Is sequence awareness mandatory for perceptual sequence learning: An assessment using a pure perceptual sequence learning design.

We examined the role of sequence awareness in a pure perceptual sequence learning design. Participants had to react to the target's colour that changed according to a perceptual sequence. By varying the mapping of the target's colour onto the response keys, motor responses changed randomly.

Simulation enhanced distributed lag models for mortality displacement.

Distributed lag models (DLM) are attractive methods for dealing with mortality displacement, however their estimates can have substantial bias when the data is generated by a multi-state model. In particular DLMs are not valid for mortality displacement. Alternative methods are scarce and lack feasibility and validation.

Respiratory medication sales and urban air pollution in Brussels (2005 to 2011).

Background: We investigated the associations between daily sales of respiratory medication and air pollutants in the Brussels-Capital Region between 2005 and 2011.

Methods: We used over-dispersed Poisson Generalized Linear Models to regress daily individual reimbursement data of prescribed asthma and COPD medication from the social security database against each subject's residential exposure to outdoor particulate matter (PM10) or NO2 estimated, by interpolation from monitoring stations. We calculated cumulative risk ratios (RR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) for interquartile ranges (IQR) of exposure for different windows of past exposure for the entire population and for seven age groups.

Short-Term Effect of Pollen and Spore Exposure on Allergy Morbidity in the Brussels-Capital Region.

Belgium is among the European countries that are the most affected by allergic rhinitis. Pollen grains and fungal spores represent important triggers of symptoms. However, few studies have investigated their real link with disease morbidity over several years.

Direct cost saving potential in medication costs due to a reduction in outdoor air pollution for the Brussels Capital Region.

Introduction: The adverse health effects of exposure to air pollution have been well-established and include mortality, hospital admissions, emergency department visits, etc, but also less severe outcomes such as medication use and purchase. The economic impact, an additional motivator for policy, has been studied primarily for the more severe outcomes.

Methods: Purchase data of reimbursed medications typically prescribed for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were obtained through the mandatory Belgian health insurance system.

High natural killer cell number might identify stroke patients at risk of developing infections.

Objective: To investigate early changes in leukocyte subsets and autonomic function as predictors of the development of poststroke infections.

Methods: We assessed the time course of leukocyte subsets in the blood of 59 patients with acute ischemic stroke. We divided the patients into 2 groups: those who developed infections during the first 7 days after stroke onset and those who did not.

Does consolidation of visuospatial sequence knowledge depend on eye movements?

In the current study, we assessed whether visuospatial sequence knowledge is retained over 24 hours and whether this retention is dependent on the occurrence of eye movements. Participants performed two sessions of a serial reaction time (SRT) task in which they had to manually react to the identity of a target letter pair presented in one of four locations around a fixation cross. When the letter pair 'XO' was presented, a left response had to be given, when the letter pair 'OX' was presented, a right response was required.

Pulmonary disease in cystic fibrosis: assessment with chest CT at chest radiography dose levels.

Purpose: To investigate a computed tomographic (CT) protocol with iterative reconstruction at conventional radiography dose levels for the assessment of structural lung abnormalities in patients with cystic fibrosis ( CF cystic fibrosis ).

Materials And Methods: In this institutional review board-approved study, 38 patients with CF cystic fibrosis (age range, 6-58 years; 21 patients <18 years and 17 patients >18 years) underwent investigative CT (at minimal exposure settings combined with iterative reconstruction) as a replacement of yearly follow-up posteroanterior chest radiography. Verbal informed consent was obtained from all patients or their parents.

The effect of attentional load on implicit sequence learning in children and young adults.

We investigated the effect of a secondary task on implicit sequence learning in children and young adults. A serial reaction time (SRT) task was administered to 8-to-10 year old children and 18-to-22 year old adults. Participants reacted to the location of a target presented in one of four locations on the screen with a spatially corresponding response key.

Determinants of medication use in a multi-ethnic population of pregnant women: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: To investigate determinants of medication use among multi-ethnic pregnant women.

Methods: A total of 641 pregnant women participated in this cross-sectional study in a Brussels university hospital. A questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-demographic characteristics and medication use.

The effect of cognitive aging on implicit sequence learning and dual tasking.

We investigated the influence of attentional demands on sequence-specific learning by means of the serial reaction time task (Nissen and Bullemer, 1987) in young (age 18-25) and aged (age 55-75) adults. Participants had to respond as fast as possible to a stimulus presented in one of four horizontal locations by pressing a key corresponding to the spatial position of the stimulus. During the training phase sequential blocks were accompanied by (1) no secondary task (single), (2) a secondary tone counting task (dual tone), or (3) a secondary shape counting task (dual shape).

High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing reveals alterations of intestinal microbiota in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients.

Human intestinal microbiota plays an important role in the maintenance of host health by providing energy, nutrients, and immunological protection. Intestinal dysfunction is a frequent complaint in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients, and previous reports suggest that dysbiosis, i.e.

Impaired implicit sequence learning in Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait.

Objective: Freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) may involve specific impairments in acquiring automaticity under working memory load. This study examined whether implicit sequence learning, with or without a secondary task, is impaired in patients with FOG.

Method: Fourteen freezers (FRs), 14 nonfreezers (nFRs), and 14 matched healthy controls (HCs) performed a serial reaction time (SRT) task with a deterministic stimulus sequence under single-task (ST) and dual-task (DT) conditions.

Ethnic differences in drug utilization pattern during pregnancy: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To investigate the differences in exposure to medications in a cohort of multi-ethnic pregnant women.

Methods: Six hundred and forty-one pregnant women of Western, Arab/Turkish and "other origins" participated in this cross-sectional study using a questionnaire in a university hospital in Brussels, Belgium. Assessment of the drug safety was done using the food and drug administration (FDA) risk classification system.

Freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease: disturbances in automaticity and control.

Recent studies emphasize a key role of controlled operations, such as set-shifting and inhibition, in the occurrence of freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, FOG can also be characterized as a de-automatization disorder, showing impairments in both the execution and acquisition of automaticity. The observed deficits in automaticity and executive functioning indicate that both processes are malfunctioning in freezers.

Visuospatial perceptual sequence learning and eye movements.

We examined perceptual sequence learning by means of an adapted serial reaction time task in which eye movements were unnecessary for performing the sequence learning task. Participants had to respond to the identity of a target letter pair ("OX" or "XO") appearing in one of four locations. On the other locations, similar distractor letter pairs ("QY" or "YQ") were shown.

Cognitive control: a role for implicit learning?

We investigated the influence of implicit learning on cognitive control. In a sequential Stroop task, participants implicitly learned a sequence placed on the color of the Stroop words. In Experiment 1, Stroop conflict was lower in sequenced than in random trials (learning-improved control).

Orthogonal chromatographic descriptors for modelling Caco-2 drug permeability.

The use of chromatographic descriptors as alternative for Caco-2 permeability in drug absorption screening was evaluated. Therefore, retentions were measured on 17 Reversed-Phase Liquid Chromatographic systems, considered to be orthogonal or dissimilar, and an Immobilized Artificial Membrane (IAM) system. Retentions on a Micellar Liquid Chromatography system were taken from the literature.

Comparison of the haemostatic properties of conventional monopolar and bipolar transurethral resection of the prostate in patients on oral anticoagulants.

Introduction: The aim of study is comparing the haemostatic properties of conventional monopolar resection (TURP) and bipolar transurethral resection in saline (TURIS) of the prostate in patients under chronic oral anticoagulants.

Material And Methods: Out of a cohort group of 550 endoscopic resections for bladder outlet obstruction, 176 patients on chronic oral anticoagulant therapy required endoscopic resection either by monopolar TURP or bipolar TURIS technology. Changes in haemoglobin, blood transfusion, and clot retention were compared between both groups.

An analysis of the decision-making process for single implant treatment in general practice.

Purpose: To study the frequency of and factors associated with the decision to perform single implant treatment after tooth extraction by general practitioners in a private, fee-for-service setting.

Material And Methods: One hundred practitioners with a general dental practice in Ghent were randomly selected. Clinicians were asked to fill in a study form for every single extraction they performed during an 8-week period.

Iron status, iron supplementation and anemia in pregnancy: ethnic differences.

Objectives: To investigate the anemia prevalence during pregnancy and the use of and response to iron supplementation in a multi-ethnic population as well as the possible association between anemia and birth outcomes (pregnancy duration, birth weight).

Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted in a university hospital (Brussels, Belgium) in 341 women. Hemoglobin, ferritin and iron prescription data were extracted from the patients' electronic dossiers; a questionnaire was used to assess iron intake during pregnancy.

Classification trees based on infrared spectroscopic data to discriminate between genuine and counterfeit medicines.

Classification trees built with the Classification And Regression Tree algorithm were evaluated for modelling infrared spectroscopic data in order to discriminate between genuine and counterfeit drug samples and to classify counterfeit samples in different classes following the RIVM classification system. Models were built for two data sets consisting of the Fourier Transformed Infrared spectra, the near infrared spectra and the Raman spectra for genuine and counterfeit samples of respectively Viagra(®) and Cialis(®). Easy interpretable models were obtained for both models.

Health behaviour and health awareness in infant mortality in the Gaza Strip.

Background: Infant death rate has declined over the past decades, yet remains high in Palestine. The topic of infant death is well researched and for the first time in Palestine. The objective of our study is to assess the level of awareness and health behaviour of mothers and how this behaviour has affected infant mortality.

Determinants of folic acid use in a multi-ethnic population of pregnant women: a cross-sectional study.

Aims: To investigate the possible differences in folic acid use and to identify the determinants of antenatal folic acid use among multi-ethnic pregnant women.

Methods: Three hundred and fifty pregnant women participated in this cross-sectional study in a university hospital in Brussels, Belgium. A questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-demographic characteristics and folic acid use.

On the automaticity of pure perceptual sequence learning.

We investigated the automaticity of implicit sequence learning by varying perceptual load in a pure perceptual sequence learning paradigm. Participants responded to the randomly changing identity of a target, while the irrelevant target location was structured. In Experiment 1, the target was presented under low or high perceptual load during training, whereas testing occurred without load.