Review of recent literature on the problems confronting boys in reading experiences

The purpose of this review was to determine the problems confronting boys in reading experiences, and to suggest possible solutions to those problems. The questions this review intended to explore through a review of the research were: 1. what were the problems facing boys in their preschool experiences? 2. what were the problems facing boys in their reading experiences? 3. what adjustments could be made to overcome some of the existing problems

Reduction in Phencyclidine Induced Sensorimotor Gating Deficits in the Rat Following Increased System Xc − Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Rationale: Aspects of schizophrenia, including deficits in sensorimotor gating, have been linked to glutamate dysfunction and/or oxidative stress in the prefrontal cortex. System xc −, a cystine–glutamate antiporter, is a poorly understood mechanism that contributes to both cellular antioxidant capacity and glutamate homeostasis. Objectives: Our goal was to determine whether increased system xc − activity within the prefrontal cortex would normalize a rodent measure of sensorimotor gating. Methods: In situ hybridization was used to map messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of xCT, the active subunit of system xc −, in the prefrontal cortex. Prepulse inhibition was used to measure sensorimotor gating; deficits in prepulse inhibition were produced using phencyclidine (0.3–3 mg/kg, sc). N-Acetylcysteine (10–100 μM) and the system xc − inhibitor (S)-4-carboxyphenylglycine (CPG, 0.5 μM) were used to increase and decrease system xc − activity, respectively. The uptake of 14C-cystine into tissue punches obtained from the prefrontal cortex was used to assay system xc − activity. Results: The expression of xCT mRNA in the prefrontal cortex was most prominent in a lateral band spanning primarily the prelimbic cortex. Although phencyclidine did not alter the uptake of 14C-cystine in prefrontal cortical tissue punches, intraprefrontal cortical infusion of N-acetylcysteine (10–100 μM) significantly reduced phencyclidine- (1.5 mg/kg, sc) induced deficits in prepulse inhibition. N-Acetylcysteine was without effect when coinfused with CPG (0.5 μM), indicating an involvement of system xc −. Conclusions: These results indicate that phencyclidine disrupts sensorimotor gating through system xc − independent mechanisms, but that increasing cystine–glutamate exchange in the prefrontal cortex is sufficient to reduce behavioral deficits produced by phencyclidine

Randomized Polynomial-Time Equivalence Between Determinant and Trace-IMM Equivalence Tests

Equivalence testing for a polynomial family {g_m} over a field F is the following problem: Given black-box access to an n-variate polynomial f(x), where n is the number of variables in g_m, check if there exists an A in GL(n,F) such that f(x) = g_m(Ax). If yes, then output such an A. The complexity of equivalence testing has been studied for a number of important polynomial families, including the determinant (Det) and the two popular variants of the iterated matrix multiplication polynomial: IMM_{w,d} (the (1,1) entry of the product of d many w $\times$ w symbolic matrices) and Tr-IMM_{w,d} (the trace of the product of d many w $\times$ w symbolic matrices). The families Det, IMM and Tr-IMM are VBP-complete, and so, in this sense, they have the same complexity. But, do they have the same equivalence testing complexity? We show that the answer is 'yes' for Det and Tr-IMM (modulo the use of randomness). The result is obtained by connecting the two problems via another well-studied problem called the full matrix algebra isomorphism problem (FMAI). In particular, we prove the following: 1. Testing equivalence of polynomials to Tr-IMM_{w,d}, for d$\geq$ 3 and w$\geq$ 2, is randomized polynomial-time Turing reducible to testing equivalence of polynomials to Det_w, the determinant of the w $\times$ w matrix of formal variables. (Here, d need not be a constant.) 2. FMAI is randomized polynomial-time Turing reducible to equivalence testing (in fact, to tensor isomorphism testing) for the family of matrix multiplication tensors {Tr-IMM_{w,3}}. These in conjunction with the randomized poly-time reduction from determinant equivalence testing to FMAI [Garg,Gupta,Kayal,Saha19], imply that FMAI, equivalence testing for Tr-IMM and for Det, and the $3$-tensor isomorphism problem for the family of matrix multiplication tensors are randomized poly-time equivalent under Turing reductions.Comment: 36 pages, 2 figure

Pure accelerated irradiation followed by intracavitary brachytherapy in selected cases of locally advanced carcinoma of cervix

INTRODUCTION: Carcinoma cervix is the most common gynaecological malignancy in women. Concurrent chemoradiation is the standard of care in locally advanced carcinoma cervix. However cytotoxic chemotherapy cannot be safely administered in elderly patients and those with pre-existing comorbid medical conditions. Hence pure accelerated radiotherapy with intracavitary brachytherapy has been tried in these patients. AIM OF THE STUDY: 1. To assess the immediate locoregional response rates of locally advanced carcinomas of cervix treated with pure accelerated EBRT followed by intracavitary brachytherapy. 2. To assess acute toxicities during treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a single arm prospective study in which 30 patients with squamous cell and adenocarcinomas of cervix of stages IIB-IIIB, presenting in Department of Radiotherapy, MMC & RGGGH, who were not eligible for chemotherapy due to old age, comorbid medical conditions like renal disorders, cardiac diseases etc were treated with pure accelerated EBRT- 50 Gy (200 cGy/# in 25#/6 fractions per week) followed by intracavitary brachytherapy (7 Gy in 3# in HDR). The response both clinical and radiological, was assessed 6 weeks after completion of therapy, using RECIST criteria. Toxicity was assessed using RTOG Morbidity scoring. RESULTS: There was complete locoregional response in 23 patients (76.7%), partial response in 7 patients (23.3%) among whom 4 patients had adenocarcinoma histology. Complete response was seen in 85.7% (12/14) and in 62.5% (5/8) of stage IIB and IIIB respectively. Acute toxicities were observed but they were manageable. Diarrhoea presented as grade 1 in 6 patients (20%) and grade 2 in 3 patients (10%) respectively. Grade 1 haematological toxicity was seen in 7 patients (23.3%) during 3rd week of radiotherapy and no patients had grade 2 toxicity. Grade 1 and 2 skin reactions were seen in 12 patients (40%). The median treatment time for EBRT was 29 days. CONCLUSION: This study shows that pure accelerated EBRT alone followed by brachytherapy is a possible alternative in selected patients who are not fit for chemotherapy. The early responses are good and acute toxicities are lesser. However, the response of patients with adenocarcinoma was poor

Caesarean scar ectopic pregnancy: a case report

Caesarean scar ectopic pregnancy (CSEP) is where the conceptus is implanted deep in the myometrium and at the exact scar site of the previous caesarean section. Symptoms include amenorrhea, pelvic pain and vaginal bleeding in the first trimester. The investigation of choice is transvaginal ultrasound. Individualized treatment options are based on gestational age, presence of embryonal cardiac activity, severity of symptoms, serum hCG levels and ultrasonography findings for CSEP. The combined use of laparoscopy and ultrasound guidance for the evacuation is helpful in deeply impacted CSEP. Because early diagnosis and treatment is important for the best outcome, every pregnant woman with a history of cesarean should be screened early in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Malpositioned dialysis catheters: A case series

Hemodialysis catheters (HDC) are the commonly used vascular access for hemodialysis. Functioning access is essential for adequate dialysis. Dialysis catheter insertion under ultrasound guidance is now standard practice and has reduced the incidence of mechanical complications during catheter insertion. However, complications such as tip misplacement and puncture of the mediastinum cannot be prevented by ultrasound-guided procedures alone. We report four cases of abnormal positioning of HDC insertion and emphasize the importance of fluoroscopy or radiography after the procedure to verify the position of the cathete

Spin-crossover assisted metallization of few-layer FePS3_3 at 1.45 GPa

Magnetic insulators in reduced dimension are the ideal model systems to study spin-crossover(SCO) induced cooperative behavior under pressure. Similar to the external perturbations like light illumination or temperature, external pressure may provide new pathway to accelerate giant lattice collapse,and subsequently Mott transition in van der Waals (vdW) materials with diminishing effect of the third dimension. Here, we investigate room-temperature layer-dependent SCO and insulator-metal transition in vdW magnet,FePS3, under high pressure using micro-Raman scattering.Experimentally obtained spectra, in agreement with the computed Raman modes, indicates evidence of IMT of FePS3 started off with a spin-state transition from a high (S=2) to low spin state (S=0) with a thickness dependent critical pressure (P_c) which reduces to 1.45 GPa in 3-layer flakes compared to 10.8 GPa for the bulk counterpart. Additionally, a broad Raman mode (P*) emerges between 310 cm^{-1} and 370 cm^{-1} at elevated pressure for three different thicknesses of FePS3 flakes (3-100 layers), also corroborated with computational results which suggests the pressure dependent decrease of metal-ligand bond distance(Fe-S) with lowering of magnetic moment in FePS3. Phenomenologically, our results in few-layer flakes with strong structural anisotropy which enhances the in-plane strain with applied pressure can be understood by adopting Hubbard model and considering the spectral-range (bandwidth W) as a function of layer numbers and pressure with a power-law scaling. Reduction of the critical pressure for phase transition in few-layer vdW magnets to 1-2 GPa marks the possibility of using nano-enclosure fit for use in device electronics where the pressure is induced due to interfacial adhesion, like in vdW heterostructure or molecules trapped between layers,and thereby,avoiding the conventional use of diamond anvil cell

Lyme disease associated neuroretinitis — Case report

We describe a rare case of Lyme disease complicated by unilateral neuroretinitis in the right eye. We report a case of a 27-year-old woman with blurred vision on her right eye. Because of the suspicion of optic neuritis (multiplex sclerosis) neurological examination was ordered. Surprisingly, computer tomography of the brain revealed incomplete empty sella, which generally results not monocular, but bilateral optic nerve swelling. Opthalmological examination (ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography) indicated not only monocular optic nerve, but retinal oedema next to the temporal part of the right optic disk. Visual evoked potentials (VEP) demonstrated no P100 latency delay and mild differences between the amplitudes of the responses of the left and right eye. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) demonstrated the swelling of the optic nerve head and oedematous retina at the temporal part of the disk. Suspicion of an inflammatory cause of visual disturbance blood tests was ordered. Doxycycline treatment was ordered till the result of the blood test arrived. The Western blot and ELISA test were positive for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. Following one week corticosteroide and ceftriaxone treatments, the patient displayed a clinical improvement. Unilateral neuroretinitis with optic disk swelling due to neuroborreliosis is a rare complication and in many cases it is difficult to distinguish between inflammatory and ischemic lesions. Further difficulty in the diagnosis can occur when intracranial alterations such as empty sella is demonstrated by CT examination