Attention, memory and verbal learning and their relation to schizotypal traits in unaffected parents of schizophrenic patients

The main objective of this ex post facto study is to compare the differencesin cognitive functions and their relation to schizotypal personality traits between agroup of unaffected parents of schizophrenic patients and a control group. A total of 52unaffected biological parents of schizophrenic patients and 52 unaffected parents ofunaffected subjects were assessed in measures of attention (Continuous PerformanceTest- Identical Pairs Version, CPT-IP), memory and verbal learning (California VerbalLearning Test, CVLT) as well as schizotypal personality traits (Oxford-Liverpool Inventoryof Feelings and Experiences, O-LIFE). The parents of the patients with schizophreniadiffer from the parents of the control group in omission errors on the ContinuousPerformance Test- Identical Pairs, on a measure of recall and on two contrast measuresof the California Verbal Learning Test. The associations between neuropsychologicalvariables and schizotpyal traits are of a low magnitude. There is no defined pattern ofthe relationship between cognitive measures and schizotypal traits

Eeny meeny miny moe, catch a transcript by the toe, or how to enumerate eukaryotic transcripts.

In this issue of Genes & Development, Revyakin and colleagues (pp. 1691-1702) measure the relation between individual RNA polymerase II transcription events and transcription factor assembly by counting RNA transcripts retained on the template DNA using single-molecule fluorescence.

Intraoperative assessment of vascular access.

PURPOSE: The intraoperative quality assessment of the arteriovenous fistula for hemodialysis is an essential process to limit early failure due to technical problems or inadequate vascular quality. This step is not clearly defined in the literature with no recommendations. METHODS: We selected published articles related to the topic of intraoperative quality control of the vascular access for hemodialysis. RESULTS: The intraoperative blood flow measurement greater than 120 ml/min in autologous fistula and less than 320 ml/min in arteriovenous graft was described as predictive factors for early failure. CONCLUSIONS: The blood flow measurement should be performed after the confection of the anastomosis. When blood flow is limited, fistulography is an essential step to assess patency.

ITE Education News, November/December 2003

Newsletter produced by the Iowa Information Technology Enterprise

Iowa Board of Parole Annual Report, 2001

Annual report produced by Iowa Board of Parole

Les Charmes de la vie : [estampe] / gravé par Pierre Aveline ; d'après Watteau

Référence bibliographique : Dacier et Vuaflart, 183

Les métamorphoses d'Ovide , en latin et françois, divisées en XV livres. Avec de nouvelles explications historiques... sur toutes les fables, chacune selon son sujet, de la traduction de M. Pierre Du Ryer,...

[Les métamorphoses (français-latin). 1702]

Predicting clinical scores from magnetic resonance scans in Alzheimer's disease.

Machine learning and pattern recognition methods have been used to diagnose Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from individual MRI scans. Another application of such methods is to predict clinical scores from individual scans. Using relevance vector regression (RVR), we predicted individuals' performances on established tests from their MRI T1 weighted image in two independent data sets. From Mayo Clinic, 73 probable AD patients and 91 cognitively normal (CN) controls completed the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), and Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) within 3months of their scan. Baseline MRI's from the Alzheimer's disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) comprised the other data set; 113 AD, 351 MCI, and 122 CN subjects completed the MMSE and Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subtest (ADAS-cog) and 39 AD, 92 MCI, and 32 CN ADNI subjects completed MMSE, ADAS-cog, and AVLT. Predicted and actual clinical scores were highly correlated for the MMSE, DRS, and ADAS-cog tests (P<0.0001). Training with one data set and testing with another demonstrated stability between data sets. DRS, MMSE, and ADAS-Cog correlated better than AVLT with whole brain grey matter changes associated with AD. This result underscores their utility for screening and tracking disease. RVR offers a novel way to measure interactions between structural changes and neuropsychological tests beyond that of univariate methods. In clinical practice, we envision using RVR to aid in diagnosis and predict clinical outcome.

Cosmopolitan justice and minority rights: the case of minority nations (or Kant again, but different)

Global Justice has usually been understood to mean institutional and social justice (political and redistributive issues on a global scale). In contrast, issues involving different national and cultural identities, are usually marginal in reflections on global justice. This occurs despite the fact that human rights include political social and cultural rights. This paper links a conception of global justice, moral cosmopolitanism, with plurinational democracies. After giving a brief description of moral cosmopolitanism I go on to analyse notions of cosmopolitanism and patriotism in Kant's work and the political significance that the notion of "unsocial sociability" and the "Ideas of Pure Reason" of Kant's first Critique have for cosmopolitanism. Finally, I analyse the relationship between cosmopolitanism and minority nations based on the preceding sections. I postulate the need for a moral and institutional refinement of democracies and international society that is better able to accommodate national pluralism than has so far been achieved by traditional liberal constitutionalism and cosmopolitanism

FGF-2 controls the differentiation of resident cardiac precursors into functional cardiomyocytes.

Recent evidence suggests that the heart possesses a greater regeneration capacity than previously thought. In the present study, we isolated undifferentiated precursors from the cardiac nonmyocyte cell population of neonatal hearts, expanded them in culture, and induced them to differentiate into functional cardiomyocytes. These cardiac precursors appear to express stem cell antigen-1 and demonstrate characteristics of multipotent precursors of mesodermal origin. Following infusion into normal recipients, these cells home to the heart and participate in physiological and pathophysiological cardiac remodeling. Cardiogenic differentiation in vitro and in vivo depends on FGF-2. Interestingly, this factor does not control the number of precursors but regulates the differentiation process. These findings suggest that, besides its angiogenic actions, FGF-2 could be used in vivo to facilitate the mobilization and differentiation of resident cardiac precursors in the treatment of cardiac diseases.

Carte de la Grèce ancienne pour servir à l'histoire des Juifs de Mr. Prideaux / G. par L. Borde

Échelle(s) : [1:2 900 000 environ], Echelle, Stades grecs a 600 au D. [600 = 3,8 cm]