Twenty-four-month effortful control predicts emerging autism characteristics.

Longitudinal research can assess how diverging development of multiple cognitive skills during infancy, as well as familial background, are related to the emergence of neurodevelopmental conditions. Sensorimotor and effortful control difficulties are seen in infants later diagnosed with autism; this study explored the relationships between these skills and autism characteristics in 340 infants (240 with elevated familial autism likelihood) assessed at 4-7, 8-10, 12-15, 24, and 36 months. We tested: (1) the relationship between parent-reported effortful control (Rothbart's temperament questionnaires) and sensorimotor skills (Mullen Scales of Early Learning), using random intercept cross-lagged panel modelling; (2) whether household income and maternal education predicted stable individual differences in cognition; (3) sensorimotor and effortful control skills as individual and interactive predictors of parent-reported autism characteristics (Social Responsiveness Scale) at 3 years, using multiple regression; and (4) moderation of interactions by familial likelihood.

Phenotypic and Genetic Associations Between Preschool Fine Motor Skills and Later Neurodevelopment, Psychopathology, and Educational Achievement.

Background: Fine motor skills are heritable and comprise important milestones in development, and some evidence suggests that impairments in fine motor skills are associated with neurodevelopmental conditions, psychiatric disorders, and poor educational outcomes.

Methods: In a preregistered study of 9625 preschool children from TEDS (Twins Early Development Study), fine motor assessments (drawing, block building, folding, and questionnaires) were conducted at 2, 3, and 4 years of age. A cross-age fine motor score was derived using principal component analysis.

Multiscale modelling and analysis of collective decision making in swarm robotics.

We present a unified approach to describing certain types of collective decision making in swarm robotics that bridges from a microscopic individual-based description to aggregate properties. Our approach encompasses robot swarm experiments, microscopic and probabilistic macroscopic-discrete simulations as well as an analytic mathematical model. Following up on previous work, we identify the symmetry parameter, a measure of the progress of the swarm towards a decision, as a fundamental integrated swarm property and formulate its time evolution as a continuous-time Markov process.

The SIM Time Network.

The Sistema Interamericano de Metrologia (SIM) is a regional metrology organization (RMO) whose members are the national metrology institutes (NMIs) located in the 34 nations of the Organization of American States (OAS). The SIM/OAS region extends throughout North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean Islands. About half of the SIM NMIs maintain national standards of time and frequency and must participate in international comparisons in order to establish metrological traceability to the International System (SI) of units.

Hypoxia awareness training for aircrew: a comparison of two techniques.

Introduction: Major hazards associated with hypoxia awareness training are the risks of decompression sickness, barotrauma, and loss of consciousness. An alternate method has been developed which combines exposure to a simulated altitude of 10,000 ft (3048 m) with breathing of a gas mixture containing 10% oxygen and 90% nitrogen. The paradigm, called Combined Altitude and Depleted Oxygen (CADO), places the subjects at a physiological altitude of 25,000 ft (7620 m) and provides demonstration of symptoms of hypoxia and the effects of pressure change.

Munition constituents: Preliminary sediment screening criteria for the protection of marine benthic invertebrates.

Sediment screening criteria for many munition constituents (MC) are not available in sources typically used in regulatory-driven ecological risk assessments for contaminated sediment sites. Preliminary sediment quality benchmarks (SQBs) for MC were developed for screening potential risks to marine benthic invertebrates at a munitions contaminated sediment site in Puget Sound, WA, USA. SQBs were developed for 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 13 breakdown products; six other explosive nitroaromatic compounds and nitramines (e.

Recombinant factor VIIa to prevent surgical bleeding in factor XI deficiency.

Factor XI (FXI) deficiency is associated with bleeding after invasive procedures. Risks of human plasma-derived FXI replacement products include transfusion transmitted infection, thrombosis and fluid overload. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) is an effective haemostatic agent in patients with FXI deficiency undergoing surgery.

Evaluation of a falls prevention programme in an acute tertiary care hospital.

Aims And Objectives: To evaluate a systematic, coordinated approach to limit the severity and minimize the number of falls in an acute care hospital.

Background: Patient falls are a significant cause of preventable injury and death, particularly in older patients. Best practice principles mandate that hospitals identify those patients at risk of falling and implement interventions to prevent or minimize them.

Impact of offsite sediment transport and toxicity on remediation of a contaminated estuarine bay.

Sediment of Ostrich Bay, an arm of Dyes Inlet on Puget Sound, was historically contaminated with ordnance compounds from an onshore US Navy facility. An initial recommendation for a sediment cover to mitigate benthic risks was followed by studies of sediment transport and deposition to determine whether contaminated sediment from Dyes Inlet or other offsite sources in Puget Sound may contribute to Ostrich Bay impacts. A Sediment Trend Analysis (STA) identified net sediment transport pathways throughout the bay and inlet by examining changes in grain size distributions in multiple adjacent samples.

Evaluation of two coated catheters in intermittent self-catheterization.

Intermittent self-catheterization (ISC) has addressed the problems of mechanical or functional urological voiding since the 1970s. Patient quality of life is enhanced by the increased independence and security offered by ISC (Lapides et al, 1972). A randomized, comparative crossover study was undertaken in two centres to evaluate the performance of SpeediCath (Coloplast) and Lofric (Astra Tech) catheters.

Transfix: a new range of all-silicone male incontinence sheaths.

Urinary incontinence can have a significant detrimental effect on a person's body image and self-esteem because it undermine society's norms relating to control of the body. This can be further complicated by the use of devices to control urinary incontinence. Sheath drainage systems are the most common method of managing urinary incontinence in men.

Differential effects of diminished oestrogen and androgen levels on development of skeletal muscle fibres in hypogonadal mice.

Androgen and oestrogen hormones influence skeletal muscle size and the characteristics of skeletal muscle fibre types. These effects have typically been assessed by producing acute shortages (castration/ovariectomy) or by hormone supplementation. Little evidence exists, however, on how sex hormone shortages affect muscle development from early stages through to adulthood.

Hospital discharges. Creating bed room.

A review of hospital discharge arrangements in one health authority has reduced the number of lost bed days by two-thirds. Previously, some patients were waiting in acute beds for six months, and 10 per cent of all beds in the acute hospitals were occupied by patients ready for discharge. The number of patients waiting for discharge has fallen from 280 last summer to 60.

The Andover Working Group--accelerating the implementation of standards.

The Andover Working Group was formed with the objective to accelerate and broadly deliver standards-based solutions for healthcare which feature plug and play interoperability across the continuum of care. In this paper, organization and processes used by the Andover Working Group are discussed. A description of how multilateral message profiles, combined with object-oriented component middleware supporting application developments, systems integration and systems operation remove many of the barriers to deployment of systems of standards based applications is also given.

Food chain analysis of exposures and risks to wildlife at a metals-contaminated wetland.

A food chain analysis of risks to wetland receptors was performed in support of a baseline ecological risk assessment at the Milltown Reservoir Sediments Superfund site in Montana. The study area consisted of over 450 acres of primarily palustrine wetland contaminated with metals from mining wastes transported from upstream sources (average of 465 mg/kg for Cu in sediments, and 585 mg/kg in soils). The food chain analysis focused on several species of terrestrial and semiaquatic animals indigenous to montane wetlands of the northern Rocky Mountains.

Bioavailability of metals and arsenic to small mammals at a mining waste-contaminated wetland.

In support of a baseline ecological risk assessment evaluating the impacts of mining wastes at the Milltown Reservoir Sediments Superfund site in Montana, a food chain transfer analysis was performed for resident small mammals. Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) were trapped from a 200 A portion of a mixed upland and palustrine wetland, and concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in carcass, liver, kidney, and testes were quantified. Concurrent to small mammal trapping, samples of grasses, forbs, and soils were collected and analyzed for metal and As residues.

Extracellular calcium effects on cell viability and thiol homeostasis.

Studies of chemically induced cell injury and death, which have used as model systems freshly isolated rat hepatocytes and hepatocytes in culture, are discussed. An important model uses the omission of Ca2+ from the medium during rat hepatocyte incubations. Ca2+ omission induces an intense oxidative stress within hepatocytes incubated in a 95% O2 + 5% CO2 atmosphere.

Cell calcium, vitamin E, and the thiol redox system in cytotoxicity.

The controversial role of extracellular Ca2+ in toxicity to in vitro hepatocyte systems is reviewed. Recent reports demonstrate that extracellular Ca2+-related cytotoxicity is dependent on Ca2+-influenced vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) content of isolated hepatocytes. Based on a Ca2+-omission model of in vitro oxidative stress, the role of vitamin E in cytotoxicity is further explored.

Mitochondrial glutathione status during Ca2+ ionophore-induced injury to isolated hepatocytes.

In this study the Ca2+ ionophore, A23187, was used to determine the effects of disrupted Ca2+ homeostasis on cellular thiols. Isolated rat hepatocytes were incubated with varying concentrations of extracellular Ca2+ and A23187 to induce accumulation or loss of cellular Ca2+. These treatments resulted in loss of mitochondrial and cytosolic glutathione (GSH), loss of protein-thiols, and cell injury.

Covalent binding of acetaminophen to mouse hemoglobin. Identification of major and minor adducts formed in vivo and implications for the nature of the arylating metabolites.

When hepatotoxic doses of [ring-U-14C]acetaminophen ([ring-U-14C]APAP) were administered to mice, radioactivity became bound irreversibly to hemoglobin as well as to proteins in the liver and kidney. The covalent binding to hemoglobin was dose-dependent, and in phenobarbital-pretreated mice occurred to the extent of approximately 8% of the corresponding binding to liver proteins. Degradation of the modified globin by acid hydrolysis yielded 3-cystein-S-yl-4-hydroxyacetanilide as the major radioactive product, accounting for approximately 70% of protein-bound drug residues.

Identification of S-(2,5-dihydroxyphenyl)-cysteine and S-(2,5-dihydroxyphenyl)-N-acetyl-cysteine as urinary metabolites of acetaminophen in the mouse. Evidence for p-benzoquinone as a reactive intermediate in acetaminophen metabolism.

S-(2,5-Dihydroxyphenyl)-cysteine and S-(2,5-dihydroxyphenyl)-N-acetyl-cysteine [the cysteine- and N-acetyl-cysteine adducts, respectively, of hydroquinone (HQ)] were identified and quantified in the urine of mice administered [ring-U-14C]acetaminophen [14C]APAP, 200 mg kg-1, i.p.).

Role of gastrin/pentagastrin in regulation of intestinal cytochrome P-450.

1. In the absence of intraluminal inducers, low "basal" levels of cytochrome P-450 and its dependent MFO activities are detected in the rat intestinal mucosa, and may be regulated by endogenous hormones. 2.