Neuroimaging studies show structural differences in both cortical and subcortical brain regions in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with healthy subjects. Findings are ...inconsistent, however, and it is unclear how differences develop across the lifespan. The authors investigated brain morphometry differences between individuals with ASD and healthy subjects, cross-sectionally across the lifespan, in a large multinational sample from the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics Through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) ASD working group.
The sample comprised 1,571 patients with ASD and 1,651 healthy control subjects (age range, 2-64 years) from 49 participating sites. MRI scans were preprocessed at individual sites with a harmonized protocol based on a validated automated-segmentation software program. Mega-analyses were used to test for case-control differences in subcortical volumes, cortical thickness, and surface area. Development of brain morphometry over the lifespan was modeled using a fractional polynomial approach.
The case-control mega-analysis demonstrated that ASD was associated with smaller subcortical volumes of the pallidum, putamen, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens (effect sizes Cohen's d, 0.13 to -0.13), as well as increased cortical thickness in the frontal cortex and decreased thickness in the temporal cortex (effect sizes, -0.21 to 0.20). Analyses of age effects indicate that the development of cortical thickness is altered in ASD, with the largest differences occurring around adolescence. No age-by-ASD interactions were observed in the subcortical partitions.
The ENIGMA ASD working group provides the largest study of brain morphometry differences in ASD to date, using a well-established, validated, publicly available analysis pipeline. ASD patients showed altered morphometry in the cognitive and affective parts of the striatum, frontal cortex, and temporal cortex. Complex developmental trajectories were observed for the different regions, with a developmental peak around adolescence. These findings suggest an interplay in the abnormal development of the striatal, frontal, and temporal regions in ASD across the lifespan.
Altered structural brain asymmetry in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been reported. However, findings have been inconsistent, likely due to limited sample sizes. Here we investigated 1,774 ...individuals with ASD and 1,809 controls, from 54 independent data sets of the ENIGMA consortium. ASD was significantly associated with alterations of cortical thickness asymmetry in mostly medial frontal, orbitofrontal, cingulate and inferior temporal areas, and also with asymmetry of orbitofrontal surface area. These differences generally involved reduced asymmetry in individuals with ASD compared to controls. Furthermore, putamen volume asymmetry was significantly increased in ASD. The largest case-control effect size was Cohen's d = -0.13, for asymmetry of superior frontal cortical thickness. Most effects did not depend on age, sex, IQ, severity or medication use. Altered lateralized neurodevelopment may therefore be a feature of ASD, affecting widespread brain regions with diverse functions. Large-scale analysis was necessary to quantify subtle alterations of brain structural asymmetry in ASD.
Reducing Aboriginal Over-representation in Prison Weatherburn, Don; Fitzgerald, Jackie; Hua, Jiuzhao
Australian journal of public administration,
September 2003, Letnik:
62, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
While discriminatory treatment of Aboriginal people by police and the court system is an historical fact, the leading current cause of Aboriginal over-representation in prison is not systemic, but ...reflects high rates of Aboriginal involvement in serious crime - efforts to reduce Aboriginal imprisonment rates through policing or criminal justice policy have failed and will continue to fail until they succeed in reducing crime in Aboriginal communities - efforts to lower Aboriginal imprisonment rates should focus on this issue.
The purpose of the study was to assess the volume of academic vocabulary in elementary grades disciplinary textbooks. Academic vocabulary was examined in a corpus of best-selling elementary grades ...textbooks in three disciplinary areas-science, mathematics, and social studies. Academic words in texts were determined through automated procedures involving statistical modeling. Four academic vocabulary variables were created: Total Academic Words; Discipline-Match Academic Words (science domain-specific academic words in science textbooks, and so on); High Challenge Total Academic Words; and High Challenge Discipline-Match Academic Words. Longitudinal multilevel Poisson regression was conducted for selected research issues. Main conclusions were: (a) The estimated overall elementary grades volume of academic vocabulary in disciplinary textbooks was relatively high. Summed across all grades and disciplines, 31% of all of the estimated unique word types in the textbooks were academic word types. By the end of elementary school, children who read or listened to disciplinary textbooks like the ones in the present study corpus would have been exposed to approximately one academic word type for every three unique word types encountered. (b) Moreover, approximately one or two of every four or five academic word types was estimated to be a word that would present challenge to typically developing and struggling students. (c) For all three disciplines, with minor exception, the estimated volume of newly-appearing academic words in a grade increased through the earliest grades, tended to peak in third or fourth grade, and then decelerated slightly thereafter.
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
Elementary grades science, mathematics, and social studies textbooks contain a relatively high volume of academic vocabulary. By the end of elementary school, students may be exposed to approximately one academic word for every three unique words in disciplinary textbooks. The relatively high rate of academic vocabulary exposure may pose substantial opportunity for students' disciplinary knowledge advancement. However, for some students, especially struggling readers and children learning English as a new language, it could present significant challenge to learning.
A substantial barrier to the single- and multi-institutional aggregation of data to supporting clinical trials, practice quality improvement efforts, and development of big data analytics resource ...systems is the lack of standardized nomenclatures for expressing dosimetric data. To address this issue, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 263 was charged with providing nomenclature guidelines and values in radiation oncology for use in clinical trials, data-pooling initiatives, population-based studies, and routine clinical care by standardizing: (1) structure names across image processing and treatment planning system platforms; (2) nomenclature for dosimetric data (eg, dose–volume histogram DVH-based metrics); (3) templates for clinical trial groups and users of an initial subset of software platforms to facilitate adoption of the standards; (4) formalism for nomenclature schema, which can accommodate the addition of other structures defined in the future. A multisociety, multidisciplinary, multinational group of 57 members representing stake holders ranging from large academic centers to community clinics and vendors was assembled, including physicists, physicians, dosimetrists, and vendors. The stakeholder groups represented in the membership included the AAPM, American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), NRG Oncology, European Society for Radiation Oncology (ESTRO), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), Children's Oncology Group (COG), Integrating Healthcare Enterprise in Radiation Oncology (IHE-RO), and Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine working group (DICOM WG); A nomenclature system for target and organ at risk volumes and DVH nomenclature was developed and piloted to demonstrate viability across a range of clinics and within the framework of clinical trials. The final report was approved by AAPM in October 2017. The approval process included review by 8 AAPM committees, with additional review by ASTRO, European Society for Radiation Oncology (ESTRO), and American Association of Medical Dosimetrists (AAMD). This Executive Summary of the report highlights the key recommendations for clinical practice, research, and trials.
Of particular interest to TLs are: * Getting started, which leads to useful articles about how to set up a makerspace, including: * Resourcing a junior makerspace - http:// ...tinkeringchild.com/resourcing-juniormakerspace/ - * Resources - http://tinkeringchild.com/ resources/ - * Makerspace language: - http:// tinkeringchild.com/makerspace-language/ - * Literature, which leads to many links between books and reading, and makerspaces, including: * Books and technology - http:// tinkeringchild.com/books-and-technology/* Books to inspire creating with technology - https://tinkeringchild.com/books-toinspire-creating-with-technology/ - About TinkeringChild, in Jackie's own words: The idea of the blog was to share the ideas and ways Megan and I were integrating technology and literature into our library lessons. 7 years ago - http://tinkeringchild.com/beginning-thejourney/ - I attended a seminar at Queensland State Library where I heard about the Maker Movement and I immediately related the experiences I was having in teaching to the movement's ideology. Please see some examples of using the makerspace in HASS: * - http://tinkeringchild.com/making-ingeography/ - * - http://tinkeringchild.com/makingdocumentaries-history/ - * - http://tinkeringchild.com/history-in-themakerspace-zone/ - My new role required me to develop a Scope and Sequence for Digital Technologies across the Junior school and assist the teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum.
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