Direct Magnitude Estimation of Articulation Rate in Boys With Fragile X Syndrome

This study a) compared perceived articulation rate of boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS) to chronologically age-matched boys (CA), and b) determined segmental and/or prosodic factors which account for perceived rate

A New Paraprobiotic-based Treatment for Control of Haemonchus Contortus in Sheep

Haemonchus contortus is a critical parasite of goats and sheep. Infection by this blood-feeding gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) parasite has significant health consequences, especially in lambs and kids. The parasite has developed resistance to virtually all known classes of small molecule anthelmintics used to treat it, giving rise in some areas to multidrug resistant parasites that are very difficult to control. Thus, new anthelmintics are urgently needed. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crystal protein 5B (Cry5B), a naturally occurring protein made by a bacterium widely and safely used around the world as a bioinsecticide, represents a new non-small molecule modality for treating GINs. Cry5B has demonstrated anthelmintic activities against parasites of monogastric animals, including some related to those that infect humans, but has not yet been studied in a ruminant. Here we show that H. contortus adults are susceptible to Cry5B protein in vitro. Cry5B produced in its natural form as a spore-crystal lysate against H. contortus infections in goats had no significant efficacy. However, a new Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) paraprobiotic form of Cry5B called IBaCC (Inactivated Bacterium with Cytosolic Crystals), in which Cry5B crystals are encapsulated in dead Bt cell wall ghosts, showed excellent efficacy in vitro against larval stages of H. contortus and relative protein stability in bovine rumen fluid. When given to sheep experimentally infected with H. contortus as three 60 mg/kg doses, Cry5B IBaCC resulted in significant reductions in fecal egg counts (90%) and parasite burdens (72%), with a very high impact on female parasites (96% reduction). These data indicate that Cry5B IBaCC is a potent new treatment tool for small ruminants in the battle against H. contortus

Effects of prison drug treatment on inmate misconduct

A small body of research supports the "treatment hypothesis" that participation in prison treatment programs reduces inmate misconduct, although methodological weaknesses have limited generalizable conclusions. Using general linear modeling repeated measures techniques, this study examined pre-and posttreatment misconduct for 1,073 inmates who participated in therapeutic community (TC) drug treatment (n = 294) or a comparison group (n = 779) at five state prisons. Predictors included age, length of sentence, drug dependency, and prior and current criminal history. The hypothesis that TC treatment alone would significantly reduce misconduct over time was not supported. Instead, changes in misconduct over time interacted with individual characteristics and time served posttreatment. The article discusses implications of these results for treatment policies and future research

The effect of personality and social context on willingness to share emotion information on social media

Sharing personal information is an important way of communicating on social media. Among the information possibly shared, new sensors and tools allow people to share emotion information via facial emotion recognition. This paper questions whether people are prepared to share personal information such as their own emotion on social media. In the current study we examined how factors such as felt emotion, motivation for sharing on social media as well as personality affected participants’ willingness to share self-reported emotion or facial expression online. By carrying out a GLMM analysis, this study found that participants’ willingness to share self-reported emotion and facial expressions was influenced by their personality traits and the motivation for sharing their emotion information that they were given. From our results we can conclude that the estimated level of privacy for certain emotional information, such as facial expression, is influenced by the motivation for sharing the information online

The effect of personality and social context on willingness to share emotion information on social media

Sharing personal information is an important way of communicating on social media. Among the information possibly shared, new sensors and tools allow people to share emotion information via facial emotion recognition. This paper questions whether people are prepared to share personal information such as their own emotion on social media. In the current study we examined how factors such as felt emotion, motivation for sharing on social media as well as personality affected participants’ willingness to share self-reported emotion or facial expression online. By carrying out a GLMM analysis, this study found that participants’ willingness to share self-reported emotion and facial expressions was influenced by their personality traits and the motivation for sharing their emotion information that they were given. From our results we can conclude that the estimated level of privacy for certain emotional information, such as facial expression, is influenced by the motivation for sharing the information online

The Effects of Vitamin D-Enriched Mushrooms and Vitamin D3 on Cognitive Performance and Mood in Healthy Elderly Adults: A Randomised, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Trial

Despite abundant cross-sectional evidence that low vitamin D status is associated with risk of cognitive decline in ageing, interventional evidence for benefits of vitamin D supplementation is lacking. This study was a 6 month randomised, double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trial of the effects of vitamin D3 (D3), enhanced vitamin D2 in a mushroom matrix (D2M), standard mushroom (SM) and placebo (PL) on cognition and mood in n = 436 healthy older male (49%) and female volunteers aged ≥ 60 years. Primary end points were change in serum vitamin D metabolites (25-OH-D, 25-OH-D2 and 25-OH-D3), cognitive performance, and mood over 24 weeks. Levels of total 25-OH-D and 25-OH-D3 were maintained in the D3 arm but decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in the remaining arms (D2M, SM and PL). Analysis also revealed differential changes in these metabolites depending on total vitamin D status at baseline. There were no significant effects of treatment on any of the measures of cognitive function or mood. Overall, the results show that daily supplementation of ~600 IU of vitamin D3 was sufficient to maintain 25-OH-D throughout winter months, but in contrast to existing cross-sectional studies there was no support for benefit of vitamin D supplementation for mood or cognition in healthy elderly people