Temporal response characterization across individual multiomics profiles of prediabetic and diabetic subjects

Longitudinal deep multi-omics profiling, which combines biomolecular, physiological, environmental and clinical measures data, shows great promise for precision health. However, integrating and understanding the complexity of such data remains a big challenge. Here we propose a bottom-up framework starting from assessing single individuals' multi-omics time series, and using individual responses to assess multi-individual grouping based directly on similarity of their longitudinal deep multi-omics profiles. We applied our method to individual profiles from a study profiling longitudinal responses in type 2 diabetes mellitus. After generating periodograms for individual subject omics signals, we constructed within-person omics networks and analyzed personal-level immune changes. The results showed that our method identified both individual-level responses to immune perturbation, and the clusters of individuals that have similar behaviors in immune response and which was associated to measures of their diabetic status.

How to save the World: Replacing “Giftedness” with “Giftingness” based on individual strengths and interests

This paper is framed as an email conversation between the authors, a lifespan developmental psychologist with expertise in the field of wisdom and an educational scientist with expertise in the field of giftedness. We discuss how giftedness is defined and whether the definition, and the concept in general, is still useful in today’s world. We draw three conclusions. First, “giftedness” has taken on a particularly literal meaning as it tends to favor students that are already privileged. Second, educational systems should aim to identify and promote all students’ individual profiles of strengths and interests instead of focusing on promoting the “gifted” ones. Third, given the current state of the world, educational systems should aim to empower “gifting” students who engage themselves for a greater good, instead of “gifted” students competing for grades and achievements.

STRATEGIES IN CONVEYING INFORMATION ABOUT UNSHARED EVENTS USING AIDED COMMUNICATION

Describing events may be challenging for any child, but children who use communication aids may face unique linguistic, pragmatic, and strategic challenges in conveying information with the communication means they have available. This study explores strategies used by young, aided communicators when describing the content of a video unknown to their communication partners. The participants of the study were 48 aided communicators (aged 5;3–15;2) from nine countries and seven language groups and their communication partners (parents, professionals, and peers) who used natural speech. Descriptive and statistical analyses were utilized to investigate the relationships between individual characteristics, linguistic and non-linguistic factors, linguistic strategies, and performance in conveying the content of the video event. Analyses of the 48 videotaped interactions revealed the use of a variety of linguistic elements and multimodal strategies, demonstrating both creativity and challenges. Success in relaying messages was significantly related to age, mode of communication, and individual profiles, such as everyday communication functioning and comprehension of grammar. Measures of receptive vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning were not significantly related to communicative success. The use of shared context and negotiation of meaning of potentially ambiguous utterances demonstrate the shared responsibility of disambiguation and meaning construction in interactions involving aided and naturally speaking communicators.

Application of the Athlete Biological Passport approach to the detection of growth hormone doping

Context Because of its anabolic and lipolytic properties, growth hormone (GH) use is prohibited in sport. Two methods based on population derived decision limits are currently used to detect human GH (hGH) abuse: the hGH Biomarkers Test and the Isoforms Differential Immunoassay. Objective Test the hypothesis that longitudinal profiling of hGH biomarkers through application of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) has the potential to flag hGH abuse. Design IGF-1 and P-III-NP distributions were obtained from 7 years of anti-doping data and applied as priors to analyse individual profiles from an hGH administration study in recreational athletes. Setting Academic and anti-doping laboratories. Elite (n=11,455) and recreational athletes (n=35). Intervention(s) An open-label, randomized, single site, placebo-controlled administration study was carried out with individuals randomly assigned to 4 arms: placebo, or 3 different doses of recombinant hGH. Main Outcome Measure(s) Serum samples were analyzed for IGF-1, P-III-NP, and hGH isoforms and the performance of a longitudinal, ABP-based approach was evaluated. Results An ABP-based approach set at a 99% specificity level flagged 20/27 individuals receiving hGH treatment, including 17/27 individuals after cessation of the treatment. ABP sensitivity ranged from 12.5-71.4 % across the hGH concentrations tested following 7 days of treatment, peaking at 57.1-100 % after 21 days of treatment, and was maintained between 37.5-71.4 % for the low and high dose groups one week after cessation of treatment. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that longitudinal profiling of hGH biomarkers can provide suitable performance characteristics for use in anti-doping programs.

Participation tactics of elite freestyle wrestlers in competition system in 2013-2016 Olympic cycle

Background and Study Aim. Tactics is one of the basic terms underlying the management of competitive activities of athletes. In freestyle wrestling, the participation tactics of athletes in the competition system is covered fragmentally and needs proper justification. The purpose of the study was to determine the features of the participation tactics of elite athletes in the competition system in freestyle wrestling during 2013-2016 Olympic cycle. Materials and Methods. This study analyzes the dynamics of performances and results of 24 elite freestyle wrestlers who won gold, silver and bronze medals at the Games of XXXI Olympiad 2016 in Rio de Janeiro in different weight categories (four athletes in each of six weight categories). To do this, we used athletes’ individual profiles on the United World Wrestling. Used an expert assessment devoted to the issues of tactics and tactical training. The experts (n = 8) were well educated (3 among them held Ph.D. diplomas) and experienced – 2 coaches of Ukrainian national team, and 1 athlete–national team’s member. On average, experts had almost 10 years of experience in training wrestlers of different ages. The results were processed using Microsoft Excel software. Results. The volume of competition practice of elite athletes during 2013-2016 changed in each season. In the 2013 season, the average group number of competitions in which athletes participated was 3.84 ± 2.06, in 2014 – 3.50 ± 1.79. In the 2015 season, those indicators were the highest – 4.17 ± 1.87, but in 2016 they decreased to 3.71 ± 1.52. The participation tactics in the competition system in freestyle wrestling during the season and the four-year cycle differed depending on the dynamics of sports results. Four types of tactics used by the elite athletes in freestyle wrestling in 2013-2016 were identified: leadership holding, gradual improving of results, combined, leadership returning. It was found that during 2013-2016, most athletes (58.33-79.17%) used a variety of tactics that involved performances in one Olympic weight category. In 2014 and 2015, some athletes (20.83 and 25.00%, respectively) used different options in other weight categories, choosing one of them as a priority and one or two – as additional. Conclusions. There are four types of participation tactics in the competition system in freestyle wrestling. In 2013-2016 Olympic cycle they included leadership holding, gradual increase of results, combined, leadership return. The main differences between types of tactics are the volume of competition practice, the dynamics of results, the choice of weight category. The most relevant was the type of tactics with performances exclusively in the Olympic weight category during four seasons.

Hippocampal Metabolic Subregions and Networks: Behavioral, Molecular and Pathological Aging Profiles

Purpose: Hippocampal dysfunction happens across many neuropsychiatric disorders and is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease with evidenced metabolic alterations. However, while metabolic changes are a key aspect of Alzheimer’s disease, hippocampal metabolic networks, as defined by metabolic covariance, haven’t been identified in healthy populations. As the hippocampus portrays cytoarchitectural, connectional, and functional heterogeneity, heterogeneous patterns of metabolic covariance could be expected. Methods: We first characterized this heterogeneity with a data-driven approach by identifying the spatial pattern of hippocampus differentiation based on metabolic covariance with the rest of the brain in FDG-PET data of large healthy elderly cohort (n=362). Then, we characterized the metabolic networks of the robustly defined subregions. In the following, we characterized the disentangled hippocampal metabolic networks with regards to behavioral and neurotransmitter systems using quantitative decoding. Finally, we examined how the local metabolism in the hippocampal subregions is influenced by Alzheimer’s disease pathology in a cohort of ADNI participants (n = 580). Results: Based on hippocampal-brain metabolic covariance in a healthy elderly cohort, we found a differentiation into primarily anterior vs. posterior and secondarily Cornu Ammonis (CA) vs. subiculum subregions. Characterizing the associated metabolic networks revealed that the anterior-subiculum network including temporal-pole and orbitofrontal regions relates to self, motivation and mentalizing behavior and is influenced by dopaminergic systems. In contrast, the posterior-subiculum shows a wide cortical network engaged in action- and world-oriented cognition targeted by serotoninergic systems. The anterior- and posterior-CA, connected respectively to amygdala and broader subcortical networks, are associated to several transporters release. Local metabolism comparison between Alzheimer’s disease-related diagnosis groups revealed early CA’s alterations while posterior subicular alterations appear at advanced stages in line with broader cortical atrophy and behavioral dysfunctions.Conclusion: Future studies should delineate patients’ individual profiles according to hippocampal subregions and networks.

Diagnostic Relations between Pressure and Entropy Perturbations for Acoustic and Entropy Modes

Diagnostics and decomposition of atmospheric disturbances in a planar flow are considered and applied to numerical modelling with the direct possibility to use in atmosphere monitoring especially in such strong events which follow magnetic storms and other large scale atmospheric phenomena. The study examines a situation in which the stationary equilibrium temperature of a gas may depend on a vertical coordinate, which essentially complicates the diagnostics. The relations connecting perturbations for acoustic and entropy (stationary) modes are analytically established and led to the solvable diagnostic equations. These equations specify acoustic and entropy modes in an arbitrary stratified gas under the condition of stability. The diagnostic relations are independent of time and specify the acoustic and the entropy modes. They provide the ability to decompose the total vector of perturbations into acoustic and non-acoustic (entropy) parts uniquely at any instant within the total accessible heights range. As a prospective model, we consider the diagnostics at the height interval 120–180 km, where the equilibrium temperature of a gas depends linearly on the vertical coordinate. For such a heights range it is possible to proceed with analytical expressions for pressure and entropy perturbations of gas variables. Individual profiles of acoustic and entropy parts for some data are illustrated by the plots for the pure numerical data against those obtained by the model. The total energy of a flow is determined for both approaches and its vertical profiles are compared.

Representing Chinese Indonesians: Pribumi Discourse and Regional Elections in Post-Reform Indonesia

Utilising Pitkin’s concept of representation, this article surveys the landscape of Chinese Indonesian political representation since the advent of regional elections in 1999. Analyses of the dataset of individual profiles of Chinese Indonesian executives, as they adopt inclusive-pairing tactics by taking on deputised roles or appeal using charisma, had demonstrated that there was a visible transition from “descriptive” towards more “substantive” forms of political representation in various constituencies – seen as the most important dimension of ideal representation despite the presence of soft ethnic politics. Recent appeals to indigenism ( pribumi-ism), especially in the wake of Jakarta governor Ahok’s failed re-election bid in 2017, had the effect of confining representational politics towards the narrow margins of ethnicity above all else. This article looks at the precarity of thedivide between pribumis and Chinese Indonesians ( Tionghoa) from the perspective of political representation at the regions and fills in the lacuna of political representativeness in post-reform Indonesia – overlooked so far by critiques of democracy. .

Exploring Intraindividual Profiles for Home Buildings Based on Architectural Compositional Elements and Psychological Health Factors: A Transdisciplinary Approach

Based on the transactional and salutogenic perspectives, we explored individual profiles that integrate psychosocial factors and compositional elements of the built home environment. Adults with different socio-demographic characteristics completed several self-report measures on psychological factors (personality traits, self-efficacy, mental health, and happiness) and architectural elements constituting the ideal home environment. Adopting an individual-centered perspective, three distinct intra-individual psycho-architectural (person-environment) profiles were found with different compositional preferences and psychosocial characteristics in terms of functioning, health, and well-being: endopathic (characterized by higher levels of psychosocial resources and well-being indicating a highly adapted and successful profile, and architectural preferences corresponding to their identities and experiences—expression through spaces), assimilative (characterized by average levels in all regulatory parameters indicating moderately adaptive individuals, and architectural preferences of spaces created in interactive processes—introjection of spaces), and additive individuals (characterized by a comparatively dysfunctional, poorer psychosocial profile, and architectural preferences in line with provoking a restorative effect—change with spaces). An awareness of the psychosocial features of the users for whom the homes are built can help in designing spaces to inhabit that are adapted to them for an enhancement of their overall well-being. Therefore, a better understanding of the interconnections between psychology and architecture will help in designing healthy spaces.

FUTURE ATCO OFFICERS’ INDIVIDUAL PROFILES FORMING

The aim: The aim of this article, taking into account aviation personnel professional training evolution and information technologies development, is a presentation of approach to problems solving, relating to future air traffic controllers training personalization by means of training individual profiles forming, taking into account their cognitive characteristics. The method: The approach, which is based on selected criteria – oriented test, by means of which the proper training styles defined, is described in this article. The results: depending on the defined training style, the variants of instructor’s guidance of knowledge, skills and habits acquisition process will be defined. The discussion: In future it provides the possibility to project the training packages according to ‘pupils’ individualized cognitive abilities, relating to reception of professionally oriented training materials.