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Fast, efficient and accurate triggers are a critical requirement for modern high energy physics experiments given the increasingly large quantities of data that they produce. The CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS12) employs a highly efficient electron trigger to filter the amount of data recorded by requiring at least one electron candidate in each event, at the cost of a low purity in electron identification. However, machine learning algorithms are increasingly employed for classification tasks such as particle identification due to their high accuracy and fast processing times. In this proceeding we present recently published work that showed how a convolutional neural network could be deployed as a Level 3 electron trigger at CLAS12. We demonstrate that this AI trigger would achieve a significant data reduction compared to the conventional CLAS12 electron trigger, whilst preserving a 99.5% electron identification efficiency, at nominal CLAS12 beam currents.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Non-consensual distribution of intimate images (NCDII) is a growing problem as Canadians continue to engage in the majority of their communications through digital means. In this article, [...]

Introduction Chatbots emulate human-like interactions and may usefully provide on-demand access to tailored smoking cessation support. We have developed a prototype smartphone application-based smoking cessation chatbot, named Quin, grounded in real-world, evidence-, and theory-based smoking cessation counseling sessions. Methods Conversation topics and interactions in Quitline counseling sessions (N  = 30; 18 h) were characterized using thematic, content, and proponent analyses of transcripts. Quin was created by programming this content using a chatbot framework which interacts with users via speech to text. Reiterative changes and additions were made to the conversation structure and dialogue following regular consultation with a multidisciplinary team from relevant fields, and from evidence-based resources. Results Chatbot conversations were encoded into initial and scheduled follow-up "appointments." Collection of demographic information, and smoking and quit history, informed tailored discussion about pharmacotherapy preferences, behavioral strategies, and social and professional support to form a quit plan. Follow-up appointments were programmed to check in on user progress, review elements of the quit plan, answer questions, and solve issues. Quin was programmed to include teachable moments and educational content to enhance health literacy and informed decision-making. Personal agency is encouraged through exploration and self-reflection of users' personal behaviors, experiences, preferences, and ideas. Conclusions Quin's successful development represents a movement toward improving access to personalized smoking cessation support. Qualitative foundations of Quin provide greater insight into the smoking cessation counseling relationship and enhances the conversational ability of the technology. The prototype chatbot will be refined through beta-testing with end users and stakeholders prior to evaluation in a clinical trial. Implications Our novel study provides transparent description of the translation of qualitative evidence of real-world smoking cessation counseling sessions into the design and development of a prototype smoking cessation chatbot. The successful iterative development of Quin not only embodies the science and art of health promotion, but also a step forward in expanding the reach of tailored, evidence based, in-pocket support for people who want to quit smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Dementia risk may be elevated in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Reasons for this remain unclear, and this elevation has yet to be shown at a national population level. METHODS: We tested whether dementia was more prevalent in disadvantaged neighborhoods across the New Zealand population (N = 1.41 million analytic sample) over a 20‐year observation. We then tested whether premorbid dementia risk factors and MRI‐measured brain‐structure antecedents were more prevalent among midlife residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods in a population‐representative NZ‐birth‐cohort (N = 938 analytic sample). RESULTS: People residing in disadvantaged neighborhoods were at greater risk of dementia (HR per‐quintile‐disadvantage‐increase = 1.09, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.08‐1.10) and, decades before clinical endpoints typically emerge, evidenced elevated dementia‐risk scores (CAIDE, LIBRA, Lancet, ANU‐ADRI, DunedinARB; β's 0.31‐0.39) and displayed dementia‐associated brain structural deficits and cognitive difficulties/decline. DISCUSSION: Disadvantaged neighborhoods have more residents with dementia, and decades before dementia is diagnosed, residents have more dementia‐risk factors and brain‐structure antecedents. Whether or not neighborhoods causally influence risk, they may offer scalable opportunities for primary dementia prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telephone-based services are a practical and effective behavioral support for smoking cessation, yet no in-depth analyses of this counseling have been conducted. Understanding the general content of Quitline conversations can help to improve current practices and may inform future interventions. Therefore, we aimed to independently explore conversation themes, topics, and client questions during Quitline counseling sessions with Quitline clients in Queensland, Australia. A purposive sample of 30 recorded counseling sessions, completed between January and March 2019, were de-identified, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. Seven themes, encompassing 35 topics, were derived from 26 initial calls and four follow-up calls: (1) Client details and building rapport; (2) Client history and motivation to quit; (3) Pharmacotherapy; (4) Behavioral aspects of quitting and relationship with smoking; (5) Understanding nicotine dependence and other important considerations; (6) Additional support and smoking cessation resources; and (7) Planning, goal setting and follow-up. Three themes emerged from 18 client questions including (1) Pharmacotherapy safety and contraindications; (2) Pharmacotherapy instructions and mechanism of action; and (3) Physiology of nicotine dependence. This is the first qualitative analysis of the content of Quitline counseling sessions in Australia. Counselors collect and deliver a breadth of information to provide tailored, evidence-based health care, while building rapport and trust. Findings may be translatable into personalized self-help interventions that are more accessible or appealing to people reluctant to contact Quitline. Harnessing educational opportunities regarding pharmacotherapy adherence and misconceptions can improve client confidence in the product and smoking cessation outcomes. Further research will map conversations to motivational interviewing and behavior change techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mapping individual differences in brain function has been hampered by poor reliability as well as limited interpretability. Leveraging patterns of brain‐wide functional connectivity (FC) offers some promise in this endeavor. In particular, a macroscale principal FC gradient that recapitulates a hierarchical organization spanning molecular, cellular, and circuit level features along a sensory‐to‐association cortical axis has emerged as both a parsimonious and interpretable measure of individual differences in behavior. However, the measurement reliabilities of this FC gradient have not been fully evaluated. Here, we assess the reliabilities of both global and regional principal FC gradient measures using test–retest data from the young adult Human Connectome Project (HCP‐YA) and the Dunedin Study. Analyses revealed that the reliabilities of principal FC gradient measures were (1) consistently higher than those for traditional edge‐wise FC measures, (2) higher for FC measures derived from general FC (GFC) in comparison with resting‐state FC, and (3) higher for longer scan lengths. We additionally examined the relative utility of these principal FC gradient measures in predicting cognition and aging in both datasets as well as the HCP‐aging dataset. These analyses revealed that regional FC gradient measures and global gradient range were significantly associated with aging in all three datasets, and moderately associated with cognition in the HCP‐YA and Dunedin Study datasets, reflecting contractions and expansions of the cortical hierarchy, respectively. Collectively, these results demonstrate that measures of the principal FC gradient, especially derived using GFC, effectively capture a reliable feature of the human brain subject to interpretable and biologically meaningful individual variation, offering some advantages over traditional edge‐wise FC measures in the search for brain–behavior associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective of our study was to investigate whether retinal neuronal measurements were associated with structural brain measurements in a middle-aged population-based cohort.Participants and Methods: Participants were members of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (n=1037; a longitudinal cohort followed from birth and at ages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, 26, 32, 38, and most recently at age 45, when 94% of the living Study members participated). Retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GC-IPL) thickness were measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Brain age gap estimate (brainAGE), cortical surface area, cortical thickness, subcortical grey matter volumes, white matter hyperintensities, were measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).Results: Participants with both MRI and OCT data were included in the analysis (RNFL n=828, female n=413 [49.9%], male n=415 [50.1%]; GC-IPL n=825, female n=413 [50.1%], male n=412 [49.9%]). Thinner retinal neuronal layers were associated with older brain age, smaller cortical surface area, thinner average cortex, smaller subcortical grey matter volumes, and increased volume of white matter hyperintensities.Conclusion: These findings provide evidence that the retinal neuronal layers reflect differences in midlife structural brain integrity consistent with increased risk for later AD, supporting the proposition that the retina may be an early biomarker of brain health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide an outline of the Dolores chatbot designed to gather data and provide information to people living with chronic pain. Dolores is equipped with selective language levels to provide language appropriate responses for all ages. A recent pilot study (N = 60) of adolescents, young-adults and adults was completed and the frequented topics that were accessed are summarised here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sleep is known to contribute to memory consolidation. Sleep-dependent memory is not often studied in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), however, due to the need to attend sleep laboratories which are typically expensive, time-consuming and lacking in trained task administrators. We developed a conversation agent able to deliver a sleep-dependent memory task at home. Utility of the chatbot was confirmed through in-house testing and focus groups. The chatbot promises consistent task delivery and improved access for people with MCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Being able to successfully self‐regulate one's activity levels is a key adaptation strategy for many people with chronic pain. This study aimed to explore the clinical utility of a mobile health platform (Pain ROADMAP) for assisting with the delivery of a tailored activity modulation intervention for people with persistent pain. Methods: Twenty adults with chronic pain undertook 1‐week monitoring intervals which involved wearing an Actigraph activity monitor and entering pain, opioid use, and activity participation data into a custom‐made phone app. The Pain ROADMAP online portal integrated and analysed the data to detect activities that caused a severe pain exacerbation and provided summary statistics pertaining the data collected. As part of a 15‐week treatment protocol, participants received feedback from three dispersed Pain ROADMAP monitoring periods. Treatment focused on adapting pain‐provoking activities, gradually increase goal‐related activity and optimizing routine. Results: Results revealed good participant acceptability of monitoring procedures and reasonable adherence to both monitoring procedures and clinical follow‐up appointments. Preliminary efficacy was established through clinically meaningful decreases in overactivity behaviour, pain variation, opioid use, depression, activity avoidance, and increases in productivity. No adverse outcomes were observed. Conclusion: The results of this study provide initial support for the clinical utility of mHealth assisted activity modulation interventions that involve remote monitoring. Significance: This is the first study to demonstrate how mHealth innovations that utilise ecological momentary assessment can be successfully integrated with wearable technologies to provide a tailored activity modulation intervention that is both highly valued by people with chronic pain and assists individuals to make constructive behavioural changes. Adaptions such as low costs sensors, increased customisability and gamification may be important for enhanced uptake, adherence and scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropsychological evidence supports the developmental taxonomy theory of antisocial behavior, suggesting that abnormal brain development distinguishes life-course-persistent from adolescence-limited antisocial behavior. Recent neuroimaging work confirmed that prospectively-measured life-course-persistent antisocial behavior is associated with differences in cortical brain structure. Whether this extends to subcortical brain structures remains uninvestigated. This study compared subcortical gray-matter volumes between 672 members of the Dunedin Study previously defined as exhibiting life-course-persistent, adolescence-limited or low-level antisocial behavior based on repeated assessments at ages 7–26 years. Gray-matter volumes of 10 subcortical structures were compared across groups. The life-course-persistent group had lower volumes of amygdala, brain stem, cerebellum, hippocampus, pallidum, thalamus, and ventral diencephalon compared to the low-antisocial group. Differences between life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited individuals were comparable in effect size to differences between life-course-persistent and low-antisocial individuals, but were not statistically significant due to less statistical power. Gray-matter volumes in adolescence-limited individuals were near the norm in this population-representative cohort and similar to volumes in low-antisocial individuals. Although this study could not establish causal links between brain volume and antisocial behavior, it constitutes new biological evidence that all people with antisocial behavior are not the same, supporting a need for greater developmental and diagnostic precision in clinical, forensic, and policy-based interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundLifespace is a multidimensional construct that describes the geographic area in which a person lives and conducts their activities, and reflects mobility, health, and well-being. Traditionally, it has been measured by asking older people to self-report the length and frequency of trips taken and assistance required. Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors on smartphones have been used to measure Lifespace of older people, but not with people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to investigate whether GPS data collected via smartphones could be used to indicate the Lifespace of people with PD. MethodsThe dataset was supplied via the Michael J Fox Foundation Data Challenge and included 9 people with PD and 7 approximately matched controls. Participants carried smartphones with GPS sensors over two months. Data analysis compared the PD group and the control group. The impact of symptom severity on Lifespace was also investigated. ResultsVisualization methods for comparing Lifespace were developed including scatterplots and heatmaps. Lifespace metrics for comparison included average daily distance, percentage of time spent at home, and number of trips into the community. There were no significant differences between the PD and the control groups on Lifespace metrics. Visual representations of Lifespace were organized based on the self-reported severity of symptoms, suggesting a trend of decreasing Lifespace with increasing PD symptoms. ConclusionsLifespace measured by GPS-enabled smartphones may be a useful concept to measure the progression of PD and the impact of various therapies and rehabilitation programs. Directions for future use of GPS-based Lifespace are provided.

This paper describes several major optimization techniques, such as FDTD-simulated annealing (SA), FEM-Genetic algorithms (GA), and FD-TD-particle swarm optimization (PSO) and frequency domain FEM-PSO used for high-frequency electromagnetics and their applications in smart mobile terminal antenna (SMTA) design. Two SMTAs, a dielectric embedded electronically switched multi-beam (DE-ESMB) antenna and a dielectric embedded electronically steerable passive array radiator (DE-ESPAR) antenna, were successfully developed by using these multi-objective optimization techniques. The design considerations and rules based on computational electromagnetics and optimization techniques are explored for the practical application of dielectric embedded SMTAs. Index Terms--Dielectric embedded electronically switched multi-beam antenna, genetic algorithms, multi-objective optimization, particle swarm optimization, simulated annealing, smart mobile terminal antennas.

Introduction: Mobile smoking cessation (mCessation) apps have the potential to complement and enhance existing interventions, but many are of low quality. Exploring app reviews can provide a broader understanding of user experiences and engagement, to enhance the quality, acceptability, and effectiveness of future developments.Methods: Publicly available user reviews and ratings of smoking cessation apps were mined from Google Play and the App Store via a targeted two-stage search strategy. English language smoking cessation apps with at least 20 consumer reviews between 2011 and 2020 were included. User reviews were thematically analyzed using Braun and Clarke's framework. Apps were independently scored using the Mobile Apps Rating Scale (MARS) and compared to average user star ratings.Results: Forty-eight versions of 42 apps, encompassing 1414 associated reviews, met eligibility criteria. Inductive coding of reviews produced 1084 coding references including reviews coded across multiple nodes. Themes generated included: (1) supportive characteristics/tools; (2) useability; (3) influence on smoking behavior; (4) benefits of quitting; and (5) role as a supplementary tool for quitting. The mean MARS score of 36 free and accessible apps was 3.10 (SD 0.71) with mean scores ranging from 2.00 to 4.47. An inverse relationship between MARS scores and average user star ratings was observed.Conclusions: App personalization, relationality, functionality, and credibility were important to users, and should be considered as key design components for future apps. Differences between user star ratings and MARS scores may illustrate competing priorities of consumers and researchers, and the importance of a codesign development method.Implications: This is the first study to use unsolicited user reviews from a large population to understand the general mCessation user experience in relation to making a quit attempt. Our findings highlight specific features favored and disliked by users, including their influence on engagement, and supports previous findings that mCessation applications need to be highly tailorable, functional, credible, and supportive. We recommend a consumer-driven, co-design approach for future mCessation app developments to optimize user acceptability and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Lifespace, the physical area in which someone conducts life activities, indicates lived community mobility. This study explored the feasibility of technology‐based lifespace measurement for older people with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), including the generation of a range of lifespace metrics, and investigation of relationships with health and mobility status. Methods: An exploratory study was conducted within a longitudinal observational study. Eighteen older adults (mean age 86.7 years (SD: 3.2); 8 men; 15 MCI), participated. Lifespace metrics were generated from geolocation data (GPS and Bluetooth beacon) collected through a smartphone application for one week (2015–2016). Cognitive and mobility‐related outcomes were compared from study data sets at baseline (2005–2007) and 6‐year follow‐up (2011–2014). Results: Lifespace data could be collected from all participants, and metrics were generated including percentage of time at home, maximum distance from home, episodes of travel in a week, days in a week participants left home, lifespace area (daily, weekly and total), indoor lifespace (regions in the home/hour), and a developed lifespace score that combined time, frequency of travel, distance and area. Results indicated a large range of lifespace areas (0.1 – 97.88 km2; median 6.77 km2) with similar patterns across lifespace metrics. Significant relationships were found between lifespace metrics and concurrent driving status and anteceding scores on the sit‐to‐stand test (at baseline and follow‐up). Conclusions: Further longitudinal exploration of lifespace is required to develop an understanding of the nature of lifespace of older community‐dwelling people, and its relationship with health, mobility and well‐being outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disappointing results from clinical trials designed to delay structural brain decline and the accompanying increase in risk for dementia in older adults have precipitated a shift in testing promising interventions from late in life toward midlife before irreversible damage has accumulated. This shift, however, requires targeting midlife biomarkers that are associated with clinical changes manifesting only in late life. Here we explored possible links between one putative biomarker, distributed integrity of brain white matter, and two intervention targets, cardiovascular fitness and healthy lifestyle behaviors, in midlife. At age 45, fractional anisotropy (FA) derived from diffusion weighted MRI was used to estimate the microstructural integrity of distributed white matter tracts in a population-representative birth cohort. Age-45 cardiovascular fitness (VO2Max; N = 801) was estimated from heart rates obtained during submaximal exercise tests; age-45 healthy lifestyle behaviors were estimated using the Nyberg Health Index (N = 854). Ten-fold cross-validated elastic net predictive modeling revealed that estimated VO2Max was modestly associated with distributed FA. In contrast, there was no significant association between Nyberg Health Index scores and FA. Our findings suggest that cardiovascular fitness levels, but not healthy lifestyle behaviors, are associated with the distributed integrity of white matter in the brain in midlife. These patterns could help inform future clinical intervention research targeting ADRDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Law schools are rethinking the form of instruction and the means of delivery, a discussion now at the fore of legal education. This pedagogical picture is not complete without understanding students' fidelity to the human and social experience of law school. To further understand student experiences, a voluntary online survey was distributed to 103 first-year law students. Our findings on the use of trigger warnings, the use of 100 percent final examinations, and the integration of articling and clinical-based skills in law school education present an opportunity for law teachers to reconsider curriculum reform and conventional legal education. Legal curricula ought to contextualize law in its social impacts and this includes recognizing student experiences of trauma and vulnerability in the law classroom. Further, this recognition develops and supports important clinical skills, including participation, group work and deployment of empathy in legal settings. By recognizing student sensitivity and by implementing multiple assessments and skills-based learning and training, we argue that educators and students can work together towards common goals which benefit both the teaching and the learning of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Neuroimaging research has revealed that structural brain alterations are common across broad diagnostic families of disorders rather than specific to a single psychiatric disorder. Such overlap in the structural brain correlates of mental disorders mirrors already well-documented phenotypic comorbidity of psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses, which can be indexed by a general psychopathology or p factor. The authors hypothesized that if general psychopathology drives the convergence of structural alterations common across disorders, then 1) there should be few associations unique to any one diagnostic family of disorders, and 2) associations with the p factor should overlap with those for the broader diagnostic families.Methods: Analyses were conducted on structural MRI and psychopathology data collected from 861 members of the population-representative Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study at age 45.Results: Study members with high scores across three broad diagnostic families of disorders (externalizing, internalizing, thought disorder) exhibited highly overlapping patterns of reduced global and widely distributed parcel-wise neocortical thickness. Study members with high p factor scores exhibited patterns of reduced global and parcel-wise neocortical thickness nearly identical to those associated with the three broad diagnostic families.Conclusions: A pattern of pervasively reduced neocortical thickness appears to be common across all forms of mental disorders and may represent a transdiagnostic feature of general psychopathology. As has been documented with regard to symptoms and diagnoses, the underlying brain structural correlates of mental disorders may not exhibit specificity, and the continued pursuit of such specific correlates may limit progress toward more effective strategies for etiological understanding, prevention, and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversation agents (chat-bots) are becoming ubiquitous in many domains of everyday life, including physical and mental health and wellbeing. With the high rate of suicide in Australia, chat-bot developers are facing the challenge of dealing with statements related to mental ill-health, depression and suicide. Advancements in natural language processing could allow for sensitive, considered responses, provided suicidal discourse can be accurately detected. Here suicide notes are examined for consistent linguistic syntax and semantic patterns used by individuals in mental health distress. Paper contains distressing content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Overactivity in the context of chronic pain (i.e. activity engagement that significantly exacerbates pain) is an important clinical issue that has gained empirical attention in the last decade. Current assessment concepts of overactivity tend to focus on frequency to quantify the severity of the pain behaviour. This study aimed to develop and validate a more comprehensive self-assessment, the Overactivity in Persistent Pain Assessment (OPPA).Methods: A sample of 333 individuals with chronic pain completed the OPPA. A subset of 202 individuals also completed a set of existing measures of pain-related outcomes and activity patterns. The remaining 131 participants were provided with a second copy of the OPPA to fill in one week following their initial assessment.Results: A principal component analysis confirmed that the OPPA items were best represented by a single construct. The OPPA was found to correlate with pain-related measures in an expected way that is supported by both theory and qualitative data. When compared to existing overactivity measures, the OPPA was the only measure to contribute significantly to the regression models predicting higher levels of pain severity, more pain interference and lower levels of activity participation after controlling for age, gender and activity avoidance. In addition, the OPPA scale exhibited acceptable internal consistency and good test-retest reliability.Conclusion: The results of this study reinforce the potentially important role of overactivity in the maintenance of pain-related suffering and supports a corresponding assessment tool with preliminary psychometric evidence for clinical and research applications.Significance: This study deconstructs the overactivity concept and develop a corresponding assessment based on five quantifiable severity features: severity of pain exacerbation, maladaptive coping strategies used, impact on occupational performance, recovery time and frequency. Results of the psychometric evaluation indicate that this comprehensive assessment of overactivity severity features may be necessary to understand the impact of overactivity on pain severity and physical functioning from both a clinical and research perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fall of communism in Eastern Europe was one of the most significant and dramatic events in the second half of the 20th century. While it has brought huge improvements in people's lives, it has also led to serious housing shortages, resulting in a severe lack of affordable housing and rapidly rising homelessness. The author discusses the main implications of this and highlights the current situation in two former communist countries. Here he focuses on the approaches taken at a sub-government level, including how communities are working to take control and design and build homes themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Childhood lead exposure has been linked to disrupted brain development, but long-term consequences for structural brain integrity are unknown.Objective: To test the hypothesis that childhood lead exposure is associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of lower structural integrity of the brain in midlife.Design, Setting, and Participants: The Dunedin Study followed a population-representative 1972-1973 birth cohort in New Zealand (N = 564 analytic sample) to age 45 years (until April 2019).Exposures: Childhood blood lead levels measured at age 11 years.Main Outcomes and Measures: Structural brain integrity at age 45 years assessed via MRI (primary outcomes): gray matter (cortical thickness, surface area, hippocampal volume), white matter (white matter hyperintensities, fractional anisotropy [theoretical range, 0 {diffusion is perfectly isotropic} to 100 {diffusion is perfectly anisotropic}]), and the Brain Age Gap Estimation (BrainAGE), a composite index of the gap between chronological age and a machine learning algorithm-estimated brain age (0 indicates a brain age equivalent to chronological age; positive and negative values represent an older and younger brain age, respectively). Cognitive function at age 45 years was assessed objectively via the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IV (IQ range, 40-160, standardized to a mean of 100 [SD, 15]) and subjectively via informant and self-reports (z-score units; scale mean, 0 [SD, 1]).Results: Of 1037 original participants, 997 were alive at age 45 years, of whom 564 (57%) had received lead testing at age 11 years (302 [54%] male) (median follow-up, 34 [interquartile range, 33.7-34.7] years). Mean blood lead level at age 11 years was 10.99 (SD, 4.63) μg/dL. After adjusting for covariates, each 5-μg/dL higher childhood blood lead level was significantly associated with 1.19-cm2 smaller cortical surface area (95% CI, -2.35 to -0.02 cm2; P = .05), 0.10-cm3 smaller hippocampal volume (95% CI, -0.17 to -0.03 cm3; P = .006), lower global fractional anisotropy (b = -0.12; 95% CI, -0.24 to -0.01; P = .04), and a BrainAGE index 0.77 years older (95% CI, 0.02-1.51 years; P = .05) at age 45 years. There were no statistically significant associations between blood lead level and log-transformed white matter hyperintensity volume (b = 0.05 log mm3; 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.13 log mm3; P = .17) or mean cortical thickness (b = -0.004 mm; 95% CI, -0.012 to 0.004 mm; P = .39). Each 5-μg/dL higher childhood blood lead level was significantly associated with a 2.07-point lower IQ score at age 45 years (95% CI, -3.39 to -0.74; P = .002) and a 0.12-point higher score on informant-rated cognitive problems (95% CI, 0.01-0.23; P = .03). There was no statistically significant association between childhood blood lead levels and self-reported cognitive problems (b = -0.02 points; 95% CI, -0.10 to 0.07; P = .68).Conclusions and Relevance: In this longitudinal cohort study with a median 34-year follow-up, higher childhood blood lead level was associated with differences in some MRI measures of brain structure that suggested lower structural brain integrity in midlife. Because of the large number of statistical comparisons, some findings may represent type I error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the fall of 2019, peremptory challenges were abolished in Canadian jury trials, much to the chagrin of many criminal law practitioners. Ostensibly, Bill C-75 was passed partially in response to the fallout stemming from the controversial R v Stanley verdict, a case in which peremptory challenges were allegedly used to remove any and all jurors who appeared to be Indigenous. Bill C-75 has not been without its own controversy, however. Commentary by both legal professionals and scholars indicates that Bill C-75 - though well intentioned - may ultimately do more harm than good for the very communities it purports to serve. Numerous criminal law practitioners were quick to criticize Bill C-75 as being knee-jerk, reactionary, and, ultimately, a highly political move that would do little to address the systemic issues plaguing the criminal justice system in Canada, particularly for racialized and marginalized communities. The paper below endeavours to give voice to these perspectives. Following an extensive review of the history of peremptory challenges and a general history of jury work, we share the results of our survey in which Canadian Crown and defence counsel were asked to share their opinions on the removal of peremptory challenges. The responses indicate that, overall, surveyed Crown and defence counsel are concerned that the elimination of peremptory challenges will have a negative impact on jury trials in Canada. We explore the reasons for these fears in reviewing their responses to the survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Deep brain stimulation is a surgical treatment for Parkinson's disease. Its impacts on motor symptoms are widely reported; however, little is known about the broader impact of deep brain stimulation on the community lives of people with Parkinson's disease. Lifespace is a measure of lived community mobility, providing an indication of community access and participation. Aims: This pilot study explored the feasibility of remotely monitoring the qualitative and quantitative community outcomes related to deep brain stimulation. Methods: A longitudinal mixed methods study with a convergent design was undertaken exploring the lifespace, quality of life, life satisfaction and lived experiences of people with Parkinson's disease before and after deep brain stimulation. Data were collected through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and a smartphone-based application which collected geolocation data. Results: Quantitative and qualitative data from eight participants living with Parkinson's disease were analysed and integrated. At baseline, participants had a median age of 68 years and a median Hoehn and Yahr score of 2. Measuring a range of community-based outcomes indicated different change trajectories for individuals across outcomes. Key content areas were developed from the qualitative data: participation in occupations and travel and home. This study indicates the potential value of including geolocation data-based lifespace collection in metropolitan and regional areas. Conclusions: Monitoring lifespace in conjunction with subjective measures provides insights into the complex and individually varied experiences. Further research could explore the impacts of deep brain stimulation on occupations and community participation to gain a deeper understanding of the related needs and support clinical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]