Children's Independent Mobility: Survey in French Brittany (2011)

The study contributes to an international survey carried out in 16 countries: Australia, Brazil, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden(Shaw & Watson, 2010). The international survey was initiated by the Political Study Institute of London as an extended geographical replication of the original study of Hillman & al (1990).The general objective of this study is to investigate how children's independent mobility develops between age 7-15. The degree of independent mobility is assessed through the examination of children's statements about six licences related to outside trips without adult supervision. The objective is to provide a detailed picture of the current state of independent mobility in primary and secondary school children of French Brittany (North-West of France). In this respect, the study contributes to an international survey carried out in 16 countries (Shaw & Watson, 2010). The international survey was initiated by the Political Study Institute of London as an extended geographical replication of the original study of Hillman & al (1990). Method A total of 947 children participated in the French survey. Specifically, in primary school 484 children--48,8% girls, 51,2% boys--filled up the questionnaire, age ranging from 6 to 12, mean = 8,79 (sd =1,27). In secondary school 463 young people--49,7% girls, 50,3% boys--responded to the questionnaire, age ranging from 10 to 16, mean = 12,9 (sd =1,29). The survey was conducted in different types of living environment varying in relation to the size and density of the dwelling area. Five types of areas were considered: (1) inner district of a major city, (2) suburban area of a major city, (3) small town, (4) rural market town and (5) rural area. In the French survey, the five types of areas were selected in the same region, namely the district (département) of Ille-et-Vilaine in French Brittany. Therefore, the survey design, which gathered data from different types of areas, was likely to provide a comprehensive picture of the independent mobility of the children living in that particular region. Children's independent mobility was assessed through the examination of six licences: (1) Licence to cross roads alone, (2) Licence to travel to and from school alone, (3) Licence to go on their own to places other than school, (4) Licence to cycle on main roads, (5) Licence to use buses, (6) Licence to go out after dark. Results The comparison of the licences granted by parents to Psc and to Ssc reveals marked difference for all the six licences. This denotes important changes in the parental attitude towards these children's independent mobility within the considered age range. Interestingly the hierarchy of the six licences is almost the same for the two groups. For both groups the licence to cross main roads is the most frequently granted, whereas licence to go out after dark is the least granted. Even in the secondary school, only a few French children are allowed to go out after dark. The analysis of the children's responses also puts forward that independent mobility develop markedly after 11 years when children are in secondary school. Specifically, four of the six licences are held by a large majority of the secondary school children: to go to other places than school on their own, to cross main roads, to use public transport, and to cycle on main roads. However, only one third of these older children declared to go to and from school on their own. This result is probably due to the size of the secondary school catchment areas which were particularly large in four of the five survey areas. Therefore, the distances from the children's homes to secondary school constrained the older children to use the school bus or to be driven by their parents. The primary school children's independent mobility is particularly restricted; four of the six licences examined were hold by less than one third of these children. The licence to go to other places than school is the most frequently mentioned by the 7-to-11-year olds. But only half of primary school children can benefit from such a basic and critical licence that can be seen as a prerequisite to the development of activities independently from adults in the dwelling area. For the other half of the primary school children, this result supports the idea that most out-of-school activities are likely to take place in adult-controlled settings, where children must be accompanied by their parents. Both primary and secondary school children claim to have a particular licence more often than parents declare to grant their children that licence. The differences between children's and parents' responses are particularly obvious as regard to the licence to ride on main roads and, to a lesser degree, the licence to go out after dark. A cluster analysis permitted to isolate five contrasted types of independent mobility defined by various combinations of licences ranging from a quasi-total dependent mobility to the largest independent mobility. Age is the principal factor significantly associated with each of the five clusters, whereas gender is only associated to one cluster. The type of area and the children's perception of safety in their local area also seem to account for the nature and degree of independent mobility. Overall, these results support the view that a complex array of factors intervenes in the development of children independent mobility, including environmental attributes of the living context such as city size, density and outdoor urban facilities

Patient-perceived progression in multiple system atrophy: natural history of quality of life

Health-related quality of life (Hr-QoL) scales provide crucial information on neurodegenerative disease progression, help improving patient care, and constitute a meaningful endpoint for therapeutic research. However, Hr-QoL progression is usually poorly documented, as for multiple system atrophy (MSA), a rare and rapidly progressing alpha-synucleinopathy. This work aimed to describe Hr-QoL progression during the natural course of MSA, explore disparities between patients, and identify informative items using a four-step statistical strategy.We leveraged the data of the French MSA cohort comprising annual assessments with the MSA-QoL questionnaire for more than 500 patients over up to 11 years. The four-step strategy (1) determined the subdimensions of Hr-QoL in MSA; (2) modelled the subdimension trajectories over time, accounting for the risk of death; (3) mapped the sequence of item impairments with disease stages; and (4) identified the most informative items specific to each disease stage.Among the 536 patients included, 50% were women and they were aged on average 65.1 years old at entry. Among them, 63.1% died during the follow-up. Four dimensions were identified. In addition to the original motor, nonmotor, and emotional domains, an oropharyngeal component was highlighted. While the motor and oropharyngeal domains deteriorated rapidly, the nonmotor and emotional aspects were already slightly to moderately impaired at cohort entry and deteriorated slowly over the course of the disease. Impairments were associated with sex, diagnosis subtype, and delay since symptom onset. Except for the emotional domain, each dimension was driven by key identified items.Hr-QoL is a multidimensional concept that deteriorates progressively over the course of MSA and brings essential knowledge for improving patient care. As exemplified with MSA, the thorough description of Hr-QoL using the 4-step original analysis can provide new perspectives on neurodegenerative diseases' management to ultimately deliver better support focused on the patient's perspective

First on-sky demonstration of an integrated-photonic nulling interferometer: the GLINT instrument

The characterization of exoplanets is critical to understanding planet diversity and formation, their atmospheric composition, and the potential for life. This endeavour is greatly enhanced when light from the planet can be spatially separated from that of the host star. One potential method is nulling interferometry, where the contaminating starlight is removed via destructive interference. The GLINT instrument is a photonic nulling interferometer with novel capabilities that has now been demonstrated in on-sky testing. The instrument fragments the telescope pupil into sub-apertures that are injected into waveguides within a single-mode photonic chip. Here, all requisite beam splitting, routing, and recombination are performed using integrated photonic components. We describe the design, construction, and laboratory testing of our GLINT pathfinder instrument. We then demonstrate the efficacy of this method on sky at the Subaru Telescope, achieving a null-depth precision on sky of ∼10⁻⁴ and successfully determining the angular diameter of stars (via their null-depth measurements) to milliarcsecond accuracy. A statistical method for analysing such data is described, along with an outline of the next steps required to deploy this technique for cutting-edge science

Evolution of crystallinity of PEEK and glass-fibre reinforced PEEK under tribological conditions using Raman spectroscopy

A comparative study of PEEK and glass-fibre reinforced PEEK was performed to describes the degradationmechanisms in sliding conditions. Results were focused on Raman spectroscopy data in order to determine thelocal crystallinity rate of PEEK and to complete the scenario of degradation by taking into account the micro-structure transformation during the wear tests. In thefirst period of the test, an amorphisation mechanism ofboth materials is identified. Then, during the second period of the test, these materials reach the glass transitiontemperature, and a cold crystallisation is detected in the wear track

Assisted reproductive techniques do not impact late neurodevelopmental outcomes of preterm children

ObjectiveAssisted reproductive technology (ART) increases the rate of preterm births, though few studies have analyzed outcomes for these infants. No data are available on 4-year-old children born prematurely after ART. The objective was to investigate whether ART affect the neurodevelopmental outcomes at 4 years in preterm infants born before 34 weeks of gestational age (GA).Methods and resultsA total of 166 ART and 679 naturally conceived preterm infants born before 34 weeks GA between 2013 and 2015 enrolled in the Loire Infant Follow-up Team were included. Neurodevelopment was assessed at 4 years using the age and stage questionnaire (ASQ) and the need for therapy services. The association between the socio-economic and perinatal characteristics and non-optimal neurodevelopment at 4 years was estimated. After adjustment, the ART preterm group remained significantly associated with a lower risk of having at least two domains in difficulty at ASQ: adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.13–0.88), p = 0.027. The factors independently associated with non-optimal neurodevelopment at 4 years were male gender, low socio-economic level, and 25–30 weeks of GA at birth. The need for therapy services was similar between groups (p = 0.079). The long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of preterm children born after ART are very similar, or even better than that of the spontaneously conceived children

Monitoreo de servicios ecosistémicos en un observatorio de cafetales agroforestales. Recomendaciones para el sector cafetalero

Ocho años de estudio de la ecofisiología del café, a través de experimentación y de modelación y el monitoreo de los servicios del ecosistema (SE) en una gran finca cafetalera en Costa Rica, revelaron varias recomendaciones prácticas para los agricultores y los formuladores de políticas. El sistema de cultivo estudiado dentro de nuestro observatorio colaborativo (Coffee-Flux), corresponde a un sistema agroforestal (SAF) a base de café bajo la sombra de grandes árboles de Erythrina poeppigiana (16% de la cubierta del dosel). Una gran cantidad de SE y limitantes dependen de las propiedades locales del suelo (en este caso Andisoles), especialmente de la erosión/infiltración, el agua/carbono y la capacidad de almacenamiento de nutrientes. Por lo tanto, para la evaluación de SE, el tipo de suelo es crucial. Una densidad adecuada de árboles de sombra (bastante baja aquí por la condición de libre crecimiento), redujo la severidad de las enfermedades de las hojas con la posibilidad de reducir el uso de plaguicidas y fungicidas. Un inventario simple del área basal en el collar de las plantas de café permitió estimar la biomasa subterránea y la edad promedio de la plantación, para juzgar su valor de mercado y decidir cuándo reemplazarla. Las fincas de café probablemente estén mucho más cerca de la neutralidad de C que lo indicado en el protocolo actual de C-neutralidad, que solo considera árboles de sombra, no los cafetos ni el suelo. Se proponen evaluaciones más completas, que ncluyen árboles, café, hojarasca, suelo y raíces en el balance C del SAF. Los árboles de sombra ofrecen muchos SE si se gestionan adecuadamente en el contexto local. En comparación con las condiciones a pleno sol, los árboles de sombra pueden (i) reducir la erosión laminar en un factor de 2; (ii) aumentar la fijación de N y el % de N reciclado en el sistema, reduciendo así los requisitos de fertilizantes; (iii) reducir la severidad de enfermedades de las hojas; (iv) aumentar el secuestro de C; (v) mejorar el microclima y (vi) reducir sustancialmente los efectos del cambio climático. En nuestro estudio de caso, no se encontró ningún efecto negativo sobre el rendimiento del café

P2RX7 Purinoceptor: A Therapeutic Target for Ameliorating the Symptoms of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

open access articleDuchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common inherited muscle disease, leading to severe disability and death in young men. Death is caused by the progressive degeneration of striated muscles aggravated by sterile inflammation. The pleiotropic effects of the mutant gene also include cognitive and behavioral impairments and low bone density. Current interventions in DMD are palliative only as no treatment improves the long-term outcome. Therefore, approaches with a translational potential should be investigated, and key abnormalities downstream from the absence of the DMD product, dystrophin, appear to be strong therapeutic targets. We and others have demonstrated that DMD mutations alter ATP signaling and have identified P2RX7 purinoceptor up-regulation as being responsible for the death of muscles in the mdx mouse model of DMD and human DMD lymphoblasts. Moreover, the ATP–P2RX7 axis, being a crucial activator of innate immune responses, can contribute to DMD pathology by stimulating chronic inflammation. We investigated whether ablation of P2RX7 attenuates the DMD model mouse phenotype to assess receptor suitability as a therapeutic target

Multidimensional signals and analytic flexibility: Estimating degrees of freedom in human speech analyses

Recent empirical studies have highlighted the large degree of analytic flexibility in data analysis which can lead to substantially different conclusions based on the same data set. Thus, researchers have expressed their concerns that these researcher degrees of freedom might facilitate bias and can lead to claims that do not stand the test of time. Even greater flexibility is to be expected in fields in which the primary data lend themselves to a variety of possible operationalizations. The multidimensional, temporally extended nature of speech constitutes an ideal testing ground for assessing the variability in analytic approaches, which derives not only from aspects of statistical modeling, but also from decisions regarding the quantification of the measured behavior. In the present study, we gave the same speech production data set to 46 teams of researchers and asked them to answer the same research question, resulting insubstantial variability in reported effect sizes and their interpretation. Using Bayesian meta-analytic tools, we further find little to no evidence that the observed variability can be explained by analysts’ prior beliefs, expertise or the perceived quality of their analyses. In light of this idiosyncratic variability, we recommend that researchers more transparently share details of their analysis, strengthen the link between theoretical construct and quantitative system and calibrate their (un)certainty in their conclusions