Characterization of language disorders in children with lead poisoning

Background: lead poisoning can have a negative impact on the neuropsychological functions, including language, due to the damage it causes to the developthent of the Central Nervous System. Aim: to verify the occurrence of language disorders in children who suffered from led poisoning and to verify the correlation between the lead concentration level in the blood and the language disorders presented by the children. Method: language evaluation of 20 preschoolers, with lead concentration level in the blood above 10μg/dl. Results: 13 children presented language impairment involving only phonology or more than one language subsystem. The statistical analysis indicated that no correlation exists between the severity of the language impairment and the concentration levels of lead. Conclusion: the number of children with language impairment indicates lead poisoning as a risk factor for the present alterations, even though other risk factors for language disorders were found and the absence of correlation between the investigated variables.

C-terminal processing of the teneurin proteins: Independent actions of a teneurin C-terminal associated peptide in hippocampal cells

Many neuropsychiatric conditions have a common set of neurological substrates associated with the integration of sensorimotor processing. The teneurins are a recently described family of proteins that play a significant role in visual and auditory development. Encoded on the terminal exon of the teneurin genes is a family of bioactive peptides, termed teneurin C-terminal associated peptides (TCAP), which regulate mood-disorder associated behaviors. Thus, the teneurin-TCAP system could represent a novel neurological system underlying the origins of a number of complex neuropsychiatric conditions. However, it is not known if TCAP-1 exerts its effects as part of a direct teneurin function, whereby TCAP represents a functional region of the larger teneurin protein, or if it has an independent role, either as a splice variant or post-translational proteolytic cleavage product of teneurin. In this study, we show that TCAP-1 can be transcribed as a smaller mRNA transcript. After translation, further processing yields a smaller 15. kDa protein containing the TCAP-1 region. In the mouse hippocampus, immunoreactive (ir) TCAP-1 is exclusively localized to the pyramidal layers of the CA1, CA2 and CA3 regions. Although the localization of TCAP and teneurin in hippocampal regions is similar, they are distinct within the cell as most ir-teneurin is found at the plasma membrane, whereas ir-TCAP-1 is predominantly found in the cytosol. Moreover, in mouse embryonic hippocampal cell culture, FITC-labeled TCAP-1 binds to the plasma membrane and is taken up into the cytosol via dynamin-dependent caveolae-mediated endocytosis. Our data provides novel evidence that TCAP-1 is structurally and functionally distinct from the larger teneurins. © 2012.

Programa para la eliminación de las barreras de idiomas en el Caribe = Programme for the removal of language barriers in the Caribbean

Analiza las medidas especiales y los programas destinados a superar las barreras de idiomas con el objeto de acelerar el proceso de intercambio entre los paises del Caribe.

Progress report on the programme on the removal of language barriers

Examina los progresos del CDCC en su programa para eliminar las barreras de lenguaje en el Caribe, con el fin de facilitar una colaboracion mas estrecha en areas del desarrollo economico y social entre los paises miembros del CDCC, especialmente en lo que se refiere al establecimiento de un Instituto Caribeno del Lenguaje que coordine las tareas en ese sentido de las organizaciones a nivel nacional y subregional existentes en la region.

Optimisation of High Hydrostatic Pressure Processing of Pêra Rio Orange Juice

The influence of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) on Pêra Rio orange juice was investigated using response surface methodology. A central composite design was used to evaluate the effects of three processing conditions (independent variables), namely pressure (100-600 MPa), temperature (30-60 °C) and time (30-360 s), on the native microflora and pectin methylesterase (PME) activity of orange juice. Analysis of variance showed that second-order polynomial models fitted well with the experimental data for PME residual activity (R2 = 0.9586, p < 0.001) and aerobic microorganism count (R2 = 0.9879, p < 0.001). The optimum HHP processing conditions to produce orange juice with PME residual activity of less than 20 % and low microorganism count (<2 log cycles CFU/mL) were 550 to 600 MPa, 55 to 60 °C and 330 to 360 s. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

A computer model of family building based on expected values; abstract of an article by Potter and Sakoda

Includes bibliography

Progress report priority project on the removal of language barriers

Includes bibliography

Future orientations for the CDCC project for the removal of language barriers in the Caribbean

Analiza los problemas encontrados en la implementacion del programa prioritario de eliminacion de las barreras linguisticas, y tomando en consideracion la limitacion de recursos financieros, recomienda medidas para el corto y largo plazo.

Proposed procedure for the collection and processing of regional ports and shipping statistics

Presenta una breve descripción de la situación actual en materia de recopilación de estadísticas de puertos y embarques en el Caribe sobre una base regional. Propone una metodología para la recopilación de datos a nivel nacional y la creación de una oficina central para el procesamiento de datos a nivel regional.