Empirical Issues in Lifetime Poverty Measurement

This paper demonstrates the implications of adopting an approach to measuring poverty that takes into account the lifetime experience of individuals rather than simply taking a static or cross-sectional perspective. Our approach follows the theoretical innovations in Hoy and Zheng (2008) which address various aspects of the specific pattern of any poverty spells experienced by an individual as well as a possible retrospective consideration that an individual might have concerning his life experience as a whole. For an individual, our perspective of lifetime poverty is influenced by both the snapshot poverty of each period and the poverty level of the permanent lifetime consumption; it is also influenced by how poverty spells are distributed over the lifetime. Using PSID data for the US, we demonstrate empirically the power of alternative axioms concerning how lifetime poverty should be measured when making pairwise comparisons of individual lifetime profiles of consumption (income) experiences. We also demonstrate the importance of taking a lifetime view of poverty in comparing poverty between groups by use of the classic FGT ‘snapshot’ poverty index in conjunction with period weighting functions that explicitly reflect concerns about the pattern of poverty spells over individuals’ lifetimes.Lifetime poverty, snapshot poverty, chronic poverty, early poverty, poverty measurement

Validation of a novel scoring system for changes in skeletal manifestations of hypophosphatasia in newborns, infants, and children: The Radiographic Global Impression of Change scale

Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is the heritable metabolic disease characterized by impaired skeletal mineralization due to low activity of the tissue-nonspecific isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase. Although HPP during growth often manifests with distinctive radiographic skeletal features, no validated method was available to quantify them, including changes over time. We created the Radiographic Global Impression of Change (RGI-C) scale to assess changes in the skeletal burden of pediatric HPP. Site-specific pairs of radiographs of newborns, infants, and children with HPP from three clinical studies of asfotase alfa, an enzyme replacement therapy for HPP, were obtained at baseline and during treatment. Each pair was scored by three pediatric radiologists ( raters ), with nine raters across the three studies. Intrarater and interrater agreement was determined by weighted Kappa coefficients. Interrater reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and by two-way random effects analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a mixed-model repeated measures ANOVA. Pearson correlation coefficients evaluated relationships of the RGI-C to the Rickets Severity Scale (RSS), Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument Global Function Parent Normative Score, Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index, 6-Minute Walk Test percent predicted, and Z-score for height in patients aged 6 to 12 years at baseline. Eighty-nine percent (8/9) of raters showed substantial or almost perfect intrarater agreement of sequential RGI-C scores (weighted Kappa coefficients, 0.72 to 0.93) and moderate or substantial interrater agreement (weighted Kappa coefficients, 0.53 to 0.71) in patients aged 0 to 12 years at baseline. Moderate-to-good interrater reliability was observed (ICC, 0.57 to 0.65). RGI-C scores were significantly (p ≤ 0.0065) correlated with the RSS and with measures of global function, disability, endurance, and growth in the patients aged 6 to 12 years at baseline. Thus, the RGI-C is valid and reliable for detecting clinically important changes in skeletal manifestations of severe HPP in newborns, infants, and children, including during asfotase alfa treatment. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research Published by Wiley Periodicals Inc

The Impact of Fantasy Football on the NFL Fan: Exploring Differences between the Fantasy Football Participant and the Traditional Fan

Fans of the National Football League (NFL) often identify themselves not only with a specific team but also in terms of a broader social group, fantasy football participant. This research utilizes a social identity perspective and data collected from an online context to compare those fans with a team-specific identity to those who also actively participate in fantasy football. Our results show that fans often form a dual identity with the league and the team. This is an important consideration for managers, because while previous research shows that fantasy football participants may attend more games, social identity theory suggests that fan behavior may change. A dual identity can have a negative impact on local teams as fans may increasingly adopt the low cost superordinate identity, watching league games at home, versus the high cost subordinate identity, watching games in the stadium

Reproduction in Reptiles, from Genes to Ecology: A Retrospective and Prospective Vision

The 6th World Congress of Herpetology (WCH), held in Manaus, Brazil in 2008, provided an excellent venue for a broad, integrative symposium on reproduction in reptiles. This symposium brought together researchers from throughout the world who are working on diverse reptilian species. The symposium’s title “Reproduction in Reptiles from Genes to Ecology,” captures the methodological breadth of contemporary research as well as its integrative nature. This special issue of Herpetological Conservation and Biology presents a series of papers from contributors to that symposium. In this introduction to the special issue, we offer an evolutionary overview of reptilian reproduction and summarize the nature, characteristics, and implications of current research efforts, as represented in the WCH symposium

Cerebral Amyloid and Hypertension are Independently Associated with White Matter Lesions in Elderly.

In cognitively normal (CN) elderly individuals, white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are commonly viewed as a marker of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD). SVD is due to exposure to systemic vascular injury processes associated with highly prevalent vascular risk factors (VRFs) such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes. However, cerebral amyloid accumulation is also prevalent in this population and is associated with WMH accrual. Therefore, we examined the independent associations of amyloid burden and VRFs with WMH burden in CN elderly individuals with low to moderate vascular risk. Participants (n = 150) in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) received fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MRI at study entry. Total WMH volume was calculated from FLAIR images co-registered with structural MRI. Amyloid burden was determined by cerebrospinal fluid Aβ1-42 levels. Clinical histories of VRFs, as well as current measurements of vascular status, were recorded during a baseline clinical evaluation. We tested ridge regression models for independent associations and interactions of elevated blood pressure (BP) and amyloid to total WMH volume. We found that greater amyloid burden and a clinical history of hypertension were independently associated with greater WMH volume. In addition, elevated BP modified the association between amyloid and WMH, such that those with either current or past evidence of elevated BP had greater WMH volumes at a given burden of amyloid. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that cerebral amyloid accumulation and VRFs are independently associated with clinically latent white matter damage represented by WMHs. The potential contribution of amyloid to WMHs should be further explored, even among elderly individuals without cognitive impairment and with limited VRF exposure

Preparative Regimen Dosing for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: Analysis of the Literature and Recommendations

AbstractHematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a potentially life-saving therapy that has traditionally been associated with high treatment-related mortality due to direct regimen toxicity and a high incidence of graft-versus-host disease. Historically, pre-existing renal insufficiency has been considered an exclusion criterion for transplantation. The advent of nonmyeloablative conditioning regimens as a less toxic modality for treatment has made HSCT more accessible to elderly patients and patients with comorbidities, such as renal impairment. However, there is no clear standard for how to dose preparative regimens for patients with chronic renal impairment who undergo HSCT. This article serves as a review of the current literature to provide dosing recommendations for commonly used preparative agents in the setting of chronic kidney disease, with the aim of providing optimal dosing for this patient population

Increasing the uptake of exercise programs in the dialysis unit: A protocol for a realist synthesis

Background: For people with end-stage kidney disease on hemodialysis, exercise during the dialysis treatment ( intradialytic exercise ) may promote exercise adherence and enhance aspects of the dialysis treatment. However, intradialytic exercise programs are complex and how to adapt program components to local context so that the program is more likely to attain its intended health outcomes have not been well described. To increase the uptake of exercise in clinical practice, more evidence is needed on how contextual factors influence the program’s impact. Methods: Using the realist approach, we aim to understand how the processes and structures of intradialytic exercise programs work to influence patient participation according to different contextual factors. The focus of a realist review is explanatory and aims to develop and test theory on how contextual factors trigger specific processes or behaviors ( or “mechanisms” ) to produce outcomes. Using the realist context-mechanism-outcome configuration of theory development, we will use a range of sources to develop initial candidate theories: a scoping review of published papers and the gray literature, and discussion with stakeholders. To provide a theoretical basis for how contextual factors could work to influence patient participation in intradialytic exercise ( IDE ), several of our preliminary theories will be based on dominant theories of exercise adherence and behavior change. To support or refute these initial theories, we will synthesize data from a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with intradialytic exercise program stakeholders, sampled from a range of programs worldwide. Discussion: The complexity of intradialytic exercise programs poses challenges to their implementation. Using the “context, mechanism, outcome” approach, the knowledge gained from this study will be used to develop general recommendations for renal care providers and administration on how to adapt components of an intradialytic exercise programs according to different contextual factors in order to promote patient participation. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD4201603333

Two Forms of Spatial Imagery: Neuroimaging Evidence ​

Spatial imagery may be useful in such tasks as interpreting graphs and solving geometry problems, and even in performing surgery. This study provides evidence that spatial imagery is not a single faculty; rather, visualizing spatial location and mentally transforming location rely on distinct neural networks. Using 3-T functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested 16 participants (8 male, 8 female) in each of two spatial imagery tasks--one that required visualizing location and one that required mentally rotating stimuli. The same stimuli were used in the two tasks. The location-based task engendered more activation near the occipito-parietal sulcus, medial posterior cingulate, and precuneus, whereas the transformation task engendered more activation in superior portions of the parietal lobe and in the postcentral gyrus. These differences in activation provide evidence that there are at least two different types of spatial imagery.Psycholog