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This paper is concerned with one aspect of intellectual functioning, logico-mathematical concepts, and with development of representational space in opportunity class children (those characterized mainly by cultural deprivation, intellectual retardation at the Educable Mentally Retarded-borderline levels, and specific learning disabilities) who were included in a prescriptive teaching program of seven-months duration. (Author/RK)

The WISC, Piagetian logico-mathematical and representational space tasks, the Frostig DTVP and a motor ability test were administered to elementary children at 3 age and arithmetic achievement levels to determine whether specific patterns of cognitive and/or spatial development were related to arithmetic achievement and whether patterns varied with age. (Author)

© 2015 Perron et al. (MMD) Using functional metagenomics to study the resistomes of bacterial communities isolated from different layers of the Canadian high Arctic permafrost, we show that microbial communities harbored diverse resistance mechanisms at least 5,000 years ago. Among bacteria sampled from the ancient layers of a permafrost core, we isolated eight genes conferring clinical levels of resistance against aminoglycoside, β-lactam and tetracycline antibiotics that are naturally produced by microorganisms. Among these resistance genes, four also conferred resistance against amikacin, a modern semi-synthetic antibiotic that does not naturally occur in microorganisms. In bacteria sampled from the overlaying active layer, we isolated ten different genes conferring resistance to all six antibiotics tested in this study, including aminoglycoside, β-lactam and tetracycline variants that are naturally produced by microorganisms as well as semi-synthetic variants produced in the laboratory. On average, we found that resistance genes found in permafrost bacteria conferred lower levels of resistance against clinically relevant antibiotics than resistance genes sampled from the active layer. Our results demonstrate that antibiotic resistance genes were functionally diverse prior to the anthropogenic use of antibiotics, contributing to the evolution of natural reservoirs of resistance genes.

In 1995, Rampton Hospital was designated as the national centre for people with learning disabilities requiring secure care. Since then, the nursing research unit at Rampton Hospital has examined quality of care and patient satisfaction with some of this client group (Fisher 1994, Robinson 1996, Robinson and Reed 1996). This article reports the findings of an exploratory study to measure the quality of life for people with learning disabilities based on a study carried out at the Elwyn Community Learning Disability Unit in the United States.

Terrestrial analogues for astrobiological investigations of Mars should include Earth's polar regions and as such, the Canadian high Arctic offers several unique cryoenvironments (sub zero saline springs, permafrost) that resemble the conditions that are known or are suspected to exist on Mars. This presentation will describe our recent research focused on detecting and examining microbial life in the unique cold saline/brine springs on Axel Heiberg Island with the overall goals of determining the low temperature limits of microbial life on Earth and if microbial communities inhabiting such cryoenvironments are active at ambient subzero temperatures. The presentation will focus on the microbiology and geochemistry of the Gypsum Hill (GH) and Lost Hammer Spring (LH) sites (Perreault et al, 2008; Niederberger et al. 2010). These unique subzero (0 to -5ºC) hypersaline springs (7.5 to 23% salinity) are characterized by thick extensive permafrost in an area with an average annual air temperature of -15°C and with air temperatures below -40°C common during the winter months. The presence of geomorphological features linked to water movement, such as fluvial valleys and flood channels on the surface of Mars signifies that water once flowed through the Martian landscape and thus, they could have been a potential abode for past or extant microbial life. These springs support viable microbial communities capable of activity at temperatures as low as -10ºC. The LH site also provides a model of how a methane seep can form in cryoenvironments and presents a mechanism that could possibly be contributing to reported methane plumes on Mars. The GH springs sulfide (25-100 ppm) and sulfate (2300-3700 mg/L) abundant system serving as an analogue for the abundant sulfate deposits and potential sulfate-rich brines on Mars that may have originated in the presence of sulfur-rich groundwater. Gas composition (C1-C4 hydrocarbons, He, H2, O2, N2, Ar, and CO2) and stable isotope (d13C and d2H values using compound specific isotope analysis) analyses of the saline spring gas samples has revealed the small amounts of hydrocarbons in gases exsolving from the Gypsum Hill springs (0.38 to 0.51% CH4) were compositionally and isotopically consistent with microbial methanogenesis and possible methanotrophy (Perreault et al. 2008) while the major gas emitted from LH spring is methane (~50 %) with carbon and hydrogen isotope signatures consistent with a thermogenic origin (Niederberger et al. 2010). However, the presence of anaerobic methane oxidizing archaea (ANME) in the LH source provide a model of methane-based metabolism in this extreme hypersaline, subzero environment., Analogue Sites for Mars Missions: MSL and Beyond, March 5-6, 2011, The Woodlands, TX, USA