Explore the vast range of titles available.

Previous work suggests that key factors for replicability, a necessary feature for theory building, include statistical power and appropriate research planning. These factors are examined by analyzing a collection of 12 standardized meta-analyses on language development between birth and 5 years. With a median effect size of Cohen's d = .45 and typical sample size of 18 participants, most research is underpowered (range = 6%-99%; median = 44%); and calculating power based on seminal publications is not a suitable strategy. Method choice can be improved, as shown in analyses on exclusion rates and effect size as a function of method. The article ends with a discussion on how to increase replicability in both language acquisition studies specifically and developmental research more generally.

This commentary highlights the critical role of sleep as a public health issue, particularly during a stressful life period such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides evidence-based practical guidelines to manage sleep disturbances during this crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic and the imposed social confinement have produced significant stress, anxiety, and worries about health and the fear of being infected, jobs and financial problems, and uncertainty about the future. The incidence of sleep disturbances has also increased dramatically during this period. Aside from stress and anxiety, two other factors are likely to contribute to increased sleep disturbances during this crisis. First, alterations of our daily routines such as arising at a specific time, showing up at work, eating, exercising, and engaging in social and leisure activities at relatively fixed times are all important timekeepers for our sleep-wake cycles to remain synchronized with the day (light) and night (dark) cycles. Alterations of these timekeepers, combined with reduced daylight exposure, also essential to keep our biological clock synchronized, are likely to disrupt sleep and circadian rhythms. Sleep plays a fundamental role for mental and physical health, and adequate sleep duration and quality are essential for coping with major life events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health education is warranted to keep the population well informed about the importance of sleep and healthy sleep practices in order to cope with the pandemic and prevent or minimize long-term adverse outcomes.

Purpose Since 2012, PCORI has been funding patient-centered comparative effectiveness research with a requirement for engaging patients and other stakeholders in the research, a requirement that is unique among the US funders of clinical research. This paper presents PCORI's evaluation framework for assessing the short- and long-term impacts of engagement; describes engagement in PCORI projects (types of stakeholders engaged, when in the research process they are engaged and how they are engaged, contributions of their engagement); and identifies the effects of engagement on study design, processes, and outcomes selection, as reported by both PCORI-funded investigators and patient and other stakeholder research partners. Methods Detailed quantitative and qualitative information collected annually from investigators and their partners was analyzed via descriptive statistics and cross-sectional qualitative content and thematic analysis, and compared against the outcomes expected from the evaluation framework and its underlying conceptual model. Results The data support the role of engaged research partners in refinements to the research questions, selection of interventions to compare, choice of study outcomes and how they are measured, contributions to strategies for recruitment, and ensuring studies are patient-centered. Conclusions The evaluation framework and the underlying conceptual model are supported by results to date. PCORI will continue to assess the effects of engagement as the funded projects progress toward completion, dissemination, and uptake into clinical decision making.

It was examined how ventral striatum responses to rewards develop across adolescence and early adulthood and how individual différences in state- and trait-level reward sensitivity are related to these changes. Participants (aged 8-29 years) were tested across three waves separated by 2 years (693 functional MRI scans) in an accelerated longitudinal design. The results confirmed an adolescent peak in reward-related ventral striatum, specifically nucleus accumbens, activity. In early to mid-adolescence, increases in reward activation were related to trait-level reward drive. In mid-adolescence to early adulthood decreases in reward activation were related to decreases in state-level hedonic reward pleasure. This study demonstrates that state- and trait-level reward sensitivity account for reward-related ventral striatum activity in different phases of adolescence and early adulthood.

Citizen science has the potential to expand the scope and scale of research in ecology and conservation, but many professional researchers remain skeptical of data produced by nonexperts. We devised an approach for producing accurate, reliable data from untrained, nonexpert volunteers. On the citizen science website www.snapshotserengeti.org, more than 28,000 volunteers classified 1.51 million images taken in a large-scale camera-trap survey in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Each image was circulated to, on average, 27 volunteers, and their classifications were aggregated using a simple plurality algorithm. We validated the aggregated answers against a data set of 3829 images verified by experts and calculated 3 certainty metrics—level of agreement among classifications (evenness), fraction of classifications supporting the aggregated answer (fraction support), and fraction of classifiers who reported \"nothing here\" for an image that was ultimately classified as containing an animal (fraction blank)—to measure confidence that an aggregated answer was correct. Overall, aggregated volunteer answers agreed with the expert-verified data on 98% of images, but accuracy differed by species commonness such that rare species had higher rates of false positives and false negatives. Easily calculated analysis of variance and post-hoc Tukey tests indicated that the certainty metrics were significant indicators of whether each image was correctly classified or classifiable. Thus, the certainty metrics can be used to identify images for expert review. Bootstrapping analyses further indicated that 90% of images were correctly classified with just 5 volunteers per image. Species classifications based on the plurality vote of multiple citizen scientists can provide a reliable foundation for large-scale monitoring of African wildlife. La ciencia ciudadana tiene el potencial de expandir el alcance y la escala de la investigación en la ecología y la conservación, pero muchos investigadores profesionales permanecen escépticos sobre los datos producidos por quienes no son expertos. Diseñamos una estrategia para generar datos precisos y fiables a partir de voluntarios no expertos y sin entrenamiento. En el sitio web de ciencia ciudadana www.snapshotserengeti.org más de 28, 000 voluntarios clasificaron 1.51 millón de imágenes que fueron tomadas en un censo a gran escala de cámaras trampa en el Parque Nacional Serengueti, Tanzania. Cada imagen llegó, en promedio, hasta 27 voluntarios, cuyas clasificaciones se conjuntaron mediante el uso de un algoritmo de pluralidad simple. Validamos el conjunto de respuestas frente a un juego de datos de 3, 829 imágenes verificadas por expertos y calculamos tres medidas de certeza: nivel de concordancia entre las clasificaciones (uniformidad), fracción de clasificaciones que apoyan al conjunto de respuestas (fracción de apoyo) y fracción de clasificadores que reportaron \"nada aquí\" en una imagen que al final se clasificó como que sí tenía un animal (fracción en blanco). Estas medidas se usaron para estimar la confianza de que un conjunto de respuestas estuviera en lo correcto. En general, el conjunto de respuestas de los voluntarios estuvo de acuerdo con los datos verificados por los expertos en un 98% de las imágenes, pero la certeza varió según la preponderancia de la especie, de tal forma que las especies raras tuvieron una tasa más alta de falsos positivos y falsos negativos. El análisis de varianza calculado fácilmente y las pruebas post-hoc de Tukey indicaron que las medidas de certeza fueron indicadores significativos de si cada imagen estuvo clasificada correctamente o si era clasificable. Por esto, las medidas de certeza pueden utilizarse para identificar imágenes para una revisión de expertos. Los análisis de bootstrapping indicaron más a fondo que el 90 % de las imágenes estuvieron clasificadas correctamente con sólo cinco voluntarios por imagen. Las clasificaciones de especies basadas en el voto de pluralidad de múltiples científicos ciudadanos puede proporcionar un fundamento fiable para un monitoreo a gran escala de la vida silvestre africana.

Purpose Clinical outcome assessments (COAs) require evidence not only of reliability, validity, and ability to detect change, but also a definition of what constitutes a meaningful change on the instrument. The responder definition specifies the amount of change on the COA that may be interpreted as a treatment benefit and is critical for interpreting what constitutes a meaningful change on the COA scores. However, the literature that describes methods for developing and applying responder definitions can be difficult to navigate. Clear and concise guidelines regarding which methods to apply under what circumstances and how to interpret the results are lacking. This article provides a guide to the variety of available methods and issues that should be considered when establishing responder definitions for interpreting meaningful changes in COA scores. Methods An overview is provided for selecting anchors, developing study designs, planning psychometric analyses, using psychometric results to set responder thresholds, and applying responder thresholds in demonstrating treatment efficacy. Results There are a variety of anchor-based methods for consideration, but they all rely on a preference for strongly related and easily interprétable anchors. The benefits of applying multiple anchors and multiple analytic methods are discussed. The process of triangulation can synthesize results across multiple sources to gain confidence in a proposed responder definition. Though a link to meaningfulness from the patient's perspective is absent, distribution-based methods provide lower bound estimates of score precision and have a role in triangulation. Responder definitions are typically required within regulatory review, but their application may differ across clinical trial programs. Conclusions By careful planning of anchor selection, study design, and psychometric methods, COA researchers can establish defensible responder thresholds that ultimately aid patients and clinicians in making informed treatment decisions.

In December 2019, a new severe respiratory coronavirus infection (COVID-19) was detected and has since spread across the globe to be ultimately declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. For physicians and allied medical professionals, the period since has been marked by an increased and rapidly changing flow of information from multiple regional, national and international health authorities, regulating bodies and professional associations. Although social media platforms have an active presence in the instant dissemination of information and medical professionals display active participation in them, traditional channels such as email are still being emphasized as a means of communication. This article discusses the opportunities offered by social media platforms such as Facebook, Reddit and TikTok to disseminate medical information both for the use of physicians and as a means to communicate essential information to the public at large.

Several experts have warned that the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated confinement measures may have taken a devastating toll on youth mental health. While the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly created important challenges for children and youth, these claims vastly rely on cross-sectional data collected during the pandemic, from which it is difficult to draw firm conclusions. In this commentary, we offer a critical appraisal of the evidence from emerging longitudinal studies spanning the pre- and intra-pandemic period with a focus on internalizing and externalizing disorders, suicidality, eating disorders and substance use. We also discuss important research considerations in the monitoring of the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth mental health as well as promising interventions to help mitigate potential long-lasting consequences of this unprecedented public health crisis. Plusieurs experts ont prévenu que la pandémie actuelle de coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) et les mesures de distanciation sociale adoptées pourraient avoir un effet dévastateur sur la santé mentale des jeunes. Bien que la pandémie de COVID-19 ait certainement créé d’importants défis pour les enfants et les adolescents, les connaissances à ce sujet reposent principalement sur des données transversales collectées en cours de pandémie, à partir desquelles il peut être difficile de tirer des conclusions définitives. Dans ce commentaire, nous offrons une revue critique des évidences provenant d’études longitudinales émergentes couvrant la période pré- et intra-pandémique en mettant l’accent sur les troubles internalisés et externalisés, le risque suicidaire, les troubles alimentaires et l’usage de substances. Nous discutons également les considérations de recherche importantes pour le suivi des effets à long terme de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur la santé mentale des jeunes et proposons certaines interventions prometteuses pour réduire les conséquences permanentes potentielles de cette crise de santé publique sans précédent.

This commentary discusses the contributions that One Health (OH) principles can make in improving the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We highlight four areas where the application of OH has the potential to significantly improve the governance of infectious diseases in general, and of COVID-19 in particular. First, more integrated surveillance infrastructure and monitoring of the occurrence of infectious diseases in both humans and animals can facilitate the detection of new infectious agents sharing similar genotypes across species and the monitoring of the spatio-temporal spread of such infections. This knowledge can guide public and animal health officials in their response measures. Second, application of the OH approach can improve coordination and active collaboration among stakeholders representing apparently incompatible domains. Third, the OH approach highlights the need for an effective institutional landscape, facilitating adequate regulation of hotspots for transmission of infectious agents among animals and humans, such as live animal markets. And finally, OH thinking emphasizes the need for equitable solutions to infectious disease challenges, suggesting that policy response mechanisms and interventions need to be reflective of the disproportionate disease burdens borne by vulnerable and marginalized populations, or by persons providing health care and other essential services to those sick.

Adolescents' evaluations of discriminatory race-based humor and their expectations about peer responses to discrimination were investigated in 8th- (Mage = 13.80) and 10th-grade (Mage = 16.11) primarily European-American participants (N = 256). Older adolescents judged race-based humor as more acceptable than did younger adolescents and were less likely to expect peer intervention. Participants who rejected discrimination were more likely to reference welfare/rights and prejudice and to anticipate that peers would intervene. Showing awareness of group processes, adolescents who rejected race-based humor believed that peers who intervened would be more likely to be excluded. They also disapproved of exclusion more than did participants who supported race-based humor. Results expose the complexity of situations involving subtle discrimination. Implications for bullying interventions are discussed.