A measurement of the electron neutrino component in the T2K beam using the tracker detectors and the electromagnetic calorimeter at the near detector ND280

Starting with a muon neutrino (vμ) beam T2K is searching for electron neutrino (ve) ap- pearance in the Far Detector (Super-Kamiokande) and aims to produce the first measure- ment of the neutrino mixing angle e13. Beam contamination of Ve is one of the main background components. The Near Detector, ND280, is optimized for measuring the u; contamination through the reconstruction of Ve interactions. The u; beam contamination is studied in this thesis. The total number of Ve beam events reconstructed in ND280 is 51.2 +21.3 stat. +10.1 sys/ -21.3 stat. -14.4 sys for 1.068 x10 to the power of 20 protons on target, a resu t w lC IS consistent with the Monte Carlo expectations. This result a supplementary statement to the vμ -> 7 Ve oscillation signal observed at Super-Kamiokande during the first year of T2K run, as no significant excess in the expected Ve beam contamination has been observed

Motor Development and Self-Esteem of Children and Adolescents with Visual Impairment

The aim of the present study was to evaluate and investigate the relationship between motor development and self-esteem in 37 children and adolescents only with visual impairment and no other impairment, and in 37 children and adolescents with typical development. The chronological age of the participants was between 8 and 14 years old. The short form of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2), (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005) was used to assess the participants’ motor development. Self-esteem was measured via the Self-esteem Inventory developed by Coopersmith (1987). Statistical analysis was performed via the SPSS version 20.0. The results indicated that the children’s and adolescents with visual impairment scores on motor development and self-esteem were lower compared to those of the typical participants. In addition, the results indicated interaction between motor development and self-esteem in visually impaired participants. The present study was a necessity to be conducted, because there was a research gap and there have not been conducted similar researches in Greece and internationally. It is important for educational community to know if the motor development and self-esteem of children and adolescents with visual impairment are covariates. Keywords: visual impairment, children and adolescents, self-esteem, motor development.

RELATIONSHIP OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT TO ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

The aim of the study was to evaluate motor development and adaptive behavior of visually impaired children and adolescents without the simultaneous existence of impairment, aged 6-14 years old. Thirty-seven (37) children and adolescents with visual impairment and thirty seven (37) children and adolescents without visual impairment took part in the study. Children and adolescents with visual impairment attended the Special Education Primary Schools for the Blind at four of the biggest cities in Greece. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2) (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005) was used to evaluate motor development of the participants. Also, the Teacher Rating Scale (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition Sparrow, Balla and Cicchetti, 2005) was used to evaluate adaptive behavior. For the statistical analysis of the data the SPSS version 20.0 statistical package was used. The results of the research revealed that the performance of visually impaired children and adolescents in terms of their motor development and adaptive behavior was lower than that of their peers. At the same time, a convergence was found between the variables motor development and adaptive behavior of children and adolescents with visual impairment. The findings of this research are expected to contribute to a smoother school and social adaptation of visually impaired children and adolescents.  Article visualizations

Living with satisfactory vision and no comorbidity 28 years after bilateral retinoblastoma: a case report and mini literature review

Background: Retinoblastoma is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in children, although it is a rare neural retinal tumor. Improving the quality of life is the next goal after the primary medical goal of life preservation. The genotype-phenotype correlation may vary with the progression of retinoblastoma. Expressivity is determined by different RB1 gene mutations among individuals. Herein, we share our experience on the evaluation of the long-term progression of retinoblastoma, its treatment consequences, its impact on the quality of life, and how the underlying genotypes are related to the phenotypes. We provide a review of the relevant literature and present a case of a sporadic heritable bilateral retinoblastoma. Case Presentation: We report the outcomes of a 28-year follow-up of a female diagnosed with an infantile disease. The patient’s best eye, according to the tumor classification and genetic results, was treated conservatively whereas the worst eye was enucleated. On re-examinations, she had complications of the treatment she received. Therefore, another intervention was administered for several years. The patient’s pathogenic variant and RB1 gene mutational inactivation were predispositions to the recurrence of the tumor and non-ocular primary malignancy. Nevertheless, the disease had no progression. The patient is stable despite her type of retinoblastoma, which is the sporadic heritable bilateral form. Conclusions: Each phenotype of bilateral retinoblastoma varies in progression. The nature of the genetic mutation may determine its expressivity. It is of great significance to individualize every decision. In each case, the sequelae of the disease and treatment-induced complications may have an impact on the quality of the patient’s life

Comparative performance and external validation of three different scores in predicting inadequate bowel preparation among Greek inpatients undergoing colonoscopy

Background Predictive scores aim to predict bowel preparation adequacy among hospitalized patients undergoing colonoscopy. We evaluated the comparative efficacy of these scores in predicting inadequate bowel cleansing in a cohort of Greek inpatients. Methods We performed a post hoc analysis of data generated from a cohort of inpatients undergoing colonoscopy in 4 tertiary Greek centers to validate the 3 models currently available (models A, B and C). We used the Akaike information criterion to quantify the performance of each model, while Harrell's C-index, as the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC), verified the discriminative ability to predict inadequate bowel prep. Primary endpoint was the comparison of performance among models for predicting inadequate bowel cleansing. 70.7 +/- 15.4 years-were included in the analysis. Model B showed the highest performance (Harrell's C-index: AUC 77.2% vs. 72.6% and 57.5%, compared to models A and C, respectively). It also achieved higher performance for the subgroup of mobilized inpatients (Harrell's C-index: AUC 72.21% vs. 64.97% and 59.66%, compared to models A and C, respectively). Model B also performed better in predicting patients with incomplete colonoscopy due to inadequate bowel preparation (Harrell's C-index: AUC 74.23% vs. 69.07% and 52.76%, compared to models A and C, respectively).Conclusions Predictive model B outperforms its comparators in the prediction of inpatients with inadequate bowel preparation. This model is particularly advantageous when used to evaluate mobilized inpatients

Somatosensory Evoked Potentials suppression due to remifentanil during spinal operations; a prospective clinical study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) are being used for the investigation and monitoring of the integrity of neural pathways during surgical procedures. Intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring is affected by the type of anesthetic agents. Remifentanil is supposed to produce minimal or no changes in SSEP amplitude and latency. This study aims to investigate whether high doses of remifentanil influence the SSEP during spinal surgery under total intravenous anesthesia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ten patients underwent spinal surgery. Anesthesia was induced with propofol (2 mg/Kg), fentanyl (2 mcg/Kg) and a single dose of cis-atracurium (0.15 mg/Kg), followed by infusion of 0.8 mcg/kg/min of remifentanil and propofol (30-50 mcg/kg/min). The depth of anesthesia was monitored by Bispectral Index (BIS) and an adequate level (40-50) of anesthesia was maintained. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) were recorded intraoperatively from the tibial nerve (P37) 15 min before initiation of remifentanil infusion. Data were analysed over that period.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Remifentanil induced prolongation of the tibial SSEP latency which however was not significant (p > 0.05). The suppression of the amplitude was significant (p < 0.001), varying from 20-80% with this decrease being time related.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Remifentanil in high doses induces significant changes in SSEP components that should be taken under consideration during intraoperative neuromonitoring.</p