The Hypothesised Female ASC Phenotype: Implications for Research and Practice

There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that the behavioural manifestation of autism spectrum condition (ASC) differs between males and females, and there may be a female-specific phenotype of the condition (Lai, Lombardo, Auyeung, Chakrabarti, & Baron-Cohen, 2015). However, current conceptualisations of ASC have been developed predominately from samples of males, meaning our understanding of the condition may be male-biased (Kirkovski, Enticott, & Fitzgerald, 2013). Consequently, ASC in females may be under-diagnosed because current assessments are based on a male-specific manifestation of the condition (Mandy et al., 2012). This paper begins with a review of qualitative literature exploring the experiences of females with ASC. Building upon identified themes, quantitative research is reviewed to ascertain whether there are sex/gender differences in four areas of the hypothesised ASC female phenotype. Preliminary evidence suggests there may be sex/gender differences in ASC, but more research is needed to fully substantiate this conclusion

Odontoameloblastoma with extensive chondroid matrix deposition in a guinea pig

Odontoameloblastomas (previously incorporated within ameloblastic odontomas) are matrix-producing odontogenic mixed tumors and are closely related in histologic appearance to the 2 other types of matrix-producing odontogenic mixed tumors: odontomas and ameloblastic fibro-odontomas. The presence or absence of intralesional, induced non-neoplastic tissue must be accounted for in the diagnosis. Herein we describe a naturally occurring odontoameloblastoma with extensive chondroid cementum deposition in a guinea pig (Cavia porcellus). Microscopically, the mass featured palisading neoplastic odontogenic epithelium closely apposed to ribbons and rings of a pink dental matrix (dentinoid), alongside extensive sheets and aggregates of chondroid cementum. The final diagnosis was an odontoameloblastoma given the abundance of odontogenic epithelium in association with dentinoid but a paucity of pulp ectomesenchyme. Chondroid cementum is an expected anatomical feature of cavies, and its presence within the odontoameloblastoma was interpreted as a response of the ectomesenchyme of the dental follicle to the described neoplasm. Our case illustrates the inductive capabilities of odontoameloblastomas while highlighting species-specific anatomy that has resulted in a histologic appearance unique to cavies and provides imaging and histologic data to aid diagnosis of these challenging lesions

Research Program towards Observation of Neutrino-Nucleus Coherent Scattering

The article describes the research program pursued by the TEXONO Collaboration towards an experiment to observe coherent scattering between neutrinos and the nucleus at the power reactor. The motivations of studying this process are surveyed. In particular, a threshold of 100-200 eV has been achieved with an ultra-low-energy germanium detector prototype. This detection capability at low energy can also be adapted to conduct searches of Cold Dark Matter in the low-mass region as well as to enhance the sensitivities in the study of neutrino magnetic moments.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures ; Proceedings of TAUP-2005 Workshop, Spain, 2005. Updated on 2006/9/15 for Proceedings of Neutrino-2006 Conference, Santa Fe, 200

Influence of flow confinement on the drag force on a static cylinder

The influence of confinement on the drag force $F$ on a static cylinder in a viscous flow inside a rectangular slit of aperture $h_0$ has been investigated from experimental measurements and numerical simulations. At low enough Reynolds numbers, $F$ varies linearly with the mean velocity and the viscosity, allowing for the precise determination of drag coefficients $\lambda_{||}$ and $\lambda_{\bot}$ corresponding respectively to a mean flow parallel and perpendicular to the cylinder length $L$. In the parallel configuration, the variation of $\lambda_{||}$ with the normalized diameter $\beta = d/h_0$ of the cylinder is close to that for a 2D flow invariant in the direction of the cylinder axis and does not diverge when $\beta = 1$. The variation of $\lambda_{||}$ with the distance from the midplane of the model reflects the parabolic Poiseuille profile between the plates for $\beta \ll 1$ while it remains almost constant for $\beta \sim 1$. In the perpendicular configuration, the value of $\lambda_{\bot}$ is close to that corresponding to a 2D system only if $\beta \ll 1$ and/or if the clearance between the ends of the cylinder and the side walls is very small: in that latter case, $\lambda_{\bot}$ diverges as $\beta \to 1$ due to the blockage of the flow. In other cases, the side flow between the ends of the cylinder and the side walls plays an important part to reduce $\lambda_{\bot}$: a full 3D description of the flow is needed to account for these effects

Metabolite-mediated catalyst conversion of PFK and PFP

Metabolites known to occur in the cytosol of photosynthetic leaf cells were found to mediate the reversible conversion of pyrophosphate—D-fructose-6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase (PFP) to phosphofructokinase (PFK) in partially purified preparations from spinach leaves. Preincubation of PFP with fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, ATP or fructose 6-phosphate converted PFP to PFK. The reverse reaction (PFK → PFP) was promoted by UDP-glucose plus pyrophosphate. These conversions in catalytic capability were accompanied by changes in molecular mass and charge. The results are in accord with the view that the alterations in PFP and PFK activity, provisionally called ‘metabolite-mediated catalyst conversion’, represent a regulatory mechanism to direct left cytosolic carbon flux in either the biosynthetic or degradatory direction

Electronic resource discovery systems: from user behaviour to design.

Information seeking is a central part of academic development for both students and researchers. However, this is often hindered by complex and highly complicated electronic resource discovery systems. One approach to improving these resources is to understand the difficulties and likely causes of problems when using current systems and how people develop their searching, retrieval and storage strategies. These might provide useful information about the requirements for future design. In this paper we present our findings from UBiRD, a project investigating user search behaviour in electronic resource discovery systems based on a qualitative study of 34 users from three UK universities. We then describe how the information gathered during the study helped inform the design of INVISQUE, a novel non-conventional interface for searching and querying on-line scholarly information. In addition, the theories and design principles used during the INVISQUE design are discussed

Acid activated smectite clay as pozzolanic supplementary cementitious material

This research has investigated the structural changes and pozzolanic activity produced in acid activated smectite clay. The activation treatment used HCl at different concentrations, using different times and at a range of temperatures. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to determine the acid dissolution mechanism and characterise the activated clay mineral structure. Acid activation causes dehydroxylation of smectite clay, followed by leaching of octahedral cations. This results in the formation of a silica-rich amorphous phase that exhibits substantial pozzolanic activity compared to the same clay sample that had undergone calcining treatment at 850. The optimum sample was activated for 8 h using 5 M HCl at 90 °C. This was 93 % amorphous. Mortar prisms prepared with 25 % replacement of Portland cement by acid activated smectite produced 93 % compressive strength of plain Portland cement mortar