The current study presents both longitudinal behavioral data and functional activation data documenting the effects of early focal brain injury on the development of spatial analytic processing in ...two children, one with prenatal left hemisphere (LH) injury and one with right hemisphere (RH) injury. A substantial body of evidence has shown that adults and children with early, lateralized brain injury show evidence of spatial analytic deficits. LH injury compromises the ability to encode the parts of a spatial pattern, while RH injury impairs pattern integration. The two children described in this report show patterns of deficit consistent with the site of their injury. In the current study, their longitudinal behavioral data spanning the age range from preschool to adolescence are presented in conjunction with data from a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of spatial processing. The activation results provide evidence that alternative profiles of neural organization can arise following early focal brain injury, and document where in the brain spatial functions are carried out when regions that normally mediate them are damaged. In addition, the coupling of the activation with the behavioral data allows us to go beyond the simple mapping of functional sites, to ask questions about how those sites may have come to mediate the spatial functions.
Summary Purpose A systematic review to establish what evidence is available for swallowing outcomes following IMRT for head and neck cancer. Methods Online electronic databases were searched to ...identify papers published in English from January 1998 to December 2009. Papers were independently appraised by two reviewers for methodological quality, method of swallowing evaluation and categorized according to the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Health Functions. The impact of radiation dose to dysphagia aspiration risk structures (DARS) was also evaluated. Results Sixteen papers met the inclusion criteria. The literature suggests that limiting the radiation dose to certain structures may result in favourable swallowing outcomes. Methodological limitations included variable assessment methods and outcome measures and heterogeneity of patients. There are only limited prospective data, especially where pre-treatment measures have been taken and compared to serial post-treatment assessment. Conclusions Few studies have investigated the impact of IMRT on swallow function and the impact on everyday life. Initial studies have reported potential benefits but are limited in terms of study design and outcome data. Further well designed, prospective, longitudinal swallowing studies including multidimensional evaluation methods are required to enable a more comprehensive understanding of dysphagia complications and inform pre-treatment counselling and rehabilitation planning.
Considerable ambiguity remains over the extent and nature of millennial/centennial-scale climate instability during the Last Interglacial (LIG). Here we analyse marine and terrestrial proxies from a ...deep-sea sediment sequence on the Portuguese Margin and combine results with an intensively dated Italian speleothem record and climate-model experiments. The strongest expression of climate variability occurred during the transitions into and out of the LIG. Our records also document a series of multi-centennial intra-interglacial arid events in southern Europe, coherent with cold water-mass expansions in the North Atlantic. The spatial and temporal fingerprints of these changes indicate a reorganization of ocean surface circulation, consistent with low-intensity disruptions of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). The amplitude of this LIG variability is greater than that observed in Holocene records. Episodic Greenland ice melt and runoff as a result of excess warmth may have contributed to AMOC weakening and increased climate instability throughout the LIG.
The spatial pattern of climate feedbacks depends on how the feedbacks are defined. We employ an idealized aquaplanet simulation with radiative kernels diagnosed for the precise model setup and ...characterize the meridional structure of feedbacks under four different definitions: local feedbacks, global feedbacks, nondimensional feedback factors, and relative humidity feedbacks. First, the spatial pattern of the reference response (i.e., the Planck feedback) is found to vary with definition, largely as a consequence of polar‐amplified warming, which affects other high‐latitude feedbacks as well. Second, locally defined feedbacks allow for decomposition of the surface temperature response as a function of feedbacks, forcing, and heat transport. Third, different insights into the dynamical and thermodynamical underpinnings of the subtropical moisture response are gained by comparing different versions of humidity feedbacks. Thus, alternative approaches to the conventional, global definition of feedbacks offer several advantages for understanding patterns of warming and, ultimately, regional climate predictability.
Key Points
The spatial pattern of the Planck feedback varies due to polar amplification
Locally defined feedbacks allow for characterization of the surface warming
Subtropical moisture response is explained by comparing humidity feedbacks
This article offers a conceptual critique of the three-component model (TCM) of organizational commitment (
Allen & Meyer, 1990
) and proposes a reconceptualization based on standard attitude theory. ...The authors use the attitude-behavior model by
Eagly and Chaiken (1993)
to demonstrate that the TCM combines fundamentally different attitudinal phenomena. They argue that general organizational commitment can best be understood as an attitude regarding the organization, while normative and continuance commitment are attitudes regarding specific forms of behavior (i.e., staying or leaving). The conceptual analysis shows that the TCM fails to qualify as general model of organizational commitment but instead represents a specific model for predicting turnover. The authors suggest that the use of the TCM be restricted to this purpose and that Eagly and Chaiken's model be adopted as a generic commitment model template from which a range of models for predicting specific organizational behaviors can be extracted. Finally, they discuss the definition and measurement of the organizational commitment attitude. Covering the affective, cognitive, and behavioral facets of this attitude helps to enhance construct validity and to differentiate the construct from other constructs.
is a widely used index for quantifying individuals' brain health as deviation from a normative brain aging trajectory. Higher-than-expected
is thought partially to reflect above-average rate of brain ...aging. Here, we explicitly tested this assumption in two independent large test datasets (UK Biobank main and Lifebrain replication; longitudinal observations ≈ 2750 and 4200) by assessing the relationship between cross-sectional and longitudinal estimates of
models were estimated in two different training datasets (n ≈ 38,000 main and 1800 individuals replication) based on brain structural features. The results showed no association between cross-sectional
and the rate of brain change measured longitudinally. Rather,
in adulthood was associated with the congenital factors of birth weight and polygenic scores of
assumed to reflect a constant, lifelong influence on brain structure from early life. The results call for nuanced interpretations of cross-sectional indices of the aging brain and question their validity as markers of ongoing within-person changes of the aging brain. Longitudinal imaging data should be preferred whenever the goal is to understand individual change trajectories of brain and cognition in aging.
Given the attendant risks of mortality and morbidity, acute MI remains a principal focus of cardiovascular therapeutics. ...30-day mortality and rehospitalization rates for acute MI are publicly ...reported in an effort to promote optimal acute MI care, and aspects of MI care delivery are the focus of local, regional, and national quality initiatives (1-3). Updates or revisions to the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) practice guidelines for PCI, ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and unstable angina (UA)/non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) have been published within the last 3 years, building upon prior versions published earlier in the decade (5-7).
Recent studies of the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau have called attention to two emerging views of how the Tibetan Plateau has grown. First, deformation in northern Tibet began essentially ...at the time of collision with India, not 10–20 Myr later as might be expected if the locus of activity migrated northward as India penetrated the rest of Eurasia. Thus, the north‐south dimensions of the Tibetan Plateau were set mainly by differences in lithospheric strength, with strong lithosphere beneath India and the Tarim and Qaidam basins steadily encroaching on one another as the region between them, the present‐day Tibetan Plateau, deformed, and its north‐south dimension became narrower. Second, abundant evidence calls for acceleration of deformation, including the formation of new faults, in northeastern Tibet since ~15 Ma and a less precisely dated change in orientation of crustal shortening since ~20 Ma. This reorientation of crustal shortening and roughly concurrent outward growth of high terrain, which swings from NNE‐SSW in northern Tibet to more NE‐SW and even ENE‐WSW in the easternmost part of northeastern Tibet, are likely to be, in part, a consequence of crustal thickening within the high Tibetan Plateau reaching a limit, and the locus of continued shortening then migrating to the northeastern and eastern flanks. These changes in rates and orientation also could result from removal of some or all mantle lithosphere and increased gravitational potential energy per unit area and from a weakening of crustal material so that it could flow in response to pressure gradients set by evolving differences in elevation.
Key Points
The north‐south limits of Tibet were set by lateral variations in strength
Roughly 15 million years ago, deformation of NE Tibet accelerated
Since 20–15 million years ago, the orientation of shortening rotated eastward
Objective: Eating frequently in restaurants is one of the behaviors associated with obesity. This study examined whether increasing the portion size of an entrée affected energy intake at a ...restaurant meal.
Research Methods and Procedures: In a cafeteria‐style restaurant on different days, the size of a pasta entrée was varied from a standard portion (248 g) to a large portion (377 g). The entrée price was not changed. Intake of the entrée was determined by covertly weighing each dish before and after the meal; intake of all other foods was determined by estimating the percent consumed. The 180 adult customers who purchased the entrée also completed a survey in which they rated characteristics of the meal, including the appropriateness of the entrée portion size and the amount that they ate compared with their usual meal.
Results: Portion size had a significant effect on intake of the entrée (p < 0.0001). Compared with customers who purchased the standard portion, those who purchased the larger portion increased their energy intake of the entrée by 43% (719 kJ; 172 kcal) and of the entire meal by 25% (664 kJ; 159 kcal). There was no difference between the two groups of customers in ratings of the appropriateness of the portion size or of the amount that was eaten in relation to their usual meal.
Discussion: In a restaurant setting, increasing the size of an entrée results in increased energy intake. These results support the suggestion that large restaurant portions may be contributing to the obesity epidemic.
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