scholarly journals Behavioral Markers for Deficits in Speed of Processing in Cerebrovascular Disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Chen ◽  
Kelly M Sunderland ◽  
Yuelee Khoo ◽  
Paula M McLaughlin ◽  
Donna Kwan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebrovascular Disease ◽  
Gait Speed ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Complex Function ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Speed Of Processing ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Behavioral Markers

Objective: To assess overlap and uniqueness of established behavioral markers of speed of processing for different aspects of visual information within a cerebrovascular disease cohort, and to examine the link between these speed of processing markers and functional behavior, specifically walking. Methods: A cohort of 161 participants with cerebrovascular disease recruited to the Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative (ONDRI) were examined with three types of assessments: neuropsychology, saccadic eye movement and gait. Principal component analysis (PCA) and canonical correlation analysis (CCA) were performed on select variables from these assessments to reveal commonalities and discrepancies among the measures. Results: PCA analysis revealed different variable patterns between neuropsychology and saccade assessments, with the first component characterized primarily by neuropsychology, and the second and third components more influenced by the saccade assessments. CCA analysis did not reveal association between different types of assessments with the exception of a modest, but significant, positive association between speed of processing measures from the neuropsychological assessments and gait speed. Discussion: Neuropsychological tests and the pro-saccade task can be used for assessment of speed of processing for two major features of visual information, visual perception vs. spatial location. Despite a general lack of association between different types of assessments, combining gait speed as an important contributor to the models reinforces the idea of the link between speed of processing and complex function such as walking, and provides support for the importance of attending to the potential consequences of changes in speed of processing after neurologic injury.

scholarly journals A Prospective Study of Prenatal Maternal Dietary Patterns and Offspring Adipokine Levels During Adolescence

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 745-745
Author(s):  
Erica Fossee ◽  
Astrid Zamora ◽  
Karen Peterson ◽  
Alejandra Cantoral ◽  
Wei Perng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mexico City ◽  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
First Trimester ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Diet Patterns ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Diet Pattern ◽  
A Prospective Study

Abstract Objectives Maternal diet during pregnancy has been associated with offspring adipokine levels related to insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia during infancy. However, whether this relationship persists into adolescence is unknown. We examined the association between maternal prenatal diet patterns with adolescent leptin and adiponectin levels a Mexico City cohort. Methods Data from 379 mother-adolescent dyads from the Mexico City ELEMENT cohort were analyzed. Diet patterns were derived from principal component analysis of food frequency questionnaire data collected during pregnancy trimesters. Adolescent serum leptin and adiponectin were measured at ages 10–17. Information on maternal covariates was measured during pregnancy. Multiple linear regression was used to examine overall and sex-stratified associations between quartiles of diet patterns with leptin and adiponectin, adjusting for maternal marital status, education, and parity. Results Three maternal diet patterns were identified: Prudent Diet (PD), high in fish and vegetables, the High Meat & Fat Diet (HMFD), high in pork and processed meats, and the Transitioning Diet (TD), high in corn tortillas and sugar beverages. At follow-up, the mean (SD) of leptin and adiponectin were 24.3 (18.2) ng/ml and 11.7 (3.9) ng/ml. A significant positive association was demonstrated between first trimester TD scores and adipokines in girls. In a multivariate-adjusted model, compared to girls in the lowest quartile (Q1) of the TD pattern, the highest quartile of the TD pattern (Q4) had 10.39 ng/mL higher leptin (95% CI: 3.1, 17.6; p for trend = 0.0024). In addition, compared to girls in the lowest quartile (Q1) of the TD pattern, those in the third quartile (Q3) of the TD pattern had 1.86 ng/mL lower adiponectin (95% CI: −3.5, −0.2; p for trend = 0.168). Associations were mostly consistent across all trimesters. Conclusions During pregnancy, a Transitioning Diet pattern was positively associated with leptin and non-monotonically inversely associated with adiponectin in females. Findings suggest maternal diet patterns during pregnancy may influence offspring leptin and adiponectin levels in adolescent girls. Funding Sources Funded by grant P01ES022844.

scholarly journals Assessing Farmers’ Typologies of Perception for Adopting Sustainable Adaptation Strategies in Bangladesh

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam ◽  
Md. Hasanuzzaman ◽  
Mahmud Jaman ◽  
Edris Alam ◽  
Javed Mallick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Agricultural Crop ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Farm Level ◽  
And Cluster Analysis

The implementation of sustainable adaptation strategies (SASs) is crucial to mitigate climate change impact as well as reduce the loss of natural disasters and increase agricultural crop production. However, current policies and programs based on agricultural incentives are mostly inadequate to increase SASs practices at the farm level. Hence, a deeper understanding of farmers’ ‘perceived typologies to the environmental issue and climate change’ is necessary for implementing SASs to enhance farmers’ ability to adapt at the farm level. This research intends to demarcate farmers in various categories, according to their perceptions on environmental and climate change issues in the northern part of Bangladesh. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were employed to analyze the survey data collected from 501 households in the study area. Farmers were clustered into three types, ‘Ecocentric’, ‘Worried’, and ‘Anthropocentric’, based on their perceived knowledge regarding environmental issues and climate change, which guides the adoption of SASs. The ‘Worried’ cluster showed a high sense of perceived risk of climate change and a significant positive association with the adoption of SASs. By contrast, ‘Ecocentric’ and ‘Anthropocentric’ groups showed a low sense of awareness of climate change and a significant negative association with the adoption of SASs. The findings can assist policymakers in promoting the adoption of SASs based on the farmers’ cluster and thus enhance their resilience.

scholarly journals Brain infarctions after glioma surgery: prevalence, radiological characteristics and risk factors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per S. Strand ◽  
Erik M. Berntsen ◽  
Even H. Fyllingen ◽  
Lisa M. Sagberg ◽  
Ingerid Reinertsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Cerebrovascular Disease ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Diffuse Glioma ◽  
Glioma Surgery ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Postoperative Mri ◽  
Perioperative Bleeding ◽  
Infarction Volume

Abstract Background Prevalence, radiological characteristics, and risk factors for peritumoral infarctions after glioma surgery are not much studied. In this study, we assessed shape, volume, and prevalence of peritumoral infarctions and investigated possible associated factors. Methods In a prospective single-center cohort study, we included all adult patients operated for diffuse gliomas from January 2007 to December 2018. Postoperative infarctions were segmented using early postoperative MRI images, and volume, shape, and location of postoperative infarctions were assessed. Heatmaps of the distribution of tumors and infarctions were created. Results MRIs from 238 (44%) of 539 operations showed restricted diffusion in relation to the operation cavity, interpreted as postoperative infarctions. Of these, 86 (36%) were rim-shaped, 103 (43%) were sector-shaped, 40 (17%) were a combination of rim- and sector-shaped, and six (3%) were remote infarctions. Median infarction volume was 1.7 cm3 (IQR 0.7–4.3, range 0.1–67.1). Infarctions were more common if the tumor was in the temporal lobe, and the map shows more infarctions in the periventricular watershed areas. Sector-shaped infarctions were more often seen in patients with known cerebrovascular disease (47.6% vs. 25.5%, p = 0.024). There was a positive correlation between infarction volume and tumor volume (r = 0.267, p < 0.001) and infarction volume and perioperative bleeding (r = 0.176, p = 0.014). Moreover, there was a significant positive association between age and larger infarction volumes (r = 0.193, p = 0.003). Infarction rates and infarction volumes varied across individual surgeons, p = 0.037 (range 32–72%) and p = 0.026. Conclusions In the present study, peritumoral infarctions occurred in 44% after diffuse glioma operations. Infarctions were more common in patients operated for tumors in the temporal lobe but were not more common following recurrent surgeries. Sector-shaped infarctions were more common in patients with known cerebrovascular disease. Increasing age, larger tumors, and more perioperative bleeding were factors associated with infarction volumes. The risk of infarctions and infarction volumes may also be surgeon-dependent.

Perceived Overprotection and Its Association With Quality of Life in Dementia

GeroPsych ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
Mechthild Niemann-Mirmehdi ◽  
Andreas Häusler ◽  
Paul Gellert ◽  
Johanna Nordheim
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Patient Autonomy ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Mental Well Being

Abstract. To date, few studies have focused on perceived overprotection from the perspective of people with dementia (PwD). In the present examination, the association of perceived overprotection in PwD is examined as an autonomy-restricting factor and thus negative for their mental well-being. Cross-sectional data from the prospective DYADEM study of 82 patient/partner dyads (mean age = 74.26) were used to investigate the association between overprotection, perceived stress, depression, and quality of life (QoL). The analyses show that an overprotective contact style with PwD has a significant positive association with stress and depression, and has a negative association with QoL. The results emphasize the importance of avoiding an overprotective care style and supporting patient autonomy.

A Study on Utilization of Three-Dimensional Sensor Lip Image for Developing a Pronunciation Recognition System

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 50402-1-50402-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ing-Jr Ding ◽  
Chong-Min Ruan
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Automatic Speech Recognition ◽  
Feature Fusion ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Geometrical Characteristics ◽  
3D Geometry ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Disabled

Abstract The acoustic-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) technique has been a matured technique and widely seen to be used in numerous applications. However, acoustic-based ASR will not maintain a standard performance for the disabled group with an abnormal face, that is atypical eye or mouth geometrical characteristics. For governing this problem, this article develops a three-dimensional (3D) sensor lip image based pronunciation recognition system where the 3D sensor is efficiently used to acquire the action variations of the lip shapes of the pronunciation action from a speaker. In this work, two different types of 3D lip features for pronunciation recognition are presented, 3D-(x, y, z) coordinate lip feature and 3D geometry lip feature parameters. For the 3D-(x, y, z) coordinate lip feature design, 18 location points, each of which has 3D-sized coordinates, around the outer and inner lips are properly defined. In the design of 3D geometry lip features, eight types of features considering the geometrical space characteristics of the inner lip are developed. In addition, feature fusion to combine both 3D-(x, y, z) coordinate and 3D geometry lip features is further considered. The presented 3D sensor lip image based feature evaluated the performance and effectiveness using the principal component analysis based classification calculation approach. Experimental results on pronunciation recognition of two different datasets, Mandarin syllables and Mandarin phrases, demonstrate the competitive performance of the presented 3D sensor lip image based pronunciation recognition system.

The Nexus Between Urbanisation and Human Empowerment: Income Group Based Findings of Bidirectional Causality

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
Christos Kollias ◽  
Panayiotis Tzeremes
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Income Group ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Democratic Rule

Abstract The economic and social drivers of democratisation and the emergence and establishment of democratic institutions are longstanding themes of academic discourse. Within this broad body of literature, it has been argued that the process of urbanisation is also conducive to the emergence and consolidation of democracy through a number of different channels. Cities offer better access to education and facilitate organised public action and the demand for more democratic rule and respect of human rights. The nexus between urbanisation and human rights is the theme that is taken up in the present paper. Using a sample of 123 countries for the period 1981–2011, the paper examines empirically the association between urbanisation and human empowerment using the Cingranelli-Richards Index. In broad terms, the findings reported herein do not point to a strong nexus across all income groups. Nevertheless, there is evidence suggesting the presence of such a statistically significant positive association in specific cases.

Effect of sleep on memory for binding different types of visual information

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J Shaw ◽  
Zhisen Urgolites ◽  
Padraic Monaghan
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Storage Capacity ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Forced Choice ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Types Of Information

Visual long-term memory has a large and detailed storage capacity for individual scenes, objects, and actions. However, memory for combinations of actions and scenes is poorer, suggesting difficulty in binding this information together. Sleep can enhance declarative memory of information, but whether sleep can also boost memory for binding information and whether the effect is general across different types of information is not yet known. Experiments 1 to 3 tested effects of sleep on binding actions and scenes, and Experiments 4 and 5 tested binding of objects and scenes. Participants viewed composites and were tested 12-hours later after a delay consisting of sleep (9pm-9am) or wake (9am-9pm), on an alternative forced choice recognition task. For action-scene composites, memory was relatively poor with no significant effect of sleep. For object-scene composites sleep did improve memory. Sleep can promote binding in memory, depending on the type of information to be combined.

Empirical analysis on corporate environmental performance and environmental disclosure in an emerging market context

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1061-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merve Acar ◽  
Hüseyin Temiz
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Corporate Environmental Performance ◽  
Tobit Regression ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Environmental Disclosures

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the association between environmental performance of firms and the level of voluntary environmental disclosure in emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachWe used tobit regression OLS and t-test methods to reveal the association between environmental performance and the level of voluntary environmental disclosure.FindingsWe find a significant positive association between the level of discretionary environmental disclosures and corporate environmental performance. The result is in line with the arguments of economics disclosure theory that argues environmentally good performers disclose more.Practical implicationsMany of the environmentally good firms in Turkey are also listed in the “BIST Sustainability Index,” and this situation can be the result of the relative power of external regulations. Accordingly, it can be suggested to increase the community and governmental pressures for environmental reporting but also gives importance to increase intrinsic motivations for companies to engage in disclosure practices.Originality/valueThis study shed light on relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure in an emerging market context. Also, it is revisited that the relation between environmental performance and the level of environmental disclosure by testing two different predictions on the level of environmental disclosures.

scholarly journals Can Anhedonia Be Considered a Suicide Risk Factor? A Review of the Literature

Medicina ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (8) ◽  
pp. 458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonanni ◽  
Gualtieri ◽  
Lester ◽  
Falcone ◽  
Nardella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum

Background and Objectives: At present, data collected from the literature about suicide and anhedonia are controversial. Some studies have shown that low levels of anhedonia are associated with serious suicide attempts and death by suicide, while other studies have shown that high levels of anhedonia are associated with suicide. Materials and Methods: For this review, we searched PubMed, Medline, and ScienceDirect for clinical studies published from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 2018 with the following search terms used in the title or in the abstract: “anhedonia AND suicid*.” We obtained a total of 155 articles; 133 items were excluded using specific exclusion criteria, the remaining 22 articles included were divided into six groups based on the psychiatric diagnosis: mood disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other diagnoses, attempted suicides, and others (healthy subjects). Results: The results of this review reveal inconsistencies. Some studies reported that high anhedonia scores were associated with suicidal behavior (regardless of the diagnosis), while other studies found that low anhedonia scores were associated with suicidal behavior, and a few studies reported no association. The most consistent association between anhedonia and suicidal behavior was found for affective disorders (7 of 7 studies reported a significant positive association) and for PTSD (3 of 3 studies reported a positive association). In the two studies of patients with schizophrenia, one found no association, and one found a negative association. For patients who attempted suicide (undiagnosed), one study found a positive association, one a positive association only for depressed attempters, and one a negative association. Conclusions: We found the most consistent positive association for patients with affective disorders and PTSD, indicating that the assessment of anhedonia may be useful in the evaluation of suicidal risk.

scholarly journals How the Multiplicity of Suggested Information Affects the Behavior of a User in a Recommender System

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 741
Author(s):  
Yuseok Ban ◽  
Kyungjae Lee
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Recommender System ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Supplementary Information ◽  
Digital Platform ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Types Of Information

Many researchers have suggested improving the retention of a user in the digital platform using a recommender system. Recent studies show that there are many potential ways to assist users to find interesting items, other than high-precision rating predictions. In this paper, we study how the diverse types of information suggested to a user can influence their behavior. The types have been divided into visual information, evaluative information, categorial information, and narrational information. Based on our experimental results, we analyze how different types of supplementary information affect the performance of a recommender in terms of encouraging users to click more items or spend more time in the digital platform.

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