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Background: During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, states were called upon by the World Health Organization to introduce and prioritise the collection of sex-disaggregated data. The collection of sex-disaggregated data on COVID-19 testing, infection rates, hospital admissions, and deaths, when available, has informed our understanding of the biology of the infectious disease. The collection of sex-disaggregated data should also better inform our understanding of the gendered impacts that contribute to risk of exposure to COVID-19. In China, the country with the longest history of fighting the COVID-19 infection, what research was available on the gender-differential impacts of COVID-19 in the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic?, Methods: In this scoping review, we examine the first 6 months (January-June 2020) of peer-reviewed publications (n = 451) on sex and gender experiences related to COVID-19 in China. We conducted an exhaustive search of published Chinese and English language research papers on COVID-19 in mainland China. We used a COVID-19 Gender Matrix informed by the JPHIEGO gender analysis toolkit to examine and illuminate research into the gendered impacts of COVID-19 within China., Results: In China, only a small portion of the COVID-19-related research focused on gender experiences and differences. Near the end of the six-month literature review period, a small number of research items emerged on women healthcare workers, women's mental health, and pregnant women's access to care. There was an absence of research on the gendered impact of COVID-19 amongst populations. There was minimal consideration of the economic, social and security factors, including gender stereotypes and expectations, that affected different populations' experiences of infection, treatment, and lockdown during the period of review., Conclusion: At the outset of health emergencies in China, gender research needs to be prioritised during the first stage of an outbreak to assist with evaluation of the most effective public health measures, identifying access to healthcare and social welfare barriers amongst priority communities. Gender stereotypes and gendered differences lead to different patterns of exposure and treatment. The exclusion of this knowledge in real time affects the design of effective prevention and recovery., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes in patients with refractory myasthenia gravis (MG) and to determine the effectiveness and side effects of the drugs used for their treatment., Methods: This observational retrospective cross-sectional multicenter study was based on data from the Spanish MG Registry (NMD-ES). Patients were considered refractory when their MG Foundation of America post-interventional status (MGFA-PIS) was unchanged or worse after corticosteroids and two or more other immunosuppressive agents. Clinical and immunologic characteristics of drug-refractory patients, efficiency and toxicity of drugs used, and outcome (MGFA-PIS) at end of follow-up were studied., Results: We included 990 patients from 15 hospitals. Eighty-four patients (68 of 842 anti-acetylcholine receptor [AChR], 5 of 26 anti-muscle-specific tyrosine kinase [MusK], 10 of 120 seronegative, and 1 of 2 double-seropositive patients) were drug refractory. Drug-refractory patients were more frequently women (p < 0.0001), younger at onset (p < 0.0001), and anti-MuSK positive (p = 0.037). Moreover, they more frequently presented a generalized form of the disease, bulbar symptoms, and life-threatening events (p < 0.0001; p = 0.018; and p = 0.002, respectively) than non-drug-refractory patients. Mean follow-up was 9.8 years (SD 4.5). Twenty-four (50%) refractory patients had side effects to one or more of the drugs. At the end of follow-up, 42.9% of drug-refractory patients (42.6% of anti-AChR, 100% of anti-MuSK, and 10% of seronegative patients) and 79.8% of non-drug-refractory patients (p < 0.0001) achieved remission or had minimal manifestations. Eighty percent of drug-refractory-seronegative patients did not respond to any drug tested., Interpretation: In this study, 8.5% of MG patients were drug-refractory. New more specific drugs are needed to treat drug-refractory MG patients., (© 2021 The Authors. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Neurological Association.)

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) lie at opposing ends of a clinical, genetic, and neuropathological continuum. In the last decade, it has become clear that cognitive and behavioral changes in patients with ALS are more frequent than previously recognized. Significantly, these non-motor features can impact the diagnosis, prognosis, and management of ALS. Partially overlapping neuropathological staging systems have been proposed to describe the distribution of TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) aggregates outside the corticospinal tract. However, the relationship between TDP-43 inclusions and neurodegeneration is not absolute and other pathophysiological processes, such as neuroinflammation (with a prominent role of microglia), cortical hyperexcitability, and synaptic dysfunction also play a central role in ALS pathophysiology. In the last decade, imaging and biofluid biomarker studies have revealed important insights into the pathophysiological underpinnings of extra-motor neurodegeneration in the ALS-FTLD continuum. In this review, we first summarize the clinical and pathophysiological correlates of extra-motor neurodegeneration in ALS. Next, we discuss the diagnostic and prognostic value of biomarkers in ALS and their potential to characterize extra-motor neurodegeneration. Finally, we debate about how biomarkers could improve the diagnosis and classification of ALS. Emerging imaging biomarkers of extra-motor neurodegeneration that enable the monitoring of disease progression are particularly promising. In addition, a growing arsenal of biofluid biomarkers linked to neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation are improving the diagnostic accuracy and identification of patients with a faster progression rate. The development and validation of biomarkers that detect the pathological aggregates of TDP-43 in vivo are notably expected to further elucidate the pathophysiological underpinnings of extra-motor neurodegeneration in ALS. Novel biomarkers tracking the different aspects of ALS pathophysiology are paving the way to precision medicine approaches in the ALS-FTLD continuum. These are essential steps to improve the diagnosis and staging of ALS and the design of clinical trials testing novel disease-modifying treatments., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Reyes-Leiva, Dols-Icardo, Sirisi, Cortés-Vicente, Turon-Sans, de Luna, Blesa, Belbin, Montal, Alcolea, Fortea, Lleó, Rojas-García and Illán-Gala.)

"Hemosuccus pancreaticus" (HP), "wirsungorrhagia" or "pseudohemobilia" is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding consisting of blood loss along the duct of Wirsung with exteriorization through the ampulla of Vater. Due to its rarity, the literature on HP is limited to retrospective studies, case reports, and case series.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), as a stage in the cognitive continuum between normal ageing and dementia, is mainly characterized by memory impairment. The aims of this study were to examine CANTAB measures of temporal changes of visual memory in MCI and to evaluate the usefulness of the baseline scores for predicting changes in cognitive status., Methods: The study included 201 participants aged over 50 years with subjective cognitive complaints. Visual memory was assessed with four CANTAB tests [paired associates learning (PAL), delayed matching to sample (DMS), pattern recognition memory (PRM) and spatial span (SSP)] administered at baseline and on two further occasions, with a follow-up interval of 18-24 months. Participants were divided into three groups according to the change in their cognitive status: participants with subjective cognitive complaints who remained stable, MCI participants who remained stable (MCI-Stable) and MCI participants whose cognitive deterioration continued (MCI-Worsened). Linear mixed models were used to model longitudinal changes, with evaluation time as a fixed variable, and multinomial regression models were used to predict changes in cognitive status., Results: Isolated significant effects were obtained for age and group with all CANTAB tests used. Interactions between evaluation time and group were identified in the PAL and DMS tests, indicating different temporal patterns depending on the changes in cognitive status. Regression models also indicated that CANTAB scores were good predictors of changes in cognitive status., Conclusions: Decline in visual memory measured by PAL and DMS tests can successfully distinguish different types of MCI, and considered together PAL, DMS, PRM and SSP can predict changes in cognitive status.

Background: Comparing a parasitic lineage to its free-living relatives is a powerful way to understand how that evolutionary transition to parasitism occurred. Giardia intestinalis (Fornicata) is a leading cause of gastrointestinal disease world-wide and is famous for its unusual complement of cellular compartments, such as having peripheral vacuoles instead of typical endosomal compartments. Endocytosis plays an important role in Giardia's pathogenesis. Endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) are membrane-deforming proteins associated with the late endosome/multivesicular body (MVB). MVBs are ill-defined in G. intestinalis, and roles for identified ESCRT-related proteins are not fully understood in the context of its unique endocytic system. Furthermore, components thought to be required for full ESCRT functionality have not yet been documented in this species., Results: We used genomic and transcriptomic data from several Fornicata species to clarify the evolutionary genome streamlining observed in Giardia, as well as to detect any divergent orthologs of the Fornicata ESCRT subunits. We observed differences in the ESCRT machinery complement between Giardia strains. Microscopy-based investigations of key components of ESCRT machinery such as GiVPS36 and GiVPS25 link them to peripheral vacuoles, highlighting these organelles as simplified MVB equivalents. Unexpectedly, we show ESCRT components associated with the endoplasmic reticulum and, for the first time, mitosomes. Finally, we identified the rare ESCRT component CHMP7 in several fornicate representatives, including Giardia and show that contrary to current understanding, CHMP7 evolved from a gene fusion of VPS25 and SNF7 domains, prior to the last eukaryotic common ancestor, over 1.5 billion years ago., Conclusions: Our findings show that ESCRT machinery in G. intestinalis is far more varied and complete than previously thought, associates to multiple cellular locations, and presents changes in ESCRT complement which pre-date adoption of a parasitic lifestyle., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Purpose: The use of invasive EEG (iEEG) recordings before epilepsy surgery has increased as more complex focal epilepsies are evaluated. Psychotic symptoms (PS) during iEEG have been scarcely reviewed. We aim to report our series of patients with psychotic symptoms (PS) brought about by cortical stimulation (CS) and to identify triggers., Methods: Retrospective cohort of patients who underwent iEEG and CS. We report patients who developed delusional thinking and/or disorganized behaviour within 24 h after CS. Exclusion criteria were primary psychiatric disorders or absence of CS., Results: We evaluated 32 (SEEG 23; subdural 9) patients with a median age of 38 years, 6 with PS. Patients underwent 2586 stimulations over 1130 contacts. Age at CS was significantly higher in patients with PS. Temporal lobe epilepsy was significantly more often documented in patients with PS (χ 2 : 3.94; p< 0.05). We found no correlation between stimulation of the limbic system and development of psychosis. Four (66.7 %) patients were stimulated in the non-dominant limbic system and developed psychosis compared to 7 (27 %) who did not [χ2: 3.41; p= 0.06].Epilepsy duration was significantly higher in PS patients (p=0.002). Patients with history of postictal psychosis were twice more likely to experience PS(p=0.04)., Conclusions: PS may arise more frequently in patients with PIP history, older age and longer epilepsy duration. The neurobiology and physiology of psychosis, that may share common mechanisms with epilepsy, is yet to be identified but we hypothesize that it may be triggered by CS due to alteration of brain networks dynamics., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Lichens host highly diverse microbial communities, with bacteria being one of the most explored groups in terms of their diversity and functioning. These bacteria could partly originate from symbiotic propagules developed by many lichens and, perhaps more commonly and depending on environmental conditions, from different sources of the surroundings. Using the narrowly distributed species Peltigera frigida as an object of study, we propose that bacterial communities in these lichens are different from those in their subjacent substrates, even if some taxa might be shared. Ten terricolous P. frigida lichens and their substrates were sampled from forested sites in the Coyhaique National Reserve, located in an understudied region in Chile. The mycobiont identity was confirmed using partial 28S and ITS sequences. Besides, 16S fragments revealed that mycobionts were associated with the same cyanobacterial haplotype. From both lichens and substrates, Illumina 16S amplicon sequencing was performed using primers that exclude cyanobacteria. In lichens, Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum (37%), whereas soil substrates were dominated by Acidobacteriota (39%). At lower taxonomic levels, several bacterial groups differed in relative abundance among P. frigida lichens and their substrates, some of them being highly abundant in lichens but almost absent in substrates, like Sphingomonas (8% vs 0.2%), and others enriched in lichens, as an unassigned genus of Chitinophagaceae (10% vs 2%). These results reinforce the idea that lichens would carry some components of their microbiome when propagating, but they also could acquire part of their bacterial community from the substrates.

Objectives: Magnetization transfer (MT) imaging exploits the interaction between bulk water protons and protons contained in macromolecules to induce signal changes through a special radiofrequency pulse. MT detects muscle damage in patients with neuromuscular conditions, such as limb-girdle muscular dystrophies or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which are characterized by progressive fiber loss and replacement by fatty tissue. In Pompe disease, in which there is, in addition, an accumulation of glycogen inside the muscle fibers, MT has not been tested yet. Our aim is to estimate MT ratio (MTR) in the skeletal muscle of these patients and correlate it with intramuscular fat fraction (FF) and results of muscle function tests. Methods: We obtained two-point axial Dixon and Dixon-MT sequences of the right thigh on a 1.5 Teslas MRI scanner in 60 individuals, including 29 late onset Pompe disease patients, 2 patients with McArdle disease, and 29 age and sex matched healthy controls. FF and MTR were estimated. Muscle function using several muscle function tests, including quantification of muscle strength, timed test quality of life scales, conventional spirometry obtaining forced vital capacity while sitting and in the supine position, were assessed in all patients. Results: MTR was significantly lower in Pompe patients compared with controls (45.5 ± 8.5 vs. 51.7 ± 2.3, Student T -test, p < 0.05). There was a negative correlation between the MTR and FF muscles studied (correlation coefficient: -0.65, Spearman test: p < 0.05). MTR correlated with most of the muscle function test results. We analyzed if there was any difference in MTR values between Pompe patients and healthy controls in those muscles that did not have an increase in fat, a measure that could be related to the presence of glycogen in skeletal muscles, but we did not identify significant differences except in the adductor magnus muscle (48.4 ± 3.6 in Pompe vs. 51 ± 1.3 in healthy controls, Student T -test = 0.023). Conclusions: MTR is a sensitive tool to identify muscle loss in patients with Pompe disease and shows a good correlation with muscle function tests. Therefore, the MT technique can be useful in monitoring muscle degeneration in Pompe disease in clinical trials or natural history studies., Competing Interests: PM was employed by company Philips Healthcare Iberia. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Nuñez-Peralta, Montesinos, Alonso-Jiménez, Alonso-Pérez, Reyes-Leiva, Sánchez-González, Llauger-Roselló, Segovia, Belmonte, Pedrosa, Martínez-Noguera, Matellini-Mosca, Walter and Díaz-Manera.)

Objectives: Pompe disease is a rare genetic disease produced by mutations in the GAA gene leading to progressive skeletal and respiratory muscle weakness. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging is useful to identify fatty replacement in skeletal muscles of late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) patients. Previous studies have shown that replacement by fat correlates with worse results of muscle function tests. Our aim was to investigate if fat replacement of muscles involved in the ventilation process correlated with results of the spirometry and predicted respiratory muscle impairment in LOPD patients over time. Materials and Methods: We studied a cohort of 36 LOPD patients followed up annually in our center for a period of 4 years. We quantified muscle fat replacement using Mercuri score of the thoracic paraspinal and abdominal muscles and the pillars of the diaphragm. We correlated the combined Mercuri scores of these areas with spirometry results and the need of respiratory support. Results: We found a statistically significant correlation (Spearman test, p < 0.05; coefficient of correlation > 0.6) between forced vital capacity seated and lying and fat fraction score of all muscle groups studied. The group of patients who needed respiratory support had higher fat fraction scores than patients not requiring ventilatory support. Higher fat replacement in these areas correlated with worse progression in spirometry values over time. Conclusions: Fat replacement of paraspinal, abdominal, and trunk muscles correlates with results of spirometry and is able to predict worsening in respiratory muscle function tests that could lead to an emerging ventilatory dysfunction. Therefore, the identification of fat replacement in these muscle groups should lead to a closer monitorization of patients. Radiologic evaluation of diaphragm pillars in T1-weighted imaging axial sequences could also be helpful to predict respiratory insufficiency., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Reyes-Leiva, Alonso-Pérez, Mayos, Nuñez-Peralta, Llauger, Belmonte, Pedrosa-Hernández, Segovia and Díaz-Manera.)

Objective: To identify CT-acquisition parameters accounting for radiomics variability and to develop a post-acquisition CT-image correction method to reduce variability and improve radiomics classification in both phantom and clinical applications., Methods: CT-acquisition protocols were prospectively tested in a phantom. The multi-centric retrospective clinical study included CT scans of patients with colorectal/renal cancer liver metastases. Ninety-three radiomics features of first order and texture were extracted. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between CT-acquisition protocols were evaluated to define sources of variability. Voxel size, ComBat, and singular value decomposition (SVD) compensation methods were explored for reducing the radiomics variability. The number of robust features was compared before and after correction using two-proportion z test. The radiomics classification accuracy (K-means purity) was assessed before and after ComBat- and SVD-based correction., Results: Fifty-three acquisition protocols in 13 tissue densities were analyzed. Ninety-seven liver metastases from 43 patients with CT from two vendors were included. Pixel size, reconstruction slice spacing, convolution kernel, and acquisition slice thickness are relevant sources of radiomics variability with a percentage of robust features lower than 80%. Resampling to isometric voxels increased the number of robust features when images were acquired with different pixel sizes (p < 0.05). SVD-based for thickness correction and ComBat correction for thickness and combined thickness-kernel increased the number of reproducible features (p < 0.05). ComBat showed the highest improvement of radiomics-based classification in both the phantom and clinical applications (K-means purity 65.98 vs 73.20)., Conclusion: CT-image post-acquisition processing and radiomics normalization by means of batch effect correction allow for standardization of large-scale data analysis and improve the classification accuracy., Key Points: • The voxel size (accounting for the pixel size and slice spacing), slice thickness, and convolution kernel are relevant sources of CT-radiomics variability. • Voxel size resampling increased the mean percentage of robust CT-radiomics features from 59.50 to 89.25% when comparing CT scans acquired with different pixel sizes and from 71.62 to 82.58% when the scans were acquired with different slice spacings. • ComBat batch effect correction reduced the CT-radiomics variability secondary to the slice thickness and convolution kernel, improving the capacity of CT-radiomics to differentiate tissues (in the phantom application) and the primary tumor type from liver metastases (in the clinical application).

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus vector dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses. With both species expanding their global distributions at alarming rates, developing effective surveillance equipment is a continuing priority for public health researchers. Sound traps have been shown, in limited testing, to be highly species-specific when emitting a frequency corresponding to a female mosquito wingbeat. Determining male mosquito capture rates in sound traps based on lure frequencies in endemic settings is the next step for informed deployment of these surveillance tools. We field-evaluated Male Aedes Sound Traps (MASTs) set to either 450 Hz, 500 Hz, 550 Hz or 600 Hz for sampling Aedes aegypti and/or Aedes albopictus and compared catch rates to BG-Sentinel traps within Pacific (Madang, Papua New Guinea) and Latin American (Molas, Mexico and Orange Walk Town, Belize) locations. MASTs set to 450-550 Hz consistently caught male Ae. aegypti at rates comparable to BG-Sentinel traps in all locations. A peak in male Ae. albopictus captures in MASTs set at 550 Hz was observed, with the lowest mean abundance recorded in MASTs set to 450 Hz. While significantly higher abundances of male Culex were sampled in MASTs emitting lower relative frequencies in Molas, overall male Culex were captured in significantly lower abundances in the MASTs, relative to BG-Sentinel traps within all locations. Finally, significant differences in rates at which male Aedes and Culex were positively detected in trap-types per weekly collections were broadly consistent with trends in abundance data per trap-type. MASTs at 550 Hz effectively captured both male Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus while greatly reducing bycatch, especially male Culex, in locations where dengue transmission has occurred. This high species-specificity of the MAST not only reduces staff-time required to sort samples, but can also be exploited to develop an accurate smart-trap system-both outcomes potentially reducing public health program expenses., Competing Interests: I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests. KMS, MT, WX, and SAR were funded by Verily Life Sciences. JEC, JL, MD, PH and NS were all paid employees of Verily Life Sciences, a for profit company developing products for mosquito control, at the time they performed research for this study. The trap, for which a prototype is described in this manuscript, has a patent application (pending and actual), belonging to Verily Life Sciences on which SAR, KMS, NS, JL, JEC and MD are listed as inventors and from which JEC, JL, MD, PH and NS may potentially benefit.

Background: The Tip-of-the-Tongue (ToTs) state is considered a universal phenomenon and is a frequent cognitive complaint in old age. Previous cross-sectional studies have found that ToT measures successfully discriminate between cognitively unimpaired adults and adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). The aim of this study was to identify longitudinal patterns of ToTs in individuals with subjective complaints and with MCI regarding progress of their cognitive status., Method: The study included 193 participants with subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) and 56 participants with MCI who completed a baseline and two follow-up assessments, with an interval of about 18 months between each assessment. Participants were classified into three groups by considering cognitive stability or deterioration from the baseline diagnosis: SCC-stable, MCI-stable and MCI-worsened. Participants performed a ToT task involving recognition and naming of famous people depicted in 50 photographs. Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) were used to model longitudinal changes in familiarity, feeling of knowing, semantic access, phonological access and verbal fluency., Results: Phonological access differentiated MCI patients, stable and worsened, from adults with SCCs at all evaluation times. Phonological access declined over time in the three groups, without significant interactions between groups and time., Discussion: This study provides the first longitudinal evidence of differences in ToT measures for adults with MCI. The findings indicate that phonological access measures successfully differentiated between the diagnostic groups. However, slopes remain irrespective of the diagnostic group and progression toward more advance stages of cognitive impairment., (Copyright © 2020 Campos-Magdaleno, Leiva, Pereiro, Lojo-Seoane, Mallo, Nieto-Vieites, Juncos-Rabadán and Facal.)

Background and Aim: Given their poor prognosis, patients with residual disease (RD) in the re-resection specimen of an incidental gallbladder carcinoma (IGBC) could benefit from a better selection for surgical treatment. The Gallbladder Cancer Risk Score (GBRS) has been proposed to preoperatively identify RD risk more precisely than T-stage alone. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of RD and to validate the GBRS in a retrospective series of patients., Material and Methods: A prospectively collected database including 59 patients with IGBC diagnosed from December 1996 to November 2015 was retrospectively analyzed. Three locations of RD were established: local, regional, and distant. The effect of RD on overall survival (OS) was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method. To identify variables associated with the presence of RD, characteristics of patients with and without RD were compared using Fisher's exact test. The relative risk of RD associated with clinical and pathologic factors was studied with a univariate logistic regression analysis., Results: RD was found in 30 patients (50.8%). The presence of RD in any location was associated with worse OS (29% vs. 74.2%, p = 0.0001), even after an R0 resection (37.7% vs 74.2%, p = 0.003). There was no significant difference in survival between patients without RD and with local RD (74.2% vs 64.3%, p = 0.266), nor between patients with regional RD and distant RD (16.1% vs 20%, p = 0.411). After selecting patients in which R0 resection was achieved (n = 44), 5-year survival rate for patients without RD, local RD, and regional RD was, respectively, 74.2%, 75%, and 13.9% (p = 0.0001). The GBRS could be calculated in 25 cases (42.3%), and its usefulness to predict the presence of regional or distant RD (RDRD) was confirmed (80% in high-risk patients and 30% in intermediate risk p = 0.041)., Conclusion: RDRD, but not local RD, represents a negative prognostic factor of OS. The GBRS was useful to preoperatively identify patients with high risk of RDRD. An R0 resection did not improve OS of patients with regional RD.

Following the call of recent reviews on leadership and well-being, the purpose of this study is to examine how and when two contrasting leadership styles, transformational leadership (TFL) and passive-avoidant leadership (PAL), are related to employees' anxiety and thereby either promote or inhibit employees' well-being. Using the prominent job demands-resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical framework, we propose that the relationship between leadership behavior and anxiety is mediated by organizational job demands, namely, role ambiguity (RA), and job resources, namely, team climate for learning (TCL), as well as moderated by autonomy as important job characteristic. A sample of 501 knowledge workers, working in teams in a German research and development (R&D) organization, answered an online survey. We tested moderated multiple mediation models using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results demonstrated that the relationships between TFL as well as PAL on the one hand and anxiety on the other hand were fully mediated by RA and TCL. Job autonomy moderated the quality of the leadership-job demand relationship for TFL and PAL. This paper contributes to understanding the complex relationship between leadership and followers' well-being taking into account a combination of mediating and moderating job demands and resources. This is the first study that examines the effects of TFL and PAL on well-being taking into account the job demand RA and team processes and autonomy as resources., (Copyright © 2019 Berger, Czakert, Leuteritz and Leiva.)

People leaving incarceration are at high risk of opioid-related overdose. Overdose fatalities are preventable with administration of naloxone. In response to this risk, overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) programs have been implemented in a handful of jails and prisons in the United States. We document the history, structure, and data from the San Francisco County Jail OEND program. During 4 years of operation, 637 people participated; 67% received naloxone upon release, of whom only 3.5% had been previously trained in community-based OEND programs. Of those who received naloxone, 32% reported reversing an overdose and 44% received refills from community-based programs after reentry. This confirms that implementation of OEND in criminal justice settings is feasible and reaches people who have not previously been trained as well as those willing to act as overdose responders.

Background: Most malaria vector control programmes rely on indoor residual spraying of insecticides and insecticide-treated bed nets. This is effective against vector species that feed indoors at night and rest inside the house afterwards. In Central America, malaria vectors have different behaviours and are typically exophagic (i.e., bite outdoors), exophilic (i.e., remain outdoors after feeding), and zoophagic (i.e., as likely to feed on non-humans as humans). Thus, malaria elimination in Central America may require additional tactics. This pilot study investigated whether commercially-available products used to treat livestock for ticks could also be used to kill and/or sterilize zoophagic malaria vectors that feed on treated cattle in Belize., Methods: Cattle were treated with either a pour-on formulation of 1% fipronil (3 heifers) or injection of 1% ivemectin (1 heifer). Control heifers (n = 2) were left untreated. Field-collected Anopheles albimanus contained in screen-top cages were strapped onto cattle at 2, 5, 7, and 14 days after treatment. Mosquito mortality was monitored once a day for 4 successive days. Surviving mosquitoes were dissected to assess blood meal digestion and ovarian development., Results: A total of 1078 female An. albimanus mosquitoes were fed and monitored for mortality. Both fipronil and ivermectin significantly reduced survivorship of An. albimanus for up to 7 days after treatment. By 14 days, efficacy had declined. The ivermectin treatment completely lost its effectiveness and even though the fipronil-treated heifers were still killing significantly more mosquitoes than the untreated heifers, the amount of mosquito killing had diminished greatly. Both treatments significantly reduced ovary development in mosquitoes fed on treated cattle for the duration of the 2-week trial., Conclusions: Treatment of cattle in northern Belize with topical fipronil and injectable ivermectin had significant lethal and sublethal effects on wild An. albimanus females. These results suggest that efforts towards eliminating residual transmission of malaria by zoophagic vectors in Central America may benefit by the judicious, targeted treatment of livestock with mosquitocidal compounds, such as fipronil or ivermectin.

Aim: To comprehensively describe intellectual and executive functioning (EF) in people with dyskinetic cerebral palsy (DCP), by comparing their performance with that of: 1) age- and sex-matched typically developing controls (TDC); and 2) participants with spastic cerebral palsy (SCP) matched for age, sex, term/preterm and gross motor function classification system (GMFCS)., Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted by the University of Barcelona in collaboration with five institutions. Participants were people with DCP (n = 52; 24 females, median age 20.5 y: 5mo, interquartile range [IQR] = 13.75 y: 7mo; GMFCS I-V). As comparison groups, participants with SCP (n = 20; 10 females, median age = 20.5 y: 5.5mo, IQR = 13.75 y 9mo; GMFCS I-V) and TDC (n = 52; 24 females, median age = 20 y: 4mo, IQR = 12 y 7mo) were included. Intelligence and EF were assessed using common tests in all participants., Results: Both CP groups had lower intelligence than TDC and performed poorer in almost all EF tasks. Intelligence was higher in DCP than SCP (z = -2.51, p = 0.01). Participants with DCP also performed significantly better in goal-setting tasks (z = 2.27, p = 0.03) and information processing (z = -2.54, p = 0.01) than those with SCP., Conclusion: People with DCP present lower general intellectual functioning and poorer EF across multiple domains than typically developing controls. People with DCP have higher general intellectual functioning and better EF than people with SCP when levels of motor severity are similar., (Copyright © 2019 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Lichens are a symbiotic association between a fungus and a green alga or a cyanobacterium, or both. They can grow in practically any terrestrial environment and play crucial roles in ecosystems, such as assisting in soil formation and degrading soil organic matter. In their thalli, they can host a wide diversity of non-photoautotrophic microorganisms, including bacteria, which play important functions and are considered key components of the lichens. In this work, using the BioLog ® EcoPlate system, we studied the consumption kinetics of different carbon-sources by microbial communities associated with the thallus and the substrate of Peltigera lichens growing in a Chilean temperate rain forest dominated by Nothofagus pumilio . Based on the similarity of the consumption of 31 carbon-sources, three groups were formed. Among them, one group clustered the microbial metabolic profiles of almost all the substrates from one of the sampling sites, which exhibited the highest levels of consumption of the carbon-sources, and another group gathered the microbial metabolic profiles from the lichen thalli with the most abundant mycobiont haplotypes. These results suggest that the lichen thallus has a higher impact on the metabolism of its microbiome than on the microbial community of its substrate, with the latter being more diverse in terms of the metabolized sources and whose activity level is probably related to the availability of soil nutrients. However, although significant differences were detected in the microbial consumption of several carbon-sources when comparing the lichen thallus and the underlying substrate, d-mannitol, l-asparagine, and l-serine were intensively metabolized by both communities, suggesting that they share some microbial groups. Likewise, some communities showed high consumption of 2-hydroxybenzoic acid, d-galacturonic acid, and itaconic acid; these could serve as suitable sources of microorganisms as bioresources of novel bioactive compounds with biotechnological applications.

The Flow Cytometry is the principal method used to measure platelet-derived microparticles (PDMPs), by fluorescent properties analysis. PDMPs (0.1-1.0 μm) are abundant in circulation, accounting for approximately 90% of the microparticles and are associated with Cardiovascular Disease, the leading cause of death in the world., (Copyright © 2018 European Federation of Immunological Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most prevalent neuromuscular disease worldwide. It is a lethal and progressive neurodegenerative disease, principally affecting motor neurons; patient clinical characteristics are muscle weakness, dysphagia and respiratory failure. The mean age is related to family history (40years, familial ALS or FALS) or with no family history (50years), but it is more common in people aged 60-69years. The cause of ALS is not known and it is not known yet why it affects some people and not others. However expert consensus is that molecular alterations in different cells are involved in the development and progression of the disease. For example, motor neuron death is caused by a variety of cellular defects, including the processing of RNA molecules, water channels, and calcium levels, increasing evidence that these alterations of cells in the nervous system play an important role in ALS. Here we will systematically examine different genes (AQP1, SLC14A1, MT1X, DSCR1L1, PCP4, UCHL1, GABRA1, EGR1, OLFM1 and VSNL1) that are "up or down" regulated in the motor cortex and spinal cord and their association with ALS risk. These could be novel biomarkers associated with ALS risk. We built an interaction Network with Cytoscape, this was used to identify pathways, miRNA and drugs associated to ALS. The most important affected pathway is PI3K-Akt signaling. Thirteen microRNAs (miRNA-19B1, miRNA-107, miRNA-124-1, miRNA-124-2, miRNA-9-2, miRNA-29A, miRNA-9-3, miRNA-328, miRNA-19B2, miRNA-29B2, miRNA-124-3, miRNA-15A and miRNA-9-1) and four drugs (Estradiol, Acetaminophen, Progesterone and resveratrol) for new possible treatments were identified., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Animals fight over resources such as mating partners, territory, food or shelter and repeated contests lead to stable social hierarchies in different phyla. The group dynamics of hierarchy formation are not characterized in the Norway lobster ( Nephrops norvegicus ). Lobsters spend most of the day in burrows and forage outside of them according to a diel (i.e. 24 h-based) activity rhythm. Here, we use a linear and generalized mixed model approach to analyse, in seven groups of four male lobsters, the formation of dominance hierarchies and rank-related changes in burrowing behaviour. We show that hierarchies emerge within 1-3 days and increase in steepness over a period of 5 days, while rank changes and number of fights gradually decrease over a 5-day period. The rank position determined by open area fights predicts the outcome of fights over burrows, the time spent in burrows, and the locomotor activity levels. Dominant lobsters are more likely to evict subordinate lobsters from their burrows and are more successful in defending their own burrows. They spend more time in burrows and display lower levels of locomotor activity outside the burrow. Lobsters do not change their diel activity rhythms as a result of a change in rank, and all tested individuals showed higher activity at night and dusk compared with dawn and daytime. We discuss how behavioural changes in burrowing behaviour could lead to rank-related benefits such as reduced exposure to predators and energy savings., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)

Fear extinction models have a key role in our understanding of anxiety disorders and their treatment with exposure therapy. Here, we tested whether individual differences in fear extinction learning and fear extinction recall in the laboratory were associated with the outcomes of an exposure therapy analog (ETA). Fifty adults with fear of spiders participated in a two-day fear-learning paradigm assessing fear extinction learning and fear extinction recall, and then underwent a brief ETA. Correlational analyses indicated that enhanced extinction learning was associated with better ETA outcome. Our results partially support the idea that individual differences in fear extinction learning may be associated with exposure therapy outcome, but suggest that further research in this area is needed., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: A borderline resectable group (APBR) has recently been defined in adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. The objective of the study is to evaluate the results in the surgical treatment after neoadjuvancy of the APBR., Method: Between 2010 and 2014, we included patients with APBR in a neoadjuvant and surgery protocol, staged by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). Treatment with chemotherapy was based on gemcitabine and oxaliplatin. Subsequently, MDCT was performed to rule out progression, and 5-FU infusion and concomitant radiotherapy were given. MDCT and resection were performed in absence of progression. A descriptive statistical study was performed, dividing the series into: surgery group (GR group) and progression group (PROG group)., Results: We indicated neoadjuvant treatment to 22 patients, 11 of them were operated, 9 pancreatoduodenectomies, and 2 distal pancreatectomies. Of the 11 patients, 7 required some type of vascular resection; 5 venous resections, one arterial and one both. No postoperative mortality was recorded, 7 (63%) had any complications, and 4 were reoperated. The median postoperative stay was 17 (7-75) days. The pathological study showed complete response (ypT0) in 27%, and free microscopic margins (R0) in 63%. At study clossure, all patients had died, with a median actuarial survival of 13 months (9,6-16,3). The median actuarial survival of the GR group was higher than the PROG group (25 vs. 9 months; p < 0.0001)., Conclusion: The neoadjuvant treatment of APBR allows us to select a group of patients in whom resection achieves a longer survival to the group in which progression is observed. Post-adjuvant pancreatic resection requires vascular resection in most cases., (Copyright © 2017 AEC. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Photobiont availability is one of the main factors determining the success of the lichenization process. Although multiple sources of photobionts have been proposed, there is no substantial evidence confirming that the substrates on which lichens grow are one of them. In this work, we obtained cyanobacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences from the substrates underlying 186 terricolous Peltigera cyanolichens from localities in Southern Chile and maritime Antarctica and compared them with the sequences of the cyanobionts of these lichens, in order to determine if cyanobacteria potentially available for lichenization were present in the substrates. A phylogenetic analysis of the sequences showed that Nostoc phylotypes dominated the cyanobacterial communities of the substrates in all sites. Among them, an overlap was observed between the phylotypes of the lichen cyanobionts and those of the cyanobacteria present in their substrates, suggesting that they could be a possible source of lichen photobionts. Also, in most cases, higher Nostoc diversity was observed in the lichens than in the substrates from each site. A better understanding of cyanobacterial diversity in lichen substrates and their relatives in the lichens would bring insights into mycobiont selection and the distribution patterns of lichens, providing a background for hypothesis testing and theory development for future studies of the lichenization process.

Aim: This study aims to describe the adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), using the KIDMED questionnaire, in a sample of Catalonian adolescents and to assess the association between the MD adherence and socio-economic and lifestyle behaviours., Material and Methods: Data are part of a multi-centre longitudinal study designed for the reduction of risk factors of eating and weight-related problems in adolescents. Here, a cross-sectional analysis was performed with the baseline data, academic period 2010-11. The participants were 1,502 adolescents recruited from 11 schools from the province of Barcelona., Results and Conclusions: The results showed a higher level of MD adherence when parents had higher educational level, and when adolescents reported a low level of screen-time, and high weekly physical activity.

Definition of lichens has evolved from bi(tri)partite associations to multi-species symbioses, where bacteria would play essential roles. Besides, although soil bacterial communities are known to be affected by edaphic factors, when lichens grow upon them these could become less preponderant. We hypothesized that the structure of both the lichen microbiota and the microbiota in the soil underneath lichens is shaped by lichen intrinsic and extrinsic factors. In this work, intrinsic factors corresponded to mycobiont and cyanobiont identities of Peltigera lichens, metabolite diversity and phenoloxidase activity and extrinsic factors involved the site of the forest where lichens grow. Likewise, the genetic and metabolic structure of the lichen and soil bacterial communities were analyzed by fingerprinting. Among the results, metabolite diversity was inversely related to the genetic structure of bacterial communities of lichens and soils, highlighting the far-reaching effect of these substances; while phenoloxidase activity was inversely related to the metabolic structure only of the lichen bacterial microbiota, presuming a more limited effect of the products of these enzymes. Soil bacterial microbiota was different depending on the site and, strikingly, according to the cyanobiont present in the lichen over them, which could indicate an influence of the photobiont metabolism on the availability of soil nutrients., (© FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The ultimatum game is commonly used to explore fairness in adults in bargaining situations. Although the changes in responses that occur during development have been investigated in children, the results have been mixed. Whereas some studies show that proposers offer more when they grow older, others indicate the opposite. Moreover, these studies are outcome-based and leave intentions out of the scene, although intentions play a relevant role in daily life. The mini-ultimatum game offers the opportunity to test both outcomes and intentions, but one major obstacle for accurately pinpointing developmental transitions in strategic behavior and inequity aversion so far has been the multiple confounds that have plagued previous studies, including different methods, small sample sizes, and reduced age differences. We administered an anonymous direct-method one-shot mini-ultimatum game to 478 6- and 10-year-old children. Strategic behavior was present at 10 years of age; older participants matched more accurately what responders would accept than younger participants. However, this was true only for older girls. No sex differences were detected in younger children. No age group seemed to consider the proposer's intentions given that the rejections of the default option were not significant across conditions. Both disadvantageous and advantageous inequity aversions were present in 6-year-olds. However, older children exhibited significantly more disadvantageous inequity aversion than younger children. This contrast made the pattern of rejection of 6-year-olds look more similar to the pattern of rejection found in adults. No sex differences were found in responders' behavior., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Cutaneous metastases represent 2% of all metastases. Breast cancer is the most common cause of skin metastases. Schwartz described 8 types of cutaneous breast metastases; one uncommon form is carcinoma telangiectodes (CT), which may resemble angiosarcoma or lymphangioma circumscriptum. However, there are no reports of CT misdiagnosed as eruptive angiokeratomas., Case Report: The authors describe the clinical, histopathologic, and immunohistochemical features of a unique case of CT. Clinical examination revealed an itchy, dark blue-reddish scaly papular eruption that resembled angiokeratomas. The papules were grouped in a zosteriform pattern on the right chest. A biopsy of the papules revealed intravascular thrombi of neoplastic cells and erythrocytes. The neoplastic cells were pleomorphic and with mitotic figures. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed expression of HER-2-neu in neoplastic cells but negative for estrogen and progesterone receptors. The involved vessels were positive for CD31 and negative for podoplanin. This immunoprofile demonstrated intravascular spread of aggressive breast carcinoma., Conclusion: CT is an uncommon form of cutaneous metastasis from breast carcinoma with less than 10 cases described in the literature. There are no previous reported cases of CT mimicking angiokeratomas, although lymphangioma circumscriptum-like lesion may occasionally resemble angiokeratomas. A unique clinical presentation of CT is described.

Challenges in the prevention of disordered eating field include moving from efficacy to effectiveness and developing an integrated approach to the prevention of eating and weight-related problems. A previous efficacy trial indicated that a universal disordered eating prevention program, based on the social cognitive model, media literacy educational approach and cognitive dissonance theory, reduced risk factors for disordered eating, but it is unclear whether this program has effects under more real-world conditions. This effectiveness trial tested whether this program has effects when previously trained community providers in an integrated approach to prevention implement the intervention. The research design involved a multi-center non-randomized controlled trial with baseline, post-test and 1-year follow-up measures. The sample included girls in the 8th grade from six schools (n = 152 girls) in a city near Barcelona (intervention group), and from eleven schools (n = 413 girls) in four neighboring towns (control group). The MABIC risk factors of disordered eating were assessed as main outcomes. Girls in the intervention group showed significantly greater reductions in beauty ideal internalization, disordered eating attitudes and weight-related teasing from pretest to 1-year follow-up compared to girls in the control group, suggesting that this program is effective under real-world conditions., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The lichen genus Peltigera has been mainly revised in the Northern Hemisphere, with most species being recorded in Europe and North America. This study assessed the phylogenetic diversity of the mycobionts and cyanobionts of Peltigera cyanolichens collected in Southern Chile and Antarctica, areas in which lichens are extremely diverse but poorly studied. The operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of each symbiont were defined by analyzing the genetic diversity of the LSU and SSU rDNA of the mycobionts and cyanobionts, respectively, and a phylogenetic approach was used to relate these OTUs with sequences previously reported for Peltigera and Nostoc. Among the 186 samples collected, 8 Peltigera and 15 Nostoc OTUs were recognized, corresponding to sections Peltigera, Horizontales, and Polydactylon, in the case of the mycobionts, and to the Nostoc clade II, in the case of the cyanobionts. Since some of the OTUs recognized in this study had not previously been described in these areas, our results suggest that the diversity of Peltigera reported to date in the regions studied using traditional morphological surveys has underestimated the true diversity present; therefore, further explorations of these areas are recommended.

Near-field dipolar plasmon interactions of multiple infrared antenna structures in the strong coupling limit are studied using scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM) and theoretical finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations. We monitor in real-space the evolution of plasmon dipolar mode of a stationary antenna structure as multiple resonantly matched dipolar plasmon particles are closely approaching it. Interparticle separation, length and polarization dependent studies show that the cross geometry structure favors strong interparticle charge-charge, dipole-dipole and charge-dipole Coulomb interactions in the nanometer scale gap region, which results in strong field enhancement in cross-bowties and further allows these structures to be used as polarization filters. The nanoscale local field amplitude and phase maps show that due to strong interparticle Coulomb coupling, cross-bowtie structures redistribute and highly enhance the out-of-plane (perpendicular to the plane of the sample) plasmon near-field component at the gap region relative to ordinary bowties.

Hilar cholangiocarcinoma is a rare malignant tumor arising from the epithelium of the bile ducts. Surgery is still the only chance of potentially curative treatment in patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma. However, radical resection requires aggressive surgical strategies that should be tailored optimally according to the location, size and vascular invasion of the tumors. Accurate diagnosis and staging of these tumors is therefore critical for optimal treatment planning and for determining a prognosis. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MR cholangiography are useful tools, both to diagnose and stage hilar cholangiocarcinoma. Modern imaging techniques allow accurate detection of the level of obstruction and the longitudinal and radial spread of the tumor. In addition, high-resolution MDCT and MR provide specific radiographic features to determine vascular involvement of anatomic structures, such as the hepatic artery or the portal vein, which are critical to decide the surgical strategy. Finally, radiological staging allows detection of patients with distant metastasis in the liver or peritoneum who will not benefit from a surgical approach.

A comparative performance evaluation of DNA extraction methods from anti-diabetic botanical supplements using various commercial kits was conducted, to determine which produces the best quality DNA suitable for PCR amplification, sequencing and species identification. All plant materials involved were of suboptimal quality showing various levels of degradation and therefore representing real conditions for testing herbal supplements. Eight different DNA extraction methods were used to isolate genomic DNA from 13 medicinal plant products. Two methods for evaluation, DNA concentration measurements that included absorbance ratios as well as PCR amplifiability, were used to determine quantity and quality of extracted DNA. We found that neither DNA concentrations nor commonly used UV absorbance ratio measurements at A(260)/A(280) between 1.7 and 1.9 are suitable for globally predicting PCR success in these plant samples, and that PCR amplifiablity itself was the best indicator of extracted product quality. However, our results suggest that A(260)/A(280) ratios below about 1.3 and above 2.3 indicated a DNA quality too poor to amplify. Therefore, A(260)/A(280) measurements are not useful to identify samples that likely will amplify but can be used to exclude samples that likely will not amplify reducing the cost for unnecessarily subjecting samples to PCR. The two Nucleospin(®) plant II kit extraction methods produced the most pure and amplifiable genomic DNA extracts. Our results suggest that there are clear, discernable differences between extraction methods for low quality plant samples in terms of producing contamination-free, high-quality genomic DNA to be used for further analysis.

Workgroup diversity can be conceptualized as variety, separation, or disparity. Thus, the proper operationalization of diversity depends on how a diversity dimension has been defined. Analytically, the minimal diversity must be obtained when there are no differences on an attribute among the members of a group, however maximal diversity has a different shape for each conceptualization of diversity. Previous work on diversity indexes indicated maximum values for variety (e.g., Blau's index and Teachman's index), separation (e.g., standard deviation and mean Euclidean distance), and disparity (e.g., coefficient of variation and the Gini coefficient of concentration), although these maximum values are not valid for all group characteristics (i.e., group size and group size parity) and attribute scales (i.e., number of categories). We demonstrate analytically appropriate upper boundaries for conditional diversity determined by some specific group characteristics, avoiding the bias related to absolute diversity. This will allow applied researchers to make better interpretations regarding the relationship between group diversity and group outcomes.

Objective: To analyse the indications and results of pancreatic metastasis resection in a university hospital., Patients and Methods: An analysis was performed on a prospective database from 1990 to 2010. The clinical-pathological and perioperative details, as well the follow-up results were analysed., Results: Of the 710 pancreatic resections performed, 7 cases (0.99%) were due to a metastasis in the pancreas. The mean age of the patients was 53.3 years (20-77 years), and 5 were male and 2 were women. Five (70%) patients were asymptomatic. The origin of the metastasis was: colon (n=3), kidney (n=2), jejunum (n=1), and testicle (n=1). In 4 cases they were situated in the head, 2 in the tail, and one in the body. The metastases were metachronous in 4 (57%) patients and the disease free interval was 29 months (17-48). There were 3 cases (43%) of synchronous metastases, with a mean recurrence-free time of 14 months, and survival of 21.6 months. This was lower than that of patients with metachronous metastases, which was 27.8 months and with a survival of 32 months, respectively. The overall disease free interval and survival was 21.85 months and 27.5 months, respectively., Conclusion: Resection of pancreatic metastases can extend survival in selected patients., (Copyright © 2012 AEC. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.)

In the context of a competitive knowledge-based economy, the knowledge provided by a firm's founders is one of the most important measures of success. This paper aims to identify the role of national culture on a founder's knowledge practices in a modern organisation. Using data collected from 258 Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SME(S)) in the Spanish and UK telecommunication industries (130 from Spain and 128 from the UK), we propose three knowledge management practices to be analysed; namely transfer, transformation and open-mindedness. This paper provides evidence that while Spanish SME(S) are more positively associated with higher levels of transfer and transformation of knowledge, UK SME(S) are more positively associated with higher levels of open-mindedness. Hence, this study serves as an important contribution to the small amount of literature currently available in this field by examining different practices that can be explained by the cultural characteristics of both countries.

The patient is a previously healthy 28-year-old woman with incidentally detected focal liver lesion. On CT, the tumor showed brisk arterial enhancement and persistent hyperenhancement on portal and delayed phases. Histological study showed spindle cells without atypia and immunohistochemical study was consistent with leiomyoma.

Introduction: The acute diarrheal diseases are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in children aged under 5 years and in the general population; this demands a great deal of care in the healthcare services. The situation worsens due to the overuse of antimicrobials and the development of bacterial resistance, being the latter an emerging health problem in different areas of the world. Among the causative microorganisms of acute diarrheal diseases are those of Aeromonas genus, recognized as second risk emerging pathogens., Objectives: To determine the most frequently isolated Aeromonas species in fecal samples from acute diarrheal patients and their antimicrobial susceptibility., Methods: The Bauer-Kirby's method allowed identifying the susceptibility to several antimicrobials of 100 isolated samples coming from the provincial hygiene and epidemiology centers during 2007 and 2008., Results: Identification of the species was accomplished in 67% of isolates, being A. caviae (33%) y A. hydrophila (29%) the predominant species. It was demonstrated that 100% of isolates got resistant to at least one of the studied antimicrobials. Drug resistance to cefalotine, sulfonamides and nalidixic acid showed the highest percentages., Conclusions: Tetracycline and chloramphenicol are recommended as the drugs of choice for treating intestinal infections caused by these microorganisms in Cuba.

The present work deals with quantifying group characteristics. Specifically, dyadic measures of interpersonal perceptions were used to forecast group performance. Forty-six groups of students, 24 of four and 22 of five people, were studied in a real educational assignment context and marks were gathered as an indicator of group performance. Our results show that dyadic measures of interpersonal perceptions account for final marks. By means of linear regression analysis, 85% and 85.6% of group performance, respectively, was explained for group sizes equal to four and five. Results found in the scientific literature based on the individualistic approach are no larger than 18%. The results of the present study support the utility of dyadic approaches for predicting group performance in social contexts.

The directional consistency and skew-symmetry statistics have been proposed as global measure of social reciprocity. Although both measures can be useful for quantifying social reciprocity, researchers need to know whether these estimators are biased in order properly to assess descriptive results. That is, if estimators are biased, researchers should compare actual values with expected values under the specified null hypothesis. Furthermore, standard errors are needed to enable suitable assessment of discrepancies between actual and expected values. This paper aims to derive some exact and approximate expressions in order to obtain bias and standard error values for both estimators for round-robin designs, although the results can also be extended to other reciprocal designs.

Social reciprocity may explain certain emerging psychological processes likely to be founded on dyadic relations. Although indexes and statistics have been proposed to measure and make statistical decisions regarding social reciprocity in groups, these tools were generally developed to identify association patterns rather than to quantify the discrepancies between what each individual addresses to his or her partners and what is received from those partners in return. Additionally, social researchers' interest extends beyond measuring groups at the global level because dyadic and individual measurements are also necessary for proper descriptions of social interactions. This study is concerned with a new statistic for measuring social reciprocity at the global level and with decomposing that statistic in order to identify which dyads and individuals account for a significant part of asymmetry in social interactions. In addition to a set of indexes, some exact analytical results are derived, and a way of making statistical decisions is proposed.

The present work focuses on the skew-symmetry index as a measure of social reciprocity. This index is based on the correspondence between the amount of behaviour that individuals address toward their partners and what they receive in return. Although the skew-symmetry index enables researchers to describe social groups, statistical inferential tests are required. This study proposes an overall statistical technique for testing symmetry in experimental conditions, calculating the skew-symmetry statistic (Phi) at group level. Sampling distributions for the skew-symmetry statistic were estimated by means of a Monte Carlo simulation to allow researchers to make statistical decisions. Furthermore, this study will allow researchers to choose the optimal experimental conditions for carrying out their research, as the power of the statistical test was estimated. This statistical test could be used in experimental social psychology studies in which researchers may control the group size and the number of interactions within dyads.

In the present article, we focus on two indices that quantify directionality and skew-symmetrical patterns in social interactions as measures of social reciprocity: the directional consistency (DC) and skew-symmetry indices. Although both indices enable researchers to describe social groups, most studies require statistical inferential tests. The main aims of the present study are first, to propose an overall statistical technique for testing null hypotheses regarding social reciprocity in behavioral studies, using the DC and skew-symmetry statistics (Phi) at group level; and second, to compare both statistics in order to allow researchers to choose the optimal measure depending on the conditions. In order to allow researchers to make statistical decisions, statistical significance for both statistics has been estimated by means of a Monte Carlo simulation. Furthermore, this study will enable researchers to choose the optimal observational conditions for carrying out their research, since the power of the statistical tests has been estimated.

Many social phenomena involve a set of dyadic relations among agents whose actions may be dependent. Although individualistic approaches have frequently been applied to analyze social processes, these are not generally concerned with dyadic relations, nor do they deal with dependency. This article describes a mathematical procedure for analyzing dyadic interactions in a social system. The proposed method consists mainly of decomposing asymmetric data into their symmetric and skew-symmetric parts. A quantification of skew symmetry for a social system can be obtained by dividing the norm of the skew-symmetric matrix by the norm of the asymmetric matrix. This calculation makes available to researchers a quantity related to the amount of dyadic reciprocity. With regard to agents, the procedure enables researchers to identify those whose behavior is asymmetric with respect to all agents. It is also possible to derive symmetric measurements among agents and to use multivariate statistical techniques.

1. The author delineates the emergence of an important concept in the Neurochemistry of mental illness, that of a Cholinergic Factor in Mania. This concept which evolved steadily over a period of 22 years from 1950-1972, the author believes has given us our first significant insight into the etiology and treatment of the Manic state. 2. In addition, the author examines the Adrenergic-Cholinergic hypothesis of Mania and Depression and the Brain Cholinergic-Adrenergic Balance hypothesis for Mania and Schizophrenia. 3. Also described in this article are some successful preliminary attempts by others, to treat Mania with Phosphatidyl Choline and the author will present, for the first time, data relating to success with the use of Phosphatidyl Choline in bringing about permanent remission of mania in 10 treatment subjects since 1983. 4. In conclusion the author proposes a Cholinergic Insufficiency Hypothesis as a primary factor in the causation of Mania and comments on a presumptive role in the modulation and balance of Adrenergic Dominance by Presynaptic Receptors positioned on the Nerve Terminals of Adrenergic Neurons.