Extinction bursts, or temporary increases in rates and intensities of behavior during extinction, can preclude the inclusion of extinction in intervention packages meant to suppress severe challenging behavior. To identify underlying behavioral mechanisms responsible for response persistence and bursting, 69 adults with developmental disabilities completed a low-stakes translational investigation employing a 2 × 2 factorial, crossed, and randomized matched blocks design, with batched randomization logic. In each of the four test groups, we made distinct antecedent manipulations with two value parameters commonly studied through behavioral economics (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecommendations for achieving generalized instructional outcomes often overlook the capacity for generative learning for most verbally competent humans. Four children (ages 5-8) participated in this project. In Study 1, we provided decontextualized discrete trial teaching to establish arbitrary relations between colors, pictures of characters, and researcher motor actions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArsenic, in the simple form of arsenic trioxide, is currently marketed for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia. Due to the multifaceted mechanisms of action of arsenic, it has also shown promise in other types of leukemias but is hindered by its toxic effects toward normal cells. This research has aimed to determine whether tumor-homing peptide complexes of arsenic can be designed and developed to strategically target specific cancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious studies provide evidence for an association between modifications of the gut microbiota in early life and the development of food allergies. We studied the faecal microbiota composition (16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing) and faecal microbiome functionality (metaproteomics) in a cohort of 40 infants diagnosed with cow's milk allergy (CMA) when entering the study. Some of the infants showed outgrowth of CMA after 12 months, while others did not.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) combine the specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the potency of highly cytotoxic agents, potentially reducing the severity of side effects by preferentially targeting their payload to the tumour site. ADCs are being increasingly used in combination with other agents, including as first-line cancer therapies. As the technology to produce these complex therapeutics has matured, many more ADCs have been approved or are in late-phase clinical trials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrial-based functional analyses are valid assessments for identifying functions of problem behavior; however, there is little guidance in the literature on interpreting the resultant data from such assessments. The current study sought to extend Standish, Bailey, et al. (2021) by incorporating their trial-based ongoing visual-inspection criteria into a formative assessment process during a telehealth-based consultation for parents seeking treatment for their child's problem behavior.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRelapse following the successful treatment of problem behavior can increase the likelihood of injury and the need for more intensive care. Current research offers some predictions of how treatment procedures may contribute to relapse, and conversely, how the risk of relapse can be mitigated. This review describes relapse-mitigation procedures with varying levels of support, the quantitative models that have influenced the research on relapse mitigation, different experimental methods for measuring relapse mitigation, and directions for future research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCapsular contracture is a common complication associated with breast implants following reconstructive or aesthetic surgery in which a tight or constricting scar tissue capsule forms around the implant, often distorting the breast shape and resulting in chronic pain. Capsulectomy (involving full removal of the capsule surrounding the implant) and capsulotomy (where the capsule is released and/or partly removed to create more space for the implant) are the most common surgical procedures used to treat capsular contracture. Various structural modifications of the implant device (including use of textured implants, submuscular placement of the implant, and the use of polyurethane-coated implants) and surgical strategies (including pre-operative skin washing and irrigation of the implant pocket with antibiotics) have been and/or are currently used to help reduce the incidence of capsular contracture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResurgence following expanded-operant treatments (i.e., increasing the number or variability of alternative responses to problem behavior) has been the focus of numerous studies over the last five years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIndividualization and iterative design are essential components of the assessment and treatment of challenging behavior. Currently, there are few validated frameworks for engaging in iterative processes. Due to the nature of single-case design, empirically rigorous evaluations of decision-tree processes are particularly prohibitive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper represents the third in a three-part series intended to challenge the social validity of the services provided by a university-based practicum for addressing the challenging behavior of individuals with disabilities. In this paper, we surveyed referring stakeholders (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn theory, the principles, processes, and concepts of applied behavior analysis are universally applicable. In practice, clinicians commit their lives to serving specific populations in specific settings for which specialization is needed. The purpose of this 6-year retrospective consecutive case series was to describe and evaluate the quality and validity of a practicum experience tailored to develop specialized expertise in the assessment and treatment of challenging behavior for pre-service practitioners enrolled in a department of a special education program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRelaxin is a pleiotropic hormone demonstrated to confer cardioprotection in animal models of myocardial infarction and ischemic heart failure by modulating inflammation, fibrosis and arrhythmogenesis. Several of these pathways in the ischemic myocardium are intricately tied with the downstream signaling of bioactive sphingolipids, which play an active role during post-infarction remodeling. In this current study, we examined the effects of relaxin on sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), and the potential benefits of relaxin treatment on cardiac health in a rodent model of ischemic heart failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Parish nursing is a specialized branch of professional nursing that promotes health and healing by integrating body, mind and spirit as a practice model. Parish nurses contribute to the Canadian nursing workforce by promoting individual and community health and acting as system navigators. Research related to parish nursing practice has not been systematically collated and evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Allergy regroups numerous complex and various diseases classified as IgE-dependent or non-IgE-dependent hypersensitivities. IgEs are expressed as membrane and secreted forms by B cells and plasma cells, respectively. In IgE-mediated hypersensitivity, IgE secretion and binding to the high-affinity IgE receptor FcεRI on effector cells are responsible for the onset of allergic symptoms; in contrast, surface IgE expression as a B-cell receptor is barely detectable.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrial-based functional analysis (TBFA) is an accurate and ecologically valid assessment of challenging behavior. Further, there is evidence to suggest that individuals with minimal exposure to behavior analytic assessment methodology (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLittle research has highlighted how evidence-based practices (e.g., functional communication training [FCT]) might be adapted for bilingual learners with disabilities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrial-based functional analysis (TBFA) possesses many strategic advantages which make it an ideal candidate for adoption in applied settings. Notwithstanding, some aspects of the analysis remain underdeveloped, including structured guidelines for interacting with obtained data reliably in formative and summative ways. The purpose of this study was to adapt existing ongoing visual-inspection (OVI) criteria to match the idiosyncrasies of TBFA and then to assess their practical utility in applied settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer is a serious health burden on global societies. The discovery and development of new anti-cancer therapies remains a challenging objective. Although it has been shown that lichen secondary metabolites may be potent sources for new anti-cancer agents, the Indonesian- grown folious lichens, and have not yet been explored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSphingolipids have become established participants in the pathogenesis of obesity and its associated maladies. Sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1), which generates S1P, has been shown to increase in liver and adipose of obese humans and mice and to regulate inflammation in hepatocytes and adipose tissue, insulin resistance, and systemic inflammation in mouse models of obesity. Previous studies by us and others have demonstrated that global sphingosine kinase 1 KO mice are protected from diet-induced obesity, insulin resistance, systemic inflammation, and NAFLD, suggesting that SPHK1 may mediate pathological outcomes of obesity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClass switch recombination (CSR) changes antibody isotype by replacing Cμ constant exons with different constant exons located downstream on the immunoglobulin heavy () locus. During CSR, transcription through specific switch (S) regions and processing of non-coding germline transcripts (GLTs) are essential for the targeting of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). While CSR to IgG1 is abolished in mice lacking an Iγ1 exon donor splice site (dss), many questions remain regarding the importance of I exon dss recognition in CSR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough there is associative evidence linking fecal microbiome profile to health and disease, many studies have not considered the confounding effects of dietary intake. Consuming food provides fermentable substrate which sustains the microbial ecosystem that resides with most abundance in the colon. Western, Mediterranean and vegetarian dietary patterns have a role in modulating the gut microbiota, as do trending restrictive diets such the paleolithic and ketogenic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Intellect Dev Disabil
May 2020
During functional analysis (FA), therapists arrange contingencies between potential reinforcers and problem behavior. It is unclear whether this fact, in and of itself, facilitates problem behavior's acquisition of new (false-positive) functions. If problem behavior can come under the control of contingencies contrived between it and known reinforcers for which there is no direct history, then outcomes of reinforcer analysis (RA) should perfectly predict FA outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe presence of premature termination codons (PTCs) in transcripts is dangerous for the cell as they encode potentially deleterious truncated proteins that can act with dominant-negative or gain-of-function effects. To avoid the synthesis of these shortened polypeptides, several RNA surveillance systems can be activated to decrease the level of PTC-containing mRNAs. Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) ensures an accelerated degradation of mRNAs harboring PTCs by using several key NMD factors such as up-frameshift (UPF) proteins.
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