Using art and digital techniques in educating people with intellectual disabilities about relationships, emotional life and sexuality

Introduction: All people, whether they have a disability or not, need age-appropriate sex education to develop positive attitudes towards their sexuality and avoid negative consequences. The aim of this training initiative is to develop a methodology for organizing and conducting sexuality education for young people with intellectual disabilities, which takes into account the specifics arising from the type of disability and their age needs. A comparative analysis of the policies on health and sexuality education of young people with intellectual disabilities in Belgium and Bulgaria is made. Material and methods: A training program on relationships, emotional life and sexuality for young people with intellectual disabilities has been developed, offered by specialists who work with people with intellectual disabilities in the social services provided by the Association for Support of People with Mental Disabilities, Varna, Bulgaria, and Les Jardins du 8ème jour, Brussels, Belgium. For a year, 4 groups of participants – in Bulgaria and Belgium – worked on the various topics included in this comprehensive training on relationships and sexuality. The methods of non-formal education were used, as well as specific art techniques. The results show that, like their peers in the general population, young people with intellectual disabilities respond to different topics related to relationships and sexuality, according to their upbringing and values, as well as the degree of reference to their personal experience. The main conclusion of the pilot implementation of this program is that the training should be comprehensive, adequate, accessible and timely, to form the necessary social and communication skills, to assist young people with intellectual disabilities to build their understanding of personal boundaries that they know and can respect

Subclinical atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk in inflammatory rheumatic diseases

Various inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRDs) are associated with accelerated atherosclerosis, increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Cells, chemokines, cytokines, proteases, autoantibodies, adhesion molecules, and the OPG/RANKL/RANK signaling pathway involved in autoimmune inflammation can directly affect all structures of the cardiovascular system, including the myocardium, cardiac valves, pericardium, conduction system, and vessels. The interaction between inflammatory factors and conventional cardiovascular risk factors leads to the activation of the atherosclerotic process. None of the risk assessment models developed so far are universal and suitable for all patient groups, and their application in patients with IRD carries the risk of underestimating the possibility of developing cardiovascular events and complications. In this review, we focus on the relationship between chronic inflammation, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), as well as the impact of conventional and newly discovered risk factors, and their interaction, which is particularly important for assessing cardiovascular risk. We draw attention to some markers available in routine practice for the early diagnosis of atherosclerotic changes in patients with IRD, their applicability, and the amount of information they carry. Multidisciplinary collaboration and risk factor assessment in the preclinical stage are beneficial for early diagnosis and prevention in patients with IRD

A Spectroscopic Survey of the Fields of 28 Strong Gravitational Lenses: The Group Catalog

With a large, unique spectroscopic survey in the fields of 28 galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses, we identify groups of galaxies in the 26 adequately-sampled fields. Using a group finding algorithm, we find 210 groups with at least five member galaxies; the median number of members is eight. Our sample spans redshifts of 0.04 $\le z_{grp} \le$ 0.76 with a median of 0.31, including 174 groups with $0.1 < z_{grp} < 0.6$. Groups have radial velocity dispersions of 60 $\le \sigma_{grp} \le$ 1200 km s$^{-1}$ with a median of 350 km s$^{-1}$. We also discover a supergroup in field B0712+472 at $z =$ 0.29 consisting of three main groups. We recover groups similar to $\sim$ 85% of those previously reported in these fields within our redshift range of sensitivity and find 187 new groups with at least five members. The properties of our group catalog, specifically 1) the distribution of $\sigma_{grp}$, 2) the fraction of all sample galaxies that are group members, and 3) the fraction of groups with significant substructure, are consistent with those for other catalogs. The distribution of group virial masses agrees well with theoretical expectations. Of the lens galaxies, 12 of 26 (46%) (B1422+231, B1600+434, B2114+022, FBQS J0951+2635, HE0435-1223, HST J14113+5211, MG0751+2716, MGJ1654+1346, PG 1115+080, Q ER 0047-2808, RXJ1131-1231, and WFI J2033-4723) are members of groups with at least five galaxies, and one more (B0712+472) belongs to an additional, visually identified group candidate. There are groups not associated with the lens that still are likely to affect the lens model; in six of 25 (24%) fields (excluding the supergroup), there is at least one massive ($\sigma_{grp} \ge$ 500 km s$^{-1}$) group or group candidate projected within 2$^{\prime}$ of the lens.Comment: 87 pages, 8 figures, a version of this was published in Ap

The H-alpha Luminosity Function and Star Formation Rate Volume Density at z=0.8 from the NEWFIRM H-alpha Survey

[Abridged] We present new measurements of the H-alpha luminosity function (LF) and SFR volume density for galaxies at z~0.8. Our analysis is based on 1.18$\mu$m narrowband data from the NEWFIRM H-alpha Survey, a comprehensive program designed to capture deep samples of intermediate redshift emission-line galaxies using narrowband imaging in the near-infrared. The combination of depth ($\approx1.9\times10^{-17}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ in H-alpha at 3$\sigma$) and areal coverage (0.82 deg$^2$) complements other recent H-alpha studies at similar redshifts, and enables us to minimize the impact of cosmic variance and place robust constraints on the shape of the LF. The present sample contains 818 NB118 excess objects, 394 of which are selected as H-alpha emitters. Optical spectroscopy has been obtained for 62% of the NB118 excess objects. Empirical optical broadband color classification is used to sort the remainder of the sample. A comparison of the LFs constructed for the four individual fields reveals significant cosmic variance, emphasizing that multiple, widely separated observations are required. The dust-corrected LF is well-described by a Schechter function with L*=10^{43.00\pm0.52} ergs s^{-1}, \phi*=10^{-3.20\pm0.54} Mpc^{-3}, and \alpha=-1.6\pm0.19. We compare our H-alpha LF and SFR density to those at z<1, and find a rise in the SFR density \propto(1+z)^{3.4}, which we attribute to significant L* evolution. Our H-alpha SFR density of 10^{-1.00\pm0.18} M_sun yr^{-1} Mpc^{-3} is consistent with UV and [O II] measurements at z~1. We discuss how these results compare to other H-alpha surveys at z~0.8, and find that the different methods used to determine survey completeness can lead to inconsistent results. This suggests that future surveys probing fainter luminosities are needed, and more rigorous methods of estimating the completeness should be adopted as standard procedure.Comment: 19 pages (emulate-ApJ format), 16 figures, 5 tables, published in ApJ. Modified to match ApJ versio

Evidence for non-stellar rest-frame near-IR emission associated with increased star formation in galaxies at z∼1z \sim 1

We explore the presence of non-stellar rest-frame near-IR ($2-5 \ \mu \mathrm{m}$) emission in galaxies at $z \sim 1$. Previous studies identified this excess in relatively small samples and suggested that such non-stellar emission, which could be linked to the $3.3 \ \mu \mathrm{m}$ polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons feature or hot dust emission, is associated with an increased star formation rate (SFR). In this Letter, we confirm and quantify the presence of an IR excess in a significant fraction of galaxies in the 3D-HST GOODS catalogs. By constructing a matched sample of galaxies with and without strong non-stellar near-IR emission, we find that galaxies with such emission are predominantly star-forming galaxies. Moreover, star-forming galaxies with an excess show increased mid- and far-IR and H$\alpha$ emission compared to other star-forming galaxies without. While galaxies with a near-IR excess show a larger fraction of individually detected X-ray active galactic nuclei (AGNs), an X-ray stacking analysis, together with the IR-colors and H$\alpha$ profiles, shows that AGNs are unlikely to be the dominant source of the excess in the majority of galaxies. Our results suggest that non-stellar near-IR emission is linked to increased SFRs and is ubiquitous among star-forming galaxies. As such, the near-IR emission might be a powerful tool to measure SFRs in the era of the James Webb Space Telescope.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Optimizations of Autoencoders for Analysis and Classification of Microscopic In Situ Hybridization Images

Currently, analysis of microscopic In Situ Hybridization images is done manually by experts. Precise evaluation and classification of such microscopic images can ease experts' work and reveal further insights about the data. In this work, we propose a deep-learning framework to detect and classify areas of microscopic images with similar levels of gene expression. The data we analyze requires an unsupervised learning model for which we employ a type of Artificial Neural Network - Deep Learning Autoencoders. The model's performance is optimized by balancing the latent layers' length and complexity and fine-tuning hyperparameters. The results are validated by adapting the mean-squared error (MSE) metric, and comparison to expert's evaluation.Comment: 9 pages; 9 figure