Evidence-based parent involvement interventions with school-aged children.

This paper reviewed 24 studies of parent involvement for school-aged children conducted between 1980 and 2002 and evaluated them according to the criteria developed by the Task Force on Evidence-Based Interventions in School Psychology. The parent involvement component of all studies had parents helping children learn at home, with most targeting a change in academic performance, including reading skills, mathematics skills, spelling, and homework completion. Results yielded a wide range of treatment effectiveness. The strongest evidence for parent involvement was provided for programs that implemented parent tutoring in the home and targeted a single academic problem of the elementary school-aged child, primarily reading and mathematics skills. Despite promising evidence for the effectiveness of parent home tutoring, it was concluded that the evidence base for the effectiveness of parent involvement as an intervention for children's academic problems is inconclusive due to methodological weaknesses in the studies reviewed. Recommendations for future empirical research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design of an emotional and social interaction paradigm for the animation of 3D characters: the case of a therapy for brain injured people (the mirror neuron paradigm)

We propose an emotional and social interaction paradigm for the behavioural animation of virtual characters. Our research focuses on the production of verbal and paraverbal interactions between a human and a virtual character in the context of virtual therapy. The aim of this project is to assess virtual therapies for the rehabilitation of people with brain injuries caused by cerebral vascular accidents. The therapeutic paradigm is based on the neuroscience concept of “mirror neurones” which emphasise the perceptual side in the process of recovering neural damage. In our paradigm, the patient interacts with a virtual therapist (embodied autonomous agent) that guides and encourages him in order to fulfil the drills. Furthermore and following the “mirror neurone paradigm”, the patient can only see his virtual hands (which are handicapped). The virtual platform provides the patient with a vision of his hands undertaking a movement that he cannot perform. Doing so, we expect that the perception of this virtual movement may improve the recuperation (mirror neurone paradigm). In this paper, we also introduce the notion of an “intelligent emotional character” to produce a sense of social as well as emotional immersion in order to improve the interaction between the patient and the virtual therapist. We discuss the role of emotional interaction in the context of virtual social interaction and in particular its reflexive dimension. Finally, we present an architecture for the animation of virtual characters based on a multidisciplinary approach to model the emotional and social interaction.     

The influence of a large city on some soil properties and metals content

Urban soils differ from the rural ones by the fact that they are more strongly influenced by anthropogenic activities. This influence is often reflected by a high degree of contamination. To investigate the influence a large city can have on its soils and on the surrounding ones, samples within the city of Torino, Italy were compared with a set of surrounding soils developed from the same alluvial parent material. City-country trends were investigated by spatially managing the samples. Results show that the city plays a key role in concentrating some pollutants, such as Pb, Zn, and Cu within its borders. Lead is the element most enriched in the city, presenting a pollution index of 7.5 calculated comparing the two sets of samples. Ni and Cr appear to have a strong natural contribution. The spatial distributions for Pb, Cu and Zn present an abrupt division between urban and rural samples. Unexpectedly, the transport of pollutants from the city to the surrounding areas seems to be limited as no city-country trends with distance are identified. The pH and the sand fraction result also influenced by the city, showing high values. The investigation of possible city-country distance trends has shown to be effective in evaluating the impact a city can have on its soils and on the transport and deposition of contaminants on the surrounding ones.     

Tailoring brushite for in situ setting bone cements

Current strategies in developing calcium phosphate bone substitutes are focused towards in situ setting of the cements under physiological conditions with adequate mechanical properties, which can be tailored to be resorbable by controlling structure and composition. In this study we report the formulation of brushite cements at both physiological and ambient temperature and its effect on the structure and properties. In addition the influence of using both, an alkaline and acidic retardant on the setting and ageing of the cements are reported. Monosodium citrate (pH 3.5 ± 0.1) or trisodium citrate (pH 8.3 ± 0.1) solutions were used at retardants at 23 °C and 37 °C, which clearly indicated that both these parameters influenced strength and microstructure. The ageing of the cements indicated some conversion to monetite, which was predominant in cements formulated at physiological temperature. The results clearly show that the microstructure, resorbability and strength of these in situ setting cements can be manipulated by compositional and temperature ranges to provide wider application as bone substitute materials.     

Homemade traditional cheeses for the isolation of probiotic Enterococcus faecium strains

One hundred twenty-two strains of Enterococcus faecium isolated from Tafí Cheese, a homemade traditional cheese of the highlands in the province of Tucumán, Argentina, were evaluated for their potential application as starter cultures in the manufacture of this traditional cheese. Eleven of the 122 strains showing limited delays in growth in oxgall were selected for the study of bile salts hydrolase activity (BSH), cholesterol reduction, antimicrobial activity, and virulence determinants. Nine strains were able to remove cholesterol in in vitro assays, a property that was closely related to the bile salt hydrolase activity. Only two strains produced active bacteriocins against Listeria strains although genetic evidence for the bacteriocin structural gene was found in six other enterococci strains. No virulence factors were detected in any of the 11 selected strains of enterococci.     

Plasma-etched depth measurement of films using the diffraction of a lamellar grating

An appropriately structured grating allows accurate measurement of the thickness of a thin film. We propose the use of this technique to measure the point-by-point evolution of plasma etching, and consequently the etching rate. We compare this real-time remote sensing technique with other available techniques. We note that this technique is suitable for measuring rapid fluctuations in plasma processes. We describe some experimental results concerning a photoresist film coated on a silicon wafer and predict the theoretical behaviour of other commonly occuring films.     

Spontaneous pneumothorax in cocaine sniffers

PURPOSE: To evaluate intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of measurements in images obtained by the 50 MHz Humphrey Ultrasound Biomicroscope. METHODS: The first stored image of central cornea, central anterior chamber, and angle structures obtained at 50 examinations were measured twice by three observers. Nine different parameters were measured in angle images and two in images of central cornea and anterior chamber. Intraobserver reproducibility was assessed by calculating the coefficient of variation and interobserver reproducibility by a two-ways ANOVA. RESULTS: Intraobserver reproducibility was high for all measurements of central cornea thickness and anterior chamber depth with a coefficient of variation (%) < or = 3.8%. In angle images the intraobserver reproducibility of measurements was often lower (coefficient of variation (%) 1.3-52.6%). The lower reproducibility was most noticeable in measurements involving the less defined structures. Interobserver reproducibility was poor. CONCLUSIONS: Comparison of measurements are best done of well defined structures and by only one observer.     

Predictive value of the shunt-to-infarct size ratio as a surgical risk factor in patients with decompensated post-ischemic interventricular septal rupture

Postischemic septal rupture has always been evaluated, in respect of surgical indication, as regards the time lapse between infarct and rupture, interval between rupture and operation, extension of myocardial damage and general risk factors such as age, sex and associated pathologies. But in fact the surgeon is dealing with a two sided problem, the MI and the rupture, and thus surgical results depend upon both the residual ventricular function after MI and the consequences of volume overload on a damaged muscle. Surgical indication could not be based on a single criterion only. Extension of the MI alone is not fully predictive of operative mortality because, aside the reperfusion injury, the repair further jeopardizes viable myocardium and alters ventricular geometry; although the shunt appears unrelated to mortality it certainly interferes with operative outcome at least because of the time elapsed between rupture and repair. So far an index which could correlate the extension of myocardial damage and the entity of the shunt with each other was not available. Patients with septal rupture follow an emergency protocol and are often insufficiently investigated but every patients has a least one echo-Doppler evaluation or even a ventriculography while one or more ECGs are always available. With the presumption that the Qp/Qs is roughly indicative of the right ventricular volume overload and that ecg signs of myocardial infarct are always reliable, we have reviewed among our 24 patients with septal rupture those where a full ecg tracing and a quantitative Echo or angiographic evaluation of the shunt were available.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)