We had a very busy March Break!

Thank you to all the kids, teens and parents who took part in our study during March Break. We had a very impressive 654 participants, bringing our total number of participants up to 9176!

We are looking forward to breaking the 10,000 mark, and hope to see you at the Science Centre in the coming months!

Over 8000 people have "Spit for Science"

Over 8000 visitors to the Ontario Science Centre have participated in our "Spit for Science" project! We look forward to recruiting new participants during the Family Day weekend in February (Saturday February 13th, Sunday February 14th and Monday February 15th). See you then.

More results!

Figure 1

Figure 2

These figures represent the distribution of scores on the measure of obsessive-compulsive (OC) traits we are using at the Ontario Science Centre, based on a parent reports of their children. The horizontal ("X") axis represents various total scores on the questionnaire which contains multiple items quantifiying different types of OC traits. The vertical ("Y") axis shows how often these scores occur in the population.

The distribution of scores approaches a normal distribution (see blog entry dated September 23, 2009 for an explanation of a normal distribution) but is slightly "skewed" leftward (or downward). However, despite the fact that parents tend to report low scores on this measure, there is still a very wide range of scores and quite a few children with high levels of OC traits.

In Figure 1, the total distribution of scores is illustrated.

In Figure 2, different curves are shown for boys and girls. Boys, shown in blue, are found to have slightly lower scores than girl, shown in red.

Spit for Science on YouTube!

Check out these YouTube links to learn more about the Spit for Science project!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KymFTM86lI8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aYJZq-F7fY

Basic facts about our participants

As you know, all the data collected so far is anonymous in all cases and there is no possibility that the scientists/researchers or anyone else can link genetic or behavioural data with a particular person. That being said, we are able to determine some characteristics about our participants as a group. For example:




The average age of participants is 10.7 years old







49.11% of participants are male and 50.89% are female - almost even!









155 twin pairs have participated in the study (i.e.: both twins have taken part)

Early results!

Our preliminary look at the data shows that we chose our measure of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) traits wisely. The distribution of scores is almost exactly that of a normal distribution.

What is a normal distribution?

A normal distribution is an average distribution of values that, when plotted on a graph, resembles the shape of a bell. Normal distributions generally develop when the sample size or number of observations is very large. Many human characteristics tend to follow a normal distribution, for example, biological measurements such as height, weight, and life span. In a normal distribution, most values fall near the average, with only a small percentage of values falling far above or below the average.

In our sample, the number of participants reporting high levels of ADHD traits and the number of participants reporting low levels of ADHD traits are approximately the same; with the vast majority of participants reporting average levels of ADHD traits.

As you can see from this graph, our data follows a normal distribution. The majority of participants reported average levels of ADHD traits (as seen by the tallest bars in the middle of the graph), while fewer participants reported either high or low levels of ADHD traits (as seen by the shortest bars on both side of the graph).

Preamble before we post our initial findings...

Over the course of the summer, we asked visitors to the Ontario Science Centre to join in a study of the genetics of obsessive, compulsive, and attentional traits.

Visitors were provided information about the risks and benefits of participation before giving written consent.

The data we collected is anonymous in all cases and there is no possibility that the scientists/researchers or anyone else can link genetic or behavioural data with a particular person.

Data was encrypted (given a "secret code" so that it's imcomprehensible to people not authorized to access the data) before being transferred to the Hospital for Sick Children, where analysis is currently taking place.

The project is approved by the Research Ethics Board of the Hospital for Sick Children and is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Department of Psychiatry, the Hospital for Sick Children, Endowment Fund.

We plan to present the results of data analyses at several scientific meetings and in scientifc journals after peer review. In no case will any specific individuals be identified. The principal investigators of this study are Dr. Russell Schachar, Dr. Paul Arnold, Dr. Jennifer Crosbie and Dr. Andrew Paterson.