Search

In behavioral and social research, questionnaires are an important assessment tool, through which individuals can be categorized according to how they classify themselves in respect to a personal trait. One example is the Major Depression Inventory (MDI), which is widely used for the assessment of depression. It can also be used as a depression severity scale, with scores ranging from 0 to 50 constructed considering the same weight for each item in the MDI. However, the dependence among the items of the questionnaire suggests that a score with better properties could be obtained through factor models, which besides allowing to reduce the dimensionality of multivariate data, provides the estimation of common factors and factor loadings that often have an interesting theoretical interpretation. Additionally, auxiliary information could be available and, the effect of these variables in the latent factor could be estimated and provide interesting results. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to propose a factor model for ordered categorical data which incorporates auxiliary variables to explain the latent factors. The proposed model provides an alternative score to MDI based on the estimated latent factors that takes the uncertainty in the data and auxiliary information into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socioeconomic mobility across generations is an important measure of how developed and open to equal opportunities a nation is. Understanding the mechanisms behind intergenerational mobility is essential for the implementation of effective public policies toward economic development. This study aimed to measure intergenerational mobility specifically in education, using data from the National Household Sample Survey for the year 2014, where 9 birth cohorts were utilized to obtain regression coefficients, correlation coefficients, and the decomposition of the correlation coefficient. Among the main findings, an increase in intergenerational mobility over time was observed in both the regression coefficient and the correlation coefficient. Additionally, there was limited mobility among groups such as women and non-white individuals. Regarding regions, the Northeast region experienced significant growth in mobility, no longer being the region with the highest persistence over time. As for the type of persistence, it became composed of parents and children who have the same level of education, such as high school and higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze the parental reproduction of occupations and their effects on income according to the diverse socioeconomic conditions of Brazil. Logistic regressions and wage decomposition using RIF -Recentered Influence Function—were applied to the microdata of the 2019 National Continuous Household Sample Survey. We found that sons tend to follow the occupation of fathers and daughters that of mothers; rural dwellers from traditional families and from poorer classes with low levels of education are more likely to reproduce their parents' occupation. Parental reproduction of occupations among the poor leads to lower remuneration for individuals compared to those who choose other occupations and to the maintenance of economic poverty. Impacts are greatest in the smallest quantile of wage distribution and for the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many models for environmental data that are observed in time and space have been proposed in the literature. The main objective of these models is usually to make predictions in time and to perform interpolations in space. Realistic predictions and interpolations are obtained when the process and its variability are well represented through a model that takes into consideration its peculiarities. In this paper, we propose a spatio-temporal model to handle observations that come from distributions with heavy tails and for which the assumption of isotropy is not realistic. As a natural choice for a heavy-tailed model, we take a Student's-t distribution. The Student's-t distribution, while being symmetric, provides greater flexibility in modeling data with kurtosis and shape different from the Gaussian distribution. We handle anisotropy through a spatial deformation method. Under this approach, the original geographic space of observations gets mapped into a new space where isotropy holds. Our main result is, therefore, an anisotropic model based on the heavy-tailed t distribution. Bayesian approach and the use of MCMC enable us to sample from the posterior distribution of the model parameters. In Sect. 2, we discuss the main properties of the proposed model. In Sect. 3, we present a simulation study, showing its superiority over the traditional isotropic Gaussian model. In Sect. 4, we show the motivation that has led us to propose the t distribution-based anisotropic model—the real dataset of evaporation coming from the Rio Grande do Sul state of Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may improve symptoms of inattention in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, previous trials are characterized by small sample sizes, heterogeneous methodologies, and short treatment periods using clinic-based tDCS.Objective: To determine the efficacy and safety of home-based tDCS in treating inattention symptoms in adult patients with ADHD.Design, Setting, and Participants: Randomized, double-blind, parallel, sham-controlled clinical trial (tDCS for the Treatment of Inattention Symptoms in Adult Patients With ADHD [TUNED]), conducted from July 2019 through July 2021 in a single-center outpatient academic setting. Of 277 potential participants screened by phone, 150 were assessed for eligibility on site, and 64 were included. Participants were adults with ADHD, inattentive or combined subtype. Exclusion criteria included current stimulant drug treatment, current moderate to severe symptoms of depression or anxiety, diagnosis of bipolar disorder with a manic or depressive episode in the last year, diagnosis of schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder, and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder; 55 of participants completed follow-up after 4 weeks.Interventions: Thirty-minute daily sessions of home-based tDCS for 4 weeks, 2 mA anodal-right and cathodal-left prefrontal stimulation with 35-cm2 carbon electrodes.Main Outcomes and Measures: Inattentive scores in the clinician-administered version of the Adult ADHD Self-report Scale version 1.1 (CASRS-I).Results: Included in this trial were 64 participants with ADHD (31 [48%] inattentive presentation and 33 [52%] combined presentation), with a mean (SD) age of 38.3 (9.6) years. Thirty participants (47%) were women and 34 (53%) were men. Fifty-five finished the trial. At week 4, the mean (SD) inattention score, as measured with CASRS-I, was 18.88 (5.79) in the active tDCS group and 23.63 (3.97) in the sham tDCS group. Linear mixed-effects models revealed a statistically significant treatment by time interaction for CASRS-I (βinteraction = -3.18; 95% CI, -4.60 to -1.75; P < .001), showing decreased symptoms of inattention in the active tDCS group over the 3 assessments compared to the sham tDCS group. Mild adverse events were more frequent in the active tDCS group, particularly skin redness, headache, and scalp burn.Conclusions and Relevance: In this randomized clinical trial, daily treatment with a home-based tDCS device over 4 weeks improved attention in adult patients with ADHD who were not taking stimulant medication. Home-based tDCS could be a nonpharmacological alternative for patients with ADHD.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04003740. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, maladaptive behavior stemming from a psychological disorder should not be attributed to personality. Attribution of behavioral symptoms to personality may undermine treatment‐seeking and therapy outcomes and increase the stigmatization of the mentally ill. Although people adjust dispositional inferences given contextual alternative causes, we propose that beliefs in the stability and controllability of mental illness could lead to confounded representations of personality and psychological disorders. In six studies we tested whether people adjust dispositional inferences given a psychological disorder as they do give a physical impairment. Participants made trait ratings from short behavioral descriptions and corresponding contextual accounts. When the putative cause for the behavior was a psychological disorder, people did not reduce the trait inference to the extent they did when the cause was a physical impairment, except when the psychological disorder was presented as controllable/unstable. This suggests a conflation of psychological disorders with personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article aims to analyze the workers' probabilities of following their parents' occupational legacy and whether these individuals are paid differently compared to those who opted for occupations different from their parents, in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach: To that end, the occupational legacy probability equation was estimated as the quantile wage equations with sample selection bias correction and the wage decomposition for Brazil from the microdata of the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) of 2014. It was found that families have a strong influence on the process of choosing the careers of their children. The average probability of a young person following the occupational legacy of their parents was 41.63%. This percentage is different when analyzing different groups of individuals, such as being male or female, being in a traditional or single parent family, being in an income household lower or higher per capita. Findings: The results also confirm the hypothesis that workers who tend to follow the occupational legacy have lower wages than individuals who choose other occupations and that this may cause a "poverty trap" since the lower the salary quantile, the stronger the "trap" as economically disadvantaged young people tend to follow in their parents' footsteps and to contribute to family income they face a tradeoff, opt between work or study, which ends up disrupting their education and forcing young people to entering the job market early, performing secondary occupations with lower income and arduous work, generating a "vicious cycle of poverty". Research limitations/implications: Given the database, we are comprised to its most recent version. Practical implications: This is the first work on Latin American problem of occupational legacy. Originality/value: This is the first work on Latin American problem of occupational legacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization results in loss of natural habitats and, consequently, reduction of richness and abundance of specialist to the detriment of generalist species. We hypothesized that a greater richness of trypanosomatid in Didelphis albiventris would be found in fragments of urban forests in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, that presented a larger richness of small mammals. We used parasitological, molecular, and serological methods to detect Trypanosoma spp. infection in D. albiventris (n = 43) from forest fragments. PCR was performed with primers specific for 18S rDNA, 24Sα rDNA, mini-chromosome satellites, and mini-exon genes. IFAT was used to detect anti–Trypanosoma cruzi IgG. All hemoculture was negative. We detected trypanosomatid DNA in blood of 35% of opossum. Two opossums were seropositive for T. cruzi. The trypanosomatid species number infecting D. albiventris was higher in the areas with greater abundance, rather than richness of small mammals. We found D. albiventris parasitized by T. cruzi in single and co-infections with Leishmania spp., recently described molecular operational taxonomic unit (MOTU) named DID, and Trypanosoma lainsoni. We concluded that (i) trypanosome richness may be determined by small mammal abundance, (ii) D. albiventris confirmed to be bio-accumulators of trypanosomatids, and (iii) T. lainsoni demonstrated a higher host range than described up to the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Applied Economics / Economía Aplicada is the property of FEA-RP, Universidade de Sao Paulo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Environmental education (EE) programs, when combined with human-wildlife interactions (HWI), can trigger emotions, an essential part of attitudes that influence pro-environmental behaviors (PEB). We used participant observation and a post-event evaluation survey to investigate emotional response to HWI among participants from marine educational programs at the University of Georgia Marine Education Center and Aquarium, Savannah, GA. We found that during HWI participants demonstrated positive (e.g., empathy) and negative emotions (e.g., frustration) with animals, including misconceptions and negative perceptions toward snakes and horseshoe crabs. In addition, outdoor exploration, contact with wildlife (direct or indirect), biofacts exhibitions and live animal presentations were the practices that most engaged participants in the programs, indicating that animals (e.g., turtles and crabs) can increase participants' interest in educational activities. By incorporating wildlife in EE practices, educators can engage individuals in activities and stimulate their emotional attachment to animals, which can encourage changes in perceptions, leading to PEBs necessary for environmental conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of single-nucleotide variant n.60G>C (rs2910164) of microRNA (miR)-146a, related to suppressing of BRCA1/2 DNA repair protein, with the risk and survival of colorectal cancer patients, as well as miR-146a and BRCA1/2 levels and miR binding efficiency. The genotypes were identified in 125 colorectal cancer patients and 276 controls using TaqMan polymerase chain reaction assay. The miR-146a and BRCA1/2 levels were assessed by quantitative–polymerase chain reaction protocols. Primary precursor of miR-146a containing G (wild-type) and C (variant) allele were cloned into pcDNA.3.3 vector and co-transfected in HT-29 colorectal cancer cell line. Luciferase reporter assay was performed to assess miR-146a binding to BRCA2 3′-untranslated region in HT-29. The differences between groups were calculated using chi-square or Fisher's exact test, logistic regression, and Mann–Whitney test. The prognostic impact of single-nucleotide variant genotypes on overall survival was evaluated by Kaplan–Meier estimate and Cox regression. The GC or CC genotypes prevalence was similar in patients and controls (50.4% vs 50.7%, p = 0.74). However, patients with tumors in advanced stage with miR-146a GG genotype had 2.41 more chance of dying than GC or CC genotypes. In addition, tumor tissues of patients with GG genotype presented higher miR-146a (p = 0.02) and lower BRCA1 (p = 0.01) and BRCA2 (p < 0.0001) levels when compared to those with GC or CC genotypes. In fact, pcDNA.3.3-miR-146a-G presented increased binding capacity to the 3′-untranslated region of BRCA2 (p = 0.001) compared to pcDNA.3.3-miR-146a-C. In addition, the G allele altered the binding affinity between miR-146a and its BRCA2 3′-untranslated region target (p < 0.001), thus enhancing suppression of BRCA2 expression. Our results suggest that single-nucleotide variant rs2910164 does not influence the colorectal cancer risk in Brazilian patients; however, the GG genotype could act as a factor of worse prognosis in patients with advanced disease due to suppression of BRCA1/2 modulated by miR-146a. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Movimenta is the property of Universidade Estadual de Goias and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Universidade Estadual Paulista. Revista de Odontologia is the property of Universidade Estadual Paulista. Revista de Odontologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Nova Economia is the property of Nova Economia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article proposes a modeling approach for handling spatial heterogeneity present in the study of the geographical pattern of deaths due to cerebrovascular disease.The framework involvesa point pattern analysis with components exhibiting spatial variation. Preliminary studies indicate that mortality of this disease and the effect of relevant covariates do not exhibit uniform geographic distribution. Our model extends a previously proposed model in the literature that uses spatial and non-spatial variables by allowing for spatial variation of the effect of non-spatial covariates. A number of relative risk indicators are derived by comparing different covariate levels, different geographic locations, or both. The methodology is applied to the study of the geographical death pattern of cerebrovascular deaths in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The results compare well against existing alternatives, including fixed covariate effects. Our model is able to capture and highlight important data information that would not be noticed otherwise, providing information that is required for appropriate health decision-making. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GeSec: Revista de Gestao e Secretariado is the property of Sindicato das Secretarias e Secretarios do Estado de Sao Paulo (SINSESP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Brazilian Review of Economics & Agribusiness / Revista de Economia e Agronegócio is the property of Brazilian Review of Economics & Agribusiness / Revista de Economia e Agronegocio and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We demonstrate morphology and pore size dependence of silica nanoparticles (SNPs) synthesized via control of the iron oxidation state. In the absence of any Fe species, only spherical SNPs are produced, whereas in the presence of Fe3+ and Fe2+ ions, SNPs with rod-like and nanosheet morphologies, respectively, are formed. The average pore size increases from 1.7 nm in the absence of iron to 3.2 and 5.9 nm as Fe3+ and Fe2+, respectively, were used during the synthesis. Both samples of SNPs synthesized in the presence of Fe2+ and Fe3+ have 0.2 wt% of tetrahedral iron in the silica framework, whereas most of the iron is in the silica extraframework, as verified by Mössbauer spectroscopy, UV-vis diffuse reflectance, FTIR, XRD data and TPR analysis. These Fe2+ and Fe3+ cations play a fundamental role in controlling these properties because they change the curvature and the surface charge density of CTAB micelles, thus favoring the spherical to rod-like transition. The rod-like shape was retained in Fe3+-containing samples, whereas a nanosheet-like morphology was produced in Fe2+-containing samples due to the breakage of silica walls during the thermal treatment to remove the template. The control of the textural properties is interesting to allow the fabrication of selective photocatalysts for oxidation of different organic substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Paranaense de Desenvolvimento is the property of Revista Paranaense de Desenvolvimento and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Applied Economics / Economía Aplicada is the property of FEA-RP, Universidade de Sao Paulo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses research on using the Cox processes to estimate temporal variation in disease risk. The study investigated how the precision of inference is degraded by aggregation of the event-times into counts in disjoint intervals using simulated dataset from a Cox process. Conclusions stated that predictions for future outcomes through simulated data based on past observations which are not updated in time are imprecise while those based on past observations updated with new data as they become available were satisfactory.

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural is the property of Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural is the property of Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this work we present a Bayesian analysis in linear regression models with spatially varying coefficients for modeling and inference in spatio-temporal processes. This kind of model is particularly appealing in situations where the effect of one or more explanatory processes on the response present substantial spatial heterogeneity. We describe for this model how to make inference about the regression coefficients and response processes under two scenarios: when the explanatory processes are known throughout the study region, and when they are known only at the sampling locations. Using a simulation experiment we investigate how parameter inference and interpolation performance are affected by some features of the data and prior distribution that is used. The proposed methodology is used to model the dataset on PM10 levels in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro presented in Paez and Gamerman (2003). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present an application of models with temporal and spatial components, from the Bayesian point of view, on data pollutants collected in 16 different monitoring sites located in the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro during 1999. All the models considered here assume conditionally independent observations, with a mean specified by the sum of random temporal and spatial components and a linear function of the maximum daily temperature and indicators of the day of the week. Our aim here is to analyze distinct specifications for the components, assuming different kinds of modeling that are not usually compared. The comparison is based on the posterior predictive loss function proposed by Gelfand and Ghosh ( 1998). The best specifications for the spatial component were the ones which considered a geostatistical approach to its correlation function. The best specification for the temporal component was the stationary autoregressive form. The pollutant concentrations were interpolated in a grid of points in the area of higher population density at a fixed period of time for the selected model. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on a study that determined the effect of interferon-α for severe, zidovudine-resistant, human immunodeficiency-1-related thrombocytopenia. Methodologies used; Results and discussion.

Trypanosoma rangeli is a generalist hemoflagellate that infects mammals and is transmitted by triatomines around Latin America. Due to its high genetic diversity, it can be classified into two to five lineages. In Brazil, its distribution outside the Amazon region is virtually unknown, and knowledge on the ecology of its lineages and on host species diversity requires further investigation. Here, we analyzed 57 T. rangeli samples obtained from hemocultures and blood clots of 1392 mammals captured in different Brazilian biomes. The samples were subjected to small subunit (SSU) rDNA amplification and sequencing to confirm T. rangeli infection. Phylogenetic inferences and haplotype networks were reconstructed to classify T. rangeli lineages and to infer the genetic diversity of the samples. The results obtained in our study highlighted both the mammalian host range and distribution of T. rangeli in Brazil: infection was observed in five new species (Procyon cancrivorous, Priodontes maximum, Alouatta belzebul, Sapajus libidinosus, and Trinomys dimidiatus), and transmission was observed in the Caatinga biome. The coati (Nasua nasua) and capuchin monkey (S. libidinosus) are the key hosts of T. rangeli. We identified all four T. rangeli lineages previously reported in Brazil (A, B, D, and E) and possibly two new genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to study the behavior of Brazilian productivity between 2004 and 2014 and its impact on growth in a disaggregated analysis. To this end, performance was studied by examining the measurement of total factor productivity and was also based on sectoral and regional aggregation in an attempt to verify which sectors and regions contributed most to the low aggregate productivity in Brazil, considering the few disaggregated studies on productivity. In addition, based on the estimates, a growth decomposition was performed to verify the contribution of productivity to economic growth. Additionally, econometric methodologies were used to calculate productivity in order to verify whether the results obtained were similar, using panel estimates with pooled data, fixed effects, and a dynamic panel in level and differences. Among the results, it was verified that there was higher productivity growth in services and that there was a decrease in industry. The regions that achieved better performance were the North, Northeast, and Center-West, depending on the sector analyzed. In addition, considering all the regions, only industry contributed negatively to growth, except in the Center-West. Regarding econometrics, the pooled data model presented the best results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]