Serial Draws Research Articles

Serial drawing in girls who display oppositional defiant behavior in the classroom.

This study investigated the correlations between participation in therapy sessions involving non-directive serial drawing and subsequent improvements, or lack thereof, in the oppositional defiant behavior (ODB) of five girls aged eight to ten years in an inner-city school in London, England. Each child individually attended fifteen forty-minute sessions on a weekly basis. Each child was invited to draw anything that she wished and then to tell the story of her drawing to the researcher. The class teachers completed the ODB Questionnaire to determine a baseline measurement of this conduct. Changes in the girls’ emotional and classroom behaviors were identified based on the ODB Weekly Questionnaire completed by their teachers. The teachers also completed a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) before the first therapy session and after the fifteenth. The House-Tree-Person (HTP) method was used on sessions one, eight and fifteen, and the results were assessed by the researcher. At the end of the study, the teachers completed the Drawing Sessions End Form. Four of the five girls showed improvements in their ODB symptoms, and one demonstrated a slight progress. Results suggested that the use of non-directive drawing encourages girls with ODB to express their thoughts and emotions in a symbolic way within a safe environment, which reduces the frequency and intensity of their emotional and behavioral outbursts in the classroom.

Experimental Determination of Heat Transfer Coefficients for Forming of Stainless Steel Sheets Considering Process Conditions and Deep-Drawing Film

Heat transfer coefficients are playing an important role in forming of metastable stainless steel sheets. Metastable austenitic stainless steels are highly influenced by heating of forming tools due to generation of latent heat during forming process. Strain-induced martensite formation and hence the TRIP-effect is directly coupled with the temperature development within forming tools as well as the temperature induced by heat controlled tools. Measurements of heat development in serial deep drawing processes are showing the need for an accurate determination of heat transfer coefficients considering actual process conditions. Heat transfer coefficients were determined with a simple and easy applicable measurement device for tool materials AMPCO 25 and cold work tool steel EN 1.2379 in combination with aluminum, austenitic EN 1.4301 and ferritic EN 1.4016 stainless steel grades. Special attention was paid to production-related individual influences such as surface conditions, lubrication and deep drawing film. Experiments were accomplished between 1-15 N/mm² showing high influence of intermediate media on heat transfer between forming tool and part and serve as boundary conditions for fully thermo-mechanical coupled forming simulations. A strong influence of deep drawing film, lubrication and surface pressure on heat exchange could be determined and this basic knowledge is seen as mandatory for dimensioning of heat controlled metal forming tools. Finally the experimental determined results are discussed and compared to common heat transfer models and similar experiments from literature.

Abstract 5108: Capture and enumeration of mesenchymal CTCs on the OnQChip platform.

Abstract Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that disseminate from the primary tumor and enter the blood. While cells in the primary tumor are generally epithelial in nature, as they become migratory and invasive, changes such as loss of epithelial markers (ie: EpCAM and cytokeratin (CK)) and a switch to a mesenchymal phenotype (EMT) often occur. CTC platforms must be flexible in capturing and identifying cells, and not limited to the use of only epithelial markers. Dual modal capture on the OnQChip provides this flexibility, allowing for CTC isolation based on size and independent of surface marker expression in addition to specific antibody mediated capture targeting markers such as EpCAM. For cell lines ranging in EpCAM expression, the OnQChip captures 90% or greater of mid to high EpCAM expressing cells, and 79% or greater of very low EpCAM expressing cells. Due to the OnQChip's gradient design, distinct capture patterns related to EpCAM levels are observed, allowing for capture location to be informative about EpCAM expression. When Hs578T cells, a mesenchymal model with very little EpCAM and CK, are prestained around 79% of spiked cells are enumerated on the OnQChip, but when the same cells are not prestained and only CK staining is used, 0-2% of spiked cells are counted. When two new mesenchymal staining markers are incorporated alongside CK, 60-80% of spiked Hs578T cells are now enumerated, translating to a 75-100% staining efficiency of captured cells. Although very few cells are visualized with CK alone, pooling CK staining with mesenchymal staining shows increased staining intensity compared to mesenchymal staining alone, highlighting benefits of a multi-marker staining panel for visualizing cells with low expression of several different markers, likely the case for subpopulations of cells at different stages of the EMT. On a population of 44 prostate cancer samples, an increase of 28.5, 8.2, 12.7, and 7.6 in the mean number of total, intact, irregular, and fragmented CTCs, respectively, was observed with staining for CK plus the mesenchymal markers as compared to CK staining alone. Specifically, 70.5%, 18.2%, 50%, and 38.6% of patients showed an increase of 5 or more, and 40.9%, 9.1%, 31.8%, and 25% showed an increase of 10 or more, total, intact, irregular, and fragmented CTCs, respectively, when mesenchymal staining was included. Additionally, a few case studies from this population for which serial draws during treatment were obtained indicate changes in the ratio of CTCs enumerated with staining for CK plus mesenchymal markers compared to CK only, suggesting the ratio of mesenchymal to epithelial like CTCs may reflect a clinical outcome. Our data suggests that the OnQChip's ability to capture CTCs based on size independent of surface marker expression and inclusion of two new stains, allow for capture and enumeration of mesenchymal CTCs that would be missed by platforms incorporating only epithelial markers such as EpCAM and CK. Citation Format: Keith D. Merdek, Kam Sprott, Chunsheng Jiang, Michael Stocum, Glenn Bubley, Walter Carney. Capture and enumeration of mesenchymal CTCs on the OnQChip platform. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5108. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5108 Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 because the presenter was unable to attend.

Circulating tumor cells count and characterization in a male breast cancer patient

A 64-y-old man presented to Medical Oncology Department a metastatic invasive ductal breast carcinoma, positive for estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) and Her2/neu negative. The patient was treated with different lines of therapy, with rapid radiological progression of disease. After four courses of a third-line chemotherapy, a radiological stable disease was maintained. The patient was followed by serial blood drawings for the characterization and count of circulating tumor cells (CTC). This is the first report concerning the predictive and prognostic value of CTC in a male breast cancer patient.

Short-Term Crisis Psychotherapy in Children with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders in the Framework of the Dobryakov–Nikolskaya Rehabilitation Model

Psychotherapy work with children traumatized in the terrorist act at Beslan is used as an example to illustrate a model of medical-psychological assistance developed by the authors. A complex of methods is described, consisting of “delayed debriefing” using stories and games, combined with serial drawing and storytelling methods, used in accordance with crisis psychotherapy practice. We present observations showing that these methods allow contact to be made with children to uncover their feelings associated with the psychologically traumatizing situation and to obtain detachment from those feelings.

Serial Headache Drawings by Children With Migraine: Correlation With Clinical Headache Status

Children's artistic self-depictions of headache provide valuable insights into their experience of pain and aid in the diagnostic differentiation of headache types. In a previous study, we compared the clinical diagnosis (gold standard) and artistic diagnosis of headaches in 226 children. In approximately 90% of cases, the drawing predicted the clinical diagnosis of migraine versus nonmigraine headache correctly. In the present study, we explored whether headache drawings correlate with clinical improvement after treatment in children with migraine headaches followed longitudinally. Children seen in the Pediatric Neurology Clinic with the chief complaint of headache were asked to draw a picture of what their headache feels like. On subsequent clinic visits, children with the clinical diagnosis of migraine were asked to draw another picture depicting their current headache. The two drawings were compared to assess whether there was improvement; this "artistic response" was then correlated with the child's clinical status (ie, whether the headaches were improved clinically). One hundred eleven children (66 girls, 45 boys) participated in the study, with a mean interval of 5.3 +/- 2.3 (standard error of the mean) months between the first and second visits. The mean age at the first visit was 11.6 +/- 3.1 years. The raters agreed that serial drawings were both improved or both not improved in 99 of the 111 cases (89%; interrater reliability kappa score of 0.767). Fifty-three children had improvements in their headaches and drawings, 3 children had an improved drawing but no clinical headache improvement, 32 children had no improvement in either their drawing or clinical headaches, and 11 children had improved headaches but no improvement in their drawing. The sensitivity of the drawings for clinical improvement was 0.83, and the specificity was 0.91. The predictive value of an improved headache drawing for an improved clinical response was 0.946. There was no correlation between specific treatment modality and artistic response. We concluded that children's headache drawings are a useful adjunct for the diagnosis of headache type and provide valuable insights into their experience of pain. The present data show that headache drawings can be used longitudinally to provide additional information about the clinical course. The technique is simple, inexpensive, and enjoyable for children and can be applied in a variety of clinical settings.

Cannulation of the jugular vein in mice: a method for serial withdrawal of blood samples.

We have developed and validated a method that allows serial drawing of blood samples in freely moving mice using a cannula that is inserted via the jugular vein into the right atrium of the heart. The cannula was tunnelled subcutaneously to the head of the animal and attached to the skin by sutures, together with a metal spring, which was covered with PVC tubing for protection of the outer part of the cannula. Samples of blood up to 250 micro l could be taken at serial time points. The blood volume in the circulation was maintained by replacement with an equal volume of blood obtained from donor animals. The applicability of this method of blood sampling for pharmacokinetic purposes was validated by comparing plasma concentrations-time curves in six cannulated animals after receiving an intravenous bolus dose of 10 mg/kg of the anti-cancer agent docetaxel versus the results in plasma samples obtained by cardiac puncture of non-cannulated mice. The presented method may lead to improved pharmacokinetic data produced from a reduced number of mice.

Computer reconstruction of the three-dimensional structure of mouse cerebral ventricles

In the brain, the cerebral ventricles are important as the site of cerebrospinal fluid production. The cerebral ventricles consist of the lateral ventricles, the third ventricle and the fourth ventricle, and their stereoscopic structures and the connections between them are not visible from outside of the brain. Observation of the stereoscopic structure of cerebral ventricles is possible by producing a mold preparation of the ventricular system [Systematic Human Anatomy (1984) 589; A Colour Atlas of Human Anatomy (1993) 79; J. Anat. 68 (1934) 480; Brain 75 (1952) 259]. However, this method does not facilitate visualization of the position of the ventricles within the brain or the positional relationships between the cerebral ventricles and other structures. Murine brains are often used in studies of hydrocephalus [Mol. Cell. Biol. 22 (2002) 2769; Brain Res. 891 (2001) 247]. Rolf et al. have reported that a few L1 mutant mice display severe hydrocephalus and suggested that, in such mice, massively enlarged ventricles create deformations of the brain, which secondarily cause stenosis of the aqueducts followed by severe hydrocephalus [Brain Res. 891 (2001) 247]. The three-dimensional structure of murine cerebral ventricles reconstructed on a computer display would be extremely useful not only for stereoscopic observation of the cerebral ventricles in murine brains but also in morphological analysis of murine cerebral ventricles using additional software for three-dimensional measurement. We therefore attempted a three-dimensional computer reconstruction of the cerebral ventricles from serial histological sections of whole mouse brain in order to facilitate research into hydrocephalus using mouse models. In this study, mouse brain is fixed in formalin and then embedded in paraffin after immersion in celloidin. Serial histological sections are produced and digitized, and outlines of the brain surface and cerebral ventricular faces are traced on printouts. Serial drawings are again digitized, and the three-dimensional structure of the brain surface and cerebral ventricles is reconstructed on the computer using reconstruction software. Using this technique, we accurately described the mouse brain surface and cerebral ventricle faces on a computer display.

Function and functional groupings of the complex mouth apparatus of the squat lobsters Munida sarsi Huus and M. tenuimana G.O. Sars (Crustacea: Decapoda).

Like all other decapods, the anomuran squat lobsters Munida sarsi and M. tenuimana have a mouth apparatus composed of six pairs of mouthparts plus labrum and paragnaths (upper and lower lips). To study the functional significance of this complexity, we examined the mouthparts with scanning electron microscopy and also observed their function directly, under laboratory conditions, using macro-video equipment. No differences were found between the two species. The movement patterns of the mouthparts are described in detail and illustrated as serial drawings. Proceeding from maxillipeds 3 towards the mandibles, the movement pattern gets increasingly stereotypical, with the mandibles performing but a single movement in a medio-lateral plane. From morphology, the mouthparts are subdivided into 20 parts, but from the functional analyses the 20 parts form 8 functional groups: 1, transporting mouthparts (maxilliped 2 endopod and maxilliped 3 endopod); 2, transporting-aligning mouthparts (maxilliped 1 basis); 3, sorting-aligning mouthparts (maxilla 1 basis and maxilla 2 basis); 4, current-generating mouthparts (flagella of maxilliped 2 and maxilliped 3 exopods); 5, cutting-crushing mouthparts (incisor and molar processes, labium, and mandibular palp); 6, ingesting mouthparts (maxilla 1 coxa, maxilla 2 coxa, and maxilliped 1 coxa); 7, respiratory mouthparts (scaphognathite, maxilliped 1 epipod, and maxilliped 2 and maxilliped 3 exopods); and 8, dorso-ventral mouthparts (maxilla 1 endopod, maxilla 2 endopod, maxilliped 1 endopod, and maxilliped 1 exopod). These groupings apply mostly to the processes of food handling and have little significance with respect to grooming. When comparing our results to the literature on other decapods, we found much resemblance to conditions in other anomurans.

Reconstruction of an arbitrary cross section from the serial drawings of a stereotaxic brain atlas

A method is described for the reconstruction of arbitrary cross sections from the serial line drawings of a stereotaxic brain atlas. Mathematically, the problem reduces to the intersection of a plane with a line pattern lying in another plane. However, the calculation yields a cloud of points, often confusing and unusable for the surgeon. Because it is impossible to link correctly all the calculated points in all cases [1,2], we propose a method where the number of points is drastically reduced: only regions of interest are depicted, i.e., the area where the electrode point is situated and the neighbouring regions. Instead of points, symbols are displayed, each symbol representing a different region. The efficiency of the method is shown using an atlas simulation of four intersecting spheres in the three dimensional space. Although the procedure is useful for all stereotaxic brain atlasses, a practical example is given where the poor quality of the reconstructed images does not allow good interpretation.

SERIAL PROJECTIVE DRAWINGS IN A PATIENT WITH A MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMOR.

Summary A series of human figure drawings is presented illustrating a patient's reaction to the knowledge and the effects of his malignant brain tumor. The drawings reveal a subjective state concealed clinically by the patient's effort and obscured in the Rorschach by stereotypy and coarctation. The skill of the graphic portrayals is a deviation from the growing body of material which demonstrates drawing dyspraxia with parietal lobe lesions. The hypothesis is offered that the diagonal placement of a figure is a projection of the loss of equilibrium rather than an impairment in drawing perspective as it has been considered heretofore. This case is part of a larger on-going study in the use of projective techniques with brain damaged patients.