Video-based interventions promoting social behavioural skills for autistic children and young people: An evidence and gap map.

Background: Video-based interventions (VBIs) are an approach that can be used to promote social behavioural skills for autistic children and young people. Despite an abundance of literature in this area, previous evidence syntheses are limited by their exclusive search strategies and eligibility criteria. Therefore, there is a lack of comprehensive evidence syntheses to provide insight on whether these interventions work, for whom, and in what circumstances. Evidence and Gap Maps (EGMs) are used to collate vast literature on a broad topic area such as this, highlighting areas for synthesis, and identifying gaps for future research. Objectives: To identify, map and synthesise existing primary research on VBIs promoting social behavioural skills for autistic children and young people, creating a live, searchable and publicly available EGM. Search Methods: Searches were conducted in electronic databases (n = 8), web search engines, and other repositories including published papers and grey literature. The search strategy was developed around two concepts including (1) terms related to autism, and (2) terms related to VBIs. Searches were conducted in May 2021. Selection Criteria: All primary studies evaluating the effectiveness of VBIs in promoting social behaviours for autistic children and young people aged 3-18 were included in the EGM. Data Collection and Analysis: Search results were imported into Eppi-Reviewer where duplicates of identical studies were removed. Titles and abstracts were then screened by two independent reviewers. Potentially eligible full texts were located and also screened by two reviewers. Data were then extracted on study design, participant characteristics, type of intervention, type of outcome, and country of study, by one of three reviewers. EPPI-Mapper was used to create the interactive EGM. Main Results: The current EGM contains 438 studies reporting on 394 single subject research designs, 25 randomised controlled trials, 15 non-randomised group designs, and 8 pretest-posttest designs. Included studies evaluated VBIs in all male (n = 238), mixed gender (n = 172) or all female (n = 17) samples. VBIs employed included video modelling (n = 273), video self-modelling (n = 82), point-of-view modelling (n = 61), video prompting (n = 57), video feedback (n = 12) and computer-based video instruction (n = 4). The most frequently used models were adults (n = 191) and peers (n = 135). In relation to social outcomes, almost half evaluated social engagement (n = 199) with limited studies looking at safety (n = 9) and community (n = 7) skills. Authors' Conclusions: This EGM provides a valuable resource for policy-makers, practitioners, researchers, funders and members of the public to access evidence on VBIs promoting social behavioural skills in autistic children and young people. The map has identified areas of sufficient research where evidence can undergo synthesis. In addition, important gaps in the evidence were highlighted and suggest further research is warranted in all female samples and less frequently evaluated types of VBIs and social outcomes. Evidence included in this EGM will be further explored via systematic review and meta-analysis on control group designs.

Royle's sympathectomy for spastic paralysis: Sorry saga or scientific awakening?

On October 20, 1924, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, two medical graduates of the University of Sydney delivered the John B. Murphy Oration to the American College of Surgeons on the topic of sympathetic ramisection for the treatment of spastic paralysis. The surgery was regarded as a triumph. The triumph, however, was short-lived, when one of the speakers, John Irvine Hunter, a promising anatomist, died prematurely. Norman Royle, an orthopedic surgeon, continued the research program and continued to perform these operations. Within a few short years, however, the theory of the dual nerve supply of skeletal muscle, which underpinned the procedure, and the results of surgery for spastic paralysis came under question. Nevertheless, Royle's sympathectomy found another indication and became the treatment of choice for peripheral vascular disease for several decades thereafter. Although Hunter and Royle's original work was discredited, their research turned their sorry saga into a scientific awakening of the sympathetic nervous system.

Green synthesis of mesoporous and biodegradable iron silicide nanoparticles for photothermal cancer therapy.

Photothermal nanomaterials have shown great potential for photothermal therapy. In this study, we developed a simple green method of magnesiothermic co-reduction for the synthesis of mesoporous, magnetic and biodegradable iron silicide nanoparticles (FeSi NPs) as applied to photothermal therapy (PTT). Starting from biogenic tabasheer extracted from bamboo and Fe2O3, the resultant FeSi NPs with a much lower band gap exhibited excellent optical absorption with a photothermal conversion efficiency of 76.2%, indicating a good photothermal performance. The weight extinction coefficient was measured to be 13.3 L g-1 cm-1 at 1064 nm (second near-infrared window, NIR-II), which surpassed the performance of other competitive Si-based and Fe-based photothermal agents. Results of the cell viability assay showed that cells could be killed by NIR-II laser irradiation with the synthesized FeSi NPs. In vivo results on mice showed clearly an efficient suppression of tumour growth by photothermal treatment with FeSi NPs. FeSi NPs were found to be biodegradable in simulated body fluids. The results from our work indicate that FeSi NPs are a new class of promising photothermal agents (PTAs) for application in cancer therapy.

Taming non-radiative recombination in Si nanocrystals interlinked in a porous network.

A range of the distinctive physical properties, comprising high surface-to-volume ratio, possibility to achieve mechanical and chemical stability after a tailored treatment, controlled quantum confinement and the room-temperature photoluminescence, combined with mass production capabilities offer porous silicon unmatched capabilities required for the development of electro-optical devices. Yet, the mechanism of the charge carrier dynamics remains poorly controlled and understood. In particular, non-radiative recombination, often the main process of the excited carrier's decay, has not been adequately comprehended to this day. Here we show, that the recombination mechanism critically depends on the composition of surface passivation. That is, hydrogen passivated material exhibits Shockley-Read-Hall type of decay, while for oxidised surfaces, it proceeds by two orders of magnitude faster and exclusively through the Auger process. Moreover, it is possible to control the source of recombination in the same sample by applying a cyclic sequence of hydrogenation-oxidation-hydrogenation processes, and, consequently switching on-demand between Shockley-Read-Hall and Auger recombinations. Remarkably, irregardless of the recombination mechanism, the rate constant scales inversely with the average volume of individual silicon nanocrystals contained in the material. Thus, the type of the non-radiative recombination is established by the composition of the passivation, while its rate depends on the degree of the charge carriers' quantum confinement.

Then there were 12: The illustrated cranial nerves from Vesalius to Soemmerring.

In the second century ce, Galen described seven pairs of cerebral nerves. He did not name the nerves, nor did he illustrate his work. Galen's descriptive texts survived until the mid-sixteenth century, when anatomists, influenced by the artistic and scientific revolution of the Renaissance, began a reformation in anatomical research. They closely observed their own dissected material and conveyed their results not only in words but commonly by lavish drawings. Many of the great anatomists reexamined the cerebral nerves, adding descriptive text or changing the classification. In 1778, Thomas Soemmerring (1755-1830) named 12 pairs of cerebral nerves upon which the modern cranial nerve nomenclature is based. Soemmerring matched his text with clear, decisive illustrations. This article describes the works of some of the great artists in the period from Vesalius to Soemmerring and how they used illustration to supplement and provide clarity for their textual descriptions of the cranial nerves.

'So near and yet so far': the early women of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians - the first 20 female MRACP 1938-1947.

At the time of the inauguration of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1938, there were 232 Foundation Fellows, but only five were women. Those who wished to gain a postgraduate qualification for internal medicine or related specialties then sat for Membership of the new College. In the first decade (1938-1947), 250 gained Membership, but only 20 were women. These women lived in an era of professional and societal restrictions. Still, they all showed great determination and contributed significantly to their chosen fields, while many combined a busy practice with family life. They improved the path for those women who followed. Their stories, however, are rarely reported.

Model Teachers or Model Students? A Comparison of Video Modelling Interventions for Improving Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Children with Autism.

Video modelling (VM) interventions have been used to improve the fluency of individuals with learning disabilities and reading difficulties; this study aimed to replicate these findings with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) students. Four children with ASD (aged between 8 and 15) experienced two VM interventions, across 10 sessions, during an alternating treatments design: VM using a teacher model, and feedforward video self-modelling (FFVSM) where the student acted as the model. For two participants, FFVSM was found to be an effective intervention but overall, results for both interventions were inconsistent with previous research. Talking Mats Interviews were used to include these individuals within the social validation process of behavioural research.

Gold nanoplasmonic particles in tunable porous silicon 3D scaffolds for ultra-low concentration detection by SERS.

A composite material of plasmonic nanoparticles embedded in a scaffold of nano-porous silicon offers unmatched capabilities for use as a SERS substrate. The marriage of these components presents an exclusive combination of tightly focused amplification of Localised Surface Plasmon (LSP) fields inside the material with an extremely high surface-to-volume ratio. This provides favourable conditions for a single molecule or extremely low concentration detection by SERS. In this work the advantage of the composite is demonstrated by SERS detection of Methylene Blue at a concentration as low as a few picomolars. We systematically investigate the plasmonic properties of the material by imaging its morphology, establishing its composition and the effect on the LSP resonance optical spectra.

PROTOCOL: Video-based interventions for promoting positive social behaviour in children with autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This is the protocol for a Campbell review. The primary objective for this review is summarising the effectiveness of video-based interventions (VBI) in promoting prosocial behaviours in a population of young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The research questions employed to fulfil this objective include: (1) Do VBI improve prosocial behaviours in children with ASD? (2) Which social skills and interactive behaviours are most successful? (3) Do VBI generally have successful rates of skill generalisation and response maintenance? (4) Do demographic characteristics (age, gender) of participants influence the effectiveness of VBI's?

The effects of drying technique and surface pre-treatment on the cytotoxicity and dissolution rate of luminescent porous silicon quantum dots in model fluids and living cells.

Tailoring of the biodegradation of photoluminescent silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) is important for their future applications in diagnostics and therapy. Here, the effect of drying and surface pretreatment on the dissolution rate of Si QDs in model liquids and living cells was studied in vitro using a combination of photoluminescence and Raman micro-spectroscopy. Porous silicon particles were obtained by mechanical milling of electrochemically etched mesoporous silicon films, and consist of interlinked silicon nanocrystals (QDs) and pores. The samples were subjected to super-critical drying with CO2 solvent (SCD) or air drying (AD) and then annealed at 600 °C for 16 hours in 1% oxygen to obtain nano-sized Si QDs. The obtained samples were characterized by a core-shell structure with a crystalline silicon core and a SiO2 layer on the surface. The sizes of the crystalline silicon cores, calculated from Raman scattering spectra, were about 4.5 nm for the initial AD-SiQDs, and about 2 nm for the initial SCD-SiQDs. Both the AD-Si QDs and the SCD-Si QDs exhibited visible photoluminescence (PL) properties due to quantum confinement effects. The dissolution of the nanocrystals was evaluated through their PL quenching, as well as by the presence of a low-frequency shift, broadening, and a decrease in the intensity of the Raman signal. The stability of the AD-Si QDs and the complete dissolution of the SCD-Si QDs during 24 hours of incubation with cells have been demonstrated. This might explain the apparent lower cytotoxicity observed for SCD-Si QDs.

The promotion of phrenology in New South Wales, 1830-1850, at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts.

Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, began as a penal colony in 1788. British phrenologists would later show an intense interest in this new settlement, aroused by questions raised by convict transportation and indigenous assimilation into European culture. A more sinister engagement involved the scientific trafficking of Aboriginal skulls. This practice was seen, however, not as body snatching but as a meaningful contribution to the progress of science. In 1833, a group of educated, influential men formed the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts (SMSA). This organization was successful where previously learned societies had failed. These men aimed to see the diffusion of scientific and useful knowledge throughout the colony and to enhance the lot of the working man (mechanics). They planned to achieve this aim with lectures, demonstration classes, and the development of a library and museum. Phrenology fitted perfectly into their curriculum. From 1838 to the late 1840s, many of Sydney Town's prominent medical practitioners and other professionals delivered lectures promoting this "science." However, interest in the study of phrenology at the SMSA waned from the 1850s, when itinerant phrenologists turned the practice into a popular entertainment.

Acquiring surgical skills: the history of surgical teaching at the University of Sydney 1883-2014.

There have been at least 10 major revisions of the medical curriculum since the inauguration of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney in 1883. This study traced the evolution of the teaching of surgery at our institution by examination of the set curriculum of each period; the expectations of student knowledge in the final examination as well as examining some of the insights provided by past students of their surgical experience through their writings. In the early years, medical graduates were qualified to perform operative surgery without any further training, whereas the modern postgraduate medical curriculum provides students with the basis for further surgical training.

Social deprivation and primary hyperparathyroidism.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the potential relationship between social status or deprivation and the prevalence of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). METHODS: We retrospectively identified a cohort of patients diagnosed as having PHPT between 1981 and 2007 from the Scottish Morbidity Records database. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2006 quintiles were derived for these patients by using the postal codes. The distribution of the SIMD quintiles was examined to determine the possible influence of deprivation on the incidence of PHPT. RESULTS: In Scotland between 1981 and 2007, 3,039 patients were diagnosed as having PHPT, in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases code for PHPT. The distribution of the PHPT cohort across the SIMD 2006 quintiles was significantly different from that expected, with a higher representation (27.2%) among the most deprived and a lower representation (14.5%) in the least deprived quintile, in comparison with the 20% expected in each quintile (P<.0001). CONCLUSION: The findings in this study suggest that socioeconomic deprivation is associated with an increased risk of developing PHPT.

Chapter 27: a history of cerebrovascular disease.

Stroke is central to the history of cerebrovascular disease. References to this condition already appear in the Hippocratic corpus, referred to as apoplexy, which was defined by the clinical presentation: a sudden collapse, a loss of consciousness, a lack of movement, and included a variety of pathologies. A humoral imbalance was seen as the causation. In the 17th century, Johannes Wepfer, a Swiss physician, first demonstrated that apoplexy was caused by an intracranial hemorrhage; Thomas Willis, an English anatomist, explored the role of the cerebral arteries. Stroke became a cerebrovascular disease. By the 19th century, based on extensive clinico-pathological correlates initiated at the Paris Medical School, a vascular basis was firmly established and a range of pathologies determined. Apoplexy was considered too imprecise, and the term abandoned in favor of the term "cerebro-vascular accident" and latterly stroke. Although physicians of the 19th century utilized a wide variety of therapies in the treatment of stroke, with particular emphasis on blood letting, therapeutic nihilism dominated stroke management well into the 20th century. Following the mid 20th century work by C. Miller Fisher, with the recognition of the importance and the therapeutic implication of the carotid artery in stroke, the specialty of stroke medicine came into being. Therapeutic nihilism was replaced by an increasing armamentarium of therapeutic interventions.

Chapter 48: history of neurology in Australia and New Zealand.

In comparison with most Western countries, neurology as a recognized medical specialty has a relatively brief history in Australia: the national body for neurologists, the Australian (since 2006: and New Zealand) Association of Neurologists, was founded only in 1950. The development of neurology in both countries was heavily influenced by British neurology, and until recently a period in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London was regarded as essential to specialist training in neurology. Nevertheless, Australians have made significant contributions to international neurology since the early 20th century, commencing with the neuroanatomical research of the colorful expatriate Grafton Elliot Smith (1871-1937). Other Australian physicians who attracted early international attention through their work in clinical neuroscience included William John Adie (1886-1935), the anatomist John Irvine Hunter (1898-1924) and the surgeon Norman Royle (1888-1944). The first Australian physician to unambiguously commit himself to neurology was Alfred Walter Campbell (1868-1938), a remarkable personality who established an imposing reputation as neurocytologist and neuropathologist. The chapter provides a concise overview of the development of neurology as a clinical and academic specialty in Australia and New Zealand.

National survey of management of transient ischaemic attack in Australia: take immediate action.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the current organisation of services for people with transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and the processes of assessment and management across Australian hospitals. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional survey in 2008 of 134 Australian hospitals, mostly urban centres that treat large numbers of stroke patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Survey questions covered assessment, early management and follow-up practices, as well as organisation of services for TIA. RESULTS: Seventy-four hospitals (55%) responded: 47 (64%) reported access to a stroke unit, and 19 (26%) to a specialist clinic for TIA. Initial assessment included blood tests, electrocardiogram and brain computed tomography at most sites (92%-94%), and carotid imaging at more than half (65%), but magnetic resonance imaging at only 3% of sites. A tool to stratify the risk of subsequent stroke was used at 38 sites (51%), more commonly in hospitals with a stroke unit than in those without such a unit (64% v 30%; P = 0.005). Treatment was initiated at the initial assessment at 42 sites (58%), more commonly at stroke unit than non-stroke unit sites (68% v 37%; P = 0.007). Formalised policies for management of TIA patients were used at 38 sites (54%), with clear differences between sites with a stroke unit and those without (70% v 25%; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Access to rapid assessment and management services for TIA varies considerably between Australian hospitals. The presence of organised stroke care at a hospital leads to improved processes of care for patients presenting with TIA.