Executive dysfunction in children and adolescents with temporal lobe epilepsy: Is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test enough?

The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is the gold standard in the evaluation of executive dysfunction (ED) in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). We evaluated 35 children with TLE and 25 healthy controls with the WCST and with a more comprehensive battery. Among the children with TLE, 77.14% showed impairment on the WCST. On other tests (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Digit Forward, Matching Familiar Figures Test, Trail Making Test, Word Fluency, Finger Windows, and Number-Letter Memory), impairment was demonstrated in 94.29%. The authors concluded that the WCST is a good paradigm to measure executive impairment in children with TLE: however, it may be not enough. Evaluation performed only with the WCST not only underestimated the number of patients with ED, but also missed relevant information regarding the type of ED. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Decision-Making Deficits Linked to Real-life Social Dysfunction in Crack Cocaine-Dependent Individuals

Crack cocaine-dependent individuals (CCDI) present abnormalities in both social adjustment and decision making, but few studies have examined this association. This study investigated cognitive and social performance of 30 subjects (CCDI x controls); CCDI were abstinent for 2 weeks. We used the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Disadvantageous choices on the IGT were associated with higher levels of social dysfunction in CCDI, suggesting the ecological validity of the IGT. Social dysfunction and decision making may be linked to the same underlying prefrontal dysfunction, but the nature of this association should be further investigated. (Am J Addict 2010;00: 1-9).

The frontal assessment battery (FAB) reveals neurocognitive dysfunction in substance-dependent individuals in distinct executive domains: Abstract reasoning, motor programming, and cognitive flexibility

Substance-dependence is highly associated with executive cognitive function (ECF) impairments. However. considering that it is difficult to assess ECF clinically, the aim of the present study was to examine the feasibility of a brief neuropsychological tool (the Frontal Assessment Battery FAB) to detect specific ECF impairments in a sample of substance-dependent individuals (SDI). Sixty-two subjects participated in this study. Thirty DSM-IV-diagnosed SDI, after 2 weeks of abstinence, and 32 healthy individuals (control group) were evaluated with FAD and other ECF-related tasks: digits forward (DF), digits backward (DB), Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). SDI did not differ from the control group on sociodemographic variables or IQ. However, SDI performed below the controls in OF, DB, and FAB. The SDI were cognitively impaired in 3 of the 6 cognitive domains assessed by the FAB: abstract reasoning, motor programming, and cognitive flexibility. The FAB correlated with DF, SCWT, and WCST. In addition, some neuropsychological measures were correlated with the amount of alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine use. In conclusion, SDI performed more poorly than the comparison group on the FAB and the FAB`s results were associated with other ECF-related tasks. The results suggested a negative impact of alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine use on the ECF. The FAB may be useful in assisting professionals as an instrument to screen for ECF-related deficits in SDI. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incidental Encoding Strategies Did Not Improve Contextual Memory in Parkinson`s Disease Patients

Background. This study investigated the performance of patients with idiopathic Parkinson`s disease (PD) without dementia for incidental recognition memory and the effect of encoding strategies on contextual memory. Methods. The authors studied 21 patients with PD (ages 60-85, 12 women; Hoehn and Yahr I-III, Activities of Daily Living 70%-100%) and 22 healthy controls (ages 60-84, 18 women). Participants completed the vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). To assess the incidental recognition memory for item (object) and context (location of the object), participants of each group were assigned to 1 of 2 encoding conditions: (a) an incidental associative instruction to bind the object to its location or (b) a nonassociative, nonspecific instruction. Results. PD patients showed performance comparable to the control group`s on the vocabulary subtest and WCST. In contrast to controls, PD patients were unable to take advantage of the associative encoding instruction, which also had a deleterious effect on item recognition. Conclusion. This sample of participants with PD showed diminished item and context recognition memory and an impaired ability to use incidental memory encoding strategy, suggesting a compromised cognitive reserve. The fact that these alterations occurred in early stages of PD, and prior to more general cognitive alterations such as executive dysfunction, should be considered in the management of patients by using specific cognitive rehabilitation interventions.

Categorization skills and recall in brain damaged children: a multiple case study

During development, children become capable of categorically associating stimuli and of using these relationships for memory recall. Brain damage in childhood can interfere with this development. This study investigated categorical association of stimuli and recall in four children with brain damages. The etiology, topography and timing of the lesions were diverse. Tasks included naming and immediate recall of 30 perceptually and semantically related figures, free sorting, delayed recall, and cued recall of the same material. Traditional neuropsychological tests were also employed. Two children with brain damage sustained in middle childhood relied on perceptual rather than on categorical associations in making associations between figures and showed deficits in delayed or cued recall, in contrast to those with perinatal lesions. One child exhibited normal performance in recall despite categorical association deficits. The present results suggest that brain damaged children show deficits in categorization and recall that are not usually identified in traditional neuropsychological tests.

Low temperature synthesis of CdSiO3 nanostructures

We report the synthesis of single-phase, crystalline CdSiO3 nanostructures at 580ºC; to the best of our knowledge, this is the lowest temperature at which this material is reported to form. The desired phase does not form below 580ºC, since the diffraction peaks are shifted to lower angles in the material treated at 570ºC when compared to JDPDS Card No. 85-0310. The source of silicon has strong influence on the product morphology: Na2SiO3 yields single-phase CdSiO3 in needle-shaped nanostructures, while high surface area mesostructured SiO2 yields coralloid-shaped particles. Low angle X-ray diffractometry reveals that the mesostructured nature of the silica precursor is not maintained in the resulting CdSiO3. Scanning electron microscopy suggests that in this case a transition occurs between the spherical morphology of the precursor and the needle-shape morphology of the material prepared from Na2SiO3. The surface area of the silica precursor has a strong influence in the reaction, since the use of commercial silica with a lower surface area does not yield the desired product.

Physical analysis of compost from composting plants in Brazil

Nowadays the composting process has shown itself to be an alternative in the treatment of municipal solid wastes by composting plants. However, although more than 50% of the waste generated by the Brazilian population is composed of matter susceptible to organic composting, this process is, still today, insufficiently developed in Brazil, due to low compost quality and lack of investments in the sector. The objective of this work was to use physical analyses to evaluate the quality of the compost produced at 14 operative composting plants in the Sao Paulo State in Brazil. For this purpose, size distribution and total inert content tests were done. The results were analyzed by grouping the plants according to their productive processes: plants with a rotating drum, plants with shredders or mills, and plants without treatment after the sorting conveyor belt. Compost quality was analyzed considering the limits imposed by the Brazilian Legislation and the European standards for inert contents. The size distribution tests showed the influence of the machinery after the sorting conveyer on the granule sizes as well as the inert content, which contributes to the presence of materials that reduce the quality of the final product

Gene expression relationship between prostate cancer cells of Gleason 3, 4 and normal epithelial cells as revealed by cell type-specific transcriptomes

Background: Prostate cancer cells in primary tumors have been typed CD10(-)/CD13(-)/CD24(hi)/CD26(+)/CD38(lo)/CD44(-)/CD104(-). This CD phenotype suggests a lineage relationship between cancer cells and luminal cells. The Gleason grade of tumors is a descriptive of tumor glandular differentiation. Higher Gleason scores are associated with treatment failure. Methods: CD26(+) cancer cells were isolated from Gleason 3+3 (G3) and Gleason 4+4 (G4) tumors by cell sorting, and their gene expression or transcriptome was determined by Affymetrix DNA array analysis. Dataset analysis was used to determine gene expression similarities and differences between G3 and G4 as well as to prostate cancer cell lines and histologically normal prostate luminal cells. Results: The G3 and G4 transcriptomes were compared to those of prostatic cell types of non-cancer, which included luminal, basal, stromal fibromuscular, and endothelial. A principal components analysis of the various transcriptome datasets indicated a closer relationship between luminal and G3 than luminal and G4. Dataset comparison also showed that the cancer transcriptomes differed substantially from those of prostate cancer cell lines. Conclusions: Genes differentially expressed in cancer are potential biomarkers for cancer detection, and those differentially expressed between G3 and G4 are potential biomarkers for disease stratification given that G4 cancer is associated with poor outcomes. Differentially expressed genes likely contribute to the prostate cancer phenotype and constitute the signatures of these particular cancer cell types.

Gene expression down-regulation in CD90(+) prostate tumor-associated stromal cells involves potential organ-specific genes

Background: The prostate stroma is a key mediator of epithelial differentiation and development, and potentially plays a role in the initiation and progression of prostate cancer. The tumor-associated stroma is marked by increased expression of CD90/THYI. Isolation and characterization of these stromal cells could provide valuable insight into the biology of the tumor microenvironment. Methods: Prostate CD90(+) stromal fibromuscular cells from tumor specimens were isolated by cell-sorting and analyzed by DNA microarray. Dataset analysis was used to compare gene expression between histologically normal and tumor-associated stromal cells. For comparison, stromal cells were also isolated and analyzed from the urinary bladder. Results: The tumor-associated stromal cells were found to have decreased expression of genes involved in smooth muscle differentiation, and those detected in prostate but not bladder. Other differential expression between the stromal cell types included that of the CXC-chemokine genes. Conclusion: CD90(+) prostate tumor-associated stromal cells differed from their normal counterpart in expression of multiple genes, some of which are potentially involved in organ development.

Serum-Starved Apoptotic Fibroblasts Reduce Blastocyst Production but Enable Development to Term after SCNT in Cattle

Cell cycle synchronization by serum starvation (SS) induces apoptosis in somatic cells. This side effect of SS is hypothesized to negatively affect the outcome of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). We determined whether apoptotic fibroblasts affect SCNT yields. Serum-starved, adult, bovine fibroblasts were stained with annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide to allow apoptosis detection by flow cytometry. Positive and negative cells sorted by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) and an unsorted control group were used as nuclear donors for SCNT. Reconstructed embryos were cultured in vitro and transferred to synchronized recipients. Apoptosis had no effect on fusion and cleavage rates; however, it resulted in reductions in blastocyst production and quality measured by apoptotic index. However, reconstructed embryos with apoptotic cells resulted in pregnancy rates similar to that of the control on day 30, and generated one live female calf. In conclusion, we showed that apoptotic cells present in serum-starved cultures negatively affect embryo production after SCNT without compromising full-term development. Further studies will evaluate the ability of the oocyte to reprogram cells in specific phases of apoptosis.

A novel multiobjective optimization algorithm based on bacterial chemotaxis

In this article a novel algorithm based on the chemotaxis process of Echerichia coil is developed to solve multiobjective optimization problems. The algorithm uses fast nondominated sorting procedure, communication between the colony members and a simple chemotactical strategy to change the bacterial positions in order to explore the search space to find several optimal solutions. The proposed algorithm is validated using 11 benchmark problems and implementing three different performance measures to compare its performance with the NSGA-II genetic algorithm and with the particle swarm-based algorithm NSPSO. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On the classification of mixed construction and demolition waste aggregate by porosity and its impact on the mechanical performance of concrete

The properties of recycled aggregate produced from mixed (masonry and concrete) construction and demolition (C&D) waste are highly variable, and this restricts the use of such aggregate in structural concrete production. The development of classification techniques capable of reducing this variability is instrumental for quality control purposes and the production of high quality C&D aggregate. This paper investigates how the classification of C&D mixed coarse aggregate according to porosity influences the mechanical performance of concrete. Concretes using a variety of C&D aggregate porosity classes and different water/cement ratios were produced and the mechanical properties measured. For concretes produced with constant volume fractions of water, cement, natural sand and coarse aggregate from recycled mixed C&D waste, the compressive strength and Young modulus are direct exponential functions of the aggregate porosity. Sink and float technique is a simple laboratory density separation tool that facilitates the separation of cement particles with lower porosity, a difficult task when done only by visual sorting. For this experiment, separation using a 2.2 kg/dmA(3) suspension produced recycled aggregate (porosity less than 17%) which yielded good performance in concrete production. Industrial gravity separators may lead to the production of high quality recycled aggregate from mixed C&D waste for structural concrete applications.

PROPOSAL OF A PERFORMANCE MEASURING SYSTEM APPLIED TO AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION

The leaders` organizations of several different sectors have as characteristic to measure their own performance in a systematic way. However, this concept is still unusual in agricultural enterprises, including the mechanization sector. Mechanization has an important role on the production costs and to know its performance is a key factor for the agricultural enterprise success. This work was generated by the importance that measurement of performance has for the management and the mechanization impact on the production costs. Its aim is to propose an integrated performance measurement system to give support to agricultural management. The methodology was divided in two steps: adjustment of a conceptual model based on Balanced Score Card - BSC; application of the model in a study case at sugar cane mill. The adjustment and the application of the conceptual model allowed to obtain the performance index in a systematic way, that are associated to: costs and deadline ( traditionally used); control and improvement on the quality of operations and support process; environmental preservation; safety; health; employees satisfaction; development of information systems. The adjusted model helped the development of the performance measurement system for the mechanized management systems and the index allows an integrated view of the enterprise, related to its strategic objectives.

Rhodotorula spp. isolated from blood cultures: clinical and microbiological aspects

The emergence of less common fungal pathogens has been increasingly reported in the last decade. We describe 25 cases of Rhodotorula spp. isolated from blood cultures at a large Brazilian tertiary teaching hospital from 1996-2004. We also investigated the in vitro activity of four antifungal drugs, using a standardized method. The median age of patients was 43 years. The majority of patients (88%) had a central venous catheter (CVC) and 10 (40%) were recipients of a bone marrow transplant. The episode was classified as a bloodstream infection (BSI) in 80% of the patients. Amphotericin B deoxycholate was the most common antifungal used and CVC was removed in 89.5% of the patients. Death occurred in four patients (17.4%), all classified as BSI. All strains were identified as R. mucilaginosa by conventional methods. Misidentification of the species was observed in 20% and 5% of the strains with the Vitek Yeast Biochemical Card and API 20C AUX systems, respectively. Amphotericin B demonstrated good in vitro activity (MIC(50/90), 0.5 mu g/ml) and the MICs for fluconazole were high for all strains (MIC(50/90), 64 mu g/ml).

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Properties of Periodontal Ligament Cells From Deciduous and Permanent Teeth

Background: Human postnatal stem cells have been identified in periodontal ligaments (PDLs). In this study, the in vitro biologic properties of CD105(+) enriched cell subsets from PDLs harvested from deciduous (DePDL) and permanent (PePDL) teeth are comparatively assessed. Methods: PDL tissue was obtained from 12 teeth (six primary and six permanent) from which CD105(+) CD34(-) CD45(-) cells were isolated by magnetic cell sorting. To identify and quantitatively compare the stem cell markers, DePDL and PePDL cells were assessed for CD166 surface antigen expression by flow cytometry, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and immunostaining for Stro-1 and Oct-4, osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation, and proliferation rate by trypan blue method. Results: Magnetic cell sorting isolated cell populations containing 23.87% (+/- 11.98%) and 11.68% (+/- 6.27%) of CD105(+) expressing cells from PePDL and DePDL, respectively. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated a higher proportion of CD105(+) cells coexpressing CD166 surface antigen in PePDL, whereas immunostaining and real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis demonstrated that both cell subsets expressed Stro-1 and Oct-4. DePDL-CD105(+) subsets were more proliferative compared to PePDL subsets, and both cell populations showed multipotential capabilities to differentiate in vitro to osteoblast/cementoblast- and adipocyte-like cells. However, a higher expression of adipogenic-related genes was observed in DePDL cells, whereas PePDL-CD105(+) cell subset presented a more homogeneous osteoblast/cementoblast response. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that highly purified mesenchymal progenitor cell subsets can be obtained from the PDLs of both deciduous and permanent teeth, and further indicate phenotype dissimilarities that may have an impact on their clinical applications. J Periodontol 2010;81:1207-1215.