A new experimental tool to overcome a misconception concerning heat and internal energy

Nous présentons un dispositif expérimental permettant de faire comprendre aux étudiants la différence existant entre chaleur et énergie interne.An experimental device is presented to overcome the difficulties encountered by students when studying heat and internal energy

Morning and evening behavior in children and adolescents treated with atomoxetine once daily for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Findings from two 24-week, open-label studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The impact of once daily atomoxetine treatment on symptoms in children and adolescents with ADHD may vary over the day. In order to capture such variations, two studies were undertaken in children and adolescents with ADHD using two instruments that capture morning and evening behavior and ADHD-related difficulties over the day. This secondary measure analysis builds on two primary analyses that were conducted separately for children and adolescents and also published separately.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In two open-label studies, ADHD patients aged 6–17 years (n = 421), received atomoxetine in the morning (target-dose 0.5–1.2 mg/kg/day) for up to 24 weeks. Morning and evening behavior was assessed using the investigator-rated Weekly Rating of Evening and Morning Behavior (WREMB-R) scale. ADHD-related difficulties at various times of the day (morning, during school, during homework, evening) were assessed using the Global Impression of Perceived Difficulties (GIPD) scale, rated by patients, parents and physicians. Data from both studies were combined for this secondary measure analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both WREMB-R subscores decreased significantly over time, the evening subscore from 13.7 (95% CI 13.2;14.2) at baseline to 8.0 (7.4;8.5) at week 2, the morning subscore from 4.3 (4.0;4.5) to 2.4 (2.2;2.6). Scores then remained stable until week 24. All GIPD items improved correspondingly. At all times of the day, patients rated ADHD-related difficulties as less severe than parents and physicians.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings from two open-label studies suggest that morning and evening behavior and ADHD-related difficulties in the mornings and evenings improve over time with once daily atomoxetine treatment.</p

Bures volume of the set of mixed quantum states

We compute the volume of the N^2-1 dimensional set M_N of density matrices of size N with respect to the Bures measure and show that it is equal to that of a N^2-1 dimensional hyper-halfsphere of radius 1/2. For N=2 we obtain the volume of the Uhlmann 3-D hemisphere, embedded in R^4. We find also the area of the boundary of the set M_N and obtain analogous results for the smaller set of all real density matrices. An explicit formula for the Bures-Hall normalization constants is derived for an arbitrary N.Comment: 15 revtex pages, 2 figures in .eps; ver. 3, Eq. (4.19) correcte

Sampling locality is more detectable than taxonomy or ecology in the gut microbiota of the brood-parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)

Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) are the most widespread avian brood parasite in North America, laying their eggs in the nests of approximately 250 host species that raise the cowbird nestlings as their own. It is currently unknown how these heterospecific hosts influence the cowbird gut microbiota relative to other factors, such as the local environment and genetics. We test a Nature Hypothesis (positing the importance of cowbird genetics) and a Nurture Hypothesis (where the host parents are most influential to cowbird gut microbiota) using the V6 region of 16S rRNA as a microbial fingerprint of the gut from 32 cowbird samples and 16 potential hosts from nine species. We test additional hypotheses regarding the influence of the local environment and age of the birds.We found no evidence for the Nature Hypothesis and little support for the Nurture Hypothesis. Cowbird gut microbiota did not forma clade, but neither did members of the host species. Rather, the physical location, diet and age of the bird, whether cowbird or host, were the most significant categorical variables. Thus, passerine gut microbiota may be most strongly influenced by environmental factors. To put this variation in a broader context, we compared the bird data to a fecal microbiota dataset of 38 mammal species and 22 insect species. Insects were always the most variable; on some axes, we found more variation within cowbirds than across all mammals. Taken together, passerine gut microbiota may be more variable and environmentally determined than other taxonomic groups examined to date. © 2014 Hird et al

A 52-Week Study of Olanzapine with a Randomized Behavioral Weight Counseling Intervention in Adolescents with Schizophrenia or Bipolar I Disorder

Objectives: To evaluate the 52-week safety/tolerability of oral olanzapine for adolescents with schizophrenia or bipolar mania and compare effectiveness of a standard versus intense behavioral weight intervention in mitigating risk of weight gain. Methods: Patients 13?17 years old with schizophrenia (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale for Children [BPRS-C] total score >30; item score ≥3 for hallucinations, delusions, or peculiar fantasies) or bipolar I disorder (manic or mixed episode; Young Mania Rating Scale [YMRS] total score ≥15) received open-label olanzapine (2.5?20?mg/day) and were randomized to standard (n?=?102; a single weight counseling session) or intense (n?=?101; weight counseling at each study visit) weight intervention. The primary outcome measure was mean change in body mass index (BMI) from baseline to 52 weeks using mixed-model repeated measures. Symptomatology was also assessed. Results: No statistically significant differences between groups were observed in mean baseline-to-52-week change in BMI (standard: +3.6?kg/m2; intense: +2.8?kg/m2; p?=?0.150) or weight (standard: +12.1?kg; intense: +9.6?kg; p?=?0.148). Percentage of patients at endpoint who had gained ≥15% of their baseline weight was 40% for the standard group and 31% for the intense group (p?=?0.187). Safety/tolerability results were generally consistent with those of previous olanzapine studies in adolescents, with the most notable exception being the finding of a mean decrease in prolactin. On symptomatology measures, patients with schizophrenia had a mean baseline-to-52-week change in BPRS-C of ?32.5 (standard deviation [SD]?=?10.8), and patients with bipolar disorder had a mean change in YMRS of ?16.7 (SD?=?8.9), with clinically and statistically significant improvement starting at 3?4 days for each. Conclusions: Long-term weight gain was high in both groups, with no statistically significant differences between the standard or intense behavioral weight interventions in BMI or weight. Safety, tolerability, and effectiveness findings were generally consistent with the known profile of olanzapine in adolescents.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140324/1/cap.2016.0010.pd

A Serpin shapes the extracellular environment to prevent influenza A virus maturation

Interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) act in concert to provide a tight barrier against viruses. Recent studies have shed light on the contribution of individual ISG effectors to the antiviral state, but most have examined those acting on early, intracellular stages of the viral life cycle. Here, we applied an image-based screen to identify ISGs inhibiting late stages of influenza A virus (IAV) infection. We unraveled a directly antiviral function for the gene SERPINE1, encoding plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1). By targeting extracellular airway proteases, PAI-1 inhibits IAV glycoprotein cleavage, thereby reducing infectivity of progeny viruses. This was biologically relevant for IAV restriction in vivo. Further, partial PAI-1 deficiency, attributable to a polymorphism in human SERPINE1, conferred increased susceptibility to IAV in vitro. Together, our findings reveal that manipulating the extracellular environment to inhibit the last step in a virus life cycle is an important mechanism of the antiviral response

Covariance and Fisher information in quantum mechanics

Variance and Fisher information are ingredients of the Cramer-Rao inequality. We regard Fisher information as a Riemannian metric on a quantum statistical manifold and choose monotonicity under coarse graining as the fundamental property of variance and Fisher information. In this approach we show that there is a kind of dual one-to-one correspondence between the candidates of the two concepts. We emphasis that Fisher informations are obtained from relative entropies as contrast functions on the state space and argue that the scalar curvature might be interpreted as an uncertainty density on a statistical manifold.Comment: LATE