The Social Validity of Telepractice among Spanish-Speaking Caregivers of English Learners: An Examination of Moderators

The purpose of the present paper was to examine the social validity of telepractice as a service delivery model for Spanish-speaking families of English learners. Quantitative survey methodology was employed to examine 79 caregivers’ opinions regarding telepractice and to obtain background information about participants’ home environments. Findings revealed that approximately 46% of the participant sample reported being interested in their children receiving services via telepractice. Caregivers reported limited familiarity with telepractice as an option, but were likely to express interest if their child had an identified speech or language disorder or if they were interested in increased access to Spanish language support for their children. In conclusion, although telepractice is not universally accepted among Spanish-speaking families, it appears to be a promising service delivery model. It is recommended that service providers offer thorough information and address common myths when considering telepractice as a service delivery model for families.Keywords: Bilingualism, Minority language, Telehealth, Telepractic

ICT corporate governance : a case study of a not-for-profit community healthcare organisation

Organisations, regardless of sector and size, are increasingly deploying information and communication technology (ICT) to transact with their stakeholders. Whilst on the one hand this offers efficiencies like improved communication and better resource usage through a reduction in duplication, on the other hand it raises issues of responsiveness, trust, privacy and confidentiality, In this paper we report how an Australian not-for-profit community healthcare organisation experienced and responded to the challenges of governance with respect to its ICT. The lessons From the case study are that comprehensive documentation, top management commitment, and appropriate skills to manage tasks and time are crucial when planning to implement such systems.<br /

A Team Science Training Approach to Enhance Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration in Communication Science and Disorders Programs

This paper aims to describe the core components of a cross-disciplinary team science training offered in a Communication Science and Disorders (CSD) program delivered to 17 doctoral scholars in CSD, education, special education, psychology, and social work. The team science training model is offered as one approach to consider in preparing pre-service leaders and faculty in CSD to engage in scientific collaboration with other researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds. In addition to an overview of training, the paper includes preliminary data on participants\u27 perceptions of team science training and recommendations for future offerings

A longitudinal study of the biometric and refractive changes in full-term infants during the first year of life

AbstractChanges in ocular axial dimensions and refraction were followed longitudinally, using ultrasonography and retinoscopy, during the first year of life (mean ages 4–53 weeks) of a group of 20 full-term infants (10 male, 10 female). Using a mixed-model regression analysis, axial length changes as a function of time were found to be best described by a quadratic expression (AL=17.190+0.128x−0.0013x2, where AL is the axial length in mm and x is the age in weeks), while anterior chamber depth changed linearly (ACD=2.619+0.018x, where ACD is the anterior chamber depth in mm): lens thickness was essentially constant. Spherical equivalent refraction through most of the first year showed a steady reduction in hypermetropia (SER=2.982−0.032x, where SER is the spherical equivalent refraction in dioptres): astigmatism also tended to diminish. Mean hyperopic refractive errors through the year were negatively correlated with corresponding axial lengths (SER=12.583−0.541AL), but some individual subjects showed marked departures from this pattern. These results are discussed in relation to concepts of emmetropization

Rare Case of Abdominal Aortic and Multiple Visceral Aneurysms in a Pediatric Patient With PIK3CA Mutation and Vasculitis

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are most commonly observed in elderly male patients and are particularly rare in children. Among the pediatric population, they are usually diagnosed in the context of connective tissue disorders, genetic mutations, or vasculitis. The same is true of visceral arteries aneurysms. This case report describes the staged management of an 11-year-old patient presenting PIK3CA mutation and a 5.8 cm infrarenal AAA associated with bilateral common iliac arteries and multiple visceral aneurysms, the largest observed in the superior mesenteric artery (SMA = 3.2 cm). After careful evaluation, decision was made to first approach the most life-threatening lesion (the infrarenal AAA due to the large diameter) and the remaining aneurysms in secondary procedures, with special attention to the SMA aneurysm. The patient underwent a staged repair, with the first phase consisting of an aortobi-iliac graft with the distal anastomosis made at the left common iliac artery and right external iliac artery. The right hypogastric artery was ligated. The second procedure consisted of SMA aneurysm repair with a plication technique, as 7 branches were visualized coming off the aneurysm sac. Postoperative pathology analysis of the aortic and SMA aneurysms sac revealed vasculitis with a mixed inflammatory pattern and a COL3A1 gene heterozygote variant. He is currently in his 18th month after the last surgical intervention, receiving immunomodulatory therapy, with a planned follow-up by the interdisciplinary team to monitor the medications’ side effects and the diameter of the remaining visceral aneurysms

Home Literacy of Dual-Language Learners in Kindergarten From Low-SES Backgrounds

This study aimed to describe home literacy (HL) activities of Spanish-/English-speaking children of low–socioeconomic status backgrounds and examine the relationship between HL and performance on standardized assessments. Parents of 65 dual-language learners (DLLs) in kindergarten completed an HL questionnaire. Parents reported an average of 17 books at home and engaged in active HL activities for 24 minutes a day on average. The relations between HL activities and performance were evaluated using correlations and regression. Analyses revealed a significant relation between HL and children’s language abilities, as measured by a bilingual measure of morphosyntax and semantics. Children’s reported interest in reading was also positively associated with their phonological awareness skills. HL was significantly related to child interest in reading and language performance. These findings suggest that home literacy plays a role in the language and literacy development of DLLs

The Social Validity of Telepractice Among Spanish-Speaking Caregivers of English Learners: An Examination of Moderators

The purpose of the present paper was to examine the social validity of telepractice as a service delivery model for Spanish-speaking families of English learners. Quantitative survey methodology was employed to examine 79 caregivers\u27 opinions regarding telepractice and to obtain background information about participants\u27 home environments. Findings revealed that approximately 46% of the participant sample reported being interested in their children receiving services via telepractice. Caregivers reported limited familiarity with telepractice as an option, but were likely to express interest if their child had an identified speech or language disorder or if they were interested in increased access to Spanish language support for their children. In conclusion, although telepractice is not universally accepted among Spanish-speaking families, it appears to be a promising service delivery model. It is recommended that service providers offer thorough information and address common myths when considering telepractice as a service delivery model for families

Psychometric Evaluation of the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment Sentence Repetition Task for Clinical Decision-Making

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was a) to examine the underlying components or factor structure of the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (Peña et al., 2014) sentence repetition task and b) to examine the relationship between Spanish-English speaking children\u27s sentence repetition and vocabulary performance. Method: Participants were 291 Spanish-English speaking children in kindergarten and first grade. Item analyses were used to evaluate the underlying factor structure for each language version of the sentence repetition tasks of the BESA. The tasks were then examined in relation to a measure of English receptive vocabulary. Results: Bifactor models, which include a single underlying general factor and multiple specific factors, provided the best overall model fit for both the Spanish and English versions of the task. There was no relation between children’s overall Spanish sentence repetition performance and their English vocabulary. However, children’s pronoun, noun phrase, and verb phrase item scores in Spanish significantly predicted their English vocabulary scores. For English sentence repetition, both children’s overall performance and their specific performance on the noun phrase items were predictors of their English vocabulary scores. Follow-up analyses revealed that, for the purposes of clinical assessment, the BESA sentence repetition tasks can be considered essentially unidimensional, lending support to the current scoring structure of the test. Conclusions: Study findings suggest that sentence repetition tasks can provide insight into Spanish-English speaking children’s vocabulary skills in addition to their morphosyntactic skills when used on a broad research scale. From a clinical assessment perspective, results indicate that the sentence repetition task has strong internal validity and support to the use of this measure in clinical practice

Extracellular microRNAs exhibit sequence-dependent stability and cellular release kinetics

Multiple studies have described extracellular microRNAs (ex-miRNAs) as being remarkably stable despite the hostile extracellular environment, when stored at 4oC or lower. Here we show that many ex-miRNAs are rapidly degraded when incubated at 37oC in the presence of serum (thereby simulating physiologically relevant conditions). Stability varied widely between miRNAs, with half-lives ranging from similar to 1.5 hours to more than 13 hours. Notably, ex-miRNA half-lives calculated in two different biofluids (murine serum and C2C12 mouse myotube conditioned medium) were highly similar, suggesting that intrinsic sequence properties are a determining factor in miRNA stability. By contrast, ex-miRNAs associated with extracellular vesicles (isolated by size exclusion chromatography) were highly stable. The release of ex-miRNAs from C2C12 myotubes was measured over time, and mathematical modelling revealed miRNA-specific release kinetics. While some ex-miRNAs reached the steady state in cell culture medium within 24 hours, the extracellular level of miR-16 did not reach equilibrium, even after 3 days in culture. These findings are indicative of miRNA-specific release and degradation kinetics with implications for the utility of ex-miRNAs as biomarkers, and for the potential of ex-miRNAs to transfer gene regulatory information between cells