One-year follow-up of family versus child CBT for anxiety disorders: Exploring the roles of child age and parental intrusiveness.

ObjectiveTo compare the relative long-term benefit of family-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (FCBT) and child-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) for child anxiety disorders at a 1-year follow-up.MethodThirty-five children (6-13 years old) randomly assigned to 12-16 sessions of family-focused CBT (FCBT) or child-focused CBT (CCBT) participated in a 1-year follow-up assessment. Independent evaluators, parents, and children rated anxiety and parental intrusiveness. All were blind to treatment condition and study hypotheses.ResultsChildren assigned to FCBT had lower anxiety scores than children assigned to CCBT on follow-up diagnostician- and parent-report scores, but not child-report scores. Exploratory analyses suggested the advantage of FCBT over CCBT may have been evident more for early adolescents than for younger children and that reductions in parental intrusiveness may have mediated the treatment effect.ConclusionFCBT may yield a stronger treatment effect than CCBT that lasts for at least 1 year, although the lack of consistency across informants necessitates a circumspect view of the findings. The potential moderating and mediating effects considered in this study offer interesting avenues for further study

Lymphatic vessels in inflammed human dental pulp

Investigation has been performed on both the light and electron microscopic characteristics of the lymphatic vessels present in the dental pulp of human teeth which have been affected by serious carious lesions. These conditions provoke a severe inflammatory response resulting in structural and functional modifications of the tissue; increase of the tissue pressure is followed by the need for a more intensive lymphatic drainage. In the inflammed pulps, dilated lymphatic vessels with distended walls and »open junctions« between endothelial cells are detectable. On the other hand they lack certain endothelial structures which characterize the morphology of these vessels under normal conditions. In the pulpal regions affected by fibrotic proliferation shrinked vessels with irregular profiles are present. From these observations it is possible to obtain other information on the mechanisms regulating the lymphatic drainage in different structural and functional conditions of the interstitium.La recherche a eu pour but d’examiner au microscope optique et au microscope électronique les caractéristiques morphologiques des vaisseaux lymphatiques présents dans le tissu pulpaire de dents humaines atteintes de graves lésions dues aux caries. En de pareilles conditions, des processus inflammatoires s’instaurent dans le tissu pulpaire d’une telle intensité qu’ils provoquent des modifications structurelles et fonctionelles dans le tissu avec une augmentation de la tension tissulaire et donc un besoin majeur de drainage de la part du système lymphatique. Dans les pulpes enflammées, on a pu démontrer la présence de vaisseaux lymphatiques dilatés dans la paroi desquels on trouve des «jonctions ouvertes» alors, qu’il manque certaines des structures endothéliales qui caractérisent ces vaisseaux dans les conditions normales.Dans les zones de tissu pulpaire avec dégénérescence fibreuse, on trouve des vaisseaux lymphatiques aux parois contractées et irrégulières.Par ces observations, il a été possible de trouver d’autres informations sur les mécanismes qui règlent le drainage lymphatique dans differentes conditions structurelles et fonctionnelles de l’interstitium

Morphometric computerized analysis on the dentinal tubules and the collagen fibers in the dentine of human permanent teeth

A morphometric analysis has been performed on important components of human dentine using an image computerized analyzer. The dentinal tubule diameter and their area percentage were calculated. Moreover the area percentage of the collagen fibers in the dentinal matrix was measured. These parameters have been evaluated in different areas of the coronal and the radicular dentine in permanent teeth.Measurements have been performed on undecalcified and decalcified teeth and on teeth treated with enzymatic digestion to remove the organic non collagen matrix and to evidentiate the collagen fiber network.The values obtained in different areas of the tooth and in samples sumitted to different treatments were evaluated by statistical analysis.Dentinal tubule diameter and area percentage significatively decrease from the inner to the peripheral dentine both in the undecalcified teeth as in the decalcified ones and in the samples undergone to enzymatic digestion. The collagen fiber percentage in the organic matrix is significatively lower in the mantle dentine.Il a été procédé à une recherche morphométrique relative à des composants importants de la dentine à l’aide d’un analyseur d’images computérisé. Le diamètre des tubules dentinaires et le pourcentage de la surface qu’ils occupent dans la dentine ont été mesurés. En outre, le pourcentage de la surface occupée par les fibres collagènes dans la matrice dentinale a été également mesuré. Ces valeurs ont été relevées dans des surfaces différentes de dentine, dans la racine et dans la couronne de dents permanentes. Les mesures ont été effectuées sur des dents décalcifiées ainsi que sur des dents traitées par digestion enzymatique afin d’enlever, après décalcification, la composante organique non collagène et séparer la trame des fibres collagènes.Les valeurs obtenues dans les différentes surfaces de la dent et dans des dents soumises à divers traitements ont été étudiées et confrontées au moyen d’analyse statistique.Le diamètre des tubules et leur pourcentage de surface diminuent significativement de la dentine la plus interne à celle périphérique, aussi bien dans les dents non décalcifiées que dans les dents décalcifiées et dans celles qui sont soumises à digestion enzymatique. Le pourcentage de la surface des fibres collagènes dans la matrice organique est significativement inférieure dans la dentine périphérique

Through the lens of sequence submodularity

Several real-world problems in engineering and applied science require the selection of sequences that maximize a given reward function. Optimizing over sequences as opposed to sets requires exploring an exponentially larger search space and can become prohibitive in most cases of practical interest. However, if the objective function is submodular (intuitively, it exhibits a diminishing return property), the optimization problem becomes more manageable. Recently, there has been increasing interest in sequence submodularity in connection with applications such as recommender systems and online ad allocation. However, mostly ad hoc models and solutions have emerged within these applicative contexts. In consequence, the field appears fragmented and lacks coherence. In this paper, we offer a unified view of sequence submodularity and provide a generalized greedy algorithm that enjoys strong theoretical guarantees. We show how our approach naturally captures several application domains, and our algorithm encompasses existing methods, improving over them

A unifying look at sequence submodularity

Several real-world problems in engineering and applied science require the selection of sequences that maximize a given reward function. Optimizing over sequences as opposed to sets requires exploring an exponentially larger search space and can become prohibitive in most cases of practical interest. However, if the objective function is submodular (intuitively, it exhibits a diminishing return property), the optimization problem becomes more manageable. Recently, there has been increasing interest in sequence submodularity in connection with applications such as recommender systems and online ad allocation. However, mostly ad hoc models and solutions have emerged within these applicative contexts. In consequence, the field appears fragmented and lacks coherence. In this paper, we offer a unified view of sequence submodularity and provide a generalized greedy algorithm that enjoys strong theoretical guarantees. We show how our approach naturally captures several application domains, and our algorithm encompasses existing methods, improving over them. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

Optical properties of single crystals of some rare-earth trifluorides, 5-34 eV

The reflectances of single crystals of the trifluorides of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Dy, and of polycrystalline GdF3 were measured in the 10-34-eV region, along with 5-9-eV transmission measurements on films of these materials. Localized 4f→5d, 6stransitions on the rare-earth ions give rise to the absorption below 10 or 11 eV. Strong interband absorption gives anisotropic reflectance peaks in the 10-15-eV region, presumably from F− 2p valence bands to lanthanide 5d, 6s (and other states) conduction bands, accounting for about one-third of the expected F− 2p osillator strength. Transitions from lanthanide 5p levels cause two types of spectra beginning around 20 eV: transitions of the 5p→5d type, apparently localized on lanthanide ions, but with some an isotropy; and transitions of 5p electrons to the conduction band, giving a peak of very high reflectance at energies above 27 eV

Thermomodulation Study of Plasmons and Longitudinal Excitons in Alkali Halides

Thermoreflectance measurements on LiF and KCl were made from 10 to 30 eV using synchrotron radiation. Analysis of the differential dielectric and electron-energy-loss functions shows that the energy-loss peak generally attributed to the valence plasmon actually arises from the plasmon and overlapping longitudinal-exciton-like peak(s)

Thermoreflectance of LiF between 12 and 30 eV

The thermoreflectance spectrum of LiF between 12 and 30 eV was measured and several of the structures interpreted. The absorption-edge region is interpreted in terms of a Wannier exciton series converging to the fundamental band gap Γ15→Γ1. Structure associated directly with the band gap is not manifest, so the Γ15−Γ1 energy is determined indirectly to be 14.2 ± 0.2 eV. The n=1 exciton state generates the first strong structure in Δε̃ and we suggest that the exciton-phonon interaction, along with a central-cell correction, can give a significant contribution to its binding energy. Structures at higher energy have been associated with the interband transitions L3′→L1 and L2′→L1 between the crystal-field-split valence band at L and the lower conduction band. The strong electron-hole interaction modifies the expected line shape and a hyperbolic exciton, associated with the transitions at L, may exist as an antiresonance in the continuum. A strong feature at 22.2 eV in Δε̃ is associated with excitonic transitions at X involving the second d-like conduction band. The corresponding peak at 26.4 eV in Δ[Im(−1ε̃)] overlaps the valence-band plasmon at 24.6 eV. No evidence for double excitations is found around 25 eV in either Δε̃ or Δ[Im(−1ε̃)]. The Δ[Im(−1ε̃)] spectrum shows for the first time which structures in the energy-loss function are generated by longitudinal excitons and which by plasmons

Temperature-Modulated Reflectance of Gold from 6 to 35 eV

The thermoreflectance spectrum of gold has been measured in the 6-35-eV region at about 200 K by using synchrotron radiation. Considerable sharp structure exists throughout this region, showing that lifetime broadening is not large enough to preclude the extension of high-resolution modulation techniques to at least 35 eV. The structure arises from interband transitions of the 5d electrons and from plasmons

Investigating Habituation to Premonitory Urges in Behavior Therapy for Tic Disorders

Behavior therapy is effective for Persistent Tic Disorders (PTDs), but behavioral processes facilitating tic reduction are not well understood. One process, habituation, is thought to create tic reduction through decreases in premonitory urge severity. The current study tested whether premonitory urges decreased in youth with PTDs (N = 126) and adults with PTDs (N = 122) who participated in parallel randomized clinical trials comparing behavior therapy to psychoeducation and supportive therapy (PST). Trends in premonitory urges, tic severity, and treatment outcome were analyzed according to the predictions of a habituation model, whereby urge severity would be expected to decrease in those who responded to behavior therapy. Although adults who responded to behavior therapy showed a significant trend of declining premonitory urge severity across treatment, results failed to demonstrate that behavior therapy specifically caused changes in premonitory urge severity. In addition, reductions in premonitory urge severity in those who responded to behavior therapy were significant greater than those who did not respond to behavior therapy but no different than those who responded or did not respond to PST. Children with PTDs failed to show any significant changes in premonitory urges. Reductions in premonitory urge severity did not mediate the relationship between treatment and outcome in either adults or children. These results cast doubt on the notion that habituation is the therapeutic process underlying the effectiveness of behavior therapy, which has immediate implications for the psychoeducation and therapeutic rationale presented in clinical practice. Moreover, there may be important developmental changes in premonitory urges in PTDs, and alternative models of therapeutic change warrant investigation