The authors review studies of mentally simulated movements. In automatic or cyclical movements, actual and motor imagery (MI) durations are similar. When athletes simulate only dynamic phases of ...movement or perform MI just before competing, however, environmental and time constraints lead to an underestimation of actual duration. Conversely, complex attention-demanding movements take longer to image. Finally, participants can modify the speed of MI voluntarily when they receive specific instructions. To complete the available data, the authors compared imagined and actual durations in tennis and gymnastics. Results showed systematic and disproportionate overestimation of actual duration. The authors found a relationship between complex motor skills and MI duration. They discuss the factors leading to over- and underestimation and the hypotheses that could be tested.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FSPLJ, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Xp11 translocation renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is an RCC subtype affecting 15% of RCC patients <45 years. We analyzed the benefit of targeted therapy vascular endothelial growth factor receptor ...(VEGFR)-targeted agents and/or mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors in these patients.
Patients with Xp11 translocation/TFE3 fusion gene metastatic RCC who had received targeted therapy were identified. Nuclear TFE3 positivity was confirmed by reviewing pathology slides. Responses according to RECIST criteria, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were analyzed.
Overall, 53 patients were identified; 23 had metastatic disease, and of these 21 had received targeted therapy (median age 34 years). Seven patients achieved an objective response. In first line, median PFS was 8.2 months 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.6–14.7 months for sunitinib (n = 11) versus 2 months (95% CI 0.8–3.3 months) for cytokines (n = 9) (log-rank P = 0.003). Results for further treatment (second, third, or fourth line) were as follows: all three patients receiving sunitinib had a partial response (median PFS 11 months). Seven of eight patients receiving sorafenib had stable disease (median PFS 6 months). One patient receiving mTOR inhibitors had a partial response and six patients had stable disease. Median OS was 27 months with a 19 months median follow-up.
In Xp11 translocation RCC, targeted therapy achieved objective responses and prolonged PFS similar to those reported for clear-cell RCC.
Highlights • We tested the effect of integrated motor imagery (MI) practice on isometric force performance. • Force was higher after MI of muscle activation and relaxation compared to control. • ...Muscle activation was also higher during the two MI conditions compared to the control condition. • MI of muscle activation outperformed MI of muscle relaxation in force performance yet, comparable activation of the main agonist muscle was however recorded during the two MI conditions. • Differences between the two MI conditions might reflect differences in synergic muscles’ activation.
The impact of cell (mobile) phone use on driving performance has been widely questioned for 20 years. This paper reviews the literature to evaluate the extent to which phoning may impact behaviour ...with a risk to affect safety. After analysing epidemiological studies that give an overview of cell phone use, this paper examines the experimental results and focuses on variables showing that driving is impacted by holding a mobile-phone conversation. Information processing (e.g. reaction time and detection rate of cues related to driving information) and variables associated with vehicle control (e.g. lane-keeping, headway and vehicle speed) seem the most relevant. Although less studied than behavioural indices, physiological data give information about the supplementary potential strain that the driver may undergo under dual-task conditions. This first part of the review highlights common findings, questionable results and differences among studies, which originate from specific experimental designs with particular dependent variables, i.e. self-report, behavioural and physiological indicators. Finally, how drivers try to compensate for the additional load brought by phone use is described.
Statement of Relevance: The two papers review the influence of mobile-phone use on driving performance. While there is ample evidence that this dual task is likely to increase the risk of car crash, the review analyses the variables eliciting detrimental conditions and, conversely, those that may preserve acceptable conditions for safety, close to usual driving. The decision of answering or initiating a cell phone call while driving depends upon the complex interaction among several variables, including driving conditions and driver's own characteristics. In addition, this decision remains under driver's awareness of being able or not to manage the two tasks simultaneously.
Essentials
Bleeding incidence as hemorrhagic risk factors are unknown in palliative care inpatients.
We conducted a multicenter observational study (22 Palliative Care Units, 1199 patients).
At three ...months, the cumulative incidence of clinically relevant bleeding was 9.8%.
Cancer, recent bleeding, thromboprophylaxis and antiplatelet therapy were independent risk factors.
Summary
Background
The value of primary thromboprophylaxis in patients admitted to palliative care units is debatable. Moreover, the risk of bleeding in these patients is unknown.
Objectives
Our primary aim was to assess the bleeding risk of patients in a real‐world practice setting of hospital palliative care. Our secondary aim was to determine the incidence of symptomatic deep vein thrombosis and to identify risk factors for bleeding.
Patients/Methods
In this prospective, observational study in 22 French palliative care units, 1199 patients (median age, 71 years; male, 45.5%), admitted for the first time to a palliative care unit for advanced cancer or pulmonary, cardiac or neurologic disease were included. The primary outcome was adjudicated clinically relevant bleeding (i.e. a composite of major and clinically relevant non‐major bleeding) at 3 months. The secondary outcome was symptomatic deep vein thrombosis.
Results
The most common reason for palliative care was cancer (90.7%). By 3 months, 1087 patients (91.3%) had died and 116 patients had presented at least one episode of clinically relevant bleeding (fatal in 23 patients). Taking into account the competing risk of death, the cumulative incidence of clinically relevant bleeding was 9.8% (95% confidence interval CI, 8.3–11.6). Deep vein thrombosis occurred in six patients (cumulative incidence, 0.5%; 95% CI, 0.2–1.1). Cancer, recent bleeding, antithrombotic prophylaxis and antiplatelet therapy were independently associated with clinically relevant bleeding at 3 months.
Conclusions
Decisions regarding the use of thromboprophylaxis in palliative care patients should take into account the high risk of bleeding in these patients.
The purpose of the current article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature offering a better understanding of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) correlates in motor imagery (MI) and ...movement observation. These are two high brain functions involving sensori-motor coupling, mediated by memory systems. How observing or mentally rehearsing a movement affect ANS activity has not been extensively investigated. The links between cognitive functions and ANS responses are not so obvious. We will first describe the organization of the ANS whose main purposes are controlling vital functions by maintaining the homeostasis of the organism and providing adaptive responses when changes occur either in the external or internal milieu. We will then review how scientific knowledge evolved, thus integrating recent findings related to ANS functioning, and show how these are linked to mental functions. In turn, we will describe how movement observation or MI may elicit physiological responses at the peripheral level of the autonomic effectors, thus eliciting autonomic correlates to cognitive activity. Key features of this paper are to draw a step-by step progression from the understanding of ANS physiology to its relationships with high mental processes such as movement observation or MI. We will further provide evidence that mental processes are co-programmed both at the somatic and autonomic levels of the central nervous system (CNS). We will thus detail how peripheral physiological responses may be analyzed to provide objective evidence that MI is actually performed. The main perspective is thus to consider that, during movement observation and MI, ANS activity is an objective witness of mental processes.
Summary
We identified a genetic context encoding a transcriptional regulator of the Rgg family and a small hydrophobic peptide (SHP) in nearly all streptococci and suggested that it may be involved ...in a new quorum‐sensing mechanism, with SHP playing the role of a pheromone. Here, we provide further support for this hypothesis by constructing a phylogenetic tree of the Rgg and Rgg‐like proteins from Gram‐positive bacteria and by studying the shp/rgg1358 locus of Streptococcus thermophilus LMD‐9. We identified the shp1358 gene as a target of Rgg1358, and used it to confirm the existence of the steps of a quorum‐sensing mechanism including secretion, maturation and reimportation of the pheromone into the cell. We used surface plasmon resonance to demonstrate interaction between the pheromone and the regulatory protein and performed electrophoretic mobility shift assays to assess binding of the transcriptional regulator to the promoter regions of its target genes. The active form of the pheromone was identified by mass spectrometry. Our findings demonstrate that the shp/rgg1358 locus encodes two components of a novel quorum‐sensing mechanism involving a transcriptional regulator of the Rgg family and a SHP pheromone that is detected and reimported into the cell by the Ami oligopeptide transporter.
Albedo is one of the variables controlling the mass balance of temperate glaciers. Multispectral imagers, such as MODerate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the TERRA and AQUA satellites, ...provide a means to monitor glacier surface albedo. In this study, different methods to retrieve broadband glacier surface albedo from MODIS data are compared. The effect of multiple reflections due to the rugged topography and of the anisotropic reflection of snow and ice are particularly investigated. The methods are tested on the Saint Sorlin Glacier (Grandes Rousses area, French Alps). The accuracy of the retrieved albedo is estimated using both field measurements, at two automatic weather stations located on the glacier, and albedo values derived from terrestrial photographs. For summers 2008 and 2009, the root mean square deviation (RMSD) between field measurements and the broadband albedo retrieved from MODIS data at 250 m spatial resolution was found to be 0.052 or about 10% relative error. The RMSD estimated for the MOD10 daily albedo product is about three times higher. One decade (2000-2009) of MODIS data were then processed to create a time series of albedo maps of Saint Sorlin Glacier during the ablation season. The annual mass balance of Saint Sorlin Glacier was compared with the minimum albedo value (average over the whole glacier surface) observed with MODIS during the ablation season. A strong linear correlation exists between the two variables. Furthermore, the date when the average albedo of the whole glacier reaches a minimum closely corresponds to the period when the snow line is located at its highest elevation, thus when the snow line is a good indicator of the glacier equilibrium line. This indicates that this strong correlation results from the fact that the minimal average albedo values of the glacier contains considerable information regarding the relative share of areal surfaces between the ablation zone (i.e. ice with generally low albedo values) and the accumulation zone (i.e. snow with a relatively high albedo). As a consequence, the monitoring of the glacier surface albedo using MODIS data can provide a useful means to evaluate the interannual variability of the glacier mass balance. Finally, the albedo in the ablation area of Saint Sorlin Glacier does not exhibit any decreasing trend over the study period, contrasting with the results obtained on Morteratsch Glacier in the Swiss Alps.
The first paper examined how the variables related to driving performance were impacted by the management of holding a phone conversation. However, the conditions under which this dual task is ...carried out are dependent upon a set of factors that may particularly influence the risk of crash. These conditions are defined by several independent variables, classified into five main categories: i) legislation; ii) phone type (hands-free or hand-held); iii) drivers' features regarding age, gender, personal individual profile and driving experience; iv) conversation content (casual or professional) and its context (held with passengers or with a cell (mobile) phone); v) driving conditions (actual or simulated driving, road type, traffic density and weather). These independent variables determine the general conditions. The way in which these factors are combined and interact one with another thus determines the risk that drivers undergo when a cell phone is used while driving. Finally, this review defined the general conditions of driving for which managing a phone conversation is likely to elicit a high risk of car crash or, conversely, may provide a situation of lower risk, with sufficient acceptance to ensure safety.
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