Bilingualism and Attention in Typically Developing Children and Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to investigate whether dual language experience modulates the efficiency of the 3 attentional networks (alerting, orienting, and executive control) in typically developing (TD) children and in children with developmental language disorder (DLD).Method: We examined the attentional networks in monolingual and bilingual school-aged children (ages 8–12 years) with and without DLD. TD children (35 monolinguals, 23 bilinguals) and children with DLD (17 monolinguals, 9 bilinguals) completed the Attention Network Test (Fan et al., 2002; Fan, McCandliss, Fossella, Flombaum, & Posner, 2005).Results: Children with DLD exhibited poorer executive control than TD children, but executive control was not modified by bilingual experience. The bilingual group with DLD and both TD groups exhibited an orienting effect, but the monolingual group with DLD did not. No group differences were found for alerting.Conclusions: Children with DLD have weak executive control skills. These skills are minimally influenced by dual language experience, at least in this age range. A potential bilingual advantage in orienting may be present in the DLD group.</p

Bilingualism and processing speed in typically developing children and children with developmental language disorder.

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to investigate whether dual language experience modulates processing speed in typically developing (TD) children and in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). We also examined whether processing speed predicted vocabulary and sentence-level abilities in receptive and expressive modalities. Method: We examined processing speed in monolingual and bilingual school-age children (ages 8–12 years) with and without DLD. TD children (35 monolinguals, 24 bilinguals) and children with DLD (17 monolinguals, 10 bilinguals) completed a visual choice reaction time task. The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Expressive Vocabulary Test were used as language measures. Results: The children with DLD exhibited slower response times relative to TD children. Response time was not modified by bilingual experience, neither in children with typical development nor children with DLD. Also, we found that faster processing speed was related to higher language abilities, but this relationship was not significant when socioeconomic status was controlled for. The magnitude of the association did not differ between the monolingual and bilingual groups across the language measures. Conclusions: Slower processing speed is related to lower language abilities in children. Processing speed is minimally influenced by dual language experience, at least within this age range.</p

Steroid therapy and outcome of parapneumonic pleural effusions (STOPPE): Study protocol for a multicenter, double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major global disease. Parapneumonic effusions often complicate CAP and range from uninfected (simple) to infected (complicated) parapneumonic effusions and empyema (pus). CAP patients who have a pleural effusion at presentation are more likely to require hospitalization, have a longer length of stay and higher mortality than those without an effusion. Conventional management of pleural infection, with antibiotics and chest tube drainage, fails in about 30% of cases. Several randomized controlled trials (RCT) have evaluated the use of corticosteroids in CAP and demonstrated some potential benefits. Importantly, steroid use in pneumonia has an acceptable safety profile with no adverse impact on mortality. A RCT focused on pediatric patients with pneumonia and a parapneumonic effusion demonstrated shorter time to recovery. The effects of corticosteroid use on clinical outcomes in adults with parapneumonic effusions have not been tested. We hypothesize that parapneumonic effusions develop from an exaggerated pleural inflammatory response. Treatment with systemic steroids may dampen the inflammation and lead to improved clinical outcomes. The steroid therapy and outcome of parapneumonic pleural effusions (STOPPE) trial will assess the efficacy and safety of systemic corticosteroid as an adjunct therapy in adult patients with CAP and pleural effusions. METHODS: STOPPE is a pilot multicenter, double-blinded, placebo-controlled RCT that will randomize 80 patients with parapneumonic effusions (2:1) to intravenous dexamethasone or placebo, administered twice daily for 48 hours. This exploratory study will capture a wide range of clinically relevant endpoints which have been used in clinical trials of pneumonia and/or pleural infection; including, but not limited to: time to clinical stability, inflammatory markers, quality of life, length of hospital stay, proportion of patients requiring escalation of care (thoracostomy or thoracoscopy), and mortality. Safety will be assessed by monitoring for the incidence of adverse events during the study. DISCUSSION: STOPPE is the first trial to assess the efficacy and safety profile of systemic corticosteroids in adults with CAP and pleural effusions. This will inform future studies on feasibility and appropriate trial endpoints. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN1261800094720

Australasian Malignant PLeural Effusion (AMPLE)-3 trial: Study protocol for a multi-centre randomised study comparing indwelling pleural catheter (±talc pleurodesis) versus video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for management of malignant pleural effusion

Introduction: Malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) are common. MPE causes significant breathlessness and impairs quality of life. Indwelling pleural catheters (IPC) allow ambulatory drainage and reduce hospital days and re-intervention rates when compared to standard talc slurry pleurodesis. Daily drainage accelerates pleurodesis, and talc instillation via the IPC has been proven feasible and safe. Surgical pleurodesis via video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is considered a one-off intervention for MPE and is often recommended to patients who are fit for surgery. The AMPLE-3 trial is the first randomised trial to compare IPC (±talc pleurodesis) and VATS pleurodesis in those who are fit for surgery. Methods and analysis: A multi-centre, open-labelled randomised trial of patients with symptomatic MPE, expected survival of ≥ 6 months and good performance status randomised 1:1 to either IPC or VATS pleurodesis. Participant randomisation will be minimised for (i) cancer type (mesothelioma vs non-mesothelioma); (ii) previous pleurodesis (vs not); and (iii) trapped lung, if known (vs not). Primary outcome is the need for further ipsilateral pleural interventions over 12 months or until death, if sooner. Secondary outcomes include days in hospital, quality of life (QoL) measures, physical activity levels, safety profile, health economics, adverse events, and survival. The trial will recruit 158 participants who will be followed up for 12 months. Ethics and dissemination: Sir Charles Gairdner and Osborne Park Health Care Group (HREC) has approved the study (reference: RGS356). Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific meetings. Discussion: Both IPC and VATS are commonly used procedures for MPE. The AMPLE-3 trial will provide data to help define the merits and shortcomings of these procedures and inform future clinical care algorithms. Trial registration: Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ACTRN12618001013257. Registered on 18 June 2018. Protocol version: Version 3.00/4.02.1

Outcome and complications of living donor pediatric renal transplantation: Experience from a tertiary care center

Introduction: We retrospectively reviewed the patient characteristics, outcome, and complications of renal transplantation in pediatric age group performed at our center and compared the results with various centers in India and other developed countries. Materials and Methods: Patients younger than eighteen years of age who underwent renal transplantation from 2003 to 2014 at our institute were reviewed. Demographic data of the transplant recipients and donors, etiology of ESRD, mode of dialysis, surgical details of renal transplantation, immunosuppression, medical and surgical complications, and post-transplant follow-up were assessed. Graft survival was determined at 1, 3 and 5 years post-transplant. All data collected were entered into Microsoft excel program and analyzed using SPSS 20. Kaplan–Meier method was applied to determine the graft survival at 1, 3, and 5 years. The log-rank test was applied to test the statistical significance of the difference in survival between groups. Results: Thirty-two children underwent transplantation comprising of 18 females and 14 males. The mean age was 14.5 years (range 10–17 years). The primary cause of renal failure was glomerular diseases in 53% (17/32) of patients. Seventeen postsurgical complications were noted in our series. Two grafts were lost over a follow-up of 5 years. The 1, 3, and 5 year graft survival rates were 96.7%, 92.9%, and 85%, respectively. There was no mortality. Conclusion: The etiology of ESRD in our region is different from that of developed countries. The mean age at which children undergo renal transplantation is higher. Graft survival at our center is comparable to that of developed nations. Renal transplantation can be safely performed in children with ESRD

A new species of white-spotted moray eel, Gymnothorax smithi (Muraenidae: Muraeninae) from deep waters of Arabian Sea, India

A new species of white-spotted moray eel Gymnothorax smithi sp. nov. is described based on three specimens collected from the southeastern Arabian Sea, India. This is the first deep water report of a moray eel from Indian waters from 200 m depth. This new species is distinguishable from its congeners by the following combination of characters: greyish brown body overlain with white spots of irregular shape, dorsal-fin origin anterior to gill opening, anus positioned slightly behind the mid-point of the body, serrated teeth and a unique vertebral count 3–5 /57/130–132. [Zoobank URL: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9554CE07-E9E7-4B4F-95CD-54F2BB26FF28