La medida de la participación de los niños en las actividades de ocio y tiempo libre: validez de constructo del Cape y del Pac

Se necesitan medidas de la participación de los niños en las actividades de ocio y tiempo libre, psicométricamente fuertes, tanto para la práctica clínica como para la investigación. Este artículo proporciona información acerca de la validez de constructo del Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) y de su instrumento complementario, el Preferences for Activities of Children (PAC). Estas medidas son apropiadas para niños y jóvenes con y sin discapacidad de edades comprendidas entre los 6 y 21 años. Proporcionan información acerca de seis dimensiones de la participación (diversidad, intensidad, dónde, con quién, disfrute y preferencia) y dos categorías de actividades de ocio y tiempo libre: (i) actividades formales e informales; y (ii) cinco tipos de actividades (tiempo libre, actividad física, social, basada en habilidad y autosuperación). Este artículo proporciona información sobre el desempeño de los resultados de los tipos de actividad del CAPE y PAC a partir de los datos de un estudio en el que participaron 427 niños con discapacidad física de edades comprendidas entre los 6 y 15 años. Los resultados de Intensidad, disfrute y preferencia correlacionaron significativamente con las variables ambientales, de la familia y del niño, como se esperaba. Las predicciones también fueron apoyadas en lo que respecta a las diferencias en las puntuaciones medias para los niños frente a las niñas y a los niños en diversos grupos de edad. La información fundamenta la validez de constructo de las medidas. Se exponen la utilidad clínica e investigadora de las medidas

Pathobiological signatures of dysbiotic lung injury in pediatric patients undergoing stem cell transplantation.

Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) uses cytotoxic chemotherapy and/or radiation followed by intravenous infusion of stem cells to cure malignancies, bone marrow failure and inborn errors of immunity, hemoglobin and metabolism. Lung injury is a known complication of the process, due in part to disruption in the pulmonary microenvironment by insults such as infection, alloreactive inflammation and cellular toxicity. How microorganisms, immunity and the respiratory epithelium interact to contribute to lung injury is uncertain, limiting the development of prevention and treatment strategies. Here we used 278 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid samples to study the lung microenvironment in 229 pediatric patients who have undergone HCT treated at 32 childrens hospitals between 2014 and 2022. By leveraging paired microbiome and human gene expression data, we identified high-risk BAL compositions associated with in-hospital mortality (P = 0.007). Disadvantageous profiles included bacterial overgrowth with neutrophilic inflammation, microbiome contraction with epithelial fibroproliferation and profound commensal depletion with viral and staphylococcal enrichment, lymphocytic activation and cellular injury, and were replicated in an independent cohort from the Netherlands (P = 0.022). In addition, a broad array of previously occult pathogens was identified, as well as a strong link between antibiotic exposure, commensal bacterial depletion and enrichment of viruses and fungi. Together these lung-immune system-microorganism interactions clarify the important drivers of fatal lung injury in pediatric patients who have undergone HCT. Further investigation is needed to determine how personalized interpretation of heterogeneous pulmonary microenvironments may be used to improve pediatric HCT outcomes

Search for Gravitational Wave Bursts from Soft Gamma Repeaters

We present the results of a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational waves (GWs) associated with Soft Gamma Repeater (SGR) bursts. This is the first search sensitive to neutron star f-modes, usually considered the most efficient GW emitting modes. We find no evidence of GWs associated with any SGR burst in a sample consisting of the 27 Dec. 2004 giant flare from SGR 1806-20 and 190 lesser events from SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14 which occurred during the first year of LIGO's fifth science run. GW strain upper limits and model-dependent GW emission energy upper limits are estimated for individual bursts using a variety of simulated waveforms. The unprecedented sensitivity of the detectors allows us to set the most stringent limits on transient GW amplitudes published to date. We find upper limit estimates on the model-dependent isotropic GW emission energies (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc) between 3x10^45 and 9x10^52 erg depending on waveform type, detector antenna factors and noise characteristics at the time of the burst. These upper limits are within the theoretically predicted range of some SGR models.Comment: 6 pages, 1 Postscript figur

Fractionating the anterior temporal lobe : MVPA reveals differential responses to input and conceptual modality

Words activate cortical regions in accordance with their modality of presentation (i.e., written vs. spoken), yet there is a long-standing debate about whether patterns of activity in any specific brain region capture modality-invariant conceptual information. Deficits in patients with semantic dementia highlight the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) as an amodal store of semantic knowledge but these studies do not permit precise localisation of this function. The current investigation used multiple imaging methods in healthy participants to examine functional dissociations within ATL. Multi-voxel pattern analysis identified spatially segregated regions: a response to input modality in anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG) and a response to meaning in more ventral anterior temporal lobe (vATL). This functional dissociation was supported by resting-state connectivity that found greater coupling for aSTG with primary auditory cortex and vATL with the default mode network. A meta-analytic decoding of these connectivity patterns implicated aSTG in processes closely tied to auditory processing (such as phonology and language) and vATL in meaning-based tasks (such as comprehension or social cognition). Thus we provide converging evidence for the segregation of meaning and input modality in the ATL

Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with 39 Gamma-Ray Bursts Using Data from the Second, Third, and Fourth LIGO Runs

We present the results of a search for short-duration gravitational-wave bursts associated with 39 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by gamma-ray satellite experiments during LIGO's S2, S3, and S4 science runs. The search involves calculating the crosscorrelation between two interferometer data streams surrounding the GRB trigger time. We search for associated gravitational radiation from single GRBs, and also apply statistical tests to search for a gravitational-wave signature associated with the whole sample. For the sample examined, we find no evidence for the association of gravitational radiation with GRBs, either on a single-GRB basis or on a statistical basis. Simulating gravitational-wave bursts with sine-gaussian waveforms, we set upper limits on the root-sum-square of the gravitational-wave strain amplitude of such waveforms at the times of the GRB triggers. We also demonstrate how a sample of several GRBs can be used collectively to set constraints on population models. The small number of GRBs and the significant change in sensitivity of the detectors over the three runs, however, limits the usefulness of a population study for the S2, S3, and S4 runs. Finally, we discuss prospects for the search sensitivity for the ongoing S5 run, and beyond for the next generation of detectors.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, 14 tables; minor changes to text and Fig. 2; accepted by Phys. Rev.

Search for gravitational waves associated with the InterPlanetary Network short gamma ray bursts

We outline the scientific motivation behind a search for gravitational waves associated with short gamma ray bursts detected by the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. The IPN localisation of short gamma ray bursts is limited to extended error boxes of different shapes and sizes and a search on these error boxes poses a series of challenges for data analysis. We will discuss these challenges and outline the methods to optimise the search over these error boxes.Comment: Methods paper; Proceedings for Eduardo Amaldi 9 Conference on Gravitational Waves, July 2011, Cardiff, U

Search for Gravitational Wave Bursts from Six Magnetars

Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are thought to be magnetars: neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields. These rare objects are characterized by repeated and sometimes spectacular gamma-ray bursts. The burst mechanism might involve crustal fractures and excitation of non-radial modes which would emit gravitational waves (GWs). We present the results of a search for GW bursts from six galactic magnetars that is sensitive to neutron star f-modes, thought to be the most efficient GW emitting oscillatory modes in compact stars. One of them, SGR 0501+4516, is likely similar to 1 kpc from Earth, an order of magnitude closer than magnetars targeted in previous GW searches. A second, AXP 1E 1547.0-5408, gave a burst with an estimated isotropic energy >10(44) erg which is comparable to the giant flares. We find no evidence of GWs associated with a sample of 1279 electromagnetic triggers from six magnetars occurring between 2006 November and 2009 June, in GW data from the LIGO, Virgo, and GEO600 detectors. Our lowest model-dependent GW emission energy upper limits for band-and time-limited white noise bursts in the detector sensitive band, and for f-mode ringdowns (at 1090 Hz), are 3.0 x 10(44)d(1)(2) erg and 1.4 x 10(47)d(1)(2) erg, respectively, where d(1) = d(0501)/1 kpc and d(0501) is the distance to SGR 0501+4516. These limits on GW emission from f-modes are an order of magnitude lower than any previous, and approach the range of electromagnetic energies seen in SGR giant flares for the first time.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyItalian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica NucleareFrench Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAustralian Research CouncilCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Educacion y CienciaConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsFoundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFoundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space Administration NNH07ZDA001-GLASTCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationRussian Space AgencyRFBR 09-02-00166aIPN JPL Y503559 (Odyssey), NASA NNG06GH00G, NASA NNX07AM42G, NASA NNX08AC89G (INTEGRAL), NASA NNG06GI896, NASA NNX07AJ65G, NASA NNX08AN23G (Swift), NASA NNX07AR71G (MESSENGER), NASA NNX06AI36G, NASA NNX08AB84G, NASA NNX08AZ85G (Suzaku), NASA NNX09AU03G (Fermi)Astronom

Scene construction impairments in Alzheimer's disease – A unique role for the posterior cingulate cortex

Episodic memory dysfunction represents one of the most prominent and characteristic clinical features of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), attributable to the degeneration of medial temporal and posterior parietal regions of the brain. Recent studies have demonstrated marked impairments in the ability to envisage personally relevant events in the future in AD. It remains unclear, however, whether AD patients can imagine fictitious scenes free from temporal constraints, a process that is proposed to rely fundamentally upon the integrity of the hippocampus. The objective of the present study was to investigate the capacity for atemporal scene construction, and its associated neural substrates, in AD. Fourteen AD patients were tested on the scene construction task and their performance was contrasted with 14 age- and education-matched healthy older Control participants. Scene construction performance was strikingly compromised in the AD group, with significant impairments evident for provision of contextual details, spatial coherence, and the overall richness of the imagined experience. Voxel-based morphometry analyses based on structural MRI revealed significant associations between scene construction capacity and atrophy in posterior parietal and lateral temporal brain structures in AD. In contrast, scene construction performance in Controls was related to integrity of frontal, parietal, and medial temporal structures, including the parahippocampal gyrus and posterior hippocampus. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) emerged as the common region implicated for scene construction performance across participant groups. Our study highlights the importance of regions specialised for spatial and contextual processing for the construction of atemporal scenes. Damage to these regions in AD compromises the ability to construct novel scenes, leading to the recapitulation of content from previously experienced events

Current and prospective pharmacological targets in relation to antimigraine action

Migraine is a recurrent incapacitating neurovascular disorder characterized by unilateral and throbbing headaches associated with photophobia, phonophobia, nausea, and vomiting. Current specific drugs used in the acute treatment of migraine interact with vascular receptors, a fact that has raised concerns about their cardiovascular safety. In the past, α-adrenoceptor agonists (ergotamine, dihydroergotamine, isometheptene) were used. The last two decades have witnessed the advent of 5-HT1B/1D receptor agonists (sumatriptan and second-generation triptans), which have a well-established efficacy in the acute treatment of migraine. Moreover, current prophylactic treatments of migraine include 5-HT2 receptor antagonists, Ca2+ channel blockers, and β-adrenoceptor antagonists. Despite the progress in migraine research and in view of its complex etiology, this disease still remains underdiagnosed, and available therapies are underused. In this review, we have discussed pharmacological targets in migraine, with special emphasis on compounds acting on 5-HT (5-HT1-7), adrenergic (α1, α2, and β), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP 1 and CGRP2), adenosine (A1, A2, and A3), glutamate (NMDA, AMPA, kainate, and metabotropic), dopamine, endothelin, and female hormone (estrogen and progesterone) receptors. In addition, we have considered some other targets, including gamma-aminobutyric acid, angiotensin, bradykinin, histamine, and ionotropic receptors, in relation to antimigraine therapy. Finally, the cardiovascular safety of current and prospective antimigraine therapies is touched upon

Implications for the Origin of GRB 070201 from LIGO Observations

We analyzed the available LIGO data coincident with GRB 070201, a short duration hard spectrum gamma-ray burst whose electromagnetically determined sky position is coincident with the spiral arms of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). Possible progenitors of such short hard GRBs include mergers of neutron stars or a neutron star and black hole, or soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR) flares. These events can be accompanied by gravitational-wave emission. No plausible gravitational wave candidates were found within a 180 s long window around the time of GRB 070201. This result implies that a compact binary progenitor of GRB 070201, with masses in the range 1 M_sun < m_1 < 3 M_sun and 1 M_sun < m_2 < 40 M_sun, located in M31 is excluded at >99% confidence. Indeed, if GRB 070201 were caused by a binary neutron star merger, we find that D < 3.5 Mpc is excluded, assuming random inclination, at 90% confidence. The result also implies that an unmodeled gravitational wave burst from GRB 070201 most probably emitted less than 4.4 x 10^(-4) M_sun c^2 (7.9 x 10^(50) ergs) in any 100 ms long period within the signal region if the source was in M31 and radiated isotropically at the same frequency as LIGO's peak sensitivity (f ~ 150 Hz). This upper limit does not exclude current models of SGRs at the M31 distance.Comment: 10 pages 5 figures 1 table to be submitted to ApJ Changes after GWIC review period: minor corrections, typographical tweak