Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autistic traits predict performance on the block design

The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) has been developed to measure the degree to which an adult with normal intelligence has autistic traits. Although use of the AQ has resulted in a number of important findings, few studies have assessed whether scores predict cognitive aspects of ASD. This study assessed whether AQ scores predicted performance on an adapted block design. The test was adapted with a `whole' and a `segmented' task. High AQ scorers performed better than low scorers on the `whole' task in the block design but performed equivalently on the `segmented' task, as would be predicted in the autism spectrum. These findings add to the evidence showing construct validity for the AQ.
In Vitro Potency and In Vivo Efficacy of a Novel Bis-Indole Antimicrobial Compound in Reducing Catheter Colonization

ABSTRACT Vascular catheters coated with a novel antimicrobial agent (MBX1631) were studied for their ability to protect against bacterial colonization in vitro and in a rabbit model. MBX1631-coated catheters were significantly less likely to become colonized than control catheters both in vitro and in vivo (P < 0.001). Furthermore, device-associated infection was significantly lower in MBX1631-coated catheters than in uncoated ones (P < 0.005).
Pitch discrimination and melodic memory in children with autism spectrum disorders

Background: Pitch perception is enhanced among persons with autism. We extended this finding to memory for pitch and melody among school-aged children. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate pitch memory in musically untrained children with autism spectrum disorders, aged 7–13 years, and to compare it to that of age- and IQ-matched typically developing children. Methods: The children were required to discriminate isolated tones in two differing contexts as well to remember melodies after a period of 1 week. The tasks were designed to employ both short- and long-term memory for music. For the pitch discrimination task, the children first had to indicate whether two isolated tones were the same or different when the second was the same or had been altered to be 25, 35, or 45 cents sharp or flat. Second, the children discriminated the tones within the context of melody. They were asked whether two melodies were the same or different when the leading tone of the second melody was the same or had been altered to be 25, 35, or 45 cents sharp or flat. Long-term memory for melody was also investigated, as the children attempted to recall four different two-bar melodies after 1 week. Results: The children with autism spectrum disorders demonstrated elevated pitch discrimination ability in the single-tone and melodic context as well as superior long-term memory for melody. Pitch memory correlated positively with scores on measures of nonverbal fluid reasoning ability. Conclusion: Superior short- and long-term pitch memory was found among children with autism spectrum disorders. The results indicate an aspect to cognitive functioning that may predict both enhanced nonverbal reasoning ability and atypical language development.
Expansion of Clonal Complex 258 KPC-2-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in Latin American Hospitals: Report of the SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program

We read with interest the article by Andrade et al. ([1][1]) describing the presence of the KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae clonal complex 258 (CC258), including sequence type 258 (ST258), ST11, and ST437, in Brazilian hospitals. CC258 K. pneumoniae strains have been described in several
Metacognitive judgments-of-learning in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

This study investigated metacognitive monitoring abilities in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder in two experiments using the judgment-of-learning paradigm. Participants were asked to predict their future recall of unrelated word pairs during the learning phase. Experiment 1 compared judgments-of-learning made immediately after learning and judgments-of-learning made after a delay. We found that both groups overestimated their memory performance but that overall there were no group differences in judgment-of-learning accuracy. Additionally, both groups displayed the standard delayed judgment-of-learning effect (yielding greater judgment accuracy in delayed compared to immediate judgments), suggesting that both groups were able to use appropriate information in making their judgments-of-learning. Experiment 2 assessed whether adolescents with autism spectrum disorder could regulate their study time according to their judgments-of-learning using a self-paced learning procedure. Results showed that both groups spent more time learning items given lower judgments-of-learning. Finally, Experiment 2 showed that judgments-of-learning and study time varied according to item difficulty in both groups. As a whole, these findings demonstrate that adolescents with autism spectrum disorder can accurately gauge their memory performance while learning new word associations and use these skills to control their study time at learning.
Assessment of methadone as an anaesthetic premedicant in cats

Ninety cats scheduled to undergo surgical procedures requiring the provision of postoperative analgesia were premedicated with either 0·1, 0·3 or 0·5 mgl/kg of racemic methadone by intramuscular injection. Each cat was assessed on three behavioural criteria before administration and again 20 minutes later. In a further 20 cats a specific assessment was made of the respiratory rate, heart rate and intraoperative minute volume during ovariohysterectomy following premedication with methadone (0·5 mgl/kg intramuscularly). In these cats an assessment of duration of analgesia was attempted. There was no significant change in behavioural scores following premedication with methadone. No cat vomited or became excited. No evidence of serious respiratory depression was found in the 20 cats monitored in detail. Duration of analgesia in cats receiving methadone (0·5 mgl/kg intramuscularly) before ovariohysterectomy varied from 1·5 to over 6·5 hours. Methadone may be used at dose rates of up to 0·5 mg/kg as a premedicant for cats without significant risk of undesirable behavioural changes or serious intraoperative respiratory depression when combined with the anaesthetic protocol described.
Working memory arrest in children with high-functioning autism compared to children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Results from a 2-year longitudinal study

The aim of this study was to analyse the development of verbal working memory in children with high-functioning autism compared to children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typically developing children. A total of 34 children with high-functioning autism, 72 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and 45 typically developing children (age 9–16 years) were included at baseline and followed up approximately 25 months later. The children were given a letter/number sequencing task to assess verbal working memory. The performance of children with high-functioning autism on verbal working memory did not improve after 2 years, while improvement was observed in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typically developing children. The results indicate a different developmental trajectory for verbal working memory in children with high-functioning autism compared to children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typically developing children. More research is needed to construct a developmental framework more suitable for children with autism spectrum disorder.
Autistic expertise: A critical reflection on the production of knowledge in autism studies

The field of autism studies is a highly disputed territory within which competing contradictory discourses abound. In this field, it is the voices and claims of autistic people regarding their own expertise in knowledge production concerning autism that is most recent in the debate, and traditionally the least attended to. In this article, I utilise the theories of Harry Collins and colleagues in order to reflect upon and conceptualise the various claims to knowledge production and expertise within the field of autism studies, from the perspective of an author who has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. The notion that autistic people lack sociality is problematised, with the suggestion that autistic people are not well described by notions such as the ‘social brain’, or as possessing ‘zero degrees of cognitive empathy’. I then argue, however, that there is a qualitative difference in autistic sociality, and question to what extent such differences are of a biological or cultural nature, and to what extent interactional expertise can be gained by both parties in interactions between autistic and non-autistic people. In conclusion, I argue that autistic people have often become distrustful of researchers and their aims, and are frequently frozen out of the processes of knowledge production. Such a context results in a negative feedback spiral with further damage to the growth of interactional expertise between researchers and autistic people, and a breakdown in trust and communication leading to an increase in tension between stakeholder groups. The involvement of autistic scholars in research and improvements in participatory methods can thus be seen as a requirement, if social research in the field of autism is to claim ethical and epistemological integrity.
Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting adapted to Autism (VIPP-AUTI): A randomized controlled trial

In a randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the early intervention program Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting adapted to Autism (VIPP-AUTI) with 78 primary caregivers and their child (16–61 months) with Autism Spectrum Disorder. VIPP-AUTI is a brief attachment-based intervention program, focusing on improving parent–child interaction and reducing the child’s individual Autism Spectrum Disorder–related symptomatology in five home visits. VIPP-AUTI, as compared with usual care, demonstrated efficacy in reducing parental intrusiveness. Moreover, parents who received VIPP-AUTI showed increased feelings of self-efficacy in child rearing. No significant group differences were found on other aspects of parent–child interaction or on child play behavior. At 3-months follow-up, intervention effects were found on child-initiated joint attention skills, not mediated by intervention effects on parenting. Implementation of VIPP-AUTI in clinical practice is facilitated by the use of a detailed manual and a relatively brief training of interveners.
Effects of α‐methyldopa on blood pressure in the anaesthetized dog

Intravenous infusion over 1 h of 20 mg kg−1 of α‐methyldopa produced hypotension in the anaesthetized dog. The magnitude of this effect was, however, inversely correlated with bodyweight. Either rapid intravenous injection of α‐methyldopa or slow infusion of α‐methyldopate was less effective in lowering blood pressure than infusion of free α‐methyldopa, in dogs of equivalent bodyweight. Infusion of α‐methyldopa into a vertebral or internal carotid artery produced hypotensive responses but these were no greater and generally less than those obtained to intravenous infusion. α‐Methyldopa was therefore capable of producing hypotension in the dog but no evidence was obtained for this being the result of an action within the brain.
Inducible l-Alanine Exporter Encoded by the Novel Gene ygaW (alaE) in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT We previously isolated a mutant hypersensitive to l-alanyl-l-alanine from a non-l-alanine-metabolizing Escherichia coli strain and found that it lacked an inducible l-alanine export system. Consequently, this mutant showed a significant accumulation of intracellular l-alanine and a reduction in the l-alanine export rate compared to the parent strain. When the mutant was used as a host to clone a gene(s) that complements the dipeptide-hypersensitive phenotype, two uncharacterized genes, ygaW and ytfF, and two characterized genes, yddG and yeaS, were identified. Overexpression of each gene in the mutant resulted in a decrease in the intracellular l-alanine level and enhancement of the l-alanine export rate in the presence of the dipeptide, suggesting that their products function as exporters of l-alanine. Since ygaW exhibited the most striking impact on both the intra- and the extracellular l-alanine levels among the four genes identified, we disrupted the ygaW gene in the non-l-alanine-metabolizing strain. The resulting isogenic mutant showed the same intra- and extracellular l-alanine levels as observed in the dipeptide-hypersensitive mutant obtained by chemical mutagenesis. When each gene was overexpressed in the wild-type strain, which does not intrinsically excrete alanine, only the ygaW gene conferred on the cells the ability to excrete alanine. In addition, expression of the ygaW gene was induced in the presence of the dipeptide. On the basis of these results, we concluded that YgaW is likely to be the physiologically most relevant exporter for l-alanine in E. coli and proposed that the gene be redesignated alaE for alanine export.
Quality versus quantity: The role of socioeconomic status on parent-reported service knowledge, service use, unmet service needs, and barriers to service use

Research within the autism spectrum disorder field has emphasized the role of socioeconomic status in shaping parents’ ability to access services for their child with autism spectrum disorder. However, research has yet to explore the possible mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study sought to address this research gap by examining the following questions: (1) Does parents’ service knowledge mediate the relationship between parent socioeconomic status and parents’ autism spectrum disorder service use? (2) What are parents’ reported service needs and service barriers, and do these needs vary across higher and lower socioeconomic status groups? Quantitative results from 244 parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder indicate that parents’ autism spectrum disorder service knowledge partially mediates the relationship between parent socioeconomic status and parents’ autism spectrum disorder service use. Qualitative findings helped to clarify this relationship by suggesting that both high and low socioeconomic status parents are aware of their child’s basic autism spectrum disorder needs. However, low socioeconomic status parents more often report needing more information about services and more in-home services and emphasize that a number of structural barriers impede their ability to meet their child’s autism spectrum disorder needs. On the other hand, high socioeconomic status parents more often report a need for “higher quality services,” possibly reflecting their better recognition of best practice guidelines. These results highlight the need for a multi-pronged approach to tackling unmet service needs within the autism spectrum disorder field.
Reservoir Competence of Various Rodents for the Lyme Disease Spirochete Borrelia spielmanii

ABSTRACT To determine whether the pathogenic Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia spielmanii is adapted exclusively to garden dormice, we compared the reservoir competence of various rodent species for this spirochete, including sympatric and peridomestic rodents. The different kinds of rodents varied in their attractiveness to nymphal ticks and their level of susceptibility to tick-borne B. spielmanii infection, but only the edible dormouse appeared to be refractory. Although hazel dormice and Norway rats became infectious to ticks somewhat later than did garden dormice, they remained infectious for a longer period of time. During the course of a tick season, garden and hazel dormice contributed theoretically more than twice as many B. spielmanii-infected ticks than the somewhat less susceptible Norway rats and wood or yellow-necked mice. Hazel dormice appeared to be extraordinarily competent as reservoir hosts for B. spielmanii. Because peridomestic rodents proved to be reservoir competent, urban foci of transmission of B. spielmanii may affect the health of townspeople.
Platinum Nanocatalyst Amplification: Redefining the Gold Standard for Lateral Flow Immunoassays with Ultrabroad Dynamic Range

Paper-based lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs) are one of the most widely used point-of-care (PoC) devices; however, their application in early disease diagnostics is often limited due to insufficient sensitivity for the requisite sample sizes and the short time frames of PoC testing. To address this, we developed a serum-stable, nanoparticle catalyst-labeled LFIA with a sensitivity surpassing that of both current commercial and published sensitivities for paper-based detection of p24, one of the earliest and most conserved biomarkers of HIV. We report the synthesis and characterization of porous platinum core–shell nanocatalysts (PtNCs), which show high catalytic activity when exposed to complex human blood serum samples. We explored the application of antibody-functionalized PtNCs with strategically and orthogonally modified nanobodies with high affinity and specificity toward p24 and established the key larger nanoparticle size regimes needed for efficient amplification and performance in LFIA. Harnessing the catalytic amplification of PtNCs enabled naked-eye detection of p24 spiked into sera in the low femtomolar range (ca. 0.8 pg·mL–1) and the detection of acute-phase HIV in clinical human plasma samples in under 20 min. This provides a versatile absorbance-based and rapid LFIA with sensitivity capable of significantly reducing the HIV acute phase detection window. This diagnostic may be readily adapted for detection of other biomolecules as an ultrasensitive screening tool for infectious and noncommunicable diseases and can be capitalized upon in PoC settings for early disease detection.
How are they doing? Listening as fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder compare themselves to fathers of children who are typically developing

The growing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder is accompanied by ongoing efforts to understand and support parents in the face of challenges related to their child’s autism spectrum disorder. Although fathers are increasingly hands-on in raising children, research focus on parenting children with autism spectrum disorder continues to be skewed toward experiences of mothers. Our purpose in this article is to contribute understandings of how fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder perceive themselves to be managing, and we undertake this by examining comparisons fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder make between their parenting experiences and experiences of fathers of typically developing children. A purposive sample of 28 fathers of children (aged 2–13 years) with autism spectrum disorder living in an urban center in Western Canada participated in in-depth interviews about their parenting successes and challenges. We found fathers speak of universal fathering experiences yet articulate their own sense of loss and efforts to come to terms with unanticipated demands associated with autism spectrum disorder. Fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder feel “pangs of jealousy” toward fathers of typically developing children, yet they are keenly attentive to their own child’s development and convey a sense of gratitude for their child’s capabilities and personality amidst an appreciation for trials and triumphs of fathering in general and fathering a child with autism spectrum disorder in particular.
Activity and Viability of Methanogens in Anaerobic Digestion of Unsaturated and Saturated Long-Chain Fatty Acids

Lipids can be anaerobically digested to methane, but methanogens are often considered to be highly sensitive to the long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) deriving from lipids hydrolysis. In this study, the effect of unsaturated (oleate [C18:1]) and saturated (stearate [C18:0] and palmitate [C16:0]) LCFA toward methanogenic archaea was studied in batch enrichments and in pure cultures. Overall, oleate had a more stringent effect on methanogens than saturated LCFA, and the degree of tolerance to LCFA was different among distinct species of methanogens. Methanobacterium formicicum was able to grow in both oleate- and palmitate-degrading enrichments (OM and PM cultures, respectively), whereas Methanospirillum hungatei only survived in a PM culture. The two acetoclastic methanogens tested, Methanosarcina mazei and Methanosaeta concilii, could be detected in both enrichment cultures, with better survival in PM cultures than in OM cultures. Viability tests using live/dead staining further confirmed that exponential growth-phase cultures of M. hungatei are more sensitive to oleate than are M. formicicum cultures; exposure to 0.5 mM oleate damaged 99% ï¿½ 1% of the cell membranes of M. hungatei and 53% ï¿½ 10% of the cell membranes of M. formicicum. In terms of methanogenic activity, M. hungatei was inhibited for 50% by 0.3, 0.4, and 1 mM oleate, stearate, and palmitate, respectively. M. formicicum was more resilient, since 1 mM oleate and >4 mM stearate or palmitate was needed to cause 50% inhibition on methanogenic activity.
Significant Natural Product Biosynthetic Potential of Actinorhizal Symbionts of the Genus Frankia, as Revealed by Comparative Genomic and Proteomic Analyses

ABSTRACT Bacteria of the genus Frankia are mycelium-forming actinomycetes that are found as nitrogen-fixing facultative symbionts of actinorhizal plants. Although soil-dwelling actinomycetes are well-known producers of bioactive compounds, the genus Frankia has largely gone uninvestigated for this potential. Bioinformatic analysis of the genome sequences of Frankia strains ACN14a, CcI3, and EAN1pec revealed an unexpected number of secondary metabolic biosynthesis gene clusters. Our analysis led to the identification of at least 65 biosynthetic gene clusters, the vast majority of which appear to be unique and for which products have not been observed or characterized. More than 25 secondary metabolite structures or structure fragments were predicted, and these are expected to include cyclic peptides, siderophores, pigments, signaling molecules, and specialized lipids. Outside the hopanoid gene locus, no cluster could be convincingly demonstrated to be responsible for the few secondary metabolites previously isolated from other Frankia strains. Few clusters were shared among the three species, demonstrating species-specific biosynthetic diversity. Proteomic analysis of Frankia sp. strains CcI3 and EAN1pec showed that significant and diverse secondary metabolic activity was expressed in laboratory cultures. In addition, several prominent signals in the mass range of peptide natural products were observed in Frankia sp. CcI3 by intact-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). This work supports the value of bioinformatic investigation in natural products biosynthesis using genomic information and presents a clear roadmap for natural products discovery in the Frankia genus.