Proaktywne i reaktywne strategie radzenia sobie z trudnymi zachowaniami u dzieci ze spektrum autyzmu. Studium przypadku

The article presents a portion of therapeutic work with difficult be-haviors in students with autism spectrum disorders. The author’s work in this area was inspired by several publications by authors dealing with the subject of autism, such as G. LaVigna and his Positive Behaviour Support model for chil-dren with developmental disorders, including children with autism; Z. Grun-towski and his six-step problem-solving process for dealing with difficult be-haviors; H. Olechnowicz and her reflective approach to therapeutic work with individuals with autism. An important feature of this paper is that it highlights the importance of under-standing the contexts in which autistic persons exhibit difficult behaviors and the feasibility of applying a positive support plan based on proactive and reac-tive strategies. The author of the article believes that self-reflection, continuous learning and creating functional solutions are prerequisites for anyone willing to undertake effective therapeutic work with people with autism.W przedstawionym artykule zaprezentowano fragment pracy tera-peutycznej na temat trudnych zachowań u ucznia z zaburzeniami ze spektrum autyzmu. Inspiracją do podjęcia działań w tym zakresie stała się lektura publi-kacji autorów zajmujących się tematyką autyzmu, m.in. Gary’ego De LaVigna, twórcy Pozytywnego Modelu Wsparcia dla dzieci z zaburzeniami w rozwoju, w tym dla dzieci z autyzmem; Zygmunta Gruntowskiego, który zaproponował sześciokrokowy proces rozwiązywania problemów związanych z trudnymi za-chowaniami; Hanny Olechnowicz, twórczyni refleksyjnego podejścia do pracy terapeutycznej z osobami z autyzmem. Ważnym aspektem w prezentowanym artykule jest zwrócenie uwagi na znaczenie i zrozumienie kontekstów pojawiających się trudnych zachowań prezentowanych przez osoby z autyzmem oraz możliwości zastosowania pozytywnego Planu Wspar-cia opartego na strategiach proaktywnych i reaktywnych. Według autora niniejsze-go artykułu niezbędnym krokiem w podjęciu pracy terapeutycznej jest autorefleksja oraz nieustanne uczenie się i tworzenie funkcjonalnych rozwiązań, które pomagają przetrwać i ułatwiają zarówno życie, jak i pracę z osobami z autyzmem

Aktywna Biblioteka

The article offers an analysis of the changes that have taken place in the Municipal Library in Gierałtowice since 2009, when the library engaged as one of the leading pioneers in the first round of the Library Development Program. The library, whose priority was the collection and access of materials, has transformed into the community information center, where a lot of interesting initiatives are taking place for the benefit of the local community, houses a municipal coalition, which supports and motivates the library, and digital library resources are so interesting that an author from Germany is willing to use them in her publication. The article also includes a memory of and an inspiration from a visit to the United States funded by the U.S. Department of State and the Information Society Development Foundation.Artykuł jest analizą zmian, jakie zaszły w Gminnej Bibliotece Publicznej w Gierałtowicach od roku 2009, kiedy to instytucja przystąpiła do grona wiodących pionierów pierwszej rundy Programu Rozwoju Bibliotek. Z książnicy, której priorytetem było gromadzenie i udostępnianie zbiorów, zmieniła się w centrum informacji lokalnej oraz ośrodek, w którym podejmuje się wiele ciekawych inicjatyw na rzecz społeczności lo­kalnej, gdzie działa gminna koalicja, która wspiera i motywuje bibliotekę, a cyfrowe zasoby biblioteki są na tyle ciekawe, że autorka książek z Niemiec chce je wykorzystać w swej publikacji. W artykule zamieszczono także wspomnienie, inspirację z wizyty w Stanach Zjednoczonych sfinansowanej przez Departament Stanu USA oraz Fundację Rozwoju Społeczeństwa Informacyjnego

Metabolomic Signature Discriminates Normal Human Cornea from Keratoconus - A Pilot GC/MS Study

The molecular etiology of keratoconus (KC), a pathological condition of the human cornea, remains unclear. The aim of this work was to perform profiling of metabolites and identification of features discriminating this pathology from the normal cornea. The combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS) techniques has been applied for profiling and identification of metabolites in corneal buttons from 6 healthy controls and 7 KC patients. An untargeted GC/MS-based approach allowed the detection of 377 compounds, including 46 identified unique metabolites, whose levels enabled the separation of compared groups of samples in unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis. There were 13 identified metabolites whose levels di erentiated between groups of samples. Downregulation of several carboxylic acids, fatty acids, and steroids was observed in KC when compared to the normal cornea. Metabolic pathways associated with compounds that discriminated both groups were involved in energy production, lipid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism. An observed signature may reflect cellular processes involved in the development of KC pathology, including oxidative stress and inflammation

Harmonization of exosome isolation from culture supernatants for optimized proteomics analysis

<div><p>Exosomes, the smallest subset of extracellular vesicles (EVs), have recently attracted much attention in the scientific community. Their involvement in intercellular communication and molecular reprogramming of different cell types created a demand for a stringent characterization of the proteome which exosomes carry and deliver to recipient cells. Mass spectrometry (MS) has been extensively used for exosome protein profiling. Unfortunately, no standards have been established for exosome isolation and their preparation for MS, leading to accumulation of artefactual data. These include the presence of high-abundance exosome-contaminating serum proteins in culture media which mask low-abundance exosome-specific components, isolation methods that fail to yield “pure” vesicles or variability in protein solubilization protocols. There is an unmet need for the development of standards for exosome generation, harvesting, and isolation from cellular supernatants and for optimization of protein extraction methods before proteomics analysis by MS. In this communication, we illustrate the existing problems in this field and provide a set of recommendations that are expected to harmonize exosome processing for MS and provide the faithful picture of the proteomes carried by exosomes. The recommended workflow for effective and specific identification of proteins in exosomes released by the low number of cells involves culturing cells in medium with a reduced concentration of exosome-depleted serum, purification of exosomes by size-exclusion chromatography, a combination of different protein extraction method and removal of serum-derived proteins from the final dataset using an appropriate sample of cell-unexposed medium as a control. Application of this method allowed detection of >250 vesicle-specific proteins in exosomes from 10 mL of culture medium.</p></div

Mass spectrometry-based analysis of therapy-related changes in serum proteome patterns of patients with early-stage breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The proteomics approach termed proteome pattern analysis has been shown previously to have potential in the detection and classification of breast cancer. Here we aimed to identify changes in serum proteome patterns related to therapy of breast cancer patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Blood samples were collected before the start of therapy, after the surgical resection of tumors and one year after the end of therapy in a group of 70 patients diagnosed at early stages of the disease. Patients were treated with surgery either independently (26) or in combination with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (5) or adjuvant radio/chemotherapy (39). The low-molecular-weight fraction of serum proteome was examined using MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry, and then changes in intensities of peptide ions registered in a mass range between 2,000 and 14,000 Da were identified and correlated with clinical data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that surgical resection of tumors did not have an immediate effect on the mass profiles of the serum proteome. On the other hand, significant long-term effects were observed in serum proteome patterns one year after the end of basic treatment (we found that about 20 peptides exhibited significant changes in their abundances). Moreover, the significant differences were found primarily in the subgroup of patients treated with adjuvant therapy, but not in the subgroup subjected only to surgery. This suggests that the observed changes reflect overall responses of the patients to the toxic effects of adjuvant radio/chemotherapy. In line with this hypothesis we detected two serum peptides (registered m/z values 2,184 and 5,403 Da) whose changes correlated significantly with the type of treatment employed (their abundances decreased after adjuvant therapy, but increased in patients treated only with surgery). On the other hand, no significant correlation was found between changes in the abundance of any spectral component or clinical features of patients, including staging and grading of tumors.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study establishes a high potential of MALDI-ToF-based analyses for the detection of dynamic changes in the serum proteome related to therapy of breast cancer patients, which revealed the potential applicability of serum proteome patterns analyses in monitoring the toxicity of therapy.</p

Discrimination of papillary thyroid cancer from non-cancerous thyroid tissue based on lipid profiling by mass spectrometry imaging

Introduction: The distinction of papillary thyroid carcinomas from benign thyroid lesions has important implication for clinical management. Classification based on histopathological features can be supported by molecular biomarkers, including lipidomic signatures, identified with the use of high-throughput mass spectrometry techniques. Formalin fixation is a standard procedure for stabilization and preservation of tissue samples, therefore this type of samples constitute highly valuable source of clinical material for retrospective molecular studies. In this study we used mass spectrometry imaging to detect lipids discriminating papillary cancer from not cancerous thyroid directly in formalin-fixed tissue sections. Material and methods: For this purpose imaging and profiling of lipids present in non-malignant and cancerous thyroid tissue specimens were conducted. High resolution MALDI-Q-Ion Mobility-TOF-MS technique was used for lipidomic analysis of formalin fixed thyroid tissue samples. Lipids were identified by the comparison of the exact molecular masses and fragmentation pathways of the protonated molecule ions, recorded during the MS/MS experiments, with LIPID MAPS database. Results: Several phosphatidylcholines (32:0, 32:1, 34:1 and 36:3), sphingomyelins (34:1 and 36:1) and phosphatidic acids (36:2 and 36:3) were detected and their abundances were significantly higher in cancerous tissue compared to non-cancerous tissue. The same lipid species were detected in formalin-fixed as in fresh-frozen tissue, but [M + Na]+ions were the most abundant in formalin fixed whereas [M + K]+ions were predominant in fresh tissue. Conclusions: Our results prove the viability of MALDI-MSI for analysis of lipid distribution directly in formalin-fixed tissue, and the potential for their use in the classification of thyroid diseases

Establishing propositional truth-value in counterfactual and real-world contexts during sentence comprehension: Differential sensitivity of the left and right inferior frontal gyri

What makes a proposition true or false has traditionally played an essential role in philosophical and linguistic theories of meaning. A comprehensive neurobiological theory of language must ultimately be able to explain the combined contributions of real-world truth-value and discourse context to sentence meaning. This fMRI study investigated the neural circuits that are sensitive to the propositional truth-value of sentences about counterfactual worlds, aiming to reveal differential hemispheric sensitivity of the inferior prefrontal gyri to counterfactual truth-value and real-world truth-value. Participants read true or false counterfactual conditional sentences (“If N.A.S.A. had not developed its Apollo Project, the first country to land on the moon would be Russia/America”) and real-world sentences (“Because N.A.S.A. developed its Apollo Project, the first country to land on the moon has been America/Russia”) that were matched on contextual constraint and truth-value. ROI analyses showed that whereas the left BA 47 showed similar activity increases to counterfactual false sentences and to real-world false sentences (compared to true sentences), the right BA 47 showed a larger increase for counterfactual false sentences. Moreover, whole-brain analyses revealed a distributed neural circuit for dealing with propositional truth-value. These results constitute the first evidence for hemispheric differences in processing counterfactual truth-value and real-world truth-value, and point toward additional right hemisphere involvement in counterfactual comprehension

Low BACH2 Expression Predicts Adverse Outcome in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a heterogeneous disease with a highly variable clinical outcome. There are well‐established CLL prognostic biomarkers that have transformed treatment and improved the understanding of CLL biology. Here, we have studied the clinical significance of two crucial B cell regulators, BACH2 (BTB and CNC homology 1, basic leucine zipper transcription factor 2) and BCL6 (B‐cell CLL/lymphoma 6), in a cohort of 102 CLL patients and determined the protein interaction networks that they participate in using MEC‐1 CLL cells. We observed that CLL patients expressing low levels of BCL6 and BACH2 RNA had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) than high BCL6‐ and BACH2‐expressing cases. Notably, their low expression specifically decreased the OS of immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region‐mutated (IGHV‐M) CLL patients, as well as those with 11q and 13q deletions. Similar to the RNA data, a low BACH2 protein expression was associated with a significantly shorter OS than a high expression. There was no direct interaction observed between BACH2 and BCL6 in MEC‐1 CLL cells, but they shared protein networks that included fifty different proteins. Interestingly, a prognostic index (PI) model that we generated, using integrative risk score values of BACH2 RNA expression, age, and 17p deletion status, predicted patient outcomes in our cohort. Taken together, these data have shown for the first time a possible prognostic role for BACH2 in CLL and have revealed protein interaction networks shared by BCL6 and BACH2, indicating a significant role for BACH2 and BCL6 in key cellular processes, including ubiquitination mediated B‐cell receptor functions, nucleic acid metabolism, protein degradation, and homeostasis in CLL biology