Altered processing of self-related emotional stimuli in mindfulness meditators.

Mental health benefits of mindfulness techniques are thought to involve changes in self-processing, such as decreased attachment to the self, higher self-compassion and lower emotional reactivity to inner experience. However, self-related emotion processing in regular mindfulness practitioners is not extensively studied. In the current work we investigate differential neural and behavioral correlates of self-criticism and self-praise in 22 mid-to-long-term mindfulness meditators (LTM) compared to 22 matched meditation-naïve participants (MNP). In an fMRI experiment, participants were presented with blocks of individually selected positive (self-praise, SP), negative (self-critical, SC), negative but not-self-critical (NNSC), and general, neutral (NT) adjectives, and reported their affective state after the blocks. On the neural level, both SP and SC yielded more activation in the dorso-medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) in LTM compared to MNP. Activation in this region correlated positively with non-react scores of the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and showed decreased functional connectivity to posterior midline and parietal regions in LTM compared to MNP during both self-related appraisals. Further, we found evidence for emotional reactivity in LTM on the neural level, particularly during SP. On the behavioral level, a mixed effects analysis revealed significantly higher differences in affective ratings after blocks of SC compared to SP in MNP compared to LTM. Differences in DMPFC activation and affective ratings point towards increased awareness, potentially mindful regulation of SC and SP in LTM, while decreased connectivity to other regions of the default mode network could reflect a decreased self-focus in this group. As such, our results illustrate differences in self-related emotional processes in meditators and offer clinically relevant insights into mechanisms of mindful emotion regulation when facing self-criticism and self-praise.

Intravascular catheter-related bloodstream infection caused by Abiotrophia defectiva in a neutropenic child.

Bacteraemia and endocarditis are the most frequently reported clinical infections due to Abiotrophia defectiva species. This species has been rarely implicated in infections in neutropenic patients. We report a rare case of long-term venous catheter-related infection caused by A. defectiva that occurred in a febrile child who had neutropenia and Langerhans' cell histiocytosis.

Pubertal development in obese children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate clinical and laboratory markers of pubertal development in a large sample of obese children and adolescents. METHODS: Analysis of parameters of sexual maturation in 1232 obese individuals (582 boys) aged 6-18 years (mean 13.0+/-2.42 years). Clinical evaluation of pubertal stage and determination of bone age in a subset (227 patients). RESULTS: Mean Height--standard deviation scores (height-SDS) was positive during childhood and reached zero approximately at age 14 years followed by a turn to negative mean height-SDS in both genders. Accordingly, bone age was accelerated until age 14. No significant differences in average time points of occurrence of pubic hair stages PH 2 to PH 4 in boys and PH 2 to PH 5 in girls were observed as compared to references of the First Zurich Longitudinal Study. In girls, breast stage B 3 was reached earlier (11.6 vs 12.2 years, P=0.03). In boys, mean volume of testis revealed no significant deviation from reference. Mean dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) levels were elevated in boys (within age ranges 8-10 years and 12-16 years, P<0.02) and in girls (within age ranges 6-8 years and 12-18 years, P<0.005) and mean testosterone levels in boys >12 years were lower as compared to reference ranges (all P-values <0.0001). CONCLUSION: The study data suggest normal development of pubarche and gonadarche in obese German boys and normal timing of pubarche in girls. Breast development in obese girls seems to be slightly advanced. In obese boys, an obvious dissociation of clinical and laboratory parameters of pubertal development was observed. Despite significantly increased height-SDS and increased DHEAS levels, gonadal development was normal and testosterone levels were decreased. Elevated DHEAS levels in both genders may contribute to the acceleration of bone maturation, a lower final body height and could increase cardiovascular risk.

Local atomic and electronic structure in nanocrystalline Sn-doped anatase TiO2.

Tin-doped anatase TiO(2) nanopowders and nanoceramics with particle sizes between 12 and 30 nm are investigated by X-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) and Mössbauer spectroscopies. Furthermore, ab initio calculations based on the density functional theory are performed to analyze changes in the electronic structure due to Sn doping. The three approaches consistently show that Sn is dissolved on substitutional bulk sites with a slight increase of the bond lengths of the inner coordination shells. The Debye-Waller factors show that the nanocrystallites are highly ordered. There is no indication of defect states or bandgap changes with Sn doping.

Particle mass emission rates from current-technology, light-duty gasoline vehicles.

Now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has promulgated new National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM2.5, work will begin on generating the data required to determine the sources of ambient PM2.5 and the magnitude of their contributions to air pollution. This paper summarizes the results of an Environmental Research Consortium program, carried out under the auspices of the U.S. Council for Automotive Research. The program focused on particulate matter (PM) emissions from representative, current-technology, light-duty gasoline vehicles produced by DaimlerChrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co., and General Motors Corp. The vehicles, for the most part taken from the manufacturer's certification and durability fleets, were dynamometer-tested using the three-phase Federal Test Procedure in the companies' laboratories. The test fleet was made up of a mixture of both low-mileage (2K-35K miles) and high-mileage (60K-150K miles) cars, vans, sport utility vehicles, and light trucks. For each vehicle tested, PM emissions were accumulated over 4 cold-start tests, which were run on successive days. PM emission rates from the entire fleet (22 vehicles total) averaged less than 2 mg/mile. All 18 vehicles tested using California Phase 2 reformulated gasoline had PM emission rates less than 2 mg/mile at both low and high mileages.

Complicaciones tardías de la fractura de cráneo con lesión meníngea: presentación de tres casos clínicos / Late complications of craneal fracture with meningeal injury: presentation of 3 clinical cases

Se describen tres casos de complicación tardía de una fractura de cráneo con compromiso meníngeo: Un encefalocele orbitario con exoftalmo unilateral intermitente, una fractura crecedora de un adulto y un hundimiento craneano con rotura dural, 39, 29 y 16 años, respectivamente, después de un tratamiento craneoencefálico. Se confrontan estos casos con la literatura. Se describe el tratamiento neuroquirúrgico. Se comenta lo infrecuente de estas complicaciones tardías del traumatismo craneoencefálico

Cystic fibrosis and neuroblastoma.

Two cases of coexistent cystic fibrosis and infantile thoracic neuroblastoma are presented. In one patient, neuroblastoma was congenital, and diagnosis of cystic fibrosis was made at 3 months of age; in the other, the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis was made at 7 months of age, preceding that of neuroblastoma by 4 months. In both infants, surgical resection of the tumors have been successful. Recent advances in the genetic aspects of neuroblastoma, including translocation and activation of the oncogene N-myc, are discussed. Current recombinant DNA technology, which can identify translocation of N-myc and allow localization of the cystic fibrosis gene if the translocation occurs near the cystic fibrosis allele, is being applied to these cases.