TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hauf, Juliane E. K.
A1  - Nieding, Gerhild
A1  - Seger, Benedikt T.
T1  - The development of dynamic perceptual simulations during sentence comprehension
JF  - Cognitive Processing
N2  - Based on an embodied account of language comprehension, this study investigated the dynamic characteristics of children and adults’ perceptual simulations during sentence comprehension, using a novel paradigm to assess the perceptual simulation of objects moving up and down a vertical axis. The participants comprised adults (N = 40) and 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old children (N = 116). After listening in experimental trials to sentences implying that objects moved upward or downward, the participants were shown pictures and had to decide as quickly as possible whether the objects depicted had been mentioned in the sentences. The target pictures moved either up or down and then stopped in the middle of the screen. All age groups’ reaction times were found to be shorter when the objects moved in the directions that the sentences implied. Age exerted no developmental effect on reaction times. The findings suggest that dynamic perceptual simulations are fundamental to language comprehension in text recipients aged 6 and older.
KW  - embodied cognition
KW  - sentence comprehension
KW  - dynamic perceptual simulation;
KW  - children
KW  - adults
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-283665
VL  - 21
IS  - 2
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Müller, Frank
A1  - Hummers, Eva
A1  - Hillermann, Nele
A1  - Dopfer, Christian
A1  - Jablonka, Alexandra
A1  - Friede, Tim
A1  - Simmenroth, Anne
A1  - Wetzke, Martin
T1  - Factors influencing the frequency of airway infections in underage refugees: a retrospective, cross sectional study
JF  - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
N2  - Background: Infections are a leading cause of refugee morbidity. Recent data on the rate of airway infections and factors influencing their spread in refugee reception centers is scarce. Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional study of de-identified medical records with a focus on respiratory infections in underage refugees was conducted at two large German refugee reception centers. Results: In total, medical data from n = 10,431 refugees over an observational period of n = 819 days was analyzed. Among pediatric patients (n = 4289), 55.3% presented at least once to the on-site medical ward with an acute respiratory infection or signs thereof. In 38.4% of pediatric consultations, acute airway infections or signs thereof were present. Airway infections spiked during colder months and were significantly more prevalent amongst preschool and resettled children. Their frequency displayed a positive correlation with the number of refugees housed at the reception centers. Conclusions: We show that respiratory infections are a leading cause for morbidity in young refugees and that their rate is influenced age, season, status, and residential density. This illustrates the need to protect refugee children from contracting airway infections which may also reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the current pandemic.
KW  - refugees
KW  - migrants
KW  - respiratory infection
KW  - children
KW  - adolescents
KW  - seasonality
KW  - crowded housing
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - containment
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-213134
SN  - 1660-4601
VL  - 17
IS  - 18
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Farinelli, Veronica
A1  - Palmisano, Chiara
A1  - Marchese, Silvia Maria
A1  - Strano, Camilla Mirella Maria
A1  - D’Arrigo, Stefano
A1  - Pantaleoni, Chiara
A1  - Ardissone, Anna
A1  - Nardocci, Nardo
A1  - Esposti, Roberto
A1  - Cavallari, Paolo
T1  - Postural control in children with cerebellar ataxia
JF  - Applied Sciences
N2  - Controlling posture, i.e., governing the ensemble of involuntary muscular activities that manage body equilibrium, represents a demanding function in which the cerebellum plays a key role. Postural activities are particularly important during gait initiation when passing from quiet standing to locomotion. Indeed, several studies used such motor task for evaluating pathological conditions, including cerebellar disorders. The linkage between cerebellum maturation and the development of postural control has received less attention. Therefore, we evaluated postural control during quiet standing and gait initiation in children affected by a slow progressive generalized cerebellar atrophy (SlowP) or non-progressive vermian hypoplasia (Joubert syndrome, NonP), compared to that of healthy children (H). Despite the similar clinical evaluation of motor impairments in NonP and SlowP, only SlowP showed a less stable quiet standing and a shorter and slower first step than H. Moreover, a descriptive analysis of lower limb and back muscle activities suggested a more severe timing disruption in SlowP. Such differences might stem from the extent of cerebellar damage. However, literature reports that during childhood, neural plasticity of intact brain areas could compensate for cerebellar agenesis. We thus proposed that the difference might stem from disease progression, which contrasts the consolidation of compensatory strategies.
KW  - children
KW  - gait initiation
KW  - postural control
KW  - generalized cerebellar atrophy
KW  - cerebellar vermis hypoplasia
KW  - progressive ataxia
KW  - compensatory strategies
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200692
SN  - 2076-3417
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
ER  -