Person Specific Parameter Heterogeneity in the 2PL IRT Model.

Following Kelderman and Molenaar's demonstration that a factor model with person specific factor loadings is almost indistinguishable from the standard factor model in terms of overall fit, we examined person specific measurement models in Item Response Theory, person specific discrimination and difficulty parameters were created by adding random variation at the item by person level. Using standard fitting algorithms for the 2PL IRT there was modest evidence of person- or item-level misfit using common diagnostic tools. The item difficulties were well-estimated, but the item discriminations were noticeably underestimated.

Advanced Meningioma Imaging.

Noninvasive imaging methods are used to accurately diagnose meningiomas and track their growth and location. These techniques, including computed tomography, MRI, and nuclear medicine, are also being used to gather more information about the biology of the tumors and potentially predict their grade and impact on prognosis. In this article, we will discuss the current and developing uses of these imaging techniques including additional analysis using radiomics in the diagnosis and treatment of meningiomas, including treatment planning and prediction of tumor behavior.

Effect of the INSIGHT Firstborn Parenting Intervention on Secondborn Sleep.

Background And Objectives: The Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT) responsive parenting (RP) intervention for first-time mothers improved firstborn infant sleep compared with controls. The goals of this analysis were to test intervention spillover effects on secondborn siblings and examine birth order differences in infant sleep.

Methods: Secondborns (n = 117) of INSIGHT mothers were enrolled in an observational cohort, SIBSIGHT.

A Cautionary Note about Having the Right Mixture Model but Classifying the Wrong People.

Mixture models can be used for explanation or individual prediction and classification. In practice, researchers are often tempted to make the class membership manifest by classifying cases according to their class of maximum posterior probability and using the "observed" class membership directly or as a variable in follow-up analyses to predict distal outcomes. This study revisits the issue of correct class assignment in latent profile analysis by providing an example where the number of classes is known (3-classes), sampling variability is eliminated, and precise estimates of classification indices are provided.

INSIGHT responsive parenting educational intervention for firstborns is associated with growth of second-born siblings.

Objective: The aim of this study was to test whether the Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT) responsive parenting (RP) intervention, delivered to parents of firstborn children, is associated with the BMI of first- and second-born siblings during infancy.

Methods: Participants included 117 firstborn infants enrolled in a randomized controlled trial and their second-born siblings enrolled in an observation-only ancillary study. The RP curriculum for firstborn children included guidance on feeding, sleep, interactive play, and emotion regulation.

Toward more rigorous and informative nutritional epidemiology: The rational space between dismissal and defense of the status quo.

To date, nutritional epidemiology has relied heavily on relatively weak methods including simple observational designs and substandard measurements. Despite low internal validity and other sources of bias, claims of causality are made commonly in this literature. Nutritional epidemiology investigations can be improved through greater scientific rigor and adherence to scientific reporting commensurate with research methods used.

Does Lifestyle Intervention After Gastric Bypass Surgery Prevent Weight Regain? A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Weight regain after bariatric surgery often starts after 1-2 y, but studies evaluating strategies to prevent weight regain are lacking. The aim of this intervention was to evaluate the efficacy of a 2-y-group-based lifestyle intervention starting approximately 2 y after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) compared with usual care on weight regain and related metabolic risk factors.

Methods: A total of 165 patients with a mean of 21 months (range 14-32) after RYGB were randomized to a lifestyle intervention group (LIG) or a usual care group (UCG).

Validation of the Diet Satisfaction Questionnaire: a new measure of satisfaction with diets for weight management.

Objective: The Diet Satisfaction Questionnaire was developed to fill the need for a validated measure to evaluate satisfaction with weight-management diets. This paper further develops the questionnaire, examining the factor structure of the original questionnaire, cross-validating a revised version in a second sample and relating diet satisfaction to weight loss during a 1-year trial.

Methods: The 45-item Diet Satisfaction Questionnaire (DSat-45) uses seven scales to assess characteristics that influence diet satisfaction: Healthy Lifestyle, Convenience, Cost, Family Dynamics, Preoccupation with Food, Negative Aspects, and Planning and Preparation.

Effects of ten weeks dynamic or isometric core training on climbing performance among highly trained climbers.

This is the first study to compare the effects of isometric vs. dynamic core training and characterize core-training adaptations using climbing-specific performance and core strength tests in elite climbers. The aim of the study was to compare the effects of attending a progressive core-training program on climbing performance.

Effect of a Responsive Parenting Educational Intervention on Childhood Weight Outcomes at 3 Years of Age: The INSIGHT Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Rapid growth and elevated weight status in early childhood increase risk for later obesity, but interventions that improve growth trajectories are lacking.

Objective: To examine effects of a responsive parenting intervention designed to promote developmentally appropriate, prompt, and contingent responses to a child's needs on weight outcomes at 3 years.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A single-center randomized clinical trial comparing a responsive parenting intervention designed to prevent childhood obesity vs a home safety intervention (control) among 279 primiparous mother-child dyads (responsive parenting group, 140; control group, 139) who enrolled and completed the first home visit from January 2012 through March 2014 with follow-up to age 3 years (completed by April 2017).

Early predictors of weight loss in a 1-year behavioural weight-loss programme.

Objective: Identifying early predictors of weight loss is key for developing personalized treatment. However, few individual factors have been identified that predict weight loss during intervention, other than early weight loss itself.

Methods: Women with overweight or obesity (n = 186, mean ± SD age 50.

Change in college students' perceived parental permissibility of alcohol use and its relation to college drinking.

College students who perceive their parents to hold permissive views about their alcohol use engage in heavier drinking. However, few studies have assessed perceived parental permissibility of alcohol use (PPP) longitudinally across the later college years, and few have assessed variation in changes in PPP and whether or not these changes differentially predict drinking. This study assessed whether PPP changed across college and used two approaches to determine whether PPP predicted binge drinking frequency and peak drinking.

Plasma amino acids, adiposity, and weight change after gastric bypass surgery: are amino acids associated with weight regain?

Purpose: Plasma concentrations of several amino acids (AAs) are positively correlated with obesity. The aim of this study was to examine if selected plasma AAs are associated with weight regain from 2 to 4 years after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB).

Methods: In a prospective study with 165 patients, we examined the relationship between plasma aromatic AAs (AAAs), branched chain AAs (BCAAs), and total cysteine (tCys) 2 years after RYGB, with BMI at 2 years and with weight change from 2 to 4 years after surgery.

Mother-Infant Room-Sharing and Sleep Outcomes in the INSIGHT Study.

Objectives: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends infant-parent room-sharing until age 1. We assessed the association between room-sharing and sleep outcomes.

Methods: The Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories study is an obesity prevention trial comparing a responsive parenting intervention with a safety control among primiparous mother-infant dyads.

A comparison of Bayesian and frequentist model selection methods for factor analysis models.

We compare the performances of well-known frequentist model fit indices (MFIs) and several Bayesian model selection criteria (MCC) as tools for cross-loading selection in factor analysis under low to moderate sample sizes, cross-loading sizes, and possible violations of distributional assumptions. The Bayesian criteria considered include the Bayes factor (BF), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), Deviance Information Criterion (DIC), a Bayesian leave-one-out with Pareto smoothed importance sampling (LOO-PSIS), and a Bayesian variable selection method using the spike-and-slab prior (SSP; Lu, Chow, & Loken, 2016). Simulation results indicate that of the Bayesian measures considered, the BF and the BIC showed the best balance between true positive rates and false positive rates, followed closely by the SSP.

The Weight-Related Eating Questionnaire offers a concise alternative to the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire for measuring eating behaviors related to weight loss.

Objective: During a one-year weight loss trial, we compared the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), a valid 51-item measure of restraint, disinhibition, and hunger subscales, with the newer 16-item Weight-Related Eating Questionnaire (WREQ) measuring routine and compensatory restraint and external and emotional eating.

Methods: Both questionnaires were administered to women with overweight or obesity (n = 186, mean ± SD, age 50 ± 10.6 y, BMI 34 ± 4.

Association between social interaction and affect in nursing home residents with dementia.

Background: Social interactions that lead to positive affect are fundamental to human well-being. However, individuals with dementia are challenged to achieve positive social interaction. It is unclear how social interactions influence affect in people with dementia.

Perceived Exertion during Exercise Is Associated with Children's Energy Intake.

Purpose: To examine the individual-level factors that predict energy intake (EI) after imposed exercise (EX) and sedentary time (SED) in children.

Methods: Healthy-weight children ages 9-12 yr (n = 20) reported to the laboratory for one baseline and two experimental visits (EX and SED) each separated by 1 wk in a randomized crossover design. Percent body fat, weight (kg), and height (m) were used to calculate fat-mass index (FM index) and fat-free mass index (FFM index; kg·m).

Impact of imposed exercise on energy intake in children at risk for overweight.

Background: Exercise not only has a direct effect on energy balance through energy expenditure (EE), but also has an indirect effect through its impact on energy intake (EI). This study examined the effects of acute exercise on daily ad libitum EI in children at risk for becoming overweight due to family history.

Methods: Twenty healthy-weight children (ages 9-12 years, 12 male/8 female) with at least one overweight biological parent (body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m) participated.

Memory-guided force output is associated with self-reported ADHD symptoms in young adults.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorder in childhood and persists into adulthood in up to 65 % of cases. ADHD is associated with adverse outcomes such as the ability to gain and maintain employment and is associated with an increased risk for substance abuse obesity workplace injuries and traffic accidents A majority of diagnosed children have motor deficits; however, few studies have examined motor deficits in young adults. This study provides a novel examination of visuomotor control of grip force in young adults with and without ADHD.

Bayesian Factor Analysis as a Variable-Selection Problem: Alternative Priors and Consequences.

Factor analysis is a popular statistical technique for multivariate data analysis. Developments in the structural equation modeling framework have enabled the use of hybrid confirmatory/exploratory approaches in which factor-loading structures can be explored relatively flexibly within a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) framework. Recently, Muthén & Asparouhov proposed a Bayesian structural equation modeling (BSEM) approach to explore the presence of cross loadings in CFA models.

A Crossover Design for Comparative Efficacy: A 36-Week Randomized Trial of Bevacizumab and Ranibizumab for Diabetic Macular Edema.

Purpose: To investigate the comparative efficacy of bevacizumab (Avastin) and ranibizumab (Lucentis; both Genentech, Inc, South San Francisco, CA) for diabetic macular edema (DME) using a crossover study design.

Design: Randomized, double-masked, 36-week, 3-period crossover clinical trial.

Participants: Fifty-six subjects with DME involving the center of the macula in one or both eyes.