Objective To test the hypothesis that bone accrual over a 4-year period is reduced in boys with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with typically developing controls. Study design Twenty-five ...boys with ASD and 24 controls were assessed for bone outcomes. Fourteen boys with ASD and 11 controls were assessed both at baseline and after 4 years. The mean subject age was 11.0 ± 1.6 years at study initiation and 14.9 ± 1.6 years at follow-up. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured at the spine, hip, and whole body using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and normalized for age, race, and sex (BMD z- scores). Height adjustments were performed as well. We assessed medical history, physical activity using questionnaires, vitamin D and calcium intake using food records, and serum calcium, phosphorus, 25(OH)-vitamin D, and pubertal hormone levels. Results Boys with ASD had lower spine, hip, and whole body BMD z- scores compared with controls. In those subjects assessed both at baseline and after 4 years, bone accrual rates did not differ between the 2 groups; however, spine and hip BMD z- scores remained lower in the boys with ASD than in controls at follow-up. Notably, the ASD group was less physically active at both time points. Conclusion Although pubertal bone accrual was similar to that in controls, BMD in children with ASD remained low over a 4-year follow-up period, suggesting that low BMD is a consequence of prepubertal factors, such as low physical activity. Studies are needed to investigate the causes and consequences of decreased BMD, to assess BMD in females and adults with ASD, and to evaluate therapeutic interventions.
Abstract Background Associations of bone mineral density (BMD) with specific food components, including dietary fiber and isoflavones (that have a negative association with serum estrogen), are ...unclear and need to be determined, particularly in populations more likely to consume large amounts of these nutrients (such as young athletes). Objective To determine dietary intake of specific food components in athletes with oligoamenorrhea (OA) compared to athletes with eumenorrhea (EA) and nonathletes (NA), and associations of the dietary intake of these nutrients with lumbar spine BMD. Design and subjects This cross-sectional study evaluated 68 OA, 24 EA, and 26 NA individuals aged 14 to 23 years. Measurements included 4-day food records, a dual x-ray absorptiometry scan evaluating lumbar spine BMD and body composition, and hormone levels. Multivariate analysis was used to estimate associations of nutrients with lumbar spine BMD. Results Compared with EA and NA, OA had higher intake of fiber, phytic acid, and vegetable protein (all P values <0.0001). Intake of isoflavones, genistein, and daidzein was higher in OA than NA ( P =0.003 and P= 0.0002, respectively). OA had lower consumption of energy from saturated fatty acids than NA ( P =0.002). After controlling for confounders such as body weight, menstrual status (indicative of estrogen status), calcium intake, and serum vitamin D (known BMD determinants), lumbar spine BMD z scores were inversely associated with dietary fiber (β=–.30; P =0.01), vegetable protein (β= –.28; P =0.02), phytic acid (β=–.27; P =0.02), genistein (β=–.25; P =0.01), and daidzein (β=–.24; P =0.01), and positively associated with percent energy from fatty acids (β=.32; P =0.0006). Conclusions Compared with EA and NA, OA had a higher dietary intake of fiber, vegetable protein, and phytic acid, which were inversely associated with lumbar spine BMD z scores. Further studies are needed to assess dietary recommendations for OA to optimize bone accrual.
Abstract Background Use of long acting highly-effective contraception has the potential to improve women’s ability to avoid short interpregnancy intervals, which are associated with an increased risk ...of maternal morbidity and mortality, and preterm delivery. In Uganda, contraceptive implants are not routinely available during the immediate postpartum period. Objective The purpose of this study was to compare the proportion of women using levonorgestrel contraceptive implants at six months after delivery in women randomized to immediate or delayed insertion. Study Design This is a randomized controlled trial among women in Kampala, Uganda. Women who desired contraceptive implants were randomly assigned to insertion of a two-rod contraceptive implant system containing 75 mg of levonorgestrel immediately following delivery (within five days of delivery and before discharge from hospital) or delayed insertion (six weeks postpartum). The primary outcome was implant utilization at six months postpartum. Results From June to October 2015, 205 women were randomized, 103 to the immediate group and 102 to the delayed group. Ninety-three percent completed the six-month follow-up visit. At six months, implant use was higher in the immediate group compared to the delayed group (97% versus 68%; p<0.001), as was the use of any highly effective contraceptive (98% versus 81%; p=0.001). Women in the immediate group were more satisfied with the timing of implant placement. If given the choice, 81% of women in the immediate group and 63% of women in the delayed group would choose the same timing of placement again (p=0.01). There were no serious adverse events in either group. Conclusions Offering women the option of initiating contraceptive implants in the immediate postpartum period has the potential to increase contraceptive utilization, decrease unwanted pregnancies, prevent short interpregnancy intervals, and help women achieve their reproductive goals.
Hydra is a header-only, templated and C++11-compliant framework designed to perform the typical bottleneck calculations found in common HEP data analyses on massively parallel platforms. The ...framework is implemented on top of the C++11 Standard Library and a variadic version of the Thrust library and is designed to run on Linux systems, using OpenMP, CUDA and TBB enabled devices. This contribution summarizes the main features of Hydra. A basic description of the overall design, functionality and user interface is provided, along with some code examples and measurements of performance.
To (1) assess long-term health care service utilization and satisfaction with health care services among women with traumatic brain injury (W-TBI); (2) examine barriers that prevent W-TBI from ...receiving care when needed; and (3) understand the perceived supports available for W-TBI.
Retrospective cohort study.
Community.
W-TBI (n=105) 5 to 12 years postinjury and women without TBI (n=105) matched on age, education, and geographic location.
Not applicable.
Pre- and postinjury data were collected using a questionnaire administered via a semistructured interview. Questions on health services utilization, satisfaction with and quality of services, barriers to receiving care, and perceived social support were from the Canadian Community Health Survey; additional questions on perceived social support were from another large-scale study of people with moderate to severe brain injury.
Compared with women without TBI, W-TBI reported using more family physician and community health services. W-TBI reported that they did not receive care when needed (40%), particularly for emotional/mental health problems. Significantly more W-TBI reported financial and structural barriers. There were no significant differences in reported satisfaction with services between women with and without TBI.
Health service providers and policymakers should recognize the long-term health and social needs of W-TBI and address societal factors that result in financial and structural barriers, to ensure access to needed services.
MCBooster is a header-only, C++11-compliant library that provides routines to generate and perform calculations on large samples of phase space Monte Carlo events. To achieve superior performance, ...MCBooster is capable to perform most of its calculations in parallel using CUDA- and OpenMP-enabled devices. MCBooster is built on top of the Thrust library and runs on Linux systems. This contribution summarizes the main features of MCBooster. A basic description of the user interface and some examples of applications are provided, along with measurements of performance in a variety of environments
Many models of physics beyond the standard model predict the existence of new Abelian forces with new gauge bosons mediating interactions between "dark sectors" and the standard model. We report a ...search for a dark boson Z' coupling only to the second and third generations of leptons in the reaction e super(+) e super(?)arrowrightmu super(+)mu super(?)Z',Z'arrowrightmu super(+) mu? using 514fb super(?1) of data collected by the BABAR experiment. No significant signal is observed for Z' masses in the range 0.212-10 GeV. Limits on the coupling parameter g' as low as 7x10 super(?4) are derived, leading to improvements in the bounds compared to those previously derived from neutrino experiments.
The GooFit Framework is designed to perform maximum-likelihood fits for arbitrary functions on various parallel back ends, for example a GPU. We present an extension to GooFit which adds the ...functionality to perform time-dependent amplitude analyses of pseudoscalar mesons decaying into four pseudoscalar final states. Benchmarks of this functionality show a significant performance increase when utilizing a GPU compared to a CPU. Furthermore, this extension is employed to study the sensitivity on the D0−D¯0 mixing parameters x and y in a time-dependent amplitude analysis of the decay D0 → K+π−π+π−. Studying a sample of 50 000 events and setting the central values to the world average of x = (0.49 ± 0.15)% and y = (0.61 ± 0.08)%, the statistical sensitivities of x and y are determined to be σ(x) = 0.019 % and σ(y) = 0.019 %.
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