Evaluating the response of children with autism to a robot

Since 1998, the Aurora project has been investigating the use of a robotic platform as a tool for therapy use with children with autism. A key issue in this project is the evaluation of the interactions, which are not constricted and involve the child moving freely. Additionally, the response of the children is an important factor which must emerge from the robot trial sessions and the evaluation methodology, in order to guide further development work.

Use of myoelectric signals to command mobile entertainment robot by disabled children: Design and control architecture

Severely disabled children have little chance of environmental and social exploration and discovery. This lack of interaction and independency may lead to an idea that they are unable to do anything by themselves. In an attempt to help children in this situation, educational robotics can offer and aid, once it can provide them a certain degree of independency in the exploration of environment. The system developed in this work allows the child to transmit the commands to a robot through myoelectric and movement sensors. The sensors are placed on the child's body so they can obtain information from the body inclination and muscle contraction, thus allowing commanding, through a wireless communication, the mobile entertainment robot to carry out tasks such as play with objects and draw. In this paper, the details of the robot design and control architecture are presented and discussed. With this system, disabled children get a better cognitive development and social interaction, balancing in a certain way, the negative effects of their disabilities. © 2012 IEEE.

Retombées du cirque social (Cirque du Soleil) en contexte de réadaptation sur la participation sociale de jeunes adultes avec déficiences physiques en transition vers la vie active : étude qualitative

Introduction : Les adolescents avec déficiences physiques en transition vers la vie adulte éprouvent des difficultés à établir une participation sociale optimale. Cette étude explore les retombées d'un programme de cirque social sur la participation sociale de ces jeunes selon leur point de vue et celui de leurs parents. Méthode : Étude qualitative exploratoire d’orientation phénoménologique. Neuf personnes avec déficiences physiques, âgées de 18 et 25 ans, ont participé au programme pendant neuf mois. Données recueillies : perceptions de leur qualité de participation sociale à partir d’entrevues semi-structurées en pré, mi-temps et post-intervention avec les participants et un de leurs parents. Le guide d’entrevue validé est ancré sur le Modèle du développement humain- Processus de production du handicap - 2 (HDM-PPH2). L’enregistrement audio des entretiens a été transcrit en verbatim. Le contenu a été analysé avec le logiciel Nvivo 9 à travers une grille de codage préalablement validée (co-codage, codage-inverse). Résultats : Corpus de 54 entrevues. L’âge moyen des jeunes était de 20,0 ± 1,4 années et de 51 ± 3,6 années pour les parents. Selon tous, la participation sociale des jeunes adultes a été optimisée, surtout sur le plan de la communication, des déplacements, des relations interpersonnelles, des responsabilités et de la vie communautaire. La perception de soi et les habiletés sociales, également améliorées, ont favorisé une plus grande auto-efficacité. Conclusion : Cette étude soutient donc le potentiel du cirque social comme approche novatrice et probante en réadaptation physique pour cette population, et appuie la pertinence d’autres études rigoureuses mesurant les diverses retombées possibles et identifiées.

Identification des partenaires protéiques de l'hélicase virale E1 du virus du papillome humain : caractérisation d'une nouvelle interaction avec la protéine à domaines WD p80

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Identification des partenaires protéiques de l'hélicase virale E1 du virus du papillome humain : caractérisation d'une nouvelle interaction avec la protéine à domaines WD p80

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Implications de l’hétérogénéité comportementale et biologique pour la vaccination contre les virus du papillome humain au niveau de la population : modélisation mathématique, revue systématique et méta-analyse

Objectifs : Dans plusieurs pays la couverture vaccinale contre les virus du papillome humain (VPH) est associée aux déterminants sociaux des comportements sexuels et la participation au dépistage du cancer du col utérin. Ces vaccins protègent uniquement contre certains types de VPH, donc leur impact futur sur les VPH nonvaccinaux demeure incertain. L’hétérogénéité comportementale entre individus et biologique entre types de VPH affectera l’efficacité populationnelle de la vaccination contre les VPH. Les objectifs spécifiques de cette thèse étaient 1) de modéliser comment une couverture vaccinale inégale entre filles préadolescentes qui différeront selon leur activité sexuelle et leur participation au dépistage du cancer du col affectera l’efficacité populationnelle de la vaccination, 2) faire une synthèse et comparer les estimés d’efficacité croisée des vaccins contre les VPH dans des populations ADN-négatives aux VPH et 3) d’identifier, avec la modélisation, les devis d’étude épidémiologique qui réduisent les biais dans l’estimation des interactions biologiques entre types de VPH. Méthode : Nous avons utilisé des modèles de transmission dynamique et une revue systématique de la littérature pour répondre aux objectifs. 1) Nous avons modélisé une couverture vaccinale inégale entre filles qui différeront selon leur activité sexuelle et leur participation au dépistage, et examiné les changements postvaccination dans l’inégalité dans la prévalence des VPH et l’incidence des carcinomes malpighien (SCC) du col de l’utérus entre femmes ayant différents comportements. 2) Nous avons effectué une revue systématique et méta-analyse des efficacités croisées des vaccins contre les VPH estimées dans des populations ADNnégatives aux VPH. 3) Nous avons développé des modèles de transmission dynamique et d’interaction de deux types de VPH pour simuler les études épidémiologiques d’interactions entre les VPH. Résultats : Pour l’objectif 1), notre modèle de transmission prédit que l’efficacité populationnelle du vaccin dépendra de la distribution du vaccin dans la population. Après la vaccination, les inégalités absolues dans l’incidence de l’infection et des SCC entre groupes de femmes qui diffèrent selon leur activité sexuelle et leur participation au dépistage devraient diminuer. Inversement, les inégalités relatives pourraient augmenter si les femmes plus sexuellement actives et celles qui ne se font jamais dépister ont une couverture vaccinale moins élevée que les autres. Le taux d’incidence des SCC demeurera élevé chez les femmes qui ne sont jamais dépistées après la vaccination. L’efficacité croisée vaccinale et les interactions biologiques entre VPH ne sont pas encore assez bien caractérisées pour pouvoir prédire l’impact du vaccin sur les types de VPH nonvaccinaux. Pour l’objectif 2), notre méta-analyse des essais cliniques des vaccins suggère que le vaccin bivalent a une efficacité croisée significativement plus élevée que le quadrivalent contre les infections persistantes et lésions précancéreuses avec les VPH-31, 33 et 45. Les essais cliniques plus longs estiment une efficacité croisée plus faible. La modélisation des études épidémiologiques d’interactions pour l’objectif 3) montre que l’estimation des interactions biologiques entre types de VPH dans les études épidémiologiques est systématiquement biaisée par la corrélation entre le temps à risque d’infection avec un type de VPH et le temps à risque d’infection avec d’autres types de VPH. L’ajustement pour des marqueurs d’activité sexuelle ne réussit pas à contrôler ce biais. Une mesure valide des interactions biologiques entre types de VPH peut être obtenue uniquement avec des études épidémiologiques prospectives qui restreignent les analyses à des individus susceptibles ayant des partenaires sexuels infectés. Conclusion : L’hétérogénéité comportementale entre individus et l’hétérogénéité biologique entre VPH affecteront l’efficacité populationnelle du vaccin contre les VPH. Dans les contextes où les déterminants sociaux des comportements sexuels et la participation au dépistage sont aussi associés à la couverture vaccinale chez les préadolescentes, l’inégalité relative dans l’incidence des SCC risque d’augmenter. Ces comportements demeureront des facteurs de risque importants du cancer du col à l’avenir. L’effet à long terme du vaccin sur les types de VPH non-vaccinaux demeure incertain. Quoique nos résultats suggèrent que les vaccins offrent une efficacité croisée contre certains types de VPH, celle-ci pourrait diminuer après quelques années. Des interactions compétitives entre VPH pourraient exister malgré les associations observées entre les incidences des infections VPH, donc une augmentation post-vaccination de la prévalence des VPH non-vaccinaux demeure possible. Des devis d’analyse plus complexes sont nécessaires pour mesurer de façon valide les interactions biologiques entre les VPH dans les études épidémiologiques.

Iis--integrated Interactome System: A Web-based Platform For The Annotation, Analysis And Visualization Of Protein-metabolite-gene-drug Interactions By Integrating A Variety Of Data Sources And Tools.

High-throughput screening of physical, genetic and chemical-genetic interactions brings important perspectives in the Systems Biology field, as the analysis of these interactions provides new insights into protein/gene function, cellular metabolic variations and the validation of therapeutic targets and drug design. However, such analysis depends on a pipeline connecting different tools that can automatically integrate data from diverse sources and result in a more comprehensive dataset that can be properly interpreted. We describe here the Integrated Interactome System (IIS), an integrative platform with a web-based interface for the annotation, analysis and visualization of the interaction profiles of proteins/genes, metabolites and drugs of interest. IIS works in four connected modules: (i) Submission module, which receives raw data derived from Sanger sequencing (e.g. two-hybrid system); (ii) Search module, which enables the user to search for the processed reads to be assembled into contigs/singlets, or for lists of proteins/genes, metabolites and drugs of interest, and add them to the project; (iii) Annotation module, which assigns annotations from several databases for the contigs/singlets or lists of proteins/genes, generating tables with automatic annotation that can be manually curated; and (iv) Interactome module, which maps the contigs/singlets or the uploaded lists to entries in our integrated database, building networks that gather novel identified interactions, protein and metabolite expression/concentration levels, subcellular localization and computed topological metrics, GO biological processes and KEGG pathways enrichment. This module generates a XGMML file that can be imported into Cytoscape or be visualized directly on the web. We have developed IIS by the integration of diverse databases following the need of appropriate tools for a systematic analysis of physical, genetic and chemical-genetic interactions. IIS was validated with yeast two-hybrid, proteomics and metabolomics datasets, but it is also extendable to other datasets. IIS is freely available online at: http://www.lge.ibi.unicamp.br/lnbio/IIS/.

Ant-caterpillar Antagonism At The Community Level: Interhabitat Variation Of Tritrophic Interactions In A Neotropical Savanna.

Ant foraging on foliage can substantially affect how phytophagous insects use host plants and represents a high predation risk for caterpillars, which are important folivores. Ant-plant-herbivore interactions are especially pervasive in cerrado savanna due to continuous ant visitation to liquid food sources on foliage (extrafloral nectaries, insect honeydew). While searching for liquid rewards on plants, aggressive ants frequently attack or kill insect herbivores, decreasing their numbers. Because ants vary in diet and aggressiveness, their effect on herbivores also varies. Additionally, the differential occurrence of ant attractants (plant and insect exudates) on foliage produces variable levels of ant foraging within local floras and among localities. Here, we investigate how variation of ant communities and of traits among host plant species (presence or absence of ant attractants) can change the effect of carnivores (predatory ants) on herbivore communities (caterpillars) in a cerrado savanna landscape. We sampled caterpillars and foliage-foraging ants in four cerrado localities (70-460 km apart). We found that: (i) caterpillar infestation was negatively related with ant visitation to plants; (ii) this relationship depended on local ant abundance and species composition, and on local preference by ants for plants with liquid attractants; (iii) this was not related to local plant richness or plant size; (iv) the relationship between the presence of ant attractants and caterpillar abundance varied among sites from negative to neutral; and (v) caterpillars feeding on plants with ant attractants are more resistant to ant predation than those feeding on plants lacking attractants. Liquid food on foliage mediates host plant quality for lepidopterans by promoting generalized ant-caterpillar antagonism. Our study in cerrado shows that the negative effects of generalist predatory ants on herbivores are detectable at a community level, affecting patterns of abundance and host plant use by lepidopterans. The magnitude of ant-induced effects on caterpillar occurrence across the cerrado landscape may depend on how ants use plants locally and how they respond to liquid food on plants at different habitats. This study enhances the relevance of plant-ant and ant-herbivore interactions in cerrado and highlights the importance of a tritrophic perspective in this ant-rich environment.

Contrasting Effects Of Land Use Intensity And Exotic Host Plants On The Specialization Of Interactions In Plant-herbivore Networks.

Human land use tends to decrease the diversity of native plant species and facilitate the invasion and establishment of exotic ones. Such changes in land use and plant community composition usually have negative impacts on the assemblages of native herbivorous insects. Highly specialized herbivores are expected to be especially sensitive to land use intensification and the presence of exotic plant species because they are neither capable of consuming alternative plant species of the native flora nor exotic plant species. Therefore, higher levels of land use intensity might reduce the proportion of highly specialized herbivores, which ultimately would lead to changes in the specialization of interactions in plant-herbivore networks. This study investigates the community-wide effects of land use intensity on the degree of specialization of 72 plant-herbivore networks, including effects mediated by the increase in the proportion of exotic plant species. Contrary to our expectation, the net effect of land use intensity on network specialization was positive. However, this positive effect of land use intensity was partially canceled by an opposite effect of the proportion of exotic plant species on network specialization. When we analyzed networks composed exclusively of endophagous herbivores separately from those composed exclusively of exophagous herbivores, we found that only endophages showed a consistent change in network specialization at higher land use levels. Altogether, these results indicate that land use intensity is an important ecological driver of network specialization, by way of reducing the local host range of herbivore guilds with highly specialized feeding habits. However, because the effect of land use intensity is offset by an opposite effect owing to the proportion of exotic host species, the net effect of land use in a given herbivore assemblage will likely depend on the extent of the replacement of native host species with exotic ones.

Graphene Oxide: A Carrier For Pharmaceuticals And A Scaffold For Cell Interactions.

During the last ten years, graphene oxide has been explored in many applications due to its remarkable electroconductivity, thermal properties and mobility of charge carriers, among other properties. As discussed in this review, the literature suggests that a total characterization of graphene oxide must be conducted because oxidation debris (synthesis impurities) present in the graphene oxides could act as a graphene oxide surfactant, stabilizing aqueous dispersions. It is also important to note that the structure models of graphene oxide need to be revisited because of significant implications for its chemical composition and its direct covalent functionalization. Another aspect that is discussed is the need to consider graphene oxide surface chemistry. The hemolysis assay is recommended as a reliable test for the preliminary assessment of graphene oxide toxicity, biocompatibility and cell membrane interaction. More recently, graphene oxide has been extensively explored for drug delivery applications. An important increase in research efforts in this emerging field is clearly represented by the hundreds of related publications per year, including some reviews. Many studies have been performed to explore the graphene oxide properties that enable it to deliver more than one activity simultaneously and to combine multidrug systems with photothermal therapy, indicating that graphene oxide is an attractive tool to overcome hurdles in cancer therapies. Some strategic aspects of the application of these materials in cancer treatment are also discussed. In vitro studies have indicated that graphene oxide can also promote stem cell adhesion, growth and differentiation, and this review discusses the recent and pertinent findings regarding graphene oxide as a valuable nanomaterial for stem cell research in medicine. The protein corona is a key concept in nanomedicine and nanotoxicology because it provides a biomolecular identity for nanomaterials in a biological environment. Understanding protein corona-nanomaterial interactions and their influence on cellular responses is a challenging task at the nanobiointerface. New aspects and developments in this area are discussed.

Interplay Of Weak Interactions In The Atom-by-atom Condensation Of Xenon Within Quantum Boxes.

Condensation processes are of key importance in nature and play a fundamental role in chemistry and physics. Owing to size effects at the nanoscale, it is conceptually desired to experimentally probe the dependence of condensate structure on the number of constituents one by one. Here we present an approach to study a condensation process atom-by-atom with the scanning tunnelling microscope, which provides a direct real-space access with atomic precision to the aggregates formed in atomically defined 'quantum boxes'. Our analysis reveals the subtle interplay of competing directional and nondirectional interactions in the emergence of structure and provides unprecedented input for the structural comparison with quantum mechanical models. This approach focuses on-but is not limited to-the model case of xenon condensation and goes significantly beyond the well-established statistical size analysis of clusters in atomic or molecular beams by mass spectrometry.

Effect of zinc insertion and hydrophobicity on the membrane interactions and PDT activity of porphyrin photosensitizers

A series of photosensitizers (PS), which are meso-substituted tetra-cationic porphyrins, was synthesized in order to study the role of amphiphilicity and zinc insertion in photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy. Several properties of the PS were evaluated and compared within the series including photophysical properties (absorption spectra, fluorescence quantum yield Phi(f), and singlet oxygen quantum yield Phi(Delta)), uptake by vesicles, mitochondria and HeLa cells, dark and phototoxicity in HeLa cells. The photophysical properties of all compounds are quite similar (Phi(f) <= 0.02; Phi(Delta) similar to 0.8). An increase in lipophilicity and the presence of zinc in the porphyrin ring result in higher vesicle and cell uptake. Binding in mitochondria is dependent on the PS lipophilicity and on the electrochemical membrane potential, i.e., in uncoupled mitochondria PS binding decreases by up to 53%. The porphyrin substituted with octyl groups (TC8PyP) is the compound that is most enriched in mitochondria, and its zinc derivative (ZnTC8PyP) has the highest global uptake. The stronger membrane interaction of the zinc-substituted porphyrins is attributed to a complexing effect with phosphate groups of the phospholipids. Zinc insertion was also shown to decrease the interaction with isolated mitochondria and with the mitochondria of HeLa cells, an effect that has been explained by the particular characteristics of the mitochondrial internal membrane. Phototoxicity was shown to increase proportionally with membrane binding efficiency, which is attributed to favorable membrane interactions which allow more efficient membrane photooxidation. For this series of compounds, photodynamic efficiency is directly proportional to the membrane binding and cell uptake, but it is not totally related to mitochondrial targeting.

Transforming Youth Identities: Interactions Across ""Races/Colors/Ethnicities,"" Gender, Class, and Sexualities in Johannesburg, South Africa

In South Africa, and especially in Johannesburg, apartheid's ""racial"" paradigms are being transformed. Fifteen years after the end of apartheid and the elimination of all forms of inequity based on notion of ""race,"" including the abolition of the Immorality Act of 1949 that prohibited mixed marriages, the discourses of youth challenge preestablished boundaries. Today, the South African Constitution gives people the right to proclaim their sexual orientation and to shape their own identities. Through ethnographic observations carried out in Johannesburg and in-depth interviews with young people, this paper explores transforming notions of identity based on ""race/color/ethnicity,"" gender, class, and sexuality. The dynamics and challenges faced by young people with regards to mixed interactions in post-apartheid Johannesburg are analyzed and the paper looks at how "" race,"" gender, and sexuality interact in the various spaces in Johannesburg and how they affect young people's lives, particularly their perceptions of risk, violence, and HIV/AIDS vulnerability.

Genomics and proteomics approaches to the study of cancer-stroma interactions

Background: The development and progression of cancer depend on its genetic characteristics as well as on the interactions with its microenvironment. Understanding these interactions may contribute to diagnostic and prognostic evaluations and to the development of new cancer therapies. Aiming to investigate potential mechanisms by which the tumor microenvironment might contribute to a cancer phenotype, we evaluated soluble paracrine factors produced by stromal and neoplastic cells which may influence proliferation and gene and protein expression. Methods: The study was carried out on the epithelial cancer cell line (Hep-2) and fibroblasts isolated from a primary oral cancer. We combined a conditioned-medium technique with subtraction hybridization approach, quantitative PCR and proteomics, in order to evaluate gene and protein expression influenced by soluble paracrine factors produced by stromal and neoplastic cells. Results: We observed that conditioned medium from fibroblast cultures (FCM) inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in Hep-2 cells. In neoplastic cells, 41 genes and 5 proteins exhibited changes in expression levels in response to FCM and, in fibroblasts, 17 genes and 2 proteins showed down-regulation in response to conditioned medium from Hep-2 cells (HCM). Nine genes were selected and the expression results of 6 down-regulated genes (ARID4A, CALR, GNB2L1, RNF10, SQSTM1, USP9X) were validated by real time PCR. Conclusions: A significant and common denominator in the results was the potential induction of signaling changes associated with immune or inflammatory response in the absence of a specific protein.

Evaluating gene by sex and age interactions on cardiovascular risk factors in Brazilian families

Background: In family studies, it is important to evaluate the impact of genes and environmental factors on traits of interest. In particular, the relative influences of both genes and the environment may vary in different strata of the population of interest, such as young and old individuals, or males and females. Methods: In this paper, extensions of the variance components model are used to evaluate heterogeneity in the genetic and environmental variance components due to the effects of sex and age (the cutoff between young and old was 43 yrs). The data analyzed were from 81 Brazilian families (1,675 individuals) of the Baependi Family Heart Study. Results: The models allowing for heterogeneity of variance components by sex suggest that genetic and environmental variances are not different in males and females for diastolic blood pressure, LDL-cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol, independent of the covariates included in the models. However, for systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose and triglycerides, the evidence for heterogeneity was dependent on the covariates in the model. For instance, in the presence of sex and age covariates, heterogeneity in the genetic variance component was suggested for fasting glucose. But, for systolic blood pressure, there was no evidence of heterogeneity in any of the two variance components. Except for the LDL-cholesterol, models allowing for heterogeneity by age provide evidence of heterogeneity in genetic variance for triglycerides and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. There was evidence of heterogeneity in environmental variance in fasting glucose and HDL-cholesterol. Conclusions: Our results suggest that heterogeneity in trait variances should not be ignored in the design and analyses of gene-finding studies involving these traits, as it may generate additional information about gene effects, and allow the investigation of more sophisticated models such as the model including sex-specific oligogenic variance components.