Young age at school entry and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder-related symptoms during primary school : results of a prospective cohort study conducted at German Rudolf Steiner schools

Objectives Young age at school entry (ASE) for students has been related to their impaired mental health in higher grades. To avoid the negative health consequences of young ASE, preschool examinations and individual school entry deferral for young children are routinely performed by some school authorities. We aimed to investigate whether ASE was associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related symptoms in pupils attending schools using a selective school enrolment procedure. Design Prospective open cohort study with baseline assessments at school entry and two follow-ups in the second and fourth grades. Setting Up to 128 Rudolf Steiner Schools (Waldorf Schools) located within Germany. Participants Of the 3079 children from whom data were gathered in the second or fourth grade, 2671 children born between 1 July 2001 and 31 October 2002 (age at baseline: mean 6.7, min 5.91, max 7.24 years, 50% girls) were selected for analysis to avoid bias introduced by individuals at the edges of the ASE distribution. Main outcome measures ADHD-related symptoms were assessed at school entry and second and fourth grades by parent-reported and teacher reported versions of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Hyperactivity-Inattention Subscale). Results The agreement between parent-reported and teacher-reported symptoms was poor (intra-class correlation: 0.41 and 0.44 in second and fourth grade assessments, respectively). Regarding teacher reports, ASE was negatively associated with ADHD-related symptoms in the second grade (regression coefficient β=−0.66 per year, P=0.0006) and fourth grade (β=−0.56, P=0.0014). Associations remained after adjusting for potential confounders and pre-existing symptoms at baseline. Regarding parent reports, associations were markedly weaker in both grades (second grade: β=−0.22, P=0.12; fourth grade: β=−0.09, P=0.48).Conclusions Using a prospective study design and comprehensive adjustment for confounding and baseline symptoms, we confirmed prior evidence of the association between young ASE and teacher-reported ADHD symptoms in primary school

Development of a Cued Pro- and Antisaccade Paradigm: An Indirect Measure to Explore Automatic Components of Sexual Interest

We developed a cued pro- and antisaccade paradigm (CPAP) to explore automatic components of sexual interest. Heterosexual participants (n = 32 women, n = 25 men) had to perform fast eye movements towards and away from sexually relevant or irrelevant stimuli across a congruent (i.e. prosaccade towards sexually relevant stimuli, antisaccade away from sexually irrelevant stimuli) and an incongruent condition (i.e. prosaccade towards sexually irrelevant stimuli, antisaccade away from sexually relevant stimuli). We hypothesized that pro- and antisaccade performance would be influenced by the sexual interest-specific relevance of the presented stimulus (i.e., nude female or male stimulus) and the instructed task (i.e., pro- or antisaccade) and, thus, differ meaningfully between conditions. Results for prosaccades towards sexually relevant stimuli in the congruent condition showed that error rates were lower and latencies were shorter compared with prosaccades towards sexually irrelevant stimuli in the incongruent condition, but only for male participants. In addition, error rates for antisaccades away from sexually irrelevant stimuli in the congruent condition were lower than for antisaccades away from sexually relevant stimuli in the incongruent condition, for both female and male participants. Latencies of antisaccades, however, did not differ between conditions. In comparison with established indirect sexual interest paradigms, the CPAP benefits from measuring highly automated processes less prone to deliberate control. To this end, the CPAP could be applied to explore the interplay of early automatic and deliberate components of sexual information processing

Period-doubling bifurcation in strongly anisotropic Bianchi I quantum cosmology

We solve the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the minisuperspace of a cosmological model of Bianchi type I with a minimally coupled massive scalar field $\phi$ as source by generalizing the calculation of Lukash and Schmidt [1]. Contrarily to other approaches we allow strong anisotropy. Combining analytical and numerical methods, we apply an adiabatic approximation for $\phi$, and as new feature we find a period-doubling bifurcation. This bifurcation takes place near the cosmological quantum boundary, i.e., the boundary of the quasiclassical region with oscillating $\psi$-function where the WKB-approximation is good. The numerical calculations suggest that such a notion of a ``cosmological quantum boundary'' is well-defined, because sharply beyond that boundary, the WKB-approximation is no more applicable at all. This result confirms the adequateness of the introduction of a cosmological quantum boundary in quantum cosmology.Comment: Latest update of the paper at http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~mbach/publics.html#

Integrable Multicomponent Perfect Fluid Multidimensional Cosmology II: Scalar Fields

We consider anisotropic cosmological models with an universe of dimension 4 or more, factorized into n>1 Ricci-flat spaces, containing an m-component perfect fluid of m non-interacting homogeneous minimally coupled scalar fields under special conditions. We describe the dynamics of the universe: It has a Kasner-like behaviour near the singularity and isotropizes during the expansion to infinity. Some of the considered models are integrable, and classical as well as quantum solutions are found. Some solutions produce inflation from "nothing". There exist classical asymptotically anti-de Sitter wormholes, and quantum wormholes with discrete spectrum.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, subm. to Gen. Rel. Gra

Pro-criminal attitudes, intervention, and recidivism

We review the recent research literature on pro-criminal attitudes (PCAs) as dcausal factor of recidivism with a focus on studies on the effectiveness of offender treatment programs targeting PCAs to prevent recidivism. The main conclusions that can be derived from the literature are: (1) the evidence supports the hypothesis that PCAs are related to reoffending; (2) most investigated offender treatment programs tend to reduce PCAs, although the general lack of adequate control group designs does not rule out alternative explanations for this reduction; and (3) there is no conclusive empirical evidence that intervention programs designed to reduce PCAs are effective in reducing recidivism. Empirical research in this area lacks the theoretical and methodological rigor to test causal models of the influence of treatment on reducing PCAs, and effects of PCAs on recidivism. Limitations of the empirical evidence are related to inadequate research designs and/or suboptimal data analysis strategies. Recommendations concerning optimized research designs and data analysis strategies that are likely to provide more conclusive evidence on the relation of PCAs, PCA treatment, and recidivism are given. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

An Open-System Quantum Simulator with Trapped Ions

The control of quantum systems is of fundamental scientific interest and promises powerful applications and technologies. Impressive progress has been achieved in isolating the systems from the environment and coherently controlling their dynamics, as demonstrated by the creation and manipulation of entanglement in various physical systems. However, for open quantum systems, engineering the dynamics of many particles by a controlled coupling to an environment remains largely unexplored. Here we report the first realization of a toolbox for simulating an open quantum system with up to five qubits. Using a quantum computing architecture with trapped ions, we combine multi-qubit gates with optical pumping to implement coherent operations and dissipative processes. We illustrate this engineering by the dissipative preparation of entangled states, the simulation of coherent many-body spin interactions and the quantum non-demolition measurement of multi-qubit observables. By adding controlled dissipation to coherent operations, this work offers novel prospects for open-system quantum simulation and computation.Comment: Pre-review submission to Nature. For an updated and final version see publication. Manuscript + Supplementary Informatio

A regularity class for the roots of nonnegative functions

We investigate the regularity of the positive roots of a non-negative function of one-variable. A modified H\"older space $\mathcal{F}^\beta$ is introduced such that if $f\in \mathcal{F}^\beta$ then $f^\alpha \in C^{\alpha \beta}$. This provides sufficient conditions to overcome the usual limitation in the square root case ($\alpha = 1/2$) for H\"older functions that $f^{1/2}$ need be no more than $C^1$ in general. We also derive bounds on the wavelet coefficients of $f^\alpha$, which provide a finer understanding of its local regularity.Comment: 12 page

Combined effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms TP53 R72P and MDM2 SNP309, and p53 expression on survival of breast cancer patients.

INTRODUCTION: Somatic inactivation of the TP53 gene in breast tumors is a marker for poor outcome, and breast cancer outcome might also be affected by germ-line variation in the TP53 gene or its regulators. We investigated the effects of the germ-line single nucleotide polymorphisms TP53 R72P (215G>C) and MDM2 SNP309 (-410T>G), and p53 protein expression in breast tumors on survival. METHODS: We pooled data from four breast cancer cohorts within the Breast Cancer Association Consortium for which both TP53 R72P and MDM2 SNP309 were genotyped and follow-up was available (n = 3,749). Overall and breast cancer-specific survival analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox's proportional hazards regression models. RESULTS: Survival of patients did not differ by carriership of either germ-line variant, R72P (215G>C) or SNP309 (-410G>T) alone. Immunohistochemical p53 staining of the tumor was available for two cohorts (n = 1,109 patients). Survival was worse in patients with p53-positive tumors (n = 301) compared to patients with p53-negative tumors (n = 808); breast cancer-specific survival: HR 1.6 (95% CI 1.2 to 2.1), P = 0.001. Within the patient group with p53-negative tumors, TP53 rare homozygous (CC) carriers had a worse survival than G-allele (GG/GC) carriers; actuarial breast cancer-specific survival 71% versus 80%, P = 0.07; HR 1.8 (1.1 to 3.1), P = 0.03. We also found a differential effect of combinations of the two germ-line variants on overall survival; homozygous carriers of the G-allele in MDM2 had worse survival only within the group of TP53 C-allele carriers; actuarial overall survival (GG versus TT/TG) 64% versus 75%, P = 0.001; HR (GG versus TT) 1.5 (1.1 to 2.0), P = 0.01. We found no evidence for a differential effect of MDM2 SNP309 by p53 protein expression on survival. CONCLUSIONS: The TP53 R72P variant may be an independent predictor for survival of patients with p53-negative tumors. The combined effect of TP53 R72P and MDM2 SNP309 on survival is in line with our a priori biologically-supported hypothesis, that is, the role of enhanced DNA repair function of the TP53 Pro-variant, combined with increased expression of the Mdm2 protein, and thus overall attenuation of the p53 pathway in the tumor cells.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Recovering the effective cosmological constant in extended gravity theories

In the framework of extended gravity theories, we discuss the meaning of a time dependent "cosmological constant" and give a set of conditions to recover asymptotic de Sitter behaviour for a class of cosmological models independently of initial data. To this purpose we introduce a time-dependent (effective) quantity which asymptotically becomes the true cosmological constant. We will deal with scalar-tensor, fourth and higher than fourth-order theories.Comment: 24 pages, Latex, submitted to Gen.Rel.and Gra