Comparisons of intervention components within augmentative and alternative communication systems for individuals with developmental disabilities: A review of the literature

Decisions regarding augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for individuals with developmental disabilities (e.g. what AAC to use and how to teach a person to use a specific AAC modality) should involve consideration of different intervention component options. In an effort to elucidate such decisions and options, this review synthesized 14 studies, published between 2004 and 2012, comparing different AAC intervention components including different symbol sets, instructional strategies, or speech output within aided AAC systems, and different verbal operants within unaided AAC. Evidence supported the following: (a) different instructional strategies such as building motivation, using errorless learning, or adding video models to picture exchange interventions may improve the acquisition or rate of acquisition of picture exchange mands, (b) limited data supports training mimetic (imitated) or mand signs over tacts and (c) differences in symbol sets and speech output levels appeared to have little effect on AAC-based mand acquisition, but listener-based differences should be considered. These findings have implications for future research and clinical practice.     

Comparison of lactate,bilirubin and hemoglobin F concentrations obtained by the ABL 700 series blood gas analyzers with laboratory methods

OBJECTIVE: To compare lactate, bilirubin and Hemoglobin F concentrations obtained on ABL 700 series blood gas analyzers with those from laboratory methods. DESIGN AND METHOD: Pooled neonatal plasma, cord blood and adult plasma samples were used for comparison of bilirubin, hemoglobin F and lactate concentrations respectively. RESULTS: Results obtained on the ABL 700 series compared favorably (Deming regression slopes 0.97-1.13) with those from laboratory methods. For lactate ABL (y) = 1.13 Vitros (x) -0.43 with a CI (slope) of 1.10 to 1.16, CI (int) of -0.61 to -0.28. For hemoglobin F ABL(y) = 1.11 Variant (x) -8.0 with a CI (slope) of 0.88 to 1.33, CI (int) of -25.3 to 9.3. The three bilirubin comparisons are as follows: 1) Unistat (y) = 1.10 Vitros (x) -16.12 with CI (slope) of 1.06 to 1.14 and CI (int) of -25.3 to -6.9. 2), ABL (y) = 0.97 Vitros(x) -10.16 with CI (slope) of 0.94 to 1.00 and CI (int) of -17.6 to 2.73) Unistat (y) = 1.14 (x)-4.58 with CI (slope) of 1.09 to 1.18 and CI (int) of -13.6 to 4.5. CONCLUSION: The ABL 700 series gave comparable results for lactate, bilirubin and hemoglobin F with laboratory methods and may be used in patient care.     

Substance Use,Mental Disorders,Abuse, and Crime: Gender Comparisons Among a National Sample of Adolescent Drug Treatment Clients

ABSTRACT

This paper describes important gender comparisons in drug and alcohol use, illegal activity, physical and sexual abuse, and mental health problems among a large sample of adolescents (N = 3,382) who were treated from 1993 to 1995 in adolescent-oriented drug programs that participated in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study of Adolescents. Most of the adolescents reported regular use of marijuana and alcohol; males had higher rates of illegal activity and involvement with the juvenile justice system; females reported more sexual abuse, while males reported more physical abuse; and males and females had equal rates of conduct disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.     

Bayesian and Frequentist Methodologies for Analyzing Method Comparison Studies With Multiple Methods

Evaluation of agreement among multiple methods of clinical measurement is a topic of considerable interest in health sciences. As in an analysis of variance comparing more than two treatment means, when more than two measurement methods are compared, performing multiple comparisons and ranking pairs of methods on the basis of their extent of agreement are of primary concern. This article develops frequentist and Bayesian methodologies for this purpose. In particular, simultaneous confidence bounds and simultaneous credible bounds are developed for multiple comparisons. Moreover, two approaches are described for ranking method pairs—one based on simultaneous bounds and the other based on posterior probabilities of possible orderings. The proposed methodologies can be used with any scalar measure of agreement. Their small-sample performance is evaluated using simulation. Extension of the basic methodologies to incorporate covariates is illustrated using a blood pressure dataset.     

Multiple unit activity recorded longitudinally in rats from pubescence to old age

—Longitudinal multiple unit activity (MUA) recordings of excellent quality over time periods as long as 26 months are described. The validity of the method was demonstrated by showing persistence of specific and idiosyncratic MUA responses to controlled sensory stimulation over these long time periods. This longitudinal MUA method was used to study level of localized neuronal activity as a function of aging. In agreement with deoxyglucose data from Sokoloff's laboratory, we found significant age-related declines in inferior and superior colliculi. In addition, our results showed the advantage of a longitudinal method over a cross-sectional one in following progressive changes into old age. The further declines in midbrain MUA level (though not in forebrain level) from middle age to old age that we observed were highly significant. The deoxyglucose method, on the other hand, had failed to show this kind of progression in those midbrain sites, probably because of a survival effect, a common sampling artifact in cross-sectional studies of aging.