Akervall Technologies (United States)

Introduction: Symptomatic neonates with tetralogy of Fallot (sTOF) and hypoplastic branch pulmonary arteries (hPA) are at high risk. Management strategies include staged repair (SR) - initial palliation (IP) followed by later complete repair (CR) - or primary repair (PR). A balanced comparison of these approaches is needed in the sTOF neonate with hPA. Methods: Consecutive neonates with sTOF and hPA - defined as one hPA z-score <-2.0 with contralateral z-score <0 - who underwent SR or PR from 2005-17 were retrospectively reviewed by the Congenital Catheterization Research Collaborative. Primary outcome was mortality and secondary outcomes included component (IP, CR, PR) and cumulative (SR): hospital, ICU and surgical morbidities, and reintervention. Outcomes were compared between treatment strategies using propensity score adjustment (PSA) to account for baseline differences between groups (PR=reference group). Results: The cohort comprised 188 neonates including 121 SR (IP: 29 transcatheter; 54 surgery) and 67 PR patients. Presence of pulmonary atresia, lower gestational age and birthweight were more common in the SR cohort. Median right and left hPA z-scores were -2.19 (IQR -2.65, -1.92) and -2.33 (-2.84, -1.99), respectively. There were significant differences in treatment strategy across centers (p<0.01). Overall survival was similar between groups, before (p=0.33) and after PSA (HR 1.91, 0.48-7.7, p=0.36). Reintervention was more common in the SR group overall (HR 1.7, 1.03-2.7, p=0.04), but there was no difference after definitive repair (HR 1.21, 0.71-2.0, p=0.49). Secondary outcomes are shown in Table 1. Conclusions: In this multicenter comparison of SR or PR for management of neonates with sTOF and hPA, after PSA, no difference in mortality was found. Neonatal morbidities largely favored the SR group, but cumulative morbidities and reintervention favored the PR group. Further study is needed to determine late impact of these early advantages to SR.

J. R. Kantor presented his dissertation on philosophical categories to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. As such, the work contained no discussion of any of the historical or contemporary topics and issues of psychology. Despite the dissertation’s omission of matters deemed to be important for psychological science, Kantor has had a significant impact on the discipline. This article addresses links between the philosophical content in Kantor’s dissertation and his contributions to the scientific discipline of psychology based on interbehaviorism.

IntroductionFor the past two decades, researchers have been using various approaches to investigate the relationship, if any, between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and violence. The need to clarify that relationship was reinforced by the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012 by an individual diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. The purpose of this article is (1) to provide an updated review of the literature on the association between ASD and violence, and (2) to examine implications for treating, and for preventing violence by, individuals with ASD.MethodA review of all published literature regarding ASD and violence from 1943 to 2014 was conducted using electronic and paper searches.ResultsAlthough some case reports have suggested an increased violence risk in individuals with ASD compared to the general population, prevalence studies have provided no conclusive evidence to support this suggestion. Among individuals with ASD, however, generative (e.g., comorbid psychopathology, social-cognition deficits, emotion-regulation problems) and associational (e.g., younger age, Asperger’s syndrome diagnosis, repetitive behavior) risk factors have been identified or proposed for violent behavior.ConclusionsWhile no conclusive evidence indicates that individuals with ASD are more violent than those without ASD, specific generative and associational risk factors may increase violence risk among individuals with ASD. Further research would help to clarify or confirm these findings, suggest potential directions for evaluation, treatment, and prevention, and potentially provide compelling empirical support for forensic testimony regarding defendants with ASD charged with violent crimes.

Seven species of Trigonalidae are recorded from Thailand, Lycogaster flavonigrata Chen, Achterberg, He & Xu, L. rufiventris (Magretti), Taeniogonalos fasciata (Strand), T. gestroi (Schulz), T. sauteri Bischoff, T. tricolor Chen, and an unidentified species. Four species, L. flavonigrata, T. cordada Chen, Achterberg, He & Xu, T. sauteri, and T. tricolor are newly recorded from Laos. Diagnoses, illustrations, and distribution records are given for the Thailand species. Trigonalys india Smith, sp. n., is described from southern India for specimens previously misidentified as T. rufiventris.

Chapter 12 discussed classification models that defined linear classification boundaries. In this chapter we present models that generate nonlinear boundaries. We begin with explaining several generalizations to the linear discriminant analysis framework such as quadratic discriminant analysis, regularized discriminant analysis, and mixture discriminant analysis (Section 13.1). Other nonlinear classification models include neural networks (Section 13.2), flexible discriminant analysis (Section 13.3), support vector machines (Section 13.4), K-nearest neighbors (Section 13.5), and naive Bayes (Section 13.6). In the Computing Section (13.7) we demonstrate how to train each of these models in R. Finally, exercises are provided at the end of the chapter to solidify the concepts.