Infant event-related potentials to speech are associated with prelinguistic development

Neural auditory processing and prelinguistic communication build the foundation for later language development, but how these two are associated is not well known. The current study investigated how neural speech processing is associated with the level and development of prelinguistic skills in 102 infants. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in 6-months-olds to assess the neural detection of a pseudoword (obligatory responses), as well as the neural discrimination of changes in the pseudoword (mismatch responses, MMRs). Prelinguistic skills were assessed at 6 and 12 months of age with a parental questionnaire (Infant-Toddler Checklist). The association between the ERPs and prelinguistic skills was examined using latent change score models, a method specifically constructed for longitudinal analyses and explicitly modeling intra-individual change. The results show that a large obligatory P1 at 6 months of age predicted strong improvement in prelinguistic skills between 6 and 12 months of age. The MMR to a frequency change was associated with the concurrent level of prelinguistic skills, but not with the improvement of the skills. Overall, our results highlight the strong association between ERPs and prelinguistic skills, possibly offering opportunities for early detection of atypical linguistic and communicative development.Peer reviewe

Economic burden of low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour in Finland

Background Low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour are unquestionably relevant for public health while also increasing direct and indirect costs.Methods The authors examined the direct and indirect costs attributable to low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour in Finland in 2017. Costs related to major non-communicable diseases drawn from Finnish registries covered direct costs (outpatient visits, days of inpatient care, medication and institutional eldercare) and indirect costs (sickness-related absences, disability pensions, unemployment benefits, all-cause mortality and losses of income tax revenue). Prevalences of low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour (>= 8 hours per 16 waking hours) were based on self-reports among adolescents or accelerometer data among adults and the elderly from three Finnish population studies: FINFIT 2017, Health 2011 and the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Cost calculations used adjusted population attributable fractions (PAF) and regression models. Total annual costs were obtained by multiplying PAF by the total costs of the given disease.Results The total costs of low physical activity in Finland in 2017 came to approximately euro3.2 billion, of which direct costs accounted for euro683 million and indirect ones for euro2.5 billion. Costs attributable to high sedentary behaviour totalled roughly euro1.5 billion.Conclusion The findings suggest that low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour levels create substantial societal costs. Therefore, actions intended to increase physical activity and reduce excessive sedentary behaviour throughout life may yield not only better health but also considerable savings to society.</p

The Lutonium: A Sub-Nanojoule Asynchronous 8051 Microcontroller

We describe the Lutonium, an asynchronous 8051 microcontroller designed for low Et/sup 2/. In 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS, at nominal 1.8 V, we expect a performance of 0.5 nJ per instruction at 200 MIPS. At 0.5 V, we expect 4 MIPS and 40 pJ/instruction, corresponding to 25,000 MIPS/Watt. We describe the structure of a fine-grain pipeline optimized for Et/sup 2/ efficiency, some of the peripherals implementation, and the advantages of an asynchronous implementation of a deep-sleep mechanism

Endosonography With or Without Confirmatory Mediastinoscopy for Resectable Lung Cancer:A Randomized Clinical Trial

PURPOSE:Resectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a high probability of mediastinal nodal involvement requires mediastinal staging by endosonography and, in the absence of nodal metastases, confirmatory mediastinoscopy according to current guidelines. However, randomized data regarding immediate lung tumor resection after systematic endosonography versus additional confirmatory mediastinoscopy before resection are lacking.METHODS:Patients with (suspected) resectable NSCLC and an indication for mediastinal staging after negative systematic endosonography were randomly assigned to immediate lung tumor resection or confirmatory mediastinoscopy followed by tumor resection. The primary outcome in this noninferiority trial (noninferiority margin of 8% that previously showed to not compromise survival, Pnoninferior &lt;.0250) was the presence of unforeseen N2 disease after tumor resection with lymph node dissection. Secondary outcomes were 30-day major morbidity and mortality.RESULTS:Between July 17, 2017, and October 5, 2020, 360 patients were randomly assigned, 178 to immediate lung tumor resection (seven dropouts) and 182 to confirmatory mediastinoscopy first (seven dropouts before and six after mediastinoscopy). Mediastinoscopy detected metastases in 8.0% (14/175; 95% CI, 4.8 to 13.0) of patients. Unforeseen N2 rate after immediate resection (8.8%) was noninferior compared with mediastinoscopy first (7.7%) in both intention-to-treat (Δ, 1.03%; UL 95% CIΔ, 7.2%; Pnoninferior =.0144) and per-protocol analyses (Δ, 0.83%; UL 95% CIΔ, 7.3%; Pnoninferior =.0157). Major morbidity and 30-day mortality was 12.9% after immediate resection versus 15.4% after mediastinoscopy first (P =.4940).CONCLUSION:On the basis of our chosen noninferiority margin in the rate of unforeseen N2, confirmatory mediastinoscopy after negative systematic endosonography can be omitted in patients with resectable NSCLC and an indication for mediastinal staging.</p

Normal growth and intravascular volume status with good metabolic control during peritoneal dialysis in infancy

Peer reviewe

Etnografia oikeudenkäyntien tutkimuksessa:kulttuurinen asiantuntijuus ja oikeussubjektin haavoittuvuus vähemmistökulttuurien edustajien rikosoikeudenkäynneissä

Tiivistelmä Artikkelissa tarkastelemme oikeudenkäyntietnografiaa hyödyllisenä tapana tutkia lakia, oikeuskäytäntöjä ja tuomioistuinten toimintaa. Vaikka etnografisen lähestymistavan on kansainvälisissä tutkimuksissa todettu haastavan sovinnaisia, opillisia käsityksiä laista ja lainkäytöstä, on suomalaisten oikeudenkäyntien tutkimisessa etnografista tutkimusotetta hyödynnetty harvoin. Artikkelin toisen kirjoittajan kenttätyöhön pohjaten havainnollistamme, minkälaista tietoa etnografialla saadaan Suomessa käydyistä, vähemmistökulttuurien edustajia koskevista rikosoikeudenkäynneistä. Tarkastelemme niin kutsutun kulttuurisen asiantuntijuuden rakentumista oikeudenkäynneissä, sekä tutkimme oikeussubjektin toimijuuden määrittymistä suhteessa sukupuoleen ja kulttuuritaustaan. Kuvatut oikeustapaukset piirtävät esiin suomalaisen oikeusjärjestelmän sokeita pisteitä liittyen kulttuuritaustan ja erilaisten haavoittuvuustekijöiden huomiointiin rikosasioita ratkottaessa. Etnografinen tutkimusote mahdollistaa oikeudenkäynnin dynamiikan ja eri toimijoiden välisten suhteiden tarkastelun sisältäpäin, mikä antaa tietoa arkisista lainkäytön neuvotteluista, jotka jäävät tuomioistuimen oman dokumentoinnin ja lakitekstien ulkopuolelle

Fractal percolation, porosity, and dimension

Abstract We study the porosity properties of fractal percolation sets E ⊂ Rd. Among other things, for all 0 &lt; ɛ &lt; ½, we obtain dimension bounds for the set of exceptional points where the upper porosity of E is less than ½ ‒ ɛ, or the lower porosity is larger than ɛ. Our method works also for inhomogeneous fractal percolation and more general random sets whose offspring distribution gives rise to a Galton–Watson process

Cooperation, combat, or competence building:what do we mean when we are ‘empowering children’ in and through digital technology design?

Abstract This paper contributes by offering a refined understanding of what empowerment means in today’s digital technology design context. Research on children and digital technology design often calls for children’s empowerment, while little attention has been paid to discussing what empowerment of children really means. Information Systems research offers useful points of departure for scrutinizing the concept. We maintain that also Information Systems researchers and practitioners should see empowering of children in digital technology design as one of their tasks, while we also show that this empowerment can be achieved in a variety of ways. Our results bear relevance to the concept of empowerment in more general, not only regarding children

Prodromal and early bvFTD:evaluating clinical features and current biomarkers

Abstract Despite the current diagnostic criteria, early diagnostics of behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) has remained challenging. Patients with bvFTD often present with misleading psychiatric phenotype, and, on the other hand, impairment in memory functions have increasingly been reported. However, impaired episodic memory is currently considered as an exclusion criterion for bvFTD. Single biofluid-based or imaging biomarkers do not currently provide sufficient sensitivity or specificity for early bvFTD diagnosis at single-subject level, although studies have suggested improved accuracy with different biomarker combinations. In this mini review, we evaluate the core clinical features of early bvFTD and summarize the most potential imaging and fluid biomarkers for bvFTD diagnostics