Traveling-wave deceleration of SrF molecules

We report on the production, deceleration and detection of a SrF molecular beam. The molecules are captured from a supersonic expansion and are decelerated in the X$^2\Sigma^+ (v=0, N=1)$ state. We demonstrate the removal of up to 40% of the kinetic energy with a 2 meter long modular traveling-wave decelerator. Our results demonstrate a crucial step towards the preparation of ultracold gases of heavy diatomic molecules for precision spectroscopy

The burden of parenting children with frontal lobe epilepsy

Objective: Caring for a child with a chronic illness adds stress to the typical parenting stress in healthy developing children. This stress can place a heavy burden on parents and may increase when a child displays problem behavior. In general, parenting and child's behavior problems are associated. Furthermore, externalizing (more outgoing) behavior is reported frequently in children with frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE). Therefore, in this study, we first investigated the burden of parents of children with FLE, and second, we investigated the relation between the experienced burden and reported behavioral problems. The validity of parents' reports on proxy measures as well as duration of epilepsy is taken into account. Methods: Thirty-one parents of children with FLE completed validated questionnaires about behavioral problems and burden of parenting. To examine if parents tend to be inconsistent or unusually negative, we used the two validity scales of the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) (Negativity and Inconsistency). Results: Only parents of children with FLE who have had epilepsy for 5 years or longer report more problems on the Nijmeegse Vragenlijst voor de Opvoedingssituatie (NVOS) subscales 'Able to manage', 'Child is a burden', and 'Good Interaction' compared with the healthy controls. The subscale 'Child is a burden' significantly predicts scores in about 20% to 49% on the main scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Global Executive Composite (GEC), and Behavioral Regulation Index (BRI) of the BRIEF. Only 6% of parents scored in the dinical range of the negativity scale of the BRIEF. For the inconsistency scale, this was 45%. Conclusion: Parents of children with FLE do not report excessive parental burden. Longer duration of epilepsy might be a risk factor in experiencing burden. The findings suggest a link between parental burden and behavioral problems in children with FLE. Externalizing behavioral problems are the most marked behavioral problems, which relate to the parental burden. Parents tend to be inconsistent in their ratings. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

The burden of parenting children with frontal lobe epilepsy

Objective: Caring for a child with a chronic illness adds stress to the typical parenting stress in healthy developing children. This stress can place a heavy burden on parents and may increase when a child displays problem behavior. In general, parenting and child's behavior problems are associated. Furthermore, externalizing (more outgoing) behavior is reported frequently in children with frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE). Therefore, in this study, we first investigated the burden of parents of children with FLE, and second, we investigated the relation between the experienced burden and reported behavioral problems. The validity of parents' reports on proxy measures as well as duration of epilepsy is taken into account.Methods: Thirty-one parents of children with FLE completed validated questionnaires about behavioral problems and burden of parenting. To examine if parents tend to be inconsistent or unusually negative, we used the two validity scales of the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) (Negativity and Inconsistency).Results: Only parents of children with FLE who have had epilepsy for 5 years or longer report more problems on the Nijmeegse Vragenlijst voor de Opvoedingssituatie (NVOS) subscales 'Able to manage', 'Child is a burden', and 'Good Interaction' compared with the healthy controls. The subscale 'Child is a burden' significantly predicts scores in about 20% to 49% on the main scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Global Executive Composite (GEC), and Behavioral Regulation Index (BRI) of the BRIEF. Only 6% of parents scored in the dinical range of the negativity scale of the BRIEF. For the inconsistency scale, this was 45%.Conclusion: Parents of children with FLE do not report excessive parental burden. Longer duration of epilepsy might be a risk factor in experiencing burden. The findings suggest a link between parental burden and behavioral problems in children with FLE. Externalizing behavioral problems are the most marked behavioral problems, which relate to the parental burden. Parents tend to be inconsistent in their ratings. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.</p

Congenital anomalies in black South African liveborn neonates at an urban academic hospital

Study objective. The aim was to study the spectrum of clinical problems and outcomes in infants born at an urban academic hospital. In consequence, as part of the overall study, the incidence of congenital anomalies and the outcomes of affected infants were recorded.Design. This was a prospective, hospital-based study, undertaken on liveborn infants born over a 3-year period, 1 May 1986 to 30 April 1989.Setting. Kalafong Hospital, Pretoria.Main results. A total of 17 351 liveborn infants was examined and the total congenital anomalies incidence was 11 ,87 per 1 000 Iivebirths. The central nervous system was the system most frequently involved (2,30 per 1 000 livebirths), followed by the musculoskeletal system (2,13 per 1 000 livebirths). The commonest individual congenital anomaly was Down syndrome (1,33 per 1 000 Iivebirths), followed by neural tube defects (0,99 per 1 000 livebirths) and ventricular septal defects (0,69 per 1 000 livebirths). In 11 % (2,25 per 1 000 livebirths) of neonatal deaths, infant loss was attributable to congenital anomalies.Conclusions. The incidence of congenital anomalies in black South African neonates, born in an urban setting, is as high as in other First- and Third-World countries, and the incidence of some individual congenital anomalies is higher. This study indicates the need for further research and the establishment of prenatal, genetics and paediatric facilities to manage these problems

Extremes in dune preservation: controls on the completeness of fluvial deposits

Understanding sedimentary preservation underpins our ability to interpret the ancient sedimentary record and reconstruct palaeoenvironments and palaeoclimates. Dune sets are ubiquitous in preserved river deposits and are typically interpreted based on a model that that describes the recurrence of erosion in a vertical sequence, but without consideringspatial variability. However, spatial variability in flow and sediment transport will change the recurrence of erosion, and therefore dune preservation. In order to better understand the limits of these Interpretations and outline the causes of potential variability in preservation potential, this paper reviews existing work and presents new observations of an extreme end-member of dune preservation: ?form-sets?, formed by dunes in which both stoss- and lee- slopes are preserved Intact. These form-sets do not conform to models that are based on the recurrence of erosion, since erosion does not recur in their case, and can therefore be used to evaluate the assumptions that underpin sedimentary preservation. New Ground Penetrating Radar data from the Río Paraná, Argentina, show dune fields that are buried intact within larger scale barforms. These trains of form-sets are up to 300 m in length, are restricted to unit-bar troughs in the upper 5 m of the channel deposits, occur in >5% of the mid-channel bar deposits, show reactivation surfaces, occur in multiple levels, and match the size of average-flow dunes. A review of published accounts of form-sets highlights a diversity of processes that can be envisaged for their formation: i) abandonment after extreme floods, ii) slow burial of abandoned dune forms by cohesive clay in sheltered bar troughs and meander-neck cut-offs, iii) fast burial by mass-movement processes, and iv)climbing of dune sets due to local dominance of deposition over dune migration.Analysis of these new and published accounts of form-sets and their burial processes highlights that form-sets need not be indicative of extreme floods. Instead, form-sets are closely associated with surrounding geomorphology such as river banks, meander-neck cutoffs,and bars because this larger-scale context controls the local sediment budget and the nature of recurrence of erosion. Locally enhanced preservation by the ?extreme? dominance of deposition is further promoted by finer grain sizes and prolonged changes in flow stage. Such conditions are characteristic, although not exclusive, of large lowland rivers such as the Río Paraná. The spatial control on dune preservation is critical: although at-a-point models adequately describe near-horizontal sets of freely migrating dunes in uniform flows, they are unsuitable for inclined dune co-sets and other cases where multiple scales of bedforms interact. Spatial and temporal variations in flow and sediment transport betweenthe thalweg and different positions on larger bar-forms can change the preservation potential of dunes within river channels. Therefore, dune set thickness distributions are likely grouped in larger-scale units that reflect both formative dune geometries and bar-scale variations inpreservation potential. The multi-scale dynamics of preservation highlighted herein also provides a useful comparison for other sedimentary systemsFil: Reesink, Arnold J.. University Of Binghamton; Estados UnidosFil: Van den Berg, J. H.. University of Utrecht; Países BajosFil: Parsons, Daniel R.. University Of Hull; Reino UnidoFil: Amsler, Mario Luis. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Hídricas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Best, James L.. University of Illinois. Urbana - Champaign; Estados UnidosFil: Hardy, Richard J.. University Of Durham; Reino UnidoFil: Orfeo, Oscar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Szupiany, Ricardo Nicolas. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Hídricas; Argentin

Across population genomic prediction scenarios in which Bayesian variable selection outperforms GBLUP

<p>Background: The use of information across populations is an attractive approach to increase the accuracy of genomic prediction for numerically small populations. However, accuracies of across population genomic prediction, in which reference and selection individuals are from different populations, are currently disappointing. It has been shown for within population genomic prediction that Bayesian variable selection models outperform GBLUP models when the number of QTL underlying the trait is low. Therefore, our objective was to identify across population genomic prediction scenarios in which Bayesian variable selection models outperform GBLUP in terms of prediction accuracy. In this study, high density genotype information of 1033 Holstein Friesian, 105 Groningen White Headed, and 147 Meuse-Rhine-Yssel cows were used. Phenotypes were simulated using two changing variables: (1) the number of QTL underlying the trait (3000, 300, 30, 3), and (2) the correlation between allele substitution effects of QTL across populations, i.e. the genetic correlation of the simulated trait between the populations (1.0, 0.8, 0.4). Results: The accuracy obtained by the Bayesian variable selection model was depending on the number of QTL underlying the trait, with a higher accuracy when the number of QTL was lower. This trend was more pronounced for across population genomic prediction than for within population genomic prediction. It was shown that Bayesian variable selection models have an advantage over GBLUP when the number of QTL underlying the simulated trait was small. This advantage disappeared when the number of QTL underlying the simulated trait was large. The point where the accuracy of Bayesian variable selection and GBLUP became similar was approximately the point where the number of QTL was equal to the number of independent chromosome segments (M _e) across the populations. Conclusion: Bayesian variable selection models outperform GBLUP when the number of QTL underlying the trait is smaller than M _e. Across populations, M _e is considerably larger than within populations. So, it is more likely to find a number of QTL underlying a trait smaller than M _e across populations than within population. Therefore Bayesian variable selection models can help to improve the accuracy of across population genomic prediction.</p

Associations between illness cognitions and health-related quality of life in the first year after diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Objective: To describe illness cognitions among patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to study crosssectional associations between illness cognitions and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to study the predictive value of illness cognitions measured shortly after the diagnosis for HRQoL at follow-up. Methods: Prospective longitudinal design. We administered Self-report questionnaires at study onset (n = 72) and follow-up (n = 48). Median follow-up period was 10.0 months. At baseline median ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised was 43, median time since onset of symptoms was 13.6 months, 79% of patients presented with spinal onset. Illness cognitions Helplessness, Acceptance and Disease Benefits were measured with the Illness Cognitions Questionnaire (ICQ) and HRQoL with the ALS Assessment Questionnaire (ALSAQ-40). Correlational and regression analyses were used. Results: Patients experienced more Helplessness at follow-up. We found no significant changes in Acceptance or Disease Benefits at follow-up. In cross-sectional analyses, Helplessness was independently related to worse HRQoL at baseline (beta = 0.44; p =.001) and Acceptance and Disease Benefits were independently related to worse HRQoL at follow-up (beta = -0.17, p =.045) and (beta = -0.186, p =.03 respectively). Longitudinal analyses showed that, adjusted for disease severity at baseline, Helplessness at baseline was a predictor of worse HRQoL at follow-up (beta = 0.43; p =.006). None of the illness cognitions were a significant predictor of HRQoL with adjustment for baseline HRQoL. Conclusion: Helplessness was independently associated with HRQoL in the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. These results can help us identify patients shortly after diagnosis who might benefit from psychological interventions

Plasma ApoE elevations are associated with NAFLD:The PREVEND Study

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is featured by increased plasma very low density lipoproteins (VLDL). The extent to which plasma apolipoprotein E (ApoE) levels are elevated in NAFLD is unclear. We determined whether plasma ApoE is elevated in subjects with suspected NAFLD. Plasma ApoE and genotypes were determined in 6,762 participants of the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-Stage Disease (PREVEND) cohort. A Fatty Liver Index (FLI) >= 60 was used as a proxy of NAFLD. A total of 1,834 participants had a FLI >= 60, which coincided with increased triglycerides, non-HDL cholesterol, ApoB and ApoE (all P<0.001). In multivariable linear regression analysis, plasma ApoE levels were positively associated with an elevated FLI when taking account of ApoE genotypes and other clinical and laboratory covariates (fully adjusted model: beta = 0.201, P<0.001). Stratified analysis for ApoE genotypes (ApoE epsilon 3 epsilon 3 homozygotes, ApoE epsilon 2 carriers, and ApoE epsilon 3 epsilon 4 and epsilon 4 epsilon 4 carriers combined), also showed positive associations of plasma ApoE levels with an elevated FLI in each group (all P<0.001). In conclusion, it is suggested that NAFLD is characterized by increased plasma ApoE levels, even when taking account of the various ApoE geno-types. Increased plasma ApoE may contribute to altered VLDL metabolism and to increased atherosclerosis susceptibility in NAFLD