Changing the Trajectory of Substance Use and Depression beyond the Formative Years: The Virginia Screening, Brief Intervention, & Referral to Treatment Project

Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an important secondary prevention strategy to address substance use and depression risk beginning in youth and continuing across the lifespan. Ten healthcare settings in Virginia implemented the SBIRT model between 2017 and 2020. A total of 65,315 participants ages 18 and older were universally screened to determine the severity of their substance use and depression and offered a risk-informed intervention. 12.7 percent of individuals endorsed some level of risky substance use and 4.5 percent screened positive for depression overall (11.1 percent in the outpatient setting). 10 percent of all brief intervention recipients were enrolled for follow-up screening 6 months later. Younger adults had significantly greater prevalence of risky drug use and depression compared to older age groups while middle-age adults displayed higher prevalence of moderate to severe alcohol risk highlighting the need for early intervention among younger adults. Significant reductions were observed in risky alcohol use (52.2%), as well as illicit drug use (44.7%) and depression (63.0%)

Quantification and Analysis of Micro-Level Activities Data from Children Aged 1-12 Years Old for Use in the Assessments of Exposure to Recycled Tire on Turf and Playgrounds.

BACKGROUND: There are growing health concerns about exposure to toxicants released from recycled tire rubber, which is commonly used in synthetic turf and playground mats. To better estimate children\u27s exposure and risk from recycled tire rubber used in synthetic turf and playground mats, there is a need to collect detailed accurate information on mouthing activity and dermal contact behaviors. The objective of this study was to quantify and analyze micro-level activity time series (MLATS) data from children aged 1-12 years old while playing (non-sport-related games) at turf-like locations and playgrounds. Another objective was to estimate the incidental ingestion rate of rubber crumb among children. METHODS: Hand and mouth contact frequency, hourly duration, and median contact duration with different objects were calculated for children playing on turf (i.e., parks, lawns, and gardens) (n = 56) and for children playing on playground structures (n = 24). Statistically significant differences between males and females as well as children\u27s age groups were evaluated. The daily incidental ingestion rate of rubber crumb was calculated. RESULTS: For children playing on turf, there were significant differences between younger (1-6 y) and older (7-12 y) children for the mouthing median duration with non-dietary objects and all objects. For children playing on playground structures, we found significant mouthing frequency differences between younger (1-6 y) and older children (7-12 y) with all objects, and for mouthing median duration with non-dietary objects. There were no significant differences between males and females playing on artificial turf-like surfaces or playground mats. Our estimated mean incidental ingestion rate was 0.08, 0.07, and 0.08 g rubber crumb/day for children DISCUSSION: our results suggest that age and contact duration should be considered in risk assessment models to evaluate mouthing activities when children are playing on artificial turf surfaces or playground mats

Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI Assessment of Hyperemic Fractional Microvascular Blood Plasma Volume in Peripheral Arterial Disease: Initial Findings

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the current study was to describe a method that assesses the hyperemic microvascular blood plasma volume of the calf musculature. The reversibly albumin binding contrast agent gadofosveset was used in dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE MRI) to assess the microvascular status in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and healthy controls. In addition, the reproducibility of this method in healthy controls was determined. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten PAD patients with intermittent claudication and 10 healthy control subjects were included. Patients underwent contrast-enhanced MR angiography of the peripheral arteries, followed by one DCE MRI examination of the musculature of the calf. Healthy control subjects were examined twice on different days to determine normative values and the interreader and interscan reproducibility of the technique. The MRI protocol comprised dynamic imaging of contrast agent wash-in under reactive hyperemia conditions of the calf musculature. Using pharmacokinetic modeling the hyperemic fractional microvascular blood plasma volume (V(p), unit: %) of the anterior tibial, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles was calculated. RESULTS: V(p) was significantly lower for all muscle groups in PAD patients (4.3±1.6%, 5.0±3.3% and 6.1±3.6% for anterior tibial, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, respectively) compared to healthy control subjects (9.1±2.0%, 8.9±1.9% and 9.3±2.1%). Differences in V(p) between muscle groups were not significant. The coefficient of variation of V(p) varied from 10-14% and 11-16% at interscan and interreader level, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Using DCE MRI after contrast-enhanced MR angiography with gadofosveset enables reproducible assessment of hyperemic fractional microvascular blood plasma volume of the calf musculature. V(p) was lower in PAD patients than in healthy controls, which reflects a promising functional (hemodynamic) biomarker for the microvascular impairment of macrovascular lesions

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Implementation of Johansen’s art criticism model within a grade two classroom

This thesis reports an action research project which was undertaken to study, understand, and improve a teacher/researcher's pedagogy of art criticism in a grade two class, through implementation of Johansen's art criticism model. Concurrently, Johansen's art criticism model was tested for its suitability in the context of primary teaching. Data for this study was collected within an operationa grade two class through eight art criticism lessons, three semi-structured interviews, students' journal writings, and entries in the teacher's field diary. Results from this study indicate that Johansen's art criticism model is suitable for guiding second graders through the art criticism process provided it is appropriately implemented. The study also found that, on the whole, the subjects are at the second stage of aestheti development as proposed by Parsons (1982). The study concludes with recommendations as to how Johansen's art criticism model can be effectively implemented within a primary class and what generalist teachers need in order to incorporate art criticism into their art program to bridge the gap between theory and practice.Education, Faculty ofCurriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department ofGraduat

Hybrid approach for automated trading systems

Automated trading systems have been proved to be very helpful to traders and investors. However, most of the existing systems implemented with any statistical or neural network approaches are incapable to give accurate advice because they cannot capture the off-market information for which most of it is non-numeric. In this paper, an automated trading system which integrates the techniques from technical analysis, pattern recognition, and knowledge-based system is presented. The numeric data from the stock is processed by both the statistical method and feature extraction. The intermediate results are then used by the rule-based system which captures the off-market information in form of facts and rules. After that, the advice can be generated through the inference with the data stored in the database. For resolving the inconsistencies among the intermediate results from different components of the system. Concepts from the fuzzy set theories are employed. Further, some data from the past Hang Seng Index (HSI) is used for illustration