The effectiveness of an individualised and adaptive game-based rehabilitation, iVision, on visual perception in cerebral visual impairment: A triple-blind randomised controlled trial.

Background: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) can negatively affect a child's functioning, emphasising the need for interventions to improve visual perception (VP), potentially translating into improved health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Aims: Assessing the effectiveness of an adaptive individualised game-based rehabilitation, iVision, on VP, visual function, functional vision, and HRQOL.

Methods And Procedures: Seventy-three children with CVI (3-12 performance age) were randomised into the adaptive individualised or the non-adaptive non-individualised group (3 sessions/week; 12 weeks).

The relation between visual orienting functions, visual perception, and functional vision in children with (suspected) cerebral visual impairment.

Background: Brain-based impairments in visual perception (VP), termed cerebral visual impairment (CVI), are heterogeneous.

Aims: To investigate relations between functional vision and (1) visual orienting functions (VOF) and (2) VP.

Methods And Procedures: Forty-four children (Males = 20; Mean age = 9y11m) with (suspected) CVI were tested with an adapted virtual toy box (vTB) paradigm (eye tracking visual search task (VST) and a recognition/memory task), VP tests, a preferential looking eye tracking (PL-ET) paradigm, and the Flemish cerebral visual impairment questionnaire.

An evaluation of health-related quality of life and its relation with functional vision in children with cerebral visual impairment.

Background: Health-related Quality of Life (HRQOL) and its relation with functional vision is understudied in cerebral visual impairment (CVI).

Aims: Characterising HRQOL, comparing child self- and parent proxy-reports, and exploring relations with functional vision.

Methods And Procedures: Seventy-three children with CVI (n females = 33; n males = 40; Mean performance age = 7y2m) were included.

The relation between visual functions, functional vision, and bimanual function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy.

Background: Accurate visual information is needed to guide and perform efficient movements in daily life.

Aims: To investigate the relation between visual functions, functional vision, and bimanual function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (uCP).

Methods And Procedures: In 49 children with uCP (7-15 y), we investigated the relation between stereoacuity (Titmus Stereo Fly test), visual perception (Test of Visual Perceptual Skills), visuomotor integration (Beery Buktenica Test of Visual-Motor Integration) and functional vision (Flemish cerebral visual impairment questionnaire) with bimanual dexterity (Tyneside Pegboard Test), bimanual coordination (Kinarm exoskeleton robot, Box opening task), and functional hand use (Children's Hand-use Experience Questionnaire; Assisting Hand Assessment) using correlations (r) and elastic-net regularized regressions (d).

Event prediction by estimating continuously the completion of a single temporal pattern's instances.

Objective: Develop a new method for continuous prediction that utilizes a single temporal pattern ending with an event of interest and its multiple instances detected in the temporal data.

Methods: Use temporal abstraction to transform time series, instantaneous events, and time intervals into a uniform representation using symbolic time intervals (STIs). Introduce a new approach to event prediction using a single time intervals-related pattern (TIRP), which can learn models to predict whether and when an event of interest will occur, based on multiple instances of a pattern that end with the event.

Visual, perceptual functions, and functional vision in children with unilateral cerebral palsy compared to children with neurotypical development.

Aim: To investigate visual (perceptual) function and functional vision in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP) and children with neurotypical development (NTD).

Method: Fifty children with unilateral CP (mean age 11 years 11 months, SD 2 years 10 months, range 7-15 years; 27 males; 26 left-sided unilateral CP; Manual Ability Classification System [MACS] levels: I, 27; II, 16; III, 7) and 50 age- and sex-matched children with NTD participated in a cross-sectional study. Visual acuity, stereoacuity, and visual-perceptual functions were measured with standardized clinical tests.

The relation between neuroimaging and visual impairment in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy: A systematic review.

Objective: The structure-function relation between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and visual impairment (VI) in children with cerebral palsy (CP) has not been fully unravelled. The present systematic review aims to summarize the relation between brain lesions on MRI and VI in children and adolescents with CP.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science Core Collection, and Cochrane Database were systematically searched according to the PRISMA checklist.

Drosophila mutants lacking the glial neurotransmitter-modifying enzyme Ebony exhibit low neurotransmitter levels and altered behavior.

Inhibitors of enzymes that inactivate amine neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin), such as catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and monoamine oxidase (MAO), are thought to increase neurotransmitter levels and are widely used to treat Parkinson's disease and psychiatric disorders, yet the role of these enzymes in regulating behavior remains unclear. Here, we investigated the genetic loss of a similar enzyme in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. Because the enzyme Ebony modifies and inactivates amine neurotransmitters, its loss is assumed to increase neurotransmitter levels, increasing behaviors such as aggression and courtship and decreasing sleep.

Prediction of acute hypertensive episodes in critically ill patients.

Prevention and treatment of complications are the backbone of medical care, particularly in critical care settings. Early detection and prompt intervention can potentially prevent complications from occurring and improve outcomes. In this study, we use four longitudinal vital signs variables of intensive care unit patients, focusing on predicting acute hypertensive episodes (AHEs).

Including visual orienting functions into cerebral visual impairment screening: Reliability, variability, and ecological validity.

Background: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is a heterogeneous brain-based visual processing disorder in which basic visual orienting functions (VOF) and higher-order perception can be impaired.

Aims: To evaluate (1) the test-retest reliability and variability of an eye tracking-based VOF paradigm, and related clinical characteristics, and (2) the relations between VOF (variability) and daily visual functioning and visuoperceptual dimensions.

Methods And Procedures: Thirty-three children with CVI (Males=14; mean age=9 years 10 months) underwent eye tracking thrice, completed a visuoperceptual battery, and parents completed the Flemish CVI questionnaire.

Real-Time Study of Surface-Guided Nanowire Growth by Scanning Electron Microscopy.

Surface-guided growth has proven to be an efficient approach for the production of nanowire arrays with controlled orientations and their large-scale integration into electronic and optoelectronic devices. Much has been learned about the different mechanisms of guided nanowire growth by epitaxy, graphoepitaxy, and artificial epitaxy. A model describing the kinetics of surface-guided nanowire growth has been recently reported.

Examining atherosclerotic lesions in three dimensions at the nanometer scale with cryo-FIB-SEM.

We employed in a correlative manner an unconventional combination of methods, comprising cathodoluminescence, cryo-scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and cryo-focused ion beam (FIB)-SEM, to examine the volumes of thousands of cubed micrometers from rabbit atherosclerotic tissues, maintained in close-to-native conditions, with a resolution of tens of nanometers. Data from three different intralesional regions, at the media-lesion interface, in the core, and toward the lumen, were analyzed following segmentation and volume or surface representation. The media-lesion interface region is rich in cells and lipid droplets, whereas the core region is markedly richer in crystals and has lower cell density.

The Impact of US County-Level Factors on COVID-19 Morbidity and Mortality.

The effect of socio-economic factors, ethnicity, and other factors, on the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 at the sub-population-level, rather than at the individual level, and their temporal dynamics, is only partially understood. Fifty-three county-level features were collected between 4/2020 and 11/2020 from 3,071 US counties from publicly available data of various American government and news websites: ethnicity, socio-economic factors, educational attainment, mask usage, population density, age distribution, COVID-19 morbidity and mortality, presidential election results, and ICU beds. We trained machine learning models that predict COVID-19 mortality and morbidity using county-level features and then performed a SHAP value game theoretic importance analysis of the predictive features for each model.

The relation between visual orienting functions, daily visual behaviour and visuoperceptual performance in children with (suspected) cerebral visual impairment.

Background: Children with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) present heterogeneous visual orienting functions (VOF) and higher-order perception. Multiple assessment methods evaluate CVI, but the relations between them remain unclear.

Aim: To investigate the relations between VOF and (1) daily life behaviour and (2) visuoperceptual tests in children with (suspected) CVI.

[Formula: see text] Quantifying visuoperceptual profiles of children with cerebral visual impairment.

The aim was to develop a visuoperceptual profile schema reflecting visuoperceptual strengths and weaknesses, using neuropsychological tests. Secondly, this schema was used to quantify individual visuoperceptual profiles of children with and without cerebral visual impairment (CVI), and to identify differences in their profiles. Clinical records (2001-2018) of 630 children (386 males, 244 females; median age 77 months; interquartile range 63-98 months) suspected for CVI were reviewed.

Visuoperceptual profiles of children using the Flemish cerebral visual impairment questionnaire.

Aim: To investigate the underlying factor structure of the 46-item Flemish cerebral visual impairment (CVI) questionnaire, differentiate the factor scores of children with and without CVI, and examine the impact of comorbidities on factor scores.

Method: The records of 630 children (386 males, 244 females; median age 77mo; interquartile range 63-98mo) who visited the CVI clinic and the Centre for Developmental Disabilities at the University Hospitals of Leuven from 2001 to 2018 were reviewed systematically. Inclusion criteria included an up-to-date questionnaire, a definitive diagnosis, and clinical assessment.

Aerodynamic factors affecting rebreathing in infants.

The rebreathing of expire air, with high carbon dioxide and low oxygen concentrations, has long been implicated in unexplained Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) when infants are placed to sleep in a prone (facedown) position. This study elucidates the effect of the aerodynamic parameters Reynolds number, Strouhal number, and Froude number on the percentage of expired air that is reinspired (rebreathed). A nasal module was designed that served as a simplified geometric representation of infant nostrils and placed above a hard, flat surface.

Calixradialenes: calixarene derivatives with exocyclic double bonds.

Reaction of dioxocalix[4]arene 7 with MeLi followed by 2-fold elimination of water yielded calixarene 8 possessing exocyclic double bonds at two adjacent bridges. Calixarene 8 exists in tetrachloroethane-d2 solution at rt, as a 2.3:1 mixture of the 1,3-alternate and partial cone conformers.

Selective functionalization of a single methylene bridge of a calix[6]arene.

The monohydroxycalix[6]arene derivative 4a was prepared via photochemical bromination of hexamethoxycalix[6]arene 3a in aq THF. Monohydroxycalix[6]arene 4a and its chloro derivative 5 are useful synthetic intermediates for the preparation of structurally diverse calix[6]arenes functionalized at a single methylene bridge.

Application of redox enzymes for probing the antigen-antibody association at monolayer interfaces: development of amperometric immunosensor electrodes.

Insulation of the electrical contact between a redox protein and an electrode surface upon association of an antibody to an antigen monolayer assembled on the electrode is used to develop immunosensor devices. In one configuration, a mixed monolayer consisting of the N epsilon-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)lysine antigen and ferrocene units acting as electron transfer mediators is applied to sense the dinitrophenyl antibody (DNP-Ab) in the presence of glucose oxidase (GOx) and glucose. In the absence of DNP-Ab, the mixed monolayer electrode stimulates the mediated electrocatalyzed oxidation of glucose that results in an amplified amperometric response.