Impaired perception of facial motion in autism spectrum disorder

Copyright: © 2014 O’Brien et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Facial motion is a special type of biological motion that transmits cues for socio-emotional communication and enables the discrimination of properties such as gender and identity. We used animated average faces to examine the ability of adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to perceive facial motion. Participants completed increasingly difficult tasks involving the discrimination of (1) sequences of facial motion, (2) the identity of individuals based on their facial motion and (3) the gender of individuals. Stimuli were presented in both upright and upside-down orientations to test for the difference in inversion effects often found when comparing ASD with controls in face perception. The ASD group’s performance was impaired relative to the control group in all three tasks and unlike the control group, the individuals with ASD failed to show an inversion effect. These results point to a deficit in facial biological motion processing in people with autism, which we suggest is linked to deficits in lower level motion processing we have previously reported

Uncommon genetic syndromes and narrative production - Case Studies with Williams, Smith-Magenis and Prader- Willi Syndromes

This study compares narrative production among three syndromes with genetic microdeletions: Williams syndrome (WS), Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS), and Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), characterized by intellectual disabilities and relatively spared language abilities. Our objective is to study the quality of narrative production in the context of a common intellectual disability. To elicit a narrative production, the task Frog! Where Are You was used. Then, structure, process, and content of the narrative process were analysed in the three genetic disorders:WS (n52), SMS (n52), and PWS (n52). Data show evidence of an overall low narrative quality in these syndromes, despite a high variability within different measures of narrative production. Results support the hypothesis that narrative is a highly complex cognitive process and that, in a context of intellectual disability, there is no evidence of particular ‘hypernarrativity’ in these syndromes.This research was supported by the grants FEDER –

Sigma frequency dependent motor learning in Williams syndrome

Abstract There are two basic stages of fine motor learning: performance gain might occur during practice (online learning), and improvement might take place without any further practice (offline learning). Offline learning, also called consolidation, has a sleep-dependent stage in terms of both speed and accuracy of the learned movement. Sleep spindle or sigma band characteristics affect motor learning in typically developing individuals. Here we ask whether the earlier found, altered sigma activity in a neurodevelopmental disorder (Williams syndrome, WS) predicts motor learning. TD and WS participants practiced in a sequential finger tapping (FT) task for two days. Although WS participants started out at a lower performance level, TD and WS participants had a comparable amount of online and offline learning in terms of the accuracy of movement. Spectral analysis of WS sleep EEG recordings revealed that motor accuracy improvement is intricately related to WS-specific NREM sleep EEG features in the 8–16 Hz range profiles: higher 11–13.5 Hz z-transformed power is associated with higher offline FT accuracy improvement; and higher oscillatory peak frequencies are associated with lower offline accuracy improvements. These findings indicate a fundamental relationship between sleep spindle (or sigma band) activity and motor learning in WS

The importance of understanding individual differences in Down syndrome

In this article, we first present a summary of the general assumptions about Down syndrome (DS) still to be found in the literature. We go on to show how new research has modified these assumptions, pointing to a wide range of individual differences at every level of description. We argue that, in the context of significant increases in DS life expectancy, a focus on individual differences in trisomy 21 at all levels—genetic, cellular, neural, cognitive, behavioral, and environmental—constitutes one of the best approaches for understanding genotype/phenotype relations in DS and for exploring risk and protective factors for Alzheimer’s disease in this high-risk population

Abstract RULE-BASED POWER MANAGEMENT FOR THE ALL-ELECTRIC SHIP

Research in the area of power system, incorporating optimal power flow and optimal load shedding, has been used in classical dispatch problems to determine control adjustments to remove line overloads. This paper reports a rule-based load shedding in a ship power system. To filter critical outages and congestion cases, a load shedding rule-based system is implemented. The algorithm searches for a solution to control the voltage level of the ship power network by using load-shedding techniques based on Expert System rules. Obtained results from a ship power network are used to validate the proposed method. 1

Mexican tea (Dysphania ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants) seeds attenuate tourniquet-induced hind limb ischemia–reperfusion injury by modulating ROS and NLRP3 inflammasome pathways

The main pathophysiological mechanisms of hind limb ischemia–reperfusion injury (HLIRI) are increased oxidative stress and inflammation. The present study was designed to characterize the phytocontents of Dysphania ambrosioides (DA) seeds extract via LC-MS/MS and investigate its effect on left hindlimb IR injury and the underlying mechanisms. Thirty adult rats (n = 6 per group) were divided into five groups: Control group; HLIRI group, HLIRI + DA (100 mg/kg) group, HLIRI + DA (200 mg/kg) group, and HLIRI + cilostazol (30 mg/kg) group. HE staining’s of the left gastrocnemius muscle and left kidney was done. Renal function, and both total and muscle creatine kinases were measured in serum. Oxidative stress markers (MDA, SOD, Nrf2 and HO-1), inflammatory markers (NLRP3, IL-1β and TNF-α) and caspase-3 as an apoptotic marker were measured in left gastrocnemius muscle. We found that DA extract contains 60 metabolites and its pretreatment prevented left kidney and left gastrocnemius muscle damage and decreased oxidative stress markers, inflammatory markers, and caspase-3 levels, compared to the control group. Moreover, the effect of the extract was dose-dependent and better than that of the reference drug, cilostazol. This study suggested that D. ambrosioides seeds have a protective effect on HLIRI, which may be related to the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic mechanisms

<i>Thymus satureioides</i> Coss.: Mineral Composition, Nutritional Value, Phytochemical Profiling, and Dermatological Properties

Zaitra, Thymus satureioides, is an aromatic plant with a long history of use in traditional medicine. In this study, we assessed the mineral composition, nutritional value, phytocontents, and dermatological properties of the aerial parts of T. satureioides. The plant contained high contents of calcium and iron, moderate levels of magnesium, manganese, and zinc, and low contents of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, and copper. It is rich in several amino acids, including asparagine, 4-hydroxyproline, isoleucine, and leucine, and the essential amino acids account for 60.8%. The extract contains considerable amounts of polyphenols and flavonoids (TPC = 118.17 mg GAE/g extract and TFC = 32.32 mg quercetin/g extract). It also comprises 46 secondary metabolites, identified through LC-MS/MS analysis, belonging to phenolic acids, chalcones, and flavonoids. The extract elicited pronounced antioxidant activities, inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa (MIC = 50 mg/mL), and reduced biofilm formation by up to 35.13% using the ¼ sub-MIC of 12.5 mg/mL. Moreover, bacterial extracellular proteins and exopolysaccharides were diminished by 46.15% and 69.04%, respectively. Likewise, the swimming of the bacterium was impaired (56.94% decrease) in the presence of the extract. In silico, skin permeability and sensitization effects revealed that out of the 46 identified compounds, 33 were predicted to be exempt from any skin sensitivity risk (Human Sensitizer Score ≤ 0.5), while extensive skin permeabilities were observed (Log Kp = −3.35–−11.98 cm/s). This study provides scientific evidence about the pronounced activities of T. satureioides, supports its traditional uses, and promotes its utilization in the development of new drugs, food supplements, and dermatological agents

Magnesium- and strontium-co-substituted hydroxyapatite: the effects of doped ions on the structure and chemico-physical properties

Mg(II) and Sr(II) ions were substituted for Ca(II) into the hydroxyapatite structure by means of wet synthesis. The materials were characterizad by X-ray diffractometry, IR and Raman spectroscopy and SEM analysis.The results showed the formation of tricalcio phosphate along with hydroxyapatite with change in cell parameters and crystallinity degree as a function of % substitution