Does Faux Pas Detection in Adult Autism Reflect Differences in Social Cognition or Decision-Making Abilities?

43 typically-developed adults and 35 adults with ASD performed a cartoon faux pas test. Adults with ASD apparently over-detected faux pas despite good comprehension abilities, and were generally slower at responding. Signal detection analysis demonstrated that the ASD participants had significantly greater difficulty detecting whether a cartoon depicted a faux pas and showed a liberal response bias. Test item analysis demonstrated that the ASD group were not in agreement with a reference control group (n = 69) about which non-faux pas items were most difficult. These results suggest that the participants with ASD had a primary problem with faux pas detection, but that there is another factor at work, possibly compensatory, that relates to their choice of a liberal response criterion

Correlated Evolution among Six Gene Families in Drosophila Revealed by Parallel Change of Gene Numbers

Proteins involved in a pathway are likely to evolve in a correlated fashion, and coevolving gene families tend to undergo complementary gains and losses. Accordingly, gene copy numbers (i.e., repertoire size) tend to show parallel changes during the evolution of coevolving gene families. To test and verify this hypothesis, here we describe positive correlations among the repertoire sizes of six gene families, that is, trypsin-like serine protease, odorant-binding protein, odorant receptor, gustatory receptor, cytochrome P450, and glutathione S-transferase after excluding the possibility of phylogenetic constraint and random drift. The observed correlations are indicative of parallel changes in the repertoire sizes of the six gene families that are due to similar demands for the quantity of these different genes in different lineages of Drosophila. In conclusion, we propose that the correlated evolution among these six gene families in Drosophila is a signature of a parallel response to ecological adaptation

Optimization of process parameters for production of volatile fatty acid, biohydrogen and methane from anaerobic digestion

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd The anaerobic digestion process has been primarily utilized for methane containing biogas production over the past few years. However, the digestion process could also be optimized for producing volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and biohydrogen. This is the first review article that combines the optimization approaches for all three possible products from the anaerobic digestion. In this review study, the types and configurations of the bioreactor are discussed for each type of product. This is followed by a review on optimization of common process parameters (e.g. temperature, pH, retention time and organic loading rate) separately for the production of VFA, biohydrogen and methane. This review also includes additional parameters, treatment methods or special additives that wield a significant and positive effect on production rate and these products’ yield

Accuracy and repeatability of wrist joint angles in boxing using an electromagnetic tracking system

© 2019, The Author(s). The hand-wrist region is reported as the most common injury site in boxing. Boxers are at risk due to the amount of wrist motions when impacting training equipment or their opponents, yet we know relatively little about these motions. This paper describes a new method for quantifying wrist motion in boxing using an electromagnetic tracking system. Surrogate testing procedure utilising a polyamide hand and forearm shape, and in vivo testing procedure utilising 29 elite boxers, were used to assess the accuracy and repeatability of the system. 2D kinematic analysis was used to calculate wrist angles using photogrammetry, whilst the data from the electromagnetic tracking system was processed with visual 3D software. The electromagnetic tracking system agreed with the video-based system (paired t tests) in both the surrogate ( 0.9). In the punch testing, for both repeated jab and hook shots, the electromagnetic tracking system showed good reliability (ICCs > 0.8) and substantial reliability (ICCs > 0.6) for flexion–extension and radial-ulnar deviation angles, respectively. The results indicate that wrist kinematics during punching activities can be measured using an electromagnetic tracking system

Hypothesis: primary antiangiogenic method proposed to treat early stage breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Women with Down syndrome very rarely develop breast cancer even though they now live to an age when it normally occurs. This may be related to the fact that Down syndrome persons have an additional copy of chromosome 21 where the gene that codes for the antiangiogenic protein Endostatin is located. Can this information lead to a primary antiangiogenic therapy for early stage breast cancer that indefinitely prolongs remission? A key question that arises is when is the initial angiogenic switch thrown in micrometastases? We have conjectured that avascular micrometastases are dormant and relatively stable if undisturbed but that for some patients angiogenesis is precipitated by surgery. We also proposed that angiogenesis of micrometastases very rarely occurs before surgical removal of the primary tumor. If that is so, it seems possible that we could suggest a primary antiangiogenic therapy but the problem then arises that starting a therapy before surgery would interfere with wound healing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The therapy must be initiated at least one day prior to surgical removal of the primary tumor and kept at a Down syndrome level perhaps indefinitely. That means the drug must have virtually no toxicity and not interfere meaningfully with wound healing. This specifically excludes drugs that significantly inhibit the VEGF pathway since that is important for wound healing and because these agents have some toxicity. Endostatin is apparently non-toxic and does not significantly interfere with wound healing since Down syndrome patients have no abnormal wound healing problems.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We propose a therapy for early stage breast cancer consisting of Endostatin at or above Down syndrome levels starting at least one day before surgery and continuing at that level. This should prevent micrometastatic angiogenesis resulting from surgery or at any time later. Adjuvant chemotherapy or hormone therapy should not be necessary. This can be continued indefinitely since there is no acquired resistance that develops, as happens in most cancer therapies.</p

A Study of B0 -> J/psi K(*)0 pi+ pi- Decays with the Collider Detector at Fermilab

We report a study of the decays B0 -> J/psi K(*)0 pi+ pi-, which involve the creation of a u u-bar or d d-bar quark pair in addition to a b-bar -> c-bar(c s-bar) decay. The data sample consists of 110 1/pb of p p-bar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV collected by the CDF detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider during 1992-1995. We measure the branching ratios to be BR(B0 -> J/psi K*0 pi+ pi-) = (8.0 +- 2.2 +- 1.5) * 10^{-4} and BR(B0 -> J/psi K0 pi+ pi-) = (1.1 +- 0.4 +- 0.2) * 10^{-3}. Contributions to these decays are seen from psi(2S) K(*)0, J/psi K0 rho0, J/psi K*+ pi-, and J/psi K1(1270)

Tevatron-for-LHC Report: Higgs

The search for Higgs bosons in both the standard model and its extensions is well under way at the Tevatron. As the integrated luminosity collected increases into the multiple inverse femptobarn range, these searches are becoming very interesting indeed. Meanwhile, the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and its associated experiments at CERN are nearing completion. In this TeV4LHC workshop, it was realized that any experience at the Tevatron with respect to backgrounds, experimental techniques and theoretical calculations that can be verified at the Tevatron which have relevance for future measurements at the LHC were important. Studies and contributions to these efforts were made in three broad categories: theoretical calculations of Higgs production and decay mechanisms/ theoretical calculations and discussions pertaining to non-standard model Higgs bosons/ and experimental reviews, analyses and developments at both the Tevatron and the upcoming LHC experiments. All of these contributions represent real progress towards the elucidation of the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking