Social Competence as a Mediating Factor in Reduction of Behavioral Problems

The main purpose of the present study was to explore how social competence reduces behavioral problems. Based on previous findings, we assume that increased social competence can be regarded as a mediating factor in reducing behavior problems. All participants (children and adolescents, n ¼ 112) received an intervention intended to increase social competence: Aggresion Replacement Training (ART). Social competence and problem behavior were assessed twice before the ART intervention and then twice afterwards. Both measures improved following the training period, but no changes occurred during the pre-training period. Further, behavioral problems continued to reduce notably in follow-up probes after the training period. More detailed analyses indicate that in youngsters, increased social competence (e.g., improved self-control and cooperation) mediates the effect of ART on behavioral problems, but important moderating factors (e.g., age, individual levels of social competence, and problem behavior) need to be taken into consideration

Coming to grips - how nurses deal with restlessness, confusion, and physical restraints on a neurological/neurosurgical ward

Physical restraints are viewed as potentially dangerous objects for patient safety. Contemporary efforts mainly focus on preventing bad outcomes in restraint use, while little attention is paid under what circumstances physical restraints are applied harmlessly. The aim of this research was to understand how physical restraints are used by neurology/neurosurgery ward nurses in relation to the protocol. In ethnographic action research, the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) was used to map and compare physical restraints as part of daily ward care against the protocol of physical restraints. Comparison between protocol and actual practice revealed that dealing with restlessness and confusion is a collective nursing skill vital in dealing with physical restraints, while the protocol failed to account for these aspects. Supporting and maintaining this skillset throughout this and similar nursing teams can prevent future misguided application physical restraints, offering valuable starting point in managing patient safety for these potentially dangerous objects

First peptide vaccine providing protection against viral infection in the target animal: studies of canine parvovirus in dogs.

A synthetic peptide vaccine which protects dogs against challenge with virulent canine parvovirus is described. The amino acid sequence used was discovered in previous studies on the immunogenic properties of previously mapped antigenic sites and represents the amino-terminal region of viral protein VP2. As with marker vaccines, it is possible to discriminate between vaccinated dogs that have not been exposed to the virus and dogs that have been infected with the virus. The protective mechanism can be explained by a humoral response against the peptide aided by T-cell epitopes contained in the carrier protein used for peptide coupling. This is the first example of a synthetic peptide vaccine that induces protection in target animals

First peptide vaccine providing protection against viral infection in the target animal: studies of canine parvovirus in dogs.

A synthetic peptide vaccine which protects dogs against challenge with virulent canine parvovirus is described. The amino acid sequence used was discovered in previous studies on the immunogenic properties of previously mapped antigenic sites and represents the amino-terminal region of viral protein VP2. As with marker vaccines, it is possible to discriminate between vaccinated dogs that have not been exposed to the virus and dogs that have been infected with the virus. The protective mechanism can be explained by a humoral response against the peptide aided by T-cell epitopes contained in the carrier protein used for peptide coupling. This is the first example of a synthetic peptide vaccine that induces protection in target animals

No metabolic effects of mustard allyl-isothiocyanate compared with placebo in men.

Background: Induction of nonshivering thermogenesis can be used to influence energy balance to prevent or even treat obesity. The pungent component of mustard, allyl-isothiocyanate (AITC), activates the extreme cold receptor transient receptor potential channel, subfamily A, member 1 and may thus induce energy expenditure and metabolic changes.Objective: The objective of our study was to evaluate the potential of mustard AITC to induce thermogenesis (primary outcome) and alter body temperature, cold and hunger sensations, plasma metabolic parameters, and energy intake (secondary outcomes).Design: Energy expenditure in mice was measured after subcutaneous injection with vehicle, 1 mg norepinephrine/kg, or 5 mg AITC/kg. In our human crossover study, 11 healthy subjects were studied under temperature-controlled conditions after an overnight fast. After ingestion of 10 g of capsulated mustard or uncapsulated mustard or a capsulated placebo mixture, measurements of energy expenditure, substrate oxidation, core temperature, cold and hunger scores, and plasma parameters were repeated every 30 min during a 150-min period. Subjects were randomly selected for the placebo and capsulated mustard intervention; 9 of 11 subjects received the uncapsulated mustard as the final intervention because this could not be blinded. After the experiments, energy intake was measured with the universal eating monitor in a test meal.Results: In mice, AITC administration induced a 32% increase in energy expenditure compared with vehicle (17.5 ± 4.9 J · min-1 · mouse-1 compared with 12.5 ± 1.2 J · min-1 · mouse-1, P = 0.03). Of the 11 randomly selected participants, 1 was excluded because of intercurrent illness after the first visit and 1 withdrew after the second visit. Energy expenditure did not increase after ingestion of capsulated or uncapsulated mustard compared with placebo. No differences in substrate oxidation, core temperature, cold and hunger scores, or plasma parameters were found, nor was the energy intake at the end of the experiment different between the 3 conditions.Conclusion: The highest tolerable dose of mustard we were able to use did not elicit a relevant thermogenic response in humans. This trial was registered at www.controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN19147515

Search for Millicharged Particles at SLAC

Particles with electric charge q < 10^(-3)e and masses in the range 1--100 MeV/c^2 are not excluded by present experiments. An experiment uniquely suited to the production and detection of such "millicharged" particles has been carried out at SLAC. This experiment is sensitive to the infrequent excitation and ionization of matter expected from the passage of such a particle. Analysis of the data rules out a region of mass and charge, establishing, for example, a 95%-confidence upper limit on electric charge of 4.1X10^(-5)e for millicharged particles of mass 1 MeV/c^2 and 5.8X10^(-4)e for mass 100 MeV/c^2.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX, multicol, 3 figures. Minor typo corrected. Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Ultrasound-Responsive Cavitation Nuclei for Therapy and Drug Delivery

Therapeutic ultrasound strategies that harness the mechanical activity of cavitation nuclei for beneficial tissue bio-effects are actively under development. The mechanical oscillations of circulating microbubbles, the most widely investigated cavitation nuclei, which may also encapsulate or shield a therapeutic agent in the bloodstream, trigger and promote localized uptake. Oscillating microbubbles can create stresses either on nearby tissue or in surrounding fluid to enhance drug penetration and efficacy in the brain, spinal cord, vasculature, immune system, biofilm or tumors. This review summarizes recent investigations that have elucidated interactions of ultrasound and cavitation nuclei with cells, the treatment of tumors, immunotherapy, the blood–brain and blood–spinal cord barriers, sonothrombolysis, cardiovascular drug delivery and sonobactericide. In particular, an overview of salient ultrasound features, drug delivery vehicles, therapeutic transport routes and pre-clinical and clinical studies is provided. Successful implementation of ultrasound and cavitation nuclei-mediated drug delivery has the potential to change the way drugs are administered systemically, resulting in more effective therapeutics and less-invasive treatments

Dopant-induced crossover from 1D to 3D charge transport in conjugated polymers

The interplay between inter- and intra-chain charge transport in bulk polythiophene in the hopping regime has been clarified by studying the conductivity as a function of frequency (up to 3 THz), temperature and doping level. We present a model which quantitatively explains the observed crossover from quasi-one-dimensional transport to three-dimensional hopping conduction with increasing doping level. At high frequencies the conductivity is dominated by charge transport on one-dimensional conducting chains.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Clinical factors associated with fatigue over time in paediatric oncology patients receiving chemotherapy

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between clinical factors (including haemoglobin value, chemotherapeutic agents, and corticosteroid use) and changing patterns of fatigue before and for the next 10 days following the start of a new round of chemotherapy in children with cancer. A prospective longitudinal design was used to collect data from 48 paediatric oncology patients who were about to begin a new round of chemotherapy and their parents. Fatigue levels were assessed using multidomain questionnaires with three categories of patient self-report (including ‘General Fatigue', ‘Sleep/Rest Fatigue', and ‘Cognitive Fatigue') and four categories of parent proxy-report (including ‘Lack of Energy', ‘Unable to Function', ‘Altered Sleep', and ‘Altered Mood'). The findings suggest that fatigue from both patient self-report and parent proxy-report changed significantly over time. The major findings from this study are that patients have more problems with fatigue in the first few days after the start of a cycle of chemotherapy. Corticosteroid use and haemoglobin value were associated with significant increases in fatigue that were sustained for several days and reached the highest level of fatigue at day 5 for those receiving concurrent steroids. The association of chemotherapeutic agents with fatigue varied between patient self-report and parent report, but the type of chemotherapeutic agents used was not associated with most changes in fatigue

EU-Approved Rapid Tests for Bovine Spongform Encephalopathy Detect Atypical Forms: A Study for Their Sensitivities

Since 2004 it become clear that atypical bovine spongiform encephalopthies (BSEs) exist in cattle. Whenever their detection has relied on active surveillance plans implemented in Europe since 2001 by rapid tests, the overall and inter-laboratory performance of these diagnostic systems in the detection of the atypical strains has not been studied thoroughly to date. To fill this gap, the present study reports on the analytical sensitivity of the EU-approved rapid tests for atypical L-and H-type and classical BSE in parallel. Each test was challenged with two dilution series, one created from a positive pool of the three BSE forms according to the EURL standard method of homogenate preparation (50% w/v) and the other as per the test kit manufacturer's instructions. Multilevel logistic models and simple logistic models with the rapid test as the only covariate were fitted for each BSE form analyzed as directed by the test manufacturer's dilution protocol. The same schemes, but excluding the BSE type, were then applied to compare test performance under the manufacturer's versus the water protocol. The IDEXX HerdChek (R) BSE-scrapie short protocol test showed the highest sensitivity for all BSE forms. The IDEXX (R) HerdChek BSE-scrapie ultra short protocol, the Prionics (R) - Check WESTERN and the AJ Roboscreen (R) BetaPrion tests showed similar sensitivities, followed by the Roche (R) PrionScreen, the Bio-Rad (R) TeSeE (TM) SAP and the Prionics (R) - Check PrioSTRIP in descending order of analytical sensitivity. Despite these differences, the limit of detection of all seven rapid tests against the different classes of material set within a 2 log(10) range of the best-performing test, thus meeting the European Food Safety Authority requirement for BSE surveillance purposes. These findings indicate that not many atypical cases would have been missed surveillance since 2001 which is important for further epidemiological interpretations of the sporadic character of atypical forms