Emerging and Traditional Organic Markers in Areas with Multiple Anthropogenic Activities: Development of an Analytical Protocol and Its Application in Environmental Assessment Studies

Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology - This work describes the development of an analytical protocol combining cleanup by liquid–solid extraction and GC–MS for the...     

Does stroke impair academic achievement in children? The role of metacognition in math and spelling outcomes following pediatric stroke

Introduction: Current research suggests that pediatric stroke is associated with a reduction in intellectual functioning. However, less is known about academic achievement and the contribution of specific executive functions to math and literacy in this population. The current study investigates behavioral ratings of executive functioning and their relationship to math and spelling performance in children with a history of unilateral arterial ischemic stroke.

Method: Thirty-two pediatric patients with stroke (M_age = 9.5 ± 2.7 years) and 32 demographically equivalent, healthy controls were tested on standardized measures of arithmetic, spelling, and intelligence. Executive functioning data were collected via standardized parent questionnaire.

Results: Relative to controls, stroke participants demonstrated significantly poorer functioning in math, spelling, metacognition, and behavioral-regulation. Pencil and paper arithmetic was particularly challenging for the stroke group, with 40% of patients reaching levels of clinical impairment. Hierarchical regression in stroke participants further revealed that metacognition was a robust predictor of academic deficits. Stroke occurring in later childhood and affecting cortical and subcortical brain regions also presented as potential clinical risk factors.

Conclusions: Children with stroke were especially vulnerable to math achievement deficits. Metacognition made a substantial contribution to academic achievement abilities among stroke patients, and results underscore the importance of early metacognitive skills in the completion of schoolwork. Results also emphasize that pediatric stroke patients are a heterogeneous group with regard to functioning and that there is value in examining standard score distributions of clinical participant samples.     

Neighbourhood Influences on Children's Weight-related Behaviours and Body Mass Index

IntroductionNeighbourhood contextual factors such as accessibility of food shops and green spaces are associated with adult bodyweight but not necessarily weight-related behaviours. Whether these associations are replicated amongst children is unknown.AimTo understand which aspects of childrens'' neighbourhoods are associated with unhealthy weight and weight-related behaviours.MethodsIndividual-level data for children from the 2006/7 New Zealand Health Survey (of Body Mass Index (BMI), dietary indicators and socioeconomic variables) were linked with geographic level data on neighbourhood deprivation, rural/urban status, percentage of community engaged in active travel, access to green space, food shops and sports/leisure facilities. Logistic regression models were fitted for measures of BMI and weight-related behaviours; sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption; fast-food consumption; and television viewing.ResultsIncreased community engagement in active transport was, counterintuitively, the only neighbourhood contextual factor associated with unhealthy weight amongst children. After adjustment for socioeconomic and environmental variables, greater access to green space appeared to have a protective effect on SSB consumption and neighbourhood deprivation was associated with all three unhealthy weight-related behaviours (SSB and fast-food consumption and television viewing).ConclusionsAlthough further research is needed, evidence from the current study suggests that a repertoire of health promotion interventions and policies to change unhealthy weight-related behaviours in high deprivation neighbourhoods may be required to address childhood obesity.     

Fibroblast growth factor receptors in cancer: genetic alterations,diagnostics, therapeutic targets and mechanisms of resistance

Fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) are aberrantly activated through single-nucleotide variants, gene fusions and copy number amplifications in 5–10% of all human cancers, although this frequency increases to 10–30% in urothelial carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. We begin this review by highlighting the diversity of FGFR genomic alterations identified in human cancers and the current challenges associated with the development of clinical-grade molecular diagnostic tests to accurately detect these alterations in the tissue and blood of patients. The past decade has seen significant advancements in the development of FGFR-targeted therapies, which include selective, non-selective and covalent small-molecule inhibitors, as well as monoclonal antibodies against the receptors. We describe the expanding landscape of anti-FGFR therapies that are being assessed in early phase and randomised controlled clinical trials, such as erdafitinib and pemigatinib, which are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of FGFR3-mutated urothelial carcinoma and FGFR2-fusion cholangiocarcinoma, respectively. However, despite initial sensitivity to FGFR inhibition, acquired drug resistance leading to cancer progression develops in most patients. This phenomenon underscores the need to clearly delineate tumour-intrinsic and tumour-extrinsic mechanisms of resistance to facilitate the development of second-generation FGFR inhibitors and novel treatment strategies beyond progression on targeted therapy.Subject terms: Cancer, Cancer     

Response of the Axial Skeleton to Bipedal Loading Behaviors in an Experimental Animal Model

Many derived aspects of modern human axial skeletal morphology reflect our reliance on obligate bipedal locomotion. Insight into the adaptive significance of features, particularly in the spine, has been gained through experimental studies that induce bipedal standing or walking in quadrupedal mammals. Using an experimental animal model (Rattus norvegicus), the present study builds on earlier work by incorporating additional metrics of the cranium, employing quantitative methods established in the paleoanthropological literature, and exploring how variation in mechanical loading regimes impacts axial anatomy. Rats were assigned to one of five experimental groups, including “fully loaded bipedal walking,” “partially loaded bipedal walking,” “standing bipedally,” “quadrupedal walking,” and “no exercise control,” and engaged in the behavior over 12-weeks. From μCT data obtained at the beginning and end of the experiment, we measured foramen magnum position and orientation, lumbar vertebral body wedging, cranial surface area of the lumbar and first sacral vertebral bodies, and sacral mediolateral width. Results demonstrate that bipedal rodents generally have more anteriorly positioned foramina magna, more dorsally wedged lumbar vertebrae, greater articular surface areas of lumbar and first sacral vertebral bodies, and sacra that exhibit greater mediolateral widths, compared to quadrupedal rodents. We further document variation among bipedal loading behavior groups (e.g., bipedal standing vs. walking). Our experimental animal model reveals how loading behaviors and adaptations may be specifically linked, and implicates a potential role for developmental plasticity in the evolutionary acquisition of bipedal adaptations in the hominin lineage. Anat Rec, 2018. © 2018 American Association for Anatomy.