137 research outputs found
Behavioral predictors of autism recurrence are genetically independent and influence social reciprocity: Evidence that polygenic ASD risk is mediated by separable elements of developmental liability
Luminous K-band Selected Quasars from UKIDSS
The largest K-band flux-limited sample of luminous quasars to date has been
constructed from the UKIDSS Large Area Survey Early Data Release, covering an
effective area of 12.8 deg^2. Exploiting the K-band excess of all quasars with
respect to foreground stars, including quasars experiencing dust reddening and
objects with non-standard SEDs, a list of targets suitable for spectroscopic
follow-up observations with the AAOmega multi-object spectrograph is
constructed, resulting in more than 200 confirmed AGN. KX-selection
successfully identifies as quasar candidates objects that are excluded from the
SDSS quasar selection algorithm due to their colours being consistent with the
stellar locus in optical colour space (with the space density of the excluded
objects agreeing well with results from existing completeness analyses). Nearly
half of the KX-selected quasars with K<17.0 at z<3 are too faint in the i-band
to have been targeted by the SDSS quasar selection algorithm, revealing a large
population of quasars with red i-K colours. The majority of these objects have
significant amounts of host galaxy light contributing to their K-band
magnitudes, consistent with previous predictions. The remaining objects are
morphologically stellar and have colours consistent with quasars experiencing
SMC-type reddening with 0.10<E(B-V)<0.25. The i-K colour distribution indicates
that <10 per cent of the quasar population is missing from this K-band selected
sample due to dust reddening, and comparisons with simulations strongly favour
an obscured fraction of <20 per cent. (Abridged)Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Resolution
of Figure 2 has been reduced for astro-ph submission. The complete Table 5
can be found at http://www.aip.de/People/nmaddox/KX/catalogue.tx
Introduction to the Special Issue on Transforming Practices: Emancipatory Approaches to Youth Engagement
This Special Issue of the International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies focuses on emancipatory approaches to youth engagement. Evoking ideas of freedom, release, and liberation, we explore youth engagement as a means to facilitate social change, to improve organizations, and to build healthier communities. Broadening and deepening youth engagement beyond a shift from youth as objects to subjects necessarily entails youth workers and educators grappling with the significance of engaging in respectful and transformative youth-adult relationships. In taking up this agenda, youth and adults collaboratively explore opportunities and obstacles, and make recommendations for extending youth engagement beyond a mere trend or project, to constitute a value system that underlies practice
Prevention and Screening for Cardiometabolic Disease Following Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy in Low-Resource Settings:A Systematic Review and Delphi Study
Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP) and cardiometabolic and kidney diseases are rising in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). While HDP are risk factors for cardiometabolic and kidney diseases, cost-effective, scalable strategies for screening and prevention in women with a history of HDP are lacking. Existing guidelines and recommendations require adaptation to LMIC settings. This article aims to generate consensus-based recommendations for the prevention and screening of cardiometabolic and kidney diseases tailored for implementation in LMICs.
We conducted a systematic review of guidelines and recommendations for prevention and screening strategies for cardiometabolic and chronic kidney diseases following HDP. We searched PubMed/Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library for relevant articles and guidelines published from 2010 to 2021 from both high-income countries (HICs) and LMICs. No other filters were applied. References of included articles were also assessed for eligibility. Findings were synthesized narratively. The summary of guiding recommendations was subjected to two rounds of Delphi consensus surveys with experts experienced in LMIC settings.
Fifty-four articles and 9 guidelines were identified, of which 25 were included. Thirty-five clinical recommendations were synthesized from these and classified into six domains: identification of women with HDP (4 recommendations), timing of first counseling and provision of health education (2 recommendations), structure and care setting (12 recommendations), information and communication needs (5 recommendations), cardiometabolic biomarkers (8 recommendations) and biomarkers thresholds (4 recommendations). The Delphi panel reached consensus on 33 final recommendations.
These recommendations for health workers in LMICs provide practical and scalable approaches for effective screening and prevention of cardiometabolic disease following HDP. Monitoring and evaluation of implementation of these recommendations provide opportunities for reducing the escalating burden of noncommunicable diseases in LMICs
The Optical and Near-Infrared Properties of 2837 Quasars in the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) is the first of a new generation
of hemispheric imaging projects to extend the work of the Two Micron All Sky
Survey (2MASS) by reaching three magnitudes deeper in YJHK imaging, to K=18.2
(5-sigma, Vega) over wide fields. Better complementing existing optical surveys
such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the resulting public imaging
catalogues provide new photometry of rare object samples too faint to be
reached previously. The first data release of UKIDSS has already surpassed
2MASS in terms of photons gathered, and using this new dataset we examine the
near-infrared properties of 2837 quasars found in the SDSS and newly catalogued
by the UKIDSS in ~189 square degrees. The matched quasars include the RA range
22hr to 4hr on the Southern Equatorial Stripe (SDSS Stripe 82), an area of
significant future followup possibilities with deeper surveys and pointed
observations. The sample covers the redshift and absolute magnitude ranges
0.08<z<5.03 and -29.5<M_i<-22.0, and 98 per cent of SDSS quasars have matching
UKIDSS data. We discuss the photometry, astrometry, and various colour
properties of the quasars. We also examine the effectiveness of quasar/star
separation using the near-infrared passbands. The combination of SDSS ugriz
photometry with the YJHK near-infrared photometry from UKIDSS over large areas
of sky has enormous potential for advancing our understanding of the quasar
population.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 11 pages, 13 figures, full
resolution figures available for download (see links in text
Development and replication of objective measurements of social visual engagement to aid in early diagnosis and assessment of autism
IMPORTANCE: Autism spectrum disorder is a common and early-emerging neurodevelopmental condition. While 80% of parents report having had concerns for their child\u27s development before age 2 years, many children are not diagnosed until ages 4 to 5 years or later.
OBJECTIVE: To develop an objective performance-based tool to aid in early diagnosis and assessment of autism in children younger than 3 years.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In 2 prospective, consecutively enrolled, broad-spectrum, double-blind studies, we developed an objective eye-tracking-based index test for children aged 16 to 30 months, compared its performance with best-practice reference standard diagnosis of autism (discovery study), and then replicated findings in an independent sample (replication study). Discovery and replication studies were conducted in specialty centers for autism diagnosis and treatment. Reference standard diagnoses were made using best-practice standardized protocols by specialists blind to eye-tracking results. Eye-tracking tests were administered by staff blind to clinical results. Children were enrolled from April 27, 2013, until September 26, 2017. Data were analyzed from March 28, 2018, to January 3, 2019.
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Prespecified primary end points were the sensitivity and specificity of the eye-tracking-based index test compared with the reference standard. Prespecified secondary end points measured convergent validity between eye-tracking-based indices and reference standard assessments of social disability, verbal ability, and nonverbal ability.
RESULTS: Data were collected from 1089 children: 719 children (mean [SD] age, 22.4 [3.6] months) in the discovery study, and 370 children (mean [SD] age, 25.4 [6.0] months) in the replication study. In discovery, 224 (31.2%) were female and 495 (68.8%) male; in replication, 120 (32.4%) were female and 250 (67.6%) male. Based on reference standard expert clinical diagnosis, there were 386 participants (53.7%) with nonautism diagnoses and 333 (46.3%) with autism diagnoses in discovery, and 184 participants (49.7%) with nonautism diagnoses and 186 (50.3%) with autism diagnoses in replication. In the discovery study, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.90 (95% CI, 0.88-0.92), sensitivity was 81.9% (95% CI, 77.3%-85.7%), and specificity was 89.9% (95% CI, 86.4%-92.5%). In the replication study, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.89 (95% CI, 0.86-0.93), sensitivity was 80.6% (95% CI, 74.1%-85.7%), and specificity was 82.3% (95% CI, 76.1%-87.2%). Eye-tracking test results correlated with expert clinical assessments of children\u27s individual levels of ability, explaining 68.6% (95% CI, 58.3%-78.6%), 63.4% (95% CI, 47.9%-79.2%), and 49.0% (95% CI, 33.8%-65.4%) of variance in reference standard assessments of social disability, verbal ability, and nonverbal cognitive ability, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In two diagnostic studies of children younger than 3 years, objective eye-tracking-based measurements of social visual engagement quantified diagnostic status as well as individual levels of social disability, verbal ability, and nonverbal ability in autism. These findings suggest that objective measurements of social visual engagement can be used to aid in autism diagnosis and assessment
A strong redshift dependence of the broad absorption line quasar fraction
We describe the application of non-negative matrix factorisation to generate
compact reconstructions of quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS), with particular reference to broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs).
BAL properties are measured for SiIV lambda1400, CIV lambda1550, AlIII
lambda1860 and MgII lambda2800, resulting in a catalogue of 3547 BALQSOs. Two
corrections, based on extensive testing of synthetic BALQSO spectra, are
applied in order to estimate the intrinsic fraction of CIV BALQSOs. First, the
probability of an observed BALQSO spectrum being identified as such by our
algorithm is calculated as a function of redshift, signal-to-noise ratio and
BAL properties. Second, the different completenesses of the SDSS target
selection algorithm for BALQSOs and non-BAL quasars are quantified. Accounting
for these selection effects the intrinsic CIV BALQSO fraction is 41+/-5 per
cent. Our analysis of the selection effects allows us to measure the dependence
of the intrinsic CIV BALQSO fraction on luminosity and redshift. We find a
factor of 3.5+/-0.4 decrease in the intrinsic fraction from the highest
redshifts, z~4.0, down to z~2.0. The redshift dependence implies that an
orientation effect alone is not sufficient to explain the presence of BAL
troughs in some but not all quasar spectra. Our results are consistent with the
intrinsic BALQSO fraction having no strong luminosity dependence, although with
3-sigma limits on the rate of change of the intrinsic fraction with luminosity
of -6.9 and 7.0 per cent dex^-1 we are unable to rule out such a dependence.Comment: MNRAS in press; 28 pages, 28 figures; full data table is available
until Sep 2011 at www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jta/papers/bal_nmf_table1.da
Reconstructing the demographic history of orang-utans using Approximate Bayesian Computation
Investigating how different evolutionary forces have shaped patterns of DNA variation within and among species requires detailed knowledge of their demographic history. Orang-utans, whose distribution is currently restricted to the South-East Asian islands of Borneo (Pongo pygmaeus) and Sumatra (Pongo abelii), have likely experienced a complex demographic history, influenced by recurrent changes in climate and sea levels, volcanic activities and anthropogenic pressures. Using the most extensive sample set of wild orang-utans to date, we employed an Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) approach to test the fit of 12 different demographic scenarios to the observed patterns of variation in autosomal, X-chromosomal, mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal markers. In the best-fitting model, Sumatran orang-utans exhibit a deep split of populations north and south of Lake Toba, probably caused by multiple eruptions of the Toba volcano. In addition, we found signals for a strong decline in all Sumatran populations ~24 ka, probably associated with hunting by human colonizers. In contrast, Bornean orang-utans experienced a severe bottleneck ~135 ka, followed by a population expansion and substructuring starting ~82 ka, which we link to an expansion from a glacial refugium. We showed that orang-utans went through drastic changes in population size and connectedness, caused by recurrent contraction and expansion of rainforest habitat during Pleistocene glaciations and probably hunting by early humans. Our findings emphasize the fact that important aspects of the evolutionary past of species with complex demographic histories might remain obscured when applying overly simplified models
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