scholarly journals Homeopathic Treatment ofArabidopsis thalianaPlants Infected withPseudomonas syringae

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 320-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devika Shah-Rossi ◽  
Peter Heusser ◽  
Stephan Baumgartner
Keyword(s):  
Pseudomonas Syringae ◽  
Infection Rate ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Plant Diseases ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Widespread Application ◽  
Homeopathic Treatment

Homeopathic basic research is still in the screening phase to identify promising model systems that are adapted to the needs and peculiarities of homeopathic medicine and pharmacy. We investigated the potential of a common plant-pathogen system, Arabidopsis thaliana infected with the virulent bacteria Pseudomonas syringae, regarding its response towards a homeopathic treatment. A. thaliana plants were treated with homeopathic preparations before and after infection. Outcome measure was the number of P. syringae bacteria in the leaves of A. thaliana, assessed in randomized and blinded experiments. After a screening of 30 homeopathic preparations, we investigated the effect of Carbo vegetabilis 30x, Magnesium phosphoricum 30x, Nosode 30x, Biplantol (a homeopathic complex remedy), and Biplantol 30x on the infection rate in five or six independent experiments in total. The screening yielded significant effects for four out of 30 tested preparations. In the repeated experimental series, only the homeopathic complex remedy Biplantol induced a significant reduction of the infection rate (p = 0.01; effect size, d = 0.38). None of the other four repeatedly tested preparations (Carbo vegetabilis 30x, Magnesium phosphoricum 30x, Nosode 30x, Biplantol 30x) yielded significant effects in the overall evaluation. This phytopathological model yielded a small to medium effect size and thus might be of interest for homeopathic basic research after further improvement. Compared to Bion (a common SAR inducer used as positive control), the magnitude of the treatment effect of Biplantol was about 50%. Thus, homeopathic formulations might have a potential for the treatment of plant diseases after further optimization. However, the ecological impact should be investigated more closely before widespread application.

scholarly journals Transdiagnostic comparison of visual working memory capacity in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine V. Barnes-Scheufler ◽  
Caroline Passow ◽  
Lara Rösler ◽  
Jutta S. Mayer ◽  
Viola Oertel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Small Effect Size ◽  
The Difference

Abstract Background Impaired working memory is a core cognitive deficit in both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Its study might yield crucial insights into the underpinnings of both disorders on the cognitive and neurophysiological level. Visual working memory capacity is a particularly promising construct for such translational studies. However, it has not yet been investigated across the full spectrum of both disorders. The aim of our study was to compare the degree of reductions of visual working memory capacity in patients with bipolar disorder (PBD) and patients with schizophrenia (PSZ) using a paradigm well established in cognitive neuroscience. Methods 62 PBD, 64 PSZ, and 70 healthy controls (HC) completed a canonical visual change detection task. Participants had to encode the color of four circles and indicate after a short delay whether the color of one of the circles had changed or not. We estimated working memory capacity using Pashler’s K. Results Working memory capacity was significantly reduced in both PBD and PSZ compared to HC. We observed a small effect size (r = .202) for the difference between HC and PBD and a medium effect size (r = .370) for the difference between HC and PSZ. Working memory capacity in PSZ was also significantly reduced compared to PBD with a small effect size (r = .201). Thus, PBD showed an intermediate level of impairment. Conclusions These findings provide evidence for a gradient of reduced working memory capacity in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, with PSZ showing the strongest degree of impairment. This underscores the importance of disturbed information processing for both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Our results are compatible with the cognitive manifestation of a neurodevelopmental gradient affecting bipolar disorder to a lesser degree than schizophrenia. They also highlight the relevance of visual working memory capacity for the development of both behavior- and brain-based transdiagnostic biomarkers.

scholarly journals An Egocentric Network Contact Tracing Experiment: Testing Different Procedures to Elicit Contacts and Places

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1466
Author(s):  
Andrew Pilny ◽  
C. Joseph Huber
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Physiological Variables ◽  
Medium Effect Size ◽  
Egocentric Network ◽  
Survey Instruments

Contact tracing is one of the oldest social network health interventions used to reduce the diffusion of various infectious diseases. However, some infectious diseases like COVID-19 amass at such a great scope that traditional methods of conducting contact tracing (e.g., face-to-face interviews) remain difficult to implement, pointing to the need to develop reliable and valid survey approaches. The purpose of this research is to test the effectiveness of three different egocentric survey methods for extracting contact tracing data: (1) a baseline approach, (2) a retrieval cue approach, and (3) a context-based approach. A sample of 397 college students were randomized into one condition each. They were prompted to anonymously provide contacts and populated places visited from the past four days depending on what condition they were given. After controlling for various demographic, social identity, psychological, and physiological variables, participants in the context-based condition were significantly more likely to recall more contacts (medium effect size) and places (large effect size) than the other two conditions. Theoretically, the research supports suggestions by field theory that assume network recall can be significantly improved by activating relevant activity foci. Practically, the research contributes to the development of innovative social network data collection methods for contract tracing survey instruments.

Understanding the Users with Chronic Pain on AI CBT Mental Health App (Wysa): A Mixed-Methods Retrospective Observational Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Meheli ◽  
Chaitali Sinha ◽  
Madhura Kabada
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Pain Management ◽  
Observational Study ◽  
Real World ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Retrospective Observational Study ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Perceived Needs

BACKGROUND Digital health interventions can bridge barriers in access to treatment of care for individuals with chronic pain. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the perceived needs, engagement and the effectiveness of the mental health app Wysa on mental health outcomes among real-world users who reported chronic pain and engaged with the app for support. METHODS Real-world data from users (N = 2,194) who reported chronic pain and associated health conditions in their conversations with a mental health app was analyzed using a mixed-method retrospective observational study. An inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse conversational data of users with chronic pain to assess perceived needs, along with comparative macro-analyses of conversational flows to capture engagement within the app. Additionally, the scores from a subset of users who completed a set of pre-post assessment questionnaires, namely PHQ-9 (N=69) and GAD-7 (N=57), were examined to evaluate the effectiveness of Wysa in providing support for mental health concerns for those managing chronic pain. RESULTS The themes emerging from the conversations of users with chronic pain included Health Concerns, Socioeconomic Concerns, and Pain Management Concerns. Findings from the quantitative analysis indicated that users with chronic pain showed significantly greater app engagement (p value <2.2e-16) than users without chronic pain, with a large effect size (Vargha and Delaney’s A- 0.76 -0.8). Furthermore, the sample of users with pre-post assessments during the study period were found to have significant improvements in group means on both PHQ-9 and GAD-7 symptom scores, with medium effect size (Cohens’d, 0.6-0.61), respectively. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicate that users look for tools that can help them address their concerns related to mental health, pain management, and sleep issues. The study findings also indicate the breadth of needs for users with chronic pain and the lack of support structures, and suggests that Wysa can provide effective support to bridge the gap.

scholarly journals Effect sizes and test-retest reliability of the fMRI-based Neurologic Pain Signature

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochun Han ◽  
Yoni K. Ashar ◽  
Philip Kragel ◽  
Bogdan Petre ◽  
Victoria Schelkun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Retest Reliability ◽  
Medium Effect Size ◽  
Pain Reports ◽  
Nociceptive Input ◽  
Test Retest Reliability

Identifying biomarkers that predict mental states with large effect sizes and high test-retest reliability is a growing priority for fMRI research. We examined a well-established multivariate brain measure that tracks pain induced by nociceptive input, the Neurologic Pain Signature (NPS). In N = 295 participants across eight studies, NPS responses showed a very large effect size in predicting within-person single-trial pain reports (d = 1.45) and medium effect size in predicting individual differences in pain reports (d = 0.49, average r = 0.20). The NPS showed excellent short-term (within-day) test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.84, with average 69.5 trials/person). Reliability scaled with the number of trials within-person, with ≥60 trials required for excellent test-retest reliability. Reliability was comparable in two additional studies across 5-day (N = 29, ICC = 0.74, 30 trials/person) and 1-month (N = 40, ICC = 0.46, 5 trials/person) test-retest intervals. The combination of strong within-person correlations and only modest between-person correlations between the NPS and pain reports indicates that the two measures have different sources of between-person variance. The NPS is not a surrogate for individual differences in pain reports, but can serve as a reliable measure of pain-related physiology and mechanistic target for interventions.

scholarly journals Study of quarantine plant diseases in Georgia

2018 ◽  
pp. 256-261
Author(s):  
G. Meparishvili ◽  
L. Gorgiladze ◽  
Z. Sikharulidze ◽  
S. Meparishvili ◽  
M. Muradashvili ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pseudomonas Syringae ◽  
Ralstonia Solanacearum ◽  
Erwinia Amylovora ◽  
Plant Diseases ◽  
Synchytrium Endobioticum ◽  
Monitoring And Diagnostics

Our Organization has been conducting plant diseases monitoring and diagnostics of their causal agents. We found the following quarantine pathogens: Dickeya sp., Ralstonia solanacearum, Erwinia amylovora, Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae, Synchytrium endobioticum. To fix diseases on time and study their causing pathogens, is fundamental for the country safety and makes it possible not to infect a huge territory.

The magnitude of neurocognitive impairment is overestimated in depression: the role of motivation, debilitating momentary influences, and the overreliance on mean differences

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Steffen Moritz ◽  
Jingyuan Xie ◽  
Danielle Penney ◽  
Lisa Bihl ◽  
Niklas Hlubek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Effect Size ◽  
Neurocognitive Impairment ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Neurocognitive Deficits ◽  
Performance Deficits ◽  
Impact Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Performance Scale

Abstract Background Meta-analyses agree that depression is characterized by neurocognitive dysfunctions relative to nonclinical controls. These deficits allegedly stem from impairments in functionally corresponding brain areas. Increasingly, studies suggest that some performance deficits are in part caused by negative task-taking attitudes such as poor motivation or the presence of distracting symptoms. A pilot study confirmed that these factors mediate neurocognitive deficits in depression. The validity of these results is however questionable given they were based solely on self-report measures. The present study addresses this caveat by having examiners assess influences during a neurocognitive examination, which were concurrently tested for their predictive value on performance. Methods Thirty-three patients with depression and 36 healthy controls were assessed on a battery of neurocognitive tests. The examiner completed the Impact on Performance Scale, a questionnaire evaluating mediating influences that may impact performance. Results On average, patients performed worse than controls at a large effect size. When the total score of the Impact on Performance Scale was accounted for by mediation analysis and analyses of covariance, group differences were reduced to a medium effect size. A total of 30% of patients showed impairments of at least one standard deviation below the mean. Conclusions This study confirms that neurocognitive impairment in depression is likely overestimated; future studies should consider fair test-taking conditions. We advise researchers to report percentages of patients showing performance deficits rather than relying solely on overall group differences. This prevents fostering the impression that the majority of patients exert deficits, when in fact deficits are only true for a subgroup.

A Meta-Analytic Review of the Consequences of Stigma and Stereotype Threat for Individuals with Specific Learning Disabilities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Haft ◽  
Fumiko Hoeft
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Psychological Adjustment ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Academic Outcomes ◽  
Specific Learning Disabilities ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Related Stigma ◽  
Specific Learning

Exposure to stigma and stereotype threat has shown detrimental effects on psychological and academic outcomes in numerous marginalized groups. Research has demonstrated that individuals with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) are vulnerable to stigmatization because of their SLDs. The purpose of this quantitative meta-analysis is to provide an estimation of the overall relationship between SLD-related stigma and psychological and academic outcomes in individuals with SLDs, as well as examine the overall effect size of SLD-related stereotype threat across studies. A total of seven effect sizes examining SLD stigma and psychological adjustment, two effect sizes examining SLD stigma and academic outcomes, and six effect sizes examining SLD stereotype threat across 13 studies were analyzed. Meta-analytic findings revealed that greater SLD stigma scores had a medium-sized and significant correlation with less optimal psychological adjustment (r=-.39, k=7, p&lt;.0001). SLD stigma showed a weak association with academic outcomes (r=-.06, k=2, p=.59). The estimated mean effect size of stereotype threat manipulations in individuals with SLDs was g=0.49 (k=6, p&lt;.030), reflecting a medium effect and overall poorer performance-related outcomes in conditions of high stereotype threat. Given the small number of studies, moderator analyses were unable to be performed and evidence for publication bias is equivocal. These findings highlight the need for more research on SLD-related stigma and stereotype threat, and suggest that these negative experiences be a target of intervention and support efforts for individuals with SLDs.

L2 writing development through two types of writing task repetition

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsushi Fukunaga
Keyword(s):  
Effect Size ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Writing Development ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Task Repetition ◽  
Medium Effect Size ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Task Types ◽  
Writing Task ◽  
Measurement Period

Abstract This study investigated whether any remarkable effects emerge in terms of overall complexity, complexity by subordination, accuracy, and fluency in two types of writing task repetition during a single academic semester (16 weeks). The Cognition Hypothesis states that tasks involving different cognitive demands will lead to different L2 output. Thus, this study explored whether any significant differences existed between two task types: descriptive and argumentative essays. The results revealed different patterns in the two types of writing tasks. For the descriptive essays, despite the improvements in overall complexity, complexity by subordination, and fluency with a large effect size, no significant findings were confirmed for accuracy. In contrast, in the argumentative essays, the learners improved all the linguistic aspects, but with a medium effect size. This study also unraveled developmental trajectories to demonstrate how different variables interacted in the two different types of writing tasks throughout the measurement period.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Dunaliella salina Extracts against Bacillus subtilis and Bacterial Plant Pathogens

Pathogens ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 613
Author(s):  
Alfredo Ambrico ◽  
Mario Trupo ◽  
Rosaria Magarelli ◽  
Roberto Balducchi ◽  
Angelo Ferraro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antibacterial Activity ◽  
Pseudomonas Syringae ◽  
Dunaliella Salina ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Plant Diseases ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Tomato Plants ◽  
Hexane Extracts

Several bacteria pathogens are responsible for plant diseases causing significant economic losses. The antibacterial activity of Dunaliella salina microalgae extracts were investigated in vitro and in vivo. First, biomass composition was chemically characterized and subjected to extraction using polar/non-polar solvents. The highest extraction yield was obtained using chloroform:methanol (1:1 v/v) equal to 170 mg g−1 followed by ethanol (88 mg g−1) and hexane (61 mg g−1). In vitro examination of hexane extracts of Dunaliella salina demonstrated antibacterial activity against all tested bacteria. The hexane extract showed the highest amount of β-carotene with respect to the others, so it was selected for subsequent analyses. In vivo studies were also carried out using hexane extracts of D. salina against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum on young tomato plants and fruits of tomato and zucchini, respectively. The treated young tomato plants exhibited a reduction of 65.7% incidence and 77.0% severity of bacterial speck spot disease. Similarly, a reduction of soft rot symptoms was observed in treated tomato and zucchini fruits with a disease incidence of 5.3% and 12.6% with respect to 90.6% and 100%, respectively, for the positive control.

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