The Arts: A Promising Solution to Meeting the Challenges of Today's Military, A Summary Report and Blueprint for Action

On November 15, 2012, a group of concerned and dedicated military, government, private sector and nonprofit leaders gathered at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC for the Arts & Health in the Military National Roundtable.The Roundtable represents the second step in the ongoing development of the multi-year National Initiative for Arts & Health in the Military. The National Initiative was launched in January, 2012 based upon the groundbreaking success of the first National Summit: Arts in Healing for Warriors, held in October 2011 at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE). The 2011 Summit marked the first time various branches of the military collaborated with civilian agencies to discuss how engaging with the arts provide opportunities to meet the key health issues our military faces -- from pre-deployment to deployment to homecoming. We present this summary report and its recommendations for a "Blueprint for Action" with the intention to open the door for a national conversation and the development of a National Action Plan. What actions and strategies will be necessary over the next several years in order to expand the use of the arts and creative arts therapies across the military continuum: from the military service pre-deployment, deployment, post-deployment to veterans as well as families and caregivers? For the first time, this question is being addressed across military, government, and nonprofit sectors -- and with a sense of urgency that now is the time to get something done

The Summit on Creativity and Aging in America

This report looks at how the federal government can leverage the arts to foster healthy aging and inclusive design for this growing population. This white paper features recommendations from the May 2015 Summit on Creativity and Aging in America, a convening of more than 70 experts hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Center for Creative Aging. The paper highlights recommendations on healthy aging, lifelong learning in the arts, and age-friendly community design. The summit was a precursor to the 2015 White House Conference on Aging, which addressed four major issues: retirement security, long-term services and supports, healthy aging, and elder abuse

Altering Mood in Children with Cancer Through Intervention with Their Healthy Siblings

Family Relations and Child Developmen

A normative spatiotemporal MRI atlas of the fetal brain for automatic segmentation and analysis of early brain growth.

Longitudinal characterization of early brain growth in-utero has been limited by a number of challenges in fetal imaging, the rapid change in size, shape and volume of the developing brain, and the consequent lack of suitable algorithms for fetal brain image analysis. There is a need for an improved digital brain atlas of the spatiotemporal maturation of the fetal brain extending over the key developmental periods. We have developed an algorithm for construction of an unbiased four-dimensional atlas of the developing fetal brain by integrating symmetric diffeomorphic deformable registration in space with kernel regression in age. We applied this new algorithm to construct a spatiotemporal atlas from MRI of 81 normal fetuses scanned between 19 and 39 weeks of gestation and labeled the structures of the developing brain. We evaluated the use of this atlas and additional individual fetal brain MRI atlases for completely automatic multi-atlas segmentation of fetal brain MRI. The atlas is available online as a reference for anatomy and for registration and segmentation, to aid in connectivity analysis, and for groupwise and longitudinal analysis of early brain growth

Optimal method for fetal brain age prediction using multiplanar slices from structural magnetic resonance imaging

The accurate prediction of fetal brain age using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may contribute to the identification of brain abnormalities and the risk of adverse developmental outcomes. This study aimed to propose a method for predicting fetal brain age using MRIs from 220 healthy fetuses between 15.9 and 38.7 weeks of gestational age (GA). We built a 2D single-channel convolutional neural network (CNN) with multiplanar MRI slices in different orthogonal planes without correction for interslice motion. In each fetus, multiple age predictions from different slices were generated, and the brain age was obtained using the mode that determined the most frequent value among the multiple predictions from the 2D single-channel CNN. We obtained a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.125 weeks (0.875 days) between the GA and brain age across the fetuses. The use of multiplanar slices achieved significantly lower prediction error and its variance than the use of a single slice and a single MRI stack. Our 2D single-channel CNN with multiplanar slices yielded a significantly lower stack-wise MAE (0.304 weeks) than the 2D multi-channel (MAE = 0.979

Abnormal prenatal brain development in Chiari II malformation

IntroductionThe Chiari II is a relatively common birth defect that is associated with open spinal abnormalities and is characterized by caudal migration of the posterior fossa contents through the foramen magnum. The pathophysiology of Chiari II is not entirely known, and the neurobiological substrate beyond posterior fossa findings remains unexplored. We aimed to identify brain regions altered in Chiari II fetuses between 17 and 26 GW.MethodsWe used in vivo structural T2-weighted MRIs of 31 fetuses (6 controls and 25 cases with Chiari II).ResultsThe results of our study indicated altered development of diencephalon and proliferative zones (ventricular and subventricular zones) in fetuses with a Chiari II malformation compared to controls. Specifically, fetuses with Chiari II showed significantly smaller volumes of the diencephalon and significantly larger volumes of lateral ventricles and proliferative zones.DiscussionWe conclude that regional brain development should be taken into consideration when evaluating prenatal brain development in fetuses with Chiari II

Whole-exome sequencing and clinical interpretation of FFPE tumor samples to guide precision cancer medicine

Translating whole exome sequencing (WES) for prospective clinical use may impact the care of cancer patients; however, multiple innovations are necessary for clinical implementation. These include: (1) rapid and robust WES from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumor tissue, (2) analytical output similar to data from frozen samples, and (3) clinical interpretation of WES data for prospective use. Here, we describe a prospective clinical WES platform for archival FFPE tumor samples. The platform employs computational methods for effective clinical analysis and interpretation of WES data. When applied retrospectively to 511 exomes, the interpretative framework revealed a “long tail” of somatic alterations in clinically important genes. Prospective application of this approach identified clinically relevant alterations in 15/16 patients. In one patient, previously undetected findings guided clinical trial enrollment leading to an objective clinical response. Overall, this methodology may inform the widespread implementation of precision cancer medicine

Arts, Health, and Well-Being Across the Military Continuum - White Paper and Framing a National Plan for Action

This paper details a series of recommendations in the areas of research, practice, and policy that came out of two national convenings. The convening were The Arts and Health in the Military National Roundtable (November 2012) and the National Summit: Arts, Health, and Well-Being Across the Military Continuum

A comparison of the nature of stress and coping for children with cancer in the United States and the United Kingdom

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DXN064479 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Eva Peron: A lesson in power

Abstract not availabl