French Adaptation of the Childhood ExecutivFe Function Inventory (CHEXI): Confirmatory Factor Analysis in a Sample of Young French-Speaking Belgian Children

in European Journal of Psychological Assessment (in press)

Thorell and Nyberg (2008) recently developed the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI), a new rating instrument for executive functioning in day-to-day life that can be divided into four ... [more ▼]

Thorell and Nyberg (2008) recently developed the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI), a new rating instrument for executive functioning in day-to-day life that can be divided into four subscales: working memory, planning, inhibition, and regulation. By using an exploratory factor analysis on data from young Swedish children attending kindergarten, Thorell and Nyberg (2008) found a two-factor solution tapping working memory and inhibition. In the present study, we explored the psychometric characteristics of the French adaptation of the CHEXI. Ninety-five parents of 5- and 6-year-old children completed the CHEXI. Eighty-seven children from this sample were given clinical inhibition and working memory tasks. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor solution based on inhibition and working memory that was identified in the original study of Swedish children. Supplementary results indicated good internal and test-retest reliability for the entire scale, as well as for the two subscales identified. Correlation analyses showed no relationship between cognitive measures and the CHEXI subscales. Possible clinical applications for the CHEXI scales are discussed. [less ▲]

The use of SWOT analysis to explore and prioritize conservation and development strategies for local cattle breeds

in Animal (in press)

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is a tool widely used to help in decision making in complex systems. It suits to exploring the issues and measures related to the ... [more ▼]

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is a tool widely used to help in decision making in complex systems. It suits to exploring the issues and measures related to the conservation and development of local breeds, as it allows the integration of many driving factors influencing breed dynamics. We developed a quantified SWOT method as a ecisionmaking tool for identification and ranking of conservation and development strategies of local breeds, and applied it to a set of 13 cattle breeds of six European countries. The method has four steps: definition of the system, identification and grouping of the driving factors, quantification of the importance of driving factors and identification and prioritization of the strategies. The factors were determined following a multi-stakeholder approach and grouped with a three-level structure. Animal genetic resources expert groups ranked the factors, and a quantification process was implemented to identify and prioritize strategies. The proposed SWOT methodology allows analyzing the dynamics of local cattle breeds in a structured and systematic way. It is a flexible tool developed to assist different stakeholders in defining the strategies and actions. The quantification process allows the comparison of the driving factors and the prioritization of the strategies for the conservation and development of local cattle breeds. We identified 99 factors across the breeds. Although the situation is very heterogeneous, the future of these breeds may be promising. The most important strengths and weaknesses were related to production systems and farmers. The most important opportunities were found in marketing new products, whereas the most relevant threats were found in selling the current products. The across-breed strategies utility decreased as they gained specificity. Therefore, the strategies at European level should focus on general aspects and be flexible enough to be adapted to the country and breed specificities. [less ▲]

Anévrisme de l’artère ulnaire chez un couvreur

in Revue Médicale de Liège (in press)

A case of ulnar artery aneurysm in an independent roofer is reported. It is a rare disease often associated with the Hammer Hypothenar Syndrome specifically found in manual workers and athletes exposed to ... [more ▼]

A case of ulnar artery aneurysm in an independent roofer is reported. It is a rare disease often associated with the Hammer Hypothenar Syndrome specifically found in manual workers and athletes exposed to repetitive palmar trauma. [less ▲]

Dendritic cells in Barrett's esophagus carcinogenesis: an inadequate microenvironment for antitumor immunity?

in American Journal of Pathology (in press)

Emotional Facial Expression Recognition and Expressivity in Type I and Type II Alcohol Dependent Patients

in Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (in press)

Objective: Alcohol dependent patients (ADs) are known to encounter severe interpersonal problems. Nonverbal communication skills are important for the development of healthy relationships. The present ... [more ▼]

Objective: Alcohol dependent patients (ADs) are known to encounter severe interpersonal problems. Nonverbal communication skills are important for the development of healthy relationships. The present study aimed to explore emotional facial expression (EFE) recognition and posed and spontaneous EFE expressivity in male ADs divided into two groups according to Cloninger’s typology and the impact of their interpersonal relationship quality on the potential nonverbal deficits. Method: Twenty type I ADs, twenty-one type II ADs, and twenty control participants took part in an EFE recognition task and an EFE expressivity task that considered personal emotional events (spontaneous expressivity) and EFE in response to a photo or word cue (posed expressivity). Coding was based on judges’ ratings of participants’ emotional facial expressions. Participants additionally completed a questionnaire on interpersonal relationship quality. Results: No difference between the three groups emerged in the EFE recognition task. Type II ADs showed heightened deficits compared with type I ADs in EFE expressivity: Judges perceived less accurate posed EFE in response to a cue word and less intense and positive spontaneous EFE in type II ADs compared to control participants. In addition, type II ADs reported more relationship difficulties compared to both type I ADs and control participants. These interpersonal relationship difficulties were related to some of the EFE expressivity deficits of AD-IIs. Conclusions: This study underlines the important differences between the interpersonal functioning of AD subtypes. [less ▲]

Effect of head-to-head addition in vinyl acetate controlled radical polymerization: why is Co(acac)2-mediated polymerization so much better?

in Macromolecules (in press)

The controlled polymerization of vinyl acetate has been recently achieved by several techniques, but PVAc with targeted Mn and low dispersity up to very high monomer conversions and high degrees of ... [more ▼]

The controlled polymerization of vinyl acetate has been recently achieved by several techniques, but PVAc with targeted Mn and low dispersity up to very high monomer conversions and high degrees of polymerization was only obtained with Co(acac)2 as controlling agent in the so-called CMRP, a type of organometallic mediated radical polymerization (OMRP). Other techniques (including ATRP, ITP, TERP, and RAFT/MADIX) have shown a more or less pronounced slowdown in the polymerization kinetics, which was attributed to the higher strength of the C−X bond between the radical PVAc chain and the trapping agent (X) in the dormant species and to a consequent slower reactivation after a less frequent head-to-head monomer addition. The reason for the CMRP exception is clarified by the present contribution. First, a detailed investigation by 1H, 13C and multiplicity-edited HSQC and DEPT-135 NMR of the PVAc obtained by CMRP, in comparison with a regular polymer made by free radical polymerization under the same conditions, has revealed that Co(acac)2 does not significantly alter the fraction of head-to-head sequences in the polymer backbone and that there is no accumulation of Co(acac)2-capped chains with a head-to-head ω end. Hence, both dormant chains (following the head-to-head and the head-to-tail monomer additions) must be reactivated at similar rates. A DFT study shows that this is possible because the dormant chains are stabilized not only by the C−Co σ bond but also by formation of a chelate ring through coordination of the ω monomer carbonyl group. The head-to-head dormant chain contains an inherently stronger C−Co bond but forms a weaker 6-membered chelate ring, whereas the weaker C−Co bond in the head-to-tail dormant chain is compensated by a stronger 5-membered chelate ring. Combination of the two effects leads to similar activation enthalpies, as verified by DFT calculations using a variety of local, gradient-corrected, hybrid and “ad hoc” functionals (BPW91, B3PW91, BPW91*, M06 and M06L). While the BDE(C−X) of model H-VAc−X molecules [X = Cl, I, MeTe, EtOC(S)S and Co(acac)2] are functional dependent, the BDE difference between head-to-head and head-to-tail dormant chain models is almost functional insensitive, with values of 5−9 kcal/mol for the ATRP, ITP and TERP models, 3−6 for the RAFT/MADIX model, and around zero for CMRP. [less ▲]

Emerging drugs for prevention of graft failure after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

in Expert Opinion on Emerging Drugs (in press)

Introduction: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is the treatment of choice for many patients suffering from hematological malignancies, severe hemoglobinopathies, bone marrow ... [more ▼]

Introduction: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is the treatment of choice for many patients suffering from hematological malignancies, severe hemoglobinopathies, bone marrow failures or severe primary immunodeficiencies. Graft rejection/failure (GF) is a life-threatening complication following allo-HSCT that is most commonly caused by the reactivity of recipient T cells, natural killer (NK) cells or antibodies against donor grafted hematopoietic cells. The increasing use of allo-HSCT following reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) and the increasing use of alternative donors (unrelated cord blood and human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mismatched donor) have resulted in higher frequency of GF. Areas covered: This review describes the pathogenesis and current prevention and treatment of GF as well as agents in development for GF prevention or treatment. Expert opinion: The risk of GF may be reduced in the future by optimizing the conditioning regimens and post-grafting immunosuppression, increasing the number of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and/or immune cells transplanted, optimizing HSC homing and better detecting patients at high risk of GF by searching for pre-transplant donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies in patients given grafts from HLA-mismatched donors, or by closely monitoring donor T- and/or NK-cell chimerism after allo-HSCT following RIC. [less ▲]

Influence of microfabric evolution on the retention behaviour of compacted clayey soils

in Unsaturated Soils: Research & Applications (2014, July)

Changement, disparition ou éternel retour ?

Scientific conference (2014, January 27)

Familles diasporiques et arènes spirituelles. Approche ethnographique translocale: Kinshasa-Bruxelles-Liège-Kinshasa

in Mazzocchetti, Jacinthe (Ed.) Migrations subsahariennes en Belgique (2014)