PERCEPTUALLY BASED FALSE RECOGNITION OF NOVEL OBJECTS IN AMNESIA: EFFECTS OF CATEGORY SIZE AND SIMILARITY TO CATEGORY PROTOTYPES

Previous research suggests that amnesics may show impaired semantically based false recognition under conditions where control participants show high levels of gist-based errors, but little or no impairment when controls show less robust false recognition. Using abstract novel objects, we examined perceptually based false recognition in amnesics under conditions designed to induce differing levels of false recognition in controls. Whereas amnesics showed significantly impaired false recognition for category prototypes, and numerically impaired false recognition when many perceptually similar exemplars were studied-conditions where controls showed high rates of illusory recognition-amnesics and controls showed lower, and comparable, levels of false recognition when few related exemplars were studied, or lures were at a far transformational distance from the prototype. Although amnesics may be able to extract some information regarding the perceptual “gist” of studied items, they appear to do so less efficiently than controls.     

Synchronous peritoneal metastases from lung cancer: incidence,associated factors,treatment and survival: a Dutch population-based study

Clinical & Experimental Metastasis - Peritoneal metastases (PM) from lung cancer are rare and it is unknown how they affect the prognosis of patients with lung cancer. This population-based...     

Augmented Renal Clearance Implies a Need for Increased Amoxicillin-Clavulanic Acid Dosing in Critically Ill Children

There is little data available to guide amoxicillin-clavulanic acid dosing in critically ill children. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics of both compounds in this pediatric subpopulation. Patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) in whom intravenous amoxicillin-clavulanic acid was indicated (25 to 35 mg/kg of body weight every 6 h) were enrolled. Population pharmacokinetic analysis was conducted, and the clinical outcome was documented. A total of 325 and 151 blood samples were collected from 50 patients (median age, 2.58 years; age range, 1 month to 15 years) treated with amoxicillin and clavulanic acid, respectively. A three-compartment model for amoxicillin and a two-compartment model for clavulanic acid best described the data, in which allometric weight scaling and maturation functions were added a priori to scale for size and age. In addition, plasma cystatin C and concomitant treatment with vasopressors were identified to have a significant influence on amoxicillin clearance. The typical population values of clearance for amoxicillin and clavulanic acid were 17.97 liters/h/70 kg and 12.20 liters/h/70 kg, respectively. In 32% of the treated patients, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid therapy was stopped prematurely due to clinical failure, and the patient was switched to broader-spectrum antibiotic treatment. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrated that four-hourly dosing of 25 mg/kg was required to achieve the therapeutic target for both amoxicillin and clavulanic acid. For patients with augmented renal function, a 1-h infusion was preferable to bolus dosing. Current published dosing regimens result in subtherapeutic concentrations in the early period of sepsis due to augmented renal clearance, which risks clinical failure in critically ill children, and therefore need to be updated. (This study has been registered at Clinicaltrials.gov as an observational study [{"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT02456974","term_id":"NCT02456974"}}NCT02456974].)     

Matrix production and remodeling capacity of cardiomyocyte progenitor cells during in vitro differentiation

Cell-based therapy has emerged as a treatment modality for myocardial repair. Especially cardiac resident stem cells are considered a potential cell source since they are able to differentiate into cardiomyocytes and have improved heart function after injury in a preclinical model for myocardial infarction. To avoid or repair myocardial damage it is important not only to replace the lost cardiomyocytes, but also to remodel and replace the scar tissue by "healthy" extracellular matrix (ECM). Interestingly, the role of cardiac stem cells in this facet of cardiac repair is largely unknown. Therefore, we investigated the expression and production of ECM proteins, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs) in human cardiomyocyte progenitor cells (CMPCs) undergoing differentiation towards the cardiomyogenic lineage. Our data suggest that CMPCs have the capacity to synthesize and modulate their own matrix environment, especially during differentiation towards the cardiomyogenic lineage. While undifferentiated CMPCs expressed collagen I, III, IV and fibronectin, but no elastin, during the process of differentiation the expression of collagen I, III, IV and fibronectin increased and interestingly also elastin expression was induced. Furthermore, undifferentiated CMPCs express MMP-1 -2 and -9 and upon differentiation the expression of MMP-1 decreased, while the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9, although the latter only in the early stage of differentiation, increased. Additionally, the expression of TIMP-1, -2 and -4 was induced during differentiation. This study provides new insights into the matrix production and remodeling capacity of human CMPCs, with potential beneficial effects for the treatment of cardiac injury.     

Plant neighbor detection through touching leaf tips precedes phytochrome signals

Plants in dense vegetation compete for resources, including light, and optimize their growth based on neighbor detection cues. The best studied of such behaviors is the shade-avoidance syndrome that positions leaves in optimally lit zones of a vegetation. Although proximate vegetation is known to be sensed through a reduced ratio between red and far-red light, we show here through computational modeling and manipulative experiments that leaves of the rosette species Arabidopsis thaliana first need to move upward to generate sufficient light reflection potential for subsequent occurrence and perception of a reduced red to far-red ratio. This early hyponastic leaf growth response is not induced by known neighbor detection cues under both climate chamber and natural sunlight conditions, and we identify a unique way for plants to detect future competitors through touching of leaf tips. This signal occurs before light signals and appears to be the earliest means of above-ground plant-plant signaling in horizontally growing rosette plants.     

A SIX-CENTRE INTERNATIONAL STUDY OF THE OUTCOME OF TREATMENT IN PATIENTS WITH CLEFTS OF THE LIP AND PALATE: THE RESULTS OF A CROSS-LINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION OF CLEFT PALATE SPEECH

During the period 1964–73, 286 patients were treated for mandibular fractures. 229 patients (80%) attended the follow-up examination. The length of observation was from 1 to 9 years. The treatment and the follow-up evaluations in the 229 patients are described. Early fracture treatment has been the objective, also in patients who have undergone severe cerebral traumas. Antibiotic prophylaxis was implemented in cases of compound fractures. Preservation of teeth and tooth buds in the line of fracture was attempted. Clinical infection occurred in 0.4% of the patients. At the follow-up examination 1 patient presented with a fracture displacement outside the condylar process. Neither malocclusion nor pseudarthrosis following fracture or after treatment were seen. Permanent sensory disturbances in the innervation area of the mental nerve following fracture occurred in 8%. Radiological examination of the teeth in the line of fracture revealed unnoticed apical bone lesions in 17% of 118 patients. In a further 23% there was a negative response to the vitality test. Follow-up control of mandibular fractures is advised at 12 to 18 months after treatment.