Math abilities in autism spectrum disorder: A meta-analysis

Background: Studies focusing on math abilities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are limited and often provide inconsistent results. Aim: This meta-analysis was conducted to investigate math abilities in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to typically developing (TD) participants. Methods and procedures: According with PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search strategy was adopted. First, 4405 records were identified through database searching; then, the title-abstract screening led to the identification of 58 potentially relevant studies and, finally, after the full-text screening, 13 studies were included. Outcomes and results: Results shows that the group with ASD (n = 533) performed lower than the TD group (n = 525) with a small-to-medium effect (g=0.49). The effect size was not moderated by task-related characteristics. Instead, sample-related characteristics, specifically age, verbal intellectual functioning, and working memory, were significant moderators. Conclusions and implications: This meta-analysis shows that people with ASD have poorer math skills than their TD peers, suggesting the importance of investigating math abilities in autism, taking into account the role of moderating variables

A local information based protocol for networks data exchange with application to mobile sensor networks

The paper presents a new protocol for multi hop data transmission between nodes in a mobile sensor network. The only requirement for the network is to be connected. The routing is handled locally on the basis of informations contained in the data transmitted. Global (time dependent) routing table as well as knowledge on the position of the nodes are not required, since the protocol itself contains an Hand-Shake phase for the neighbour detection. This allow to have high mobility for the nodes and, moreover, it is dynamically reconfigurable once the number of the nodes varies. A innovative data structure called "the Postman Bag" is introduced to spread data collected by sensor quickly and simply. Some considerations about the computational complexity and the performances of the proposed approach are reported on the basis of some simulations and some initial tests on small dimension networks

Effects of exogenous lactase administration on hydrogen breath excretion and intestinal symptoms in patients presenting lactose malabsorption and intolerance

To establish whether supplementation with a standard oral dose of Beta-Galactosidase affects hydrogen breath excretion in patients presenting with lactose malabsorption. METHODS: Ninety-six consecutive patients positive to H2 Lactose Breath Test were enrolled. Mean peak H2 levels, the time to reach the peak H2, the time to reach the cut-off value of 20 ppm, the cumulative breath H2 excretion, the areas under the curve, and a Visual Analogical 10-point Scale for symptoms were calculated. Genotyping of the C/T-13910 variant was carried out. RESULTS: Following the oral administration of Beta-Galactosidase, in 21.88% of the cases, H2 Lactose Breath Test became negative (Group A), while mean peak H2 levels (74.95 ppm versus 7.85), P < 0.0000, in 17.71% (Group B) were still positive, with the H2 level 20 ppm above the baseline, but the peak H2 levels were significantly lower than those observed at the baseline test (186.7 ppm versus 66.64), P < 0.0000, while in 60.41% (Group C) they were still positive with the peak H2 levels similar to those observed at the baseline test (94.43 versus 81.60 ppm). All 96 individuals tested presented the C/C-13910 genotype nonpersistence. CONCLUSIONS: The response to oral administration of Beta-Galactosidase in patients with symptoms of lactose malabsorption presents a significant variability

Electromagnetic Compatibility of a Low Voltage Power Supply for the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter Front-End Electronics

The front-end electronics of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter is powered by DC/DC converters that sit close to it. The performance of the detector electronics is constrained by the conducted noise emissions of its power supply. A compatibility limit is defined for the system. The noise susceptibility of the front-end electronics is evaluated, and different solutions to reduce the front-end electronics noise are discussed and tested

An automated system for the objective evaluation of human gustatory sensitivity using tongue biopotential recordings

The goal of this work is to develop an automatic system for the evaluation of the gustatory sensitivity of patients using an electrophysiological recording of the response of bud cells to taste stimuli. In particular, the study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of supervised classifiers in the discrimination between subjects belonging to the three 6-n-pro-pylthiouracil (PROP) taster categories (supertasters, medium tasters, and non-tasters), exploiting features extracted from electrophysiological recordings of the tongue. Thirty-nine subjects (equally divided into the three PROP status classes by standard non-objective scaling methods) underwent a non-invasive, differential, biopotential recording of their tongues during stimulation with PROP by using a custom-made, flexible, silver electrode. Two different classifiers were trained to recognize up to seven different features extracted from the recorded depolarization signal. The classification results indicate that the identified set of features allows to distinguish between PROP tasters and non-tasters (average accuracy of 80% ± 18% and up to 94% ± 15% when only supertasters and non-tasters are considered), but medium tasters were difficult to identify. However, these apparent classification errors are related to uncertainty in the labeling procedures, which are based on non-objective tests, in which the subjects provided borderline evaluations. Thus, using the proposed method, it is possible, for the first time, to automatically achieve objective PROP taster status identification with high accuracy. The simplicity of the recording technique allows for easy reproduction of the experimental setting; thus the technique can be used in future studies to evaluate other gustatory stimuli. The proposed approach represents the first objective and automatic method to directly measure human gustatory responses and a milestone for physiological taste studies, with applications ranging from basic science to food tasting evaluations

No efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation on chronic migraine with medication overuse : a double blind, randomised clinical trial

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation was suggested to provide beneficial effects in chronic migraine, a condition often associated with medication overuse for which no long-term therapy is available. Methods: We conducted a randomised controlled trial to assess long-term efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation. Adults diagnosed with chronic migraine and medication overuse were assigned to receive in a 1:1:1 ratio anodal, cathodal, or sham transcranial direct current stimulation daily for five consecutive days, along with standardised drug withdrawal protocol. Primary outcome was 50% reduction of days of headache per month at 12 months. Co-secondary outcomes were 50% reduction of days of headache per month at 6 months, reduction of analgesic intake per month, and change in disability and quality of life, catastrophising, depression, state and trait anxiety, dependence attitude and allodynia intensity. Patients were not allowed to take any migraine prophylaxis drug for the entire study period. Results: We randomly allocated 135 patients to anodal (44), cathodal (45), and sham (46) transcranial direct current stimulation. At 6 and 12 months, the percentage of reduction of days of headache and number of analgesics per month ranged between 48.5% and 64.7%, without differences between transcranial direct current stimulation (cathodal, anodal, or the results obtained from the two arms of treatment, anodal plus cathodal) and sham. Catastrophising attitude significantly reduced at 12 months in all groups. There was no difference for the other secondary outcomes. Conclusions: Transcranial direct current stimulation did not influence the short and long-term course of chronic migraine with medication overuse after acute drug withdrawal. Behavioral and educational measures and support for patients' pain management could provide long-term improvement and low relapse rate. Trial registration number NCT04228809

A PMT-Block test bench

The front-end electronics of the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter (Tile Cal) is housed in a unit, called {\it PMT-Block}. The PMT-Block is a compact instrument comprising a light mixer, a PMT together with its divider and a {\it 3-in-1} card, which provides shaping, amplification and integration for the signals. This instrument needs to be qualified before being assembled on the detector. A PMT-Block test bench has been developed for this purpose. This test bench is a system which allows fast, albeit accurate enough, measurements of the main properties of a complete PMT-Block. The system, both hardware and software, and the protocol used for the PMT-Blocks characterisation are described in detail in this report. The results obtained in the test of about 10000 PMT-Blocks needed for the instrumentation of the ATLAS (LHC-CERN) hadronic Tile Calorimeter are also reported.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figure

Effect of Appendectomy on ClinicalCourse of Diverticulosis

Diverticulitis is a common condition where inflammation seems to play a key role in all forms of the disease. Since diverticular disease, in some cases, exhibits clinical and histopathologic similarities with the idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease, could have in common, with these some environmental risk factors, as appendectomy, that could interfere with the natural history of diverticular disease. Since the prevalence and the role of appendectomy in patients with colonic diverticula has not been defined, the aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of appendectomy, both in uncomplicated diverticular disease and in patients with diverticulitis. Two hundred and seven consecutive patients with verified diagnosis of diverticular disease of the colon were enrolled. Diagnosis of diverticulitis was defined by means of clinical, colonoscopic, and computerised tomography criteria. Logistic regression was used to describe the relation between the dependent variable (diverticulitis) and several covariates: sex, age (60), BMI (26), and history of appendectomy (emergency or elective appendectomy). We included the first order interactions in the model to assess the effect of each variable for a particular degree of the others covariates. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. Results: The first order interactions did not show a relevant effect (p>0.10) and therefore were excluded from the logistic model. Sex (p=0.88), BMI (p=0.80), elective appendectomy (p=0.17), age (p=0,11), do not affect significantly, either as an independent variable or as a confounder, the risk of development of diverticulitis, and therefore were also excluded from the model. According to the final model the risk of diverticulitis is 4,94 fold higher (95% confidence interval: 1.98 to 12.37) in patients with history of appendectomy with emergency operative treatment, compared with patients without appendectomy or history of elective resection (p<0.001. Conclusions: The risk of diverticulitis does not increase in patients with elective appendectomy, therefore only patients with emergency appendectomy have an increased risk of diverticuliti

Dental Calculus Reveals Unique Insights into Food Items, Cooking and Plant Processing in Prehistoric Central Sudan

Accessing information on plant consumption before the adoption of agriculture is challenging. However, there is growing evidence for use of locally available wild plants from an increasing number of pre-agrarian sites, suggesting broad ecological knowledge. The extraction of chemical compounds and microfossils from dental calculus removed from ancient teeth offers an entirely new perspective on dietary reconstruction, as it provides empirical results on material that is already in the mouth. Here we present a suite of results from the multi-period Central Sudanese site of Al Khiday. We demonstrate the ingestion in both pre-agricultural and agricultural periods of Cyperus rotundus tubers. This plant is a good source of carbohydrates and has many useful medicinal and aromatic qualities, though today it is considered to be the world's most costly weed. Its ability to inhibit Streptococcus mutans may have contributed to the unexpectedly low level of caries found in the agricultural population. Other evidence extracted from the dental calculus includes smoke inhalation, dry (roasting) and wet (heating in water) cooking, a second plant possibly from the Triticaceae tribe and plant fibres suggestive of raw material preparation through chewing