Pediatric Providers’ Experiences Assessing Young Children’s Emotions and Behaviors

Introduction: Preschool-aged children experience anxiety and mood-related emotions (e.g., irritability, fears) and behaviors (e.g., tantrums) that are developmentally normative, but can overlap with psychopathology, making assessment challenging (Bufferd et al.,2016). Most children see pediatric medical providers annually, and providers can evaluate them. However, providers face challenges like limited training and time (Bean et al.,2000;Heneghan et al.,2008). Accurate and early identification of emotional and behavioral difficulties is critical to support young children’s mental health and prevent worsening problems. Methods: Participants included N=22 pediatricians who see 3-5-year-old children in their practice. Pediatricians completed an online survey about their experiences assessing young children’s anxiety and mood. Results: A one-way ANOVA showed no significant differences between years of mental health training received during medical school (F(2,18)=1.62,p=.226) or after medical school (F(2,18)=.097,p=.908) and the likelihood of providers starting discussions with caregivers about children’s anxiety and mood. Pediatricians’ training during medical school was negatively associated with the number of years since receiving degree (r=-.54,p\u3c.01). Pediatricians reported that parents/caregivers ask about their children’s mood-related behavior more often than anxiety or other difficulties. Discussion: We found that mental health training did not impact whether pediatricians initiated conversations about children’s mental health with caregivers. Although pediatricians report some mental health training, other factors such as assertiveness, time, and interest may affect their ability to have these discussions. Future research should investigate how mental health discussions between providers and families can be refined, especially about common problems like children’s mood, through further insight from caregivers, mental health practitioners, and teachers

For many 2020 presidential election voters, economic concerns about COVID-19 restrictions trumped public health

Since Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election, many commentators have attributed his election loss to his poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In new research, Carlos Algara, Sharif Amlani, Sam Collitt, Isaac Hale, and Sara Kazemian find that this is not the whole story. Comparing changes in Trump’s vote share with COVID-19 mortality rates, they find that Trump performed better in places more badly affected by the pandemic. They argue that Trump’s election-campaign messaging about the negative economic impact of lockdowns and other pandemic-related restrictions likely drove the increased voter support for him in the worst affected areas

Assessing the risk of venous thromboembolic events in women taking progestin-only contraception: a meta-analysis

Objectives: To evaluate the risk of venous thromboembolic events associated with the use of progestin-only contraception and whether that risk differs with the mode of drug delivery (oral, intrauterine, or depot injection). Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies. Data sources: Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and reference lists of relevant reviews. Study selection: Randomised controlled trials and case-control, cohort, and cross sectional studies with venous thromboembolic outcome for progestin-only contraception reported relative to a non-hormone comparator group. Data extraction: Data were extracted by two independent investigators, and consensus for inclusion was reached after assessment by additional investigators. Results: Among the 2022 unique references identified by all searches, eight observational studies fulfilled inclusion criteria. A total of 147 women across all studies were diagnosed with a venous thromboembolic event while taking progestin-only contraception, and the summary measure for the adjusted relative risk of a venous thromboembolic episode for users versus non-users of a progestin-only contraceptive was, based on the random effects model, 1.03 (95% CI 0.76 to 1.39). Subgroup analysis confirmed there was no association between venous thromboembolic risk and progestin-only pills (relative risk 0.90 (0.57 to 1.45)) or a progestin intrauterine device (0.61 (0.24 to 1.53)). The relative risk of a venous thromboembolic event for users of an injectable progestin versus non-users was 2.67 (1.29 to 5.53). Conclusions: Published data assessing the risk of venous thromboembolism in women prescribed progestin-only contraception are limited. In this meta-analysis of eight observational studies, the use of progestin-only contraception was not associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism compared with non-users of hormonal contraception. The potential association between injectable progestins and thrombosis requires further study

The economic status of older people’s households in urban and rural settings in Peru, Mexico and China: a 10/66 INDEP study cross-sectional survey

Few data are available from middle income countries regarding economic circumstances of households in which older people live. Many such settings have experienced rapid demographic, social and economic change, alongside increasing pension coverage. Population-based household surveys in rural and urban catchment areas in Peru, Mexico and China. Participating households were selected from all households with older residents. Descriptive analyses were weighted back for sampling fractions and non-response. Household income and consumption were estimated from a household key informant interview. 877 Household interviews (3177 residents). Response rate 68 %. Household income and consumption correlated plausibly with other economic wellbeing indicators. Household Incomes varied considerably within and between sites. While multigenerational households were the norm, older resident’s incomes accounted for a high proportion of household income, and older people were particularly likely to pool income. Differences in the coverage and value of pensions were a major source of variation in household income among sites. There was a small, consistent inverse association between household pension income and labour force participation of younger adult co-residents. The effect of pension income on older adults’ labour force participation was less clear-cut. Historical linkage of social protection to formal employment may have contributed to profound late-life socioeconomic inequalities. Strategies to formalise the informal economy, alongside increases in the coverage and value of non-contributory pensions and transfers would help to address this problem

Behavioural response to song and genetic divergence in two subspecies of white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys)

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Divergence in sexual signals may drive reproductive isolation between lineages, but behavioural barriers can weaken in contact zones. Here, we investigate the role of song as a behavioural and genetic barrier in a contact zone between two subspecies of white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys). We employed a reduced genomic data set to assess population structure and infer the history underlying divergence, gene flow and hybridization. We also measured divergence in song and tested behavioural responses to song using playback experiments within and outside the contact zone. We found that the subspecies form distinct genetic clusters, and demographic inference supported a model of secondary contact. Song phenotype, particularly length of the first note (a whistle), was a significant predictor of genetic subspecies identity and genetic distance along the hybrid zone, suggesting a close link between song and genetic divergence in this system. Individuals from both parental and admixed localities responded significantly more strongly to their own song than to the other subspecies song, supporting song as a behavioural barrier. Putative parental and admixed individuals were not significantly different in their strength of discrimination between own and other songs; however, individuals from admixed localities tended to discriminate less strongly, and this difference in discrimination strength was explained by song dissimilarity as well as genetic distance. Therefore, we find that song acts as a reproductive isolating mechanism that is potentially weakening in a contact zone between the subspecies. Our findings also support the hypothesis that intraspecific song variation can reduce gene flow between populations

Evaluación de la formulaciòn de tablillas de chocolate con cuatro porcentajes de grano de cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) y su preferencia por el consumidor.

El estudio se realizó en el periodo de febrero a octubre de 2017. La elaboración de las fórmulas de tablillas de chocolate se realizó en el Laboratorio de Tecnología de Alimentos, CENTA, ubicado en San Andrés, La Libertad. Se efectuó una prueba de preferencia por ordenación con un nivel de significancia del 5%, con la participación del consumidor final en la Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas de la Universidad de El Salvador, determinando a la vez los principales motivos de la preferencia. Además, se midieron los grados Brix en cada formulación de bebida de chocolate en el Laboratorio de Agroindustria del Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Salud. La muestra de tablilla de chocolate más preferida fue preparada por digestión ácida con microondas aplicando el método Association of Official Anical Chemists 999.10. Mediante la utilización del método de espectrometría de absorción atómica con horno de grafito se determinó la concentración de As, Pb y Cd y el método de espectrometría de absorción atómica con llama para la determinación concentración de Cu. De acuerdo a los resultados obtenidos se concluyó que la bebida de chocolate preparada con tablilla conteniendo el 20% de grano de cacao fue la más preferida, seguido de las formulaciones del 25% y 17% de cacao. La tablilla de chocolate con adición del 30% de cacao fue significativamente la menos preferida. También, se encontró que la cantidad de azúcar por taza de bebida de chocolate sobrepasa el consumo diario recomendado por la OMS. En cuanto a metales pesados, el contenido determinado fue de menos de 0.03 mg/kg de As, 6.5 mg/kg de Cu, menos de 0.1 mg/kg de Pb y 0.05 mg/kg de Cd en la tablilla de chocolate más preferida, estas concentraciones no sobrepasan los límites establecidos en las normativas. Por otro lado, al comparar costos de producción de una tablilla de 42 g para una taza de las diferentes formulaciones de tablilla de chocolate, se determinó que no hay un incremento considerable de los costos totales al adicionar más cacao en las formulaciones desde 17% a 30% de cacao. Palabras clave: Grano de cacao, tablilla de chocolate, prueba de preferencia por ordenación, grados Brix, metales pesados, costos de producció

Evolutionary Feature Selection for Big Data Classification: A MapReduce Approach

Nowadays, many disciplines have to deal with big datasets that additionally involve a high number of features. Feature selection methods aim at eliminating noisy, redundant, or irrelevant features that may deteriorate the classification performance. However, traditional methods lack enough scalability to cope with datasets of millions of instances and extract successful results in a delimited time. This paper presents a feature selection algorithm based on evolutionary computation that uses the MapReduce paradigm to obtain subsets of features from big datasets. The algorithm decomposes the original dataset in blocks of instances to learn from them in the map phase; then, the reduce phase merges the obtained partial results into a final vector of feature weights, which allows a flexible application of the feature selection procedure using a threshold to determine the selected subset of features. The feature selection method is evaluated by using three well-known classifiers (SVM, Logistic Regression, and Naive Bayes) implemented within the Spark framework to address big data problems. In the experiments, datasets up to 67 millions of instances and up to 2000 attributes have been managed, showing that this is a suitable framework to perform evolutionary feature selection, improving both the classification accuracy and its runtime when dealing with big data problems.This work is supported by the Research Projects TIN2014-57251-P, P10-TIC-6858, P11-TIC-7765, P12-TIC-2958, and TIN2013-47210-P. D. Peralta and S. Ramírez-Gallego hold two FPU scholarships from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (FPU12/04902, FPU13/00047). I. Triguero holds a BOF postdoctoral fellowship from the Ghent University

N-Heterocyclic Carbene Non-Innocence in the Catalytic Hydrophosphination of Alkynes

Studies on alkyne hydrophosphination employing nickel-NHC catalysts (NHC=N-heterocyclic carbene) revealed that the free N-alkyl substituted NHCs themselves were catalytically active. DFT calculations showed the mechanism involves the NHC acting as a Bronsted base to form an imidazolium phosphide species which then undergoes rate-limiting nucleophilic attack at the terminal alkyne carbon. This mechanism explains the preference seen experimentally for reactions with aryl substituted phosphines and alkynes, while the rearrangements of the alkenyl anion formed upon P-C bond formation account for the observation of both Z- and E-regioisomers of the products