Category: Statistics

PLoS One. 2021 Aug 10;16(8):e0254959. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254959. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

The Depressive and Anxious Avoidance in Prolonged Grief Questionnaire (DAAPGQ) was developed to measure depressive and anxious avoidance behaviors, which, according to cognitive-behavioral models, are supposed to play an important role in the development and maintenance of prolonged grief. The present study aimed to develop a German version of the DAAPGQ and evaluate its psychometric properties and validity within a representative sample of the German general population (N = 2531). The German-language DAAPGQ was developed using a forward-backward translation procedure. Then, a subsample of individuals who reported having lost a significant other (N = 1371) of a representative sample was assessed with the German DAAPGQ, along with information on sociodemographic characteristics, prolonged grief symptom severity (PG-13), general anxiety (GAD-2) and depression (PHQ-2). The factor structure of the DAAPGQ was evaluated using confirmatory factor analyses, reliability by calculating internal consistency on subscale level and convergent validity by correlations between DAAPQG subscale sores with PG-13, GAD-2 and PHQ-2 sum scores. As expected, a two-factor model with correlated latent variables showed good fit to the data, replicating findings from the original version. Internal consistency was high for both subscales (Cronbach’s α .86 and .95, respectively). Convergent validity was established by theoretically expected and statistically significant positive correlations of DAAPGQ subscales with symptom severity of prolonged grief, depression, and anxiety and negative correlations with time since loss. Furthermore, the addition of depressive and anxious avoidance significantly improved the prediction of prolonged grief symptom severity over sociodemographic and loss-related information. In sum, our results suggest that the German-language DAAPGQ is a reliable and valid measure of depressive and anxious avoidance and a useful tool to improve our knowledge on the role of avoidance in prolonged grief. We also provide descriptive data to improve the applicability of the DAAPGQ for individual diagnostics.

PMID:34375341 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0254959

IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell. 2021 Aug 10;PP. doi: 10.1109/TPAMI.2021.3103114. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Enhancing the visibility in extreme low-light environments is a challenging task. Under nearly lightless condition, existing image denoising methods could easily break down due to significantly low SNR. In this paper, we systematically study the noise statistics in the imaging pipeline of CMOS photosensors, and formulate a comprehensive noise model that can accurately characterize the real noise structures. Our novel model considers the noise sources caused by digital camera electronics which are largely overlooked by existing methods yet have significant influence on raw measurement in the dark. It provides a way to decouple the intricate noise structure into different statistical distributions with physical interpretations. Moreover, our noise model can be used to synthesize realistic training data for learning-based low-light denoising algorithms. In this regard, although promising results have been shown recently with deep convolutional neural networks, the success heavily depends on abundant noisy-clean image pairs for training, which are tremendously difficult to obtain in practice. Extensive experiments on multiple low-light denoising datasets — including a newly collected one in this work covering various devices — show that a deep neural network trained with our proposed noise formation model can reach surprisingly-high accuracy. The results are on par with or sometimes even outperform training with paired real data.

PMID:34375279 | DOI:10.1109/TPAMI.2021.3103114

IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst. 2021 Aug 10;PP. doi: 10.1109/TNNLS.2021.3102323. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This article introduces a neural approximation-based method for solving continuous optimization problems with probabilistic constraints. After reformulating the probabilistic constraints as the quantile function, a sample-based neural network model is used to approximate the quantile function. The statistical guarantees of the neural approximation are discussed by showing the convergence and feasibility analysis. Then, by introducing the neural approximation, a simulated annealing-based algorithm is revised to solve the probabilistic constrained programs. An interval predictor model (IPM) of wind power is investigated to validate the proposed method.

PMID:34375291 | DOI:10.1109/TNNLS.2021.3102323

J Med Virol. 2021 Aug 10. doi: 10.1002/jmv.27266. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

we recently read the Letter published by Zahid et al. about the need to find an immediate solution for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in patients affected by autoimmune disease. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:34374995 | DOI:10.1002/jmv.27266

Cancer Cytopathol. 2021 Aug 10. doi: 10.1002/cncy.22498. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The development of efficient strategies for managing high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV)-positive women is a major challenge when human papillomavirus-based primary screening is being performed. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of HR-HPV testing based on self-collection (SC) and HR-HPV testing based on collection by a health professional (HP) and to assess the potential usefulness of HR-HPV testing combined with testing with the biomarkers p16/Ki-67, α-mannosidase, and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2).

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 232 women admitted for colposcopy because of an abnormal Papanicolaou smear. The collected material underwent liquid-based cytology, HR-HPV detection, and immunocytochemical testing (p16/Ki-67, α-mannosidase, and SOD2). The gold standard was the histopathological result; the positive reference was CIN2+.

RESULTS: The overall accuracy of HR-HPV testing was 76.6%; the results for the SC group (78.1%) and the HP group (75.2%) were similar. The positive predictive values (HP, 76.5%; SC, 80.0%), the negative predictive values (HP, 66.7%; SC, 64.3%), the positive likelihood values (HP, 1.35; SC, 1.36), and the negative likelihood values (HP, 0.21; SC, 0.19) were also similar. p16/Ki-67 showed higher sensitivity than the other 2 biomarkers: 78.1% versus 45.8% for α-mannosidase and 44.5% for SOD2. The specificities of the biomarkers were equivalent: 71.4% for p16/Ki-67, 77.8% for α-mannosidase, and 71.2% for SOD2. In the HP group, accuracy also leaned more heavily toward the final score (using α-mannosidase and SOD2) without statistical significance (80.8% vs 77.9%). The contrast with the SC group yielded the same level of accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS: SC, when associated with testing with biomarkers, is as accurate as collection by HPs in the detection of women at risk for cervical cancer.

PMID:34375039 | DOI:10.1002/cncy.22498

J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2021 Aug 10. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13498. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Parental criticism is correlated with internalising symptoms in adolescent offspring. This correlation could in part reflect their genetic relatedness, if the same genes influence behaviours in both parents and offspring. We use a Children-of-Twins design to assess whether parent-reported criticism and offspring internalising symptoms remain associated after controlling for shared genes. To aid interpretation of our results and those of previous Children-of-Twins studies, we examine statistical power for the detection of genetic effects and explore the direction of possible causal effects between generations.

METHODS: Data were drawn from two Swedish twin samples, comprising 876 adult twin pairs with adolescent offspring and 1,030 adolescent twin pairs with parents. Parent reports of criticism towards their offspring were collected concurrently with parent and offspring reports of adolescent internalising symptoms. Children-of-Twins structural equation models were used to control for genetic influence on the intergenerational association between parental criticism and adolescent internalising.

RESULTS: Parental criticism was associated with adolescent internalising symptoms after controlling for genetic influence. No significant role was found for shared genes influencing phenotypes in both generations, although power analyses suggested that some genetic effects may have gone undetected. Models could not distinguish directionality for nongenetic, causal effects between generations.

CONCLUSIONS: Parental criticism may be involved in psychosocial family processes in the context of adolescent internalising. Future studies should seek to identify these processes and provide clarity on the direction of potential causal effects.

PMID:34374994 | DOI:10.1111/jcpp.13498

J Forensic Sci. 2021 Aug 10. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.14802. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In the United States, footwear examiners make decisions about the sources of crime scene shoe impressions using subjective criteria. This has raised questions about the accuracy, repeatability, reproducibility, and scientific validity of footwear examinations. Currently, most footwear examiners follow a workflow that compares a questioned and test impression with regard to outsole design, size, wear, and randomly acquired characteristics (RACs). We augment this workflow with computer algorithms and statistical analysis so as to improve in the following areas: (1) quantifying the degree of correspondence between the questioned and test impressions with respect to design, size, wear, and RACs, (2) reducing the potential for cognitive bias, and (3) providing an empirical basis for examiner conclusions by developing a reference database of case-relevant pairs of impressions containing known mated and known nonmated impressions. Our end-to-end workflow facilitates all three of these points and is directly relatable to current practice. We demonstrate the workflow, which includes obtaining and interpreting outsole pattern scores, RAC comparison scores, and final scores, on two scenarios-a pristine example (involving very high quality Everspry EverOS scanner impressions) and a mock crime scene example that more closely resembles real casework. These examples not only demonstrate the workflow but also help identify the algorithmic, computational, and statistical challenges involved in improving the system for eventual deployment in casework.

PMID:34374992 | DOI:10.1111/1556-4029.14802

Turk Neurosurg. 2021 Jun 19. doi: 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.34412-21.3. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: We aimed to determine whether using gabapentin (GBP), especially in the first maternal trimester, would affect the neural tube development of embryos in an early stage chick embryo (ESCE) model.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred fertile specific pathogen-free (SPF) chick eggs were used to investigate neurulation; they were divided into four groups of 25 eggs (Groups A, B, C, and D including control, subtherapeutic, therapeutic, and supratherapeutic dose subjects, respectively). After 30 h of incubation, all eggs reached the ninth stage of embryonic development, as defined by Hamburger and Hamilton. GBP was administered through the subblastoderm, and the eggs were incubated for 72h. The embryos were macroscopically and histopathologically investigated with hematoxylin eosin following incubation and extraction.

RESULTS: In the 72nd hour of the study, a total of 6 eggs showed no embryo development. In groups A, B, C, and D, 1 (4.34%), 13 (59.09%), 15 (65.21%), and 18 (81.81%) neural tube defective embryos, respectively, were detected. Statistically, the difference between the groups was significant, especially in the comparisons of all GBP groups to the control group (p˂0.001) (SPSS for Windows v 23.0). However, there was no significant difference between groups B, C, and D. Additionally, we suggest that at all doses, GBP could cause neural tube defects in the ESCE.

CONCLUSION: Based on these results, we concluded that GBP use at any dose led to midline closure defects in ESCEs. This is the first report in the literature on GBP using an ESCE model. However, further investigations with a larger sample size are required to assess its effect at lower doses and to determine the mechanisms of embryonic damage.

PMID:34374986 | DOI:10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.34412-21.3

Turk Neurosurg. 2021 Jan 5. doi: 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.32533-20.3. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: Introduction: Intra-procedural rupture (IPR) of cerebral aneurysms is a serious complication of endovascular treatment (EVT) that is associated with high rate of mortality and poor outcomes. Therefore, it is important to identify the risk factors for aneurysmal IPR to improve patient outcomes. We evaluated the possible risk factors for aneurysmal IPR and discussed its management and outcomes for patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Methods: A total of 106 patients with cerebral aneurysm who have undergone EVT were included in this study, with a mean follow-up period of 17.2 months. Risk factors for IPR, such as the aneurysm’s location, size and morphology, etc. were evaluated, and the chi-squared test was used for statistical analysis. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the modified Rankin scale (mRS) at 15 months.

RESULTS: Results: Among all 106 patients who have undergone EVT, five (4.7%) had aneurysmal IPR as well as ruptured aneurysms with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Among those five patients, primary coiling was performed in three cases and balloon/stent-assisted coiling was performed in two cases, with complete occlusion of the aneurysmal sac achieved in four (4/5) patients. Clinical follow-up with the mRS scores of the patients revealed mortality in one patient (20%), favourable outcomes in three patients (60%) and unfavourable outcomes in one patient (20%).

CONCLUSION: Conclusion: Aneurysmal IPR is considered a rare but important complication of endovascular coiling that is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Several risk factors are significantly associated with IPR, such as small-sized aneurysm ( 3.5 mm), presence of bleb and parent vessel tortuosity. Acom location, irregular shape and past episode of SAH also increase the risk of IPR, but such association was found to be statistically insignificant in our study. Although IPR is considered a devastating complication, good clinical outcomes can be achieved with early detection and proper management using rapid aneurysmal coil packing and occlusion.

PMID:34374972 | DOI:10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.32533-20.3

Turk Neurosurg. 2021 Feb 9. doi: 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.33017-20.2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To compare the effect of ultrasound-guided modified thoracolumbar interfascial plane (TLIP) block versus local anesthetic infiltration on the wound site for post-op analgesia in patients undergoing lumbar disk surgery with spinal anesthesia.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This prospective and observationally planned study included 42 patients from the ages of 18 to 75 years, American Society of Anesthesiologists classes I-III, who underwent lumbar disk surgery. In Group L, bupivacaine infiltration was performed on the surgical incision line. In Group T, TLIP block was performed with ultrasound. In the postoperative period, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) values were also investigated and recorded on the 10th day after discharge. Nausea, vomiting, and sedation score values and analgesic doses used by all patients in the postoperative period were recorded.

RESULTS: During any of the postoperative follow-up hours, the VAS score was ≤ 3 (mild pain), and those who did not need tramadol were 80.9% (n = 17) in Group T and 71.4% (n = 15) in Group L. VAS scores at the 1st, 4th, and 8th hours were statistically lower in Group L than those in Group T (p values: 0.011, 0.028, and 0.029). The average amounts of tramadol consumption per patient were determined as 19.04 mg ± 40.23 in Group T and 27.38 ± 44.65 mg in Group L in the first 24 hours postoperatively. There was no statistically significant difference between groups (p = 0.519).

CONCLUSION: In our study, we determined that the modified In this study, it was determined that the modified TLIP block application performed for the purpose of post-op analgesia in lumbar disk surgery was not superior to local anesthetic infiltration in terms of postoperative opioid consumption and VAS scores.

PMID:34374980 | DOI:10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.33017-20.2