Cervicothoracic ventral-dorsal rhizotomy for treatment of brachial hypertonia in cerebral palsy

Purpose: Cervicothoracic ventral-dorsal rhizotomy (VDR) is a potential treatment of medically refractory hypertonia in patients who are not candidates for intrathecal baclofen, particularly in cases of severe upper limb hypertonia with limited to no function. A longitudinal cohort was identified to highlight our institutional safety and efficacy using cervicothoracic VDR for the treatment of hypertonia. Methods: Retrospective data analysis was performed for patients that underwent non-selective cervicothoracic VDR between 2022 and 2023. Non-modifiable risk factors, clinical variables, and operative characteristics were collected. Results: Six patients (three female) were included. Four patients underwent a bilateral C6-T1 VDR, one patient underwent a left C7-T1 VDR, and another underwent a left C6-T1 VDR. Three patients had quadriplegic mixed hypertonia, one patient had quadriplegic spasticity, one patient had triplegic mixed hypertonia, and one patient had mixed hemiplegic hypertonia. The mean difference of proximal upper extremity modified Ashworth scale (mAS) was - 1.4 ± 0.55 (p = 0.002), and - 2.2 ± 0.45 (p Conclusion: Cervicothoracic VDR is safe and provides tone control and quality of life improvements in short-term follow-up. It can be considered for the treatment of refractory hypertonia. Larger multicenter studies with longer follow-up are necessary to further determine safety along with long-term functional benefits in these patients.</p

Disentangling the effects of environmental conditions on wintering and breeding grounds on age-specific survival rates in a trans-Saharan migratory raptor

International audienceMigratory species are subject to environmental variability occurring on breeding and wintering grounds. Estimating the relative contribution of environmental factors experienced sequentially during breeding and wintering, and their potential interaction, to the variation of survival is crucial to predict population viability of migratory species. Here we investigated this issue for the Montagu's harrier Circus pygargus, a trans‐Saharan migrant. We analysed capture‐recapture data from a 29‐yr long monitoring of wing‐tagged offspring and adults at two study sites in France (Rochefort‐RO & Maine‐et‐Loire‐ML). The study period covers a climatic shift occurring in the Sahel with increasing rainfall following a period of droughts (Sahel greening). We found that harriers’ adult survival in RO (between 1988 and 2005) varied over time and was sensitive to the interaction between the amount of rainfall in the Sahel and the annual mean breeding success, two proxies of prey availability. The occurrence of adverse conditions on breeding and wintering grounds in the same year decreased survival from 0.70‐0.77 to 0.48 ± 0.05. Juvenile survival in RO was slightly more sensitive to conditions in Europe than in the Sahel. Unexpectedly, lower survival rates were found in years with higher mean breeding success, suggesting compensatory density feedbacks may operate. By contrast, adult survival in ML, monitored between 1999 and 2017, was higher compared to RO (0.76 ± 0.03 vs. 0.66 ± 0.02), remained constant and unaffected by any proxy of prey availability. This difference seems consistent with the fact that harriers in ML experienced better and especially less variable environmental conditions during breeding and wintering seasons compared to RO. Overall, we showed that survival of a migratory bird is sensitive to the level of variability in environmental conditions and that adverse conditions on wintering grounds can amplify the negative effects of conditions during the previous breeding season on birds’ survival

Methodological innovations in the National Survey of American Life

This paper provides an overview of the conceptualization and methods used in the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). The objectives of the NSAL are to investigate the nature, severity, and impairment of mental disorders among national samples of the black and non-Hispanic white (n = 1,006) populations in the US, including African American (N = 3,570), and Afro-Caribbean (N = 1,623) immigrant and second and older generation, populations. National multi-stage probability methods were used in generating the samples and race/ethnic matching of interviewers and respondents were employed in the largely face-to-face interview, lasting on average 2 hours and 20 minutes. Two methodological approaches are described for addressing sampling coverage of individuals attached to, but not residing in, selected households at the time of the study. The paper also describes two approaches used to address concerns about the interpretations of standard symptom probe information in assessing serious mental disorders. This included a clinical reappraisal study designed to ascertain differences in symptom responding and ascertainment of cases (N = 677) in a subset of the same NSAL respondents. Finally, an abbreviated, novel method for estimating the prevalence of mental disorders in first-degree family members is described and the preliminary results from this new approach are reported. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34227/1/182_ftp.pd

Will seasonally dry tropical forests be sensitive or resistant to future changes in rainfall regimes?

Seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) are located in regions with alternating wet and dry seasons, with dry seasons that last several months or more. By the end of the 21st century, climate models predict substantial changes in rainfall regimes across these regions, but little is known about how individuals, species, and communities in SDTF will cope with the hotter, drier conditions predicted by climate models. In this review, we explore different rainfall scenarios that may result in ecological drought in SDTF through the lens of two alternative hypotheses: 1) these forests will be sensitive to drought because they are already limited by water and close to climatic thresholds, or 2) they will be resistant/resilient to intra- and inter-annual changes in rainfall because they are adapted to predictable, seasonal drought. In our review of literature that spans microbial to ecosystem processes, a majority of the available studies suggests that increasing frequency and intensity of droughts in SDTF will likely alter species distributions and ecosystem processes. Though we conclude that SDTF will be sensitive to altered rainfall regimes, many gaps in the literature remain. Future research should focus on geographically comparative studies and well-replicated drought experiments that can provide empirical evidence to improve simulation models used to forecast SDTF responses to future climate change at coarser spatial and temporal scales

An examination of polygenic score risk prediction in individuals with first-episode psychosis

Background Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have successfully summarized genome-wide effects of genetic variants in schizophrenia with significant predictive power. In a clinical sample of first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients, we estimated the ability of PRSs to discriminate case-control status and to predict the development of schizophrenia as opposed to other psychoses. Methods The sample (445 case and 265 control subjects) was genotyped on the Illumina HumanCore Exome BeadChip with an additional 828 control subjects of African ancestry genotyped on the Illumina Multi-Ethnic Genotyping Array. To calculate PRSs, we used the results from the latest Psychiatric Genomics Consortium schizophrenia meta-analysis. We examined the association of PRSs with case-control status and with schizophrenia versus other psychoses in European and African ancestry FEP patients and in a second sample of 248 case subjects with chronic psychosis. Results PRS had good discriminative ability of case-control status in FEP European ancestry individuals (9.4% of the variance explained, p < 10−6), but lower in individuals of African ancestry (R2 = 1.1%, p = .004). Furthermore, PRS distinguished European ancestry case subjects who went on to acquire a schizophrenia diagnosis from those who developed other psychotic disorders (R2 = 9.2%, p = .002). Conclusions PRS was a powerful predictor of case-control status in a European sample of patients with FEP, even though a large proportion did not have an established diagnosis of schizophrenia at the time of assessment. PRS was significantly different between those case subjects who developed schizophrenia from those who did not, although the discriminative accuracy may not yet be sufficient for clinical utility in FEP

Extreme events are more likely to affect the breeding success of lesser kestrels than average climate change

Climate change is predicted to severely impact interactions between prey, predators and habitats. In Southern Europe, within the Mediterranean climate, herbaceous vegetation achieves its maximum growth in middle spring followed by a three-month dry summer, limiting prey availability for insectivorous birds. Lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni) breed in a time-window that matches the nestling-rearing period with the peak abundance of grasshoppers and forecasted climate change may impact reproductive success through changes in prey availability and abundance. We used Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a surrogate of habitat quality and prey availability to investigate the impacts of forecasted climate change and extreme climatic events on lesser kestrel breeding performance. First, using 14 years of data from 15 colonies in Southwestern Iberia, we linked fledging success and climatic variables with NDVI, and secondly, based on these relationships and according to climatic scenarios for 2050 and 2070, forecasted NDVI and fledging success. Finally, we evaluated how fledging success was influenced by drought events since 2004. Despite predicting a decrease in vegetation greenness in lesser kestrel foraging areas during spring, we found no impacts of predicted gradual rise in temperature and decline in precipitation on their fledging success. Notwithstanding, we found a decrease of 12% in offspring survival associated with drought events, suggesting that a higher frequency of droughts might, in the future, jeopardize the recent recovery of the European population. Here, we show that extreme events, such as droughts, can have more significant impacts on species than gradual climatic changes, especially in regions like the Mediterranean Basin, a biodiversity and climate change hotspotinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio