Correction: Global TALES feasibility study: Personal narratives in 10-year-old children around the world.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273114.].

Global TALES feasibility study: Personal narratives in 10-year-old children around the world.

Personal narratives make up more than half of children's conversations. The ability to share personal narratives helps build and maintain friendships, promotes physical and emotional wellbeing, supports classroom participation, and underpins academic success and vocational outcomes. Although personal narratives are a universal discourse genre, cross-cultural and cross-linguistic research into children's ability to share personal narratives is in its infancy. The current study addresses this gap in the research by developing the Global TALES protocol, a protocol comprising six scripted prompts for eliciting personal narratives in school-age children (excited, worried, annoyed, proud, problem situation, something important). We evaluated its feasibility with 249 ten-year-old children from 10 different countries, speaking 8 different languages, and analyzed researchers' views on the process of adapting the protocol for use in their own country/language. At group-level, the protocol elicited discourse samples from all children, although individual variability was evident, with most children providing responses to all six prompts. When investigating the topics of children's personal narratives in response to the prompts, we found that children from around the world share many commonalities regarding topics of conversation. Once again individual variability was high, indicating the protocol is effective in prompting children to share their past personal experiences without forcing them to focus on one particular topic. Feedback from the participating researchers on the use of the protocol in their own countries was generally positive, although several translation issues were noted. Based on our results, we now invite clinical researchers from around the world to join us in conducting further research into this important area of practice to obtain a better understanding of the development of personal narratives from children across different languages and cultures and to begin to establish local benchmarks of performance.

Negative or positive? The iron lung and poliomyelitis-Zurich, 1951.

During the poliomyelitis epidemics of the last century hospitals were inundated with patients in acute respiratory failure. Between 1946 and 1949, Nandor (Ferdinand) Eichel documented the use of the iron lung in children with acute poliomyelitis at the University Children's Hospital, Zurich. The aim was to assess the effectiveness of the Iron lung and negative pressure respiratory support for this indication and to establish its role in the context of other existing therapies at the time. Eichel produced his review and data as the Inaugural Dissertation towards his medical degree from the the University of Zurich, published in 1951. The dissertation was written in German and first translated into English in 2014. The current paper explores the findings of the dissertation and explains why there has been the transition to techniques of respiratory support today. It includes a biography of Dr F. N. Eichel and an update on the current status of poliomyelitis. The original dissertation was found in the home of Nandor's son and was of great interest to the current authors, Nandor's granddaughter and her colleague.

Competence-based curricula for the education of speech-language pathologists and audiologists in Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to present the academic requirements for the education of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and to discuss some of the challenges in providing quality supervised practice and the solutions proposed by some programs in Brazil. METHODS: Brazilian proposals regarding the training of SLPs are reviewed, with guidelines provided by the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP) and the Comité Permanent de Liaison des Orthophonistes-Logopèdes de l'UE (CPLOL), and descriptions of the specific experience of the oldest Brazilian program are provided. RESULTS: The bachelor's degree is the minimum level required for the independent practice of speech-language pathology and audiology in Brazil, where there are 75 undergraduate programs. In several programs, students are encouraged to enjoy the diversity at their university, enrolling in courses of different areas to broaden their experience. The basic areas of the undergraduate program are mandatory as per recommendation of the Ministry of Education and include competences related to the health system, decision making, communication, leadership and continued education. Since practice training is part of the undergraduate programs, it is incorporated into the pedagogical concept and has a major role in it. CONCLUSION: The structure of the programs allows the dissociation of theory from practice to be attenuated; both educational strategies are used together as part of the pedagogical concept.

Implications of the World Report on Disability for responding to communication disorders in Brazil.

The World Report on Disability has resulted in major shifts in healthcare policy in different national scenarios. The current paper seeks to elucidate some of the changes regarding communication sciences and disorders with the ultimate goal of improved service delivery for persons with communication disabilities in Brazil. The inherent national diversity presents major challenges to both planning and service delivery. The task of identifying under-served populations and the specific barriers to access to services and resources is not straightforward, particularly given that 200 million people reside in an area of over 8.5 million km(2). To address this need, changes have already been implemented, namely increased participation of professional and scientific associations related to communication sciences and disorders. Wylie, McAllister, Davidson, and Marshall (2013) offered a provocative analysis in their recent paper and their positions are further discussed within the current document. The bio-psycho-social model of disability should be the foundation for both public agencies and the academy to enhance this area of concern in research, professional training, and service delivery. The real challenge seems to be providing services with the appropriate level of complexity and specialization required for each unique scenario.

Effects of selected parameters on the response of the evaporative light scattering detector in supercritical fluid chromatography.

Due to the renewal of the use of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), the coupling of SFC with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) needs to be revisited. Indeed, SFC and ELSD apparatus have evolved, while understanding of the nebulisation process has improved. This detector, first developed for polymer analyses can be used for a lot of compounds that do not display sufficient UV absorption. Because the response of ELSD is related to numerous parameters, such as mobile phase composition, the velocity difference between the mobile phase and the nebulisation gas, or the nebulisation temperature, many additional studies are necessary to understand its behaviour in SFC as compared to HPLC. The effects of the nature of co-solvent added to carbon dioxide (methanol, ethanol and acetonitrile), the injected volume and the flow rate on the ELSD response were studied. Certain parameters induce great changes on the nebulisation recovery (the proportion of mobile phase entering the drift tube), allowing for a dramatic improvement in peak area. Moreover, effects of the particle size in the aerosol were also observed, related, as expected, to the modifier nature, but strangely also to the injected volume. Specific and positive behaviour of the ELSD detection on the apparent peak efficiency was confirmed in SFC, for large injected volumes. Finally, a flow rate increase reduces peak area, showing that the use of high flow rates, although attractive to shorten analysis duration, is not favourable to ELSD response. Numerous parameters acting on detector response are modified by the flow rate change, such as the mobile phase velocity. Moreover, measurement of the nebulisation chamber temperature shows the strong decrease of temperature for high flow rates, due to the supercritical fluid depressurisation.

Emerging issues concerning the education of speech and language pathologists and audiologists in Brazil and South America.

Diversity is one of the major characteristics of Brazil and all South America. This paper presents an overview of the current situation of the education of speech and language pathologists (SLP) and audiologists in Brazil and in several other countries of South America. This paper also discusses the main challenges shared by these countries. The discussion is focused on the mutual interferences between education and the areas of professional practice, cultural diversity and continued education. There are many emerging issues about the education of SLP and audiologists in South America. The suggested conclusion is that, despite the many differences, the South American SLP and audiologists' education would benefit from joint efforts and collaborative experiences.

Micro liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detector at ambient and high temperature: optimization of the nebulization cell geometry.

The recent developments in liquid chromatography (LC) are mainly dedicated to both system miniaturization (micro-, capillary-, and nano-LC) and analysis time decrease (fast-, and ultra-fast-LC). For the latter, several strategies can be used, and high temperature liquid chromatography (HTLC) seems very promising and easy to implement, especially in miniaturized system. In LC, the evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) is considered an attractive alternative to conventional detector such as UV-vis due to its versatility and quasi-universality. Therefore, the compatibility of ELSD with micro-LC and micro-HTLC was investigated for several pharmaceutical compounds of interest. The nebulization process appeared to be the most critical parameter for performing the coupling and maintaining an efficient separation. Therefore, appropriate modifications in the nebulization cell geometry were brought to make ELSD fully compatible with micro-LC. The impact of optimized nebulization cell on chromatographic performance was evaluated in terms of efficiency and sensitivity. Finally, highly efficient, sensitive and fast separations of pharmaceutical drugs were performed with both techniques and the customized nebulization cell design.

The scavenger receptor BI and its ligand, HDL: partners in crime against HCV neutralizing antibodies.

Better knowledge of the viral and host factors that determine HCV clearance vs. persistence at the acute stage of infection is needed in order to improve antiviral therapy and develop efficient vaccines. Spontaneous HCV clearance is associated with a strong, early and broad cellular immune response. Yet, several observations suggest that antibody-mediated neutralisation occurs during HCV infection in vivo and that polyclonal antibodies to HCV can be protective. The recent development of HCV infection assays has confirmed that sera from HCV-infected patients neutralise infection in vitro. Recent studies have demonstrated that Nt-antibodies, of narrow specificity, are induced during the early phase of infection and could play a role in controlling viral infection or clearance. Yet, high-titre, broadly cross-reacting Nt-antibodies are readily detected in chronically infected patients, suggesting that their effectiveness is limited in patients who do not resolve the disease. The factors that mitigate the impact of the Nt-antibody response need to be clarified. Here we review some essential features of the Nt-antibody responses to HCV. We then discuss an original mechanism that HCV may use in vivo to attenuate Nt-antibodies, which involves the hyper-variable region-1 of the HCV-E2 glycoprotein, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and the physiologic activity of the scavenger receptor BI, a receptor shared by both HCV and HDL.

Chiral supercritical fluid chromatography on porous graphitic carbon using commercial dimethyl beta-cyclodextrins as mobile phase additive.

Using dimethylated-beta-cyclodextrin mixtures (MeCD) as chiral selectors in CO2-polar modifier mobile phase and porous graphitic carbon as solid-phase, chiral supercritical (or subcritical) fluid chromatography was performed. The adsorbed quantity of MeCD onto the porous graphitic carbon (Hypercarb) was measured for various chiral selector concentrations using the breakthrough method with evaporative light scattering detector. The effects of MeCD concentration in the mobile phase, the nature of the polar modifier, the outlet pressure, the column temperature and the nature of the commercial MeCD mixture on the retention and the enantioselectivities were studied. For a given solute, the enantioselectivity is greatly dependent on the commercial MeCD mixture used. The retention mechanism was also studied. From the data, we find that the dominant mechanism for the chiral discrimination is the diastereoisomeric complexation in the mobile phase.

Efficient applications of capillary electrophoresis-tandem mass spectrometry to the analysis of adrenoreceptor antagonist enantiomers using a partial filling technique.

Throughout the separation of chiral basic drugs by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with neutral hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) as chiral selector, the sensitivity of detection can be improved by using tandem mass spectrometric (MS-MS) detection with a partial filling technique rather than with UV spectrometric detection. Prior to sample injection. the capillary was partly filled with HP-beta-CD dissolved in volatile ammonium formate buffer (pH 4, ionic strength 50 mM). The effects of modifying the HP-beta-CD concentration in the selector zone and the length of the separation zone on the enantioresolution and the signal-to-noise ratio of the pseudo-molecular MH+ ion were investigated. For a given selector zone length, as the concentration of the neutral cyclodextrin increases, the resolution between enantiomers becomes higher (the opposite of the behavior of the signal-to-noise ratio) and then reaches an optimum value. The decrease of the selector zone length lowered the resolution between the enantiomers but increased peak efficiencies and signal-to-noise ratio values. Accordingly, partial capillary filling at 80% (v/v) and 10 mM concentration of HP-beta-CD was selected as a suitable compromise between resolution and sensitivity of MS detection. Limits of detection for each adrenoreceptor antagonist enantiomer were 5 ng/ml (0.02 microM) in CE-MS-MS instead of 150 ng/ml (0.60 microM) in CE-UV, which enhances sensitivity by a factor of 30.

Analysis of sulfobutyl ether-beta-cyclodextrin mixtures by ion-spray mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-ion-spray mass spectrometry.

The analysis of two commercial and two home-made sulfobutyl ether beta-cyclodextrin (SBE-beta-CD) samples by ion-spray (IS) mass spectrometry and by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry coupling (LC-MS) is investigated in a negative ion mode. SBE-beta-CD fragmentation was first investigated by direct infusion. In IS, the best conditions for SBE-beta-CD ionization consisted of ammonium acetate added to an acetonitrile/water mixture as sample solvent. These conditions allowed simplification of the mass spectrum, mainly by the formation of dicharged species [M-2H]2-, thus limiting the production of multicharged fragments. IS-MS permits fast and simple measurement of the substitution pattern and determination of the global degree of substitution for SBE-beta-CD mixtures. A complementary method using LC-MS was developed for the analysis of these mixtures. The substitution patterns obtained by LC-MS are in good agreement with those determined by direct MS analysis. The LC-MS coupling enabled separation of the mixtures versus the charge in anion-exchange chromatography (AEC) whereas no separation of the different substitution isomers potentially present in the SBE-beta-CD mixture was displayed. The AEC methodology described can be successfully used for fractionation of SBE-beta-CD derivatives at the semi-preparative scale.

Novel microparticulate system made of poly(methylidene malonate 2.1.2).

Formulation of PMM 2.1.2 microparticles entrapping ovalbumin as a model protein was achieved by using a double emulsion solvent evaporation method. Parameters such as the nature of the solvent, polymer concentration and polymer molecular weight were investigated. Preparation process led to the formation of spherical and smooth particles with a mean diameter of 5 microm, and an encapsulation efficiency and protein loading level of up to 16 and 2.9% w/w, respectively. After an initial burst of approximately 10%, the protein was released at a rate of less than 1% per day. This slow release kinetics of encapsulated ovalbumin in phosphate buffer indicates that most of the protein was encapsulated within the polymer matrix. Degradation of PMM 2.1.2 microparticles in the presence of esterases indicated that side chain hydrolysis of the polymer was the rate-determining step in bioerosion; cleavage of the ester side chain, which was further hydrolyzed to glycolic acid and ethanol, led to an acrylic acid and subsequent solubilization of the polymer. However, slow polymer backbone solubilization after degradation was observed.

Simultaneous analysis of underivatized chiral amino acids by liquid chromatography-ionspray tandem mass spectrometry using a teicoplanin chiral stationary phase.

Simultaneous chiral separations of underivatized amino acids have been performed using a teicoplanin-based chiral stationary phase and ionspray tandem mass spectrometry for their ionisation and detection. Different amino acid enantiomer pairs were separated simultaneously, including those of positional isomeric amino acids (e.g., L,D-Leu/Ile, or L,D-Val/Iva). Due to the specificity of tandem mass spectrometry, co-eluting enantiomers of different amino acids could also be determined. Fifteen chiral underivatized proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic amino acids were analysed simultaneously under isocratic conditions (acetonitrile-water, 75:25) in less than 25 min. For maximum sensitivity, post-column addition of 500 mM aqueous HCOOH was necessary. Detection limits varied from 2.5 to 50 microg l(-1) depending on the amino acid. The signal vs. concentration relationship was linear for all D- and L-amino acids (0.9995 < or = r2 < or = 1) for three orders of magnitude.

Determination of inorganic cations and anions by ion-exchange chromatography with evaporative light-scattering detection.

Evaporative light-scattering detection (ELSD) was investigated for the direct determination of alkali and alkaline-earth cations by cation-exchange chromatography. Successful single run analysis of Na+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ was achieved in 11 min on the Hamilton PRP-X200 column using an aqueous solution of ammonium formate as mobile phase under a salt concentration step gradient mode (20 mM and 100 mM). Surprisingly the use of ELSD reveals a weak retention of inorganic anions (Cl-, NO3-, SO4(2-)) onto the polymeric cation exchanger, which enables the simultaneous determination of inorganic anions (C1- and NO3-) associated with the cations analysed (Na+ and K+).

Characterization of sulfobutyl ether-beta-cyclodextrins mixtures by anion-exchange chromatography using evaporative light scattering detection.

An analytical method based on anion-exchange chromatography (AEC) using volatile eluent ion and evaporative light scattering detection was developed for the analysis of mixtures of sulfobutyl-ether-beta-cyclodextrins (SBE-beta-CDs). A systematic investigation of the retention mechanism of pure SBE-beta-CD standards has been studied on a silica quaternary ammonium exchanger (Vydac 302 IC column). The influence of the nature and concentration of volatile anions (acetate, formate, trifluoroacetate), the addition of the organic modifier in the mobile phase as well the nature of the stationary phase have been evaluated under isocratic elution conditions. Satisfactory analysis of two commercial and two home-made SBE-beta-CD samples was achieved on the Vydac 302 IC column by using ammonium acetate as ion eluent in water-acetonitrile (70:30) under a salt concentration gradient mode. This method provides for SBE-beta-CD samples, an efficient and characteristic liquid chromatography fingerprint which depicts the mixture complexity and determines an average degree of substitution (DS) for each sample.

Determination at ppb level of an anti-human immunodeficiency virus nucleoside drug by capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

Capillary electrophoresis coupled with tandem mass spectrometry was used to indirectly separate and quantify the active metabolite of the anti-human immunodeficiency virus (anti-HIV) didanosine drug. The influence of several parameters (pH and ionic strength of volatile formic acid-ammonia buffer) upon electroosmotic flow, electrophoretic mobility and peak efficiency of several nucleosides (A, dA, ddA, C) has been studied. This paper illustrates the current importance in CE-MS technique as a complementary or substituted method to the known HPLC-radioimmunoassay or HPLC-UV method to measure levels of anti-HIV drugs. The limit of detection for 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine by this method is 2 microg 1(-1) in a formic acid-ammonia buffer (pH 2.5, 10 mM ionic strength). This methodology could be used to perform simultaneous detection of two or more anti-HIV nucleosides, such as stavudine or didanosine in combination therapy.

Parameter optimization for the analysis of underivatized protein amino acids by liquid chromatography and ionspray tandem mass spectrometry.

The analysis of the 20 underivatized protein amino acids by liquid chromatography ionspray tandem mass spectrometry is investigated in positive ion mode. First, by direct infusion, amino acid fragmentation was investigated based on the product-ion mass spectrum of the parent compound in three different collision energies (10, 20, 30 eV). Then, the relative abundance of fragment ions was studied as a function of the collision energy in order to select the product ion with the highest abundance and to obtain the maximum sensitivity for each amino acid, by using the optimum collision energy. Depending on the amino acid, the loss of H2O or NH3 or CH2O2 was selected as the product ion from the molecular ion [M+H]+ in selective reaction monitoring mode. 15 eV was chosen as a mean value of collision energy to obtain satisfactory sensitivity for the simultaneous determination of the 20 protein amino acids. In spite of the specificity of mass spectrometry, and in order to obtain maximum sensitivity, several pairs of amino acids had to be separated. The separation of these amino acids pairs was achieved in less than 20 min by using a porous graphitic carbon column and nonafluoropentanoic acid as ion-pairing reagent. Detection limits depending on the amino acid varied from 500 fmol to 40 pmol (using a 10 microl loop).

Determination of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and its structural analogue by liquid chromatography and ion spray tandem mass spectrometry.

Liquid chromatography coupled to ion spray tandem mass spectrometry was developed as a method for the simultaneous analysis of the amino acid 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) and its structural analogue, cyclopropane-1,1-dicarboxylic acid (CDA). ACC and CDA fragmentation as well as optimization of MS parameters were investigated in positive ion mode. In selective reaction monitoring mode the protonated molecule [M+H]+ was selected as parent ion for both ACC and CDA, while the immonium ion from ACC and the [M+H-H2O]+ ion from CDA were selected, respectively, as product ions. In spite of the high selectivity of MS/MS among the 20 protein amino acids potentially present with ACC and CDA in the plant material analyzed, Glu and Thr can interfere with the signal of ACC. As a result, their chromatographic separation is necessary. This was achieved in less than 4 min by ion-pair reversed-phase chromatography with nonafluoropentanoic acid as ion-pair reagent. A linear response within a concentration range of 1-5 mg l(-1) was observed for this LC method and the detection limit was found to be 20 pmol for ACC and 150 pmol for CDA (using a 20-microl loop). This methodology was successfully applied to the detection of ACC in apple tissue.