Human infants orient to biological motion rather than audiovisual synchrony

Both orienting to audiovisual synchrony and to biological motion are adaptive responses. The ability to integrate correlated information from multiple senses reduces processing load and underlies the perception of a multimodal and unified world. Perceiving biological motion facilitates filial attachment and detection of predators/prey. In the literature, these mechanisms are discussed in isolation. In this eye-tracking study, we tested their relative strengths in young human infants. We showed five-month-old infants point-light animation pairs of human motion, accompanied by a soundtrack. We found that audiovisual synchrony was a strong determinant of attention when it was embedded in biological motion (two upright animations). However, when biological motion was shown together with distorted biological motion (upright animation and inverted animation, respectively), infants looked at the upright animation and disregarded audiovisual synchrony. Thus, infants oriented to biological motion rather than multimodally unified physical events. These findings have important implications for understanding the developmental trajectory of brain specialization in early human infancy.     

Wear and migration of highly cross‐linked and conventional cemented polyethylene cups with cobalt chrome or Oxinium femoral heads: A randomized radiostereometric study of 150 patients

This randomized study was performed to compare wear and migration of five different cemented total hip joint articulations in 150 patients. The patients received either a Charnley femoral stem with a 22.2 mm head or a Spectron EF femoral stem with a 28 mm head. The Charnley articulated with a γ‐sterilized Charnley Ogee acetabular cup. The Spectron EF was used with either EtO‐sterilized non‐cross‐linked polyethylene (Reflection All‐Poly) or highly cross‐linked (Reflection All‐Poly XLPE) cups, combined with either cobalt chrome (CoCr) or Oxinium femoral heads. The patients were followed with repeated RSA measurements for 2 years. After 2 years, the EtO‐sterilized non‐cross‐linked Reflection All‐Poly cups had more than four times higher proximal penetration than its highly cross‐linked counterpart. Use of Oxinium femoral heads did not affect penetration at 2 years compared to heads made of CoCr. Further follow‐up is needed to evaluate the benefits, if any, of Oxinium femoral heads in the clinical setting. The Charnley Ogee was not outperformed by the more recently introduced implants in our study. We conclude that this prostheses still represents a standard against which new implants can be measured. © 2011 Orthopaedic Research Society Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 29: 1222–1229, 2011     

Head injury mortality in the Nordic countries

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Western countries. Effective management planning for these patients requires knowledge of TBI epidemiology. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the development of TBI mortality in the Nordic countries during the period 1987-2001. Data on TBI deaths were retrieved from the national official statistical agencies according to specified diagnostic codes. We also collected data on the number of operations for acute TBI in the year 2000 from all Nordic hospitals admitting trauma patients. Finland had about twice as high a TBI mortality rate as the other countries. Similarly, the Finnish incidence of acute TBI operations was nearly twice that of the other countries. The median TBI death rate for Finland was 21.2 per 100,000 per year, and for Denmark, Norway, and Sweden 11.5, 10.4, and 9.5, respectively. There were more male than female deaths in all countries. The mortality rate from extracranial injuries was relatively equal between the countries. We observed a sizeable reduction in TBI mortality rates for all countries, except in Finland. Younger age groups had the most pronounced decrease in TBI mortality rates. The oldest age group had the least favorable development of TBI mortality rates, and the mean age of TBI casualties increased substantially during the study period. This study demonstrates considerable differences in and between the Nordic countries regarding TBI mortality. Preventive measures and implementation of regional guidelines are needed to assure a positive development in the future.     

Acute Decline in Renal Function,Inflammation, and Cardiovascular Risk after an Acute Coronary Syndrome

Background and objectives: Chronic kidney disease is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular outcomes. The prognostic significance of worsening renal function has also been shown in various cohorts of cardiac disease; however, the predictors of worsening renal function and the contribution of inflammation remains to be established.Design, setting, participants, & measurements: Worsening renal function was defined as a 25% or more decrease in estimated GFR (eGFR) over a 1-mo period in patients after a non-ST or ST elevation acute coronary syndromes participating in the Aggrastat-to-Zocor Trial; this occurred in 5% of the 3795 participants.Results: A baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) in the fourth quartile was a significant predictor of developing worsening renal function (odds ratio, 2.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.49, 4.14). After adjusting for baseline CRP and eGFR, worsening renal function remained a strong multivariate predictor for the combined cardiovascular composite of CV death, recurrent myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure or stroke (hazard ratio, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.1, 2.3).Conclusions: Patients with an early decline in renal function after an acute coronary syndrome are at a significant increased risk for recurrent cardiovascular events. CRP is an independent predictor for subsequent decline in renal function and reinforces the idea that inflammation may be related to the pathophysiology of progressive renal disease.Impaired renal function has consistently been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular outcomes across a broad spectrum of patients including population-based studies of patients with cardiovascular disease (1,2), acute coronary syndromes (3–6), chronic heart failure with either impaired or preserved ventricular systolic function (7), and after coronary artery bypass grafting (8). Worsening renal function (WRF), defined by small increases in creatinine or decreases in GFR, has also been independently associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes and mortality in patients after an acute MI (9), cardiac surgery (10,11), and in patients with heart failure (12–14).Serum C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, has been associated with WRF in a population of nondiabetics (15), as well as in those after an MI (15,16). The predictors and prognostic significance of WRF in a cohort of patients after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is not well defined. Furthermore, the contribution of inflammatory markers to WRF in this cohort is unknown. We analyzed subjects from the phase Z of the A-Z trial (Early Intensive versus Delayed Conservative Simvastatin Strategy in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes), who had both measurements of serum creatinine and thus estimates of GFR (eGFR), at baseline and 1 mo. We have previously reported that both baseline CRP and eGFR were important prognostic markers after an ACS and that the increased cardiovascular hazard associated with a reduction in eGFR was independent and additive to baseline markers of inflammation (6). The objectives of this subsequent analysis was to determine clinical factors associated with an early decline in eGFR after an ACS and second to evaluate the cardiovascular prognostic importance of an early decline in eGFR in this patient population.     

Effect of training and detraining on the expression of heat shock proteins in m. triceps brachii of untrained males and females

Forty untrained persons were randomized to four different training protocols that exercised the m. triceps brachii. Group 1 and 2 performed high intensity (HI) elbow extensions and group 3 and 4 performed low intensity (LI) elbow extensions. Group 1 and 3 trained until they had accumulated a matching high volume (HV) of training, while group 2 and 4 trained until they had accumulated a matching low volume (LV) of training. Training for 5–8 weeks increased the HSP72, HSP27 and GRP75 levels in the subjects’ m. triceps brachii by 111, 71 and 192%, respectively (Fig. 1a–c). There were, however, no significant differences in the heat shock protein (HSP) responses to training between the four training groups (Fig. 2a–c). The frequency of extreme responses to exercise was, however, higher after HI exercise than after LI exercise, indicating that HI exercise induces extreme HSP reactions in some subjects. When we assigned the subjects to three clusters, according to the total number of repetitions they had lifted, the subjects who had lifted the highest number of repetitions had lower PostExc HSP levels compared with subjects that lifted the lowest number of repetitions (Fig. 3a–c). Additionally, there was a negative non-linear regression (Fig. 4a–c) between the subjects PreExc levels of HSP72, HSP27 and GRP75 and the percentage change in their respective protein concentration after training (r = −0.75, −0.89 and −0.88, all P < 0.0001). Thus, the PreExc level of HSPs seems to be an important “regulator” of HSP expression following the training.     

Digestive symptoms and their psychosocial impact: validation of a questionnaire

OBJECTIVE: Questionnaires evaluating digestive symptoms and their psychosocial impact have not been extensively validated in Norwegian populations. In this study a self-administered questionnaire developed in Norway is evaluated for this purpose. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The questionnaire, the Digestive Symptoms and Impact Questionnaire, DSIQ, was developed by a cooperative group of general practitioners and gastroenterologists. The DSIQ contains 18 similarly structured global-type questions focusing on the patient's own judgement. The validation was based on 567 patients with dyspeptic symptoms or reflux symptoms referred to gastroscopy from general practice. RESULTS: Eighty percent of the patients responded to all the questions. All response categories were used for all questions. Factor analysis revealed 4 subscales: abdominal pain and bowel symptoms; gastric dysfunction; health impairment and impairment of everyday life. A question about reflux symptoms was retained as a subscale on its own. Overall score was established by calculating the mean of all question responses. Test-retest reliability in stable patients (intraclass correlation coefficient, range 0.80- 0.91) and internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha, range 0.65-0.91) were satisfactory. Criterion validity was supported by significant correlations to patients' globally estimated quality of life and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30). Responsiveness in spontaneously improved patients or patients given effective treatment ranged from moderate to highly responsive (responsiveness statistic range from 0.54 to 2.83). CONCLUSIONS: The DSIQ is a self-administered, simple and well-validated method for evaluating digestive symptoms and their psychosocial impact. The DSIQ shows satisfactory internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, responsiveness and criterion validity.     

Demographic responses of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Daphnia magna</Emphasis> fed transgenic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bt</Emphasis>-maize

The food/feed quality of a variety of genetically modified (GM) maize expressing Cry1Ab Bt-toxin was tested over the life-cycle of Daphnia magna, an arthropod commonly used as model organism in ecotoxicological studies. Demographic responses were compared between animals fed GM or unmodified (UM) near isogenic maize, with and without the addition of predator smell. Age-specific data on survival and birth rates were integrated and analysed using life tables and Leslie matrices. Survival, fecundity and population growth rate (PGR) data generally disfavoured transgenic Bt-maize as feed for D. magna compared to animals fed the unmodified (UM) near isogenic line of maize. Decomposition of age-specific effects revealed that the most important contributions to a reduced PGR in the GM-fed group came from both fecundity and survival differences early in life. We conclude that juvenile and young adult stages are the most sensitive experimental units and should be prioritized in future research. These stages are often omitted in toxicological/ecotoxicological studies and in feeding trials.