1,643 research outputs found

    Silver(I) triflate-catalyzed protocol for the post-ugi synthesis of spiroindolines

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    A silver(I) triflate-catalyzed protocol for the post-Ugi synthesis of tetracyclic spiroindolines has been developed. The protocol worked best for indole-3-carbaldehyde-derived Ugi adducts obtained using anilines and 3-aryl propiolic acids. Thus, it is complementary to the previous cationic gold-catalyzed procedure that was developed for analogues Ugi substrates derived from aliphatic amines and 3-alkyl propiolic acids. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that under our new settings this domino Friedel-Crafts ipso cyclization / imine trapping process could be efficiently combined with the preceding four-component Ugi reaction into a two-step one-pot transformation

    Parent and Family Outcomes of PEERS: A Social Skills Intervention for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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    Raising a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with increased family chaos and parent distress. Successful long-term treatment outcomes are dependent on healthy systemic functioning, but the family impact of treatment is rarely evaluated. The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) is a social skills intervention designed for adolescents with high-functioning ASD. This study assessed the impact of PEERS on family chaos, parenting stress, and parenting self-efficacy via a randomized, controlled trial. Results suggested beneficial effects for the experimental group in the domain of family chaos compared to the waitlist control, while parents in the PEERS experimental group also demonstrated increased parenting self-efficacy. These findings highlight adjunctive family system benefits of PEERS intervention and suggest the need for overall better understanding of parent and family outcomes of ASD interventions

    Infant Responding to Joint Attention, Executive Processes, and Self-Regulation in Preschool Children

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    Infant joint attention is related to behavioral and social outcomes, as well as language in childhood. Recent research and theory suggests that the relations between joint attention and social–behavioral outcomes may reflect the role of executive self-regulatory processes in the development of joint attention. To test this hypothesis two studies were conducted. The first, cross-sectional study examined the development of responding to joint attention (RJA) skill in terms of increasing executive efficiency of responding between 9 and 18 months of age. The results indicated that development of RJA was characterized by a decreased latency to shift attention in following another person\u27s gaze and head turn, as well as an increase in the proportion of correct RJA responses exhibited by older infants. The second study examined the longitudinal relations between 12-month measures of responding to joint attention and 36-month attention regulation in a delay of gratification task. The results indicated that responding to joint attention at 12-months was significantly related to children\u27s use of three types of self-regulation behaviors while waiting for a snack reward at 36 months of age. These observations are discussed in light of a developmental theory of attention regulation and joint attention in infancy

    Simultaneous Robotic Manipulation and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Feasibility in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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    An unanswered question concerning the neural basis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is how sensorimotor deficits in individuals with ASD are related to abnormalities of brain function. We previously described a robotic joystick and video game system that allows us to record functional magnetic resonance images (FMRI) while adult humans make goal- directed wrist motions. We anticipated several challenges in extending this approach to studying goal-directed behaviors in children with ASD and in typically developing (TYP) children. In particular we were concerned that children with autism may express increased levels of anxiety as compared to typically developing children due to the loud sounds and small enclosed space of the MRI scanner. We also were concerned that both groups of children might become restless during testing, leading to an unacceptable amount of head movement. Here we performed a pilot study evaluating the extent to which autistic and typically developing children exhibit anxiety during our experimental protocol as well as their ability to comply with task instructions. Our experimental controls were successful in minimizing group differences in drop-out due to anxiety. Kinematic performance and head motion also were similar across groups. Both groups of children engaged cortical regions (frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital) while making goal- directed movements. In addition, the ASD group exhibited task- related correlations in subcortical regions (cerebellum, thalamus), whereas correlations in the TYP group did not reach statistical significance in subcortical regions. Four distinct regions in frontal cortex showed a significant group difference such that TYP children exhibited positive correlations between the hemodynamic response and movement, whereas children with ASD exhibited negative correlations. These findings demonstrate feasibility of simultaneous application of robotic manipulation and functional imaging to study goal-directed motor behaviors in autistic and typically developing children. The findings also suggest the presence of marked changes in neural activation during a sensorimotor task requiring goal- directed movement

    Critical jamming of frictional grains in the generalized isostaticity picture

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    While frictionless spheres at jamming are isostatic, frictional spheres at jamming are not. As a result, frictional spheres near jamming do not necessarily exhibit an excess of soft modes. However, a generalized form of isostaticity can be introduced if fully mobilized contacts at the Coulomb friction threshold are considered as slipping contacts. We show here that, in this framework, the vibrational density of states (DOS) of frictional discs exhibits a plateau when the generalized isostaticity line is approached. The crossover frequency to elastic behavior scales linearly with the distance from this line. Moreover, we show that the frictionless limit, which appears singular when fully mobilized contacts are treated elastically, becomes smooth when fully mobilized contacts are allowed to slip.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

    Measuring the Plasticity of Social Approach: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of the PEERS Intervention on EEG Asymmetry in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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    This study examined whether the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS: Social skills for teenagers with developmental and autism spectrum disorders: The PEERS treatment manual, Routledge, New York, 2010a) affected neural function, via EEG asymmetry, in a randomized controlled trial of adolescents with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and a group of typically developing adolescents. Adolescents with ASD in PEERS shifted from right-hemisphere gamma-band EEG asymmetry before PEERS to left-hemisphere EEG asymmetry after PEERS, versus a waitlist ASD group. Left-hemisphere EEG asymmetry was associated with more social contacts and knowledge, and fewer symptoms of autism. Adolescents with ASD in PEERS no longer differed from typically developing adolescents in left-dominant EEG asymmetry at post-test. These findings are discussed via the Modifier Model of Autism (Mundy et al. in Res Pract Persons Severe Disabl 32(2):124, 2007), with emphasis on remediating isolation/withdrawal in ASD

    The development and psychometric validation of the self-efficacy and performance in self-management support (SEPSS) Instrument

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    __Aim:__ To develop and psychometrically test the self-efficacy and performance in self-management support (SEPSS) instrument. __Background:__ Facilitating persons with a chronic condition to take an active role in the management of their condition, implicates that nurses acquire new competencies. An instrument that can validly and reliably measure nurses' performance and their perceived capacity to perform self-management support is needed to evaluate current practice and training in self-management support. __Design:__ Instrument development and psychometric testing of the content and construct validity, factor structure and reliability. __Methods:__ A literature review and expert consultation (N = 17) identified the content. The items were structured according to the Five-A's model and an overarching category of 'overall' competencies. The initial instrument was tested in a sample of 472 nurses and 51 nursing students from Belgium and the Netherlands, between June 2014-January 2015. __Results:__ Confirmatory factor analyses revealed satisfactory fit indices for the six-factor structure. Discriminating power was demonstrated for subgroups. The overall internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was high both for the self-efficacy and the performance items. The test-retest intra-class correlation coefficients were good. __Conclusion:__ The SEPSS instrument is a 36-item, Likert-scaled self-reporting instrument with good content and construct validity, and good internal consistency reliability and good test-retest reliability. Therefore, it is a promising instrument to measure self-efficacy and performance with regard to self-management support

    Brief Report: Assessment of Intervention Effects on In Vivo Peer Interactions in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

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    This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a randomized controlled trial of a social skills intervention, the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS: Laugeson et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 39(4): 596–606, 2009), by coding digitally recorded social interactions between adolescent participants with ASD and a typically developing adolescent confederate. Adolescent participants engaged in a 10-min peer interaction at pre- and post-treatment. Interactions were coded using the Contextual Assessment of Social Skills (Ratto et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 41(9): 1277–1286, 2010). Participants who completed PEERS demonstrated significantly improved vocal expressiveness, as well as a trend toward improved overall quality of rapport, whereas participants in the waitlist group exhibited worse performance on these domains. The degree of this change was related to knowledge gained in PEERS

    On elliptic solutions of the cubic complex one-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau equation

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    The cubic complex one-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau equation is considered. Using the Hone's method, based on the use of the Laurent-series solutions and the residue theorem, we have proved that this equation has neither elliptic standing wave nor elliptic travelling wave solutions. This result amplifies the Hone's result, that this equation has no elliptic travelling wave solutions.Comment: LaTeX, 12 page
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