The Use of Gestures in Typically Developing Children 9-15 Months of Age

Gestures are defined as intentional movements that are interpretable by other individuals, used for the purpose of communicating meaning (Watson, Crais, Baranek, Dykstra, & Wilson, 2013). There has been much research surrounding the development of gestures and the association between gesture and language development; however, a limited number of studies have examined frequency of gesture use and the association between frequency of gesture use and language. The present study investigated the frequency of gesture use and the relationship between frequency of gesture use and language in 54 typically developing children between the ages of 9 and 15 months. A mean total frequency and frequencies of behavior regulation, social interaction, and joint attention gestures were identified. Children were found to have lower frequencies of gesture use in unstructured settings when compared to structured settings and children in the 9-12 month age range had lower frequencies of gesture use than children in the 12-15 month age range. Additionally, in both age ranges, frequencies of specific types of gestures were found to explain significant proportions of variance in both receptive and expressive language scores. The results of this study provide fundamental knowledge pertaining to typical development and will aid in early detection of language delays. Knowledge of the mean frequencies and the relationship between these frequencies and language abilities may now be used to gauge a young child’s current level of language functioning at an early age. This will allow for early detection of language delays so children can obtain necessary early intervention services, which is known to be associated with positive language outcomes

Experiences of Social Workers in Outpatient Treatment with Young Mothers

Young mothers suffering with opioid addiction are not a central emphasis of present-day treatment approaches. This research project explored perspectives of social workers who counsel young mothers suffering with opioid addiction. A qualitative research approach focused on systems theory and was designed to tell the story of individual experiences. Semi-structured questions were asked to a focus group consisting of six master’s level social workers to develop explanations and a better understanding of the problem. Systems Theory was the constant premise discussed throughout the focus group. Themes identified by the focus groups that directly impact this group of women were services, informal supports, community supports, and the legal system. Young mothers with opioid addiction face significant barriers to long-term sobriety. They often face financial insecurity, housing uncertainty, and transportation issues. By, understanding the clients’ systems and how they impact the client, the social worker can be instrumental in helping the client to choose positive support system relationships. These relationships are assets and can reinforce the mother’s goal to reach and maintain recovery. A sober mother is considered to be a healthier and better-quality woman, mother, friend, daughter, employee, etc. The findings of this study will help social workers to be more successful with opioid addicted young mothers by identifying strategies that have had successful outcomes with this population leading to positive social change

Synthesis, Phylogenetic Analysis, and Assessment of Climatic Limitations for the Compelling Global Lichen Genus Cladonia (Lichenized Ascomycetes)

Cladonia is a large, globally distributed genus of lichenized fungi that has captured the interest of mycologists for centuries. While there are already nearly 500 species in the genus, new species are constantly being described. Furthermore, there are expansive areas of the world that have not been surveyed for Cladonia species, and assuredly will provide new species and variations for lichenologists that conduct targeted surveys to these regions in the future. Despite being one of the most well researched lichen genera on Earth, there are still gaps in knowledge of Cladonia. One of the reasons Cladonia has remained such a point of interest in lichenology is also the reason it can be confounding to study&mdash;the genus displays extraordinary variety in all aspects, such as morphology, chemistry, ecology, and distribution. In this work, we focus on three overarching aims: 1) synthesizing existing Cladonia research to date to uncover persistent unknowns and contradictions that still stymy progress in Cladonia research. We found that even some problems noted more than one hundred years ago still persist today, and contradictory research is frequent in the genus. We argue that Cladonia is well-suited to be positioned as a model lichen genus towards the goal of focusing collaborative efforts on answering persistent questions in Cladonia that are widely applicable to fungal biology as a whole. 2) We inferred phylogenetic relationships in Cladonia using RADseq (reduced representation) genomic data towards the goal of assessing whether this efficient method of sequencing can be used to recover clades as delimited in a large, long-term phylogenetic study using traditional Sanger sequencing. In comparison, we found that that most clades are recovered, and found support that traditionally problematic clades and taxa still present taxonomic problems requiring focused revision. We support the use of RADseq as a powerful tool for efficiently inferring phylogenetic relationships with more comprehensive taxon sampling and species replicates in the future. 3) We assessed a variety of climate variables for correlations to clades within the genus and to the genus as a whole using a free, global dataset of geolocated Cladonia observations as well as climate data normals over a 30-year timespan. We found that temperature variables tend to be more predictive of clade structure and existence in Cladonia. We also found that aridity&mdash;a measure of water availability to water need, and thought to be the major obstacle to Cladonia existence&mdash;isn&rsquo;t necessarily the defining limitation for the genus, and instead found that potential evaporation specifically represents the barrier to existence.</p

Refining best practices for the diagnosis of autism: A comparison between individual healthcare practitioner diagnosis and transdisciplinary assessment.

The purpose of this study is to compare the diagnostic decision-making of individual healthcare practitioners against that of a transdisciplinary team. Despite national recognition of transdisciplinary assessment as the gold standard diagnostic approach, autism is most frequently diagnosed by individuals working independently in a variety of disciplines. The current study examined how closely these individual practitioners make diagnoses matching that of a transdisciplinary team. Twenty professionals from five different disciplines viewed videotape clips of fifteen children previously assessed by a transdisciplinary team. Results confirmed that individual healthcare practitioners matched the transdisciplinary team diagnosis on average only 65.6% of the time. Pediatricians were the least accurate diagnosticians compared to the transdisciplinary team with an accuracy rate of only 59.8%. Implications of these results are discussed with respect to the ways in which team transdisciplinary assessments overcome the limitations of individual practitioner diagnosis

100 Miles of Wild: North Dakota Badlands Transcect

The North Dakota Badlands are little visited not just because of their distance from large populations, but also because they are physically challenging. The 100 Miles of Wild project had a simple aim: go to a little-visited area of North Dakota and discover firsthand the condition of the wild that inspired Roosevelt's effort to preserve wilderness for all Americans and the world

Human imprinted chromosomal regions are historical hot-spots of recombination.

Human recombination rates vary along the chromosomes as well as between the two sexes. There is growing evidence that epigenetic factors may have an important influence on recombination rates, as well as on crossover position. Using both public database analysis and wet-bench approaches, we revisited the relationship between increased rates of meiotic recombination and genome imprinting. We constructed metric linkage disequilibrium (LD) maps for all human chromosomal regions known to contain one or more imprinted genes. We show that imprinted regions contain significantly more LD units (LDU) and have significantly more haplotype blocks of smaller sizes than flanking nonimprinted regions. There is also an excess of hot-spots of recombination at imprinted regions, and this is likely to do with the presence of imprinted genes, per se. These findings indicate that imprinted chromosomal regions are historical "hot-spots" of recombination. We also demonstrate, by direct segregation analysis at the 11p15.5 imprinted region, that there is remarkable agreement between sites of meiotic recombination and steps in LD maps. Although the increase in LDU/Megabase at imprinted regions is not associated with any significant enrichment for any particular sequence class, major sequence determinants of recombination rates seem to differ between imprinted and control regions. Interestingly, fine-mapping of recombination events within the most male meiosis-specific recombination hot-spot of Chromosome 11p15.5 indicates that many events may occur within or directly adjacent to regions that are differentially methylated in somatic cells. Taken together, these findings support the involvement of a combination of specific DNA sequences and epigenetic factors as major determinants of hot-spots of recombination at imprinted chromosomal regions

Effectiveness of community-links practitioners in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation

PURPOSE: To assess the effect of a primary care–based community-links practitioner (CLP) intervention on patients’ quality of life and well-being. METHODS: Quasi-experimental cluster-randomized controlled trial in socioeconomically deprived areas of Glasgow, Scotland. Adult patients (aged 18 years or older) referred to CLPs in 7 intervention practices were compared with a random sample of adult patients from 8 comparison practices at baseline and 9 months. Primary outcome: health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L, a standardized measure of self-reported health-related quality of life that assesses 5 dimensions at 5 levels of severity). Secondary outcomes: well-being (Investigating Choice Experiments for the Preferences of Older People Capability Measure for Adults [ICECAP-A]), depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Depression [HADS-D]), anxiety (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Anxiety [HADS-A]), and self-reported exercise. Multilevel, multiregression analyses adjusted for baseline differences. Patients were not blinded to the intervention, but outcome analysis was masked. RESULTS: Data were collected on 288 and 214 (74.3%) patients in the intervention practices at baseline and follow-up, respectively, and on 612 and 561 (92%) patients in the comparison practices. Intention-to-treat analysis found no differences between the 2 groups for any outcome. In subgroup analyses, patients who saw the CLP on 3 or more occasions (45% of those referred) had significant improvements in EQ-5D-5L, HADS-D, HADS-A, and exercise levels. There was a high positive correlation between CLP consultation rates and patient uptake of suggested community resources. CONCLUSIONS: We were unable to prove the effectiveness of referral to CLPs based in primary care in deprived areas for improving patient outcomes. Future efforts to boost uptake and engagement could improve overall outcomes, although the apparent improvements in those who regularly saw the CLPs may be due to reverse causality. Further research is needed before wide-scale deployment of this approach

A randomized trial of deferred stenting versus immediate stenting to prevent no- or slow-reflow in acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (DEFER-STEMI)

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess whether deferred stenting might reduce no-reflow and salvage myocardium in primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Background: No-reflow is associated with adverse outcomes in STEMI. Methods: This was a prospective, single-center, randomized, controlled, proof-of-concept trial in reperfused STEMI patients with ≥1 risk factors for no-reflow. Randomization was to deferred stenting with an intention-to-stent 4 to 16 h later or conventional treatment with immediate stenting. The primary outcome was the incidence of no-/slow-reflow (Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction ≤2). Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed 2 days and 6 months after myocardial infarction. Myocardial salvage was the final infarct size indexed to the initial area at risk. Results: Of 411 STEMI patients (March 11, 2012 to November 21, 2012), 101 patients (mean age, 60 years; 69% male) were randomized (52 to the deferred stenting group, 49 to the immediate stenting). The median (interquartile range [IQR]) time to the second procedure in the deferred stenting group was 9 h (IQR: 6 to 12 h). Fewer patients in the deferred stenting group had no-/slow-reflow (14 [29%] vs. 3 [6%]; p = 0.006), no reflow (7 [14%] vs. 1 [2%]; p = 0.052) and intraprocedural thrombotic events (16 [33%] vs. 5 [10%]; p = 0.010). Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction coronary flow grades at the end of PCI were higher in the deferred stenting group (p = 0.018). Recurrent STEMI occurred in 2 patients in the deferred stenting group before the second procedure. Myocardial salvage index at 6 months was greater in the deferred stenting group (68 [IQR: 54% to 82%] vs. 56 [IQR: 31% to 72%]; p = 0.031]. Conclusions: In high-risk STEMI patients, deferred stenting in primary PCI reduced no-reflow and increased myocardial salvage

Arctic and Antarctic forcing of ocean interior warming during the last deglaciation

Funding was provided by an Antarctic Bursary awarded to J.A.S., ERC and NERC grants awarded to L.F.R. (278705, NE/S001743/1, NE/R005117/1) and L.F.R. and J.W.B.R. (NE/N003861/1).Subsurface water masses formed at high latitudes impact the latitudinal distribution of heat in the ocean. Yet uncertainty surrounding the timing of low-latitude warming during the last deglaciation (18–10 ka) means that controls on sub-surface temperature rise remain unclear. Here we present seawater temperature records on a precise common age-scale from East Equatorial Pacific (EEP), Equatorial Atlantic, and Southern Ocean intermediate waters using new Li/Mg records from cold water corals. We find coeval warming in the tropical EEP and Atlantic during Heinrich Stadial 1 (+ 6 °C) that closely resemble warming recorded in Antarctic ice cores, with more modest warming of the Southern Ocean (+ 3 °C). The magnitude and depth of low-latitude ocean warming implies that downward accumulation of heat following Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) slowdown played a key role in heating the ocean interior, with heat advection from southern-sourced intermediate waters playing an additional role.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe