Association Between Therapeutic Interventions and Quality of Life in People With Autism

Research exploring the association of autism interventions with the quality of life (QoL) of adults with autism spectrum disorders was scarce. Although a multitude of interventions are used to target a specific challenge facing the individual with autism, their correlation with achieving a better QoL is largely unknown. We conducted a cross-sectional, correlational survey study to determine the association between seven interventions—behavioral, social, mental health, daily living skills (DLS), vocational, mindfulness, and medications—and the QoL of adults 18 years and older with autism with no intellectual disability (ID) living in Canada. A national sample of 182 autistic adults or proxy reports completed the survey that used the WHOQOL-BREF to measure subjective QoL. Behavioral, mental health, and medications were the most frequently used interventions (67%, 71.4%, and 82.4%, respectively). QoL was lower across all domains of the WHOQOL-BREF compared with the general population. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that characteristics, such as autism severity, being female, and older age negatively predicted QoL across all domains except for the physical domain, whereas being in a relationship positively predicted social QoL explaining 35.2% of the variance. Of the seven interventions used, behavioral therapies and receiving mental health support consistently predicted a better QoL across all domains, except for the environment domain where only mental health support was a significant predictor. Our findings suggest prioritizing provision of behavioral and mental health interventions to adults with autism and inform future research to evaluate their effectiveness in QoL outcomes as an end goal

Inert-Sterile Neutrino: Cold or Warm Dark Matter Candidate

In usual particle models, sterile neutrinos can account for the dark matter of the Universe only if they have masses in the keV range and are warm dark matter. Stringent cosmological and astrophysical bounds, in particular imposed by X-ray observations, apply to them. We point out that in a particular variation of the inert doublet model, sterile neutrinos can account for the dark matter in the Universe and may be either cold or warm dark matter candidates, even for masses much larger than the keV range. These Inert-Sterile neutrinos, produced non-thermally in the early Universe, would be stable and have very small couplings to Standard Model particles, rendering very difficult their detection in either direct or indirect dark matter searches. They could be, in principle, revealed in colliders by discovering other particles in the model.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; version 2: small changes in the text and references adde

Uncertainty of Output Gap and Monetary policy Making in Nigeria

A major challenge of monetary policy is the attainment of sustainable output level but in setting the optimal monetary policy rate information of the output gap but how uncertainty of the gap affects the path of monetary policy rate is crucial for policy use. The investigation of this phenomenon in Nigeria was mostly concerned with how monetary policy affects output. In view of the dearth of studies on uncertainty and monetary policy in Nigeria, this paper investigates the effect of output gap uncertainty on monetary policy rate in Nigeria-1991Q1-2014Q4. The paper relies on the New Keynesian economics and employs the GARCH-GMM econometric technique for analyses. Evidence from the study shows that real output gap and inflation uncertainty are statistically significant with estimated values of        respectively. The coefficient of the real output variable is significant with a coefficient estimate of    while we found no strong evidence to support the effect of inflation on monetary policy rate.  The inference from our findings is that monetary policy is less responsive to uncertainty of real output gap. We therefore recommend that the Central Bank of Nigeria should consider uncertainty of both inflation and output variables when setting the policy rate.&nbsp

Do Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Predict Under-Five Mortality in Nigeria?

Nigerian children under 5 years of age are over 15 times more at risk of death than their counterparts in developed regions of the world; the prevalence of miscarriage, an adverse pregnancy outcome (APO), was estimated at 49%. In the present study, the relationship between APO and under-5 mortality (U5M) in Nigeria was examined to determine if APO could be used as a reliable early warning indicator for U5M. We used a cross-sectional secondary data analysis of datasets from three Nigeria demographic and health surveys: 2003, 2008, and 2013. The study population was women of reproductive age (15–49). Cochran–Mantel–Haenzel chi-square statistics and multiple logistic regression were performed to determine the association, based on maternal socioeconomic factors and access to prenatal healthcare. Results indicated a significant inverse association between APO and U5M. The children of women who have experienced any form of APO may be at lower risk of U5M than children of women who have never had any APO. The implication is that history of APO may not be a reliable early warning indicator for determining higher risk of U5M. These findings suggest further studies to explore the pathway of this association

Relationship Between Treatment Comorbidities and HIV Viral Suppression Among People Who Live With AIDSi n Johannesburg.

HIV has globally infected over 37.9 million people, of which 28.2 million (73%) are on antiretroviral treatment, and 66% of those on treatment are virally suppressed. In South Africa, however, low rate of viral suppression (47%) among people living with HIV is a major health problem that has continued to fuel HIV prevalence. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was used to investigate the relationship between treatment comorbidities and viral suppression among HIV-infected adults aged 18–49 who were diabetic, had cancer, or tuberculosis in Johannesburg. HIV Care Continuum formed the theoretical framework for this research. An existing HIV-infected patient de-identifiable dataset (n = 602) was used for the descriptive and logistic regression analysis. Results revealed a statistically significant association between tuberculosis treatment and viral suppression—adjusted OR = 1.534, (1.053, 2.234), and p = 0.02—indicating that treatment of comorbidities, such as tuberculosis, has positive impact on viral suppression outcomes. Results, however, revealed that the model for diabetes treatment and viral suppression—OR = 0.993, (0.658, 1.498), and p = 0.97—and the model for cancer treatment and viral suppression—OR= 1.234, (0.844, 1.805), and p = 0.27—were not statistically significant. Treatment of comorbidities, such as TB and HIV, positively impacts viral suppression outcomes. These findings suggested that concurrent, simultaneous, or integrated treatment models for comorbidities can help to achieve HIV viral suppression. This study contributes to positive social change by highlighting the effect of treatment comorbidities on viral suppression in people living with HIV (PLWHIV) in an under-resourced setting, which could inform policy and influence decisions on HIV care and management. Results however revealed that the model for diabetes treatment and viral suppression—OR = 0.993, (0.658, 1.498), and p = 0.97—and the model for cancer treatment and viral suppression—OR = 1.234, (0.844, 1.805), and p = 0.27—were not statistically significant. Treatment of comorbidities, such as TB and HIV, positively impacts viral suppression outcomes. These findings suggested that concurrent, simultaneous, or integrated treatment models for comorbidities can help to achieve HIV viral suppression. This study contributes to positive social change by highlighting the effect of treatment comorbidities on viral suppression in people living with HIV (PLWHIV) in an under-resourced setting, which could inform policy and influence decisions on HIV care and management

MeV sterile neutrinos in low reheating temperature cosmological scenarios

It is commonly assumed that the cosmological and astrophysical bounds on the mixings of sterile with active neutrinos are much more stringent than those obtained from laboratory measurements. We point out that in scenarios with a very low reheating temperature T_RH << 100 MeV at the end of (the last episode of) inflation or entropy creation, the abundance of sterile neutrinos becomes largely suppressed with respect to that obtained within the standard framework. Thus, in this case cosmological bounds become much less stringent than usually assumed, allowing sterile neutrinos to be ``visible'' in future experiments. Here, we concentrate on massive (mostly sterile) neutrinos heavier than 1 MeV.Comment: 14 pp, 7 fig

A rapid and systematic review of the effectiveness of temozolomide for the treatment of recurrent malignant glioma

A rapid and systematic review of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of temozolomide in the treatment of recurrent malignant glioma was commissioned by the NHS HTA Programme on behalf of NICE. The full report has been published elsewhere. This paper summarizes the results for the effectiveness of temozolomide in people with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma. The review was conducted using standard systematic review methodology involving a systematic literature search, quality assessment of included studies with systematic data extraction and data synthesis. One randomized controlled trial and four uncontrolled studies were identified for inclusion. The key results were that temozolomide may increase progression-free survival but has no significant impact on overall length of survival. The main effect from temozolomide may have been in those patients who had not received any prior chemotherapy regimens, however further randomized controlled trials are required to confirm this suggestion. Temozolomide appears to produce few serious adverse effects and may also have a positive impact on health-related quality of life. Overall the evidence-base is weak and few strong conclusions can be drawn regarding the effectiveness of temozolomide. Large, well-designed randomized controlled trails conducted in a wider patient population are needed

AI &amp; Agency

In July of 2019, at the Summer Institute on AI and Society in Edmonton, Canada (co-sponsored by CIFAR and the AI Pulse Project of UCLA Law), scholars from across disciplines came together in an intensive workshop. For the second half of the workshop, the cohort split into smaller working groups to delve into specific topics related to AI and Society.I proposed deeper exploration on the topic of “agency,” which is defined differently across domains and cultures, and relates to many of the topics of discussion in AI ethics, including responsibility and accountability. It is also the subject of an ongoing art and research project I’m producing. As a group, we looked at definitions of agency across fields, found paradoxes and incongruities, shared our own questions, and produced a visual map of the conceptual space. We decided that our disparate perspectives were better articulated through a collection of short written pieces, presented as a set, rather than a singular essay on the topic. The outputs of this work are shared here.This set of essays, many of which are framed as provocations, suggests that there remain many open questions, and inconsistent assumptions on the topic. Many of the writings include more questions than answers, encouraging readers to revisit their own beliefs about agency. As we further develop AI systems, and refer to humans and non-humans as “agents”– we will benefit from a better understanding of what we mean when we call something an “agent” or claim that an action involves “agency.” This work is under development and many of us will continue to explore this in our ongoing AI work.  – Sarah Newman, Project Lead, August 201