Évaluation de la validité prédictive de neuf instruments chez les agresseurs sexuels adultes

Un large éventail d’instruments s’offre aux cliniciens pour évaluer le risque que posent les délinquants sexuels. La présente étude vise à comparer la validité prédictive de huit instruments (VRAG, SORAG, RRASOR, Statique-99, Statique-2002, RM2000, MnSOST–R et SVR-20) et un outil de référence (PCL-R) selon quatre types de récidive (nuisance sexuelle, récidive sexuelle, récidive violente non sexuelle et récidive non violente et non sexuelle) et pour trois groupes d’agresseurs sexuels. Les résultats indiquent que ces outils ont une validité prédictive marginale à modeste en ce qui concerne la récidive sexuelle. Cependant, une étude plus détaillée en fonction du type d’agresseurs indique une plus grande efficacité de ces instruments pour la récidive sexuelle chez les agresseurs d’enfants et pour la récidive non sexuelle chez les agresseurs de femmes. Les outils actuariels ne permettent de prédire aucune forme de récidive chez les agresseurs mixtes.This study compares the predictive accuracy of eight commonly used risk assessment instruments (the VRAG, the SORAG, the RRASOR, the Static-99, the Static-2002, the Risk Matrix 2000, the MnSOST–R and the SVR-20) and the PCL–R. Four types of recidivism were used (nuisance, sexual, nonsexual victim-involved and nonsexual victimless) and offenders were divided into three subgroups (rapists, child molesters and mixed offenders). Results indicate that instruments showed marginal to modest predictive accuracy for sexual recidivism. However, when we take account of the subgroups, the predictive accuracy for sexual recidivism was higher with child molesters and for non-sexual recidivism with rapists. Most instruments showed predictions no better than chance for mixed offenders and for predicting non-contact sexual reoffending.En la actualidad, se dispone de una amplia gama de herramientas para evaluar el riesgo de reincidencia de los delincuentes sexuales. El presente estudio compara la validez predictiva de ocho métodos (VRAG, SORAG, RRASOR, Static-99, Static-2002, RM2000, MnSOST-R y SVR-20) y un método de referencia (PCL-R) que evalúa cuatro tipos de reincidencia (reincidencia sexual violenta, reincidencia sexual, reincidencia violenta no sexual y reincidencia no violenta y no sexual) para tres grupos de agresores sexuales. Los resultados indican que estos métodos tienen una validez predictiva que va de marginal a modesta en lo que respecta a la reincidencia sexual. Sin embargo, un estudio más detallado en función del tipo de agresores indica una mayor eficacia de estos métodos para evaluar la probabilidad de reincidencia sexual en el caso de agresores de menores y la reincidencia no sexual de los agresores de mujeres. Los instrumentos estadísticos no permiten predecir ninguna forma de reincidencia en el grupo de los agresores mixtos

Topographical coloured plasmonic coins

The use of metal nanostructures for colourization has attracted a great deal of interest with the recent developments in plasmonics. However, the current top-down colourization methods based on plasmonic concepts are tedious and time consuming, and thus unviable for large-scale industrial applications. Here we show a bottom-up approach where, upon picosecond laser exposure, a full colour palette independent of viewing angle can be created on noble metals. We show that colours are related to a single laser processing parameter, the total accumulated fluence, which makes this process suitable for high throughput industrial applications. Statistical image analyses of the laser irradiated surfaces reveal various distributions of nanoparticle sizes which control colour. Quantitative comparisons between experiments and large-scale finite-difference time-domain computations, demonstrate that colours are produced by selective absorption phenomena in heterogeneous nanoclusters. Plasmonic cluster resonances are thus found to play the key role in colour formation.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Electrophysiological impact of multiple concussions in asymptomatic athletes: a re-analysis based on alpha activity during a visual-spatial attention task

Most EEG studies used event-related potentials to assess long-term and cumulative effects of sport-related concussions on brain activity. Time-frequency methods provide another approach that allows the detection of subtle shifts in types and patterns of brain oscillations. We sought to discover whether event-related alpha activity would be significantly affected in asymptomatic multi-concussed athletes. We measured the amplitude of alpha activity (8–12 Hz) from the EEG recorded during a visual-spatial attention task to compare event-related alpha perturbations in 13 multi-concussed athletes and 14 age-equivalent, non-concussed teammates. Relative to non-concussed athletes, multi-concussed athletes showed significantly less event-related perturbations time-locked to stimulus presentation. Alpha activity alterations were closely related to the number of concussions sustained. Event-related alpha activity differed in asymptomatic multi-concussed athletes when compared to controls. Our study suggests that low-level neurophysiological underpinnings of the deployment of visual-spatial attention are affected in multi-concussed athletes even though their last concussion occurred on average 30 months prior to testing

La reconnaissance émotionnelle faciale : validation préliminaire de stimuli virtuels dynamiques et comparaison avec les Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA)

Bien que des photographies d’expressions émotionnelles faciales soient couramment utilisées pour étudier le traitement des informations affectives, les ensembles de stimuli actuels comportent différentes limites méthodologiques. Dans la perspective d’améliorer la validité écologique des travaux sur la reconnaissance émotionnelle faciale (REF), l’étude propose un nouvel ensemble de stimuli dynamiques constitué de personnages virtuels exprimant les six émotions fondamentales à différentes intensités. La validation préliminaire des stimuli a été effectuée en les comparant aux stimuli du POFA. Dans l’étude 1, le contenu émotionnel de 84 avatars statiques et de 48 photographies du POFA a été évalué par 150 étudiants. Dans l’étude 2, la REF a été évaluée chez 134 étudiants à l’aide d’avatars dynamiques. L’habileté à reconnaître les émotions est similaire à celle rapportée dans la littérature scientifique ainsi qu’au POFA. Les résultats permettent de conclure que les avatars constituent un ensemble valide de stimuli pour étudier la REF, offrant une contribution significative dans le domaine de la recherche émotionnelle. L’usage d’avatars étant de plus en plus courant à des fins d’intervention et de recherche, les stimuli ouvrent aussi la voie à diverses applications, entre autres pour l’étude des comportements violents. D’autres travaux devront être réalisés afin de poursuivre leur validation

gene DNA methylation levels are associated with muscular and respiratory profiles in DM1

Objective: To assess the effects of dystrophia myotonica protein kinase (DMPK) DNA methylation (DNAme) epivariation on muscular and respiratory profiles in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). Methods: Phenotypes were assessed with standardized measures. Pyrosequencing of bisulfite-treated DNA was used to quantify DNAme levels in blood from 90 patients with DM1 (adult form). Modal CTG repeat length was assessed using small-pool PCR. The presence of Acil-sensitive variant repeats was also tested. Results: DNAme levels upstream of the CTG expansion (exon and intron 11) were correlated with modal CTG repeat length (rs = −0.224, p = 0.040; rs = −0.317, p = 0.003; and rs = −0.241, p = 0.027), whereas correlations were observed with epivariations downstream of the CTG repeats (rs = 0.227; p = 0.037). The presence of a variant repeat was associated with higher DNAme levels at multiple CpG sites (up to 10% higher; p = 0.001). Stepwise multiple linear regression modeling showed that DNAme contributed significantly and independently to explain phenotypic variability in ankle dorsiflexor (3 CpGs: p = 0.001, 0.013, and 0.001), grip (p = 0.089), and pinch (p = 0.028) strengths and in forced vital capacity (2 CpGs: p = 0.002 and 0.021) and maximal inspiratory pressure (p = 0.012). Conclusions: In addition to the CTG repeat length, DMPK epivariations independently explain phenotypic variability in DM1 and could thus improve prognostic accuracy for patients

Humans and Insects Decide in Similar Ways

Behavioral ecologists assume that animals use a motivational mechanism for decisions such as action selection and time allocation, allowing the maximization of their fitness. They consider both the proximate and ultimate causes of behavior in order to understand this type of decision-making in animals. Experimental psychologists and neuroeconomists also study how agents make decisions but they consider the proximate causes of the behavior. In the case of patch-leaving, motivation-based decision-making remains simple speculation. In contrast to other animals, human beings can assess and evaluate their own motivation by an introspection process. It is then possible to study the declared motivation of humans during decision-making and discuss the mechanism used as well as its evolutionary significance. In this study, we combine both the proximate and ultimate causes of behavior for a better understanding of the human decision-making process. We show for the first time ever that human subjects use a motivational mechanism similar to small insects such as parasitoids [1] and bumblebees [2] to decide when to leave a patch. This result is relevant for behavioral ecologists as it supports the biological realism of this mechanism. Humans seem to use a motivational mechanism of decision making known to be adaptive to a heterogeneously distributed resource. As hypothesized by Hutchinson et al. [3] and Wilke and Todd [4], our results are consistent with the evolutionary shaping of decision making because hominoids were hunters and gatherers on food patches for more than two million years. We discuss the plausibility of a neural basis for the motivation mechanism highlighted here, bridging the gap between behavioral ecology and neuroeconomy. Thus, both the motivational mechanism observed here and the neuroeconomy findings are most likely adaptations that were selected for during ancestral times