Lost in translation: the association of international status and native language on concussion in collegiate athletes in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to characterize the associations of international student status and native language on time (in days) with the date of injury to (i) diagnosis, (ii) symptom resolution, and (iii) return to sport. METHODS: Utilizing data from a cross-sectional cohort of 1,044 concussion cases from LIMBIC MATARS member institutions (n = 11) in the US, we conducted two, matched case-control designs. Cases were divided into two groups: (i) international (n = 32) or domestic students (n = 32) and (ii) English as an Additional Language (EAL) speakers (n = 18) or Native English language speakers (n = 18). Both groups were individually matched to their respective controls based on gender, age, sport, and preexisting health conditions. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in days from injury to diagnosis (p = 0.94), symptom resolution (p = 0.64), or return to sport (p = 0.15) between international and domestic athletes. EAL speakers experienced symptom resolution approximately 7.5 days sooner (Md = 4.50; IQR = 4.00, 8.00) than Native English language speakers (Md = 12.00; IQR = 7.00, 21.00, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that native language is associated with symptom resolution in collegiate athletes. Healthcare professionals should consider barriers related to native language that may impact symptom reporting and the overall injury experience of diverse collegiate athletes.

Flemish network on rare connective tissue diseases (CTD): patient pathways in systemic sclerosis. First steps taken.

Despite the low prevalence of each rare disease, the total burden is high. Patients with rare diseases encounter numerous barriers, including delayed diagnosis and limited access to high-quality treatments. In order to tackle these challenges, the European Commission launched the European Reference Networks (ERNs), cross-border networks of healthcare providers and patients representatives. In parallel, the aims and structure of these ERNs were translated at the federal and regional levels, resulting in the creation of the Flemish Network of Rare Diseases. In line with the mission of the ERNs and to ensure equal access to care, we describe as first patient pathways for systemic sclerosis (SSc), as a pilot model for other rare connective and musculoskeletal diseases. Consensus was reached on following key messages: 1. Patients with SSc should have multidisciplinary clinical and investigational evaluations in a tertiary reference expert centre at baseline, and subsequently every three to 5 years. Intermediately, a yearly clinical evaluation should be provided in the reference centre, whilst SSc technical evaluations are permissionably executed in a centre that follows SSc-specific clinical practice guidelines. In between, monitoring can take place in secondary care units, under the condition that qualitative examinations and care including interactive multidisciplinary consultations can be provided. 2. Patients with early diffuse cutaneous SSc, (progressive) interstitial lung disease and/or pulmonary arterial hypertension should undergo regular evaluations in specialised tertiary care reference institutions. 3. Monitoring of patients with progressive interstitial lung disease and/or pulmonary (arterial) hypertension will be done in agreement with experts of ERN LUNG.

Racial identity and concussion diagnosis and recovery trajectories in collegiate athletes: a LIMBIC MATARS investigation.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if there were concussion diagnosis and recovery disparities between collegiate athletes with Black and White racial identities. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: Concussion information was extracted from NCAA athlete medical files at LIMBIC MATARS member institutions from the 2015-16' to 2019-20' academic years. A total of 410 concussions from 9 institutions were included that provided all independent (i.e. racial identity of Black or White) and dependent variable information (i.e. dates of injury, diagnosis, symptom resolution, and return to sport) that were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U tests. The sample consisted of 114 (27.8%) concussions sustained by Black athletes and 296 (72.1%) sustained by White athletes. RESULTS: The overall sample had a median of 0 days between injury occurrence to diagnosis, 7 days to symptom resolution, and 12 days to return to sport. No significant timing differences were observed for concussion diagnosis (p = .14), symptom resolution (p = .39), or return to sport (p = 0.58) between collegiate athletes with Black versus White racial identities. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may reflect equitable access to onsite sports medicine healthcare resources that facilitate concussion management in the collegiate sport setting. Future work should explore these associations with a larger and more diverse sample of collegiate athletes.

Chore or desire? Students' response to online lessons in scientific integrity.

One of the main responsibilities of universities for their students, researchers, and society is to teach scientific integrity. Over the years, many universities-including RWTH Aachen University-have developed modules to impart the rules of good scientific practice. The current case study outlines the "Scientific Integrity" online course of RWTH Aachen University that has been offered to all master's students starting in October 2020; it explains to what extent the topic of scientific integrity meets genuine interest among students. Based on the online questionnaires that students were asked to fill out before starting the course (Q1) and after completing the course (Q2), it was verified that the implemented course achieved a satisfactory, but expandable acceptance. 57% of study participants initially (Q1) strongly affirmed to be interested in the topic; said percentage increased to 65.3% at the end of the course (Q2). While at the time of Q1 most students admitted that they would not take the course if it were voluntary, the majority of study participants came to the opposite conclusion after the course (Q2). The results suggest that the assessment of the relevance of the course may be dependent on familiarity with its contents.

Does a Centralized Scheduling Process Improve Referral Timeliness?

BACKGROUND: Timely, necessary specialist care is associated with better patient health outcomes and lower costs. This assessment looks at the effects of centralized scheduling, as well as patient and referral-level factors on referral completion rates. We hypothesized that centralized scheduling would increase access to specialty care, as evidenced by higher referral completion rates. METHODS: We analyzed data for specialty referrals to cardiology, nephrology, gastroenterology, and neurology from 6 months before to 6 months after implementation of a centralized scheduling system within a midwestern academic health system. We considered a referral complete if an appointment occurred within 3 months following an order for service. RESULTS: Overall, referral completion rates modestly increased (63.7% to 69.9%, P < 0.01), but this was driven by improvement within a single specialty (gastroenterology, 54.2% to 67.3%, P < 0.05). Other specialties saw either no significant change (neurology, nephrology) or a decrease (cardiology, 87.3% to 78.6%, P < 0.05). The time to schedule, or cycle time, improved overall from 21 days (SD 8-38) to 15 days (SD 8-30), P <0.05. CONCLUSIONS: Centralized scheduling had inconsistent effects on referral completion across specialties, though the process (cycle time) improved. Variable implementation fidelity and microenvironments likely contributed to uneven findings across specialties. Centralized scheduling may improve timely access but likely depends on implementation and buy-in.

Wnt1 Promotes Cementum and Alveolar Bone Growth in a Time-Dependent Manner.

The WNT/ß-catenin signaling pathway plays a central role in the biology of the periodontium, yet the function of specific extracellular WNT ligands remains poorly understood. By using a Wnt1-inducible transgenic mouse model targeting Col1a1-expressing alveolar osteoblasts, odontoblasts, and cementoblasts, we demonstrate that the WNT ligand WNT1 is a strong promoter of cementum and alveolar bone formation in vivo. We induced Wnt1 expression for 1, 3, or 9 wk in Wnt1Tg mice and analyzed them at the age of 6 wk and 12 wk. Micro-computed tomography (CT) analyses of the mandibles revealed a 1.8-fold increased bone volume after 1 and 3 wk of Wnt1 expression and a 3-fold increased bone volume after 9 wk of Wnt1 expression compared to controls. In addition, the alveolar ridges were higher in Wnt1Tg mice as compared to controls. Nondecalcified histology demonstrated increased acellular cementum thickness and cellular cementum volume after 3 and 9 wk of Wnt1 expression. However, 9 wk of Wnt1 expression was also associated with periodontal breakdown and ectopic mineralization of the pulp. The composition of this ectopic matrix was comparable to those of cellular cementum as demonstrated by quantitative backscattered electron imaging and immunohistochemistry for noncollagenous proteins. Our analyses of 52-wk-old mice after 9 wk of Wnt1 expression revealed that Wnt1 expression affects mandibular bone and growing incisors but not molar teeth, indicating that Wnt1 influences only growing tissues. To further investigate the effect of Wnt1 on cementoblasts, we stably transfected the cementoblast cell line (OCCM-30) with a vector expressing Wnt1-HA and performed proliferation as well as differentiation experiments. These experiments demonstrated that Wnt1 promotes proliferation but not differentiation of cementoblasts. Taken together, our findings identify, for the first time, Wnt1 as a critical regulator of alveolar bone and cementum formation, as well as provide important insights for harnessing the WNT signal pathway in regenerative dentistry.

The French Integrative Psychosocial Rehabilitation Assessment for Complex Situations (FIPRACS): Modelization of an Adapted Assessment Method Toward Long-Term Psychiatric Inpatients With Disabling, Severe and Persistent Mental Illness.

For the past forty years, the generalization of community-based approaches has prompted psychiatry into promoting a deinstitutionalization movement and a psychosocial rehabilitation approach (PSR) for individuals with schizophrenia and related difficulties. Unfortunately, this approach generally does not involve the most severe cognitive and psycho-affective clinical situations among this population despite an increasing number of publications advocating that all individuals should be included in PSR and deinstitutionalization programs. In this context, considering the absence of an assessment battery designed for French individuals with particularly disabling, severe, and persistent mental illness (IDSPMI), we constructed an integrative assessment model adapted to this specific population. To select the most suitable tools for this population, a literature review (inspired by the PRISMA protocol) and a systematic review were combined with a clinical assessment study. The literature review first identified the cognitive and psycho-affective functions which mainly influence the day-to-day life adaptation of individuals engaged in a PSR/deinstitutionalization program. The systematic review then gathered all of the useable French validated tools to assess the initially selected dimensions (n = 87). To finish, for each dimension, the selected 87 tools were included in a clinical assessment study performed within a French psychiatric hospital. The authors collected and verified the characteristics of each tool (validity, French norms, French version, the average speed of the test, ease of use, ability to assess other dimensions). Their suitability was also assessed when applied to IDSPMI. Based on this final clinical evaluation, the authors selected one tool per function to create the French Integrative Psychosocial Rehabilitation Assessment for Complex Situations (FIPRACS). This battery is an assessment tailored to the neurocognitive and psycho-affective potentials of IDSPMI. While further validation studies of this battery are ultimately required, the practical/clinical implications of this battery are presented and discussed.

Observation of a Goos-Hänchen-like Phase Shift for Magnetostatic Spin Waves.

In optics, a light beam experiences a spatial shift in the beam plane upon total internal reflection. This shift is usually referred to as the Goos-Hänchen shift. When dealing with plane waves, it manifests itself as a phase shift between an incoming and reflected wave that depends on the wave vector component along the interface. In the experiments presented here, plane spin waves are excited in a 60-nm-thick Permalloy film and propagate towards the edge of the film. By means of time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy, we are able to directly detect a phase shift between the incoming and reflected wave. With the help of a numerical model, we show that this phase shift naturally occurs for spin waves in the dipolar regime.

Cytokine kinetic profiles in children with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a post hoc descriptive analysis from a randomized control trial.

OBJECTIVES: Standard inflammatory markers and chest radiography lack the ability to discriminate bacterial from non-bacterial lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). Cytokine profiles may serve as biomarkers for LRTI, but their applicability to identify aetiology, severity of disease and need for antibiotic prescription in children remains poorly defined. Objectives were to determine the cytokine kinetic profiles over 5 days in paediatric patients with LRTI, to investigate the relationship between cytokine patterns, and clinical and laboratory variables. METHODS: We included patients aged 1 month to 18 years, with febrile LRTI and three consecutive cytokines measurements on days 1, 3 and 5 of a randomized controlled trial (ProPAED study). We evaluated differences in cytokine concentrations between days and associations with clinical and laboratory variables. RESULTS: A total of 181 patients (median age 4.1 years) were included; 72/181 (40%) received antibiotics. Serum concentrations of interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-1ra, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ-inducible protein (IP)-10 and tumor necrosis factor-α were elevated on day 1 and decreased subsequently, with the greatest decline between day 1 and 3 (by -8 to >-94%). Procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) values showed a protracted decrease with the most prominent reduction in concentrations between days 3 and 5. Significantly elevated IL-6 concentrations were associated with hospital admission, antibiotic treatment, and prolonged antibiotic treatment. Bacteraemic LRTI patients had higher concentrations of IL-1ra (p <0.0055) and IL-6 (p <0.0055) on day 1. CONCLUSIONS: We observed an earlier decrease of elevated cytokines compared to PCT or CRP. Both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines may serve as markers for severity of LRTI.

Post-licensure safety surveillance study of routine use of quadrivalent meningococcal diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine (MenACWY-D) in infants and children.

BACKGROUND: Menactra® vaccine (MenACWY-D) was licensed in the United States in 2005 for persons 11-55 years of age, in 2007 for children 2-10 years of age, and in 2011 for infants/toddlers 9-23 months of age. We conducted two studies at Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC), an integrated health care organization, to assess the safety of MenACWY-D in 2-10-year-olds and 9-23-month-olds receiving the vaccine during routine clinical care. METHODS: We conducted observational, retrospective studies of MenACWY-D in 2-10-year-olds (October 2007-October 2010) and in 9-23-month-olds (June 2011-June 2014). We monitored all subjects for non-elective hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and selected outpatient outcomes (specified neurological conditions, hypersensitivity reactions and new-onset autoimmune diseases) up to 6 months after vaccination, depending on the study. Using a self-control risk-interval design, we calculated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) comparing outcomes during the post-vaccination risk interval (0-30 days) with those during more remote post-vaccination comparison intervals (31-60 and 31-180 days [children] or 31-75 days [infants/toddlers]). RESULTS: There were 1421 children aged 2-10 years and 116 infants/toddlers aged 9-23 months who received MenACWY-D. Approximately 30% of the 2-10-year-olds and 67% of the 9-23-month-olds were considered at increased risk of meningococcal disease. Among 2-10-year-olds, there was 1 hospitalization on post-vaccination day 5 for fever, which was considered possibly related to vaccination. The only significantly elevated outcome among 2-10-year-olds was cellulitis/abscess (2 cases occurred during the risk interval versus 0 during comparison interval; IRR not evaluable [NE], 95% CI: 1.42, NE). After medical record review, the 2 cases were considered unrelated to vaccination. Among 9-23-month-olds, no outcomes were significantly elevated after vaccination and there were no hospitalizations. There were no deaths observed during the three-year accrual and subsequent six-month surveillance period for either study. CONCLUSIONS: Immunization of infants and young children with MenACWY-D vaccine was not associated with any new safety concerns; however, these small studies had limited power to detect rare or uncommon safety events. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers are NCT00728260 and NCT01689155.

Post-licensure safety surveillance study of routine use of quadrivalent meningococcal diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine.

BACKGROUND: Menactra® vaccine (MenACWY-D) was licensed in the United States in 2005 for persons 11-55years of age. The aim of this study was to assess the safety of MenACWY-D administered as part of routine clinical care to patients at Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC). METHODS: This was an observational, retrospective study that included all KPNC members who received MenACWY-D during the study period. We monitored all vaccine recipients for non-elective hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and selected outcomes captured in the clinic setting (Bell's palsy, seizures, neuritis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, encephalopathy, encephalitis, epilepsy, transverse myelitis, multiple sclerosis, hypersensitivity reactions, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, diabetes, arthritis, hemolytic anemia, collagen-vascular disease) through 6months after vaccination. Using vaccine recipients as their own controls, we calculated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of outcomes during the post-vaccination risk interval and compared these with rates during a comparison interval more remote from vaccination. We also compared rates of outcomes in MenACWY-D recipients with those in matched controls who received selected vaccines in the prior year. We reviewed medical records for selected outcomes. RESULTS: From April 2005 through April 2006, 31,561 KPNC patients (>99% of whom were 11-55years of age) received MenACWY-D. Overall, there were 21 outcomes with significantly elevated IRRs and 44 outcomes with significantly reduced IRRs. Medical record review of outcomes with significantly elevated IRRs did not suggest any relationship with MenACWY-D. Two serious adverse events were considered possibly related to vaccination by the study investigator. CONCLUSIONS: This study did not detect any safety concerns following MenACWY-D and provides reassurance that MenACWY-D administered as part of routine care was not associated with unexpected safety risks. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier is NCT00254995.

Time Resolved Measurements of the Switching Trajectory of Pt/Co Elements Induced by Spin-Orbit Torques.

We report the experimental observation of spin-orbit torque induced switching of perpendicularly magnetized Pt/Co elements in a time resolved stroboscopic experiment based on high resolution Kerr microscopy. Magnetization dynamics is induced by injecting subnanosecond current pulses into the bilayer while simultaneously applying static in-plane magnetic bias fields. Highly reproducible homogeneous switching on time scales of several tens of nanoseconds is observed. Our findings can be corroborated using micromagnetic modeling only when including a fieldlike torque term as well as the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction mediated by finite temperature.

[How I explore Crohn's disease by various imaging modalities]. / Comment j'explore la maladie de Crohn par imagerie.

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory condition characterized by recurrent and/or chronic lesions, leading to cumulative structural bowel damage. It is established that the correlation between symptoms and intestinal lesions is weak. Therefore, monitoring by frequent cross-sectional imaging is proposed to assess the disease activity. There is no consensus about the preferred imaging option. Priority is given to non-radiating modalities, such as ultrasonography and MRI. Tomodensitometry will be reserved for emergency cases. Ultrasonography can be useful, in emergency as well as for the monitoring of lesions of known topography. Entero-MRI is henceforth considered the standard imaging technique for the diagnosis and follow-up of Crohn's disease. Its high contrast resolution allows an accurate assessment of disease activity, therapeutic efficacy, cumulative structural bowel damage and complications.

La maladie de Crohn est une maladie inflammatoire intestinale dont les manifestations récurrentes ou chroniques entraînent des dommages tissulaires cumulatifs. Il est avéré que la corrélation entre la symptomatologie clinique et les lésions intestinales est faible. Par conséquent, des examens d'imagerie fréquents sont nécessaires pour déterminer l'activité de la maladie. Il n'existe pas de consensus quant à l'utilisation de l'une ou l'autre technique. La priorité sera donnée à des examens peu irradiants comme l'échographie et l'IRM. La tomodensitométrie sera réservée aux situations d'urgence ou en cas de contre-indication à l'IRM. L'échographie est un outil à ne pas négliger, tant en urgence que pour le suivi de lésions de topographie connue. L'entéro-IRM est dorénavant l'examen de choix pour le diagnostic et le suivi de la maladie de Crohn. Son excellente résolution en contraste permet d'évaluer l'activité de la maladie, l'efficacité thérapeutique, les dommages tissulaires cumulés et la présence de complications.

Strong coupling in hybrid metal-dielectric nanoresonators.

We study resonant photonic-plasmonic coupling between a gold dipole nanoantenna and a silicon nanodisc supporting electric and magnetic dipolar Mie-type resonances. Specifically, we consider two different cases for the mode structure of the silicon nanodisc, namely spectrally separate and spectrally matching electric and magnetic dipolar Mie-type resonances. In the latter case, the dielectric nanoparticle scatters the far fields of a unidirectional Huygens' source. Our results reveal an anticrossing of the plasmonic dipole resonance and the magnetic Mie-type dipole resonance of the silicon nanodisc, accompanied by a clear signature of photonic-plasmonic mode hybridization in the corresponding mode profiles. These characteristics show that strong coupling is established between the two different resonant systems in the hybrid nanostructure. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that in comparison with purely metallic or dielectric nanostructures, hybrid metal-dielectric nanoresonators offer higher flexibility in tailoring the fractions of light which are transmitted, absorbed and reflected by the nanostructure over a broad range of parameters without changing its material composition. As a special case, highly asymmetric reflection and absorption properties can be achieved.This article is part of the themed issue 'New horizons for nanophotonics'.

Robust spin-orbit torque and spin-galvanic effect at the Fe/GaAs (001) interface at room temperature.

Interfacial spin-orbit torques (SOTs) enable the manipulation of the magnetization through in-plane charge currents, which has drawn increasing attention for spintronic applications. The search for material systems providing efficient SOTs, has been focused on polycrystalline ferromagnetic metal/non-magnetic metal bilayers. In these systems, currents flowing in the non-magnetic layer generate-due to strong spin-orbit interaction-spin currents via the spin Hall effect and induce a torque at the interface to the ferromagnet. Here we report the observation of robust SOT occuring at a single crystalline Fe/GaAs (001) interface at room temperature. We find that the magnitude of the interfacial SOT, caused by the reduced symmetry at the interface, is comparably strong as in ferromagnetic metal/non-magnetic metal systems. The large spin-orbit fields at the interface also enable spin-to-charge current conversion at the interface, known as spin-galvanic effect. The results suggest that single crystalline Fe/GaAs interfaces may enable efficient electrical magnetization manipulation.

Breast cancer and fat grafting: efficacy, safety and complications-a systematic review.

Autologous fat grafting (AFG) or lipofilling is nowadays a popular technique for breast reconstruction after breast cancer surgery. There is debate regarding the oncological safety and risks of this procedure in breast cancer patients. A systematic review of the literature published between January first 1995 and October first 2016 was conducted regarding the efficacy, safety and complications of this technique in breast cancer patients after their cancer treatment. The databases PubMed, Science Direct and Thomson Reuters Web of Science were used to search for qualified articles. Inclusion criteria were women with a personal history of breast cancer and at least one lipofilling procedure. Only studies containing a minimum of 20 patients were included in this systematic review. The search yielded a total of 23 suitable articles: 18 case series, 4 retrospective cohort studies and one prospective cohort study. The systematic review encompassed a total of 2419 patients. Medical imaging was used in the majority of the studies to assess the follow-up. Mammography was the most popular technique (65.2%), followed by ultrasound (47.8%) and MRI (30.4%). The prevalence of complications was the following: fat necrosis in 5.31%, benign lesions, like cysts or calcifications in 8.78%, infections in 0.96% and local cancer recurrence in 1.69%. AFG or lipofilling appears to be an oncological safe technique with a low morbidity in women with a history of breast cancer. In order to have a better understanding and evidence of the oncological safety a randomised controlled trial is urgently needed. We further recommend that all AFG be registered in the cancer register.

Tuning Spin Hall Angles by Alloying.

Within a combined experimental and theoretical study it is shown that the spin Hall angle of a substitutional alloy system can be continuously varied via its composition. For the alloy system Au_{x}Pt_{1-x} a substantial increase of the maximum spin Hall angle compared to the pure alloy partners could be achieved this way. The experimental findings for the longitudinal charge conductivity σ, the transverse spin Hall conductivity σ_{SH}, and the spin Hall angle α_{SH} could be confirmed by calculations based on Kubo's linear response formalism. Calculations of these response quantities for different temperatures show that the divergent behavior of σ and σ_{SH} is rapidly suppressed with increasing temperature. As a consequence, σ_{SH} is dominated at higher temperatures by its intrinsic contribution that has only a rather weak temperature dependence.

Snell's Law for Spin Waves.

We report the experimental observation of Snell's law for magnetostatic spin waves in thin ferromagnetic Permalloy films by imaging incident, refracted, and reflected waves. We use a thickness step as the interface between two media with different dispersion relations. Since the dispersion relation for magnetostatic waves in thin ferromagnetic films is anisotropic, deviations from the isotropic Snell's law known in optics are observed for incidence angles larger than 25° with respect to the interface normal between the two magnetic media. Furthermore, we can show that the thickness step modifies the wavelength and the amplitude of the incident waves. Our findings open up a new way of spin wave steering for magnonic applications.

Scn1a dysfunction alters behavior but not the effect of stress on seizure response.

Mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel gene SCN1A are responsible for a number of epilepsy disorders, including genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+) and Dravet syndrome. In addition, dysfunction in SCN1A is increasingly being linked to neuropsychiatric abnormalities, social deficits and cognitive disabilities. We have previously reported that mice heterozygous for the SCN1A R1648H mutation identified in a GEFS+ family have infrequent spontaneous seizures, increased susceptibility to chemically and hyperthermia-induced generalized seizures and sleep abnormalities. In this study, we characterized the behavior of heterozygous mice expressing the SCN1A R1648H mutation (Scn1a(RH/+)) and the effect of stress on spontaneous and induced seizures. We also examined the effect of the R1648H mutation on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response. We confirmed our previous finding that Scn1a(RH/+) mutants are hyperactive, and also identified deficits in social behavior, spatial memory, cued fear conditioning, pre-pulse inhibition and risk assessment. Furthermore, while exposure to a stressor did increase seizure susceptibility, the effect seen in the Scn1a(RH/+) mutants was similar to that seen in wild-type littermates. In addition, Scn1a dysfunction does not appear to alter HPA axis function in adult animals. Our results suggest that the behavioral abnormalities associated with Scn1a dysfunction encompass a wider range of phenotypes than previously reported and factors such as stress exposure may alter disease severity in patients with SCN1A mutations.

Resonant metasurfaces at oblique incidence: interplay of order and disorder.

Understanding the impact of order and disorder is of fundamental importance to perceive and to appreciate the functionality of modern photonic metasurfaces. Metasurfaces with disordered and amorphous inner arrangements promise to mitigate problems that arise for their counterparts with strictly periodic lattices of elementary unit cells such as, e.g., spatial dispersion, and allows the use of fabrication techniques that are suitable for large scale and cheap fabrication of metasurfaces. In this study, we analytically, numerically and experimentally investigate metasurfaces with different lattice arrangements and uncover the influence of lattice disorder on their electromagnetic properties. The considered metasurfaces are composed of metal-dielectric-metal elements that sustain both electric and magnetic resonances. Emphasis is placed on understanding the effect of the transition of the lattice symmetry from a periodic to an amorphous state and on studying oblique illumination. For this scenario, we develop a powerful analytical model that yields, for the first time, an adequate description of the scattering properties of amorphous metasurfaces, paving the way for their integration into future applications.