Comparison of modelled and monitored deposition fluxes of sulphur and nitrogen to ICP-forest sites in Europe

The EMEP MSC-W Eulerian chemical transport model, and its predictions of deposition of acidifying and eutrophying pollutants over Europe, play a key role in the development of emission control strategies for Europe. It is important that this model is tested against observational data. Here we compare the results of the EMEP model with measured data from 160 sites of the European Union/ICP Forest (Level II) monitoring network, for the years 1997 and 2000. This comparison comprises: (a) Precipitation amount, (b) Total deposition of SO42- to coniferous and deciduous forests, (c) Wet deposition of SO42-, NO3- and NH4+ in open field sites, and (d) Concentrations of SO42-, NO3- and NH4+ in precipitation. Concerning precipitation, the EMEP model and ICP network showed very similar overall levels (within 4% for 1997 and 11% for 2000). The correlation was, however, poor (r2=0.15-0.23). This can be attributed largely to the influence of a few outliers, combined with a small range of rainfall amounts for most points. Correlations between modelled and observed deposition values in this study were rather high (r2 values between 0.4-0.8 for most components and years), with mean values across all sites being within 30%. The EMEP model tends to give somewhat lower values for SO42-, NO3- and NH4+ wet deposition to ICP, but differences in mean values were within 20% in 1997 and 30% in 2000. Modelled and observed concentrations of SO 42-, NO3- and NH4+ in precipitation are very similar on average (differences of 0-14%), with good correlation between modelled and observed data (r 2=0.50-0.78). Differences between the EMEP model and ICP measurements are thought to arise from a mixture of problems with both the observations and model. However, the overall conclusion is that the EMEP model performs rather well in reproducing patterns of S and N deposition to European forests

Myocarditis related to Campylobacter jejuni infection: A case report

BACKGROUND: Myocarditis can develop as a complication of various infections and is most commonly linked to enterovirus infections. Myocarditis is rarely associated with bacterial infections; salmonellosis and shigellosis have been the most frequently reported bacterial cause. We report a case of myocarditis related to Campylobacter jejuni enteritis. CASE PRESENTATION: A 30-year-old previously healthy man presented with a history of prolonged chest pain radiating to the jaw and the left arm. Five days prior to the onset of chest pain, he developed bloody diarrhea, fever and chills. Creatine kinase (CK) and CK-MB were elevated to 289 U/L and 28.7 μg/L. Troponin I was 30.2 μg/L. The electrocardiogram (ECG) showed T wave inversion in the lateral and inferior leads. The chest pain resolved within 24 hours of admission. The patient had a completely normal ECG stress test. The patient was initiated on ciprofloxacin 500 mg po bid when Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from the stool. Diarrhea resolved within 48 hours of initiation of ciprofloxacin. The diagnosis of Campylobacter enteritis and related myocarditis was made based on the clinical and laboratory results and the patient was discharged from the hospital in stable condition. CONCLUSION: Myocarditis can be a rare but severe complication of infectious disease and should be considered as a diagnosis in patients presenting with chest pain and elevated cardiac enzymes in the absence of underlying coronary disease. It can lead to cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. There are only a few reported cases of myocarditis associated with Campylobacter infection

Struggling for recognition and inclusion—parents' and pupils' experiences of special support measures in school

During the last decade an increasing use of differentiated support measures for pupils with special educational needs, indicative of a discrepancy between educational policies and practices, has been witnessed in Sweden. Another trend has been the increased use of medical diagnoses in school. The aim of this study was to explore the main concern of support given to pupils with special educational needs and how pupils and parents experience and handle this. Interviews were conducted with eight pupils in Grades 7–9—and their parents—at two compulsory schools in a city in northern Sweden. A grounded theory approach was used for analyzing the interview data. A conceptual model was generated illuminating the main concern of special support measures for pupils and parents. The core category of the model, struggling for recognition and inclusion, was related to two categories, which further described how this process was experienced and handled by the participants. These categories were labeled negotiating expertise knowledge within a fragmented support structure and coping with stigma, ambivalence, and special support measures. The developed conceptual model provides a deeper understanding of an ongoing process of struggle for recognition and inclusion in school as described by the pupils and parents

Intentional mind wandering is objectively linked to low effort and tasks with high predictability

BACKGROUND: Intentional Mind Wandering (IMW) is proposed to be a low executive control state in response to boredom, to distinguish it from unintentional mind wandering (UMW), which may be a low arousal state in response to exhaustion of resources. AIMS: To demonstrate that the objective differences between IMW and UMW reflect the subjective difference that IMW is linked to a low effort and high predictability strategy. METHODS: The metronome response task (MRT) requires participants to predict when the next tone in a regular series will occur. Inter-Trial Interval (ITI) variants of the MRT were presented in blocks of ∼ 90 seconds. RESULTS: The most predictable version of MRT resulted in the percentage of reported IMW doubling, whereas UMW remained similar in all three versions of the MRT. IMW necessitates subjective effort to be low (capped at 5 on a 1-9 scale). IMW in easy and predictable versions of the task resulted in normal performance, whereas IMW during difficult tasks that required sustained attention led to poor performance and occasional errors. IMW during the least predictable MRT led to a significantly higher rate of omission errors (compared to on-task or UMW), and also to a higher maximum-in-block reaction time, as predicted by the worst performance rule. Conscientiousness was linked to reduced IMW (but not reduced UMW), higher on-task probes, increased effort, and improved prediction accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Subjective assessment of task difficulty predisposes IMW, with transient increases of both omission errors and slow lapses due to diminished allocation of cognitive resources

Predicting the Effect of Surface Texture on the Qualitative Form of Prehension

Reach-to-grasp movements change quantitatively in a lawful (i.e. predictable) manner with changes in object properties. We explored whether altering object texture would produce qualitative changes in the form of the precontact movement patterns. Twelve participants reached to lift objects from a tabletop. Nine objects were produced, each with one of three grip surface textures (high-friction, medium-friction and low-friction) and one of three widths (50 mm, 70 mm and 90 mm). Each object was placed at three distances (100 mm, 300 mm and 500 mm), representing a total of 27 trial conditions. We observed two distinct movement patterns across all trials—participants either: (i) brought their arm to a stop, secured the object and lifted it from the tabletop; or (ii) grasped the object ‘on-the-fly’, so it was secured in the hand while the arm was moving. A majority of grasps were on-the-fly when the texture was high-friction and none when the object was low-friction, with medium-friction producing an intermediate proportion. Previous research has shown that the probability of on-the-fly behaviour is a function of grasp surface accuracy constraints. A finger friction rig was used to calculate the coefficients of friction for the objects and these calculations showed that the area available for a stable grasp (the ‘functional grasp surface size’) increased with surface friction coefficient. Thus, knowledge of functional grasp surface size is required to predict the probability of observing a given qualitative form of grasping in human prehensile behaviour

Lingering delays in a go/no-go task: mind wandering delays thought probes reliably but not reaction times

BACKGROUND: In a go/no-go task, changes to the inter-trial interval (ITI) or the press percentage (PP) are known to have decelerating effects on both reaction time and on thought probe response time. The mental causes of these delays remain obscure. AIMS: To see whether the delaying effects of ITI and PP are additive, and to determine whether these timing effects are linked with mental states detectable by subjective ratings. METHODS: An 18-minute online experiment with 60 participants who each performed 8 versions of the ToVA with different ITIs and PPs. At the end of each block were mind wandering (MW) thought probes and rating scales for subjective effort and awareness. RESULTS: The decelerating effects of long ITIs, low PPs, and MW seem to be synergistic, but the effects of individual factors on thought probes seem brittle. A version of the ToVA with zero no-go-stimuli spontaneously and implicitly accelerated mean reaction time significantly. That version also quickened three subsequent response times for rating tasks by hundreds of milliseconds, which suggests that the basis of this effect is a lingering mental state (or substrate). None of the subjective ratings measured were strongly related to the reaction time delay, although MW seems to delay the thought probe response. CONCLUSION: The strategic effect on both the reaction time and the thought probe response time is presumably a change in the speed-accuracy trade-off in which the participant adopts a mental strategy that speeds up thinking by reducing caution, so caution needs to be subjectively measured