Visual-spatial selective attention and reading ability in children : a study using event-related potentials and behavioral measures

Reading-disabled subjects have shown a pattern of visual-perceptual processing which is consistent with a deficit in the pathway that encodes transient visual information. Given that this processing stream appears to mediate spatial information, it was hypothesized that children with poor reading skills would also be relatively deficient in attentional spatial-cueing tasks. Here, the paradigm included two successive stimuli: a central cue and a peripheral target. The cue was either directional (a right or left arrow), or neutral (a circle). The target, a white square, appeared 600 ms later and was randomly flashed 8 degrees in the periphery of the right or left hemifield. Subjects were instructed to respond with their right index finger every time the target was validly cued by the preceding cue. Invalidly and neutrally cued trials did not require a response. Eighteen children, 9.75 years-old on average, volunteered to participate in the study. The subjects were a subset of a sample of 83 children which were selected in kindergarten as being at risk of developing a reading disability. At the time of testing, all subjects were attending the 4th grade. The group in this study had average general intelligence and reading ability. Subjects were assigned to a high or a low reading level by means of a median split of their 3rd-grade Woodcock-Johnson Reading Cluster scores

The suburban question: grassroots politics and place making in Spanish suburbs

Manuel Castells spoke of the urban as a unit of collective consumption, yet much of the politics of collective consumption he documented was evident in the suburbs. The tendency for suburbs of most complexions to lack services and amenities has been and continues to be a focus of politics in Europe. In Spain, as elsewhere in Europe, a grassroots politics surrounding the making good of these deficits in basic services and amenities has broadened and formalised somewhat to become part of a competitive local representative politics concerned with shaping a sense of place. Here we consider this legacy of grassroots politics as it has played out more recently in a politics of place making in Getafe and Badalona in metropolitan Madrid and Barcelona, respectively. In conclusion, we suggest that this enduring suburban question—of making the suburban urban—places them at the centre of contemporary metropolitan governance and politics. However, it also raises further issues for study—notably, the scalar politics in which suburban place making is empowered or constrained, the role of political parties and individual politicians on the place-making process, and the point at which grassroots politics of collective consumption becomes urban entrepreneurialism

Panax ginseng Modulates Cytokines in Bone Marrow Toxicity and Myelopoiesis: Ginsenoside Rg1 Partially Supports Myelopoiesis

In this study, we have demonstrated that Korean Panax ginseng (KG) significantly enhances myelopoiesis in vitro and reconstitutes bone marrow after 5-flurouracil-induced (5FU) myelosuppression in mice. KG promoted total white blood cell, lymphocyte, neutrophil and platelet counts and improved body weight, spleen weight, and thymus weight. The number of CFU-GM in bone marrow cells of mice and serum levels of IL-3 and GM-CSF were significantly improved after KG treatment. KG induced significant c-Kit, SCF and IL-1 mRNA expression in spleen. Moreover, treatment with KG led to marked improvements in 5FU-induced histopathological changes in bone marrow and spleen, and partial suppression of thymus damage. The levels of IL-3 and GM-CSF in cultured bone marrow cells after 24 h stimulation with KG were considerably increased. The mechanism underlying promotion of myelopoiesis by KG was assessed by monitoring gene expression at two time-points of 4 and 8 h. Treatment with Rg1 (0.5, 1 and 1.5 µmol) specifically enhanced c-Kit, IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA expression in cultured bone marrow cells. Our results collectively suggest that the anti-myelotoxicity activity and promotion of myelopoiesis by KG are mediated through cytokines. Moreover, the ginsenoside, Rg1, supports the role of KG in myelopoiesis to some extent

Albumin and multiple sclerosis

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.Leakage of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a common pathological feature in multiple sclerosis (MS). Following a breach of the BBB, albumin, the most abundant protein in plasma, gains access to CNS tissue where it is exposed to an inflammatory milieu and tissue damage, e.g., demyelination. Once in the CNS, albumin can participate in protective mechanisms. For example, due to its high concentration and molecular properties, albumin becomes a target for oxidation and nitration reactions. Furthermore, albumin binds metals and heme thereby limiting their ability to produce reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species. Albumin also has the potential to worsen disease. Similar to pathogenic processes that occur during epilepsy, extravasated albumin could induce the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and affect the ability of astrocytes to maintain potassium homeostasis thereby possibly making neurons more vulnerable to glutamate exicitotoxicity, which is thought to be a pathogenic mechanism in MS. The albumin quotient, albumin in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/albumin in serum, is used as a measure of blood-CSF barrier dysfunction in MS, but it may be inaccurate since albumin levels in the CSF can be influenced by multiple factors including: 1) albumin becomes proteolytically cleaved during disease, 2) extravasated albumin is taken up by macrophages, microglia, and astrocytes, and 3) the location of BBB damage affects the entry of extravasated albumin into ventricular CSF. A discussion of the roles that albumin performs during MS is put forth

International Consensus Statement on Rhinology and Allergy: Rhinosinusitis

Background: The 5 years since the publication of the first International Consensus Statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Rhinosinusitis (ICAR‐RS) has witnessed foundational progress in our understanding and treatment of rhinologic disease. These advances are reflected within the more than 40 new topics covered within the ICAR‐RS‐2021 as well as updates to the original 140 topics. This executive summary consolidates the evidence‐based findings of the document. Methods: ICAR‐RS presents over 180 topics in the forms of evidence‐based reviews with recommendations (EBRRs), evidence‐based reviews, and literature reviews. The highest grade structured recommendations of the EBRR sections are summarized in this executive summary. Results: ICAR‐RS‐2021 covers 22 topics regarding the medical management of RS, which are grade A/B and are presented in the executive summary. Additionally, 4 topics regarding the surgical management of RS are grade A/B and are presented in the executive summary. Finally, a comprehensive evidence‐based management algorithm is provided. Conclusion: This ICAR‐RS‐2021 executive summary provides a compilation of the evidence‐based recommendations for medical and surgical treatment of the most common forms of RS

Characteristic brain magnetic resonance imaging pattern in patients with macrocephaly and PTEN mutations

We describe an MRI phenotype seen in a series of patients with mutations in PTEN who have clinical features consistent with PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome (PHTS). Retrospective review of clinical data and MRI was performed in 23 subjects evaluated in four different tertiary care centers with clinical programs in inherited disorders of the white matter. Patients were referred due to abnormal MRI features and abnormal PTEN sequencing was identified. All subjects had significant macrocephaly (on average >4 SD above the mean), developmental delay with or without autism spectrum disorder and uniform MRI features of enlarged perivascular spaces and multifocal periventricular white matter abnormalities. The phenotype of PHTS may include MRI abnormalities such as multifocal periventricular white matter abnormalities and enlarged perivascular spaces. These neuroimaging findings, in association with macrocephaly and developmental delay, should prompt consideration of PTEN as a diagnostic possibility