State versus Trait: Validating State Assessment of Child and Parental Catastrophic Thinking about Child Pain

Pain catastrophizing has emerged as one of the most robust predictors of child pain outcomes. Although assessments of state (i.e., situation-specific) pain catastrophizing in children and parents are often used, their psychometric properties are unknown. This study aimed to assess factor structure, reliability and predictive validity of state versions of Pain Catastrophizing Scales for children (PCS-C State) and parents (PCS-P State) relative to corresponding trait versions for child and parental pain-related outcomes. Data were pooled from 8 experimental pain studies wherein child and/or parent state catastrophizing (measured immediately before application of a pain stimulus) and trait catastrophizing were assessed in community-based samples of children aged 8–18 years (N=689) and their parents (N=888) in Dutch or English. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to examine the underlying factor structure of the PCS-P/PCS-C State, revealing a single factor solution that explained 55.53% of the variance for children and 49.72% for parents. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to examine relative influence of state versus trait catastrophizing on child and parent pain-related outcomes. Child and parent state catastrophizing were significantly associated with child pain intensity, child state anxiety and parental distress. State catastrophizing scores showed stronger associations than trait scores for most outcomes

COVID-19 Containment Measures at Childcare and Schools in 19 European Countries:An Observational Study on Local, Federal and National Policies

Objectives: After childcare and schools have been closed in March 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, they were open again in most European countries after the summer holidays till early autumn. Aim of this study is to give an overview and to compare COVID-19 childcare and school containment policies in 19 European countries. Methods: We collected data on containment measures among delegates of the European Academy of Pediatrics (EAP), through an online, closed questionnaire in the second half of October 2020. Results: Most policy has been formulated for secondary education. In all three settings policy was most often formulated for individual hygiene, cleaning of surfaces, exclusion of sick children, ventilation, distance between children and between children and teachers. In secondary schools, policy is formulated on face masks in and outside the class. School closure, cancellation of physical education and class size reduction are measures for which the fewest countries have formulated national policies. Conclusion: We recommend to accompany the opening of children’s facilities and schools by surveillance studies that further clarify questions about control measures implemented to halt COVID-19 pandemic

The market impacts of shortening feed supply chains in Europe

Recently, consumers’ awareness regarding food production has increased, leading to a growing focus on shorter food supply chains and regional or local food systems. In the livestock sector, these developments are closely related to a regionalization of feed production. At the same time, a low self-sufficiency rate in protein feed is being reported for many European countries. In this paper, we analyze market impacts resulting from a complete switch to regionally produced feed in the European livestock sector. We simulate a shortening of feed supply chains in European livestock production using a large-scale agricultural sector model. Livestock production was restricted to feed that can be produced within the same EU member state. Our work represents a first step towards a simulation of regional or local food systems. The results reveal large increases in the prices of livestock products in Europe due to the shortening of feed supply chains. This is a result of a significant increase in livestock production costs. The ability to supply livestock products with regionally produced feed in the EU would be improved through a reduced consumption of livestock products

Spin precession due to spin-orbit coupling in a two-dimensional electron gas with spin injection via ideal quantum point contact

We present the analytical result of the expectation value of spin resulting from an injected spin polarized electron into a semi-infinitely extended 2DEG plane with [001] growth geometry via ideal quantum point contact. Both the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings are taken into account. A pictorial interpretation of the spin precession along certain transport directions is given. The spin precession due to the Rashba term is found to be especially interesting since it behaves simply like a windshield wiper which is very different from the ordinary precession while that due to the Dresselhaus term is shown to be crystallographic-direction-dependent. Some crystallographic directions with interesting and handleable behavior of spin precession are found and may imply certain applicability in spintronic devices.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Electron and Hole Spin Splitting and Photogalvanic Effect in Quantum Wells

A theory of the circular photogalvanic effect caused by spin splitting in quantum wells is developed. Direct interband transitions between the hole and electron size-quantized subbands are considered. It is shown that the photocurrent value and direction depend strongly on the form of the spin-orbit interaction. The currents induced by structure-, bulk-, and interface-inversion asymmetry are investigated. The photocurrent excitation spectra caused by spin splittings in both conduction and valence bands are calculated.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

<i>atonal-</i> and <i>achaete-scute</i>-related genes in the annelid <i>Platynereis dumerilii</i>: insights into the evolution of neural basic-Helix-Loop-Helix genes

Background: Functional studies in model organisms, such as vertebrates and Drosophila, have shown that basic Helix-loop-Helix ( bHLH) proteins have important roles in different steps of neurogenesis, from the acquisition of neural fate to the differentiation into specific neural cell types. However, these studies highlighted many differences in the expression and function of orthologous bHLH proteins during neural development between vertebrates and Drosophila. To understand how the functions of neural bHLH genes have evolved among bilaterians, we have performed a detailed study of bHLH genes during nervous system development in the polychaete annelid, Platynereis dumerilii, an organism which is evolutionary distant from both Drosophila and vertebrates. Results: We have studied Platynereis orthologs of the most important vertebrate neural bHLH genes, i.e. achaete-scute, neurogenin, atonal, olig, and NeuroD genes, the latter two being genes absent of the Drosophila genome. We observed that all these genes have specific expression patterns during nervous system formation in Platynereis. Our data suggest that in Platynereis, like in vertebrates but unlike Drosophila, ( i) neurogenin is the main proneural gene for the formation of the trunk central nervous system, (ii) achaetescute and olig genes are involved in neural subtype specification in the central nervous system, in particular in the specification of the serotonergic phenotype. In addition, we found that the Platynereis NeuroD gene has a broad and early neuroectodermal expression, which is completely different from the neuronal expression of vertebrate NeuroD genes. Conclusion: Our analysis suggests that the Platynereis bHLH genes have both proneural and neuronal specification functions, in a way more akin to the vertebrate situation than to that of Drosophila. We conclude that these features are ancestral to bilaterians and have been conserved in the vertebrates and annelids lineages, but have diverged in the evolutionary lineage leading to Drosophila