A tutorial: self-created film as a semiotic resource in AAC.

Sharing personal stories with others is essential to human interaction and language development. To communicate, individuals use a variety of semiotic resources, including images, symbols, and written and spoken language. These modes are deployed in the co-construction of a daily face-to-face conversation.

Developing a screening instrument for underlying core domains of communicative competence in children with communication support needs.

A socio-neurocognitive approach to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) shows several underlying domains of communicative competence: Attention, perception, cognition, memory, orientation, socio-emotional development, motor skills, and language. To determine developmental markers of these underlying core domains of communicative competence in children with communication support needs, we developed a new screening instrument. The present article consists of three consecutive studies.

Managing the environmental impacts of war: What can be learned from conflict-vulnerable communities?

Wars have serious negative effects on the total environment. This study reviews 193 case studies worldwide in order to better understand these impacts and their potential management before, during and after war. The synthesis of the evidence shows that military actions damage landscape resources.

Insights into Shared Decision-Making in Interprofessional Teams for a Boy with Down Syndrome with Communication and Language Issues: Simulation-Based Training for Medical and Allied Health Students.

Background: Shared decision-making is one key element of interprofessional collaboration. Communication is often considered to be the main reason for inefficient or ineffective collaboration. Little is known about group dynamics in the process of shared decision-making in a team with professionals, including the patient or their parent.

Emotion dysregulation as cross-disorder trait in child psychiatry predicting quality of life and required treatment duration.

Background: Emotion dysregulation (ED) is increasingly under investigation as a cross-disorder trait, and is by some considered as the core feature in mental disorders. The aims of this study were to scrutinize the overlapping and distinct characteristics of ED for internalizing, externalizing and neurodevelopmental disorders and to identify the most pertinent ED characteristics to guide clinicians in treatment choice.

Methods: Information on clinical diagnosis (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder, Anxiety and Mood Disorders), ED (measured by the CBCL-Emotion Dysregulation Index), Quality of Life (Qol, measured by the Kidscreen-27), and treatment duration (measured by Electronic Health Records) was retrieved from two large samples of toddlers (1.

A cross-country comparison of pregnant women's decision-making and perspectives when opting for non-invasive prenatal testing in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Background: The Netherlands and Belgium have been among the first countries to offer non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) as a first-tier screening test. Despite similarities, differences exist in counseling modalities and test uptake. This study explored decision-making and perspectives of pregnant women who opted for NIPT in both countries.

Paclitaxel-coated balloons versus percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for infrapopliteal chronic total occlusions: the IN.PACT BTK randomised trial.

Background: Data are mixed concerning the safety and effectiveness of drug-coated balloons (DCBs) for treating below-the-knee (BTK) lesions.

Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the safety and effectiveness of the IN.PACT 014 paclitaxel-coated balloon catheter versus conventional percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) for infrapopliteal chronic total occlusions (CTOs) in patients with chronic limb-threatening ischaemia (CLTI).

IN.PACT SFA Clinical Study Using the IN.PACT Admiral Drug-Coated Balloon in a Chinese Patient Population.

To confirm the safety and effectiveness of the IN.PACT Admiral drug-coated balloon (DCB) as a treatment for de novo and native artery restenotic lesions in the superficial femoral artery (SFA) and/or proximal popliteal artery in Chinese subjects. IN.

Diagnosis and management in Pitt-Hopkins syndrome: First international consensus statement.

Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by intellectual disability, specific facial features, and marked autonomic nervous system dysfunction, especially with disturbances of regulating respiration and intestinal mobility. It is caused by variants in the transcription factor TCF4. Heterogeneity in the clinical and molecular diagnostic criteria and care practices has prompted a group of international experts to establish guidelines for diagnostics and care.

Predictors of receptive and expressive vocabulary development in children with Down syndrome.

Purpose: There is a lack of longitudinal data on predictors of vocabulary development in children with Down syndrome (DS). In typically developing children, many internal and external predictors of vocabulary development have been determined before. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of these variables in the receptive and expressive vocabulary development of children with DS.

Core vocabulary of young children with Down syndrome.

The aim of this study was to develop a core vocabulary list for young children with intellectual disabilities between 2 and 7 years of age because data from this population are lacking in core vocabulary literature. Children with Down syndrome are considered one of the most valid reference groups for researching developmental patterns in children with intellectual disabilities; therefore, spontaneous language samples of 30 Dutch children with Down syndrome were collected during three different activities with multiple communication partners (free play with parents, lunch- or snack-time at home or at school, and speech therapy sessions). Of these children, 19 used multimodal communication, primarily manual signs and speech.

Conformational Changes of a Surface-Tethered Polymer during Radical Growth Probed with Second-Harmonic Generation.

The surface-induced polymerization of a chromophore-functionalized monomer was probed in situ for the first time using a nonlinear optical technique, second-harmonic generation. During the first hours of the polymerization reaction, dramatic changes in the tilt angle of the chromophore-functionalized side groups were observed. Following evaluation of the nonlinear optical data with those obtained from atomic force microscopy and ultraviolet-visible, we conclude that second-harmonic generation efficiently probes the polymerization reaction and the conformational changes of the surface-grafted polymer.

The concurrent and predictive validity of the Dutch version of the Communicative Development Inventory in children with Down Syndrome for the assessment of expressive vocabulary in verbal and signed modalities.

The expressive vocabulary of children with Down Syndrome (DS) is generally measured with parental reports, such as the Communicative Development Inventory (CDI), given that standardized tests for assessing vocabulary levels may be too difficult for most young children with DS. The CDI provides important insight into the parents' perception of their child's vocabulary development. The CDI has proven to be a valid measurement of expressive vocabulary, spoken and gestural, in typical and atypical populations.

Symmetry breaking in ligand-protected gold clusters probed by nonlinear optics.

The first hyperpolarizabilities of [Au25(SR)18](-1/0) and Au38(SR)24 clusters were determined by Hyper-Rayleigh Scattering. A strong dependence on the molecular symmetry was observed, and we explore two strategies to destroy the center of inversion in [Au25(SR)18](-1/0), protection by chiral ligands and alloying of the cluster with silver. This may open new avenues to applications of Au : SR clusters in second-order nonlinear optics.

Proceedings of the Second Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank: What's in the Pipeline.

The proceedings of the 2nd Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank summarize the most contemporary clinical, electrophysiological, and computational work on DBS for the treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric disease and represent the insights of a unique multidisciplinary ensemble of expert neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, scientists, engineers and members of industry. Presentations and discussions covered a broad range of topics, including advocacy for DBS, improving clinical outcomes, innovations in computational models of DBS, understanding of the neurophysiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) and Tourette syndrome (TS) and evolving sensor and device technologies.

Poly(3-alkylthiophene)s show unexpected second-order nonlinear optical response.

Regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene)s with chain lengths varying from 5 to 100 monomers are synthesized. Poly(3-hexylthiophene)s show in solution an unexpectedly significant second-order nonlinear optical response. The increase in transition dipole moment upon oligomerisation causes the significant second-order nonlinear optical response.

Preliminary investigation on rodent-ectoparasite associations in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia: implications for potential zoonoses.

We studied associations between rodents and their arthropod ectoparasites in crop fields and household compounds in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. Ectoparasite infestation indices, such as percent infestation, mean abundance, prevalence and host preferences, were calculated for each taxon. In total, 172 rodents from crop fields and 97 from household compounds were trapped.

Food preferences in young Dutch children and recommendations for feeding intervention in developmental disabilities.

Total and chronic food refusal (i.e., the refusal of all types of food during a prolonged period) in young children with developmental disabilities can be treated effectively using a combination of environmental interventions.

Possible influence of surfactants and proteins on the efficiency of contact agar microbiological surface sampling.

Agar contact microbiological sampling techniques, based on a transfer of the microorganisms present on a surface to a culture medium, are widely used to assess and control surface cleanliness and to evaluate microbial contamination levels. The effectiveness of these techniques depends on many environmental parameters that influence the strength of attachment of the bacteria to the surface. In the present study, stainless steel and high density polyethylene surfaces were inoculated with known concentrations of Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Breast cancer in pregnancy: recommendations of an international consensus meeting.

Purpose: To provide guidance for clinicians about the diagnosis, staging and treatment of breast cancer occurring during an otherwise uncomplicated pregnancy.

Methods: An international expert Panel convened to address a series of questions identified by a literature review and personal experience. Issues relating to the diagnosis and management of breast cancer after delivery were outside the scope.

Breast cancer in pregnancy: a literature review.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed during pregnancy. The incidence of breast cancer in pregnancy (BCP) is expected to increase since women tend to postpone childbearing until later in life and since the incidence of breast cancer increases with age. The management of this co-incidence is a clinical and ethical multidisciplinary challenge for all involved medical care workers since two lives are at risk.

Establishment of hapten-specific monoclonal avian IgY by conversion of antibody fragments obtained from combinatorial libraries.

Nowadays, recombinant antibody and phage display technology enable the efficient generation of immunotools and a subsequent manipulation for optimized affinity, specificity or overall performance. Such advantages are of particular interest for haptenic target structures, such as TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene). The toxicity of TNT and its breakdown products makes a reliable and fast detection of low levels in aqueous samples highly important.

Development and validation of the pelvic floor inventories Leiden (PelFIs).

Aims: To evaluate the validity and reliability in Dutch of the Pelvic Floor Inventories Leiden (PelFIs) for men and women, an administered questionnaire, developed to create a condition-specific pelvic floor questionnaire addressing all symptoms of micturition, defecation and sexual dysfunction related to pelvic floor dysfunction.

Methods: The PelFIs is an 83-item instrument for women and 76-item instrument for men measuring the degree of pelvic floor dysfunction, containing nine different domains. Questions have been selected which, from a clinical point of view, should configure a domain.

Generation of human monoclonal allergen-specific IgE and IgG antibodies from synthetic antibody libraries.

Background: Allergen-specific IgE and IgG antibodies play pivotal roles in the induction and progression of allergic hypersensitivity reactions. Consequently, monoclonal human IgE and IgG4 antibodies with defined specificity for allergens should be useful in allergy research and diagnostic tests. We used combinatorial antibody libraries and subsequent recombinant production to make and assess IgE, IgG1, and IgG4 allergen-specific antibodies.

Comparative expression of different antibody formats in mammalian cells and Pichia pastoris.

Generation of recombinant antibody fragments has been advanced by phage display technology but their broad use in biochemical or analytical applications is often hindered by their univalence. For enhancement of functional affinity and overall applicability, the fusion of scFvs (single-chain variable fragments) to IgG constant domains has become an attractive approach. In order to evaluate characteristics and expression behaviour of different IgG-analogous antibody formats, we fused an scFv to different portions of the heavy chain constant region of human IgG1.