Validating the Developmental and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA) in a clinical population with high-functioning autism [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]

Background: With increasing numbers of referrals to health services for assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the Developmental and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA) has been suggested as a useful screening instrument to assist in prioritising patients for review. It is an online interview for parents that has been previously validated for ASD in a non-clinical community sample of twins. Our study aimed to evaluate its predictive validity in a complex clinically-referred sample of children with suspected high-functioning autism. / Methods: The sample comprised 136 children (females = 53; males = 83) who were referred for ASD assessment at the Social Communication Disorder Clinic (SCDC) at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Parents completed the DAWBA online prior to undergoing a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) assessment. This included completing the Developmental, Dimensional and Diagnostic Interview (3di) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Two clinicians independently rated the DAWBA using DSM-5 diagnostic criteria and compared results to the MDT outcome, which was considered gold standard. / Results: Compared with an MDT assessment, the DAWBA interview demonstrated good sensitivity (0.91) but poor specificity (0.12). Overall, 64% of cases were accurately assigned as case/non-case. Estimates of positive (0.66) and negative (0.43) predictive validity were influenced by the relatively high prevalence of ASD in the study sample (65%). / Conclusion: The DAWBA online interview has excellent sensitivity in a clinical population of complex neurodevelopmental disorders, containing a high prevalence of ASD, but specificity was poor. As the SCDC offers tertiary opinions on disputed cases of suspected ASD, the population cohort limits the generalisability of these results. Further evaluation is required in community child mental health or paediatric services

Long-term simulations of Nature-Based Solutions effects on runoff and soil losses in a flat agricultural area within the catchment of Lake Massaciuccoli (Central Italy)

Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs) are implemented worldwide to mitigate the impact of industrial agriculture on sediment and nutrient losses; however, their effectiveness depends on site-specific features such as surficial hydrology, soil permeability and erodability. This study analyzed the effects of vegetative buffer strips (VBSs) and winter cover crops (CCs) in a land reclamation area of the Catchment of Lake Massaciuccoli (Central Italy) by modelling water and soil dynamics at a very detailed scale, using a novel approach based on high-resolution input data. To this aim, SWAT+ was applied on digital terrain models (DTMs) from close-range photogrammetry, land-cover mapping, real crop rotations and a detailed calendar of farming practices. NBSs behaviour was investigated in two test areas, namely the Studiati and the Gioia areas, with uniform geomorphological settings but different soil types and annual crop rotations. NBS effects were compared with a baseline control scenario (without NBSs) and assessed under future climate conditions (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). Specifically, VBSs and CCs showed different capabilities in mitigating runoff and sediment losses, and their combination provided maximum effectiveness. For the current climate scenarios, the implementation of VBSs produced a reduction of runoff depth of about 41% and 64% in the Studiati and Gioia areas, respectively, whereas showing a limited with the CCs implementation. Under the future climate conditions, similar patterns were observed, even if predicting significantly lower runoff depths. The sediment loss reduction was in the order of 79% and 64% in Studiati and Gioia areas, respectively. Concerning soil and water dynamics, the study remarked that slight topographic irregularities on flat morphologies can trigger concentrated flows responsible for high runoff and sediment losses. Furthermore, the differences in soil texture and organic matter content affected soil erodability rate on a local scale, driving the consistency of NBS mitigating effects. Future climate changes scenarios, exhibiting higher temperature and rarer but more concentrated rainfall events, emphasize the impact of different soil types. Results observed at a very local scale, with a spatialization of a few square meters - which clearly relates to the types of crop rotations, NBSs and soil distribution - noticed that SWAT+ is a suitable tool to aid farmers in cropping systems management and design

Basin analysis and mineral endowment of the proterozoic Itajai' Basin, south- east Brazil

A basin evolution synthesis and an integration of geological and geophysical data, relevant as guides to the exploration of gold and lead–zinc deposits in the Itajaı´Basin, are presented in this paper. The Itajaı´Basin is interpreted as a collision-related foreland basin consisting of weakly metamorphosed sediments deposited between the structural front of the Dom Feliciano fold and thrust belt and the proximal flank of the cratonic forebulge. Its sediments represent a second-order depositional sequence deposited during a foreland transgression–regression cycle related to flexural subsidence. After deposition, the basin underwent a main late-collisional compressional deformation phase followed by an extensional post-orogenic relaxation. Known gold and lead–zinc deposits are associated with late-orogenic faulting of the Itajaı´Basin sediments. The gold-bearing quartz veins are of filonean hydrothermal aYliation, while the lead–zinc deposits were formed by solution-remobilization in a meteoric–connate–magmatic mineralizing fluid. Major trends of favourability for such deposits are recognized. The most favourable sites for lead–zinc deposits are near known mineralized areas and also along a NE-orientated fault at the margin adjacent to the Dom Feliciano metamorphic belt. The higher favourability for gold deposits is assigned to an area along the same NE trend, and also around a small known deposit near the cratonic margin