This article explores the boundaries of neighborhoods as subjectively constructed by 37 adolescents and 33 parents across four census-defined block groups in a Western city. We examine the degree of consensus among participants on the spatial boundaries of their neighborhoods, the stability of participants' subjectively constructed neighborhood definitions, and the overlap between subjectively constructed definitions and census block group and tract definitions. Through an analysis of qualitative interviews, we isolate four factors that appear to influence how participants define their neighborhood boundaries: physical and institutional characteristics of the neighborhood, its class, race, and ethnic composition, perceived criminal threats from within and outside the neighborhood, and symbolic neighborhood identities. These factors can operate to facilitate or compromise consensus and stability about neighborhood boundaries and identity. The study findings are exploratory but suggest several avenues for further investigation into how parents and adolescents construct neighborhood boundaries and the possible influences that subjective neighborhood definitions have on families.Neighborhood has long been recognized as a defining social context of American life (e.g.,

The ability to perform predictive genetic testing of children raises ethical concerns. Current guidelines support the screening of newborns for conditions in which early treatment reduces morbidity and mortality, and oppose most other predictive genetic screening and testing in childhood. Little is known, however, about parental attitudes. We conducted focus groups to gain information on the attitudes, beliefs, and concerns of parents about newborn screening and testing for both treatable and untreatable conditions that present in childhood. Respondents across racial groups support mandatory newborn screening for treatable conditions like phenylketonuria (PKU), citing lack of parental knowledge, and concerns about immature parental decision-makers. Parents do, however, want more information. Citing a variety of psychosocial concerns, respondents believe that parents should have access to predictive genetic testing for childhood onset conditions, even when there are no proven treatments. Respondents want this information to make reproductive and non-reproductive plans and decisions. Although respondents varied in their personal interest in testing, overwhelmingly they believed that the decisions belong to the parents. Professional guidelines that proscribe predictive testing for untreatable childhood onset conditions should be re-examined in light of consumer attitudes.

Objectives: To explore parental attitudes and beliefs about genetic testing of children for conditions that present throughout the life cycle. Methods: Twelve semi-structured focus groups with black and white parents were conducted. Results: Across racial groups, most respondents want access to genetic testing and believe that parents should be the final decision-makers. While most respondents believe it is important to share genetic information with relatives, white respondents want physicians to respect confidentiality absolutely, whereas some black respondents accept physician disclosures in specific situations. Conclusions: Professional policy statements are restrictive about access to predictive genetic testing of children. This conflicts with parental attitudes about who should have decisional authority. While there is consensus among respondents that genetic information should be shared with relatives, respondents disagree as to who should be responsible for disclosure, and when professionals should breach patient confidentiality.

No abstract

The ability to perform predictive genetic testing of children raises ethical concerns regarding whether and when to test and the disclosure of results. Semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of pediatricians (12) and geneticists (13) were conducted to see how they would react to parental requests for predictive genetic testing of their children, and their attitudes about testing their own children. We also asked about disclosure attitudes and practices for their patients' relatives and within their own families. Respondents would provide predictive genetic testing for most conditions, yet were less likely to seek this information about their own children. Respondents believed it was very important for patients to share some types of genetic information with relatives, and were directive in their counseling about intrafamilial disclosure, especially within their own families. Although respondents would almost never breach patient confidentiality, many would breach confidentiality within their own families. Health care professionals distinguish between their professional and personal roles with regard to issues of access and confidentiality in predictive testing of children. They are willing to provide greater access and more confidentiality for their patients than within their own families.

Objectives: Although no genetic tests for violent behaviour are currently available, research is ongoing to isolate genes related to a propensity for violence. We explored the attitudes of parents and healthcare professionals toward behavioural genetic testing for violence. Design: The attitudes of healthcare professionals and the lay public about genetic testing of children were elicited for a range of conditions through interviews with healthcare professionals and focus groups with parents. All participants were informed that behavioural genetic testing was the only hypothetical genetic test in our script and it was presented as the last condition. Participants: The healthcare professionals included both genetic professionals and paediatricians. Focus group participants were recruited through various community institutions in the southside of Chicago and nearby suburbs.

Introduction: The value proposition of CME lies in its ability to elicit change in learners so new knowledge and skills are used to improve patient outcomes. In this study, we test the hypothesis that, in contrast to passive learning, education with an active engagement component has a greater impact on the motivation of learners to make changes in their practice. Methods: We analyzed nine educational formats produced by the American Academy of Family Physicians. CME program between 2015 and 2017. Postactivity learner evaluations were used to measure both satisfaction and “commitment to change”—the percentage of learners who committed in making a change in their practice as a result of their participation. Results: We found education that was interactive and leveraged elements of social learning theory produced the greatest commitment to change the score. Lower scores were obtained for more passive education formats. By contrast, satisfaction scores were not significantly different between formats. Discussion: Our data demonstrate differences between commitment to change and educational format that could inform how format types might be better used to promote a behavior change. We also demonstrate that learner satisfaction has little or no value as a measure of educational efficacy.

Author Contributions: LPS contributed to all experiments, planning, and writing of the paper. LL performed all in vitro electrophysiology. YW performed in vivo electrophysiology. LL, LPS and DPM analyzed all the electrophysiology data. EC performed mouse behavioral experiments. YMU and JU performed a part of primary hippocampal neuron cultures. SW performed western blot experiments. JRM, HEL, LP, TW, XY and KM aided in the collection and sequencing of human DNA. PF, NU and SW conducted production and breeding of mice of different genotypes used in this study. AJS assisted in all immunocytochemistry experiments and analysis. GBR, DPM, and JM provided reagents, supervised experiments and analysis, and aided in manuscript writing. JAW provided all behavioral equipment. JAW and DPM provided scientific input to the study design. BWD provided statistical analysis for whole exome sequencing data. All authors contributed to the writing of this manuscript. AGB supervised all aspects of the project design, execution and writing of the paper. The datasets used for the analysis described in this manuscript were obtained from dbGaP at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap through dbGaP accession number phs000298.v1.p1, under dbGAP Research Project #4357 (Variation in PRICKLE2 and related Genes in Autism) to AGB. The data set(s) were deposited by the ARRA Autism Sequencing Collaborative, an ARRA funded research initiative. AbstractAutism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have been suggested to arise from abnormalities in the canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling pathways. However, a direct connection between a human variant in a Wnt pathway gene and ASD-relevant brain pathology has not been established. Prickle2 (Pk2) is a post-synaptic non-canonical Wnt signaling protein shown to interact with post synaptic density 95 (PSD-95). Here we show that mice with disruption in Prickle2 display behavioral abnormalities including altered social interaction, learning abnormalities, and behavioral inflexibility. Prickle2 disruption in mouse hippocampal neurons led to reductions in dendrite branching, synapse number, and post-synaptic density size. Consistent with these findings, Prickle2 null neurons show decreased frequency and size of spontaneous miniature synaptic currents. These behavioral and physiological abnormalities in Prickle2 disrupted mice are consistent with ASD-like phenotypes present in other mouse models of ASDs. In 384 individuals with autism, we identified two with distinct, heterozygous, rare, non-synonymous PRICKLE2 variants (p.E8Q and p.V153I) that were shared by their affected siblings and inherited paternally. Unlike wild-type PRICKLE2, the PRICKLE2 variants found in ASD patients exhibit deficits in morphological and electrophysiological assays. These data suggest that these PRICKLE2 variants cause a critical loss of PRICKLE2 function. The data presented here provide new insight into the biological roles of Prickle2, its behavioral importance, and suggest disruptions in non-canonical Wnt genes such as PRICKLE2 may contribu...