1,721,085 research outputs found
Longitudinal assessment of perceptual-motor abilities in pre-school preterm children
No full textObjective: To verify the value of early perceptual-motor assessment in preterms.
Methods: The M-ABC2 was performed below the age 3 years-4 months and 1 year later.
Results: At 4 years children showed a significant improvement in the scores and reduced rate of refusals.
Conclusion: Early findings may be related to delayed maturation
Correcting for prematurity with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.
No full textComment on
Age correction in cognitive, linguistic, and motor domains for infants born preterm: an analysis of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition developmental patterns
Storia della scuola e museo dell'istruzione pubblica nel pensiero di Romeo Domenico Taverni (1844-1898)
No full textThe present paper intends to deepen the figure of Romeo Domenico Taverni (1844-1898), professor of pedagogy at the University of Padua and Catania. He focuses his pedagogical reflection on the history of the school and its legislation and plans the establishment of a public education museum. Taverni thinks that this museum as an instrument of a “physical pedagogy” and expression of a historical dimension. History is necessary for the ethical and civil education of the young generations and it is urgent to renew its teaching
Use of Melatonin for Sleep Disorders in Children with Cerebral Palsy
No full textSleep disorders are more frequent in in children with Cerebral Palsy than in typically developing children. Although no sleep interventions or trials specifically designed for sleep disorders in children with CP are reported in the literature, the use of melatonin has been proposed in improving sleep quality in these patients
Design of synthetic antimicrobial peptides based on sequence analogy and amphipathicity
No full textNovel α-helical antimicrobial peptides have been devised by comparing the N-terminal sequences of many of these peptides from insect, frog and mammalian families, extracting common features, and creating sequence templates with which to design active peptides. Determination of the most frequent amino acids in the first 20 positions for over 80 different natural sequences allowed the design of one peptide, while a further three were based on the comparison of the sequences of α-helical antimicrobial peptides derived from the mammalian cathelicidin family of precursors. These peptides were predicted to assume a highly amphipathic α-helical conformation, as indicated by high mean hydrophobic moments. In fact, circular dichroism experiments showed clear transitions from random coli in aqueous solution to an α-helical conformation on addition of trifluoroethanol. All four peptides displayed a potent antibacterial activity against: selected gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria (minimum inhibitory concentrations in the range 1-8 μM), including some antibiotic resistant strains. Permeabilization of both the outer and cytoplasmic membranes of the gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli, by selected peptides was quite rapid and a dramatic drop in colony forming units was observed within 5 min in time-killing experiments. Permeabitization of the cytoplasmic membrane of the gram-positive bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, was instead initially quite slow, gathering speed after 45 min, which corresponds to the time required for significant inactivation in time-killing studies. The cytotoxic activity of the peptides, determined on several normal and transformed cell lines, was generally low at values within the minimum inhibitory concentration range
Wide-spectrum antibiotic activity of synthetic, amphipathic peptides
No full textPGYa and PGAa are synthetic, amphipathic, α-helical peptides that were designed using a novel 'sequence template' approach. Their antimicrobial activity was tested against several pathogenic clinical isolates, most of which were multiply resistant to conventional antibiotics. PGYa appeared to be more active towards Gram-positive species (MIC = 0.5-4 μM), towards such Gram negative species as P. aeruginosa, X. maltophilia, E. coli, K. pneumoniae and S. enteritidis MIC = 1-4 μM), and towards the filamentous fungus A. niger (MIC = 8 μM). Conversely, PGAa showed the greater activity towards three Candida species (MIC = 2-16 μM). The peptides were shown to have a bactericidal activity, resulting in a decrease of viability for both Gram-positive and -negative bacteria of 3-6 logs within 60 min. Scanning electron microscopy of S. aureus and E. coli treated with PGYa shows considerable roughening and blebbing of the bacterial surfaces providing conclusive evidence that the peptide is membrane active
Rational design of inhibitors for drug-resistant HIV-1 aspartic protease mutants
No full textThis report describes a method for the assessment of inhibitor binding affinities to wild type HIV-1 aspartic protease and to its drug-resistant mutant forms. We have elaborated a refined method for molecular modeling of the 3D structures of mutant enzymes and enzyme-inhibitor complexes based on the crystal structure of the wild type form, which employs a full thermodynamic cycle. Model complexes of four HIV-1 aspartic protease mutants with ten analogs of the A77003 inhibitor were considered. Predictions of inhibition efficiency, resistance potential, and hydrophilicity of the redesigned A77003 analogs were obtained by employing molecular mechanics for the evaluation of enzyme-inhibitor complexation energy and the polarizable continuum model for the estimation of solvent effects. Simple qualitative indicators for structural modifications aimed at overcoming the emergence of HIV resistance to protease inhibitors and at increasing the bioavailability of pseudopeptide inhibitors are examined. A semi-quantitative method for the description of enzyme-ligand binding and its implications for the rational design of inhibitors with higher binding affinity towards emerging HIV PR mutants is presented
Design of new inhibitors of HIV-1 aspartic protease
No full textWe present an approach for designing new inhibitors (I) of HIV-1 aspartic protease (PR) based on calculation of relative binding energies, taking into account contributions from all species involved in the complexation equilibrium (I + PR ⇔ I:PR), as well as their solvation. This allows a rational design of new structures with predicted enhanced inhibitory potency. We have also analysed the role in binding affinity of the central non-scissile bond (X1-X2) as well as of flanking amino acid residues Pn of inhibitor structures (P3-P2-P1-X1-X2-P1′-P2′-P3′)
A computational study of the resistance of HIV-1 aspartic protease to the inhibitors ABT-538 and VX-478 and design of new analogs
No full textRecent experimental findings with HTV-1 protease (HTV-1 PR) mutants containing variations at four residues, M461, L63P, V82T and I84V, have shown that only mutants containing the latter two exhibit cross resistance to the inhibitors ABT-538 and VX-478. The V82T and I84V modifications in fact concern residues in the active site while the other two are in the flap (M46I) and hinge (L63P) domains of the enzyme. We have modelled the M46I/L63P, V82T/I84V and M46I/L63P/V82T/I84V (4X) mutants of HIV-PR and computed their complexation energies with these two inhibitors. A good correlation was found between these complexation energies and the trend in published inhibition constants for these inhibitors. Reasons for the decrease in binding affinities with the two critical mutants (V82T/I84V and 4X) have also been elucidated in detail. Based on these findings, we have designed several analogues of ABT-538 and VX-478, some of which show a better calculated binding affinity towards both mutant and wild type PR
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