We investigated the relationship between parent-reported assessments and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) severity level. Parents evaluated 9573 children with ASD on five subscales—combinatorial receptive language, expressive language, sociability, sensory awareness, and health—using the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) and Mental Synthesis Evaluation Checklist (MSEC). The scores in every subscale improved with age, and there were clear differences between the three diagnostic categories. The differences between mild and moderate ASD, and moderate and severe ASD reached statistical significance in each subscale and in every age group in children 3 years of age and older. These findings demonstrate a consistent relationship between children’s diagnoses and their assessments and provide evidence in support of the reliability of parent-report evaluations for ASD. Additionally, this is the first investigation of the relationship between ASD severity level and the ATEC/MSEC scores for the age range from 2 to 7 years.

Longitudinal cognitive testing is essential for developing novel preventive interventions for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease; however, the few available tools have significant practice effect and depend on an external evaluator. We developed a self-administered 10-min at-home test intended for longitudinal cognitive monitoring, Boston Cognitive Assessment or BOCA. The goal of this project was to validate BOCA. BOCA uses randomly selected non-repeating tasks to minimize practice effects. BOCA evaluates eight cognitive domains: 1) Memory/Immediate Recall, 2) Combinatorial Language Comprehension/Prefrontal Synthesis, 3) Visuospatial Reasoning/Mental rotation, 4) Executive function/Clock Test, 5) Attention, 6) Mental math, 7) Orientation, and 8) Memory/Delayed Recall. BOCA was administered to patients with cognitive impairment (n = 50) and age- and education-matched controls (n = 50). Test scores were significantly different between patients and controls (p < 0.001) suggesting good discriminative ability. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.87 implying good internal consistency. BOCA demonstrated strong correlation with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) (R = 0.90, p < 0.001). The study revealed strong (R = 0.94, p < 0.001) test-retest reliability of the total BOCA score one week after participants’ initial administration. The practice effect tested by daily BOCA administration over 10 days was insignificant (β = 0.03, p = 0.68). The effect of the screen size tested by BOCA administration on a large computer screen and re-administration of the BOCA to the same participant on a smartphone was insignificant (β = 0.82, p = 0.17; positive β indicates greater score on a smartphone). BOCA has the potential to reduce the cost and improve the quality of longitudinal cognitive tracking essential for testing novel interventions designed to reduce or reverse cognitive aging. BOCA is available online gratis at www.bocatest.org.

We investigated the relationship between parent-reported assessments and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) severity. Parents evaluated 9573 children with ASD on five subscales: combinatorial receptive language, expressive language, sociability, sensory awareness, and health using Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) and Mental Synthesis Evaluation Checklist (MSEC). Scores in every subscale improved with age and there were clear differences between the three diagnostic categories. The differences between mild and moderate ASD as well as between moderate and severe ASD reached statistical significance in each subscale and in every age group in children 3 years of age and older. These findings demonstrate a consistent relationship between children's diagnoses and their assessments.

Purpose: Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), an FDA-approved treatment for menopausal conditions was found to be associated with increased risk of endometrial cancer and reduced oestrogen. Studies showing benefits of HRT in preventing chronic diseases lead to development of clinical guidelines by American College of Physicians. This study aims to assess effectiveness of HRT treatments across cardiometabolic measures including Triglycerides (TG), Follicle-Stimulating Hormone, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and Estradiol in menopausal women. It reports gaps in scientific knowledge and clinical practice to enhance current guidelines and policies.Methods: A systematic methodology designed and published in PROSPERO (CRD42022346057) to report network meta-epidemiology analysis was utilised. We used databases by PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, EMBASE and MEDLINE for studies published between 30th of April 1980-2022. Effects of HRT treatments were explored using a mixed treatment comparison (MTC) model. Fixed and random-effects models were used to address heterogeneity in published studies. Publication bias was assessed and corrected using funnel plots and Egger&rsquo;s test.Results: Of 45 eligible studies, our findings indicate a significant statistical heterogeneity between HRTs and reduction of TG, SFH, LDL-C alongside increase of HDL-C and Estradiol among menopausal women. The analysis suggests a lack of direct evidence to support their efficacy in reducing TG, SFH and LDL-C levels or to substantiate HRT&rsquo;s effectiveness in increasing HDL-C and Estradiol. The results showed no significant publication bias in the meta-analysis of included studies.Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that use of HRT interventions among menopausal women may reduce TG, FSH and LDL-C levels and increase levels of HDL-C and estradiol via oral and oral + transdermal administration. Our study reaffirms efficacy of HRT in supporting favourable lipid profile in menopausal women whilst highlighting the need for robust and inclusive epidemiology studies and clinical trials to further develop clinical guidelines and policies.

Purpose: Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), an FDA-approved treatment for menopausal conditions was found to be associated with increased risk of endometrial cancer and reduced oestrogen. Studies showing benefits of HRT in preventing chronic diseases lead to development of clinical guidelines by American College of Physicians. This study aims to assess effectiveness of HRT treatments across cardiometabolic measures including Triglycerides (TG), Follicle-Stimulating Hormone, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and Estradiol in menopausal women. It reports gaps in scientific knowledge and clinical practice to enhance current guidelines and policies.Methods: A systematic methodology designed and published in PROSPERO (CRD42022346057) to report network meta-epidemiology analysis was utilised. We used databases by PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, EMBASE and MEDLINE for studies published between 30th of April 1980-2022. Effects of HRT treatments were explored using a mixed treatment comparison (MTC) model. Fixed and random-effects models were used to address heterogeneity in published studies. Publication bias was assessed and corrected using funnel plots and Egger&rsquo;s test.Results: Of 45 eligible studies, our findings indicate a significant statistical heterogeneity between HRTs and reduction of TG, SFH, LDL-C alongside increase of HDL-C and Estradiol among menopausal women. The analysis suggests a lack of direct evidence to support their efficacy in reducing TG, SFH and LDL-C levels or to substantiate HRT&rsquo;s effectiveness in increasing HDL-C and Estradiol. The results showed no significant publication bias in the meta-analysis of included studies.Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that use of HRT interventions among menopausal women may reduce TG, FSH and LDL-C levels and increase levels of HDL-C and estradiol via oral and oral + transdermal administration. Our study reaffirms efficacy of HRT in supporting favourable lipid profile in menopausal women whilst highlighting the need for robust and inclusive epidemiology studies and clinical trials to further develop clinical guidelines and policies.