The Coding and Inter-Manual Transfer of Movement Sequences

The manuscript reviews recent experiments that use inter-manual transfer and inter-manual practice paradigms to determine the coordinate system (visual–spatial or motor) used in the coding of movement sequences during physical and observational practice. The results indicated that multi-element movement sequences are more effectively coded in visual–spatial coordinates even following extended practice, while very early in practice movement sequences with only a few movement elements and relatively short durations are coded in motor coordinates. Likewise, inter-manual practice of relatively simple movement sequences show benefits of right and left limb practice that involves the same motor coordinates while the opposite is true for more complex sequences. The results suggest that the coordinate system used to code the sequence information is linked to both the task characteristics and the control processes used to produce the sequence. These findings have the potential to greatly enhance our understanding of why in some conditions participants following practice with one limb or observation of one limb practice can effectively perform the task with the contralateral limb while in other (often similar) conditions cannot

Goat Milk Based Infant Formula in Newborns:A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial on Growth and Safety.

Objectives: We aimed to determine the growth and safety parameters in newborns fed a goat milk based infant formula (GMF) using a randomized double-blind trial, in which a cow milk formula (CMF) served as a control and a breast fed (BF) group as a reference. Methods: Healthy term infants (n = 218) aged up to 14 days were recruited from 25 European study centers and randomized to GMF or CMF. Weight, length, head circumference were measured at baseline, and at 14, 28, 56, 84, and 112 days at the study clinics. Adverse events were recorded and stool characteristics, reflux, fussiness, colic, and flatulence were self-reported by parents in 3-day diaries. Anthropometric measurements were transformed to WHO standardized age- and sex-adjusted z-scores. Analyses of covariance and linear mixed modeling were used to statistically analyze growth, while adjusting for potential confounders when studying the breast-fed group (n = 86). Results: Comparing the GMF to the CMF group, weight gain [mean difference 227.8 g (95% CI -16.6 to -439.0)] and z-scores for anthropometric measurements were similar after 112 days intervention. Infant formula groups showed greater mean (SD) weight z-scores than the BF group from 84 days onwards (GMF: 0.28 (0.84), CMF: 0.12 (0.88), BF -0.19 (1.02), P < 0.05), whereas length and head circumference z-scores were similar. Incidences of serious adverse events and reflux, fussiness, colic, and flatulence were similar among the three groups. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that GMF provides adequate growth, has a good tolerability, and is safe to use in infants

Determination of the branching ratios Γ(KL→3π0)/Γ(KL→π+π−π0)\Gamma (K_L \to 3 \pi^0) / \Gamma (K_L \to \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^0) and Γ(KL→3π0)/Γ(KL→πeν)\Gamma (K_L \to 3 \pi^0) / \Gamma (K_L \to \pi e \nu )

Improved branching ratios were measured for the $K_L \to 3 \pi^0$ decay in a neutral beam at the CERN SPS with the NA31 detector: $\Gamma (K_L \to 3 \pi^0) / \Gamma (K_L \to \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^0) = 1.611 \pm 0.037$ and $\Gamma (K_L \to 3 \pi^0) / \Gamma (K_L \to \pi e \nu ) = 0.545 \pm 0.010$. From the first number an upper limit for $\Delta I =5/2$ and $\Delta I = 7/2$ transitions in neutral kaon decay is derived. Using older results for the Ke3/K$\mu$3 fraction, the 3$\pi^0$ branching ratio is found to be $\Gamma (K_L \to 3 \pi^0 )/ \Gamma_{tot} = (0.211 \pm 0.003)$, about a factor three more precise than from previous experiments

Identification of women with early breast cancer by analysis of p43-positive lymphocytes

Regular screening mammographies and increasing knowledge of high-risk groups have resulted in an improvement in the rate of detection of smaller malignant lesions. However, uncertain minimal mammographic features frequently require further costly and often uncomfortable investigation, including repeat radiological controls or surgical procedures, before cancerous lesions can be identified. Placental isoferritin (p43), a protein with immunosuppressive effects, has been detected on the surface of lymphocytes taken from peripheral blood in patients with breast cancer. In this study we evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of the expression of p43-positive lymphocytes as a marker in early stage breast cancer and also investigated its expression on T-cell subpopulations. The presence of p43-positive lymphocytes was investigated using the monoclonal antibody CM-H-9 and flow cytometry in 76 women with controversial, non-palpable mammographic findings who were undergoing surgical biopsy. Patients with early breast cancer (n = 48) had significantly higher p43-positive cell values (median 3.83%, range 0.98-19.4) than patients with benign lumps (n = 28, median 1.43%, range 0.17-3.7) or controls (n = 22, median 1.3%, range 0.4-1.87) (P \u3c 0.0001). At a cut-off level of 2% p43-positive cells a sensitivity of 91.7% and a specificity of 89.3% for detection of breast cancer could be reached. While the median ratio of total CD4+/CD8+ cells was 2.6, a ratio of 1.3 was found for the p43-positive subpopulation (P \u3c 0.001), thus indicating a significant link between p43 and CD8+ cells. The determination of p43-positive lymphocytes in peripheral blood could serve as an additional diagnostic tool in patients with controversial mammographic findings and could also reduce the need for cost-intensive and often uncomfortable management of these patients

Use of Brain Biomechanical Models for Monitoring Impact Exposure in Contact Sports

Head acceleration measurement sensors are now widely deployed in the field to monitor head kinematic exposure in contact sports. The wealth of impact kinematics data provides valuable, yet challenging, opportunities to study the biomechanical basis of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and subconcussive kinematic exposure. Head impact kinematics are translated into brain mechanical responses through physics-based computational simulations using validated brain models to study the mechanisms of injury. First, this article reviews representative legacy and contemporary brain biomechanical models primarily used for blunt impact simulation. Then, it summarizes perspectives regarding the development and validation of these models, and discusses how simulation results can be interpreted to facilitate injury risk assessment and head acceleration exposure monitoring in the context of contact sports. Recommendations and consensus statements are presented on the use of validated brain models in conjunction with kinematic sensor data to understand the biomechanics of mTBI and subconcussion. Mainly, there is general consensus that validated brain models have strong potential to improve injury prediction and interpretation of subconcussive kinematic exposure over global head kinematics alone. Nevertheless, a major roadblock to this capability is the lack of sufficient data encompassing different sports, sex, age and other factors. The authors recommend further integration of sensor data and simulations with modern data science techniques to generate large datasets of exposures and predicted brain responses along with associated clinical findings. These efforts are anticipated to help better understand the biomechanical basis of mTBI and improve the effectiveness in monitoring kinematic exposure in contact sports for risk and injury mitigation purposes

Surface Roughness and Effective Stick-Slip Motion

The effect of random surface roughness on hydrodynamics of viscous incompressible liquid is discussed. Roughness-driven contributions to hydrodynamic flows, energy dissipation, and friction force are calculated in a wide range of parameters. When the hydrodynamic decay length (the viscous wave penetration depth) is larger than the size of random surface inhomogeneities, it is possible to replace a random rough surface by effective stick-slip boundary conditions on a flat surface with two constants: the stick-slip length and the renormalization of viscosity near the boundary. The stick-slip length and the renormalization coefficient are expressed explicitly via the correlation function of random surface inhomogeneities. The effective stick-slip length is always negative signifying the effective slow-down of the hydrodynamic flows by the rough surface (stick rather than slip motion). A simple hydrodynamic model is presented as an illustration of these general hydrodynamic results. The effective boundary parameters are analyzed numerically for Gaussian, power-law and exponentially decaying correlators with various indices. The maximum on the frequency dependence of the dissipation allows one to extract the correlation radius (characteristic size) of the surface inhomogeneities directly from, for example, experiments with torsional quartz oscillators.Comment: RevTeX4, 14 pages, 3 figure

Understanding Differences in the Crystallization Kinetics between One-Step Slot-Die Coating and Spin Coating of MAPbI₃ Using Multimodal In Situ Optical Spectroscopy

To develop a detailed understanding about halide perovskite processing from solution, the crystallization processes are investigated during spin coating and slot-die coating of MAPbI3 at different evaporation rates by simultaneous in situ photoluminescence, light scattering, and absorption measurements. Based on the time evolution of the optical parameters it is found that for both processing methods initially solvent-complex-structures form, followed by perovskite crystallization. The latter proceeds in two stages for spin coating, while for slot-die coating only one perovskite crystallization phase occurs. For both processing methods, it is found that with increasing evaporation rates, the crystallization kinetics of the solvent-complex structure and the perovskite crystallization remain constant on a relative time scale, whereas the duration of the second perovskite crystallization in spin coating increases. This second perovskite crystallization appears restricted due to differences in solvent-complex phase morphologies from which the perovskite forms. The work emphasizes the importance of the exact precursor state properties on the perovskite formation. It further demonstrates that detailed analyses of multimodal optical in situ spectroscopy allows gaining a fundamental understanding of the crystallization processes that take place during solution processing of halide perovskites, independent from the specific processing method

Detection of minimal residual disease identifies differences in treatment response between T-ALL and precursor B-ALL

We performed sensitive polymerase chain reaction-based minimal residual disease (MRD) analyses on bone marrow samples at 9 follow-up time points in 71 children with T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and compared the results with the precursor B-lineage ALL (B-ALL) results (n = 210) of our previous study. At the first 5 follow-up time points, the frequency of MRD-positive patients and the MRD levels were higher in T-ALL than in precursor-B-ALL, reflecting the more frequent occurrence of resistant disease in T-ALL. Subsequently, patients were classified according to their MRD level at time point 1 (TP1), taken at the end of induction treatment (5 weeks), and at TP2 just before the start of consolidation treatment (3 months). Patients were considered at low risk if TP1 and TP2 were MRD negative and at high risk if MRD levels at TP1 and TP2 were 10(-3) or higher; remaining patients were considered at intermediate risk. The relative distribution of patients with T-ALL (n = 43) over the MRD-based risk groups differed significantly from that of precursor B-ALL (n = 109). Twenty-three percent of patients with T-ALL and 46% of patients with precursor B-ALL were classified in the low-risk group (P =.01) and had a 5-year relapse-free survival (RFS) rate of 98% or greater. In contrast, 28% of patients with T-ALL were classified in the MRD-based high-risk group compared to only 11% of patients with precursor B-ALL (P =.02), and the RFS rates were 0% and 25%, respectively (P =.03). Not only was the distribution of patients with T-ALL different over the MRD-based risk groups, the prognostic value of MRD levels at TP1 and TP2 was higher in T-ALL (larger RFS gradient), and consistently higher RFS rates were found for MRD-negative T-ALL patients at the first 5 follow-up time points