fragmentation of research. Nevertheless, one can identify a continuing tradition which analyses various aspects of the generation, dissemination and use of knowledge in the economy

Egg Production in a Coastal Seabird, the Glaucous-Winged Gull (Larus glaucescens), Declines during the Last Century

Seabirds integrate information about oceanic ecosystems across time and space, and are considered sensitive indicators of marine conditions. To assess whether hypothesized long-term foodweb changes such as forage fish declines may be reflected in a consumer's life history traits over time, I used meta-regression to evaluate multi-decadal changes in aspects of egg production in the glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), a common coastal bird. Study data were derived from literature searches of published papers and unpublished historical accounts, museum egg collections, and modern field studies, with inclusion criteria based on data quality and geographic area of the original study. Combined historical and modern data showed that gull egg size declined at an average of 0.04 cc y−1 from 1902 (108 y), equivalent to a decline of 5% of mean egg volume, while clutch size decreased over 48 y from a mean of 2.82 eggs per clutch in 1962 to 2.25 in 2009. There was a negative relationship between lay date and mean clutch size in a given year, with smaller clutches occurring in years where egg laying commenced later. Lay date itself advanced over time, with commencement of laying presently (2008–2010) 7 d later than in previous studies (1959–1986). This study demonstrates that glaucous-winged gull investment in egg production has declined significantly over the past ∼50–100 y, with such changes potentially contributing to recent population declines. Though gulls are generalist feeders that should readily be able to buffer themselves against food web changes, they are likely nutritionally constrained during the early breeding period, when egg production requirements are ideally met by consumption of high-quality prey such as forage fish. This study's results suggest a possible decline in the availability of such prey, and the incremental long-term impoverishment of a coastal marine ecosystem bordering one of North America's rapidly growing urban areas

Anti-cancer drug validation: the contribution of tissue engineered models

Abstract Drug toxicity frequently goes concealed until clinical trials stage, which is the most challenging, dangerous and expensive stage of drug development. Both the cultures of cancer cells in traditional 2D assays and animal studies have limitations that cannot ever be unraveled by improvements in drug-testing protocols. A new generation of bioengineered tumors is now emerging in response to these limitations, with potential to transform drug screening by providing predictive models of tumors within their tissue context, for studies of drug safety and efficacy. Considering the NCI60, a panel of 60 cancer cell lines representative of 9 different cancer types: leukemia, lung, colorectal, central nervous system (CNS), melanoma, ovarian, renal, prostate and breast, we propose to review current Bstate of art^ on the 9 cancer types specifically addressing the 3D tissue models that have been developed and used in drug discovery processes as an alternative to complement their studyThis article is a result of the project FROnTHERA (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This article was also supported by the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation HORIZON 2020 (H2020) under grant agreement n° 668983 — FoReCaST. FCT distinction attributed to Joaquim M. Oliveira (IF/00423/2012) and Vitor M. Correlo (IF/01214/2014) under the Investigator FCT program is also greatly acknowledged.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ageing vision and falls: a review

Background: Falls are the leading cause of accidental injury and death among older adults. One of three adults over the age of 65 years falls annually. As the size of elderly population increases, falls become a major concern for public health and there is a pressing need to understand the causes of falls thoroughly. Main body of the abstract: While it is well documented that visual functions such as visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and stereo acuity are correlated with fall risks, little attention has been paid to the relationship between falls and the ability of the visual system to perceive motion in the environment. The omission of visual motion perception in the literature is a critical gap because it is an essential function in maintaining balance. In the present article, we first review existing studies regarding visual risk factors for falls and the effect of ageing vision on falls. We then present a group of phenomena such as vection and sensory reweighting that provide information on how visual motion signals are used to maintain balance. Conclusion: We suggest that the current list of visual risk factors for falls should be elaborated by taking into account the relationship between visual motion perception and balance control

Conception participative et évaluation d'un serious game pour les enfants asthmatiques

International audienceThe study described in this paper highlighted the participatory design process (PD) in the context of asthma e-learning. First, we described global process to design this tool named KidBreath. Second, we evaluated in two Year 4 classes its efficacy in a motivation way, usability, disease knowledge and interests of children by their system. Results showed, in acceptance with behaviors, high level of intrinsic motivation when using KidBreath, usability and enjoyment of edutainment activities. This pilot study tends to confirm to continue with this approach with asthma kids at home.L'étude décrite dans cet article met en exergue l'intérêt d'une approche de conception participative (CP) dans le cadre d'un apprentissage en ligne sur l'asthme pour les enfants. Après avoir décrit l'ensemble de la démarche pour la conception de cet e-learning nommé KidBreath, nous évaluons dans 2 classes de CE2 son efficacité au niveau motivationnel, utilisabilité, connaissance sur la maladie et émergence de l'intérêt que les enfants y portent à travers la curiosité qui en émerge. Les résultats, probants aux comportements observés, montrent un haut niveau de motivation intrinsèque pour utiliser l'outil, un fort taux d'utilisabilité et une grande satisfaction des activités ludo-éducatives. Cette étude pilote nous confirme de continuer dans cette approche en testant le système notamment auprès des enfants asthmatiques sur du moyen terme