Evaluation of the performance and feasability of the fluorescein diacetate (FTA) vital staining method for follow up of Tuberculosis (TB) treatment

IUATLD Conference, Paris, 200

Therevidae (Diptera) in the East-Flemish inland dunes, pioneers on sandy soils?

Relicts of East-Flemish inland dunes were investigated for the presence of dune-land fauna. Five of the 8 therevid species known from Flanders were found in the present study. In contrast to asilids, therevids showed to be pioneer species preferring areas with large bare sandy patches. Pit fall traps proved to be twice as effective to sample therevids than white or yellow pan traps. Yellow traps are ineffective. Highest activity and diversity is found in June and July

The distribution of ant nest (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in coastal grey dunes of Flanders (Belgium) and their relationship to myrmecochorous plants

During the summer of 2001, we conducted a study on the spatial distribution of ants in coastal grey dunes (Oostduinkerke, Western Flanders, Belgium). Nest locations of the most abundant ant species were analysed with multivariate techniques. Tetramorium caespitum frequented moss-dominated vegetation, whereas Myrmica sabuleti, M. scabrinodis, Lasius flavus and L. meridionalis preferred grassy vegetations. Formica cunicularia and L. psammophilus occurred in all types of grey dune vegetation. According to recent literature, a positive spatial relationship can exist between the positioning of ant nests and the location of the myrmecochorous plants Viola curtisii, Luzula campestris and Polygala vulgaris in coastal dunes. Neither preliminary investigations, nor our study could confirm this significant positive relationship: the occurrence of myrmecochorous plants seems to be independent of the proximity of nests. It is possible that relationships are masked by a high turnover rate of the nest sites or by a restricted seedling establishment. We did not, however, observe ants transporting seeds of Viola, Luzula or Polygala in the field, possibly indicating the inefficiency of searching for those seeds in areas where population densities of these plants are rather low and other food sources are abundantly available

Developmental refinement of cortical systems for speech and voice processing

Development typically leads to optimized and adaptive neural mechanisms for the processing of voice and speech. In this fMRI study we investigated how this adaptive processing reaches its mature efficiency by examining the effects of task, age and phonological skills on cortical responses to voice and speech in children (8-9years), adolescents (14-15years) and adults. Participants listened to vowels (/a/, /i/, /u/) spoken by different speakers (boy, girl, man) and performed delayed-match-to-sample tasks on vowel and speaker identity. Across age groups, similar behavioral accuracy and comparable sound evoked auditory cortical fMRI responses were observed. Analysis of task-related modulations indicated a developmental enhancement of responses in the (right) superior temporal cortex during the processing of speaker information. This effect was most evident through an analysis based on individually determined voice sensitive regions. Analysis of age effects indicated that the recruitment of regions in the temporal-parietal cortex and posterior cingulate/cingulate gyrus decreased with development. Beyond age-related changes, the strength of speech-evoked activity in left posterior and right middle superior temporal regions significantly scaled with individual differences in phonological skills. Together, these findings suggest a prolonged development of the cortical functional network for speech and voice processing. This development includes a progressive refinement of the neural mechanisms for the selection and analysis of auditory information relevant to the ongoing behavioral task

Chest computed tomography in severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia:Comparing quantitative scoring methods

Purpose: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common complication of extreme preterm birth and structural lung abnormalities are frequently found in children with BPD. To quantify lung damage in BPD, three new Hounsfield units (HU) based chest-CT scoring methods were evaluated in terms of 1) intra- and inter-observer variability, 2) correlation with the validated Perth-Rotterdam-Annotated-Grid-Morphometric-Analysis (PRAGMA)-BPD score, and 3) correlation with clinical data. Methods: Chest CT scans of children with severe BPD were performed at a median of 7 months corrected age. Hyper- and hypo-attenuated regions were quantified using PRAGMA-BPD and three new HU based scoring methods (automated, semi-automated, and manual). Intra- and inter-observer variability was measured using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots. The correlation between the 4 scoring methods and clinical data was assessed using Spearman rank correlation. Results: Thirty-five patients (median gestational age 26.1 weeks) were included. Intra- and inter-observer variability was excellent for hyper- and hypo-attenuation regions for the manual HU method and PRAGMA-BPD (ICCs range 0.80–0.97). ICC values for the semi-automated HU method were poorer, in particular for the inter-observer variability of hypo- (0.22–0.71) and hyper-attenuation (-0.06–0.89). The manual HU method was highly correlated with PRAGMA-BPD score for both hyper- (ρs0.92, p &lt; 0.001) and hypo-attenuation (ρs0.79, p &lt; 0.001), while automated and semi-automated HU methods showed poor correlation for hypo- (ρs &lt; 0.22) and good correlation for hyper-attenuation (ρs0.72–0.74, p &lt; 0.001). Several scores of hyperattenuation correlated with the use of inhaled bronchodilators in the first year of life; two hypoattenuation scores correlated with birth weight. Conclusions: PRAGMA-BPD and the manual HU method have the best reproducibility for quantification of CT abnormalities in BPD.</p

Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance survey in West Nile, Uganda

IUATLD Conference, Paris, 200