800 research outputs found
Development of motor cooperation through joint-action in middle childhood: a behavioral study
The development of the abilities to behave in a joint-action so far has been investigated only in infants and preschoolers (Tollefsen, 2005; Brownell et al. 2006). To our knowledge, no experiments have been carried out yet to investigate how and when the ability related to successfully perform a joint-action does develop during middle childhood. Since this developmental period is critical for the large changes in motor dexterity, cognition, and sociality (Hartup, 1984; Fischer & Silvern, 1985; Hale, 1990), we thought that it would have been also crucial for the refinement of those skills required for complex forms of motor coordination, such as those required during joint-action. Thus, we tested couples of age- and gender-matched children (5-9 years) and adults while they performed a center-out videogame, in which the same action (moving a cursor on a screen through an individual isometric joystick) could be performed i) alone, ii) in a coordinate fashion with the partner (joint-action task), iii) coordinating with a computer, which reproduced the partnerâs trajectories. It was found that the performance in the joint-action task improved during development, but that there was a critical âjumpâ between 7-8 years, in which the performance during the joint-action improved rapidly, reaching for most parameters the level of adults at 9 years . Importantly, the increase in the joint-action performance did not simply reflect the maturation of the motor skills underlying single-action. Since 7-8 years, the performance benefited from the presence of an interaction with a real partner (âcooperation benefitâ), as compared to the simple coordination with the computer. The analysis of spatial-temporal parameters of behavior showed the presence of a shift in the strategies for the movement control during the joint-action, from feedforward (around 6 years) to feedback-based (around 9 years). We thought that older children gradually learned to adjust their movements with respect to those of their partners through the use of feedback corrections, which allowed them to perform an online control of their partnersâ trajectories, a strategy made possible by the long movement times that characterized the task performance. The cognitive development and the changes in motor control occurring around 7-8 years are discussed as possible factors mediating the growth in the fine motor adjustment responsible of the improvement in the joint performance
Studies on Phytoplasma Seed Transmission in Different Biological Systems
The transmission of phytoplasmas by seed in Sesamum indicum, Brassica napus, Solanum
lycopersicum and Zea mays, was studied. The seeds, derived from infected mother-plants, were
sown in sterile substrates and their germination percentage was evaluated. The seedlings were
analyzed for the presence of phytoplasmas in different stages of growth by "nested"-PCR/RFLP
analysis. The four species resulted positive for phytoplasmas belonging to different ribosomal
groups and the number of positive plants decreased in the later stages of growth. For S.
lycopersicum samples the presence of phytoplasmas was also analyzed in second generation
plants: 7 seedlings out of the 60 tested resulted positive for phytoplasmas. Phytoplasma isolation
in artificial medium CB was performed for all samples resulted positive, to verify the viability of the
phytoplasmas. From Z. mays samples, colonies positive to phytoplasmas belonging to ribosomal
groups 16SrI and 16SrXII were obtained. These colonies positive to 16SrI were reproducible for at
least three subsequent passages liquid/solid media carried out every 5 days. Some of these
samples produced colonies also from broth maintained for seven months at 25°C after isolation.
These preliminary results indicate the viability of 16SrI phytoplasmas isolated from corn seedlings
and confirm seed transmission of viable phytoplasmas.
A quantitative PCR assay with SYBR Green chemistry, with generic "primers" to detect
phytoplasmas belonging to different ribosomal groups was successfully applied both to seedlings
and symptomatic field infected plants. Contrasting results were obtained from phytoplasma in
liquid media and colonies. This technique demonstrated high sensitivity for phytoplasma at low
concentrations and high specificity for the Mollicutes that can be differentiated from non-
Mollicutes by the analysis of melting temperatures.
In carrot samples from Gran Canaria Island (Spain), symptoms of shoot and root malformation
were observed. âCandidatus Liberibacter solanacearumâ, haplotype D, and phytoplasmas belonging
to the ribosomal group 16SrI were detected
Simultaneous detection of mixed âCandidatus Phytoplasma asterisâ and âCa. Liberibacter solanacearumâ infection in carrot
Symptoms of shoot and root malformation were observed in carrot plants in fields located in the North of Gran Canaria Island (Spain), during surveys carried out in spring 2015 and 2016. Total DNA extraction from the leaves of symptomatic plants was performed and PCR assays were carried out to detect the agents possibly associated to the observed symptoms. While âCandidatus Liberibacter solanacearumâ was detected in the majority of tested symptomatic samples, phytoplasmas belonging to the ribosomal group 16SrI were detected only in two samples. Phylogenetic analyses and sequencing, together with virtual RFLP, confirmed that âCa. L. solanacearumâ strains detected in carrot samples belong to haplotype D
Variants within the immunoregulatory CBLB gene are associated with multiple sclerosis
A genome wide association scan of ~6.6 million genotyped or imputed variants in 882 Sardinian Multiple Sclerosis (MS) cases and 872 controls suggested association of CBLB gene variants with disease, which was confirmed in 1,775 cases and 2,005 controls (overall P =1.60 Ă 10-10). CBLB encodes a negative regulator of adaptive immune responses and mice lacking the orthologue are prone to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, the animal model of MS
Les droits disciplinaires des fonctions publiques : « unification », « harmonisation » ou « distanciation ». A propos de la loi du 26 avril 2016 relative à la déontologie et aux droits et obligations des fonctionnaires
The production of tt⟠, W+bb⟠and W+cc⟠is studied in the forward region of protonâproton collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.98±0.02 fbâ1 . The W bosons are reconstructed in the decays WââÎœ , where â denotes muon or electron, while the b and c quarks are reconstructed as jets. All measured cross-sections are in agreement with next-to-leading-order Standard Model predictions.The production of , and is studied in the forward region of proton-proton collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.98 0.02 \mbox{fb}^{-1}. The bosons are reconstructed in the decays , where denotes muon or electron, while the and quarks are reconstructed as jets. All measured cross-sections are in agreement with next-to-leading-order Standard Model predictions
Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in -tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV
Jet fragmentation functions are measured for the first time in proton-proton
collisions for charged pions, kaons, and protons within jets recoiling against
a boson. The charged-hadron distributions are studied longitudinally and
transversely to the jet direction for jets with transverse momentum 20 GeV and in the pseudorapidity range . The
data sample was collected with the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy
of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.64 fb. Triple
differential distributions as a function of the hadron longitudinal momentum
fraction, hadron transverse momentum, and jet transverse momentum are also
measured for the first time. This helps constrain transverse-momentum-dependent
fragmentation functions. Differences in the shapes and magnitudes of the
measured distributions for the different hadron species provide insights into
the hadronization process for jets predominantly initiated by light quarks.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any
supplementary material and additional information, are available at
https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-013.html (LHCb
public pages
Study of the decay
The decay is studied
in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of TeV
using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5
collected by the LHCb experiment. In the system, the
state observed at the BaBar and Belle experiments is
resolved into two narrower states, and ,
whose masses and widths are measured to be where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second
systematic. The results are consistent with a previous LHCb measurement using a
prompt sample. Evidence of a new
state is found with a local significance of , whose mass and width
are measured to be and , respectively. In addition, evidence of a new decay mode
is found with a significance of
. The relative branching fraction of with respect to the
decay is measured to be , where the first
uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third originates from
the branching fractions of charm hadron decays.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and
additional information, are available at
https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-028.html (LHCb
public pages
Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions and
The ratios of branching fractions
and are measured, assuming isospin symmetry, using a
sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb of
integrated luminosity recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The
tau lepton is identified in the decay mode
. The measured values are
and
, where the first uncertainty is
statistical and the second is systematic. The correlation between these
measurements is . Results are consistent with the current average
of these quantities and are at a combined 1.9 standard deviations from the
predictions based on lepton flavor universality in the Standard Model.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and
additional information, are available at
https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-039.html (LHCb
public pages
Overexpression of the Cytokine BAFF and Autoimmunity Risk
: Genomewide association studies of autoimmune diseases have mapped hundreds of susceptibility regions in the genome. However, only for a few association signals has the causal gene been identified, and for even fewer have the causal variant and underlying mechanism been defined. Coincident associations of DNA variants affecting both the risk of autoimmune disease and quantitative immune variables provide an informative route to explore disease mechanisms and drug-targetable pathways.
: Using case-control samples from Sardinia, Italy, we performed a genomewide association study in multiple sclerosis followed by TNFSF13B locus-specific association testing in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Extensive phenotyping of quantitative immune variables, sequence-based fine mapping, cross-population and cross-phenotype analyses, and gene-expression studies were used to identify the causal variant and elucidate its mechanism of action. Signatures of positive selection were also investigated.
: A variant in TNFSF13B, encoding the cytokine and drug target B-cell activating factor (BAFF), was associated with multiple sclerosis as well as SLE. The disease-risk allele was also associated with up-regulated humoral immunity through increased levels of soluble BAFF, B lymphocytes, and immunoglobulins. The causal variant was identified: an insertion-deletion variant, GCTGTâA (in which A is the risk allele), yielded a shorter transcript that escaped microRNA inhibition and increased production of soluble BAFF, which in turn up-regulated humoral immunity. Population genetic signatures indicated that this autoimmunity variant has been evolutionarily advantageous, most likely by augmenting resistance to malaria.
: A TNFSF13B variant was associated with multiple sclerosis and SLE, and its effects were clarified at the population, cellular, and molecular levels. (Funded by the Italian Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis and others.).Supported by grants (2011/R/13 and 2015/R/09, to Dr. Cucca) from the Italian Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis; contracts (N01-AG-1-2109 and HHSN271201100005C, to Dr. Cucca) from the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health (NIH); a grant (FaReBio2011 âFarmaci e Reti Biotecnologiche di QualitĂ ,â to Dr. Cucca) from the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance; a grant (633964, to Dr. Cucca) from the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program of the European Union; a grant (U1301.2015/AI.1157.BE Prat. 2015-1651, to Dr. Cucca) from Fondazione di Sardegna; grants (âCentro per la ricerca di nuovi farmaci per malattie rare, trascurate e della povertĂ â and âProgetto collezione di composti chimici ed attivitĂ di screening,â to Dr. Cucca) from Ministero dellâIstruzione, dellâUniversitĂ e della Ricerca; grants (HG005581, HG005552, HG006513, and HG007022, to Dr. Abecasis) from the National Human Genome Research Institute; a grant (9-2011-253, to Dr. Todd) from JDRF; a grant (091157, to Dr. Todd) from the Wellcome Trust; a grant (to Dr. Todd) from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR); and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. Dr. Idda was a recipient of a Master and Back fellowship from the Autonomous Region of Sardinia
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Imbalanced social-communicative and restricted repetitive behavior subtypes of autism spectrum disorder exhibit different neural circuitry
Abstract: Social-communication (SC) and restricted repetitive behaviors (RRB) are autism diagnostic symptom domains. SC and RRB severity can markedly differ within and between individuals and may be underpinned by different neural circuitry and genetic mechanisms. Modeling SC-RRB balance could help identify how neural circuitry and genetic mechanisms map onto such phenotypic heterogeneity. Here, we developed a phenotypic stratification model that makes highly accurate (97â99%) out-of-sample SC = RRB, SC > RRB, and RRB > SC subtype predictions. Applying this model to resting state fMRI data from the EU-AIMS LEAP dataset (n = 509), we find that while the phenotypic subtypes share many commonalities in terms of intrinsic functional connectivity, they also show replicable differences within some networks compared to a typically-developing group (TD). Specifically, the somatomotor network is hypoconnected with perisylvian circuitry in SC > RRB and visual association circuitry in SC = RRB. The SC = RRB subtype show hyperconnectivity between medial motor and anterior salience circuitry. Genes that are highly expressed within these networks show a differential enrichment pattern with known autism-associated genes, indicating that such circuits are affected by differing autism-associated genomic mechanisms. These results suggest that SC-RRB imbalance subtypes share many commonalities, but also express subtle differences in functional neural circuitry and the genomic underpinnings behind such circuitry
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