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We examined the influence of linear perspective cues and texture gradients in the perceptual rescaling of stimuli over a highly-salient Ponzo illusion of a corridor. We performed two experiments using the Method of Constant Stimuli where participants judged the size of one of two rings. In experiment 1, one ring was presented in the upper visual-field at the end of the corridor and the other in the lower visual-field at the front of the corridor. The perceived size of the top and bottom rings changed as a function of the availability of linear perspective and textures. In experiment 2, only one ring was presented either at the top or the bottom of the image. The perceived size of the top but not the bottom ring changed as a function of the availability of linear perspective and textures. In both experiments, the effects of the cues were additive. Perceptual rescaling was also stronger for the top compared to the bottom ring. Additional eye-tracking revealed that participants tended to gaze more in the upper than the lower visual-field. These findings indicate that top-down mechanisms provide an important contribution to the Ponzo illusion. Nonetheless, additional maximum likelihood estimation analyses revealed that linear perspective fulfilled a greater contribution in experiment 2, which is suggestive of a bottom-up mechanism. We conclude that both top-down and bottom-up mechanisms play important roles. However, the former seems to fulfil a more prominent role when both stimuli are presented in the image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasting extremely rare events is a pressing problem, but efforts to model such outcomes are often limited by the presence of multiple causes within classes of events, insufficient observations of the outcome to assess fit, and biased estimates due to insufficient observations of the outcome. We introduce a novel approach for analyzing rare event data that addresses these challenges by turning attention to the conditions under which rare outcomes do not occur. We detail how configurational methods can be used to identify conditions or sets of conditions that would preclude the occurrence of a rare outcome. Results from Monte Carlo experiments show that our approach can be used to systematically preclude up to 78.6% of observations, and application to ground-truth data coupled with a bootstrap inferential test illustrates how our approach can also yield novel substantive insights that are obscured by standard statistical analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological, ecological, social, and technological systems are complex structures with multiple interacting parts, often represented by networks. Correlation matrices describing interdependency of the variables in such structures provide key information for comparison and classification of such systems. Classification based on correlation matrices could supplement or improve classification based on variable values, since the former reveals similarities in system structures, while the latter relies on the similarities in system states. Importantly, this approach of clustering correlation matrices is different from clustering elements of the correlation matrices, because our goal is to compare and cluster multiple networks–not the nodes within the networks. A novel approach for clustering correlation matrices, named "snakes-&-dragons," is introduced and illustrated by examples from neuroscience, human microbiome, and macroeconomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cost effectiveness analyses (CEAs) are widely used to evaluate the opportunity cost of health care investments. However, few functions that take equity concerns into account are available for such CEA methods, and these concerns are therefore at risk of being disregarded. Among the functions that have been developed, most focus on the distribution of health gains, as opposed to the distribution of lifetime health. This is despite the fact that there are good reasons to give higher priority to individuals and groups with a low quality adjusted life expectancy from birth (QALE). Also, an even distribution of health gains may imply an uneven distribution of lifetime health. Methods: We develop a systematic and explicit approach that allows for the inclusion of lifetime health concerns in CEAs, by creating a new priority weight function, PW = α+(t-γ)·C·e-β·(t-γ), where t is the health measure. PW has several desirable properties. First, it is continuous and smooth, ensuring that people with similar health characteristics are treated alike. For example, those who achieve 50 QALE should be treated similarly to those who achieve 49.9 QALE. Second, it is flexible regarding shape and outcome measure (i.e., caters to other measures than QALE), so that a broad range of values may be modelled. Third, the coefficients have distinct roles. This allows for the easy manipulation of the PW's shape. In order to demonstrate how PW may be applied, we use data from a previous study and estimated the coefficients of PW based on two approaches. Conclusions: Equity concerns are important when conducting CEAs, which means that suitable PWs should be developed. We do not intend to determine which PW is the most appropriate, but to illustrate how a flexible general PW can be estimated based on empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine the effects of physical exercise cum cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) on alleviating pain intensity, functional disabilities, and mood/mental symptoms in those suffering with chronic musculoskeletal pain. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMEd, PsycINFO and CINAHL were searched to identify relevant randomised controlled trials from inception to 31 December 2018. The inclusion criteria were: (a) adults ≥18 years old with chronic musculoskeletal pain ≥3 months, (b) randomised controlled design, (c) a treatment arm consisting of physical intervention and CBT combined, (d) the comparison arm being waitlist, usual care or other non-pharmacological interventions such as physical exercise or CBT alone, and (e) outcomes including pain intensity, pain-related functional disabilities (primary outcomes), or mood/mental symptoms (secondary outcome). The exclusion criteria were: (a) the presence of comorbid mental illnesses other than depression and anxiety and (b) non-English publication. The search resulted in 1696 records and 18 articles were selected for review. Results varied greatly across studies, with most studies reporting null or small effects but a few studies reporting very large effects up to 2-year follow-up. Pooled effect sizes (Hedges' g) were ~1.00 for pain intensity and functional disability, but no effect was found for mood/mental symptoms. The effects were mainly driven by several studies reporting unusually large differences between the exercise cum CBT intervention and exercise alone. When these outliers were removed, the effect on pain intensity disappeared at post-intervention while a weak effect (g = 0.21) favouring the combined intervention remained at follow-up assessment. More consistent effects were observed for functional disability, though the effects were small (g = 0.26 and 0.37 at post-intervention and follow-up respectively). More importantly, the value of adding CBT to exercise interventions is questionable, as consistent benefits were not seen. The clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stock price prediction is a popular yet challenging task and deep learning provides the means to conduct the mining for the different patterns that trigger its dynamic movement. In this paper, the task is to predict the close price for 25 companies enlisted at the Bucharest Stock Exchange, from a novel data set introduced herein. Towards this scope, two traditional deep learning architectures are designed in comparison: a long short-memory network and a temporal convolutional neural model. Based on their predictions, a trading strategy, whose decision to buy or sell depends on two different thresholds, is proposed. A hill climbing approach selects the optimal values for these parameters. The prediction of the two deep learning representatives used in the subsequent trading strategy leads to distinct facets of gain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abortion is uniquely connected to women's experiences yet women's attitudes towards legal abortion vary across the pro-choice/anti-abortion spectrum. Existing research has focused on sociodemographic characteristics to explain women's levels of abortion support. Here, we argue that abortion attitudes vary with women's perceptions of gender linked fate, or the extent to which some women see their fates as tied to other women. Drawing upon existing research showing that married white women report lower levels of gender linked fate than their non-married counterparts, we assess these relationships for abortion attitudes applying the 2012 American National Election Survey (n = 2,173). Using mediation analysis, we show that lower levels of gender linked fate among married white women (vs. non-married white women) explain their stronger opposition to abortion. As many state governments are increasingly legislating restricted access to legal abortion, understanding factors explaining opposition to legal abortion is urgently important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fertility in Ghana has declined steadily since 1980, however, a slight increase was observed between 2008 and 2014. While several factors may account for this pattern, research on the contribution of type of union is limited. This study examined differentials in the fertility of women in different types of union. Secondary data from 6,285 (weighted) ever-married women aged 15–49 years were analysed using compare means, t-test, analysis of variance, Poisson and binary logistic regression analyses. The findings indicate that, independent of other factors, fertility among remarried women is higher compared to first-time married women but this does not hold true when other factors are controlled for. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the fertility of remarried women who were in union and women who were in union in a first-time marriage. However, compared to remarried women who were currently in a union, fertility was significantly lower among remarried women who were not currently in union (β = -0.121, p<0.01) and women who have been married only once but were not currently in union (β = -0.212, p<0.001). Further analysis revealed that remarried women were significantly more likely to desire more children and less likely to use any method of contraception compared to first-time married women. There is the need for further research to better understand the fertility needs of remarried women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions have been raised over the acceptability of conducting human challenge studies in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Most of these concerns are based on theoretical considerations and there exists little data on the attitudes of stakeholders in these countries. This study examines the view of researchers and REC members in Thailand regarding the design and conduct of challenge studies in the country. A questionnaire was developed based on ethical frameworks for human challenge studies. The target respondents included those who had experience with health-related research at universities, non-university hospitals, and research institutes. A total of 240 respondents completed the on-line survey. In general, the respondents felt that the ethical issues raised by human challenge studies in LMICS do not differ significantly from those in high income countries, including: scientific rationale, safety, appropriate risks, and robust informed consent process. In contrast, issues that have been described as important for human challenge studies in LMICs were rated as having lower importance, including: a publicly available rationale, national priority, and community engagement. Responses did not vary significantly between researchers in different fields, nor between researchers and REC members. These findings provide an important perspective for assessing existing frameworks for human challenges studies in LMICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of early marriage, although acknowledged as a human rights violation, continues to occur in many countries. Different studies have identified the associated factors in many developing countries. However, these factors often assume no geographical variation in these factors within countries. Again, cultural practices and beliefs which strongly influence the acceptance and practices of early marriage vary geographically. In addition, geographic clusters of high rates of early marriage and union formation are also unknown. Thus, area specific correlates of early child marriage are required for the development of location specific policies to aid the eradication of early child marriage. Using data from the 2010 Ghana Population and Housing Census, this study examines the extent of geospatial clustering in early marriage amongst girls and their spatially-varying associated factors at the district level. The findings reveal strong clustering of high early marriage amongst districts in the Upper West, Northern and Volta regions. Nationally, 6.96% (CI = 6.83, 7.08) of girls are married or in union before their 18th birthday. The estimates range from 2.7% in the Jaman North district in Brong Ahafo region to 19.0% in the Gushiegu district in Northern region. Economic factors were observed as important spatially-varying associated factors. The findings suggest that targeted interventions are required in the effort to eradicate the practice in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origins of agriculture in Southwest Asia over 10,000 years ago and its subsequent spread into Europe during the Neolithic have been the focus of much archaeological research over the past several decades. Increasingly more sophisticated analytical techniques have allowed for better understanding of the complex interactions that occurred amongst humans, animals, and their environments during this transition. The Aegean Islands are critically situated where Anatolia and the mainland Greece meet, making the region pivotal for understanding the movement of the Neolithic into Europe. Located on the largest Turkish Aegean island of Gökçeada, the site of Uğurlu Höyük dates to the early Neolithic and has been the subject of ongoing excavations and research integrating a rigorous dating program with comprehensive zooarchaeological research. This paper focuses on the combination of bone collagen and tooth enamel stable isotope data with existing archaeological data to develop a fine-resolution picture of the spread of the Neolithic, particularly the importation and management of domestic fauna on Gökçeada, with broader relevance for understanding Aegean-Anatolian interactions. The stable isotope values from the fauna at Uğurlu have been used for both diachronic intrasite analyses and intersite comparisons between contemporaneous mainland sites. Integrating stable isotope and zooarchaeological datasets makes Uğurlu one of the first island sites to provide a comprehensive understanding of the geographic origin of Neolithic livestock populations and the timing of their spread from Anatolia into Europe during the process of Neolithization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity of bats worldwide includes large numbers of cryptic species, partly because divergence in acoustic traits such as echolocation calls are under stronger selection than differences in visual appearance in these nocturnal mammals. Island faunas often contain disproportionate numbers of endemic species, and hence we might expect cryptic, endemic species to be discovered relatively frequently in bats inhabiting islands. Species are best defined when multiple lines of evidence supports their diagnosis. Here we use morphometric, acoustic, and molecular phylogenetic data to show that a horseshoe bat in the Andaman Islands is distinct in all three aspects, supporting its status as a distinct species. We recommend investigation into possible new and endemic bat species on islands by using integrated approaches that provide independent lines of evidence for taxonomic distinctiveness. We provide a formal redescription of the taxon newly raised to species level, Rhinolophus andamanensis Dobson, 1872. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of the present work is to analyze the modulation of the brain activity within the areas involved in lipreading when an additional visual stimulus is included. Methods: The experiment consisted of two fMRI runs (lipreading_only and lipreading+picture) where two conditions were considered in each one (oral speech sentences condition [OSS] and oral speech syllables condition [OSSY]). Results: During lipreading-only, higher activity in the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) was identified for OSS than OSSY; during lipreading+picture, apart from the left MTG, higher activity was also present in the supplementary motor area (SMA), the left precentral gyrus (PreCG) and the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The comparison between these two runs revealed higher activity for lipreading-only in the SMA and the left IFG. Conclusion: The presence of a visual reference during a lipreading task leads to a decrease in activity in frontal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breaks filled with different break activities often interrupt cognitive performance in everyday life. Previous studies have reported that both enhancing and deteriorating effects on challenging ongoing tasks such as working memory updating, depend on the type of break activity. However, neural mechanisms of these break-related alterations in working memory performance have not been studied, to date. Therefore, we conducted a brain imaging study to identify the neurobiological correlates of effects on the n-back working memory task related to different break activities. Before performing the n-back task in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, young adults were exposed to break activities in the MRI scanner involving (i) eyes-open resting, (ii) listening to music, and (iii) playing the video game "Angry Birds". Heart rate was measured by a pulse oximeter during the experiment. We found that increased heart rate during gaming as well as decreased relaxation levels after a video gaming break was related to poorer n-back task performance, as compared to listening to music. On the neural level, video gaming reduced supplementary motor area activation during working memory performance. These results may indicate that video gaming during a break may affect working memory performance by interfering with arousal state and frontal cognitive control functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Self-Determination Theory has been applied to explain behaviour in numerous contexts and cultures. In the exercise context, causality orientations (autonomy, control, impersonal) are important to describe individual differences in initiation and maintenance of health behaviour. The assessment of exercise causality orientations can be a key element to improve predictions of motivated health and exercise behaviour. Nevertheless, a scale to measure exercise causality orientations has not been established in German yet. Thus, it was the aim of the present work to translate the Exercise Causality Orientations Scale to German and to test it throughout three studies. The German G-ECOS questionnaire was cross-validated via confirmatory factor analyses in two separate samples. Both Study 1 (n = 306, 72.60% female, age M = 26.00, SD = 5.66; CFI = .96) and Study 2 (n = 320, 70.94% female, age M = 29.00, SD = 3.54; CFI = .95) indicated good model fits. In a further Study 3 (n = 548, 62.50% female, age M = 30.17, SD = 11.91), the relations between exercise causality orientations and other SDT related constructs were examined. The correlations indicated positive associations between autonomy causality orientation and intrinsic regulation, intrinsic exercise participation goals, and exercise basic needs satisfaction. Overall, the assessment of exercise causality orientations can be useful in analysing and potentially predicting motivated exercise behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hindsight bias (HB) is the tendency to retrospectively exaggerate one's foresight knowledge about the outcome of an event. Cognitive processes influenced by newly obtained outcome information are used to explain the HB phenomenon, but the neural correlates remain unknown. This study investigated HB in the context of election results using a memory design and functional magnetic resonance imaging for the first time. Participants were asked to predict and recall the percentage of votes obtained by (pairs of) candidates before and after an election. The results revealed that 88% of participants showed HB by recalling that their predictions were closer to the actual outcomes than they really were; and participants had HB for 38% of the events. The HB effect was associated with activation in the medial superior frontal gyrus and bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), which have been implicated in updating an old belief due to new information and is similar to the process of reconstruction bias. Furthermore, participants with a greater HB effect showed greater activation of the left IFG. In conclusion, we successfully observed the HB phenomenon in election results, and our imaging results suggested that the HB phenomenon might involve reconstruction bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rare diseases (RD) result in a wide variety of clinical presentations, and this creates a significant diagnostic challenge for health care professionals. We hypothesized that there exist a set of consistent and shared phenomena among all individuals affected by (different) RD during the time before diagnosis is established. Objective: We aimed to identify commonalities between different RD and developed a machine learning diagnostic support tool for RD. Methods: 20 interviews with affected individuals with different RD, focusing on the time period before their diagnosis, were performed and qualitatively analyzed. Out of these pre-diagnostic experiences, we distilled key phenomena and created a questionnaire which was then distributed among individuals with the established diagnosis of i.) RD, ii.) other common non-rare diseases (NRO) iii.) common chronic diseases (CD), iv.), or psychosomatic/somatoform disorders (PSY). Finally, four combined single machine learning methods and a fusion algorithm were used to distinguish the different answer patterns of the questionnaires. Results: The questionnaire contained 53 questions. A total sum of 1763 questionnaires (758 RD, 149 CD, 48 PSY, 200 NRO, 34 healthy individuals and 574 not evaluable questionnaires) were collected. Based on 3 independent data sets the 10-fold stratified cross-validation method for the answer-pattern recognition resulted in sensitivity values of 88.9% to detect the answer pattern of a RD, 86.6% for NRO, 87.7% for CD and 84.2% for PSY. Conclusion: Despite the great diversity in presentation and pathogenesis of each RD, patients with RD share surprisingly similar pre-diagnosis experiences. Our questionnaire and data-mining based approach successfully detected unique patterns in groups of individuals affected by a broad range of different rare diseases. Therefore, these results indicate distinct patterns that may be used for diagnostic support in RD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production risk has been ignored in most of the analysis of GM technology, which has mostly focused on its effects on mean yield. We use stochastic dominance to quantify the effect of GM traits on the entire distribution of yields in corn in the USA under a wide range of growing conditions. Although no GM hybrid outperforms conventional hybrids under all growing conditions, we present evidence that most GM hybrids can be considered as improvements of the yield distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Women's reproductive health decision-making is indispensable for improving their reproductive health and achieving Sustainable Development Goal three. This study explored the association between reproductive health decision-making capacity and unintended pregnancy among women in Ghana. Materials and methods: We used data from the 2014 version of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. The unit of analysis for this study was pregnant women at the time of the survey (679). Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted using Pearson chi-square tests and binary logistic regression respectively. Results: We found that women who had the capacity to make reproductive health decision [AOR = 0.61; CI = 0.51–0.89] were less likely to experience unintended pregnancies, compared to those who did not have the capacity. Age was found to have a statistically significant influence on unintended pregnancy, with women aged 25–29 years [AOR = 0.29; CI = 0.13–0.63], 30–34 years [AOR = 0.18; CI = 0.08–0.45], and 35–39 years [AOR = 0.26; CI = 0.10–0.68] being less likely to experience unintended pregnancy compared to those aged 15–19 years. Women with primary level of education were more likely to have unintended pregnancies, compared to those with no education [AOR = 2.07; CI = 1.12–3.84]. Conclusion: This study has filled the gap in the already existing literature on the association between reproductive health decision making capacity and unintended pregnancy in Ghana and has created a room for specific interventions geared towards reducing unintended pregnancies, especially among women who are not capable of making reproductive health decisions, women aged 15–19 years, those with primary education, Traditionalists and unmarried women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What types of refugees do Americans prefer for admission into the United States? Scholars have explored the immigrant characteristics that appeal to Americans and the characteristics that Europeans prioritize in asylum-seekers, but we currently do not know which refugee characteristics Americans prefer. We conduct a conjoint experiment on a representative sample of 1800 US adults, manipulating refugee attributes in pairs of Syrian refugee profiles, and ask respondents to rate each refugee's appeal. Our focus on Syrian refugees in a 2016 survey experiment allows us to speak to the concurrent refugee crisis on the eve of a polarizing election, while also identifying religious discrimination, holding constant the refugee's national origin. We find that Americans prefer Syrian refugees who are female, high-skilled, English-speaking, and Christian, suggesting they prioritize refugee integration into the U.S. labor and cultural markets. We find that the preference for female refugees is not driven by the desire to exclude Muslim male refugees, casting doubt that American preferences at the time were motivated by security concerns. Finally, we find that anti-Muslim bias in refugee preferences varies in magnitude across key subgroups, though it prevails across all sample demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prefrontal cortex is central to higher order cognitive function. However, the cerebellum, generally thought to be involved in motor control and learning, has also been implicated in higher order cognition. Recent work using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) provides some support for right cerebellar involvement in higher order cognition, though the results are mixed, and often contradictory. Here, we used cathodal high definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) over the right cerebellum to assess the impact of HD-tDCS on modulating cognitive performance. We predicted that stimulation would result in performance decreases, which would suggest that optimal cerebellar function is necessary for cognitive performance, much like the prefrontal cortex. That is, it is not simply a structure that lends support to complete difficult tasks. While the expected cognitive behavioral effects were present, we did not find effects of stimulation. This has broad implications for cerebellar tDCS research, particularly for those who are interested in using HD-tDCS as a way of examining cerebellar function. Further implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed with particular emphasis on why null findings might be critical in developing a clear picture of the effects of tDCS on the cerebellum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is strong epidemiological evidence that poor diet is associated with depression. The reverse has also been shown, namely that eating a healthy diet rich in fruit, vegetables, fish and lean meat, is associated with reduced risk of depression. To date, only one randomised controlled trial (RCT) has been conducted with elevated depression symptoms being an inclusion criterion, with results showing that a diet intervention can reduce clinical levels of depression. No such RCTs have been performed in young adults. Young adults with elevated levels of depression symptoms and who habitually consume a poor diet were randomly allocated to a brief 3-week diet intervention (Diet Group) or a habitual diet control group (Control Group). The primary and secondary outcome measures assessed at baseline and after the intervention included symptoms of depression (Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; CESD-R; and Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale– 21 depression subscale; DASS-21-D), current mood (Profile of Mood States), self-efficacy (New General Self-Efficacy Scale) and memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test). Diet compliance was measured via self-report questionnaires and spectrophotometry. One-hundred-and-one individuals were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to the Diet Group or the Control Group. Upon completion of the study, there was complete data for 38 individuals in each group. There was good compliance with the diet intervention recommendations assessed using self-report and spectrophotometry. The Diet group had significantly lower self-reported depression symptoms than the Control Group on the CESD-R (p = 0.007, Cohen’s d = 0.65) and DASS-21 depression subscale (p = 0.002, Cohen’s d = 0.75) controlling for baseline scores on these scales. Reduced DASS-21 depression subscale scores were maintained on follow up phone call 3 months later (p = .009). These results are the first to show that young adults with elevated depression symptoms can engage in and adhere to a diet intervention, and that this can reduce symptoms of depression. The findings provide justification for future research into the duration of these benefits, the impacts of varying diet composition, and their biological basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of handling non-ignorable non-response has been typically addressed under the design-based approach using the well-known sub-sampling technique introduced by Hansen and Hurwitz [1946, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol 41(236), Page 517- 529]. Alternatively, the model-based paradigm emphasizes on utilizing the underlying model relationship between the outcome variable and one or more covariate(s) whose population values are known prior to the survey. This article utilizes the model relationship between the study variable and covariate(s) for handling non-ignorable non-response and obtaining an unbiased estimator for the population total under the sub-sampling technique. The main idea is to combine the estimates obtained from the sample on first call and the sub-sample from second call using separate model relationships. The contribution of this paper helps us in providing unbiased estimates with an improved efficiency under model-based paradigm in presence of non-ignorable non-response. The provided method is more economical than the available estimators under callback methods as we are working sub-sampling and also increase response rate as a stronger mode of interview is employed for data collection. A numerical study using Monte Carlo is presented to illustrate the behavior of the proposed and the efficiency comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slope one is a popular recommendation algorithm due to its simplicity and high efficiency for sparse data. However, it often suffers from under-fitting since the global information of all relevant users/items are considered. In this paper, we propose a new scheme called enhanced slope one recommendation through local information embedding. First, we employ clustering algorithms to obtain the user clusters as well as item clusters to represent local information. Second, we predict ratings using the local information of users and items in the same cluster. The local information can detect strong localized associations shared within clusters. Third, we design different fusion approaches based on the local information embedding. In this way, both under-fitting and over-fitting problems are alleviated. Experiment results on the real datasets show that our approaches defeats slope one in terms of both mean absolute error and root mean square error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In patients with chronic disorders, control self-efficacy is the confidence with managing symptoms and coping with the demands of illness. Can do treatment (CDT) is an intensive, 3-day, social cognitive theory-based, multidisciplinary treatment that focuses on identification of stressors, goal setting, exploration of boundaries, and establishment of new boundaries. An uncontrolled study showed that patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and low-disability had improved control self-efficacy six months after CDT. Hence, in a 6-month, single-centre, randomized (1:1), unmasked, controlled trial in RRMS patients with Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score ≤4.0, we compared CDT with no intervention and the option to receive CDT after completion of study participation. Follow-up assessments were at one, three and six months. Primary endpoint was control self-efficacy (Multiple Sclerosis Self-Efficacy Scale Control [MSSES-C] (minimum 90, maximum 900) at six months. Secondary endpoints were functional self-efficacy (MSSES-F), participation and autonomy (Impact on Participation and Autonomy questionnaire [IPA]), health-related quality of life (MS Quality of Life-54 Items questionnaire [MSQoL-54]), anxiety, depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]) and coping skills (Utrecht Coping List [UCL]) at six months. Tertiary endpoint was care-related strain on support partners (Caregiver Strain Index) at six months. Of the 158 patients that were included, 79 were assigned to CDT and 79 to the control group. Two CDT patients discontinued treatment prematurely. Sixty-one (77%) control patients chose to receive CDT after study participation. Intention-to-treat ANCOVA analyses were performed with follow-up values as dependent, and condition, baseline values, disease duration and gender as independent variables. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) MSSES-C score in the CDT group vs. control group at baseline was 468 (162) vs. 477 (136), and at six months 578 (166) vs. 540 (135) (p = 0.100). Secondary and tertiary endpoints did not differ between groups, except for the UCL palliative reaction score being slightly higher in the CDT group (p = 0.039). On post hoc analyses the MSSES-C score at one and three months was higher in the CDT vs. control group: 597 (114) vs. 491 (131) (p<0.0001) and 561 (160) vs. 514 (143) (p = 0.018), respectively; and at one month the MSSES-F, IPA Limitations, HADS Anxiety and Depression, and MSQoL-54 Mental and Physical scores were also in favour of the CDT group. We conclude that in low-disability RRMS patients, the intensive 3-day social cognitive theory-based CDT did not improve control self-efficacy at six months follow-up compared to waitlist controls. The absence of a between-group difference at six months relates to a gradual improvement in the control group. In all, this social cognitive theory-based approach for improving self-efficacy needs further investigation before being broadly applied in RRMS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by self-determination theory, we investigated the potential impact of work climate on employee motivation, and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) inside and outside of the workplace. We found that in workplaces with stronger pro-environmental climates and at least moderate levels of autonomy support, employees reported higher levels of autonomous motivation to engage in PEB. In turn, autonomously motivated employees engaged in more PEBs, both inside and outside the workplace. Controlled motivation played a more limited role in predicting employee PEBs. Overall, our findings suggest work climates that support pro-environmental actions and employee autonomy may not only foster PEBs within the workplace but also lay the foundation for PEBs in other non-workplace settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the development of computer science, deep learning is held as competent enough to solve the problem of inference and learning in high dimensional space. Therefore, it has received unprecedented attention from both the academia and the business community. Compared with CPU/GPU, FPGA has attracted much attention for its high-energy efficiency, short development cycle and reconfigurability in the aspect of deep learning algorithm. However, because of the limited research on OpenCL optimization on FPGA of deep learning algorithms, OpenCL tools and models applied to CPU/GPU cannot be directly used on FPGA. This makes it difficult for software programmers to use FPGA when implementing deep learning algorithms for a rewarding performance. To solve this problem, this paper proposed an OpenCL computational model based on FPGA template architecture to optimize the time-consuming convolution layer in deep learning. The comparison between the program applying the computational model and the corresponding optimization program provided by Xilinx indicates that the former is 8-40 times higher than the latter in terms of performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many countries have initiated school-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programs. The real-life effectiveness of HPV vaccines has become increasingly evident, especially among girls vaccinated before HPV exposure in countries with high vaccine uptake. In 2009, Norway initiated a school-based HPV vaccination program for 12-year-old girls using the quadrivalent HPV vaccine (Gardasil®), which targets HPV6, 11, 16, and 18. Here, we aim to assess type-specific vaginal and oral HPV prevalence in vaccinated compared with unvaccinated girls in the first birth cohort eligible for school-based vaccination (born in 1997). Methods: This observational, cross-sectional study measured the HPV prevalence ratio (PR) between vaccinated and unvaccinated girls in Norway. Facebook advertisement was used to recruit participants and disseminate information about the study. Participants self-sampled vaginal and oral specimens using an Evalyn® Brush and a FLOQSwab™, respectively. Sexual behavior was ascertained through a short questionnaire. Results: Among the 312 participants, 239 (76.6%) had received at least one dose of HPV vaccine prior to sexual debut. 39.1% of vaginal samples were positive for any HPV type, with similar prevalence among vaccinated and unvaccinated girls (38.5% vs 41.1%, PR: 0.93, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.62–1.41). For vaccine-targeted types there was some evidence of lower prevalence in the vaccinated (0.4%) compared to the unvaccinated (6.8%) group (PR: 0.06, 95%CI: 0.01–0.52). This difference remained after adjusting for sexual behavior (PR: 0.04, 95%CI: 0.00–0.42). Only four oral samples were positive for any HPV type, and all of these participants had received at least one dose of HPV vaccine at least 1 year before oral sexual debut. Conclusion: There is evidence of a lower prevalence of vaccine-targeted HPV types in the vagina of vaccinated girls from the first birth cohort eligible for school-based HPV vaccination in Norway; this was not the case when considering all HPV types or types not included in the quadrivalent HPV vaccine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use agent-based computer simulation to test the effect of environmental conditions (available biomass/carrying capacity and environmental risk) on the development of wealth inequality and patron-client herding networks in nomadic pastoral economies. Our results show that 1) wealth inequality reaches very high levels when carrying capacity is high and risk is low, and 2) patron-client contract herding networks increase in size and duration when carrying capacity is high and risk is low. We compare empirical data from the Mongol (1206–1368 CE) and Xiongnu (209 BCE– 48 CE) empires with simulation results to develop an explanatory mechanism for the apparent correlation between nomadic empire creation and positive environmental conditions. We argue that the internal dynamics of nomadic pastoral societies are sufficient to produce high degrees of inequality and hierarchical herding networks. Nomadic empires are more likely to form during key periods of increased biomass and decreased environmental risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering remains the least gender diverse of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Chemical engineering (ChE) and electrical engineering (EE) are exemplars of relatively high and low gender diversity, respectively. Here, we investigate departmental, institutional, and regional factors associated with gender diversity among BS graduates within the US, 2010–2016. For both fields, gender diversity was significantly higher at private institutions (p < 1x10-6) and at historically black institutions (p < 1x10-5). No significant association was observed with gender diversity among tenure-track faculty, PhD-granting status, and variations in departmental name beyond the standard “chemical engineering” or “electrical engineering”. Gender diversity among EE graduates was significantly decreased (p = 8x10-5) when a distinct degree in computer engineering was available; no such association was observed between ChE gender diversity and the presence of biology-associated degrees. States with a highly gender diverse ChE workforce had a significantly higher degree of gender diversity among BS graduates (p = 3x10-5), but a significant association was not observed for EE. State variation in funding of support services for K-12 pupils significantly impacted gender diversity of graduates in both fields (p < 1x10-3), particularly in regards to instructional staff support (p < 5x10-4). Nationwide, gender diversity could not be concluded to be either significantly increasing or significantly decreasing for either field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social scientists have been interested in measuring the prosperity, well-being, and quality of life of nations, which has resulted in a multiplicity of country-level indicators. However, little is known about the factor structure of these indicators. We explored the structure of quality of life, using country-level data on tens of subjective and objective indicators. Applying factor analysis, we identified three distinct factors that exhibited both overlap and complementarity. This structure was replicated in data from previous years and with a partially different set of variables. The first factor, ‘socio-economic progress’, is dominated by socio-political and economic indicators but also includes life satisfaction, which thus appears to reflect objective living conditions. The second factor, ‘psycho-social functioning’, consists of subjective indicators, such as eudaimonic well-being and positive affective states. The third, ‘negative affectivity’, comprises negatively-valenced affective states. The three macro-factors of societal quality of life demonstrated moderate intercorrelations and differential associations with cultural and ecological variables, providing support for their discriminant validity. Finally, country and regional rankings based on the three societal factors revealed a complex picture that cautions against over-reliance on any single indicator such as life satisfaction. The results underline the need for a broadly-based approach to the measurement of societal quality of life, and provide an empirically-derived multidimensional framework for conceptualizing and measuring quality of life and well-being at country level. This study is thus an initial empirical step towards systematizing the multiple approaches to societal quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Bexarotene, a retinoid X receptor agonist, improves cognition in murine models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study evaluated the effects of bexarotene on pathological and electrophysiological changes in very old triple transgenic AD mice (3xTg-AD mice). Methods: 24-month-old 3xTg-AD mice were treated with bexarotene (100 mg/kg/day for 30 days). The Morris water maze was used to evaluate spatial memory; immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy were used to evaluate pathological changes; and in vivo electrophysiological recordings were used to evaluate basal transmission and plasticity in the commissural CA3-CA1 pathway. Results: In addition to cognitive improvement, bexarotene-treated 3xTg-AD mice were found to have 1) reductions of astrogliosis and reactive microglia both in cortex and hippocampus; 2) increased ApoE expression restricted to CA1; 3) increased number of cells co-labeled with ApoE and NeuN; 4) recovery of NeuN expression, suggesting neuronal protection; and, 5) recovery of basal synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity. Discussion: These results indicate that bexarotene-induced improvement in cognition is due to multiple changes that contribute to recovery of synaptic plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this retrospective decisional analysis study is to develop the prediction model of suicidal ideation. We used a Decision Tree Analysis using SPSS 23.0 program to explore predictors of suicide thoughts for 12,015 Korean adults aged 19–98 years. As a result, the most powerful predictor of suicidal ideation was the level of depression. Of people who suspected depression (CESD-11>16), 32.6% experienced suicidal ideation, which is 12 times higher than that of total subjects. The group with the highest rate of suicidal ideation was people who experienced financial difficulties in depression-suspected group and the rate of suicidal thoughts in this group was 56.7%, which was the highest rate. However, in the non-depressive group, the satisfaction of family relationship was the strongest predictor of suicidal ideation. In the non-depressive group, the rate of suicidal thoughts of people with high level of family relationship satisfaction and high level of health satisfaction was 0.6%, which was the lowest rate. The contribution of this study was that it provided the combination of variables to predict the risk groups of adult suicide. This study suggests that researchers and clinicians should consider comprehensively depressive symptoms, family relationships, economic difficulties, and health status to prevent the suicide of adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How various types of focus differ with respect to exhaustivity has been a topic of enduring interest in language studies. However, most of the theoretical work explicating such associations has done so cross-linguistically, and little research has been done on how people process and respond to them during language comprehension. This study therefore investigates the associations between the concept of exhaustivity and three focus types in Chinese (wh, cleft, and only foci) using a trichotomous-response design in two experiments: a forced-choice judgment and a self-paced reading experiment, both with adult native speakers. Its results show that, whether engaged in conscious decision-making or an implicit comprehension process, the participants distinguished only-focus and cleft-focus from wh-focus clearly, and also that there are specific differences between only-focus and cleft-focus in conscious decision-making. This implies that, in terms of the relationship between exhaustivity and the focus types under investigation, cleft-focus and only-focus behave very similarly during language comprehension despite the existence of some fine distinctions between them. In other words, the potential linguistic levels that exhaustivity encodes in Chinese cleft-focus render it more similar to only-focus than to wh-focus. These results are broadly in line with the semantic account that distinguishes cleft from only-focus, i.e., that cleft encodes exhaustivity in not-at-issue presupposition and only-focus encodes exhaustivity in at-issue assertion, while both express semantically encoded exhaustivity, triggering robust language-processing patterns that differ from patterns of wh-focus in Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physical simultaneity between two events can differ from our point of subjective simultaneity (PSS). Studies using simultaneity judgments (SJ) and temporal order judgments (TOJ) tasks have shown that whether two events are reported as simultaneous is highly context-dependent. It has been recently suggested that the interval between the two events in the previous trial can modulate judgments both in SJ and TOJ tasks, an effect named rapid recalibration. In this work, we investigated rapid recalibration in SJ and TOJ tasks and tested whether centering the range of presented intervals on perceived simultaneity modulated this effect. We found a rapid recalibration effect in TOJ, but not in SJ. Moreover, we found that centering the intervals on objective or subjective simultaneity did not change the pattern of results. Interestingly, we also found no correlations between an individual’s PSS in TOJ and in SJ tasks, which corroborates other studies in suggesting that these two psychophysical measures may capture different processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big Five personality traits are assumed to be linked with attitudes toward own aging. Since both constructs have central importance for the aging process, it is surprising that to our knowledge no study so far comprehensively addressed their mutual connection over time. We used data from the ILSE study, a longitudinal study capturing personality and attitudes toward own aging at four measurement occasions, spanning 20 years and including two participant cohorts in midlife (n = 501; born 1950–52) and later life (n = 500; born 1930–32). Dual latent change score models showed that personality was longitudinally related to change in attitudes toward own aging: Lower Neuroticism, higher Conscientiousness, and higher Openness predicted more positive attitudes, whereas the direction of the effect for Extraversion varied by time. Furthermore, the role of personality seems to be confined to certain sensitive periods in midlife and early old age. Contrary to our expectations, attitudes toward own aging had only marginal longitudinal impact on the Big Five. Our results shed light on the developmental co-dynamics of personality and subjective perceptions of aging across the second half of the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How a child's brain develops specialization for print is poorly understood. One longstanding account is selective neuronal tuning to regularity of visual-orthographic features, which predicts a monotonically increased neural activation for inputs with higher regularity during development. However, we observed a robust interaction between a stimulus' orthographic regularity (bottom-up input) and children's lexical classification ability (top-down prediction): N1 response, which is the first negative component of the event-related potential (ERP) occurring at posterior electrodes, was stronger to lower-regularity stimuli, but only in children who were less efficient in lexically classifying these stimuli (high prediction error). In contrast, N1 responses were reduced to lower-regularity stimuli in children who showed high efficiency of lexical classification (low prediction error). The modulation of children's lexical classification efficiency on their neural responses to orthographic stimuli supports the predictive coding account of neural processes of reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Australia has one of the highest skin cancer rates in the world. 'SunSmart' is a multi-component, internationally recognised community-wide skin cancer prevention program implemented in Melbourne, Australia, since summer 1988-1989. Following recent reductions in melanoma rates among younger Australian cohorts, the extent of behaviour change and the potential contribution of prevention programs to this decline in melanoma rates are of interest. Sun protection is a multifaceted behaviour. Measures previously applied to monitor change over time in preventive behaviour for this population focused on individual behaviours. The omission of multiple behaviours that reduce exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) may have led to underestimates of behaviour change, meriting further analysis of long-term trends to contribute to this debate.Methods and Findings: A population-based survey was conducted in Melbourne in the summer before SunSmart commenced (1987-1988) and across summers in 3 subsequent decades (1988-2017). During summer months, residents (14-69 years) were recruited to cross-sectional weekly telephone interviews assessing their tanning attitudes, sun protection behaviour, and sunburn incidence on the weekend prior to interview. Quotas were used to ensure the sample was proportional to the population by age and sex, while younger respondents were oversampled in some years. The majority of the respondents reported their skin was susceptible to sunburn. Changes in sun protection behaviour were analysed for N = 13,285 respondents in multivariable models, cumulating surveys within decades (1987-1988: N = 1,655; 1990s: N = 5,258; 2000s: N = 3,385; 2010s: N = 2,987) and adjusting for relevant ambient weather conditions and UV levels on weekend dates. We analysed specific and composite behaviours including a novel analysis of the use of maximal sun protection, which considered those people who stayed indoors during peak UV hours together with those people well-protected when outdoors. From a low base, use of sun protection increased rapidly in the decade after SunSmart commenced. The odds of use of at least 1 sun protection behaviours on summer weekends was 3 times higher in the 1990s than pre-SunSmart (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 3.04, 95% CI 2.52-3.68, p < 0.001). There was a smaller increase in use of maximal sun protection including shade (AOR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.44-1.97, p < 0.001). These improvements were sustained into the 2000s and continued to increase in the 2010s. Inferences about program effects are limited by the self-reported data, the absence of a control population, the cross-sectional study design, and the fact that the survey was not conducted in all years. Other potential confounders may include increasing educational attainment among respondents over time and exposure to other campaigns such as tobacco and obesity prevention.Conclusions: With an estimated 20-year lag between sun exposure and melanoma incidence, our findings are consistent with SunSmart having contributed to the reduction in melanoma among younger cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though classic job design theories have evolved over the years and become more focused on employees’ ability to autonomously change their job characteristics, tools to assess job crafting are still limited. The purpose of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Job Crafting Questionnaire (JCQ), taking into account the valuable contribution made by Wrzesniewski and Dutton’s model to the understanding of the job crafting concept. The total sample consisted of 768 employees (participants’ mean age was 41.63 and 49.7% of them were women). The sample was randomly divided into two halves in order to conduct two factor analyses (Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis). Concurrent and convergent validity was assessed by computing correlations with validated questionnaires for measuring job crafting (Job Crafting Scale, JCS), engagement (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, UWES-9) and job burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, MBI-GS). The results indicated a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .880) which was similar to the original scale, and provided a good fit to the three-dimensional model tested. Appropriate evidence of construct validity was also shown (r = .45 with total JCS; r = .52 with total UWES-9 and r-values between -.33 and .45 with MBI dimensions). The results confirmed that the Spanish translation of the JCQ is a suitable tool for measuring job crafting and enabling practitioners and researchers to further expand the existing knowledge of this concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of protein N-glycosylation is essential in biological and biopharmaceutical research as N-glycans have been reported to regulate a wide range of physiological and pathological processes. Monitoring glycosylation in diagnosis, prognosis, as well as biopharmaceutical development and quality control are important research areas. A number of techniques for the analysis of protein N-glycosylation are currently available. Here we examine three methodologies routinely used for the release of N-glycans, in the effort to establish and standardize glycoproteomics technologies for quantitative glycan analysis from cultured cell lines. N-glycans from human gamma immunoglobulins (IgG), plasma and a pool of four cancer cell lines were released following three approaches and the performance of each method was evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse and compare NBA and Euroleague basketball through box-score statistics in the period from 2000 to 2017. Overall, the quantitative differences between the NBA and Euroleague have decreased and are still decreasing. Differences are even smaller after we adjust for game length and when playoff NBA basketball is considered instead of regular season basketball. The differences in factors that contribute to success are also very small—(Oliver’s) four factors derived from box-score statistics explain most of the variability in team success even if the coefficients are determined for both competitions simultaneously instead of each competition separately. The largest difference is game pace—in the NBA there are more possessions per game. The number of blocks, the defensive rebounding rate and the number of free throws per foul committed are also higher in the NBA, while the number of fouls committed is lower. Most of the differences that persist can be reasonably explained by the contrasts between the better athleticism of NBA players and more emphasis on tactical aspects of basketball in the Euroleague. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We aim to examine the trend in the use of antimuscarinics and off-label alpha-adrenergic blockers for treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in a Taiwanese Women Cohort between 2007 and 2012. Methods: This population-based National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) was used to examine the trends in the use of antimuscarinics or off-label alpha-adrenergic blockers in Taiwan. A sample of 1,000,000 individuals randomly drawn from the whole population of 23 million individuals who were registered in the NHI in 2005. From 2007 through 2012, women aged over 18 years whose claim record contained prescriptions of either of the two drugs for treatment of any of the LUTS-related diagnoses were identified and analyzed. The annual usage of the two drug classes were calculated by defined daily dose (DDD). Results: From 2007–2012, there was a 0.80 fold (69676.8 to 125104.3) increase in DDD of antimuscarinics in our cohort. The overall healthcare seeking prevalence of LUTS was 7.33% in 2007 and 12.38% in 2012, in a rising trend. The prevalence of antimuscarinics-treated LUTS in our cohort increased from 2.53 in 2007 to 3.41 per 1000 women in 2012. The prevalence of LUTS treated by antimuscarinics increased especially for those older than 60 years during the study period. Conclusions: This 6-year observational study provided the epidemiologic information of clinically significant LUTS of Asian female population. Moreover, there was a rising trend in the use of antimuscarinics and off-label alpha-adrenergic blockers in the population-based cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in the gamma (30–80 Hz) range is related to a variety of sensory and cognitive processes which are frequently impaired in schizophrenia. Auditory steady-state response at 40-Hz (40-Hz ASSR) is utilized as an index of gamma activity and is proposed as a biomarker of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, the link between ASSRs and cognitive functions is not clear. This study explores a possible relationship between the performance on cognitive tasks and the 40-Hz ASSRs in a controlled uniform sample of young healthy males, as age and sex may have complex influence on ASSRs. Twenty-eight young healthy male volunteers participated (mean age ± SD 25.8±3.3) in the study. The 40-Hz click trains (500 ms) were presented 150 times with an inter-stimulus interval set at 700–1000 ms. The phase-locking index (PLI) and event-related power perturbation (ERSP) of the ASSR were calculated in the 200–500 ms latency range, which corresponds to the steady part of the response. The Psychology Experiment Building Language (PEBL) task battery was used to assess five cognitive subdomains: the Choice response time task, the Stroop test, the Tower of London test, the Lexical decision task and the Semantic categorisation task. Pearson‘s correlation coefficients were calculated to access the relationships; no multiple-test correction was applied as the tests were explorative in nature. A significant positive correlation was observed for the late-latency gamma and the mean number of steps in the Tower of London task reflecting planning and problem-solving abilities. These findings support the concept that 40-Hz ASSR might highlight top-down mechanisms which are related to cognitive functioning. Therefore, 40-Hz ASSRs can be used to explore the relationship between cognitive functioning and neurophysiological indices of brain activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common reaction experienced by family members of patients with psychosis is grief for the loss of their healthy relative. Importantly, high levels of perceived loss have been related to the manifestation of high expressed emotion (EE), which includes the negative attitudes expressed by relatives toward an ill family member. However, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between relatives’ perceived loss and EE attitudes in the early stages of psychosis are still not fully understood. In this regard, attachment theory has been suggested as a useful framework for understanding this link. The current study aimed to examine: (1) whether relatives’ perceived loss was associated with relatives’ EE dimensions (i.e., criticism and emotional over-involvement (EOI)), and (2) whether such associations were mediated by relatives’ attachment dimensions (i.e., anxiety and avoidance). Seventy-eight relatives of patients with early psychosis completed the Mental Illness Version of the Texas Inventory of Grief for the assessment of loss reactions. Attachment dimensions and EE attitudes were assessed by the Psychosis Attachment Measure and the Family Questionnaire, respectively. Findings indicated that relatives’ perceived loss was associated with EE dimensions. Relatives’ attachment anxiety, but not avoidance, mediated the relationship of perceived loss with both criticism and EOI. Findings highlight the importance of examining the role of relatives’ attachment characteristics for understanding how perceptions of loss might impact the manifestation of EE attitudes in the early stages of psychosis. Family interventions aimed at assisting relatives to improve their management of negative emotional reactions to loss are fundamental to prevent impairing loss reactions and the entrenchment of high-EE attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opioid prescriptions for chronic pain and subsequent opioid-related complications have risen dramatically in the US. Recent data suggest that medical marijuana laws have been associated with lower state-level opioid overdose mortality. In a national survey, we examined the prevalence of substitution of marijuana for opioids among US adults taking opioids for pain.Using GfK’s KnowledgePanel, we conducted an Internet-based survey of a nationally representative sample of 16,280 adults in 2017 about individual perceptions and use of marijuana. We developed questions designed to assess the extent and reasons for substitution of marijuana for opioids. We examined opioid substitution among respondents with a history of ever using marijuana who used opioids in the past 12 months. There were 9,003 respondents, corresponding to a 55.3% response rate. The mean age was 48 years. Among the 5% (n = 486) who reported ever using marijuana and using opioids in the past year, 43% used opioids daily, and 23% reported current (past 30 day) marijuana use. Forty-one percent reported a decrease or cessation of opioid use due to marijuana use; 46% reported no change in opioid use; and 8% reported an increase in opioid use. We found that a substantial number of US adults reported that they substituted marijuana for opioids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated key event-related brain potential markers (ERPs) derived from a flanked continuous performance task (CPT) and whether these would show phenotypic associations with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) in a population-based sample. We further explored whether there was preliminary evidence that such ERPs could also index genetic risk for ADHD (depending on finding phenotypic associations). Sixty-seven male-only twin pairs (N = 134; aged 12–15) from a subsample of the Twins’ Early Development Study, concordant and discordant for ADHD symptoms, performed the flanked CPT (or CPT-OX) while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. ERPs were obtained for cue (P3, CNV or contingency negative variation), go (P3, N2) and nogo trials (P3, N2). We found no phenotypic associations between CPT-derived ERPs and ADHD—the sizes of the estimated phenotypic correlations were nonsignificant and very small (r’s = -.11 to .04). Twin-model fitting analyses using structural equation modelling provided preliminary evidence that some of the ERPs were heritable (with the most robust effect for go-P3 latency), but there was limited evidence of any genetic associations between ERPs and ADHD, although with the caveat that our sample was small and hence had limited power. Overall, unlike in previous research, there was no evidence of phenotypic (nor preliminary evidence for genetic) associations between ADHD and CPT-derived ERPs in this study. Hence, it may be currently premature for genetic analyses of ADHD to be guided by CPT-derived ERP parameters (unlike alternative cognitive-neurophysiological approaches which may be more promising). Further research with better-powered, population-based, genetically-informative and cross-disorder samples are required, which could be facilitated by emerging mobile EEG technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shelter environment may have a severe impact on the dogs’ quality of life, and there is thus a need to develop valid tools to assess their welfare. These tools should be sensitive not only to the animals’ physical health but also to their mental health, including the assessment of positive and negative emotions. Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) is a ‘whole animal’ measure that captures the expressive quality of an animal’s demeanour, using descriptive terms such as ‘relaxed’, ‘anxious’, and ‘playful’. In this study, for the first time, we developed and tested a fixed-list of qualitative QBA terms for application to kennelled dogs. A list of 20 QBA terms was developed based on literature search and an expert opinion survey. Inter-observer reliability was investigated by asking 11 observers to use these terms to score 13 video clips of kennelled dogs. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to extract four main dimensions explaining 70.9% of the total variation between clips. PC1 characterised curious/playful/excitable/sociable demeanour, PC2 ranged from comfortable/relaxed to anxious/nervous/stressed expression, PC3 described fearful demeanour, and PC4 characterised bored/depressed demeanour. Observers’ agreement on the ranking of video clips on these four expressive dimensions was good (Kendall’s W: 0.60–0.80). ANOVA showed a significant effect of observer on mean clip score on all PCs (p<0.05), due to few observers scoring differently from the rest of the group. Results indicate the potential of the proposed list of QBA terms for sheltered dogs to serve, in alignment with other measures, as a non-invasive assessment tool. However, the observer effect on mean PC scores points towards the need for adequate observer training, particularly in live scoring conditions. The QBA scoring tool can be integrated with existing welfare assessment protocols for shelter dogs and strengthen the power of those protocols to evaluate the animals’ experience in shelters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taste receptor type 1 (T1r) is responsible for the perception of essential nutrients, such as sugars and amino acids, and evoking sweet and umami (savory) taste sensations. T1r receptors recognize many of the taste substances at their extracellular ligand-binding domains (LBDs). In order to detect a wide array of taste substances in the environment, T1r receptors often possess broad ligand specificities. However, the entire ranges of chemical spaces and their binding characteristics to any T1rLBDs have not been extensively analyzed. In this study, we exploited the differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF) to medaka T1r2a/T1r3LBD, a current sole T1rLBD heterodimer amenable for recombinant preparation, and analyzed their thermal stabilization by adding various amino acids. The assay showed that the agonist amino acids induced thermal stabilization and shifted the melting temperatures (Tm) of the protein. An agreement between the DSF results and the previous biophysical assay was observed, suggesting that DSF can detect ligand binding at the orthosteric-binding site in T1r2a/T1r3LBD. The assay further demonstrated that most of the tested -amino acids, but no -amino acid, induced Tm shifts of T1r2a/T1r3LBD, indicating the broad -amino acid specificities of the proteins probably with several different manners of recognition. The Tm shifts by each amino acid also showed a fair correlation with the responses exhibited by the full-length receptor, verifying the broad amino-acid binding profiles at the orthosteric site in LBD observed by DSF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore, through face to face interviews with a selection of General Dental Practitioners (GDPs), their views and experiences of having used the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) within primary care research studies for recording caries. Methods: This qualitative study involved one on one interviews with eight GDP’s who had previously used ICDAS on patients in their dental practices as part of a research study. The participants were selected from among those who had taken part in two clinical studies in the UK using convenient, but purposive sampling. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed; the data analysis was conducted by thematic analysis. Results: GDP’s indicated their beliefs that ICDAS had an important role in caries prevention but reported four main barriers while using the full (6 caries stages) ICDAS coding system in their practices: lack of simplicity of coding, financial implications and time consumption (in both training and use of ICDAS) and inadequate undergraduate training. An overarching theme identified from the GDPS was the willingness to offer potential solutions to their barriers which might improve the utilisation of the system in primary care. Conclusion: The GDPs experienced common obstacles in using ICDAS in the primary care setting, many of which have relatively straight-forward solutions which they put forward themselves such as: incentivisation, undergraduate-level training in ICDAS for both dentists and nurses and computerized data entry. Further qualitative and quantitative research is needed on how to facilitate the utilisation of the system in dental practice. It is also recommended to explore the influences of wider agencies on influencing primary dental care professionals’ caries management, including appropriate recording of diagnosis and risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ gene expression detection is the best way to determine temporal and spatial differences in gene expression. However, in situ hybridization procedures are inherently difficult to execute and typically suffer from degradation of sample tissues, limited sensitivity to genes with low expression, high background, and limitation to single gene detections. We propose to utilize an isothermal gene amplification technique, LAMP (Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification), to solve these problems in a novel way. LAMP greatly amplifies the signal of expressed genes and can use multiple sets of primers and different fluorescent-labeled probes to produce multiplex gene detection. LAMP is a rapid, isothermal reaction that reduces the handling and degradation of tissue by cutting down on the washing steps required by other methods. Using this technique, we have successfully amplified 3 target genes, have produced positive fluorescent in situ results simultaneously for two genes. We have also demonstrated that LAMP can be used to exploit standard NBT/BCIP (nitro-blue tetrazolium chloride/5-bromo-4-chloro-3'-indolyphosphate p-toluidine salt) detection of single expression. In situ LAMP is a robust and applicable method that can be exploited for detection of gene expression in plant species, as well as in animals and bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]