Search results for " Statistical"
showing 10 items of 1649 documents
Sensitivity and specificity of the mood disorder questionnaire and the bipolar spectrum diagnostic scale in Argentinean patients with mood disorders
2010
Abstract Objective To assess the sensitivity and specificity of two self-report instruments for detection of bipolarity in a sample of Argentinean patients. Method Spanish versions of the MDQ and the BSDS were administered over four months at 11 sites in Argentina. Diagnoses were made using DSM-IV criteria and the MINI. The study sample consisted of patients diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (BD) Types I, II, or NOS. BDNOS diagnoses were made using extended guidelines for bipolar spectrum symptoms. Unipolar patients were used as a control group. Of 493 patients screened, 354 completed evaluation by MDQ and MINI, and 363 by BSDS and MINI. Results Specificity of MDQ was 0.97 and BSDS was 0.81. …
Attentional capture by emotional scenes across episodes in bipolar disorder: Evidence from a free-viewing task
2015
We examined whether the initial orienting, subsequent engagement, and overall allocation of attention are determined exogenously (i.e. by the affective valence of the stimulus) or endogenously (i.e. by the participant's mood) in the manic, depressive and euthymic episodes of bipolar disorder (BD). Participants were asked to compare the affective valence of two pictures (happy/threatening/neutral [emotional] vs. neutral [control]) while their eye movements were recorded in a free-viewing task. Results revealed that the initial orienting was exogenously captured by emotional images relative to control images. Importantly, engagement and overall allocation were endogenously captured by threate…
Factors associated with poor functional outcome in bipolar disorder: sociodemographic, clinical, and neurocognitive variables.
2018
Objective: The current investigation aimed at studying the sociodemographic, clinical, and neuropsychological variables related to functional outcome in a sample of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder(BD) presenting moderate-severe levels of functional impairment. Methods: Two-hundred and thirty-nine participants with BD disorders and with Functioning Assessment Short Test(FAST) scores equal or above 18 were administered a clinical and diagnostic interview, and the administration of mood measure scales and a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Analyses involved preliminary Pearson bivariate correlations to identify sociodemographic and clinical variables associated with the FAST t…
Contribution of genetic and environmental factors to variation in body compartments--a twin study in adults.
2004
This study aimed at analyzing the contribution of genetic and environmental factors on phenotypic variation of various traits of body composition. Subjects were 30 same-sexed pairs of twins including 20 monozygous (MZ) and 10 dizygous (DZ) pairs, aged 19-62 years. Zygosity was determined by DNA typing and morphological diagnosis. Body composition parameters (fat mass FM, lean body mass LBM, body cell mass BCM, extracellular mass ECM, total body water TBW, extracellular water ECW, and intracellular water ICW) were estimated by tetrapolar bioelectrical impedance analysis. Potential environmental factors influencing body composition (number of children, sporting activity and smoking behaviour)…
Lay understanding of the causes of binge drinking in the United Kingdom and Australia: a network diagram approach
2017
Binge drinking is associated with deleterious health, social and economic outcomes. This study explored the lay understanding of the causes of binge drinking in members of the general public in the United Kingdom and Australia. Participants in the United Kingdom (N = 133) and Australia (N = 102) completed a network diagram exercise requiring them to draw causal paths and provide path strength ratings between 12 candidate factors (24-h opening, age, alcohol advertizing, alcohol availability, boredom, drinking culture, income, low cost, parental influence, peer pressure, stress and supermarket discounts) and binge drinking. Results indicated good consistency in paths across samples, although…
Cancer net survival on registry data: use of the new unbiased Pohar-Perme estimator and magnitude of the bias with the classical methods
2013
Net survival, the survival which might occur if cancer was the only cause of death, is a major epidemiological indicator required for international or temporal comparisons. Recent findings have shown that all classical methods used for routine estimation of net survival from cancer-registry data, sometimes called "relative-survival methods," provide biased estimates. Meanwhile, an unbiased estimator, the Pohar-Perme estimator (PPE), was recently proposed. Using real data, we investigated the magnitude of the errors made by four "relative-survival" methods (Ederer I, Hakulinen, Ederer II and a univariable regression model) vs. PPE as reference and examined the influence of time of follow-up,…
Unbiased estimates of long-term net survival of solid cancers in France
2013
In cancer studies, net survival (observed if cancer was the only cause of death) is a useful indicator but survival estimation at 5 years is insufficient for planning healthcare needs. We estimated the net survivals at 5 and 10 years in a cohort of 387,961 patients who had solid tumors between 1989 and 2004 and were followed-up until January 1, 2008. The cases were actively followed-up. Net survival was estimated with the unbiased Pohar-Perme method. The standardized net survival used the international cancer survival standard weights. In men, the standardized net survivals ranged from 92% at 5 years and 89% at 10 years (testis) to 6% at 5 years and 5% at 10 years (pancreas). In women, it r…
Serial echocardiographic left ventricular ejection fraction measurements: A tool for detecting thalassemia major patients at risk of cardiac death
2013
Cardiac damage remains a major cause of mortality among patients with thalassemia major. The detection of a lower cardiac magnetic resonance T2* (CMR-T2*) signal has been suggested as a powerful predictor of the subsequent development of heart failure. However, the lack of worldwide availability of CMR-T2* facilities prevents its widespread use for follow-up evaluations of cardiac function in thalassemia major patients, warranting the need to assess the utility of other possible procedures. In this setting, the determination of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) offers an accurate and reproducible method for heart function evaluation. These findings suggest a reduction in LVEF≥7%, ov…
Repetitive TMS of cerebellum interferes with millisecond time processing
2007
Time processing is important in several cognitive and motor functions, but it is still unclear how the human brain perceives time intervals of different durations. Processing of time in millisecond and second intervals may depend on different neural networks and there is now considerable evidence to suggest that these intervals are possibly measured by independent brain mechanisms. Using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), we determined that the cerebellum is essential in explicit temporal processing of millisecond time intervals. In the first experiment, subjects' performance in a time reproduction task of short (400-600 ms) and long (1,600-2,400 ms) intervals, were evalua…
Cognitive control after distraction: event-related brain potentials (ERPs) dissociate between different processes of attentional allocation.
2008
Attentional reallocation after a distracting event is an important function of cognitive control. This process is tapped by the reorienting negativity (RON) event-related brain potential. It was argued that the RON reflects orientation of attention to relevant information in working memory. To test this hypothesis participants performed an auditory duration discrimination task. The stimuli were presented in a frequent standard or a rare deviant pitch with deviants resulting in behavioral distraction. Participants accomplished this task under two conditions: In the refocus condition participants were asked to respond to every stimulus; in the reorient condition participants were instructed t…