One-year follow-up of family versus child CBT for anxiety disorders: Exploring the roles of child age and parental intrusiveness.

ObjectiveTo compare the relative long-term benefit of family-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (FCBT) and child-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) for child anxiety disorders at a 1-year follow-up.MethodThirty-five children (6-13 years old) randomly assigned to 12-16 sessions of family-focused CBT (FCBT) or child-focused CBT (CCBT) participated in a 1-year follow-up assessment. Independent evaluators, parents, and children rated anxiety and parental intrusiveness. All were blind to treatment condition and study hypotheses.ResultsChildren assigned to FCBT had lower anxiety scores than children assigned to CCBT on follow-up diagnostician- and parent-report scores, but not child-report scores. Exploratory analyses suggested the advantage of FCBT over CCBT may have been evident more for early adolescents than for younger children and that reductions in parental intrusiveness may have mediated the treatment effect.ConclusionFCBT may yield a stronger treatment effect than CCBT that lasts for at least 1 year, although the lack of consistency across informants necessitates a circumspect view of the findings. The potential moderating and mediating effects considered in this study offer interesting avenues for further study

Lymphatic vessels in inflammed human dental pulp

Investigation has been performed on both the light and electron microscopic characteristics of the lymphatic vessels present in the dental pulp of human teeth which have been affected by serious carious lesions. These conditions provoke a severe inflammatory response resulting in structural and functional modifications of the tissue; increase of the tissue pressure is followed by the need for a more intensive lymphatic drainage. In the inflammed pulps, dilated lymphatic vessels with distended walls and »open junctions« between endothelial cells are detectable. On the other hand they lack certain endothelial structures which characterize the morphology of these vessels under normal conditions. In the pulpal regions affected by fibrotic proliferation shrinked vessels with irregular profiles are present. From these observations it is possible to obtain other information on the mechanisms regulating the lymphatic drainage in different structural and functional conditions of the interstitium.La recherche a eu pour but d’examiner au microscope optique et au microscope électronique les caractéristiques morphologiques des vaisseaux lymphatiques présents dans le tissu pulpaire de dents humaines atteintes de graves lésions dues aux caries. En de pareilles conditions, des processus inflammatoires s’instaurent dans le tissu pulpaire d’une telle intensité qu’ils provoquent des modifications structurelles et fonctionelles dans le tissu avec une augmentation de la tension tissulaire et donc un besoin majeur de drainage de la part du système lymphatique. Dans les pulpes enflammées, on a pu démontrer la présence de vaisseaux lymphatiques dilatés dans la paroi desquels on trouve des «jonctions ouvertes» alors, qu’il manque certaines des structures endothéliales qui caractérisent ces vaisseaux dans les conditions normales.Dans les zones de tissu pulpaire avec dégénérescence fibreuse, on trouve des vaisseaux lymphatiques aux parois contractées et irrégulières.Par ces observations, il a été possible de trouver d’autres informations sur les mécanismes qui règlent le drainage lymphatique dans differentes conditions structurelles et fonctionnelles de l’interstitium

Morphometric computerized analysis on the dentinal tubules and the collagen fibers in the dentine of human permanent teeth

A morphometric analysis has been performed on important components of human dentine using an image computerized analyzer. The dentinal tubule diameter and their area percentage were calculated. Moreover the area percentage of the collagen fibers in the dentinal matrix was measured. These parameters have been evaluated in different areas of the coronal and the radicular dentine in permanent teeth.Measurements have been performed on undecalcified and decalcified teeth and on teeth treated with enzymatic digestion to remove the organic non collagen matrix and to evidentiate the collagen fiber network.The values obtained in different areas of the tooth and in samples sumitted to different treatments were evaluated by statistical analysis.Dentinal tubule diameter and area percentage significatively decrease from the inner to the peripheral dentine both in the undecalcified teeth as in the decalcified ones and in the samples undergone to enzymatic digestion. The collagen fiber percentage in the organic matrix is significatively lower in the mantle dentine.Il a été procédé à une recherche morphométrique relative à des composants importants de la dentine à l’aide d’un analyseur d’images computérisé. Le diamètre des tubules dentinaires et le pourcentage de la surface qu’ils occupent dans la dentine ont été mesurés. En outre, le pourcentage de la surface occupée par les fibres collagènes dans la matrice dentinale a été également mesuré. Ces valeurs ont été relevées dans des surfaces différentes de dentine, dans la racine et dans la couronne de dents permanentes. Les mesures ont été effectuées sur des dents décalcifiées ainsi que sur des dents traitées par digestion enzymatique afin d’enlever, après décalcification, la composante organique non collagène et séparer la trame des fibres collagènes.Les valeurs obtenues dans les différentes surfaces de la dent et dans des dents soumises à divers traitements ont été étudiées et confrontées au moyen d’analyse statistique.Le diamètre des tubules et leur pourcentage de surface diminuent significativement de la dentine la plus interne à celle périphérique, aussi bien dans les dents non décalcifiées que dans les dents décalcifiées et dans celles qui sont soumises à digestion enzymatique. Le pourcentage de la surface des fibres collagènes dans la matrice organique est significativement inférieure dans la dentine périphérique

Through the lens of sequence submodularity

Several real-world problems in engineering and applied science require the selection of sequences that maximize a given reward function. Optimizing over sequences as opposed to sets requires exploring an exponentially larger search space and can become prohibitive in most cases of practical interest. However, if the objective function is submodular (intuitively, it exhibits a diminishing return property), the optimization problem becomes more manageable. Recently, there has been increasing interest in sequence submodularity in connection with applications such as recommender systems and online ad allocation. However, mostly ad hoc models and solutions have emerged within these applicative contexts. In consequence, the field appears fragmented and lacks coherence. In this paper, we offer a unified view of sequence submodularity and provide a generalized greedy algorithm that enjoys strong theoretical guarantees. We show how our approach naturally captures several application domains, and our algorithm encompasses existing methods, improving over them

A unifying look at sequence submodularity

Several real-world problems in engineering and applied science require the selection of sequences that maximize a given reward function. Optimizing over sequences as opposed to sets requires exploring an exponentially larger search space and can become prohibitive in most cases of practical interest. However, if the objective function is submodular (intuitively, it exhibits a diminishing return property), the optimization problem becomes more manageable. Recently, there has been increasing interest in sequence submodularity in connection with applications such as recommender systems and online ad allocation. However, mostly ad hoc models and solutions have emerged within these applicative contexts. In consequence, the field appears fragmented and lacks coherence. In this paper, we offer a unified view of sequence submodularity and provide a generalized greedy algorithm that enjoys strong theoretical guarantees. We show how our approach naturally captures several application domains, and our algorithm encompasses existing methods, improving over them. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

Investigating Habituation to Premonitory Urges in Behavior Therapy for Tic Disorders

Behavior therapy is effective for Persistent Tic Disorders (PTDs), but behavioral processes facilitating tic reduction are not well understood. One process, habituation, is thought to create tic reduction through decreases in premonitory urge severity. The current study tested whether premonitory urges decreased in youth with PTDs (N = 126) and adults with PTDs (N = 122) who participated in parallel randomized clinical trials comparing behavior therapy to psychoeducation and supportive therapy (PST). Trends in premonitory urges, tic severity, and treatment outcome were analyzed according to the predictions of a habituation model, whereby urge severity would be expected to decrease in those who responded to behavior therapy. Although adults who responded to behavior therapy showed a significant trend of declining premonitory urge severity across treatment, results failed to demonstrate that behavior therapy specifically caused changes in premonitory urge severity. In addition, reductions in premonitory urge severity in those who responded to behavior therapy were significant greater than those who did not respond to behavior therapy but no different than those who responded or did not respond to PST. Children with PTDs failed to show any significant changes in premonitory urges. Reductions in premonitory urge severity did not mediate the relationship between treatment and outcome in either adults or children. These results cast doubt on the notion that habituation is the therapeutic process underlying the effectiveness of behavior therapy, which has immediate implications for the psychoeducation and therapeutic rationale presented in clinical practice. Moreover, there may be important developmental changes in premonitory urges in PTDs, and alternative models of therapeutic change warrant investigation

Glutamate induces autophagy via the two-pore channels in neural cells

NAADP (nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate) has been proposed as a second messenger for glutamate in neuronal and glial cells via the activation of the lysosomal Ca2+ channels TPC1 and TPC2. However, the activities of glutamate that are mediated by NAADP remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the effect of glutamate on autophagy in astrocytes at physiological, non-toxic concentration. We found that glutamate induces autophagy at similar extent as NAADP. By contrast, the NAADP antagonist NED-19 or SiRNA-mediated inhibition of TPC1/2 decreases autophagy induced by glutamate, confirming a role for NAADP in this pathway. The involvement of TPC1/2 in glutamate-induced autophagy was also confirmed in SHSY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Finally, we show that glutamate leads to a NAADP-dependent activation of AMPK, which is required for autophagy induction, while mTOR activity is not affected by this treatment. Taken together, our results indicate that glutamate stimulates autophagy via NAADP/TPC/AMPK axis, providing new insights of how Ca2+ signalling glutamate-mediated can control the cell metabolism in the central nervous system

Collagen Fiber Arrangement in Temporo-Mandibular Joint (TMJ) Disks from Human Subjects with Functional Diseases. Scanning Electron Microscopy Investigations

Twelve articular disks from patients with temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) arthropathy were studied and compared with two normal disks. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination of the surfaces and of longitudinal and cross-sections of the disks allowed the observation of the arrangement of the collagen fiber component in different parts of the disk. The superficial part of the articular disks appears to be formed by rather compact fibers. The internal portion is usually formed by bundles of collagen fibers in sheets, alternating with isolated fibers arranged in a parallel or irregular way. In some samples, blood vessels were observed. Our investigations suggested that the appearance of vascularization is the first remarkable histological change that can be observed in functionally abnormal articular disks

Optical properties of single crystals of some rare-earth trifluorides, 5-34 eV

The reflectances of single crystals of the trifluorides of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Dy, and of polycrystalline GdF3 were measured in the 10-34-eV region, along with 5-9-eV transmission measurements on films of these materials. Localized 4f→5d, 6stransitions on the rare-earth ions give rise to the absorption below 10 or 11 eV. Strong interband absorption gives anisotropic reflectance peaks in the 10-15-eV region, presumably from F− 2p valence bands to lanthanide 5d, 6s (and other states) conduction bands, accounting for about one-third of the expected F− 2p osillator strength. Transitions from lanthanide 5p levels cause two types of spectra beginning around 20 eV: transitions of the 5p→5d type, apparently localized on lanthanide ions, but with some an isotropy; and transitions of 5p electrons to the conduction band, giving a peak of very high reflectance at energies above 27 eV