Relationship between emotion comprehension, vocabulary, and verbal working memory in intellectual developmental disorders: involvement of verbal reasoning skills.

This study investigated the role of language-related abilities in emotion comprehension among young people with non-specific intellectual developmental disorders (NS-IDDs). Forty children and adolescents with NS-IDDs completed tasks assessing emotion comprehension, receptive vocabulary, verbal reasoning skills, and verbal working memory. Results showed that emotion comprehension was better predicted by comprehension of abstract words and verbal working memory, and that these two predictors were themselves predicted by verbal reasoning skills.

A Novel Approach to Locating Community Clinics to Promote Health Care Accessibility and Reduce Health Disparities in Baltimore, Maryland.

Baltimore, Maryland's entrenched racial residential segregation renders the city's world-class medical facilities and services inaccessible to many Black residents living in its most divested neighborhoods. Arguing the need for post-pandemic health care facilities to address health inequities as a practice of care-giving, this article describes a project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to define a novel, transdisciplinary methodology for identifying ideal vacant sites for conversion into community clinics in Baltimore's most vulnerable neighborhoods. Positioning architecture as a social determinant of health, this paper suggests ethical and methodological reorientations toward a approach to clinic design and placement.

Psychological and nonpsychological inferences in reading comprehension in children: The role of initial level comprehension.

This study investigated young children's ability to draw psychological and nonpsychological inferences during reading comprehension. Whereas nonpsychological inferences require the retrieval of general background knowledge, psychological inferences rely on more contextualised knowledge relating to mental states. Based on several pretests, children, who were able to read fluently, aged 7-8 years (second graders; = 42) and 8-9 years (third graders; = 46) were assigned to either a skilled comprehenders group or a less skilled comprehenders group, based on their listening comprehension.

Emotional Lexicon in Down Syndrome.

We studied comprehension of emotion versus concrete/abstract words in Down syndrome (DS). Study 1 compared 26 participants with DS and 26 typically developing (TD) children matched on verbal ability. Results showed no difference between groups.

Identifying Optimal Locations for Potential Temporary Community Clinics During Public Health Emergencies.

Objectives: This article argues that community healthcare clinics managed by dedicated medical professionals who are familiar with the special needs of the local community may serve as effective alternatives to centralized hospitals and medical facilities, which may be disconnected from these local communities.

Background: The literature indicates that socioeconomic factors that affect an individual's ability to seek medical help when needed can cause vulnerability to public health emergencies. These factors include belonging to lower income populations, being African American, being dependent due to age (below 18 or above 65) or disability, being an immigrant, English-language ability, access to transportation means, and the strength of an individual's social network.

Processing Verb Meanings and the Declarative/Procedural Model: A Developmental Study.

According to the Declarative/Procedural Model, the lexicon depends on declarative memory while grammar relies on procedural memory. Furthermore, procedural memory underlies the sequential processing of language. Thus, this system is important for predicting the next item in a sentence.

Care for adult non-ICU Covid-19 patients: early experiences from a Belgian tertiary care centre.

The current Covid-19 outbreak poses many challenges on hospital organisation and patient care. Our hospital lies at the epicentre of the Belgian epidemic. On April 1st, a total of 235 Covid-19 patients had been admitted to our hospital.

Role of implicit learning abilities in metaphor understanding.

Although the use of metaphors is a central component of language, the processes that sustain their comprehension have yet to be specified. Work in the fields of both metaphors and implicit learning suggests that implicit learning abilities facilitate the comprehension of metaphors. However, to date, no study has directly explored the relationships between the understanding of metaphors and so-called implicit learning tasks.

Ambient air pollution and adult asthma incidence in six European cohorts (ESCAPE).

Background: Short-term exposure to air pollution has adverse effects among patients with asthma, but whether long-term exposure to air pollution is a cause of adult-onset asthma is unclear.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the association between air pollution and adult onset asthma.

Methods: Asthma incidence was prospectively assessed in six European cohorts.

Natural-cause mortality and long-term exposure to particle components: an analysis of 19 European cohorts within the multi-center ESCAPE project.

Background: Studies have shown associations between mortality and long-term exposure to particulate matter air pollution. Few cohort studies have estimated the effects of the elemental composition of particulate matter on mortality.

Objectives: Our aim was to study the association between natural-cause mortality and long-term exposure to elemental components of particulate matter.

Development of land use regression models for elemental, organic carbon, PAH, and hopanes/steranes in 10 ESCAPE/TRANSPHORM European study areas.

Land use regression (LUR) models have been used to model concentrations of mainly traffic-related air pollutants (nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM) mass or absorbance). Few LUR models are published of PM composition, whereas the interest in health effects related to particle composition is increasing. The aim of our study was to evaluate LUR models of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), hopanes/steranes, and elemental and organic carbon (EC/OC) content of PM2.

Differential bilateral involvement of the parietal gyrus during predicative metaphor processing: an auditory fMRI study.

Despite the growing literature on figurative language processing, there is still debate as to which cognitive processes and neural bases are involved. Furthermore, most studies have focused on nominal metaphor processing without any context, and very few have used auditory presentation. We therefore investigated the neural bases of the comprehension of predicative metaphors presented in a brief context, in an auditory, ecological way.

Cross-sectional associations between air pollution and chronic bronchitis: an ESCAPE meta-analysis across five cohorts.

Background: This study aimed to assess associations of outdoor air pollution on prevalence of chronic bronchitis symptoms in adults in five cohort studies (Asthma-E3N, ECRHS, NSHD, SALIA, SAPALDIA) participating in the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE) project.

Methods: Annual average particulate matter (PM(10), PM(2.5), PM(absorbance), PM(coarse)), NO(2), nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) and road traffic measures modelled from ESCAPE measurement campaigns 2008-2011 were assigned to home address at most recent assessments (1998-2011).

Performance of multi-city land use regression models for nitrogen dioxide and fine particles.

Background: Land use regression (LUR) models have been developed mostly to explain intraurban variations in air pollution based on often small local monitoring campaigns. Transferability of LUR models from city to city has been investigated, but little is known about the performance of models based on large numbers of monitoring sites covering a large area.

Objectives: We aimed to develop European and regional LUR models and to examine their transferability to areas not used for model development.

Association of ambient air pollution with the prevalence and incidence of COPD.

The role of air pollution in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains uncertain. The aim was to assess the impact of chronic exposure to air pollution on COPD in four cohorts using the standardised ESCAPE exposure estimates. Annual average particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and road traffic exposure were assigned to home addresses using land-use regression models.

Effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on natural-cause mortality: an analysis of 22 European cohorts within the multicentre ESCAPE project.

Background: Few studies on long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality have been reported from Europe. Within the multicentre European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE), we aimed to investigate the association between natural-cause mortality and long-term exposure to several air pollutants.

Methods: We used data from 22 European cohort studies, which created a total study population of 367,251 participants.

Emotion recognition by children with Down syndrome: a longitudinal study.

Background: According to the literature, children with Down syndrome (DS) have difficulties recognising facial expressions. Yet abilities to recognise emotional expressions are often assessed in tasks that imply comprehension of words for emotions. We investigated the development of these abilities in children with DS in a longitudinal study that did not involve lexical knowledge of emotions.

Ecological study on hospitalizations for cancer, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases in the industrial area of Etang-de-Berre in the South of France.

The Etang-de-Berre area is a large industrialized area in the South of France, exposing 300,000 inhabitants to the plumes of its industries. The possible associated health risks are of the highest concern to the population, who asked for studies investigating their health status. A geographical ecological study based on standardized hospitalizations ratios for cancer, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases was carried out over the 2004-2007 period.

Associations between fine and coarse particles and mortality in Mediterranean cities: results from the MED-PARTICLES project.

Background: Few studies have investigated the independent health effects of different size fractions of particulate matter (PM) in multiple locations, especially in Europe.

Objectives: We estimated the short-term effects of PM with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm (PM10), ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.

Development of land use regression models for particle composition in twenty study areas in Europe.

Land Use Regression (LUR) models have been used to describe and model spatial variability of annual mean concentrations of traffic related pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). No models have yet been published of elemental composition. As part of the ESCAPE project, we measured the elemental composition in both the PM10 and PM2.

Evaluation of land use regression models for NO2 and particulate matter in 20 European study areas: the ESCAPE project.

Land use regression models (LUR) frequently use leave-one-out-cross-validation (LOOCV) to assess model fit, but recent studies suggested that this may overestimate predictive ability in independent data sets. Our aim was to evaluate LUR models for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM) components exploiting the high correlation between concentrations of PM metrics and NO2. LUR models have been developed for NO2, PM2.

Chronic burden of near-roadway traffic pollution in 10 European cities (APHEKOM network).

Recent epidemiological research suggests that near road traffic-related pollution may cause chronic disease, as well as exacerbation of related pathologies, implying that the entire "chronic disease progression" should be attributed to air pollution, no matter what the proximate cause was. We estimated the burden of childhood asthma attributable to air pollution in 10 European cities by calculating the number of cases of 1) asthma caused by near road traffic-related pollution, and 2) acute asthma events related to urban air pollution levels. We then expanded our approach to include coronary heart diseases in adults.