Mengembangkan Bahasa Ekspresif Anak Down Syndrome dengan Pelatihan Dramatherapy

Perilaku adaptif dibutuhkan individu dalam melakukan kegiatan sehari-hari. Salah satu aspek perilaku adaptif, yaitu kemampuan berbahasa. Individu dengan Down Syndrome, utamanya terhambat dalam kemampuan berbahasa ekspresif. Kami menemukan bahwa SLB ABCD Caringin belum pernah memberikan program untuk meningkatkan kemampuan Bahasa ekspresif anak-anak. Jadi, kami tergerak untuk membuat program ini. Dalam program ini, kami mengajak anak-anak dengan down syndrome (usia 14-19 tahun) untuk melakukan dramatherapy. Metode kuantitatif, empat hari, di SLB ABCD Caringin Kota Bandung. Sebelum dan sesudah program dimulai, kami akan mengukur kemampuan berbahasa ekspresif anak-anak dengan alat ukur buatan kami. Lalu, hasilnya akan dibandingkan. Anak-anak akan melakukan dramatherapy dalam empat situasi: (1) situasi kelas antara guru dan siswa, (2) situasi antara teman di sekolah, (3) situasi sarapan di rumah, dan (4) situasi di masyarakat. Sebelum dramatherapy, anak-anak akan diperlihatkan video-video pendek dan gambar-gambar yang terkait dengan situasi. Hasilnya, kemampuan bahasa ekspresif anak-anak meningkat secara signifikan (Asymp. Sig. (1-tailed) = 0.034) dan selama proses kegiatan, kami menemukan bahwa anak-anak tertarik dengan dramatherapy. Kami juga menemukan bahwa penggunaan video dan gambar membantu

A compact current-mode instrumentation amplifier for general-purpose sensor interfaces

The proposed amplifier architecture follows a consolidated topology based on second-generation current conveyors (CCIIs), optimized for fully-differential operation. The architecture uses gain-boosting to improve the offset and noise characteristics of a recently proposed design. Wide input and output ranges and high accuracy are obtained by designing the CCIIs according to an original two-stage architecture with local voltage feedback. Embedding of chopper switch matrices into the amplifier enables vector analysis of the input signal, expanding the application field. The main strengths of the proposed amplifier are compactness and versatility. Measurements performed on a prototype designed with a 0.18 μm CMOS process are described

Hazai kórházi antibiotikum-alkalmazás az elmúlt két évtizedben (1996–2015) | Antibiotic use in the Hungarian hospitals in the last two decades (1996–2015)

Absztrakt Bevezetés: A bakteriális rezisztencia közegészségügyet fenyegető probléma, amely mérsékelhető, lassítható megfelelő antibiotikum-alkalmazással. Célkitűzés: A hazai fekvőbeteg-ellátás szisztémás antibiotikum-felhasználásának bemutatása. Módszer: A kórházi antibiotikum-felhasználási adatokat az Egészségügyi Világszervezet anatómiai-terápiás-kémiai rendszere szerint osztályozták és a Defined Daily Dose metodika szerint kvantifikálták. A standardizálás kórházi betegforgalmi mutatókra, valamint – a nemzetközi összehasonlítás végett – populációra történt. Eredmények: A fekvőbetegszektor antibiotikum-felhasználása az elmúlt 20 évben mennyiségileg kiegyenlített volt (22,4 ± 1,5 DDD/100 ápolási nap), mintázata folyamatos változáson ment keresztül. Megfigyelhettük a parenteralis készítmények alkalmazásának emelkedését (1996-ban 26,4%, 2015-ben 41,6%). Kiemelendő a felhasználás összetételének homogenizálódása az amoxicillin-klavulánsav térnyerése miatt, a fluorokinolon (2,3 vs. 4,2 DDD/100 ápolási nap) és a harmadik generációs cefalosporinfelhasználás (1,0 vs. 2,9 DDD/100 ápolási nap) jelentős emelkedése, valamint a szűk spektrumú penicillinek kiszorulása. Következtetés: A hazai kórházi antibiotikum-felhasználás mennyiségileg alacsony. Ez, illetve a felhasználás mintázatában tapasztalt, nemzetközi mércével is alátámasztott alul- vagy felülreprezentált felhasználás okának és indokoltságának megítélése további vizsgálatot igényel. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(46), 1839–l846. | Abstract Introduction: Growing bacterial resistance threatens public health, which can be tempered by prudent antibiotic use. Aim: To quantify systemic antibacterial use in Hungarian hospitals. Method: Consumption data were analysed using the Anatomical-Therapeutic-Chemical – Defined Daily Dose (ATC/DDD) methodology. Data were standardized for patient turnover and also for population to enable international benchmarking. Results: Hospital antibiotic use was quite constant (22.4 ± 1.5 DDD/100 patient-days), but its composition changed substantially. The use of parenteral products rose gradually (in 1996 26.4% and in 2015 41.6%). The pattern of use was homogenised due to the headway of co-amoxiclav use. A substantial increase of fluoroquinolone (2.3 vs. 4.2 DDD/100 patient-days) and third generation cephalosporin (1.0 vs. 2.9 DDD/100 patient-days) use was detected. In parallel the use of narrow spectra penicillins diminished. Conclusion: Hungarian hospital antibiotic use is low. The causes and the justification of this low use together with the internationally outstanding use of certain antibacterials should be addressed in future studies. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(46), 1839–1846

Gratitude Moments as Predictors of Self- and Other-Orientation Indicators in a Racially/Ethnically Diverse Sample of US Young Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Scholars posit that gratitude may enhance other-oriented beliefs and behaviors and dampen self-oriented ones through a cycle of upward generativity. We examined associations between gratitude as an indicator of self-orientation (i.e., materialism and entitlement) and other orientation (i.e., connection to nature; attitudes, beliefs, and conversations about social justice; prosocial behavior) in the US youth across six months as moderated by race/ethnicity and gender. Specifically, Study 1 evaluated the psychometric performance of the gratitude moments scale in a more racially and ethnically diverse sample than that included in the original scale development. In study 2, we evaluated pre-registered hypotheses among the youth who completed surveys in October 2020 and again in January 2021 (n = 812). These hypotheses tested (1) whether there were ethnic/racial differences in the measure of children’s gratitude; (2) whether there were reciprocal associations over time between children’s gratitude and indices of self and other orientation; and (3) whether these reciprocal associations varied as a function of youth race/ethnicity and gender. The results of study 1 found that the gratitude moments scale demonstrated high reliability and validity in racially/ethnically diverse young adolescents (n = 89). Using moderated nonlinear factor analysis in study 2, we found only one difference in how the gratitude moments scale performed as a function of race/ethnicity or gender. In cross-lagged panel models, gratitude moments did not predict subsequent self- and other-orientation indices, though youth with lower social justice attitudes and greater prosocial behavior showed increases in later gratitude moments. Prosocial behavior was more strongly and consistently related to self- and other-orientation indices than gratitude. These findings are consistent with models of prosocial behavior as a catalyst for the development of additional forms of other-oriented beliefs, attitudes, and actions that may underlie the development of an other-oriented purpose

Modeling rejection immunity

Background: Transplantation is often the only way to treat a number of diseases leading to organ failure. To overcome rejection towards the transplanted organ (graft), immunosuppression therapies are used, which have considerable side-effects and expose patients to opportunistic infections. The development of a model to complement the physician’s experience in specifying therapeutic regimens is therefore desirable. The present work proposes an Ordinary Differential Equations model accounting for immune cell proliferation in response to the sudden entry of graft antigens, through different activation mechanisms. The model considers the effect of a single immunosuppressive medication ( e.g. cyclosporine), subject to first-order linear kinetics and acting by modifying, in a saturable concentration-dependent fashion, the proliferation coefficient. The latter has been determined experimentally. All other model parameter values have been set so as to reproduce reported state variable time-courses, and to maintain consistency with one another and with the experimentally derived proliferation coefficient. Results: The proposed model substantially simplifies the chain of events potentially leading to organ rejection. It is however able to simulate quantitatively the time course of graft-related antigen and competent immunoreactive cell populations, showing the long-term alternative outcomes of rejection, tolerance or tolerance at a reduced functional tissue mass. In particular, the model shows that it may be difficult to attain tolerance at full tissue mass with acceptably low doses of a single immunosuppressant, in accord with clinical experience. Conclusions: The introduced model is mathematically consistent with known physiology and can reproduce variations in immune status and allograft survival after transplantation. The model can be adapted to represent different therapeutic schemes and may offer useful indications for the optimization of therapy protocols in the transplanted patien

Collagen-specific T-cell repertoire in blood and synovial fluid varies with disease activity in early rheumatoid arthritis

Type II collagen is a DR4/DR1 restricted target of self-reactive T cells that sustain rheumatoid arthritis. The aim of the present study was to analyze the T-cell receptor repertoire at the onset of and at different phases in rheumatoid arthritis. We used the CDR3 BV-BJ spectratyping to study the response to human collagen peptide 261-273 in 12 patients with DR4+ rheumatoid arthritis (six at the onset of disease and six during the course of disease) and in five healthy DR4+ relatives. The collagen-specific T-cell repertoire is quite restricted at the onset of disease, involving approximately 10 rearrangements. Within the studied collagen-specific rearrangements, nearly 75% is shared among patients. Although the size of the repertoire used by control individuals is comparable to that of patients, it is characterized by different T-cell receptors. Part of the antigen-specific T-cell repertoire is spontaneously enriched in synovial fluid. The specific T-cell repertoire in the periphery was modulated by therapy and decreased with the remission of the disease. Failure of immunoscopy to detect this repertoire was not due to suppression of collagen-driven proliferation in vitro by CD4+ CD25+ T cells. Clinical relapse of the disease was associated with the appearance of the original collagen-specific T cells. The collagen-specific T-cell receptor repertoire in peripheral blood and synovial fluid is restricted to a limited number of rearrangements in rheumatoid arthritis. The majority of the repertoire is shared between patients with early rheumatoid arthritis and it is modulated by therapy

Modeling rejection immunity

Background: Transplantation is often the only way to treat a number of diseases leading to organ failure. To overcome rejection towards the transplanted organ (graft), immunosuppression therapies are used, which have considerable side-effects and expose patients to opportunistic infections. The development of a model to complement the physician’s experience in specifying therapeutic regimens is therefore desirable. The present work proposes an Ordinary Differential Equations model accounting for immune cell proliferation in response to the sudden entry of graft antigens, through different activation mechanisms. The model considers the effect of a single immunosuppressive medication ( e.g. cyclosporine), subject to first-order linear kinetics and acting by modifying, in a saturable concentration-dependent fashion, the proliferation coefficient. The latter has been determined experimentally. All other model parameter values have been set so as to reproduce reported state variable time-courses, and to maintain consistency with one another and with the experimentally derived proliferation coefficient. Results: The proposed model substantially simplifies the chain of events potentially leading to organ rejection. It is however able to simulate quantitatively the time course of graft-related antigen and competent immunoreactive cell populations, showing the long-term alternative outcomes of rejection, tolerance or tolerance at a reduced functional tissue mass. In particular, the model shows that it may be difficult to attain tolerance at full tissue mass with acceptably low doses of a single immunosuppressant, in accord with clinical experience. Conclusions: The introduced model is mathematically consistent with known physiology and can reproduce variations in immune status and allograft survival after transplantation. The model can be adapted to represent different therapeutic schemes and may offer useful indications for the optimization of therapy protocols in the transplanted patien

The PLASMONX Project for advanced beam physics experiments

The Project PLASMONX is well progressing into its design phase and has entered as well its second phase of procurements for main components. The project foresees the installation at LNF of a Ti:Sa laser system (peak power > 170 TW), synchronized to the high brightness electron beam produced by the SPARC photo-injector. The advancement of the procurement of such a laser system is reported, as well as the construction plans of a new building at LNF to host a dedicated laboratory for high intensity photon beam experiments (High Intensity Laser Laboratory). Several experiments are foreseen using this complex facility, mainly in the high gradient plasma acceleration field and in the field of mono- chromatic ultra-fast X-ray pulse generation via Thomson back-scattering. Detailed numerical simulations have been carried out to study the generation of tightly focused electron bunches to collide with laser pulses in the Thomson source: results on the emitted spectra of X-rays are presented

High rate of uncovered struts in latest generation drug-eluting stents with durable, biodegradable polymer or lack of it 1 month after implantation

Introduction and objectives: Delayed vascular healing may induce late stent thrombosis. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is useful to evaluate endothelial coverage. The objective of this study was to compare stent coverage and apposition in non-complex coronary artery lesions treated with durable polymer-coated everolimus-eluting stents (durable-polymer EES) vs biodegradable polymer-coated everolimus-eluting stents ( biodegradable-polymer EES) vs polymer-free biolimus-eluting stents (BES) 1 and 6 months after stent implantation. Methods: Prospective, multicenter, non-randomized study that compared the 3 types of DES. Follow-up angiography and OCT were performed 1 and 6 months later. The primary endpoint was the rate of uncovered struts as assessed by the OCT at 1 month. Results: A total of 104 patients with de novo non-complex coronary artery lesions were enrolled. A total of 44 patients were treated with polymer-free BES, 35 with biodegradable-polymer EES, and 25 with durable-polymer EES. A high rate of uncovered struts was found at 1 month with no significant differences reported among the stents (80.2%, polymer-free BES; 88.1%, biodegradable-polymer EES; 82.5%, durable-polymer EES; P =.209). Coverage improved after 6 months in the 3 groups without significant differences being reported (97%, 95%, and 93.7%, respectively; P =.172). Conclusions: In patients with de novo non-complex coronary artery lesions treated with durable vs biodegradable vs polymer-free DES, strut coverage and apposition were suboptimal at 1 month with significant improvement at 6 months

Immunoproteomics characterization of allergenic and non-allergenic tropomyosin orthologs

Background The digestion pattern of proteins plays a key role in allergenicity. If the enzymatic digestion is not efficient, bigger peptides/proteins can persist and cause sensitization. Tropomyosin represents the major allergen of crustaceans, which is a highly conserved protein present in muscle cells of vertebrates and invertebrates. The hypothesis of the current work is that shrimp tropomyosin (TM) is not fully digested or exhibits a digestion pattern that generates some peptides that can be immunogenic. To assess this hypothesis, both purified and recombinant chicken and shrimp TM orthologs were in vitro digested and analyzed for their degradation and immunoreactivity pattern. Methods One milligram of both shrimp and chicken TM orthologues has been processed through simulated oral, gastric and intestinal digestion using INFOGEST protocol. The cleavage pattern was subsequently analysed by proteomics and immunoproteomics using 1D and 2D tricine gel electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry. The immunoreactivity pattern was evaluated using 1D immunoblotting against serum (IgE and IgG) of patients allergic to shrimp TM (allergen Pen a 1). Results 2D Tricine-SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that chicken TM ortholog was sensitive to proteolytic activity during stimulated gastric digestion with pepsin at low pH, in contrast to shrimp TM ortholog that was not cleaved. These results were consistent with the immunoreactivity assays, which demonstrated a high reactivity of both IgE and IgG against shrimp TM after oral and gastric digestion and no reactivity against chicken TM. Conclusion The resistance of shrimp TM ortholog to gastric simulated digestion supports the hypothesis that undigested proteins may enhance the possibility of sensitization process. Considering the importance of protein cleavage before absorption it can be concluded that simulated gastric digestion coupled to the used immunoproteomics approach could represent a starting point for the evaluation of allergenicity of novel foods