Do Parents Model Gestures Differently When Children’s Gestures Differ?

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or with Down syndrome (DS) show diagnosis-specific differences from typically developing (TD) children in gesture production. We asked whether these differences reflect the differences in parental gesture input. Our systematic observations of 23 children with ASD and 23 with DS (M_ages = 2;6)—compared to 23 TD children (M_age = 1;6) similar in expressive vocabulary—showed that across groups children and parents produced similar types of gestures and gesture-speech combinations. However, only children—but not their parents—showed diagnosis-specific variability in how often they produced each type of gesture and gesture-speech combination. These findings suggest that, even though parents model gestures similarly, the amount with which children produce each type largely reflects diagnosis-specific abilities.     

Closeness in relationships as a mediator between sexual abuse in childhood or adolescence and psychopathological outcome in adulthood

The risk of adverse psychological outcomes in adult victims of childhood and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) has been documented; however, research on possible mediating variables is still required, namely with a clinical perspective. The attachment literature suggests that secure interpersonal relationships may represent such a variable. Twenty‐eight women who had experienced episodes of CSA, and 16 control women, were interviewed using Bremner's Early Trauma Inventory and the DSM‐IV Global Assessment of Functioning; they also responded to Collins' Relationship Scales Questionnaire, evaluating adult attachment representations in terms of Closeness, Dependence and Anxiety. Subjects with an experience of severe abuse reported significantly more interpersonal distance in relationships (low index of Closeness) than other subjects. The index of psychopathological functioning was correlated with both the severity of abuse and attachment (low index of Closeness). Regression analysis on the sample of abused women revealed that attachment predicted psychopathology when abuse was controlled for, whereas abuse did not predict psychopathology when attachment was controlled for. Therefore, preserving a capacity for closeness with attachment figures in adulthood appears to mediate the consequences of CSA on subsequent psychopathological outcome. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message: ? The way CSA victims deal with closeness and intimacy in relationships contributes to the quality of psychological outcome in adulthood. ? Treatment strategies for CSA victims should emphasize the enhancement of interpersonal experiences and the strengthening of the subject's sense of closeness to others, intimacy in relationships, and confidence in others.     

Trace eyeblink conditioning in human subjects with cerebellar lesions

Trace eyeblink conditioning was investigated in 31 patients with focal cerebellar lesions and 19 age-matched controls. Twelve patients presented with lesions including the territory of the superior cerebellar artery (SCA). In 19 patients lesions were restricted to the territory of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA). A 3D magnetic resonance imaging was used to determine the extent of the cortical lesion and possible involvement of cerebellar nuclei. Eyeblink conditioning was performed using a 40 ms tone as conditioned stimulus (CS) followed by a stimulus free trace-interval of 400 ms and a 100 ms air-puff as unconditioned stimulus (US). In SCA patients with lesions including parts of the cerebellar interposed nucleus trace eyeblink conditioning was significantly impaired. Pure cortical lesions of the superior cerebellum were not sufficient to reduce acquisition of trace conditioned eyeblink responses. PICA patients were not impaired in trace eyeblink conditioning. Consistent with animal studies the findings of the present human lesion study suggest that, in addition to forebrain areas, the interposed nucleus is of importance in trace eyeblink conditioning. Although cortical cerebellar areas appear less important in trace compared with delay eyeblink conditioning, the present data strengthen the view that cerebellar structures contribute to different forms of eyeblink conditioning paradigms.     

Extracellular potentials produced by a transition between an inactive and active regions of an excitable fibre

A mathematical modelling was used to study effects of the length, duration, and propagation velocity of a transition formed between the inactive and active (depolarized at most) regions of an infinite homogeneous fibre, on the extracellular potentials (EPs) produced by the transition. In this case the sources generating the extracellular potentials may be thought of as a distributed sequence of unidirectional dipoles lying along the fibre axis. The results have shown that the EPs have the dipole nature. In the proximity of the fibre, an increase in the transition length leads to a strong reduction of the EP amplitude; the inter-peak time interval is proportional to the transition duration and is independent of the propagation velocity. At small and middle radial distances lengthening of the transition reduces the radial decline of the EP amplitude. At great radial distances the EP field produced by a distributed source coincides with that produced by a lumped dipole having an intensity equal to sum of the intensities of all the dipoles of the distributed sequence. In isotropic volume conductor, at radial distances greater than the transition semilength, the radial decline of the potential amplitude is independent of the transition length; the inter-peak time interval is equal to y x square root of 2/v. Some problems of analysis of extracellular single muscle fibre potentials are discussed.     

Clinical and prognostic significance of determining the carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with gastrointestinal cancer

The paper discusses the results of a radioimmunologic assay of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in 100 cases of gastrointestinal cancer. CEA--PRIST kits (Phadebas, Sweden) and NGR-603 automatic gamma-unit (Tesla, Czechoslovakia) were employed. The test proved to be highly instrumental in the preoperative evaluation of prognosis and early detection of recurrence and metastasis. CEA concentrations within 30-50 ng/ml are highly suggestive of recurrence or metastases, whereas 50-100 ng/ml should serve an indicator of organ dissemination. The test is useful in assessing the effectiveness of treatment in the course of follow-up.