Special Series Research Articles

Special Series on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV Performances in Five Asian Countries: Summary of Findings, Clinical Implications, and Future Directions.

This special series of exploratory studies compared WAIS-IV performances in five Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, and Indonesia with the U.S. The studies examined cognitive profiles across age groups to develop hypotheses on how culture can impact cognition. This summary article integrates the findings from each study to determine similarities and differences across Asian countries and proposes possible underlying cultural factors impacting cognition. In each study, raw scores corresponding to a subscale score of 10 were scored with U.S. norms across all age groups. Index scores were calculated with the adjusted scale scores. The impact of education on test performances was determined by correlating WAIS-IV scores with a ratio of educational attainment for each country with the U.S. for each age group. Findings from each country were then integrated to develop hypotheses on cultural factors that impacted cognitive profiles. East Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) demonstrated weaker Verbal Comprehension Index scores and stronger Processing Speed Index scores than the U.S. sample, although the latter was moderated by age. East Asian countries demonstrated stronger performances on Perceptual Reasoning versus Verbal Comprehension tests. East Asians and the Java subset of the Indonesian sample demonstrated a pattern of stronger performances in younger versus older cohorts which was significantly correlated with educational attainment. Cultural factors impacting cognition were proposed. Clinical implications of the findings were discussed and directions for future studies to examine the relationship between culture and cognition were recommended.

Introduction to the Special Series on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV Performances in Five Asian Countries Series.

Introduction to the Special Series on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV Performances in Five Asian Countries Series.

Trainees as teachers: Building evaluative judgement through peer teaching.

While peer teaching is often seen as benefiting learners, it can also benefit peer teachers. One possible mechanism is by building peer teachers' evaluative judgement or their ability to judge the quality of work of selves and others. This qualitative interview study explores how specialty medical trainees build evaluative judgement through peer teaching. It also acts as an illustrative example of researcher positionality within a special series exploring facets of qualitative methodologies. Seventeen interviews with specialty trainees were recorded and thematically analysed, using qualitative description to stay close to the trainees' views of their experiences. We reflect on our positionality throughout. Two thematic categories are interpreted: (1) Peer teaching as uni-directional. (2) Reflecting on one's own practice through peer teaching develops evaluative judgement. Findings suggest the significance of self-scrutiny in response to teaching dialogues, learner cues or fixing problems, in order to develop evaluative judgement. With respect to positionality, reflection suggests the value of diverse teams, and the need for reflexivity due to the sensitising nature of expertise.

Oral CT Contrast Agents: What's New and Why, From the AJR Special Series on Contrast Media.

Current CT oral contrast agents improve the conspicuity of and confidence in bowel and peritoneal findings in many clinical scenarios, particularly for outpatient and oncologic abdominopelvic imaging. Yet, existing positive and neutral oral contrast agents may diminish the detectability of certain radiologic findings, frequently in the same scans in which the oral contrast agent improves the detectability of other findings. With ongoing improvements in CT technology, particularly multienergy CT, opportunities are opening for new types of oral contrast agents to further improve anatomic delineation and disease detection using CT. The CT signal of new dark oral contrast agents and of new high-Z oral contrast agents promises to combine the strengths of both positive and neutral oral CT contrast agents by providing distinct CT appearances in comparison with bodily tissues, iodinated IV contrast agents, and other classes of new CT contrast agents. High-Z oral contrast agents will unlock previously inaccessible capabilities of multienergy CT, particularly photon-counting detector CT, for differentiating simultaneously administered IV and oral contrast agents; this technique will allow generation of rich 3D, intuitive, perfectly coregistered, high-resolution image sets with individual contrast agent "colors" that provide compelling clarity for intertwined intraabdominal anatomy and disease processes.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Focus on Families

Engaging with families to support their children’s social, emotional, and behavioral development is a key feature of positive behavior supports (PBSs). The purpose of this Special Series is to disseminate research on the application of PBSs with families and in home contexts. This issue contains five articles, including single case experimental designs, survey design, mixed-methods, and a literature synthesis. These articles provide a deeper understanding and clear implications for improving research and practice to increase family access, involvement, and benefit from PBSs.

Quantitative Prostate MRI, From the AJR Special Series on Quantitative Imaging.

Prostate MRI has traditionally relied on qualitative interpretation. However, quantitative components hold the potential to markedly improve performance. The ADC from DWI is probably the most widely recognized quantitative MRI biomarker and has shown strong discriminatory value for clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) as well as for recurrent cancer after treatment. Advanced diffusion techniques, including intravoxel incoherent motion, diffusion kurtosis, diffusion tensor imaging, and specific implementations such as restriction spectrum imaging, purport even better discrimination, but are more technically challenging. The inherent T1 and T2 of tissue also provide diagnostic value, with more advanced techniques deriving luminal water imaging and hybrid-multidimensional MRI. Dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging, primarily using a modified Tofts model, also shows independent discriminatory value. Finally, quantitative size and shape features can be combined with the aforementioned techniques and be further refined using radiomics, texture analysis, and artificial intelligence. Which technique will ultimately find widespread clinical use will depend on validation across a myriad of platforms use-cases.

The AP-S 75th Anniversary Special Series Continues! [Editor’s Comments

The AP-S 75th Anniversary Special Series Continues! [Editor’s Comments

Special Section Guest Editorial: Open-source neurophotonic tools for neuroscience.

The editorial completes the Neurophotonics special series on open-source neurophotonic tools for neuroscience.

Quantitative Ultrasound and Ultrasound-Based Elastography for Chronic Liver Disease: Practical Guidance, From the AJR Special Series on Quantitative Imaging.

Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) and ultrasound-based elastography techniques are emerging as non-invasive effective methods for assessing chronic liver disease. They are more accurate than B-mode imaging alone and more accessible than MRI as alternatives to liver biopsy. Early detection and monitoring of diffuse liver processes such as steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis play an important role in guiding patient management. The most widely available and validated techniques are attenuation-based QUS techniques and shear-wave elastography techniques that measure shear-wave speed. Other techniques are supported by a growing body of evidence and are increasingly commercialized. This review explains general physical concepts of QUS and ultrasound-based elastography techniques for evaluating chronic liver disease. The first section describes QUS techniques relying on attenuation, backscatter, and speed of sound. The second section discusses ultrasound-based elastography techniques analyzing shear-wave speed, shear-wave dispersion, and shear-wave attenuation. With an emphasis on clinical implementation, each technique's diagnostic performance along with thresholds for various clinical applications are summarized, to provide guidance on analysis and reporting for radiologists. Measurement methods, advantages, and limitations are also discussed. The third section explores developments in quantitative contrast-enhanced and vascular ultrasound that are relevant to chronic liver disease evaluation.

Introducing the Special Series “Rekindled Present

Introducing the Special Series “Rekindled Present

T1 Mapping of the Abdomen, From the AJR "How We Do It" Special Series.

By exploiting different tissues' characteristic T1 relaxation times, T1-weighted images help distinguish normal and abnormal tissues, aiding assessment of diffuse and local pathologies. However, such images do not provide quantitative T1 values. Advances in abdominal MRI techniques have enabled measurement of abdominal organs' T1 relaxation times, which can be used to create color-coded quantitative maps. T1 mapping is sensitive to tissue microenvironments including inflammation and fibrosis and has received substantial interest for noninvasive imaging of abdominal organ pathology. In particular, quantitative mapping provides a powerful tool for evaluation of diffuse disease by making apparent changes in T1 occurring across organs that may otherwise be difficult to identify. Quantitative measurement also facilitates sensitive monitoring of longitudinal T1 changes. Increased T1 in liver helps to predict parenchymal fibro-inflammation, in pancreas is associated with reduced exocrine function from chronic or autoimmune pancreatitis, and in kidney is associated with impaired renal function and aids diagnosis of chronic kidney disease. In this review, we describe the acquisition, postprocessing, and analysis of T1 maps in the abdomen and explore applications in liver, spleen, pancreas, and kidney. We highlight practical aspects of implementation and standardization, technical pitfalls and confounding factors, and areas of likely greatest clinical impact.

Introduction to the special issue: Asian diaspora theorizing: defying Racism~Re-imagining alternate Nows~Invigorating otherwise futures

ABSTRACT This is an introductory article to Part I of a special issue series entitled, “Asian Diaspora Theorizing: Defying Racism~Re-imagining Alternate Nows~Invigorating Otherwise Futures.” This special issue is a trilogy of our Asian diaspora studies project: Asian diasporas as theories, Asian diasporas as methodologies, and Asian diasporas as praxes. Part II of this special issue will appear in DIME 19(2) in 2025. This special issue features the cutting-edge work of Asian diaspora educational workers who engage in diaspora theorizing, where we rememorize our diaspora histories and critically examine ourselves, our works, and our lives to defy racism, re-imagine alternate nows, and invigorate otherwise futures.

Exchange of knowledge and the consolidation of culture for contamination management: Introduction to the RemTech Europe 2022 Special Series.

The urgency of protecting ecosystems and their recovery from contamination has been highlighted in several recent European strategies because Europe's biodiversity and landscapes are declining rapidly due to different human pressures. Despite the existence of EU and national laws addressing environmental contamination, practical procedures are often missing. For example, competent authorities must deal promptly and effectively with environmental accidents, noncompliance, and criminal offenses but relevant tools that facilitate these processes are often lacking. For example, thorough planning is crucial for effective investigation and assessment to improve environmental damage assessments in line with the European Environmental Liability Directive (ELD, 2004/35/EC). With regard to soils, a specific European legislation for their protection, the European Soil Monitoring Law, is currently being developed. However, it is crucial that this law bridges the gaps between existing chemical regulations and that it aligns with current European strategies for environmental protection and sustainability. Continuous feedback of soil monitoring results to regulatory frameworks will be essential. This feedback loop ensures that chemical regulations are relevant and effective in protecting soil health. In this context, development and sharing of effective and practical procedures for recovering ecosystems from contamination are crucial. This was the case at the RemTech Europe meeting, which was held online and onsite in Ferrara, Italy, in September 2022. The discussion covered all aspects of environmental contaminants. It ranged from the basic understanding of these contaminants to the various types that pose a threat to organisms, studies of their environmental fate, detection methods, and sustainable practices for contaminant management. The special series dedicated to RemTech Europe 2022 is particularly relevant to these purposes and resulted in six articles that were selected from oral presentations. The articles emphasize the need for integrated approaches to risk management and remediation to address the problems of soil, sediment, and groundwater contamination. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;00:1-5. © 2024 The Author(s). Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Quantitative Cartilage T2 and T1rho Mapping: Is There a Clinical Role? From the AJR Special Series on Quantitative Imaging.

Despite more than 20 years of development, the MRI-based cartilage compositional biomarkers T2 and T1rho have not been routinely applied in clinical practice. This review examines these measures' historical development and frames the challenges in the application of these quantitative imaging tools to the care of patients with cartilage injury and osteoarthritis using the hierarchical model of efficacy proposed by Fryback and Thornbury. T2 and T1rho have been validated for the evaluation of early compositional and structural changes in cartilage extracellular matrix. Yet, these biomarkers lack direct correlation with pain or function loss, lack standardization of methods for acquisition and analysis, and have a limited role in guiding therapeutic management given the absence of effective disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs. These issues present significant challenges in the path to the biomarkers' future implementation in clinical care. Nonetheless, these MRI-based cartilage compositional biomarkers provide an essential tool for musculoskeletal research and can provide important information on the biophysical properties of cartilage that will continue to contribute to our understanding of cartilage injury and osteoarthritis pathogenesis.

Contrast Media in Pregnant and Lactating Patients, From the AJR Special Series on Contrast Media.

IV contrast media improve the diagnostic power of radiology examinations. These media include gadolinium-based contrast media and iron-oxide nanoparticles for MRI, iodinated contrast material for CT, microbubbles for ultrasound, and radiopharmaceuticals for nuclear medicine. As for all medications, contrast media carry risks, which may be heightened in the conditions of pregnancy and lactation. Radiologists must understand the potential risks from contrast media exposure to the pregnant patient, fetus, and nursing infant, as well as understand these administrations' impact on examinations' clinical utility. This article reviews the available literature on these media, along with key regulatory bodies' and professional societies' current recommendations for their use, in the settings of pregnancy and lactation. This knowledge should help radiologists make well-reasoned risk-benefit analyses regarding contrast media administration and provide informed consent discussions with pregnant and nursing patients in whom contrast media administration is being considered. This information and analysis can also assist facilities in designing policies and standard operating procedures of possible clinical benefit to the pregnant patient, fetus, or nursing infant, balancing contrast media exposure considerations versus augmented diagnostic capabilities.

Risk of Acute Kidney Injury Following IV Iodinated Contrast Media Exposure: 2023 Update, From the AJR Special Series on Contrast Media.

Iodinated contrast material (ICM) has revolutionized the field of diagnostic radiology through improvements in diagnostic performance and the expansion of clinical indications for radiographic and CT examinations. Historically, nephrotoxicity was a feared complication of ICM use, thought to be associated with a significant risk of morbidity and mortality. Such fears often precluded the use of ICM in imaging evaluations, commonly at the expense of diagnostic performance and timely diagnosis. Over the past 20 years, the nephrotoxic risk of ICM has become a topic of debate, as more recent evidence from higher-quality studies now suggests that many cases of what was considered contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) likely were cases of mistaken causal attribution; most of these cases represented either acute kidney injury (AKI) caused by any of myriad other known factors that can adversely affect renal function and were coincidentally present at the time of contrast media exposure (termed "contrast-associated AKI" [CA-AKI]) or a manifestation of the normal variation in renal function that increases with worsening renal function. This Special Series Review discusses the current state of knowledge regarding CI-AKI and CA-AKI, including the incidence, risk factors, outcomes, and prophylactic strategies in the identification and management of these clinical conditions.

Any better? A follow-up content analysis of adolescent sexual and reproductive health inclusion in Global Financing Facility country planning documents

ABSTRACT Background The Global Financing Facility (GFF) supports national reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health, and nutrition needs. Previous analysis examined how adolescent sexual and reproductive health was represented in GFF national planning documents for 11 GFF partner countries. Objectives This paper furthers that analysis for 16 GFF partner countries as part of a Special Series. Methods Content analysis was conducted on publicly available GFF planning documents for Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, CAR, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Vietnam. Analysis considered adolescent health content (mindset), indicators (measure) and funding (money) relative to adolescent sexual and reproductive health needs, using a tracer indicator. Results Countries with higher rates of adolescent pregnancy had more content relating to adolescent reproductive health, with exceptions in fragile contexts. Investment cases had more adolescent content than project appraisal documents. Content gradually weakened from mindset to measures to money. Related conditions, such as fistula, abortion, and mental health, were insufficiently addressed. Documents from Burkina Faso and Malawi demonstrated it is possible to include adolescent programming even within a context of shifting or selective priorities. Conclusion Tracing prioritisation and translation of commitments into plans provides a foundation for discussing global funding for adolescents. We highlight positive aspects of programming and areas for strengthening and suggest broadening the perspective of adolescent health beyond the reproductive health to encompass issues, such as mental health. This paper forms part of a growing body of accountability literature, supporting advocacy work for adolescent programming and funding.

Governance and legal considerations supporting prehospital emergency care in low and middle-income countries—For the Special Series on Prehospital Care in LMICs

The global imperative to expand prehospital emergency care in low and middle-income countries to reduce health disparities and improve outcomes for time-sensitive health conditions is well established in academic literature and public policy discussions. However, the governance and legal frameworks essential for the strategic development of prehospital systems remain understudied and inadequately addressed. This paper delves into the critical role of governance in prehospital systems, emphasizing its impact on equity, human rights, and the provision of timely, quality emergency care.Health system governance, defined as a complex interplay of mechanisms, processes, and institutions, is a neglected yet pivotal component of prehospital care. By highlighting previously described barriers, we underscore the opportunity to strengthen prehospital care through improved governance, particularly in leadership and legislative standards. Drawing on the World Health Organization’s Health System Building Blocks and the Emergency Care System Framework, we elucidate the multifaceted nature of governance in the prehospital context, including the coordination of diverse stakeholders, the establishment of standards, and the creation of accountability mechanisms. We emphasize the importance of applying a human rights perspective to governance, ensuring non-discriminatory and timely access to emergency care. Through the application of an established governance framework of 10 principles to assess prehospital system governance, we offer policymakers and stakeholders a structured approach to identify weaknesses, propose solutions, and evaluate progress in the prehospital system.To provide practical insights, we present a contemporary case study of Ghana’s National Ambulance Service Act and the Health Institutions and Facilities Act of 2011, which establish a structured approach to governance and oversight while reflecting Ghana’s commitment to advancing emergency care yet faces common challenges to operationalizing the laws.We advocate for a renewed focus on governance as an essential building block for effective prehospital emergency care. By providing a comprehensive framework and case study analysis, the paper offers actionable insights to guide policymakers and stakeholders in developing and evaluating governance initiatives that improve the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of prehospital care globally.

Implementing Practices Within an Integrated Multi-Tiered System of Support: Introduction to the Special Series

This overview article introduces the special series focused on implementing practices within an integrated multi-tiered system of support (I-MTSS) framework. The I-MTSS Research Network defines I-MTSS as “a comprehensive and equitable prevention framework for improving the outcomes of all students, including students with or at-risk for disabilities, through integrated academic and behavioral support.” In this special series, members of the I-MTSS Research Network Each descirbe a different component of I-MTSS: (a) integrating evidence-based practices in Tier 1, (b) integrating evidence-based practices in Tier 2, (c) integrating evidence-based practices in Tier 3, (d) providing professional development to support effective implementation, and (e) practical applications of I-MTSS in elementary settings. Across articles, demonstrate that integrating academic and behavior support within an I-MTSS framework can be feasible and effective with the right supports in place.

On the sieve M-estimation for a special bilinear time series model with time-functional variance noises

. The bilinear model has been frequently used in fields like control theory and economics to model seismic data. In this article, time-functional variance (TFV) noises are embedded into a specific bilinear model. We propose a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity-type maximum likelihood estimator (GMLE) with a sieve method and then provide various inferential techniques based on this GMLE. It is shown that under the finite fourth moment of errors, the GMLE is consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. A simulation study and analysis of real data are additionally carried out to evaluate GMLE’s finite sample performance.