JURNAL AGROTEKNOLOGI
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The educational and occupational trajectories of adolescents and youth with disabilities in India
No full textThis report summarises findings from a study to address a gap in relation to data on the educational and occupational trajectories of adolescents and young people living with disabilty in India. The research brought together analysis of Young Lives longitudinal study data collected since 2001 with findings from an in-depth qualitative study conducted by Young Lives India in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in November-December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study findings were discussed with a research advisory group to address policy gaps and develop policy recommendations to enhance the quality of life of persons with disabilities.
Specifiallly, the report draws upon panel data from five rounds of Young Lives longitudinal survey (2001- 2016) to analyse the self-assessed educational and occupational outcomes of 100 young persons with disabilities (a Younger Cohort age 15 and an Older Cohort age 22 in 2016) and on a subsequent qualitative sub-study conducted with a nested sample of 34 young persons with disabilities and their caregivers, when they were age 18 (Younger Cohort) and 25 (Older Cohort).
The study explores the facilitators and barriers that adolescents and youth with disabilities face in their educational trajectories, and their related transitions to the labour market, marriage and family formation. It also captures the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on their lives and aspirations for the future.
This report is accompanied by a Research Brief, summarising the key findings, and a Policy Brief, with recommendations on the findings for policy makers
A new species of Periclimenaeus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae) from Bohol (Philippines)
No full textA new species of sponge-dwelling palaemonid shrimp of the genus Periclimenaeus is described from Tambolian Reef, Bohol, in the Philippines. The new species belongs to the group wherein the dactylus of the third pereiopod has a distal accessory tooth and the corpus has ventral denticles, but the unguis is non-dentate. Amongst this group, the new species is closest to P. apomonosi, P. bidentatus, P. leptodactylus, and P. tuamotae. It can be separated from these species by the combination of the following characters: well-developed dorsal rostral teeth; presence of a supraorbital tooth; presence of a pointed process on the inferior orbital margin; presence of the dorsal anteromedian lobe on the first tergite; presence of a minute acute median process on the distal margin of the telson; and presence of tubercles along the ventral border of the merus and ischium of the second pereiopods. This is the seventh species of Periclimenaeus reported from the Philippines
Human biventricular electromechanical simulations on the progression of electrocardiographic and mechanical abnormalities in post-myocardial infarction
No full textAims
Develop, calibrate and evaluate with clinical data a human electromechanical modelling and simulation framework for multiscale, mechanistic investigations in healthy and post-myocardial infarction (MI) conditions, from ionic to clinical biomarkers.
Methods and results
Human healthy and post-MI electromechanical simulations were conducted with a novel biventricular model, calibrated and evaluated with experimental and clinical data, including torso/biventricular anatomy from clinical magnetic resonance, state-of-the-art human-based membrane kinetics, excitation–contraction and active tension models, and orthotropic electromechanical coupling. Electromechanical remodelling of the infarct/ischaemic region and the border zone were simulated for ischaemic, acute, and chronic states in a fully transmural anterior infarct and a subendocardial anterior infarct. The results were compared with clinical electrocardiogram and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) data at similar states. Healthy model simulations show LVEF 63%, with 11% peak systolic wall thickening, QRS duration and QT interval of 100 ms and 330 ms. LVEF in ischaemic, acute, and chronic post-MI states were 56%, 51%, and 52%, respectively. In linking the three post-MI simulations, it was apparent that elevated resting potential due to hyperkalaemia in the infarcted region led to ST-segment elevation, while a large repolarization gradient corresponded to T-wave inversion. Mechanically, the chronic stiffening of the infarct region had the benefit of improving systolic function by reducing infarct bulging at the expense of reducing diastolic function by inhibiting inflation.
Conclusion
Our human-based multiscale modelling and simulation framework enables mechanistic investigations into patho-physiological electrophysiological and mechanical behaviour and can serve as testbed to guide the optimization of pharmacological and electrical therapies
Lost in translation? cultural adaptation of treatment content for Japanese internet-based cognitive therapy for social anxiety disorder
No full textStudies that look to disseminate psychological therapies in different countries often discuss whether
and how much cultural adaptation may be required. However, most do not provide sufficient
descriptions of how language translation and cultural adaptations were performed, and rarely give
examples of specific changes. This makes it hard to understand how much the adapted treatment
differs from the original, causing difficulty when comparing studies. This study aimed to describe the
translation and cultural adaptation process used to generate a Japanese version of a UK-developed
online psychological therapy for social anxiety. It aimed to evaluate the translated and adapted
content with a case series of Japanese patients. Following translation and back-translation,
incorporating cultural adaptations where appropriate, the new Japanese content was reviewed and a
list of adaptations collated and categorised. The Japanese treatment material was then evaluated
using a guided self-study approach with six Japanese patients with social anxiety. Four categories of
adaptation were identified: Linguistics and Metaphors, Social Systems, Social Behaviours, and
Familiarity. Assigning instances of adaptation into these categories showed good interrater reliability
(0.78). The Japanese materials showed excellent treatment efficacy (pre-post Hedges’ g=2.31).
Patient feedback highlighted areas of strength, and further suggestions to improve suitability for
Japanese settings. The clinical outcomes observed suggest that the translation and adaptation
procedures were effective. Ways of further improving the adaptation based on patient feedback were
identified. It is hoped that the translation procedure and adaptation categories described in this study
may help other clinicians/researchers working to disseminate online psychological therapies crossculturally
Frequency drift in MR spectroscopy at 3T
No full textPurpose
Heating of gradient coils and passive shim components is a common cause of instability in the B0 field, especially when gradient intensive sequences are used. The aim of the study was to set a benchmark for typical drift encountered during MR spectroscopy (MRS) to assess the need for real-time field-frequency locking on MRI scanners by comparing field drift data from a large number of sites.
Method
A standardized protocol was developed for 80 participating sites using 99 3T MR scanners from 3 major vendors. Phantom water signals were acquired before and after an EPI sequence. The protocol consisted of: minimal preparatory imaging; a short pre-fMRI PRESS; a ten-minute fMRI acquisition; and a long post-fMRI PRESS acquisition. Both pre- and post-fMRI PRESS were non-water suppressed. Real-time frequency stabilization/adjustment was switched off when appropriate. Sixty scanners repeated the protocol for a second dataset. In addition, a three-hour post-fMRI MRS acquisition was performed at one site to observe change of gradient temperature and drift rate. Spectral analysis was performed using MATLAB. Frequency drift in pre-fMRI PRESS data were compared with the first 5:20 minutes and the full 30:00 minutes of data after fMRI. Median (interquartile range) drifts were measured and showed in violin plot. Paired t-tests were performed to compare frequency drift pre- and post-fMRI. A simulated in vivo spectrum was generated using FID-A to visualize the effect of the observed frequency drifts. The simulated spectrum was convolved with the frequency trace for the most extreme cases. Impacts of frequency drifts on NAA and GABA were also simulated as a function of linear drift. Data from the repeated protocol were compared with the corresponding first dataset using Pearson's and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC).
Results
Of the data collected from 99 scanners, 4 were excluded due to various reasons. Thus, data from 95 scanners were ultimately analyzed. For the first 5:20 min (64 transients), median (interquartile range) drift was 0.44 (1.29) Hz before fMRI and 0.83 (1.29) Hz after. This increased to 3.15 (4.02) Hz for the full 30 min (360 transients) run. Average drift rates were 0.29 Hz/min before fMRI and 0.43 Hz/min after. Paired t-tests indicated that drift increased after fMRI, as expected (p < 0.05). Simulated spectra convolved with the frequency drift showed that the intensity of the NAA singlet was reduced by up to 26%, 44 % and 18% for GE, Philips and Siemens scanners after fMRI, respectively. ICCs indicated good agreement between datasets acquired on separate days. The single site long acquisition showed drift rate was reduced to 0.03 Hz/min approximately three hours after fMRI.
Discussion
This study analyzed frequency drift data from 95 3T MRI scanners. Median levels of drift were relatively low (5-min average under 1 Hz), but the most extreme cases suffered from higher levels of drift. The extent of drift varied across scanners which both linear and nonlinear drifts were observed
Top–down task-specific determinants of multisensory motor reaction time enhancements and sensory switch costs
No full textThis study was designed to investigate the complex interplay between multisensory processing, top–down processes related to the task relevance of sensory signals, and sensory switching. Thirty-five adults completed either a speeded detection or a discrimination task using the same auditory and visual stimuli and experimental setup. The stimuli consisted of unisensory and multisensory presentations of the letters ‘b’ and ‘d’. The multisensory stimuli were either congruent (e.g., the grapheme ‘b’ with the phoneme /b/) or incongruent (e.g., the grapheme ‘b’ with the phoneme /d/). In the detection task, the participants had to respond to all of the stimuli as rapidly as possible while, in the discrimination task, they only responded on those trials where one prespecified letter (either ‘b’ or ‘d’) was present. Incongruent multisensory stimuli resulted in faster responses as compared to unisensory stimuli in the detection task. In the discrimination task, only the dual-target congruent stimuli resulted in faster RTs, while the incongruent multisensory stimuli led to slower RTs than to unisensory stimuli; RTs were the slowest when the visual (rather than the auditory) signal was irrelevant, thus suggesting visual dominance. Switch costs were also observed when switching between unisensory target stimuli, while dual-target multisensory stimuli were less likely to be affected by sensory switching. Taken together, these findings suggest that multisensory motor enhancements and sensory switch costs are influenced by top–down modulations determined by task instructions, which can override the influence of prior learnt associations
General α-amino 1,3,4-oxadiazole synthesis via late-stage reductive functionalization of tertiary amides and lactams
No full textAn iridium-catalyzed reductive three-component coupling reaction for the synthesis of medicinally relevant α-amino 1,3,4-oxadiazoles from abundant tertiary amides or lactams, carboxylic acids, and (N-isocyanimino) triphenylphosphorane, is described. Proceeding under mild conditions using (<1 mol %) Vaska's complex (IrCl(CO)(PPh3)2) and tetramethyldisiloxane to access the key reactive iminium ion intermediates, a broad range of α-amino 1,3,4-oxadiazole architectures were accessed from carboxylic acid feedstock coupling partners. Extension to α-amino heterodiazole synthesis was readily achieved by exchanging the carboxylic acid coupling partner for C-, S-, or N-centered Brønsted acids, and provided rapid and modular access to these desirable, yet difficult-to-access, heterocycles. The high chemoselectivity of the catalytic reductive activation step allowed late-stage functionalization of 10 drug molecules, including the synthesis of heterodiazole-fused drug–drug conjugates
Law and development minus legal transplants: the example of China in Vietnam
No full textLegal transplants are broadly recognized as one of the main mechanisms for how donor states influence the legal development of recipient states. The experience of China, however, challenges convention. While, in recent years, China has been one of the largest capital-exporting countries in the world and has mobilized law to protect its investment in high-risk recipient states, legal transplants have, to date, not played a major role in China’s approach to law and development. This article examines this puzzle through the case of China’s participation in formulating Vietnam’s 2018 SEZ bill. In doing so, this article sets forth a number of hypotheses as to why Chinese law has thus far not assumed the form of legal transplant. The example of the SEZ bill demonstrates how Chinese legal transplants depend as much as on the “pull” of recipient states as they do the “push” of the donor
