Levels of developmental assets and educational outcomes in young people in transitional living in Canada

"Developmental assets may be defined as significant relationships, skills, opportunities or values that protect young people in the presence of risk and promote their resilience. The purpose of this study was to discover whether high, medium, and low levels of developmental assets among transition-age young people in care were related to selected educational outcomes. If so, child welfare staff could potentially use their knowledge of a youth's level of assets to plan an appropriate level of educational assistance that would enable the youth to be more successful in his or her transition. The sample was composed of 567 young people (322 females and 245 males), aged 18-20 years, who were residing in a transitional living program in Ontario, Canada. The three levels of developmental assets were found to have statistically significant relationships with the seven educational outcomes examined that ranged between small-to-medium and strong in size. The educational outcomes consisted of the educational level in which the youth was currently enrolled, the highest educational level attained, average marks in school, participation in volunteering, employment, education or training, development of skills useful for employment, and adequacy of planning for the youth's education. The implications of the findings for rendering educational assistance to youths in particular need were discussed." (author's abstract)"Entwicklungsressourcen können als signifikante Beziehungen, Fähigkeiten, Chancen und Werte bestimmt werden, die Jugendliche in Risikolagen schützen und ihre Belastbarkeit fördern. Im Mittelpunkt der vorliegenden Studie stand die Frage, ob hohe, mittlere und niedrige Entwicklungsressourcenniveaus betreuter Jugendlicher in der Übergangsphase mit ausgewählten Bildungserfolgen in Zusammenhang stehen. Ist dies der Fall, könnten Fachkräfte ihr Wissen um die Entwicklungsressourcen von Jugendlichen nutzen, um eine angemessene pädagogische Begleitung zu planen, die Jugendlichen hilft, den Übergang erfolgreicher zu gestalten. Die Stichprobe der Studie setzte sich aus 567 jungen Menschen (322 Mädchen und 245 Jungen) im Alter von 18-20 Jahren zusammen, die ein Übergangsprogramm in Ontario (Kanada) durchliefen. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung zeigen, dass die drei Niveaus in unterschiedlicher Stärke statistisch signifikant mit Erfolgen in den sieben untersuchten Bildungsbereichen korrelieren. Diese umfassten den momentan angestrebten Bildungsabschluss, den höchsten bereits erreichten Bildungsabschluss, den Notendurchschnitt in der Schule, Partizipation in freiwilligen Engagements, Arbeit/ Beschäftigung, Bildung oder Training, die Entwicklung beschäftigungsrelevanter Fähigkeiten, sowie zukunftsorientierte Bildungspläne. Abschließend werden Folgerungen für die Begleitung von Jugendlichen mit spezifischen Bedürfnissen diskutiert." (Autorenreferat

The Outdoors as a Learning Environment: Fostering Postive Inclusive Interactions

This workshop will use DEC Recommended Practices to describe strategies and techniques to establish the outside as a learning environment. Modifications, adaptations, and assistive technology used to create an active, inclusive environment will be shared along with handouts and videos

Applying Time Series Modeling to Assess the Dynamics and Forecast Monthly Reports of Abuse, Neglect and/or Exploitation Involving a Vulnerable Adult

Background Application of time series modeling to predict reports related to maltreatment of vulnerable adults can be helpful for efficient early planning and resource allocation to handle a high volume of investigations. The goal of this study is to apply: (1) autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series modeling to fit and forecast monthly maltreatment reports accepted for assessment reported to adult protective services (APS), and (2) interrupted time series analysis to test whether the implementation of intake hubs have a significant impact in the number of maltreatment reports after the implementation period. Methods A time series analysis on monthly APS intake reports was conducted using administrative data from SC Child and Adult Protective Services between January 2014 and June 2018. Monthly APS data were subjected to ARIMA modeling adjusting for the time period when intake hubs were implemented. The coefficient of determination, normalized SBC, AIC, MSE, and Ljung-Box Q-test were used to evaluate the goodness-of-fit of constructed models. The most parsimonious model was selected to predict the monthly APS intakes from July to December 2018. Poisson regression was fit to examine the association of the implementation of the hubs and the number of intake reports received to APS, adjusting for confounders. Results Over 24,000 APS intakes accepted for investigation were identified over a period of four calendar years with an increase in the monthly average of APS intakes between 2014 and 2017. An increase in the number of monthly APS intakes was found after the intake hubs were implemented in 2015 (Phase-1) and 2017 (Phase-2). Of all the models tested, an ARIMA (12), 1, 1 model was found to work best after evaluating all fit measures for both models. For Phase-1, the optimum model predicted an average of 488 APS intake reports between July and December 2018, representing a 9% increase from January–June 2018 (median = 445). For Phase-2, the percent increase was 32%. Conclusions The implementation of the intake hubs has a significant impact in the number of reports received after the implementation period. ARIMA time series is a valuable tool to predict future reports of maltreatment of vulnerable adults, which could be used to allow appropriate planning and resource allocation to handle a high volume of monthly intake reports

Investigation of Social Supports for Parents of Children with Autism

There has been an increase of children being identified with autism in the United States (Center for Disease Control, 2009), leading to an increased concern of how to best meet the needs of children with autism and their families. In response to each reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (2004), in which the roles of families have been strengthened in planning their child\u27s education and professionals have had more input, the field has tried to uncover the \u27best\u27 ways to support parents. Recommended practice suggests that parents are best able to identify their own support needs, with assistance from professionals in identifying supports to assist with these needs (Murray et al., 2007). The focus of this study was to identify the forms of social support that parents of children recently diagnosed with autism perceive as being important. Twenty parents of children recently diagnosed with autism participated in this study. These parents completed a Q-sort using the forms of social support, which allowed for a ranking from most to least important. Statistically significant correlations were found on five support items. Factor analysis was conducted to explore groups of participants with similar rankings of the Q sort items

Effect of elevated blood pressure on quality of life in children with chronic kidney disease

Although hypertension is known to have an adverse impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adults, little is known about the effects of hypertension and use of antihypertensive medications on HRQoL in hypertensive children with chronic kidney disease (CKD)

Renal Survival in Children with Glomerulonephritis with Crescents: A Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium Cohort Study

There is no evidence-based definition for diagnosing crescentic glomerulonephritis. The prognostic implications of crescentic lesions on kidney biopsy have not been quantified. Our objective was to determine risk factors for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in patients with glomerulonephritis and crescents on kidney biopsy. A query of the Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium’s Pediatric Glomerulonephritis with Crescents registry identified 305 patients from 15 centers. A retrospective cohort study was performed with ESKD as the primary outcome. Median age at biopsy was 11 years (range 1–21). The percentage of crescents was 3–100% (median 20%). Etiologies included IgA nephropathy (23%), lupus (21%), IgA vasculitis (19%) and ANCA-associated GN (13%), post-infectious GN (5%), and anti-glomerular basement membrane disease (3%). The prevalence of ESKD was 12% at one year and 16% at last follow-up (median = 3 years, range 1–11). Median time to ESKD was 100 days. Risk factors for ESKD included %crescents, presence of fibrous crescents, estimated GFR, and hypertension at biopsy. For each 1% increase in %crescents, there was a 3% decrease in log odds of 1-year renal survival (p = 0.003) and a 2% decrease in log odds of renal survival at last follow-up (p \u3c 0.001). These findings provide an evidence base for enrollment criteria for crescentic glomerulonephritis in future clinical trials

Association of Accelerometry-Measured Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Events in Mobility-Limited Older Adults: The LIFE (Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders) Study.

BACKGROUND:Data are sparse regarding the value of physical activity (PA) surveillance among older adults-particularly among those with mobility limitations. The objective of this study was to examine longitudinal associations between objectively measured daily PA and the incidence of cardiovascular events among older adults in the LIFE (Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders) study. METHODS AND RESULTS:Cardiovascular events were adjudicated based on medical records review, and cardiovascular risk factors were controlled for in the analysis. Home-based activity data were collected by hip-worn accelerometers at baseline and at 6, 12, and 24 months postrandomization to either a physical activity or health education intervention. LIFE study participants (n=1590; age 78.9±5.2 [SD] years; 67.2% women) at baseline had an 11% lower incidence of experiencing a subsequent cardiovascular event per 500 steps taken per day based on activity data (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.84-0.96; P=0.001). At baseline, every 30 minutes spent performing activities ≥500 counts per minute (hazard ratio, 0.75; confidence interval, 0.65-0.89 [P=0.001]) were also associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular events. Throughout follow-up (6, 12, and 24 months), both the number of steps per day (per 500 steps; hazard ratio, 0.90, confidence interval, 0.85-0.96 [P=0.001]) and duration of activity ≥500 counts per minute (per 30 minutes; hazard ratio, 0.76; confidence interval, 0.63-0.90 [P=0.002]) were significantly associated with lower cardiovascular event rates. CONCLUSIONS:Objective measurements of physical activity via accelerometry were associated with cardiovascular events among older adults with limited mobility (summary score >10 on the Short Physical Performance Battery) both using baseline and longitudinal data. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION:URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01072500

Depressive Symptoms in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease

To assess depression in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and to determine associations with patient characteristics, intellectual and educational levels, and health related quality of life (HRQoL)

CD4+ regulatory T cells require CTLA-4 for the maintenance of systemic tolerance

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) plays a critical role in negatively regulating T cell responses and has also been implicated in the development and function of natural FOXP3+ regulatory T cells. CTLA-4–deficient mice develop fatal, early onset lymphoproliferative disease. However, chimeric mice containing both CTLA-4–deficient and –sufficient bone marrow (BM)–derived cells do not develop disease, indicating that CTLA-4 can act in trans to maintain T cell self-tolerance. Using genetically mixed blastocyst and BM chimaeras as well as in vivo T cell transfer systems, we demonstrate that in vivo regulation of Ctla4−/− T cells in trans by CTLA-4–sufficient T cells is a reversible process that requires the persistent presence of FOXP3+ regulatory T cells with a diverse TCR repertoire. Based on gene expression studies, the regulatory T cells do not appear to act directly on T cells, suggesting they may instead modulate the stimulatory activities of antigen-presenting cells. These results demonstrate that CTLA-4 is absolutely required for FOXP3+ regulatory T cell function in vivo