Negative predictive value of multiparametric MRI for prostate cancer detection: Outcome of 5-year follow-up in men with negative findings on initial MRI studies

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Itatani, R., E-mail: banguliao@gmail.com [Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, 1-1-1, Honjo, Kumamoto 860-8556 (Japan); Department of Radiology, Kumamoto Chuo Hospital, 1-5-1, Tainoshima, Kumamoto 862-0965 (Japan); Namimoto, T. [Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, 1-1-1, Honjo, Kumamoto 860-8556 (Japan); Atsuji, S.; Katahira, K.; Morishita, S. [Department of Radiology, Kumamoto Chuo Hospital, 1-5-1, Tainoshima, Kumamoto 862-0965 (Japan); Kitani, K.; Hamada, Y. [Department of Urology, Kumamoto Chuo Hospital, 1-5-1, Tainoshima, Kumamoto 862-0965 (Japan); Kitaoka, M. [Department of Pathology, Kumamoto Chuo Hospital, 1-5-1, Tainoshima, Kumamoto 862-0965 (Japan); Nakaura, T. [Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Amakusa Medical Center, Kameba 854-1, Amakusa, Kumamoto 863-0046 (Japan); Yamashita, Y. [Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, 1-1-1, Honjo, Kumamoto 860-8556 (Japan)

2014-10-15

Highlights: • We assess the negative predictive value of multiparametric MRI for prostate cancer. • Patients with positive prostate biopsy findings were defined as false-negative. • Patients with negative initial prostate biopsy findings were followed up for 5 years. • The negative predictive value was 89.6% for significant prostate cancer. • MRI is a useful tool to rule out significant prostate cancer before biopsy. - Abstract: Objective: To assess the clinical negative predictive value (NPV) of multiparametric MRI (mp-MRI) for prostate cancer in a 5-year follow-up. Materials and methods: One hundred ninety-three men suspected of harboring prostate cancer with negative MRI findings were included. Patients with positive transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy findings were defined as false-negative. Patients with negative initial TRUS-guided biopsy findings were followed up and only patients with negative findings by digital rectal examination, MRI, and repeat biopsy and no increase in PSA at 5-year follow-up were defined as “clinically negative”. The clinical NPV of mp-MRI was calculated. For quantitative analysis, mean signal intensity on T2-weighted images and the mean apparent diffusion coefficient value on ADC maps of the initial MRI studies were compared between peripheral-zone (PZ) cancer and the normal PZ based on pathologic maps of patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy. Results: The clinical NPV of mp-MRI was 89.6% for significant prostate cancer. Small cancers, prostatitis, and benign prostatic hypertrophy masking prostate cancer returned false-negative results. Quantitative analysis showed that there was no significant difference between PZ cancer and the normal PZ. Conclusion: The mp-MRI revealed a high clinical NPV and is a useful tool to rule out clinically significant prostate cancer before biopsy.

Negative predictive value of multiparametric MRI for prostate cancer detection: Outcome of 5-year follow-up in men with negative findings on initial MRI studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itatani, R.; Namimoto, T.; Atsuji, S.; Katahira, K.; Morishita, S.; Kitani, K.; Hamada, Y.; Kitaoka, M.; Nakaura, T.; Yamashita, Y.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We assess the negative predictive value of multiparametric MRI for prostate cancer. • Patients with positive prostate biopsy findings were defined as false-negative. • Patients with negative initial prostate biopsy findings were followed up for 5 years. • The negative predictive value was 89.6% for significant prostate cancer. • MRI is a useful tool to rule out significant prostate cancer before biopsy. - Abstract: Objective: To assess the clinical negative predictive value (NPV) of multiparametric MRI (mp-MRI) for prostate cancer in a 5-year follow-up. Materials and methods: One hundred ninety-three men suspected of harboring prostate cancer with negative MRI findings were included. Patients with positive transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy findings were defined as false-negative. Patients with negative initial TRUS-guided biopsy findings were followed up and only patients with negative findings by digital rectal examination, MRI, and repeat biopsy and no increase in PSA at 5-year follow-up were defined as “clinically negative”. The clinical NPV of mp-MRI was calculated. For quantitative analysis, mean signal intensity on T2-weighted images and the mean apparent diffusion coefficient value on ADC maps of the initial MRI studies were compared between peripheral-zone (PZ) cancer and the normal PZ based on pathologic maps of patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy. Results: The clinical NPV of mp-MRI was 89.6% for significant prostate cancer. Small cancers, prostatitis, and benign prostatic hypertrophy masking prostate cancer returned false-negative results. Quantitative analysis showed that there was no significant difference between PZ cancer and the normal PZ. Conclusion: The mp-MRI revealed a high clinical NPV and is a useful tool to rule out clinically significant prostate cancer before biopsy

Parametric Bayesian priors and better choice of negative examples improve protein function prediction.

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Youngs, Noah; Penfold-Brown, Duncan; Drew, Kevin; Shasha, Dennis; Bonneau, Richard

2013-05-01

Computational biologists have demonstrated the utility of using machine learning methods to predict protein function from an integration of multiple genome-wide data types. Yet, even the best performing function prediction algorithms rely on heuristics for important components of the algorithm, such as choosing negative examples (proteins without a given function) or determining key parameters. The improper choice of negative examples, in particular, can hamper the accuracy of protein function prediction. We present a novel approach for choosing negative examples, using a parameterizable Bayesian prior computed from all observed annotation data, which also generates priors used during function prediction. We incorporate this new method into the GeneMANIA function prediction algorithm and demonstrate improved accuracy of our algorithm over current top-performing function prediction methods on the yeast and mouse proteomes across all metrics tested. Code and Data are available at: http://bonneaulab.bio.nyu.edu/funcprop.html

Systematic bias of correlation coefficient may explain negative accuracy of genomic prediction.

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Zhou, Yao; Vales, M Isabel; Wang, Aoxue; Zhang, Zhiwu

2017-09-01

Accuracy of genomic prediction is commonly calculated as the Pearson correlation coefficient between the predicted and observed phenotypes in the inference population by using cross-validation analysis. More frequently than expected, significant negative accuracies of genomic prediction have been reported in genomic selection studies. These negative values are surprising, given that the minimum value for prediction accuracy should hover around zero when randomly permuted data sets are analyzed. We reviewed the two common approaches for calculating the Pearson correlation and hypothesized that these negative accuracy values reflect potential bias owing to artifacts caused by the mathematical formulas used to calculate prediction accuracy. The first approach, Instant accuracy, calculates correlations for each fold and reports prediction accuracy as the mean of correlations across fold. The other approach, Hold accuracy, predicts all phenotypes in all fold and calculates correlation between the observed and predicted phenotypes at the end of the cross-validation process. Using simulated and real data, we demonstrated that our hypothesis is true. Both approaches are biased downward under certain conditions. The biases become larger when more fold are employed and when the expected accuracy is low. The bias of Instant accuracy can be corrected using a modified formula. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Predicting complex syntactic structure in real time: Processing of negative sentences in Russian.

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Kazanina, Nina

2017-11-01

In Russian negative sentences the verb's direct object may appear either in the accusative case, which is licensed by the verb (as is common cross-linguistically), or in the genitive case, which is licensed by the negation (Russian-specific "genitive-of-negation" phenomenon). Such sentences were used to investigate whether case marking is employed for anticipating syntactic structure, and whether lexical heads other than the verb can be predicted on the basis of a case-marked noun phrase. Experiment 1, a completion task, confirmed that genitive-of-negation is part of Russian speakers' active grammatical repertoire. In Experiments 2 and 3, the genitive/accusative case manipulation on the preverbal object led to shorter reading times at the negation and verb in the genitive versus accusative condition. Furthermore, Experiment 3 manipulated linear order of the direct object and the negated verb in order to distinguish whether the abovementioned facilitatory effect was predictive or integrative in nature, and concluded that the parser actively predicts a verb and (otherwise optional) negation on the basis of a preceding genitive-marked object. Similarly to a head-final language, case-marking information on preverbal noun phrases (NPs) is used by the parser to enable incremental structure building in a free-word-order language such as Russian.

Prediction of lipoprotein signal peptides in Gram-negative bacteria

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juncker, Agnieszka; Willenbrock, Hanni; Von Heijne, G.

2003-01-01

A method to predict lipoprotein signal peptides in Gram-negative Eubacteria, LipoP, has been developed. The hidden Markov model (HMM) was able to distinguish between lipoproteins (SPaseII-cleaved proteins), SPaseI-cleaved proteins, cytoplasmic proteins, and transmembrane proteins. This predictor ...

Tuning in to art: A predictive processing account of negative emotion in art.

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Van de Cruys, Sander; Chamberlain, Rebecca; Wagemans, Johan

2017-01-01

We use the example of art-derived solace to discuss a broader mechanism by which negative affect is instrumental in creating positive appreciation of artworks. Based on the theory of predictive processing, we argue that increasing attunement or reduction of prediction errors, which implies increasing validation of the agents (models), is experienced as positive, even if the artwork's content is negative.

Incremental validity of positive and negative valence in predicting personality disorder.

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Simms, Leonard J; Yufik, Tom; Gros, Daniel F

2010-04-01

The Big Seven model of personality includes five dimensions similar to the Big Five model as well as two evaluative dimensions—Positive Valence (PV) and Negative Valence (NV)—which reflect extremely positive and negative person descriptors, respectively. Recent theory and research have suggested that PV and NV predict significant variance in personality disorder (PD) above that predicted by the Big Five, but firm conclusions have not been possible because previous studies have been limited to only single measures of PV, NV, and the Big Five traits. In the present study, we replicated and extended previous findings using three markers of all key constructs—including PV, NV, and the Big Five—in a diverse sample of 338 undergraduates. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that PV incrementally predicted Narcissistic and Histrionic PDs above the Big Five and that NV nonspecifically incremented the prediction of most PDs. Implications for dimensional models of personality pathology are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Exercise identity and attribution properties predict negative self-conscious emotions for exercise relapse.

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Flora, Parminder K; Strachan, Shaelyn M; Brawley, Lawrence R; Spink, Kevin S

2012-10-01

Research on exercise identity (EXID) indicates that it is related to negative affect when exercisers are inconsistent or relapse. Although identity theory suggests that causal attributions about this inconsistency elicit negative self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt, no EXID studies have examined this for exercise relapse. Weiner's attribution-based theory of interpersonal motivation (2010) offers a means of testing the attribution-emotion link. Using both frameworks, we examined whether EXID and attributional properties predicted negative emotions for exercise relapse. Participants (n = 224) read an exercise relapse vignette, and then completed EXID, attributions, and emotion measures. Hierarchical multiple regression models using EXID and the attributional property of controllability significantly predicted each of shame and guilt, R² adjusted = .09, ps ≤ .001. Results support identity theory suggestions and Weiner's specific attribution-emotion hypothesis. This first demonstration of an interlinking of EXID, controllability, and negative self-conscious emotions offers more predictive utility using complementary theories than either theory alone.

Introducing Bayesian thinking to high-throughput screening for false-negative rate estimation.

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Wei, Xin; Gao, Lin; Zhang, Xiaolei; Qian, Hong; Rowan, Karen; Mark, David; Peng, Zhengwei; Huang, Kuo-Sen

2013-10-01

High-throughput screening (HTS) has been widely used to identify active compounds (hits) that bind to biological targets. Because of cost concerns, the comprehensive screening of millions of compounds is typically conducted without replication. Real hits that fail to exhibit measurable activity in the primary screen due to random experimental errors will be lost as false-negatives. Conceivably, the projected false-negative rate is a parameter that reflects screening quality. Furthermore, it can be used to guide the selection of optimal numbers of compounds for hit confirmation. Therefore, a method that predicts false-negative rates from the primary screening data is extremely valuable. In this article, we describe the implementation of a pilot screen on a representative fraction (1%) of the screening library in order to obtain information about assay variability as well as a preliminary hit activity distribution profile. Using this training data set, we then developed an algorithm based on Bayesian logic and Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the number of true active compounds and potential missed hits from the full library screen. We have applied this strategy to five screening projects. The results demonstrate that this method produces useful predictions on the numbers of false negatives.

Negative feedback, beliefs and personal goals in prediction of dysfunctional emotions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popov Boris

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT demonstrates good results in evaluation therapy researches. However, some of its basic concepts, as well as theory as a whole itself, did not receive satisfactory empirical support so far, in comparison to other cognitive models (Beck, Lazarus etc.. Quasiexperimental study was designed to test the role that (1 negative feedback (A and (2 irrational beliefs (B both play in formation of dysfunctional negative emotions, in the context of significant personal goals (in our case value of potential award - G. ABC theoretical model received limited support: statistically significant three-times interaction A x B x G was found in predicting general negative emotional state, as well as anger. In contrast with that, ANOVA showed only main effect of irrational beliefs (as continuous variable to be significant in predicting emotions of anxiety and depression. Findings are discussed in the context of REBT theory of emotions, as well as their possible practical applications. Limitations of the study were also mentioned. .

Preoperative cow-side lactatemia measurement predicts negative outcome in Holstein dairy cattle with right abomasal disorders.

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Boulay, G; Francoz, D; Doré, E; Dufour, S; Veillette, M; Badillo, M; Bélanger, A-M; Buczinski, S

2014-01-01

The objectives of the current study were (1) to determine the gain in prognostic accuracy of preoperative l-lactate concentration (LAC) measured on farm on cows with right displaced abomasum (RDA) or abomasal volvulus (AV) for predicting negative outcome; and (2) to suggest clinically relevant thresholds for such use. A cohort of 102 cows with on-farm surgical diagnostic of RDA or AV was obtained from June 2009 through December 2011. Blood was drawn from coccygeal vessels before surgery and plasma LAC was immediately measured by using a portable clinical analyzer. Dairy producers were interviewed by phone 30 d following surgery and the outcome was determined: a positive outcome if the owner was satisfied of the overall evolution 30 d postoperatively, and a negative outcome if the cow was culled, died, or if the owner reported being unsatisfied 30 d postoperatively. The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve for LAC was 0.92 and was significantly greater than the area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve of heart rate (HR; 0.77), indicating that LAC, in general, performed better than HR to predict a negative outcome. Furthermore, the ability to predict a negative outcome was significantly improved when LAC measurement was considered in addition to the already available HR data (area under the curve: 0.93 and 95% confidence interval: 0.87, 0.99). Important inflection points of the misclassification cost term function were noted at thresholds of 2 and 6 mmol/L, suggesting the potential utility of these cut-points. The 2 and 6 mmol/L thresholds had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for predicting a negative outcome of 76.2, 82.7, 53.3, and 93.1%, and of 28.6, 97.5, 75, and 84%, respectively. In terms of clinical interpretation, LAC ≤2 mmol/L appeared to be a good indicator of positive outcome and could be used to support a surgical treatment decision. The

A multigene assay to predict recurrence of tamoxifen-treated, node-negative breast cancer.

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Paik, Soonmyung; Shak, Steven; Tang, Gong; Kim, Chungyeul; Baker, Joffre; Cronin, Maureen; Baehner, Frederick L; Walker, Michael G; Watson, Drew; Park, Taesung; Hiller, William; Fisher, Edwin R; Wickerham, D Lawrence; Bryant, John; Wolmark, Norman

2004-12-30

The likelihood of distant recurrence in patients with breast cancer who have no involved lymph nodes and estrogen-receptor-positive tumors is poorly defined by clinical and histopathological measures. We tested whether the results of a reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay of 21 prospectively selected genes in paraffin-embedded tumor tissue would correlate with the likelihood of distant recurrence in patients with node-negative, tamoxifen-treated breast cancer who were enrolled in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project clinical trial B-14. The levels of expression of 16 cancer-related genes and 5 reference genes were used in a prospectively defined algorithm to calculate a recurrence score and to determine a risk group (low, intermediate, or high) for each patient. Adequate RT-PCR profiles were obtained in 668 of 675 tumor blocks. The proportions of patients categorized as having a low, intermediate, or high risk by the RT-PCR assay were 51, 22, and 27 percent, respectively. The Kaplan-Meier estimates of the rates of distant recurrence at 10 years in the low-risk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk groups were 6.8 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 4.0 to 9.6), 14.3 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 8.3 to 20.3), and 30.5 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 23.6 to 37.4). The rate in the low-risk group was significantly lower than that in the high-risk group (P<0.001). In a multivariate Cox model, the recurrence score provided significant predictive power that was independent of age and tumor size (P<0.001). The recurrence score was also predictive of overall survival (P<0.001) and could be used as a continuous function to predict distant recurrence in individual patients. The recurrence score has been validated as quantifying the likelihood of distant recurrence in tamoxifen-treated patients with node-negative, estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer. Copyright 2004 Massachusetts Medical Society.

Negative Emotions Predict Elevated Interleukin-6 in the United States but not in Japan

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Miyamoto, Yuri; Boylan, Jennifer Morozink; Coe, Christopher L.; Curhan, Katherine B.; Levine, Cynthia S.; Markus, Hazel Rose; Park, Jiyoung; Kitayama, Shinobu; Kawakami, Norito; Karasawa, Mayumi; Love, Gayle D.; Ryff, Carol D.

2013-01-01

Previous studies conducted in Western cultures have shown that negative emotions predict higher levels of pro-inflammatory biomarkers, specifically interleukin-6 (IL-6). This link between negative emotions and IL-6 may be specific to Western cultures where negative emotions are perceived to be problematic and thus may not extend to Eastern cultures where negative emotions are seen as acceptable and normal. Using samples of 1044 American and 382 Japanese middle-aged and older adults, we investigated whether the relationship between negative emotions and IL-6 varies by cultural context. Negative emotions predicted higher IL-6 among American adults, whereas no association was evident among Japanese adults. Furthermore, the interaction between culture and negative emotions remained even after controlling for demographic variables, psychological factors (positive emotions, neuroticism, extraversion), health behaviors (smoking status, alcohol consumption), and health status (chronic conditions, BMI). These findings highlight the role of cultural context in shaping how negative emotions affect inflammatory physiology and underscore the importance of cultural ideas and practices relevant to negative emotions for understanding of the interplay between psychology, physiology, and health. PMID:23911591

The Role of Metacognition and Negative Emotions on Prediction of Abuse Behaviors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.A Mohammadyfar

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: The aim of present research was determination of the role of metacognition and negative emotions on prediction of abuse behaviors. Method: In correlational research design which is categorized as descriptive research design, 200 participants selected by available sampling in abandonment clinics in Shahrod city. Out of 200 participants, 128 were addicted and 72 were non addicted persons. Metacognition, anxiety, depression, and stress questionnaires were administered among selected samples. Results: The results of regression analysis showed both variables could be significant predictors in prediction of abuse behaviors. Of metacognition subscales, negative believes about not controlling and risk, and cognitive confidence also of negative emotion subscales depression and anxiety were significant predictors. Conclusion: By consideration of results it could be said by intervention of significant variables the probability of suffering of substance abuse and its relapse could be down.

Motivated prediction of future feelings: effects of negative mood and mood orientation on affective forecasts.

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Buehler, Roger; McFarland, Cathy; Spyropoulos, Vassili; Lam, Kent C H

2007-09-01

This article examines the role of motivational factors in affective forecasting. The primary hypothesis was that people predict positive emotional reactions to future events when they are motivated to enhance their current feelings. Three experiments manipulated participants' moods (negative vs. neutral) and orientation toward their moods (reflective vs. ruminative) and then assessed the positivity of their affective predictions for future events. As hypothesized, when participants adopted a reflective orientation, and thus should have been motivated to engage in mood-regulation processes, they predicted more positive feelings in the negative than in the neutral mood condition. This pattern of mood-incongruent affective prediction was not exhibited when participants adopted a ruminative orientation. Additionally, within the negative mood condition, generating affective forecasts had a more positive emotional impact on reflectors than on ruminators. The findings suggest that affective predictions are sometimes driven by mood-regulatory motives.

Novel immunohistochemistry-based signatures to predict metastatic site of triple-negative breast cancers.

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Klimov, Sergey; Rida, Padmashree Cg; Aleskandarany, Mohammed A; Green, Andrew R; Ellis, Ian O; Janssen, Emiel Am; Rakha, Emad A; Aneja, Ritu

2017-09-05

Although distant metastasis (DM) in breast cancer (BC) is the most lethal form of recurrence and the most common underlying cause of cancer related deaths, the outcome following the development of DM is related to the site of metastasis. Triple negative BC (TNBC) is an aggressive form of BC characterised by early recurrences and high mortality. Athough multiple variables can be used to predict the risk of metastasis, few markers can predict the specific site of metastasis. This study aimed at identifying a biomarker signature to predict particular sites of DM in TNBC. A clinically annotated series of 322 TNBC were immunohistochemically stained with 133 biomarkers relevant to BC, to develop multibiomarker models for predicting metastasis to the bone, liver, lung and brain. Patients who experienced metastasis to each site were compared with those who did not, by gradually filtering the biomarker set via a two-tailed t-test and Cox univariate analyses. Biomarker combinations were finally ranked based on statistical significance, and evaluated in multivariable analyses. Our final models were able to stratify TNBC patients into high risk groups that showed over 5, 6, 7 and 8 times higher risk of developing metastasis to the bone, liver, lung and brain, respectively, than low-risk subgroups. These models for predicting site-specific metastasis retained significance following adjustment for tumour size, patient age and chemotherapy status. Our novel IHC-based biomarkers signatures, when assessed in primary TNBC tumours, enable prediction of specific sites of metastasis, and potentially unravel biomarkers previously unknown in site tropism.

Acculturation Predicts Negative Affect and Shortened Telomere Length.

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Ruiz, R Jeanne; Trzeciakowski, Jerome; Moore, Tiffany; Ayers, Kimberly S; Pickler, Rita H

2016-10-12

Chronic stress may accelerate cellular aging. Telomeres, protective "caps" at the end of chromosomes, modulate cellular aging and may be good biomarkers for the effects of chronic stress, including that associated with acculturation. The purpose of this analysis was to examine telomere length (TL) in acculturating Hispanic Mexican American women and to determine the associations among TL, acculturation, and psychological factors. As part of a larger cross-sectional study of 516 pregnant Hispanic Mexican American women, we analyzed DNA in blood samples (N = 56) collected at 22-24 weeks gestation for TL as an exploratory measure using monochrome multiplex quantitative telomere polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We measured acculturation with the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans, depression with the Beck Depression Inventory, discrimination with the Experiences of Discrimination Scale, and stress with the Perceived Stress Scale. TL was negatively moderately correlated with two variables of acculturation: Anglo orientation and greater acculturation-level scores. We combined these scores for a latent variable, acculturation, and we combined depression, stress, and discrimination scores in another latent variable, "negative affectivity." Acculturation and negative affectivity were bidirectionally correlated. Acculturation significantly negatively predicted TL. Using structural equation modeling, we found the model had an excellent fit with the root mean square error of approximation estimate = .0001, comparative fit index = 1.0, Tucker-Lewis index = 1.0, and standardized root mean square residual = .05. The negative effects of acculturation on the health of Hispanic women have been previously demonstrated. Findings from this analysis suggest a link between acculturation and TL, which may indicate accelerated cellular aging associated with overall poor health outcomes. © The Author(s) 2016.

Using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) to Define Different Domains of Negative Symptoms: Prediction of Everyday Functioning by Impairments in Emotional Expression and Emotional Experience.

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Harvey, Philip D; Khan, Anzalee; Keefe, Richard S E

2017-12-01

Background: Reduced emotional experience and expression are two domains of negative symptoms. The authors assessed these two domains of negative symptoms using previously developed Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) factors. Using an existing dataset, the authors predicted three different elements of everyday functioning (social, vocational, and everyday activities) with these two factors, as well as with performance on measures of functional capacity. Methods: A large (n=630) sample of people with schizophrenia was used as the data source of this study. Using regression analyses, the authors predicted the three different aspects of everyday functioning, first with just the two Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale factors and then with a global negative symptom factor. Finally, we added neurocognitive performance and functional capacity as predictors. Results: The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale reduced emotional experience factor accounted for 21 percent of the variance in everyday social functioning, while reduced emotional expression accounted for no variance. The total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale negative symptom factor accounted for less variance (19%) than the reduced experience factor alone. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale expression factor accounted for, at most, one percent of the variance in any of the functional outcomes, with or without the addition of other predictors. Implications: Reduced emotional experience measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, often referred to as "avolition and anhedonia," specifically predicted impairments in social outcomes. Further, reduced experience predicted social impairments better than emotional expression or the total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale negative symptom factor. In this cross-sectional study, reduced emotional experience was specifically related with social outcomes, accounting for essentially no variance in work or everyday activities, and being the

The positive bystander effect: passive bystanders increase helping in situations with high expected negative consequences for the helper.

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Fischer, Peter; Greitemeyer, Tobias

2013-01-01

The present field study investigated the interplay between the presence of a passive bystander (not present versus present) in a simulated bike theft and expected negative consequences (low versus high) in predicting intervention behavior when no physical victim is present. It was found that an additional bystander increases individual intervention in situations where the expected negative consequences for the helper in case of intervention were high (i.e., when the bike thief looks fierce) compared to situations where the expected negative consequences for the helper were low (i.e., when the bike thief does not look fierce). In contrast, no such effect for high vs. low expected negative consequences was observed when no additional bystander observed the critical situation. The results are discussed in light of previous laboratory findings on expected negative consequences and bystander intervention.

Fear among the extremes: how political ideology predicts negative emotions and outgroup derogation.

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van Prooijen, Jan-Willem; Krouwel, André P M; Boiten, Max; Eendebak, Lennart

2015-04-01

The "rigidity of the right" hypothesis predicts that particularly the political right experiences fear and derogates outgroups. We propose that above and beyond that, the political extremes (at both sides of the spectrum) are more likely to display these responses than political moderates. Results of a large-scale sample reveal the predicted quadratic term on socio-economic fear. Moreover, although the political right is more likely to derogate the specific category of immigrants, we find a quadratic effect on derogation of a broad range of societal categories. Both extremes also experience stronger negative emotions about politics than politically moderate respondents. Finally, the quadratic effects on derogation of societal groups and negative political emotions were mediated by socio-economic fear, particularly among left- and right-wing extremists. It is concluded that negative emotions and outgroup derogation flourish among the extremes. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Perceiving social pressure not to feel negative predicts depressive symptoms in daily life.

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Dejonckheere, Egon; Bastian, Brock; Fried, Eiko I; Murphy, Sean C; Kuppens, Peter

2017-09-01

Western societies often overemphasize the pursuit of happiness, and regard negative feelings such as sadness or anxiety as maladaptive and unwanted. Despite this emphasis on happiness, the amount of people suffering from depressive complaints is remarkably high. To explain this apparent paradox, we examined whether experiencing social pressure not to feel sad or anxious could in fact contribute to depressive symptoms. A sample of individuals (n = 112) with elevated depression scores (Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9] ≥ 10) took part in an online daily diary study in which they rated their depressive symptoms and perceived social pressure not to feel depressed or anxious for 30 consecutive days. Using multilevel VAR models, we investigated the temporal relation between this perceived social pressure and depressive symptoms to determine directionality. Primary analyses consistently indicated that experiencing social pressure predicts increases in both overall severity scores and most individual symptoms of depression, but not vice versa. A set of secondary analyses, in which we adopted a network perspective on depression, confirmed these findings. Using this approach, centrality analysis revealed that perceived social pressure not to feel negative plays an instigating role in depression, reflected by the high out- and low instrength centrality of this pressure in the various depression networks. Together, these findings indicate how perceived societal norms may contribute to depression, hinting at a possible malignant consequence of society's denouncement of negative emotions. Clinical implications are discussed. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Stability of DIII-D high-performance, negative central shear discharges

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Hanson, J. M.; Berkery, J. W.; Bialek, J.; Clement, M.; Ferron, J. R.; Garofalo, A. M.; Holcomb, C. T.; La Haye, R. J.; Lanctot, M. J.; Luce, T. C.; Navratil, G. A.; Olofsson, K. E. J.; Strait, E. J.; Turco, F.; Turnbull, A. D.

2017-05-01

Tokamak plasma experiments on the DIII-D device (Luxon et al 2005 Fusion Sci. Tech. 48 807) demonstrate high-performance, negative central shear (NCS) equilibria with enhanced stability when the minimum safety factor {{q}\\text{min}} exceeds 2, qualitatively confirming theoretical predictions of favorable stability in the NCS regime. The discharges exhibit good confinement with an L-mode enhancement factor H 89  =  2.5, and are ultimately limited by the ideal-wall external kink stability boundary as predicted by ideal MHD theory, as long as tearing mode (TM) locking events, resistive wall modes (RWMs), and internal kink modes are properly avoided or controlled. Although the discharges exhibit rotating TMs, locking events are avoided as long as a threshold minimum safety factor value {{q}\\text{min}}>2 is maintained. Fast timescale magnetic feedback control ameliorates RWM activity, expanding the stable operating space and allowing access to {β\\text{N}} values approaching the ideal-wall limit. Quickly growing and rotating instabilities consistent with internal kink mode dynamics are encountered when the ideal-wall limit is reached. The RWM events largely occur between the no- and ideal-wall pressure limits predicted by ideal MHD. However, evaluating kinetic contributions to the RWM dispersion relation results in a prediction of passive stability in this regime due to high plasma rotation. In addition, the ideal MHD stability analysis predicts that the ideal-wall limit can be further increased to {β\\text{N}}>4 by broadening the current profile. This path toward improved stability has the potential advantage of being compatible with the bootstrap-dominated equilibria envisioned for advanced tokamak (AT) fusion reactors.

Latent negative self-schema and high emotionality in well adolescents at risk for psychopathology.

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Kelvin, R G; Goodyer, I M; Teasdale, J D; Brechin, D

1999-09-01

Teasdale's (1988) differential activation hypothesis proposes that a tendency for negative mood to activate latent negative self-schemas characterises people at risk for depression. The current study tested predictions from this hypothesis in a community sample of 102 adolescents who were free from history of psychiatric illness, and who were subdivided according to level of emotionality, a temperamental style as assessed by parental questionnaire. A musical mood induction task was used to induce temporary mild dysphoria, and the effect of mood induction on self-schemas was assessed. There was no difference between high and low emotionality groups in the liability to sad mood induction. However, adolescents with high emotionality endorsed significantly more negative self-descriptors after dysphoric, but not after neutral, mood induction. This was not accounted for by level of self-reported depressive symptoms over the previous week. This suggests that a " dysphoric mood induction challenge" may provide important information about vulnerability to depression that is not identified by routine self-report of mood or cognitions.

Validation of a model for predicting smear-positive active pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with initial acid-fast bacilli smear-negative sputum

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Yeh, Jun-Jun [Department of Chest Medicine, Section of Thoracic Imaging, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi City (China); Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan (China); Meiho University, Pingtung (China); Pingtung Christian Hospital, Pingtung (China); Heng Chun Christian Hospital, Pingtung (China)

2018-01-15

The objective of this study was to develop a predictive model for final smear-positive (SP) active pulmonary tuberculosis (aPTB) in patients with initial negative acid fast bacilli (AFB) sputum smears (iSN-SP-aPTB) based on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). Eighty (126, 21) patients of iSN-SP-aPTB and 402 (459, 876) patients of non-initial positive acid fast bacilli (non-iSP) pulmonary disease without iSN-SP-aPTB were included in a derivation (validation, prospective) cohort. HRCT characteristics were analysed, and multivariable regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to develop a score predictive of iSN-SP-aPTB. The derivation cohort showed clusters of nodules/mass of the right upper lobe or left upper lobe were independent predictors of iSN-SP-aPTB, while bronchiectasis in the right middle lobe or left lingual lobe were negatively associated with iSN-SP-aPTB. A predictive score for iSN-SP-aPTB based on these findings was tested in the validation and prospective cohorts. With an ideal cut-off score = 1, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the prediction model were 87.5% (90%, 90.5%), 99% (97.1%, 98.4%), 94.6% (81.3%, 57.5%), and 97.6% (97%, 99.8%) in the derivation (validation, prospective) cohorts, respectively. The model may help identify iSN-SP-aPTB among patients with non-iSP pulmonary diseases. circle Smear-positive active pulmonary tuberculosis that is initial smear-negative (iSN-SP-aPTB) is infectious. (orig.)

NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF COMPOSITE BEAM SUBJECTED TO COMBINED NEGATIVE BENDING AND AXIAL TENSION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MAHESAN BAVAN

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The present study has investigated the finite element method (FEM techniques of composite beam subjected to combined axial tension and negative bending. The negative bending regions of composite beams are influenced by worsen failures due to various levels of axial tensile loads on steel section especially in the regions near internal supports. Three dimensional solid FEM model was developed to accurately predict the unfavourable phenomenon of cracking of concrete and compression of steel in the negative bending regions of composite beam due to axial tensile loads. The prediction of quasi-static solution was extensively analysed with various deformation speeds and energy stabilities. The FEM model was then validated with existing experimental data. Reasonable agreements were observed between the results of FEM model and experimental analysis in the combination of vertical-axial forces and failure modes on ultimate limit state behaviour. The local failure modes known as shear studs failure, excess yielding on steel beam and crushing on concrete were completely verified by extensive similarity between the numerical and experimental results. Finally, a proper way of modelling techniques for large FEM models by considering uncertainties of material behaviour due to biaxial loadings and complex contact interactions is discussed. Further, the model is suggested for the limit state prediction of composite beam with calibrating necessary degree of the combined axial loads.

Maternal prenatal cortisol predicts infant negative emotionality in a sex-dependent manner.

Science.gov (United States)

Braithwaite, Elizabeth C; Pickles, Andrew; Sharp, Helen; Glover, Vivette; O'Donnell, Kieran J; Tibu, Florin; Hill, Jonathan

2017-06-01

Prenatal stress influences fetal developmental trajectories, which may implicate glucocorticoid mechanisms. There is also emerging evidence that effects of prenatal stress on offspring development are sex-dependent. However, little is known about the prospective relationship between maternal prenatal cortisol levels and infant behaviour, and whether it may be different in male and female infants. We sought to address this question using data from a prospective longitudinal cohort, stratified by risk. The Wirral Child Health and Development Study (WCHADS) cohort (n=1233) included a stratified random sub-sample (n=216) who provided maternal saliva samples, assayed for cortisol, at home over two days at 32weeks of pregnancy (on waking, 30-min post-waking and during the evening) and a measure of infant negative emotionality from the Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS) at five weeks-of-age. General population estimates of associations among measures were obtained using inverse probability weights. Maternal prenatal cortisol sampled on waking predicted infant negative emotionality in a sex-dependent manner (interaction term, p=0.005); female infants exposed to high levels of prenatal cortisol were more negative (Beta=0.440, p=0.042), whereas male infants were less negative (Beta=-0.407, p=0.045). There was no effect of the 30-min post-waking measure or evening cortisol. Our findings add to an emerging body of work that has highlighted sex differences in fetal programming, whereby females become more reactive following prenatal stress, and males less reactive. A more complete understanding of sex-specific developmental trajectories in the context of prenatal stress is essential for the development of targeted prevention strategies. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Androgen receptor positive triple negative breast cancer: Clinicopathologic, prognostic, and predictive features.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristine Astvatsaturyan

Full Text Available Overexpression of the androgen receptor (AR characterizes a distinct molecular subset of triple negative breast carcinomas (TNBC. The role of AR as a prognostic/predictive biomarker in TNBC is controversial, but increasing evidence suggests that this subset may respond to therapeutic agents targeting AR. Evaluation of AR has not been standardized, and criteria for selection of patients for antiandrogen therapy remain controversial. In this study we determine the appropriate threshold of AR immunoreactivity to define AR positive (AR+ TNBC, describe the clinicopathologic features of AR+ TNBC, and discuss the utility of AR positivity as a prognostic and predictive marker in TNBC.135 invasive TNBC processed in accordance with ASCO/CAP guidelines, were immunostained for AR. Clinicopathologic features of AR+ TNBC were analyzed and compared to AR negative (AR- TNBC. Patients' age, tumor size, tumor grade, lymph node status, proliferation rate, immunopositivity for EGFR, CK5/6, Ki-67, and disease free survival (DFS were evaluated statistically.A 1% cutpoint was confirmed as the appropriate threshold for AR positivity. Using this cutpoint 41% of 135 TNBC were AR+. AR+ TNBC occurred in older women, were larger, had lower mean proliferation rate and increased incidence of axillary metastasis than AR- TNBC. 76% of TNBC with apocrine morphology were AR+. A subset of AR+TNBC expressed basal markers (EGFR and CK5/6. A prognostic model was created.AR identifies a heterogeneous group of TNBC. Additional evaluation of EGFR expression allowed us to stratify TNBCs into 3 risk groups with significant differences in DFS and therapeutic implications: low-risk (AR+ EGFR- which represents the LAR molecular subtype with the best prognosis and may benefit the most from anti-androgen therapies; high-risk (AR- EGFR+ which represents the basal molecular subtype with the worst prognosis and may benefit the most from chemotherapy regimens; intermediate-risk (AR+EGFR+ and AR

The Role of Negative Affect and Self-Concept Clarity in Predicting Self-Injurious Urges in Borderline Personality Disorder Using Ecological Momentary Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Scala, J Wesley; Levy, Kenneth N; Johnson, Benjamin N; Kivity, Yogev; Ellison, William D; Pincus, Aaron L; Wilson, Stephen J; Newman, Michelle G

2018-01-01

Deficits in identity as well as negative affect have been shown to predict self-injurious and suicidal behaviors in individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, less is known about the interactive effects of these two predictors. We examined the moderating effect of a particular component of identity, self-concept, on the relationship between negative affect and self-injurious urges utilizing ecological momentary assessments. Outpatients diagnosed with either BPD (n = 36) or any anxiety disorder but no BPD (n = 18) completed surveys throughout the day over a 21-day period. Higher levels of momentary negative affect predicted greater subsequent urges to self-injure, but only when self-concept clarity was low (z = -3.60, p < .01). This effect did not differ between diagnostic groups. The results suggest that self-concept clarity has a protective effect against self-injurious urges in light of high negative affect, and that this effect may be transdiagnostic.

Clinical validation of an epigenetic assay to predict negative histopathological results in repeat prostate biopsies.

Science.gov (United States)

Partin, Alan W; Van Neste, Leander; Klein, Eric A; Marks, Leonard S; Gee, Jason R; Troyer, Dean A; Rieger-Christ, Kimberly; Jones, J Stephen; Magi-Galluzzi, Cristina; Mangold, Leslie A; Trock, Bruce J; Lance, Raymond S; Bigley, Joseph W; Van Criekinge, Wim; Epstein, Jonathan I

2014-10-01

The DOCUMENT multicenter trial in the United States validated the performance of an epigenetic test as an independent predictor of prostate cancer risk to guide decision making for repeat biopsy. Confirming an increased negative predictive value could help avoid unnecessary repeat biopsies. We evaluated the archived, cancer negative prostate biopsy core tissue samples of 350 subjects from a total of 5 urological centers in the United States. All subjects underwent repeat biopsy within 24 months with a negative (controls) or positive (cases) histopathological result. Centralized blinded pathology evaluation of the 2 biopsy series was performed in all available subjects from each site. Biopsies were epigenetically profiled for GSTP1, APC and RASSF1 relative to the ACTB reference gene using quantitative methylation specific polymerase chain reaction. Predetermined analytical marker cutoffs were used to determine assay performance. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate all risk factors. The epigenetic assay resulted in a negative predictive value of 88% (95% CI 85-91). In multivariate models correcting for age, prostate specific antigen, digital rectal examination, first biopsy histopathological characteristics and race the test proved to be the most significant independent predictor of patient outcome (OR 2.69, 95% CI 1.60-4.51). The DOCUMENT study validated that the epigenetic assay was a significant, independent predictor of prostate cancer detection in a repeat biopsy collected an average of 13 months after an initial negative result. Due to its 88% negative predictive value adding this epigenetic assay to other known risk factors may help decrease unnecessary repeat prostate biopsies. Copyright © 2014 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A culture-brain link: Negative age stereotypes predict Alzheimer's disease biomarkers.

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, Becca R; Ferrucci, Luigi; Zonderman, Alan B; Slade, Martin D; Troncoso, Juan; Resnick, Susan M

2016-02-01

Although negative age stereotypes have been found to predict adverse outcomes among older individuals, it was unknown whether the influence of stereotypes extends to brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease. To consider this possibility, we drew on dementia-free participants, in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, whose age stereotypes were assessed decades before yearly magnetic resonance images and brain autopsies were performed. Those holding more-negative age stereotypes earlier in life had significantly steeper hippocampal-volume loss and significantly greater accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques, adjusting for relevant covariates. These findings suggest a new pathway to identifying mechanisms and potential interventions related to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Immunohistochemical subtypes predict the clinical outcome in high-risk node-negative breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant FEC regimen: results of a single-center retrospective study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahal, S.; Boher, J M; Extra, J M; Tarpin, C.; Charafe-Jauffret, E.; Lambaudie, E.; Sabatier, R.; Thomassin-Piana, J.; Tallet, A.; Resbeut, M.; Houvenaeghel, G.; Laborde, L.; Bertucci, F.; Viens, P.; Gonçalves, A.

2015-01-01

Anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with high-risk node-negative breast cancer (BC). In this setting, prognostic factors predicting for treatment failure might help selecting among the different available cytotoxic combinations. Between 1998 and 2008, 757 consecutive patients with node-negative BC treated in our institution with adjuvant FEC (5FU, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide) chemotherapy were identified. Data collection included demographic, clinico-pathological characteristics and treatment information. Molecular subtypes were derived from estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status and Scarff-Bloom-Richardson (SBR) grade. Disease-free survival (DFS), distant disease-free survival (DDFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier Method, and prognostic factors were examined by multivariate Cox analysis. After a median follow-up of 70 months, the 5-year DFS, DDFS and OS were 90.6 % (95 % confidence interval (CI): 88.2–93.1), 92.8 % (95 % CI: 90.7–95) and 95.1 % (95 % CI, 93.3–96.9), respectively. In the multivariate analysis including classical clinico-pathological parameters, only grade 3 maintained a significant and independent adverse prognostic impact. In an alternative multivariate model where ER, PR and grade were replaced by molecular subtypes, only luminal B/HER2-negative and triple-negative subtypes were associated with reduced DFS and DDFS. Node-negative BC patients receiving adjuvant FEC regimen have a favorable outcome. Luminal B/HER2-negative and triple-negative subtypes identify patients with a higher risk of treatment failure, which might warrant more aggressive systemic treatment. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1746-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Keratin 17 is overexpressed and predicts poor survival in estrogen receptor-negative/human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-negative breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Merkin, Ross D; Vanner, Elizabeth A; Romeiser, Jamie L; Shroyer, A Laurie W; Escobar-Hoyos, Luisa F; Li, Jinyu; Powers, Robert S; Burke, Stephanie; Shroyer, Kenneth R

2017-04-01

Clinicopathological features of breast cancer have limited accuracy to predict survival. By immunohistochemistry (IHC), keratin 17 (K17) expression has been correlated with triple-negative status (estrogen receptor [ER]/progesterone receptor/human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 [HER2] negative) and decreased survival, but K17 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression has not been evaluated in breast cancer. K17 is a potential prognostic cancer biomarker, targeting p27, and driving cell cycle progression. This study compared K17 protein and mRNA expression to ER/progesterone receptor/HER2 receptor status and event-free survival. K17 IHC was performed on 164 invasive breast cancers and K17 mRNA was evaluated in 1097 breast cancers. The mRNA status of other keratins (16/14/9) was evaluated in 113 ER - /HER2 - ductal carcinomas. IHC demonstrated intense cytoplasmic and membranous K17 localization in myoepithelial cells of benign ducts and lobules and tumor cells of ductal carcinoma in situ. In ductal carcinomas, K17 protein was detected in most triple-negative tumors (28/34, 82%), some non-triple-negative tumors (52/112, 46%), but never in lobular carcinomas (0/15). In ductal carcinomas, high K17 mRNA was associated with reduced 5-year event-free survival in advanced tumor stage (n = 149, hazard ratio [HR] = 3.68, P = .018), and large (n = 73, HR = 3.95, P = .047), triple-negative (n = 103, HR = 2.73, P = .073), and ER - /HER2 - (n = 113, HR = 2.99, P = .049) tumors. There were significant correlations among keratins 17, 16, 14, and 9 mRNA levels suggesting these keratins (all encoded on chromosome 17) could be coordinately expressed in breast cancer. Thus, K17 is expressed in a subset of triple-negative breast cancers, and is a marker of poor prognosis in patients with advanced stage and ER - /HER2 - breast cancer. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Negative predictive value of ultrasound in predicting tumor-free margins in specimen sonography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naz, S.; Hafeez, S.; Hussain, Z.; Hilal, K.

2017-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the success of ultrasound in post-excision specimen visualization, and negative predictive value of ultrasound for estimation of tumor-free margins using histopathology as the gold standard. Study Design: Cross-sectional analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, from May 2010 till January 2013. Methodology: Sonography of all breast nodules was done before and after exicision by two female radiologists with at least five years clinical experience. All surgeries were performed by the same referring breast surgeons. All nodules were non-palpable and had histopathology as well as specimen sonography performed at AKUH. Subjects were excluded, if histopathology was not available, post-procedure sonogram not done or done in another hospital and nodules that were not seen on ultrasound. After needle localization in 47 patients using ultrasound and in 7 patients using mammogram was done, sonogram was conducted in all 54 lesions. These were then assessed by ultrasound for detection of lesion and tumor-free margins in malignant lesion. Post-excision ultrasound was performed for the evaluation of lesion whether visualized or absent with localizing needle in situ, lesion dimensions, depth measurement between the superior margin of the lesion and its edge. Results: All 54 lesions were present on post-exicison scan, out of which 28 were documented as malignant and 26 as benign. Ultrasound declared all specimens as tumor-free. On histopathology, two lesions were documented as having tumor-positive margins and were proven to be invasive lobular carcinoma. Therefore, the negative predictive value of the specimen sonography for margin detection was 26/28 (92.8%). Conclusion: Ultrasound of the excised breast tumor specimen is a simple and reliable technique for confirmation of the tumor-free margins in non-palpable breast lesions. (author)

Structured Parent-Child Observations Predict Development of Conduct Problems: the Importance of Parental Negative Attention in Child-Directed Play.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleming, Andrew P; McMahon, Robert J; King, Kevin M

2017-04-01

Structured observations of parent-child interactions are commonly used in research and clinical settings, but require additional empirical support. The current study examined the capacity of child-directed play, parent-directed play, and parent-directed chore interaction analogs to uniquely predict the development of conduct problems across a 6-year follow-up period. Parent-child observations were collected from 338 families from high-risk neighborhoods during the summer following the child's first-grade year. Participating children were 49.2 % female, 54.4 % white, and 45.6 % black, and had an average age of 7.52 years at the first assessment. Conduct problems were assessed via parent report and teacher report at five assessment points between first grade and seventh grade. Latent growth curve modeling was used to analyze predictors of conduct problem trajectory across this 6-year follow-up period. When race, sex, socioeconomic status, and maternal depressive symptoms were controlled, parental negative attention during child-directed play predicted higher levels of parent-reported conduct problems concurrently and after a 6-year follow-up period. Parental negative attention during child-directed play also predicted higher teacher-reported conduct problems 6 years later. Findings support the use of child-directed play and parent-directed chore analogs in predicting longitudinal development of conduct problems. The presence of parental negative attention during child-directed play appears to be an especially important predictor of greater conduct problems over time and across multiple domains. Additionally, the potential importance of task-incongruent behavior is proposed for further study.

Harsh parenting and fearfulness in toddlerhood interact to predict amplitudes of preschool error-related negativity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca J. Brooker

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Temperamentally fearful children are at increased risk for the development of anxiety problems relative to less-fearful children. This risk is even greater when early environments include high levels of harsh parenting behaviors. However, the mechanisms by which harsh parenting may impact fearful children's risk for anxiety problems are largely unknown. Recent neuroscience work has suggested that punishment is associated with exaggerated error-related negativity (ERN, an event-related potential linked to performance monitoring, even after the threat of punishment is removed. In the current study, we examined the possibility that harsh parenting interacts with fearfulness, impacting anxiety risk via neural processes of performance monitoring. We found that greater fearfulness and harsher parenting at 2 years of age predicted greater fearfulness and greater ERN amplitudes at age 4. Supporting the role of cognitive processes in this association, greater fearfulness and harsher parenting also predicted less efficient neural processing during preschool. This study provides initial evidence that performance monitoring may be a candidate process by which early parenting interacts with fearfulness to predict risk for anxiety problems.

The cost of empathy: Parent-adolescent conflict predicts emotion dysregulation for highly empathic youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Lissa, Caspar J; Hawk, Skyler T; Koot, Hans M; Branje, Susan; Meeus, Wim H J

2017-09-01

Empathy plays a key role in maintaining close relationships and promoting prosocial conflict resolution. However, research has not addressed the potential emotional cost of adolescents' high empathy, particularly when relationships are characterized by more frequent conflict. The present 6-year longitudinal study (N = 467) investigated whether conflict with parents predicted emotion dysregulation more strongly for high-empathy adolescents than for lower-empathy adolescents. Emotion dysregulation was operationalized at both the experiential level, using mood diary data collected for 3 weeks each year, and at the dispositional level, using annual self-report measures. In line with predictions, we found that more frequent adolescent-parent conflict predicted greater day-to-day mood variability and dispositional difficulties in emotion regulation for high-empathy adolescents, but not for average- and low-empathy adolescents. Mood variability and difficulties in emotion regulation, in turn, also predicted increased conflict with parents. These links were not moderated by empathy. Moreover, our research allowed for a novel investigation of the interplay between experiential and dispositional emotion dysregulation. Day-to-day mood variability predicted increasing dispositional difficulties in emotion regulation over time, which suggests that experiential dysregulation becomes consolidated into dispositional difficulties in emotion regulation. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that, for high-empathy adolescents, conflict was a driver of this dysregulation consolidation process. Finally, emotion dysregulation played a role in overtime conflict maintenance for high-empathy adolescents. This suggests that, through emotion dysregulation, high empathy may paradoxically also contribute to maintaining negative adolescent-parent interactions. Our research indicates that high empathy comes at a cost when adolescent-parent relationships are characterized by greater negativity

Clinical implication of negative conversion of predicted circumferential resection margin status after preoperative chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Nam Kwon [Department of Radiation Oncology, Korea University Medical Center, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Chul Yong, E-mail: kcyro@korea.ac.kr [Department of Radiation Oncology, Korea University Medical Center, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Park, Young Je; Yang, Dae Sik; Yoon, Won Sup [Department of Radiation Oncology, Korea University Medical Center, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Seon Hahn; Kim, Jin [Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Korea University Medical Center, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2014-02-15

Objective: To evaluate the prognostic implication of the negative conversion of predicted circumferential resection margin status before surgery in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer with predicted circumferential resection margin involvement. Methods: Thirty-eight patients (28 men, 10 women; median age, 61 years; age range, 39–80 years) with locally advanced rectal cancer with predicted circumferential resection margin involvement who underwent preoperative chemoradiotherapy followed by radical surgery were analyzed. Involvement of the circumferential resection margin was predicted on the basis of pre- and post-chemoradiotherapy magnetic resonance imaging. The primary endpoints were 3-year local recurrence-free survival and overall survival. Results: The median follow-up time was 41.1 months (range, 13.9–85.2 months). The negative conversion rate of predicted circumferential resection margin status after preoperative chemoradiotherapy was 65.8%. Patients who experienced negative conversion of predicted circumferential resection margin status had a significantly higher 3-year local recurrence-free survival rate (100.0% vs. 76.9%; P = 0.013), disease-free survival rate (91.7% vs. 59.3%; P = 0.023), and overall survival rate (96.0% vs. 73.8%; P = 0.016) than those who had persistent circumferential resection margin involvement. Conclusions: The negative conversion of the predicted circumferential resection margin status as predicted by magnetic resonance imaging will assist in individual risk stratification as a predictive factor for treatment response and survival before surgery. These findings may help physicians determine whether to administer more intense adjuvant chemotherapy or change the surgical plan for patients displaying resistance to preoperative chemoradiotherapy.

Do positive or negative stressful events predict the development of new brain lesions in people with Multiple Sclerosis?

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Michelle Nicole; Nawacki, Ewa; Kwasny, Mary J.; Pelletier, Daniel; Mohr, David C.

2014-01-01

Background Stressful life events have long been suspected to contribute to multiple sclerosis (MS) disease activity. The few studies examining the relationship between stressful events and neuroimaging markers have been small and inconsistent. This study examined whether different types of stressful events and perceived stress could predict development of brain lesions. Methods This was a secondary analysis of 121 patients with MS followed for 48 weeks during a randomized controlled trial comparing Stress Management Therapy for MS to a waitlist control. Patients underwent MRI’s every 8 weeks. Monthly, patients completed an interview measure assessing stressful life events, and self-report measures of perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, which were used to predict the presence of gadolinium enhancing (Gd+) and T2 lesions on MRI’s 29–62 days later. Participants classified stressful events as positive or negative. Negative events were considered “major” if they involved physical threat or threat to the patient’s family structure, and “moderate” otherwise. Results Positive stressful events predicted decreased risk for subsequent Gd+ lesions in the control group (OR=.53 for each additional positive stressful event, 95% CI=.30–.91) and less risk for new or enlarging T2 lesions regardless of group assignment (OR=.74, 95% CI=.55–.99). Across groups, major negative stressful events predicted Gd+ lesions (OR=1.77, 95% CI=1.18–2.64) and new or enlarging T2 lesions (OR=1.57, 95% CI=1.11–2.23), while moderate negative stressful events, perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms did not. Conclusions Major negative stressful events predict increased risk for Gd+ and T2 lesions, while positive stressful events predict decreased risk. PMID:23680407

A Culture-Brain Link: Negative Age Stereotypes Predict Alzheimer’s-disease Biomarkers

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, Becca R.; Ferrucci, Luigi; Zonderman, Alan B.; Slade, Martin D.; Troncoso, Juan; Resnick, Susan M.

2016-01-01

Although negative age stereotypes have been found to predict adverse outcomes among older individuals, it was unknown whether the influence of stereotypes extends to brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease. To consider this possibility, we drew on the age stereotypes of dementia-free participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging that had been measured decades before yearly MRIs and brain autopsies were performed. Those with more negative age stereotypes earlier in life had significantly steeper hippocampal-volume loss, and significantly greater accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques at autopsy, adjusting for relevant covariates. These findings suggest a new pathway to identifying mechanisms and potential interventions related to the neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease. PMID:26641877

Pathway analysis of gene signatures predicting metastasis of node-negative primary breast cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Jack X; Sieuwerts, Anieta M; Zhang, Yi; Martens, John WM; Smid, Marcel; Klijn, Jan GM; Wang, Yixin; Foekens, John A

2007-01-01

Published prognostic gene signatures in breast cancer have few genes in common. Here we provide a rationale for this observation by studying the prognostic power and the underlying biological pathways of different gene signatures. Gene signatures to predict the development of metastases in estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative tumors were identified using 500 re-sampled training sets and mapping to Gene Ontology Biological Process to identify over-represented pathways. The Global Test program confirmed that gene expression profilings in the common pathways were associated with the metastasis of the patients. The apoptotic pathway and cell division, or cell growth regulation and G-protein coupled receptor signal transduction, were most significantly associated with the metastatic capability of estrogen receptor-positive or estrogen-negative tumors, respectively. A gene signature derived of the common pathways predicted metastasis in an independent cohort. Mapping of the pathways represented by different published prognostic signatures showed that they share 53% of the identified pathways. We show that divergent gene sets classifying patients for the same clinical endpoint represent similar biological processes and that pathway-derived signatures can be used to predict prognosis. Furthermore, our study reveals that the underlying biology related to aggressiveness of estrogen receptor subgroups of breast cancer is quite different

Harsh parenting and fearfulness in toddlerhood interact to predict amplitudes of preschool error-related negativity.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooker, Rebecca J; Buss, Kristin A

2014-07-01

Temperamentally fearful children are at increased risk for the development of anxiety problems relative to less-fearful children. This risk is even greater when early environments include high levels of harsh parenting behaviors. However, the mechanisms by which harsh parenting may impact fearful children's risk for anxiety problems are largely unknown. Recent neuroscience work has suggested that punishment is associated with exaggerated error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related potential linked to performance monitoring, even after the threat of punishment is removed. In the current study, we examined the possibility that harsh parenting interacts with fearfulness, impacting anxiety risk via neural processes of performance monitoring. We found that greater fearfulness and harsher parenting at 2 years of age predicted greater fearfulness and greater ERN amplitudes at age 4. Supporting the role of cognitive processes in this association, greater fearfulness and harsher parenting also predicted less efficient neural processing during preschool. This study provides initial evidence that performance monitoring may be a candidate process by which early parenting interacts with fearfulness to predict risk for anxiety problems. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) to Define Different Domains of Negative Symptoms: Prediction of Everyday Functioning by Impairments in Emotional Expression and Emotional Experience

OpenAIRE

Harvey, Philip D.; Khan, Anzalee; Keefe, Richard S. E.

2017-01-01

Background: Reduced emotional experience and expression are two domains of negative symptoms. The authors assessed these two domains of negative symptoms using previously developed Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) factors. Using an existing dataset, the authors predicted three different elements of everyday functioning (social, vocational, and everyday activities) with these two factors, as well as with performance on measures of functional capacity. Methods: A large (n=630) sampl...

Reliable test for prenatal prediction of fetal RhD type using maternal plasma from RhD negative women

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Frederik Banch; Krog, Grethe Risum; Rieneck, Klaus

2005-01-01

The objective of this study was to establish a reliable test for prenatal prediction of fetal RhD type using maternal plasma from RhD negative women. This test is needed for future prenatal Rh prophylaxis.......The objective of this study was to establish a reliable test for prenatal prediction of fetal RhD type using maternal plasma from RhD negative women. This test is needed for future prenatal Rh prophylaxis....

Fronto-temporal connectivity predicts cognitive empathy deficits and experiential negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Abram, Samantha V; Wisner, Krista M; Fox, Jaclyn M; Barch, Deanna M; Wang, Lei; Csernansky, John G; MacDonald, Angus W; Smith, Matthew J

2017-03-01

Impaired cognitive empathy is a core social cognitive deficit in schizophrenia associated with negative symptoms and social functioning. Cognitive empathy and negative symptoms have also been linked to medial prefrontal and temporal brain networks. While shared behavioral and neural underpinnings are suspected for cognitive empathy and negative symptoms, research is needed to test these hypotheses. In two studies, we evaluated whether resting-state functional connectivity between data-driven networks, or components (referred to as, inter-component connectivity), predicted cognitive empathy and experiential and expressive negative symptoms in schizophrenia subjects. Study 1: We examined associations between cognitive empathy and medial prefrontal and temporal inter-component connectivity at rest using a group-matched schizophrenia and control sample. We then assessed whether inter-component connectivity metrics associated with cognitive empathy were also related to negative symptoms. Study 2: We sought to replicate the connectivity-symptom associations observed in Study 1 using an independent schizophrenia sample. Study 1 results revealed that while the groups did not differ in average inter-component connectivity, a medial-fronto-temporal metric and an orbito-fronto-temporal metric were related to cognitive empathy. Moreover, the medial-fronto-temporal metric was associated with experiential negative symptoms in both schizophrenia samples. These findings support recent models that link social cognition and negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1111-1124, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The negativity bias predicts response rate to Behavioral Activation for depression.

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Gollan, Jackie K; Hoxha, Denada; Hunnicutt-Ferguson, Kallio; Norris, Catherine J; Rosebrock, Laina; Sankin, Lindsey; Cacioppo, John

2016-09-01

This treatment study investigated the extent to which asymmetric dimensions of affective responding, specifically the positivity offset and the negativity bias, at pretreatment altered the rate of response to Behavioral Activation treatment for depression. Forty-one depressed participants were enrolled into 16 weekly sessions of BA. An additional 36 lifetime healthy participants were evaluated prospectively for 16 weeks to compare affective responding between healthy and remitted patients at post-treatment. All participants were assessed at Weeks 0, 8 and 16 using repeated measures, involving a structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders, questionnaires, and a computerized task designed to measure affective responses to unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant images. The negativity bias at pre-treatment predicted the rate of response to BA, while the positivity offset did not. Only one treatment condition was used in this study and untreated depressed participants were not enrolled, limiting our ability to compare the effect of BA. Baseline negativity bias may serve as a signal for patients to engage in and benefit from the goal-directed BA strategies, thereby accelerating rate of response. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The relationship of social function to depressive and negative symptoms in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis.

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Corcoran, C M; Kimhy, D; Parrilla-Escobar, M A; Cressman, V L; Stanford, A D; Thompson, J; David, S Ben; Crumbley, A; Schobel, S; Moore, H; Malaspina, D

2011-02-01

Social dysfunction is a hallmark symptom of schizophrenia which commonly precedes the onset of psychosis. It is unclear if social symptoms in clinical high-risk patients reflect depressive symptoms or are a manifestation of negative symptoms. We compared social function scores on the Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report between 56 young people (aged 13-27 years) at clinical high risk for psychosis and 22 healthy controls. The cases were also assessed for depressive and 'prodromal' symptoms (subthreshold positive, negative, disorganized and general symptoms). Poor social function was related to both depressive and negative symptoms, as well as to disorganized and general symptoms. The symptoms were highly intercorrelated but linear regression analysis demonstrated that poor social function was primarily explained by negative symptoms within this cohort, particularly in ethnic minority patients. Although this study demonstrated a relationship between social dysfunction and depressive symptoms in clinical high-risk cases, this association was primarily explained by the relationship of each of these to negative symptoms. In individuals at heightened risk for psychosis, affective changes may be related to a progressive decrease in social interaction and loss of reinforcement of social behaviors. These findings have relevance for potential treatment strategies for social dysfunction in schizophrenia and its risk states and predict that antidepressant drugs, cognitive behavioral therapy and/or social skills training may be effective.

Beyond Generalized Sexual Prejudice: Need for Closure Predicts Negative Attitudes Toward Bisexual People Relative to Gay/Lesbian People.

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Burke, Sara E; Dovidio, John F; LaFrance, Marianne; Przedworski, Julia M; Perry, Sylvia P; Phelan, Sean M; Burgess, Diana J; Hardeman, Rachel R; Yeazel, Mark W; van Ryn, Michelle

2017-07-01

Increasing evidence suggests that bisexual people are sometimes evaluated more negatively than heterosexual and gay/lesbian people. A common theoretical account for this discrepancy argues that bisexuality is perceived by some as introducing ambiguity into a binary model of sexuality. The present brief report tests a single key prediction of this theory, that evaluations of bisexual people have a unique relationship with Need for Closure (NFC), a dispositional preference for simple ways of structuring information. Participants ( n =3406) were heterosexual medical students from a stratified random sample of 49 U.S. medical schools. As in prior research, bisexual targets were evaluated slightly more negatively than gay/lesbian targets overall. More importantly for the present investigation, higher levels of NFC predicted negative evaluations of bisexual people after accounting for negative evaluations of gay/lesbian people, and higher levels of NFC also predicted an explicit evaluative preference for gay/lesbian people over bisexual people. These results suggest that differences in evaluations of sexual minority groups partially reflect different psychological processes, and that NFC may have a special relevance for bisexual targets even beyond its general association with prejudice. The practical value of testing this theory on new physicians is also discussed.

Mindfulness Trait Predicts Neurophysiological Reactivity Associated with Negativity Bias: An ERP Study

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Nerissa S. P. Ho

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study explored the relationship of mindfulness trait with the early and late stages of affective processing, by examining the two corresponding ERP components, P2 and LPP, collected from twenty-two male Chinese participants with a wide range of meditation experiences. Multiple regression analyses was performed on the mindfulness scores, as measured by CAMS-R, with the subjective affective ratings and ERP data collected during an emotion processing task. The results showed that increased mindfulness scores predicted increased valence ratings of negative stimuli (less negative, as well as increased P2 amplitudes at the frontocentral location for positive compared to negative stimuli. Based on these findings, a plausible mechanism of mindfulness in reducing negativity bias was discussed. Moreover, our results replicated previous findings on the age-related increase of P2 amplitudes at the frontal sites for positive compared to neutral stimuli. Since the locations at which P2 amplitudes were found as associated with age and mindfulness differed, as did the emotional contents of the stimuli being compared, indicating that the effect of age did not confound our findings on mindfulness and the two factors might operate on early affective processing from distinct sources and mechanisms.

Depression Vulnerability Predicts Cigarette Smoking among College Students: Gender and Negative Reinforcement Expectancies as Contributing Factors

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Morrell, Holly E. R.; Cohen, Lee M.; McChargue, Dennis E.

2010-01-01

This study examined the association between vulnerability to depression and smoking behavior in college students in 1214 college students (54% female), and evaluated gender and expectancies of negative affect reduction as moderators or mediators of this relationship. Depression vulnerability predicted smoking in females, but not males. The relationship between depression vulnerability and smoking status was mediated by expectancies of negative affect reduction in females only. Female college ...

Use of human papillomavirus DNA, E6/E7 mRNA, and p16 immunocytochemistry to detect and predict anal high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions in HIV-positive and HIV-negative men who have sex with men.

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Nittaya Phanuphak

Full Text Available Men who have sex with men (MSM are at high risk of having anal cancer. Anal high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL is the precursor of anal cancer. We explored the use of different biomarkers associated with human papillomavirus (HPV infection and HPV-mediated cell transformation to detect and predict HSIL among HIV-positive and HIV-negative MSM.A total of 123 HIV-positive and 123 HIV-negative MSM were enrolled and followed for 12 months. High-resolution anoscopy (HRA with biopsies were performed at every visit along with anal sample collection for cytology, high-risk HPV DNA genotyping, HPV E6/E7 mRNA, and p16 immunocytochemistry. Performance characteristics and area under the receiver operator characteristics curve were calculated for these biomarkers at baseline, and Cox regression compared the usefulness of these biomarkers in predicting incident HSIL. High-risk HPV DNA, E6/E7 mRNA, and p16 immunocytochemistry each identified 43-46% of MSM whose baseline test positivity would trigger HRA referral. E6/E7 mRNA had the highest sensitivity (64.7% and correctly classified the highest number of prevalent HSIL cases. With the exception of p16 immunochemistry, most tests showed significant increases in sensitivity but decreases specificity versus anal cytology, while the overall number of correctly classified cases was not significantly different. Baseline or persistent type 16 and/or 18 HPV DNA was the only test significantly predicting incident histologic HSIL within 12 months in models adjusted for HIV status and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions at baseline.Countries with a high HIV prevalence among MSM and limited HRA resources may consider using biomarkers to identify individuals at high risk of HSIL. E6/E7 mRNA had the highest sensitivity for prevalent HSIL detection regardless of HIV status, whereas type 16 and/or 18 HPV DNA performed best in predicting development of incident HSIL within 12 months.

[Negative and positive predictive relationships between coping strategies and the three dimensions of burnout among Hungarian medical students].

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Ádám, Szilvia; Nistor, Anikó; Nistor, Katalin; Hazag, Anikó

2014-08-10

Effective management and prevention of widespread burnout among medical students in Hungary require thorough understanding of its relations to coping strategies, which lacks sufficient data. To explore the prevalence of burnout and its relations to coping strategies among medical students. Cross-sectional study with 292 participants. Burnout was assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey. Coping strategies were evaluated by the Folkman-Lazarus Ways of Coping Questionnaire and questions about health-maintenance behaviours. Associations between burnout and coping strategies were explored with linear regression analyses. The prevalence of high-level burnout was 25-56%. Both problem-focused coping and support-seeking were protective factors of exhaustion and cynicism, however, they predicted reduced personal accomplishment. Emotion-focused coping predicted exhaustion and cynicism and correlated negatively with reduced personal accomplishment. Health-maintenance behaviours were protective factors for exhaustion and predicted reduced personal accomplishment. Deployment of coping strategies that target the most prevalent burnout dimension may improve effective management of burnout.

Thinking while drinking: Fear of negative evaluation predicts drinking behaviors of students with social anxiety.

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Villarosa-Hurlocker, Margo C; Whitley, Robert B; Capron, Daniel W; Madson, Michael B

2018-03-01

College students with social anxiety disorder experience more alcohol-related negative consequences, regardless of the amount of alcohol they consume. Social anxiety refers to psychological distress and physiological arousal in social situations due to an excessive fear of negative evaluation by others. The current study examined within-group differences in alcohol-related negative consequences of students who met or exceeded clinically-indicated social anxiety symptoms. In particular, we tested a sequential mediation model of the cognitive (i.e., fear of negative evaluation) and behavioral (protective behavioral strategies) mechanisms for the link between social anxiety disorder subtypes (i.e., interaction and performance-type) and alcohol-related negative consequences. Participants were 412 traditional-age college student drinkers who met or exceeded the clinically-indicated threshold for social anxiety disorder and completed measures of fear of negative evaluation, protective behavioral strategies (controlled consumption and serious harm reduction), and alcohol-related negative consequences. Fear of negative evaluation and serious harm reduction strategies sequentially accounted for the relationship between interaction social anxiety disorder and alcohol-related negative consequences, such that students with more severe interaction social anxiety symptoms reported more fear of negative evaluation, which was related to more serious harm reduction strategies, which predicted fewer alcohol-related negative consequences. Future directions and implications are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Metacognitive deficits predict future levels of negative symptoms in schizophrenia controlling for neurocognition, affect recognition, and self-expectation of goal attainment.

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Lysaker, Paul H; Kukla, Marina; Dubreucq, Julien; Gumley, Andrew; McLeod, Hamish; Vohs, Jenifer L; Buck, Kelly D; Minor, Kyle S; Luther, Lauren; Leonhardt, Bethany L; Belanger, Elizabeth A; Popolo, Raffaele; Dimaggio, Giancarlo

2015-10-01

The recalcitrance of negative symptoms in the face of pharmacologic treatment has spurred interest in understanding the psychological factors that contribute to their formation and persistence. Accordingly, this study investigated whether deficits in metacognition, or the ability to form integrated ideas about oneself, others, and the world, prospectively predicted levels of negative symptoms independent of deficits in neurocognition, affect recognition and defeatist beliefs. Participants were 53 adults with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Prior to entry into a rehabilitation program, all participants completed concurrent assessments of metacognition with the Metacognitive Assessment Scale-Abbreviated, negative symptoms with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, neurocognition with the MATRICS battery, affect recognition with the Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task, and one form of defeatist beliefs with the Recovery Assessment Scale. Negative symptoms were then reassessed one week, 9weeks, and 17weeks after entry into the program. A mixed effects regression model revealed that after controlling for baseline negative symptoms, a general index of neurocognition, defeatist beliefs and capacity for affect recognition, lower levels of metacognition predicted higher levels of negative symptoms across all subsequent time points. Poorer metacognition was able to predict later levels of elevated negative symptoms even after controlling for initial levels of negative symptoms. Results may suggest that metacognitive deficits are a risk factor for elevated levels of negative symptoms in the future. Clinical implications are also discussed. Published by Elsevier B.V.

New England observed and predicted July maximum negative stream/river temperature daily rate of change points

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The shapefile contains points with associated observed and predicted July stream/river temperature maximum negative daily rate of change in New England based on a...

The predictive value of endorectal 3 Tesla multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for extraprostatic extension in patients with low, intermediate and high risk prostate cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Somford, D M; Hamoen, E H; Fütterer, J J; van Basten, J P; Hulsbergen-van de Kaa, C A; Vreuls, W; van Oort, I M; Vergunst, H; Kiemeney, L A; Barentsz, J O; Witjes, J A

2013-11-01

We determined the positive and negative predictive values of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for extraprostatic extension at radical prostatectomy for different prostate cancer risk groups. We evaluated a cohort of 183 patients who underwent 3 Tesla multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging, including T2-weighted, diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging and dynamic contrast enhanced sequences, with an endorectal coil before radical prostatectomy. Pathological stage at radical prostatectomy was used as standard reference for extraprostatic extension. The cohort was classified into low, intermediate and high risk groups according to the D'Amico criteria. We recorded prevalence of extraprostatic extension at radical prostatectomy and determined sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for extraprostatic extension in each group. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify predictors of extraprostatic extension at radical prostatectomy. The overall prevalence of extraprostatic extension at radical prostatectomy was 49.7% ranging from 24.7% to 77.1% between low and high risk categories. Overall staging accuracy of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for extraprostatic extension was 73.8%, with sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 58.2%, 89.1%, 84.1% and 68.3%, respectively. Positive predictive value of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for extraprostatic extension was best in the high risk cohort with 88.8%. Negative predictive value was highest in the low risk cohort with 87.7%. With an odds ratio of 10.3 multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging is by far the best preoperative predictor of extraprostatic extension at radical prostatectomy. For adequate patient counseling, knowledge of predictive values of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging for extraprostatic extension is

On the increase of predictive performance with high-level data fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doeswijk, T.G.; Smilde, A.K.; Hageman, J.A.; Westerhuis, J.A.; Eeuwijk, F.A. van

2011-01-01

The combination of the different data sources for classification purposes, also called data fusion, can be done at different levels: low-level, i.e. concatenating data matrices, medium-level, i.e. concatenating data matrices after feature selection and high-level, i.e. combining model outputs. In this paper the predictive performance of high-level data fusion is investigated. Partial least squares is used on each of the data sets and dummy variables representing the classes are used as response variables. Based on the estimated responses y-hat j for data set j and class k, a Gaussian distribution p(g k |y-hat j ) is fitted. A simulation study is performed that shows the theoretical performance of high-level data fusion for two classes and two data sets. Within group correlations of the predicted responses of the two models and differences between the predictive ability of each of the separate models and the fused models are studied. Results show that the error rate is always less than or equal to the best performing subset and can theoretically approach zero. Negative within group correlations always improve the predictive performance. However, if the data sets have a joint basis, as with metabolomics data, this is not likely to happen. For equally performing individual classifiers the best results are expected for small within group correlations. Fusion of a non-predictive classifier with a classifier that exhibits discriminative ability lead to increased predictive performance if the within group correlations are strong. An example with real life data shows the applicability of the simulation results.

Dispositional pathways to trust: Self-esteem and agreeableness interact to predict trust and negative emotional disclosure.

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McCarthy, Megan H; Wood, Joanne V; Holmes, John G

2017-07-01

Expressing our innermost thoughts and feelings is critical to the development of intimacy (Reis & Shaver, 1988), but also risks negative evaluation and rejection. Past research suggests that people with high self-esteem are more expressive and self-disclosing because they trust that others care for them and will not reject them (Gaucher et al., 2012). However, feeling good about oneself may not always be enough; disclosure may also depend on how we feel about other people. Drawing on the principles of risk regulation theory (Murray et al., 2006), we propose that agreeableness-a trait that refers to the positivity of interpersonal motivations and behaviors-is a key determinant of trust in a partner's caring and responsiveness, and may work in conjunction with self-esteem to predict disclosure. We examined this possibility by exploring how both self-esteem and agreeableness predict a particularly risky and intimate form of self-disclosure, the disclosure of emotional distress. In 6 studies using correlational, partner-report, and experimental methods, we demonstrate that self-esteem and agreeableness interact to predict disclosure: People who are high in both self-esteem and agreeableness show higher emotional disclosure. We also found evidence that trust mediates this effect. People high in self-esteem and agreeableness are most self-revealing, it seems, because they are especially trusting of their partners' caring. Self-esteem and agreeableness were particularly important for the disclosure of vulnerable emotions (i.e., sadness; Study 5) and disclosures that were especially risky (Study 6). These findings illustrate how dispositional variables can work together to explain behavior in close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Prediction of Negative Conversion Days of Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome Based on the Improved Backpropagation Neural Network with Momentum

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Yi-jun Liu

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Childhood nephrotic syndrome is a chronic disease harmful to growth of children. Scientific and accurate prediction of negative conversion days for children with nephrotic syndrome offers potential benefits for treatment of patients and helps achieve better cure effect. In this study, the improved backpropagation neural network with momentum is used for prediction. Momentum speeds up convergence and maintains the generalization performance of the neural network, and therefore overcomes weaknesses of the standard backpropagation algorithm. The three-tier network structure is constructed. Eight indicators including age, lgG, lgA and lgM, etc. are selected for network inputs. The scientific computing software of MATLAB and its neural network tools are used to create model and predict. The training sample of twenty-eight cases is used to train the neural network. The test sample of six typical cases belonging to six different age groups respectively is used to test the predictive model. The low mean absolute error of predictive results is achieved at 0.83. The experimental results of the small-size sample show that the proposed approach is to some degree applicable for the prediction of negative conversion days of childhood nephrotic syndrome.

Resources predicting positive and negative affect during the experience of stress: a study of older Asian Indian immigrants in the United States.

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Diwan, Sadhna; Jonnalagadda, Satya S; Balaswamy, Shantha

2004-10-01

Using the life stress model of psychological well-being, in this study we examined risks and resources predicting the occurrence of both positive and negative affect among older Asian Indian immigrants who experienced stressful life events. We collected data through a telephone survey of 226 respondents (aged 50 years and older) in the Southeastern United States. We used hierarchical, negative binomial regression analyses to examine correlates of positive and negative affect. Different coping resources influenced positive and negative affect when stressful life events were controlled for. Being female was a common risk factor for poorer positive and increased negative affect. Satisfaction with friendships and a cultural or ethnic identity that is either bicultural or more American were predictive of greater positive affect. Greater religiosity and increased mastery were resources predicting less negative affect. Cognitive and structural interventions that increase opportunities for social integration, increasing mastery, and addressing spiritual concerns are discussed as ways of coping with stress to improve the well-being of individuals in this immigrant community.

False-negative urine human chorionic gonadotropin in molar pregnancy: " The high-dose hook effect" !

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Sujata Narendra Datti

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Failure to detect pregnancy in the emergency situations can have important consequences. These include missing of ectopic pregnancy (the leading cause of first-trimester pregnancy-related maternal death, administration of medications contraindicated in pregnancy, fetal radiation exposure, and medico legal problems. This in turn has led to the dictum to check for pregnancy in all women of child-bearing age group. Urine pregnancy (human chorionic gonadotropin [hCG] test is the commonly used test to rule out pregnancy and has been reported by Griffey et al. in their study to achieve 100% sensitivity and 99.2% specificity in a clinical setting, resulting in a positive predictive value of 98.3% and a negative predictive value of nearly 100%. However, the sensitivity is influenced not only by the quantity of β hCG but on its variants that vary with different weeks of pregnancy. β hCG is present in several variant forms that change in their concentrations at different stages of pregnancy. In spite of its high sensitivity, in the presence of molar pregnancy that is associated with very high levels of β hCG it fails to detect the antigen (β hCG. This is explained by the phenomenon known as "high-dose hook effect" which further leads to delay in diagnosis and treatment. This can be overcome by dilution of the sample. In such cases, diagnosis will be made by serum β hCG and ultrasound (USG. Here, we present a case of gravida 2 para 1 living 1 with 2΍ months amenorrhea with bleeding p/v and pain abdomen of 20 days duration whose urine β hCG was repeatedly negative and diagnosis was made by serum β hCG and USG.

The Roles of Negative Career Thoughts and Sense of Coherence in Predicting Career Decision Status

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Austin, R. Kirk; Dahl, A. Dennis; Wagner, Bruce D.

2010-01-01

The relationship between sense of coherence and negative career thoughts was investigated in a non-college-based population to determine the relationship and predictive value of these factors toward career decision status. Participants completed the Orientation to Life Questionnaire, Career Thoughts Inventory, and Career Decision Profile's…

The relevance of goal-orientation for motivation in high versus low proneness to negative symptoms.

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Schlier, Björn; Engel, Maike; Fladung, Anne-Katharina; Fritzsche, Anja; Lincoln, Tania M

2017-06-01

The psychological mechanisms of why individuals with negative symptoms fail to initiate and perform goal-directed behavior are not well understood. Drawing on the reward-sensitivity and expectancy-value theories, we investigate whether negative symptom-like experiences (NSLE) are associated with generating less approach goals (aimed at reaching a positive outcome) and more avoidance goals (aimed at avoiding a negative outcome) and whether this type of goal-orientation explains motivational deficits (i.e., perceiving goals as less feasible and important and being less committed to them). Based on the continuum model of negative symptoms, we identified two parallelized extreme groups with high and low levels of NSLE (n = 37, respectively) in an ad-hoc online-sample of healthy individuals (N = 262) using the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences. In an online study, these participants were instructed to generate approach and avoidance goals and to rate each goal in terms of feasibility, importance and goal-commitment. Participants with low levels of NSLE generated more approach than avoidance goals. Participants with high levels of NSLE showed no such difference due to increased numbers of avoidance goals. Furthermore, avoidance goal-orientation predicted reduced subjective feasibility and importance of goals and less goal-commitment. Results are based on a healthy sample rather than people with psychosis. No longitudinal or behavioral data for goal-striving was collected. People with NSLE generate more avoidance goals than controls. This is dysfunctional because it correlates with feeling less committed to reach one's goals. Optimizing goal-setting could be a promising starting-point for psychological interventions aimed at reducing negative symptoms. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emotion, working memory task demands and individual differences predict behavior, cognitive effort and negative affect.

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Storbeck, Justin; Davidson, Nicole A; Dahl, Chelsea F; Blass, Sara; Yung, Edwin

2015-01-01

We examined whether positive and negative affect motivates verbal and spatial working memory processes, respectively, which have implications for the expenditure of mental effort. We argue that when emotion promotes cognitive tendencies that are goal incompatible with task demands, greater cognitive effort is required to perform well. We sought to investigate whether this increase in cognitive effort impairs behavioural control over a broad domain of self-control tasks. Moreover, we predicted that individuals with higher behavioural inhibition system (BIS) sensitivities would report more negative affect within the goal incompatible conditions because such individuals report higher negative affect during cognitive challenge. Positive or negative affective states were induced followed by completing a verbal or spatial 2-back working memory task. All participants then completed one of three self-control tasks. Overall, we observed that conditions of emotion and working memory incompatibility (positive/spatial and negative/verbal) performed worse on the self-control tasks, and within the incompatible conditions individuals with higher BIS sensitivities reported more negative affect at the end of the study. The combination of findings suggests that emotion and working memory compatibility reduces cognitive effort and impairs behavioural control.

Testing predictive models of positive and negative affect with psychosocial, acculturation, and coping variables in a multiethnic undergraduate sample.

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Kuo, Ben Ch; Kwantes, Catherine T

2014-01-01

Despite the prevalence and popularity of research on positive and negative affect within the field of psychology, there is currently little research on affect involving the examination of cultural variables and with participants of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. To the authors' knowledge, currently no empirical studies have comprehensively examined predictive models of positive and negative affect based specifically on multiple psychosocial, acculturation, and coping variables as predictors with any sample populations. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to test the predictive power of perceived stress, social support, bidirectional acculturation (i.e., Canadian acculturation and heritage acculturation), religious coping and cultural coping (i.e., collective, avoidance, and engagement coping) in explaining positive and negative affect in a multiethnic sample of 301 undergraduate students in Canada. Two hierarchal multiple regressions were conducted, one for each affect as the dependent variable, with the above described predictors. The results supported the hypotheses and showed the two overall models to be significant in predicting affect of both kinds. Specifically, a higher level of positive affect was predicted by a lower level of perceived stress, less use of religious coping, and more use of engagement coping in dealing with stress by the participants. Higher level of negative affect, however, was predicted by a higher level of perceived stress and more use of avoidance coping in responding to stress. The current findings highlight the value and relevance of empirically examining the stress-coping-adaptation experiences of diverse populations from an affective conceptual framework, particularly with the inclusion of positive affect. Implications and recommendations for advancing future research and theoretical works in this area are considered and presented.

Mismatch Negativity Encoding of Prediction Errors Predicts S-ketamine-Induced Cognitive Impairments

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Schmidt, André; Bachmann, Rosilla; Kometer, Michael; Csomor, Philipp A; Stephan, Klaas E; Seifritz, Erich; Vollenweider, Franz X

2012-01-01

Psychotomimetics like the N-methyl--aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist ketamine and the 5-hydroxytryptamine2A receptor (5-HT2AR) agonist psilocybin induce psychotic symptoms in healthy volunteers that resemble those of schizophrenia. Recent theories of psychosis posit that aberrant encoding of prediction errors (PE) may underlie the expression of psychotic symptoms. This study used a roving mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm to investigate whether the encoding of PE is affected by pharmacological manipulation of NMDAR or 5-HT2AR, and whether the encoding of PE under placebo can be used to predict drug-induced symptoms. Using a double-blind within-subject placebo-controlled design, S-ketamine and psilocybin, respectively, were administrated to two groups of healthy subjects. Psychological alterations were assessed using a revised version of the Altered States of Consciousness (ASC-R) questionnaire. As an index of PE, we computed changes in MMN amplitudes as a function of the number of preceding standards (MMN memory trace effect) during a roving paradigm. S-ketamine, but not psilocybin, disrupted PE processing as expressed by a frontally disrupted MMN memory trace effect. Although both drugs produced positive-like symptoms, the extent of PE processing under placebo only correlated significantly with the severity of cognitive impairments induced by S-ketamine. Our results suggest that the NMDAR, but not the 5-HT2AR system, is implicated in PE processing during the MMN paradigm, and that aberrant PE signaling may contribute to the formation of cognitive impairments. The assessment of the MMN memory trace in schizophrenia may allow detecting early phases of the illness and might also serve to assess the efficacy of novel pharmacological treatments, in particular of cognitive impairments. PMID:22030715

Negative thermal expansion in TiF{sub 3} from the first-principles prediction

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Wang, Lei [International Laboratory for Quantum Functional Materials of Henan, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001 (China); Yuan, Peng-Fei; Wang, Fei; Sun, Qiang; Liang, Er-Jun [International Laboratory for Quantum Functional Materials of Henan, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001 (China); Center for Clean Energy and Quantum Structures, and School of Physics and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052 (China); Jia, Yu, E-mail: jiayu@zzu.edu.cn [International Laboratory for Quantum Functional Materials of Henan, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001 (China); Center for Clean Energy and Quantum Structures, and School of Physics and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052 (China); Guo, Zheng-Xiao, E-mail: z.x.guo@ucl.ac.uk [Deparment of Chemistry, University College London, London WC1H 0AJ (United Kingdom)

2014-08-01

Highlights: • Rhombohedral TiF{sub 3} as a new NTE material is predicted from first-principles calculation. • The NTE mechanism is proposed based on the analysis of vibrational properties. • The rotation coupling of TiF{sub 6} octahedra at low frequencies is most responsible for NTE. - Abstract: In negative thermal expansion (NTE) materials, rhombohedral TiF{sub 3} as a new member is predicted from first-principles calculation. The NTE behavior of rhombohedral TiF{sub 3} occurs at low temperatures. In our work, the NTE mechanism is elaborated in accordance with vibrational modes. It is confirmed that the rigid unit mode (RUM) of internal TiF{sub 6} octahedra in low-frequency optical range is most responsible for the NTE properties.

Negative EBUS-TBNA Predicts Very Low Prevalence of Mediastinal Disease in Staging of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

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Taverner, John; Cheang, Mun-Yoong; Antippa, Phillip; See, Katharine; Irving, Louis B; Steinfort, Daniel P

2016-04-01

Confirmation of mediastinal disease (N2/3) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) generally precludes curative surgical management. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) has become a routine first test in mediastinal staging of NSCLC; however, it remains unclear whether a negative EBUS-TBNA should be followed by mediastinoscopy before proceeding to surgery. Understanding the prevalence of metastases in lymph nodes with benign findings on EBUS-TBNA will inform decision making following negative EBUS-TBNA. We examined a retrospective cohort of patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA before resection with mediastinal lymph node sampling for NSCLC between December 2009 and June 2014 in 3 hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. All patients had integrated positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) before EBUS-TBNA. Eighty-two matched mediastinal lymph node stations were sampled in 57 patients by both EBUS-TBNA and surgical resection, 47 nodes in patients staged cN0/1 by PET/CT and 35 nodes in patients staged cN2/3. All patients had a negative EBUS-TBNA. Four malignant nodes were identified surgically (4.9% of lymph nodes). The mean size of malignant deposits was 5.5 mm. Per-node negative predictive value was 78/82=0.95. All malignant nodes were located in patients with moderate-high risk disease (cN2/3), giving a disease prevalence in cN2/3 patients of 11%, and 0% in cN0/1. In patients staged cN2, per-node NVP was 0.89. The prevalence of mediastinal nodal disease following negative EBUS-TBNA is very low, at 4.9%. The per-node NVP of EBUS-TBNA is 0.95, decreasing to 0.89 in moderate-high risk patients. We suggest that a negative EBUS-TBNA of mediastinal nodes does not need to be confirmed by mediastinoscopy of those nodal stations, regardless of PET/CT findings.

The Role of Thought Suppression, Meta-Cognitive Factors and Negative Emotions in Prediction of Substance Dependency Disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omid Saed

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Introduction: This study investigated the role of thought suppression, meta- cognitive factors, and negative emotions in predicting of substance dependency disorder. Method: Subjects were 70 patients with substance dependence disorder and 70 normal individuals (total 140. Substance dependants were selected of outpatient treatment centers and the normal sample was selected of the general population too. Sampling methods in both samples were convenience sampling. All people were assessed by MCQ-30, White Bear Suppression Inventory, and Beck’s Anxiety and Depression Questionnaires. For data analysis, discriminant analysis were used. Results: Negative meta-cognitive beliefs about worry, depression, and thought suppression were the most significant predictors of substance dependence disorder. Conclusion: Through meta-cognitive beliefs, thought suppression and negative emotion (especially depression, substance dependency disorder can be predicted. Based on this model can be used to take a substance dependency disorder prevention approach and psychotherapy approach (based on cognitive and meta-cognitive therapies. In addition, the findings of this research can be applied in clinical and counseling environments to help substance dependant clients.

High voltage holding in the negative ion sources with cesium deposition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Belchenko, Yu.; Abdrashitov, G.; Ivanov, A.; Sanin, A.; Sotnikov, O., E-mail: O.Z.Sotnikov@inp.nsk.su [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk (Russian Federation)

2016-02-15

High voltage holding of the large surface-plasma negative ion source with cesium deposition was studied. It was found that heating of ion-optical system electrodes to temperature >100 °C facilitates the source conditioning by high voltage pulses in vacuum and by beam shots. The procedure of electrode conditioning and the data on high-voltage holding in the negative ion source with small cesium seed are described. The mechanism of high voltage holding improvement by depletion of cesium coverage is discussed.

Large area negative ion source for high voltage neutral beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poulsen, P.; Hooper, E.B. Jr.

1979-11-01

A source of negative deuterium ions in the multi-ampere range is described that is readily extrapolated to reactor size, 10 amp or more of neutral beam, that is of interest in future experiments and reactors. The negative ion source is based upon the double charge exchange process. A beam of positive ions is created and accelerated to an energy at which the attachment process D + M → D - + M + proceeds efficiently. The positive ions are atomically neutralized either in D 2 or in the charge exchange medium M. Atomic species make a second charge exchange collision in the charge target to form D - . For a sufficiently thick target, the beam reaches an equilibrium fraction of negative ions. For reasons of efficiency, the target is typically alkali metal vapor; this experiment uses sodium. The beam of negative ions can be accelerated to high (>200 keV) energy, the electrons stripped from the ions, and a high energy neutral beam formed

Predictability and interpretability of hybrid link-level crash frequency models for urban arterials compared to cluster-based and general negative binomial regression models.

Science.gov (United States)

Najaf, Pooya; Duddu, Venkata R; Pulugurtha, Srinivas S

2018-03-01

Machine learning (ML) techniques have higher prediction accuracy compared to conventional statistical methods for crash frequency modelling. However, their black-box nature limits the interpretability. The objective of this research is to combine both ML and statistical methods to develop hybrid link-level crash frequency models with high predictability and interpretability. For this purpose, M5' model trees method (M5') is introduced and applied to classify the crash data and then calibrate a model for each homogenous class. The data for 1134 and 345 randomly selected links on urban arterials in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina was used to develop and validate models, respectively. The outputs from the hybrid approach are compared with the outputs from cluster-based negative binomial regression (NBR) and general NBR models. Findings indicate that M5' has high predictability and is very reliable to interpret the role of different attributes on crash frequency compared to other developed models.

Predicting High-School Students' Bystander Behavior in Simulated Dating Violence Situations.

Science.gov (United States)

Jouriles, Ernest N; Rosenfield, David; Yule, Kristen; Sargent, Kelli S; McDonald, Renee

2016-03-01

Dating violence among adolescents is associated with a variety of negative health consequences for victims. Bystander programs are being developed and implemented with the intention of preventing such violence, but determinants of high-school students' responsive bystander behavior remain unclear. The present study examines hypothesized determinants of high-school students' bystander behavior in simulated situations of dating violence. Participants were 80 high-school students who completed self-reports of hypothesized determinants of bystander behavior (responsibility, efficacy, and perceived benefits for intervening) at a baseline assessment. A virtual-reality paradigm was used to observationally assess bystander behavior at 1-week and 6-month assessments after baseline. Efficacy for intervening was positively associated with observed bystander behavior at the 1-week and 6-month assessments. Moreover, efficacy predicted bystander behavior over and above feelings of responsibility and perceived benefits for intervening. Contrary to our predictions, neither responsibility nor perceived benefits for intervening were associated with observed bystander behavior. This research advances our understanding of determinants of bystander behavior for high-school students and can inform prevention programming for adolescents. The study also introduces an innovative way to assess high-school students' bystander behavior. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Validation of a 4-item Negative Symptom Assessment (NSA-4): a short, practical clinical tool for the assessment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Alphs, Larry; Morlock, Robert; Coon, Cheryl; Cazorla, Pilar; Szegedi, Armin; Panagides, John

2011-06-01

The 16-item Negative Symptom Assessment (NSA-16) scale is a validated tool for evaluating negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The psychometric properties and predictive power of a four-item version (NSA-4) were compared with the NSA-16. Baseline data from 561 patients with predominant negative symptoms of schizophrenia who participated in two identically designed clinical trials were evaluated. Ordered logistic regression analysis of ratings using NSA-4 and NSA-16 were compared with ratings using several other standard tools to determine predictive validity and construct validity. Internal consistency and test--retest reliability were also analyzed. NSA-16 and NSA-4 scores were both predictive of scores on the NSA global rating (odds ratio = 0.83-0.86) and the Clinical Global Impressions--Severity scale (odds ratio = 0.91-0.93). NSA-16 and NSA-4 showed high correlation with each other (Pearson r = 0.85), similar high correlation with other measures of negative symptoms (demonstrating convergent validity), and lesser correlations with measures of other forms of psychopathology (demonstrating divergent validity). NSA-16 and NSA-4 both showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach α, 0.85 and 0.64, respectively) and test--retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.87 and 0.82). This study demonstrates that NSA-4 offers accuracy comparable to the NSA-16 in rating negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Failing to learn from negative prediction errors: Obesity is associated with alterations in a fundamental neural learning mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathar, David; Neumann, Jane; Villringer, Arno; Horstmann, Annette

2017-10-01

Prediction errors (PEs) encode the difference between expected and actual action outcomes in the brain via dopaminergic modulation. Integration of these learning signals ensures efficient behavioral adaptation. Obesity has recently been linked to altered dopaminergic fronto-striatal circuits, thus implying impairments in cognitive domains that rely on its integrity. 28 obese and 30 lean human participants performed an implicit stimulus-response learning paradigm inside an fMRI scanner. Computational modeling and psycho-physiological interaction (PPI) analysis was utilized for assessing PE-related learning and associated functional connectivity. We show that human obesity is associated with insufficient incorporation of negative PEs into behavioral adaptation even in a non-food context, suggesting differences in a fundamental neural learning mechanism. Obese subjects were less efficient in using negative PEs to improve implicit learning performance, despite proper coding of PEs in striatum. We further observed lower functional coupling between ventral striatum and supplementary motor area in obese subjects subsequent to negative PEs. Importantly, strength of functional coupling predicted task performance and negative PE utilization. These findings show that obesity is linked to insufficient behavioral adaptation specifically in response to negative PEs, and to associated alterations in function and connectivity within the fronto-striatal system. Recognition of neural differences as a central characteristic of obesity hopefully paves the way to rethink established intervention strategies: Differential behavioral sensitivity to negative and positive PEs should be considered when designing intervention programs. Measures relying on penalization of unwanted behavior may prove less effective in obese subjects than alternative approaches. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Producing high-quality negatives from ERTS black-and-white transparancies

Science.gov (United States)

Richard J. Myhre

1973-01-01

A method has been devised for producing high-quality black-and-white negatives quickly and efficiently from dense transparencies orgininating from Earth Resources Technology Satellite imagery. Transparencies are evaluated on a standard light source to determine exposure and processing information needed for making negatives. A “System ASA Rating” was developed by...

Information Filtering Based on Users' Negative Opinions

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Qiang; Li, Yang; Liu, Jian-Guo

2013-05-01

The process of heat conduction (HC) has recently found application in the information filtering [Zhang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.99, 154301 (2007)], which is of high diversity but low accuracy. The classical HC model predicts users' potential interested objects based on their interesting objects regardless to the negative opinions. In terms of the users' rating scores, we present an improved user-based HC (UHC) information model by taking into account users' positive and negative opinions. Firstly, the objects rated by users are divided into positive and negative categories, then the predicted interesting and dislike object lists are generated by the UHC model. Finally, the recommendation lists are constructed by filtering out the dislike objects from the interesting lists. By implementing the new model based on nine similarity measures, the experimental results for MovieLens and Netflix datasets show that the new model considering negative opinions could greatly enhance the accuracy, measured by the average ranking score, from 0.049 to 0.036 for Netflix and from 0.1025 to 0.0570 for Movielens dataset, reduced by 26.53% and 44.39%, respectively. Since users prefer to give positive ratings rather than negative ones, the negative opinions contain much more information than the positive ones, the negative opinions, therefore, are very important for understanding users' online collective behaviors and improving the performance of HC model.

Hemispheric Asymmetries in Striatal Reward Responses Relate to Approach-Avoidance Learning and Encoding of Positive-Negative Prediction Errors in Dopaminergic Midbrain Regions.

Science.gov (United States)

Aberg, Kristoffer Carl; Doell, Kimberly C; Schwartz, Sophie

2015-10-28

Some individuals are better at learning about rewarding situations, whereas others are inclined to avoid punishments (i.e., enhanced approach or avoidance learning, respectively). In reinforcement learning, action values are increased when outcomes are better than predicted (positive prediction errors [PEs]) and decreased for worse than predicted outcomes (negative PEs). Because actions with high and low values are approached and avoided, respectively, individual differences in the neural encoding of PEs may influence the balance between approach-avoidance learning. Recent correlational approaches also indicate that biases in approach-avoidance learning involve hemispheric asymmetries in dopamine function. However, the computational and neural mechanisms underpinning such learning biases remain unknown. Here we assessed hemispheric reward asymmetry in striatal activity in 34 human participants who performed a task involving rewards and punishments. We show that the relative difference in reward response between hemispheres relates to individual biases in approach-avoidance learning. Moreover, using a computational modeling approach, we demonstrate that better encoding of positive (vs negative) PEs in dopaminergic midbrain regions is associated with better approach (vs avoidance) learning, specifically in participants with larger reward responses in the left (vs right) ventral striatum. Thus, individual dispositions or traits may be determined by neural processes acting to constrain learning about specific aspects of the world. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3514491-10$15.00/0.

Angiographically Negative Acute Arterial Upper and Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Incidence, Predictive Factors, and Clinical Outcomes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jin Hyoung; Shin, Ji Hoon; Yoon, Hyun Ki; Chae, Eun Young; Myung, Seung Jae; Ko, Gi Young; Gwon, Dong Il; Sung, Kyu Bo

2009-01-01

To evaluate the incidence, predictive factors, and clinical outcomes of angiographically negative acute arterial upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. From 2001 to 2008, 143 consecutive patients who underwent an angiography for acute arterial upper or lower GI bleeding were examined. The angiographies revealed a negative bleeding focus in 75 of 143 (52%) patients. The incidence of an angiographically negative outcome was significantly higher in patients with a stable hemodynamic status (p < 0.001), or in patients with lower GI bleeding (p = 0.032). A follow-up of the 75 patients (range: 0-72 months, mean: 8 ± 14 months) revealed that 60 of the 75 (80%) patients with a negative bleeding focus underwent conservative management only, and acute bleeding was controlled without rebleeding. Three of the 75 (4%) patients underwent exploratory surgery due to prolonged bleeding; however, no bleeding focus was detected. Rebleeding occurred in 12 of 75 (16%) patients. Of these, six patients experienced massive rebleeding and died of disseminated intravascular coagulation within four to nine hours after the rebleeding episode. Four of the 16 patients underwent a repeat angiography and the two remaining patients underwent a surgical intervention to control the bleeding. Angiographically negative results are relatively common in patients with acute GI bleeding, especially in patients with a stable hemodynamic status or lower GI bleeding. Most patients with a negative bleeding focus have experienced spontaneous resolution of their condition

Angiographically Negative Acute Arterial Upper and Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Incidence, Predictive Factors, and Clinical Outcomes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jin Hyoung; Shin, Ji Hoon; Yoon, Hyun Ki; Chae, Eun Young; Myung, Seung Jae; Ko, Gi Young; Gwon, Dong Il; Sung, Kyu Bo [Asan Medical Center, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2009-08-15

To evaluate the incidence, predictive factors, and clinical outcomes of angiographically negative acute arterial upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. From 2001 to 2008, 143 consecutive patients who underwent an angiography for acute arterial upper or lower GI bleeding were examined. The angiographies revealed a negative bleeding focus in 75 of 143 (52%) patients. The incidence of an angiographically negative outcome was significantly higher in patients with a stable hemodynamic status (p < 0.001), or in patients with lower GI bleeding (p = 0.032). A follow-up of the 75 patients (range: 0-72 months, mean: 8 {+-} 14 months) revealed that 60 of the 75 (80%) patients with a negative bleeding focus underwent conservative management only, and acute bleeding was controlled without rebleeding. Three of the 75 (4%) patients underwent exploratory surgery due to prolonged bleeding; however, no bleeding focus was detected. Rebleeding occurred in 12 of 75 (16%) patients. Of these, six patients experienced massive rebleeding and died of disseminated intravascular coagulation within four to nine hours after the rebleeding episode. Four of the 16 patients underwent a repeat angiography and the two remaining patients underwent a surgical intervention to control the bleeding. Angiographically negative results are relatively common in patients with acute GI bleeding, especially in patients with a stable hemodynamic status or lower GI bleeding. Most patients with a negative bleeding focus have experienced spontaneous resolution of their condition.

Measurement of the dechanneling length for high-energy negative pions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scandale, W.; Losito, R.; Bagli, E.; Bandiera, L.; Dalpiaz, P.; Fiorini, M.; Guidi, V.; Mazzolari, A.; Vincenzi, D.; Della Mea, G.; Vallazza, E.; Afonin, A.G.; Chesnokov, Yu.A.; Maisheev, V.A.; Yazynin, I.A.; Kovalenko, A.D.; Taratin, A.M.; Denisov, A.S.; Gavrikov, Yu.A.; Ivanov, Yu.M.

2013-01-01

We studied the dechanneling length of 150 GeV/cπ − interacting with a short bent silicon crystal. Dechanneling length measures the rate and the strength of incoherent interactions of channeled particles in a crystal. The mechanism of dechanneling of negatively charged particles has been elucidated through simulation and experiment. It was found that the dechanneling length for negative particles is comparable to the nuclear dechanneling length for positive charges. Indeed, dechanneling of negative particles occurs as a result of incoherent interactions with the nuclei because the trajectories of such particles always intersect atomic planes, explaining the lower channeling efficiency for such particles. Obtained results can be useful for the design of crystals for manipulating high-energy negative particle beams through channeling

Negative parenting behavior and childhood oppositional defiant disorder: differential moderation by positive and negative peer regard.

Science.gov (United States)

Tung, Irene; Lee, Steve S

2014-01-01

Although negative parenting behavior and peer status are independently associated with childhood conduct problems (e.g., oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)), relatively little is known about their interplay, particularly in relation to differentiated measures of positive and negative peer regard. To improve the specificity of the association of negative parenting behavior and peer factors with ODD, we explored the potential interaction of parenting and peer status in a sample of 169 five-to ten-year-old ethnically diverse children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessed using multiple measures (i.e., rating scales, interview) and informants (i.e., parents, teachers). Controlling for children's age, sex, number of ADHD symptoms, and parents' race-ethnicity, peer acceptance inversely predicted and inconsistent discipline, harsh punishment, and peer rejection were each positively associated with ODD symptom severity. Interactive influences were also evident such that inconsistent discipline and harsh punishment each predicted elevated ODD but only among children experiencing low peer acceptance or high peer rejection. These findings suggest that supportive environments, including peer acceptance, may protect children from negative outcomes associated with inconsistent discipline and harsh punishment. Findings are integrated with theories of social support, and we additionally consider implications for intervention and prevention. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Negative HPV screening test predicts low cervical cancer risk better than negative Pap test

Science.gov (United States)

Based on a study that included more than 1 million women, investigators at NCI have determined that a negative test for HPV infection compared to a negative Pap test provides greater safety, or assurance, against future risk of cervical cancer.

The positives of negative emotions: willingness to express negative emotions promotes relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, Steven M; Huang, Julie Y; Clark, Margaret S; Helgeson, Vicki S

2008-03-01

Four studies support the hypothesis that expressing negative emotion is associated with positive relationship outcomes, including elicitation of support, building of new close relationships, and heightening of intimacy in the closest of those relationships. In Study 1, participants read vignettes in which another person was experiencing a negative emotion. Participants reported they would provide more help when the person chose to express the negative emotion. In Study 2, participants watched a confederate preparing for a speech. Participants provided more help to her when she expressed nervousness. In Study 3, self-reports of willingness to express negative emotions predicted having more friends, controlling for demographic variables and extraversion. In Study 4, self-reports of willingness to express negative emotion measured prior to arrival at college predicted formation of more relationships, greater intimacy in the closest of those relationships, and greater received support from roommates across participants' first semester of college.

Cross-Lagged Associations Between Adolescents' Depressive Symptoms and Negative Cognitive Style: The Role of Negative Life Events.

Science.gov (United States)

Kindt, Karlijn C M; Kleinjan, Marloes; Janssens, Jan M A M; Scholte, Ron H J

2015-11-01

Previous research has established that cognitive theory-based depression prevention programs aiming change in negative cognitive style in early adolescents do not have strong effects in universal settings. Although theories suggest that a negative cognitive style precedes depressive symptoms, empirical findings are mixed. We hypothesized that negative cognitive style may not predict depressive symptoms in adolescents with normative depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms, negative cognitive style and dependent negative life events were assessed in young adolescents (N = 1343; mean age = 13.4 years, SD = 0.77; 52.3 % girls) at four time points over an 18-month period. Using a cross-lagged panel design, results revealed that depressive symptoms predicted a negative cognitive style but not vice versa. However, when including dependent negative life events as a variable, depressive symptoms did not prospect a negative cognitive style consistently. When dependent negative life events were used as a time-varying covariate, depressive symptoms and a negative cognitive style were not related. We concluded that negative cognitive style is not predictive of depressive symptoms in a community sample of young adolescents. Moreover, the findings suggest that longitudinal relationships between depressive symptoms and a negative cognitive style are not meaningful when dependent negative life events are not considered.

Volume generation of negative ions in high density hydrogen discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hiskes, J.R.; Karo, A.M.

1983-01-01

A parametric survey is made of a high-density tandem two-chamber hydrogen negative ion system. The optimum extracted negative ion current densities are sensitive to the atom concentration in the discharge and to the system scale length. For scale lengths ranging from 10 cm to 0.1 cm optimum current densities range from of order 1 to 100 mA cm -2 , respectively

[Stress and attitudes toward negative emotions in adolescence].

Science.gov (United States)

Ozawa, Eiji

2010-12-01

This study investigated the relationship between stress and attitudes toward negative emotions in adolescents. Adolescent students (N=1500) completed a questionnaire that measured attitudes toward negative emotions, emotional-stress reactions, and stress coping. Analysis of date yielded, two factors of the attitudes toward negative emotions: "Negative feelings about negative emotions" and "Capabilities of switching of negative emotions". In order to examine the theoretical relationships among attitudes toward negative emotions, emotional-stress reactions, and stress coping, a hypothetical model was tested by covariance structure analysis. This model predicted that students who have a high level of attitudes toward negative emotions would report enhanced problem solving which promoted stress coping. The results indicated that "Negative feelings about negative emotions" enhanced avoidable coping, and avoidable coping enhanced stress reactions. "Capabilities of switching of negative emotions" was related to a decrease of avoidable coping. Based on the results from covariance structure analysis and a multiple population analysis, the clinical significance and developmental characteristics were discussed.

A predictive tool to estimate the risk of axillary metastases in breast cancer patients with negative axillary ultrasound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meretoja, T J; Heikkilä, P S; Mansfield, A S

2014-01-01

of this study was to evaluate the risk factors for axillary metastases in breast cancer patients with negative preoperative axillary ultrasound. METHODS: A total of 1,395 consecutive patients with invasive breast cancer and SNB formed the original patient series. A univariate analysis was conducted to assess...... risk factors for axillary metastases. Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to form a predictive model based on the risk factors. The predictive model was first validated internally in a patient series of 566 further patients and then externally in a patient series of 2,463 patients from......BACKGROUND: Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) is the "gold standard" in axillary staging in clinically node-negative breast cancer patients. However, axillary treatment is undergoing a paradigm shift and studies are being conducted on whether SNB may be omitted in low-risk patients. The purpose...

Testing predictive models of positive and negative affect with psychosocial, acculturation, and coping variables in a multiethnic undergraduate sample

OpenAIRE

Kuo, Ben CH; Kwantes, Catherine T

2014-01-01

Despite the prevalence and popularity of research on positive and negative affect within the field of psychology, there is currently little research on affect involving the examination of cultural variables and with participants of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. To the authors’ knowledge, currently no empirical studies have comprehensively examined predictive models of positive and negative affect based specifically on multiple psychosocial, acculturation, and coping variables as pr...

Erosion of belief and disbelief: effects of religiosity and negative affect on beliefs in the paranormal and supernatural.

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, R; Miller, J P

2001-04-01

The authors investigated the effects of religiosity and negative affect on beliefs in the paranormal and supernatural among 94 undergraduate students enrolled in psychology classes at a small, private U.S. university. They hypothesized that religiosity would predict differential beliefs in the supernatural versus the paranormal but that negative affect would attenuate these beliefs. In addition, the authors predicted that belief in the supernatural and negative affect would interact to predict belief in the paranormal. Overall, the results were consistent with predictions. The religious participants were skeptical of paranormal phenomena but were accepting of supernatural phenomena. In addition, increased reports of negative affect over the preceding year appeared to attenuate belief in the supernatural for the religious participants. By contrast, for the nonreligious participants, increased belief in both the supernatural and paranormal was predicted when reports of negative affect were high. Finally, the interaction of supernatural belief and negative affect significantly predicted belief in the paranormal.

Solitary Alcohol Use in Teens Is Associated With Drinking in Response to Negative Affect and Predicts Alcohol Problems in Young Adulthood.

Science.gov (United States)

Creswell, Kasey G; Chung, Tammy; Clark, Duncan B; Martin, Christopher S

2014-09-01

Adolescent solitary drinking may represent an informative divergence from normative behavior, with important implications for understanding risk for alcohol-use disorders later in life. Within a self-medication framework, we hypothesized that solitary alcohol use would be associated with drinking in response to negative affect and that such a pattern of drinking would predict alcohol problems in young adulthood. We tested these predictions in a longitudinal study in which we examined whether solitary drinking in adolescence (ages 12-18) predicted alcohol-use disorders in young adulthood (age 25) in 466 alcohol-using teens recruited from clinical programs and 243 alcohol-using teens recruited from the community. Findings showed that solitary drinking was associated with drinking in response to negative affect during adolescence and predicted alcohol problems in young adulthood. Results indicate that drinking alone is an important type of alcohol-use behavior that increases risk for the escalation of alcohol use and the development of alcohol problems.

Reality television predicts both positive and negative outcomes for adolescent girls.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferguson, Christopher J; Salmond, Kimberlee; Modi, Kamla

2013-06-01

To assess the influence of media, specifically reality television, on adolescent behavior. A total of 1141 preteen and adolescent girls (age range 11-17) answered questions related to their reality television viewing, personality, self-esteem, relational aggression, appearance focus, and desire for fame. Our results indicated that the influence of reality television on adolescent behavior is complex and potentially related to the adolescents' intended uses and gratifications for using reality television. Reality television viewing was positively related to increased self-esteem and expectations of respect in dating relationships. However, watching reality television also was related to an increased focus on appearance and willingness to compromise other values for fame. Reality television viewing did not predict relational aggression. The potential influences of reality television use on adolescent girls are both positive and negative, defying easy categorization. Copyright © 2013 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of the negative ion source at the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takagi, Akira [National Lab. for High Energy Physics, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan)

1997-02-01

On formation of direct high frequency chopped negative hydrogen ion beam from surface forming type negative hydrogen ion source, incident acceleration due to proton synchrotron was tried for a forming experiment and its application. By overlapping a high frequency pulse onto a bias DC voltage of convertor electrode, control of formation of negative hydrogen ion with high speed RF pulse of 2 MHz could be realized. And, incidence into 12 GeV proton accelerator to catch RF particles with waiting bucket system due to booster synchrotron, was effective for control of longitudinal emittance in the booster synchrotron. As a result, controls of the beam width and shape emitted from the booster synchrotron were possible. On application of high speed chopped negative hydrogen ion beam to accelerator, improvement of beam capture efficiency to the accelerated RF bucket, control of longitudinal emittance of accelerated beam, beam measurement at incidence into the accelerator and so forth were conducted. In this paper, results of the high speed chopped beam formation experiment using surface plasma forming type negative ion source and application of high speed beam chopping method synchronized with high frequency pulse at the National Laboratory of High Energy Physics are described. (G.K.)

Early life stress predicts negative urgency through brooding, depending on 5-HTTLPR genotype: A pilot study with 6-month follow-up examining suicide ideation.

Science.gov (United States)

Valderrama, Jorge; Miranda, Regina

2017-12-01

The present study examined the interaction between early life stress and 5-HTT genotypes in predicting two risk factors for suicidal behavior - the brooding subtype of rumination and impulsivity, in the form of negative urgency - over time. Furthermore, we examined early life stress, brooding, and impulsivity as predictors of suicidal ideation over time. Participants with and without a history of early life stress were genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and completed assessments assessing brooding and negative urgency at baseline and 6-month follow up. Early life emotional abuse was associated with negative urgency at follow-up. We found an indirect effect of early life emotional abuse on negative urgency through brooding among individuals with 5-HTT low expressing genotypes but not among individuals with 5-HTT high expressing genotypes. Further, a logistic regression analysis revealed that negative urgency was associated with higher odds (O.R. = 16.2) of reporting suicide ideation (versus no ideation) at follow-up. Our findings suggest that brooding and negative urgency may result from the interaction between early life emotional abuse and 5-HTT low expressing genotypes. Further research is necessary to understand how early life stress interacts with 5-HTT genotypes to confer risk for suicidal behavior through psychological mechanisms. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predicting expressway crash frequency using a random effect negative binomial model: A case study in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Zhuanglin; Zhang, Honglu; Chien, Steven I-Jy; Wang, Jin; Dong, Chunjiao

2017-01-01

To investigate the relationship between crash frequency and potential influence factors, the accident data for events occurring on a 50km long expressway in China, including 567 crash records (2006-2008), were collected and analyzed. Both the fixed-length and the homogeneous longitudinal grade methods were applied to divide the study expressway section into segments. A negative binomial (NB) model and a random effect negative binomial (RENB) model were developed to predict crash frequency. The parameters of both models were determined using the maximum likelihood (ML) method, and the mixed stepwise procedure was applied to examine the significance of explanatory variables. Three explanatory variables, including longitudinal grade, road width, and ratio of longitudinal grade and curve radius (RGR), were found as significantly affecting crash frequency. The marginal effects of significant explanatory variables to the crash frequency were analyzed. The model performance was determined by the relative prediction error and the cumulative standardized residual. The results show that the RENB model outperforms the NB model. It was also found that the model performance with the fixed-length segment method is superior to that with the homogeneous longitudinal grade segment method. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Claudin-2 is an independent negative prognostic factor in breast cancer and specifically predicts early liver recurrences.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimbung, Siker; Kovács, Anikó; Bendahl, Pär-Ola; Malmström, Per; Fernö, Mårten; Hatschek, Thomas; Hedenfalk, Ingrid

2014-02-01

Predicting any future metastatic site of early-stage breast cancer is important as it significantly influences the prognosis of advanced disease. This study aimed at investigating the potential of claudin-2, over-expressed in breast cancer liver metastases, as a biomarker for predicting liver metastatic propensity in primary breast cancer. Claudin-2 expression was analyzed in two independent cohorts. Cohort 1 included 304 women with metastatic breast cancer diagnosed between 2002 and 2007, while cohort 2 included 237 premenopausal women with early-stage node-negative breast cancer diagnosed between 1991 and 1994. Global transcriptional profiling of fine-needle aspirates from metastases was performed, followed by immunohistochemical analyses in archival primary tumor tissue. Associations between claudin-2 expression and relapse site were assessed by univariable and multivariable Cox regression models including conventional prognostic factors. Two-sided statistical tests were used. CLDN2 was significantly up-regulated (P diagnosis and liver-specific recurrence was observed among patients with high levels of claudin-2 expression in the primary tumor (cohort 1, HR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.3-3.9). These results suggest a novel role for claudin-2 as a prognostic biomarker with the ability to predict not only the likelihood of a breast cancer recurrence, but more interestingly, the liver metastatic potential of the primary tumor. Copyright © 2013 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predicting Bullying: Exploring the Contributions of Childhood Negative Life Experiences in Predicting Adolescent Bullying Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Connell, Nadine M; Morris, Robert G; Piquero, Alex R

2016-07-01

Although there has been much interest in research on aggression and in particular bullying, a relatively less charted area of research has centered on articulating a better understanding of the mechanisms and processes by which persons are at increased risk for bullying. Furthermore, those studies that have investigated the linkages between childhood experiences and bullying perpetration have been limited with respect to definitional and operational issues, reliance on cross-sectional data, and the lack of assessing competing explanations of bullying perpetration. Using five waves of data from a community-based longitudinal sample of children followed through age 18 (N = 763), the current study examines the extent to which childhood negative life events in a variety of domains predict adolescent bullying. Results show that early childhood experiences, particularly those within the family and school domains, may alter life trajectories and can act as predictors for later adolescent bullying, thereby underscoring the potential importance that relatively minor experiences can have over the long term. Implications for future research based on these analyses are examined. © The Author(s) 2015.

Time-to-positivity, type of culture media and oxidase test performed on positive blood culture vials to predict Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with Gram-negative bacilli bacteraemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Cobos-Triguero, N; Zboromyrska, Y; Morata, L; Alejo, I; De La Calle, C; Vergara, A; Cardozo, C; Arcas, M P; Soriano, A; Marco, F; Mensa, J; Almela, M; Martínez, J A

2017-02-01

The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of oxidase test and time-to-positivity (TTP) in aerobic and anaerobic blood culture vials to detect the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with Gram-negative bacilli (GNB) bacteraemia. TTP was recorded for each aerobic and anaerobic blood culture vial of monomicrobial bacteraemia due to GNB. Oxidase test was performed in a pellet of the centrifuged content of the positive blood culture. An algorithm was developed in order to perform the oxidase test efficiently taking into account TTP and type of vial. A total of 341 episodes of GNB bacteraemia were analysed. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the oxidase test performed on positive vials with GNB to predict P. aeruginosa were 95%, 99%, 91%, and 99%, respectively. When growth was first or exclusively detected in anaerobic vials, P. aeruginosa was never identified hence the performance of the oxidase test could be avoided. When growth was only or first detected in aerobic vials, a TTP≥8h predicted P. aeruginosa in 37% or cases (63 of 169), therefore oxidase test is highly recommended. Oxidase test performed onto positive blood culture vials previously selected by TTP and type of vials is an easy and inexpensive way to predict P. aeruginosa. In most cases, this can lead to optimization of treatment in less than 24 hours.

Self-verification in clinical depression: the desire for negative evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Giesler, R B; Josephs, R A; Swann, W B

1996-08-01

Do clinically depressed individuals seek favorable or unfavorable information about the self? Self-verification theory makes the counterintuitive prediction that depressed individuals solicit feedback that confirms their negative self-views. To test this prediction, participants were classified on the basis of a structured clinical interview and self-report measures into high-esteem, low self-esteem, and depressed groups. All participants were offered a choice between receiving favorable or unfavorable feedback; 82% of the depressed participants chose the unfavorable feedback, compared to 64% of the low self-esteem participants and 25% of the high self-esteem participants. Additional evidence indicated that depressed individuals also failed to exploit fully an opportunity to acquire favorable evaluations that were self-verifying. The authors discuss how seeking negative evaluations and failing to seek favorable evaluations may help maintain depression.

Interrelation and independence of positive and negative psychological constructs in predicting general treatment adherence in coronary artery patients - Results from the THORESCI study.

Science.gov (United States)

van Montfort, Eveline; Denollet, Johan; Widdershoven, Jos; Kupper, Nina

2016-09-01

In cardiac patients, positive psychological factors have been associated with improved medical and psychological outcomes. The current study examined the interrelation between and independence of multiple positive and negative psychological constructs. Furthermore, the potential added predictive value of positive psychological functioning regarding the prediction of patients' treatment adherence and participation in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) was investigated. 409 percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients were included (mean age = 65.6 ± 9.5; 78% male). Self-report questionnaires were administered one month post-PCI. Positive psychological constructs included positive affect (GMS) and optimism (LOT-R); negative constructs were depression (PHQ-9, BDI), anxiety (GAD-7) and negative affect (GMS). Six months post-PCI self-reported general adherence (MOS) and CR participation were determined. Factor Analysis (Oblimin rotation) revealed two components (r = − 0.56), reflecting positive and negative psychological constructs. Linear regression analyses showed that in unadjusted analyses both optimism and positive affect were associated with better general treatment adherence at six months (p psychological constructs (i.e. optimism) may be of incremental value to negative psychological constructs in predicting patients' treatment adherence. A more complete view of a patients' psychological functioning will open new avenues for treatment. Additional research is needed to investigate the relationship between positive psychological factors and other cardiac outcomes, such as cardiac events and mortality.

Disclosure of negative intrusions : the relationship with thought-action fusion, shame, guilt and fear.

OpenAIRE

Wells-Britton, Kaighley; Simonds, Laura

2017-01-01

Background: Given their highly unacceptable nature, negative intrusions are likely to promote the experience of negative affect such as fear, shame and guilt. Moreover, moral thought-action fusion (believing that negative thinking is the equivalent of acting immorally) is likely to inflate the occurrence of negative affect when intrusions are experienced. In turn, negative affect is likely related to disclosure. The current study investigated whether thought-action fusion beliefs predict anti...

Prediction of high airway pressure using a non-linear autoregressive model of pulmonary mechanics.

Science.gov (United States)

Langdon, Ruby; Docherty, Paul D; Schranz, Christoph; Chase, J Geoffrey

2017-11-02

For mechanically ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), suboptimal PEEP levels can cause ventilator induced lung injury (VILI). In particular, high PEEP and high peak inspiratory pressures (PIP) can cause over distension of alveoli that is associated with VILI. However, PEEP must also be sufficient to maintain recruitment in ARDS lungs. A lung model that accurately and precisely predicts the outcome of an increase in PEEP may allow dangerous high PIP to be avoided, and reduce the incidence of VILI. Sixteen pressure-flow data sets were collected from nine mechanically ventilated ARDs patients that underwent one or more recruitment manoeuvres. A nonlinear autoregressive (NARX) model was identified on one or more adjacent PEEP steps, and extrapolated to predict PIP at 2, 4, and 6 cmH 2 O PEEP horizons. The analysis considered whether the predicted and measured PIP exceeded a threshold of 40 cmH 2 O. A direct comparison of the method was made using the first order model of pulmonary mechanics (FOM(I)). Additionally, a further, more clinically appropriate method for the FOM was tested, in which the FOM was trained on a single PEEP prior to prediction (FOM(II)). The NARX model exhibited very high sensitivity (> 0.96) in all cases, and a high specificity (> 0.88). While both FOM methods had a high specificity (> 0.96), the sensitivity was much lower, with a mean of 0.68 for FOM(I), and 0.82 for FOM(II). Clinically, false negatives are more harmful than false positives, as a high PIP may result in distension and VILI. Thus, the NARX model may be more effective than the FOM in allowing clinicians to reduce the risk of applying a PEEP that results in dangerously high airway pressures.

Positive and negative emotional eating have different associations with overeating and binge eating: Construction and validation of the Positive-Negative Emotional Eating Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Sultson, Hedvig; Kukk, Katrin; Akkermann, Kirsti

2017-09-01

Research on emotional eating mostly focuses on negative emotions. Much less is known about how positive emotions relate to overeating and binge eating (BE). The aim of the current study was to construct a scale for positive and negative emotional eating and to assess its predictive validity. In study 1, the Positive-Negative Emotional Eating Scale (PNEES) was constructed and tested on 531 women, who also completed Eating Disorders Assessment Scale (EDAS). Results showed that a two-factor model constituting Positive emotional eating (PNEES-P) and Negative emotional eating (PNEES-N) fit the data well. PNEES-N also showed good convergent validity in assessing binge eating, correlating highly with EDAS subscale Binge eating. Further, a path analysis showed that after controlling for the mediating effect of PNEES-N, PNEES-P continued to significantly predict binge eating. In study 2 (N = 60), experience sampling method was used to assess overeating and BE in the natural environment. Palmtop computers were given to participants for a three-day study period that prompted them with questions regarding emotional experience, overeating, and BE. Results indicated that PNEES-P significantly predicted overeating, whereas PNEES-N predicted overeating and BE episodes only in a subsample of women who had experienced at least one overeating or BE episode. Thus, positive and negative emotional eating might have different relations with overeating and BE, with the latter being more characteristic of the severity/frequency of overeating and BE. New assessment tools that in addition to negative emotional eating also address positive emotional eating could be of potential help in planning intervention. Further, the tendency to overeat in response to positive emotions could be integrated into current models of eating disorders, especially when addressing relapse prevention. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards a Negative Refractive Index in an Atomic System

Science.gov (United States)

Simmons, Zach; Brewer, Nick; Yavuz, Deniz

2014-05-01

The goal of our experiments is to obtain a negative index of refraction in the optical region of the spectrum using an atomic system. The concept of negative refraction, which was first predicted by Veselago more than four decades ago, has recently emerged as a very exciting field of science. Negative index materials exhibit many seemingly strange properties such as electromagnetic vectors forming a left-handed triad. A key potential application for these materials was discovered in 2000 when Pendry predicted that a slab with a negative refractive index can image objects with a resolution far better than the diffraction limit. Thus far, research in negative index materials has primarily focused on meta-materials. The fixed response and often large absorption of these engineered materials motivates our efforts to work in an atomic system. An atomic media offers the potential to be actively modified, for example by changing laser parameters, and can be tuned to cancel absorption. A doped crystal allows for high atomic densities compared to other atomic systems. So far we have identified a transition in such a material, Eu:YSO, as a candidate for these experiments and are performing spectroscopy on this material.

Predictions of High Energy Experimental Results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Comay E.

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Eight predictions of high energy experimental results are presented. The predictions contain the $Sigma ^+$ charge radius and results of two kinds of experiments using energetic pionic beams. In addition, predictions of the failure to find the following objects are presented: glueballs, pentaquarks, Strange Quark Matter, magnetic monopoles searched by their direct interaction with charges and the Higgs boson. The first seven predictions rely on the Regular Charge-Monopole Theory and the last one relies on mathematical inconsistencies of the Higgs Lagrangian density.

Radiation propagation in random media: From positive to negative correlations in high-frequency fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davis, Anthony B.; Mineev-Weinstein, Mark B.

2011-01-01

We survey research on radiation propagation or ballistic particle motion through media with randomly variable material density, and we investigate the topic with an emphasis on very high spatial frequencies. Our new results are based on a specific variability model consisting of a zero-mean Gaussian scaling noise riding on a constant value that is large enough with respect to the amplitude of the noise to yield overwhelmingly non-negative density. We first generalize known results about sub-exponential transmission from regular functions, which are almost everywhere continuous, to merely 'measurable' ones, which are almost everywhere discontinuous (akin to statistically stationary noises), with positively correlated fluctuations. We then use the generalized measure-theoretic formulation to address negatively correlated stochastic media without leaving the framework of conventional (continuum-limit) transport theory. We thus resolve a controversy about recent claims that only discrete-point process approaches can accommodate negative correlations, i.e., anti-clustering of the material particles. We obtain in this case the predicted super-exponential behavior, but it is rather weak. Physically, and much like the alternative discrete-point process approach, the new model applies most naturally to scales commensurate with the inter-particle distance in the material, i.e., when the notion of particle density breaks down due to Poissonian-or maybe not-so-Poissonian-number-count fluctuations occur in the sample volume. At the same time, the noisy structure must prevail up to scales commensurate with the mean-free-path to be of practical significance. Possible applications are discussed.

The role of high Rydberg states in the generation of negative ions in negative-ion discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hiskes, J.R.

1995-01-01

The generation of substantial yields of H - ions in a laser excited H 2 gas has been reported by Pinnaduwage and Christoforu. These H - yields have been attributed to (2 + 1) REMP photoexcitation processes leading to dissociative attachment of doubly-excited or superexcited states (SES), or dissociative attachment of high Rydberg product states. The new feature of these experiments is the implied large dissociative attachment rates, of order 10 -6 cm 3 sec -1 , values that are orders-of-magnitude larger than the dissociative attachment of the vibrationally excited levels of the ground electronic state. While these laser excitations are not directly applicable to a hydrogen negative-ion discharge, the implication of large dissociative attachment rates to the high Rydberg states may affect both the total negative-ion density and the interpretation of discharge performance. Within the discharge energetic electrons will collisionally excite the higher Rydberg states, and the relative contribution of the dissociative attachment of these states when compared with the dissociative attachment to the ground state vibrational levels, is the topic of this paper

Predicting smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis with classification trees and logistic regression: a cross-sectional study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kritski Afrânio

2006-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis (SNPT accounts for 30% of pulmonary tuberculosis cases reported yearly in Brazil. This study aimed to develop a prediction model for SNPT for outpatients in areas with scarce resources. Methods The study enrolled 551 patients with clinical-radiological suspicion of SNPT, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The original data was divided into two equivalent samples for generation and validation of the prediction models. Symptoms, physical signs and chest X-rays were used for constructing logistic regression and classification and regression tree models. From the logistic regression, we generated a clinical and radiological prediction score. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve, sensitivity, and specificity were used to evaluate the model's performance in both generation and validation samples. Results It was possible to generate predictive models for SNPT with sensitivity ranging from 64% to 71% and specificity ranging from 58% to 76%. Conclusion The results suggest that those models might be useful as screening tools for estimating the risk of SNPT, optimizing the utilization of more expensive tests, and avoiding costs of unnecessary anti-tuberculosis treatment. Those models might be cost-effective tools in a health care network with hierarchical distribution of scarce resources.

The developmental origins of cognitive vulnerability to depression: temperament, parenting, and negative life events in childhood as contributors to negative cognitive style.

Science.gov (United States)

Mezulis, Amy H; Hyde, Janet Shibley; Abramson, Lyn Y

2006-11-01

Cognitive models of depression have been well supported with adults, but the developmental origins of cognitive vulnerability are not well understood. The authors hypothesized that temperament, parenting, and negative life events in childhood would contribute to the development of cognitive style, with withdrawal negativity and negative parental feedback moderating the effects of negative life events to predict more depressogenic cognitive styles. These constructs were assessed in 289 children and their parents followed longitudinally from infancy to 5th grade; a subsample (n = 120) also participated in a behavioral task in which maternal feedback to child failure was observed. Results indicated that greater withdrawal negativity in interaction with negative life events was associated with more negative cognitive styles. Self-reported maternal anger expression and observed negative maternal feedback to child's failure significantly interacted with child's negative events to predict greater cognitive vulnerability. There was little evidence of paternal parenting predicting child negative cognitive style.

Predicting Psychosocial Maladjustment in Emerging Adulthood From High School Experiences of Peer Victimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchanan, Carie M; McDougall, Patricia

2018-01-01

The aim of the present study was to compare recollections of sexual, physical, verbal, social, and cyber peer victimization experienced in high school in terms of depressed affect, self-esteem, and loneliness experienced in university. In all, 247 university students (70 males and 177 females; M = 20.62, SD = 2.54) completed online measures assessing retrospective accounts of their experiences of different forms of peer victimization during high school (i.e., sexual, physical, verbal, social, and cyber) and their current psychosocial adjustment (i.e., self-esteem, depressed affect, and loneliness). Three separate hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to determine whether different indices of negative psychosocial adjustment are more strongly predicted by experiencing sexual or nonsexual forms of peer victimization. Although many university students recalled experiencing sexual peer victimization in high school at least once at an even higher percentage than verbal and social forms of peer victimization, the results of the present study suggest that social peer victimization in high school predicts higher levels of depressed affect and loneliness in university students than sexual peer victimization experienced in high school. Surprisingly, the young adults reporting higher levels of cyber peer victimization in high school were less lonely in university. Although the hypothesized relationships between each form of peer victimization and specific indices of psychosocial functioning were not consistently supported, these findings suggest that the form of peer victimization matters and may be differentially associated with well-being in emerging adulthood. It is important that future research explores how individual characteristics may further predict varied experiences of peer victimization and the long-term impact of those experiences.

A high-efficiency positive (negative) surface ionization source for radioactive ion beam (abstract)a

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alton, G.D.; Mills, G.D.

1996-01-01

A versatile, new concept, spherical-geometry, positive (negative) surface-ionization source has been designed and fabricated which will have the capability of generating both positive- and negative-ion beams without mechanical changes to the source. The source utilizes a highly permeable, high-work-function Ir ionizer (φ≡5.29 eV) for ionizing highly electropositive atoms/molecules; while for negative-surface ionization, the work function is lowered to φ≡1.43 eV by continually feeding cesium vapor through the ionizer matrix. The use of this technique for negative ion beam generation has the potential of overcoming the chronic poisoning effects experienced with LaB 6 while enhancing considerably the efficiency for negative surface ionization of atoms and molecules with intermediate electron affinities. The flexibility of operation in either mode makes it especially attractive for radioactive ion beam applications and, therefore, the source will be used as a complementary replacement for the high-temperature electron impact ionization sources presently in use at the Holifield radioactive beam facility. The design features and operational principles of the source will be described in this report. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics

Semi-supervised prediction of SH2-peptide interactions from imbalanced high-throughput data.

Science.gov (United States)

Kundu, Kousik; Costa, Fabrizio; Huber, Michael; Reth, Michael; Backofen, Rolf

2013-01-01

Src homology 2 (SH2) domains are the largest family of the peptide-recognition modules (PRMs) that bind to phosphotyrosine containing peptides. Knowledge about binding partners of SH2-domains is key for a deeper understanding of different cellular processes. Given the high binding specificity of SH2, in-silico ligand peptide prediction is of great interest. Currently however, only a few approaches have been published for the prediction of SH2-peptide interactions. Their main shortcomings range from limited coverage, to restrictive modeling assumptions (they are mainly based on position specific scoring matrices and do not take into consideration complex amino acids inter-dependencies) and high computational complexity. We propose a simple yet effective machine learning approach for a large set of known human SH2 domains. We used comprehensive data from micro-array and peptide-array experiments on 51 human SH2 domains. In order to deal with the high data imbalance problem and the high signal-to-noise ration, we casted the problem in a semi-supervised setting. We report competitive predictive performance w.r.t. state-of-the-art. Specifically we obtain 0.83 AUC ROC and 0.93 AUC PR in comparison to 0.71 AUC ROC and 0.87 AUC PR previously achieved by the position specific scoring matrices (PSSMs) based SMALI approach. Our work provides three main contributions. First, we showed that better models can be obtained when the information on the non-interacting peptides (negative examples) is also used. Second, we improve performance when considering high order correlations between the ligand positions employing regularization techniques to effectively avoid overfitting issues. Third, we developed an approach to tackle the data imbalance problem using a semi-supervised strategy. Finally, we performed a genome-wide prediction of human SH2-peptide binding, uncovering several findings of biological relevance. We make our models and genome-wide predictions, for all the 51 SH2

A High-Intensity, RF Plasma-Sputter Negative Ion Source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alton, G.D.; Bao, Y.; Cui, B.; Lohwasser, R.; Reed, C.A.; Zhang, T.

1999-01-01

A high-intensity, plasma-sputter negative-ion source based on the use of RF power for plasma generation has been developed that can be operated in either pulsed or dc modes. The source utilizes a high-Q, self-igniting, inductively coupled antenna system, operating at 80 MHz that has been optimized to generate Cs-seeded plasmas at low pressures (typically, - (610 microA); F - (100 microA); Si - (500 microA); S - (500 microA); P - (125 microA); Cl - (200 microA); Ni - (150 microA); Cu - (230 microA); Ge - (125 microA); As - (100 microA); Se - (200 microA); Ag - (70 microA); Pt - (125 microA); Au - (250 microA). The normalized emittance var e psilon n of the source at the 80% contour is: var e psilon n = 7.5 mm.mrad.(MeV) 1/2 . The design principles of the source, operational parameters, ion optics, emittance and intensities for a number of negative-ion species will be presented in this report

Genomic prediction applied to high-biomass sorghum for bioenergy production.

Science.gov (United States)

de Oliveira, Amanda Avelar; Pastina, Maria Marta; de Souza, Vander Filipe; da Costa Parrella, Rafael Augusto; Noda, Roberto Willians; Simeone, Maria Lúcia Ferreira; Schaffert, Robert Eugene; de Magalhães, Jurandir Vieira; Damasceno, Cynthia Maria Borges; Margarido, Gabriel Rodrigues Alves

2018-01-01

The increasing cost of energy and finite oil and gas reserves have created a need to develop alternative fuels from renewable sources. Due to its abiotic stress tolerance and annual cultivation, high-biomass sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) shows potential as a bioenergy crop. Genomic selection is a useful tool for accelerating genetic gains and could restructure plant breeding programs by enabling early selection and reducing breeding cycle duration. This work aimed at predicting breeding values via genomic selection models for 200 sorghum genotypes comprising landrace accessions and breeding lines from biomass and saccharine groups. These genotypes were divided into two sub-panels, according to breeding purpose. We evaluated the following phenotypic biomass traits: days to flowering, plant height, fresh and dry matter yield, and fiber, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin proportions. Genotyping by sequencing yielded more than 258,000 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers, which revealed population structure between subpanels. We then fitted and compared genomic selection models BayesA, BayesB, BayesCπ, BayesLasso, Bayes Ridge Regression and random regression best linear unbiased predictor. The resulting predictive abilities varied little between the different models, but substantially between traits. Different scenarios of prediction showed the potential of using genomic selection results between sub-panels and years, although the genotype by environment interaction negatively affected accuracies. Functional enrichment analyses performed with the marker-predicted effects suggested several interesting associations, with potential for revealing biological processes relevant to the studied quantitative traits. This work shows that genomic selection can be successfully applied in biomass sorghum breeding programs.

Perceiving social pressure not to feel negative predicts depressive symptoms in daily life

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dejonckheere, E.; Bastian, B.; Fried, E.I.; Murphy, S.C.; Kuppens, P.

Background Western societies often overemphasize the pursuit of happiness, and regard negative feelings such as sadness or anxiety as maladaptive and unwanted. Despite this emphasis on happiness, the amount of people suffering from depressive complaints is remarkably high. To explain this apparent

Relational aggression, positive urgency and negative urgency: predicting alcohol use and consequences among college students.

Science.gov (United States)

Grimaldi, Elizabeth M; Napper, Lucy E; LaBrie, Joseph W

2014-09-01

Research on relational aggression (indirect and social means of inflicting harm) has previously focused on adolescent populations. The current study extends this research by exploring both the frequency of perpetrating and being the target of relational aggression as it relates to alcohol use outcomes in a college population. Further, this study examines whether positive urgency (e.g., acting impulsively in response to positive emotions) and negative urgency (e.g., acting impulsively in response to negative emotions) moderate the relationship between relational aggression and alcohol outcomes. In this study, 245 college students (65.7% female) completed an online survey. Results indicated greater frequency of perpetrating relational aggression, higher levels of positive urgency, or higher levels of negative urgency was associated with more negative consequences. Further, negative urgency moderated the relationship between frequency of perpetrating aggression and consequences such that aggression was more strongly associated with consequences for those high in urgency. Counter to the adolescent literature, the frequency of being the target of aggression was not associated with more alcohol use. These findings suggest that perpetrators of relational aggression may be at particular risk for negative alcohol-related consequences when they act impulsively in response to negative, but not positive, emotions. These students may benefit from interventions exploring alternative ways to cope with negative emotions.

Diagnostic peritoneal lavage: volume of lavage effluent needed for accurate determination of a negative lavage.

Science.gov (United States)

Sweeney, J F; Albrink, M H; Bischof, E; McAllister, E W; Rosemurgy, A S

1994-12-01

While the ability of diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL) to 'rule out' occult intra-abdominal injuries has been well established, the volume of lavage effluent necessary for accurate prediction of a negative lavage has not been determined. To address this, 60 injured adults with blunt (N = 45) or penetrating (N = 15) trauma undergoing DPL were evaluated prospectively through protocol. After infusion of 1l of Ringer's lactate solution, samples of lavage effluent were obtained at 100 cm3, 250 cm3, 500 cm3, and 759 cm3, and when no more effluent could be returned (final sample). DPL was considered negative if final sample RBC count was < or = 100,000/mm3 for blunt injury and < 50,000/mm3 for penetrating injury. The conclusion is that at 100 cm3 of lavage effluent returned, negative results are highly predictive of a negative DPL (98 per cent), though 250 cm3 of lavage effluent is required to predict a negative DPL uniformly (100 per cent).

Brain negativity as an indicator of predictive error processing: the contribution of visual action effect monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Joch, Michael; Hegele, Mathias; Maurer, Heiko; Müller, Hermann; Maurer, Lisa Katharina

2017-07-01

The error (related) negativity (Ne/ERN) is an event-related potential in the electroencephalogram (EEG) correlating with error processing. Its conditions of appearance before terminal external error information suggest that the Ne/ERN is indicative of predictive processes in the evaluation of errors. The aim of the present study was to specifically examine the Ne/ERN in a complex motor task and to particularly rule out other explaining sources of the Ne/ERN aside from error prediction processes. To this end, we focused on the dependency of the Ne/ERN on visual monitoring about the action outcome after movement termination but before result feedback (action effect monitoring). Participants performed a semi-virtual throwing task by using a manipulandum to throw a virtual ball displayed on a computer screen to hit a target object. Visual feedback about the ball flying to the target was masked to prevent action effect monitoring. Participants received a static feedback about the action outcome (850 ms) after each trial. We found a significant negative deflection in the average EEG curves of the error trials peaking at ~250 ms after ball release, i.e., before error feedback. Furthermore, this Ne/ERN signal did not depend on visual ball-flight monitoring after release. We conclude that the Ne/ERN has the potential to indicate error prediction in motor tasks and that it exists even in the absence of action effect monitoring. NEW & NOTEWORTHY In this study, we are separating different kinds of possible contributors to an electroencephalogram (EEG) error correlate (Ne/ERN) in a throwing task. We tested the influence of action effect monitoring on the Ne/ERN amplitude in the EEG. We used a task that allows us to restrict movement correction and action effect monitoring and to control the onset of result feedback. We ascribe the Ne/ERN to predictive error processing where a conscious feeling of failure is not a prerequisite. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological

South Korean alcohol free associations: negative expectancy not predicting drinks per occasion.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahoney, Benjamin J; Graham, Deborah; Cottrell, David; Kim, Kyung-Yong

2012-06-01

Cultural and biological particulars existing in East Asian countries are likely to mediate differences in the alcohol consumption experience. Despite this no research to date has directly explored the alcohol free association or expectancy of any East Asian nations. The current research aims to provide a set of South Korean alcohol expectancies. Two hundred and thirty-seven South Koreans participated in an alcohol free association test and completed a demographic survey. The results both confirmed and contradicted areas of past alcohol expectancy research. There appears to be differences in associates with high probability of recall and alcohol expectancy, where negative, negative sedating and sedating expectancy categories were not found to be predictors of South Korean drinker level. The results suggest that South Koreans have a more even level of negative expectancy across all drinker categories, possibly due to a combination of linguistic, cultural and biological difference found among this population. The results provide a list of South Korean alcohol free association norms for future alcohol research in the region, with the results also underlining the need for alcohol free association tests among East Asian nations. © 2011 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Neutrophil CD64 has a high negative predictive value for exclusion ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

[13] Multiple studies agree that neutrophil CD64 has high diagnostic speci city and sensitivity.[13,18-20] In the light of the above information, we prospectively evaluated the usefulness of neutrophil CD64 expression in diagnosing neonatal infection. e main objective of the study was quantitation of neutrophil. CD64 by ow ...

Stability amidst turmoil: Grit buffers the effects of negative life events on suicidal ideation.

Science.gov (United States)

Blalock, Dan V; Young, Kevin C; Kleiman, Evan M

2015-08-30

The goal of the current study is to examine the role of grit as a resilience factor that reduces the risk for suicidal ideation conferred by negative life events. Participants (N=209) completed measures of negative life events and grit at baseline and a measure of suicidal ideation at follow-up four weeks later. Poisson regression analyses found that higher levels of grit buffered the relationship between negative life events and suicidal ideation such that negative life events only predicted suicidal ideation if grit was low. These results suggest that high grit can abate the increased suicidal ideation associated with negative life events. Aside from absolute levels of suicidal ideation, being able to predict or buffer dramatic shifts in suicidal ideation can be a useful diagnostic tool during interventions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Auditory mismatch negativity in schizophrenia: topographic evaluation with a high-density recording montage.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirayasu, Y; Potts, G F; O'Donnell, B F; Kwon, J S; Arakaki, H; Akdag, S J; Levitt, J J; Shenton, M E; McCarley, R W

1998-09-01

The mismatch negativity, a negative component in the auditory event-related potential, is thought to index automatic processes involved in sensory or echoic memory. The authors' goal in this study was to examine the topography of auditory mismatch negativity in schizophrenia with a high-density, 64-channel recording montage. Mismatch negativity topography was evaluated in 23 right-handed male patients with schizophrenia who were receiving medication and in 23 nonschizophrenic comparison subjects who were matched in age, handedness, and parental socioeconomic status. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale was used to measure psychiatric symptoms. Mismatch negativity amplitude was reduced in the patients with schizophrenia. They showed a greater left-less-than-right asymmetry than comparison subjects at homotopic electrode pairs near the parietotemporal junction. There were correlations between mismatch negativity amplitude and hallucinations at left frontal electrodes and between mismatch negativity amplitude and passive-apathetic social withdrawal at left and right frontal electrodes. Mismatch negativity was reduced in schizophrenia, especially in the left hemisphere. This finding is consistent with abnormalities of primary or adjacent auditory cortex involved in auditory sensory or echoic memory.

Absorbed in the task : Personality measures predict engagement during task performance as tracked by error negativity and asymmetrical frontal activity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tops, Mattie; Boksem, Maarten A. S.

2010-01-01

We hypothesized that interactions between traits and context predict task engagement, as measured by the amplitude of the error-related negativity (ERN), performance, and relative frontal activity asymmetry (RFA). In Study 1, we found that drive for reward, absorption, and constraint independently

High false-negative rate of anti-HCV among Egyptian patients on regular hemodialysis.

Science.gov (United States)

El-Sherif, Assem; Elbahrawy, Ashraf; Aboelfotoh, Atef; Abdelkarim, Magdy; Saied Mohammad, Abdel-Gawad; Abdallah, Abdallah Mahmoud; Mostafa, Sadek; Elmestikawy, Amr; Elwassief, Ahmed; Salah, Mohamed; Abdelbaseer, Mohamed Ali; Abdelwahab, Kouka Saadeldin

2012-07-01

Routine serological testing for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among hemodialysis (HD) patients is currently recommended. A dilemma existed on the value of serology because some investigators reported a high rate of false-negative serologic testing. In this study, we aimed to detect the false-negative rate of anti-HCV among Egyptian HD patients. Seventy-eight HD patients, negative for anti-HCV, anti-HIV, and hepatitis B surface antigen, were tested for HCV RNA by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In the next step, the viral load was quantified by real-time PCR in RT-PCR-positive patients. Risk factors for HCV infection, as well as clinical and biochemical indicators of liver disease, were compared between false-negative and true-negative anti-HCV HD patients. The frequency of false-negative anti-HCV was 17.9%. Frequency of blood transfusion, duration of HD, dialysis at multiple centers, and diabetes mellitus were not identified as risk factors for HCV infection. The frequency of false-negative results had a linear relation to the prevalence of HCV infection in the HD units. Timely identification of HCV within dialysis units is needed in order to lower the risk of HCV spread within the HD units. The high false-negative rate of anti-HCV among HD patients in our study justifies testing of a large scale of patients for precious assessment of effectiveness of nucleic acid amplification technology testing in screening HD patient. © 2012 The Authors. Hemodialysis International © 2012 International Society for Hemodialysis.

Transdiagnostic assessment of repetitive negative thinking and responses to positive affect: Structure and predictive utility for depression, anxiety, and mania symptoms.

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McEvoy, Peter M; Hyett, Matthew P; Ehring, Thomas; Johnson, Sheri L; Samtani, Suraj; Anderson, Rebecca; Moulds, Michelle L

2018-05-01

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a cognitive process that is repetitive, passive, relatively uncontrollable, and focused on negative content, and is elevated in emotional disorders including depression and anxiety disorders. Repetitive positive thinking is associated with bipolar disorder symptoms. The unique contributions of positive versus negative repetitive thinking to emotional symptoms are unknown. The first aim of this study was to use confirmatory factor analyses to evaluate the psychometrics of two transdiagnostic measures of RNT, the Repetitive Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ-10) and Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ), and a measure of repetitive positive thinking, the Responses to Positive Affect (RPA) Questionnaire. The second aim was to determine incremental predictive utility of these measures. All measures were administered to a sample of 2088 undergraduate students from the Netherlands (n = 992), Australia (n = 698), and America (n = 398). Unidimensional, bifactor, and three-factor models were supported for the RTQ-10, PTQ, and RPA, respectively. A common factor measured by all PTQ items explained most variance in PTQ scores suggesting that this measure is essentially unidimensional. The RNT factor of the RTQ-10 demonstrated the strongest predictive utility, although the PTQ was also uniquely although weakly associated with anxiety, depression, and mania symptoms. The RPA dampening factor uniquely predicted anxiety and depression symptoms, suggesting that this scale is a separable process to RNT as measured by the RTQ-10 and PTQ. Findings were cross-sectional and need to be replicated in clinical samples. Transdiagnostic measures of RNT are essentially unidimensional, whereas RPA is multidimensional. RNT and RPA have unique predictive utility. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

HPV and high-risk gene expression profiles predict response to chemoradiotherapy in head and neck cancer, independent of clinical factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jong, Monique C. de; Pramana, Jimmy; Knegjens, Joost L.; Balm, Alfons J.M.; Brekel, Michiel W.M. van den; Hauptmann, Michael; Begg, Adrian C.; Rasch, Coen R.N.

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to combine gene expression profiles and clinical factors to provide a better prediction model of local control after chemoradiotherapy for advanced head and neck cancer. Material and methods: Gene expression data were available for a series of 92 advanced stage head and neck cancer patients treated with primary chemoradiotherapy. The effect of the Chung high-risk and Slebos HPV expression profiles on local control was analyzed in a model with age at diagnosis, gender, tumor site, tumor volume, T-stage and N-stage and HPV profile status. Results: Among 75 patients included in the study, the only factors significantly predicting local control were tumor site (oral cavity vs. Pharynx, hazard ratio 4.2 [95% CI 1.4-12.5]), Chung gene expression status (high vs. Low risk profile, hazard ratio 4.4 [95% CI 1.5-13.3]) and HPV profile (negative vs. Positive profile, hazard ratio 6.2 [95% CI 1.7-22.5]). Conclusions: Chung high-risk expression profile and a negative HPV expression profile were significantly associated with increased risk of local recurrence after chemoradiotherapy in advanced pharynx and oral cavity tumors, independent of clinical factors.

Empathy costs: Negative emotional bias in high empathisers.

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Chikovani, George; Babuadze, Lasha; Iashvili, Nino; Gvalia, Tamar; Surguladze, Simon

2015-09-30

Excessive empathy has been associated with compassion fatigue in health professionals and caregivers. We investigated an effect of empathy on emotion processing in 137 healthy individuals of both sexes. We tested a hypothesis that high empathy may underlie increased sensitivity to negative emotion recognition which may interact with gender. Facial emotion stimuli comprised happy, angry, fearful, and sad faces presented at different intensities (mild and prototypical) and different durations (500ms and 2000ms). The parameters of emotion processing were represented by discrimination accuracy, response bias and reaction time. We found that higher empathy was associated with better recognition of all emotions. We also demonstrated that higher empathy was associated with response bias towards sad and fearful faces. The reaction time analysis revealed that higher empathy in females was associated with faster (compared with males) recognition of mildly sad faces of brief duration. We conclude that although empathic abilities were providing for advantages in recognition of all facial emotional expressions, the bias towards emotional negativity may potentially carry a risk for empathic distress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mindful attention predicts greater recovery from negative emotions, but not reduced reactivity.

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Cho, Sinhae; Lee, Hyejeen; Oh, Kyung Ja; Soto, José A

2017-09-01

This study investigated the role of dispositional mindful attention in immediate reactivity to, and subsequent recovery from, laboratory-induced negative emotion. One hundred and fourteen undergraduates viewed blocks of negative pictures followed by neutral pictures. Participants' emotional responses to negative pictures and subsequent neutral pictures were assessed via self-reported ratings. Participants' emotional response to negative pictures was used to index level of emotional reactivity to unpleasant stimuli; emotional response to neutral pictures presented immediately after the negative pictures was used to index level of emotional recovery from pre-induced negative emotion (residual negativity). Results indicated that mindful attention was not associated with the emotional response to negative pictures, but it was associated with reduced negative emotion in response to the neutral pictures presented immediately after the negative pictures, suggesting better recovery as opposed to reduced reactivity. This effect was especially pronounced in later experimental blocks when the accumulation of negative stimuli produced greater negative emotion from which participants had to recover. The current study extends previous findings on the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and reduced negative emotion by demonstrating that mindful attention may facilitate better recovery from negative emotion, possibly through more effective disengagement from previous stimuli.

Mining geriatric assessment data for in-patient fall prediction models and high-risk subgroups.

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Marschollek, Michael; Gövercin, Mehmet; Rust, Stefan; Gietzelt, Matthias; Schulze, Mareike; Wolf, Klaus-Hendrik; Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth

2012-03-14

Hospital in-patient falls constitute a prominent problem in terms of costs and consequences. Geriatric institutions are most often affected, and common screening tools cannot predict in-patient falls consistently. Our objectives are to derive comprehensible fall risk classification models from a large data set of geriatric in-patients' assessment data and to evaluate their predictive performance (aim#1), and to identify high-risk subgroups from the data (aim#2). A data set of n = 5,176 single in-patient episodes covering 1.5 years of admissions to a geriatric hospital were extracted from the hospital's data base and matched with fall incident reports (n = 493). A classification tree model was induced using the C4.5 algorithm as well as a logistic regression model, and their predictive performance was evaluated. Furthermore, high-risk subgroups were identified from extracted classification rules with a support of more than 100 instances. The classification tree model showed an overall classification accuracy of 66%, with a sensitivity of 55.4%, a specificity of 67.1%, positive and negative predictive values of 15% resp. 93.5%. Five high-risk groups were identified, defined by high age, low Barthel index, cognitive impairment, multi-medication and co-morbidity. Our results show that a little more than half of the fallers may be identified correctly by our model, but the positive predictive value is too low to be applicable. Non-fallers, on the other hand, may be sorted out with the model quite well. The high-risk subgroups and the risk factors identified (age, low ADL score, cognitive impairment, institutionalization, polypharmacy and co-morbidity) reflect domain knowledge and may be used to screen certain subgroups of patients with a high risk of falling. Classification models derived from a large data set using data mining methods can compete with current dedicated fall risk screening tools, yet lack diagnostic precision. High-risk subgroups may be identified

Mining geriatric assessment data for in-patient fall prediction models and high-risk subgroups

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Marschollek Michael

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Hospital in-patient falls constitute a prominent problem in terms of costs and consequences. Geriatric institutions are most often affected, and common screening tools cannot predict in-patient falls consistently. Our objectives are to derive comprehensible fall risk classification models from a large data set of geriatric in-patients' assessment data and to evaluate their predictive performance (aim#1, and to identify high-risk subgroups from the data (aim#2. Methods A data set of n = 5,176 single in-patient episodes covering 1.5 years of admissions to a geriatric hospital were extracted from the hospital's data base and matched with fall incident reports (n = 493. A classification tree model was induced using the C4.5 algorithm as well as a logistic regression model, and their predictive performance was evaluated. Furthermore, high-risk subgroups were identified from extracted classification rules with a support of more than 100 instances. Results The classification tree model showed an overall classification accuracy of 66%, with a sensitivity of 55.4%, a specificity of 67.1%, positive and negative predictive values of 15% resp. 93.5%. Five high-risk groups were identified, defined by high age, low Barthel index, cognitive impairment, multi-medication and co-morbidity. Conclusions Our results show that a little more than half of the fallers may be identified correctly by our model, but the positive predictive value is too low to be applicable. Non-fallers, on the other hand, may be sorted out with the model quite well. The high-risk subgroups and the risk factors identified (age, low ADL score, cognitive impairment, institutionalization, polypharmacy and co-morbidity reflect domain knowledge and may be used to screen certain subgroups of patients with a high risk of falling. Classification models derived from a large data set using data mining methods can compete with current dedicated fall risk screening tools, yet lack

Optimal classifier selection and negative bias in error rate estimation: an empirical study on high-dimensional prediction

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Boulesteix Anne-Laure

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In biometric practice, researchers often apply a large number of different methods in a "trial-and-error" strategy to get as much as possible out of their data and, due to publication pressure or pressure from the consulting customer, present only the most favorable results. This strategy may induce a substantial optimistic bias in prediction error estimation, which is quantitatively assessed in the present manuscript. The focus of our work is on class prediction based on high-dimensional data (e.g. microarray data, since such analyses are particularly exposed to this kind of bias. Methods In our study we consider a total of 124 variants of classifiers (possibly including variable selection or tuning steps within a cross-validation evaluation scheme. The classifiers are applied to original and modified real microarray data sets, some of which are obtained by randomly permuting the class labels to mimic non-informative predictors while preserving their correlation structure. Results We assess the minimal misclassification rate over the different variants of classifiers in order to quantify the bias arising when the optimal classifier is selected a posteriori in a data-driven manner. The bias resulting from the parameter tuning (including gene selection parameters as a special case and the bias resulting from the choice of the classification method are examined both separately and jointly. Conclusions The median minimal error rate over the investigated classifiers was as low as 31% and 41% based on permuted uninformative predictors from studies on colon cancer and prostate cancer, respectively. We conclude that the strategy to present only the optimal result is not acceptable because it yields a substantial bias in error rate estimation, and suggest alternative approaches for properly reporting classification accuracy.

Polystyrene negative resist for high-resolution electron beam lithography

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Ma Siqi

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract We studied the exposure behavior of low molecular weight polystyrene as a negative tone electron beam lithography (EBL resist, with the goal of finding the ultimate achievable resolution. It demonstrated fairly well-defined patterning of a 20-nm period line array and a 15-nm period dot array, which are the densest patterns ever achieved using organic EBL resists. Such dense patterns can be achieved both at 20 and 5 keV beam energies using different developers. In addition to its ultra-high resolution capability, polystyrene is a simple and low-cost resist with easy process control and practically unlimited shelf life. It is also considerably more resistant to dry etching than PMMA. With a low sensitivity, it would find applications where negative resist is desired and throughput is not a major concern.

Social anxiety and eating disorder comorbidity: The role of negative social evaluation fears

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Levinson, Cheri A.; Rodebaugh, Thomas L.

2011-01-01

Social anxiety and eating disorders are highly comorbid. However, it is unknown how specific domains of social anxiety relate to disordered eating. We provide data on these relationships and investigate social appearance anxiety and fear of negative evaluation as potential vulnerabilities linking social anxiety with eating disorders. Specifically, we examined five domains of social anxiety: Social interaction anxiety, fear of scrutiny, fear of positive evaluation, fear of negative evaluation, and social appearance anxiety. Results indicated that social appearance anxiety predicted body dissatisfaction, bulimia symptoms, shape concern, weight concern, and eating concern over and above fear of scrutiny, social interaction anxiety, and fear of positive evaluation. Fear of negative evaluation uniquely predicted drive for thinness and restraint. Structural equation modeling supported a model in which social appearance anxiety and fear of negative evaluation are vulnerabilities for both social anxiety and eating disorder symptoms. Interventions that target these negative social evaluation fears may help prevent development of eating disorders. PMID:22177392

Investigations of a new, highly negative liposome with improved biodistribution for imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hnatowich, D.J.; Clancy, B.

1980-01-01

An attractive feature of liposomes is the wide range of lipid composition that can lead to liposome formation, coupled with the observation that liposome biodistribution may be altered by varying lipid composition. For instance, adding charged lipids to neutral lecithin will alter the biodistribution of the resulting charged liposomes. We have prepared highly negative liposomes by replacing lecithin with negatively charged cardiolipin. The liposomes have been labeled in the lipid phase with Ga-67 and Tc-99m oxine and their properties evaluated. The expected high negative charge of the resulting liposomes was confirmed by an ion-exchange chromatographic technique. Using paper chromatography, the stability of the label was determined during incubation in saline and serum. Finally, biodistributions were determined at 2 h in mice, and the results compared with those for negative lecithin liposomes. Accumulated activities in liver and spleen were reduced by factors of five and 20, respectively, over lecithin liposomes. Since preferential accumulation of activity in these organs constitutes the biggest limitation to the use of lecithin liposomes, cardiolipin liposomes may prove to be more useful carriers of radioactivity in imaging applications. More importantly, however, these results illustrate the value of studying novel liposome types as potential radiopharmaceuticals

Positive and negative dimensions of weight control motivation.

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Stotland, S; Larocque, M; Sadikaj, G

2012-01-01

This study examined weight control motivation among patients (N=5460 females and 547 males) who sought weight loss treatment with family physicians. An eight-item measure assessed the frequency of thoughts and feelings related to weight control "outcome" (e.g. expected physical and psychological benefits) and "process" (e.g. resentment and doubt). Factor analysis supported the existence of two factors, labeled Positive and Negative motivation. Positive motivation was high (average frequency of thoughts about benefits was 'every day') and stable throughout treatment, while Negative motivation declined rapidly and then stabilized. The determinants of changes in the Positive and Negative dimensions during treatment were examined within 3 time frames: first month, months 2-6, and 6-12. Maintenance of high scores on Positive motivation was associated with higher BMI and more disturbed eating habits. Early reductions in Negative motivation were greater for those starting treatment with higher weight and more disturbed eating habits, but less depression and stress, while later reductions in Negative motivation were predicted by improvements in eating habits, weight, stress and perfectionism. Clinicians treating obesity should be sensitive to fluctuations in both motivational dimensions, as they are likely to play a central role in determining long-term behavior and weight change. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-current negative hydrogen ion beam production in a cesium-injected multicusp source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeiri, Y.; Tsumori, K.; Kaneko, O.

1997-01-01

A high-current negative hydrogen ion source has been developed, where 16.2 A of the H - current was obtained with a current density of 31 mA/cm 2 . The ion source is a multicusp source with a magnetic filter for negative ion production, and cesium vapor is injected into the arc chamber, leading to enhancement of the negative ion yields. The cesium-injection effects are discussed, based on the experimental observations. Although the surface production of the negative ions on the cesium-covered plasma grid is thought to be a dominant mechanism of the H - current enhancement, the cesium effects in the plasma volume, such as the cesium ionization and the electron cooling, are observed, and could contribute to the improved operation of the negative ion source. (author)

Effect of nicotine on negative affect among more impulsive smokers.

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Doran, Neal; McChargue, Dennis; Spring, Bonnie; VanderVeen, Joe; Cook, Jessica Werth; Richmond, Malia

2006-08-01

In the present study, the authors tested the hypothesis that nicotine would provide greater relief from negative affect for more impulsive smokers than for less impulsive smokers. Euthymic adult smokers (N=70) participated in 2 laboratory sessions, during which they underwent a negative mood induction (music + autobiographical memory), then smoked either a nicotinized or de-nicotinized cigarette. Mixed-effects regression yielded a significant Impulsivity x Condition (nicotinized vs. de-nicotinized) x Time interaction. Simple effects analyses showed that heightened impulsivity predicted greater negative affect relief after smoking a nicotinized cigarette but not after smoking a de-nicotinized cigarette. These data suggest that nicotine may be a disproportionately powerful negative reinforcer for highly impulsive smokers, promoting higher levels of nicotine dependence and inhibiting smoking cessation.

Drug response prediction in high-risk multiple myeloma

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vangsted, A J; Helm-Petersen, S; Cowland, J B

2018-01-01

from high-risk patients by GEP70 at diagnosis from Total Therapy 2 and 3A to predict the response by the DRP score of drugs used in the treatment of myeloma patients. The DRP score stratified patients further. High-risk myeloma with a predicted sensitivity to melphalan by the DRP score had a prolonged...

Acute subarachnoid haemorrhage: Is a negative CT angiogram enough?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacKinnon, A.D.; Clifton, A.G.; Rich, P.M.

2013-01-01

Aim: To determine the negative predictive value of 16 channel multisection computed tomography angiography (CTA) for detecting aneurysms in spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), using digital subtraction angiography (DSA) as the reference standard. Materials and methods: The prospectively collected cerebral angiogram database of Department of Neuroradiology, Atkinson Morley Regional Neuroscience Centre was used to identify 200 consecutive patients who had undergone DSA for SAH. Of these, 176 had undergone CTA prior to DSA. Clinical details and radiology reports were correlated and images of positive investigations reviewed. Results: DSA showed one or more cerebral aneurysms in 105 (60%) patients. These were correctly reported on CTA in 100. CTA was reported negative for aneurysms in 74 patients. Of these five were false negative and had aneurysms detected on DSA. In the CTA/DSA negative group, 11 (16%) patients had classical perimesencephalic clinical syndrome and blood distribution. There were two false positives at CTA. For ruptured cerebral aneurysms, CTA had 95.2% sensitivity, 97.2% specificity, 98.1% positive predictive value, and 93.2% negative predictive value. Conclusion: The sensitivity and negative predictive value of CTA for ruptured aneurysms remains imperfect. Continued use of DSA is recommended in most patients with a negative CTA after acute SAH. Confirmation of a negative CTA result with DSA may not be routinely required in patients with perimesencephalic syndrome

Time-resolved measurements of highly-polymerised negative ions in rf silane plasma deposition experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howling, A.A.; Sansonnens, L.; Dorier, J.L.; Hollenstein, C.

1993-07-01

The time-resolved fluxes of negative polysilicon hydride ions from a power-modulated rf silane plasma have been measured by quadrupole mass spectrometry and modeled using a simple polymerisation scheme. Experiments were performed with plasma parameters suitable for high-quality amorphous silicon deposition. Polysilicon hydride anions diffuse from the plasma with low energy (approximately 0.5 eV) during the afterglow after the electron density has decayed and the sheath fields have collapsed. The mass-dependence of the temporal behavior of the anion loss flux demonstrates that the plasma composition is influenced by the modulation frequency. The negative species attain much higher masses than the positive or neutral species, and anions containing as many as sixteen silicon atoms have been observed, corresponding to the 500 amu limit of the mass spectrometer. This suggests that negative ions could be the precursors to particle formation. Ion-molecule and ion-ion reactions are discussed and a simple negative ion polymerisation scheme is proposed which qualitatively reproduces the experimental results. The model shows that the densities of high mass negative ions in the plasma are strongly reduced by modulation frequencies near 1 kHz. Each plasma period is then too short for the polymerisation chain to propagate to high masses before the elementary anions are lost in each subsequent afterglow period. This explains why modulation of the rf power can reduce particle contamination. We conclude that, for the case of silane rf plasmas, the initiation steps which ultimately lead to particle contamination proceed by negative ion polymerisation. (author) 15 figs., 72 refs

Effect of mixing rule boundary conditions on high pressure (liquid + liquid) equilibrium prediction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hsieh, Min-Kang; Lin, Shiang-Tai

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Prediction of LLE from the combined use of EOS and liquid model are examined. ► The mixing rule used affects the predicted pressure dependence of LLE. ► MHV1 mixing rule predicts decent LLE at low pressures. ► WS mixing rule predicts more accurate excess volume and LLE at high pressures. ► The hybrid of MHV1 and WS mixing rule gives overall the best predictions. - Abstract: We examine the prediction of high pressure (liquid + liquid) equilibrium (LLE) from the Peng–Robinson equation with three excess Gibbs free energy (G ex )-based mixing rules (MR): the first order modified Huron–Vidal (MHV1), the Wong–Sandler (WS), and a hybrid of these two (referred to as G ex B 2 ). These mixing rules differ by the boundary conditions used for determination of the temperature and composition dependence of parameters a and b in the PR EOS. The condition of matching the excess Gibbs free energy from the EOS at zero pressure to that from the G ex model, used in MHV1 and G ex B 2 MR, leads to a similar miscibility gap from PR EOS and the G ex model used. On the other hand, the condition of matching excess Helmholtz energy from the EOS at infinite pressure to that from the G ex model, used in the WS MR, shows remarkable deviations. The condition of quadratic composition dependence in the second virial coefficient (B 2 ), used in WS and G ex B 2 MR, allows for both positive and negative values in the molar excess volume. Depending on the mixture, either the increase or decrease of the miscibility gap with pressure can be observed when the WS or the G ex B 2 MR is used. The condition of linear combination of molecular sizes of each component used in the MHV1 MR, however, often leads to small, positive molar excess volumes. As a consequence, the predicted LLE from using the MHV1 MR are insensitive to pressure. Therefore, we find that the G ex B 2 mixing rule provides the best predictive power for the LLE over a wide range of temperature and pressure.

Entropy and the Predictability of Online Life

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Roberta Sinatra

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Using mobile phone records and information theory measures, our daily lives have been recently shown to follow strict statistical regularities, and our movement patterns are, to a large extent, predictable. Here, we apply entropy and predictability measures to two datasets of the behavioral actions and the mobility of a large number of players in the virtual universe of a massive multiplayer online game. We find that movements in virtual human lives follow the same high levels of predictability as offline mobility, where future movements can, to some extent, be predicted well if the temporal correlations of visited places are accounted for. Time series of behavioral actions show similar high levels of predictability, even when temporal correlations are neglected. Entropy conditional on specific behavioral actions reveals that in terms of predictability, negative behavior has a wider variety than positive actions. The actions that contain the information to best predict an individual’s subsequent action are negative, such as attacks or enemy markings, while the positive actions of friendship marking, trade and communication contain the least amount of predictive information. These observations show that predicting behavioral actions requires less information than predicting the mobility patterns of humans for which the additional knowledge of past visited locations is crucial and that the type and sign of a social relation has an essential impact on the ability to determine future behavior.

Evaluation with 3.0-T MR imaging: predicting the pathological response of triple-negative breast cancer treated with anthracycline and taxane neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

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Kim, Min Jung; Kim, Eun-Kyung; Park, Seho; Moon, Hee Jung; Kim, Seung Il; Park, Byeong-Woo

2015-09-01

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) which expresses neither hormonal receptors nor HER-2 is associated with poor prognosis and shorter survival. Several studies have suggested that TNBC patients attaining pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) show a longer survival than those without pCR. To assess the accuracy of 3.0-T breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting pCR and to evaluate the clinicoradiologic factors affecting the diagnostic accuracy of 3.0-T breast MRI in TNBC patients treated with anthracycline and taxane (ACD). This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board; patient consent was not required. Between 2009 and 2012, 35 TNBC patients with 3.0-T breast MRI prior to (n = 26) or after (n = 35) NAC were included. MRI findings were reviewed according to pCR to chemotherapy. The diagnostic accuracy of 3.0-T breast MRI for predicting pCR and the clinicoradiological factors affecting MRI accuracy and response to NAC were analyzed. 3.0-T MRI following NAC with ACD accurately predicted pCR in 91.4% of TNBC patients. The residual tumor size between pathology and 3.0-T MRI in non-pCR cases showed a higher correlation in the Ki-67-positive TNBC group (r = 0.947) than in the Ki-67 negative group (r = 0.375) with statistical trends (P = 0.069). Pre-treatment MRI in the non-pCR group compared to the pCR group showed a larger tumor size (P = 0.030) and non-mass presentation (P = 0.015). 3.0-T MRI in TNBC patients following NAC with ACD showed a high accuracy for predicting pCR to NAC. Ki-67 can affect the diagnostic accuracy of 3.0-T MRI for pCR to NAC with ACD in TNBC patients. © The Foundation Acta Radiologica 2014.

Combined Scintigraphy and Tumor Marker Analysis Predicts Unfavorable Histopathology of Neuroblastic Tumors with High Accuracy.

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Wolfgang Peter Fendler

Full Text Available Our aim was to improve the prediction of unfavorable histopathology (UH in neuroblastic tumors through combined imaging and biochemical parameters.123I-MIBG SPECT and MRI was performed before surgical resection or biopsy in 47 consecutive pediatric patients with neuroblastic tumor. Semi-quantitative tumor-to-liver count-rate ratio (TLCRR, MRI tumor size and margins, urine catecholamine and NSE blood levels of neuron specific enolase (NSE were recorded. Accuracy of single and combined variables for prediction of UH was tested by ROC analysis with Bonferroni correction.34 of 47 patients had UH based on the International Neuroblastoma Pathology Classification (INPC. TLCRR and serum NSE both predicted UH with moderate accuracy. Optimal cut-off for TLCRR was 2.0, resulting in 68% sensitivity and 100% specificity (AUC-ROC 0.86, p < 0.001. Optimal cut-off for NSE was 25.8 ng/ml, resulting in 74% sensitivity and 85% specificity (AUC-ROC 0.81, p = 0.001. Combination of TLCRR/NSE criteria reduced false negative findings from 11/9 to only five, with improved sensitivity and specificity of 85% (AUC-ROC 0.85, p < 0.001.Strong 123I-MIBG uptake and high serum level of NSE were each predictive of UH. Combined analysis of both parameters improved the prediction of UH in patients with neuroblastic tumor. MRI parameters and urine catecholamine levels did not predict UH.

A nomogram for predicting pathological complete response in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative breast cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin, Xi; Jiang, Yi-Zhou; Chen, Sheng; Yu, Ke-Da; Ma, Ding; Sun, Wei; Shao, Zhi-Min; Di, Gen-Hong

2016-01-01

The response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been proven to predict long-term clinical benefits for patients. Our research is to construct a nomogram to predict pathological complete response of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative breast cancer patients. We enrolled 815 patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy from 2003 to 2015 and divided them into a training set and a validation set. Univariate logistic regression was performed to screen for predictors and construct the nomogram; multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify independent predictors. After performing the univariate logistic regression analysis in the training set, tumor size, hormone receptor status, regimens of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy were the final predictors for the construction of the nomogram. The multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that T4 status, hormone receptor status and receiving regimen of paclitaxel and carboplatin were independent predictors of pathological complete response. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the training set and the validation set was 0.779 and 0.701, respectively. We constructed and validated a nomogram to predict pathological complete response in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative breast cancer patients. We also identified tumor size, hormone receptor status and paclitaxel and carboplatin regimen as independent predictors of pathological complete response. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-016-2652-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Is the negative glow plasma of a direct current glow discharge negatively charged?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bogdanov, E. A.; Saifutdinov, A. I.; Demidov, V. I.; Kudryavtsev, A. A.

2015-01-01

A classic problem in gas discharge physics is discussed: what is the sign of charge density in the negative glow region of a glow discharge? It is shown that traditional interpretations in text-books on gas discharge physics that states a negative charge of the negative glow plasma are based on analogies with a simple one-dimensional model of discharge. Because the real glow discharges with a positive column are always two-dimensional, the transversal (radial) term in divergence with the electric field can provide a non-monotonic axial profile of charge density in the plasma, while maintaining a positive sign. The numerical calculation of glow discharge is presented, showing a positive space charge in the negative glow under conditions, where a one-dimensional model of the discharge would predict a negative space charge

Spray-coatable negative photoresist for high topography MEMS applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arnold, Markus; Haas, Sven; Schwenzer, Falk; Schwenzer, Gunther; Reuter, Danny; Geßner, Thomas; Voigt, Anja; Gruetzner, Gabi

2017-01-01

In microsystem technology, the lithographical processing of substrates with a topography is very important. Interconnecting lines, which are routed over sloped topography sidewalls from the top of the protecting wafer to the contact pads of the device wafer, are one example of patterning over a topography. For structuring such circuit paths, a photolithography process, and therefore a process for homogeneous photoresist coating, is required. The most flexible and advantageous way of depositing a homogeneous photoresist film over structures with high topography steps is spray-coating. As a pattern transfer process for circuit paths in cavities, the lift-off process is widely used. A negative resist, like ma-N (MRT) or AZnLOF (AZ) is favoured for lift-off processes due to the existing negative angle of the sidewalls. Only a few sprayable negative photoresists are commercially available. In this paper, the development of a novel negative resist spray-coating based on a commercially available single-layer lift-off resist for spin-coating, especially for the patterning of structures inside the cavity and on the cavity wall, is presented. A variety of parameters influences the spray-coating process, and therefore the patterning results. Besides the spray-coating tool and the parameters, the composition of the resist solution itself also influences the coating results. For homogeneous resist coverage over the topography of the substrate, different solvent combinations for diluting the resist solution, different chuck temperatures during the coating process, and also the softbake conditions, are all investigated. The solvent formulations and the process conditions are optimized with respect to the homogeneity of the resist coverage on the top edge of the cavities. Finally, the developed spray-coating process, the resist material and the process stability are demonstrated by the following applications: (i) lift-off, (ii) electroplating, (iii) the wet and (iv) the dry

The Coordination of calculation and experimental procedures in the determination of high-negative reactivities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinegin, A.A.; Tsyganov, S.V.

1999-01-01

Usually three sources of information about the value of inserted negative reactivity (ρ) are used: dynamical experiment with reactimeters, solution of conventionally critical problems, and dynamical calculation of the process of reactivity insertion with the reactimer model. Each of them gives they own estimation of ρ. The discrepancy between these estimation could be significant, particularly noticeable in dissymmetric insertion of perturbation. The paper discusses origin of problems of estimation high negative reactivity with reactivity meter. Authors believe that correct method of high negative reactivity estimation have to include three dimensional dynamic core model for taking to account spatial effect. Moreover, some special process, such a removal of delayed neutron emitters, change in the fraction of delayed neutrons, inner source etc. (Authors)

The coordination of calculation and experimental procedures in the determination of high-negative reactivities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinegin, A.A.; Tsyganov, S.V.

1999-01-01

Usually three sources of information about the value of inserted negative reactivity (ρ) are used: dynamical experiment with reactimeters, solution of conventionally critical problems, and dynamical calculation of the process of reactivity insertion with the reactimeter model. Each of them gives they own estimation of ρ. The discrepancy between these estimations could be significant, particularly noticeable in dissymmetric insertion of perturbation. Origin of problems of estimation high negative reactivity is discussed using the reactivity meter. A correct method of high negative reactivity estimation have to include three dimensional dinamic core model for taking to account spatial effect. Moreover, some special processes, such as removal of delayed neutron emitters, change in the fraction of delayed neutrons, inner sources are considered etc. (author)

Tumour 18 F-FDG Uptake on preoperative PET/CT may predict axillary lymph node metastasis in ER-positive/HER2-negative and HER2-positive breast cancer subtypes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jin You; Lee, Suck Hong; Kim, Suk [Pusan National University Hospital, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Department of Radiology, Seo-gu, Busan (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Taewoo [Pusan National University Hospital, Busan Cancer Center, Busan (Korea, Republic of); Bae, Young Tae [Pusan National University Hospital, Department of Surgery, Busan (Korea, Republic of)

2015-04-01

To evaluate the association between tumour FDG uptake on preoperative PET/CT and axillary lymph node metastasis (ALNM) according to breast cancer subtype. The records of 671 patients with invasive breast cancer who underwent {sup 18} F-FDG PET/CT and surgery were reviewed. Using immunohistochemistry, tumours were divided into three subtypes: oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative, HER2-positive, and triple-negative. Tumour FDG uptake, expressed as maximum standardized uptake value (SUV{sub max}), and clinicopathological variables were analysed. ALNM was present in 187 of 461 ER-positive/HER2-negative, 54 of 97 HER2-positive, and 38 of 113 triple-negative tumours. On multivariate analysis, high tumour SUV{sub max} (≥4.25) (P < 0.001), large tumour size (>2 cm) (P = 0.003) and presence of lymphovascular invasion (P < 0.001) were independent variables associated with ALNM. On subset analyses, tumour SUV{sub max} maintained independent significance for predicting ALNM in ER-positive/HER2-negative (adjusted odds ratio: 3.277, P < 0.001) and HER2-positive tumours (adjusted odds ratio: 14.637, P = 0.004). No association was found for triple-negative tumours (P = 0.161). Tumour SUV{sub max} may be an independent prognostic factor for ALNM in patients with invasive breast cancer, especially in ER-positive/HER2-negative and HER2-positive subtypes, but not in those with triple-negative subtype. (orig.)

Life Satisfaction among Highly Achieving Students in Hong Kong: Do Gratitude and the "Good-Enough Mindset" Add to the Contribution of Perfectionism in Prediction?

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, David W.

2012-01-01

This study investigated whether gratitude and the "good-enough mindset" added to the contribution of perfectionism in predicting life satisfaction in 245 Chinese highly achieving students in Hong Kong. Participants completed self-report questionnaires that included scales on life satisfaction, positive and negative perfectionism…

Expressing negative emotions to children: Mothers' aversion sensitivity and children's adjustment.

Science.gov (United States)

Moed, Anat; Dix, Theodore; Anderson, Edward R; Greene, Shannon M

2017-03-01

Research is unclear about when expressing negative emotions to children performs valuable socialization and regulatory functions and when, instead, it undermines children's adjustment. In this study, we isolated 1 kind of negative expression to test the aversion sensitivity hypothesis: that rapid increases in mothers' negativity as a function of increases in the aversiveness of children's behavior are uniquely problematic for children. During multiple assessments of a divorcing sample over 2 years (N = 284), 12-min interactions between mothers and their 4- to 11-year-old children were recorded. Forty-seven observed child behaviors were ranked from low to high aversive. Within-dyad changes demonstrated that mothers' general negativity-their tendency to express negative emotion at high rates-was unrelated to children's adjustment. In contrast, mothers' aversion-focused negativity-their tendency to increase negative emotional expression rapidly as the aversiveness of children's behavior increased-predicted children's poor social competence, poor emotion regulation, and externalizing behavior problems at the next assessment. The findings suggest that negative expression that reflects mothers' affective sensitivity to aversive child behavior may promote interaction patterns and adaptations in children that are particularly likely to place children at risk for adjustment problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

A Sensitive and Specific Neural Signature for Picture-Induced Negative Affect.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luke J Chang

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Neuroimaging has identified many correlates of emotion but has not yet yielded brain representations predictive of the intensity of emotional experiences in individuals. We used machine learning to identify a sensitive and specific signature of emotional responses to aversive images. This signature predicted the intensity of negative emotion in individual participants in cross validation (n =121 and test (n = 61 samples (high-low emotion = 93.5% accuracy. It was unresponsive to physical pain (emotion-pain = 92% discriminative accuracy, demonstrating that it is not a representation of generalized arousal or salience. The signature was comprised of mesoscale patterns spanning multiple cortical and subcortical systems, with no single system necessary or sufficient for predicting experience. Furthermore, it was not reducible to activity in traditional "emotion-related" regions (e.g., amygdala, insula or resting-state networks (e.g., "salience," "default mode". Overall, this work identifies differentiable neural components of negative emotion and pain, providing a basis for new, brain-based taxonomies of affective processes.

High Class-Imbalance in pre-miRNA Prediction: A Novel Approach Based on deepSOM.

Science.gov (United States)

Stegmayer, Georgina; Yones, Cristian; Kamenetzky, Laura; Milone, Diego H

2017-01-01

The computational prediction of novel microRNA within a full genome involves identifying sequences having the highest chance of being a miRNA precursor (pre-miRNA). These sequences are usually named candidates to miRNA. The well-known pre-miRNAs are usually only a few in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of potential candidates to miRNA that have to be analyzed, which makes this task a high class-imbalance classification problem. The classical way of approaching it has been training a binary classifier in a supervised manner, using well-known pre-miRNAs as positive class and artificially defining the negative class. However, although the selection of positive labeled examples is straightforward, it is very difficult to build a set of negative examples in order to obtain a good set of training samples for a supervised method. In this work, we propose a novel and effective way of approaching this problem using machine learning, without the definition of negative examples. The proposal is based on clustering unlabeled sequences of a genome together with well-known miRNA precursors for the organism under study, which allows for the quick identification of the best candidates to miRNA as those sequences clustered with known precursors. Furthermore, we propose a deep model to overcome the problem of having very few positive class labels. They are always maintained in the deep levels as positive class while less likely pre-miRNA sequences are filtered level after level. Our approach has been compared with other methods for pre-miRNAs prediction in several species, showing effective predictivity of novel miRNAs. Additionally, we will show that our approach has a lower training time and allows for a better graphical navegability and interpretation of the results. A web-demo interface to try deepSOM is available at http://fich.unl.edu.ar/sinc/web-demo/deepsom/.

Prevalence of item level negative symptoms in first episode psychosis diagnoses.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Lyne, John

2012-03-01

The relevance of negative symptoms across the diagnostic spectrum of the psychoses remains uncertain. The purpose of this study was to report on prevalence of item and subscale level negative symptoms across the first episode psychosis (FEP) diagnostic spectrum in an epidemiological sample, and to ascertain whether items and subscales were more prevalent in a schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses group compared to an \\'all other psychotic diagnoses\\' group. We measured negative symptoms in 330 patients presenting with FEP using the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), and ascertained diagnosis using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV. Prevalence of SANS items and subscales were tabulated across all psychotic diagnoses, and logistic regression analysis determined which items and subscales were predictive of schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses. SANS items were most prevalent in schizophrenia spectrum conditions but frequently presented in other FEP diagnoses, particularly substance induced psychotic disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Brief psychotic disorder and bipolar disorders had low levels of negative symptoms. SANS items and subscales which significantly predicted schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses, were also frequently present in some of the other psychotic diagnoses. Conclusions: SANS items have high prevalence in FEP, and while commonest in schizophrenia spectrum conditions are not restricted to this diagnostic subgroup.

Negative pion capture in chemical compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Butsev, V.S.; Chultem, D.; Gavrilov, Yu.K.; Ganzorig, Dz.; Norseev, Yu.V.; Presperin, V.

1976-01-01

The results are reported of an experiment of determination of the probability of capture of resting negative pions by iodine nuclei in alkali metal iodides (LiI, NaI, KI, RbI, CsI). The yield of an isomer sup(116m)(Sb/8 - ) with a high spin number, formed in the reaction 127 I(π - , lp 10n) allows to determine the relative probability of the nuclear capture of pions in the above compounds. The results obrained are compared with the predictions of the Fermi-Teller Z-law

Negative perceptions of ageing predict the onset and persistence of depression and anxiety: Findings from a prospective analysis of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Aislinné Theresa; Santini, Ziggi Ivan; Tyrovolas, Stefanos; Rummel-Kluge, Christine; Haro, Josep Maria; Koyanagi, Ai

2016-07-15

Although there is a growing literature on the adverse health outcomes related with negative ageing perceptions, studies on their association with mental disorders such as depression and anxiety are scarce. Thus, the aim of the current study was to prospectively assess the association between negative ageing perceptions and incident/persistent depression and anxiety using nationally representative data from Ireland. Data from two consecutive waves of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) were analysed. The analytical sample consisted of 6095 adults aged ≥50 years. Validated scales for negative ageing perceptions, depression, and anxiety were used. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association between negative ageing perceptions at baseline and the onset and persistence of depression and anxiety at two-year follow up. After adjusting for potential confounders, negative ageing perceptions at baseline predicted the new onset of depression and anxiety at follow-up. Among those with depression or anxiety at baseline, negative ageing perceptions also predicted the persistence of these conditions at follow-up. Baseline data on negative ageing perceptions were used for the analysis and it is possible that scores could have changed over time. Addressing negative perceptions towards ageing by developing interventions that activate positive ageing perceptions, and target societal attitudes by means of policy change, public campaigns, and community education programmes, may shift social perceptions and reduce the burden of depression and anxiety among the elderly. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Minimal Residual Disease at First Achievement of Complete Remission Predicts Outcome in Adult Patients with Philadelphia Chromosome-Negative Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingming Zhang

Full Text Available We evaluated the prognostic effect of minimal residual disease at first achievement of complete remission (MRD at CR1 in adult patients with Philadelphia chromosome-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL. A total of 97 patients received treatment in our center between 2007 and 2012 were retrospectively reviewed in this study. Patients were divided into two arms according to the post-remission therapy (chemotherapy alone or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT they received. MRD was detected by four-color flow cytometry. We chose 0.02% and 0.2% as the cut-off points of MRD at CR1 for risk stratification using receiver operating characteristic analysis. The 3-year overall survival (OS and leukemia free survival (LFS rates for the whole cohort were 46.2% and 40.5%. MRD at CR1 had a significantly negative correlation with survival in both arms. Three-year OS rates in the chemotherapy arm were 70.0%, 25.2%, 0% (P = 0.003 for low, intermediate, and high levels of MRD at CR1, respectively. Three-year OS rates in the transplant arm were 81.8%, 64.3%, 27.3% (P = 0.005 for low, intermediate, and high levels of MRD at CR1, respectively. Multivariate analysis confirmed that higher level of MRD at CR1 was a significant adverse factor for OS and LFS. Compared with chemotherapy alone, allo-HSCT significantly improved LFS rates in patients with intermediate (P = 0.005 and high (P = 0.022 levels of MRD at CR1, but not patients with low level of MRD at CR1 (P = 0.851. These results suggested that MRD at CR1 could strongly predict the outcome of adult ALL. Patients with intermediate and high levels of MRD at CR1 would benefit from allo-HSCT.

The blues broaden, but the nasty narrows: attentional consequences of negative affects low and high in motivational intensity.

Science.gov (United States)

Gable, Philip; Harmon-Jones, Eddie

2010-02-01

Positive and negative affects high in motivational intensity cause a narrowing of attentional focus. In contrast, positive affects low in motivational intensity cause a broadening of attentional focus. The attentional consequences of negative affects low in motivational intensity have not been experimentally investigated. Experiment 1 compared the attentional consequences of negative affect low in motivational intensity (sadness) relative to a neutral affective state. Results indicated that low-motivation negative affect caused attentional broadening. Experiment 2 found that disgust, a high-motivation negative affect not previously investigated in attentional studies, narrowed attentional focus. These experiments support the conceptual model linking high-motivation affective states to narrowed attention and low-motivation affective states to broadened attention.

Predicting High Frequency Exchange Rates using Machine Learning

OpenAIRE

Palikuca, Aleksandar; Seidl,, Timo

2016-01-01

This thesis applies a committee of Artificial Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines on high-dimensional, high-frequency EUR/USD exchange rate data in an effort to predict directional market movements on up to a 60 second prediction horizon. The study shows that combining multiple classifiers into a committee produces improved precision relative to the best individual committee members and outperforms previously reported results. A trading simulation implementing the committee classifier...

A model for negative ion extraction and comparison of negative ion optics calculations to experimental results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pamela, J.

1990-10-01

Negative ion extraction is described by a model which includes electron diffusion across transverse magnetic fields in the sheath. This model allows a 2-Dimensional approximation of the problem. It is used to introduce electron space charge effects in a 2-D particle trajectory code, designed for negative ion optics calculations. Another physical effect, the stripping of negative ions on neutral gas atoms, has also been included in our model; it is found to play an important role in negative ion optics. The comparison with three sets of experimental data from very different negative ion accelerators, show that our model is able of accurate predictions

Trustworthiness and Negative Affect Predict Economic Decision-Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Christopher M; Koenigs, Michael; Yamada, Torricia H; Teo, Shu Hao; Cavanaugh, Joseph E; Tranel, Daniel; Denburg, Natalie L

2011-09-01

The Ultimatum Game (UG) is a widely used and well-studied laboratory model of economic decision-making. Here, we studied 129 healthy adults and compared demographic (i.e., age, gender, education), cognitive (i.e., intelligence, attention/working memory, speed, language, visuospatial, memory, executive functions), and personality (i.e., "Big Five", positive affect, negative affect) variables between those with a "rational" versus an "irrational" response pattern on the UG. Our data indicated that participants with "rational" UG performance (accepting any offer, no matter the fairness) endorsed higher levels of trust, or the belief in the sincerity and good intentions of others, while participants with "irrational" UG performance (rejecting unfair offers) endorsed higher levels of negative affect, such as anger and contempt. These personality variables were the only ones that differentiated the two response patterns-demographic and cognitive factors did not differ between rational and irrational players. The results indicate that the examination of personality and affect is crucial to our understanding of the individual differences that underlie decision-making.

Early prostate cancer antigen expression in predicting presence of prostate cancer in men with histologically negative biopsies.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansel, D E; DeMarzo, A M; Platz, E A; Jadallah, S; Hicks, J; Epstein, J I; Partin, A W; Netto, G J

2007-05-01

Early prostate cancer antigen is a nuclear matrix protein that was recently shown to be expressed in prostate adenocarcinoma and adjacent benign tissue. Previous studies have demonstrated early prostate cancer antigen expression in benign prostate tissue up to 5 years before a diagnosis of prostate carcinoma, suggesting that early prostate cancer antigen could be used as a potential predictive marker. We evaluated early prostate cancer antigen expression by immunohistochemistry using a polyclonal antibody (Onconome Inc., Seattle, Washington) on benign biopsies from 98 patients. Biopsies were obtained from 4 groups that included 39 patients with first time negative biopsy (group 1), 24 patients with persistently negative biopsies (group 2), 8 patients with initially negative biopsies who were subsequently diagnosed with prostate carcinoma (group 3) and negative biopsies obtained from 27 cases where other concurrent biopsies contained prostate carcinoma (group 4). Early prostate cancer antigen staining was assessed by 2 of the authors who were blind to the group of the examined sections. Staining intensity (range 0 to 3) and extent (range 1 to 3) scores were assigned. The presence of intensity 3 staining in any of the blocks of a biopsy specimen was considered as positive for early prostate cancer antigen for the primary outcome in the statistical analysis. In addition, as secondary outcomes we evaluated the data using the proportion of blocks with intensity 3 early prostate cancer antigen staining, the mean of the product of staining intensity and staining extent of all blocks within a biopsy, and the mean of the product of intensity 3 staining and extent. Primary outcome analysis revealed the proportion of early prostate cancer antigen positivity to be highest in group 3 (6 of 8, 75%) and lowest in group 2 (7 of 24, 29%, p=0.04 for differences among groups). A relatively higher than expected proportion of early prostate cancer antigen positivity was present in

3 Tesla MRI-negative focal epilepsies: Presurgical evaluation, postoperative outcome and predictive factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Kogias, Evangelos; Klingler, Jan-Helge; Urbach, Horst; Scheiwe, Christian; Schmeiser, Barbara; Doostkam, Soroush; Zentner, Josef; Altenmüller, Dirk-Matthias

2017-12-01

To investigate presurgical diagnostic modalities, clinical and seizure outcome as well as predictive factors after resective epilepsy surgery in 3 Tesla MRI-negative focal epilepsies. This retrospective study comprises 26 patients (11 males/15 females, mean age 34±12years, range 13-50 years) with 3 Tesla MRI-negative focal epilepsies who underwent resective epilepsy surgery. Non-invasive and invasive presurgical diagnostic modalities, type and localization of resection, clinical and epileptological outcome with a minimum follow-up of 1year (range 1-11 years, mean 2.5±2.3years) after surgery as well as outcome predictors were evaluated. All patients underwent invasive video-EEG monitoring after implantation of intracerebral depth and/or subdural electrodes. Ten patients received temporal and 16 extratemporal or multilobar (n=4) resections. There was no perioperative death or permanent morbidity. Overall, 12 of 26 patients (46%) were completely seizure-free (Engel IA) and 65% had a favorable outcome (Engel I-II). In particular, seizure-free ratio was 40% in the temporal and 50% in the extratemporal group. In the temporal group, long duration of epilepsy correlated with poor seizure outcome, whereas congruent unilateral FDG-PET hypometabolism correlated with a favorable outcome. In almost two thirds of temporal and extratemporal epilepsies defined as "non-lesional" by 3 Tesla MRI criteria, a favorable postoperative seizure outcome (Engel I-II) can be achieved with accurate multimodal presurgical evaluation including intracranial EEG recordings. In the temporal group, most favorable results were obtained when FDG-PET displayed congruent unilateral hypometabolism. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Poor value of surveillance cultures for prediction of septicaemia caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci in patients undergoing haemodialysis with central venous catheters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, J; Kolmos, H J; Rosdahl, V T

1998-01-01

Surveillance cultures for the demonstration of coagulase-negative staphylococci in patients on catheter haemodialysis were performed in an attempt to predict dialysis catheter-related septicaemia. In all, 43 patients with 67 haemodialysis catheters were followed for a 1-y period. Once a week, swab...

Immunohistochemical expression profiles of mucin antigens in salivary gland mucoepidermoid carcinoma: MUC4- and MUC6-negative expression predicts a shortened survival in the early postoperative phase.

Science.gov (United States)

Honjo, Kie; Hiraki, Tsubasa; Higashi, Michiyo; Noguchi, Hirotsugu; Nomoto, Mitsuharu; Yoshimura, Takuya; Batra, Surinder K; Yonezawa, Suguru; Semba, Ichiro; Nakamura, Norifumi; Tanimoto, Akihide; Yamada, Sohsuke

2018-02-01

In mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC), the most common salivary gland carcinoma, there is a lack of novel prognostic markers, but post-operative early recurrence strongly affects the clinical course and a poor outcome. It is critical to predict which MEC patients are prone to develop recurrence/metastases. Mucins play pivotal roles in influencing cancer biology, thus affecting cell differentiation, adhesion, carcinoma invasion, aggressiveness and/or metastatic potential. Our aim is to elucidate the significance of expression profiles for mucins, particularly MUC4 and MUC6, and their correlations with various clinicopathological features and recurrence in salivary gland MECs. We performed immunohistochemical analyses on patients with surgically resected primary MEC using antibodies against mucin core proteins MUC4/8G7 and MUC6/CLH5 in 73 paraffin-embedded samples. Recurrence was noted in 15 of 73 (20.5%) patients. MUC4 or MUC6 expression was considered to be negative when <30% or 0% of the MEC cells showed positive staining, respectively. MUC4- and/or MUC6-negative expression respectively and variably showed a significant relationship to pathological tumor high-grade, the presence of lymphovascular invasion, lymph node metastasis and/or tumor-related death. In addition, MUC4 showed significantly negative co-expression with MUC6. Kaplan-Meier analyses revealed that not only single MUC4/6-negative expression but also the combination of both predicted significantly shorter disease-free and disease-specific survivals in MECs, especially within the first two years postoperatively. Therefore, each mucin plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of MEC progression. The detection of MUC4 and/or MUC6 might be a powerful parameter in the clinical management of MECs in the early postsurgical phase.

Inter-decadal change in potential predictability of the East Asian summer monsoon

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jiao; Ding, Ruiqiang; Wu, Zhiwei; Zhong, Quanjia; Li, Baosheng; Li, Jianping

2018-05-01

The significant inter-decadal change in potential predictability of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) has been investigated using the signal-to-noise ratio method. The relatively low potential predictability appears from the early 1950s through the late 1970s and during the early 2000s, whereas the potential predictability is relatively high from the early 1980s through the late 1990s. The inter-decadal change in potential predictability of the EASM can be attributed mainly to variations in the external signal of the EASM. The latter is mostly caused by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) inter-decadal variability. As a major external signal of the EASM, the ENSO inter-decadal variability experiences phase transitions from negative to positive phases in the late 1970s, and to negative phases in the late 1990s. Additionally, ENSO is generally strong (weak) during a positive (negative) phase of the ENSO inter-decadal variability. The strong ENSO is expected to have a greater influence on the EASM, and vice versa. As a result, the potential predictability of the EASM tends to be high (low) during a positive (negative) phase of the ENSO inter-decadal variability. Furthermore, a suite of Pacific Pacemaker experiments suggests that the ENSO inter-decadal variability may be a key pacemaker of the inter-decadal change in potential predictability of the EASM.

Predictive value of BRCA1/2 mRNA expression for response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in BRCA-negative breast cancers.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Ye; Ouyang, Tao; Li, Jinfeng; Wang, Tianfeng; Fan, Zhaoqing; Fan, Tie; Lin, Benyao; Xie, Yuntao

2018-01-01

It is well known that BRCA1 and BRCA2 play a central role in DNA repair, but the relationship between BRCA1 and BRCA2 mRNA expression and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in sporadic breast cancer patients has not been well established. Here, we investigate the association between BRCA1 or BRCA2 mRNA expression levels and pathological response in 674 BRCA1/2 mutation-negative breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. BRCA1 and BRCA2 mRNA expression were assessed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in core biopsy breast cancer tissue obtained prior to the initiation of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A total 129 patients (19.1%) achieved pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Among patients treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy (n = 531), BRCA1 mRNA low expression patients had a significantly higher pCR rate than intermediate or high BRCA1 mRNA expression groups (24.6% vs 16.8% or 14.0%, P = .031) and retained borderline significance (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 0.93-2.56, P = .094) in multivariate analysis. Among the 129 patients who received a taxane-based regimen, pCR rate showed no differences in BRCA1 low, intermediate, and high mRNA level subgroups (19.6%, 26.8% and 21.4%, respectively; P = .71). BRCA2 mRNA level was not associated with pCR rate in the anthracyline-based treated subgroup (P = .60) or the taxane-based regimen subgroup (P = .82). Taken together, our findings suggested that BRCA1 mRNA expression could be used as a predictive marker in BRCA1/2 mutation-negative breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant anthracycline-based treatment. © 2017 The Authors. Cancer Science published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Cancer Association.

The role of chronic pain and current substance use in predicting negative social support among disadvantaged persons living with HIV/AIDS.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Mary M; Maragh-Bass, Allysha C; Nguyen, Trang Q; Isenberg, Sarina; Knowlton, Amy R

2016-10-01

Chronic pain and substance use can strain the supportive relationships of persons with serious chronic illness, which may increase the likelihood of receiving negative, rather than positive, social support from informal caregivers and social network members. To our knowledge, this is the first study to longitudinally examine the effects of chronic pain and substance use on negative social support. The sample (N = 383) comprised disadvantaged, primarily African-American, persons living with HIV/AIDS with a history of injection drug use, 32.4% of whom reported frequent or constant pain in the prior 6 months. Using factor analysis and structural equation modeling, current substance use and greater levels of chronic pain positively predicted negative social support 12 months later, after controlling for baseline negative support, viral load, age and sex. We also found a significant interaction effect such that among those not using substances, there was a significant positive association between pain and negative support, but no such association among those currently using substances. The findings emphasize the importance of treatment of chronic pain and substance use in the supportive functioning of social networks of a disadvantaged population with serious chronic conditions and persistent health disparities.

NegGOA: negative GO annotations selection using ontology structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Guangyuan; Wang, Jun; Yang, Bo; Yu, Guoxian

2016-10-01

Predicting the biological functions of proteins is one of the key challenges in the post-genomic era. Computational models have demonstrated the utility of applying machine learning methods to predict protein function. Most prediction methods explicitly require a set of negative examples-proteins that are known not carrying out a particular function. However, Gene Ontology (GO) almost always only provides the knowledge that proteins carry out a particular function, and functional annotations of proteins are incomplete. GO structurally organizes more than tens of thousands GO terms and a protein is annotated with several (or dozens) of these terms. For these reasons, the negative examples of a protein can greatly help distinguishing true positive examples of the protein from such a large candidate GO space. In this paper, we present a novel approach (called NegGOA) to select negative examples. Specifically, NegGOA takes advantage of the ontology structure, available annotations and potentiality of additional annotations of a protein to choose negative examples of the protein. We compare NegGOA with other negative examples selection algorithms and find that NegGOA produces much fewer false negatives than them. We incorporate the selected negative examples into an efficient function prediction model to predict the functions of proteins in Yeast, Human, Mouse and Fly. NegGOA also demonstrates improved accuracy than these comparing algorithms across various evaluation metrics. In addition, NegGOA is less suffered from incomplete annotations of proteins than these comparing methods. The Matlab and R codes are available at https://sites.google.com/site/guoxian85/neggoa gxyu@swu.edu.cn Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Interplay Among Children's Negative Family Representations, Visual Processing of Negative Emotions, and Externalizing Symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Patrick T; Coe, Jesse L; Hentges, Rochelle F; Sturge-Apple, Melissa L; van der Kloet, Erika

2018-03-01

This study examined the transactional interplay among children's negative family representations, visual processing of negative emotions, and externalizing symptoms in a sample of 243 preschool children (M age  = 4.60 years). Children participated in three annual measurement occasions. Cross-lagged autoregressive models were conducted with multimethod, multi-informant data to identify mediational pathways. Consistent with schema-based top-down models, negative family representations were associated with attention to negative faces in an eye-tracking task and their externalizing symptoms. Children's negative representations of family relationships specifically predicted decreases in their attention to negative emotions, which, in turn, was associated with subsequent increases in their externalizing symptoms. Follow-up analyses indicated that the mediational role of diminished attention to negative emotions was particularly pronounced for angry faces. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

FLOCK cluster analysis of mast cell event clustering by high-sensitivity flow cytometry predicts systemic mastocytosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dorfman, David M; LaPlante, Charlotte D; Pozdnyakova, Olga; Li, Betty

2015-11-01

In our high-sensitivity flow cytometric approach for systemic mastocytosis (SM), we identified mast cell event clustering as a new diagnostic criterion for the disease. To objectively characterize mast cell gated event distributions, we performed cluster analysis using FLOCK, a computational approach to identify cell subsets in multidimensional flow cytometry data in an unbiased, automated fashion. FLOCK identified discrete mast cell populations in most cases of SM (56/75 [75%]) but only a minority of non-SM cases (17/124 [14%]). FLOCK-identified mast cell populations accounted for 2.46% of total cells on average in SM cases and 0.09% of total cells on average in non-SM cases (P < .0001) and were predictive of SM, with a sensitivity of 75%, a specificity of 86%, a positive predictive value of 76%, and a negative predictive value of 85%. FLOCK analysis provides useful diagnostic information for evaluating patients with suspected SM, and may be useful for the analysis of other hematopoietic neoplasms. Copyright© by the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

New stable multiply charged negative atomic ions in linearly polarized superintense laser fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei Qi; Kais, Sabre; Moiseyev, Nimrod

2006-01-01

Singly charged negative atomic ions exist in the gas phase and are of fundamental importance in atomic and molecular physics. However, theoretical calculations and experimental results clearly exclude the existence of any stable doubly-negatively-charged atomic ion in the gas phase, only one electron can be added to a free atom in the gas phase. In this report, using the high-frequency Floquet theory, we predict that in a linear superintense laser field one can stabilize multiply charged negative atomic ions in the gas phase. We present self-consistent field calculations for the linear superintense laser fields needed to bind extra one and two electrons to form He - , He 2- , and Li 2- , with detachment energies dependent on the laser intensity and maximal values of 1.2, 0.12, and 0.13 eV, respectively. The fields and frequencies needed for binding extra electrons are within experimental reach. This method of stabilization is general and can be used to predict stability of larger multiply charged negative atomic ions

Negative-feedback control system of the high voltage power supply for ECRH

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding Tonghai; Liu Baohua; Jiang Shufang

2001-01-01

A kind of high accuracy negative high voltage power supply (HVPS) was introduced. The serial feedback was regulated according to the character of the high power tetrode and a new kind of integrator with preset value, which solved the key technological problem of the HVPS that the ECRH system required a voltage of -80 kV, a pulse width of 10 - 100 ms and a precision of 99.7%. The result using a PSPICE code simulation has shown that the method is practical

Ultrasound imaging in children with acute abdominal pain - can it help to decrease the rate of negative appendectomies?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niedzielski, J.; Miodek, M.; Kucharski, P.; Sokal, J.

2010-01-01

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of high-resolution ultrasound (US) with graded compression in the diagnosis of pediatric appendicitis.Material/Methods: The medical records of 664 consecutive children with acute abdominal pain treated between 2007 and 2009 were reviewed retrospectively and analyzed; 408 children (61.4 %) underwent appendectomy and 256 patients were treated conservatively (38.6 %). High-resolution US was performed in 570 out of 664 patients (85.8 %). The US data were verified by intraoperative findings or by clinical follow-up. Results: Out of 664 children, 408 underwent appendectomy and 256 were treated conservatively. US was performed in 570 out of 664 children (85.8 %); in 327/408 children (80.1 %) with AA and in 243/256 children (94.9 %) with negative diagnosis. The sensitivity and specificity for US was 66.6% and 77.4%, respectively. If histopathological diagnosis of catarrhal appendicitis was considered a negative (unnecessary) appendectomy, the sensitivity was 68.6 % (p=0.87), and specificity was 67 % (p=0.29). Positive and negative predictive values of US were 79.9 % and 63.1 %, respectively. After recalculating results, positive predictive value decreased to 59.8% (p=0.036) and negative predictive value increased to 74.8 % (p=0.2). The rate of false negative results was 13.1 % (75/572) and the rate of false positives was 19.2 % (110/572). The negative appendectomy rate was 27.4 % (112/408). Conclusions: High-resolution ultrasonography provides an accurate and specific test for acute appendicitis and is recommended by the authors as an examination of choice in children with acute abdominal pain. (authors)

Predicting High-Power Performance in Professional Cyclists.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Dajo; Heijboer, Mathieu; Akubat, Ibrahim; Meijer, Kenneth; Hesselink, Matthijs K

2017-03-01

To assess if short-duration (5 to ~300 s) high-power performance can accurately be predicted using the anaerobic power reserve (APR) model in professional cyclists. Data from 4 professional cyclists from a World Tour cycling team were used. Using the maximal aerobic power, sprint peak power output, and an exponential constant describing the decrement in power over time, a power-duration relationship was established for each participant. To test the predictive accuracy of the model, several all-out field trials of different durations were performed by each cyclist. The power output achieved during the all-out trials was compared with the predicted power output by the APR model. The power output predicted by the model showed very large to nearly perfect correlations to the actual power output obtained during the all-out trials for each cyclist (r = .88 ± .21, .92 ± .17, .95 ± .13, and .97 ± .09). Power output during the all-out trials remained within an average of 6.6% (53 W) of the predicted power output by the model. This preliminary pilot study presents 4 case studies on the applicability of the APR model in professional cyclists using a field-based approach. The decrement in all-out performance during high-intensity exercise seems to conform to a general relationship with a single exponential-decay model describing the decrement in power vs increasing duration. These results are in line with previous studies using the APR model to predict performance during brief all-out trials. Future research should evaluate the APR model with a larger sample size of elite cyclists.

Management of High-Voltage Burns of the Hand and Wrist with Negative Pressure Dressing

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Nazım Gümüş

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Objective: Negative pressure dressing stimulates wound healing by promoting cellular proliferation and regeneration. It also removes interstitial edema and increases local blood flow, resulting in rapid growth of the granulation tissue. We used the dressing method in deep hand and wrist burns caused by high-voltage electrical current, which leads to progressive tissue necrosis, elevated compartment pressure, and deep tissue edema, to reveal if subatmospheric pressure could limit the zone of injury or ongoing tissue necrosis after electrical burn. Material and Methods: Six hands of five patients, who came in contact with high-voltage electrical wire carrying more than 1000 volts, are presented in this study. Hands and wrists were seriously injured and contracted. After the initial treatment involving fluid resuscitation, fasciotomy, carpal tunnel release, and debridement, a negative pressure dressing was applied to the wounds of hand, wrist, and forearm with 125 mm Hg continuous pressure, and maintained for 20 days. Results: When negative pressure dressing was stopped on the 20th day, significant granulation tissue developed over the hand and forearm wounds. However, wrist wounds needed more debridement and repeated dressings because of the presence of necrosis. Edema of the hands subsided significantly during the use of negative pressure dressing. Time to closure for hand and forearm wounds decreased considerably. Moreover, in one wrist, spontaneous closure was achieved at about one month. All hands except one treated with negative pressure dressing could be saved from amputation; however, significant tissue loss developed, needing complex reconstruction procedures. One hand was amputated because of the permanent loss of blood perfusion. Conclusion: The management of high-voltage burns of hand and wrist with subatmospheric pressure appears to be capable of reducing hand edema and accelerating closure of the wounds. It seems that negative

Yes: The Symptoms of OCD and Depression Are Discrete and Not Exclusively Negative Affectivity

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Kathleen A. Moore

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Although Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD and Depression are classified as separate disorders, the high incidence of co-morbidity and the strong correlations between measures of each has led to debate about the nature of their relationship. Some authors have proposed that OCD is in fact a mood disorder while others have suggested that the two disorders are grounded in negative affectivity. A third proposition is that depression is an essential part of OCD but that OCD is a separate disorder from depression. The aim in this study was to investigate these diverse propositions in a non-clinical sample and also to determine whether factors implicated in each, that is anxious and depressive cognitions, hopelessness, and self-criticism, would demonstrate commonality as predictors of the symptoms of OCD and of depression. Two hundred participants (59% female (M age = 34 years, SD = 16 completed the Padua Inventory, Carroll Rating Scale, Cognitions Checklist, Self-Criticism Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory-Revised and a Negative Affectivity Schedule. Results indicated a strong correlation between OCD and depression, depression, and negative affectivity but a weaker relationship between OCD and negative affectivity. Path analyses revealed that both anxious and depressive cognitions, as well as hostility predicted both disorders but the Beta-weights were stronger on OCD. Self-criticism predicted only depression while hopelessness failed to predict either disorder but was itself predicted by depressive cognitions. Depression was a stronger indicator of negative affect than OCD and while OCD positively predicted depression, depression was a negative indicator of OCD. These results support the hypothesis that OCD and depression are discrete disorders and indicate that while depression is implicated in OCD, the reverse does not hold. While both disorders are related to negative affectivity, this relationship is much stronger

Yes: The Symptoms of OCD and Depression Are Discrete and Not Exclusively Negative Affectivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Kathleen A; Howell, Jacqui

2017-01-01

Although Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Depression are classified as separate disorders, the high incidence of co-morbidity and the strong correlations between measures of each has led to debate about the nature of their relationship. Some authors have proposed that OCD is in fact a mood disorder while others have suggested that the two disorders are grounded in negative affectivity. A third proposition is that depression is an essential part of OCD but that OCD is a separate disorder from depression. The aim in this study was to investigate these diverse propositions in a non-clinical sample and also to determine whether factors implicated in each, that is anxious and depressive cognitions, hopelessness, and self-criticism, would demonstrate commonality as predictors of the symptoms of OCD and of depression. Two hundred participants (59% female) ( M age = 34 years, SD = 16) completed the Padua Inventory, Carroll Rating Scale, Cognitions Checklist, Self-Criticism Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory-Revised and a Negative Affectivity Schedule. Results indicated a strong correlation between OCD and depression, depression, and negative affectivity but a weaker relationship between OCD and negative affectivity. Path analyses revealed that both anxious and depressive cognitions, as well as hostility predicted both disorders but the Beta-weights were stronger on OCD. Self-criticism predicted only depression while hopelessness failed to predict either disorder but was itself predicted by depressive cognitions. Depression was a stronger indicator of negative affect than OCD and while OCD positively predicted depression, depression was a negative indicator of OCD. These results support the hypothesis that OCD and depression are discrete disorders and indicate that while depression is implicated in OCD, the reverse does not hold. While both disorders are related to negative affectivity, this relationship is much stronger for depression

Persistent high job demands and reactivity to mental stress predict future ambulatory blood pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Steptoe, A; Cropley, M

2000-05-01

To test the hypothesis that work stress (persistent high job demands over 1 year) in combination with high reactivity to mental stress predict ambulatory blood pressure. Assessment of cardiovascular responses to standardized behavioural tasks, job demands, and ambulatory blood pressure over a working day and evening after 12 months. We studied 81 school teachers (26 men, 55 women), 36 of whom experienced persistent high job demands over 1 year, while 45 reported lower job demands. Participants were divided on the basis of high and low job demands, and high and low systolic pressure reactions to an uncontrollable stress task. Blood pressure and concurrent physical activity were monitored using ambulatory apparatus from 0900 to 2230 h on a working day. Cardiovascular stress reactivity was associated with waist/hip ratio. Systolic and diastolic pressure during the working day were greater in high job demand participants who were stress reactive than in other groups, after adjustment for age, baseline blood pressure, body mass index and negative affectivity. The difference was not accounted for by variations in physical activity. Cardiovascular stress reactivity and sustained psychosocial stress may act in concert to increase cardiovascular risk in susceptible individuals.

Class prediction for high-dimensional class-imbalanced data

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Lusa Lara

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The goal of class prediction studies is to develop rules to accurately predict the class membership of new samples. The rules are derived using the values of the variables available for each subject: the main characteristic of high-dimensional data is that the number of variables greatly exceeds the number of samples. Frequently the classifiers are developed using class-imbalanced data, i.e., data sets where the number of samples in each class is not equal. Standard classification methods used on class-imbalanced data often produce classifiers that do not accurately predict the minority class; the prediction is biased towards the majority class. In this paper we investigate if the high-dimensionality poses additional challenges when dealing with class-imbalanced prediction. We evaluate the performance of six types of classifiers on class-imbalanced data, using simulated data and a publicly available data set from a breast cancer gene-expression microarray study. We also investigate the effectiveness of some strategies that are available to overcome the effect of class imbalance. Results Our results show that the evaluated classifiers are highly sensitive to class imbalance and that variable selection introduces an additional bias towards classification into the majority class. Most new samples are assigned to the majority class from the training set, unless the difference between the classes is very large. As a consequence, the class-specific predictive accuracies differ considerably. When the class imbalance is not too severe, down-sizing and asymmetric bagging embedding variable selection work well, while over-sampling does not. Variable normalization can further worsen the performance of the classifiers. Conclusions Our results show that matching the prevalence of the classes in training and test set does not guarantee good performance of classifiers and that the problems related to classification with class

The Relationship Between Continuous Identity Disturbances, Negative Mood, and Suicidal Ideation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sokol, Yosef; Eisenheim, Edouard

To examine the relationship between continuous identity and a measure of depression, anxiety, and stress as well as suicidal ideation using 2 validated measures of continuous identity. A total of 246 subjects recruited from the Amazon Mechanical Turk subject pool who completed a full survey in November 2014 were included in the analyses. Stress, anxiety, and depression severity were measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale. Continuous identity was measured with the Venn continuous identity task and the me/not me continuous identity task. Multiple regression analyses revealed continuous identity disturbances were significantly associated with depressed mood (R (2) = 0.37, P Continuous identity also predicted suicide severity, even after controlling for demographic factors, negative life events, and depressed mood. Additionally, predictive discriminant analysis revealed continuous identity, depression severity, and negative life events correctly classified 74.1% of participants into high and low suicide risk groups. Lack of continuous identity predicted both depression and suicidality severity. Integration of perceived identities may be a worthwhile goal for behavioral interventions aimed at reducing depressed mood and suicidality.

High-Level Synthesis of DSP Applications Using Adaptive Negative Cycle Detection

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Nitin Chandrachoodan

2002-09-01

Full Text Available The problem of detecting negative weight cycles in a graph is examined in the context of the dynamic graph structures that arise in the process of high level synthesis (HLS. The concept of adaptive negative cycle detection is introduced, in which a graph changes over time and negative cycle detection needs to be done periodically, but not necessarily after every individual change. We present an algorithm for this problem, based on a novel extension of the well-known Bellman-Ford algorithm that allows us to adapt existing cycle information to the modified graph, and show by experiments that our algorithm significantly outperforms previous incremental approaches for dynamic graphs. In terms of applications, the adaptive technique leads to a very fast implementation of Lawlers algorithm for the computation of the maximum cycle mean (MCM of a graph, especially for a certain form of sparse graph. Such sparseness often occurs in practical circuits and systems, as demonstrated, for example, by the ISCAS 89/93 benchmarks. The application of the adaptive technique to design-space exploration (synthesis is also demonstrated by developing automated search techniques for scheduling iterative data-flow graphs.

Distress attributed to negative symptoms in schizophrenia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Selten, JP; Wiersma, D; van den Bosch, RJ

2000-01-01

The purpose of the study was to examine (1) to which negative symptoms schizophrenia patients attribute distress and (2) whether clinical variables can predict the levels of reported distress. With the help of a research assistant, 86 hospitalized patients completed a self-rating scale for negative

Trustworthiness and Negative Affect Predict Economic Decision-Making

OpenAIRE

Nguyen, Christopher M.; Koenigs, Michael; Yamada, Torricia H.; Teo, Shu Hao; Cavanaugh, Joseph E.; Tranel, Daniel; Denburg, Natalie L.

2011-01-01

The Ultimatum Game (UG) is a widely used and well-studied laboratory model of economic decision-making. Here, we studied 129 healthy adults and compared demographic (i.e., age, gender, education), cognitive (i.e., intelligence, attention/working memory, speed, language, visuospatial, memory, executive functions), and personality (i.e., “Big Five”, positive affect, negative affect) variables between those with a “rational” versus an “irrational” response pattern on the UG. Our data indicated t...

Are inflationary predictions sensitive to very high energy physics?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgess, C.P.; Lemieux, F.; Holman, R.; Cline, J.M.

2003-01-01

It has been proposed that the successful inflationary description of density perturbations on cosmological scales is sensitive to the details of physics at extremely high (trans-Planckian) energies. We test this proposal by examining how inflationary predictions depend on higher-energy scales within a simple model where the higher-energy physics is well understood. We find the best of all possible worlds: inflationary predictions are robust against the vast majority of high-energy effects, but can be sensitive to some effects in certain circumstances, in a way which does not violate ordinary notions of decoupling. This implies both that the comparison of inflationary predictions with CMB data is meaningful, and that it is also worth searching for small deviations from the standard results in the hopes of learning about very high energies. (author)

The predicted influence of climate change on lesser prairie-chicken reproductive parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Grisham, Blake A.; Boal, Clint W.; Haukos, David A.; Davis, D.; Boydston, Kathy K.; Dixon, Charles; Heck, Willard R.

2013-01-01

The Southern High Plains is anticipated to experience significant changes in temperature and precipitation due to climate change. These changes may influence the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) in positive or negative ways. We assessed the potential changes in clutch size, incubation start date, and nest survival for lesser prairie-chickens for the years 2050 and 2080 based on modeled predictions of climate change and reproductive data for lesser prairie-chickens from 2001-2011 on the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. We developed 9 a priori models to assess the relationship between reproductive parameters and biologically relevant weather conditions. We selected weather variable(s) with the most model support and then obtained future predicted values from climatewizard.org. We conducted 1,000 simulations using each reproductive parameter's linear equation obtained from regression calculations, and the future predicted value for each weather variable to predict future reproductive parameter values for lesser prairie-chickens. There was a high degree of model uncertainty for each reproductive value. Winter temperature had the greatest effect size for all three parameters, suggesting a negative relationship between above-average winter temperature and reproductive output. The above-average winter temperatures are correlated to La Nina events, which negatively affect lesser prairie-chickens through resulting drought conditions. By 2050 and 2080, nest survival was predicted to be below levels considered viable for population persistence; however, our assessment did not consider annual survival of adults, chick survival, or the positive benefit of habitat management and conservation, which may ultimately offset the potentially negative effect of drought on nest survival.

House dust bioactivities predict skin prick test reactivity for children with high risk of allergy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Haejin; Tse, Kevin; Levin, Linda; Bernstein, David; Reponen, Tiina; LeMasters, Grace; Lummus, Zana; Horner, Anthony A

2012-06-01

Although evidence suggests that ambient exposures to endotoxin and other immunostimulants during early life influence allergic risk, efforts to understand this host-environment relationship have been hampered by a paucity of relevant assays. These investigations determined whether parameters of house dust extract (HDE) bioactivity were predictive of allergen skin prick test (SPT) reactivity for infants at high risk of allergy participating in the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS). We conducted a nested case-control study, selecting 99 CCAAPS children who had positive SPT results to at least 1 aeroallergen at age 3 years and 101 subjects with negative SPT results. HDEs were prepared from dust samples collected from the subjects' homes at age 1 year. Murine splenocytes and bone marrow-derived dendritic cells were incubated with HDEs, and supernatant cytokine concentrations were determined by means of ELISA. Alternatively, bone marrow-derived dendritic cells were preincubated with HDEs, and then LPS-induced IL-6 responses were assessed. HDE endotoxin levels were determined by using the limulus amebocyte lysate assay. HDEs derived from the homes of children with positive (cases) and negative (control subjects) SPT results had similar bioactivities. However, when cases were considered in isolation, HDEs with higher levels of bioactivity were significantly associated with children who had lower numbers of positive SPT results. Analogous statistical analyses did not identify any association between HDE endotoxin levels and the aeroallergen sensitization profiles of children included in this study. HDE immunostimulatory activities predicted the aeroallergen sensitization status of CCAAPS subjects better than HDE endotoxin levels. These results provide the first published evidence that HDE bioassays have clinical relevance in predicting atopic risk. Copyright © 2012 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Mosby, Inc. All

Meta-analytic approach to the accurate prediction of secreted virulence effectors in gram-negative bacteria

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Sato Yoshiharu

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Many pathogens use a type III secretion system to translocate virulence proteins (called effectors in order to adapt to the host environment. To date, many prediction tools for effector identification have been developed. However, these tools are insufficiently accurate for producing a list of putative effectors that can be applied directly for labor-intensive experimental verification. This also suggests that important features of effectors have yet to be fully characterized. Results In this study, we have constructed an accurate approach to predicting secreted virulence effectors from Gram-negative bacteria. This consists of a support vector machine-based discriminant analysis followed by a simple criteria-based filtering. The accuracy was assessed by estimating the average number of true positives in the top-20 ranking in the genome-wide screening. In the validation, 10 sets of 20 training and 20 testing examples were randomly selected from 40 known effectors of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2. On average, the SVM portion of our system predicted 9.7 true positives from 20 testing examples in the top-20 of the prediction. Removal of the N-terminal instability, codon adaptation index and ProtParam indices decreased the score to 7.6, 8.9 and 7.9, respectively. These discrimination features suggested that the following characteristics of effectors had been uncovered: unstable N-terminus, non-optimal codon usage, hydrophilic, and less aliphathic. The secondary filtering process represented by coexpression analysis and domain distribution analysis further refined the average true positive counts to 12.3. We further confirmed that our system can correctly predict known effectors of P. syringae DC3000, strongly indicating its feasibility. Conclusions We have successfully developed an accurate prediction system for screening effectors on a genome-wide scale. We confirmed the accuracy of our system by external validation

Implicit negative affect predicts attention to sad faces beyond self-reported depressive symptoms in healthy individuals: An eye-tracking study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bodenschatz, Charlott Maria; Skopinceva, Marija; Kersting, Anette; Quirin, Markus; Suslow, Thomas

2018-04-04

Cognitive theories of depression assume biased attention towards mood-congruent information as a central vulnerability and maintaining factor. Among other symptoms, depression is characterized by excessive negative affect (NA). Yet, little is known about the impact of naturally occurring NA on the allocation of attention to emotional information. The study investigates how implicit and explicit NA as well as self-reported depressive symptoms predict attentional biases in a sample of healthy individuals (N = 104). Attentional biases were assessed using eye-tracking during a free viewing task in which images of sad, angry, happy and neutral faces were shown simultaneously. Participants' implicit affectivity was measured indirectly using the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test. Questionnaires were administered to assess actual and habitual explicit NA and presence of depressive symptoms. Higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with sustained attention to sad faces and reduced attention to happy faces. Implicit but not explicit NA significantly predicted gaze behavior towards sad faces independently from depressive symptoms. The present study supports the idea that naturally occurring implicit NA is associated with attention allocation to dysphoric facial expression. The findings demonstrate the utility of implicit affectivity measures in studying individual differences in depression-relevant attentional biases and cognitive vulnerability. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identification of ten variants associated with risk of estrogen-receptor-negative breast cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Milne, Roger L; Kuchenbaecker, Karoline B; Michailidou, Kyriaki

2017-01-01

associations with ER-negative disease for 105 susceptibility variants identified by other studies. These 125 variants explain approximately 16% of the familial risk of this breast cancer subtype. There was high genetic correlation (0.72) between risk of ER-negative breast cancer and breast cancer risk for BRCA......Most common breast cancer susceptibility variants have been identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of predominantly estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease. We conducted a GWAS using 21,468 ER-negative cases and 100,594 controls combined with 18,908 BRCA1 mutation carriers (9......1 mutation carriers. These findings may lead to improved risk prediction and inform further fine-mapping and functional work to better understand the biological basis of ER-negative breast cancer....

A clinical prediction rule for histological chorioamnionitis in preterm newborns.

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Jasper V Been

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Histological chorioamnionitis (HC is an intrauterine inflammatory process highly associated with preterm birth and adverse neonatal outcome. HC is often clinically silent and diagnosed postnatally by placental histology. Earlier identification could facilitate treatment individualisation to improve outcome in preterm newborns. AIM: Develop a clinical prediction rule at birth for HC and HC with fetal involvement (HCF in preterm newborns. METHODS: Clinical data and placental pathology were obtained from singleton preterm newborns (gestational age ≤ 32.0 weeks born at Erasmus UMC Rotterdam from 2001 to 2003 (derivation cohort; n = 216 or Máxima MC Veldhoven from 2009 to 2010 (validation cohort; n = 206. HC and HCF prediction rules were developed with preference for high sensitivity using clinical variables available at birth. RESULTS: HC and HCF were present in 39% and 24% in the derivation cohort and in 44% and 22% in the validation cohort, respectively. HC was predicted with 87% accuracy, yielding an area under ROC curve of 0.95 (95%CI = 0.92-0.98, a positive predictive value of 80% (95%CI = 74-84%, and a negative predictive value of 93% (95%CI = 88-96%. Corresponding figures for HCF were: accuracy 83%, area under ROC curve 0.92 (95%CI = 0.88-0.96, positive predictive value 59% (95%CI = 52-62%, and negative predictive value 97% (95%CI = 93-99%. External validation expectedly resulted in some loss of test performance, preferentially affecting positive predictive rather than negative predictive values. CONCLUSION: Using a clinical prediction rule composed of clinical variables available at birth, HC and HCF could be predicted with good test characteristics in preterm newborns. Further studies should evaluate the clinical value of these rules to guide early treatment individualisation.

Prediction of province-level outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Iran using a zero-inflated negative binomial model.

Science.gov (United States)

Jafarzadeh, S Reza; Norris, Michelle; Thurmond, Mark C

2014-08-01

To identify events that could predict province-level frequency of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in Iran, 5707 outbreaks reported from April 1995 to March 2002 were studied. A zero-inflated negative binomial model was used to estimate the probability of a 'no-outbreak' status and the number of outbreaks in a province, using the number of previous occurrences of FMD for the same or adjacent provinces and season as covariates. For each province, the probability of observing no outbreak was negatively associated with the number of outbreaks in the same province in the previous month (odds ratio [OR]=0.06, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.01, 0.30) and in 'the second previous month' (OR=0.10, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.51), the total number of outbreaks in the second previous month in adjacent provinces (OR=0.57, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.91) and the season (winter [OR=0.18, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.55] and spring [OR=0.27, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.81], compared with summer). The expected number of outbreaks in a province was positively associated with number of outbreaks in the same province in previous month (coefficient [coef]=0.74, 95% CI: 0.66, 0.82) and in the second previous month (coef=0.23, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.31), total number of outbreaks in adjacent provinces in the previous month (coef=0.32, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.41) and season (fall [coef=0.20, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.33] and spring [coef=0.18, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.31], compared to summer); however, number of outbreaks was negatively associated with the total number of outbreaks in adjacent provinces in the second previous month (coef=-0.19, 95% CI: -0.28, -0.09). The findings indicate that the probability of an outbreak (and the expected number of outbreaks if any) may be predicted based on previous province information, which could help decision-makers allocate resources more efficiently for province-level disease control measures. Further, the study illustrates use of zero inflated negative binomial model to study diseases occurrence where disease is

High-brightness negative-hydrogen linear accelerator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wadlinger, E.A.; Farrell, J.A.; Dogliani, H.O.

1982-01-01

We have designed a linear accelerator to accelerate negative hydrogen ions to 50 MeV with an instantaneous output current of 100 mA and a normalized rms emittance in both transverse planes of 0.02 π cm mrad. The design and results obtained to date with a 2-MeV prototype are presented

Stuttering Thoughts: Negative Self-Referent Thinking Is Less Sensitive to Aversive Outcomes in People with Higher Levels of Depressive Symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Iijima, Yudai; Takano, Keisuke; Boddez, Yannick; Raes, Filip; Tanno, Yoshihiko

2017-01-01

Learning theories of depression have proposed that depressive cognitions, such as negative thoughts with reference to oneself, can develop through a reinforcement learning mechanism. This negative self-reference is considered to be positively reinforced by rewarding experiences such as genuine support from others after negative self-disclosure, and negatively reinforced by avoidance of potential aversive situations. The learning account additionally predicts that negative self-reference would be maintained by an inability to adjust one's behavior when negative self-reference no longer leads to such reward. To test this prediction, we designed an adapted version of the reversal-learning task. In this task, participants were reinforced to choose and engage in either negative or positive self-reference by probabilistic economic reward and punishment. Although participants were initially trained to choose negative self-reference, the stimulus-reward contingencies were reversed to prompt a shift toward positive self-reference (Study 1) and a further shift toward negative self-reference (Study 2). Model-based computational analyses showed that depressive symptoms were associated with a low learning rate of negative self-reference, indicating a high level of reward expectancy for negative self-reference even after the contingency reversal. Furthermore, the difficulty in updating outcome predictions of negative self-reference was significantly associated with the extent to which one possesses negative self-images. These results suggest that difficulty in adjusting action-outcome estimates for negative self-reference increases the chance to be faced with negative aspects of self, which may result in depressive symptoms.

Stuttering Thoughts: Negative Self-Referent Thinking Is Less Sensitive to Aversive Outcomes in People with Higher Levels of Depressive Symptoms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yudai Iijima

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Learning theories of depression have proposed that depressive cognitions, such as negative thoughts with reference to oneself, can develop through a reinforcement learning mechanism. This negative self-reference is considered to be positively reinforced by rewarding experiences such as genuine support from others after negative self-disclosure, and negatively reinforced by avoidance of potential aversive situations. The learning account additionally predicts that negative self-reference would be maintained by an inability to adjust one’s behavior when negative self-reference no longer leads to such reward. To test this prediction, we designed an adapted version of the reversal-learning task. In this task, participants were reinforced to choose and engage in either negative or positive self-reference by probabilistic economic reward and punishment. Although participants were initially trained to choose negative self-reference, the stimulus-reward contingencies were reversed to prompt a shift toward positive self-reference (Study 1 and a further shift toward negative self-reference (Study 2. Model-based computational analyses showed that depressive symptoms were associated with a low learning rate of negative self-reference, indicating a high level of reward expectancy for negative self-reference even after the contingency reversal. Furthermore, the difficulty in updating outcome predictions of negative self-reference was significantly associated with the extent to which one possesses negative self-images. These results suggest that difficulty in adjusting action-outcome estimates for negative self-reference increases the chance to be faced with negative aspects of self, which may result in depressive symptoms.

Prostate specific antigen velocity does not aid prostate cancer detection in men with prior negative biopsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Vickers, Andrew J; Wolters, Tineke; Savage, Caroline J; Cronin, Angel M; O'Brien, M Frank; Roobol, Monique J; Aus, Gunnar; Scardino, Peter T; Hugosson, Jonas; Schröder, Fritz H; Lilja, Hans

2010-09-01

Prostate specific antigen velocity has been proposed as a marker to aid in prostate cancer detection. We determined whether prostate specific antigen velocity could predict repeat biopsy results in men with persistently increased prostate specific antigen after initial negative biopsy. We identified 1,837 men who participated in the Göteborg or Rotterdam section of the European Randomized Screening study of Prostate Cancer and who underwent 1 or more subsequent prostate biopsies after an initial negative finding. We evaluated whether prostate specific antigen velocity improved predictive accuracy beyond that of prostate specific antigen alone. Of the 2,579 repeat biopsies 363 (14%) were positive for prostate cancer, of which 44 (1.7%) were high grade (Gleason score 7 or greater). Prostate specific antigen velocity was statistically associated with cancer risk but had low predictive accuracy (AUC 0.55, p <0.001). There was some evidence that prostate specific antigen velocity improved AUC compared to prostate specific antigen for high grade cancer. However, the small increase in risk associated with high prostate specific antigen velocity (from 1.7% to 2.8% as velocity increased from 0 to 1 ng/ml per year) had questionable clinical relevance. Men with prior negative biopsy are at lower risk for prostate cancer at subsequent biopsies with high grade disease particularly rare. We found little evidence to support prostate specific antigen velocity to aid in decisions about repeat biopsy for prostate cancer. 2010 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trait aspects of auditory mismatch negativity predict response to auditory training in individuals with early illness schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Biagianti, Bruno; Roach, Brian J; Fisher, Melissa; Loewy, Rachel; Ford, Judith M; Vinogradov, Sophia; Mathalon, Daniel H

2017-01-01

Individuals with schizophrenia have heterogeneous impairments of the auditory processing system that likely mediate differences in the cognitive gains induced by auditory training (AT). Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential component reflecting auditory echoic memory, and its amplitude reduction in schizophrenia has been linked to cognitive deficits. Therefore, MMN may predict response to AT and identify individuals with schizophrenia who have the most to gain from AT. Furthermore, to the extent that AT strengthens auditory deviance processing, MMN may also serve as a readout of the underlying changes in the auditory system induced by AT. Fifty-six individuals early in the course of a schizophrenia-spectrum illness (ESZ) were randomly assigned to 40 h of AT or Computer Games (CG). Cognitive assessments and EEG recordings during a multi-deviant MMN paradigm were obtained before and after AT and CG. Changes in these measures were compared between the treatment groups. Baseline and trait-like MMN data were evaluated as predictors of treatment response. MMN data collected with the same paradigm from a sample of Healthy Controls (HC; n = 105) were compared to baseline MMN data from the ESZ group. Compared to HC, ESZ individuals showed significant MMN reductions at baseline ( p = .003). Reduced Double-Deviant MMN was associated with greater general cognitive impairment in ESZ individuals ( p = .020). Neither ESZ intervention group showed significant change in MMN. We found high correlations in all MMN deviant types (rs = .59-.68, all ps < .001) between baseline and post-intervention amplitudes irrespective of treatment group, suggesting trait-like stability of the MMN signal. Greater deficits in trait-like Double-Deviant MMN predicted greater cognitive improvements in the AT group ( p = .02), but not in the CG group. In this sample of ESZ individuals, AT had no effect on auditory deviance processing as assessed by MMN. In ESZ individuals, baseline MMN

"Food Addiction" in Patients with Eating Disorders is Associated with Negative Urgency and Difficulties to Focus on Long-Term Goals.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolz, Ines; Hilker, Ines; Granero, Roser; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana; Gearhardt, Ashley N; Dieguez, Carlos; Casanueva, Felipe F; Crujeiras, Ana B; Menchón, José M; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando

2016-01-01

The present study aimed to investigate if eating disorder patients differ in specific personality traits depending on a positive screening of food addiction (FA) and to find a model to predict FA in eating disorder patients using measures of personality and impulsivity. Two hundred seventy eight patients, having an eating disorder, self-reported on FA, impulsivity, personality, eating and general psychopathology. Patients were then split into two groups, depending on a positive or negative result on the FA screening. Analysis of variance was used to compare means between the two groups. Stepwise binary logistic regression was used to obtain a predictive model for the presence of FA. Patients with FA had lower self-directedness, and more negative urgency and lack of perseverance than patients not reporting addictive eating. The probability of FA can be predicted by high negative urgency, high reward dependence, and low lack of premeditation. Eating disorder patients who have more problems to pursue tasks to the end and to focus on long-term goals seem to be more likely to develop addictive eating patterns.

Avoidance orientation and the escalation of negative communication in intimate relationships.

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Kuster, Monika; Bernecker, Katharina; Backes, Sabine; Brandstätter, Veronika; Nussbeck, Fridtjof W; Bradbury, Thomas N; Martin, Mike; Sutter-Stickel, Dorothee; Bodenmann, Guy

2015-08-01

Avoidance goals heighten the salience of negative social experiences, and in intimate relationships such an orientation may contribute to communication difficulties and the perpetuation of avoidance. We therefore hypothesized that individuals with stronger avoidance goals would be particularly prone to engage in escalating levels of negative communication with their intimate partner, and we tested this prediction by conducting sequential analyses on videotaped observational data (28,470 observations) collected from 365 heterosexual couples engaging in a relationship-related conflict. While less avoidance-oriented spouses showed a decline in their likelihood of negative communication over the course of the 8-min conflict discussion, the likelihood that more avoidance-oriented spouses would display negative communication behaviors remained at a high level. The likelihood of negative communication even increased when avoidance-oriented spouses were confronted with negative communication behavior of their partners. The effects of avoidance orientation were independent of relationship satisfaction and neuroticism. These findings demonstrate that avoidance goals underlie individuals' heightened reactivity to the partner's negative behavior, while also clarifying 1 possible reason why some individuals engage in communication behaviors that may prove maladaptive to their relationship. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Prediction of vehicle crashes by drivers' characteristics and past traffic violations in Korea using a zero-inflated negative binomial model.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Dae-Hwan; Ramjan, Lucie M; Mak, Kwok-Kei

2016-01-01

Traffic safety is a significant public health challenge, and vehicle crashes account for the majority of injuries. This study aims to identify whether drivers' characteristics and past traffic violations may predict vehicle crashes in Korea. A total of 500,000 drivers were randomly selected from the 11.6 million driver records of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs in Korea. Records of traffic crashes were obtained from the archives of the Korea Insurance Development Institute. After matching the past violation history for the period 2004-2005 with the number of crashes in year 2006, a total of 488,139 observations were used for the analysis. Zero-inflated negative binomial model was used to determine the incident risk ratio (IRR) of vehicle crashes by past violations of individual drivers. The included covariates were driver's age, gender, district of residence, vehicle choice, and driving experience. Drivers violating (1) a hit-and-run or drunk driving regulation at least once and (2) a signal, central line, or speed regulation more than once had a higher risk of a vehicle crash with respective IRRs of 1.06 and 1.15. Furthermore, female gender, a younger age, fewer years of driving experience, and middle-sized vehicles were all significantly associated with a higher likelihood of vehicle crashes. Drivers' demographic characteristics and past traffic violations could predict vehicle crashes in Korea. Greater resources should be assigned to the provision of traffic safety education programs for the high-risk driver groups.

Negative Attitudes, Network and Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bennett, Patrick; la Cour, Lisbeth; Larsen, Birthe

We consider the impact of negative attitudes against immigrants and immigration on educational choice in a search and wage bargaining model including networking. We consider two cases in terms of the importance of negative attitudes againts immigrants for high and low educated individuals and find...... that more negative attitudes against immigrants has a positive impact on education in one case and a negative impact in the other and has no impact on natives. Immigration improves employment perspectives for immigrants and thereby increases immigrant education whereas endogenous negative attitudes lead...... use Danish register data to find a signficant positive correlation between negative attitudes towards immigrants and high school attendance and find a positive impact of networking on high school attendance. In both the macro and the micro-econometric analysis we run the same regressions for natives...

High-capacity FeTiO3/C negative electrode for sodium-ion batteries with ultralong cycle life

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Changsheng; Nohira, Toshiyuki; Hagiwara, Rika

2018-06-01

The development of electrode materials which improve both the energy density and cycle life is one of the most challenging issues facing the practical application of sodium-ion batteries today. In this work, FeTiO3/C nanoparticles are synthesized as negative electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries. The electrochemical performance and charge-discharge mechanism of the FeTiO3/C negative electrode are investigated in an ionic liquid electrolyte at 90 °C. The FeTiO3/C negative electrode delivers a high reversible capacity of 403 mAh g-1 at a current rate of 10 mA g-1, and exhibits high rate capability and excellent cycling stability for up to 2000 cycles. The results indicate that FeTiO3/C is a promising negative electrode material for sodium-ion batteries.

A longitudinal investigation of perfectionism and repetitive negative thinking in perinatal depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Egan, Sarah J; Kane, Robert T; Winton, Karen; Eliot, Catherine; McEvoy, Peter M

2017-10-01

Repetitive negative thinking and perfectionism have both been proposed as processes that are related to depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate concurrent and prospective relationships between antenatal and postnatal depression, perfectionism, and repetitive negative thinking. A longitudinal design was used and 71 women were followed from their third trimester of pregnancy to six weeks post birth. A structural equation model was tested with antenatal perfectionism predicting antenatal repetitive negative thinking, perfectionism predicting postnatal depression, and antenatal repetitive negative thinking predicting antenatal and postnatal depression. The final model provided an adequate fit to the data but the pathway from antenatal repetitive negative thinking to postnatal depression was not significant. The findings provide support for the role of perfectionism and repetitive negative thinking in the onset and maintenance of perinatal symptoms of depression. It is suggested that future research investigates the efficacy of targeting repetitive negative thinking and perfectionism in pregnancy to examine if this can reduce perinatal depression. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Accuracy of High-Resolution MRI with Lumen Distention in Rectal Cancer Staging and Circumferential Margin Involvement Prediction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iannicelli, Elsa; Di Renzo, Sara; Ferri, Mario; Pilozzi, Emanuela; Di Girolamo, Marco; Sapori, Alessandra; Ziparo, Vincenzo; David, Vincenzo

2014-01-01

To evaluate the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with lumen distention for rectal cancer staging and circumferential resection margin (CRM) involvement prediction. Seventy-three patients with primary rectal cancer underwent high-resolution MRI with a phased-array coil performed using 60-80 mL room air rectal distention, 1-3 weeks before surgery. MRI results were compared to postoperative histopathological findings. The overall MRI T staging accuracy was calculated. CRM involvement prediction and the N staging, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were assessed for each T stage. The agreement between MRI and histological results was assessed using weighted-kappa statistics. The overall MRI accuracy for T staging was 93.6% (k = 0.85). The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for each T stage were as follows: 91.8%, 86.2%, 95.5%, 92.6% and 91.3% for the group ≤ T2; 90.4%, 94.6%, 86.1%, 87.5% and 94% for T3; 98,6%, 85.7%, 100%, 100% and 98.5% for T4, respectively. The predictive CRM accuracy was 94.5% (k = 0.86); the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV were 89.5%, 96.3%, 89.5%, and 96.3% respectively. The N staging accuracy was 68.49% (k = 0.4). MRI performed with rectal lumen distention has proved to be an effective technique both for rectal cancer staging and involved CRM predicting

Accuracy of High-Resolution MRI with Lumen Distention in Rectal Cancer Staging and Circumferential Margin Involvement Prediction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Iannicelli, Elsa; Di Renzo, Sara [Radiology Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Sant' Andrea Hospital, Rome 00189 (Italy); Department of Surgical and Medical Sciences and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Sant' Andrea Hospital, Rome 00189 (Italy); Ferri, Mario [Department of Surgical and Medical Sciences and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Sant' Andrea Hospital, Rome 00189 (Italy); Pilozzi, Emanuela [Department of Clinical and Molecular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Sant' Andrea Hospital, Rome 00189 (Italy); Di Girolamo, Marco; Sapori, Alessandra [Radiology Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Sant' Andrea Hospital, Rome 00189 (Italy); Department of Surgical and Medical Sciences and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Sant' Andrea Hospital, Rome 00189 (Italy); Ziparo, Vincenzo [Department of Surgical and Medical Sciences and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Sant' Andrea Hospital, Rome 00189 (Italy); David, Vincenzo [Radiology Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Sant' Andrea Hospital, Rome 00189 (Italy); Department of Surgical and Medical Sciences and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Sant' Andrea Hospital, Rome 00189 (Italy)

2014-07-01

To evaluate the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with lumen distention for rectal cancer staging and circumferential resection margin (CRM) involvement prediction. Seventy-three patients with primary rectal cancer underwent high-resolution MRI with a phased-array coil performed using 60-80 mL room air rectal distention, 1-3 weeks before surgery. MRI results were compared to postoperative histopathological findings. The overall MRI T staging accuracy was calculated. CRM involvement prediction and the N staging, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were assessed for each T stage. The agreement between MRI and histological results was assessed using weighted-kappa statistics. The overall MRI accuracy for T staging was 93.6% (k = 0.85). The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for each T stage were as follows: 91.8%, 86.2%, 95.5%, 92.6% and 91.3% for the group ≤ T2; 90.4%, 94.6%, 86.1%, 87.5% and 94% for T3; 98,6%, 85.7%, 100%, 100% and 98.5% for T4, respectively. The predictive CRM accuracy was 94.5% (k = 0.86); the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV were 89.5%, 96.3%, 89.5%, and 96.3% respectively. The N staging accuracy was 68.49% (k = 0.4). MRI performed with rectal lumen distention has proved to be an effective technique both for rectal cancer staging and involved CRM predicting.

Negative beliefs about low back pain are associated with persistent high intensity low back pain.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Sin Ki; Cicuttini, Flavia M; Wang, Yuanyuan; Wluka, Anita E; Fitzgibbon, Bernadette; Urquhart, Donna M

2017-08-01

While previous cross-sectional studies have found that negative beliefs about low back pain are associated with pain intensity, the relationship between back beliefs and persistent low back pain is not well understood. This cohort study aimed to examine the role of back beliefs in persistent low back pain in community-based individuals. A hundred and ninety-two participants from a previous musculoskeletal health study were invited to take part in a two-year follow-up study. Beliefs about back pain were assessed by the Back Beliefs Questionnaire (BBQ) at baseline and low back pain intensity was measured by the Chronic Pain Grade Questionnaire at baseline and follow-up. Of the 150 respondents (78.1%), 16 (10.7%) reported persistent high intensity low back pain, 12 (8.0%) developed high intensity low back pain, in 16 (10.7%) their high intensity low back pain resolved and 106 (70.7%) experienced no high intensity low back pain. While participants were generally positive about low back pain (BBQ mean (SD) = 30.2 (6.4)), those with persistent high intensity pain reported greater negativity (BBQ mean (SD) = 22.6 (4.9)). Negative beliefs about back pain were associated with persistent high intensity low back pain after adjusting for confounders (M (SE) = 23.5 (1.6) vs. >30.1 (1.7), p back beliefs were associated with persistent high intensity low back pain over 2 years in community-based individuals. While further longitudinal studies are required, these findings suggest that targeting beliefs in programs designed to treat and prevent persistent high intensity low back pain may be important.

Negative Social Relationships Predict Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among War-Affected Children Via Posttraumatic Cognitions.

Science.gov (United States)

Palosaari, Esa; Punamäki, Raija-Leena; Peltonen, Kirsi; Diab, Marwan; Qouta, Samir R

2016-07-01

Post traumatic cognitions (PTCs) are important determinants of post traumatic stress symptoms (PTS symptoms). We tested whether risk factors of PTS symptoms (trauma, demographics, social and family-related factors) predict PTCs and whether PTCs mediate the association between risk factors and PTS symptoms among war-affected children. The participants were 240 Palestinian children 10-12 years old, half boys and half girls, and their parents. Children reported about psychological maltreatment, sibling and peer relations, war trauma, PTCs, PTS symptoms, and depression. Parents reported about their socioeconomic status and their own PTS symptoms. The associations between the variables were estimated in structural equation models. In models which included all the variables, PTCs were predicted by and mediated the effects of psychological maltreatment, war trauma, sibling conflict, and peer unpopularity on PTS symptoms. Other predictors had statistically non-significant effects. Psychological maltreatment had the largest indirect effect (b* = 0.29, p = 0.002) and the indirect effects of war trauma (b* = 0.10, p = 0.045), sibling conflict (b* = 0.10, p = 0.045), and peer unpopularity (b* = 0.10, p = 0.094) were lower and about the same size. Age-salient social relationships are potentially important in the development of both PTCs and PTS symptoms among preadolescents. Furthermore, PTCs mediate the effects of the risk factors of PTS symptoms. The causality of the associations among the variables is not established but it could be studied in the future with interventions which improve the negative aspects of traumatized children's important social relationships.

Negativity bias and task motivation: testing the effectiveness of positively versus negatively framed incentives.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldsmith, Kelly; Dhar, Ravi

2013-12-01

People are frequently challenged by goals that demand effort and persistence. As a consequence, philosophers, psychologists, economists, and others have studied the factors that enhance task motivation. Using a sample of undergraduate students and a sample of working adults, we demonstrate that the manner in which an incentive is framed has implications for individuals' task motivation. In both samples we find that individuals are less motivated when an incentive is framed as a means to accrue a gain (positive framing) as compared with when the same incentive is framed as a means to avoid a loss (negative framing). Further, we provide evidence for the role of the negativity bias in this effect, and highlight specific populations for whom positive framing may be least motivating. Interestingly, we find that people's intuitions about when they will be more motivated show the opposite pattern, with people predicting that positively framed incentives will be more motivating than negatively framed incentives. We identify a lay belief in the positive correlation between enjoyment and task motivation as one possible factor contributing to the disparity between predicted and actual motivation as a result of the framing of the incentive. We conclude with a discussion of the managerial implications for these findings. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

A study on negative and depressive symptom prevalence in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Azar, Marleine; Pruessner, Marita; Baer, Lawrence H; Iyer, Srividya; Malla, Ashok K; Lepage, Martin

2016-09-21

Negative symptoms are known to be present in the prodromal stage of psychotic disorders, yet little is known about their prevalence. Studies examining the presence of negative symptoms in ultra-high risk (UHR) populations have shown some limitations, notably failing to control depression. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of negative symptoms in the presence of significant levels of depression and in the absence of such symptoms (primary negative symptoms) over 1 year and to examine differences in negative symptoms in psychosis converters and non-converters. Participants were 123 individuals at UHR for the development of psychosis receiving follow-up for a period of 2 years. Negative symptoms and depression were measured using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale at baseline, 6 and 12 months post-admission. At baseline, the prevalence of negative symptoms and primary negative symptoms was 76.4% and 32.7%, respectively. Whereas the prevalence of negative symptoms was significantly decreased at 6 months, the prevalence of primary negative symptoms was similar at all time points. Negative symptoms at baseline were not different between later converters and non-converters to psychosis. Our findings confirm the presence of secondary and primary negative symptoms in individuals at UHR, but suggest a differential trajectory of both measures over time. Future studies should include larger UHR groups and focus on the investigation of intra-individual changes in primary negative symptoms over time and further explore their potential role for psychosis conversion. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

The Economic Value of Predicting Bond Risk Premia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sarno, Lucio; Schneider, Paul; Wagner, Christian

2016-01-01

evaluation. More specifically, the model mostly generates positive (negative) economic value during times of high (low) macroeconomic uncertainty. Overall, the expectations hypothesis remains a useful benchmark for investment decisions in bond markets, especially in low uncertainty states.......This paper studies whether the evident statistical predictability of bond risk premia translates into economic gains for investors. We propose a novel estimation strategy for affine term structure models that jointly fits yields and bond excess returns, thereby capturing predictive information...... otherwise hidden to standard estimations. The model predicts excess returns with high regression R2s and high forecast accuracy but cannot outperform the expectations hypothesis out-of-sample in terms of economic value, showing a general contrast between statistical and economic metrics of forecast...

Addendum to the article: Misuse of null hypothesis significance testing: Would estimation of positive and negative predictive values improve certainty of chemical risk assessment?

Science.gov (United States)

Bundschuh, Mirco; Newman, Michael C; Zubrod, Jochen P; Seitz, Frank; Rosenfeldt, Ricki R; Schulz, Ralf

2015-03-01

We argued recently that the positive predictive value (PPV) and the negative predictive value (NPV) are valuable metrics to include during null hypothesis significance testing: They inform the researcher about the probability of statistically significant and non-significant test outcomes actually being true. Although commonly misunderstood, a reported p value estimates only the probability of obtaining the results or more extreme results if the null hypothesis of no effect was true. Calculations of the more informative PPV and NPV require a priori estimate of the probability (R). The present document discusses challenges of estimating R.

Predicting Future High-Cost Schizophrenia Patients Using High-Dimensional Administrative Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yajuan Wang

2017-06-01

Full Text Available BackgroundThe burden of serious and persistent mental illness such as schizophrenia is substantial and requires health-care organizations to have adequate risk adjustment models to effectively allocate their resources to managing patients who are at the greatest risk. Currently available models underestimate health-care costs for those with mental or behavioral health conditions.ObjectivesThe study aimed to develop and evaluate predictive models for identification of future high-cost schizophrenia patients using advanced supervised machine learning methods.MethodsThis was a retrospective study using a payer administrative database. The study cohort consisted of 97,862 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (ICD9 code 295.* from January 2009 to June 2014. Training (n = 34,510 and study evaluation (n = 30,077 cohorts were derived based on 12-month observation and prediction windows (PWs. The target was average total cost/patient/month in the PW. Three models (baseline, intermediate, final were developed to assess the value of different variable categories for cost prediction (demographics, coverage, cost, health-care utilization, antipsychotic medication usage, and clinical conditions. Scalable orthogonal regression, significant attribute selection in high dimensions method, and random forests regression were used to develop the models. The trained models were assessed in the evaluation cohort using the regression R2, patient classification accuracy (PCA, and cost accuracy (CA. The model performance was compared to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hierarchical Condition Categories (CMS-HCC model.ResultsAt top 10% cost cutoff, the final model achieved 0.23 R2, 43% PCA, and 63% CA; in contrast, the CMS-HCC model achieved 0.09 R2, 27% PCA with 45% CA. The final model and the CMS-HCC model identified 33 and 22%, respectively, of total cost at the top 10% cost cutoff.ConclusionUsing advanced feature selection leveraging detailed

Negative argininosuccinate synthetase expression in melanoma tumours may predict clinical benefit from arginine-depleting therapy with pegylated arginine deiminase

Science.gov (United States)

Feun, L G; Marini, A; Walker, G; Elgart, G; Moffat, F; Rodgers, S E; Wu, C J; You, M; Wangpaichitr, M; Kuo, M T; Sisson, W; Jungbluth, A A; Bomalaski, J; Savaraj, N

2012-01-01

Background: Arginine-depleting therapy with pegylated arginine deiminase (ADI-PEG20) was reported to have activity in advanced melanoma in early phase I–II trial, and clinical trials are currently underway in other cancers. However, the optimal patient population who benefit from this treatment is unknown. Methods: Advanced melanoma patients with accessible tumours had biopsy performed before the start of treatment with ADI-PEG20 and at the time of progression or relapse when amenable to determine whether argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS) expression in tumour was predictive of response to ADI-PEG20. Results: Twenty-seven of thirty-eight patients treated had melanoma tumours assessable for ASS staining before treatment. Clinical benefit rate (CBR) and longer time to progression were associated with negative expression of tumour ASS. Only 1 of 10 patients with ASS-positive tumours (ASS+) had stable disease, whereas 4 of 17 (24%) had partial response and 5 had stable disease, when ASS expression was negative (ASS−), giving CBR rates of 52.9 vs 10%, P=0.041. Two responding patients with negative ASS expression before therapy had rebiopsy after tumour progression and the ASS expression became positive. The survival of ASS− patients receiving at least four doses at 320 IU m−2 was significantly better than the ASS+ group at 26.5 vs 8.5 months, P=0.024. Conclusion: ADI-PEG20 is safe and the drug is only efficacious in melanoma patients whose tumour has negative ASS expression. Argininosuccinate synthetase tumour positivity is associated with drug resistance and tumour progression. PMID:22472884

Disordered carbon negative electrode for electrochemical capacitors and high-rate batteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogihara, Nobuhiro; Igarashi, Yoshiyuki; Kamakura, Ayumu; Naoi, Katsuhiko; Kusachi, Yuki; Utsugi, Koji

2006-01-01

In order to understand the properties of high-rate capability and cycleability for a disordered carbon negative electrode in LiPF 6 /PC based electrolyte solution, the cell performance tests with various rates and depth of discharges (DODs) has been studied by spectroscopic and electrochemical analyses. From the charge-discharge measurements, a surface carbon-edge redox reaction occurring between a carbonyl (C edge =O) and a lithium alkoxide (C edge -OLi) that delivers a large capacity was found fast and high cycleability at only shallow DOD (2.0-0.4 V). The limited or shallow charge-discharge cycling utilizing such facile and reversible action of the C edge =O/C edge -OLi of the disordered carbon is suited to an application for an negative electrode of asymmetric hybrid capacitors. A deep DOD discharge (2.0-0.0 V) revealed the existence of some complex processes involving a lithium cluster deposition at pores or microvoids as well as a lithium ion intercalation at graphene layers. The cluster deposition at pores was found to be relatively fast and reproducible. The lithium ion intercalation at graphenes and the subsequent cluster deposition at microvoids were found to be slow and degrade the cycleability after 100 cycles because of the accumulation of a thick and low-ion-conductive solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film on surface

Relationship between obesity, negative affect and basal heart rate in predicting heart rate reactivity to psychological stress among adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Andres E; Huynh, Pauline; Schell, Anne M; Baker, Laura A

2015-08-01

Reduced cardiovascular responses to psychological stressors have been found to be associated with both obesity and negative affect in adults, but have been less well studied in children and adolescent populations. These findings have most often been interpreted as reflecting reduced sympathetic nervous system response, perhaps associated with heightened baseline sympathetic activation among the obese and those manifesting negative affect. However, obesity and negative affect may themselves be correlated, raising the question of whether they both independently affect cardiovascular reactivity. The present study thus examined the separate effects of obesity and negative affect on both cardiovascular and skin conductance responses to stress (e.g., during a serial subtraction math task) in adolescents, while controlling for baseline levels of autonomic activity during rest. Both obesity and negative affect had independent and negative associations with cardiovascular reactivity, such that reduced stress responses were apparent for obese adolescents and those with high levels of negative affect. In contrast, neither obesity nor negative affect was related to skin conductance responses to stress, implicating specifically noradrenergic mechanisms rather than sympathetic mechanisms generally as being deficient. Moreover, baseline heart rate was unrelated to obesity in this sample, which suggests that heightened baseline of sympathetic activity is not necessary for the reduced cardiovascular reactivity to stress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A high-intensity plasma-sputter heavy negative ion source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alton, G.D.; Mori, Y.; Takagi, A.; Ueno, A.; Fukumoto, S.

1989-01-01

A multicusp magnetic field plasma surface ion source, normally used for H/sup /minus//ion beam formation, has been modified for the generation of high-intensity, pulsed, heavy negative ion beams suitable for a variety of uses. To date, the source has been utilized to produce mA intensity pulsed beams of more than 24 species. A brief description of the source, and basic pulsed-mode operational data, (e.g., intensity versus cesium oven temperature, sputter probe voltage, and discharge pressure), are given. In addition, illustrative examples of intensity versus time and the mass distributions of ion beams extracted from a number of samples along with emittance data, are also presented. Preliminary results obtained during dc operation of the source under low discharge power conditions suggest that sources of this type may also be used to produce high-intensity (mA) dc beams. The results of these investigations are given, as well, and the technical issues that must be addressed for this mode of operation are discussed. 15 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs

Antenatal hydronephrosis: Negative predictive value of normal postnatal ultrasound - a 5-year study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moorthy, I.; Joshi, N.; Cook, J.V. E-mail: jcook@epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk; Warren, M

2003-12-01

AIM: To determine whether normal postnatal ultrasound, as part of a strict screening protocol for the detection and follow-up of antenatal hydronephrosis, effectively excludes the majority of babies with congenital urinary tract abnormalities that would otherwise present with a urinary tract infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all babies who had postnatal follow-up of antenatally detected hydronephrosis over a 5-year period at our institution, a district general Trust with a specialist paediatric unit. We then studied all babies presenting with urinary tract infection before their first birthday to our institution over the same period. By cross-referencing these two study groups we were able to determine which babies developed a urinary tract infection having been previously discharged after normal postnatal ultrasound. RESULTS: Four hundred and twenty-five babies had postnatal follow-up of antenatal hydronephrosis. Of these, 284 were investigated with ultrasound alone. In the same 5-year period, 230 babies presented with urinary tract infection before their first birthday. Only three of these babies had been previously discharged after normal postnatal ultrasound. The negative predictive value of a normal postnatal ultrasound was therefore 98.9% (281/284) for babies who subsequently presented with a urinary tract infection before their first birthday. CONCLUSION: Careful antenatal and postnatal ultrasound with strict protocols is effective in detecting congenital renal tract abnormalities. Infants discharged after normal postnatal ultrasound are highly unlikely to still have an undetected urinary tract abnormality. We suggest that all babies with antenatal hydronephrosis are started on prophylactic antibiotics at birth, pending further investigation. All babies without features of severe obstruction antenatally should have their postnatal ultrasound delayed for a month. We recommend selective use of micturating cystourethrogram (MCUG

Antenatal hydronephrosis: Negative predictive value of normal postnatal ultrasound - a 5-year study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moorthy, I.; Joshi, N.; Cook, J.V.; Warren, M.

2003-01-01

AIM: To determine whether normal postnatal ultrasound, as part of a strict screening protocol for the detection and follow-up of antenatal hydronephrosis, effectively excludes the majority of babies with congenital urinary tract abnormalities that would otherwise present with a urinary tract infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all babies who had postnatal follow-up of antenatally detected hydronephrosis over a 5-year period at our institution, a district general Trust with a specialist paediatric unit. We then studied all babies presenting with urinary tract infection before their first birthday to our institution over the same period. By cross-referencing these two study groups we were able to determine which babies developed a urinary tract infection having been previously discharged after normal postnatal ultrasound. RESULTS: Four hundred and twenty-five babies had postnatal follow-up of antenatal hydronephrosis. Of these, 284 were investigated with ultrasound alone. In the same 5-year period, 230 babies presented with urinary tract infection before their first birthday. Only three of these babies had been previously discharged after normal postnatal ultrasound. The negative predictive value of a normal postnatal ultrasound was therefore 98.9% (281/284) for babies who subsequently presented with a urinary tract infection before their first birthday. CONCLUSION: Careful antenatal and postnatal ultrasound with strict protocols is effective in detecting congenital renal tract abnormalities. Infants discharged after normal postnatal ultrasound are highly unlikely to still have an undetected urinary tract abnormality. We suggest that all babies with antenatal hydronephrosis are started on prophylactic antibiotics at birth, pending further investigation. All babies without features of severe obstruction antenatally should have their postnatal ultrasound delayed for a month. We recommend selective use of micturating cystourethrogram (MCUG

Self-control predicts attentional bias assessed by online shopping-related Stroop in high online shopping addiction tendency college students.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Zhaocai; Zhao, Xiuxin; Li, Cancan

2017-05-01

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships of personality types (i.e., self-control, BAS/BIS) and online shopping addiction (OSA) behavior and to investigate whether high-OSA tendency individuals display attentional biases toward online shopping-related (OS-related) stimuli as well as the links between attentional bias and personality types. The study included 98 college students divided into three groups (i.e., high-, medium- and low-OSA) according to their OSA behavior. The personality types (i.e., self-control, BAS/BIS) and OSA behavior were investigated by questionnaires. The attentional bias was evaluated by the OS-related Stroop and dot-probe task (DPT) paradigms. OSA was positively predicted by time spent on online shopping per day and average consumption for online shopping monthly, and negatively by self-control. High-OSA individuals displayed significant attentional biases toward OS-related stimuli in the Stroop, but not DPT paradigm. Moreover, the attentional bias toward OSA-related stimuli in high-OSA individuals was negatively correlated with self-control. These findings demonstrated the critical role of self-control in OSA behavior and attentional bias to OS-related stimuli in high-OSA individuals, indicating that more importance should be attached to self-control for the clinical intervention of online shopping addiction in future studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Predictions versus high-throughput experiments in T-cell epitope discovery: competition or synergy?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundegaard, Claus; Lund, Ole; Nielsen, Morten

2012-01-01

and limitations regarding the number of proteins and MHC alleles that are feasibly handled by such experimental methods have made in silico prediction models of high interest. MHC binding prediction methods are today of a very high quality and can predict MHC binding peptides with high accuracy. This is possible...

Image Analysis of a Negatively Curved Graphitic Sheet Model for Amorphous Carbon

Science.gov (United States)

Bursill, L. A.; Bourgeois, Laure N.

High-resolution electron micrographs are presented which show essentially curved single sheets of graphitic carbon. Image calculations are then presented for the random surface schwarzite-related model of Townsend et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 921-924, 1992). Comparison with experimental images does not rule out the contention that such models, containing surfaces of negative curvature, may be useful for predicting some physical properties of specific forms of nanoporous carbon. Some difficulties of the model predictions, when compared with the experimental images, are pointed out. The range of application of this model, as well as competing models, is discussed briefly.

Stereotype validation: the effects of activating negative stereotypes after intellectual performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Jason K; Thiem, Kelsey C; Barden, Jamie; Stuart, Jillian O'Rourke; Evans, Abigail T

2015-04-01

With regard to intellectual performance, a large body of research has shown that stigmatized group members may perform more poorly when negative, self-relevant stereotypes become activated prior to a task. However, no research to date has identified the potential ramifications of stereotype activation that happens after-rather than before-a person has finished performing. Six studies examined how postperformance stereotype salience may increase the certainty individuals have in evaluations of their own performance. In the current research, the accessibility of gender or racial stereotypes was manipulated after participants completed either a difficult math test (Studies 1-5) or a test of child-care knowledge (Study 6). Consistent with predictions, stereotype activation was found to increase the certainty that women (Studies 1, 2, 4, and 5), African Americans (Study 3), and men (Study 6) had toward negative evaluations of their own test performance. These effects emerged when performance-related perceptions were stereotype consistent rather than inconsistent (Studies 1-6) and were found to be most pronounced among those who were highly identified with the stereotyped group (Study 5). Furthermore, greater certainty-triggered by negative stereotypes-predicted lowered domain-relevant beliefs (Studies 1, 2, 3, and 6) and differential exposure to domain-relevant stimuli (Studies 4 and 5). (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

A digital controlled negative high voltage power source for LINAC of HLS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao Hui; Chen Jun; Hong Jun; Wang Weibing

2005-01-01

This paper introduces the working principle of a 10-80 kV negative high voltage power source for the electronic gun of the 200 MeV LINAC of NSRL, especially how to realize the switch power, voltage/current sampling, feedback control and microcontroller module. The firmware design for the SOC microcontroller of ADuC8xx and the application software design for PC are also presented. (authors)

Confinement improvement in high-ion temperature plasmas heated with high-energy negative-NBI in LHD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeiri, Y.; Morita, S.; Ikeda, K.

2006-10-01

The increase in the ion temperature due to transport improvement has been observed in plasmas heated with high-energy negative-NBI, in which electrons are dominantly heated, in Large Helical Device (LHD). When the centrally focused ECRH is superposed on the NBI plasma, the ion temperature is observed to rise, accompanied by formation of the electron-ITB. This is ascribed to the ion transport improvement with the transition to the neoclassical electron root with a positive radial electric field. In high-Z plasmas, the ion temperature is increased with an increase in the ion heating power, and reaches 13.5keV. The central ion temperature increases with an increase in a gradient of the electron temperature in an outer plasma region of ρ=0.8, suggesting the ion transport improvement in the outer plasma region induced by the neoclassical electron root. These results indicate the effectiveness of the electron-root scenario for obtaining high-ion temperature plasmas in helical systems. (author)

Negative predictive value of 124I-PET/CT imaging in patients affected by metastatic thyroid cancer and treated with 131I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pettinato, C.; Civollani, S.; Nanni, C.; Celli, M.; Allegri, V.; Zagni, P.; Fanti, S.; Monari, F.; Cima, S.; Mazzarotto, R.; Spezi, E.

2015-01-01

Full text of publication follows. Aim: patients affected by metastatic Differentiated Thyroid Cancer (mDTC) are treated with 131 I even in presence of negative diagnostic 131 I whole body (WB) scan. Actually, very often, these patients present positive post therapy 131 I whole body scan, showing iodine avid metastases that were not seen with the diagnostic imaging. The aim of this work was the evaluation of the feasibility to use 124 I PET/CT images to predict patients who will not benefit from the iodine therapy, because of the absence of avidity, avoiding useless treatments. Material and methods: 25 patients affected by mDTC were enrolled in the study approved by the ethical Committee of our Institution, with the aim to evaluate the usefulness of 124 I PET/CT sequential scans to predict absorbed doses to metastatic thyroid cancer patients undergoing 131 I therapy. Patients (pts) were divided into 4 groups, based on their histology: group A, 4 pts with follicular cancer; group B, 13 pts with papillary cancer; group C, 2 pts with papillary tall cells cancer; group D, 6 patients with papillary cancer with follicular variant. Patients showing negative 124 I-PET/CT were treated with a reduced dose of 131 I (3700 MBq) and post treatment WB scans were acquired 96 hours after the therapeutic administration. Results: 12 patients showed at least one metastatic lesion at 124 I PET/CT imaging, and most of the lesions were visible at the 24 hours scan (4 pts group A, 3 pts group B, 5 pts group D). The remaining 13 patients did not show any uptake of all known metastatic lesions at each PET/CT time points (10 pts group B, 2 pts group C, 1 pt group D). Negative PET/CT findings were confirmed by post therapy WB scan. Discussion and Conclusion: 124 I-PET/CT scan is a useful diagnostic tool to discriminate patients with iodine avid metastases. Actually, when they are present, the superiority of PET/CT resolution and sensitivity, compared to standard 131 I planar imaging, allow the

Ferroelectric negative capacitance domain dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffmann, Michael; Khan, Asif Islam; Serrao, Claudy; Lu, Zhongyuan; Salahuddin, Sayeef; Pešić, Milan; Slesazeck, Stefan; Schroeder, Uwe; Mikolajick, Thomas

2018-05-01

Transient negative capacitance effects in epitaxial ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 capacitors are investigated with a focus on the dynamical switching behavior governed by domain nucleation and growth. Voltage pulses are applied to a series connection of the ferroelectric capacitor and a resistor to directly measure the ferroelectric negative capacitance during switching. A time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau approach is used to investigate the underlying domain dynamics. The transient negative capacitance is shown to originate from reverse domain nucleation and unrestricted domain growth. However, with the onset of domain coalescence, the capacitance becomes positive again. The persistence of the negative capacitance state is therefore limited by the speed of domain wall motion. By changing the applied electric field, capacitor area or external resistance, this domain wall velocity can be varied predictably over several orders of magnitude. Additionally, detailed insights into the intrinsic material properties of the ferroelectric are obtainable through these measurements. A new method for reliable extraction of the average negative capacitance of the ferroelectric is presented. Furthermore, a simple analytical model is developed, which accurately describes the negative capacitance transient time as a function of the material properties and the experimental boundary conditions.

"Food addiction" in patients with eating disorders is associated with negative urgency and difficulties to focus on long-term goals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ines eWolz

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate if eating disorder patients differ in specific personality traits depending on a positive screening of food addiction and to find a model to predict food addiction in eating disorder patients using measures of personality and impulsivity. Methods: 278 patients having an eating disorder self-reported on food addiction, impulsivity, personality, eating and general psychopathology. Patients were then split into two groups, depending on a positive or negative result on the food addiction screening. Analysis of variance was used to compare means between the two groups. Stepwise binary logistic regression was used to obtain a predictive model for the presence of food addiction. Results: Patients with food addiction had lower self-directedness, and more negative urgency and lack of perseverance than patients not reporting addictive eating. The probability of food addiction can be predicted by high negative urgency, high reward dependence, and low lack of premeditation. Conclusions: Eating disorder patients who have more problems to pursue tasks to the end and to focus on long-term goals seem to be more likely to develop addictive eating patterns.

Influence of incoherent scattering on stochastic deflection of high-energy negative particle beams in bent crystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kirillin, I.V. [Akhiezer Institute for Theoretical Physics, National Science Center ' ' Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology' ' , Kharkov (Ukraine); Shul' ga, N.F. [Akhiezer Institute for Theoretical Physics, National Science Center ' ' Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology' ' , Kharkov (Ukraine); V.N. Karazin Kharkov National University, Kharkov (Ukraine); Bandiera, L. [INFN Sezione di Ferrara, Ferrara (Italy); Guidi, V.; Mazzolari, A. [INFN Sezione di Ferrara, Ferrara (Italy); Universita degli Studi di Ferrara, Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Ferrara (Italy)

2017-02-15

An investigation on stochastic deflection of high-energy negatively charged particles in a bent crystal was carried out. On the basis of analytical calculation and numerical simulation it was shown that there is a maximum angle at which most of the beam is deflected. The existence of a maximum, which is taken in the correspondence of the optimal radius of curvature, is a novelty with respect to the case of positively charged particles, for which the deflection angle can be freely increased by increasing the crystal length. This difference has to be ascribed to the stronger contribution of incoherent scattering affecting the dynamics of negative particles that move closer to atomic nuclei and electrons. We therefore identified the ideal parameters for the exploitation of axial confinement for negatively charged particle beam manipulation in future high-energy accelerators, e.g., ILC or muon colliders. (orig.)

Testing food-related inhibitory control to high- and low-calorie food stimuli: Electrophysiological responses to high-calorie food stimuli predict calorie and carbohydrate intake.

Science.gov (United States)

Carbine, Kaylie A; Christensen, Edward; LeCheminant, James D; Bailey, Bruce W; Tucker, Larry A; Larson, Michael J

2017-07-01

Maintaining a healthy diet has important implications for physical and mental health. One factor that may influence diet and food consumption is inhibitory control-the ability to withhold a dominant response in order to correctly respond to environmental demands. We examined how N2 amplitude, an ERP that reflects inhibitory control processes, differed toward high- and low-calorie food stimuli and related to food intake. A total of 159 participants (81 female; M age = 23.5 years; SD = 7.6) completed two food-based go/no-go tasks (one with high-calorie and one with low-calorie food pictures as no-go stimuli) while N2 amplitude was recorded. Participants recorded food intake using the Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Dietary Recall system. Inhibiting responses toward high-calorie stimuli elicited a larger (i.e., more negative) no-go N2 amplitude; inhibiting responses toward low-calorie stimuli elicited a smaller no-go N2 amplitude. Participants were more accurate during the high-calorie than low-calorie task, but took longer to respond on go trials toward high-calorie rather than low-calorie stimuli. When controlling for age, gender, and BMI, larger high-calorie N2 difference amplitude predicted lower caloric intake (β = 0.17); low-calorie N2 difference amplitude was not related to caloric intake (β = -0.03). Exploratory analyses revealed larger high-calorie N2 difference amplitude predicted carbohydrate intake (β = 0.22), but not protein (β = 0.08) or fat (β = 0.11) intake. Results suggest that withholding responses from high-calorie foods requires increased recruitment of inhibitory control processes, which may be necessary to regulate food consumption, particularly for foods high in calories and carbohydrates. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Kinetic effects in the propagation of ion-acoustic negative solitons in plasmas with negative ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberto, M.

1986-12-01

The existence of ion-acoustic negative (rarefactive) solitons in plasmas was experimentally verified and explained by means of the Korteweg-de Vries equation, obtained from a fluid model. The experimental results obtained in a double-plasma machine of the Institute for Space Research, however, have provided values of Mach number larger than predicted by this simple model. In order to improve the analysis of the phenomenon, Kinetic effects resultant from the occurrence of reflected electrons and trapped ions in the soliton potential were considered, using the theory of Sagdeev potential. For the description of the negative ion dynamics the fluid model treatment was preserved. It was verified that the effects of the finite temperature and trapping of the positive ions modify the results predicted by the simple KdV model in such a way that the Mach number is reduced as the ion temperature increases. It was shown that reflection of electrons is consistent with the large experimental values of Mach number. (Author) [pt

Review on α-Fe2O3 based negative electrode for high performance supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Nithya, V. D.; Arul, N. Sabari

2016-09-01

Supercapacitor is an electrochemical energy storage device which has drawn attention of the researchers in recent years due to its high power density and long cycle life. Recently, an enormous effort has been imposed to improve the energy density of supercapacitor and might be attained through asymmetric cell configuration that offer wider potential window. Until now, a significant advancement has been achieved in the fabrication of positive electrodes for asymmetric cell. Nevertheless, the electrochemical performance of negative electrode materials is less explored, especially Hematite (α-Fe2O3). The α-Fe2O3 has been proved to be a promising negative electrode in supercapacitor application due to its wide operating potential, high redox activity, low cost, abundant availability and eco-friendliness. In this review, we have chosen α-Fe2O3 as the negative electrode and discussed its latest research progress with emphasis on various surface engineering synthesis strategies such as, carbon, polymer, metal-metal oxide, and ternary based α-Fe2O3 composites for supercapacitor. Besides, the importance of their synergistic effects over the supercapacitive performance in terms of specific capacitance, energy density, power density, cycling life and rate capability are highlighted. Also, an extensive analysis of the literature about its symmetric/asymmetric cell performance is explored.

Predicting visual acuity from detection thresholds.

Science.gov (United States)

Newacheck, J S; Haegerstrom-Portnoy, G; Adams, A J

1990-03-01

Visual performance based exclusively on high luminance and high contrast letter acuity measures often fails to predict individual performance at low contrast and low luminance. Here we measured visual acuity over a wide range of contrasts and luminances (low mesopic to photopic) for 17 young normal observers. Acuity vs. contrast functions appear to fit a single template which can be displaced laterally along the log contrast axis. The magnitude of this lateral displacement for different luminances was well predicted by the contrast threshold difference for a 4 min arc spot. The acuity vs. contrast template, taken from the mean of all 17 subjects, was used in conjunction with individual spot contrast threshold measures to predict an individual's visual acuity over a wide range of luminance and contrast levels. The accuracy of the visual acuity predictions from this simple procedure closely approximates test-retest accuracy for both positive (projected Landolt rings) and negative contrast (Bailey-Lovie charts).

Affective processing within 1/10th of a second: High arousal is necessary for early facilitative processing of negative but not positive words.

Science.gov (United States)

Hofmann, Markus J; Kuchinke, Lars; Tamm, Sascha; Võ, Melissa L-H; Jacobs, Arthur M

2009-12-01

Lexical decisions to high- and low-arousal negative words and to low-arousal neutral and positive words were examined in an event-related potentials (ERP) study. Reaction times to positive and high-arousal negative words were shorter than those to neutral (low-arousal) words, whereas those to low-arousal negative words were longer. A similar pattern was observed in an early time window of the ERP response: Both positive and high-arousal negative words elicited greater negative potentials in a time frame of 80 to 120 msec after stimulus onset. This result suggests that arousal has a differential impact on early lexical processing of positive and negative words. Source localization in the relevant time frame revealed that the arousal effect in negative words is likely to be localized in a left occipito-temporal region including the middle temporal and fusiform gyri. The ERP arousal effect appears to result from early lexico-semantic processing in high-arousal negative words.

Feedback-related negativity codes outcome valence, but not outcome expectancy, during reversal learning.

Science.gov (United States)

von Borries, A K L; Verkes, R J; Bulten, B H; Cools, R; de Bruijn, E R A

2013-12-01

Optimal behavior depends on the ability to assess the predictive value of events and to adjust behavior accordingly. Outcome processing can be studied by using its electrophysiological signatures--that is, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the P300. A prominent reinforcement-learning model predicts an FRN on negative prediction errors, as well as implying a role for the FRN in learning and the adaptation of behavior. However, these predictions have recently been challenged. Notably, studies so far have used tasks in which the outcomes have been contingent on the response. In these paradigms, the need to adapt behavioral responses is present only for negative, not for positive feedback. The goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of positive as well as negative violations of expectancy on FRN amplitudes, without the usual confound of behavioral adjustments. A reversal-learning task was employed in which outcome value and outcome expectancy were orthogonalized; that is, both positive and negative outcomes were equally unexpected. The results revealed a double dissociation, with effects of valence but not expectancy on the FRN and, conversely, effects of expectancy but not valence on the P300. While FRN amplitudes were largest for negative-outcome trials, irrespective of outcome expectancy, P300 amplitudes were largest for unexpected-outcome trials, irrespective of outcome valence. These FRN effects were interpreted to reflect an evaluation along a good-bad dimension, rather than reflecting a negative prediction error or a role in behavioral adaptation. By contrast, the P300 reflects the updating of information relevant for behavior in a changing context.

Negative perceptions of ageing predict the onset and persistence of depression and anxiety

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Freeman, Aislinné Theresa; Santini, Ziggi Ivan; Tyrovolas, Stefanos

2016-01-01

data on negative ageing perceptions were used for the analysis and it is possible that scores could have changed over time. CONCLUSIONS: Addressing negative perceptions towards ageing by developing interventions that activate positive ageing perceptions, and target societal attitudes by means of policy......BACKGROUND: Although there is a growing literature on the adverse health outcomes related with negative ageing perceptions, studies on their association with mental disorders such as depression and anxiety are scarce. Thus, the aim of the current study was to prospectively assess the association...... between negative ageing perceptions and incident/persistent depression and anxiety using nationally representative data from Ireland. METHODS: Data from two consecutive waves of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) were analysed. The analytical sample consisted of 6095 adults aged ≥50 years...

Presence of High-Risk HPV mRNA in Relation to Future High-Grade Lesions among High-Risk HPV DNA Positive Women with Minor Cytological Abnormalities.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanna Johansson

Full Text Available Continuous expression of E6- and E7-oncogenes of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV types is necessary for the development and maintenance of the dysplastic phenotype. The aim of the study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the APTIMA HPV mRNA assay (Hologic in predicting future development of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN among high-risk HPV-DNA-positive women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS or low-grade squamous epithelial lesion (LSIL cytology.Archived SurePath cervical samples of women ≥ 35 years of age with high-risk HPV DNA-positive ASCUS (n = 211 or LSIL, (n = 131 were tested for the presence of high-risk HPV E6/E7 mRNA using the APTIMA HPV assay, and the women were monitored for development of histopathologically verified CIN2+.Twenty-nine percent (61/211 of the women in the ASCUS group, and 34.3% (45/131 in the LSIL group developed CIN2+ within 4.5 years of follow-up. The prevalence of HPV mRNA was 90.0% (95% CI 85.9-94.0 among women with ASCUS and 95.4% (95% CI 91.8-99.0 among women with LSIL. The presence of HPV E6/E7 mRNA was associated with future development of CIN2+ among women with ASCUS and LSIL (p=0.02. The mRNA assay demonstrated high sensitivity in predicting future CIN2+ and CIN3 for index ASCUS (96.7%; 95% CI 87.6-99.4 and 100%; 95% CI 82.2-100, respectively and LSIL (97.8%, 95% CI 86.8-99.9 and 100%, 95% CI 79.9-100, respectively. The corresponding specificity was low, 12.7% (95% CI 7.9-19.3 and 5.8% (95% CI 2.2-13.6, for future CIN2+, respectively. The negative predictive value of the HPV mRNA assay for detecting future CIN3 was 100%, since no mRNA-negative woman developed CIN3 (0/27 as compared to 13.6% (43/315 of the mRNA-positive women (p = 0.03.The APTIMA mRNA assay demonstrated high sensitivity but low specificity in predicting future CIN2+ among women with minor cytological abnormalities. The assay had high negative predictive value for future

Presence of High-Risk HPV mRNA in Relation to Future High-Grade Lesions among High-Risk HPV DNA Positive Women with Minor Cytological Abnormalities

Science.gov (United States)

Johansson, Hanna; Bjelkenkrantz, Kaj; Darlin, Lotten; Dilllner, Joakim; Forslund, Ola

2015-01-01

Objective Continuous expression of E6- and E7-oncogenes of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) types is necessary for the development and maintenance of the dysplastic phenotype. The aim of the study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the APTIMA HPV mRNA assay (Hologic) in predicting future development of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) among high-risk HPV-DNA-positive women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) or low-grade squamous epithelial lesion (LSIL) cytology. Methods Archived SurePath cervical samples of women ≥ 35 years of age with high-risk HPV DNA-positive ASCUS (n = 211) or LSIL, (n = 131) were tested for the presence of high-risk HPV E6/E7 mRNA using the APTIMA HPV assay, and the women were monitored for development of histopathologically verified CIN2+. Results Twenty-nine percent (61/211) of the women in the ASCUS group, and 34.3% (45/131) in the LSIL group developed CIN2+ within 4.5 years of follow-up. The prevalence of HPV mRNA was 90.0% (95% CI 85.9-94.0) among women with ASCUS and 95.4% (95% CI 91.8-99.0) among women with LSIL. The presence of HPV E6/E7 mRNA was associated with future development of CIN2+ among women with ASCUS and LSIL (p=0.02). The mRNA assay demonstrated high sensitivity in predicting future CIN2+ and CIN3 for index ASCUS (96.7%; 95% CI 87.6-99.4 and 100%; 95% CI 82.2-100, respectively) and LSIL (97.8%, 95% CI 86.8-99.9 and 100%, 95% CI 79.9-100, respectively). The corresponding specificity was low, 12.7% (95% CI 7.9-19.3) and 5.8% (95% CI 2.2-13.6), for future CIN2+, respectively. The negative predictive value of the HPV mRNA assay for detecting future CIN3 was 100%, since no mRNA-negative woman developed CIN3 (0/27) as compared to 13.6% (43/315) of the mRNA-positive women (p = 0.03). Conclusion The APTIMA mRNA assay demonstrated high sensitivity but low specificity in predicting future CIN2+ among women with minor cytological abnormalities. The assay had

SM-1 negative ion source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Zhenjun; Wang Jianzhen

1987-01-01

The working principle and characteristics of SM-1 Negative Ion Source is mainly introduced. In the instrument, there is a device to remove O 3 . This instrument can keep high density of negative ions which is generated by the electrical coronas setting out electricity at negative high voltage and can remove the O 3 component which is harmful to the human body. The density of negative ions is higher than 2.5 x 10 6 p./cm 3 while that of O 3 components is less than 1 ppb at the distance of 50 cm from the panel of the instrument. The instrument sprays negative ions automatically without the help of electric fan, so it works noiselessly. It is widely used in national defence, industry, agriculture, forestry, stock raising, sidelines and in the places with an equipment of low density of negative ion or high concentration of O 3 components. Besides, the instrument may also be used to treat diseases, to prevent against rot, to arrest bacteria, to purify air and so on

High-negative effective refractive index of silver nanoparticles system in nanocomposite films

Science.gov (United States)

Altunin, Konstantin K.; Gadomsky, Oleg N.

2012-03-01

We have proved on the basis of the experimental optical reflection and transmission spectra of the nanocomposite film of poly(methyl methacrylate) with silver nanoparticles that (PMMA + Ag) nanocomposite films have quasi-zero refractive indices in the optical wavelength range. We show that to achieve quasi-zero values of the complex index of refraction of composite materials is necessary to achieve high-negative effective refractive index in the system of spherical silver nanoparticles.

Reciprocal influences between negative life events and callous-unemotional traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimonis, Eva R; Centifanti, Luna C M; Allen, Jennifer L; Frick, Paul J

2014-11-01

Children with conduct problems and co-occurring callous-unemotional (CU) traits show more severe, stable, and aggressive antisocial behaviors than those without CU traits. Exposure to negative life events has been identified as an important contributing factor to the expression of CU traits across time, although the directionality of this effect has remained unknown due to a lack of longitudinal study. The present longitudinal study examined potential bidirectional effects of CU traits leading to experiencing more negative life events and negative life events leading to increases in CU traits across 3 years among a sample of community-based school-aged (M = 10.9, SD = 1.71 years) boys and girls (N = 98). Repeated rating measures of CU traits, negative life events and conduct problems completed by children and parents during annual assessments were moderately to highly stable across time. Cross-lagged models supported a reciprocal relationship of moderate magnitude between child-reported CU traits and "controllable" negative life events. Parent-reported CU traits predicted "uncontrollable" life events at the earlier time point and controllable life events at the later time point, but no reciprocal effect was evident. These findings have important implications for understanding developmental processes that contribute to the stability of CU traits in youth.

Predicting Negative Life Outcomes from Early Aggressive-Disruptive Behavior Trajectories: Gender Differences in Maladaptation across Life Domains

Science.gov (United States)

Bradshaw, Catherine P.; Schaeffer, Cindy M.; Petras, Hanno; Ialongo, Nicholas

2010-01-01

Transactional theories of development suggest that displaying high levels of antisocial behavior early in life and persistently over time causes disruption in multiple life domains, which in turn places individuals at risk for negative life outcomes. We used longitudinal data from 1,137 primarily African American urban youth (49.1% female) to…

High-ion temperature experiments with negative-ion-based NBI in LHD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeiri, Y.; Morita, S.; Tsumori, K.; Ikeda, K.; Oka, Y.; Osakabe, M.; Nagaoka, K.; Goto, M.; Miyazawa, J.; Masuzaki, S.; Ashikawa, N.; Yokoyama, M.; Narihara, K.; Yamada, I.; Kubo, S.; Shimozuma, T.; Inagaki, S.; Tanaka, K.; Peterson, B.J.; Ida, K.; Kaneko, O.; Komori, A.; Murakami, S.

2005-01-01

High-Z plasmas have been produced with Ar- and/or Ne-gas fuelling to increase the ion temperature in the LHD plasmas heated with the high-energy negative-ion-based NBI. Although the electron heating is dominant in the high-energy NBI heating, the direct ion heating power is much enhanced effectively in low-density plasmas due to both an increase in the beam absorption (ionisation) power and a reduction of the ion density in the high-Z plasmas. Intensive Ne- and/or Ar-glow discharge cleaning works well to suppress dilution of the high-Z plasmas with the wall-absorbed hydrogen. As a result, the ion temperature increases with an increase in the ion heating power normalized by the ion density, and reaches 10 keV. An increase in the ion temperature is also observed with an addition of the centrally focused ECRH to the low-density and high-Z NBI plasma, suggesting improvement of the ion transport. The results obtained in the high-Z plasma experiments with the high-energy NBI heating indicate that an increase in the direct ion heating power and improvement of the ion transport are essential to the ion temperature rise, and that a high-ion temperature would be obtained as well in hydrogen plasmas with low-energy positive-NBI heating which is planed in near future in LHD. (author)

High-permeability region size on perfusion CT predicts hemorrhagic transformation after intravenous thrombolysis in stroke.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josep Puig

Full Text Available Blood-brain barrier (BBB permeability has been proposed as a predictor of hemorrhagic transformation (HT after tissue plasminogen activator (tPA administration; however, the reliability of perfusion computed tomography (PCT permeability imaging for predicting HT is uncertain. We aimed to determine the performance of high-permeability region size on PCT (HPrs-PCT in predicting HT after intravenous tPA administration in patients with acute stroke.We performed a multimodal CT protocol (non-contrast CT, PCT, CT angiography to prospectively study patients with middle cerebral artery occlusion treated with tPA within 4.5 hours of symptom onset. HT was graded at 24 hours using the European-Australasian Acute Stroke Study II criteria. ROC curves selected optimal volume threshold, and multivariate logistic regression analysis identified predictors of HT.The study included 156 patients (50% male, median age 75.5 years. Thirty-seven (23,7% developed HT [12 (7,7%, parenchymal hematoma type 2 (PH-2]. At admission, patients with HT had lower platelet values, higher NIHSS scores, increased ischemic lesion volumes, larger HPrs-PCT, and poorer collateral status. The negative predictive value of HPrs-PCT at a threshold of 7mL/100g/min was 0.84 for HT and 0.93 for PH-2. The multiple regression analysis selected HPrs-PCT at 7mL/100g/min combined with platelets and baseline NIHSS score as the best model for predicting HT (AUC 0.77. HPrs-PCT at 7mL/100g/min was the only independent predictor of PH-2 (OR 1, AUC 0.68, p = 0.045.HPrs-PCT can help predict HT after tPA, and is particularly useful in identifying patients at low risk of developing HT.

High-permeability region size on perfusion CT predicts hemorrhagic transformation after intravenous thrombolysis in stroke

Science.gov (United States)

Puig, Josep; Blasco, Gerard; Daunis-i-Estadella, Pepus; van Eendendburg, Cecile; Carrillo-García, María; Aboud, Carlos; Hernández-Pérez, María; Serena, Joaquín; Biarnés, Carles; Nael, Kambiz; Liebeskind, David S.; Thomalla, Götz; Menon, Bijoy K.; Demchuk, Andrew; Wintermark, Max; Pedraza, Salvador

2017-01-01

Objective Blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability has been proposed as a predictor of hemorrhagic transformation (HT) after tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) administration; however, the reliability of perfusion computed tomography (PCT) permeability imaging for predicting HT is uncertain. We aimed to determine the performance of high-permeability region size on PCT (HPrs-PCT) in predicting HT after intravenous tPA administration in patients with acute stroke. Methods We performed a multimodal CT protocol (non-contrast CT, PCT, CT angiography) to prospectively study patients with middle cerebral artery occlusion treated with tPA within 4.5 hours of symptom onset. HT was graded at 24 hours using the European-Australasian Acute Stroke Study II criteria. ROC curves selected optimal volume threshold, and multivariate logistic regression analysis identified predictors of HT. Results The study included 156 patients (50% male, median age 75.5 years). Thirty-seven (23,7%) developed HT [12 (7,7%), parenchymal hematoma type 2 (PH-2)]. At admission, patients with HT had lower platelet values, higher NIHSS scores, increased ischemic lesion volumes, larger HPrs-PCT, and poorer collateral status. The negative predictive value of HPrs-PCT at a threshold of 7mL/100g/min was 0.84 for HT and 0.93 for PH-2. The multiple regression analysis selected HPrs-PCT at 7mL/100g/min combined with platelets and baseline NIHSS score as the best model for predicting HT (AUC 0.77). HPrs-PCT at 7mL/100g/min was the only independent predictor of PH-2 (OR 1, AUC 0.68, p = 0.045). Conclusions HPrs-PCT can help predict HT after tPA, and is particularly useful in identifying patients at low risk of developing HT. PMID:29182658

Ice nucleation triggered by negative pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcolli, Claudia

2017-11-30

Homogeneous ice nucleation needs supercooling of more than 35 K to become effective. When pressure is applied to water, the melting and the freezing points both decrease. Conversely, melting and freezing temperatures increase under negative pressure, i.e. when water is stretched. This study presents an extrapolation of homogeneous ice nucleation temperatures from positive to negative pressures as a basis for further exploration of ice nucleation under negative pressure. It predicts that increasing negative pressure at temperatures below about 262 K eventually results in homogeneous ice nucleation while at warmer temperature homogeneous cavitation, i. e. bubble nucleation, dominates. Negative pressure occurs locally and briefly when water is stretched due to mechanical shock, sonic waves, or fragmentation. The occurrence of such transient negative pressure should suffice to trigger homogeneous ice nucleation at large supercooling in the absence of ice-nucleating surfaces. In addition, negative pressure can act together with ice-inducing surfaces to enhance their intrinsic ice nucleation efficiency. Dynamic ice nucleation can be used to improve properties and uniformity of frozen products by applying ultrasonic fields and might also be relevant for the freezing of large drops in rainclouds.

The influence of organizational culture on negative work-home interference among highly educated employees in the hospitality industry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blomme, R.J.; Sok, J.; Tromp, D.M.

2013-01-01

An issue which has recently come to the fore in studies conducted among hospitality industry employees is the effect of negative work-home interference on the turnover of highly educated employees. This article examines the role of organizational culture with regard to negative work-home

Negative velocity fluctuations and non-equilibrium fluctuation relation for a driven high critical current vortex state.

Science.gov (United States)

Bag, Biplab; Shaw, Gorky; Banerjee, S S; Majumdar, Sayantan; Sood, A K; Grover, A K

2017-07-17

Under the influence of a constant drive the moving vortex state in 2H-NbS 2 superconductor exhibits a negative differential resistance (NDR) transition from a steady flow to an immobile state. This state possesses a high depinning current threshold ([Formula: see text]) with unconventional depinning characteristics. At currents well above [Formula: see text], the moving vortex state exhibits a multimodal velocity distribution which is characteristic of vortex flow instabilities in the NDR regime. However at lower currents which are just above [Formula: see text], the velocity distribution is non-Gaussian with a tail extending to significant negative velocity values. These unusual negative velocity events correspond to vortices drifting opposite to the driving force direction. We show that this distribution obeys the Gallavotti-Cohen Non-Equilibrium Fluctuation Relation (GC-NEFR). Just above [Formula: see text], we also find a high vortex density fluctuating driven state not obeying the conventional GC-NEFR. The GC-NEFR analysis provides a measure of an effective energy scale (E eff ) associated with the driven vortex state. The E eff corresponds to the average energy dissipated by the fluctuating vortex state above [Formula: see text]. We propose the high E eff value corresponds to the onset of high energy dynamic instabilities in this driven vortex state just above [Formula: see text].

Thermomechanical fatigue life prediction of high temperature components

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seifert, Thomas; Hartrott, Philipp von; Riedel, Hermann; Siegele, Dieter [Fraunhofer-Inst. fuer Werkstoffmechanik (IWM), Freiburg (Germany)

2009-07-01

The aim of the work described in this paper is to provide a computational method for fatigue life prediction of high temperature components, in which the time and temperature dependent fatigue crack growth is a relevant damage mechanism. The fatigue life prediction is based on a law for microcrack growth and a fracture mechanics estimate of the cyclic crack tip opening displacement. In addition, a powerful model for nonisothermal cyclic plasticity is employed, and an efficient laboratory test procedure is proposed for the determination of the model parameters. The models are efficiently implemented into finite element programs and are used to predict the fatigue life of a cast iron exhaust manifold and a notch in the perimeter of a turbine rotor made of a ferritic/martensitic 10%-chromium steel. (orig.)

Emotional bias of sleep-dependent processing shifts from negative to positive with aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Bethany J; Schultz, Kurt S; Adams, Sydney; Baran, Bengi; Spencer, Rebecca M C

2016-09-01

Age-related memory decline has been proposed to result partially from impairments in memory consolidation over sleep. However, such decline may reflect a shift toward selective processing of positive information with age rather than impaired sleep-related mechanisms. In the present study, young and older adults viewed negative and neutral pictures or positive and neutral pictures and underwent a recognition test after sleep or wake. Subjective emotional reactivity and affect were also measured. Compared with waking, sleep preserved valence ratings and memory for positive but not negative pictures in older adults and negative but not positive pictures in young adults. In older adults, memory for positive pictures was associated with slow wave sleep. Furthermore, slow wave sleep predicted positive affect in older adults but was inversely related to positive affect in young adults. These relationships were strongest for older adults with high memory for positive pictures and young adults with high memory for negative pictures. Collectively, these results indicate preserved but selective sleep-dependent memory processing with healthy aging that may be biased to enhance emotional well-being. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of machine learning algorithms for prediction of regions of high Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes uncertainty

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Ling, J.; Templeton, J.

2015-08-01

Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) models are widely used in industry to predict fluid flows, despite their acknowledged deficiencies. Not only do RANS models often produce inaccurate flow predictions, but there are very limited diagnostics available to assess RANS accuracy for a given flow configuration. If experimental or higher fidelity simulation results are not available for RANS validation, there is no reliable method to evaluate RANS accuracy. This paper explores the potential of utilizing machine learning algorithms to identify regions of high RANS uncertainty. Three different machine learning algorithms were evaluated: support vector machines, Adaboost decision trees, and random forests. The algorithms were trained on a database of canonical flow configurations for which validated direct numerical simulation or large eddy simulation results were available, and were used to classify RANS results on a point-by-point basis as having either high or low uncertainty, based on the breakdown of specific RANS modeling assumptions. Classifiers were developed for three different basic RANS eddy viscosity model assumptions: the isotropy of the eddy viscosity, the linearity of the Boussinesq hypothesis, and the non-negativity of the eddy viscosity. It is shown that these classifiers are able to generalize to flows substantially different from those on which they were trained. Feature selection techniques, model evaluation, and extrapolation detection are discussed in the context of turbulence modeling applications.

Disentangling the Predictive Validity of High School Grades for Academic Success in University

Science.gov (United States)

Vulperhorst, Jonne; Lutz, Christel; de Kleijn, Renske; van Tartwijk, Jan

2018-01-01

To refine selective admission models, we investigate which measure of prior achievement has the best predictive validity for academic success in university. We compare the predictive validity of three core high school subjects to the predictive validity of high school grade point average (GPA) for academic achievement in a liberal arts university…

High mortality risk among individuals assumed to be TB-negative can be predicted using a simple test

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rabna, Paulo; Andersen, Andreas; Wejse, Christian

2009-01-01

1007 aTBneg individuals who were enrolled from 2004 to 2006; 4983 age-matched controls were followed for comparison. Plasma suPAR levels were measured using the suPARnostic ELISA. Survival was analysed using Cox regression, ROC curves and Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS: After 3 months of follow......-up, mortality was 21 per 100 person-year-observation (PYO) among aTBneg individuals and three per 100 PYO among the control population [mortality rate ratio (MRR) = 6.92 (95% CI 4.48-10.7)]. SuPAR values ranged between 0.9 and 45 ng/ml in aTBneg individuals. A log-linear relationship was found between su......PAR levels linear range, a 1 ng/ml increase was associated with a 46% increase in the mortality rate: MRR = 1.46 (95% CI 1.34-1.59). The area under the ROC curves was 0.88 for HIV-positive individuals and 0.79 for HIV-negative individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed...

Predicting the onset of psychosis in patients at clinical high risk: practical guide to probabilistic prognostic reasoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Fusar-Poli, P; Schultze-Lutter, F

2016-02-01

Prediction of psychosis in patients at clinical high risk (CHR) has become a mainstream focus of clinical and research interest worldwide. When using CHR instruments for clinical purposes, the predicted outcome is but only a probability; and, consequently, any therapeutic action following the assessment is based on probabilistic prognostic reasoning. Yet, probabilistic reasoning makes considerable demands on the clinicians. We provide here a scholarly practical guide summarising the key concepts to support clinicians with probabilistic prognostic reasoning in the CHR state. We review risk or cumulative incidence of psychosis in, person-time rate of psychosis, Kaplan-Meier estimates of psychosis risk, measures of prognostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity in receiver operator characteristic curves, positive and negative predictive values, Bayes' theorem, likelihood ratios, potentials and limits of real-life applications of prognostic probabilistic reasoning in the CHR state. Understanding basic measures used for prognostic probabilistic reasoning is a prerequisite for successfully implementing the early detection and prevention of psychosis in clinical practice. Future refinement of these measures for CHR patients may actually influence risk management, especially as regards initiating or withholding treatment. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Fast Algorithms for High-Order Sparse Linear Prediction with Applications to Speech Processing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Tobias Lindstrøm; Giacobello, Daniele; van Waterschoot, Toon

2016-01-01

In speech processing applications, imposing sparsity constraints on high-order linear prediction coefficients and prediction residuals has proven successful in overcoming some of the limitation of conventional linear predictive modeling. However, this modeling scheme, named sparse linear prediction...... problem with lower accuracy than in previous work. In the experimental analysis, we clearly show that a solution with lower accuracy can achieve approximately the same performance as a high accuracy solution both objectively, in terms of prediction gain, as well as with perceptual relevant measures, when...... evaluated in a speech reconstruction application....

Negative binomial multiplicity distributions, a new empirical law for high energy collisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Hove, L.; Giovannini, A.

1987-01-01

For a variety of high energy hadron production reactions, recent experiments have confirmed the findings of the UA5 Collaboration that charged particle multiplicities in central (pseudo) rapidity intervals and in full phase space obey negative binomial (NB) distributions. The authors discuss the meaning of this new empirical law on the basis of new data and they show that they support the interpretation of the NB distributions in terms of a cascading mechanism of hardron production

Statistical approach to predict compressive strength of high workability slag-cement mortars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Memon, N.A.; Memon, N.A.; Sumadi, S.R.

2009-01-01

This paper reports an attempt made to develop empirical expressions to estimate/ predict the compressive strength of high workability slag-cement mortars. Experimental data of 54 mix mortars were used. The mortars were prepared with slag as cement replacement of the order of 0, 50 and 60%. The flow (workability) was maintained at 136+-3%. The numerical and statistical analysis was performed by using database computer software Microsoft Office Excel 2003. Three empirical mathematical models were developed to estimate/predict 28 days compressive strength of high workability slag cement-mortars with 0, 50 and 60% slag which predict the values accurate between 97 and 98%. Finally a generalized empirical mathematical model was proposed which can predict 28 days compressive strength of high workability mortars up to degree of accuracy 95%. (author)

Prediction of boiling points of organic compounds by QSPR tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Yi-min; Zhu, Zhi-ping; Cao, Zhong; Zhang, Yue-fei; Zeng, Ju-lan; Li, Xun

2013-07-01

The novel electro-negativity topological descriptors of YC, WC were derived from molecular structure by equilibrium electro-negativity of atom and relative bond length of molecule. The quantitative structure-property relationships (QSPR) between descriptors of YC, WC as well as path number parameter P3 and the normal boiling points of 80 alkanes, 65 unsaturated hydrocarbons and 70 alcohols were obtained separately. The high-quality prediction models were evidenced by coefficient of determination (R(2)), the standard error (S), average absolute errors (AAE) and predictive parameters (Qext(2),RCV(2),Rm(2)). According to the regression equations, the influences of the length of carbon backbone, the size, the degree of branching of a molecule and the role of functional groups on the normal boiling point were analyzed. Comparison results with reference models demonstrated that novel topological descriptors based on the equilibrium electro-negativity of atom and the relative bond length were useful molecular descriptors for predicting the normal boiling points of organic compounds. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Negative vacuum energy densities and the causal diamond measure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salem, Michael P.

2009-01-01

Arguably a major success of the landscape picture is the prediction of a small, nonzero vacuum energy density. The details of this prediction depend in part on how the diverging spacetime volume of the multiverse is regulated, a question that remains unresolved. One proposal, the causal diamond measure, has demonstrated many phenomenological successes, including predicting a distribution of positive vacuum energy densities in good agreement with observation. In the string landscape, however, the vacuum energy density is expected to take positive and negative values. We find the causal diamond measure gives a poor fit to observation in such a landscape - in particular, 99.6% of observers in galaxies seemingly just like ours measure a vacuum energy density smaller than we do, most of them measuring it to be negative.

Compound Structure-Independent Activity Prediction in High-Dimensional Target Space.

Science.gov (United States)

Balfer, Jenny; Hu, Ye; Bajorath, Jürgen

2014-08-01

Profiling of compound libraries against arrays of targets has become an important approach in pharmaceutical research. The prediction of multi-target compound activities also represents an attractive task for machine learning with potential for drug discovery applications. Herein, we have explored activity prediction in high-dimensional target space. Different types of models were derived to predict multi-target activities. The models included naïve Bayesian (NB) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers based upon compound structure information and NB models derived on the basis of activity profiles, without considering compound structure. Because the latter approach can be applied to incomplete training data and principally depends on the feature independence assumption, SVM modeling was not applicable in this case. Furthermore, iterative hybrid NB models making use of both activity profiles and compound structure information were built. In high-dimensional target space, NB models utilizing activity profile data were found to yield more accurate activity predictions than structure-based NB and SVM models or hybrid models. An in-depth analysis of activity profile-based models revealed the presence of correlation effects across different targets and rationalized prediction accuracy. Taken together, the results indicate that activity profile information can be effectively used to predict the activity of test compounds against novel targets. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Clinical utility of an epigenetic assay to detect occult prostate cancer in histopathologically negative biopsies: results of the MATLOC study.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Grant D; Van Neste, Leander; Delvenne, Philippe; Delrée, Paul; Delga, Agnès; McNeill, S Alan; O'Donnell, Marie; Clark, James; Van Criekinge, Wim; Bigley, Joseph; Harrison, David J

2013-03-01

Concern about possible false-negative prostate biopsy histopathology findings often leads to rebiopsy. A quantitative methylation specific polymerase chain reaction assay panel, including GSTP1, APC and RASSF1, could increase the sensitivity of detecting cancer over that of pathological review alone, leading to a high negative predictive value and a decrease in unnecessary repeat biopsies. The MATLOC study blindly tested archived prostate biopsy needle core tissue samples of 498 subjects from the United Kingdom and Belgium with histopathologically negative prostate biopsies, followed by positive (cases) or negative (controls) repeat biopsy within 30 months. Clinical performance of the epigenetic marker panel, emphasizing negative predictive value, was assessed and cross-validated. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate all risk factors. The epigenetic assay performed on the first negative biopsies of this retrospective review cohort resulted in a negative predictive value of 90% (95% CI 87-93). In a multivariate model correcting for patient age, prostate specific antigen, digital rectal examination and first biopsy histopathological characteristics the epigenetic assay was a significant independent predictor of patient outcome (OR 3.17, 95% CI 1.81-5.53). A multiplex quantitative methylation specific polymerase chain reaction assay determining the methylation status of GSTP1, APC and RASSF1 was strongly associated with repeat biopsy outcome up to 30 months after initial negative biopsy in men with suspicion of prostate cancer. Adding this epigenetic assay could improve the prostate cancer diagnostic process and decrease unnecessary repeat biopsies. Copyright © 2013 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Negative Aging Attitudes Predict Greater Reactivity to Daily Stressors in Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellingtier, Jennifer A; Neupert, Shevaun D

2016-08-03

In order to understand conflicting findings regarding the emotional reactions of older adults to daily stressors, we examined the possibility that negative aging attitudes could function as an important individual differences factor related to stressor reactivity. Using a daily dairy design, we examined the aging attitudes of 43 older adults reporting on 380 total days. Participants reported their aging attitudes on Day 1, followed by their stressor exposure and negative affect on Days 2-9. Covariates included age, gender, education, and personality. Using multilevel modeling, our results suggest that individuals with more positive aging attitudes report consistent levels of affect across study days regardless of stressors, whereas those with more negative aging attitudes reported increased emotional reactivity to daily stressors. Positive aging attitudes may serve as a resource that helps buffer reactions to daily stressors. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A comprehensive iterative approach is highly effective in diagnosing individuals who are exome negative.

Science.gov (United States)

Shashi, Vandana; Schoch, Kelly; Spillmann, Rebecca; Cope, Heidi; Tan, Queenie K-G; Walley, Nicole; Pena, Loren; McConkie-Rosell, Allyn; Jiang, Yong-Hui; Stong, Nicholas; Need, Anna C; Goldstein, David B

2018-06-15

Sixty to seventy-five percent of individuals with rare and undiagnosed phenotypes remain undiagnosed after exome sequencing (ES). With standard ES reanalysis resolving 10-15% of the ES negatives, further approaches are necessary to maximize diagnoses in these individuals. In 38 ES negative patients an individualized genomic-phenotypic approach was employed utilizing (1) phenotyping; (2) reanalyses of FASTQ files, with innovative bioinformatics; (3) targeted molecular testing; (4) genome sequencing (GS); and (5) conferring of clinical diagnoses when pathognomonic clinical findings occurred. Certain and highly likely diagnoses were made in 18/38 (47%) individuals, including identifying two new developmental disorders. The majority of diagnoses (>70%) were due to our bioinformatics, phenotyping, and targeted testing identifying variants that were undetected or not prioritized on prior ES. GS diagnosed 3/18 individuals with structural variants not amenable to ES. Additionally, tentative diagnoses were made in 3 (8%), and in 5 individuals (13%) candidate genes were identified. Overall, diagnoses/potential leads were identified in 26/38 (68%). Our comprehensive approach to ES negatives maximizes the ES and clinical data for both diagnoses and candidate gene identification, without GS in the majority. This iterative approach is cost-effective and is pertinent to the current conundrum of ES negatives.

Reducing negative affect and increasing rapport improve interracial mentorship outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Leitner, Jordan B; Ayduk, Özlem; Boykin, C Malik; Mendoza-Denton, Rodolfo

2018-01-01

Research suggests that interracial mentoring relationships are strained by negative affect and low rapport. As such, it stands to reason that strategies that decrease negative affect and increase rapport should improve these relationships. However, previous research has not tested this possibility. In video-chats (Studies 1 and 2) and face-to-face meetings (Study 3), we manipulated the degree of mutual self-disclosure between mentees and mentors, a strategy that has been shown to reduce negative affect and increase rapport. We then measured negative affect and rapport as mediators, and mentee performance (quality of speech delivered; Studies 1 and 3) and mentor performance (warmth and helpfulness; Studies 2 and 3) as key outcomes. Results revealed that increased self-disclosure decreased negative affect and increased rapport for both mentees and mentors. Among mentees, decreased negative affect predicted better performance (Studies 1 and 3). Among mentors, increased rapport predicted warmer feedback (Studies 2 and 3). These effects remained significant when we meta-analyzed data across studies (Study 4), and also revealed the relationship of rapport to more helpful feedback. Findings suggest that affect and rapport are key features in facilitating positive outcomes in interracial mentoring relationships.

Pretreatment data is highly predictive of liver chemistry signals in clinical trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Zhaohui; Bresell, Anders; Steinberg, Mark H; Silberg, Debra G; Furlong, Stephen T

2012-01-01

The goal of this retrospective analysis was to assess how well predictive models could determine which patients would develop liver chemistry signals during clinical trials based on their pretreatment (baseline) information. Based on data from 24 late-stage clinical trials, classification models were developed to predict liver chemistry outcomes using baseline information, which included demographics, medical history, concomitant medications, and baseline laboratory results. Predictive models using baseline data predicted which patients would develop liver signals during the trials with average validation accuracy around 80%. Baseline levels of individual liver chemistry tests were most important for predicting their own elevations during the trials. High bilirubin levels at baseline were not uncommon and were associated with a high risk of developing biochemical Hy's law cases. Baseline γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) level appeared to have some predictive value, but did not increase predictability beyond using established liver chemistry tests. It is possible to predict which patients are at a higher risk of developing liver chemistry signals using pretreatment (baseline) data. Derived knowledge from such predictions may allow proactive and targeted risk management, and the type of analysis described here could help determine whether new biomarkers offer improved performance over established ones.

High Correlated Paternity Leads to Negative Effects on Progeny Performance in Two Mediterranean Shrub Species.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sofia Nora

Full Text Available Anthropogenic habitat deterioration can promote changes in plant mating systems that subsequently may affect progeny performance, thereby conditioning plant recruitment for the next generation. However, very few studies yet tested mating system parameters other than outcrossing rates; and the direct effects of the genetic diversity of the pollen received by maternal plants (i.e. correlated paternity has often been overlooked. In this study, we investigated the relation between correlated paternity and progeny performance in two common Mediterranean shrubs, Myrtus communis and Pistacia lentiscus. To do so, we collected open-pollinated progeny from selected maternal plants, calculated mating system parameters using microsatellite genotyping and conducted sowing experiments under greenhouse and field conditions. Our results showed that some progeny fitness components were negatively affected by the high correlated paternity of maternal plants. In Myrtus communis, high correlated paternity had a negative effect on the proportion and timing of seedling emergence in the natural field conditions and in the greenhouse sowing experiment, respectively. In Pistacia lentiscus, seedling emergence time under field conditions was also negatively influenced by high correlated paternity and a progeny survival analysis in the field experiment showed greater mortality of seedlings from maternal plants with high correlated paternity. Overall, we found effects of correlated paternity on the progeny performance of Myrtus communis, a self-compatible species. Further, we also detected effects of correlated paternity on the progeny emergence time and survival in Pistacia lentiscus, an obligate outcrossed species. This study represents one of the few existing empirical examples which highlight the influence that correlated paternity may exert on progeny performance in multiple stages during early seedling growth.

Identification of ten variants associated with risk of estrogen-receptor-negative breast cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Milne, Roger L; Kuchenbaecker, Karoline B; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Beesley, Jonathan; Kar, Siddhartha; Lindström, Sara; Hui, Shirley; Lemaçon, Audrey; Soucy, Penny; Dennis, Joe; Jiang, Xia; Rostamianfar, Asha; Finucane, Hilary; Bolla, Manjeet K; McGuffog, Lesley; Wang, Qin; Aalfs, Cora M; Adams, Marcia; Adlard, Julian; Agata, Simona; Ahmed, Shahana; Ahsan, Habibul; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Al-Ejeh, Fares; Allen, Jamie; Ambrosone, Christine B; Amos, Christopher I; Andrulis, Irene L; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Antonenkova, Natalia N; Arndt, Volker; Arnold, Norbert; Aronson, Kristan J; Auber, Bernd; Auer, Paul L; Ausems, Margreet G E M; Azzollini, Jacopo; Bacot, François; Balmaña, Judith; Barile, Monica; Barjhoux, Laure; Barkardottir, Rosa B; Barrdahl, Myrto; Barnes, Daniel; Barrowdale, Daniel; Baynes, Caroline; Beckmann, Matthias W; Benitez, Javier; Bermisheva, Marina; Bernstein, Leslie; Bignon, Yves-Jean; Blazer, Kathleen R; Blok, Marinus J; Blomqvist, Carl; Blot, William; Bobolis, Kristie; Boeckx, Bram; Bogdanova, Natalia V; Bojesen, Anders; Bojesen, Stig E; Bonanni, Bernardo; Børresen-Dale, Anne-Lise; Bozsik, Aniko; Bradbury, Angela R; Brand, Judith S; Brauch, Hiltrud; Brenner, Hermann; Bressac-de Paillerets, Brigitte; Brewer, Carole; Brinton, Louise; Broberg, Per; Brooks-Wilson, Angela; Brunet, Joan; Brüning, Thomas; Burwinkel, Barbara; Buys, Saundra S; Byun, Jinyoung; Cai, Qiuyin; Caldés, Trinidad; Caligo, Maria A; Campbell, Ian; Canzian, Federico; Caron, Olivier; Carracedo, Angel; Carter, Brian D; Castelao, J Esteban; Castera, Laurent; Caux-Moncoutier, Virginie; Chan, Salina B; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Chanock, Stephen J; Chen, Xiaoqing; Cheng, Ting-Yuan David; Chiquette, Jocelyne; Christiansen, Hans; Claes, Kathleen B M; Clarke, Christine L; Conner, Thomas; Conroy, Don M; Cook, Jackie; Cordina-Duverger, Emilie; Cornelissen, Sten; Coupier, Isabelle; Cox, Angela; Cox, David G; Cross, Simon S; Cuk, Katarina; Cunningham, Julie M; Czene, Kamila; Daly, Mary B; Damiola, Francesca; Darabi, Hatef; Davidson, Rosemarie; De Leeneer, Kim; Devilee, Peter; Dicks, Ed; Diez, Orland; Ding, Yuan Chun; Ditsch, Nina; Doheny, Kimberly F; Domchek, Susan M; Dorfling, Cecilia M; Dörk, Thilo; dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Dubois, Stéphane; Dugué, Pierre-Antoine; Dumont, Martine; Dunning, Alison M; Durcan, Lorraine; Dwek, Miriam; Dworniczak, Bernd; Eccles, Diana; Eeles, Ros; Ehrencrona, Hans; Eilber, Ursula; Ejlertsen, Bent; Ekici, Arif B; Engel, Christoph; Eriksson, Mikael; Fachal, Laura; Faivre, Laurence; Fasching, Peter A; Faust, Ulrike; Figueroa, Jonine; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Fletcher, Olivia; Flyger, Henrik; Foulkes, William D; Friedman, Eitan; Fritschi, Lin; Frost, Debra; Gabrielson, Marike; Gaddam, Pragna; Gammon, Marilie D; Ganz, Patricia A; Gapstur, Susan M; Garber, Judy; Garcia-Barberan, Vanesa; García-Sáenz, José A; Gaudet, Mia M; Gauthier-Villars, Marion; Gehrig, Andrea; Georgoulias, Vassilios; Gerdes, Anne-Marie; Giles, Graham G; Glendon, Gord; Godwin, Andrew K; Goldberg, Mark S; Goldgar, David E; González-Neira, Anna; Goodfellow, Paul; Greene, Mark H; Grip, Mervi; Gronwald, Jacek; Grundy, Anne; Gschwantler-Kaulich, Daphne; Guénel, Pascal; Guo, Qi; Haeberle, Lothar; Hahnen, Eric; Haiman, Christopher A; Håkansson, Niclas; Hallberg, Emily; Hamann, Ute; Hamel, Nathalie; Hankinson, Susan; Hansen, Thomas V O; Harrington, Patricia; Hart, Steven N; Hartikainen, Jaana M; Healey, Catherine S; Hein, Alexander; Helbig, Sonja; Henderson, Alex; Heyworth, Jane; Hicks, Belynda; Hillemanns, Peter; Hodgson, Shirley; Hogervorst, Frans B; Hollestelle, Antoinette; Hooning, Maartje J; Hoover, Bob; Hopper, John L; Hu, Chunling; Huang, Guanmengqian; Hulick, Peter J; Humphreys, Keith; Hunter, David J; Imyanitov, Evgeny N; Isaacs, Claudine; Iwasaki, Motoki; Izatt, Louise; Jakubowska, Anna; James, Paul; Janavicius, Ramunas; Janni, Wolfgang; Jensen, Uffe Birk; John, Esther M; Johnson, Nichola; Jones, Kristine; Jones, Michael; Jukkola-Vuorinen, Arja; Kaaks, Rudolf; Kabisch, Maria; Kaczmarek, Katarzyna; Kang, Daehee; Kast, Karin; Keeman, Renske; Kerin, Michael J; Kets, Carolien M; Keupers, Machteld; Khan, Sofia; Khusnutdinova, Elza; Kiiski, Johanna I; Kim, Sung-Won; Knight, Julia A; Konstantopoulou, Irene; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kristensen, Vessela N; Kruse, Torben A; Kwong, Ava; Lænkholm, Anne-Vibeke; Laitman, Yael; Lalloo, Fiona; Lambrechts, Diether; Landsman, Keren; Lasset, Christine; Lazaro, Conxi; Le Marchand, Loic; Lecarpentier, Julie; Lee, Andrew; Lee, Eunjung; Lee, Jong Won; Lee, Min Hyuk; Lejbkowicz, Flavio; Lesueur, Fabienne; Li, Jingmei; Lilyquist, Jenna; Lincoln, Anne; Lindblom, Annika; Lissowska, Jolanta; Lo, Wing-Yee; Loibl, Sibylle; Long, Jirong; Loud, Jennifer T; Lubinski, Jan; Luccarini, Craig; Lush, Michael; MacInnis, Robert J; Maishman, Tom; Makalic, Enes; Kostovska, Ivana Maleva; Malone, Kathleen E; Manoukian, Siranoush; Manson, JoAnn E; Margolin, Sara; Martens, John W M; Martinez, Maria Elena; Matsuo, Keitaro; Mavroudis, Dimitrios; Mazoyer, Sylvie; McLean, Catriona; Meijers-Heijboer, Hanne; Menéndez, Primitiva; Meyer, Jeffery; Miao, Hui; Miller, Austin; Miller, Nicola; Mitchell, Gillian; Montagna, Marco; Muir, Kenneth; Mulligan, Anna Marie; Mulot, Claire; Nadesan, Sue; Nathanson, Katherine L; Neuhausen, Susan L; Nevanlinna, Heli; Nevelsteen, Ines; Niederacher, Dieter; Nielsen, Sune F; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Norman, Aaron; Nussbaum, Robert L; Olah, Edith; Olopade, Olufunmilayo I; Olson, Janet E; Olswold, Curtis; Ong, Kai-ren; Oosterwijk, Jan C; Orr, Nick; Osorio, Ana; Pankratz, V Shane; Papi, Laura; Park-Simon, Tjoung-Won; Paulsson-Karlsson, Ylva; Lloyd, Rachel; Pedersen, Inge Søkilde; Peissel, Bernard; Peixoto, Ana; Perez, Jose I A; Peterlongo, Paolo; Peto, Julian; Pfeiler, Georg; Phelan, Catherine M; Pinchev, Mila; Plaseska-Karanfilska, Dijana; Poppe, Bruce; Porteous, Mary E; Prentice, Ross; Presneau, Nadege; Prokofieva, Darya; Pugh, Elizabeth; Pujana, Miquel Angel; Pylkäs, Katri; Rack, Brigitte; Radice, Paolo; Rahman, Nazneen; Rantala, Johanna; Rappaport-Fuerhauser, Christine; Rennert, Gad; Rennert, Hedy S; Rhenius, Valerie; Rhiem, Kerstin; Richardson, Andrea; Rodriguez, Gustavo C; Romero, Atocha; Romm, Jane; Rookus, Matti A; Rudolph, Anja; Ruediger, Thomas; Saloustros, Emmanouil; Sanders, Joyce; Sandler, Dale P; Sangrajrang, Suleeporn; Sawyer, Elinor J; Schmidt, Daniel F; Schoemaker, Minouk J; Schumacher, Fredrick; Schürmann, Peter; Schwentner, Lukas; Scott, Christopher; Scott, Rodney J; Seal, Sheila; Senter, Leigha; Seynaeve, Caroline; Shah, Mitul; Sharma, Priyanka; Shen, Chen-Yang; Sheng, Xin; Shimelis, Hermela; Shrubsole, Martha J; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Side, Lucy E; Singer, Christian F; Sohn, Christof; Southey, Melissa C; Spinelli, John J; Spurdle, Amanda B; Stegmaier, Christa; Stoppa-Lyonnet, Dominique; Sukiennicki, Grzegorz; Surowy, Harald; Sutter, Christian; Swerdlow, Anthony; Szabo, Csilla I; Tamimi, Rulla M; Tan, Yen Y; Taylor, Jack A; Tejada, Maria-Isabel; Tengström, Maria; Teo, Soo H; Terry, Mary B; Tessier, Daniel C; Teulé, Alex; Thöne, Kathrin; Thull, Darcy L; Tibiletti, Maria Grazia; Tihomirova, Laima; Tischkowitz, Marc; Toland, Amanda E; Tollenaar, Rob A E M; Tomlinson, Ian; Tong, Ling; Torres, Diana; Tranchant, Martine; Truong, Thérèse; Tucker, Kathy; Tung, Nadine; Tyrer, Jonathan; Ulmer, Hans-Ulrich; Vachon, Celine; van Asperen, Christi J; Van Den Berg, David; van den Ouweland, Ans M W; van Rensburg, Elizabeth J; Varesco, Liliana; Varon-Mateeva, Raymonda; Vega, Ana; Viel, Alessandra; Vijai, Joseph; Vincent, Daniel; Vollenweider, Jason; Walker, Lisa; Wang, Zhaoming; Wang-Gohrke, Shan; Wappenschmidt, Barbara; Weinberg, Clarice R; Weitzel, Jeffrey N; Wendt, Camilla; Wesseling, Jelle; Whittemore, Alice S; Wijnen, Juul T; Willett, Walter; Winqvist, Robert; Wolk, Alicja; Wu, Anna H; Xia, Lucy; Yang, Xiaohong R; Yannoukakos, Drakoulis; Zaffaroni, Daniela; Zheng, Wei; Zhu, Bin; Ziogas, Argyrios; Ziv, Elad; Zorn, Kristin K; Gago-Dominguez, Manuela; Mannermaa, Arto; Olsson, Håkan; Teixeira, Manuel R; Stone, Jennifer; Offit, Kenneth; Ottini, Laura; Park, Sue K; Thomassen, Mads; Hall, Per; Meindl, Alfons; Schmutzler, Rita K; Droit, Arnaud; Bader, Gary D; Pharoah, Paul D P; Couch, Fergus J; Easton, Douglas F; Kraft, Peter; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; García-Closas, Montserrat; Schmidt, Marjanka K; Antoniou, Antonis C; Simard, Jacques

2018-01-01

Most common breast cancer susceptibility variants have been identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of predominantly estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease1. We conducted a GWAS using 21,468 ER-negative cases and 100,594 controls combined with 18,908 BRCA1 mutation carriers (9,414 with breast cancer), all of European origin. We identified independent associations at P < 5 × 10−8 with ten variants at nine new loci. At P < 0.05, we replicated associations with 10 of 11 variants previously reported in ER-negative disease or BRCA1 mutation carrier GWAS and observed consistent associations with ER-negative disease for 105 susceptibility variants identified by other studies. These 125 variants explain approximately 14% of the familial risk of this breast cancer subtype. There was high genetic correlation (0.72) between risk of ER-negative breast cancer and breast cancer risk for BRCA1 mutation carriers. These findings may lead to improved risk prediction and inform further fine-mapping and functional work to better understand the biological basis of ER-negative breast cancer. PMID:29058716

When do self-discrepancies predict negative emotions? Exploring formal operational thought and abstract reasoning skills as moderators.

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Stevens, Erin N; Holmberg, Nicole J; Lovejoy, M Christine; Pittman, Laura D

2014-01-01

Individual differences in higher-order cognitive abilities may be an important piece to understanding how and when self-discrepancies lead to negative emotions. In the current study, three measures of reasoning abilities were considered as potential moderators of the relationship between self-discrepancies and depression and anxiety symptoms. Participants (N = 162) completed measures assessing self-discrepancies, depression and anxiety symptoms, and were administered measures examining formal operational thought, and verbal and non-verbal abstract reasoning skills. Both formal operational thought and verbal abstract reasoning were significant moderators of the relationship between actual:ideal discrepancies and depressive symptoms. Discrepancies predicted depressive symptoms for individuals with higher levels of formal operational thought and verbal abstract reasoning skills, but not for those with lower levels. The discussion focuses on the need to consider advanced reasoning skills when examining self-discrepancies.

Ultrasonic vocalizations, predictability and sensorimotor gating in the rat.

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Webber, Emily S; Mankin, David E; McGraw, Justin J; Beckwith, Travis J; Cromwell, Howard C

2013-09-15

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a measure of sensorimotor gating in diverse groups of animals including humans. Emotional states can influence PPI in humans both in typical subjects and in individuals with mental illness. Little is known about emotional regulation during PPI in rodents. We used ultrasonic vocalization recording to monitor emotional states in rats during PPI testing. We altered the predictability of the PPI trials to examine any alterations in gating and emotional regulation. We also examined PPI in animals selectively bred for high or low levels of 50kHz USV emission. Rats emitted high levels of 22kHz calls consistently throughout the PPI session. USVs were sensitive to prepulses during the PPI session similar to startle. USV rate was sensitive to predictability among the different levels tested and across repeated experiences. Startle and inhibition of startle were not affected by predictability in a similar manner. No significant differences for PPI or startle were found related to the different levels of predictability; however, there was a reduction in USV signals and an enhancement of PPI after repeated exposure. Animals selectively bred to emit high levels of USVs emitted significantly higher levels of USVs during the PPI session and a reduced ASR compared to the low and random selective lines. Overall, the results support the idea that PPI tests in rodents induce high levels of negative affect and that manipulating emotional styles of the animals alters the negative impact of the gating session as well as the intensity of the startle response. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prediction-Oriented Marker Selection (PROMISE): With Application to High-Dimensional Regression.

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Kim, Soyeon; Baladandayuthapani, Veerabhadran; Lee, J Jack

2017-06-01

In personalized medicine, biomarkers are used to select therapies with the highest likelihood of success based on an individual patient's biomarker/genomic profile. Two goals are to choose important biomarkers that accurately predict treatment outcomes and to cull unimportant biomarkers to reduce the cost of biological and clinical verifications. These goals are challenging due to the high dimensionality of genomic data. Variable selection methods based on penalized regression (e.g., the lasso and elastic net) have yielded promising results. However, selecting the right amount of penalization is critical to simultaneously achieving these two goals. Standard approaches based on cross-validation (CV) typically provide high prediction accuracy with high true positive rates but at the cost of too many false positives. Alternatively, stability selection (SS) controls the number of false positives, but at the cost of yielding too few true positives. To circumvent these issues, we propose prediction-oriented marker selection (PROMISE), which combines SS with CV to conflate the advantages of both methods. Our application of PROMISE with the lasso and elastic net in data analysis shows that, compared to CV, PROMISE produces sparse solutions, few false positives, and small type I + type II error, and maintains good prediction accuracy, with a marginal decrease in the true positive rates. Compared to SS, PROMISE offers better prediction accuracy and true positive rates. In summary, PROMISE can be applied in many fields to select regularization parameters when the goals are to minimize false positives and maximize prediction accuracy.

A novel one-class SVM based negative data sampling method for reconstructing proteome-wide HTLV-human protein interaction networks.

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Mei, Suyu; Zhu, Hao

2015-01-26

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) prediction is generally treated as a problem of binary classification wherein negative data sampling is still an open problem to be addressed. The commonly used random sampling is prone to yield less representative negative data with considerable false negatives. Meanwhile rational constraints are seldom exerted on model selection to reduce the risk of false positive predictions for most of the existing computational methods. In this work, we propose a novel negative data sampling method based on one-class SVM (support vector machine, SVM) to predict proteome-wide protein interactions between HTLV retrovirus and Homo sapiens, wherein one-class SVM is used to choose reliable and representative negative data, and two-class SVM is used to yield proteome-wide outcomes as predictive feedback for rational model selection. Computational results suggest that one-class SVM is more suited to be used as negative data sampling method than two-class PPI predictor, and the predictive feedback constrained model selection helps to yield a rational predictive model that reduces the risk of false positive predictions. Some predictions have been validated by the recent literature. Lastly, gene ontology based clustering of the predicted PPI networks is conducted to provide valuable cues for the pathogenesis of HTLV retrovirus.

Extrinsic Cognitive Load Impairs Spoken Word Recognition in High- and Low-Predictability Sentences.

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Hunter, Cynthia R; Pisoni, David B

Listening effort (LE) induced by speech degradation reduces performance on concurrent cognitive tasks. However, a converse effect of extrinsic cognitive load on recognition of spoken words in sentences has not been shown. The aims of the present study were to (a) examine the impact of extrinsic cognitive load on spoken word recognition in a sentence recognition task and (b) determine whether cognitive load and/or LE needed to understand spectrally degraded speech would differentially affect word recognition in high- and low-predictability sentences. Downstream effects of speech degradation and sentence predictability on the cognitive load task were also examined. One hundred twenty young adults identified sentence-final spoken words in high- and low-predictability Speech Perception in Noise sentences. Cognitive load consisted of a preload of short (low-load) or long (high-load) sequences of digits, presented visually before each spoken sentence and reported either before or after identification of the sentence-final word. LE was varied by spectrally degrading sentences with four-, six-, or eight-channel noise vocoding. Level of spectral degradation and order of report (digits first or words first) were between-participants variables. Effects of cognitive load, sentence predictability, and speech degradation on accuracy of sentence-final word identification as well as recall of preload digit sequences were examined. In addition to anticipated main effects of sentence predictability and spectral degradation on word recognition, we found an effect of cognitive load, such that words were identified more accurately under low load than high load. However, load differentially affected word identification in high- and low-predictability sentences depending on the level of sentence degradation. Under severe spectral degradation (four-channel vocoding), the effect of cognitive load on word identification was present for high-predictability sentences but not for low-predictability

Mobile natural gas leak surveys indicate that two utilities have high false negative rates

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von Fischer, J. C.; Brewer, P. E.; Chamberlain, S.; Gaylord, A.; von Fischer, J.

2016-12-01

In the distribution systems that carry natural gas to consumers, leaks need to be discovered for safety reasons and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, few utilities have adopted newer laser-based technologies that have greater sensitivity and precision, and instead rely on "industry standard" equipment that is far less sensitive. In partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund and Google, we mapped natural gas leaks in the domains of two anonymous utilities (Utility "A" and "B") using high sensitivity Picarro methane analyzers in Google Street View Cars. Surprisingly, when we shared these results with utilities, their survey crews were unable to find most of the leaks that our survey indicated (84% in A and 80% in B). To investigate this phenomenon, our team visited a subset of the leaks in each utility domain (n=32 in A and n=30 in B), and worked alongside utility surveyors to search the leak indication area, using a Los Gatos Research ultraportable methane analyzer to pinpoint leak locations. We found evidence of natural gas leaks at 69% and 68% of the locations in Utilities A and B respectively where survey crews had found nothing. We describe this as a "false negative" rate for the utility because the utility survey falsely indicated that there was no leak at these locations. Of these false negatives, 7% (n=2 of 32 in A, n=2 of 30 in B) were determined to be Grade 1 leaks requiring immediate repair due to high safety risk. Instrument sensitivity appears to explain some of the false negative rates. In particular, use of some industry standard equipment appears to have created a false sense of confidence among utility surveyors that leaks were not present. However, there was also evidence of communication failures and that surveyors did not use optimal approaches in their search. Based on these findings, we suggest that: 1) mobile deployment of high-precision methane analyzers can help find more natural gas leaks, and 2) use of some hand-held survey

Life history theory predicts fish assemblage response to hydrologic regimes.

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Mims, Meryl C; Olden, Julian D

2012-01-01

The hydrologic regime is regarded as the primary driver of freshwater ecosystems, structuring the physical habitat template, providing connectivity, framing biotic interactions, and ultimately selecting for specific life histories of aquatic organisms. In the present study, we tested ecological theory predicting directional relationships between major dimensions of the flow regime and life history composition of fish assemblages in perennial free-flowing rivers throughout the continental United States. Using long-term discharge records and fish trait and survey data for 109 stream locations, we found that 11 out of 18 relationships (61%) tested between the three life history strategies (opportunistic, periodic, and equilibrium) and six hydrologic metrics (two each describing flow variability, predictability, and seasonality) were statistically significant (P history strategies, with 82% of all significant relationships observed supporting predictions from life history theory. Specifically, we found that (1) opportunistic strategists were positively related to measures of flow variability and negatively related to predictability and seasonality, (2) periodic strategists were positively related to high flow seasonality and negatively related to variability, and (3) the equilibrium strategists were negatively related to flow variability and positively related to predictability. Our study provides important empirical evidence illustrating the value of using life history theory to understand both the patterns and processes by which fish assemblage structure is shaped by adaptation to natural regimes of variability, predictability, and seasonality of critical flow events over broad biogeographic scales.

Predicting Factors for High-Grade Cervical Dysplasia in Women With Low-Grade Cervical Cytology and Nonvisible Squamocolumnar Junction.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogani, Giorgio; Taverna, Francesca; Lombardo, Claudia; Ditto, Antonino; Martinelli, Fabio; Signorelli, Mauro; Chiappa, Valentina; Leone Roberti Maggiore, U; Mosca, Lavinia; Sabatucci, Ilaria; Scaffa, Cono; Lorusso, Domenica; Raspagliesi, Francesco

2018-01-01

To assess the risk of developing high-grade cervical dysplasia among women with low-grade cervical cytology and nonvisible squamocolumnar junction (SCJ) at colposcopic examination. Data of consecutive women with low-grade intraepithelial lesion(≤LSIL) undergoing colposcopic examination, which was unsatisfactory (due to the lack of the visualization of the entire SCJ), were retrospectively reviewed. The risk of developing high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2+) was assessed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox models. Data of 86 women were retrieved. Mean (standard deviation [SD]) age was 36.3 (13.4) years. A total of 71 (82.5%) patients had high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) at the time of diagnosis. Among the 63 patients undergoing repetition of HPV testing, 15 (24%) and 48 (76%) women had positive and negative tests for HR-HPV at 12 months, respectively. We observed that 5 (33%) of 15 patients with HPV persistence developed CIN2+, while only 1 (2%) patient of 48 patients without HPV persistence developed CIN2+ (odds ratio [OR]: 23.5; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.46-223.7; P < .001). The length of HR-HPV persistence correlated with an increased risk of developing CIN2+ ( P < .001; P for trend). High-risk HPV persistence is the only factor predicting for CIN2+ (hazard ratio: 3.19; 95% CI: 1.55-6.57; P = .002). High-risk HPV persistence predicts the risk of developing CIN2+ in patients with unsatisfactory colposcopic examination. Further studies are warranted in order to implement the use of HPV testing in patients with unsatisfactory colposcopy.

Small Crack Growth and Fatigue Life Predictions for High-Strength Aluminium Alloys. Part 1; Experimental and Fracture Mechanics Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, X. R.; Newman, J. C.; Zhao, W.; Swain, M. H.; Ding, C. F.; Phillips, E. P.

1998-01-01

The small crack effect was investigated in two high-strength aluminium alloys: 7075-T6 bare and LC9cs clad alloy. Both experimental and analytical investigations were conducted to study crack initiation and growth of small cracks. In the experimental program, fatigue tests, small crack and large crack tests A,ere conducted under constant amplitude and Mini-TWIST spectrum loading conditions. A pronounced small crack effect was observed in both materials, especially for the negative stress ratios. For all loading conditions, most of the fatigue life of the SENT specimens was shown to be crack propagation from initial material defects or from the cladding layer. In the analysis program, three-dimensional finite element and A weight function methods were used to determine stress intensity factors and to develop SIF equations for surface and corner cracks at the notch in the SENT specimens. A plastisity-induced crack-closure model was used to correlate small and large crack data, and to make fatigue life predictions, Predicted crack-growth rates and fatigue lives agreed well with experiments. A total fatigue life prediction method for the aluminum alloys was developed and demonstrated using the crack-closure model.

High ALK mRNA expression has a negative prognostic significance in rhabdomyosarcoma

Science.gov (United States)

Bonvini, P; Zin, A; Alaggio, R; Pawel, B; Bisogno, G; Rosolen, A

2013-01-01

Background: Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is a receptor tyrosine kinase aberrantly expressed in cancer, but its clinical and functional importance remain controversial. Mutation or amplification of ALK, as well as its expression levels assessed by conventional immunohistochemistry methods, has been linked to prognosis in cancer, although with potential bias because of the semi-quantitative approaches. Herein, we measured ALK mRNA expression in rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) and determined its clinical impact on patients' stratification and outcome. Methods: Specimens were obtained from RMS patients and cell lines, and ALK expression was analysed by quantitative RT–PCR, western blotting, IHC, and copy number analysis. Results: High ALK mRNA expression was detected in the vast majority of PAX3/7-FOXO1-positive tumours, whereas PAX3/7-FOXO1-negative RMS displayed considerably lower amounts of both mRNA and protein. Notably, ALK mRNA distinguished unfavourable PAX3/7-FOXO1-positive tumours from PAX3/7-FOXO1-negative RMS (Ptumour size (PALK mRNA levels were of prognostic relevance by Cox univariate regression analysis and correlated with increased risk of relapse (P=0.001) and survival (P=0.01), whereas by multivariate analysis elevated ALK mRNA expression resulted a negative prognostic marker when clinical stage was not included. Conclusion: Quantitative assessment of ALK mRNA expression helps to improve risk stratification of RMS patients and identifies tumours with adverse biological characteristics and aggressive behaviour. PMID:24149177

How encompassing is the effect of negativity bias on political conservatism?

Science.gov (United States)

Malka, Ariel; Soto, Christopher J

2014-06-01

We argue that the political effects of negativity bias are narrower than Hibbing et al. suggest. Negativity bias reliably predicts social, but not economic, conservatism, and its political effects often vary across levels of political engagement. Thus the role of negativity bias in broad ideological conflict depends on the strategic packaging of economic and social attitudes by political elites.

BOOGIE: Predicting Blood Groups from High Throughput Sequencing Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Giollo, Manuel; Minervini, Giovanni; Scalzotto, Marta; Leonardi, Emanuela; Ferrari, Carlo; Tosatto, Silvio C E

2015-01-01

Over the last decade, we have witnessed an incredible growth in the amount of available genotype data due to high throughput sequencing (HTS) techniques. This information may be used to predict phenotypes of medical relevance, and pave the way towards personalized medicine. Blood phenotypes (e.g. ABO and Rh) are a purely genetic trait that has been extensively studied for decades, with currently over thirty known blood groups. Given the public availability of blood group data, it is of interest to predict these phenotypes from HTS data which may translate into more accurate blood typing in clinical practice. Here we propose BOOGIE, a fast predictor for the inference of blood groups from single nucleotide variant (SNV) databases. We focus on the prediction of thirty blood groups ranging from the well known ABO and Rh, to the less studied Junior or Diego. BOOGIE correctly predicted the blood group with 94% accuracy for the Personal Genome Project whole genome profiles where good quality SNV annotation was available. Additionally, our tool produces a high quality haplotype phase, which is of interest in the context of ethnicity-specific polymorphisms or traits. The versatility and simplicity of the analysis make it easily interpretable and allow easy extension of the protocol towards other phenotypes. BOOGIE can be downloaded from URL http://protein.bio.unipd.it/download/.

High Chromosome Number in hematological cancer cell lines is a Negative Predictor of Response to the inhibition of Aurora B and C by GSK1070916

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hardwicke Mary

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Aurora kinases play critical roles in mitosis and are being evaluated as therapeutic targets in cancer. GSK1070916 is a potent, selective, ATP competitive inhibitor of Aurora kinase B and C. Translation of predictive biomarkers to the clinic can benefit patients by identifying the tumors that are more likely to respond to therapies, especially novel inhibitors such as GSK1070916. Methods 59 Hematological cancer-derived cell lines were used as models for response where in vitro sensitivity to GSK1070916 was based on both time and degree of cell death. The response data was analyzed along with karyotype, transcriptomics and somatic mutation profiles to determine predictors of response. Results 20 cell lines were sensitive and 39 were resistant to treatment with GSK1070916. High chromosome number was more prevalent in resistant cell lines (p-value = 0.0098, Fisher Exact Test. Greater resistance was also found in cell lines harboring polyploid subpopulations (p-value = 0.00014, Unpaired t-test. A review of NOTCH1 mutations in T-ALL cell lines showed an association between NOTCH1 mutation status and chromosome number (p-value = 0.0066, Fisher Exact Test. Conclusions High chromosome number associated with resistance to the inhibition of Aurora B and C suggests cells with a mechanism to bypass the high ploidy checkpoint are resistant to GSK1070916. High chromosome number, a hallmark trait of many late stage hematological malignancies, varies in prevalence among hematological malignancy subtypes. The high frequency and relative ease of measurement make high chromosome number a viable negative predictive marker for GSK1070916.

Medico-economic impact of MSKCC non-sentinel node prediction nomogram for ER-positive HER2-negative breast cancers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hélène Bonsang-Kitzis

Full Text Available Avoiding axillary lymph node dissection (ALND for invasive breast cancers with isolated tumor cells or micrometastatic sentinel node biopsy (SNB could decrease morbidity with minimal clinical significance.The aim of this study is to simulate the medico-economic impact of the routine use of the MSKCC non-sentinel node (NSN prediction nomogram for ER+ HER2- breast cancer patients.We studied 1036 ER+ HER2- breast cancer patients with a metastatic SNB. All had a complementary ALND. For each patient, we calculated the probability of the NSN positivity using the MSKCC nomogram. After validation of this nomogram in the population, we described how the patients' characteristics spread as the threshold value changed. Then, we performed an economic simulation study to estimate the total cost of caring for patients treated according to the MSKCC predictive nomogram results.A 0.3 threshold discriminate the type of sentinel node (SN metastases: 98.8% of patients with pN0(i+ and 91.6% of patients with pN1(mic had a MSKCC score under 0.3 (false negative rate = 6.4%. If we use the 0.3 threshold for economic simulation, 43% of ALND could be avoided, reducing the costs of caring by 1 051 980 EUROS among the 1036 patients.We demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of using the MSKCC NSN prediction nomogram by avoiding ALND for the pN0(i+ or pN1(mic ER+ HER2- breast cancer patients with a MSKCC score of less than or equal to 0.3.

The predictive value of quantitative fibronectin testing in combination with cervical length measurement in symptomatic women

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bruijn, Merel M. C.; Kamphuis, Esme I.; Hoesli, Irene M.; Martinez de Tejada, Begoña; Loccufier, Anne R.; Kühnert, Maritta; Helmer, Hanns; Franz, Marie; Porath, Martina M.; Oudijk, Martijn A.; Jacquemyn, Yves; Schulzke, Sven M.; Vetter, Grit; Hoste, Griet; Vis, Jolande Y.; Kok, Marjolein; Mol, Ben W. J.; van Baaren, Gert-Jan

2016-01-01

The combination of the qualitative fetal fibronectin test and cervical length measurement has a high negative predictive value for preterm birth within 7 days; however, positive prediction is poor. A new bedside quantitative fetal fibronectin test showed potential additional value over the

High-throughput respirometric assay identifies predictive toxicophore of mitochondrial injury

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wills, Lauren P. [MitoHealth Inc., Charleston, SC 29403 (United States); Beeson, Gyda C.; Trager, Richard E.; Lindsey, Christopher C. [Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425 (United States); Beeson, Craig C. [MitoHealth Inc., Charleston, SC 29403 (United States); Peterson, Yuri K. [Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425 (United States); Schnellmann, Rick G., E-mail: schnell@musc.edu [Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425 (United States); Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Charleston, SC 29401 (United States)

2013-10-15

Many environmental chemicals and drugs negatively affect human health through deleterious effects on mitochondrial function. Currently there is no chemical library of mitochondrial toxicants, and no reliable methods for predicting mitochondrial toxicity. We hypothesized that discrete toxicophores defined by distinct chemical entities can identify previously unidentified mitochondrial toxicants. We used a respirometric assay to screen 1760 compounds (5 μM) from the LOPAC and ChemBridge DIVERSet libraries. Thirty-one of the assayed compounds decreased uncoupled respiration, a stress test for mitochondrial dysfunction, prior to a decrease in cell viability and reduced the oxygen consumption rate in isolated mitochondria. The mitochondrial toxicants were grouped by chemical similarity and two clusters containing four compounds each were identified. Cheminformatic analysis of one of the clusters identified previously uncharacterized mitochondrial toxicants from the ChemBridge DIVERSet. This approach will enable the identification of mitochondrial toxicants and advance the prediction of mitochondrial toxicity for both drug discovery and risk assessment. - Highlights: • Respirometric assay conducted in RPTC to create mitochondrial toxicant database. • Chemically similar mitochondrial toxicants aligned as mitochondrial toxicophores • Mitochondrial toxicophore identifies five novel mitochondrial toxicants.

High-throughput respirometric assay identifies predictive toxicophore of mitochondrial injury

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wills, Lauren P.; Beeson, Gyda C.; Trager, Richard E.; Lindsey, Christopher C.; Beeson, Craig C.; Peterson, Yuri K.; Schnellmann, Rick G.

2013-01-01

Many environmental chemicals and drugs negatively affect human health through deleterious effects on mitochondrial function. Currently there is no chemical library of mitochondrial toxicants, and no reliable methods for predicting mitochondrial toxicity. We hypothesized that discrete toxicophores defined by distinct chemical entities can identify previously unidentified mitochondrial toxicants. We used a respirometric assay to screen 1760 compounds (5 μM) from the LOPAC and ChemBridge DIVERSet libraries. Thirty-one of the assayed compounds decreased uncoupled respiration, a stress test for mitochondrial dysfunction, prior to a decrease in cell viability and reduced the oxygen consumption rate in isolated mitochondria. The mitochondrial toxicants were grouped by chemical similarity and two clusters containing four compounds each were identified. Cheminformatic analysis of one of the clusters identified previously uncharacterized mitochondrial toxicants from the ChemBridge DIVERSet. This approach will enable the identification of mitochondrial toxicants and advance the prediction of mitochondrial toxicity for both drug discovery and risk assessment. - Highlights: • Respirometric assay conducted in RPTC to create mitochondrial toxicant database. • Chemically similar mitochondrial toxicants aligned as mitochondrial toxicophores • Mitochondrial toxicophore identifies five novel mitochondrial toxicants

Experimental Observation of Negative Effective Gravity in Water Waves

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Xinhua; Yang, Jiong; Zi, Jian; Chan, C. T.; Ho, Kai-Ming

2013-01-01

The gravity of Earth is responsible for the formation of water waves and usually difficult to change. Although negative effective gravity was recently predicted theoretically in water waves, it has not yet been observed in experiments and remains a mathematical curiosity which is difficult to understand. Here we experimentally demonstrate that close to the resonant frequency of purposely-designed resonating units, negative effective gravity can occur for water waves passing through an array of resonators composing of bottom-mounted split tubes, resulting in the prohibition of water wave propagation. It is found that when negative gravity occurs, the averaged displacement of water surface in a unit cell of the array has a phase difference of π to that along the boundary of the unit cell, consistent with theoretical predictions. Our results provide a mechanism to block water waves and may find applications in wave energy conversion and coastal protection. PMID:23715132

The Use of OXYGEN-18 in the Development of Methods for Controlled Sputter Deposition of High Critical Transition Temperature Material Thin Films of Predicted Composition and Good Uniformity

Science.gov (United States)

Tidrow, Steven Clay

Two primary concerns, in the sputter deposition of high T_{c} material films, are the prevention of oxygen deficiency in the films and the elimination of the negative ion effect. "Oxygen deficiency" occurs when the amount of oxygen incorporated into the film is less than the amount of oxygen required to form the superconducting material lattice. Oxygen deficiency is due to the volatile nature of oxygen. The negative ion effect occurs when an atom or molecule (typically oxygen) gains an extra electron, is accelerated away from the target and impinges upon a film being grown directly in front of the sputtering target. The impinging particle has enough energy to cause resputtering of the deposited film. The presence of Sr and to a greater extent Ba, may enhance the negative ion effect in these materials. However, it is oxygen which readily forms negative ions that is primarily responsible for the negative ion effect. Thus, oxygen must be given special attention in the sputter deposition of high T_{c} material films. A specially designed sputtering system is used to demonstrate that the negative ion effect can be reduced such that large uniform high T_{c} material films possessing predicted and repeated composition can be grown in an on-axis arrangement. Utilizing this same sputtering system and the volatile nature of oxygen, it is demonstrated that oxygen processes occurring in the chamber during growth of high T_ {c} material films can be investigated using the tracer ^{18}O. In particular, it is shown that ^{18}O can be utilized as a tool for (1) investigating the negative ion effect, (2) investigating oxygen incorporation into high T_{c} material films, (3) investigating oxygen incorporation into the target, (4) tailoring films for oxygen migration and interface investigations and (5) tailoring films for the other specific oxygen investigations. Such sputtering systems that utilize the tracer ^{18}O are necessary for systematic growth of high T_ {c} material films

Value of 201Tl imaging in predicting therapeutic 131I uptake in patients with thyroglobulin-positive but 131I scan-negative differentiated thyroid carcinoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conlu, R.A.O.; Obaldo, J.M.

2004-01-01

Background: Serum thyroglobulin assay and 131Iodine (1311) whole body scan are considered complementary in detecting malignant thyroid tissue or metastases. A large number of patients, however, are encountered presenting with scan-negative, thyroglobulin-positive differentiated thyroid carcinoma posing a dilemma in therapeutic management. One of the first alternative scanning agents to be employed is 201Thallium (201Tl). Recent studies have demonstrated its usefulness in identifying lesions that are not visualized with traditional 131I whole body scan. It is not clear, however, whether 201Tl scan helps in the decision-making for subsequent 131I therapy. This study was conducted to determine if 201Tl scan can predict therapeutic 131I uptake and to define the clinical role of 201Tl scanning in these patients. Methods and results: A total of 12 patients (20-63 y/o), 5 males and 7 females, underwent surgery for differentiated thyroid cancer and all had serum thyroglobulin values above 10 ng/ml and normal TPO autoantibodies. Pre-therapy 131I scan using 111 MBq (3mCi) of 131I were obtained. As required for inclusion, all patients had negative pre-therapy scan and negative TPO autoantibody results and underwent 20lTl scanning within 3 weeks. All patients were given 131I therapy (3.7-5.5 GBq or 100-150 mCi) between one to two months after 201Tl scanning. Within a week after therapy, all patients underwent whole body 1311 scanning. 201Tl imaging demonstrated thyroid remnants in 9 out of 12 patients having positive 201Tl scan but negative pre-therapy 1311 scan. However, only 2 of the positive 201Tl scans showed 131I uptake post-therapy (positive predictive value of 20%). None of the subjects presented with a negative 201Tl scan and a positive post-therapy 131I scan. Conclusion: Our study suggests that evidence of remnants or metastases on 201Tl scanning may be an inappropriate basis for the decision to proceed with 131I therapy. The role of 20lTl imaging in this subset of

Making detailed predictions makes (some) predictions worse

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Theresa F.

In this paper, we investigate whether making detailed predictions about an event makes other predictions worse. Across 19 experiments, 10,895 participants, and 415,960 predictions about 724 professional sports games, we find that people who made detailed predictions about sporting events (e.g., how many hits each baseball team would get) made worse predictions about more general outcomes (e.g., which team would win). We rule out that this effect is caused by inattention or fatigue, thinking too hard, or a differential reliance on holistic information about the teams. Instead, we find that thinking about game-relevant details before predicting winning teams causes people to give less weight to predictive information, presumably because predicting details makes information that is relatively useless for predicting the winning team more readily accessible in memory and therefore incorporated into forecasts. Furthermore, we show that this differential use of information can be used to predict what kinds of games will and will not be susceptible to the negative effect of making detailed predictions.

Estimating cavity tree and snag abundance using negative binomial regression models and nearest neighbor imputation methods

Science.gov (United States)

Bianca N.I. Eskelson; Hailemariam Temesgen; Tara M. Barrett

2009-01-01

Cavity tree and snag abundance data are highly variable and contain many zero observations. We predict cavity tree and snag abundance from variables that are readily available from forest cover maps or remotely sensed data using negative binomial (NB), zero-inflated NB, and zero-altered NB (ZANB) regression models as well as nearest neighbor (NN) imputation methods....

Assessment of prediction skill in equatorial Pacific Ocean in high resolution model of CFS

Science.gov (United States)

Arora, Anika; Rao, Suryachandra A.; Pillai, Prasanth; Dhakate, Ashish; Salunke, Kiran; Srivastava, Ankur

2018-01-01

The effect of increasing atmospheric resolution on prediction skill of El Niño southern oscillation phenomenon in climate forecast system model is explored in this paper. Improvement in prediction skill for sea surface temperature (SST) and winds at all leads compared to low resolution model in the tropical Indo-Pacific basin is observed. High resolution model is able to capture extreme events reasonably well. As a result, the signal to noise ratio is improved in the high resolution model. However, spring predictability barrier (SPB) for summer months in Nino 3 and Nino 3.4 region is stronger in high resolution model, in spite of improvement in overall prediction skill and dynamics everywhere else. Anomaly correlation coefficient of SST in high resolution model with observations in Nino 3.4 region targeting boreal summer months when predicted at lead times of 3-8 months in advance decreased compared its lower resolution counterpart. It is noted that higher variance of winds predicted in spring season over central equatorial Pacific compared to observed variance of winds results in stronger than normal response on subsurface ocean, hence increases SPB for boreal summer months in high resolution model.

Microdosimetry of negative pions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amols, H.I.; Dicello, J.F.; Lane, T.F.

1976-01-01

The radiation quality of negative and positive pions of initial momentum 168MeV/c has been determined at eight different depths in a liquid phantom. The measurements were made with a 2.5cm diameter spherical proportional counter with Shonka A-150 neutron tissue equivalent plastic walls. The gas pressure in the sensitive volume was chosen to stimulate a diameter of 2μm in unit density material. Dose distributions as a function of lineal energy change slowly in the entrance and plateau regions with a dose mean lineal energy of 6-8keV/μm. Less than 3% of the dose is delivered in excess of 50keV/μm in this region. In the Bragg peak region the distributions change rapidly as a function of depth with the dose mean lineal energy increasing to 38keV/μm at the peak and to 57keV/μm just beyond the peak. On the basis of these microdosimetric data predictions of RBE and OER have been made with the use of both the theory of dual radiation action and also the delta ray theory of cell survival. The former has been used to predict biological response at low doses and the latter at high doses. A comparison is made between the two theories at intermediate doses. The results of these calculations are not inconsistant with recent biological data

Marital conflict and parental responses to infant negative emotions: Relations with toddler emotional regulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Frankel, Leslie A; Umemura, Tomo; Jacobvitz, Deborah; Hazen, Nancy

2015-08-01

According to family systems theory, children's emotional development is likely to be influenced by family interactions at multiple levels, including marital, mother-child, and father-child interactions, as well as by interrelations between these levels. The purpose of the present study was to examine parents' marital conflict and mothers' and fathers' distressed responses to their infant's negative emotions, assessed when their child was 8 and 24 months old, in addition to interactions between parents' marital conflict and their distressed responses, as predictors of their toddler's negative and flat/withdrawn affect at 24 months. Higher marital conflict during infancy and toddlerhood predicted both increased negative and increased flat/withdrawn affect during toddlerhood. In addition, toddlers' negative (but not flat) affect was related to mothers' distressed responses, but was only related to father's distressed responses when martial conflict was high. Implications of this study for parent education and family intervention were discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Counting to ten milliseconds: low-anger, but not high-anger, individuals pause following negative evaluations.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Michael D; Wilkowski, Benjamin M; Meier, Brian P; Moeller, Sara K; Fetterman, Adam K

2012-01-01

Low-anger individuals are less reactive, both emotionally and behaviourally, to a large variety of situational primes to anger and aggression. Why this is so, from an affective processing perspective, has been largely conjectural. Four studies (total N=270) sought to link individual differences in anger to tendencies exhibited in basic affective processing tasks. On the basis of motivational factors and considerations, it was hypothesised that negative evaluations would differentially activate a psychological alarm system at low levels of anger, resulting in a pause that should be evident in the speed of making subsequent evaluations. Just such a pattern was evident in all studies. By contrast, high-anger individuals did not pause following their negative evaluations. In relation to this affective processing tendency, at least, dramatically different effects were observed among low- versus high-anger individuals. Implications for the personality-processing literature, theories of trait anger, and fast-acting regulatory processes are discussed.

A predictive factor for acquiring an ideal lower limb realignment after opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bito, Haruhiko; Takeuchi, Ryohei; Kumagai, Ken; Aratake, Masato; Saito, Izumi; Hayashi, Riku; Sasaki, Yohei; Aota, Yoichi; Saito, Tomoyuki

2009-04-01

Obtaining a correct postoperative limb alignment is an important factor in achieving a successful clinical outcome after an opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy (OWHTO). To better predict some of the aspects that impact upon the clinical outcomes following this procedure, including postoperative correction loss and over correction, we examined the changes in the frontal plane of the lower limb in a cohort of patients who had undergone OWHTO using radiography. Forty-two knees from 33 patients (23 cases of osteoarthritis and 10 of osteonecrosis) underwent a valgus realignment OWHTO procedure and were radiographically assessed for changes that occurred pre- and post-surgery. The mean femorotibial angle (FTA) was found to be 182.1 +/- 2.0 degrees (12 +/- 2.0 anatomical varus angulation) preoperatively and 169.6 +/- 2.4 degrees (10.4 +/- 2.4 anatomical valgus angulation) postoperatively. These measurements thus revealed significant changes in the weight bearing line ratio (WBL), femoral axis angle (FA), tibial axis angle (TA), tibia plateau angle (TP), tibia vara angle (TV) and talar tilt angle (TT) following OWHTO. In contrast, no significant change was found in the weight bearing line angle (WBLA) after these treatments. To assess the relationship between the correction angle and these indexes, 42 knees were divided into the following three groups according to the postoperative FTA; a normal correction group (168 degrees FTA FTA FTA > 172 degrees ). There were significant differences in the delta angle [DA; calculated as (pre FTA - post FTA) - (pre TV - post TV)] among each group of patients. Our results thus indicate a negative correlation between the DA and preoperative TA (R(2) = 0.148, p < 0.05). Hence, given that the correction errors in our patients appear to negatively correlate with the preoperative TA, postoperative malalignments are likely to be predictable prior to surgery.

Predicting precompetitive state anxiety: using the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Chiung-Huang

2013-10-01

The goal was to examine the predictiveness of achievement goals for self-confidence, cognitive anxiety, and somatic anxiety using a prospective design. 160 high school athletes completed the 2 x 2 Achievement Goals Questionnaire for Sport after daily practice and the Revised Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 before an official competition. Using hierarchical regression analyses, mastery-approach goals were found as positive predictors of self-confidence and negative predictors of cognitive and somatic anxiety. In contrast, performance- and mastery-avoidance goals positively predicted cognitive and somatic anxiety. Also, performance-avoidance goals negatively predicted self-confidence. Generally, athletes who pursued task mastery and improvement of competence were less physically and cognitively anxious and more self-confident. However, athletes felt tense, worried, and had lower confidence when they endorsed avoidance forms of achievement goals.

High Sensitivity TSS Prediction: Estimates of Locations Where TSS Cannot Occur

KAUST Repository

Schaefer, Ulf; Kodzius, Rimantas; Kai, Chikatoshi; Kawai, Jun; Carninci, Piero; Hayashizaki, Yoshihide; Bajic, Vladimir B.

2013-01-01

from mouse and human genomes, we developed a methodology that allows us, by performing computational TSS prediction with very high sensitivity, to annotate, with a high accuracy in a strand specific manner, locations of mammalian genomes that are highly

Inflation and Growth: Positive or Negative Relationship?

Science.gov (United States)

Berument, Hakan; Inamlik, Ali; Olgun, Hasan

This study has been motivated by two developments. Firstly, by the vast literature on the relationship between inflation and growth which is abundantly endowed with diverse theoretical explanations and contradictory evidence and by the unique experience of the Turkish economy with inflation and growth. A preliminary examination of the Turkish data pointed to a negative relation between inflation and growth. Moreover, there is a unanimous agreement among the students of the Turkish economy that many factors have contributed to inflation in this country. In view of these facts this paper employs a VAR model which will enable us to identify the sources of the shocks and control for external factors. In addition VAR models have a high predictive power and enable the researcher to observe the impulse response functions. The study employs Generalised Impulse Response analysis. In the empirical experiments oil prices, money supply, government spending and taxes have been taken as the most likely determinants of inflation. The study shows that there is a negative relationship between inflation and output growth in Turkey and that the underlying explanatory factor is the real exchange rate. This result is robust.

Effects of Negative and Positive Evidence on Adult Word Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Strapp, Chehalis M.; Helmick, Augusta L.; Tonkovich, Hayley M.; Bleakney, Dana M.

2011-01-01

This study compared negative and positive evidence in adult word learning, predicting that adults would learn more forms following negative evidence. Ninety-two native English speakers (32 men and 60 women [M[subscript age] = 20.38 years, SD = 2.80]), learned nonsense nouns and verbs provided within English frames. Later, participants produced…

When negation is not negation

OpenAIRE

Milicevic, Nataša

2008-01-01

In this paper I will discuss the formation of different types of yes/no questions in Serbian (examples in (1)), focusing on the syntactically and semantically puzzling example (1d), which involves the negative auxiliary inversion. Although there is a negative marker on the fronted auxiliary, the construction does not involve sentential negation. This coincides with the fact that the negative quantifying NPIs cannot be licensed. The question formation and sentential negation have similar synta...

Children’s Negative Emotions and Ego-Resiliency: Longitudinal Relations With Social Competence

OpenAIRE

Taylor, Zoe E.; Eisenberg, Nancy; VanSchyndel, Sarah K.; Eggum-Wilkens, Natalie D.; Spinrad, Tracy L.

2013-01-01

We examined the relations of negative emotions in toddlerhood to the development of ego-resiliency and social competence across early childhood. Specifically, we addressed whether fear and anger/frustration in 30-month-old children (N = 213) was associated with the development of ego-resiliency across 4 time points (42 to 84 months), and, in turn, whether ego-resiliency predicted social competence at 84 months. Child anger/frustration negatively predicted the intercept of ego-resiliency at 42...

Positron emission tomography/computed tomography surveillance in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma in first remission has a low positive predictive value and high costs.

Science.gov (United States)

El-Galaly, Tarec Christoffer; Mylam, Karen Juul; Brown, Peter; Specht, Lena; Christiansen, Ilse; Munksgaard, Lars; Johnsen, Hans Erik; Loft, Annika; Bukh, Anne; Iyer, Victor; Nielsen, Anne Lerberg; Hutchings, Martin

2012-06-01

The value of performing post-therapy routine surveillance imaging in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma is controversial. This study evaluates the utility of positron emission tomography/computed tomography using 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose for this purpose and in situations with suspected lymphoma relapse. We conducted a multicenter retrospective study. Patients with newly diagnosed Hodgkin lymphoma achieving at least a partial remission on first-line therapy were eligible if they received positron emission tomography/computed tomography surveillance during follow-up. Two types of imaging surveillance were analyzed: "routine" when patients showed no signs of relapse at referral to positron emission tomography/computed tomography, and "clinically indicated" when recurrence was suspected. A total of 211 routine and 88 clinically indicated positron emission tomography/computed tomography studies were performed in 161 patients. In ten of 22 patients with recurrence of Hodgkin lymphoma, routine imaging surveillance was the primary tool for the diagnosis of the relapse. Extranodal disease, interim positron emission tomography-positive lesions and positron emission tomography activity at response evaluation were all associated with a positron emission tomography/computed tomography-diagnosed preclinical relapse. The true positive rates of routine and clinically indicated imaging were 5% and 13%, respectively (P = 0.02). The overall positive predictive value and negative predictive value of positron emission tomography/computed tomography were 28% and 100%, respectively. The estimated cost per routine imaging diagnosed relapse was US$ 50,778. Negative positron emission tomography/computed tomography reliably rules out a relapse. The high false positive rate is, however, an important limitation and a confirmatory biopsy is mandatory for the diagnosis of a relapse. With no proven survival benefit for patients with a pre-clinically diagnosed relapse, the high costs and low

Predicting Drug-Target Interactions Based on Small Positive Samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Pengwei; Chan, Keith C C; Hu, Yanxing

2018-01-01

A basic task in drug discovery is to find new medication in the form of candidate compounds that act on a target protein. In other words, a drug has to interact with a target and such drug-target interaction (DTI) is not expected to be random. Significant and interesting patterns are expected to be hidden in them. If these patterns can be discovered, new drugs are expected to be more easily discoverable. Currently, a number of computational methods have been proposed to predict DTIs based on their similarity. However, such as approach does not allow biochemical features to be directly considered. As a result, some methods have been proposed to try to discover patterns in physicochemical interactions. Since the number of potential negative DTIs are very high both in absolute terms and in comparison to that of the known ones, these methods are rather computationally expensive and they can only rely on subsets, rather than the full set, of negative DTIs for training and validation. As there is always a relatively high chance for negative DTIs to be falsely identified and as only partial subset of such DTIs is considered, existing approaches can be further improved to better predict DTIs. In this paper, we present a novel approach, called ODT (one class drug target interaction prediction), for such purpose. One main task of ODT is to discover association patterns between interacting drugs and proteins from the chemical structure of the former and the protein sequence network of the latter. ODT does so in two phases. First, the DTI-network is transformed to a representation by structural properties. Second, it applies a oneclass classification algorithm to build a prediction model based only on known positive interactions. We compared the best AUROC scores of the ODT with several state-of-art approaches on Gold standard data. The prediction accuracy of the ODT is superior in comparison with all the other methods at GPCRs dataset and Ion channels dataset. Performance

Predictive value of diminutive colonic adenoma trial: the PREDICT trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Schoenfeld, Philip; Shad, Javaid; Ormseth, Eric; Coyle, Walter; Cash, Brooks; Butler, James; Schindler, William; Kikendall, Walter J; Furlong, Christopher; Sobin, Leslie H; Hobbs, Christine M; Cruess, David; Rex, Douglas

2003-05-01

Diminutive adenomas (1-9 mm in diameter) are frequently found during colon cancer screening with flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS). This trial assessed the predictive value of these diminutive adenomas for advanced adenomas in the proximal colon. In a multicenter, prospective cohort trial, we matched 200 patients with normal FS and 200 patients with diminutive adenomas on FS for age and gender. All patients underwent colonoscopy. The presence of advanced adenomas (adenoma >or= 10 mm in diameter, villous adenoma, adenoma with high grade dysplasia, and colon cancer) and adenomas (any size) was recorded. Before colonoscopy, patients completed questionnaires about risk factors for adenomas. The prevalence of advanced adenomas in the proximal colon was similar in patients with diminutive adenomas and patients with normal FS (6% vs. 5.5%, respectively) (relative risk, 1.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5-2.6). Diminutive adenomas on FS did not accurately predict advanced adenomas in the proximal colon: sensitivity, 52% (95% CI, 32%-72%); specificity, 50% (95% CI, 49%-51%); positive predictive value, 6% (95% CI, 4%-8%); and negative predictive value, 95% (95% CI, 92%-97%). Male gender (odds ratio, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.01-2.61) was associated with an increased risk of proximal colon adenomas. Diminutive adenomas on sigmoidoscopy may not accurately predict advanced adenomas in the proximal colon.

Negative inferential style, emotional clarity, and life stress: integrating vulnerabilities to depression in adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Stange, Jonathan P; Alloy, Lauren B; Flynn, Megan; Abramson, Lyn Y

2013-01-01

Negative inferential style and deficits in emotional clarity have been identified as vulnerability factors for depression in adolescence, particularly when individuals experience high levels of life stress. However, previous research has not integrated these characteristics when evaluating vulnerability to depression. In the present study, a racially diverse community sample of 256 early adolescents (ages 12 and 13) completed a baseline visit and a follow-up visit 9 months later. Inferential style, emotional clarity, and depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline, and intervening life events and depressive symptoms were assessed at follow-up. Hierarchical linear regressions indicated that there was a significant three-way interaction between adolescents' weakest-link negative inferential style, emotional clarity, and intervening life stress predicting depressive symptoms at follow-up, controlling for initial depressive symptoms. Adolescents with low emotional clarity and high negative inferential styles experienced the greatest increases in depressive symptoms following life stress. Emotional clarity buffered against the impact of life stress on depressive symptoms among adolescents with negative inferential styles. Similarly, negative inferential styles exacerbated the impact of life stress on depressive symptoms among adolescents with low emotional clarity. These results provide evidence of the utility of integrating inferential style and emotional clarity as constructs of vulnerability in combination with life stress in the identification of adolescents at risk for depression. They also suggest the enhancement of emotional clarity as a potential intervention technique to protect against the effects of negative inferential styles and life stress on depression in early adolescence.

Demonstration of high performance negative central magnetic shear discharges on the DIII-D tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rice, B.W.; Burrell, K.H.; Lao, L.L.

1996-01-01

Reliable operation of discharges with negative central magnetic shear has led to significant increases in plasma performance and reactivity in both low confinement, L-mode, and high confinement, H-mode, regimes in the DIII-D tokamak. Using neutral beam injection early in the initial current ramp, a large range of negative shear discharges have been produced with durations lasting up to 3.2 s. The total non- inductive current (beam plus bootstrap) ranges from 50% to 80% in these discharges. In the region of shear reversal, significant peaking of the toroidal rotation [f φ ∼ 30-60 kHz] and ion temperature [T i (0) ∼ 15-22 keV] profiles are observed. In high power discharges with an L-mode edge, peaked density profiles are also observed. Confinement enhancement factors up to H ≡ τ E /τ ITER-89P ∼ 2.5 with an L-mode edge, and H ∼ 3.3 in an Edge Localized Mode (ELM)-free H-mode, are obtained. Transport analysis shows both ion thermal diffusivity and particle diffusivity to be near or below standard neoclassical values in the core. Large pressure peaking in L- mode leads to high disruptivity with Β N ≡ Β T /(I/aB) ≤ 2.3, while broader pressure profiles in H- mode gives low disruptivity with Β N ≤ 4.2

Study on Air-cooled Self-humidifying PEMFC Control Method Based on Segmented Predict Negative Feedback Control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhiyu, You; Tao, Xu; Zhixiang, Liu; Yun, Peng; Weirong, Cheng

2014-01-01

In order to obtain the optimal output performance of the air-cooled self-humidifying proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the operating temperature, the air flow, purge interval and some other parameters must be controlled strictly. As a key factor, the operating temperature mainly determines the optimal output performance of the fuel cell. However, some intrinsic issues such as long adjusting time, over-shoot still exist inevitably for the traditional PID temperature-controlled method in circumstances of the load variation. Consequently, output performance of PEMFC decreases because the operating temperature of the fuel cell fails to reach, and the corresponding lifetime of PEMFC is also reduced. In this study, a segmented predict negative feedback control method, based on the advance proportional control one, is proposed and verified by experiments to overcome the shortcomings of PID temperature control. The results demonstrate that the optimal output performance of PEMFC can be realized by utilizing the proposed method for temperature control due to its excellent properties, simple controlling and small over-shoot

Reproductive Strategy and Sexual Conflict Slow Life History Strategy Inihibts Negative Androcentrism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul R. Gladden

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Recent findings indicate that a slow Life History (LH strategy factor is associated with increased levels of Executive Functioning (EF, increased emotional intelligence, decreased levels of sexually coercive behaviors, and decreased levels of negative ethnocentrism. Based on these findings, as well as the generative theory, we predicted that slow LH strategy should inhibit negative androcentrism (bias against women. A sample of undergraduates responded to a battery of questionnaires measuring various facets of their LH Strategy, (e.g., sociosexual orientation, mating effort, mate-value, psychopathy, executive functioning, and emotional intelligence and various convergent measures of Negative Androcentrism. A structural model that the data fit well indicated a latent protective LH strategy trait predicted decreased negative androcentrism. This trait fully mediated the relationship between participant biological sex and androcentrism. We suggest that slow LH strategy may inhibit negative attitudes toward women because of relatively decreased intrasexual competition and intersexual conflict among slow LH strategists. DOI: 10.2458/azu_jmmss.v4i1.17774

A global high-resolution model experiment on the predictability of the atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Judt, F.

2016-12-01

Forecasting high-impact weather phenomena is one of the most important aspects of numerical weather prediction (NWP). Over the last couple of years, a tremendous increase in computing power has facilitated the advent of global convection-resolving NWP models, which allow for the seamless prediction of weather from local to planetary scales. Unfortunately, the predictability of specific meteorological phenomena in these models is not very well known. This raises questions about which forecast problems are potentially tractable, and what is the value of global convection-resolving model predictions for the end user. To address this issue, we use the Yellowstone supercomputer to conduct a global high-resolution predictability experiment with the recently developed Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS). The computing power of Yellowstone enables the model to run at a globally uniform resolution of 4 km with 55 vertical levels (>2 billion grid cells). These simulations, which require 3 million core-hours for the entire experiment, allow for the explicit treatment of organized deep moist convection (i.e., thunderstorm systems). Resolving organized deep moist convection alleviates grave limitations of previous predictability studies, which either used high-resolution limited-area models or global simulations with coarser grids and cumulus parameterization. By computing the error growth characteristics in a set of "identical twin" model runs, the experiment will clarify the intrinsic predictability limits of atmospheric phenomena on a wide range of scales, from severe thunderstorms to global-scale wind patterns that affect the distribution of tropical rainfall. Although a major task by itself, this study is intended to be exploratory work for a future predictability experiment going beyond of what has so far been feasible. We hope to use CISL's new Cheyenne supercomputer to conduct a similar predictability experiments on a global mesh with 1-2 km resolution. This

Positive Peer Support or Negative Peer Influence? the Role of Peers among Adolescents in Recovery High Schools

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Karakos, Holly L.

2014-01-01

Evidence from previous research suggests that peers at times exert negative influence and at other times exert positive influence on drug and alcohol use among adolescents in recovery. This study explores recovery high school staff members' perceptions of peer support among students in recovery high schools using qualitative interview data. Themes…

Annual Papanicolaou screening for 5 years among human papillomavirus-negative women

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petry, Karl Ulrich; Rinnau, Franziska; Böhmer, Gerd; Hollwitz, Bettina; Luyten, Alexander; Buttmann, Nina; Brünger, Martin; Iftner, Thomas

2013-01-01

Primary human papilloma virus (HPV) screening is more effective than cytology in reducing the risk of cervical cancer, but screening intervals should be extended in HPV-negative women. However, some Markov models predicted that long intervals are associated with an excess risk of cervical cancer. The aim of this analysis was to estimate the real-life risks and benefits of annual Papanicolaou (Pap) screening in HPV-negative women with normal cytology. Women with negative Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) results and normal cytology at the time of inclusion in the Hannover HPV screening trial underwent annual Pap smears for 5 years. A subgroup was randomly selected for retesting with cytology, HC2, and colposcopy 60–68 months after recruitment. Of 4236 women included, 3406 had at least one Pap smear, but only 1185 attended all five annual screening visits. The proportion of women with at least one abnormal smear was 14.4% in 60 months. The probability of abnormal smears increased continuously over time. No case of ≥ CIN2+ was observed during 5 years. Of 605 women selected for subgroup analysis, 292 agreed to be retested (48.3%). The rate of high-risk HPV at 60–68 months was 3.0% (9/296). The long-term risk of high-grade neoplasia after an initial negative HC2 test and normal cytology result was low, while the rate of false-positive abnormal Pap smears was significant and increased constantly over time. Pap smear screening of HPV-negative women more frequently than every 5 years could be potentially harmful and seems to be of little clinical value

Validity of childhood adiposity classification in predicting adolescent overweight and obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Huerta, Michael; Zarka, Salman; Bibi, Haim; Haviv, Jacob; Scharf, Shimon; Gdalevich, Michael

2010-05-03

Identification of children at risk for adolescent overweight can assist in targeting interventions. Uncertainty remains regarding the validity of current body mass index (BMI) reference values in predicting future risk on a population basis. This study aimed to assess the validity of current childhood adiposity classifications in predicting adolescent overweight and obesity among Israeli youth. Historical cohort study. School-based childhood health studies and adolescent physical examinations. A total of 3 163 subjects surveyed first at age 8-15 and again at age 17-19. Age, sex, height, weight and BMI. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and relative risk of childhood adiposity classification. Childhood overweight and obesity showed low sensitivity and high specificity for predicting adolescent overweight and obesity. Positive predictive values were low and varied by age and sex, but negative predictive values were consistently high in both sexes and all ages (range 0.85-0.99). After adjusting for age and sex, both childhood overweight and obesity substantially increased the risk of adolescent overweight (relative risk [RR] 7.03 and 7.20, respectively) and adolescent obesity (RR 24.34 and 28.41, respectively). Childhood overweight and obesity are strong risk factors for adolescent overweight and obesity among Israeli youth. Normal weight children were at very low risk for adolescent overweight. These findings suggest that population-based health promotion aimed at maintaining normal weight among children should be given preference over risk-guided approaches targeting weight reduction among obese children.

Adolescent Eating Disorders Predict Psychiatric, High-Risk Behaviors and Weight Outcomes in Young Adulthood

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Micali, Nadia; Solmi, Francesca; Horton, Nicholas J.; Crosby, Ross D.; Eddy, Kamryn T.; Calzo, Jerel P.; Sonneville, Kendrin R.; Swanson, Sonja A.; Field, Alison E.

2015-01-01

Objective To investigate whether anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating disorder (BED), and other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFED), including purging disorder (PD), subthreshold BN, and BED at ages 14 and 16, are prospectively associated with later depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and substance use, and self-harm. Method Eating disorders were ascertained at 14 and 16 years of age in 6,140 youth at age 14 (58% of those eligible) and 5,069 at age 16 (52% of those eligible) as part of the prospective Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Outcomes (depression, anxiety disorders, binge drinking, drug use, deliberate self-harm, weight status) were measured using interviews and questionnaires about 2 years following predictors. Generalized estimating equation models adjusting for gender, socio-demographic variables, and prior outcome were used to examine prospective associations between eating disorders and each outcome. Results All eating disorders were predictive of later anxiety disorders. AN, BN, BED, PD, and OSFED were prospectively associated with depression (respectively AN: odds ratio [OR]=1.39 [95% CIs: 1.00-1.94]; BN: OR=3.39[1.25-9.20]; BED: OR=2.00 [1.06-3.75]; PD: OR=2.56 [1.38-4.74]). All eating disorders but AN predicted drug use and deliberate self-harm (BN: OR=5.72[2.22-14.72], PD: OR=4.88[2.78-8.57], subthreshold BN: OR=3.97[1.44-10.98], subthreshold BED: OR=2.32[1.43-3.75]). Whilst BED and BN predicted obesity (respectively OR=3.58 [1.06-12.14] and OR=6.42 [1.69-24.30]), AN was prospectively associated with underweight. Conclusions Adolescent eating disorders, including subthreshold presentations, predict negative outcomes, including mental health disorders, substance use, deliberate self-harm, and weight outcomes. This study highlights the high public health and clinical burden of eating disorders among adolescents. PMID:26210334

Predicting Success in College Mathematics from High School Mathematics Preparation

OpenAIRE

Shepley, Richard A.

1983-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a model to predict the college mathematics courses a freshman could expect to pass by considering their high school mathematics preparation. The high school information that was used consisted of the student's sex, the student's grade point average in mathematics, the highest level of high school mathematics courses taken, and the number of mathematics courses taken in high school. The high school sample was drawn from graduated Seniors in the State...

High defect stage, contralateral defects, and poor flexibility are negative predictive factors of bone union in pediatric and adolescent athletes with spondylolysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamazaki, Kazufumi; Kota, Shintaro; Oikawa, Daisuke; Suzuki, Yoshiji

2018-01-01

To identify predisposition to spondylolysis and physical characteristics associated with "bone union" following conservative spondylolysis treatment among pediatric and adolescent athletes. We retrospectively analyzed pediatric and adolescent athletes with spondylolysis who underwent conservative treatment and rehabilitation for three or more consecutive months following sports activity cessation. Patients with terminal spondylolysis or who did not discontinue sports activities were excluded. We compared physical fitness factors in the union and nonunion groups and examined the association between bone union and spondylolysis severity by logistic regression analysis. Of 183 patients with spondylolysis who underwent rehabilitation over a four-year period, 127 patients with 227 defects were included in the final analysis. Bone union was achieved in 66.5% (151/227) of the pars interarticularis defects and 70.1% (89/127) of the patients. On multivariate analysis, stage of pars interarticularis defect (odds ratio [OR], 0.26;p = 0.0027), stage of contralateral pars interarticularis defect (OR, 0.51;p = 0.00026), and straight leg-raising test (OR, 1.06;p = 0.028) were significantly associated with bone union. High defect stage, stage of the contralateral pars interarticularis defect, and poor flexibility were negative prognostic factors of bone healing in athletes with spondylolysis. J. Med. Invest. 65:126-130, February, 2018.

Unified model for small-t and high-t scattering at high energies: predictions at RHIC and LHC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martynov, E. [National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, N.N. Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kiev (Ukraine); Nicolescu, B. [CNRS and Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Theory Group, Laboratoire de Physique Nucleaire et des Hautes Energies (LPNHE), Paris (France)

2008-07-15

The urgency of predictions in the large-t region at LHC stimulated us to present a unified model of small- and high-t scattering at high energies. Our model is based on safe theoretical ground: analyticity, unitarity, Regge behavior, gluon exchange and saturation of bounds established in axiomatic quantum field theory. We make precise predictions for the behavior of the differential cross sections at high t, the evolution of the dip-shoulder structure localized in the region 0.5

Preliminary psychometric properties of the brief Negative Symptom Scale in youth at Clinical High-Risk for psychosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Strauss, Gregory P; Chapman, Hannah C

2018-03-01

Preliminary psychometric properties of an adapted version of the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) are reported in youth at Clinical High-Risk for psychosis (CHR). Participants included 29 CHR youth who met criteria for a prodromal syndrome on the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS). The adapted BNSS demonstrated excellent internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity, suggesting that the BNSS has utility for assessing negative symptoms in a CHR population. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pretreatment data is highly predictive of liver chemistry signals in clinical trials

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Cai Z

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Zhaohui Cai,1,* Anders Bresell,2,* Mark H Steinberg,1 Debra G Silberg,1 Stephen T Furlong11AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Wilmington, DE, USA; 2AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Södertälje, Sweden*These authors contributed equally to this workPurpose: The goal of this retrospective analysis was to assess how well predictive models could determine which patients would develop liver chemistry signals during clinical trials based on their pretreatment (baseline information.Patients and methods: Based on data from 24 late-stage clinical trials, classification models were developed to predict liver chemistry outcomes using baseline information, which included demographics, medical history, concomitant medications, and baseline laboratory results.Results: Predictive models using baseline data predicted which patients would develop liver signals during the trials with average validation accuracy around 80%. Baseline levels of individual liver chemistry tests were most important for predicting their own elevations during the trials. High bilirubin levels at baseline were not uncommon and were associated with a high risk of developing biochemical Hy’s law cases. Baseline γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT level appeared to have some predictive value, but did not increase predictability beyond using established liver chemistry tests.Conclusion: It is possible to predict which patients are at a higher risk of developing liver chemistry signals using pretreatment (baseline data. Derived knowledge from such predictions may allow proactive and targeted risk management, and the type of analysis described here could help determine whether new biomarkers offer improved performance over established ones.Keywords: bilirubin, Hy’s Law, ALT, GGT, baseline, prediction

Negative emotions in art reception: Refining theoretical assumptions and adding variables to the Distancing-Embracing model.

Science.gov (United States)

Menninghaus, Winfried; Wagner, Valentin; Hanich, Julian; Wassiliwizky, Eugen; Jacobsen, Thomas; Koelsch, Stefan

2017-01-01

While covering all commentaries, our response specifically focuses on the following issues: How can the hypothesis of emotional distancing (qua art framing) be compatible with stipulating high levels of felt negative emotions in art reception? Which concept of altogether pleasurable mixed emotions does our model involve? Can mechanisms of predictive coding, social sharing, and immersion enhance the power of our model?

BRCAness as a Biomarker for Predicting Prognosis and Response to Anthracycline-Based Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Patients with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

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Hitomi Mori

Full Text Available Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC is a heterogeneous tumor that encompasses many different subclasses of the disease. In this study, we assessed BRCAness, defined as the shared characteristics between sporadic and BRCA1-mutated tumors, in a large cohort of TNBC cases.The BRCAness of 262 patients with primary TNBCs resected between January 2004 and December 2014 was determined through the isolation of DNA from tumor tissue. Classification of BRCAness was performed using multiple ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA. The tumor subtypes were determined immunohistochemically using resected specimens.Of the 262 TNBCs, the results of the MLPA assays showed that 174 (66.4% tumors had BRCAness. Patients with BRCAness tumors were younger than patients with non-BRCAness tumors (P = 0.003. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding their pathological stages. The BRCAness group had a significantly shorter recurrence-free survival (RFS compared with the non-BRCAness group (P = 0.04 and had a shorter overall survival (OS although this did not reach statistical significance. Adjuvant treatments with anthracycline-based regimens provided significantly greater benefits to the BRCAness group (P = 0.003 for RFS, and P = 0.03 for OS. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard model analysis showed that BRCAness was an independent negative prognostic factor, and the anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy was an independent positive prognostic factor for both RFS and OS in TNBC.The 66.4% patients of TNBCs showed BRCAness. BRCAness is essential as a biomarker in the subclassification of TNBCs and might be of use for predicting their prognosis. Furthermore, this biomarker might be a predictive factor for the effectiveness of anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with TNBCs.

Social Inclusion Predicts Lower Blood Glucose and Low-Density Lipoproteins in Healthy Adults.

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Floyd, Kory; Veksler, Alice E; McEwan, Bree; Hesse, Colin; Boren, Justin P; Dinsmore, Dana R; Pavlich, Corey A

2017-08-01

Loneliness has been shown to have direct effects on one's personal well-being. Specifically, a greater feeling of loneliness is associated with negative mental health outcomes, negative health behaviors, and an increased likelihood of premature mortality. Using the neuroendocrine hypothesis, we expected social inclusion to predict decreases in both blood glucose levels and low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) and increases in high-density lipoproteins (HDLs). Fifty-two healthy adults provided self-report data for social inclusion and blood samples for hematological tests. Results indicated that higher social inclusion predicted lower levels of blood glucose and LDL, but had no effect on HDL. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Humour Use Between Spouses and Positive and Negative Interpersonal Behaviours During Conflict

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Lorne Campbell

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The present research investigated the relation between the use of positive, negative and instrumental humour in the context of romantic relationships and relational well-being as assessed by positive and negative patterns of conflict resolution behaviour. A sample of 116 heterosexual married couples completed scales of relational humour use as well as conflict resolution behaviour. Behaviour of couples while attempting to resolve a relationship based conflict was also coded by independent raters. Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM analyses showed patterns of actor and partner effects for each type of humour use. Specifically, positive humour use of both partners predicted more positive conflict resolution, whereas negative humour use of both partners predicted less positive conflict resolution. Additionally, instrumental humour use of both partners seemed to predict greater apathy during conflict resolution. Implications for considering couple humor use, assessed for both partners of the dyad, for understanding relational well-being are discussed.

An integrative model of risk for high school disordered eating.

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Davis, Heather A; Smith, Gregory T

2018-06-21

Binge eating and purging behaviors are associated with significant harm and distress among adolescents. The process by which these behaviors develop (often in the high school years) is not fully understood. We tested the Acquired Preparedness (AP) model of risk involving transactions among biological, personality, and psychosocial factors to predict binge eating and purging behavior in a sample of 1,906 children assessed in the spring of 5th grade (the last year of elementary school), the fall of 6th grade (the first year of middle school), spring of 6th grade, and spring of 10th grade (second year of high school). Pubertal onset in spring of 5th grade predicted increases in negative urgency, but not negative affect, in the fall of 6th grade. Negative urgency in the fall of 6th grade predicted increases in expectancies for reinforcement from eating in the spring of 6th grade, which in turn predicted increases in binge eating behavior in the spring of 10th grade. Negative affect in the fall of 6th grade predicted increases in thinness expectancies in the spring of 6th grade, which in turn predicted increases in purging in the spring of 10th grade. Results demonstrate similarities and differences in the development of these two different bulimic behaviors. Intervention efforts targeting the risk factors evident in this model may prove fruitful in the treatment of eating disorders characterized by binge eating and purging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Negativity and positivity effects in person perception and inference: Ability versus morality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Martijn, A.C.; Spears, R.; van der Pligt, J.; Jakobs, E.

1992-01-01

Examined, in 2 experiments involving 190 undergraduates, negativity and positivity effects in trait inferences and impression formation. In Exp 1, Ss made trait inferences of actors in different behavioral instances. Results support the prediction that negative behavior is more informative for

Usefulness of Clinical Prediction Rules, D-dimer, and Arterial Blood Gas Analysis to Predict Pulmonary Embolism in Cancer Patients

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Shazia Awan

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Pulmonary embolism (PE is seven times more common in cancer patients than non-cancer patients. Since the existing clinical prediction rules (CPRs were validated predominantly in a non-cancer population, we decided to look at the utility of arterial blood gas (ABG analysis and D-dimer in predicting PE in cancer patients. Methods: Electronic medical records were reviewed between December 2005 and November 2010. A total of 177 computed tomography pulmonary angiograms (CTPAs were performed. We selected 104 individuals based on completeness of laboratory and clinical data. Patients were divided into two groups, CTPA positive (patients with PE and CTPA negative (PE excluded. Wells score, Geneva score, and modified Geneva score were calculated for each patient. Primary outcomes of interest were the sensitivities, specificities, positive, and negative predictive values for all three CPRs. Results: Of the total of 104 individuals who had CTPAs, 33 (31.7% were positive for PE and 71 (68.3% were negative. There was no difference in basic demographics between the two groups. Laboratory parameters were compared and partial pressure of oxygen was significantly lower in patients with PE (68.1 mmHg vs. 71 mmHg, p = 0.030. Clinical prediction rules showed good sensitivities (88−100% and negative predictive values (93−100%. An alveolar-arterial (A-a gradient > 20 had 100% sensitivity and negative predictive values. Conclusions: CPRs and a low A-a gradient were useful in excluding PE in cancer patients. There is a need for prospective trials to validate these results.

Comparing the Effects of Negative and Mixed Emotional Messages on Predicted Occasional Excessive Drinking

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Pilar Carrera

2008-01-01

Full Text Available In this work we present two types of emotional message, negative (sadness versus mixed (joy and sadness, with the aim of studying their differential effect on attitude change and the probability estimated by participants of repeating the behavior of occasional excessive drinking in the near future. The results show that for the group of participants with moderate experience in this behavior the negative message, compared to the mixed one, is associated with higher probability of repeating the risk behavior and a less negative attitude toward it. These results suggest that mixed emotional messages (e.g. joy and sadness messages could be more effective in campaigns for the prevention of this risk behavior.

Comparing the effects of negative and mixed emotional messages on predicted occasional excessive drinking.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrera, Pilar; Caballero, Amparo; Muñoz, Dolores

2008-01-01

In this work we present two types of emotional message, negative (sadness) versus mixed (joy and sadness), with the aim of studying their differential effect on attitude change and the probability estimated by participants of repeating the behavior of occasional excessive drinking in the near future. The results show that for the group of participants with moderate experience in this behavior the negative message, compared to the mixed one, is associated with higher probability of repeating the risk behavior and a less negative attitude toward it. These results suggest that mixed emotional messages (e.g. joy and sadness messages) could be more effective in campaigns for the prevention of this risk behavior.

Negative impacts of climate change on cereal yields: statistical evidence from France

Science.gov (United States)

Gammans, Matthew; Mérel, Pierre; Ortiz-Bobea, Ariel

2017-05-01

In several world regions, climate change is predicted to negatively affect crop productivity. The recent statistical yield literature emphasizes the importance of flexibly accounting for the distribution of growing-season temperature to better represent the effects of warming on crop yields. We estimate a flexible statistical yield model using a long panel from France to investigate the impacts of temperature and precipitation changes on wheat and barley yields. Winter varieties appear sensitive to extreme cold after planting. All yields respond negatively to an increase in spring-summer temperatures and are a decreasing function of precipitation about historical precipitation levels. Crop yields are predicted to be negatively affected by climate change under a wide range of climate models and emissions scenarios. Under warming scenario RCP8.5 and holding growing areas and technology constant, our model ensemble predicts a 21.0% decline in winter wheat yield, a 17.3% decline in winter barley yield, and a 33.6% decline in spring barley yield by the end of the century. Uncertainty from climate projections dominates uncertainty from the statistical model. Finally, our model predicts that continuing technology trends would counterbalance most of the effects of climate change.

Positive and negative affect produce opposing task-irrelevant stimulus preexposure effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Lazar, Josef; Kaplan, Oren; Sternberg, Terri; Lubow, R E

2012-06-01

In three experiments, groups were exposed to either positive or negative affect video clips, after which they were presented with a series of task-irrelevant stimuli. In the subsequent test task, subjects were required to learn an association between the previously irrelevant stimulus and a consequence, and between a new stimulus and a consequence. Induced positive affect produced a latent inhibition effect (poorer evidence of learning with the previously irrelevant stimulus than with the novel stimulus). In opposition to this, induced negative affect resulted in better evidence of learning with a previously irrelevant stimulus than with a novel stimulus. In general, the opposing effects also were present in participants scoring high on self-report questionnaires of depression (Experiments 2 and 3). These unique findings were predicted and accounted for on the basis of two principles: (a) positive affect broadens the attentional field and negative affect contracts it; and (b) task-irrelevant stimuli are processed in two successive stages, the first encodes stimulus properties, and the second encodes stimulus relationships. The opposing influences of negative and positive mood on the processing of irrelevant stimuli have implications for the role of emotion in general theories of cognition, and possibly for resolving some of the inconsistent findings in research with schizophrenia patients.

Regional Scale High Resolution δ18O Prediction in Precipitation Using MODIS EVI

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Cho-Ying; Wang, Chung-Ho; Lin, Shou-De; Lo, Yi-Chen; Huang, Bo-Wen; Hatch, Kent A.; Shiu, Hau-Jie; You, Cheng-Feng; Chang, Yuan-Mou; Shen, Sheng-Feng

2012-01-01

The natural variation in stable water isotope ratio data, also known as water isoscape, is a spatiotemporal fingerprint and a powerful natural tracer that has been widely applied in disciplines as diverse as hydrology, paleoclimatology, ecology and forensic investigation. Although much effort has been devoted to developing a predictive water isoscape model, it remains a central challenge for scientists to generate high accuracy, fine scale spatiotemporal water isoscape prediction. Here we develop a novel approach of using the MODIS-EVI (the Moderate Resolution Imagining Spectroradiometer-Enhanced Vegetation Index), to predict δ18O in precipitation at the regional scale. Using a structural equation model, we show that the EVI and precipitated δ18O are highly correlated and thus the EVI is a good predictor of precipitated δ18O. We then test the predictability of our EVI-δ18O model and demonstrate that our approach can provide high accuracy with fine spatial (250×250 m) and temporal (16 days) scale δ18O predictions (annual and monthly predictabilities [r] are 0.96 and 0.80, respectively). We conclude the merging of the EVI and δ18O in precipitation can greatly extend the spatial and temporal data availability and thus enhance the applicability for both the EVI and water isoscape. PMID:23029053

Prediction of bread-making quality using size exclusion high ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Variation in the distribution of protein molecular weight in wheat (Triticum aestivum), influences breadmaking quality of wheat cultivars, resulting in either poor or good bread. The objective of this study was to predict breadmaking quality of wheat cultivars using size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography.

Optimism and positive and negative feelings in parents of young children with developmental delay.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurtz-Nelson, E; McIntyre, L L

2017-07-01

Parents' positive and negative feelings about their young children influence both parenting behaviour and child problem behaviour. Research has not previously examined factors that contribute to positive and negative feelings in parents of young children with developmental delay (DD). The present study sought to examine whether optimism, a known protective factor for parents of children with DD, was predictive of positive and negative feelings for these parents. Data were collected from 119 parents of preschool-aged children with developmental delay. Two separate hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to determine if optimism significantly predicted positive feelings and negative feelings and whether optimism moderated relations between parenting stress and parent feelings. Increased optimism was found to predict increased positive feelings and decreased negative feelings after controlling for child problem behaviour and parenting stress. In addition, optimism was found to moderate the relation between parenting stress and positive feelings. Results suggest that optimism may impact how parents perceive their children with DD. Future research should examine how positive and negative feelings impact positive parenting behaviour and the trajectory of problem behaviour specifically for children with DD. © 2017 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

High Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Predicts Poor Prognosis and Clinicopathological Characteristics in Patients with Breast Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

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Miao Zhang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background. We aimed to evaluate the correlation of platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR with prognosis and clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer. Methods. The PubMed and Embase databases were searched. Hazard ratio (HR with 95% confidence interval (CI was used to summarize disease-free survival (DFS and overall survival (OS. Odds ratio (OR was used to summarize tumor clinicopathological characteristics. Results. High PLR was associated with poor DFS and OS (DFS: HR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.16–1.85, and Tau2 = 0.070; OS: HR = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.27–2.80, and Tau2 = 0.192. A Galbraith plot indicated that the studies by Allan et al. and Cihan et al. contributed the heterogeneity of DFS and OS, respectively. There were significant differences in the incidence of high PLR between stage II–IV and stage I groups (OR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.20–2.90, and Tau2 < 0.001, between lymph node-positive and lymph node-negative groups (OR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.22–1.91, and Tau2 =0.014, and between metastasis-positive and metastasis-negative groups (OR = 4.24, 95% CI = 2.73–6.59, and Tau2 < 0.001. Conclusions. Our results indicated that PLR was associated with poor prognosis of breast cancer and adequately predicted clinicopathological characteristics.

A statistical model to predict total column ozone in Peninsular Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, K. C.; Lim, H. S.; Mat Jafri, M. Z.

2016-03-01

This study aims to predict monthly columnar ozone in Peninsular Malaysia based on concentrations of several atmospheric gases. Data pertaining to five atmospheric gases (CO2, O3, CH4, NO2, and H2O vapor) were retrieved by satellite scanning imaging absorption spectrometry for atmospheric chartography from 2003 to 2008 and used to develop a model to predict columnar ozone in Peninsular Malaysia. Analyses of the northeast monsoon (NEM) and the southwest monsoon (SWM) seasons were conducted separately. Based on the Pearson correlation matrices, columnar ozone was negatively correlated with H2O vapor but positively correlated with CO2 and NO2 during both the NEM and SWM seasons from 2003 to 2008. This result was expected because NO2 is a precursor of ozone. Therefore, an increase in columnar ozone concentration is associated with an increase in NO2 but a decrease in H2O vapor. In the NEM season, columnar ozone was negatively correlated with H2O (-0.847), NO2 (0.754), and CO2 (0.477); columnar ozone was also negatively but weakly correlated with CH4 (-0.035). In the SWM season, columnar ozone was highly positively correlated with NO2 (0.855), CO2 (0.572), and CH4 (0.321) and also highly negatively correlated with H2O (-0.832). Both multiple regression and principal component analyses were used to predict the columnar ozone value in Peninsular Malaysia. We obtained the best-fitting regression equations for the columnar ozone data using four independent variables. Our results show approximately the same R value (≈ 0.83) for both the NEM and SWM seasons.

Prediction model for high glycated hemoglobin concentration among ethnic Chinese in Taiwan

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Lee Bai-Chin

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background This study aimed to construct a prediction model to identify subjects with high glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c levels by incorporating anthropometric, lifestyle, clinical, and biochemical information in a large cross-sectional ethnic Chinese population in Taiwan from a health checkup center. Methods The prediction model was derived from multivariate logistic regression, and we evaluated the performance of the model in identifying the cases with high HbA1c levels (> = 7.0%. In total 17,773 participants (age > = 30 years were recruited and 323 participants (1.8% had high HbA1c levels. The study population was divided randomly into two parts, with 80% as the derivation data and 20% as the validation data. Results The point-based clinical model, including age (maximal 8 points, sex (1 point, family history (3 points, body mass index (2 points, waist circumference (4 points, and systolic blood pressure (3 points reached an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC of 0.723 (95% confidence interval, 0.677- 0.769 in the validation data. Adding biochemical measures such as triglycerides and HDL cholesterol improved the prediction power (AUC, 0.770 [0.723 - 0.817], P = Conclusions A prediction model was constructed for the prevalent risk of high HbA1c, which could be useful in identifying high risk subjects for diabetes among ethnic Chinese in Taiwan.

The role of sense of coherence and physical activity in positive and negative affect of Turkish adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Oztekin, Ceyda; Tezer, Esin

2009-01-01

This study investigated the role of sense of coherence and total physical activity in positive and negative affect. Participants were 376 (169 female, 206 male, and 1 missing value) student volunteers from different faculties of Middle East Technical University. Three questionnaires: Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC), Physical Activity Assessment Questionnaire (PAAQ), and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) were administered to the students together with the demographic information sheet. Two separate stepwise multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the predictive power of sense of coherence and total physical activity on positive and negative affect scores. Results revealed that both sense of coherence and total physical activity predicted the positive affect whereas only the sense of coherence predicted the negative affect on university students. Findings are discussed in light of sense of coherence, physical activity, and positive and negative affect literature.

High heat flux (HHF) elements for negative ion systems on ITER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milnes, J.; Chuilon, B.; Xue, Y.; Martin, D.; Waldon, C.

2007-01-01

Negative Ion Neutral Beam systems on ITER will require actively cooled scrapers and dumps to process and shape the beam before injection into the tokamak. The scale of the systems is much larger than any presently operating, bringing challenges for designers in terms of available sub cooling, total pressure drop, deflection and mandatory remote maintenance. High heat fluxes (∼15-20 MW/m 2 ), pulse lengths in excess of 3000 s and high number of cycles pose new challenges in terms of stress and fatigue life. The designs outlined in the Design Description Document for the ITER Neutral Beam System [N53 DDD 29 01-07-03 R 0.1. ITER Design Description Document, DDD 5.3, Neutral Beam H and CD system (including Appendices).], based on swirl tubes, have been reviewed as part of the design process and recommendations made. Additionally, alternative designs have been proposed based on the Hypervapotron high heat flux elements with modified geometry and drawing upon a vast background knowledge of large scale equipment procurement and integration. A full thermo-mechanical analysis of all HHF components has also been undertaken based on ITER design criteria and the limited material data available. The advantages and disadvantages of all designs are presented and recommendations for improvements discussed

Entanglement negativity in the critical Ising chain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calabrese, Pasquale; Tagliacozzo, Luca; Tonni, Erik

2013-01-01

We study the scaling of the traces of the integer powers of the partially transposed reduced density matrix Tr(ρ A T 2 ) n and of the entanglement negativity for two spin blocks as a function of their length and separation in the critical Ising chain. For two adjacent blocks, we show that tensor network calculations agree with universal conformal field theory (CFT) predictions. In the case of two disjoint blocks the CFT predictions are recovered only after taking into account the finite size corrections induced by the finite length of the blocks. (paper)

Prospect theory does not describe the feedback-related negativity value function.

Science.gov (United States)

Sambrook, Thomas D; Roser, Matthew; Goslin, Jeremy

2012-12-01

Humans handle uncertainty poorly. Prospect theory accounts for this with a value function in which possible losses are overweighted compared to possible gains, and the marginal utility of rewards decreases with size. fMRI studies have explored the neural basis of this value function. A separate body of research claims that prediction errors are calculated by midbrain dopamine neurons. We investigated whether the prospect theoretic effects shown in behavioral and fMRI studies were present in midbrain prediction error coding by using the feedback-related negativity, an ERP component believed to reflect midbrain prediction errors. Participants' stated satisfaction with outcomes followed prospect theory but their feedback-related negativity did not, instead showing no effect of marginal utility and greater sensitivity to potential gains than losses. Copyright © 2012 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Effect of workplace incivility on end-of-work negative affect: examining individual and organizational moderators in a daily diary study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Zhiqing E; Yan, Yu; Che, Xin Xuan; Meier, Laurenz L

2015-01-01

Although previous studies have linked workplace incivility with various negative outcomes, they mainly focused on the long-term effects of chronic exposure to workplace incivility, whereas targets' short-term reactions to incivility episodes have been largely neglected. Using a daily diary design, the current study examined effects of daily workplace incivility on end-of-work negative affect and explored potential individual and organizational moderators. Data collected from 76 full-time employees across 10 consecutive working days revealed that daily workplace incivility positively predicted end-of-work negative affect while controlling for before-work negative affect. Further, the relationship was stronger for people with low emotional stability, high hostile attribution bias, external locus of control, and people experiencing low chronic workload and more chronic organizational constraints, as compared with people with high emotional stability, low hostile attribution bias, internal locus of control, and people experiencing high chronic workload and fewer chronic organizational constraints, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved). PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Computational prediction of protein-protein interactions in Leishmania predicted proteomes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio M Rezende

Full Text Available The Trypanosomatids parasites Leishmania braziliensis, Leishmania major and Leishmania infantum are important human pathogens. Despite of years of study and genome availability, effective vaccine has not been developed yet, and the chemotherapy is highly toxic. Therefore, it is clear just interdisciplinary integrated studies will have success in trying to search new targets for developing of vaccines and drugs. An essential part of this rationale is related to protein-protein interaction network (PPI study which can provide a better understanding of complex protein interactions in biological system. Thus, we modeled PPIs for Trypanosomatids through computational methods using sequence comparison against public database of protein or domain interaction for interaction prediction (Interolog Mapping and developed a dedicated combined system score to address the predictions robustness. The confidence evaluation of network prediction approach was addressed using gold standard positive and negative datasets and the AUC value obtained was 0.94. As result, 39,420, 43,531 and 45,235 interactions were predicted for L. braziliensis, L. major and L. infantum respectively. For each predicted network the top 20 proteins were ranked by MCC topological index. In addition, information related with immunological potential, degree of protein sequence conservation among orthologs and degree of identity compared to proteins of potential parasite hosts was integrated. This information integration provides a better understanding and usefulness of the predicted networks that can be valuable to select new potential biological targets for drug and vaccine development. Network modularity which is a key when one is interested in destabilizing the PPIs for drug or vaccine purposes along with multiple alignments of the predicted PPIs were performed revealing patterns associated with protein turnover. In addition, around 50% of hypothetical protein present in the networks

Increased brain-predicted aging in treated HIV disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, James H; Underwood, Jonathan; Caan, Matthan W A; De Francesco, Davide; van Zoest, Rosan A; Leech, Robert; Wit, Ferdinand W N M; Portegies, Peter; Geurtsen, Gert J; Schmand, Ben A; Schim van der Loeff, Maarten F; Franceschi, Claudio; Sabin, Caroline A; Majoie, Charles B L M; Winston, Alan; Reiss, Peter; Sharp, David J

2017-04-04

To establish whether HIV disease is associated with abnormal levels of age-related brain atrophy, by estimating apparent brain age using neuroimaging and exploring whether these estimates related to HIV status, age, cognitive performance, and HIV-related clinical parameters. A large sample of virologically suppressed HIV-positive adults (n = 162, age 45-82 years) and highly comparable HIV-negative controls (n = 105) were recruited as part of the Comorbidity in Relation to AIDS (COBRA) collaboration. Using T1-weighted MRI scans, a machine-learning model of healthy brain aging was defined in an independent cohort (n = 2,001, aged 18-90 years). Neuroimaging data from HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals were then used to estimate brain-predicted age; then brain-predicted age difference (brain-PAD = brain-predicted brain age - chronological age) scores were calculated. Neuropsychological and clinical assessments were also carried out. HIV-positive individuals had greater brain-PAD score (mean ± SD 2.15 ± 7.79 years) compared to HIV-negative individuals (-0.87 ± 8.40 years; b = 3.48, p brain-PAD score was associated with decreased performance in multiple cognitive domains (information processing speed, executive function, memory) and general cognitive performance across all participants. Brain-PAD score was not associated with age, duration of HIV infection, or other HIV-related measures. Increased apparent brain aging, predicted using neuroimaging, was observed in HIV-positive adults, despite effective viral suppression. Furthermore, the magnitude of increased apparent brain aging related to cognitive deficits. However, predicted brain age difference did not correlate with chronological age or duration of HIV infection, suggesting that HIV disease may accentuate rather than accelerate brain aging. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.

Use of the negative binomial-truncated Poisson distribution in thunderstorm prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, A. C.

1971-01-01

A probability model is presented for the distribution of thunderstorms over a small area given that thunderstorm events (1 or more thunderstorms) are occurring over a larger area. The model incorporates the negative binomial and truncated Poisson distributions. Probability tables for Cape Kennedy for spring, summer, and fall months and seasons are presented. The computer program used to compute these probabilities is appended.

Therapeutic rationale to target highly expressed CDK7 conferring poor outcomes in triple-negative breast cancer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Li, Bo; Chonghaile, Triona Ni; Fan, Yue; Madden, Stephen F.; Klinger, Rut; O'Connor, Aisling E.; Walsh, Louise; O'Hurley, Gillian; Udupi, Girish Mallya; Joseph, Jesuchristopher; Tarrant, Finbarr; Conroy, Emer; Gaber, Alexander; Chin, Suet-Feung; Bardwell, Helen A; Provenzano, Elena; Crown, John; Dubois, Thierry; Linn, Sabine; Jirstrom, Karin; Caldas, Carlos; O'Connor, Darran P; Gallagher, William M

2017-01-01

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients commonly exhibit poor prognosis and high relapse after treatment, but there remains a lack of biomarkers and effective targeted therapies for this disease. Here, we report evidence highlighting the cell-cycle–related kinase CDK7 as a driver and candidate

Development of high performance negative ion sources and accelerators for MeV class neutral beam injectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taniguchi, M.; Hanada, M.; Iga, T.

2003-01-01

Operation of accelerator at low pressure is an essential requirement to reduce stripping loss of the negative ions, which in turn results in high efficiency of the NB systems. For this purpose, a vacuum insulated beam source (VIBS) has been developed at JAERI, which reduces the gas pressure in the accelerator by enhanced gas conductance through the accelerator. The VIBS achieves the high voltage insulation of 1 MV by immersing the whole structure of accelerator in vacuum with long (∼ 1.8 m) insulation distance. Results of the voltage holding test using a long vacuum gap of 1.8 m indicate that a transition from vacuum discharge to gas discharge occurs at around 0.2 Pa m in the long vacuum gap. So far, the VIBS succeeded in acceleration of 20 mA (H - ) beam up to 970 keV for 1 s. The high voltage holding capability of the VIBS was drastically improved by installing a new large stress ring, which reduces electric field concentration at the triple junction of the accelerator column. At present the VIBS sustains 1 MV stably for more than 1200 s. Acceleration of ampere class H- beams at high current density is to be started soon to demonstrate ITER relevant beam optics. Operation of negative ion source at low pressure is also essential to reduce the stripping loss. However, it was not so easy to attain high current density H - ions at low pressure, since destruction cross section of the negative ions becomes large if the electron temperature is > 1 eV, in low pressure discharge. Using strong magnetic filter to lower the electron temperature, and putting higher arc discharge power to compensate reduction of plasma density through the filter, an H - ion beam of 310 A/m 2 was extracted at very low pressure of 0.1Pa. This satisfies the ITER requirement of current density at 1/3 of the ITER design pressure (0.3 Pa). (author)

Encoding negative events under stress: high subjective arousal is related to accurate emotional memory despite misinformation exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoscheidt, Siobhan M; LaBar, Kevin S; Ryan, Lee; Jacobs, W Jake; Nadel, Lynn

2014-07-01

Stress at encoding affects memory processes, typically enhancing, or preserving, memory for emotional information. These effects have interesting implications for eyewitness accounts, which in real-world contexts typically involve encoding an aversive event under stressful conditions followed by potential exposure to misinformation. The present study investigated memory for a negative event encoded under stress and subsequent misinformation endorsement. Healthy young adults participated in a between-groups design with three experimental sessions conducted 48 h apart. Session one consisted of a psychosocial stress induction (or control task) followed by incidental encoding of a negative slideshow. During session two, participants were asked questions about the slideshow, during which a random subgroup was exposed to misinformation. Memory for the slideshow was tested during the third session. Assessment of memory accuracy across stress and no-stress groups revealed that stress induced just prior to encoding led to significantly better memory for the slideshow overall. The classic misinformation effect was also observed - participants exposed to misinformation were significantly more likely to endorse false information during memory testing. In the stress group, however, memory accuracy and misinformation effects were moderated by arousal experienced during encoding of the negative event. Misinformed-stress group participants who reported that the negative slideshow elicited high arousal during encoding were less likely to endorse misinformation for the most aversive phase of the story. Furthermore, these individuals showed better memory for components of the aversive slideshow phase that had been directly misinformed. Results from the current study provide evidence that stress and high subjective arousal elicited by a negative event act concomitantly during encoding to enhance emotional memory such that the most aversive aspects of the event are well remembered and

Negative Emotional Content Disrupts the Coherence of Episodic Memories

OpenAIRE

Bisby, James A.; Horner, Aidan J.; Bush, Daniel; Burgess, Neil

2017-01-01

Events are thought to be stored in episodic memory as coherent representations, in which the constituent elements are bound together so that a cue can trigger reexperience of all elements via pattern completion. Negative emotional content can strongly influence memory, but opposing theories predict strengthening or weakening of memory coherence. Across a series of experiments, participants imagined a number of person-location-object events with half of the events including a negative element ...

Mutational landscape of MCPyV-positive and MCPyV-negative Merkel cell carcinomas with implications for immunotherapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Goh, Gerald; Walradt, Trent; Markarov, Vladimir; Blom, Astrid; Riaz, Nadeem; Doumani, Ryan; Stafstrom, Krista; Moshiri, Ata; Yelistratova, Lola; Levinsohn, Jonathan; Chan, Timothy A; Nghiem, Paul; Lifton, Richard P; Choi, Jaehyuk

2016-01-19

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare but highly aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine carcinoma, associated with the Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) in 80% of cases. To define the genetic basis of MCCs, we performed exome sequencing of 49 MCCs. We show that MCPyV-negative MCCs have a high mutation burden (median of 1121 somatic single nucleotide variants (SSNVs) per-exome with frequent mutations in RB1 and TP53 and additional damaging mutations in genes in the chromatin modification (ASXL1, MLL2, and MLL3), JNK (MAP3K1 and TRAF7), and DNA-damage pathways (ATM, MSH2, and BRCA1). In contrast, MCPyV-positive MCCs harbor few SSNVs (median of 12.5 SSNVs/tumor) with none in the genes listed above. In both subgroups, there are rare cancer-promoting mutations predicted to activate the PI3K pathway (HRAS, KRAS, PIK3CA, PTEN, and TSC1) and to inactivate the Notch pathway (Notch1 and Notch2). TP53 mutations appear to be clinically relevant in virus-negative MCCs as 37% of these tumors harbor potentially targetable gain-of-function mutations in TP53 at p.R248 and p.P278. Moreover, TP53 mutational status predicts death in early stage MCC (5-year survival in TP53 mutant vs wild-type stage I and II MCCs is 20% vs. 92%, respectively; P = 0.0036). Lastly, we identified the tumor neoantigens in MCPyV-negative and MCPyV-positive MCCs. We found that virus-negative MCCs harbor more tumor neoantigens than melanomas or non-small cell lung cancers (median of 173, 65, and 111 neoantigens/sample, respectively), two cancers for which immune checkpoint blockade can produce durable clinical responses. Collectively, these data support the use of immunotherapies for virus-negative MCCs.

Misery Has More Company Than People Think: Underestimating the Prevalence of Others’ Negative Emotions

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Alexander H.; Monin, Benoît; Dweck, Carol S.; Lovett, Benjamin J.; John, Oliver P.; Gross, James J.

2014-01-01

Four studies document underestimations of the prevalence of others’ negative emotions, and suggest causes and correlates of these erroneous perceptions. In Study 1A, participants reported that their negative emotions were more private or hidden than their positive emotions; in Study 1B, participants underestimated the peer prevalence of common negative, but not positive, experiences described in Study 1A. In Study 2, people underestimated negative emotions and overestimated positive emotions even for well-known peers, and this effect was partially mediated by the degree to which those peers reported suppression of negative (vs. positive) emotions. Study 3 showed that lower estimations of the prevalence of negative emotional experiences predicted greater loneliness and rumination and lower life satisfaction, and that higher estimations for positive emotional experiences predicted lower life satisfaction. Taken together, these studies suggest that people may think they are more alone in their emotional difficulties than they really are. PMID:21177878

High symmetry versus optical isotropy of a negative-index metamaterial

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Menzel, Christoph; Rockstuhl, Carsten; Lliew, Rumen

2010-01-01

condition since it is usually assumed that light does not resolve the spatial details of MM but experiences the properties of an effective medium, which is then optically isotropic. In this work we challenge this assumption by analyzing the isofrequency surfaces of the dispersion relation of the split cube...... in carcass negative index MM. We show that this MM is basically optically isotropic but not in the spectral domain where it exhibits negative refraction. The primary goal of this contribution is to introduce a tool that allows to probe a MM against optical isotropy....

Halophiles and their enzymes: Negativity put to good use

Science.gov (United States)

DasSarma, Shiladitya; DasSarma, Priya

2015-01-01

Halophilic microorganisms possess stable enzymes that function in very high salinity, an extreme condition that leads to denaturation, aggregation, and precipitation of most other proteins. Genomic and structural analyses have established that the enzymes of halophilic Archaea and many halophilic Bacteria are negatively charged due to an excess of acidic over basic residues, and altered hydrophobicity, which enhance solubility and promote function in low water activity conditions. Here, we provide an update on recent bioinformatic analysis of predicted halophilic proteomes as well as experimental molecular studies on individual halophilic enzymes. On-going efforts on discovery and utilization of halophiles and their enzymes for biotechnology, including biofuel applications are also considered. PMID:26066288

Halophiles and their enzymes: negativity put to good use.

Science.gov (United States)

DasSarma, Shiladitya; DasSarma, Priya

2015-06-01

Halophilic microorganisms possess stable enzymes that function in very high salinity, an extreme condition that leads to denaturation, aggregation, and precipitation of most other proteins. Genomic and structural analyses have established that the enzymes of halophilic Archaea and many halophilic Bacteria are negatively charged due to an excess of acidic over basic residues, and altered hydrophobicity, which enhance solubility and promote function in low water activity conditions. Here, we provide an update on recent bioinformatic analysis of predicted halophilic proteomes as well as experimental molecular studies on individual halophilic enzymes. Recent efforts on discovery and utilization of halophiles and their enzymes for biotechnology, including biofuel applications are also considered. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural activity to a partner's facial expression predicts self-regulation after conflict

Science.gov (United States)

Hooker, Christine I.; Gyurak, Anett; Verosky, Sara; Miyakawa, Asako; Ayduk, Özlem

2009-01-01

Introduction Failure to self-regulate after an interpersonal conflict can result in persistent negative mood and maladaptive behaviors. Research indicates that lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) activity is related to the regulation of emotional experience in response to lab-based affective challenges, such as viewing emotional pictures. This suggests that compromised LPFC function may be a risk-factor for mood and behavior problems after an interpersonal stressor. However, it remains unclear whether LPFC activity to a lab-based affective challenge predicts self-regulation in real-life. Method We investigated whether LPFC activity to a lab-based affective challenge (negative facial expressions of a partner) predicts self-regulation after a real-life affective challenge (interpersonal conflict). During an fMRI scan, healthy, adult participants in committed, dating relationships (N = 27) viewed positive, negative, and neutral facial expressions of their partners. In an online daily-diary, participants reported conflict occurrence, level of negative mood, rumination, and substance-use. Results LPFC activity in response to the lab-based affective challenge predicted self-regulation after an interpersonal conflict in daily life. When there was no interpersonal conflict, LPFC activity was not related to the change in mood or behavior the next day. However, when an interpersonal conflict did occur, ventral LPFC (VLPFC) activity predicted the change in mood and behavior the next day, such that lower VLPFC activity was related to higher levels of negative mood, rumination, and substance-use. Conclusions Low LPFC function may be a vulnerability and high LPFC function may be a protective factor for the development of mood and behavior problems after an interpersonal stressor. PMID:20004365

Neural activity to a partner's facial expression predicts self-regulation after conflict.

Science.gov (United States)

Hooker, Christine I; Gyurak, Anett; Verosky, Sara C; Miyakawa, Asako; Ayduk, Ozlem

2010-03-01

Failure to self-regulate after an interpersonal conflict can result in persistent negative mood and maladaptive behaviors. Research indicates that lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) activity is related to emotion regulation in response to laboratory-based affective challenges, such as viewing emotional pictures. This suggests that compromised LPFC function may be a risk factor for mood and behavior problems after an interpersonal conflict. However, it remains unclear whether LPFC activity to a laboratory-based affective challenge predicts self-regulation in real life. We investigated whether LPFC activity to a laboratory-based affective challenge (negative facial expressions of a partner) predicts self-regulation after a real-life affective challenge (interpersonal conflict). During a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan, healthy, adult participants in committed relationships (n = 27) viewed positive, negative, and neutral facial expressions of their partners. In a three-week online daily diary, participants reported conflict occurrence, level of negative mood, rumination, and substance use. LPFC activity in response to the laboratory-based affective challenge predicted self-regulation after an interpersonal conflict in daily life. When there was no interpersonal conflict, LPFC activity was not related to mood or behavior the next day. However, when an interpersonal conflict did occur, ventral LPFC (VLPFC) activity predicted mood and behavior the next day, such that lower VLPFC activity was related to higher levels of negative mood, rumination, and substance use. Low LPFC function may be a vulnerability and high LPFC function may be a protective factor for the development of mood and behavior problems after an interpersonal stressor. Copyright 2010 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The emotional and academic consequences of parental conditional regard: comparing conditional positive regard, conditional negative regard, and autonomy support as parenting practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Guy; Assor, Avi; Niemiec, Christopher P; Deci, Edward L; Ryan, Richard M

2009-07-01

The authors conducted 2 studies of 9th-grade Israeli adolescents (169 in Study 1, 156 in Study 2) to compare the parenting practices of conditional positive regard, conditional negative regard, and autonomy support using data from multiple reporters. Two socialization domains were studied: emotion control and academics. Results were consistent with the self-determination theory model of internalization, which posits that (a) conditional negative regard predicts feelings of resentment toward parents, which then predict dysregulation of negative emotions and academic disengagement; (b) conditional positive regard predicts feelings of internal compulsion, which then predict suppressive regulation of negative emotions and grade-focused academic engagement; and (c) autonomy support predicts sense of choice, which then predicts integrated regulation of negative emotions and interest-focused academic engagement. These findings suggest that even parents' use of conditional positive regard as a socialization practice has adverse emotional and academic consequences, relative to autonomy support.

Negative-ion current density dependence of the surface potential of insulated electrode during negative-ion implantation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuji, Hiroshi; Okayama, Yoshio; Toyota, Yoshitaka; Gotoh, Yasuhito; Ishikawa, Junzo; Sakai, Shigeki; Tanjyo, Masayasu; Matsuda, Kouji.

1994-01-01

Positive ion implantation has been utilized as the method of impurity injection in ultra-LSI production, but the problem of substrate charging cannot be resolved by conventional charge compensation method. It was forecast that by negative ion implantation, this charging problem can be resolved. Recently the experiment on the negative ion implantation into insulated electrodes was carried out, and the effect of negative ion implantation to this problem was proved. However, the dependence of charged potential on the increase of negative ion current at the time of negative ion implantation is a serious problem in large current negative ion implantation hereafter. The charged potential of insulated conductor substrates was measured by the negative ion implantation using the current up to several mA/cm 2 . The experimental method is explained. Medium current density and high current density negative ion implantation and charged potential are reported. Accordingly in negative ion implantation, if current density is optimized, the negative ion implantation without charging can be realized. (K.I.)

High-energy acceleration of an intense negative ion beam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeiri, Y.; Ando, A.; Kaneko, O.

1995-02-01

A high-current H - ion beam has been accelerated with the two-stage acceleration. A large negative hydrogen ion source with an external magnetic filter produces more than 10 A of the H - ions from the grid area of 25cm x 50cm with the arc efficiency of 0.1 A/kW by seeding a small amount of cesium. The H - ion current increases according to the 3/2-power of the total beam energy. A 13.6 A of H - ion beam has been accelerated to 125 keV at the operational gas pressure of 3.4 mTorr. The optimum beam acceleration is achieved with nearly the same electric fields in the first and the second acceleration gaps on condition that the ratio of the first acceleration to the extraction electric fields is adjusted for an aspect ratio of the extraction gap. The ratio of the acceleration drain current to the H - ion current is more than 1.7. That is mainly due to the secondary electron generated by the incident H - ions on the extraction grid and the electron suppression grid. The neutralization efficiency was measured and agrees with the theoretical calculation result. (author)

NOS CO-OPS Water Level Data, High Low Tide Prediction

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset has High Low Tide Predictions from NOAA NOS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS). The official Tide and Tidal Current...

Real-time Tsunami Inundation Prediction Using High Performance Computers

Science.gov (United States)

Oishi, Y.; Imamura, F.; Sugawara, D.

2014-12-01

Recently off-shore tsunami observation stations based on cabled ocean bottom pressure gauges are actively being deployed especially in Japan. These cabled systems are designed to provide real-time tsunami data before tsunamis reach coastlines for disaster mitigation purposes. To receive real benefits of these observations, real-time analysis techniques to make an effective use of these data are necessary. A representative study was made by Tsushima et al. (2009) that proposed a method to provide instant tsunami source prediction based on achieving tsunami waveform data. As time passes, the prediction is improved by using updated waveform data. After a tsunami source is predicted, tsunami waveforms are synthesized from pre-computed tsunami Green functions of linear long wave equations. Tsushima et al. (2014) updated the method by combining the tsunami waveform inversion with an instant inversion of coseismic crustal deformation and improved the prediction accuracy and speed in the early stages. For disaster mitigation purposes, real-time predictions of tsunami inundation are also important. In this study, we discuss the possibility of real-time tsunami inundation predictions, which require faster-than-real-time tsunami inundation simulation in addition to instant tsunami source analysis. Although the computational amount is large to solve non-linear shallow water equations for inundation predictions, it has become executable through the recent developments of high performance computing technologies. We conducted parallel computations of tsunami inundation and achieved 6.0 TFLOPS by using 19,000 CPU cores. We employed a leap-frog finite difference method with nested staggered grids of which resolution range from 405 m to 5 m. The resolution ratio of each nested domain was 1/3. Total number of grid points were 13 million, and the time step was 0.1 seconds. Tsunami sources of 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake were tested. The inundation prediction up to 2 hours after the

High resistance rate against 15 different antibiotics in aerobic gram-negative bacteria isolates of cardiology intensive care unit patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Küçükates E

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Aerobic gram negative bacteria were isolated and examined microbiologically from various clinical samples of 602 patients hospitalized between January 1997 and December 2000 in surgical and coronary intensive care units (ICUs. A total of 827 isolates were obtained from 602 patients. The majority of microorganisms were isolated from the respiratory tract (50.3% and blood (39.9%. Pseudomonas spp. were the most frequently isolated gram negative species (32.7%, followed by Acinetobacter spp. (24.0% and Klebsiella pneumoniae (19.4%. High resistance rates to all antibiotics studied were observed. Imipenem and meropenem were the most effective antibiotics against gram negatives.

High Order Wavelet-Based Multiresolution Technology for Airframe Noise Prediction, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose to develop a novel, high-accuracy, high-fidelity, multiresolution (MRES), wavelet-based framework for efficient prediction of airframe noise sources and...

Probing the negative permittivity perfect lens at optical frequencies using near-field optics and single molecule detection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moerland, R.J.; van Hulst, N.F.; Gersen, H.; Kuipers, L.

2005-01-01

Recently, the existence of a perfect lens has been predicted, made of an artificial material that has a negative electric permittivity and a negative magnetic permeability. For optical frequencies a poormans version is predicted to exist in the sub-wavelength limit. Then, only the permittivity has

Negative-assortative mating for color in wolves.

Science.gov (United States)

Hedrick, Philip W; Smith, Douglas W; Stahler, Daniel R

2016-04-01

There is strong negative-assortative mating for gray and black pelage color in the iconic wolves in Yellowstone National Park. This is the first documented case of significant negative-assortative mating in mammals and one of only a very few cases in vertebrates. Of 261 matings documented from 1995 to 2015, 63.6% were between gray and black wolves and the correlation between mates for color was -0.266. There was a similar excess of matings of both gray males × black females and black males × gray females. Using the observed frequency of negative-assortative mating in a model with both random and negative-assortative mating, the estimated proportion of negative-assortative mating was 0.430. The estimated frequency of black wolves in the population from 1996 to 2014 was 0.452 and these frequencies appear stable over this 19-year period. Using the estimated level of negative-assortative mating, the predicted equilibrium frequency of the dominant allele was 0.278, very close to the mean value of 0.253 observed. In addition, the patterns of genotype frequencies, that is, the observed proportion of black homozygotes and the observed excess of black heterozygotes, are consistent with negative-assortative mating. Importantly these results demonstrate that negative-assortative mating could be entirely responsible for the maintenance of this well-known color polymorphism. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Using Emotion as Information in Future-Oriented Cognition: Individual Differences in the Context of State Negative Affect

Science.gov (United States)

Marroquín, Brett; Boyle, Chloe C.; Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan; Stanton, Annette L.

2016-01-01

Predictions about the future are susceptible to mood-congruent influences of emotional state. However, recent work suggests individuals also differ in the degree to which they incorporate emotion into cognition. This study examined the role of such individual differences in the context of state negative emotion. We examined whether trait tendencies to use negative or positive emotion as information affect individuals' predictions of what will happen in the future (likelihood estimation) and how events will feel (affective forecasting), and whether trait influences depend on emotional state. Participants (N=119) reported on tendencies to use emotion as information (“following feelings”), underwent an emotion induction (negative versus neutral), and made likelihood estimates and affective forecasts for future events. Views of the future were predicted by both emotional state and individual differences in following feelings. Whereas following negative feelings affected most future-oriented cognition across emotional states, following positive feelings specifically buffered individuals' views of the future in the negative emotion condition, and specifically for positive future events, a category of future-event prediction especially important in psychological health. Individual differences may confer predisposition toward optimistic or pessimistic expectations of the future in the context of acute negative emotion, with implications for adaptive and maladaptive functioning. PMID:27041783

"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger": Negative Comparison on Facebook and Adolescents' Life Satisfaction Are Reciprocally Related.

Science.gov (United States)

Frison, Eline; Eggermont, Steven

2016-03-01

Social networking sites, such as Facebook, offer adolescent users an ideal platform for negative comparison (i.e., experiencing negative feelings from social comparison). Although such negative comparison on Facebook has been associated with users' well-being, the reciprocal relations between the two remain unclear, particularly in an adolescent sample. To examine this reciprocal process, a two-wave study among a representative sample of Flemish adolescents was set up (N Time1 = 1,840). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that negative comparison on Facebook predicted decreases in life satisfaction over time. Conversely, lower scores on life satisfaction predicted increases in negative comparison on Facebook. The discussion focuses on the understanding of these findings, key limitations, directions for future research, and implications for prevention and intervention strategies.

Suppressor Effects of Positive and Negative Religious Coping on Academic Burnout Among Korean Middle School Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Noh, Hyunkyung; Chang, Eunbi; Jang, Yoojin; Lee, Ji Hae; Lee, Sang Min

2016-02-01

Statistical suppressor effects in prediction models can provide evidence of the interdependent relationship of independent variables. In this study, the suppressor effects of positive and negative religious coping on academic burnout were examined using longitudinal data. First, 388 middle school students reported their type of religion and use of positive and negative religious coping strategies. Four months later, they also reported their level of academic burnout. From structural equation modeling, significant suppressor effects were found among religious students. That is, the coefficients became larger when both positive and negative religious coping predicted academic burnout simultaneously, compared to when each religious coping predicted academic burnout alone. However, suppressor effects were not found among non-religious students.

Predictive value and clinical utility of centrally assessed ER, PgR, and Ki-67 to select adjuvant endocrine therapy for premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer: TEXT and SOFT trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Regan, Meredith M; Pagani, Olivia; Francis, Prudence A; Fleming, Gini F; Walley, Barbara A; Kammler, Roswitha; Dell'Orto, Patrizia; Russo, Leila; Szőke, János; Doimi, Franco; Villani, Laura; Pizzolitto, Stefano; Öhlschlegel, Christian; Sessa, Fausto; Peg Cámara, Vicente; Rodríguez Peralto, José Luis; MacGrogan, Gaëtan; Colleoni, Marco; Goldhirsch, Aron; Price, Karen N; Coates, Alan S; Gelber, Richard D; Viale, Giuseppe

2015-11-01

The SOFT and TEXT randomized phase III trials investigated adjuvant endocrine therapies for premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) early breast cancer. We investigated the prognostic and predictive value of centrally assessed levels of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), and Ki-67 expression in women with HER2-negative disease. Of 5707 women enrolled, 4115 with HER2-negative (HR+/HER2-) disease had ER, PgR, and Ki-67 centrally assessed by immunohistochemistry. Breast cancer-free interval (BCFI) was defined from randomization to first invasive local, regional, or distant recurrence or contralateral breast cancer. The prognostic and predictive values of ER, PgR and Ki-67 expression levels were assessed using Cox modeling and STEPP methodology. In this HR+/HER2- population, the median ER, PgR, and Ki-67 expressions were 95, 90, and 18 % immunostained cells. As most patients had strongly ER-positive tumors, the predictive value of ER levels could not be investigated. Lower PgR and higher Ki-67 expression were associated with reduced BCFI. There was no consistent evidence of heterogeneity of the relative treatment effects according to PgR or Ki-67 expression levels, though there was a greater 5-year absolute benefit of exemestane + ovarian function suppression (OFS) versus tamoxifen with or without OFS at lower levels of PgR and higher levels of Ki-67. Women with poor prognostic features of low PgR and/or high Ki-67 have greater absolute benefit from exemestane + OFS versus tamoxifen + OFS or tamoxifen alone, but individually PgR and Ki-67 are of limited predictive value for selecting adjuvant endocrine therapy for premenopausal women with HR+/HER2- early breast cancer.

Comparison of high-resolution magnification narrow-band imaging and white-light endoscopy in the prediction of histology in Barrett's oesophagus.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Rajvinder; Karageorgiou, Haris; Owen, Victoria; Garsed, Klara; Fortun, Paul J; Fogden, Edward; Subramaniam, Venkataraman; Shonde, Anthony; Kaye, Philip; Hawkey, Christopher J; Ragunath, Krish

2009-01-01

To evaluate whether there is any appreciable difference in imaging characteristics between high-resolution magnification white-light endoscopy (WLE-Z) and narrow-band imaging (NBI-Z) in Barrett's oesophagus (BE) and if this translates into superior prediction of histology. This was a prospective single-centre study involving 21 patients (75 areas, corresponding NBI-Z and WLE-Z images) with BE. Mucosal patterns (pit pattern and microvascular morphology) were evaluated for their image quality on a visual analogue scale (VAS) of 1-10 by five expert endoscopists. The endoscopists then predicted mucosal morphology based on four subtypes which can be visualized in BE. Type A: round pits, regular microvasculature; type B: villous/ridge pits, regular microvasculature; type C: absent pits, regular microvasculature; type D: distorted pits, irregular microvasculature. The sensitivity (Sn), specificity (Sp), positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy (Acc) were then compared with the final histopathological analysis and the interobserver variability calculated. The overall pit and microvasculature quality was significantly higher for NBI-Z, pit: NBI-Z=6, WLE-Z=4.5, p < 0.001; microvasculature: NBI-Z=7.3, WLE-Z=4.9, p < 0.001. This translated into a superior prediction of histology (Sn: NBI-Z: 88.9, WLE-Z: 71.9, p < 0.001). For the prediction of dysplasia, NBI-Z was superior to WLE-Z (chi(2)=10.3, p < 0.05). The overall kappa agreement among the five endoscopists for NBI-Z and WLE-Z, respectively, was 0.59 and 0.31 (p < 0.001). NBI-Z is superior to WLE-Z in the prediction of histology in BE, with good reproducibility. This novel imaging modality could be an important tool for surveillance of patients with BE.

Direct Observations of Parenting and Real-time Negative Affect among Adolescent Smokers and Non-Smokers

Science.gov (United States)

Richmond, Melanie J.; Mermelstein, Robin J.; Wakschlag, Lauren S.

2012-01-01

Objective This longitudinal study examined how observations of parental general communication style and control with their adolescents predicted changes in negative affect over time for adolescent smokers and non-smokers. Method Participants were 9th and 10th grade adolescents (N = 111; 56.8% female) who had all experimented with cigarettes and were thus at risk for continued smoking and escalation; 36% of these adolescents (n = 40) had smoked in the past month at baseline and were considered smokers in the present analyses. Adolescents participated separately with mothers and fathers in observed parent-adolescent problem-solving discussions to assess parenting at baseline. Adolescent negative affect was assessed at baseline, 6- and 24-months via ecological momentary assessment. Results Among both smoking and non-smoking adolescents, escalating negative affect significantly increased risk for future smoking. Higher quality maternal and paternal communication predicted a decline in negative affect over 1.5 years for adolescent smokers but was not related to negative affect for non-smokers. Controlling maternal, but not paternal, parenting predicted escalation in negative affect for all adolescents. Conclusions Findings suggest that reducing negative affect among experimenting youth can reduce risk for smoking escalation. Therefore, family-based prevention efforts for adolescent smoking escalation might consider parental general communication style and control as intervention targets. However, adolescent smoking status and parent gender may moderate these effects. PMID:23153193

Entropies of negative incomes, Pareto-distributed loss, and financial crises.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Jianbo; Hu, Jing; Mao, Xiang; Zhou, Mi; Gurbaxani, Brian; Lin, Johnny

2011-01-01

Health monitoring of world economy is an important issue, especially in a time of profound economic difficulty world-wide. The most important aspect of health monitoring is to accurately predict economic downturns. To gain insights into how economic crises develop, we present two metrics, positive and negative income entropy and distribution analysis, to analyze the collective "spatial" and temporal dynamics of companies in nine sectors of the world economy over a 19 year period from 1990-2008. These metrics provide accurate predictive skill with a very low false-positive rate in predicting downturns. The new metrics also provide evidence of phase transition-like behavior prior to the onset of recessions. Such a transition occurs when negative pretax incomes prior to or during economic recessions transition from a thin-tailed exponential distribution to the higher entropy Pareto distribution, and develop even heavier tails than those of the positive pretax incomes. These features propagate from the crisis initiating sector of the economy to other sectors.

Entropies of negative incomes, Pareto-distributed loss, and financial crises.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianbo Gao

Full Text Available Health monitoring of world economy is an important issue, especially in a time of profound economic difficulty world-wide. The most important aspect of health monitoring is to accurately predict economic downturns. To gain insights into how economic crises develop, we present two metrics, positive and negative income entropy and distribution analysis, to analyze the collective "spatial" and temporal dynamics of companies in nine sectors of the world economy over a 19 year period from 1990-2008. These metrics provide accurate predictive skill with a very low false-positive rate in predicting downturns. The new metrics also provide evidence of phase transition-like behavior prior to the onset of recessions. Such a transition occurs when negative pretax incomes prior to or during economic recessions transition from a thin-tailed exponential distribution to the higher entropy Pareto distribution, and develop even heavier tails than those of the positive pretax incomes. These features propagate from the crisis initiating sector of the economy to other sectors.

Petunia × hybrida floral scent production is negatively affected by high-temperature growth conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Cna'ani, Alon; Mühlemann, Joelle K; Ravid, Jasmin; Masci, Tania; Klempien, Antje; Nguyen, Thuong T H; Dudareva, Natalia; Pichersky, Eran; Vainstein, Alexander

2015-07-01

Increasing temperatures due to changing global climate are interfering with plant-pollinator mutualism, an interaction facilitated mainly by floral colour and scent. Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy analyses revealed that increasing ambient temperature leads to a decrease in phenylpropanoid-based floral scent production in two Petunia × hybrida varieties, P720 and Blue Spark, acclimated at 22/16 or 28/22 °C (day/night). This decrease could be attributed to down-regulation of scent-related structural gene expression from both phenylpropanoid and shikimate pathways, and up-regulation of a negative regulator of scent production, emission of benzenoids V (EOBV). To test whether the negative effect of increased temperature on scent production can be reduced in flowers with enhanced metabolic flow in the phenylpropanoid pathway, we analysed floral volatile production by transgenic 'Blue Spark' plants overexpressing CaMV 35S-driven Arabidopsis thaliana production of anthocyanin pigments 1 (PAP1) under elevated versus standard temperature conditions. Flowers of 35S:PAP1 transgenic plants produced the same or even higher levels of volatiles when exposed to a long-term high-temperature regime. This phenotype was also evident when analysing relevant gene expression as inferred from sequencing the transcriptome of 35S:PAP1 transgenic flowers under the two temperature regimes. Thus, up-regulation of transcription might negate the adverse effects of temperature on scent production. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Negative refraction angular characterization in one-dimensional photonic crystals.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesus Eduardo Lugo

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Photonic crystals are artificial structures that have periodic dielectric components with different refractive indices. Under certain conditions, they abnormally refract the light, a phenomenon called negative refraction. Here we experimentally characterize negative refraction in a one dimensional photonic crystal structure; near the low frequency edge of the fourth photonic bandgap. We compare the experimental results with current theory and a theory based on the group velocity developed here. We also analytically derived the negative refraction correctness condition that gives the angular region where negative refraction occurs.By using standard photonic techniques we experimentally determined the relationship between incidence and negative refraction angles and found the negative refraction range by applying the correctness condition. In order to compare both theories with experimental results an output refraction correction was utilized. The correction uses Snell's law and an effective refractive index based on two effective dielectric constants. We found good agreement between experiment and both theories in the negative refraction zone.Since both theories and the experimental observations agreed well in the negative refraction region, we can use both negative refraction theories plus the output correction to predict negative refraction angles. This can be very useful from a practical point of view for space filtering applications such as a photonic demultiplexer or for sensing applications.

Negative refraction angular characterization in one-dimensional photonic crystals.

Science.gov (United States)

Lugo, Jesus Eduardo; Doti, Rafael; Faubert, Jocelyn

2011-04-06

Photonic crystals are artificial structures that have periodic dielectric components with different refractive indices. Under certain conditions, they abnormally refract the light, a phenomenon called negative refraction. Here we experimentally characterize negative refraction in a one dimensional photonic crystal structure; near the low frequency edge of the fourth photonic bandgap. We compare the experimental results with current theory and a theory based on the group velocity developed here. We also analytically derived the negative refraction correctness condition that gives the angular region where negative refraction occurs. By using standard photonic techniques we experimentally determined the relationship between incidence and negative refraction angles and found the negative refraction range by applying the correctness condition. In order to compare both theories with experimental results an output refraction correction was utilized. The correction uses Snell's law and an effective refractive index based on two effective dielectric constants. We found good agreement between experiment and both theories in the negative refraction zone. Since both theories and the experimental observations agreed well in the negative refraction region, we can use both negative refraction theories plus the output correction to predict negative refraction angles. This can be very useful from a practical point of view for space filtering applications such as a photonic demultiplexer or for sensing applications.

Tailored high-resolution numerical weather forecasts for energy efficient predictive building control

Science.gov (United States)

Stauch, V. J.; Gwerder, M.; Gyalistras, D.; Oldewurtel, F.; Schubiger, F.; Steiner, P.

2010-09-01

The high proportion of the total primary energy consumption by buildings has increased the public interest in the optimisation of buildings' operation and is also driving the development of novel control approaches for the indoor climate. In this context, the use of weather forecasts presents an interesting and - thanks to advances in information and predictive control technologies and the continuous improvement of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models - an increasingly attractive option for improved building control. Within the research project OptiControl (www.opticontrol.ethz.ch) predictive control strategies for a wide range of buildings, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and representative locations in Europe are being investigated with the aid of newly developed modelling and simulation tools. Grid point predictions for radiation, temperature and humidity of the high-resolution limited area NWP model COSMO-7 (see www.cosmo-model.org) and local measurements are used as disturbances and inputs into the building system. The control task considered consists in minimizing energy consumption whilst maintaining occupant comfort. In this presentation, we use the simulation-based OptiControl methodology to investigate the impact of COSMO-7 forecasts on the performance of predictive building control and the resulting energy savings. For this, we have selected building cases that were shown to benefit from a prediction horizon of up to 3 days and therefore, are particularly suitable for the use of numerical weather forecasts. We show that the controller performance is sensitive to the quality of the weather predictions, most importantly of the incident radiation on differently oriented façades. However, radiation is characterised by a high temporal and spatial variability in part caused by small scale and fast changing cloud formation and dissolution processes being only partially represented in the COSMO-7 grid point predictions. On the

Positive and negative psychological impact after secondary exposure to politically motivated violence among body handlers and rehabilitation workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiri, Shimon; Wexler, Isaiah D; Alkalay, Yasmin; Meiner, Zeev; Kreitler, Shulamith

2008-12-01

The positive and negative psychological impact of secondary exposure to politically motivated violence was examined among body handlers and hospital rehabilitation workers, 2 groups that differed in their proximity and immediacy to violent events. Survivors of politically motivated violence served as a comparison group. Body handlers experienced high levels of positive psychological impact and traumatic stress symptoms. Levels of positive psychological impact among on-scene body handlers were higher than those experienced by rehabilitation workers. Traumatic stress symptoms predicted positive psychological impact among body handlers. These findings indicate that proximity to stressors is associated with higher levels of positive and negative psychological impact. Physical proximity is a major contributory factor to both positive and negative psychological effects of secondary exposure to trauma.

Information assessment on predicting protein-protein interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerstein Mark

2004-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Identifying protein-protein interactions is fundamental for understanding the molecular machinery of the cell. Proteome-wide studies of protein-protein interactions are of significant value, but the high-throughput experimental technologies suffer from high rates of both false positive and false negative predictions. In addition to high-throughput experimental data, many diverse types of genomic data can help predict protein-protein interactions, such as mRNA expression, localization, essentiality, and functional annotation. Evaluations of the information contributions from different evidences help to establish more parsimonious models with comparable or better prediction accuracy, and to obtain biological insights of the relationships between protein-protein interactions and other genomic information. Results Our assessment is based on the genomic features used in a Bayesian network approach to predict protein-protein interactions genome-wide in yeast. In the special case, when one does not have any missing information about any of the features, our analysis shows that there is a larger information contribution from the functional-classification than from expression correlations or essentiality. We also show that in this case alternative models, such as logistic regression and random forest, may be more effective than Bayesian networks for predicting interactions. Conclusions In the restricted problem posed by the complete-information subset, we identified that the MIPS and Gene Ontology (GO functional similarity datasets as the dominating information contributors for predicting the protein-protein interactions under the framework proposed by Jansen et al. Random forests based on the MIPS and GO information alone can give highly accurate classifications. In this particular subset of complete information, adding other genomic data does little for improving predictions. We also found that the data discretizations used in the

Maximizing gain in high-throughput screening using conformal prediction.

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Svensson, Fredrik; Afzal, Avid M; Norinder, Ulf; Bender, Andreas

2018-02-21

Iterative screening has emerged as a promising approach to increase the efficiency of screening campaigns compared to traditional high throughput approaches. By learning from a subset of the compound library, inferences on what compounds to screen next can be made by predictive models, resulting in more efficient screening. One way to evaluate screening is to consider the cost of screening compared to the gain associated with finding an active compound. In this work, we introduce a conformal predictor coupled with a gain-cost function with the aim to maximise gain in iterative screening. Using this setup we were able to show that by evaluating the predictions on the training data, very accurate predictions on what settings will produce the highest gain on the test data can be made. We evaluate the approach on 12 bioactivity datasets from PubChem training the models using 20% of the data. Depending on the settings of the gain-cost function, the settings generating the maximum gain were accurately identified in 8-10 out of the 12 datasets. Broadly, our approach can predict what strategy generates the highest gain based on the results of the cost-gain evaluation: to screen the compounds predicted to be active, to screen all the remaining data, or not to screen any additional compounds. When the algorithm indicates that the predicted active compounds should be screened, our approach also indicates what confidence level to apply in order to maximize gain. Hence, our approach facilitates decision-making and allocation of the resources where they deliver the most value by indicating in advance the likely outcome of a screening campaign.

Comparing the Effects of Negative and Mixed Emotional Messages on Predicted Occasional Excessive Drinking

OpenAIRE

Carrera, Pilar; Caballero, Amparo; Mu?oz, Dolores

2008-01-01

In this work we present two types of emotional message, negative (sadness) versus mixed (joy and sadness), with the aim of studying their differential effect on attitude change and the probability estimated by participants of repeating the behavior of occasional excessive drinking in the near future. The results show that for the group of participants with moderate experience in this behavior the negative message, compared to the mixed one, is associated with higher probability of repeating t...

Comparing the effects of negative and mixed emotional messages on predicted occasional excessive drinking

OpenAIRE

Carrera Levillain, Pilar; Caballero González, Amparo; Muñoz Cáceres, María Dolores

2008-01-01

In this work we present two types of emotional message, negative (sadness) versus mixed (joy and sadness), with the aim of studying their differential effect on attitude change and the probability estimated by participants of repeating the behavior of occasional excessive drinking in the near future. The results show that for the group of participants with moderate experience in this behavior the negative message, compared to the mixed one, is associated with higher probability of repeating t...

Significance of High Resolution GHRSST on prediction of Indian Summer Monsoon

KAUST Repository

Jangid, Buddhi Prakash

2017-02-24

In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to assess the importance of very high resolution sea surface temperature (SST) on seasonal rainfall prediction. Two different SST datasets available from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) global model analysis and merged satellite product from Group for High Resolution SST (GHRSST) are used as a lower boundary condition in the WRF model for the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) 2010. Before using NCEP SST and GHRSST for model simulation, an initial verification of NCEP SST and GHRSST are performed with buoy measurements. It is found that approximately 0.4 K root mean square difference (RMSD) in GHRSST and NCEP SST when compared with buoy observations available over the Indian Ocean during 01 May to 30 September 2010. Our analyses suggest that use of GHRSST as lower boundary conditions in the WRF model improve the low level temperature, moisture, wind speed and rainfall prediction over ISM region. Moreover, temporal evolution of surface parameters such as temperature, moisture and wind speed forecasts associated with monsoon is also improved with GHRSST forcing as a lower boundary condition. Interestingly, rainfall prediction is improved with the use of GHRSST over the Western Ghats, which mostly not simulated in the NCEP SST based experiment.

Significance of High Resolution GHRSST on prediction of Indian Summer Monsoon

KAUST Repository

Jangid, Buddhi Prakash; Kumar, Prashant; Attada, Raju; Kumar, Raj

2017-01-01

In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to assess the importance of very high resolution sea surface temperature (SST) on seasonal rainfall prediction. Two different SST datasets available from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) global model analysis and merged satellite product from Group for High Resolution SST (GHRSST) are used as a lower boundary condition in the WRF model for the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) 2010. Before using NCEP SST and GHRSST for model simulation, an initial verification of NCEP SST and GHRSST are performed with buoy measurements. It is found that approximately 0.4 K root mean square difference (RMSD) in GHRSST and NCEP SST when compared with buoy observations available over the Indian Ocean during 01 May to 30 September 2010. Our analyses suggest that use of GHRSST as lower boundary conditions in the WRF model improve the low level temperature, moisture, wind speed and rainfall prediction over ISM region. Moreover, temporal evolution of surface parameters such as temperature, moisture and wind speed forecasts associated with monsoon is also improved with GHRSST forcing as a lower boundary condition. Interestingly, rainfall prediction is improved with the use of GHRSST over the Western Ghats, which mostly not simulated in the NCEP SST based experiment.

Liking is not the opposite of disliking: the functional separability of positive and negative attitudes toward minority groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittinsky, Todd L; Rosenthal, Seth A; Montoya, R Matthew

2011-04-01

Two studies tested the hypotheses that positive and negative attitudes toward minority groups are not interchangeable in predicting positive versus negative behaviors toward those groups. In Study 1, positive attitudes about Latinos were a better predictor of a positive behavior toward Latinos than were negative attitudes or stereotyped positive attitudes. In Study 2, positive attitudes about African Americans were a better predictor of positive behavioral intentions toward that group than were negative attitudes, whereas negative attitudes were better predictors of negative behavioral intentions than were positive attitudes. Taken together, the studies support the perspective that positive and negative attitudes toward minority groups are theoretically and functionally distinct constructs. We conclude that it is important to measure both positive and negative attitudes to understand and predict behaviors toward minority groups.

Striking Distance Determined From High-Speed Videos and Measured Currents in Negative Cloud-to-Ground Lightning

Science.gov (United States)

Visacro, Silverio; Guimaraes, Miguel; Murta Vale, Maria Helena

2017-12-01

First and subsequent return strokes' striking distances (SDs) were determined for negative cloud-to-ground flashes from high-speed videos exhibiting the development of positive and negative leaders and the pre-return stroke phase of currents measured along a short tower. In order to improve the results, a new criterion was used for the initiation and propagation of the sustained upward connecting leader, consisting of a 4 A continuous current threshold. An advanced approach developed from the combined use of this criterion and a reverse propagation procedure, which considers the calculated propagation speeds of the leaders, was applied and revealed that SDs determined solely from the first video frame showing the upward leader can be significantly underestimated. An original approach was proposed for a rough estimate of first strokes' SD using solely records of current. This approach combines the 4 A criterion and a representative composite three-dimensional propagation speed of 0.34 × 106 m/s for the leaders in the last 300 m propagated distance. SDs determined under this approach showed to be consistent with those of the advanced procedure. This approach was applied to determine the SD of 17 first return strokes of negative flashes measured at MCS, covering a wide peak-current range, from 18 to 153 kA. The estimated SDs exhibit very high dispersion and reveal great differences in relation to the SDs estimated for subsequent return strokes and strokes in triggered lightning.

Adolescent Eating Disorders Predict Psychiatric, High-Risk Behaviors and Weight Outcomes in Young Adulthood.