scholarly journals The role of stabilizing and communicating symptoms given overlapping communities in psychopathology networks

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tessa Blanken ◽  
Marie Deserno ◽  
Jonas Dalege ◽  
Denny Borsboom ◽  
Peter Blanken ◽  
...  

Network theory, as a theoretical and methodological framework, is energizing many research fields, among which clinical psychology and psychiatry. Fundamental to the network theory of psychopathology is the role of specific symptoms and their interactions. Current statistical tools, however, fail to fully capture this constitutional property. We propose community detection tools as a means to evaluate the complex network structure of psychopathology, free from its original boundaries of distinct disorders. Unique to this approach is that symptoms can belong to multiple communities. Using a large community sample and spanning a broad range of symptoms (Symptom Checklist-90-Revised), we identified 18 communities of interconnected symptoms. The differential role of symptoms within and between communities offers a framework to study the clinical concepts of comorbidity, heterogeneity and hallmark symptoms. Symptoms with many and strong connections within a community, defined as stabilizing symptoms, could be thought of as the core of a community, whereas symptoms that belong to multiple communities, defined as communicating symptoms, facilitate the communication between problem areas. We propose that defining symptoms on their stabilizing and/or communicating role within and across communities accelerates our understanding of these clinical phenomena, central to research and treatment of psychopathology.

2022 ◽  
pp. 265-279
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Risi ◽  
Riccardo Pronzato

The role of digital platforms in everyday life is a concern within different research fields; therefore, several authors have supported the need to investigate them and their underlying meshing of human and computational logic. In this chapter, the authors present a methodological proposal according to which auto-ethnographic diaries can be fruitfully employed to examine the relationship between individuals and algorithmic platforms. By drawing on a critical pedagogy approach, they consider auto-ethnography both as a practice of access to algorithmic logics through rich first-hand data regarding everyday usage practices as a response to datafication. The core idea behind this narrative method is to use inductive self-reflexive methodological tools to help individuals critically reflect on their daily activities, thereby making their consumption of algorithmic contents more aware and allowing researchers to collect in-depth reports about their use of digital platforms and the following processes of subjectification.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Kenneth McDonald ◽  
Ulf Dahlström ◽  
◽  

Heart failure (HF) is characterised by non-specific symptoms and unremarkable physical examination; therefore, the need exists for an available objective marker of HF status. Natriuretic peptides (NPs) are a marker that can aid the dilemmas in present-day HF management. More effective screening for clinical deterioration would include changes in brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels. Normal values for BNP, <50–100 pg/ml, have excellent negative predictive value (NPV) in excluding HF as a diagnosis. BNP values that are significantly elevated, e.g. >500 pg/ml, make the diagnosis of HF more likely. There are now established and emerging uses for NPs in managing HF in the community. These include the role of NPs at the time of possible new presentation of HF, its role in prognostication and, finally, the increasing interest in using NPs to guide therapy in the outpatient setting.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-62
Author(s):  
Suren T. Zolyan

We discuss the role of linguistic metaphors as a cognitive frame for the understanding of genetic information processing. The essential similarity between language and genetic information processing has been recognized since the very beginning, and many prominent scholars have noted the possibility of considering genes and genomes as texts or languages. Most of the core terms in molecular biology are based on linguistic metaphors. The processing of genetic information is understood as some operations on text – writing, reading and editing and their specification (encoding/decoding, proofreading, transcription, translation, reading frame). The concept of gene reading can be traced from the archaic idea of the equation of Life and Nature with the Book. Thus, the genetics itself can be metaphorically represented as some operations on text (deciphering, understanding, code-breaking, transcribing, editing, etc.), which are performed by scientists. At the same time linguistic metaphors portrayed gene entities also as having the ability of reading. In the case of such “bio-reading” some essential features similar to the processes of human reading can be revealed: this is an ability to identify the biochemical sequences based on their function in an abstract system and distinguish between type and its contextual tokens of the same type. Metaphors seem to be an effective instrument for representation, as they make possible a two-dimensional description: biochemical by its experimental empirical results and textual based on the cognitive models of comprehension. In addition to their heuristic value, linguistic metaphors are based on the essential characteristics of genetic information derived from its dual nature: biochemical by its substance, textual (or quasi-textual) by its formal organization. It can be concluded that linguistic metaphors denoting biochemical objects and processes seem to be a method of description and explanation of these heterogeneous properties.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney R. Ringwald ◽  
Aidan G.C. Wright

Empathy theoretically serves an affiliative interpersonal function by satisfying motives for intimacy and union with others. Accordingly, empathy is expected to vary depending on the situation. Inconsistent empirical support for empathy’s affiliative role may be due to methodology focused on individual differences in empathy or differences between controlled experimental conditions, which fail to capture its dynamic and interpersonal nature. To address these shortcomings, we used ecological momentary assessment to establish typical patterns of empathy across everyday interactions. Associations among empathy, affect, and interpersonal behavior of self and interaction partner were examined in a student sample (N=330), then replicated in a pre-registered community sample (N=279). Multi-level structural equation modeling was used to distinguish individual differences in empathy from interaction-level effects. Results show people are more empathetic during positively-valanced interactions with others perceived as warm and when expressing warmth. By confirming the typically affiliative role of empathy, existing research to the contrary can be best understood as exceptions to the norm.


Author(s):  
Xiao Zhou ◽  
Xiao-Fei Zhang ◽  
Dong-Yan Guo ◽  
Yan-Jun Yang ◽  
Lin Liu ◽  
...  

Objective: Lingzhu San (LZS) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription which can be effective in treating febrile seizures (FS) and has few researches on the mechanisms. In order to better guide the clinical use of LZS, we used the research ideas and methods of network pharmacology to find the potential core compounds, targets and pathways of LZS in the complex TCM system for the treatment of FS, and predict the mechanism. Materials and Methods: Databases such as BATMAN, TCMSP, TCMID, and SWISS TARGET are used to mine the active compounds and targets of LZS, and the target information of FS was obtained through GENECARDS and OMIM. Using Venny2.1.0 and Cytoscape software to locked the potential core compounds and targets of FS. The R language and ClusterProfiler software package were adopt to enrich and analyze the KEGG and GO pathways of the core targets and the biological processes and potential mechanisms of the core targets were revealed. Results: 187 active compounds and 2113 target proteins of LZS were collected. And 38 potential core compounds, 35 core targets and 775 metabolic and functional pathways were screened which involved in mediating FS. Finally, the role of the core compounds, targets and pivotal pathways of LZS regulated FS in the pathogenesis and therapeutic mechanism of FS was discussed and clarified. Conclusions: In this paper, the multi-compounds, multi-targets and multi-pathways mechanism of LZS in the treatment of FS was preliminarily revealed through the analysis of network pharmacology data, which is consistent with the principle of multi-compounds compatibility of TCM prescriptions and unified treatment of diseases from multiple angles, and it provides a new way for TCM to treat complex diseases caused by multiple factors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Shiphrah Vethakanraj ◽  
Niveditha Chandrasekaran ◽  
Ashok Kumar Sekar

: Acid ceramidase (AC), the key enzyme of the ceramide metabolic pathway hydrolyzes pro-apoptotic ceramide to sphingosine, which by the action of sphingosine-1-kinase is metabolized to mitogenic sphingosine-1-phosphate. The intracellular level of AC determines ceramide/sphingosine-1-phosphate rheostat which in turn decides the cell fate. The upregulated AC expression during cancerous condition acts as a “double-edged sword” by converting pro-apoptotic ceramide to anti-apoptotic sphingosine-1-phosphate, wherein on one end, the level of ceramide is decreased and on the other end, the level of sphingosine-1-phosphate is increased, thus altogether aggravating the cancer progression. In addition, cancer cells with upregulated AC expression exhibited increased cell proliferation, metastasis, chemoresistance, radioresistance and numerous strategies were developed in the past to effectively target the enzyme. Gene silencing and pharmacological inhibition of AC sensitized the resistant cells to chemo/radiotherapy thereby promoting cell death. The core objective of this review is to explore AC mediated tumour progression and the potential role of AC inhibitors in various cancer cell lines/models.


Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts

This chapter focuses on the role of the dominant player in conservative media, Fox News, during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency. It looks at three case studies to illustrate how Fox News used its position at the core of the right-wing media ecosystem repeatedly to mount propaganda attacks in support of Trump: the Michael Flynn firing in March 2017, when Fox adopted the “deep state” framing of the entire controversy; the James Comey firing and Robert Mueller appointment in May 2017; when Fox propagated the Seth Rich murder conspiracy; and in October and November, when the arrests of Paul Manafort and guilty plea of Flynn seemed to mark a new level of threat to the president, Fox reframed the Uranium One story as an attack on the integrity of the FBI and Justice Department officials in charge of the investigation.


Author(s):  
Liliana Rivera-Sánchez ◽  
Xóchitl Bada

In this introductory chapter, we develop a brief history around the institutionalization process of sociology in Latin America. At the same time, we revisit some of the core debates and contributions of the sociology of Latin America, identifying some of the topics and fields in which sociology from this region has made key contributions to the discipline. The chapter is divided into three sections: development and institutionalization of the discipline, selected debates and contributions to sociology from Latin America, and, finally, the roadmap to this Handbook, which covers eight research fields.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089331892199807
Author(s):  
Jonathan Clifton ◽  
Fernando Fachin ◽  
François Cooren

To date there has been little work that uses fine-grained interactional analyses of the in situ doing of leadership to make visible the role of non-human as well as human actants in this process. Using transcripts of naturally-occurring interaction as data, this study seeks to show how leadership is co-achieved by artefacts as an in-situ accomplishment. To do this we situate this study within recent work on distributed leadership and argue that it is not only distributed across human actors, but also across networks that include both human and non-human actors. Taking a discursive approach to leadership, we draw on Actor Network Theory and adopt a ventriloquial approach to sociomateriality as inspired by the Montreal School of organizational communication. Findings indicate that artefacts “do” leadership when a hybrid presence is made relevant to the interaction and when this presence provides authoritative grounds for influencing others to achieve the group’s goals.


Author(s):  
Michal Soffer ◽  
Miri Cohen ◽  
Faisal Azaiza

Abstract Background: ‘Explanatory Models’ (EMs) are frameworks through which individuals and groups understand diseases, are influenced by cultural and religious perceptions of health and illness, and influence both physicians and patients’ behaviors. Aims: To examine the role of EMs of illness (cancer-related perceptions) in physicians’ and laywomen’s behaviors (decision to recommend undergoing regular mammography, adhering to mammography) in the context of a traditional-religious society, that is, the Arab society in Israel. Methods: Two combined samples were drawn: a representative sample of 146 Arab physicians who serve the Arab population and a sample composed of 290 Arab women, aged 50–70 years, representative of the main Arab groups residing in the north and center of Israel (Muslims, Christians) were each randomly sampled (cluster sampling). All respondents completed a closed-ended questionnaire. Results: Women held more cultural cancer-related beliefs and fatalistic beliefs than physicians. Physicians attributed more access barriers to screening as well as fear of radiation to women patients and lower social barriers to screening, compared with the women’s community sample. Higher fatalistic beliefs among women hindered the probability of adherence to mammography; physicians with higher fatalistic beliefs were less likely to recommend mammography. Conclusions: The role of cultural perceptions needs to be particularly emphasized. In addition to understanding the patients’ perceptions of illness, physicians must also reflect on the social, cultural, and psychological factors that shape their decision to recommend undergoing regular mammography.


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