Naresuan University Journal
Not a member yet
39887 research outputs found
Sort by
Performance of children with social communication disorder on the Happé Strange Stories: Physical and mental state responses and relationship to language ability
No full textThis study investigated whether a modified scoring method was useful for examining the ability of children with social communication disorder (CwSCD) to understand non-literal language and use mental state responses on the Happé Strange Stories (HSS) task. CwSCD and a control group of children with typical language development (CwTLD) completed 10 of the original HSS. CwSCD scored significantly lower on the HSS task than did CwTLD and were much less likely to produce mental state responses. There was a high level of inter-rater reliability (Weighted Kappa = 0.907) across data from both groups. HSS performance and language ability correlated significantly for CwSCD. A regression model with age, nonverbal intelligence, receptive and expressive language as predictors explained 55.2% of the variance in HSS ability for CwSCD. The results suggest that the HSS have potential to be used as a clinical assessment to investigate high-level language and ability to infer intent in CwSCD
Cutting delays in reversing anticoagulation after intracerebral haemorrhage: three key changes at a UK comprehensive stroke centre.
No full textProthrombin complex concentrate (PCC) reduces the risk of early haematoma expansion after intracerebral haemorrhage in patients taking vitamin K antagonists (VKA-ICH), so must be given without delay. We sought to identify and remove key barriers to rapid administration of PCC at our centre. We describe a single UK comprehensive stroke centre cohort study with mixed retrospective (1/1/2008 to 1/12/2010) and prospective (1/12/2010 to 31/7/2014) participant identification and a survey of UK stroke physicians. Seven hundred and thirteen ICH patients were admitted during the study period. Sixty nine of these patients were VKA-ICH. Patients not admitted on the acute stroke pathway (n=8) or who had palliative care commenced immediately on admission (n=6) were excluded, leaving 55 patients in the final analysis. During 2011/12 we identified and implemented service changes to reduce delays in PCC administration. The primary outcome was the time interval between diagnostic brain scan and commencement of PCC treatment (scan-to-needle time). Secondary outcomes were the time interval between admission and commencement of PCC (door-to-needle time) and symptom onset and commencement of PCC (onset-to-needle time). Three key barriers were identified to rapid administration of PCC, including haematology consultation, collection of PCC from the transfusion laboratory, and obtaining the laboratory INR result. Our survey indicated that these barriers existed at most UK centres. We implemented point-of-care INR testing, moved PCC to the emergency department, and agreed a protocol to administer PCC autonomously. Our scan-to-needle time more than halved, from a median of 127 min (interquartile range (IQR), 111 to 208 min) prior to service changes to 58 min (IQR 50 to 91 min;
In-situ nanoindentation of irradiated silicon carbide in TRISO particle fuel up to 500°C
No full textThe evolution of hardness and elastic modulus with temperature for silicon carbide (SiC) coatings in tristructural-isotropic fuel was measured by in-situ nanoindentation from ambient temperature up to 500°C. Over this temperature range a significant drop in SiC hardness was identified, whereas the elastic modulus decreased only slightly with increasing temperature. The SiC coatings that had been irradiated in the High Flux Reactor in the ‘PYCASSO’ experiment exhibited irradiation hardening
Parents’ Stories of Family Life After Donor Conception: (Heterosexual couples starting a family using donor sperm or eggs)
No full textThis leaflet is for heterosexual couples who already have, or who are planning, children using donor eggs or sperm. It is based on many hours of research interviews, during which parents and grandparents of donor-conceived children told us about their experiences of family life. This leaflet is our way of sharing their stories with families in a similar situation.This leaflet is one of a series of four, written for parents and grandparents with donor-conceived children. They are based on research from the Relative Strangers project
Exome sequencing identifies ATP4A gene as responsible of an atypical familial type I gastric neuroendocrine tumour.
No full textGastric neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) arise from enterochromaffin-like cells, which are located in oxyntic glands within the stomach. Type I tumours represent 70-80% of gastric NETs and are associated with hypergastrinaemia, chronic atrophic gastritis and achlorhydria. Gastrin is involved in the endocrine regulation of gastric acid production. Most type I gastric NETs are sporadic, have a good prognosis and their genetic basis are unknown. We performed an exome sequencing study in a family with consanguineous parents and 10 children, five of whom were affected by type I gastric NET. Atypical clinical traits included an earlier age of onset (around 30 years), aggressiveness (three had nodal infiltration requiring total gastrectomy and one an adenocarcinoma) and iron-deficiency rather than megaloblastic anaemia. We identified a homozygous missense mutation in the 14th exon of the ATP4A gene (c.2107C>T), which encodes the proton pump responsible for acid secretion by gastric parietal cells. The amino acid p.Arg703Cys is highly conserved across species and originates a change of one of the transmembrane domains that avoids the liberation of protons from cells to stomach. This is consistent with the achlorhydria that was observed in the affected individuals. No germline or somatic mutations in the ATP4A gene were found in sporadic gastric NET patients. Based on the results of this large family, it seems that this atypical form of gastric NET has an earlier age of onset, behaves more aggressively and has atypical clinical traits that differentiated from other studied cases
Observations of cloud microphysics and ice formation during COPE
No full textIntense rainfall generated by convective clouds causes flash flooding in many parts of the world. Understanding the microphysical processes leading to the formation of precipitation is one of the main challenges to improving our capability to make quantitative precipitation forecasts. Here, we present microphysics observations of cumulus clouds measured over the Southwest Peninsula of the UK during the COnvective Precipitation Experiment (COPE) in August 2013, which are framed into a wider context using ground-based and airborne radar measurements. Two lines of cumulus clouds formed in the early afternoon along convergence lines aligned with the peninsula. The lines became longer and broader during the afternoon as a result of new cell formation and stratiform regions forming downwind of the convective cells. Aircraft penetrations at −5 °C showed that all the required conditions of the Hallett–Mossop (H–M) ice multiplication process were met in developing regions, and ice concentrations up to 350 L−1 were measured in the mature stratiform regions, indicating that secondary ice production was active. Detailed sampling focused on an isolated liquid cloud that glaciated as it matured to merge with a band of cloud downwind. In the initial cell, a few drizzle drops were measured, some of which froze to form graupel; the ice images are most consistent with freezing drizzle, rather than smaller cloud drops forming the first ice. As new cells developed in and around the cloud, ice concentrations up to two orders of magnitude higher than the predicted ice nuclei concentrations began to be observed and the cloud glaciated over a period of 12–15 min. Ice splinters were captured by supercooled drizzle drops causing them to freeze to form instant-rimers. Graupel and columns were observed in cloud penetrations up to the −12 °C level, though many ice particles were mixed-habit due to riming and growth by vapour diffusion at multiple temperatures. Frozen drizzle/raindrops initially made up the majority of precipitation-sized particles in the H–M zone, while ice splinters required time to grow by vapour diffusion. It is therefore clear that the freezing of supercooled drizzle drops not only provides a pathway to advance the onset of the H–M process, it also accelerates glaciation and the formation of precipitation once it has begun. Accurate representation of both the warm rain and H–M processes, including their interactions with each other and cloud dynamics, appears key to determining the timing and location of precipitation
A Kinetic Study of Ovalbumin Fibril Formation: The Importance of Fragmentation and End-Joining
No full textThe ability to control the morphologies of biomolecular aggregates is a central objective in the study of self-assembly processes. The development of predictive models offers the surest route for gaining such control. Under the right conditions, proteins will self-assemble into fibers that may rearrange themselves even further to form diverse structures, including the formation of closed loops. In this study, chicken egg white ovalbumin is used as a model for the study of fibril loops. By monitoring the kinetics of self-assembly, we demonstrate that loop formation is a consequence of end-to-end association between protein fibrils. A model of fibril formation kinetics, including end-joining, is developed and solved, showing that end-joining has a distinct effect on the growth of fibrillar mass density (which can be measured experimentally), establishing a link between self-assembly kinetics and the underlying growth mechanism. These results will enable experimentalists to infer fibrillar morphologies from an appropriate analysis of self-assembly kinetic data
