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This study examined the developmental pathways from maternal behavior to school readiness within a sample of 1007 children, with a specific focus on the mediating role of delay of gratification (DoG). Maternal behavior across the first 36 months of age was explored as a predictor of children's DoG at 54 months as well as their behavioral and academic competence in kindergarten. Results support sensitivity as a predictor of children's DoG and indicate significant associations between DoG and teacher-reported externalizing behavior, social skills, and academic skills. Moreover, DoG partially mediated the associations between maternal sensitivity and school readiness skills, with the highest percentage of mediation reported for social skills. Findings indicate maternal sensitivity and DoG as potential targets for efforts aimed at enhancing school readiness among young children. (Contains 3 tables.)

Purpose: A well-defined and reliable patient-reported outcome instrument for COVID-19 is important for assessing symptom severity and supporting research studies. The InFLUenza Patient-Reported Outcome (FLU-PRO) instrument has been expanded to include loss of taste and smell in the FLU-PRO Plus, to comprehensively cover COVID-19 symptoms. Our studies were designed to evaluate and validate the FLU-PRO Plus among patients with COVID-19. Methods: Two studies were conducted: (1) a qualitative, non-interventional, cross-sectional study of patients with COVID-19 involving hybrid concept elicitation and cognitive debriefing interviews; (2) a psychometric evaluation of the measurement properties of FLU-PRO Plus, using data from COMET-ICE (COVID-19 Monoclonal antibody Efficacy Trial—Intent to Care Early). Results: In the qualitative interviews (n = 30), all 34 items of the FLU-PRO Plus were considered relevant to COVID-19, and participants determined the questionnaire was easily understood, well written, and comprehensive. In the psychometric evaluation (n = 845), the internal consistency reliability of FLU-PRO Plus total score was 0.94, ranging from 0.71 to 0.90 for domain scores. Reproducibility (Day 20–21) was 0.83 for total score, with domain scores of 0.67–0.89. Confirmatory factor analysis with the novel smell/taste domain demonstrated an acceptable fit to the data. Conclusion: The content, reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the FLU-PRO Plus in the COVID-19 population were supported. Our results suggest that FLU-PRO Plus is a content- and psychometrically-valid, fit-for-purpose measure which is easily understood by patients. FLU-PRO Plus is a suitable PRO measure for evaluating symptoms of COVID-19 and treatment benefit directly from the patient perspective. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.Gov: NCT04545060, September 10, 2020; retrospectively registered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcome of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer treated by targeting low variant allelic frequency (VAF) driver mutations identified through cell-free DNA (cfDNA) next-generation sequencing (NGS). Detection of driver mutations in cancer is critically important in the age of targeted therapy, where both tumor-based as well as cfDNA sequencing methods have been used for therapeutic decision making. We hypothesized that VAF should not be predictive of response and that low VAF alterations detected by cfDNA NGS can respond to targeted therapy., Patients and Methods: A multicenter retrospective case review was performed to identify patients with non-small-cell lung cancer who received targeted molecular therapy on the basis of findings of low VAF alterations in cfDNA NGS. Mutations at low VAF were defined as < 0.2% mutated cfDNA molecules in a background of wild-type cfDNA., Results: One hundred seventy-two patients underwent cfDNA NGS testing. Of the 172 patients, 12 were identified as having low VAF driver alterations and were considered for targeted therapy. The median progression-free survival (PFS) for all patients was 52 weeks (range, 17 to 88 weeks). For patients with EGFR exon 19 deletion (n = 7), the median PFS was 52 weeks (range, 17 to 60.5 weeks). For patients with EML4-ALK fusions (n = 3), the median PFS was 60 weeks (range, 18 to 88 weeks). The median overall survival for all patients after diagnosis was 57.6 weeks., Conclusion: Targeted treatment response for driver mutations detected by cfDNA may be independent of VAF, even in relation to other higher VAF aberrations in plasma, and directly dependent on the underlying disease biology and ability to treat the patient with appropriate targeted therapy.