Finger counting to relieve working memory in children with developmental coordination disorder: Insights from behavioral and three-dimensional motion analyses

A limited number of studies have attempted to understand how motor deficits affect numerical abilities in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The purpose of this study was to explore the functionality of finger-counting (FC) in children with DCD. The participants, 15 children with DCD and 15 typically developing (TD) children matched on school level and fluid reasoning abilities, were asked to use FC to solve an ordinal task with high working memory (WM) load. Behavioral measures supplemented with biomechanical measures, from three-dimensional motion analysis synchronized to a voice recording were used to assess children's performance and FC functionality (total duration, inter-finger [IF] transition, IF variance, finger/voice synchronization, and automatization of FC movements). Children with DCD were less accurate than TD children in using FC to solve ordinal problems with high WM load. This group difference could not be accounted for by poor FC skills given that FC movement turned out to be as functional in children with DCD as in their TD peers. When added to the model as a covariate, WM captured a greater proportion of intergroup variability than manual dexterity, further suggesting that their difficulties would be better accounted for by limited WM resources than by fine motor skills.

Contribution of finger gnosia and fine motor skills to early numerical and arithmetic abilities: New insights from 3D motion analyses

Finger gnosia and fine motor skills (FMS) are assumed to play a key role in the development of arithmetic abilities, but their contribution to early numerical skills (i.e., enumeration skills and cardinality) has received little attention so far. The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive value of finger gnosia and FMS to enumeration, cardinal, and arithmetical abilities and how these different dimensions contribute to arithmetic development. Overall, 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers were asked to perform tasks assessing enumeration, cardinality, and early arithmetic, as well as finger gnosia and FMS. FMS, involving either static or dynamic fine finger movement, were examined using 3D motion analyses. Using hierarchical regression, FMS were found to be the best predictor of both cardinality and early arithmetic skills, while finger gnosia did not predict the additional variance of arithmetic performance when FMS and age were considered in the regression model. Moreover, neither finger gnosia nor FMS were significant predictors of enumeration. Mediation analyses indicated that knowledge of the cardinal principle fully mediates the relationship between FMS and arithmetic skills, suggesting that FMS contribute to cardinal principle knowledge development, which would be a gateway to more complex arithmetical processing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Training arithmetical skills when finger counting and working memory cannot be used: A single case study in a child with cerebral palsy

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are at greater risk of mathematical learning disabilities due to associated motor and cognitive limitations. However, there is currently little evidence on how to support the development of arithmetic skills within such a specific profile. The aim of this single-case study was to assess the effectiveness of a neuropsychological rehabilitation of arithmetic skills in NG, a 9-year-old boy with CP who experienced math learning disability and cumulated motor and short-term memory impairments. This issue was explored combining multiple-baseline and changing-criterion designs. The intervention consisted of training NG to solve complex additions applying calculation procedures with a tailor-made computation tool. Based on NG's strengths, in accordance with evidence-based practice in psychology, the intervention was the result of a co-construction process involving N, his NG's parents and professionals (therapist and researchers). Results were analyzed by combining graph visual inspections with non-parametric statistics for single-case designs (NAP-scores). Analyses showed a specific improvement in NG's ability to solve complex additions, which maintained for up to 3 weeks after intervention. The training effect did not generalize to his ability to perform mental additions, and to process the symbolic magnitude.

Ordinary stoichiometry of extraordinary microorganisms

All life on Earth seems to be made of the same chemical elements in relatively conserved proportions (stoichiometry). Whether this stoichiometry is conserved in settings that differ radically in physicochemical conditions (extreme environments) from those commonly encountered elsewhere on the planet provides insight into possible stoichiometries for putative life beyond Earth. Here, we report measurements of elemental stoichiometry for extremophile microbes from hot springs of Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Phototrophic and chemotrophic microbes were collected in locations spanning large ranges of temperature (24 °C to boiling), pH (1.6-9.6), redox (0.1-7.2 mg L(-1) dissolved oxygen), and nutrient concentrations (0.01-0.25 mg L(-1) NO2-, 0.7-12.9 mg L(-1) NO3-, 0.01-42 mg L(-1) NH4 (+), 0.003-1.1 mg L(-1) P mostly as phosphate). Despite these extreme conditions, the microbial cells sampled had a major and trace element stoichiometry within the ranges commonly encountered for microbes living in the more moderate environments of lakes and surface oceans. The cells did have somewhat high C:P and N:P ratios that are consistent with phosphorus (P) limitation. Furthermore, chemotrophs and phototrophs had similar compositions with the exception of Mo content, which was enriched in cells derived from chemotrophic sites. Thus, despite the extraordinary physicochemical and biological diversity of YNP environments, life in these settings, in a stoichiometric sense, remains much the same as we know it elsewhere.

SU-E-I-32: Sterile Radiation Reduction Gloves May Be Contraindicated in Fluoroscopically Guided Interventions

PURPOSE

Sterile radiation reduction gloves have been widely used in the past decade to provide modest decreases in operator hand dose when the hands are placed in the field of view (FOV). While multiple publications have quantified the potential dose reduction from the use of such gloves, possible effects on the patient have not yet been assessed. The aim of this study was to determine if radiation reduction gloves can Result in a significant increase in patient dose and increased risk of radiation induced skin injury when used in interventional radiology.

METHODS

The effect of radiation reduction gloves when used in the FOV was determined by measurement of patient entrance exposure rate (EER) for a variety of patient sizes and varying operating and magnification modes. EERs were measured with no glove in the FOV, with one glove and, to replicate the actions of many dose-conscious radiologists, with double gloves in the FOV.

RESULTS

Compared to an ungloved hand, the use of a single radiation reduction glove near the center of the FOV results in a 2-fold average increase in patient EER. The use of double radiation reduction gloves results in a 3-fold average increase in EER. In both cases, this increase was only weakly dependent on the size of the patient and on the operating and magnification modes used. In fact, patient thicknesses ranging from 6-14 inches and operating modes ranging from low-dose fluoroscopy to DSA produced less than a 20% deviation from the increases in EER quoted above.

CONCLUSIONS

When used in the FOV, radiation reduction gloves can substantially increase patient EER. This increase in patient dose, when compared with the relatively small published reduction in extremity dose provided to the operator, may make their use contraindicated in cases where radiation induced skin injury is a possible risk.

Abnormal visual projection in a human albino studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging and visual evoked potentials

The albino visual pathway is abnormal in that many fibres from the temporal retina project to the contralateral visual cortex. The visual projections in a human albino and a control have been investigated with fMRI and VEP during independent visual stimulation of both hemifields. Activity in the occipital cortex in the normal was contralateral to the stimulated visual field, whereas it was contralateral to the stimulated eye in the albino, independent of the stimulated visual field. Thus, the albino visual cortex is activated not only by stimulation in the contralateral visual field, but also by abnormal input representing the ipsilateral visual field. These novel findings help elucidate the nature of albino misrouting.

Induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by CP-358,774, an inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in a significant percentage of carcinomas and contributes to the malignant phenotype. CP-358,774 is a directly acting inhibitor of human EGFR tyrosine kinase with an IC50 of 2 nM and reduces EGFR autophosphorylation in intact tumor cells with an IC50 of 20 nM. This inhibition is selective for EGFR tyrosine kinase relative to other tyrosine kinases we have examined, both in assays of isolated kinases and whole cells. At doses of 100 mg/kg, CP-358,774 completely prevents EGF-induced autophosphorylation of EGFR in human HN5 tumors growing as xenografts in athymic mice and of the hepatic EGFR of the treated mice. CP-358,774 inhibits the proliferation of DiFi human colon tumor cells at submicromolar concentrations in cell culture and blocks cell cycle progression at the G1 phase. This inhibitor produces a marked accumulation of retinoblastoma protein in its underphosphorylated form and accumulation of p27KIP1 in DiFi cells, which may contribute to the cell cycle block. Inhibition of the EGFR also triggers apoptosis in these cells as determined by formation of DNA fragments and other criteria. These results indicate that CP-358,774 has potential for the treatment of tumors that are dependent on the EGFR pathway for proliferation or survival.

Transgenic hepatocarcinogenesis in the rat

Although transgenic hepatocarcinogenesis has been accomplished in the mouse with a number of genetic constructs targeting the oncogene to expression primarily in the liver, no example of this process has yet been developed in the rat. Because our understanding of the multistage nature of hepatocarcinogenesis is most advanced in the rat, we have developed a strain of transgenic rats carrying the promoter-enhancer sequences of the mouse albumin gene linked 5' to the simian virus-40 T antigen gene. A line of transgenic rats bearing this transgene has been developed from a single founder female. Five to six copies of the transgene, possibly in tandem, occur within the genome of the transgenic animals, which are maintained by heterozygous matings. Livers of transgenic animals are histologically normal after weaning; at 2 months of age, small foci of vacuolated cells appear in this organ. By 4 months of age, all animals exhibit focal lesions and nodules consisting primarily of small basophilic cells, many of which exhibit considerable cytoplasmic vacuolization. Mating of animals each bearing the transgene results in rats with a demyelinating condition that develops acutely in pregnant females and more chronically in males. Ultrastructural studies of these cells indicate that the vacuoles contain substantial amounts of glycogen, with the cells resembling hepatoblasts. Malignant neoplasms with both a glandular and a hepatoblastoma/hepatocellular carcinoma pattern arise from the nodules. Enzyme and immunohistochemical studies of all lesions reveal many similarities in gene expression to comparable lesions in rats subjected to chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis, with certain exceptions. The placental form of glutathione-S-transferase is absent from all lesions in the transgenic animal, as is the expression of connexin 32. A significant number of lesions express serum albumin, and many, but not all, exhibit the T antigen. Lesions expressing the T antigen also contain stainable amounts of the p53 gene product; by contrast, normal hepatocytes express only very low levels of the T antigen within their nuclei and no demonstrable p53. All of the animals develop hepatic lesions, and approximately one-third also develop adenomas and carcinomas derived from the islet cells of the pancreas. Although there are differences in the morphology, biology, and genetic expression in early and late hepatic lesions in this strain of transgenic rat, many similarities also occur, making this a potential model system with which to study the interactions of environmental factors with a genetic program for hepatocarcinogenesis.

Maspin, a serpin with tumor-suppressing activity in human mammary epithelial cells

A gene encoding a protein related to the serpin family of protease inhibitors was identified as a candidate tumor suppressor gene that may play a role in human breast cancer. The gene product, called maspin, is expressed in normal mammary epithelial cells but not in most mammary carcinoma cell lines. Transfection of MDA-MB-435 mammary carcinoma cells with the maspin gene did not alter the cells' growth properties in vitro, but reduced the cells' ability to induce tumors and metastasize in nude mice and to invade through a basement membrane matrix in vitro. Analysis of human breast cancer specimens revealed that loss of maspin expression occurred most frequently in advanced cancers. These results support the hypothesis that maspin functions as a tumor suppressor.

Identification by differential display of alpha 6 integrin as a candidate tumor suppressor gene

A new method of differential expression cloning called differential display (DD) has been used to screen for novel tumor suppressor genes involved in breast cancer. The screen is based on positive selection at the mRNA level for genes expressed in normal mammary epithelial cells but decreased or lost in corresponding tumor cells. A candidate tumor suppressor gene recovered by DD is integrin alpha-6 (alpha 6), a component of the heterodimeric integrin receptors alpha 6 beta 1 and alpha 6 beta 4. Loss of alpha 6 expression was confirmed in total RNAs by Northern blot analysis and by immunostaining with alpha 6 antibodies. Consistent with these cell culture findings, previous immunostaining of mammary tissue sections has identified decreased alpha 6 protein expression during breast tumor progression. Southern blot analysis demonstrated that alpha 6 gene is present in tumor cell lines, suggesting that reexpression may be inducible by pharmacological intervention. The likelihood that alpha 6 may have tumor suppressing activity is supported by growing evidence of a central role for integrins in transducing growth control and differentiation signals from growth factors and the extracellular matrix (ECM).

Natural History Study of Congenital Heart Defects

A strategy designed to locate and recruit individuals who were part of a study in the 1960s of congenital aortic stenosis, pulmonary stenosis, and ventricular septal defect for purposes of a follow-up examination is presented. These individuals are now adults living throughout the United States and some foreign countries. The present study, referred to as NHS-2, is designed to bring the survivors back to one of six clinical centers for medical evaluation to study the long-term results of medical and surgical treatment of such patients.