Article Database

Adult Attachment as a Moderator of the Association Between Childhood l Traumatic Experiences and Depression Symptoms among Young Black Gay and Bisexual Men

Abstract:

The present study examines the moderating effects of attachment on the association between childhood traumatic experiences, (i.e., physical abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and being bullied), age of childhood traumatic experience, and young adult depression symptoms among young Black gay and bisexual men (YBGBM). Self-report measures of attachment, childhood traumatic experiences, and depression symptoms were collected from a community-based sample of YBGBM living in New York City (n = 228). Regression analyses were conducted to address the study goals. The results indicated that YBGBM who were more anxious in their adult attachment style and experienced being bullied or physically abuse by a non-family member during childhood had greater depression in young adulthood than YBGBM who were less anxious in their adult attachment style. In addition, we found that being bullied later in childhood was associated with greater depression symptoms than being bullied earlier. Lastly, we found that YBGBM who were more avoidance and bullied later in adolescence reported more depression in young adulthood than YBGBM who were less avoidant in their attachment style. The results suggest that it may be important to utilize an attachment perspective that is sensitivity to age of traumatic experience when creating mental health intervention for YBGBM.

Psychometric Analysis of the Life Worries Scale for a New Generation of Sexual Minority Men: The P18 Cohort Study

Abstract:

Sexual minority men (SMM) in the United States continue to experience adverse health problems and psychosocial burdens. However, there is limited psychometric research seeking to quantify the life worries of this population. Informed by syndemic theory, the Life Worries Scale (LWS) was developed to measure the concerns of young SMM. Analyses of the scale were undertaken using baseline data (n = 665) from an ongoing cohort study of emerging adult, SMM. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) of an initial set of 24 Likert-type items followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and an exploratory structural equation model (ESEM), indicated a structure consisting of six domains of worries: financial stability, social stability, self esteem, loneliness, physical appearance, and physical health. These six subscales were highly correlated and also demonstrated high levels of internal consistency. Differences in life worries were noted across demographic states, specifically HIV serostatus, sexual attraction, housing status, and self-rated health. High levels of association were also detected between all six sub-scales with both depression and PTSD, while significant correlations were detected between suicidality and both self esteem and loneliness related worries. The results of our analyses provide evidence for the strong psychometric characteristics of the LWS. This newly developed instrument should be utilized in research to examine the extent to which life worries explain health outcomes and risk behaviors in sexual minority males, and may be potentially extended for use in other populations.

Data-Driven Decision Making and Community Indicators: Towards an integration of DDDM in Community Development

Abstract:

The Sustainable Development Goals in North American Cities: Best Practices in Sustainability Planning at the Local Level

Abstract:

This document discusses several of the issues important for the sustainable development of Houston. It is organized by first outlining the big issues and topics relevant to the city by presenting them as Themes and Sub‐Themes; then selecting indicators to define those themes; then identifying metrics to measure those indicators, and finally describing the metrics. Policy and programmatic recommendations to improve the indicators of sustainable development in Houston are included after each section. These recommendations are the result of three workshops convened on the campus of Rice University with experts and advocacy groups representing several different fields and agencies in Houston

Functional sustainability indicators

Abstract:

“We want to do it differently”: Resisting gentrification in Houston’s Northern Third Ward

Abstract:

Analysing the changes of employment subcentres: A comparison study of Houston and Dallas

Abstract:

Simulations and human cadaver head studies to identify optimal acoustic receiver locations for minimally invasive photoacoustic-guided neurosurgery

Abstract:

Real-time intraoperative guidance during minimally invasive neurosurgical procedures (e.g., endonasal transsphenoidal surgery) is often limited to endoscopy and CT-guided image navigation, which can be suboptimal at locating underlying blood vessels and nerves. Accidental damage to these critical structures can have severe surgical complications, including patient blindness and death. Photoacoustic image guidance was previously proposed as a method to prevent accidental injury. While the proposed technique remains promising, the original light delivery and sound reception components of this technology require alterations to make the technique suitable for patient use. This paper presents simulation and experimental studies performed with both an intact human skull (which was cleaned from tissue attachments) and a complete human cadaver head (with contents and surrounding tissue intact) in order to investigate optimal locations for ultrasound probe placement during photoacoustic imaging and to test the feasibility of a modified light delivery design. Volumetric x-ray CT images of the human skull were used to create k-Wave simulations of acoustic wave propagation within this cranial environment. Photoacoustic imaging of the internal carotid artery (ICA) was performed with this same skull. Optical fibers emitting 750 nm light were inserted into the nasal cavity for ICA illumination. The ultrasound probe was placed on three optimal regions identified by simulations: (1) nasal cavity, (2) ocular region, and (3) 1 mm-thick temporal bone (which received 9.2%, 4.7%, and 3.8% of the initial photoacoustic pressure, respectively, in simulations). For these three probe locations, the contrast of the ICA in comparative experimental photoacoustic images was 27 dB, 19 dB, and 12 dB, respectively, with delay-and-sum (DAS) beamforming and laser pulse energies of 3 mJ, 5 mJ, and 4.2 mJ, respectively. Short-lag spatial coherence (SLSC) beamforming improved the contrast of these DAS images by up to 15 dB, enabled visualization of multiple cross-sectional ICA views in a single image, and enabled the use of lower laser energies. Combined simulation and experimental results with the emptied skull and >1 mm-thick temporal bone indicated that the ocular and nasal regions were more optimal probe locations than the temporal ultrasound probe location. Results from both the same skull filled with ovine brains and eyes and the human cadaver head validate the ocular region as an optimal acoustic window for our current system setup, producing high-contrast (i.e., up to 35 dB) DAS and SLSC photoacoustic images within the laser safety limits of a novel, compact light delivery system design that is independent of surgical tools (i.e., a fiber bundle with 6.8 mm outer diameter, 2 mm-diameter optical aperture, and an air gap spacing between the sphenoid bone and fiber tips). These results are promising toward identifying, quantifying, and overcoming major system design barriers to proceed with future patient testing.

GPU implementation of photoacoustic short-lag spatial coherence imaging for improved image-guided interventions

Abstract:

Significance: Photoacoustic-based visual servoing is a promising technique for surgical tool tip tracking and automated visualization of photoacoustic targets during interventional procedures. However, one outstanding challenge has been the reliability of obtaining segmentations using low-energy light sources that operate within existing laser safety limits.

Aim: We developed the first known graphical processing unit (GPU)-based real-time implementation of short-lag spatial coherence (SLSC) beamforming for photoacoustic imaging and applied this real-time algorithm to improve signal segmentation during photoacoustic-based visual servoing with low-energy lasers.

Approach: A 1-mm-core-diameter optical fiber was inserted into ex vivo bovine tissue. Photoacoustic-based visual servoing was implemented as the fiber was manually displaced by a translation stage, which provided ground truth measurements of the fiber displacement. GPU-SLSC results were compared with a central processing unit (CPU)-SLSC approach and an amplitude-based delay-and-sum (DAS) beamforming approach. Performance was additionally evaluated with in vivo cardiac data.

Results: The GPU-SLSC implementation achieved frame rates up to 41.2 Hz, representing a factor of 348 speedup when compared with offline CPU-SLSC. In addition, GPU-SLSC successfully recovered low-energy signals (i.e., ≤268  μJ) with mean ± standard deviation of signal-to-noise ratios of 11.2  ±  2.4 (compared with 3.5  ±  0.8 with conventional DAS beamforming). When energies were lower than the safety limit for skin (i.e., 394.6  μJ for 900-nm wavelength laser light), the median and interquartile range (IQR) of visual servoing tracking errors obtained with GPU-SLSC were 0.64 and 0.52 mm, respectively (which were lower than the median and IQR obtained with DAS by 1.39 and 8.45 mm, respectively). GPU-SLSC additionally reduced the percentage of failed segmentations when applied to in vivo cardiac data.

Conclusions: Results are promising for the use of low-energy, miniaturized lasers to perform GPU-SLSC photoacoustic-based visual servoing in the operating room with laser pulse repetition frequencies as high as 41.2 Hz.

Photoacoustic-based visual servoing of a needle tip

Abstract:

In intraoperative settings, the presence of acoustic clutter and refection artifacts from metallic
surgical tools often reduces the efectiveness of ultrasound imaging and complicates the localization
of surgical tool tips. We propose an alternative approach for tool tracking and navigation in these
challenging acoustic environments by augmenting ultrasound systems with a light source (to perform
photoacoustic imaging) and a robot (to autonomously and robustly follow a surgical tool regardless of
the tissue medium). The robotically controlled ultrasound probe continuously visualizes the location
of the tool tip by segmenting and tracking photoacoustic signals generated from an optical fber
inside the tool. System validation in the presence of fat, muscle, brain, skull, and liver tissue with and
without the presence of an additional clutter layer resulted in mean signal tracking errors <2mm, mean
probe centering errors <1mm, and successful recovery from ultrasound perturbations, representing
either patient motion or switching from photoacoustic images to ultrasound images to search for
a target of interest. A detailed analysis of channel SNR in controlled experiments with and without
signifcant acoustic clutter revealed that the detection of a needle tip is possible with photoacoustic
imaging, particularly in cases where ultrasound imaging traditionally fails. Results show promise for
guiding surgeries and procedures in acoustically challenging environments with this novel robotic and
photoacoustic system combination.