Adolescent Adjustment Before and After HIV-Related Parental Death.

The impact of HIV-related parental death on 414 adolescents was examined over a period of 6 years. The adjustment of bereaved adolescents was compared over 4 time periods relative to parental death and was also compared with the adjustment of nonbereaved adolescents. Bereaved adolescents had significantly more emotional distress, negative life events, and contact with the criminal justice system than nonbereaved youths; these behaviors did not remain significantly higher after parental death. Depressive symptoms and passive problem solving increased soon after parental death, as compared with nonbereaved adolescents. One year subsequent to parental death, depression and passive problem solving were similar to the levels of nonbereaved peers. Only sexual risk behaviors increased following parental death. These results suggest the importance of early family intervention soon after parental HIV diagnosis, prior to parental death, and sustained over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality management metrics for software development

It can be argued that the quality of software management has an effect on the degree of success or failure of a software development program. We have developed a metric for measuring the quality of software management along four dimensions: requirements management, estimation/planning management, people management, and risk management. The quality management metric (QMM) for a software development program manager is a composite score obtained using a questionnaire administered to both the program manager and a sample of his or her peers. The QMM is intended to both characterize the quality of software management and serve as a template for improving software management performance. We administered the questionnaire to measure the performance of managers responsible for large software development programs within the US Department of Defense (DOD). Informal verification and validation of the metric compared the QMM score to an overall program-success score for the entire program; this resulted in a positive correlation.     

Associations in the Course of Personality Disorders and Axis I Disorders Over Time.

In this study, the authors examined time-varying associations between schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD), or obsessive-compulsive (OCPD) personality disorders and co-occurring Axis I disorders in 544 adult participants from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study. The authors tested predictions of specific longitudinal associations derived from a model of crosscutting psychobiological dimensions (L. J. Siever & K. L. Davis, 1991) with participants with the relevant Axis I disorders. The authors assessed participants at baseline and at 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up evaluations. BPD showed significant longitudinal associations with major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. AVPD was significantly associated with anxiety disorders (specifically social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder). Two of the four personality disorders under examination (STPD and OCPD) showed little or no association with Axis I disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theories of Conditional Reasoning: A Developmental Examination of Competing Hypotheses.

Children and adolescents were presented with problems that contained deontic (i.e., if action p is taken, then precondition q must be met) or causal (i.e., if event p occurs, then event q will transpire) conditionals and that varied in the ease with which alternative antecedents could be activated. Results showed that inferences were linked to the availability of alternative antecedents and the generation of "disabling" conditions (claims that the conditionals were false under specific circumstances). Age-related developments were found only on problems involving indeterminate inferences. Correlations among inferences differed for children and adolescents. The findings provide stronger support for domain-general theories than for domain-specific theories of reasoning and suggest, under some conditions, age-related changes in the roles of implicit and explicit processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Panic and Comorbid Anxiety Symptoms in a National Anxiety Screening Sample: Implications for Clinical Interventions.

Questionnaire data from 2,033 participants in the National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day sample were used to assess the presence of panic and comorbid anxiety problems. These participants were selected from more than 15,000 attendees on the basis of never having received treatment for a psychiatric disorder and meeting screening criteria for panic disorder. With each comorbid anxiety problem (generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, social phobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder), participants had a corresponding increase in interference in daily living as well as readiness to seek treatment. The addition of generalized anxiety or depression with panic symptoms resulted in marked increases in interference scores. Clinical treatment implications for panic disorder are discussed in terms of the effects of comorbid anxiety problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ligand-Specific Nano-Contrast Agents Promote Enhanced Breast Cancer CT Detection at 0.5 mg Au

For many cancer types, being undetectable from early symptoms or blood tests, or often detected at late stages, medical imaging emerges as the most efficient tool for cancer screening. MRI, ultrasound, X-rays (mammography), and X-ray CT (CT) are currently used in hospitals with variable costs. Diagnostic materials that can detect breast tumors through molecular recognition and amplify the signal at the targeting site in combination with state-of-the-art CT techniques, such as dual-energy CT, could lead to a more precise detection and assist significantly in image-guided intervention. Herein, we have developed a ligand-specific X-ray contrast agent that recognizes α5β1 integrins overexpressed in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells for detection of triple (−) cancer, which proliferates very aggressively. In vitro studies show binding and internalization of our nanoprobes within those cells, towards uncoated nanoparticles (NPs) and saline. In vivo studies show high retention of ~3 nm ligand-PEG-S-AuNPs in breast tumors in mice (up to 21 days) and pronounced CT detection, with statistical significance from saline and iohexol, though only 0.5 mg of metal were utilized. In addition, accumulation of ligand-specific NPs is shown in tumors with minimal presence in other organs, relative to controls. The prolonged, low-metal, NP-enhanced spectral-CT detection of triple (−) breast cancer could lead to breakthrough advances in X-ray cancer diagnostics, nanotechnology, and medicine.     

Business intelligence success: The roles of BI capabilities and decision environments

This study examines the role of the decision environment in how well business intelligence (BI) capabilities are leveraged to achieve BI success. We examine the decision environment in terms of the types of decisions made and the information processing needs of the organization. Our findings suggest that technological capabilities such as data quality, user access and the integration of BI with other systems are necessary for BI success, regardless of the decision environment. However, the decision environment does influence the relationship between BI success and capabilities, such as the extent to which BI supports flexibility and risk in decision making.     

Development of a Mortality Prediction Model in Hospitalised SARS-CoV-2 Positive Patients Based on Routine Kidney Biomarkers

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a prevalent complication in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positive inpatients, which is linked to an increased mortality rate compared to patients without AKI. Here we analysed the difference in kidney blood biomarkers in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients with non-fatal or fatal outcome, in order to develop a mortality prediction model for hospitalised SARS-CoV-2 positive patients. A retrospective cohort study including data from suspected SARS-CoV-2 positive patients admitted to a large National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust hospital in the Yorkshire and Humber regions, United Kingdom, between 1 March 2020 and 30 August 2020. Hospitalised adult patients (aged ≥ 18 years) with at least one confirmed positive RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 and blood tests of kidney biomarkers within 36 h of the RT-PCR test were included. The main outcome measure was 90-day in-hospital mortality in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. The logistic regression and random forest (RF) models incorporated six predictors including three routine kidney function tests (sodium, urea; creatinine only in RF), along with age, sex, and ethnicity. The mortality prediction performance of the logistic regression model achieved an area under receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve of 0.772 in the test dataset (95% CI: 0.694–0.823), while the RF model attained the AUROC of 0.820 in the same test cohort (95% CI: 0.740–0.870). The resulting validated prediction model is the first to focus on kidney biomarkers specifically on in-hospital mortality over a 90-day period.