Online conversion of reconstructed neural morphologies into standardized SWC format.

Digital reconstructions provide an accurate and reliable way to store, share, model, quantify, and analyze neural morphology. Continuous advances in cellular labeling, tissue processing, microscopic imaging, and automated tracing catalyzed a proliferation of software applications to reconstruct neural morphology. These computer programs typically encode the data in custom file formats. The resulting format heterogeneity severely hampers the interoperability and reusability of these valuable data. Among these many alternatives, the SWC file format has emerged as a popular community choice, coalescing a rich ecosystem of related neuroinformatics resources for tracing, visualization, analysis, and simulation. This report presents a standardized specification of the SWC file format. In addition, we introduce xyz2swc, a free online service that converts all 26 reconstruction formats (and 72 variations) described in the scientific literature into the SWC standard. The xyz2swc service is available open source through a user-friendly browser interface ( https://neuromorpho.org/xyz2swc/ui/ ) and an Application Programming Interface (API).

Early development of a novel scale to measure adaptation in people diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease - the A-inflammatory bowel disease.

Objective: To undergo the preliminary development of a new measure of patient adaptation to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): A-IBD. Design: Based on a prior conceptualisation of adaptation, a 40-item scale was generated and completed by 304 people diagnosed with IBD. Main outcome measures: Psychometric analysis of the measure. Association with the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (Brief IPQ) and the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ). Results: The 18-item scale consisted of four subscales (patient identity, person identity, acceptance, expectations). Weak to moderate correlations were found between subscales of the A-IBD and the Brief IPQ and IBDQ. Conclusion: The A-IBD shows potential for assessing adaptation. Further analysis could confirm its usefulness.