CAFAS Profiles: Canonical Correlation Analysis of Behavioral and Performance Dimensions

Psychosocial disturbances are pervasive mental health illnesses affecting 1 out of 10 children in America. The Child and Adolescent Functioning Assessment Scale (CAFAS) is a benchmark instrument assessing adolescent impairment in day-to-day functions. This study will examine the extent to which subsets of the CAFAS behavior dimension may be correlated with subsets of the performance dimension.https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/archivedposters/1025/thumbnail.jp

Loss of Mhc and Neutral Variation in Peary Caribou: Genetic Drift Is Not Mitigated by Balancing Selection or Exacerbated by Mhc Allele Distributions

Theory and empirical results suggest that the rate of loss of variation at Mhc and neutral microsatellite loci may differ because selection influences Mhc genes, and because a high proportion of rare alleles at Mhc loci may result in high rates of loss via drift. Most published studies compare Mhc and microsatellite variation in various contemporary populations to infer the effects of population size on genetic variation, even though different populations are likely to have different demographic histories that may also affect contemporary genetic variation. We directly compared loss of variation at Mhc and microsatellite loci in Peary caribou by comparing historical and contemporary samples. We observed that similar proportions of genetic variation were lost over time at each type of marker despite strong evidence for selection at Mhc genes. These results suggest that microsatellites can be used to estimate genome-wide levels of variation, but also that adaptive potential is likely to be lost following population bottlenecks. However, gene conversion and recombination at Mhc loci may act to increase variation following bottlenecks

Comorbidities and Treatments in United States Youth with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Introduction: Chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain has been associated with chronic illnesses and high rates of pain medication use, often in referral centers, European populations, or studies focused on single drug classes. We aimed to characterize patterns of comorbidities and treatments associated with chronic MSK pain in a nationally-representative sample of US youth. Methods: We used the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (2002-2015) and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (2002-2011), which contain cross-sectional data for US outpatient visits. The study included all visits for youth age 8-24, excluding those with malignancy or sickle cell disease. We compared comorbidities and drugs ordered in visits for chronic MSK pain with (1) visits for any reason besides MSK pain and (2) visits for acute MSK pain, using chi-square tests and logistic regression, adjusting for several covariates. Results: Chronic non-psychiatric diseases were more common among visits for chronic MSK pain (32.0%) in comparison to both visits for acute MSK pain (17.9%) and visits for other reasons (18.8%). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories were less commonly ordered at visits for chronic MSK pain in comparison to acute MSK pain (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 0.63, 95% CI 0.50-0.80). Opioids, gabapentinoids, and alternative medicine were each ordered more commonly at visits for chronic MSK pain in comparison to visits for acute MSK pain and other visits. Conclusion: US youth with chronic MSK were more likely to have chronic non-psychiatric medical conditions compared to youth without pain. Additionally, opioids, gabapentinoids, and alternative medicine were ordered more often in chronic MSK visits, which warrants further study

Adaptation to ephemeral habitat may overcome natural barriers and severe habitat fragmentation in a fire-dependent species, the Bachman\u27s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis)

Bachman\u27s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis) is a fire-dependent species that has undergone range-wide population declines in recent decades. We examined genetic diversity in Bachman\u27s Sparrows to determine whether natural barriers have led to distinct population units and to assess the effect of anthropogenic habitat loss and fragmentation. Genetic diversity was examined across the geographic range by genotyping 226 individuals at 18 microsatellite loci and sequencing 48 individuals at mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Multiple analyses consistently demonstrated little genetic structure and high levels of genetic variation, suggesting that populations are panmictic. Based on these genetic data, separate management units/subspecies designations or translocations to promote gene flow among fragmented populations do not appear to be necessary. Panmixia in Bachman\u27s Sparrow may be a consequence of an historical range expansion and retraction. Alternatively, high vagility in Bachman\u27s Sparrow may be an adaptation to the ephemeral, fire-mediated habitat that this species prefers. In recent times, high vagility also appears to have offset inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity in highly fragmented habitat. © 2014 Cerame et al

Population genetics of seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus) subspecies along the gulf of Mexico.

Seaside Sparrows (Ammodramus maritimus) along the Gulf of Mexico are currently recognized as four subspecies, including taxa in Florida (A. m. juncicola and A. m. peninsulae) and southern Texas (Ammodramus m. sennetti), plus a widespread taxon between them (A. m. fisheri). We examined population genetic structure of this Gulf Coast clade using microsatellite and mtDNA data. Results of Bayesian analyses (Structure, GeneLand) of microsatellite data from nine locations do not entirely align with current subspecific taxonomy. Ammodramus m. sennetti from southern Texas is significantly differentiated from all other populations, but we found evidence of an admixture zone with A. m. fisheri near Corpus Christi. The two subspecies along the northern Gulf Coast of Florida are significantly differentiated from both A. m. sennetti and A. m. fisheri, but are not distinct from each other. We found a weak signal of isolation by distance within A. m. fisheri, indicating this population is not entirely panmictic throughout its range. Although continued conservation concern is warranted for all populations along the Gulf Coast, A. m. fisheri appears to be more secure than the far smaller populations in south Texas and the northern Florida Gulf Coast. In particular, the most genetically distinct populations, those in Texas south of Corpus Christi, occupy unique habitats within a very small geographic range

Image guidance and inter-fractional anatomical variation in paediatric abdominal radiotherapy

OBJECTIVES: To identify variables predicting inter fractional anatomical variationsmeasured with cone-beam CT (CBCT) throughout abdominal paediatric radiotherapy, and to assess the potential of surface-guided radiotherapy (SGRT) to monitor these changes. METHODS: Metrics of variation in gastrointestinal (GI) gas volume andseparation of the body contour and abdominal wallwere calculated from 21 planning CTs and 77 weekly CBCTs for 21 abdominal neuroblastoma patients (median 4y, range: 2 -19y). Age, sex, feeding tubes, and general anaesthesia (GA) were explored as predictive variables for anatomical variation. Furthermore,GI gas variationwas correlated with changes in body and abdominal wall separation, as well as simulated SGRT metrics of translational and rotationalcorrections between CT/CBCT. RESULTS: GI gas volumes varied 74 ± 54 ml across all scans, while body and abdominal wall separationvaried 2.0 ± 0.7 mm and4.1±1.5mmfrom planning, respectively. Patients < 3.5y (p = 0.04) and treated under GA (p < 0.01) experienced greater GI gas variation; GA was the strongest predictor in multivariate analysis (p < 0.01). Absence of feeding tubes was linked to greater body contour variation (p = 0.03). GI gas variation correlated with body (R = 0.53) and abdominal wall (R = 0.63) changes. The strongest correlations with SGRT metrics were found for anteroposterior translation (R = 0.65) androtation of the left-right axis (R = -0.36). CONCLUSIONS: Young age, GA, and absence of feeding tubes were linked to stronger inter fractional anatomical variation and are likely indicative of patients benefiting from adaptive/robust planning pathways.Our data suggests a role for SGRT toinformthe need for CBCT at each treatment fractionin this patient group. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This is the first study to suggest the potential role of SGRT for the management of internal inter fractional anatomical variation in paediatric abdominal radiotherapy

Developing a framework for CBCT-to-CT synthesis in paediatric abdominal radiotherapy

We proposed a CBCT-to-CT synthesis framework tailored for paediatric abdominal patients. Our approach was based on the cycle-consistent generative adversarial network (cycleGAN) modified to preserve structural consistency. To adjust for differences in field-of-view and body size from different patient groups, our training data was spatially co-registered to a common field-of-view and normalised to a fixed size. The proposed framework showed improvements in generating synthetic CTs from CBCTs compared to the original implementation of cycleGAN without field-of-view adjustments and structural consistency constrain

Identification of Frailty using EMR and Admin data: A complex issue

Introduction Frailty is a state of vulnerability to diverse stressors emphasizing the importance of identifying the frail to support them. The burden of frailty in Canada is steadily growing. Today, approximately 25% of people over age 65 and 50% past age 85 – over one million Canadians – are medically frail. Objectives and Approach To develop an administrative data definition of frailty to facilitate clinical and health system planning. We will validate the definition by linking the administrative data to electronic medical records (EMR) data. The EMR definition is based on a Machine Learning binarized frailty flag for patients with a Rockwood Clinical Frailty Score > 5 on physician chart audit. The sensitivity of the Machine Learning was disappointing: 28% (95% CI: 21% to 36%).specificity was: 94% (95% CI: 93% to 96%), positive predictive value: 53% (95% CI: 42% to 64%), negative predictive value: 86% (95% CI: 83% to 88%). Results There was little overlap between the EMR and administrative data definitions using the same population. Of the 29,382 eligible administrative data community dwelling patients over 65 years old, with a linkable EMR record, 2398 (8.15%) were identified as frail using the administrative data definition, but only 16.1% of these were frail according to the EMR definition. Of the 2396 who were identified as frail in EMR data, only 375 (15.7%) were identified as frail using the administrative data definition. Conclusion/Implications We are not yet able to develop a reliable administrative data definition of frailty to identify community living individuals to support health service planning. The lack of agreement between the results obtained from EMR and administrative data definitions suggests that further refinement is necessary. Identification of frailty remains complex

Immune genotypes, immune responses, and survival in a wild bird population

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank the Tsawout and Tseycum bands for allowing us to conduct research on Mandarte Island, and to the many contributors to long-term monitoring, especially L. Keller, P. Nietlisbach, and J. Krippel. We also thank C. Ritland, A. Miscampbell, and G. Huber for their assistance in the laboratory. All work was conducted under permit of the Canadian Wildlife Service and UBC Animal Care Committee. Funding Information: This study was generously supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada via a Post‐doctoral Fellowship award to MJNF (PDF‐2014–454522) and a Discovery Grant to EAMS.Peer reviewedPublisher PD