Detail-oriented cognitive style and social communicative deficits, within and beyond the autism spectrum: independent traits that grow into developmental interdependence

At the heart of debates over underlying causes of autism is the "Kanner hypothesis" that autistic deficits in social reciprocity, and a cognitive/perceptual 'style' favouring detail-oriented cognition, co-vary in autistic individuals. A separate line of work indicates these two domains are normally distributed throughout the population, with autism representing an extremity. This realisation brings the Kanner debate into the realm of normative co-variation, providing more ways to test the hypothesis, and insights into typical development; for instance, in the context of normative functioning, the Kanner hypothesis implies social costs to spatial/numerical prowess

Diacilglicerol induce la reacción acrosomal en espermatozoides humanos mediante la activación de RASGRP1 en ausencia de calcio y AMPc

El espermatozoide contiene un gran gránulo secretorio (acrosoma) que exocita frente a diferentes estímulos. Este proceso se denomina reacción acrosomal y es requerido para que ocurra la fertilización. Nuestro laboratorio demostró que el diacilglicerol (DAG) estimula la exocitosis acrosomal induciendo un ciclo de retroalimentación positiva dependiente de PKC y fosfolipasa D1 (PLD1) que provee continuamente fosfatidilinositol 4,5-bifosfato (PIP2). Llamativamente, DAG es capaz de inducir la exocitosis en ausencia de calcio extracelular activando dos vías de señalización, una que conduce a la síntesis de IP3 y salida de calcio del reservorio acrosomal, y otra que conduce a la activación de Rab3A y ensamble de las SNAREs.Fil: Altamirano, K. . Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasFil: Lucchesi, O.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasFil: Ruete. M. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasFil: Belmonte, S.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnica

CVD diamond coated silicon nitride self-mated systems : tribological behaviour under high loads

Friction and wear behaviour of self-mated chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond films coating silicon nitride ceramics (Si3N4) were investigated in ambient atmosphere. The tribological tests were conducted in a reciprocal motion ball-on-flat type tribometer under applied normal loads up to 80 N (~10 GPa). Several characterisation techniques - including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and micro-Raman studies - were used in order to assess the quality, stress state and wear resistance of the coatings. In addition, a novel method is presented to estimate the wear coefficient of the diamond coated flat specimens from AFM and optical microscopy (OM) observations of the wear tracks

Digital tools for direct assessment of autism risk during early childhood: A systematic review

Current challenges in early identification of autism spectrum disorder lead to significant delays in starting interventions, thereby compromising outcomes. Digital tools can potentially address this barrier as they are accessible, can measure autism-relevant phenotypes and can be administered in children’s natural environments by non-specialists. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify and characterise potentially scalable digital tools for direct assessment of autism spectrum disorder risk in early childhood. In total, 51,953 titles, 6884 abstracts and 567 full-text articles from four databases were screened using predefined criteria. Of these, 38 met inclusion criteria. Tasks are presented on both portable and non-portable technologies, typically by researchers in laboratory or clinic settings. Gamified tasks, virtual-reality platforms and automated analysis of video or audio recordings of children’s behaviours and speech are used to assess autism spectrum disorder risk. Tasks tapping social communication/interaction and motor domains most reliably discriminate between autism spectrum disorder and typically developing groups. Digital tools employing objective data collection and analysis methods hold immense potential for early identification of autism spectrum disorder risk. Next steps should be to further validate these tools, evaluate their generalisability outside laboratory or clinic settings, and standardise derived measures across tasks. Furthermore, stakeholders from underserved communities should be involved in the research and development process

A tablet computer-assisted motor and language skills training programme to promote communication development in children with autism: development and pilot study

Autism is a heterogenous condition, encompassing many different subtypes and presentations. Of those people with autism who lack communicative speech, some are more skilled at receptive language than their expressive difficulty might suggest. This disparity between what can be spoken and what can be understood correlates with motor and especially oral motor abilities, and thus may be a consequence of limits to oral motor skill. Point OutWords, tablet-based software targeted for this subgroup, builds on autistic perceptual and cognitive strengths to develop manual motor and oral motor skills prerequisite to communication by pointing or speaking. Although typical implementations of user-centred design rely on communicative speech, Point OutWords users were involved as co-creators both directly via their own nonverbal behavioural choices and indirectly via their communication therapists’ reports; resulting features include vectorised, high-contrast graphics, exogenous cues to help capture and maintain attention, customisable reinforcement prompts, and accommodation of open-loop visuomotor control

Nanostructures design by plasma afterglow-assisted oxidation of iron–copper thin films

International audienceOxidizing thin films made of Fe-Cu alloy with an Ar-O 2 micro-afterglow operated at atmospheric pressure shows remarkable growth processes. The presence of iron in copper up to about 50% leads to the synthesis of CuO nanostructures (nanowalls, nanotowers and nanowires). Nanotowers show the presence of an amorphous phase trapped between crystalline domains. Beyond 50%, Fe 2 O 3 iron nano-blades are also found. CuO nanowires as small as 5 nm in diameter can be synthesized. Thanks to the presence of patterned domains induced by buckling, it was possible to show that the stress level decreases when the iron content in the alloy increases. Iron blades grow from the inner Fe 2 O 3 layer through the overlying CuO if it is thin enough

Interaction of (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane with Pulsed Ar-O 2 Afterglow: Application to Nanoparticles Synthesis

International audienceThe interaction of (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) with pulsed late Ar-O 2 afterglow is characterized by the synthesis of OH, CO and CO 2 in the gas phase as main by-products. Other minor species like CH, CN and C 2 H are also produced. We suggest that OH radicals are produced in a first step by dehydrogenation of APTES after interaction with oxygen atoms. In a second step, the molecule is oxidized by any O 2 state, to form peroxides that transform into by-products, break thus the precursor CC bonds. If oxidation is limited, i.e. a low duty cycle, fragmentation of the precursor is limited and produced nanoparticles keep the backbone structure of the precursor, but contain amide groups produced from the amine groups initially available in APTES. At high duty cycle, silicon-containing fragments contain some carbon and react together and produce nanoparticles with a non-silica-like structure

Preparing the COROT space mission: new variable stars in the galactic Anticenter direction

The activities related to the preparation of the asteroseismic, photometric space mission COROT are described. Photoelectric observations, wide--field CCD photometry, uvbyB calibrations and further time--series have been obtained at different observatories and telescopes. They have been planned to complete the COROT programme in the direction of the galactic Anticenter. In addition to suitable asteroseismic targets covering the different evolutionary stages between ZAMS and TAMS, we discovered several other variable stars, both pulsating and geometrical. We compared results on the incidence of variability in the galactic Center and Anticenter directions. Physical parameters have been obtained and evolutionary tracks fitting them have been calculated. The peculiarities of some individual stars alre pointed out. Paper based on observations collected at the San Pedro Martir, Sierra Nevada, Teide, La Silla, Haute-Provence and Roque de Los Muchachos (Telescopio Nazionale Galileo and Mercator telescopes) observatories.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for The Astronomical Journal (2005 May volume

Disorder-specific functional abnormalities during sustained attention in youth with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and with Autism

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often comorbid and share behavioural-cognitive abnormalities in sustained attention. A key question is whether this shared cognitive phenotype is based on common or different underlying pathophysiologies. To elucidate this question, we compared 20 boys with ADHD to 20 age and IQ matched ASD and 20 healthy boys using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a parametrically modulated vigilance task with a progressively increasing load of sustained attention. ADHD and ASD boys had significantly reduced activation relative to controls in bilateral striato–thalamic regions, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and superior parietal cortex. Both groups also displayed significantly increased precuneus activation relative to controls. Precuneus was negatively correlated with the DLPFC activation, and progressively more deactivated with increasing attention load in controls, but not patients, suggesting problems with deactivation of a task-related default mode network in both disorders. However, left DLPFC underactivation was significantly more pronounced in ADHD relative to ASD boys, which furthermore was associated with sustained performance measures that were only impaired in ADHD patients. ASD boys, on the other hand, had disorder-specific enhanced cerebellar activation relative to both ADHD and control boys, presumably reflecting compensation. The findings show that ADHD and ASD boys have both shared and disorder-specific abnormalities in brain function during sustained attention. Shared deficits were in fronto–striato–parietal activation and default mode suppression. Differences were a more severe DLPFC dysfunction in ADHD and a disorder-specific fronto–striato–cerebellar dysregulation in ASD