Psychometrics as a Tool to Improve Screening and Access to Credit

State court systems rather suddenly are showing a tremendous interest in adopting court-integrated ODR systems. I have been involved with ODR system design for almost twenty years, and for the great majority of that time all the significant progress came from independent private sector alternative dispute resolution providers such as Modria (now part of Tyler Technologies Inc) and SmartSettle, or business-specific embedded systems like the one for eBay. Courts systems now are increasingly interested in ODR, which is significant because sustainability has been one of the greatest challenges for private independent ODR providers. The financial support that a judicial system can offer makes it easier to build and maintain an ODR system. The article also will describe my experience as the System Designer for the New York State Unified Court System. The details for those proposed designs and the lessons learned should help those moving forward with similar projects. I became involved in New York’s ODR project in October 2016 as the American Bar Association liaison for an Enterprise Fund Award that the ABA provided to New York to assist in creating a pilot ODR system. The grant was titled “Expanding Access to Legal Services through the Advancement of Court–Annexed Online Dispute Resolution.” The ABA sections that participated in the grant application included my section, the Section of Dispute Resolution, the Judicial Division, the Young Lawyers Division, the ABA Fund for Justice and Education, the Section of Science & Technology Law, and the Commission on the Future of Legal Services. I have invested almost two thousand hours in this project, so it obviously is very important to me. The following article is based my own observations and conclusions and was not written on behalf of the New York State Unified Court System

The Depressive Psychopathology Scale: presentation and initial validation in a sample of Peruvian psychiatric patients La Escala de Psicopatología Depresiva: presentación y validación inicial en una muestra de pacientes psiquiátricos peruanos

OBJECTIVE: Presentation and validation of the Depressive Psychopathology Scale (DPS), a new, Spanish-language psychometric inventory, in a sample of Peruvian psychiatric patients. METHODS: From 1999 to 2001, the DPS, Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (ZSDS), and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders (SCID) were administered to 226 nonpsychotic outpatients referred to the National Institute of Mental Health in Lima, Peru, for their initial clinical evaluation. In the evaluation, attending psychiatrists 1) corroborated the general diagnosis and presence or absence of MDD and 2) rated depression severity based on clinical opinion and on Clinical Global Im-pression-Severity scale criteria. RESULTS: Mean time to complete the DPS was 7.22 minutes (standard deviation, 3.99). Cronbach's alpha value was 0.86. For diagnosis of MDD, based on the SCID, area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.872 and the selected cutoff score (26/27) had 81.32% sensitivity and 80% specificity; based on the attending psychiatrists' evaluation, AUROC was 0.832 and the selected cutoff score (25/26) had 77.67% sensitivity and 72.32% specificity. The DPS was significantly correlated with the ZSDS (rho = 0.8, P OBJETIVO: Presentación y validación de la Escala de Psicopatología Depresiva (EPD), un nuevo inventario psicométrico en lengua española, en una muestra de pacientes psiquiátricos peruanos. MÉTODOS: De 1999 al 2001, se administraron la EPD, la Escala de Autoevaluación de la Depresión de Zung (ZSDS) y el módulo correspondiente al Trastorno Depresivo Mayor (TDM) de la Entrevista Clínica Estructurada para trastornos del DSM-IV (SCID) a 226 pacientes ambulatorios no psicóticos derivados al Instituto Nacional de Salud Mental de Lima para su evaluación clínica inicial. En la evaluación, los psiquiatras responsables 1) corroboraron el diagnóstico general y la presencia o ausencia de TDM, y 2) clasificaron la gravedad de la depresión con base en la opinión clínica y los criterios de gravedad de la Escala de Impresión Clínica Global. RESULTADOS: El tiempo medio para completar la EPD fue de 7,22 minutos (desviación estándar, 3,99). El valor del índice alfa de Cronbach fue de 0,86. Para el diagnóstico del TDM, basado en el SCID, el área bajo la curva ROC (de eficacia diagnóstica) fue de 0,872, y la puntuación discriminatoria seleccionada (26/27) mostró una sensibilidad de 81,32% y una especificidad de 80%; con base en la evaluación de los psiquiatras responsables, el área bajo la curva ROC fue de 0,832, y la puntuación discriminatoria seleccionada (25/26) mostró una sensibilidad de 77,67% y una especificidad de 72,32%. La EPD se correlacionó significativamente con la ZSDS (rho = 0,8, P < 0,001). Algunos elementos de la EPD ("depresión peor por la mañana", "alteraciones del apetito", "reactividad del estado de ánimo" e "hipersomnia") mostraron cargas bajas de los cinco factores extraídos mediante el análisis de los componentes principales o no se correlacionaron significativamente con los parámetros de depresión. CONCLUSIONES: La EPD puede predecir el TDM y tiene validez convergente, tal como lo demuestra su correlación con la ZSDS. Sin embargo, se recomienda realizar estudios psicométricos adicionales con objeto de simplificarla y mejorarla

Determinants of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity progression in hypertensive patients over a 3.7 years follow-up

Objective: The role of risk factors on the progression of arterial stiffness has not yet been extensively evaluated. The aim of the current longitudinal study was to evaluate the determinants of the PWV progression over a 4 years follow-up period in hypertensive subjects. Materials and Methods: We enrolled 333 consecutive hypertensive outpatients 18–80 aged, followed by the Hypertension Unit of St. Gerardo Hospital (Monza, Italy). At baseline anamnestic, clinical, BP, laboratory data and cfPWV were assessed. We performed a PWV follow-up examination with a median time amounting to 3.75 ± 0.53 years. Results: At baseline the mean age was 54.5 ± 12.6 years, SBP and DBP were 141.3 ± 18.6 and 86.4 ± 10.4 mmHg and PWV was 8.56 ± 1.92 m/s. Despite an improvement in BP control (from 37 to 60%), at follow-up the population showed a PWV increase (ΔPWV 0.87 ± 3.05 m/s). PWV and ΔPWV gradually increased in age decades. In patients with uncontrolled BP values at follow-up ΔPWV showed a greater increase as compared to patients with controlled BP (1.46 ± 3.67 vs 0.62 ± 2.61 m/s, p < .05). The independent predictors of ΔPWV were age, baseline PWV, baseline SBP/MBP and ΔSBP/MBP. Conclusions: the accelerated arterial aging in treated hypertensive subjects is in large measure explained by age and BP values. PWV changes over time would probably give important information that need further future research studies

A GWAS in the pandemic epicenter highlights the severe COVID-19 risk locus introgressed by Neanderthals

Summary: Large GWAS indicated that genetic factors influence the response to SARS-CoV-2. However, sex, age, concomitant diseases, differences in ancestry, and uneven exposure to the virus impacted the interpretation of data. We aimed to perform a GWAS of COVID-19 outcome in a homogeneous population who experienced a high exposure to the virus and with a known infection status. We recruited inhabitants of Bergamo province—that in spring 2020 was the epicenter of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic in Europe—via an online questionnaire followed by personal interviews. Cases and controls were matched by age, sex and risk factors. We genotyped 1195 individuals and replicated the association at the 3p21.31 locus with severity, but with a stronger effect size that further increased in gravely ill patients. Transcriptome-wide association study highlighted eQTLs for LZTFL1 and CCR9. We also identified 17 loci not previously reported, suggestive for an association with either COVID-19 severity or susceptibility