Postural control and head stability during natural gaze behaviour in 6- to 12-year-old children

We investigated how the influence of natural exploratory gaze behaviour on postural control develops from childhood into adulthood. In a cross-sectional design, we compared four age groups: 6-, 9-, 12-year-olds and young adults. Two experimental trials were performed: quiet stance with a fixed gaze (fixed) and quiet stance with natural exploratory gaze behaviour (exploratory). The latter was elicited by having participants watch an animated short film on a large screen in front of them. 3D head rotations in space and centre of pressure (COP) excursions on the ground plane were measured. Across conditions, both head rotation and COP displacement decreased with increasing age. Head movement was greater in the exploratory condition in all age groups. In all children—but not in adults—COP displacement was markedly greater in the exploratory condition. Bivariate correlations across groups showed highly significant positive correlations between COP displacement in ML direction and head rotation in yaw, roll, and pitch in both conditions. The regularity of COP displacements did not show a clear developmental trend, which indicates that COP dynamics were qualitatively similar across age groups. Together, the results suggest that the contribution of head movement to eye-head saccades decreases with age and that head instability—in part resulting from such gaze-related head movements—is an important limiting factor in children's postural control. The lack of head stabilisation might particularly affect children in everyday activities in which both postural control and visual exploration are require

Геомеханика разрушения и регламент тампонажного упрочнения пород вокруг наклонных стволов вязкопластическими растворами

Наведено підсумки шахтних досліджень руйнування порід навколо стволів вугільних шахт та обґрунтовано параметри їх зміцнення вязкопластичними розчинами.Research results are mine destruction of rocks around the shafts of coal mines and reasonable options to strengthen viscoplastic solutions

PsycINFO classification: 2300; 2323

Abstract Most research on visual search in aiming at far targets assumes preprogrammed motor control implying that relevant visual information is detected prior to the final shooting or throwing movements. Eye movement data indirectly support this claim for stationary tasks. Using the basketball jump shot as experimental task we investigated whether in dynamic tasks in which the target can be seen until ball release, continuous, instead of preprogrammed, motor control is possible. We tested this with the temporal occlusion paradigm: 10 expert shooters took shots under four viewing conditions, namely, no vision, full vision, early vision (vision occluded during the final AE350 ms before ball release), and late vision (vision occluded until these final AE350 ms). Late-vision shooting appeared to be as good as shooting with full vision while early-vision performance was severely impaired. The results imply that the final shooting movements were controlled by continuous detection and use of visual information until ball release. The data further suggest that visual and movement control of aiming at a far target develop in close correspondence with the style of execution. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Perception of limb orientation in the vertical plane depends on center of mass rather than inertial eigenvectors

We performed two experiments to test the hypothesis that the perception of limb orientation depends on inertial eigenvectors (

Mendelian randomization study of B-type natriuretic peptide and type 2 diabetes: evidence of causal association from population studies

<p>Background: Genetic and epidemiological evidence suggests an inverse association between B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in blood and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), but the prospective association of BNP with T2D is uncertain, and it is unclear whether the association is confounded.</p> <p>Methods and Findings: We analysed the association between levels of the N-terminal fragment of pro-BNP (NT-pro-BNP) in blood and risk of incident T2D in a prospective case-cohort study and genotyped the variant rs198389 within the BNP locus in three T2D case-control studies. We combined our results with existing data in a meta-analysis of 11 case-control studies. Using a Mendelian randomization approach, we compared the observed association between rs198389 and T2D to that expected from the NT-pro-BNP level to T2D association and the NT-pro-BNP difference per C allele of rs198389. In participants of our case-cohort study who were free of T2D and cardiovascular disease at baseline, we observed a 21% (95% CI 3%-36%) decreased risk of incident T2D per one standard deviation (SD) higher log-transformed NT-pro-BNP levels in analysis adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, smoking, family history of T2D, history of hypertension, and levels of triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The association between rs198389 and T2D observed in case-control studies (odds ratio = 0.94 per C allele, 95% CI 0.91-0.97) was similar to that expected (0.96, 0.93-0.98) based on the pooled estimate for the log-NT-pro-BNP level to T2D association derived from a meta-analysis of our study and published data (hazard ratio = 0.82 per SD, 0.74-0.90) and the difference in NT-pro-BNP levels (0.22 SD, 0.15-0.29) per C allele of rs198389. No significant associations were observed between the rs198389 genotype and potential confounders.</p> <p>Conclusions: Our results provide evidence for a potential causal role of the BNP system in the aetiology of T2D. Further studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms underlying this association and possibilities for preventive interventions.</p&gt

mRNA Expression Level of ALK in Neuroblastoma Is Associated with Histological Subtype, ALK Mutations and ALK Immunohistochemical Protein Expression

ALK is related to poor survival in neuroblastoma patients. We investigated the prognostic relevance of ALK mRNA expression and the relationship with ALK immunohistochemical expression, histological subtype and ALK aberrations. Whole transcriptome sequencing data were available from 54 patients. Overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were estimated with Kaplan–Meier’s methodology. ALK protein expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. ALK aberrations were detected using whole exome sequencing, single nucleotide polymorphism array, next generation sequencing and/or fluorescence in situ hybridization. OS was 74.8% and EFS was 60%. ALK mRNA expression was not associated with OS (HR 1.127, 95% CI (0.812–1.854), p = 0.331) and adjusted EFS (HR 1.134, 95% CI (0.783–1.644), p = 0.505), but was associated with histological subtype (OR 1.914, 95% CI (1.083–3.382), p = 0.025) and ALK protein expression (negative versus weak: OR 2.829, 95% CI (1.290–6.204), p = 0.009) (negative versus moderate/strong: OR 2.934, 95% CI (0.889–9.679), p = 0.077). ALK mutated tumors had significantly higher ALK mRNA expression than non-mutated tumors (p < 0.001). MYCN-amplified neuroblastomas have higher MYCN mRNA expression (p ≤ 0.001), but not ALK mRNA expression (p = 0.553). ALK mRNA expression is higher in ALK mutated neuroblastomas and is associated with poorer differentiation degree and higher protein expression. ALK mRNA expression is not significantly associated with OS and EFS

Mesenchymal tumor organoid models recapitulate rhabdomyosarcoma subtypes

Rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) are mesenchyme-derived tumors and the most common childhood soft tissue sarcomas. Treatment is intense, with a nevertheless poor prognosis for high-risk patients. Discovery of new therapies would benefit from additional preclinical models. Here, we describe the generation of a collection of 19 pediatric RMS tumor organoid (tumoroid) models (success rate of 41%) comprising all major subtypes. For aggressive tumors, tumoroid models can often be established within 4-8 weeks, indicating the feasibility of personalized drug screening. Molecular, genetic, and histological characterization show that the models closely resemble the original tumors, with genetic stability over extended culture periods of up to 6 months. Importantly, drug screening reflects established sensitivities and the models can be modified by CRISPR/Cas9 with TP53 knockout in an embryonal RMS model resulting in replicative stress drug sensitivity. Tumors of mesenchymal origin can therefore be used to generate organoid models, relevant for a variety of preclinical and clinical research questions

Aging affects attunement in perceiving length by dynamic touch

Earlier studies have revealed age-dependent differences in perception by dynamic touch. In the present study, we examined whether the capacity to learn deteriorates with aging. Adopting an ecological approach to learning, the authors examined the process of attunement—that is, the changes in what informational variable is exploited. Young and elderly adults were trained to perceive the lengths of unseen, handheld rods. It was found that the capacity to attune declines with aging: Contrary to the young adults, the elderly proved unsuccessful in learning to detect the specifying informational variables. The fact that aging affects the capacity to attune sets a new line of research in the study of perception and perceptual-motor skills of elderly. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for the ongoing discussions on the ecological approach to learning

Tumor to normal single-cell mRNA comparisons reveal a pan-neuroblastoma cancer cell

Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer that resembles developmental stages of the neural crest. It is not established what developmental processes neuroblastoma cancer cells represent. Here, we sought to reveal the phenotype of neuroblastoma cancer cells by comparing cancer (n = 19,723) with normal fetal adrenal single-cell transcriptomes (n = 57,972). Our principal finding was that the neuroblastoma cancer cell resembled fetal sympathoblasts, but no other fetal adrenal cell type. The sympathoblastic state was a universal feature of neuroblastoma cells, transcending cell cluster diversity, individual patients, and clinical phenotypes. We substantiated our findings in 650 neuroblastoma bulk transcriptomes and by integrating canonical features of the neuroblastoma genome with transcriptional signals. Overall, our observations indicate that a pan-neuroblastoma cancer cell state exists, which may be attractive for novel immunotherapeutic and targeted avenues