Adolescents are delayed at inferring complex social intentions in others, but not basic (false) beliefs: an eye movement investigation

Most developmental research on Theory of Mind (ToM) - our ability to infer the beliefs, intentions, and desires of others - has focused on the preschool years. This is unsurprising since it was previously thought that ToM skills are developed between the ages of 2 and 7 years old (Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001). Over the last couple of decades however, studies have provided evidence for significant structural and functional changes in the brain areas involved in ToM (the “social brain”) not only during childhood, but also during adolescence. Importantly, some of these findings suggest that the use of ToM shows a prolonged development through middle childhood and adolescence. Although evidence from previous studies suggests a protracted development of ToM, the factors that constrain performance during middle childhood and adolescence are only just beginning to be explored. In the current paper we report two visual world eye-tracking studies that focus on the timecourse of predictive inferences. We establish that when the complexity of ToM inferences are at a level which is comparable to standard change-of-location False-belief tasks, then adolescents and adults generate predictions for other agents’ behaviour in the same timecourse. However, when inferences are socially more complex, requiring inferences about higher-order mental states, adolescents generate predictive gaze bias at a marked delay relative to adults. Importantly, our results demonstrate that these developmental differences go beyond differences in executive functions (inhibitory control or working memory), and point to distinct expectations between groups and greater uncertainty when predicting actions based on conflicting desires

Validation of the diagnostic criteria of the consensus definition of fracture-related infection

Background: The recently developed fracture-related infection (FRI) consensus definition, which is based on specific diagnostic criteria, has not been fully validated in clinical studies. We aimed to determine the diagnostic performance of the criteria of the FRI consensus definition and evaluated the effect of the combination of certain suggestive and confirmatory criteria on the diagnostic performance. Methods: A multicenter, multi-national, retrospective cohort study was performed. Patients were subdivided into an FRI or a control group, according to the treatment they received and the recommendations from a multidisciplinary team (‘intention to treat’). Exclusion criteria were patients with an FRI diagnosed outside the study period, patients younger than 18 years of age, patients with pathological fractures or patients with fractures of the skull, cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine. Minimum follow up for all patients was 18 months. Results: Overall, 637 patients underwent revision surgery for suspicion of FRI. Of these, 480 patients were diagnosed with FRI, treated accordingly, and included in the FRI group. The other 157 patients were included in the control group. The presence of at least one confirmatory sign was associated with a sensitivity of 97.5%, a specificity of 100% and a high discriminatory value (AUROC 0.99, p < 0.001). The presence of a clinical confirmatory criterion or, if not present, at least one positive culture was associated with the highest diagnostic performance (sensitivity: 98.6%, specificity: 100%, AUROC: 0.99 (p < 0.001)). In the subgroup of patients without clinical confirmatory signs at presentation, specificities of at least 95% were found for the clinical suggestive signs of fever, wound drainage, local warmth and redness. Conclusions: The presence of at least one confirmatory criterion identifies the vast majority of patients with an FRI and was associated with an excellent diagnostic discriminatory value. Therefore, our study validates the confirmatory criteria of the FRI consensus definition. Infection is highly likely in case of the presence of a single positive culture with a virulent pathogen. When certain clinical suggestive signs (e.g., wound drainage) are observed (individually or in combination and even without a confirmatory criterion), it is more likely than not, that an infection is present

Corrigendum to:Validation of the diagnostic criteria of the consensus definition of fracture-related infection Injury (2022);53, pages 1867-1879 (Injury (2022) 53(6) (1867–1879), (S0020138322002091), (10.1016/j.injury.2022.03.024))

The authors regret that Michael H. J. Verhofstad was incorrectly affiliated to the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands. He is affiliated to the Trauma Research Unit Department of Surgery, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.</p

Diagnosis of fracture-related infection in patients without clinical confirmatory criteria:an international retrospective cohort study

Background: fracture-related infection (FRI) remains a serious complication in orthopedic trauma. To standardize daily clinical practice, a consensus definition was established, based on confirmatory and suggestive criteria. In the presence of clinical confirmatory criteria, the diagnosis of an FRI is evident, and treatment can be started. However, if these criteria are absent, the decision to surgically collect deep tissue cultures can only be based on suggestive criteria. The primary study aim was to characterize the subpopulation of FRI patients presenting without clinical confirmatory criteria (fistula, sinus, wound breakdown, purulent wound drainage or presence of pus during surgery). The secondary aims were to describe the prevalence of the diagnostic criteria for FRI and present the microbiological characteristics, both for the entire FRI population. Methods: a multicenter, retrospective cohort study was performed, reporting the demographic, clinical and microbiological characteristics of 609 patients (with 613 fractures) who were treated for FRI based on the recommendations of a multidisciplinary team. Patients were divided in three groups, including the total population and two subgroups of patients presenting with or without clinical confirmatory criteria. Results: clinical and microbiological confirmatory criteria were present in 77g and 87g of the included fractures, respectively. Of patients, 23g presented without clinical confirmatory criteria, and they mostly displayed one (31g) or two (23g) suggestive clinical criteria (redness, swelling, warmth, pain, fever, new-onset joint effusion, persisting/increasing/new-onset wound drainage). The prevalence of any suggestive clinical, radiological or laboratory criteria in this subgroup was 85g, 55g and 97g, respectively. Most infections were monomicrobial (64g) and caused by Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusion: clinical confirmatory criteria were absent in 23g of the FRIs. In these cases, the decision to operatively collect deep tissue cultures was based on clinical, radiological and laboratory suggestive criteria. The combined use of these criteria should guide physicians in the management pathway of FRI. Further research is needed to provide guidelines on the decision to proceed with surgery when only these suggestive criteria are present.</p

Light microscopic observations of the ruminal papillae of cattle on diets with divergent forage to cereal ratios

High levels of supplementation with cereal increases production rates in cattle but can increase incidence of disease, ranging from mild indigestion to acute ruminal acidosis and death. Therefore, there is motivation to determine biological markers which can be used to identify whether animals have been, or are being fed, sufficient or excessive cereals. This study aimed to describe light microscopic findings from animals being fed diverse dietary cereal proportions and to test the performance of a novel rumen epithelial scoring system. Rumen wall tissue samples were obtained from the abattoir from 195 cattle from 11 Scottish farms and processed for histological examination. Light microscopic examination was used to characterise ruminal epithelial response to dietary challenge. Secondary objectives included describing the distribution of immune-related cells in bovine ruminal epithelium and assessing the use of a modified Elastin Martius Scarlet Blue stain (EMSB) for histological examination of the rumen epithelium. Cells staining positive for cluster of differentiation 3 were distributed mainly in the lower layers of the stratum basale and were found in higher densities in animals offered lower cereal proportion diets. Cells staining positive for major histocompatibility complex class 2 (MHCII) were most common in perivascular locations and in the junction between the lower stratum basale and the propria-submucosa. The density of MHCII positive staining cells was higher in animals on lower cereal diets. The level of supplementation with cereal was also associated with the thickness of the stratum corneum (SCT) and stratum granulosum (SGT), the integrity of the stratum corneum and sloughing of cornified cells. There were no advantages in using EMSB stain over haematoxylin and eosin (H and E) in this scoring system. We concluded that a scoring system that included only SCT, SGT and a measure of the loss of appearance of intercellular space allowed differentiation of groups of animals according to the level of cereal supplementation

Model-consistent estimation of the basic reproduction number from the incidence of an emerging infection

We investigate the merit of deriving an estimate of the basic reproduction number \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$\mathcal{R}_0$$ \end{document} early in an outbreak of an (emerging) infection from estimates of the incidence and generation interval only. We compare such estimates of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$\mathcal{R}_0$$ \end{document} with estimates incorporating additional model assumptions, and determine the circumstances under which the different estimates are consistent. We show that one has to be careful when using observed exponential growth rates to derive an estimate of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$\mathcal{R}_0$$ \end{document} , and we quantify the discrepancies that arise

Vascular endothelial growth factor-A165b is protective and restores endothelial glycocalyx in diabetic nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause of ESRD in high-income countries and a growing problem across the world. Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) is thought to be a critical mediator of vascular dysfunction in diabetic nephropathy, yet VEGF-A knockout and overexpression of angiogenic VEGF-A isoforms each worsen diabetic nephropathy. We examined the vasculoprotective effects of the VEGF-A isoform VEGF-A165b in diabetic nephropathy. Renal expression of VEGF-A165b mRNA was upregulated in diabetic individuals with well preserved kidney function, but not in those with progressive disease. Reproducing this VEGF-A165b upregulation in mouse podocytes in vivo prevented functional and histologic abnormalities in diabetic nephropathy. Biweekly systemic injections of recombinant human VEGF-A165b reduced features of diabetic nephropathy when initiated during early or advanced nephropathy in a model of type 1 diabetes and when initiated during early nephropathy in a model of type 2 diabetes. VEGF-A165b normalized glomerular permeability through phosphorylation of VEGF receptor 2 in glomerular endothelial cells, and reversed diabetes-induced damage to the glomerular endothelial glycocalyx. VEGF-A165b also improved the permeability function of isolated diabetic human glomeruli. These results show that VEGF-A165b acts via the endothelium to protect blood vessels and ameliorate diabetic nephropathy

Bose-Einstein Correlations of Neutral and Charged Pions in Hadronic Z Decays

Bose-Einstein correlations of both neutral and like-sign charged pion pairs are measured in a sample of 2 million hadronic Z decays collected with the L3 detector at LEP. The analysis is performed in the four-momentum difference range 300 MeV < Q < 2 GeV. The radius of the neutral pion source is found to be smaller than that of charged pions. This result is in qualitative agreement with the string fragmentation model

Measurement of the W+W-gamma Cross Section and Direct Limits on Anomalous Quartic Gauge Boson Couplings at LEP

The process e+e- -> W+W-gamma is analysed using the data collected with the L3 detector at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 188.6GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 176.8pb^-1. Based on a sample of 42 selected W+W- candidates containing an isolated hard photon, the W+W-gamma cross section, defined within phase-space cuts, is measured to be: sigma_WWgamma = 290 +/- 80 +/- 16 fb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. Including the process e+e- -> nu nu gamma gamma, limits are derived on anomalous contributions to the Standard Model quartic vertices W+W- gamma gamma and W+W-Z gamma at 95% CL: -0.043 GeV^-2 < a_0/Lambda^2 < 0.043 GeV^-2 0.08 GeV^-2 < a_c/Lambda^2 < 0.13 GeV^-2 0.41 GeV^-2 < a_n/Lambda^2 < 0.37 GeV^-2