Disability in young people and adults one year after head injury: prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of disability in young people and adults admitted to hospital with a head injury and to estimate the annual incidence in the community. DESIGN: Prospective, hospital based cohort study, with one year follow up of sample stratified by coma score. SETTING: Five acute hospitals in Glasgow. SUBJECTS: 2962 patients (aged 14 years or more) with head injury; 549 (71%) of the 769 patients selected for follow up participated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Glasgow outcome scale and problem orientated questionnaire. RESULTS: Survival with moderate or severe disability was common after mild head injury (47%, 95% confidence interval 42% to 52%) and similar to that after moderate (45%, 35% to 56%) or severe injury (48%, 36% to 60%). By extrapolation from the population identified (90% of whom had mild injuries), it was estimated that annually in Glasgow (population 909 498) 1400 young people and adults are still disabled one year after head injury. CONCLUSION: The incidence of disability in young people and adults admitted with a head injury is higher than expected. This reflects the high rate of sequelae previously unrecognised in the large number of patients admitted to hospital with an apparently mild head injury

Influential Article Review - Education and Art

This paper examines arts. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: In this article, the author will outline the process of setting up a makerspace in an art education program on a US university campus. The challenges that were encountered will be discussed, as will the successful elements. In the conclusion , the author will provide the reader with a number of suggestions for integrating a makerspace into art education teacher preparation programs. For our overseas readers , we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish , French , Portuguese , and German

S4E3 : What is AI and what roles does it play in our lives?

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, sounds like a futuristic concept from science fiction movies, but is very much with us in the present day. We interact with this emerging technology on a daily basis when we apply for jobs, order groceries, access our bank accounts, apply for a loan and scroll through social media. In Episode 3 of Season 4 of “The Maine Question,” we examine AI, how it improves our lives and how it can cause problems. Penny Rheingans, director of the University of Maine’s School of Computing and Information Science, and Roy Turner, a UMaine associate professor of computer science, help us unravel the fascinating and complicated story of AI

Intron length distributions and gene prediction

Accurate gene prediction in eukaryotes is a difficult and subtle problem. Here we point out a useful feature of expected distributions of spliceosomal intron lengths. Since introns are removed from transcripts prior to translation, intron lengths are not expected to respect coding frame, thus the number of genomic introns that are a multiple of three bases (‘3n introns’) should be similar to the number that are a multiple of three plus one bases (or plus two bases). Skewed predicted intron length distributions thus suggest systematic errors in intron prediction. For instance, a genome-wide excess of 3n introns suggests that many internal exonic sequences have been incorrectly called introns, whereas a deficit of 3n introns suggests that many 3n introns that lack stop codons have been mistaken for exonic sequence. A survey of genomic annotations for 29 diverse eukaryotic species showed that skew in intron length distributions is a common problem. We discuss several examples of skews in genome-wide intron length distributions that indicate systematic problems with gene prediction. We suggest that evaluation of length distributions of predicted introns is a fast and simple method for detecting a variety of possible systematic biases in gene prediction or even problems with genome assemblies, and discuss ways in which these insights could be incorporated into genome annotation protocols

Functional and evolutionary analysis of alternatively spliced genes is consistent with an early eukaryotic origin of alternative splicing

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Alternative splicing has been reported in various eukaryotic groups including plants, apicomplexans, diatoms, amoebae, animals and fungi. However, whether widespread alternative splicing has evolved independently in the different eukaryotic groups or was inherited from their last common ancestor, and may therefore predate multicellularity, is still unknown. To better understand the origin and evolution of alternative splicing and its usage in diverse organisms, we studied alternative splicing in 12 eukaryotic species, comparing rates of alternative splicing across genes of different functional classes, cellular locations, intron/exon structures and evolutionary origins.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For each species, we find that genes from most functional categories are alternatively spliced. Ancient genes (shared between animals, fungi and plants) show high levels of alternative splicing. Genes with products expressed in the nucleus or plasma membrane are generally more alternatively spliced while those expressed in extracellular location show less alternative splicing. We find a clear correspondence between incidence of alternative splicing and intron number per gene both within and between genomes. In general, we find several similarities in patterns of alternative splicing across these diverse eukaryotes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Along with previous studies indicating intron-rich genes with weak intron boundary consensus and complex spliceosomes in ancestral organisms, our results suggest that at least a simple form of alternative splicing may already have been present in the unicellular ancestor of plants, fungi and animals. A role for alternative splicing in the evolution of multicellularity then would largely have arisen by co-opting the preexisting process.</p

Detecting Memory Impairment in Deaf People: A New Test of Verbal Learning and Memory in British Sign Language

Objective Most existing tests of memory and verbal learning in adults were created for spoken languages, and are unsuitable for assessing deaf people who rely on signed languages. In response to this need for sign language measures, the British Sign Language Verbal Learning and Memory Test (BSL-VLMT) was developed. It follows the format of the English language Hopkins Verbal Learning Test Revised, using standardized video-presentation with novel stimuli and instructions wholly in British Sign Language, and no English language requirement. Method Data were collected from 223 cognitively healthy deaf signers aged 50–89 and 12 deaf patients diagnosed with dementia. Normative data percentiles were derived for clinical use, and receiver-operating characteristic curves computed to explore the clinical potential and diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Results The test showed good discrimination between the normative and clinical samples, providing preliminary evidence of clinical utility for identifying learning and memory impairment in older deaf signers with neurodegeneration. Conclusions This innovative video testing approach transforms the ability to accurately detect memory impairments in deaf people and avoids the problems of using interpreters, with international potential for adapting similar tests into other signed languages

Swine Trichinella Infection and Geographic Information System Tools

Pastured pigs are vulnerable to Trichinella spiralis infection through exposure to wild reservoir hosts. To evaluate the potential impact of the expanding production of pork from pasture-raised pigs, we mapped locations of T. spiralis occurrence and pastured-pig farms in the United States. Twenty-eight farms were located within 50 km of previous infection

A prosodically controlled word and nonword repetition task for 2- to 4- year-olds: Evidence from typically developing children

An association has been found between nonword repetition and language skills in school-aged children with both typical and atypical language development (Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998; Ellis Weismer et al., 2000; Gathercole & Baddeley, 1990; Montgomery, 2002). This raises the possibility that younger children’s repetition performance may be predictive of later language deficits. In order to investigate this possibility, it is important to establish that elicited repetition with very young children is both feasible and informative. To this end, a repetition task was designed and carried out with 66 children aged 2-4. The task consisted of 18 words and 18 matched nonwords that were systematically manipulated for length and prosodic structure. In addition, an assessment of receptive vocabulary was administered. The repetition task elicited high levels of response. Total scores as well as word and nonword scores were sensitive to age. Lexical status and item length affected performance regardless of age: words were repeated more accurately than nonwords, and one-syllable items were repeated more accurately than two-syllable items, which were in turn repeated more accurately than three-syllable items. The effect of prosodic structure was also significant. Whole syllable errors were almost exclusive to unstressed syllables, with those preceding stress being most vulnerable. Performance on the repetition task was significantly correlated with performance on the receptive vocabulary test. Since this repetition task was effective in eliciting responses from most of the 2 to 4-year-old participants, tapped developmental change in their repetition skills, and revealed patterns in their performance, it has the potential to identify deficits in very early repetition skills that may be indicative of wider language difficulties

Phylogenomics: Gene Duplication, Unrecognized Paralogy and Outgroup Choice

Comparative genomics has revealed the ubiquity of gene and genome duplication and subsequent gene loss. In the case of gene duplication and subsequent loss, gene trees can differ from species trees, thus frequent gene duplication poses a challenge for reconstruction of species relationships. Here I address the case of multi-gene sets of putative orthologs that include some unrecognized paralogs due to ancestral gene duplication, and ask how outgroups should best be chosen to reduce the degree of non-species tree (NST) signal. Consideration of expected internal branch lengths supports several conclusions: (i) when a single outgroup is used, the degree of NST signal arising from gene duplication is either independent of outgroup choice, or is minimized by use of a maximally closely related post-duplication (MCRPD) outgroup; (ii) when two outgroups are used, NST signal is minimized by using one MCRPD outgroup, while the position of the second outgroup is of lesser importance; and (iii) when two outgroups are used, the ability to detect gene trees that are inconsistent with known aspects of the species tree is maximized by use of one MCRPD, and is either independent of the position of the second outgroup, or is maximized for a more distantly related second outgroup. Overall, these results generalize the utility of closely-related outgroups for phylogenetic analysis

The preschool repetition test: An evaluation of performance in typically developing and clinically referred children

Purpose: To determine the psychometric properties of the Preschool Repetition Test (Roy & Chiat, 2004); to establish the range of performance in typically developing children and variables affecting this; and to compare the performance of clinically referred children. Method: The PSRep Test comprises 18 words and 18 phonologically matched nonwords systematically varied for length and prosodic structure. This test was administered to a ‘typical’ sample of children aged 2;0–4;0 (n=315) and a ‘clinic’ sample of children aged 2;6-4;0 (n=168), together with language assessments. Results: Performance in the typical sample was independent of gender and SES, but was affected by age, item length, and prosodic structure, and was moderately correlated with receptive vocabulary. Performance in the clinic sample was significantly poorer, but revealed similar effects of length and prosody, and similar relations to language measures overall, with some notable exceptions. Test-retest and interrater reliability were high. Conclusions: The PSRep Test is a viable and informative test. It differentiates within and between ‘typical’ and ‘clinic’ samples of children, and reveals some unusual profiles within the clinic sample. These findings lay the foundations for a follow-up study of the clinic sample to investigate the predictive value of the test