Search

Some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience seizures and associated staring episodes, loss of consciousness, weakened muscle tone, and myoclonic jerking. Data recording of seizure frequency, duration, and co-occurring behavior is necessary to document the effects of anti-epileptic medications, identify contextual influences on seizure expression, and differentiate seizures from other movement disorders. We describe the design and operation of a computer-assisted system for recording seizures among children with ASD in a social validity study that revealed uniform approval and acceptance of the system from practitioners, clinicians, and nurse (N = 22), parents (N = 11), and neurologists (N = 7). The objectives and benefits of targeting the social validity of technology-based seizure tracking are discussed are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a screening protocol for making clinical decisions about the fading of protective equipment worn by children with intellectual disability (ID) who injure themselves. The Protective Equipment Screening Protocol includes information sources derived from research publications and is presented in a format conducive to review and completion by treatment teams. An accompanying case report illustrates protocoldriven protective equipment fading procedures implemented with a self-injurious student. Using the screening protocol in a clinical context and research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pelabresib (CPI-0610), a BET protein inhibitor, is in clinical development for hematologic malignancies, given its ability to target NF-κB gene expression. The MANIFEST phase 1 study assessed pelabresib in patients with acute leukemia, high-risk myelodysplastic (MDS) syndrome, or MDS/myeloproliferative neoplasms (MDS/MPNs) (NCT02158858). Forty-four patients received pelabresib orally once daily (QD) at various doses (24–400 mg capsule or 225–275 mg tablet) on cycles of 14 d on and 7 d off. The most frequent drug-related adverse events were nausea, decreased appetite, and fatigue. The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was 225 mg tablet QD. One patient with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) showed partial remission. In total, 25.8% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients and 38.5% of high-risk MDS patients had stable disease. One AML patient and one CMML patient showed peripheral hematologic response. The favorable safety profile supports the ongoing pivotal study of pelabresib in patients with myelofibrosis using the recommended phase 2 dose of 125 mg tablet QD. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02158858 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some adults with intellectual disabilities do not acquire oral feeding skills and are dependent on gastrostomy tube supplementation. Two adults with intellectual and multiple disabilities received intervention for oral consumption during daily meals (standardised food and liquid quantities, individualised procedural guidelines, and consumption-contingent consequences) while the frequency and amount of gastrostomy tube feedings were gradually decreased and eliminated. Compared to baseline (pre-intervention) conditions, the adults increased oral consumption of food and liquid during the intervention and gastrostomy tube supplementation was eliminated. These intervention results continued through multiyear follow-up, one participant lost considerable weight, the second participant maintained weight, and both participants had good health (no hospitalisations, illnesses, and missed medications) and benefited from eating daily meals among their peers. Behaviourally-based intervention with interdisciplinary collaboration and appetite stimulation strategy can establish and improve oral feeding in adults with intellectual and multiple disabilities who were previously gastrostomy tube dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In vascular plant systematics there are sometimes conflicts between phenotypic and ecotypic variation and genetic differentiation that challenge species concepts, introduce taxonomic confusion, and create nomenclatural uncertainty. Until a 2014 taxonomic revision that segregated Kunzea ericoides into 10 species, it and K. sinclairii were the only species recognised in New Zealand. A recent DNA microsatellite study failed to support any of the new species, instead revealing biogeographic variation. Here we present the results of a genotyping by sequencing study with 1,361 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), sampling 48 populations representing four Kunzea species from South Island and southern North Island. The SNP study confirms the microsatellite findings: the two widespread species, K. robusta and K. serotina, are indistinguishable and share northern and southern genotypes with other species; a single metapopulation lineage reflects a national north-to-south clinal pattern; and population differentiation is low and net migration high. A significant isolation by distance pattern was revealed with SNPs. The 2014 revision was explicitly based on the unified species concept, but the primary criterion, that each species represents a separate metapopulation lineage, was not demonstrated. Species recognition was based on morphological and ecological criteria that have proved difficult to apply. Applying the unified species concept and the primary criterion of a single metapopulation genetic lineage, we now recognise just a single New Zealand species, K. ericoides, with other species constituting taxonomic synonyms. In doing so, we distinguish a grey zone of taxonomic uncertainty that reflects incomplete lineage sorting, gene flow coupled with a lack of reproductive isolation, and only partial ecotypic and phenotypic differentiation. As demonstrated in the Kunzea revision, there is considerable phenotypic and ecotypic variation in regional populations that is likely to be of ecological and conservation importance. We suggest informal ecotypes are a better way to recognise this level of variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectivesMethodsResultsConclusionClinical ImplicationsThe goal of this study was to develop and evaluate an intervention aimed at increasing cognitive empathy, improving mental health, and reducing inflammation in dementia caregivers, and to examine the relevant neural and psychological mechanisms.Twenty dementia caregivers completed an intervention that involved taking 3–5 daily photographs of their person living with dementia (PLWD) over a period of 10 days and captioning those photos with descriptive text capturing the inner voice of the PLWD. Both before and after the intervention, participants completed questionnaires, provided a blood sample for measures of inflammation, and completed a neuroimaging session to measure their neural response to viewing photographs of their PLWD and others.87% of enrolled caregivers completed the intervention. Caregivers experienced pre- to post-intervention increases in cognitive empathy (i.e. Perspective-Taking) and decreases in both burden and anxiety. These changes were paralleled by an increased neural response to photographs of their PLWD within brain regions implicated in cognitive empathy.These findings warrant a larger replication study that includes a control condition and follows participants to establish the duration of the intervention effects.Cognitive empathy interventions may improve caregiver mental health and are worthy of further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of teacher education programs is needed. To be authentic and sustainable, efforts at transformation need to be grounded in shifting power and policy making away from just the university to shared decision making among stakeholders. This paper examines what are seen as first steps towards this objective. The effort described here involves a teacher preparation program and a neighboring school district. The university program is largely composed of white middle class students, and the school district is largely African American. This paper focuses on a project to support the voices of those who are being taught (referred to as scholars), and those planning to teacher (referred to as candidates). Both groups frame conversation around James Baldwin's' A talk to Teachers" and explore what has changed, what has not changed, and what needs to change. Teachers and administrators joined over twenty-five classes from the school district with the sophomore class cohort at the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare is global. The challenges of the "triple aim" – achieving high-quality healthcare, maximal value, and an excellent patient experience and outcomes – are universal. Medical education is similarly global with worldwide efforts towards competency-based reform, the adoption and adaptation of accreditation standards, and the expansion of international collaborations between healthcare organizations (HCOs). The focus of many of these efforts centers around recognizing education as a talent pipeline to serve local and global healthcare needs. Accordingly, many U.S.-based academic medical centres are pursuing an increasingly global footprint by developing international partnerships between HCOs. The educational leadership at the Cleveland Clinic (an HCO that has ventured internationally in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates) has adopted a "systemness" approach to medical education collaboratives. Systemness describes the ability of academic health systems to leverage existing structures, expertise, and other resources to address broadly shared educational needs across geographies, disseminate best practices, and ultimately improve the care that is delivered. The rationale for systemness, a concept derived from the healthcare administration and business world, affords the opportunity to achieve educational outcomes through synergy that exceeds the capability of any single component of a system. In this perspective, we posit a "systemness" taxonomy to be used to assess the performance and success of international collaborations in medical education and provide examples of its application to existing international partnerships in medical education. This framework is grounded in developmental assessment approaches, akin to those used in assessing learner performance, and defines levels of educational collaboration proficiencies, ultimately towards the alignment of these efforts with the health needs of the communities they serve. As global medical education collaboratives advance, ongoing assessment of existing partnerships and further research will be needed to define competencies and integrative activities that define high-performing medical education partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following an unexpected pediatric death, survivors undergo unique trauma. Medical examiners (MEs) evaluate most of these deaths. We evaluated the bereavement support available to survivors in the Chicagoland area following a pediatric death. We had two goals: to characterize the available bereavement support options and compare the locations (by zip code) of support groups with the locations (by zip code) in which pediatric ME cases occurred. We identified 48 organizations that provided bereavement support services at 74 locations in the summer and fall of 2020. Locations by zip codes in which the largest number of ME cases occurred did not have support groups. Locations in which more ME cases occurred generally had lower-income populations and a greater proportion of Black or Hispanic residents. Bereavement support following pediatric death is inadequate and unevenly distributed across the Chicagoland area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy is associated with poor maternal and foetal outcomes. Nonetheless, there is a paucity of recent literature on the predictors of anaemia during pregnancy in the context of northern Uganda, a region emerging out of decades of war. A study was undertaken to determine the prevalence and factors associated with anaemia among pregnant women in northern Uganda. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 320 pregnant women seeking care at Lira Regional Referral Hospital were consecutively enrolled. Data were collected using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data collected included: demographic, obstetric, nutritional and dietary characteristics of study participants. Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations and logistic regression with 95% confidence and a p-value of < 0.05 as significant using STATA version 14. Results: The mean age of the women was 25.3 ± 5.6 years while their mean gestational age was 25.4 ± 7.8 weeks. The overall prevalence of anaemia (Hb < 11 g/dl in the first and third trimesters and less than 10.5 g/dl in the second trimester) was 24.7%. Iron deficiency was prevalent in half of the women (50%) with anaemia. Factors independently associated with anaemia included taking antimalarial prophylaxis (AOR 0.44; 95% CI 0.19, 0.99) and consumption of legumes and cereals more than twice in the previous week (AOR 0.46; 95% CI 0.24, 0.89). Conclusion: One-quarter of pregnant women in this study population based in northern Uganda were anaemic. There is a need to strengthen interventions to control anaemia during pregnancy, particularly the intake of antimalarial prophylaxis and consumption of iron-rich locally available foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem: Writing for publication is a core activity for many medical school faculty, but faculty report numerous challenges to publication. To help address these challenges, some medical schools establish writing support programs, but those programs are often resource-intensive, involving didactic courses, accountability groups, formal mentorships, and even assistance from professional writers. Not all medical schools, however, provide resources for such programs, and many faculty members, especially clinicians, lack time needed to participate. Furthermore, success of these programs is typically judged by the total number of papers published. However, many clinicians would judge success as publication of the occasional papers they decide to write, not the total number of papers they or the group publish. With these issues in mind, we established a low-resource writing program focused on individual acceptance rates rather than total publications. Intervention: Our writing program is an informal group that meets monthly. Members bring their ideas for papers and drafts of papers, and other members provide critique and suggestions for improvement. Members then revise their papers to address that critique prior to journal submission. There are no formal or assigned mentors, courses, lectures, or writing assistants. Context: The program takes place in our family medicine department, in which faculty have various roles. Some group members are clinician-educators seeking to publish occasional clinical reviews or research articles; others are PhDs seeking to publish on aspects of their work. Impact: During the six years of the program, 86% of papers reviewed by the group were accepted for publication and 94% of those were accepted by the journal to which they were first submitted. Publication success rate of individual members averaged 79%. This exceeds the 30–40% acceptance rate for scholarly journals worldwide. Group members published an average of 5.2 papers per member, with some publishing as few as 2–3 papers and others as many as 10–11. Lessons Learned: An informal, low-resource writing program in medical school departments can help faculty reach their publication goals. We found that members were satisfied by having the group help them publish whatever number of papers they decided to write. The program's simple, informal approach fostered a culture of respectful and collegial interactions, in which members learned to depend on and accept critiques from colleagues. Finally, an unexpected benefit of our program resulted from membership of both clinicians and non-clinicians. This provided feedback from individuals with different perspectives, which enhanced development of manuscripts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Errors in ancestry prediction for historical military casework result in soldiers unable to be interred to the country they fought and died for. Australian WWII soldiers with varying degrees of European and Asian heritage are expected in the remains recovered in the Asia-Pacific, representing the greatest risk of error for Unrecovered War Casualties-Army (UWC-A). Previous research using the Ghaiyed population-specific panel (GPSP), on a modern British sample, demonstrated less variation in family-level admixture compared to four global ancestry panels. This suggested that the targeting of specific populations of interest may improve accuracy, although an evaluation using a sample of WWII-era European-Australians (W2A) with varying degrees of family-level admixture was required. This paper outlines the development of an ancestry prediction strategy using a W2A sample (non-admixed), and simulation of 4,000 genotypes representing Australian pedigrees with one Japanese ancestor (great-great-grandparent, great-grand-parent, grandparent, and parent). All great-great-grandparent to grandparent profiles were accurately predicted as W2A individuals, and although admixture at the parent level could not be resolved, no profiles were incorrectly assigned Japanese ancestry. The GPSP provided more informative predictions in contrast with the mitochondrial DNA/Y-chromosome lineage approach currently used by UWC-A as the GPSP provides an approximately 75% improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anecdotal and theoretical work suggests blink rate as an indicator of imminent suicide risk. We sought to empirically examine whether suicide decedents displayed a reduced blink rate in goodbye videos filmed before death, compared to several control groups. Independent raters coded blink rates from videos of 34 suicide decedents and four comparison groups: "mundane" product review, non-suicidal arousal, non-suicidal depression, and non-imminent risk of suicidal ideation. Mean blink rate was lower in the suicide decedent group relative to all comparison groups (ps <.001), except the depressed (p =.976) and suicidal ideation (p =.393) groups. Findings indicate blink rate may be reduced among individuals at imminent risk for suicide, exhibiting clinically-significant depressive symptoms, or experiencing suicidal ideation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals of Usnea fulvoreagens (Parmeliaceae, lichenised Ascomycota), a shrubby corticolous species that is widespread in Europe, East Asia and North America, produce medullary lichen acids in several distinct chemotypic patterns. One such chemotype reportedly contains an unidentified substance as the major secondary metabolite. We isolated this compound from Californian specimens of U. fulvoreagens and identified it as the rare depsidone neotricone. A co-occurring compound, conneotricone, was identified as 4,10-dihydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)-8-methyl-3,7-dioxo-1,3-dihydro-7H-isobenzofuro[4,5-b][1,4]benzodioxepine-11-carboxylic acid by NMR and HPLC-UV-MSn comparison with the material synthesised from salazinic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived discrimination has a significant negative impact on indices of mental health. One potential buffering factor in this is psychological resilience, which encompasses the ability to recover from or adapt successfully to adversity and use coping strategies, such as positive reappraisal of adverse events. This study examines the role of resilience as well as social support in buffering these effects in groups of migrants both with and without local residence permits. We conducted a non-experimental observational study with a cross-sectional design, collecting a variety of health variables in migrant groups in a naturalistic setting, during the COVID-19 period. The total sample consisted of 201 subjects, 88 of whom had a German residence title and 113 did not. These two groups were compared on the following variables of interest: social support, resilience, discrimination, and general mental health. There was no evidence for a difference in mental health between migrants with and without citizenship. However, our results suggested that migrants without citizenship reported less social support, less resilience, and more discrimination, which continued to have a distinct effect on mental health beyond resilience and social support. Psychological resilience mediated the link between social support and mental health, as well as being related to the perception of discrimination in the migrant group without citizenship. In conclusion, our models of migrants with and without citizenship showed that resilience specifically directly affected perceived discrimination in those without citizenship. The high levels of discrimination and lack of social support, particularly in the migrant group without citizenship, are concerning and suggest a focus for future interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the relationship between headaches, naps, and nocturnal sleep in women with chronic migraine (CM) using micro-longitudinal data from diaries and actigraphy. 20 women with CM and 20 age and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) completed self-report questionnaires, electronic diaries, and wrist actigraphy over a 4-week period. Between-group comparisons were conducted with naps (frequency and duration) as the primary variable of interest. Within-group analyses were conducted on the CM group using hierarchical linear mixed models to examine the temporal relationships between headache severity, sleep behaviors, and sleep parameters. The primary variables of interest were naps (number and duration) and nocturnal sleep efficiency (diary and actigraphy). The CM group reported significantly more days with naps (25.85%) compared to the HC group (9.03%) during the study period (p =.0025). Within-group analyses in CM revealed that greater headache severity was associated with longer nap duration (p =.0037) and longer nap duration was associated with lower sleep efficiency measured using diaries (p =.0014) and actigraphy (p <.0001). Napping is more frequent in CM than HC and nap duration in CM is associated with headache severity and nocturnal sleep disturbance. These findings provide initial support for the hypothesis that daytime napping is a behavioral coping strategy used in CM that could contribute to insomnia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flooded streets and homes, polluted surface waters, degraded aquatic habitats, stressed aquifers, and expensive drainage infrastructures are evidence that Canada's current approach to stormwater management requires rethinking. To address these challenges, the authors developed an integrated community-level urban stormwater decision support framework. The framework assesses low impact development infrastructure, traditional stormwater infrastructure, and community-level stormwater reuse schemes to better understand the interactions between various water resources in the context of various stormwater management strategies. The framework also incorporates stochastic variation in natural processes to predict a community's water footprint using the One Water Approach. A climate change sensitivity analysis is also incorporated to test proposed stormwater systems for resiliency to climate change. Fuzzy clustering analysis was then performed to identify the most appropriate stormwater management strategy. A case study demonstration of the framework was performed for a hypothetical 80-hectare mixed-use urban community in Kelowna, British Columbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multipolar financial world is here. The architects are not Russia or China, but the hapless strategic leadership of the United States, informed by mainstream economics. The United States can survive it—whereas Europe may not—but only with major political and economic changes at home. These include definancialization and demilitarization, but first and foremost, a willingness to realize that the world has changed and that global hegemony based on neoliberal principles has failed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faded bedtime has been evaluated as a behavioral intervention for delayed sleep-onset principally with children and youth who have intellectual and developmental disabilities in hospital and home settings. The present case report describes behavioral assessment and faded bedtime intervention in a 21-year old adult man with autism spectrum disorder at a community-based group home. The study also documented the effects of family home visits on the man's sleep when he returned to the group home. Compared to a pre-intervention (baseline) phase, faded bedtime was associated with increased intervals of recorded sleep and a decrease in sleep-onset latency over several months of implementation. We discuss clinical implications of the case and generality of findings across populations and settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Q b (1) Can applied behavior analysis (ABA) instruction comprising physical prompting, prompt-fading, verbal modeling, and positive reinforcement restore verbal responding in a young adult diagnosed with autism and catatonia? (2) Do the effects of applied behavior analysis (ABA) instruction transfer (generalize) in the presence of novel persons and maintain after intervention concludes?. [Extracted from the article]

Cerebral aneurysms that compress cranial nerve VIII can cause hearing loss and imbalance. Hearing function that does not recover after aneurysm occlusion can signal neurological damage with the potential for permanent deafness. A 72-year-old woman presented with gradually worsening left-sided hearing loss and imbalance over a period of 10 years. She was found to have a lesion of the cerebellopontine angle, which proved to be a large fusiform vertebral artery aneurysm with mass effect on cranial nerve VIII. The patient underwent surgical clip occlusion of the vertebral artery distal to the posterior inferior cerebellar artery and proximal to the aneurysm, which no longer filled on catheter angiography. Postoperatively, the patient experienced delayed complete loss of ipsilateral hearing on the third post-operative day. Otherwise, she made a good recovery with improvement in her balance issues. At that time, we suspected that delayed occlusion of a perforating vessel had probably caused irreversible hearing loss. Ten months later, the patient awoke with significant subjective recovery of her hearing. Audiometry confirmed substantial improvement in her hearing likely due to the aneurysm shrinking away from and decompressing the cranial nerve. This case highlights the continued usefulness of vascular occlusion in the management of selected cases of intracranial aneurysms and also that neurological function may recover suddenly, even in very delayed fashion, following treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminescence dating of rocks and sediments associated with various anthropogenic rock arrangements has the potential to provide age information for these hard-to-date features. This study applies infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) to sediments under rocks and to the rocks themselves from tipi rings and other features from the northern Plains. Dates are provided for 27 sediment and 5 rock samples from 7 archaeological sites in Montana, North Dakota, and Saskatchewan, ranging in age from 0.20 to 4.35 ka. Most of the ages are consistent with one another and with other dating evidence but some discrepancies show the complexity involved in this kind of dating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients undergoing haploidentical or mismatched unrelated donor (haplo/MMUD) allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) receiving post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) are at high risk of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Experience with letermovir (LET) in this population is limited. This single center retrospective cohort study compared CMV and transplant outcomes between LET and a historical control with high-dose valacyclovir (HDV) prophylaxis in adults undergoing haplo/MMUD alloHCT. Thirty-eight CMV seropositive patients were included, 19 in each arm. LET reduced the incidence of CMV infection (5% vs. 53%, RR 0.01, 95% CI 0.014–0.71, p =.001) and need for CMV treatment by day +100 (5% vs. 37%, RR 0.14, 95% CI 0.18–0.99, p =.017) compared to HDV. Median CMV event-free-survival was improved with LET (not reached vs. 80 days, HR 0.114, 95% CI 0.07–0.61, p =.004). These data support the efficacy of LET in alternative donor transplants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Principles and applications of organizational behavior management (OBM) can be incorporated within human services settings to promote applied research that contributes to client outcomes, employee performance, systems development, and other value-added benefits. We describe organizational strategies for building a program of research and dissemination focused on (a) leadership direction and support, (b) assessment of barriers (competing contingencies) to research, (c) integration of research with routine service delivery, (d) formation of research teams, (e) oversight by a research review committee, (f) research training, supervision, and mentorship, (g) incentivizing research participation among employees, and (h) organizational research ethics. Steps and recommendations for implementing these strategies are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many physicians believe illustrations can be helpful in patient encounters, but fail to create such drawings due to a perceived lack of artistic ability. Digital drawing platforms, however, have the ability to compensate for the lack of artistic skills. Our study sought to evaluate how digital drawing instruction would impact the likelihood of medical students to utilise illustrations in future patient encounters. 'Draw Your Way Through Medicine' was an elective course, offered at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2020. The course instructed students how to create digital drawings using Procreate and how to depict specific surgical procedures. Students completed pre-and post-course surveys, which were analysed using paired t-tests. Thirty-six students enrolled in the course, of which 27 completed the pre-course survey and 21 completed both pre-and post-course surveys. Students' comfort level with drawing improved somewhat (3.0 to 3.5, p =.08), while their comfort level with creating medical illustrations improved significantly (2.2 to 3.7, p <.01). Qualitative responses echoed the enthusiasm for implementing digital drawing as a clinical communication tool. A digital drawing course showed considerable value in improving medical students' confidence in generating medical illustrations, making this form of visual communication a potentially valuable tool in patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hence, starting with the original Maastricht Treaty and the various binding treaties of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) that ensued, according to Alain, this constraining structure imposed on national governments a "market" discipline that would destroy the "real" economy. Like Marx, Alain saw the state in its predatory role in favouring the private wealth accumulation of the economically powerful, and like Keynes he also saw the state in its role as a potential source of stability in reducing social anxiety and predation by promoting genuine social progress. Alain, on the contrary, fully embraced a theory of endogenous money, and as Lavoie ([4], p. 13) suggests, Alain was close to the horizontalist view of money as defended by Basil Moore ([5]). We have lost a truly special friend, Alain Parguez, who passed away peacefully on 5 April 2022, in Paris, at the age of 81. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: The study aimed to determine why male infants are abused more frequently than female infants. Background: Infant crying is a well-known trigger for Shaken Baby Syndrome or Abusive Head Trauma (SBS/AHT). For unknown reasons, male infants are more often victims of SBS/AHT than female infants. We hypothesised that this sex difference in victimisation was attributable to either acoustic or movement differences between male and female infants when crying, or to gender stereotypes about infant crying (e.g. 'boys don't cry'). Methods: Adult male participants rated auditory and video cry stimuli from male and female infants for aversiveness. Each infant was rated while wearing both blue and pink clothing to denote male or female gender. Results: In two experiments, male infants spent more time producing expiratory phonations than did female infants, and this variable was positively correlated with aversiveness ratings. Including visual stimuli increased male but not female infant cry aversiveness compared with audio stimuli alone. Finally, dressing infants in blue did not increase cry aversiveness. Conclusions: These findings suggest that both the tendency of male infants to produce more expiratory phonations when crying, as well as their visual appearance when crying, may contribute to their increased vulnerability to abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted and transformed continuing education in the health professions to be reliant on digital learning modalities. This retrospective observational study of a large, international health system's continuing education programme compares educational activities offered, participation, and learning outcomes pre- and intra-pandemic to assess the impact of digitisation advanced because of the pandemic. There was a significant increase in internet-based activities that filled the gap of cancelled or postponed live, in-person activities to keep healthcare professionals up to date in their specialities and prepared to handle the clinical and hospital demands of the pandemic. Compared to live, in-person education, virtual activities were offered in shorter increments, reached a much larger amount of participants, and were equally effective in achieving learning outcomes. Questions remain regarding business model implications to generate adequate revenues to cover costs of virtual education. Additionally, there is a general inadequacy of digital learning environments to coalesce groups and meet social needs. Regardless, the efficiencies and effectiveness of digital modalities will be a primary method of teaching healthcare professionals going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acute awareness of scarcity, land rent, fixed costs and environmental limits that characterized the classical period was largely forgotten during the hey-day of neoclassical growth economics. Awareness has now returned, and many scientists and engineers are devoting themselves to these issues. But a revolution in economic thought, bringing economics into line with biophysical principles and the challenges of climate change, consistent with the laws of thermodynamics, has not occurred. The paper closes with examples of the application of basic principles to the policy choices that lie ahead, and some suggestions for the future of economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three pilot studies (Ntotal  = 832) revealed that people held more positive attitudes toward targets wearing protective face masks. Therefore, we examined whether knowledge of this self-presentational benefit would increase people’s intentions to wear face masks. Participants (N = 997) were randomly assigned to read a passage about the COVID-19 pandemic, the safety benefit of mask-wearing, the self-presentational benefit of mask-wearing, or a combination of the latter two. Although this manipulation failed, findings revealed that preexisting beliefs about masked targets being more likable were positively associated with mask-wearing intentions, particularly among participants less concerned with disease or more politically conservative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosourcing seed of ‘local genetic stock’ for ecological restoration has been practiced in New Zealand for about 50 years. However, we believe that it has become unnecessarily restrictive. Ecosourcing ensures plants used for restoration are adapted to local conditions and maintains current distributional patterns. It also restricts genetic diversity, confines species to their historic range, and reduces the conservation options for threatened species. For example, New Zealand tree species, the life form most frequently used in restoration plantings, have low population genetic differentiation and high net migration of alleles throughout their range. Therefore, very little is gained through restrictive ecosourcing of tree seed. Furthermore, avoidance of the danger of inbreeding depression and widening the scope for closer environmental matching, argues for larger rather smaller source areas. Climate change, extinctions across multiple trophic levels, habitat loss and fragmentation, spread of invasive species, and novel habitats have completely altered the contemporary biotic landscape. Conservation needs to engage with these changes if it is to protect and restore ecosystems. Restrictive ecosourcing is counter-productive as it limits utilising genotypic, phenotypic and ecotypic diversity, and thus the evolutionary potential of indigenous species and ecosystems. It also reduces opportunities to protect biodiversity when populations are small, and limits response to climate change. A new approach is needed. We recommend that phylogeographic patterns and biogeographic boundaries be used to set nine broad ecosourcing regions and, within these regions, phenotypic adaptation to particular environments be used as a guide to seed selection. This more relaxed approach to ecosourcing will improve restoration outcomes through increasing species and genetic diversity, reducing the detrimental effects of inbreeding and promoting the genetic rescue of populations of threatened species. Examples of adopting an eco-evolutionary approach to ecosourcing are provided for the early-successional coloniser Kunzea ericoides and late-successional conifer species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]