Learning by doing: Action performance facilitates affordance perception

AbstractWe investigated the effect of action performance on perceptual judgments by evaluating accuracy in judging whether doorways allowed passage. Participants made judgments either before or after walking through doorways of varying widths. Participants in the action-first group benefited from action feedback and made more accurate judgments compared to a perception-first group that judged doorways before walking through them. Action feedback aided perceptual judgments by facilitating scaling to body dimensions: Judgments in the action-first group were strongly related to height, weight, and torso size, whereas judgments in the perception-first group were not

Shockschade, geestelijk letsel, psychiatrisch ziektebeeld

Een vader is enige tijd na de moord op zijn zoon geconfronteerd met het dode lichaam van zijn zoon en vordert schadevergoeding wegens shockschade. Zijn zoon is door een messteek in de halsslagader om het leven gebracht en in het bos begraven. Vader heeft het lichaam van zijn zoon dagen nadien in een lijkkist gezien en heeft deze confrontatie in een handgeschreven verklaring beschreven. De vader stelt dat deze rechtstreekse confrontatie met de gevolgen van het tegen zijn zoon gepleegde misdrijf bij hem een emotionele schok teweeggebracht heeft, welke leidt tot een aantasting in zijn persoon. De vader is inmiddels overleden, zijn dochter treedt nadien als beneficiair erfgename voor hem op. In eerste instantie is de vordering van vader afgewezen wegens het ontbreken van directe confrontatie met de gevolgen van de gebeurtenis. In hoger beroep toetst het hof eerst of sprake is van geestelijk letsel en komt tot het oordeel dat hiertoe onvoldoende bewijs is. Het hof overweegt dat gelet op rechtspraak van de Hoge Raad terughoudendheid met betrekking tot het toekennen van vergoeding voor immateriële schade aan nabestaanden op zijn plaats is. Het huidige systeem geeft geen recht op vergoeding van affectieschade en voor vergoeding van shockschade is onder meer een in de psychiatrie erkend ziektebeeld vereist. Het standpunt van appellant dat geen hoge eisen worden gesteld aan het bewijs van het bestaan van geestelijk letsel, is volgens het hof niet houdbaar. Met de terughoudendheid waardoor de rechtspraak van de Hoge Raad op dit punt wordt gekenmerkt, strookt het niet om één van de vereisten (ver) op te rekken. Van geestelijk letsel in de vorm van een in de psychiatrie erkend ziektebeeld is in het onderhavige geval niet gebleken – en zal door het overlijden van vader ook niet meer kunnen blijken, de vordering wordt dan ook afgewezen

Highly frequent infections with human rhinovirus in healthy young children: A longitudinal cohort study

AbstractBackgroundHuman rhinoviruses (HRVs) are an important cause of respiratory tract infections.ObjectivesWe questioned whether the high prevalence rates of HRVs found in epidemiological studies is due to long-term individual continuity or a result of frequent infections with different HRV subtypes.Study designIn a 6-month winter period 18 healthy controls, aged 0–7 years, were at least sampled every two weeks for HRV-PCR, irrespective of respiratory symptoms. All HRV positive samples were genotyped to determine HRV diversity.ResultsIn total 272 samples were collected. HRV was found in 101/272 (37%) samples. Genotyping revealed 27 different HRV subtypes. A median of 3.0 different HRV subtypes was found per child. Re-infections and continuity with identical HRV sequences were observed. The number of HRVs were higher in the youngest age group (p=0.01) and they had more different HRV subtypes (p=0.05) compared to oldest age group.ConclusionsWe found a high HRV exposition with a considerable diverse population of HRV subtypes in young children. These results have major implications for future research into the pathogenic role of HRV in respiratory diseases. Characterisation of subtypes will be necessary to discriminate between prolonged continuity and re-infections in patients with respiratory diseases

Prevalence and Pathogenicity of WU and KI Polyomaviruses in Children, the Netherlands

A longitudinal study in 2004 and 2005 detected polyomaviruses WU and KI in 44% and 17% of children with and without respiratory symptoms, respectively, in the Netherlands. In some children both viruses were detected for long periods. In several symptomatic children no other respiratory pathogen was detected

COVID-19 and MIS-C treatment in children—results from an international survey

Children have been mostly excluded from COVID-19 clinical trials, and, as a result, most medicines approved for COVID-19 have no pediatric indication. In addition, access to COVID-19 therapeutics remains limited. Collecting physicians’ experiences with off-label use of therapeutics is important to inform global prioritization processes and better target pediatric research and development. A standardized questionnaire was designed to explore the use of therapeutics used to treat COVID-19 and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in pediatric patients globally. Seventy-three physicians from 29 countries participated. For COVID-19, steroids were used by 75.6% of respondents; remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies were prescribed by 48.6% and 27.1% of respondents, respectively. For MIS-C, steroids were prescribed by 79.1% of respondents and intravenous immunoglobulins by 69.6%. The use of these products depended on their pediatric approval and the limited availability of antivirals and most monoclonal antibodies in Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. Off-label prescription resulted widespread due to the paucity of clinical trials in young children at the time of the survey; though, based on our survey results, it was generally safe and led to clinical benefits. Conclusion: This survey provides a snapshot of current practice for treating pediatric COVID-19 worldwide, informing global prioritization efforts to better target pediatric research and development for COVID-19 therapeutics. Off-label use of such medicines is widespread for the paucity of clinical trials under 12 years and 40 kg, though appears to be safe and generally results in clinical benefits, even in young children. However, access to care, including medicine availability, differs widely globally. Clinical development of COVID-19 antivirals and monoclonal antibodies requires acceleration to ensure pediatric indication and allow worldwide availability of therapeutics that will enable more equitable access to COVID-19 treatment. What is Known: • Children have been mostly excluded from COVID-19 clinical trials, and, as a result, most medicines approved for COVID-19 have no pediatric indication. • Access to care differs widely globally, so because of the diversity of national healthcare systems; the unequal availability of medicines for COVID-19 treatment represents an obstacle to the pediatric population's universal right to health care. What is New: • Off-label COVID-19 drug prescription is widespread due to the lack of clinical trials in children younger than 12 years and weighing less than 40 kg, but relatively safe and generally leading to clinical benefit. • The application of the GAP-f framework to COVID-19 medicines is crucial, ensuring widespread access to all safe and effective drugs, enabling the rapid development of age-appropriate formulations, and developing specific access plans (including stability, storage, packaging, and labeling) for distribution in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Antivirals and monoclonal antibodies may benefit from the acceleration to reach widespread and equal diffusion

High burden of viral respiratory co-infections in a cohort of children with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis

Background The presentation of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in young children is often clinically indistinguishable from other common respiratory illnesses, which are frequently infections of viral aetiology. As little is known about the role of viruses in children with PTB, we investigated the prevalence of respiratory viruses in children with suspected PTB at presentation and follow-up. Methods In an observational cohort study, children < 13 years were routinely investigated for suspected PTB in Cape Town, South Africa between December 2015 and September 2017 and followed up for 24 weeks. Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs) were tested for respiratory viruses using multiplex PCR at enrolment, week 4 and 8. Results Seventy-three children were enrolled [median age 22.0 months; (interquartile range 10.0–48.0); 56.2% male and 17.8% HIV-infected. Anti-tuberculosis treatment was initiated in 54.8%; of these 50.0% had bacteriologically confirmed TB. At enrolment, ≥1 virus were detected in 95.9% (70/73) children; most commonly human rhinovirus (HRV) (74.0%). HRV was more frequently detected in TB cases (85%) compared to ill controls (60.6%) (p = 0.02). Multiple viruses were detected in 71.2% of all children; 80% of TB cases and 60.6% of ill controls (p = 0.07). At follow-up, ≥1 respiratory virus was detected in 92.2% (47/51) at week 4, and 94.2% (49/52) at week 8. Conclusions We found a high prevalence of viral respiratory co-infections in children investigated for PTB, irrespective of final PTB diagnosis, which remained high during follow up. Future work should include investigating the whole respiratory ecosystem in combination with pathogen- specific immune responses

Fear for external cephalic version and depression: predictors of successful external cephalic version for breech presentation at term?

Background Objective was to determine whether fear for external cephalic version (ECV) and depression are associated with the success rate of ECV in women with a breech presentation at term. Methods Prospective study conducted in the Catharina Hospital Eindhoven between October 2007 and May 2012. Participants fulfilled The Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) questionnaire and expressed their degree of fear on a visual analogue scale from one to ten before ECV. Obstetric factors were evaluated as well. Primary outcome was the relation between psychological factors (fear for ECV and depression EDS scores) and ECV success rate. Secondary outcome was a possible relation between fear for ECV and increased abdominal muscle tension. Results The overall success rate was 55% and was significantly lower (p < 0.001) in nulliparous women (44.3%) compared with parous women (78.0%). Fear for ECV and depression EDS-scores were not related with ECV success rate. Parity, placental location, BMI and engagement of the fetal breech were obstetric factors associated with ECV outcome. There was no relation between fear for ECV and abdominal muscle tone. Conclusion Fear for ECV and depression were not related with ECV success rate in this study. Engagement of the fetal breech was the most important factor associated with a successful ECV.Keywords: External cephalic version, Breech presentation, EDS, Depression, Psychological predictor

Quantifying the global number of tuberculosis survivors: a modelling study

Background People who survive tuberculosis face clinical and societal consequences after recovery, including increased risks of recurrent tuberculosis, premature death, reduced lung function, and ongoing stigma. To describe the size of this issue, we aimed to estimate the number of individuals who developed first-episode tuberculosis between 1980 and 2019, the number who survived to 2020, and the number who have been treated within the past 5 years or 2 years. Methods In this modelling study, we estimated the number of people who survived treated tuberculosis using country-level WHO data on tuberculosis case notifications, excluding those who died during treatment. We estimated the number of individuals surviving untreated tuberculosis using the difference between WHO country-level incidence estimates and notifications, applying published age-stratified and HIV-stratified case fatality ratios. To estimate survival with time, post-tuberculosis life tables were developed for each country-year by use of UN World Population Prospects 2019 mortality rates and published post-tuberculosis mortality hazard ratios. Findings Between 1980 and 2019, we estimate that 363 million people (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 287 million–438 million) developed tuberculosis, of whom 172 million (169 million–174 million) were treated. Individuals who developed tuberculosis between 1980 and 2019 had lived 3480 million life-years (95% UI 3040 million–3920 million) after tuberculosis by 2020, with survivors younger than 15 years at the time of tuberculosis development contributing 12% (95% UI 7–17) of these life-years. We estimate that 155 million tuberculosis survivors (95% UI 138 million–171 million) were alive in 2020, the largest proportion (47% [37–57]) of whom were in the WHO South-East Asia region. Of the tuberculosis survivors who were alive in 2020, we estimate that 18% (95% UI 16–20) were treated in the past 5 years and 8% (7–9) were treated in the past 2 years. Interpretation The number of tuberculosis survivors alive in 2020 is more than ten times the estimated annual tuberculosis incidence. Interventions to alleviate respiratory morbidity, screen for and prevent recurrent tuberculosis, and reduce stigma should be immediately prioritised for recently treated tuberculosis survivors. Funding UK Medical Research Council, the UK Department for International Development, the National Institute for Health Research, and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership

Cytogenetical Study on the Homoeologous Relationship between Wheat and Barley Chromosomes

Quantum Matter and Optic