What Do Executive Factors Contribute to the Failure on False Belief Tasks by Children with Autism?

As children with autism have pervasive executive difficulties it is necessary to determine whether these contribute to their often-reported failure on the false belief task. Failure on this task is frequently taken to diagnose the lack of a "theory of mind". We report two studies using two tasks that make similar executive demands to the false belief task. The first experiment showed that children with autism are significantly challenged by a "conflicting desire" task, which suggests that their difficulty with the false belief task is not rooted in difficulty with grasping the representational nature of belief. In the second study children with autism were also found to be impaired on a novel version of the "false photograph task". A parsimonious reading of these data is that their difficulty with all three tasks is due to commonalities in the tasks' executive structure.     

Preventing adolescent health-risk behaviors by strengthening protection during childhood

OBJECTIVE: To examine the long-term effects of an intervention combining teacher training, parent education, and social competence training for children during the elementary grades on adolescent health-risk behaviors at age 18 years. DESIGN: Nonrandomized controlled trial with follow-up 6 years after intervention. SETTING: Public elementary schools serving high-crime areas in Seattle, Wash. PARTICIPANTS: Of the fifth-grade students enrolled in participating schools, 643 (76%) were given written parental consent for the longitudinal study and 598 (93%) were followed up and interviewed at age 18 years. INTERVENTIONS: A full intervention provided in grades 1 through 6 of 5 days of in-service training for teachers each intervention year, developmentally appropriate parenting classes offered to parents when children were in grades 1 through 3 and 5 through 6, and developmentally adjusted social competence training for children in grades 1 and 6. A late intervention, provided in grades 5 and 6 only, paralleled the full intervention at these grades. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported violent and nonviolent crime, substance use, sexual activity, pregnancy, bonding to school, school achievement, grade repetition and school dropout, suspension and/or expulsion, and school misbehavior; delinquency charges from court records; grade point average; California Achievement Test scores: and disciplinary action reports from school records. RESULTS: Fewer students receiving full intervention than control students reported violent delinquent acts (48.3% vs 59.7%; P=.04), heavy drinking (15.4% vs 25.6%; P=.04), sexual intercourse (72.1% vs 83.0%; P=.02), having multiple sex partners (49.7% vs 61.5%; P=.04), and pregnancy or causing pregnancy (17.1% vs 26.4%; P=.06) by age 18 years. The full intervention student group reported more commitment (P=.03) and attachment (P=.006) to school, better academic achievement (P=.01), and less school misbehavior (P=.02) than control students. Late intervention in grades 5 and 6 only did not significantly affect health-risk behaviors in adolescence. CONCLUSIONS: A package of interventions with teachers, parents, and children provided throughout the elementary grades can have enduring effects in reducing violent behavior, heavy drinking, and sexual intercourse by age 18 years among multiethnic urban children. Results are consistent with the theoretical model guiding the intervention and support efforts to reduce health-risk behaviors through universal interventions in selected communities or schools serving high-crime neighborhoods.     

Pelvic inflammation induced by diagnostic laparoscopy in baboons

Objective: To test the hypothesis that diagnostic laparoscopy can cause pelviperitoneal inflammation.

Design: Retrospective analysis of data collected during a prospective controlled study in baboons.

Setting: An academic research environment.

Animal(s): Samples were collected during laparoscopies in female baboons at the Institute of Primate Research, Kenya.

Intervention(s): In the first part of the study, 44 laparoscopies were performed in 16 baboons (5 with a normal pelvis, 11 with endometriosis) during the luteal phase, with a time interval of 1 month. In the second part of the study, 53 laparoscopies were performed in 15 baboons (6 with a normal pelvis, 9 with endometriosis) during the late follicular and luteal phases of one cycle, with a median time of 3–4 days between each laparoscopy.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Peritoneal fluid (PF) was measured and analyzed for white blood cell (WBC) concentrations and, in the second part of the study, for the distribution of lymphocyte subsets (CD3, CD4, CD8, and CD20) and for the presence of cytokines transforming growth factor-β1, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10.

Result(s): In the first part of the study, PF volumes and WBC concentrations were comparable at the baseline and follow-up laparoscopies. In the second part of the study, PF obtained at the second laparoscopy showed a 10-fold increase in volume, a 3-fold increase in WBC concentration, a 10-fold increase in IL-6 concentration, and a 2-fold increase in transforming growth factor-β1 concentration when compared with PF obtained at the first laparoscopy. The PF subset of granulocytes and CD3-positive cells was higher and the PF subset of macrophages was lower at follow-up laparoscopies than at the baseline laparoscopy.

Conclusion(s): Diagnostic laparoscopy can cause peritoneal inflammation in baboons.     

Is Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Necessary for Couples Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization–Embryo Transfer with Normal Semen Analyses but Failing Hamster Egg Penetration Assays?

Purpose: Our purpose was to assess whether in vitro fertilization (IVF)–embryo transfer (ET) candidate couples with basically normal semen analyses but failing zona-free hamster egg penetration assay (HEPA) scares benefit from intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Methods: Twenty consecutive IVF candidate couples with normal–borderline semen analyses and failing HEPA scores were recruited. Mature oocytes obtained from each woman were randomly divided between ICSI (group I; n = 126 oocytes) and standard insemination techniques (group II; 138 oocytes). Fertilization (two pronuclei) and cleavage (2–4 cells) rates were assessed for both groups. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups with respect to (mean ± standard error of the mean) fertilization (group I, 63.1 ± 7.75; group II, 77.8 ± 4.7%) or cleavage (group I, 87.3 ± 2.4%; group II, 91.2 ± 3.5%) rates. Conclusions: ICSI is not beneficial for IVF-ET when sperm samples demonstrate a failing HEPA score but have normal or minimally compromised semen analysis parameters.     

In-field and out-of-field effects in partial volume lung irradiation in rodents: possible correlation between early dna damage and functional endpoints

Purpose: Recent observations have shown that there are regional variations in radiation response in mouse lung as measured by functional assays. Furthermore, there are both in-field and out-of-field effects in radiation-induced lung damage as observed by DNA assay in rats. The purpose of this work is: (a) to examine mice lethality data following partial volume lung irradiation to assess the possibility of directional or regional effects, (b) to evaluate the correlation between mice lethality data and DNA damage assayed by micronuclei production in rat lung, and (c) to re-interpret mice lethality considering the existence of directional effects in lung cellular response to partial volume irradiation.

Methods and Materials: The lethality data for mice, generated at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and micronuclei yield data for rats obtained at Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, were used. A radiobiological model that allows for out-of-field and in-field effects for lung cell damage and lung response was developed. This model is based on the observation of DNA damage in shielded parts of rat lung that was assumed relevant to cell lethality and consequently overall lung response.

Results: While the experimental data indicated directional or regional volume effects, the applicability of dose and volume as sole predictors of lung response to radiation was found to be unreliable for lower lung (base) irradiation in mice. This conforms well to rat lung response where micronuclei were observed in shielded apical parts of lung following base irradiation. The radiobiological model, which was specifically developed to account for the lung response outside of primary irradiated volume, provides a good fit to mice lethality data, using parameters inferred from rat micronuclei data.

Conclusion: Response to lung irradiation in rodents, in particular, elevated sensitivity to base irradiation, can be interpreted with a hypothesis of in-field and out-of-field effects for cellular response. If the existence of these effects for lung is subsequently proven in humans, it will require the incorporation of geometrical and directional information in normal tissue complication probability calculations for lung. These considerations are ignored in present approaches based only on conventional dose-volume histograms.     

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus keratitis in the rabbit: therapy with ciprofloxacin, vancomycin and cefazolin.

To determine the efficacy of a fluoroquinolone antibiotic in the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) keratitis, topical administration of 0.3% ciprofloxacin was compared with topical 5.0% vancomycin or 5.0% cefazolin in experimental infections in the rabbit eye. The infections were established by intrastromal injection of 100 colony forming units (CFU) of MRSA, which resulted in greater than 10(6) CFU per cornea by 12 hr postinfection. Chemotherapy (one drop every 15 min) was given from 4-9, 10-15, or 10-20 hr postinfection. Early therapy (4-9 hr postinfection) with ciprofloxacin rendered all eyes free of bacteria; ciprofloxacin was significantly more effective than vancomycin or cefazolin. When treatment was initiated 6 hr later (10-15 hr postinfection), no corneas became free of bacteria, but ciprofloxacin was again more effective than vancomycin or cefazolin. Bacterial killing by ciprofloxacin after treatment from 10-20 hr postinfection was also significantly greater than that of vancomycin. Overall, the results show that ciprofloxacin is effective in killing methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, and is most effective when applied during the very early stages of infection.     

Distribution and dosimetry of Thorotrast in USUR case 1001.

The distribution of radioactivity and the associated doses were evaluated postmortem for USUR Case 1001, a female who had been injected with Thorotrast some 36 y prior to death. The distribution was determined for four nuclides: 232Th and its decay products, 228Ra and 228Th; and 230Th, a contaminant associated with Thorotrast. More than 90% of the activity was associated with the reticuloendothelial system. Approximately 32% of the total activity was found in the total skeleton (mineral bone and bone marrow), which is somewhat higher than expected from the literature. The 44% found in the liver and 12% in the spleen were somewhat lower than expected. This difference may be attributable, in part, to the initial deposition as influenced by colloidal particle size and to the radiation-induced hyposplenism, splenic atrophy, and slight hepatic atrophy observed at autopsy. In addition, roughly 3% of the activity was found in the Thorotrastoma and surrounding carotid artery tissue. Estimated lifetime absorbed doses from the 232Th series were 15 Gy to the liver, 121 Gy to the spleen, 4 Gy to the skeleton, and 16 Gy to the Thorotrastoma. Comparable dose equivalents to these tissues are 300, 2420, 80, and 320 Sv, respectively, assuming a quality factor of 20 for alpha irradiation.