Can a computerised training paradigm assist people with intellectual disabilities to learn cognitive mediation skills? A randomised experiment

Aims: The aim was to examine whether specific skills required for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) could be taught using a computerised training paradigm with people who have intellectual disabilities (IDs). Training aimed to improve: a) ability to link pairs of situations and mediating beliefs to emotions, and b) ability to link pairs of situations and emotions to mediating beliefs. Method: Using a single-blind mixed experimental design, sixty-five participants with IDs were randomised to receive either computerised training or an attention-control condition. Cognitive mediation skills were assessed before and after training. Results: Participants who received training were significantly better at selecting appropriate emotions within situation-beliefs pairs, controlling for baseline scores and IQ. Despite significant improvements in the ability of those who received training to correctly select intermediating beliefs for situation-feelings pairings, no between-group differences were observed at post-test. Conclusions: The findings indicated that computerised training led to a significant improvement in some aspects of cognitive mediation for people with IDs, but whether this has a positive effect upon outcome from therapy is yet to be established

Critical roles of endogenous glucocorticoids for disease tolerance in malaria

During malaria, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is activated and glucocorticoid (GC) levels are increased, but their essential roles have been largely overlooked. GCs are decisive for systemic regulation of vital processes such as immune responses, vascular function, and metabolism, which are crucial in malaria. Here, we introduce GCs in general, followed by their versatile roles for disease tolerance in malaria. A complementary comparison is provided with their role in sepsis. Finally, potential translational implications are considered. The failed clinical trials of dexamethasone against cerebral malaria in the past have diminished the interest in GCs in malaria. However, the issue of relative corticosteroid insufficiency has barely been explored in malaria patients, but may hold promise for a better understanding and treatment of specific malaria complications

Ultrasound-guided trans-rectal high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for advanced cervical cancer ablation is feasible: a case report.

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is an ablative treatment undergoing assessment for the treatment of benign and malignant disease. We describe the first reported intracavitary HIFU ablation for recurrent, unresectable and symptomatic cervical cancer.A 38 year old woman receiving palliative chemotherapy for metastatic cervical adenocarcinoma was offered ablative treatment from an intracavitary trans-rectal HIFU device (Sonablate® 500). Pre-treatment symptoms included vaginal bleeding and discharge that were sufficient to impede her quality of life. No peri-procedural adverse events occurred. Symptoms resolved completely immediately post-procedure, reappeared at 7 days, increasing to pre-procedural levels by day 30.This first time experience of intracavitary cervical HIFU suggests that it is feasible for palliation of advanced cervical cancer, with no early evidence of unexpected toxicity. Ethical approval had also been granted for the use of per-vaginal access if appropriate. This route, alone or in combination with the rectal route, may provide increased accessibility in future patients with a redesigned device more suited to trans-vaginal ablations.Intracavitary HIFU is a potentially safe procedure for the treatment of cervical cancer and able to provide symptomatic improvement in the palliative setting

Nieuwe wegen voor de veredeling van gewassen voor kleine markten: Sleutelelementen voor vruchtbare samenwerking in de keten

Voor het veredelingsbedrijfsleven is het nog beperkte biologische areaal een belangrijke bottleneck om te investeren in biologische selectie. Vanuit de biologische sector is er behoefte aan het vinden van innovatieve vormen van financiering of organisatie van veredeling om de vicieuze cirkel te doorbreken. Er zijn een aantal sleutelelementen geïdentificeerd die belangrijk zijn voor het succesvol opzetten van dergelijke initiatieven: erkenning van een probleem binnen de gehele keten, de complexiteit van de keten en haar geschiedenis, planteigenschappen, en ondersteuning voor ontwikkeling van nieuwe vormen van samenwerking. Mogelijke verbeterpunten qua organisatie zijn aanpassing van bestaande veredelingsstrategieën en betere afstemming tussen ketenpartners op Europees niveau. Dit laatste punt kan ook perspectief bieden op het gebied van financiering. Qua communicatie zijn kortere lijnen tussen telers en veredelaars belangrijk

Synovial Tissue Response to Treatment with TNF Blockers in Peripheral Spondyloarthritis

This review describes the synovial response to treatment in peripheral spondyloarthritis (SpA). A series of recent studies demonstrates that the synovial histopathology is largely homogenous between different SpA subtypes and can be strongly modulated by effective treatment such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockade. This includes a dramatic reduction of the infiltration with inflammatory cells (with the intriguing exception of B lymphocytes and plasma cells), a modulation of structural features such as vascularity, intimal lining layer hyperplasia, and ectopic lymphoid neogenesis, and a down-regulation of a variety of mediators involved in tissue damage. The analysis of tissue response to targeted therapies appears to be a novel and elegant approach to study the immunopathology of human peripheral SpA in vivo. Moreover, detailed cellular and molecular analysis of synovial features allows to identify synovial biomarkers of clinical response to therapeutic interventions which can be used in future early phase clinical trials in SpA

Various ways for successful Cultivar introduction in the market

Organic production requires novel, robust cultivars especially for crops such as apple, grape, tomato and potato which are very disease susceptible and are often protected by copper compounds. The European project CO-FREE aims to develop innovative methods, tools and concepts for the replacement of copper to reduce the use of copper in organic farming systems. One key strategy is the introduction of resistant cultivars. However, previous studies have shown that the introduction of novel cultivars often meets substantial obstacles as retailers’ and/or consumers’ awareness has to be generated in order to open the market. Resistance is an important issue for farmers but not immediately appealing for consumers as they are hardly aware of the fact that current cultivars are not always robust. In this brochure key obstacles and opportunities for market introduction of disease-resistant cultivars of apple and potato are described

CD4+ T-cell responses to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent-cycle antigens and the recognition of EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines

There is considerable interest in the potential of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent antigen-specific CD4$^+$ T cells to act as direct effectors controlling EBV-induced B lymphoproliferations. Such activity would require direct CD4$^+$ T-cell recognition of latently infected cells through epitopes derived from endogenously expressed viral proteins and presented on the target cell surface in association with HLA class II molecules. It is therefore important to know how often these conditions are met. Here we provide CD4$^+$ epitope maps for four EBV nuclear antigens, EBNA1, -2, -3A, and -3C, and establish CD4$^+$ T-cell clones against 12 representative epitopes. For each epitope we identify the relevant HLA class II restricting allele and determine the efficiency with which epitope-specific effectors recognize the autologous EBV-transformed B-lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL). The level of recognition measured by gamma interferon release was consistent among clones to the same epitope but varied between epitopes, with values ranging from 0 to 35% of the maximum seen against the epitope peptide-loaded LCL. These epitope-specific differences, also apparent in short-term cytotoxicity and longer-term outgrowth assays on LCL targets, did not relate to the identity of the source antigen and could not be explained by the different functional avidities of the CD4$^+$ clones; rather, they appeared to reflect different levels of epitope display at the LCL surface. Thus, while CD4$^+$ T-cell responses are detectable against many epitopes in EBV latent proteins, only a minority of these responses are likely to have therapeutic potential as effectors directly recognizing latently infected target cells

News from the online traveling repairman

AbstractIn the traveling repairman problem (Trp), a tour must be found through every one of a set of points (cities) in some metric space such that the weighted sum of completion times of the cities is minimized. Given a tour, the completion time of a city is the time traveled on the tour before the city is reached. In the online traveling repairman problem (OLTrp) requests for visits to cities arrive online while the repairman is traveling. We analyze the performance of algorithms for the online problem using competitive analysis, where the cost of an online algorithm is compared to that of an optimal offline algorithm.We show how to use techniques from online-scheduling to obtain a deterministic algorithm with a competitive ratio of (1+2)2<5.8285 for the OlTrp in general metric spaces. We also present a randomized algorithm which achieves a competitive ratio of 4/ln3<3.6410 against an oblivious adversary. Our results extend to the “dial-a-ride” generalization L-OlDarp of the OlTrp, where objects have to be picked up and delivered by a server. This improves upon the previously best competitive ratio of 9 for the OlTrp on the real line and, moreover, the results are valid for any metric space. For the case of the L-OlDarp our algorithms are the first competitive algorithms.We also derive the first lower bounds for the competitive ratio of randomized algorithms for the OlTrp and the L-OlDarp against an oblivious adversary. Our lower bounds are (ln16+1)/(ln16−1)>2.1282 for the L-OlDarp on the line, (4e−5)/(2e−3)>2.41041 for the L-OlDarp on general metric spaces, 2 for the OlTrp on the line, and 73 for the OlTrp on general metric spaces