Inferencing Abilities of Deaf College Students: Foundations and Implications for Metaphor Comprehension and Theory of Mind

Understanding nonliteral language requires inferencing ability and is an important but complex aspect of social interaction, involving cognitive (e.g., theory of mind, executive function) as well as language skill, areas in which many deaf individuals struggle. This study examined comprehension of metaphor and sarcasm, assessing the contributions of hearing status, inferencing ability, executive function (verbal short-term/working memory capacity), and deaf individuals’ communication skills (spoken versus signed language, cochlear implant use). Deaf and hearing college students completed a multiple-choice metaphor comprehension task and inferencing tasks that included both social-emotional (i.e., theory of mind) and neutral inferences, as well as short-term memory span and working memory tasks. Results indicated the hearing students to have better comprehension of nonliteral language and the ability to make social-emotional inferences, as well as greater memory capacity. Deaf students evidenced strong relationships among inferential comprehension, communication skills, and memory capacity, with substantial proportions of the variance in understanding of metaphor and sarcasm accounted for by these variables. The results of this study enhance understanding of the language and cognitive skills underlying figurative language comprehension and theory of mind and have implications for the social functioning of deaf individuals

Parents' psychological adjustment in families of children with Spina Bifida: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Spina Bifida (SB) is the second most common birth defect worldwide. Since the chances of survival in children with severe SB-forms have increased, medical care has shifted its emphasis from life-saving interventions to fostering the quality of life for these children and their families. Little is known, however, about the impact of SB on family adjustment. Reviewers have struggled to synthesize the few contradictory studies available. In this systematic review a new attempt was made to summarize the findings by using meta-analysis and by delimiting the scope of review to one concept of family adjustment: Parents' psychological adjustment. The questions addressed were: (a) do parents of children with SB have more psychological distress than controls? (b) do mothers and fathers differ? and (c) which factors correlate with variations in psychological adjustment? METHODS: PsycInfo, Medline, and reference lists were scanned. Thirty-three relevant studies were identified of which 15 were eligible for meta-analysis. RESULTS: SB had a negative medium-large effect on parents' psychological adjustment. The effect was more heterogeneous for mothers than for fathers. In the reviewed studies child factors (age, conduct problems, emotional problems, and mental retardation), parent factors (SES, hope, appraised stress, coping, and parenting competence), family factors (family income, partner relationship, and family climate), and environmental factors (social support) were found to be associated with variations in parents' psychological adjustment. CONCLUSION: Meta-analysis proved to be helpful in organizing studies. Clinical implications indicate a need to be especially alert to psychological suffering in mothers of children with SB. Future research should increase sample sizes through multi-center collaborations

EBV-gp350 Confers B-Cell Tropism to Tailored Exosomes and Is a Neo-Antigen in Normal and Malignant B Cells—A New Option for the Treatment of B-CLL

gp350, the major envelope protein of Epstein-Barr-Virus, confers B-cell tropism to the virus by interacting with the B lineage marker CD21. Here we utilize gp350 to generate tailored exosomes with an identical tropism. These exosomes can be used for the targeted co-transfer of functional proteins to normal and malignant human B cells. We demonstrate here the co-transfer of functional CD154 protein on tailored gp350+ exosomes to malignant B blasts from patients with B chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), rendering B blasts immunogenic to tumor-reactive autologous T cells. Intriguingly, engulfment of gp350+ exosomes by B-CLL cells and presentation of gp350-derived peptides also re-stimulated EBV-specific T cells and redirected the strong antiviral cellular immune response in patients to leukemic B cells. In essence, we show that gp350 alone confers B-cell tropism to exosomes and that these exosomes can be further engineered to simultaneously trigger virus- and tumor-specific immune responses. The simultaneous exploitation of gp350 as a tropism molecule for tailored exosomes and as a neo-antigen in malignant B cells provides a novel attractive strategy for immunotherapy of B-CLL and other B-cell malignancies

Was ist "Populäre Musik"? : Überlegungen in eigener Sache

Many common disorders across the lifespan feature impaired working memory (WM). Reported benefits of a WM training program include improving inattention in daily life, but this has not been evaluated in a meta-analysis. This study aimed to evaluate whether one WM training method has benefits for inattention in daily life by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis.We searched Medline and PsycINFO, relevant journals and contacted authors for studies with an intervention and control group reporting post-training estimates of inattention in daily life. To reduce the influence of different WM training methods on the findings, the review was restricted to trials evaluating the Cogmed method. A meta-analysis calculated the pooled standardised difference in means (SMD) between intervention and control groups.A total of 622 studies were identified and 12 studies with 13 group comparisons met inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis showed a significant training effect on inattention in daily life, SMD=-0.47, 95% CI -0.65, -0.29, p<.00001. Subgroup analyses showed this significant effect was observed in groups of children and adults as well as users with and without ADHD, and in studies using control groups that were active and non-adaptive, wait-list and passive as well as studies using specific or general measures. Seven of the studies reported follow-up assessment and a meta-analysis showed persisting training benefits for inattention in daily life, SMD=-0.33, 95% CI -0.57 -0.09, p=.006. Additional meta-analyses confirmed improvements after training on visuospatial WM, SMD=0.66, 95% CI 0.43, 0.89, p<.00001, and verbal WM tasks, SMD=0.40, 95% CI 0.18, 0.62, p=.0004.Benefits of a WM training program generalise to improvements in everyday functioning. Initial evidence shows that the Cogmed method has significant benefits for inattention in daily life with a clinically relevant effect size

Method validation and preliminary qualification of pharmacodynamic biomarkers employed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of an antisense compound (AEG35156) targeted to the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein XIAP

Data are presented on pharmacodynamic (PD) method validation and preliminary clinical qualification of three PD biomarker assays. M65 Elisa, which quantitates different forms of circulating cytokeratin 18 (CK18) as putative surrogate markers of both apoptotic and nonapoptotic tumour cell death, was shown to be highly reproducible: calibration curve linearity r2=0.996, mean accuracy >91% and mean precision <3%, n=27. Employing recombinant (r) CK18 and caspase cleaved CK18 (CK18 Asp396 neo-epitope) as external standards, kit to kit reproducibly was <6% (n=19). rCK18 was stable in plasma for 4 months at −20°C and −80°C, for 4 weeks at 4°C and had a half-life of 2.3 days at 37°C. Cytokeratin 18 Asp396 NE, the M30 Apoptosense Elisa assay antigen, was stable in plasma for 6 months at −20°C and −80°C, for 3 months at 4°C, while its half-life at 37°C was 3.8 days. Within-day variations in endogenous plasma concentrations of the M30 and M65 antigens were assessed in two predose blood samples collected from a cohort of 15 ovarian cancer patients receiving carboplatin chemotherapy and were shown to be no greater than the variability associated with methods themselves. Between-day fluctuations in circulating levels of the M30 and M65 antigens and in XIAP mRNA levels measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by quantitative (q) RT–PCR were evaluated in two predose blood samples collected with a 5- to 7-day gap from 23 patients with advanced cancer enrolled in a phase I trial. The mean variation between the two pretreatment values ranged from 13 to 14 to 25%, respectively, for M65, M30 and qRT–PCR. These data suggest that the M30 and M65 Elisa's and qRT–PCR as PD biomarker assays have favourable performance characteristics for further investigation in clinical trials of anticancer agents which induce tumour apoptosis/necrosis or knockdown of the anti-apoptotic protein XIAP

Caregiving process and caregiver burden: Conceptual models to guide research and practice

BACKGROUND: Parental care for a child with a developmental disability is an enormous responsibility, one that can far exceed that of typical parental care. While most parents adapt well to the situation of caring for a child with a disability, some do not. To understand parents' adaptations to their children's disabilities, the complex nature of stress processes must be accounted for and the constructs and factors that play a role in the caregiving must be considered. DISCUSSION: Evidence suggests that there is considerable variation in how caregivers adapt to their caregiving demands. Many studies have sought to qualify the association between caregiving and health outcomes of the caregivers. Contextual factors such as SES, child factors such as child behaviour problems and severity of disability, intra-psychic factors such as mastery and self-esteem, coping strategies and social supports have all been associated with psychological and/or physical outcome or parents or primary caregivers. In reviewing these issues, the literature appears to be limited by the use of traditional analytic approaches which examine the relationship between a factor and an outcome. It is clear, however, that changes to single factors, as represented in these studies, occur very rarely even in the experimental context. The literature has also been limited by lack of reliance on specific theoretical frameworks. SUMMARY: This conceptual paper documents the state of current knowledge and explores the current theoretical frameworks that have been used to describe the caregiving process from two diverse fields, pediatrics and geriatrics. Integration of these models into one comprehensive model suitable for this population of children with disabilities and their caregivers is proposed. This model may guide future research in this area

Epilepsy and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: links, risks, and challenges

Amy E Williams, Julianne M Giust, William G Kronenberger, David W DunnDepartment of Psychiatry, Riley Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana University Health Physicians, Indianapolis, IN, USAAbstract: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has a prevalence rate of 7%&ndash;9% in the general population of children. However, in children with epilepsy, ADHD has been found to be present in 20%&ndash;50% of patients. This paper provides a review of ADHD prevalence in pediatric epilepsy populations and reviews data on specific symptom presentation and attention deficits in patients with epilepsy. This paper also reviews evidence-based treatments for ADHD and specifically the treatment of ADHD as a comorbid condition in children with epilepsy.Keywords: ADHD, epilepsy, seizure disorder, childre