575 research outputs found
Comparative Network Analysis of Preterm vs. Full-Term Infant-Mother Interactions
Several studies have reported that interactions of mothers with preterm infants show differential characteristics compared to that of mothers with full-term infants. Interaction of preterm dyads is often reported as less harmonious. However, observations and explanations concerning the underlying mechanisms are inconsistent. In this work 30 preterm and 42 full-term mother-infant dyads were observed at one year of age. Free play interactions were videotaped and coded using a micro-analytic coding system. The video records were coded at one second resolution and studied by a novel approach using network analysis tools. The advantage of our approach is that it reveals the patterns of behavioral transitions in the interactions. We found that the most frequent behavioral transitions are the same in the two groups. However, we have identified several high and lower frequency transitions which occur significantly more often in the preterm or full-term group. Our analysis also suggests that the variability of behavioral transitions is significantly higher in the preterm group. This higher variability is mostly resulted from the diversity of transitions involving non-harmonious behaviors. We have identified a maladaptive pattern in the maternal behavior in the preterm group, involving intrusiveness and disengagement. Application of the approach reported in this paper to longitudinal data could elucidate whether these maladaptive maternal behavioral changes place the infant at risk for later emotional, cognitive and behavioral disturbance
The role of parental achievement goals in predicting autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting
Although autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting are linked to numerous positive and negative child outcomes respectively, fewer studies have focused on their determinants. Drawing on achievement goal theory and self-determination theory, we propose that parental achievement goals (i.e., achievement goals that parents have for their children) can be mastery, performance-approach or performance-avoidance oriented and that types of goals predict mothers' tendency to adopt autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviors. A total of 67 mothers (aged 30-53 years) reported their goals for their adolescent (aged 13-16 years; 19.4 % girls), while their adolescent evaluated their mothers' behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that parental performance-approach goals predict more controlling parenting and prevent acknowledgement of feelings, one autonomy-supportive behavior. In addition, mothers who have mastery goals and who endorse performance-avoidance goals are less likely to use guilt-inducing criticisms. These findings were observed while controlling for the effect of maternal anxiety
Guillain-Barré syndrome: a century of progress
In 1916, Guillain, Barré and Strohl reported on two cases of acute flaccid paralysis with high cerebrospinal fluid protein levels and normal cell counts — novel findings that identified the disease we now know as Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS). 100 years on, we have made great progress with the clinical and pathological characterization of GBS. Early clinicopathological and animal studies indicated that GBS was an immune-mediated demyelinating disorder, and that severe GBS could result in secondary axonal injury; the current treatments of plasma exchange and intravenous immunoglobulin, which were developed in the 1980s, are based on this premise. Subsequent work has, however, shown that primary axonal injury can be the underlying disease. The association of Campylobacter jejuni strains has led to confirmation that anti-ganglioside antibodies are pathogenic and that axonal GBS involves an antibody and complement-mediated disruption of nodes of Ranvier, neuromuscular junctions and other neuronal and glial membranes. Now, ongoing clinical trials of the complement inhibitor eculizumab are the first targeted immunotherapy in GBS
Twelve years' detection of respiratory viruses by immunofluorescence in hospitalised children: impact of the introduction of a new respiratory picornavirus assay
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Direct immunofluorescence assays (DFA) are a rapid and inexpensive method for the detection of respiratory viruses and may therefore be used for surveillance. Few epidemiological studies have been published based solely on DFA and none included respiratory picornaviruses and human metapneumovirus (hMPV). We wished to evaluate the use of DFA for epidemiological studies with a long-term observation of respiratory viruses that includes both respiratory picornaviruses and hMPV.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Since 1998 all children hospitalized with respiratory illness at the University Hospital Bern have been screened with DFA for common respiratory viruses including adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza A and B, and parainfluenza virus 1-3. In 2006 assays for respiratory picornaviruses and hMPV were added. Here we describe the epidemiological pattern for these respiratory viruses detected by DFA in 10'629 nasopharyngeal aspirates collected from 8'285 patients during a 12-year period (1998-2010).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Addition of assays for respiratory picornaviruses and hMPV raised the proportion of positive DFA results from 35% to 58% (p < 0.0001). Respiratory picornaviruses were the most common viruses detected among patients ≥1 year old. The seasonal patterns and age distribution for the studied viruses agreed well with those reported in the literature. In 2010, an hMPV epidemic of unexpected size was observed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>DFA is a valid, rapid, flexible and inexpensive method. The addition of assays for respiratory picornaviruses and hMPV broadens its range of viral detection. DFA is, even in the "PCR era", a particularly adapted method for the long term surveillance of respiratory viruses in a pediatric population.</p
Centrality and transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow of multi-strange hadrons and meson in Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV
We present high precision measurements of elliptic flow near midrapidity
() for multi-strange hadrons and meson as a function of
centrality and transverse momentum in Au+Au collisions at center of mass energy
200 GeV. We observe that the transverse momentum dependence of
and is similar to that of and , respectively,
which may indicate that the heavier strange quark flows as strongly as the
lighter up and down quarks. This observation constitutes a clear piece of
evidence for the development of partonic collectivity in heavy-ion collisions
at the top RHIC energy. Number of constituent quark scaling is found to hold
within statistical uncertainty for both 0-30 and 30-80 collision
centrality. There is an indication of the breakdown of previously observed mass
ordering between and proton at low transverse momentum in the
0-30 centrality range, possibly indicating late hadronic interactions
affecting the proton .Comment: 7 pages and 4 figures, Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Energy dependence of acceptance-corrected dielectron excess mass spectrum at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at and 200 GeV
The acceptance-corrected dielectron excess mass spectra, where the known
hadronic sources have been subtracted from the inclusive dielectron mass
spectra, are reported for the first time at mid-rapidity in
minimum-bias Au+Au collisions at = 19.6 and 200 GeV. The excess
mass spectra are consistently described by a model calculation with a broadened
spectral function for GeV/. The integrated
dielectron excess yield at = 19.6 GeV for
GeV/, normalized to the charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity, has
a value similar to that in In+In collisions at = 17.3 GeV. For
= 200 GeV, the normalized excess yield in central collisions is
higher than that at = 17.3 GeV and increases from peripheral to
central collisions. These measurements indicate that the lifetime of the hot,
dense medium created in central Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV
is longer than those in peripheral collisions and at lower energies.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Isolation of Flow and Nonflow Correlations by Two- and Four-Particle Cumulant Measurements of Azimuthal Harmonics in 200 GeV Au+Au Collisions
A data-driven method was applied to measurements of Au+Au collisions at
200 GeV made with the STAR detector at RHIC to isolate
pseudorapidity distance -dependent and -independent
correlations by using two- and four-particle azimuthal cumulant measurements.
We identified a component of the correlation that is -independent,
which is likely dominated by anisotropic flow and flow fluctuations. It was
also found to be independent of within the measured range of
pseudorapidity . The relative flow fluctuation was found to be for particles of transverse momentum
less than GeV/. The -dependent part may be attributed to
nonflow correlations, and is found to be relative to the
flow of the measured second harmonic cumulant at
Elliptic flow of electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays in Au+Au collisions at 200, 62.4, and 39 GeV
We present measurements of elliptic flow () of electrons from the decays
of heavy-flavor hadrons () by the STAR experiment. For Au+Au collisions
at 200 GeV we report , for transverse momentum
() between 0.2 and 7 GeV/c using three methods: the event plane method
({EP}), two-particle correlations ({2}), and four-particle
correlations ({4}). For Au+Au collisions at = 62.4 and
39 GeV we report {2} for GeV/c. {2} and {4} are
non-zero at low and intermediate at 200 GeV, and {2} is consistent
with zero at low at other energies. The {2} at the two lower beam
energies is systematically lower than at 200 GeV for
GeV/c. This difference may suggest that charm quarks interact less
strongly with the surrounding nuclear matter at those two lower energies
compared to GeV.Comment: Version accepted by PR
Beam energy dependent two-pion interferometry and the freeze-out eccentricity of pions in heavy ion collisions at STAR
We present results of analyses of two-pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions
at = 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 62.4 and 200 GeV measured in the
STAR detector as part of the RHIC Beam Energy Scan program. The extracted
correlation lengths (HBT radii) are studied as a function of beam energy,
azimuthal angle relative to the reaction plane, centrality, and transverse mass
() of the particles. The azimuthal analysis allows extraction of the
eccentricity of the entire fireball at kinetic freeze-out. The energy
dependence of this observable is expected to be sensitive to changes in the
equation of state. A new global fit method is studied as an alternate method to
directly measure the parameters in the azimuthal analysis. The eccentricity
shows a monotonic decrease with beam energy that is qualitatively consistent
with the trend from all model predictions and quantitatively consistent with a
hadronic transport model.Comment: 27 pages; 27 figure
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