The importance of understanding the behavioural phenotypes of genetic syndromes associated with intellectual disability

Behavioural phenotype research is of benefit to a large number of children with genetic syndromes and associated developmental delay. This article presents an overview of this research area and demonstrates how understanding pathways between gene disorders and behaviour can inform our understanding of the difficulties individuals with genetic syndromes and developmental delay experience, including self-injurious behaviour, social exploitation, social anxiety, social skills deficits, sensory differences, temper outbursts and repetitive behaviours. In addition, physical health difficulties and their interaction with behaviour are considered. The article demonstrates the complexity involved in assessing a child with a rare genetic syndrome.

Sonification as Concurrent Augmented Feedback for Motor Skill Learning and the Importance of Mapping Design

In recent years, sonification of movement has emerged as a viable method for the provision of feedback in motor learning. Despite some experimental validation of its utility, controlled trials to test the usefulness of sonification in a motor learning context are still rare. As such, there are no accepted conventions for dealing with its implementation. This article addresses the question of how continuous movement information should be best presented as sound to be fed back to the learner. It is proposed that to establish effective approaches to using sonification in this context, consideration must be given to the processes that underlie motor learning, in particular the nature of the perceptual information available to the learner for performing the task at hand. Although sonification has much potential in movement performance enhancement, this potential is largely unrealised as of yet, in part due to the lack of a clear framework for sonification mapping: the relationship between movement and sound. By grounding mapping decisions in a firmer understanding of how perceptual information guides learning, and an embodied cognition stance in general, it is hoped that greater advances in use of sonification to enhance motor learning can be achieved.

Importance of surface carbide formation on the activity and selectivity of Pd surfaces in the selective hydrogenation of acetylene

A recent experimental investigation (Kim et al. J. Catal. 306 (2013) 146-154) on the selective hydrogenation of acetylene over Pd nanoparticles with different shapes concluded that Pd(100) showed higher activity and selectivity than Pd(111) for acetylene hydrogenation. However, our recent density functional calculations (Yang et al. J. Catal. 305 (2013) 264-276) observed that the clean Pd(111) surface should result in higher activity and ethylene selectivity compared with the clean Pd(100) surface for acetylene hydrogenation. In the current work, using density functional theory calculations, we find that Pd(100) in the carbide form gives rise to higher activity and selectivity than Pd(111) carbide. These results indicate that the catalyst surface is most likely in the carbide form under the experimental reaction conditions. Furthermore, the adsorption energies of hydrogen atoms as a function of the hydrogen coverage at the surface and subsurface sites over Pd(100) are compared with those over Pd(111), and it is found that the adsorption of hydrogen atoms is always less favoured on Pd(100) over the whole coverage range. This suggests that the Pd(100) hydride surface will be less stable than the Pd(111) hydride surface, which is also in accordance with the experimental results reported.

Public Value as Performance: Politicians’ and Managers’ Perspectives on the Importance of Budgetary, Accruals and Non-Financial Information

Purpose
The study contributes to the literature on public value and performance examining politicians’ and managers’ perspectives by investigating the importance they attach to the different facets of performance information (i.e. budgetary, accrual based- and non-financial information (NFI)).

Design/methodology/approach
We survey politicians and managers in all Italian municipalities of at least 80,000 inhabitants.

Findings
Overall, NFI is more appreciated than financial information (FI). Moreover, budgetary accounting is preferred to accrual accounting. Politicians’ and managers’ preferences are generally aligned.

Research limitations/implications
NFI as a measure of public value is not alternative, but rather complementary, to FI. The latter remains a fundamental element of public sector accounting due to its role in resource allocation and control.

Practical implications
The preference for NFI over FI and of budgetary over accruals accounting suggests that the current predominant emphasis on (accrual-based) financial reporting might be misplaced.

Originality/value
Public value and performance are multi-faceted concepts. They can be captured by different types of information and evaluated according to different criteria, which will also depend on the category of stakeholders or users who assesses public performance. So far, most literature has considered the financial and non-financial facets of performance as virtually separate. Similarly, in the practice, financial management tends to be decoupled from non-financial performance management. However, this research shows that only by considering their joint interactions we can achieve an accurate representation of what public value really is.

HPV vaccine acceptance in males

Background Despite Human Papillomavirus (HPV)’s impact on the health of both sexes, there is debate around the inclusion of males in HPV vaccination programmes. The aim of this scoping review was to synthesize the evidence on vaccine acceptability to males. Given that the vaccine is most effective in adolescent males, vaccine acceptance in parents and health care professionals (HCPs) was also examined. Method A rapid synthesis using specified key words of published systematic reviews into vaccine acceptability in adolescent males, parents and HCPs was conducted. The most common electronic databases were searched including: Medline, EMBASE, PsychINFO, and CINAHL. Results There was variability amongst studies with respect to design and methodological approaches. Despite this there appears to be a positive attitude towards male HPV vaccination from both parents and older males. There is currently insufficient evidence on vaccine acceptance to adolescent males. Understanding the risks involved in HPV acquisition, and receiving a recommendation from a HCP, appear to be the major factors involved in males deciding to be vaccinated. Parents consistently report the importance of a HCP recommendation, yet HCPs (in the US) appear to have a preference for vaccinating older than younger adolescents, and for vaccinating females. Conclusions The absence of an agreed definition of vaccine acceptance leads to a lack of a universally accepted tool for its measurement. This makes comparison of studies difficult. With no established theoretical framework the identification and exploration of factors that influence vaccine uptake can be variable. In addition, acceptance is not indicative of uptake. The majority of studies are cross-sectional which makes the identification of factors that lead to actual vaccine uptake difficult. Prospective, longitudinal studies identifying individuals that acted on vaccine intention should be conducted to identify the factors that mediate the uptake.

The importance of the gestation period for welfare of lambs: Maternal stressors and lamb vigour and wellbeing

The prenatal period is of critical importance in defining how individuals respond to their environment throughout life. Stress experienced by pregnant females has been shown to have detrimental effects on offspring behaviour, health and productivity. The sheep has been used extensively as a model species to inform human studies. However, in the farmed environment, the consequences for the lamb of the imposition of prenatal stresses upon the ewe have received much less attention. The stressors that pregnant ewes are most frequently exposed to include sub-optimal nutrition and those related to housing, husbandry and environment which may be either acute or chronic. A systematic review of the literature was adopted to identify material which had production-relevant maternal stressors and lamb outcomes. The current review focussed upon the lamb up to weaning around the age of 100 days and the results clearly demonstrate that stressors imposed upon the ewe have implications for offspring welfare and performance. Maternal under-nutrition (UN) in the last third of pregnancy consistently impaired lamb birth-weight and subsequent vigour and performance, while earlier UN had a variable effect on performance. Feeding the ewe above requirements did not have positive effects on lamb performance and welfare. Social and husbandry stressors such as transport, shearing, mixing and physiological treatments designed to mimic acute stress which would be considered disadvantageous for the ewe had positive or neutral effects for the lamb, highlighting a potential conflict between the welfare of the ewe and her lamb. This review also identified considerable gaps in knowledge, particularly in respect of the impact of disease upon the ewe during pregnancy and interactions between different stressors and the responses of ewe and lamb.

Board invited review:The importance of the gestation period for welfare of calves: Maternal stressors and difficult births

The prenatal period is of critical importance in defining how individuals respond to their environment throughout life. Stress experienced by pregnant females has been shown to have detrimental effects on offspring biology in humans and a variety of other species. It also is becoming increasingly apparent that prenatal events can have important consequences for the behavior, health, and productivity of offspring in farmed species. Pregnant cattle may experience many potentially important stressors, for instance, relating to their social environment, housing system and physical environment, interactions with humans and husbandry procedures, and their state of health. We examined the available literature to provide a review of the implications of prenatal stress for offspring welfare in cattle. The long-term effects of dystocia on cattle offspring also are reviewed. To ensure a transparent and repeatable selection process, a systematic review approach was adopted. The research literature clearly demonstrates that prenatal stress and difficult births in beef and dairy cattle both have implications for offspring welfare and performance. Common husbandry practices, such as transport, were shown to influence offspring biology and the importance of environmental variables, including thermal stress and drought, also were highlighted. Maternal disease during pregnancy was shown to negatively impact offspring welfare. Moreover, dystocia-affected calves suffer increased mortality and morbidity, decreased transfer of passive immunity, and important physiological and behavioral changes. This review also identified considerable gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the effects of prenatal stress in cattle. © 2012 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved.

Smartphone and GPS technology for freeroaming dog population surveillance -a methodological study (Studio metodologico sull’applicazione di smartphone e tecnologia GPS alla sorveglianza delle popolazioni di cani vaganti)

Free-roaming dogs (FRD) represent a potential threat to the quality of life in cities from an ecological, social and public health point of view. One of the most urgent concerns is the role of uncontrolled dogs as reservoirs of infectious diseases transmittable to humans and, above all, rabies. An estimate of the FRD population size and characteristics in a given area is the first step for any relevant intervention programme. Direct count methods are still prominent because of their non-invasive approach, information technologies can support such methods facilitating data collection and allowing for a more efficient data handling. This paper presents a new framework for data collection using a topological algorithm implemented as ArcScript in ESRI® ArcGIS software, which allows for a random selection of the sampling areas. It also supplies a mobile phone application for Android® operating system devices which integrates Global Positioning System (GPS) and Google Maps™. The potential of such a framework was tested in 2 Italian regions. Coupling technological and innovative solutions associated with common counting methods facilitate data collection and transcription. It also paves the way to future applications, which could support dog population management systems.

Methodological variations in estimating apparent progressive visual field loss in clinical trials of glaucoma treatment.

OBJECTIVES:

To compare methods to estimate the incidence of visual field progression used by 3 large randomized trials of glaucoma treatment by applying these methods to a common data set of annually obtained visual field measurements of patients with glaucoma followed up for an average of 6 years.

METHODS:

The methods used by the Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study (AGIS), the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS), and the Early Manifest Glaucoma Treatment study (EMGT) were applied to 67 eyes of 56 patients with glaucoma enrolled in a 10-year natural history study of glaucoma using Program 30-2 of the Humphrey Field Analyzer (Humphrey Instruments, San Leandro, Calif). The incidence of apparent visual field progression was estimated for each method. Extent of agreement between the methods was calculated, and time to apparent progression was compared.

RESULTS:

The proportion of patients progressing was 11%, 22%, and 23% with AGIS, CIGTS, and EMGT methods, respectively. Clinical assessment identified 23% of patients who progressed, but only half of these were also identified by CIGTS or EMGT methods. The CIGTS and the EMGT had comparable incidence rates, but only half of those identified by 1 method were also identified by the other.

CONCLUSIONS:

The EMGT and CIGTS methods produced rates of apparent progression that were twice those of the AGIS method. Although EMGT, CIGTS, and clinical assessment rates were comparable, they did not identify the same patients as having had field progression.

Identifying the relative importance of stock characteristics

There is no consensus in the literature as to which stock characteristic best explains returns. In this study, we employ a novel econometric approach better suited than the traditional characteristic sorting method to answer this question for the UK market. We evaluate the relative explanatory power of market, size, momentum, volatility, liquidity and book-to-market factors in a semiparametric characteristic-based factor model which does not require constructing characteristic portfolios. We find that momentum is the most important factor and liquidity is the least important based on their relative contribution to the fit of the model and the proportion of sample months for which factor returns are significant. Overall, this study provides strong evidence to support that the momentum characteristic can best explain stock returns in the UK market. The econometric approach employed in this study is a novel way to assess relevant investment risk in international financial markets outside U.S. Moreover, multinational institutions and investors can use this approach to identify regional factors in order to diversify their portfolios.

Microbial transformations in phosphonate biosynthesis and catabolism, and their importance in nutrient cycling

Phosphorus cycling in the biosphere has traditionally been thought to involve almost exclusively transformations of the element in its pentavalent oxidation state. Recent evidence, however, suggests that a significant fraction of environmental phosphorus may exist in a more reduced form. Most abundant of these reduced phosphorus compounds are the phosphonates, with their direct carbon–phosphorus bonds, and striking progress has recently been made in elucidating the biochemistry of microbial phosphonate transformations. These advances are now presented in the context of their contribution to our understanding of phosphorus biogeochemistry and of such diverse fields as the productivity of the oceans, marine methanogenesis and the discovery of novel microbial antimetabolites.