COVID-19 first lockdown as a window into language acquisition: Associations between caregiver-child activities and vocabulary gains

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting closure of daycare centers worldwide, led to unprecedented changes in children’s learning environments. This period of increased time at home with caregivers, with limited access to external sources (e.g., daycares) provides a unique opportunity to examine the associations between the caregiver-child activities and children’s language development. The vocabularies of 1742 children aged8-36 months across 13 countries and 12 languages were evaluated at the beginning and end of the first lockdown period in their respective countries(from March to September 2020). Children who had less passive screen exposure and whose caregivers read more to them showed larger gains in vocabulary development during lockdown, after controlling for SES and other caregiver-child activities. Children also gained more words than expected (based on normative data) during lockdown; either caregivers were more aware of their child’s development or vocabulary development benefited from intense caregiver-child interaction during lockdown

COVID-19 first lockdown as a window into language acquisition : associations between caregiver-child activities and vocabulary gains

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting closure of daycare centers worldwide, led to unprecedented changes in children’s learning environments. This period of increased time at home with caregivers, with limited access to external sources (e.g., daycares) provides a unique opportunity to examine the associations between the caregiver-child activities and children’s language development. The vocabularies of 1742 children aged8-36 months across 13 countries and 12 languages were evaluated at the beginning and end of the first lockdown period in their respective countries(from March to September 2020). Children who had less passive screen exposure and whose caregivers read more to them showed larger gains in vocabulary development during lockdown, after controlling for SES and other caregiver-child activities. Children also gained more words than expected (based on normative data) during lockdown; either caregivers were more aware of their child’s development or vocabulary development benefited from intense caregiver-child interaction during lockdown

COVID-19 first lockdown as a window into language acquisition: Associations between caregiver-child activities and vocabulary gains

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting closure of daycare centers worldwide, led to unprecedented changes in children’s learning environments. This period of increased time at home with caregivers, with limited access to external sources (e.g., daycares) provides a unique opportunity to examine the associations between the caregiver-child activities and children’s language development. The vocabularies of 1742 children aged 8-36 months across 13 countries and 12 languages were evaluated at the beginning and end of the first lockdown period in their respective countries (from March to September 2020). Children who had less passive screen exposure and whose caregivers read more to them showed larger gains in vocabulary development during lockdown, after controlling for SES and other caregiver-child activities. Children also gained more words than expected (based on normative data) during lockdown; either caregivers were more aware of their child’s development or vocabulary development benefited from intense caregiver-child interaction during lockdown

"Call us by our name": Quality of care and wellbeing from the perspective of girls in residential care facilities who are commercially and sexually exploited by "loverboys"

In the Netherlands, thirteen organizations offer specialized care services for commercially and sexually exploited (CSE) girls who are underage. Quality and effectiveness of these services have only sparsely been evaluated, while existing quantitative measures of treatment success mainly include the perspective of professionals. As a result, minimal insight exists as to whether current practices are sufficiently tailored to the needs of CSE girls. We carried out an ethnographic Participatory Health Research project with the objective to gain insight in CSE girls’ care experiences needs, and understand what they think contributes to good care. We worked with 27 girls from three residential youth facilities using a range of creative methods. Girls discussed their need for privacy and self-determination in a highly surveilled environment that aims to shield them from exploitative relationships with boys and men. Protective rules and measures impact their ability to build trusting, reciprocal relationships with group leaders, as well as their opportunities to make mistakes and learn without consequences. Girls wanted care that centered on their individual needs, and did not see their victimization as defining those needs. They called for group leaders to be responsive to their sometimes conflicting values by providing both a protective and autonomous space for care delivery. Navigating this complexity is a balancing act for professionals caring for CSE girls. The perspectives reported in this paper will be integrated in the measurement protocol of a broader N = 1 effectiveness study

Prediction of heart failure 1 year before diagnosis in general practitioner patients using machine learning algorithms: a retrospective case-control study

Objectives Heart failure (HF) is a commonly occurring health problem with high mortality and morbidity. If potential cases could be detected earlier, it may be possible to intervene earlier, which may slow progression in some patients. Preferably, it is desired to reuse already measured data for screening of all persons in an age group, such as general practitioner (GP) data. Furthermore, it is essential to evaluate the number of people needed to screen to find one patient using true incidence rates, as this indicates the generalisability in the true population. Therefore, we aim to create a machine learning model for the prediction of HF using GP data and evaluate the number needed to screen with true incidence rates. Design, settings and participants GP data from 8543 patients (-2 to -1 year before diagnosis) and controls aged 70+ years were obtained retrospectively from 01 January 2012 to 31 December 2019 from the Nivel Primary Care Database. Codes about chronic illness, complaints, diagnostics and medication were obtained. Data were split in a train/test set. Datasets describing demographics, the presence of codes (non-sequential) and upon each other following codes (sequential) were created. Logistic regression, random forest and XGBoost models were trained. Predicted outcome was the presence of HF after 1 year. The ratio case:control in the test set matched true incidence rates (1:45). Results Sole demographics performed average (area under the curve (AUC) 0.692, CI 0.677 to 0.706). Adding non-sequential information combined with a logistic regression model performed best and significantly improved performance (AUC 0.772, CI 0.759 to 0.785, p<0.001). Further adding sequential information did not alter performance significantly (AUC 0.767, CI 0.754 to 0.780, p=0.07). The number needed to screen dropped from 14.11 to 5.99 false positives per true positive. Conclusion This study created a model able to identify patients with pending HF a year before diagnosis

Prevention of problem behaviours among adolescents: The impact of the Communities that Care strategy in the Netherlands (2008–2011).

This study examines whether the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system influences targeted risk and protective factors and the subsequent development of problem behaviour among adolescents (12-18 years) in the Netherlands. In this quasi-experimental study of ten communities (five experimental, five control), adolescent outcomes were examined using a longitudinal design. Propensity score methodology and multilevel modelling were used to test the effects. No impact of CTC could be detected on the development of a broader range of behaviours, or on the initiation of drinking and smoking. These results differ from earlier experimental studies and could be attributed to the threats to internal validity and design limitations of this community study. It is important to identify, monitor, address and report threats to internal validity when conducting effectiveness trials

Spectroscopic characterization and imaging of laser- and unipolar arc-induced plasmas

Tungsten plasmas induced by unipolar arcs were investigated using optical emission spectroscopy and imaging, and compared with laser-induced tungsten plasmas. The unipolar arcs were initiated in the linear-plasma simulator PISCES-A at UCSD under fusion relevant conditions. The electron temperature and density of the unipolar arc plasmas were in the range 0.5-0.7 eV and 0.7-2.0 x 10(20) m(-3), respectively, and increased with increasing negative bias voltage, but did not correlate with the surface temperature. In comparison, the electron temperature and density of the laser-induced plasmas were in the range 0.6-1.4 eV and 7 x 10(19)-1 x 10(22) m(-3), respectively

Routine healthcare disruptions: a longitudinal study on changes in self-management behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background The outbreak of COVID-19 had a significant impact on routines and continuity of professional care. As frequent users of this professional care, especially for people with chronic diseases this had consequences. Due to barriers in access to healthcare, an even greater appeal was made on the self-management behaviors of this group. In the present study, we aim to investigate the extent to which self-management changed during the recent pandemic, and which factors contributed to these changes. Methods The Dutch 'National Panel of people with Chronic Illness or Disability' was used to collect self-reported data of people with at least one chronic disease. Self-management was assessed with the Partners in Health questionnaire at two time points: before the crisis in 2018 and during the second wave of crisis in Autumn 2020. Paired t-tests were used to analyze changes in self-management. Potential associating factors on three levels - patient, organization and environment - were assessed in 2020 and their impact on self-management changes was tested with multinomial logistic regression. Results Data from 345 panel members was available at two time points. In the majority of people, self-management behaviors were stable (70.7%). About one in seven experienced improved self-management (15.1%), and a similar proportion experienced deteriorated self-management (14.2%). Sex, physical disability, mental health and daily stressors due to COVID-19 (patient level), changes in healthcare access (organization level), and social support (environment level) were significantly associated with experienced changes in self-management. Conclusions People with chronic diseases experienced different trajectories of self-management changes during COVID-19. We need to be aware of people who seem to be more vulnerable to a healthcare crisis and report less stable self-management, such as those who experience mental health problems or daily stressors. Continuity of care and social support can buffer the impact of a healthcare crisis on self-management routines of people with chronic diseases