Caring for an individual with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in ideal circumstances can be stressful, and the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic created a high degree of disruption to life and ...stress to families living with an individual with ASD. We conducted an online survey of families in Michigan that revealed higher levels of stress in caregivers of younger individuals with ASD and those with greater severity of ASD symptoms. Stress around therapeutic service disruption, finances, and illness predominated and greater stress was reported for caregivers of individuals receiving greater intensity of services pre-COVID-19. Respondents voiced concerns about receiving respite care during COVID-19, and those expressing interest in respite also reported greater symptom severity in the person with ASD.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and the presence of restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. There have been ...recent concerns about increased prevalence, and this article seeks to elaborate on factors that may influence prevalence rates, including recent changes to the diagnostic criteria. The authors review evidence that ASD is a neurobiological disorder influenced by both genetic and environmental factors affecting the developing brain, and enumerate factors that correlate with ASD risk. Finally, the article describes how clinical evaluation begins with developmental screening, followed by referral for a definitive diagnosis, and provides guidance on screening for comorbid conditions.
Particle production and event topology are very strongly correlated in high-energy hadronic and nuclear collisions. Event topology is decided by the underlying particle production dynamics and medium ...effects. Transverse spherocity is an event shape observable, which has been used in pp and heavy-ion collisions to separate the events based on their geometrical shapes. It has the unique capability to distinguish between jetty and isotropic events. In this work, we have implemented transverse spherocity in Pb-Pb collisions at Formula: see text = 5.02 TeV using A Multi-Phase Transport Model (AMPT). While awaiting for experimental explorations, we perform a feasibility study of transverse spherocity dependence of some of the global observables in heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider energies. These global observables include the Bjorken energy density (Formula: see text), squared speed of sound (Formula: see text) in the medium and the kinetic freeze-out properties for different collision centralities. The present study reveals about the usefulness of event topology dependent measurements in heavy-ion collisions.
Transverse spherocity is an event shape observable, which separates the events based on their geometrical shapes. In this work, we use transverse spherocity to study the identified light flavor ...production in heavy-ion collisions using A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) model. We obtain the elliptic flow coefficients for pions, kaons and protons in Pb+Pb collisions at
s
NN
=
5.02
TeV as a function of transverse spherocity and collision centrality. Also, we study the number of constituent-quark (NCQ) scaling of elliptic flow which interprets the dominance of the quark degrees of freedom at the early stages of the collision. We observe a clear dependence of the elliptic flow for identified particles on transverse spherocity. It is found that the NCQ-scaling is strongly violated in events with low transverse spherocity compared to transverse spherocity-integrated events, confirming the fragmentation-based hadronization mechanism for high-momentum partons involved in the dynamics of jetty-like events.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis relies on clinical observation and documentation, but the presence of comorbidities can affect diagnostic validity across clinicians and exacerbate access to ...timely care. This study used latent class analysis to optimize subgroup identification based on functional level and associated comorbidities using the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Third Edition (BASC-3), and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Third Edition (Vineland-3), in a pediatric population referred for autism evaluation.
This retrospective study reviewed clinical data extracted over a 3-year period (2018-2021). A latent class analysis was used to explore the presence of latent groups guided by the likelihood ratio test and fit indices. Additional analyses contrasted ASD and non-ASD groups on the BASC-3 and Vineland-3 variables.
There were 191 included participants (mean age 65.9 months, 76.4% male), of whom over half (60.7%) had an ASD diagnosis. Using 185 cases, the exploratory latent class analysis showed the emergence of 4 distinct subgroups. Composition of classes varied on ASD diagnosis, neurodevelopmental difficulties, behavioral health concerns, and intellectual disability. When contrasting ASD and non-ASD groups, significant between-group differences were observed across Vineland-3 variables and BASC-3 adaptive skills subscales indicating poorer social and adaptive functioning.
Latent class analysis of commonly used behavioral and adaptive measures can help distinguish between subgroups of pediatric patients referred for ASD evaluations and assist in triage of cases based on severity.
Many arthropods mimic ants to avoid predation risk from visual predators. Our study of ant-mimicking arthropod diversity revealed 10 sympatric myrmecomorphs including spiders, mantids, bugs and ...grasshoppers. All, except one, were found predominantly on extrafloral nectary-bearing and homopteran harbouring plants. Of the five plant-visiting ant species, Camponotus compressus, Camponotus paria, Camponotus sericeus, Crematogaster subnuda and Tapinoma melanocephalum, only C. compressus showed significantly high occurrence and abundance on these plants. Except for a small spider morph, the remaining nine myrmecomorphic species resembled C. compressus and apparently use this common and abundant ant species as their model.
This study aims to describe the extent of telehealth use by global developmental-behavioral pediatrics (DBP) clinicians and barriers (if any) in adopting telehealth during the coronavirus disease ...2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
A survey was disseminated to DBP clinicians through contact with international professional organizations to determine the use of telehealth in DBP care, before and since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistics and χ2 tests were used for analysis.
A total of 271 respondents from 38 countries completed the survey. The number of respondents offering telehealth increased from 36% to 88% after the pandemic, with the greatest shift to telehealth among high-income countries (HICs). Among respondents using telehealth, 75.1% were conducting interactive video visits, with HICs using more telehealth modalities embedded in electronic health records. Most patients (98.7%) were at home for the telehealth encounter. Almost half (46.5%) could not include an interpreter in telehealth visits. Barriers reported by telehealth users included concerns about limited patient access to technology (74.3%), home environment distractions (56.5%), preference for in-person care (53.6%), telehealth effectiveness (48.1%), workflow efficiency (42.2%), and cost/reimbursement (32.1%).
Global DBP clinicians rapidly adopted telehealth and continued to have interprofessional practice while doing so, with the largest adoption occurring in HICs. Provider concerns about effectiveness and patient access to technology emerged as key organizational and patient barriers, respectively. Increased provider confidence in telehealth and its sustained use in the future depends on supportive regulatory policies and availability and use of measures to monitor quality and effectiveness.
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