Revealing causal heterogeneity using time series analysis of ambulatory assessments: application to the association between depression and physical activity after myocardial infarction

Objective: Studies in psychosomatic medicine are characterized by analyses that typically compare groups. This nomothetic approach leads to conclusions that apply to the average group member but not necessarily to individual patients. Idiographic studies start at the individual patient and are suitable to study associations that differ between time points or between individuals. We illustrate the advantages of the idiographic approach in analyzing ambulatory assessments, taking the association between depression and physical activity after myocardial infarction as an example. Methods: Five middle-aged men who had myocardial infarction with mild to moderate symptoms of depression were included in this study. Four of these. participants monitored their physical activity and depressive symptoms during a period of 2 to 3 months using a daily self-registration form. The time series of each individual participant were investigated using vector autoregressive modeling, which enables the analysis of temporal dynamics between physical activity and depression. Results: We found causal heterogeneity in the association between depression and physical activity. Participants differed in the predominant direction of effect, which was either from physical activity to depression (n = 1,85 observations, unstandardized effect size = -0.183, p=.03) or from depression to physical activity (n = 2, 65 and 59 observations, unstandardized effect sizes = -0.038 and -0.381, p<.001 and p=.04). Also, the persistency of effects differed among individuals. Conclusions: Vector autoregressive models are suitable in revealing causal heterogeneity and can be easily used to analyze ambulatory assessments. We suggest that these models might bridge the gap between science and clinical practice by translating epidemiological results to individual patients

Same-sex attraction, social relationships, psychosocial functioning, and schoolperformance in young adolescents.

The study assessed the extent to which children between eight and 12 years old in planned lesbian families in the Netherlands experience stigmatization, as well as the influence of protective factors (relationship with parents, social acceptance by peers, contact with children from other families headed by lesbian mothers or gay fathers) on their psychological adjustment (conduct problems, emotional symptoms, hyperactivity, self-esteem). Data were collected by questionnaires filled out by the mothers and by the children themselves. The children in the sample generally reported low levels of stigmatization. However, boys more often reported that, in their view, they were excluded by peers because of their non-traditional family situation. Girls more often reported that other children gossiped about the fact that they had two lesbian mothers. Higher levels of stigmatization were associated with more hyperactivity for boys and lower self-esteem for girls. Having frequent contact with other children who have a lesbian mother or gay father protects against the negative influence of stigmatization on self-esteem. Findings support the idea that children in planned lesbian families benefit from the experience of meeting other children from similar families

Effectiveness of Personal Protective Equipment and Oseltamivir Prophylaxis during Avian Influenza A (H7N7) Epidemic, the Netherlands, 2003

TOC Summary: Only oseltamivir use significantly reduced the risk for human infection

Cognitive predictors of children’s development in mathematics achievement: a latent growth modeling approach

Research has identified various domain-general and domain-specific cognitive abilities as predictors of children’s individual differences in mathematics achievement. However, research into the predictors of children’s individual growth rates, i.e., between-person differences in within-person change, in mathematics achievement is scarce. We assessed 334 children’s domain-general and mathematics-specific early cognitive abilities and their general mathematics achievement longitudinally across four time-points within the 1st and 2nd grade of primary school. As expected, a constellation of multiple cognitive abilities contributed to the children’s starting level of mathematical success. Specifically, latent growth modeling revealed that WM abilities, IQ, counting skills, nonsymbolic and symbolic approximate arithmetic and comparison skills explained individual differences in the children’s initial status on a curriculum-based general mathematics achievement test. Surprisingly, however, only one out of all the assessed cognitive abilities was a unique predictor of the children’s individual growth rates in mathematics achievement: their performance in the symbolic approximate addition task. In this task, children were asked to estimate the sum of two large numbers and decide if this estimated sum was smaller or larger compared to a third number. Our findings demonstrate the importance of multiple domain-general and mathematics-specific cognitive skills for identifying children at risk of struggling with mathematics and highlight the significance of early approximate arithmetic skills for the development of one’s mathematical success. We argue the need for more research focus on explaining children’s individual growth rates in mathematics achievement

Interactieve ontwerpmethodieken voor integrale duurzaamheid Toepassing van RIO in een aantal niet-veehouderij-gebonden cases

RIO (Reflexief Interactief Ontwerpen) bestaat uit drie hoofdonderdelen: de (systeem)analysefase, de ontwerpfase en de verankeringsfase. RIO is ontstaan in een veehouderijcontext. Die context heeft een aantal specifieke eigenschappen, die toepassing van RIO in andere sectoren niet volledig vanzelfsprekend maakt. In een drietal projecten in de tuinbouw en biobased research is onderzocht in hoeverre (onderdelen van) RIO toepasbaar zijn in deze contexten. Gemeenschappelijk kenmerk van de cases die daarbij aan de orde waren was dat een technologisch kernidee het startpunt voor het ontwerpproces vormde, met een min of meer impliciete maatschappelijke problematiek die daarachter werd voorondersteld. De drie cases zijn: grasraffinage, Teelt de Grond Uit: bloembollen en appel, Teelt de grond uit: vinicultuur en aquaponics

Spatial linear dark field control and holographic modal wavefront sensing with a vAPP coronagraph on MagAO-X

The Magellan Extreme Adaptive Optics (MagAO-X) Instrument is an extreme AO system coming online at the end of 2019 that will be operating within the visible and near-IR. With state-of-the-art wavefront sensing and coronagraphy, MagAO-X will be optimized for high-contrast direct exoplanet imaging at challenging visible wavelengths, particularly Hα. To enable high-contrast imaging, the instrument hosts a vector apodizing phase plate (vAPP) coronagraph. The vAPP creates a static region of high contrast next to the star that is referred to as a dark hole; on MagAO-X, the expected dark hole raw contrast is ∼4  ×  10  −  6. The ability to maintain this contrast during observations, however, is limited by the presence of non-common path aberrations (NCPA) and the resulting quasi-static speckles that remain unsensed and uncorrected by the primary AO system. These quasi-static speckles within the dark hole degrade the high contrast achieved by the vAPP and dominate the light from an exoplanet. The aim of our efforts here is to demonstrate two focal plane wavefront sensing (FPWFS) techniques for sensing NCPA and suppressing quasi-static speckles in the final focal plane. To sense NCPA to which the primary AO system is blind, the science image is used as a secondary wavefront sensor. With the vAPP, a static high-contrast dark hole is created on one side of the PSF, leaving the opposite side of the PSF unocculted. In this unobscured region, referred to as the bright field, the relationship between modulations in intensity and low-amplitude pupil plane phase aberrations can be approximated as linear. The bright field can therefore be used as a linear wavefront sensor to detect small NCPA and suppress quasi-static speckles. This technique, known as spatial linear dark field control (LDFC), can monitor the bright field for aberrations that will degrade the high-contrast dark hole. A second form of FPWFS, known as holographic modal wavefront sensing (hMWFS), is also employed with the vAPP. This technique uses hologram-generated PSFs in the science image to monitor the presence of low-order aberrations. With LDFC and the hMWFS, high contrast across the dark hole can be maintained over long observations, thereby allowing planet light to remain visible above the stellar noise over the course of observations on MagAO-X. Here, we present simulations and laboratory demonstrations of both spatial LDFC and the hMWFS with a vAPP coronagraph at the University of Arizona Extreme Wavefront Control Laboratory. We show both in simulation and in the lab that the hMWFS can be used to sense low-order aberrations and reduce the wavefront error (WFE) by a factor of 3  −  4  ×  . We also show in simulation that, in the presence of a temporally evolving pupil plane phase aberration with 27-nm root-mean-square (RMS) WFE, LDFC can reduce the WFE to 18-nm RMS, resulting in factor of 6 to 10 gain in contrast that is kept stable over time. This performance is also verified in the lab, showing that LDFC is capable of returning the dark hole to the average contrast expected under ideal lab conditions. These results demonstrate the power of the hMWFS and spatial LDFC to improve MagAO-X’s high-contrast imaging capabilities for direct exoplanet imaging.Instrumentatio

The Basolateral Amygdala Is Essential for Rapid Escape: A Human and Rodent Study.

Rodent research delineates how the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and central amygdala (CeA) control defensive behaviors, but translation of these findings to humans is needed. Here, we compare humans with natural-selective bilateral BLA lesions to rats with a chemogenetically silenced BLA. We find, across species, an essential role for the BLA in the selection of active escape over passive freezing during exposure to imminent yet escapable threat (T &lt;sub&gt;imm&lt;/sub&gt; ). In response to T &lt;sub&gt;imm&lt;/sub&gt; , BLA-damaged humans showed increased startle potentiation and BLA-silenced rats demonstrated increased startle potentiation, freezing, and reduced escape behavior as compared to controls. Neuroimaging in humans suggested that the BLA reduces passive defensive responses by inhibiting the brainstem via the CeA. Indeed, T &lt;sub&gt;imm&lt;/sub&gt; conditioning potentiated BLA projections onto an inhibitory CeA pathway, and pharmacological activation of this pathway rescued deficient T &lt;sub&gt;imm&lt;/sub&gt; responses in BLA-silenced rats. Our data reveal how the BLA, via the CeA, adaptively regulates escape behavior from imminent threat and that this mechanism is evolutionary conserved across rodents and humans

The bilirubin albumin ratio in the management of hyperbilirubinemia in preterm infants to improve neurodevelopmental outcome: A randomized controlled trial - BARTrial

Background and Objective: High bilirubin/albumin (B/A) ratios increase the risk of bilirubin neurotoxicity. The B/A ratio may be a valuable measure, in addition to the total serum bilirubin (TSB), in the management of hyperbilirubinemia. We aimed to assess whether the additional use of B/A ratios in the management of hyperbilirubinemia in preterm infants improved neurodevelopmental outcome. Methods: In a prospective, randomized controlled trial, 615 preterm infants of 32 weeks' gestation or less were randomly assigned to treatment based on either B/A ratio and TSB thresholds (consensus-based), whichever threshold was crossed first, or on the TSB thresholds only. The primary outcome was neurodevelopment at 18 to 24 months' corrected age as assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development III by investigators unaware of treatment allocation. Secondary outcomes included complications of preterm birth and death. Results: Composite motor (100±13 vs. 101±12) and cognitive (101±12 vs. 101±11) scores did not differ between the B/A ratio and TSB groups. Demographic characteristics, maximal TSB levels, B/A ratios, and other secondary outcomes were similar. The rates of death and/or severe neurodevelopmental impairment for th