Children's construction task performance and spatial ability: controlling task complexity and predicting mathematics performance.

This paper presents a methodology to control construction task complexity and examined the relationships between construction performance and spatial and mathematical abilities in children. The study included three groups of children (N = 96); ages 7-8, 10-11, and 13-14 years. Each group constructed seven pre-specified objects. The study replicated and extended previous findings that indicated that the extent of component symmetry and variety, and the number of components for each object and available for selection, significantly predicted construction task difficulty. Results showed that this methodology is a valid and reliable technique for assessing and predicting construction play task difficulty. Furthermore, construction play performance predicted mathematical attainment independently of spatial ability

Effect of histology on stereotactic body radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer oligometastatic pulmonary lesions

BACKGROUND: Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is commonly used to provide targeted treatment to metastatic lung disease. Investigation is needed to understand the influence of histology on treatment outcomes. We report how tumor histology affects local control (LC) in a cohort of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving SBRT for oligometastatic and recurrent pulmonary lesions. METHODS: Patients who received SBRT to recurrent or oligometastatic NSCLC pulmonary lesions from 2015-2019 at our institution were included in this retrospective cohort study. Minimum follow-up was 2 months. Kaplan-Meier (KM) analysis was performed to assess local progression-free survival (LPFS). Local failure cumulative incidence curves using death as a competing risk factor were also generated. RESULTS: A total of 147 treated lesions from 83 patients were included: 95 lesions from 51 patients with lung adenocarcinoma and 52 lesions from 32 patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC). Median follow-up was 23 [interquartile range (IQR): 9.5-44.5] months for adenocarcinoma, and 11.5 (6-32.25) months for SqCC. Two-year LC was 89% for adenocarcinoma and 77% for SqCC (P=0.04). Median overall survival (OS) was 24.5 (10-46.25) months for adenocarcinoma and 14.5 (7.75-23.25) months for SqCC. Adenocarcinoma had improved LPFS over SqCC (P=0.014). SqCC was associated with increased local failure risk that approached statistical significance (P=0.061) with death as a competing risk. Overall toxicity incidence was 8.2% with no G3+ toxicities. CONCLUSIONS: For SBRT-treated oligometastatic or recurrent NSCLC pulmonary lesions, adenocarcinoma histology is associated with improved 2-year LC and LPFS compared to SqCC and reduced incidence of local recurrence (LR) with death as a competing risk

Learner-led and boundary free: learning across contexts

In this paper, the contributing authors seek to extend our thinking about the nature of learning across settings. All emphasise the role played by the individual in shaping learning and consider the importance of agency in sustaining motivation for learning beyond structured settings. Kersch examines these issues in the context of workplace learning. Potter identifies a new physical site of learning – the home-school boundary – and argues that learner agency and the relationship between interest and motivation provide a useful lens through which to examine and understand young people’s choices and behaviours in and out of school. Finally Pitts discusses the ways in which motivation and learner agency may be sustained across lifetimes with respect to engagement in music. In examining varying forms of learning that occur beyond the classroom, all three authors move beyond more traditional conceptualizations of learning as simply the acquisition of knowledge and skills, and instead offer a more nuanced notion of learning pertaining to the development of personal dispositions that enable effective participation in contemporary society in both work and social settings

Pulmonary Aspergillosis: A Review on Diagnosis and Management

Aspergillosis is acquired by inhalation of spores of Aspergillus, a ubiquitous species in the environment. In normal hosts, spore inhalation rarely causes lung disease. Pulmonary aspergillosis covers a wide spectrum of clinical syndromes depending on the interaction between Aspergillus and the host (immune-status, prior bronchopulmonary disease). It runs the gamut from invasive aspergillosis to Aspergillus bronchitis and colonization. Invasive aspergillosis occurs in severely immunocompromised patients, typically with neutropenia. Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis affects patients with chronic structural lung disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, mycobacterial lung disease, but without significant immunocompromise. Aspergillus bronchitis affects patients with bronchial disease such as bronchiectasis. Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis affects patients with bronchial asthma or cystic fibrosis, and is due to an allergic response to Aspergillus. In this review of literature, we discuss the pulmonary manifestations of Aspergillus infection, its diagnosis and treatments

Adaptation of the proximal humerus to physical activity: a within-subject controlled study in baseball players

The proximal humerus is a common, yet understudied site for osteoporotic fracture. The current study explored the impact of prolonged physical activity on proximal humerus bone health by comparing bone properties between the throwing and nonthrowing arms within professional baseball players. The proximal humerus in throwing arms had 28.1% (95% CI, 17.8 to 38.3%) greater bone mass compared to nonthrowing arms, as assessed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. At the level of the surgical neck, computed tomography revealed 12.0% (95% CI, 8.2 to 15.8%) greater total cross-sectional area and 31.0% (95% CI, 17.8 to 44.2%) greater cortical thickness within throwing arms, which contributed to 56.8% (95% CI, 44.9 to 68.8%) greater polar moment of inertia (i.e., estimated ability to resist torsional forces) compared to nonthrowing arms. Within the humeral head and greater tubercle regions, throwing arms had 3.1% (95% CI, 1.1 to 5.1%) more trabecular bone, as assessed using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. Three-dimensional mapping of voxel- and vertex-wise differences between arms using statistical parametric mapping techniques revealed throwing arms had adaptation within much of the proximal diaphysis, especially the posterolateral cortex. The pattern of proximal diaphysis adaptation approximated the pattern of strain energy distribution within the proximal humerus during a fastball pitch derived from a musculoskeletal and finite element model in a representative player. These data demonstrate the adaptive ability of the proximal humerus to physical activity-related mechanical loads. It remains to be established how they translate to exercise prescription to improve bone health within the proximal humerus, however, they provide unique insight into the relationship between prolonged loading and skeletal adaptation at a clinically relevant osteoporotic site

Physical activity when young provides lifelong benefits to cortical bone size and strength in men

The skeleton shows greatest plasticity to physical activity-related mechanical loads during youth but is more at risk for failure during aging. Do the skeletal benefits of physical activity during youth persist with aging? To address this question, we used a uniquely controlled cross-sectional study design in which we compared the throwing-to-nonthrowing arm differences in humeral diaphysis bone properties in professional baseball players at different stages of their careers (n = 103) with dominant-to-nondominant arm differences in controls (n = 94). Throwing-related physical activity introduced extreme loading to the humeral diaphysis and nearly doubled its strength. Once throwing activities ceased, the cortical bone mass, area, and thickness benefits of physical activity during youth were gradually lost because of greater medullary expansion and cortical trabecularization. However, half of the bone size (total cross-sectional area) and one-third of the bone strength (polar moment of inertia) benefits of throwing-related physical activity during youth were maintained lifelong. In players who continued throwing during aging, some cortical bone mass and more strength benefits of the physical activity during youth were maintained as a result of less medullary expansion and cortical trabecularization. These data indicate that the old adage of “use it or lose it” is not entirely applicable to the skeleton and that physical activity during youth should be encouraged for lifelong bone health, with the focus being optimization of bone size and strength rather than the current paradigm of increasing mass. The data also indicate that physical activity should be encouraged during aging to reduce skeletal structural decay