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2013| January-April | Volume 8 | Issue 1
Online since May 6, 2013
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Acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis: Clinical characteristics and outcome
Ahmed Farag Elhassanien, Hesham Abdel Aziz
January-April 2013, 8(1):26-30
Background: ADEM, although relatively uncommon, is probably under-recognized. Objectives: To spotlight the clinical profile and therapeutic outcome of children with ADEM. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study of patients with ADEM who were admitted to the Pediatric Departments in Aladan and Alfarawanya Hospitals in Kuwait, from January 2009 to January 2011. Clinical, microbiological and radiological data were analyzed. Results: Of 48 patients presented with acute neurological symptoms and signs, 21 patients fulfilled criteria for ADEM. 80.95% of cases were presenting in winter and spring, 57% of patients had a history of upper respiratory tract illness. The commonest presentations were motor deficits, convulsions and altered consciousness. CSF virology studies showed herpes simplex virus (HSV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) (3 patients) whereas nasal and nasopharyngeal swab showed evidence of influenza H1N1 virus (1 patient). Brain MRI was performed in all patients and revealed multiple hyperintense supratentorial brain lesions on T2/FLAIR images. 85.7% of patients had cortical and/or subcortical white matter lesions which were bilateral and asymmetric in location and size. Conclusion: ADEM although rare must be considered in children with acute onset of neurological signs and symptoms and must be distinguished from any acute neurological insult.
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Coexistence of myositis, transverse myelitis, and Guillain Barré syndrome following Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in an adolescent
Yasemin Topcu, Erhan Bayram, Pakize Karaoglu, Uluc Yis, Handan Guleryuz, Semra Hiz Kurul
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and transverse myelitis may occur coexistently in the pediatric population. This may be explained by a shared epitope between peripheral and central nervous system myelin. Coexistent transverse myelitis, myositis, and acute motor neuropathy in childhood have not been previously described. We describe a 14-year-old female patient with transverse myelitis, myositis, and GBS following Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. She presented with weakness and walking disability. Weakness progressed to involve all extremities and ultimately, she was unable to stand and sit. Based on the clinical findings, a presumptive diagnosis of myositis was made at an outside institution because of high serum creatine kinase level. The patient was referred to our institution for further investigation. Magnetic resonance imaging of spine revealed enhancing hyperintense lesions in the anterior cervicothoracic spinal cord. The electromyography revealed acute motor polyneuropathy. Serum M. pneumoniae IgM and IgG were positive indicating an acute infection. Repeated M. pneumoniae serology showed a significant increase in Mycoplasma IgG titer. The patient was given intravenous immunoglobulin for 2 days and clarithromycin for 2 weeks. She was able to walk without support after 2 weeks of hospitalization. This paper emphasizes the rarity of concomitant myositis, transverse myelitis, and GBS in children.
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Acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion
Saroj S Yadav, Malini A Lawande, Shilpa D Kulkarni, Deepak A Patkar
Acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and reduced diffusion (AESD) is a syndrome of encephalopathy characterized by biphasic seizures and altered consciousness in the acute stage followed in the subacute stage by restricted diffusion in the subcortical white matter on magnetic resonance imaging. The etiology of AESD has been attributed to viral infection like influenza A and human herpes virus 6. The exact pathogenesis of AESD is uncertain. Here we report a case of AESD, diagnosed based on clinicoradiological correlation.
Vitamin D deficiency in children with epilepsy: Do we need to detect and treat it?
Pooja Harijan, Arif Khan, Nahin Hussain
January-April 2013, 8(1):5-10
Children and adolescents treated with antiepileptic drugs are known to have problems with bone metabolism, bone mineral density loss, and 2-3 times the fracture risk of healthy controls. We reviewed the literature regarding bone mineral density in children with epilepsy and vitamin D therapy in children treated with anti-epileptic drugs. Studies of bone mineral density markers in children with epilepsy have mostly found little significant difference in bone mineral density markers in children with epilepsy. They have been limited by small sample size and many of the studies have not corrected for confounding factors such as comorbidities, mobility, nutrition, and obesity. Studies of vitamin D therapy in children with epilepsy have shown little evidence of effect and have been similarly limited by lack of stratification with regard to confounding factors. There is a need for larger studies, using clinically significant outcomes such as fractures, including at risk populations such as symptomatic generalised epilepsy, impaired mobility, and polytherapy. At the present time in the absence of good evidence to the contrary, there remains concern that children with epilepsy are at risk of poor bone health and that vitamin D therapy may be beneficial. As low-dose vitamin D supplementation (400 IU per day) is now recommended for healthy children and it is biologically feasible that children with epilepsy may be at higher risk of clinically significant deficiency, it is important that neurologists ensure that low-dose vitamin D supplementation should be prescribed and compliance followed up in children with epilepsy.
Deep brain stimulation improves quality of life in pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration
Kiran P Sathe, Anaita U Hegde, Paresh K Doshi
Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is an uncommon extrapyramidal movement disorder characterized by the progressive incapacitating dystonia. Medical management is often incapable of reversing the dystonic symptoms. In recent years, stereotactic procedure like deep brain stimulation has been found effective in resolving the disabling dystonia and improving the quality of life. There are few cases in the world literature highlighting the usefulness of this technique. We report a case of 10-year-old girl who underwent bilateral Globus pallidus internus stimulation for PKAN.
Infantile osteopetrosis, craniosynostosis, and Chiari malformation type I with novel OSTEM1 mutation
AH Mahmoud Adel, A Al Jabri Abdullah, Faqeih Eissa
We report a case of a 9-month-old Arab infant, with novel OSTEM mutation and unpublished triad of osteopetrosis (OP), craniosynostosis (CS), and Chiari malformation type I (CM1). The index presented with progressive irritability, abnormal movements, following an accidental fall. The history revealed early onset of irritability, progressive visual loss, and global developmental delay, more prominent at the gross motor level and a suspected congenital cytomegalovirus infection. The pregnancy was uneventful with subsequent unremarkable delivery. The parents are Arabs'first cousins with no apparent symptoms or signs of bone disease. Three dimensional brain computed tomography (CT) showed ventriculomegaly, thick calvaria, and CS of the coronal and sagittal sutures. Patient had signs of left lower motor neuron facial palsy, and CT of petrous bones confirms the presence of osteopetrotic petrous with slim mastoid portions of the facial nerve canals both sides. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed CM1. Skeletal survey showed sclerotic skeleton. He needed ventriculoperitoneal shunt and died at 18 months of age. Molecular testing for OSTEM1 gene revealed novel homozygous mutation that segregated from his parents. This novel OSTEM1 gene novel mutation and the combination of OP, infantile CS, and CM1 is to our knowledge never been reported.
Acute encephalopathy following the use of aluminum hydroxide in a boy affected with chronic kidney disease
Majid Malaki
Surgical management of double giant tuberculomas of brain involving both supratentorial and infratentorial compartments
Ashis Patnaik, Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, Satya Bhusan Senapati
Supratentorial ependymomas in children: Analysis of nine cases
George A Alexiou, Maria Moschovi, Kalliopi Stefanaki, Dimitrios Panagopoulos, Maria Tsotra, George Siozos, George Sfakianos, Neofytos Prodromou
Background: Intracranial ependymomas are the third most common primary brain tumor in children. In the present study, we set out to investigate the expression of p-53, p-27, bcl-2, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and of neuronal markers in pediatric supratentorial ependymomas, in correlation with Ki-67/MIB-1 proliferation index and prognosis. Materials and Methods: Nine children with supratentorial ependymomas that were treated surgically in our institute over the last seven years were identified and included in the study. The extent of resection was classified as gross total and subtotal, and was determined by MRI scans. The ependymal tumors were classified according to WHO classification. Results: Headache and seizures were the most common presenting symptoms and papilledema the most common sign. In seven cases, gross total excision was performed, and in two cases, the resection was subtotal. All ependymomas were anaplastic. Ki-67/MIB-1 was detected in 20-40% of the nuclei in all tumors. There was also increased expression of p-53, bcl-2, p-27, and EGFR. There was expression of neuronal markers in three cases. After a mean follow-up period of 32.1 months (range 16-74 months), eight children were alive. Five children suffered from tumor recurrence. Conclusions: Complete surgical excision should be the goal of surgery. The prognostic role of Ki-67, p-53, p-27, bcl-2, EGFR, and neuronal markers expression needs to be determined in multi-institutional studies due to tumor's rarity.
Giant cell glioblastoma in the pediatric age group: Report of two cases
Sachin Anil Borkar, G Lakshmiprasad, Kiran Chikkanahalli Subbarao, Mehar Chand Sharma, Ashok K Mahapatra
Giant cell glioblastoma multiforme is a rare subgroup of glioblastoma multiforme. It constitutes about 5% of all glioblastoma cases. Pediatric giant cell glioblastoma is extremely rare. We report two such cases of giant cell glioblastoma in pediatric age group (≤18 years). The pertinent literature is reviewed regarding this uncommon entity.
Neuroradiological findings in maple syrup urine disease
Venkatraman Indiran, R Emmanuel Gunaseelan
Maple syrup urine disease is a rare inborn error of amino acid metabolism involving catabolic pathway of the branched-chain amino acids. This disease, if left untreated, may cause damage to the brain and may even cause death. These patients typically present with distinctive maple syrup odour of sweat and urine. Patients typically present with skin and urine smelling like maple syrup. Here we describe a case with relevant magnetic resonance imaging findings and confirmatory biochemical findings.
Neurobehavior of term neonates with neonatal hyperbilirubinemia
Thirunavukkarasu Arun Babu, B Vishnu Bhat, Noyal Mariya Joseph
Objective: To find the effect of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia on neurobehavior of term infants. Materials and Methods: This study was undertaken in the neonatal unit of our tertiary care hospital. Term neonates who developed jaundice with serum bilirubin value of above 15 mg/dl within 1 st week of life were enrolled in the study. Peak total serum bilirubin (PSB) levels of cases were recorded. Age and sex matched normal controls were assigned to every case. Both the groups were assessed by Brazelton's neurobehavioral assessment scale (NBAS) and the scores of the individual clusters were compared. Results: Habituation, range of state, autonomic regulation and regulation of state clusters were significantly altered in the case group, while motor organization cluster was mainly affected in neonates with severe jaundice (PSB > 25 mg/dl). No differences were noted in the reflex and orientation NBAS clusters. Conclusion: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia causes definite alteration in the neonatal neurobehavior.
Vulvar migration of the peritoneal end through the inguinal canal in a female infant: An unusual complication of the ventriculo-peritoneal shunt: A case report and review of literature
Mayur Sharma, Vernon Velho, Rahul Mally, K Hrushikesh
Migration of the peritoneal end of the ventriculo-peritoneal shunt through the patent processus vaginalis has been described in preterm male infants with 26 such cases in the literature. The occurrence of this rare complication in the female preterm infants has not yet been reported. We report a 3-month-old premature female infant who presented with a gradual increase in head size since birth. Computed tomography revealed obstructive hydrocephalous secondary to the aqueductal stenosis and ventriculo-peritoneal shunt was performed. Ten days following the procedure she presented with swelling and other signs of inflammation over the right vulvar region. X-ray abdomen confirmed the migration of the peritoneal end into the vulva. Surgical obliteration of the patent processus vaginalis and replacement of the peritoneal end was performed. The patient had no recurrence at 6 months of follow-up. This report presents the unusual complication of a common procedure in a female infant with a review of the current literature.
A rare case of giant terminal lipomyelocystocele with partial sacral agenesis
Shashank Ravindra Ramdurg, S Jerwargikar Rajshekhar, Shubhi Dubey, Avinash R Odugoudar
Terminal myelocystoceles (TMCs) are a rare form of occult spinal dysraphism. They constitute approximately 5% of skin covered lumbosacral masses. The TMC is composed of a low-lying conus medullaris with cystic dilatation of caudal central canal, a surrounding meningocele and a lipoma that extends from the conus to a subcutaneous fat collection. A 6-month-old female child presented with a large lumbosacral mass (14 cm × 12 cm × 10 cm) and weakness at the ankle joints since birth. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scan revealed a low-lying terminal lipomyelocystocele with holocord syrinx and partial sacral agenesis. The child was operated on successfully. This is an interesting and rare case of giant terminal lipomyelocystocoele with syrinx and a partial sacral agenesis. Terminal lipomyelocystocele should be included in the differential diagnosis of congenital lesions presenting as a lumbosacral mass and operated early.
Tethered cord syndrome in adolescents: Report of two cases and review of literature
Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, Souvagya Panigrahi, Manmath Kumar Dhir, Deepak Kumar Parida
The symptoms of tethered cord syndrome (TCS) cases mostly appear during infancy and childhood. Though the adolescent presentation of TCS is well-recognized, it continues to pose significant diagnostic and management controversies. In this report, we describe two cases of adolescent onset TCS associated with two different etiologies. Our first case, an 18-year-old girl who presented due to overflow incontinence in association with TCS was diagnosed to have lumbar meningocele. The second case, a 19-year-girl presenting with perianal anesthesia and bowel and bladder incontinence had lipomyelomeningocele as the cause of TCS. Both of them underwent untethering surgery. The clinical charts and follow-up data were studied in respect to the clinical manifestation, surgical intervention and outcome with a brief review of pertinent literature.
Novel CLN1 mutation with atypical juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis
Arif Khan, Kwong S Chieng, Aravindhan Baheerathan, Nahin Hussain, Jayprakash Gosalakkal
We detected a novel CLN1 gene mutation (p.Arg151X, heterogenous) in a 12-year-old boy. Low level of palmitoyl protein thioesterase and granular inclusion pattern in lymphocytes were also consistent with infantile Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (INCL). However, the clinical phenotype was that of atypical juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (JNCL) and consisted of progressive visual loss from the age of 8 years. His visual acuity was 6/60 in both eyes at first presentation, 6/36 one month later, then 6/6 (right eye), and 6/60 (left eye) 6 months later. However, after 4 months, visual acuity dropped to 6/60 in both eyes and at last follow-up, it was 6/60 (right eye) and 3/60 (left eye). Visual hallucinations were also reported. Persistent normal fundi findings, normal electroretinogram (ERG), and delayed visual evoked potentials (VEP) were suggestive of non-retinal adolescence form/atypical JNCL. Visual loss in JNCL is secondary to retinal dystrophy. Our observations suggest that JNCL should be considered in any children presenting with bilateral progressive visual loss even with normal fundi and/or delayed VEP. Electron microscopy of buffy coat and palmitoyl protein thioesterase enzyme study are useful tools in diagnosis. Pertinent issues regarding clinical symptomatology, ophthalmologic findings, and laboratory results are discussed.
Gelastic seizures and fever originating from a parietal cortical dysplasia
Sana Chaouki, Saïd Boujraf, Samir Atmani, Larbi Elarqam, Wafae Messouak
Gelastic seizures (GS) is an uncommon seizure type characterized by sudden inappropriate attacks of uncontrolled and unmotivated laugh and its diagnostic criteria were elaborated by Gascon. These criteria included stereotypical recurrence of laugh, which is unjustified by the context, associated signs compatible with seizure, and ictal or interictal abnormalities. GS can be cryptogenic or symptomatic of a variety of cerebral lesions, the most common being hypothalamic hamartoma. However, GS associated with other types of cerebral lesions are exceedingly rare. The physiopathologic mechanisms of this type of seizure are still undefined. Two reports have described a non-lesional GS arising from a parietal focus. In this paper, we report the first case of lesional GS associated to the parietal area of the brain in a child and this case has associated fever that is likely an ictal symptom.
The risk of seizure recurrence after a first unprovoked seizure in childhood: A prospective study
Sujit Abajirao Jagtap, Anupama Mauskar, Neeta Naik
Dermoid cyst splitting the spinal cord
Sameer S Futane, Pravin Salunke
Rare case of primary primitive neuroectodermal tumour of sacral region in a child and its follow-up
Ashis Patnaik, Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, Sanjib Mishra
Megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with sub cortical cysts: An inherited dysmyelinating disorder
Sunil Kumar Bajaj, Ritu Misra, Rohini Gupta, Ranjan Chandra, Amita Malik
Tuberculous abscess: The correct perspective
Vengalathur Ganesan Ramesh
Subdural effusion in infantile tremor syndrome
Garima Chandak Bang, Hema Mittal, Anju Aggarwal
Congenital myasthenic syndromes: Clinical and molecular report on 7 Sicilian patients
Piero Pavone, Agata Polizzi, Maria Roberta Longo, Katia Romano, Michele Vecchio, Andrea D Praticò, Raffaele Falsaperla
Background: Congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMS) are a heterogeneous group of diseases involving neuromuscular transmission. The classification of these syndromes is based on the localization of the defect (pre-synaptic, post-synaptic, and neuromuscular junction) and on the molecular analysis. Aim: To report on a series of 7 patients affected by post-synaptic CMS. Patients and Methods: We examined sex, familiarity, age of onset, clinical symptoms, and response to tensilon test, patellar and pupillary reflexes, presence of cranial nerve involvement, Gowers' sign, presence of ptosis, grade of muscular weakness, and response to the treatment and gene deletions. Results: Ptosis, muscular hypotonia, and light variability in muscular weakness were the main clinical signs. Cholinergic receptor, nicotinic, epsilon (CHRNE) gene mutations were mainly reported. Conclusions: The study points out that the clinical and molecular pattern reported in our patients do not differentiate from the data reported in the literature. Treatment with pyridostigmine and modulation of the therapy allows a good quality of life.
Electroencephalogram after first unprovoked seizure in children: Routine, unnecessary or case specific
Arif Khan, Aravindhan Baheerathan
January-April 2013, 8(1):1-4
A child is brought into a paediatric emergency unit with an unprovoked, afebrile first seizure. We conduct a clinical assessment of the child and rule out any acute metabolic, traumatic or infectious causes and consequently, make the diagnosis of an epileptic seizure. The International League against Epilepsy (ILAE) suggests that following such a diagnosis, the next step should be the appropriate classification of the seizure type, after which an appropriate syndrome diagnosis should be made. (1) Should an EEG be arranged for this child and if so, should it be arranged within 24 hours or within the next week? If we decide not to arrange an EEG this time and to do so if any further seizures occur, are we practicing evidence based medicine? A recent guideline published by the Royal College of paediatrics and child health (RCPCH) asserted: "There is no need for an EEG following a first simple afebrile seizure". (2) This is a very bold and clear statement but what evidence and what quality of evidence is this statement based upon? This review analyses and discusses prominent literature regarding this widely-discussed topic.
Brainstem ganglioglioma in an infant: Case report and review of literature
CV Gopalakrishnan, Adesh Shrivastava, Suresh Nair, Neelima Radhakrishnan
Gangliogliomas are well differentiated, usually low grade, neuroepithelial tumors that comprise of neoplastic ganglion cells in combination with neoplastic glial cells. Occasionally, glial cells may show anaplastic features and are then labeled as anaplastic gangliogliomas. Most of the reported gangliogliomas are supratentorial tumors, predominantly in the temporal lobe. Brainstem location has been reported infrequently. As with cortically based gangliogliomas, though the primary treatment is resection, this is often not possible due to the eloquence of surrounding involved parenchyma. Here, we report a case of brainstem tumor in an 8-month-old child that was substantially resected and was histopathologically Grade 1 ganglioglioma. As per review of English literature, there has been no case of brainstem ganglioglioma reported in an infant (less than 1 year age). We discuss the surgical difficulties in the radical excision of such benign tumors and review literature on pediatric brainstem gangliogliomas.
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Mohd Khalid , Saifullah Khalid, Sushant Mittal, Urooj Ahmad
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Neurological distress in Togolese newborn: Prevalence, causes and clinical features
Balaka Bahoura, Assogba Komi, M Ossou-Nguiet Paul, Apetsè Kossivi, Kapitan-Gnimdu Magnoudewa
Background: The transition from fetal to neonatal life during birth is difficult for all babies. We aim to analyze the demography, clinical presentation, causes, and outcome of neurologically distressed newborns. Materials and Methods: We reviewed a total of 615 newborns files admitted with life threatening condition. Amongst them, 453 had presented neurological distress syndrome. Only cases with severe neurological impairment (Apgar Score System [ASS] ≤6) with no other associated injury were included in the study group. The study covered a period from January to December 2011 and located in pediatric intensive care unit. The information regarding clinical presentation, condition of birth, causes of distress, and outcome were analyzed. Neonate examination had been conducted by neonatologist and pediatric neurologist. Results: The sample included 272/453 (60.04%) males and 181/453 (39.96%) females. Newborns were aged from 1 to 14 days. The incidence of neurological distress amongst all admissions was 453/615 (73.65%). Clinical signs were weakness of primary reflexes (86.70%), non reactivity (78.19%), flaccid muscle tone (59.49%) and impaired consciousness (32.29%). On Apgar score, 73 (20.68%) had a score from 0 to 3; 234 (66.29%) had a score 4-6 in the first minute of life. A total of 307 (86.97%) newborns had been resuscitated at birth during the first five minutes. Death rate was 35.69%. Asphyxia (51.27%) and neonatal infection (43.34%) were the most common causes of death. Conclusion: These results show that much effort remains to be done in obstetric care, resuscitation management and improvement in neonatal infection care.


Ehome Hand Bells Set, Eight Be aware Diatonic Steel Bells, Musial Bells for Children, Youngsters and Toddlers, Musical Studying at an Early Age, Musical Toy Percussion Instrument.
Baltimore Ravens vs Pittsburg Steelers Sec 140 Row 24 (2) Tickets. Great Seats!
Chiefs Dwelling Opener Parking- Crimson Lot solely $39.99!! Save $20!!
four cj barrymore tickets, to make use of on any rides listed.


OOPS! I took out your toilet!
Do you think that statement would get a faster response than my polite messages expressing that we were not able to use a "disabled toilet"?
Because quite often I am scared that we are going to knock the toilet and break it. Powered chairs are sturdy things. Just a small movement of the joystick triggers a big movement of a powerful machine.
Don't worry, we haven't actually knocked anyone's toilet out!
Some days that is due to me taking control of the chair.
Some days it is due to luck.
Some days it is because we decided not to even go in.
We generally know that we are not going to be able use the toilet but it would be good to be able to at least wash hands.
Like before you eat. It might only be a Happy Meal but I am sure most of us prefer our children to eat with clean fingers.
I was not sure that we could successfully turn the powered chair in the room, let alone get close enough to the sink.
It did leave me wondering though.
I wonder if anyone has broken a toilet with their powered chair, or maybe damaged some other part of the room, just because it was too difficult to move or turn?
I am quite sure that, when these facilities were designed, they were thinking about wheelchair users. Yet the logo on the door might as well be a "No Entry" sign.
Help us change that no entry logo into one which says "Come In".
Previous: Previous post: That logo on the door.
Next: Next post: Who needs Changing Places?


Welcome to the official website of the National Museum of the United States Air Force -- the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world -- located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio. This site is provided as a public service by the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Public Affairs Division.
Use the top navigation bar to find information about planning your visit as well as events and activities taking place at the museum.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force collects, researches, conserves, interprets and presents the Air Force's history, heritage and traditions, as well as today's mission to fly, fight and win ... in Air, Space and Cyberspace to a global audience through engaging exhibits, educational outreach, special programs, and the stewardship of the national historic collection. These statutory duties delegated by the Secretary of the Air Force are accomplished on behalf of the American people. We are the keepers of their stories.


The storySouth Million Writers Award notable stories of 2011 have been released. These are the stories our preliminary judges believed were the best online short stories published last year. Congratulation to all the selected authors, and to Cha: An Asian Literary Journal for winning the best online magazine and to The Good Men's Project for winning best new online magazine.
Our three final judges will now begin going through these stories and picking out their top ten stories of the year; this top ten list will be released in June.
Many thanks to the editors and readers who nominated stories. And a big thanks to the preliminary judges who screened the nominations and/or picked their own favorites: Lena Andersson, Sarah McCraw Crow, Thom Didato, Shaun Duke, Dorothee Lang, Robert Laughlin, Judah Mahay, Sean Markey, Erica Naone, Karen L. Newman, Nick Ripatrazone, Wayne E. Yang, and Peter Young (along with the judges who wished to remain anonymous).


The following article is going to walk you through connecting your Fusion created data warehouse to Metabase.
When opening Metabase you should navigate to the Admin panel.
From there, select Databases on the top menu bar, then click Add Database.
From here select MySQL and fill in the rest of the fields with your warehouse credentials.
When you're finished, click Save. Once you do, you'll be connected to your Fusion warehouse.


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"And They Shall Be Had Again": Onomastic Allusions to Joseph in Moses 1:41 in View of the So-called Canon Formula
Add, canon formula, church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, diminish, joseph, lds, Mormonism, Moses, Moses 1, wordplay
Abstract: Moses 1:41 echoes or plays on the etymological meaning of the name Joseph — "may he [Yahweh] add," as the Lord foretells to Moses the raising up of a future figure through whom the Lord's words, after having been "taken" (away) from the book that Moses would write, "shall be had again among the children of men." Moses 1:41 anticipates and employs language reminiscent of the so-called biblical canon formulas, possible additions to biblical texts meant to ensure the texts' stability by warning against "adding" or "diminishing" (i.e., "taking away") from them (e.g., Deuteronomy 4:2; 5:22 [MT 5:18]; 12:32 [MT 13:1]; cf. Revelation 22:18– 19). This article presupposes that the vision of Moses presents restored text that was at some point recorded in Hebrew.
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: "And T...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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What Does Your Avatar Say About You?
A lot of websites give you the chance to represent yourself with an avatar rather than a picture of yourself. Avatars are often cartoon-y pictures with facial features, clothing, and accessories that allow you to personalize your picture. For example, this website allows you to create an avatar to use before entering a chat room.
The avatar you select can influence the way people interact with you. It is interesting to know whether people generally try to select avatars that represent themselves accurately, or whether they aim to display themselves differently to the electronic world than they appear in real life. It is also interesting to know the conclusions that viewers draw when seeing someone's avatar.
This question was addressed in a study by Katrina Fong and Raymond Mar published in the February, 2015 issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
The researchers asked a group of about 100 people to choose avatars for themselves using the (now defunct) website weeworld.com. Half of the participants were asked to create an avatar, and the other half were specifically asked to create an avatar that would represent their personality accurately. There were no significant differences in the avatars created by these groups suggesting that most people naturally try to represent themselves accurately. These participants filled out a personality inventory that measures the Big Five personality traits after creating their avatar. (The Big Five traits are Openness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism.)
A second group of about 2,000 participants were shown a subset of the avatars and rated their perception of the personality characteristics of the individuals who created those avatars. They also rated how much they would like to interact with the person who created that avatar.
One question that the researchers asked up front was whether being able to categorize the participant by gender influenced judgments of personality. The avatars were all either recognizably male or female. Overall, people tended to think that the males were slightly less conscientious and open to new experiences than the females. But, this categorization tended to decrease accuracy of judgments overall, because the sample of male participants was not actually lower in conscientiousness or openness than the sample of female participants.
The researchers compared people's ratings of their own personality characteristics to those of other people who rated personality after seeing the avatars they constructed. The ratings of the avatars showed that people could assess another person's extraversion and agreeableness to some degree, and could not do a particularly good job of rating the other characteristics.
The researchers also examined the aspects of the avatars that were most correlated with people's personality ratings. For example, people high in agreeableness tended to select avatars with open eyes more often than those low in agreeableness. One reason why raters were good at assessing an individual's agreeableness from their avatar was that they generally rated people as higher in agreeableness (and extraversion) if the avatar had open eyes.
In general, though, the aspects of avatars that raters thought were most important for judging a person's personality were not that diagnostic of the personality characteristic. For example, people tended to rate avatars with short hair as more conscientious than those with long hair. In fact, this characteristic was more strongly associated with the neuroticism of the person who created the avatar than the conscientiousness of that individual. People higher in neuroticism tended to have avatars with long hair.
One final data point of interest, the characteristics of avatars did influence whether people were interested in befriending the person. In particular, people were most interested in being friends with people who had avatars with open eyes, smiles, and an oval face and were least interested in being friends with people who had a facial expression that was not a smile.
So, what does all of this mean?
There has been a lot of work recently on what we can learn about the personality characteristics of others from the things they create including personal spaces, Facebook pages, and things they write. Overall, when people create an avatar, it is hard to get to know much about them. You can get a little information about extraversion and agreeableness, but the correlations are not large.
One thing that is interesting, though, is that people do draw inferences about personality characteristics from avatars. However, the aspects of the avatars that they use to make judgments about someone's personality are not generally that highly correlated with that individual's actual personality. Thus, people may overestimate their ability to learn something about others from their avatars.
Why Do Movies Move?
If you spend time watching movies or TV, you have probably know that you see a moving image on the screen, but that the sense of motion is created by your brain from a series of static images. Typical movies, for example, flash 24 frames per second. Somehow, the brain takes the changes from one frame to the next and gives you the illusion of fluid movement.
How does that happen? Take a moment to try to explain it to yourself.
This question is just one of many that is explored in a great book that came out in 2015 called Flicker by cognitive neuroscientist Jeff Zacks. The book itself explores a variety of topics ranging from low-level aspects of the way the visual system understands the images on the screen all the way to high-level topics like the reason why movies are so good at creating emotion.
So, why do movies move?
You might think that what is happening is that each image persists a little on the retina (the cells at the back of your eye that respond to light) and that changes in the image are detected there. Or perhaps, when the image is first processed in the brain, it recognizes small discrepancies from one frame to the next.
Neither of those possibilities is quite right.
The images from the screen enter the eye and hit the retina. From there, they are passed into the brain and ultimately make their way to the occipital lobe in the back of the brain where most visual processing is done. Initially, the brain looks for simple visual features in the image like the presence of edges, because edges usually signal the boundaries of objects.
The interesting thing is, the brain divides up the task of understanding the image in multiple ways, with different brain areas searching for different features in the image. The unified sense of vision we have arises because the brain ultimately puts all of those independent properties back together.
Early in the processing of images a particular area of the brain called area MT (shown in the figure) looks for blobs that have changed position. When MT sees a blob in a location that has changed it position a bit, it gives a signal suggesting that there was motion. Sustained activity of MT indicating motion in a particular direction gives people the experience that an object moved. This brain area doesn't really care much about the blobs themselves. The blobs could actually change shape or color from one frame to the next, it is just looking for motion.
So, the motion in movies comes from activity in the brain area MT. As Zacks points out, though, this can sometimes cause problems. In particular, when a movie is put together, it is usually constructed from a set of scenes that are spliced (or cut) together. If the editor is not careful, when one scene is cut to the next, some of the objects may appear to jump from one location on the screen to another. This jarring sense of movement is called a jump cut. Filmmakers try not to create these jump cuts, and texts on film making give suggestions for how to avoid them.
These jump cuts are caused by the same process that causes the sense of motion in scenes. When one scene is cut to another, if area MT detects the motion of a blob, it will send a signal that an object in one location actually moved to another. That can feel weird, because brain areas that calculate the size, color, and shape of the object may not see strong similarities in the objects from one scene to the next, so you can get a feeling of motion without have a clear sense of what moved.
One of the reasons why Flicker is an interesting read is that Zacks explores the ways that movies exploit the structure of the brain to give us an immersive experience. If you can pull yourself away from the screen for a few hours, it is well-worth the time to check it out.
The Effects of Synchrony on Conformity
Teams tend to do things together. Soldiers march in step. Athletic teams do stretches and simple drills together as a unit. In public schools, all students repeat phrases together like the Pledge of Allegiance. At stadiums, fans will chant together and make similar movements.
There is quite a bit of work that suggests that acting in synchrony like this can increase people's sense of teamwork and conformity. Why does that happen? What happens to people watching others acting together?
This question was addressed in a paper by Ping Dong, Xianchi Dai, and Robert Wyer in the January, 2015 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
In one study, they had a group of participants learn a set of four basic physical exercises. Some groups performed the exercises all together as they counted off. Other groups performed the exercises at their own pace, so that everyone was doing something different. In addition to these actors, there were also observers. Some participants watched the exercise being done. They watched either a group moving in synchrony or a group in which there was no synchrony. After observing, actors rated how free they felt, and observes rated how free the actors were.
As a measure of conformity, after performing or observing the exercise, participants read reviews about products from a number of different categories (like sofas). The reviews included information about how popular a particular brand was. After reading descriptions of three products for each category, participants chose one. The measure of conformity was the overall popularity of the products participants chose. The more popular the brands, the more that these participants were conforming with others.
In this initial study, participants who performed the exercises with others in synchrony tended to select more popular products than those who performed the exercises without synchronizing their movements with others. Interestingly, the observers showed the opposite pattern. They were more likely to select popular products when they observed groups who moved at their own pace rather than those who acted together in synchrony.
Why did this happen? The observers rated that the actors were significantly less free when they acted in synchrony with others than when they did what they wanted to. Interestingly, the actors who performed the exercises did not differ in how free they felt regardless of whether they were instructed to act in synchrony or not.
This suggests that actors feel a common bond with people when they act in synchrony. The shared goal and the shared movement create a sense of wanting to agree with the actions of others. In contrast, the observers focused on the individual freedom of the people. When they watched people moving together, they were concerned about freedom, and so they resisted picking products that other people liked.
In several other studies, the researchers expanded on this point. In one study, for example, the actors who were told to move in synchrony were told that they were part of a competition in which they would win a prize if their team moved together most effectively. The group of actors that moved independently was not given these instructions. The observers were told that they were judging the synchrony of the team they were watching for a competition. Some of the observers were told that if their team won, they would share in the winnings, so that the observer became part of the common goal of the team.
Finally, at the end of the study, participants were given an opportunity to donate money to one of six charities. Three of the charities were well-known and the rest were not well-known. The amount of money given to well-known charities was the measure of conformity in this study.
Overall, actors who moved in synchrony tended to give more money to well-known charities than the observers who watched them. However when the observer was also made to feel part of the team, the observer gave more money to well-known charities than to unpopular charities. As in the previous study, actors who did not move in synchrony did not have a bias to conform: they gave about the same amount of money to popular and unpopular charities.
Putting these findings together, when a group moves in synchrony, it increases their sense of belonging to a group and increases the willingness of members of that group to conform with others. Observers have a different experience. Watching others move in synchrony makes observers sensitive to the loss of freedom of those moving together. Those observers are actually less wiling to conform as a result of watching the movements.
In this way, synchronous movements are a double-edged sword. They increase a sense of belonging in those who are made to feel part of the team, but they actually decrease that sense of belonging to those who see themselves as outsiders.


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