Grouping individual independent BOLD effects: a new way to ICA group analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duann, Jeng-Ren; Jung, Tzyy-Ping; Sejnowski, Terrence J.; Makeig, Scott

2009-04-01

A new group analysis method to summarize the task-related BOLD responses based on independent component analysis (ICA) was presented. As opposite to the previously proposed group ICA (gICA) method, which first combined multi-subject fMRI data in either temporal or spatial domain and applied ICA decomposition only once to the combined fMRI data to extract the task-related BOLD effects, the method presented here applied ICA decomposition to the individual subjects' fMRI data to first find the independent BOLD effects specifically for each individual subject. Then, the task-related independent BOLD component was selected among the resulting independent components from the single-subject ICA decomposition and hence grouped across subjects to derive the group inference. In this new ICA group analysis (ICAga) method, one does not need to assume that the task-related BOLD time courses are identical across brain areas and subjects as used in the grand ICA decomposition on the spatially concatenated fMRI data. Neither does one need to assume that after spatial normalization, the voxels at the same coordinates represent exactly the same functional or structural brain anatomies across different subjects. These two assumptions have been problematic given the recent BOLD activation evidences. Further, since the independent BOLD effects were obtained from each individual subject, the ICAga method can better account for the individual differences in the task-related BOLD effects. Unlike the gICA approach whereby the task-related BOLD effects could only be accounted for by a single unified BOLD model across multiple subjects. As a result, the newly proposed method, ICAga, was able to better fit the task-related BOLD effects at individual level and thus allow grouping more appropriate multisubject BOLD effects in the group analysis.

My Body Looks Like That Girl’s: Body Mass Index Modulates Brain Activity during Body Image Self-Reflection among Young Women

PubMed Central

Wen, Xin; She, Ying; Vinke, Petra Corianne; Chen, Hong

2016-01-01

Body image distress or body dissatisfaction is one of the most common consequences of obesity and overweight. We investigated the neural bases of body image processing in overweight and average weight young women to understand whether brain regions that were previously found to be involved in processing self-reflective, perspective and affective components of body image would show different activation between two groups. Thirteen overweight (O-W group, age = 20.31±1.70 years) and thirteen average weight (A-W group, age = 20.15±1.62 years) young women underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a body image self-reflection task. Among both groups, whole-brain analysis revealed activations of a brain network related to perceptive and affective components of body image processing. ROI analysis showed a main effect of group in ACC as well as a group by condition interaction within bilateral EBA, bilateral FBA, right IPL, bilateral DLPFC, left amygdala and left MPFC. For the A-W group, simple effect analysis revealed stronger activations in Thin-Control compared to Fat-Control condition within regions related to perceptive (including bilateral EBA, bilateral FBA, right IPL) and affective components of body image processing (including bilateral DLPFC, left amygdala), as well as self-reference (left MPFC). The O-W group only showed stronger activations in Fat-Control than in Thin-Control condition within regions related to the perceptive component of body image processing (including left EBA and left FBA). Path analysis showed that in the Fat-Thin contrast, body dissatisfaction completely mediated the group difference in brain response in left amygdala across the whole sample. Our data are the first to demonstrate differences in brain response to body pictures between average weight and overweight young females involved in a body image self-reflection task. These results provide insights for understanding the vulnerability to body image distress among overweight or obese young females. PMID:27764116

My Body Looks Like That Girl's: Body Mass Index Modulates Brain Activity during Body Image Self-Reflection among Young Women.

PubMed

Gao, Xiao; Deng, Xiao; Wen, Xin; She, Ying; Vinke, Petra Corianne; Chen, Hong

2016-01-01

Body image distress or body dissatisfaction is one of the most common consequences of obesity and overweight. We investigated the neural bases of body image processing in overweight and average weight young women to understand whether brain regions that were previously found to be involved in processing self-reflective, perspective and affective components of body image would show different activation between two groups. Thirteen overweight (O-W group, age = 20.31±1.70 years) and thirteen average weight (A-W group, age = 20.15±1.62 years) young women underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a body image self-reflection task. Among both groups, whole-brain analysis revealed activations of a brain network related to perceptive and affective components of body image processing. ROI analysis showed a main effect of group in ACC as well as a group by condition interaction within bilateral EBA, bilateral FBA, right IPL, bilateral DLPFC, left amygdala and left MPFC. For the A-W group, simple effect analysis revealed stronger activations in Thin-Control compared to Fat-Control condition within regions related to perceptive (including bilateral EBA, bilateral FBA, right IPL) and affective components of body image processing (including bilateral DLPFC, left amygdala), as well as self-reference (left MPFC). The O-W group only showed stronger activations in Fat-Control than in Thin-Control condition within regions related to the perceptive component of body image processing (including left EBA and left FBA). Path analysis showed that in the Fat-Thin contrast, body dissatisfaction completely mediated the group difference in brain response in left amygdala across the whole sample. Our data are the first to demonstrate differences in brain response to body pictures between average weight and overweight young females involved in a body image self-reflection task. These results provide insights for understanding the vulnerability to body image distress among overweight or obese young females.

Progressive Disintegration of Brain Networking from Normal Aging to Alzheimer Disease: Analysis of Independent Components of 18F-FDG PET Data.

PubMed

Pagani, Marco; Giuliani, Alessandro; Öberg, Johanna; De Carli, Fabrizio; Morbelli, Silvia; Girtler, Nicola; Arnaldi, Dario; Accardo, Jennifer; Bauckneht, Matteo; Bongioanni, Francesca; Chincarini, Andrea; Sambuceti, Gianmario; Jonsson, Cathrine; Nobili, Flavio

2017-07-01

Brain connectivity has been assessed in several neurodegenerative disorders investigating the mutual correlations between predetermined regions or nodes. Selective breakdown of brain networks during progression from normal aging to Alzheimer disease dementia (AD) has also been observed. Methods: We implemented independent-component analysis of 18 F-FDG PET data in 5 groups of subjects with cognitive states ranging from normal aging to AD-including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) not converting or converting to AD-to disclose the spatial distribution of the independent components in each cognitive state and their accuracy in discriminating the groups. Results: We could identify spatially distinct independent components in each group, with generation of local circuits increasing proportionally to the severity of the disease. AD-specific independent components first appeared in the late-MCI stage and could discriminate converting MCI and AD from nonconverting MCI with an accuracy of 83.5%. Progressive disintegration of the intrinsic networks from normal aging to MCI to AD was inversely proportional to the conversion time. Conclusion: Independent-component analysis of 18 F-FDG PET data showed a gradual disruption of functional brain connectivity with progression of cognitive decline in AD. This information might be useful as a prognostic aid for individual patients and as a surrogate biomarker in intervention trials. © 2017 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

Absence of a Tourniquet Does Not Affect Fixation of Cemented TKA: A Randomized RSA Study of 70 Patients.

PubMed

Ejaz, Ashir; Laursen, Anders C; Jakobsen, Thomas; Rasmussen, Sten; Nielsen, Poul Torben; Laursen, Mogens B

2015-12-01

We aimed to determine whether not using a tourniquet in cemented TKA would affect migration of the tibial component measured by radiosterometric analysis (RSA). Seventy patients were randomized into a tourniquet group and a non-tourniquet group and using model-based RSA, the migration of the tibial component was analyzed. Primary and secondary outcome measures were maximum total point motion (MTPM) and translations and rotations. Follow-up period was 2 years. The tibial component was well fixated in both groups and no significant difference in migration between the two groups was detected (P=0.632). Mean MTPM (SD) was 0.47 mm (0.16) in the tourniquet group and 0.45 mm (0.21) in the non-tourniquet group. Absence of tourniquet indicates that stable fixation of the tibial component can be achieved in cemented TKA. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Decreasing Inappropriate Vocalizations Using Classwide Group Contingencies and Color Wheel Procedures: A Component Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirk, Emily R.; Becker, Jennifer A.; Skinner, Christopher H., Fearrington, Jamie Yarbr; McCane-Bowling, Sara J.; Amburn, Christie; Luna, Elisa; Greear, Corinne

2010-01-01

Teacher referrals for consultation resulted in two independent teams collecting evidence that allowed for a treatment component evaluation of color wheel (CW) procedures and/or interdependent group-oriented reward (IGOR) procedures on inappropriate vocalizations in one third- and one first-grade classroom. Both studies involved the application of…

A new methodology based on functional principal component analysis to study postural stability post-stroke.

PubMed

Sánchez-Sánchez, M Luz; Belda-Lois, Juan-Manuel; Mena-Del Horno, Silvia; Viosca-Herrero, Enrique; Igual-Camacho, Celedonia; Gisbert-Morant, Beatriz

2018-05-05

A major goal in stroke rehabilitation is the establishment of more effective physical therapy techniques to recover postural stability. Functional Principal Component Analysis provides greater insight into recovery trends. However, when missing values exist, obtaining functional data presents some difficulties. The purpose of this study was to reveal an alternative technique for obtaining the Functional Principal Components without requiring the conversion to functional data beforehand and to investigate this methodology to determine the effect of specific physical therapy techniques in balance recovery trends in elderly subjects with hemiplegia post-stroke. A randomized controlled pilot trial was developed. Thirty inpatients post-stroke were included. Control and target groups were treated with the same conventional physical therapy protocol based on functional criteria, but specific techniques were added to the target group depending on the subjects' functional level. Postural stability during standing was quantified by posturography. The assessments were performed once a month from the moment the participants were able to stand up to six months post-stroke. The target group showed a significant improvement in postural control recovery trend six months after stroke that was not present in the control group. Some of the assessed parameters revealed significant differences between treatment groups (P < 0.05). The proposed methodology allows Functional Principal Component Analysis to be performed when data is scarce. Moreover, it allowed the dynamics of recovery of two different treatment groups to be determined, showing that the techniques added in the target group increased postural stability compared to the base protocol. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Group-level self-definition and self-investment: a hierarchical (multicomponent) model of in-group identification.

PubMed

Leach, Colin Wayne; van Zomeren, Martijn; Zebel, Sven; Vliek, Michael L W; Pennekamp, Sjoerd F; Doosje, Bertjan; Ouwerkerk, Jaap W; Spears, Russell

2008-07-01

Recent research shows individuals' identification with in-groups to be psychologically important and socially consequential. However, there is little agreement about how identification should be conceptualized or measured. On the basis of previous work, the authors identified 5 specific components of in-group identification and offered a hierarchical 2-dimensional model within which these components are organized. Studies 1 and 2 used confirmatory factor analysis to validate the proposed model of self-definition (individual self-stereotyping, in-group homogeneity) and self-investment (solidarity, satisfaction, and centrality) dimensions, across 3 different group identities. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated the construct validity of the 5 components by examining their (concurrent) correlations with established measures of in-group identification. Studies 5-7 demonstrated the predictive and discriminant validity of the 5 components by examining their (prospective) prediction of individuals' orientation to, and emotions about, real intergroup relations. Together, these studies illustrate the conceptual and empirical value of a hierarchical multicomponent model of in-group identification.

Parallel group independent component analysis for massive fMRI data sets.

PubMed

Chen, Shaojie; Huang, Lei; Qiu, Huitong; Nebel, Mary Beth; Mostofsky, Stewart H; Pekar, James J; Lindquist, Martin A; Eloyan, Ani; Caffo, Brian S

2017-01-01

Independent component analysis (ICA) is widely used in the field of functional neuroimaging to decompose data into spatio-temporal patterns of co-activation. In particular, ICA has found wide usage in the analysis of resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) data. Recently, a number of large-scale data sets have become publicly available that consist of rs-fMRI scans from thousands of subjects. As a result, efficient ICA algorithms that scale well to the increased number of subjects are required. To address this problem, we propose a two-stage likelihood-based algorithm for performing group ICA, which we denote Parallel Group Independent Component Analysis (PGICA). By utilizing the sequential nature of the algorithm and parallel computing techniques, we are able to efficiently analyze data sets from large numbers of subjects. We illustrate the efficacy of PGICA, which has been implemented in R and is freely available through the Comprehensive R Archive Network, through simulation studies and application to rs-fMRI data from two large multi-subject data sets, consisting of 301 and 779 subjects respectively.

Local and Widely Distributed EEG Activity in Schizophrenia With Prevalence of Negative Symptoms.

PubMed

Grin-Yatsenko, Vera A; Ponomarev, Valery A; Pronina, Marina V; Poliakov, Yury I; Plotnikova, Irina V; Kropotov, Juri D

2017-09-01

We evaluated EEG frequency abnormalities in resting state (eyes closed and eyes open) EEG in a group of chronic schizophrenia patients as compared with healthy subjects. The study included 3 methods of analysis of deviation of EEG characteristics: genuine EEG, current source density (CSD), and group independent component (gIC). All 3 methods have shown that the EEG in schizophrenia patients is characterized by enhanced low-frequency (delta and theta) and high-frequency (beta) activity in comparison with the control group. However, the spatial pattern of differences was dependent on the type of method used. Comparative analysis has shown that increased EEG power in schizophrenia patients apparently concerns both widely spatially distributed components and local components of signal. Furthermore, the observed differences in the delta and theta range can be described mainly by the local components, and those in the beta range mostly by spatially widely distributed ones. The possible nature of the widely distributed activity is discussed.

Visual target modulation of functional connectivity networks revealed by self-organizing group ICA.

PubMed

van de Ven, Vincent; Bledowski, Christoph; Prvulovic, David; Goebel, Rainer; Formisano, Elia; Di Salle, Francesco; Linden, David E J; Esposito, Fabrizio

2008-12-01

We applied a data-driven analysis based on self-organizing group independent component analysis (sogICA) to fMRI data from a three-stimulus visual oddball task. SogICA is particularly suited to the investigation of the underlying functional connectivity and does not rely on a predefined model of the experiment, which overcomes some of the limitations of hypothesis-driven analysis. Unlike most previous applications of ICA in functional imaging, our approach allows the analysis of the data at the group level, which is of particular interest in high order cognitive studies. SogICA is based on the hierarchical clustering of spatially similar independent components, derived from single subject decompositions. We identified four main clusters of components, centered on the posterior cingulate, bilateral insula, bilateral prefrontal cortex, and right posterior parietal and prefrontal cortex, consistently across all participants. Post hoc comparison of time courses revealed that insula, prefrontal cortex and right fronto-parietal components showed higher activity for targets than for distractors. Activation for distractors was higher in the posterior cingulate cortex, where deactivation was observed for targets. While our results conform to previous neuroimaging studies, they also complement conventional results by showing functional connectivity networks with unique contributions to the task that were consistent across subjects. SogICA can thus be used to probe functional networks of active cognitive tasks at the group-level and can provide additional insights to generate new hypotheses for further study. Copyright 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Phenomenology of mixed states: a principal component analysis study.

PubMed

Bertschy, G; Gervasoni, N; Favre, S; Liberek, C; Ragama-Pardos, E; Aubry, J-M; Gex-Fabry, M; Dayer, A

2007-12-01

To contribute to the definition of external and internal limits of mixed states and study the place of dysphoric symptoms in the psychopathology of mixed states. One hundred and sixty-five inpatients with major mood episodes were diagnosed as presenting with either pure depression, mixed depression (depression plus at least three manic symptoms), full mixed state (full depression and full mania), mixed mania (mania plus at least three depressive symptoms) or pure mania, using an adapted version of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (DSM-IV version). They were evaluated using a 33-item inventory of depressive, manic and mixed affective signs and symptoms. Principal component analysis without rotation yielded three components that together explained 43.6% of the variance. The first component (24.3% of the variance) contrasted typical depressive symptoms with typical euphoric, manic symptoms. The second component, labeled 'dysphoria', (13.8%) had strong positive loadings for irritability, distressing sensitivity to light and noise, impulsivity and inner tension. The third component (5.5%) included symptoms of insomnia. Median scores for the first component significantly decreased from the pure depression group to the pure mania group. For the dysphoria component, scores were highest among patients with full mixed states and decreased towards both patients with pure depression and those with pure mania. Principal component analysis revealed that dysphoria represents an important dimension of mixed states.

Classification of fMRI resting-state maps using machine learning techniques: A comparative study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallos, Ioannis; Siettos, Constantinos

2017-11-01

We compare the efficiency of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and nonlinear learning manifold algorithms (ISOMAP and Diffusion maps) for classifying brain maps between groups of schizophrenia patients and healthy from fMRI scans during a resting-state experiment. After a standard pre-processing pipeline, we applied spatial Independent component analysis (ICA) to reduce (a) noise and (b) spatial-temporal dimensionality of fMRI maps. On the cross-correlation matrix of the ICA components, we applied PCA, ISOMAP and Diffusion Maps to find an embedded low-dimensional space. Finally, support-vector-machines (SVM) and k-NN algorithms were used to evaluate the performance of the algorithms in classifying between the two groups.

[Psychometric analysis of the AF5 multidimensional scale of self-concept in a sample of adolescents and adults in Catalonia].

PubMed

Malo Cerrato, Sara; Bataller Sallent, Sílvia; Casas Aznar, Ferran; Gras Pérez, Ma Eugenia; González Carrasco, Mònica

2011-11-01

The aim of this study is to carry out a psychometric study of the AF5 scale in a sample of 4.825 Catalan subjects from 11 to 63 years-old. They are students from secondary compulsory education (ESO), from high school, middle-level vocational training (CFGM) and from the university. Using a principal component analysis (PCA) the theoretical validity of the components is established and the reliability of the instrument is also analyzed. Differential analyses are performed by gender and normative group using a 2 x 6 factorial design. The normative group variable includes the different levels classified into 6 sub-groups: university, post-compulsory secondary education (high school and CFGM), 4th of ESO, 3rd of ESO, 2nd of ESO and 1st of ESO. The results indicate that the reliability of the Catalan version of the scale is similar to the original scale. The factorial structure also fits with the original model established beforehand. Significant differences by normative group in the four components of self-concept explored (social, family, academic/occupational and physical) are observed. By gender, significant differences appear in the component of physical self-concept, academic and social but not in the family component.

Developing techniques for cause-responsibility analysis of occupational accidents.

PubMed

Jabbari, Mousa; Ghorbani, Roghayeh

2016-11-01

The aim of this study was to specify the causes of occupational accidents, determine social responsibility and the role of groups involved in work-related accidents. This study develops occupational accidents causes tree, occupational accidents responsibility tree, and occupational accidents component-responsibility analysis worksheet; based on these methods, it develops cause-responsibility analysis (CRA) techniques, and for testing them, analyzes 100 fatal/disabling occupational accidents in the construction setting that were randomly selected from all the work-related accidents in Tehran, Iran, over a 5-year period (2010-2014). The main result of this study involves two techniques for CRA: occupational accidents tree analysis (OATA) and occupational accidents components analysis (OACA), used in parallel for determination of responsible groups and responsibilities rate. From the results, we find that the management group of construction projects has 74.65% responsibility of work-related accidents. The developed techniques are purposeful for occupational accidents investigation/analysis, especially for the determination of detailed list of tasks, responsibilities, and their rates. Therefore, it is useful for preventing work-related accidents by focusing on the responsible group's duties. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Short communication: Discrimination between retail bovine milks with different fat contents using chemometrics and fatty acid profiling.

PubMed

Vargas-Bello-Pérez, Einar; Toro-Mujica, Paula; Enriquez-Hidalgo, Daniel; Fellenberg, María Angélica; Gómez-Cortés, Pilar

2017-06-01

We used a multivariate chemometric approach to differentiate or associate retail bovine milks with different fat contents and non-dairy beverages, using fatty acid profiles and statistical analysis. We collected samples of bovine milk (whole, semi-skim, and skim; n = 62) and non-dairy beverages (n = 27), and we analyzed them using gas-liquid chromatography. Principal component analysis of the fatty acid data yielded 3 significant principal components, which accounted for 72% of the total variance in the data set. Principal component 1 was related to saturated fatty acids (C4:0, C6:0, C8:0, C12:0, C14:0, C17:0, and C18:0) and monounsaturated fatty acids (C14:1 cis-9, C16:1 cis-9, C17:1 cis-9, and C18:1 trans-11); whole milk samples were clearly differentiated from the rest using this principal component. Principal component 2 differentiated semi-skim milk samples by n-3 fatty acid content (C20:3n-3, C20:5n-3, and C22:6n-3). Principal component 3 was related to C18:2 trans-9,trans-12 and C20:4n-6, and its lower scores were observed in skim milk and non-dairy beverages. A cluster analysis yielded 3 groups: group 1 consisted of only whole milk samples, group 2 was represented mainly by semi-skim milks, and group 3 included skim milk and non-dairy beverages. Overall, the present study showed that a multivariate chemometric approach is a useful tool for differentiating or associating retail bovine milks and non-dairy beverages using their fatty acid profile. Copyright © 2017 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding Groups in Outdoor Adventure Education through Social Network Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jostad, Jeremy; Sibthorp, Jim; Paisley, Karen

2013-01-01

Relationships are a critical component to the experience of an outdoor adventure education (OAE) program, therefore, more fruitful ways of investigating groups is needed. Social network analysis (SNA) is an effective tool to study the relationship structure of small groups. This paper provides an explanation of SNA and shows how it was used by the…

An ICA-based method for the identification of optimal FMRI features and components using combined group-discriminative techniques

PubMed Central

Sui, Jing; Adali, Tülay; Pearlson, Godfrey D.; Calhoun, Vince D.

2013-01-01

Extraction of relevant features from multitask functional MRI (fMRI) data in order to identify potential biomarkers for disease, is an attractive goal. In this paper, we introduce a novel feature-based framework, which is sensitive and accurate in detecting group differences (e.g. controls vs. patients) by proposing three key ideas. First, we integrate two goal-directed techniques: coefficient-constrained independent component analysis (CC-ICA) and principal component analysis with reference (PCA-R), both of which improve sensitivity to group differences. Secondly, an automated artifact-removal method is developed for selecting components of interest derived from CC-ICA, with an average accuracy of 91%. Finally, we propose a strategy for optimal feature/component selection, aiming to identify optimal group-discriminative brain networks as well as the tasks within which these circuits are engaged. The group-discriminating performance is evaluated on 15 fMRI feature combinations (5 single features and 10 joint features) collected from 28 healthy control subjects and 25 schizophrenia patients. Results show that a feature from a sensorimotor task and a joint feature from a Sternberg working memory (probe) task and an auditory oddball (target) task are the top two feature combinations distinguishing groups. We identified three optimal features that best separate patients from controls, including brain networks consisting of temporal lobe, default mode and occipital lobe circuits, which when grouped together provide improved capability in classifying group membership. The proposed framework provides a general approach for selecting optimal brain networks which may serve as potential biomarkers of several brain diseases and thus has wide applicability in the neuroimaging research community. PMID:19457398

Analysis of intra-host genetic diversity of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) using amplicon next generation sequencing.

PubMed

Kinoti, Wycliff M; Constable, Fiona E; Nancarrow, Narelle; Plummer, Kim M; Rodoni, Brendan

2017-01-01

PCR amplicon next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis offers a broadly applicable and targeted approach to detect populations of both high- or low-frequency virus variants in one or more plant samples. In this study, amplicon NGS was used to explore the diversity of the tripartite genome virus, Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) from 53 PNRSV-infected trees using amplicons from conserved gene regions of each of PNRSV RNA1, RNA2 and RNA3. Sequencing of the amplicons from 53 PNRSV-infected trees revealed differing levels of polymorphism across the three different components of the PNRSV genome with a total number of 5040, 2083 and 5486 sequence variants observed for RNA1, RNA2 and RNA3 respectively. The RNA2 had the lowest diversity of sequences compared to RNA1 and RNA3, reflecting the lack of flexibility tolerated by the replicase gene that is encoded by this RNA component. Distinct PNRSV phylo-groups, consisting of closely related clusters of sequence variants, were observed in each of PNRSV RNA1, RNA2 and RNA3. Most plant samples had a single phylo-group for each RNA component. Haplotype network analysis showed that smaller clusters of PNRSV sequence variants were genetically connected to the largest sequence variant cluster within a phylo-group of each RNA component. Some plant samples had sequence variants occurring in multiple PNRSV phylo-groups in at least one of each RNA and these phylo-groups formed distinct clades that represent PNRSV genetic strains. Variants within the same phylo-group of each Prunus plant sample had ≥97% similarity and phylo-groups within a Prunus plant sample and between samples had less ≤97% similarity. Based on the analysis of diversity, a definition of a PNRSV genetic strain was proposed. The proposed definition was applied to determine the number of PNRSV genetic strains in each of the plant samples and the complexity in defining genetic strains in multipartite genome viruses was explored.

A measure for objects clustering in principal component analysis biplot: A case study in inter-city buses maintenance cost data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ginanjar, Irlandia; Pasaribu, Udjianna S.; Indratno, Sapto W.

2017-03-01

This article presents the application of the principal component analysis (PCA) biplot for the needs of data mining. This article aims to simplify and objectify the methods for objects clustering in PCA biplot. The novelty of this paper is to get a measure that can be used to objectify the objects clustering in PCA biplot. Orthonormal eigenvectors, which are the coefficients of a principal component model representing an association between principal components and initial variables. The existence of the association is a valid ground to objects clustering based on principal axes value, thus if m principal axes used in the PCA, then the objects can be classified into 2m clusters. The inter-city buses are clustered based on maintenance costs data by using two principal axes PCA biplot. The buses are clustered into four groups. The first group is the buses with high maintenance costs, especially for lube, and brake canvass. The second group is the buses with high maintenance costs, especially for tire, and filter. The third group is the buses with low maintenance costs, especially for lube, and brake canvass. The fourth group is buses with low maintenance costs, especially for tire, and filter.

Relaxation mode analysis of a peptide system: comparison with principal component analysis.

PubMed

Mitsutake, Ayori; Iijima, Hiromitsu; Takano, Hiroshi

2011-10-28

This article reports the first attempt to apply the relaxation mode analysis method to a simulation of a biomolecular system. In biomolecular systems, the principal component analysis is a well-known method for analyzing the static properties of fluctuations of structures obtained by a simulation and classifying the structures into some groups. On the other hand, the relaxation mode analysis has been used to analyze the dynamic properties of homopolymer systems. In this article, a long Monte Carlo simulation of Met-enkephalin in gas phase has been performed. The results are analyzed by the principal component analysis and relaxation mode analysis methods. We compare the results of both methods and show the effectiveness of the relaxation mode analysis.

Composition and Chemical Variability of Enantia polycarpa Engler & Diels Leaf Essential Oil from Côte d'Ivoire.

PubMed

Yapi, Thierry Acafou; Ouattara, Zana Adama; Boti, Jean Brice; Tonzibo, Zanahi Félix; Paoli, Mathieu; Bighelli, Ange; Casanova, Joseph; Tomi, Félix

2018-05-13

The composition of Enantia polycarpa Engler & Diels leaf essential oil has been investigated for the first time using a combination of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. The compositions of 52 leaf essential oil samples have been subjected to statistical analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Four groups were differentiated, whose compositions were dominated by β-elemene and germacrene B (Group III, 22/52 samples); germacrene D (Group I, 16/52 samples); β-cubebene (Group IV, 8/52 samples) and by germacrene B and germacrene D (Group II, 6/52 samples). A special attention was brought to the quantification of the thermolabile components, germacrene A, germacrene B and germacrene C, as well as that of their rearranged compounds, β-elemene, γ-elemene and δ-elemene. 13 C NMR data of β-cubebene have been provided. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Group Process: A Systematic Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roark, Albert E.; Radl, Myrna C.

1984-01-01

Identifies components of group process and describes leader functions. Discusses personal elements, focus of interaction/psychological distance, group development, content, quality of interaction, and self-reflective/meaning attribution, illustrated by a case study of a group of persons (N=5) arrested for drunk driving. (JAC)

The physical signs of impending dehydration among elderly people in nursing homes: The association with axillary skin temperature, humidity, intraoral moisture content, and salivary components.

PubMed

Okuyama, Mayumi; Nishida, Masumi

2016-01-01

The aim of the present study was to examine the association between impending dehydration among elderly people in nursing homes and physical signs, including the axillary skin temperature, humidity, intraoral moisture content, and salivary components. The study included 78 elderly individuals who required long-term care in a nursing home (11 men and 67 women; average age, 86.6±7.3 years). The elderly subjects were classified in two groups according to their serum osmolality levels: those with levels between the upper limit reference value (292 mOsm/kg H2O) and the diagnostic reference value of dehydration (300 mOsm/kg H2O) were classified into the boundary zone group and those with levels of <292 mOsm/kg H2O were classified into the normal range group. The following parameters were measured: basic attributes (age, gender and level of care required), body mass index, diet, daily fluid intake per kilogram of body weight, physiological indicators (blood pressure, pulse rate, body temperature, axillary skin temperature, humidity, total body water, body water rate, internal liquid rate, external solution rate, blood components, intraoral water amount, and salivary components), and the indoor environment (room temperature and humidity). We then performed a statistical analysis to compare the boundary zone group with the normal range group. After adjusting for age and the daily fluid intake per kilogram of body weight (<25 ml/≥25 ml), we performed a logistic regression analysis (the boundary zone group was used as an independent variable) for variables that had significance levels of <0.05 (except for blood components). The univariate analysis revealed significant differences in the following parameters: the serum sodium, chloride, and creatinine levels; the blood sugar level; the urea nitrogen/creatinine ratio; the axillary skin temperature; and room humidity. Only the axillary skin temperature showed a significant association in the final model of the logistic regression analysis (odds ratio, 3.664; 95% confidence interval, 1.101-12.197; p = 0.034). As the axillary skin temperature increased by 1°C, there was a 3.67-fold risk of being classified into the boundary zone group instead of the normal range group. Thus, the axillary skin temperature was associated with impending dehydration.

Self-efficacy difference among patients with cancer with different socioeconomic status: application of latent class analysis and standardization and decomposition analysis.

PubMed

Yuan, Changrong; Wei, Chunlan; Wang, Jichuan; Qian, Huijuan; Ye, Xianghong; Liu, Yingyan; Hinds, Pamela S

2014-06-01

Although the relationship between partial socioeconomic status (SES) and self-efficacy has been studied in previous studies, few research have examined self-efficacy difference among patients with cancer with different SES. A cross-sectional survey involving 764 patients with cancer was completed. Latent class analysis (LCA) was applied to identify distinct groups of patients with cancer using four SES indicators (education, income, employment status and health insurance status). Standardization and decomposition analysis (SDA) was then used to examine differences in patients' self-efficacy among SES groups and the components of the differences attributed to confounding factors, such as gender, age, anxiety, depression and social support. Participants were classified into four distinctive SES groups via using LCA method, and the observed self-efficacy level significantly varied by SES groups; as theorized, higher self-efficacy was associated with higher SES. The self-efficacy differences by SES groups were decomposed into "real" group differences and factor component effects that are attributed to group differences in confounding factor compositions. Self-efficacy significantly varies by SES. Social support significantly confounded the observed differences in self-efficacy between different SES groups among Chinese patients with cancer. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Overview of the Systems Special Investigation Group investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mason, James B.; Dursch, Harry; Edelman, Joel

1993-01-01

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) carried a remarkable variety of electrical, mechanical, thermal, and optical systems, subsystems, and components. Nineteen of the fifty-seven experiments flown on LDEF contained functional systems that were active on-orbit. Almost all of the other experiments possessed at least a few specific components of interest to the Systems Special Investigation Group (Systems SIG), such as adhesives, seals, fasteners, optical components, and thermal blankets. Almost all top level functional testing of the active LDEF and experiment systems has been completed. Failure analysis of both LDEF hardware and individual experiments that failed to perform as designed has also been completed. Testing of system components and experimenter hardware of interest to the Systems SIG is ongoing. All available testing and analysis results were collected and integrated by the Systems SIG. An overview of our findings is provided. An LDEF Optical Experiment Database containing information for all 29 optical related experiments is also discussed.

Empirical validation of the triple-code model of numerical processing for complex math operations using functional MRI and group Independent Component Analysis of the mental addition and subtraction of fractions.

PubMed

Schmithorst, Vincent J; Brown, Rhonda Douglas

2004-07-01

The suitability of a previously hypothesized triple-code model of numerical processing, involving analog magnitude, auditory verbal, and visual Arabic codes of representation, was investigated for the complex mathematical task of the mental addition and subtraction of fractions. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 15 normal adult subjects were processed using exploratory group Independent Component Analysis (ICA). Separate task-related components were found with activation in bilateral inferior parietal, left perisylvian, and ventral occipitotemporal areas. These results support the hypothesized triple-code model corresponding to the activated regions found in the individual components and indicate that the triple-code model may be a suitable framework for analyzing the neuropsychological bases of the performance of complex mathematical tasks. Copyright 2004 Elsevier Inc.

Assessment of phytoplankton class abundance using fluorescence excitation-emission matrix by parallel factor analysis and nonnegative least squares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Rongguo; Chen, Xiaona; Wu, Zhenzhen; Yao, Peng; Shi, Xiaoyong

2015-07-01

The feasibility of using fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) along with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and nonnegative least squares (NNLS) method for the differentiation of phytoplankton taxonomic groups was investigated. Forty-one phytoplankton species belonging to 28 genera of five divisions were studied. First, the PARAFAC model was applied to EEMs, and 15 fluorescence components were generated. Second, 15 fluorescence components were found to have a strong discriminating capability based on Bayesian discriminant analysis (BDA). Third, all spectra of the fluorescence component compositions for the 41 phytoplankton species were spectrographically sorted into 61 reference spectra using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and then, the reference spectra were used to establish a database. Finally, the phytoplankton taxonomic groups was differentiated by the reference spectra database using the NNLS method. The five phytoplankton groups were differentiated with the correct discrimination ratios (CDRs) of 100% for single-species samples at the division level. The CDRs for the mixtures were above 91% for the dominant phytoplankton species and above 73% for the subdominant phytoplankton species. Sixteen of the 85 field samples collected from the Changjiang River estuary were analyzed by both HPLC-CHEMTAX and the fluorometric technique developed. The results of both methods reveal that Bacillariophyta was the dominant algal group in these 16 samples and that the subdominant algal groups comprised Dinophyta, Chlorophyta and Cryptophyta. The differentiation results by the fluorometric technique were in good agreement with those from HPLC-CHEMTAX. The results indicate that the fluorometric technique could differentiate algal taxonomic groups accurately at the division level.

Empirical evaluation of grouping of lower urinary tract symptoms: principal component analysis of Tampere Ageing Male Urological Study data.

PubMed

Pöyhönen, Antti; Häkkinen, Jukka T; Koskimäki, Juha; Hakama, Matti; Tammela, Teuvo L J; Auvinen, Anssi

2013-03-01

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT? AND WHAT DOES THE STUDY ADD?: The ICS has divided LUTS into three groups: storage, voiding and post-micturition symptoms. The classification is based on anatomical, physiological and urodynamic considerations of a theoretical nature. We used principal component analysis (PCA) to determine the inter-correlations of various LUTS, which is a novel approach to research and can strengthen existing knowledge of the phenomenology of LUTS. After we had completed our analyses, another study was published that used a similar approach and results were very similar to those of the present study. We evaluated the constellation of LUTS using PCA of the data from a population-based study that included >4000 men. In our analysis, three components emerged from the 12 LUTS: voiding, storage and incontinence components. Our results indicated that incontinence may be separate from the other storage symptoms and post-micturition symptoms should perhaps be regarded as voiding symptoms. To determine how lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) relate to each other and assess if the classification proposed by the International Continence Society (ICS) is consistent with empirical findings. The information on urinary symptoms for this population-based study was collected using a self-administered postal questionnaire in 2004. The questionnaire was sent to 7470 men, aged 30-80 years, from Pirkanmaa County (Finland), of whom 4384 (58.7%) returned the questionnaire. The Danish Prostatic Symptom Score-1 questionnaire was used to evaluate urinary symptoms. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to evaluate the inter-correlations among various urinary symptoms. The PCA produced a grouping of 12 LUTS into three categories consisting of voiding, storage and incontinence symptoms. Post-micturition symptoms were related to voiding symptoms, but incontinence symptoms were separate from storage symptoms. In the analyses by age group, similar categorization was found at ages 40, 50, 60 and 80 years, but only two groups of symptoms emerged among men aged 70 years. The prevalence among men aged 30 was too low for meaningful analysis. This population-based study suggests that LUTS can be divided into three subgroups consisting of voiding, storage and incontinence symptoms based on their inter-correlations. Our empirical findings suggest an alternative grouping of LUTS. The potential utility of such an approach requires careful consideration. © 2012 BJU International.

Updating Indiana Annual Forest Inventory and Analysis Plot Data Using Eastern Broadleaf Forest Diameter Growth Models

Treesearch

Veronica C. Lessard

2001-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the North Central Research Station (NCRS), USDA Forest Service, has developed nonlinear, individual-tree, distance-independent annual diameter growth models. The models are calibrated for species groups and formulated as the product of an average diameter growth component and a modifier component. The regional models...

New predictor of aortic enlargement in uncomplicated type B aortic dissection based on elliptic Fourier analysis.

PubMed

Sato, Hiroshi; Ito, Toshiro; Kuroda, Yosuke; Uchiyama, Hiroki; Watanabe, Toshitaka; Yasuda, Naomi; Nakazawa, Junji; Harada, Ryo; Kawaharada, Nobuyoshi

2017-12-01

This study aimed to re-examine the conventional predictive factors for dissected aortic enlargement, such as the aortic and false lumen diameter and to consider whether the morphological elements of the dissected aorta could be predictors by quantifying the 'shape' of the true lumen based on elliptic Fourier analysis. A total of 80 patients with uncomplicated type B aortic dissection were included. The patients were divided into 'Enlargement group' and 'No Change group.' Between the 2 groups, the mean systolic blood pressure during follow-up, aortic and false lumen maximum diameters, and analysed morphological data were compared using each statistical method. The maximum aortic and false lumen diameters were significantly larger in the Enlargement group than in the No Change group (39.3 vs 35.9 mm; P = 0.0058) (23.5 vs 18.2 mm; P = 0.000095). The principal component 1, which is the data calculated by elliptic Fourier analysis, was significantly lower in the Enlargement group than in the No Change group (0.020 vs - 0.072; P = 0.000049). The mean systolic blood pressure ≥130 mmHg, aortic diameter, false lumen diameter and principal component 1 were included in the Cox proportional hazard model as covariates to determine the significant predictive variable. Principal component 1 demonstrated the only significance with aortic enlargement on multivariate analysis (odds ratio = 0.32; P = 0.048). The analysed and calculated morphological data of the shape of the true lumen can be more effective predictive factors of aortic enlargement of type B dissection than the conventional factors. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

Experimental Researches on the Durability Indicators and the Physiological Comfort of Fabrics using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hristian, L.; Ostafe, M. M.; Manea, L. R.; Apostol, L. L.

2017-06-01

The work pursued the distribution of combed wool fabrics destined to manufacturing of external articles of clothing in terms of the values of durability and physiological comfort indices, using the mathematical model of Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Principal Components Analysis (PCA) applied in this study is a descriptive method of the multivariate analysis/multi-dimensional data, and aims to reduce, under control, the number of variables (columns) of the matrix data as much as possible to two or three. Therefore, based on the information about each group/assortment of fabrics, it is desired that, instead of nine inter-correlated variables, to have only two or three new variables called components. The PCA target is to extract the smallest number of components which recover the most of the total information contained in the initial data.

Change Mechanisms of Schema-Centered Group Psychotherapy with Personality Disorder Patients

PubMed Central

Tschacher, Wolfgang; Zorn, Peter; Ramseyer, Fabian

2012-01-01

Background This study addressed the temporal properties of personality disorders and their treatment by schema-centered group psychotherapy. It investigated the change mechanisms of psychotherapy using a novel method by which psychotherapy can be modeled explicitly in the temporal domain. Methodology and Findings 69 patients were assigned to a specific schema-centered behavioral group psychotherapy, 26 to social skills training as a control condition. The largest diagnostic subgroups were narcissistic and borderline personality disorder. Both treatments offered 30 group sessions of 100 min duration each, at a frequency of two sessions per week. Therapy process was described by components resulting from principal component analysis of patients' session-reports that were obtained after each session. These patient-assessed components were Clarification, Bond, Rejection, and Emotional Activation. The statistical approach focused on time-lagged associations of components using time-series panel analysis. This method provided a detailed quantitative representation of therapy process. It was found that Clarification played a core role in schema-centered psychotherapy, reducing rejection and regulating the emotion of patients. This was also a change mechanism linked to therapy outcome. Conclusions/Significance The introduced process-oriented methodology allowed to highlight the mechanisms by which psychotherapeutic treatment became effective. Additionally, process models depicted the actual patterns that differentiated specific diagnostic subgroups. Time-series analysis explores Granger causality, a non-experimental approximation of causality based on temporal sequences. This methodology, resting upon naturalistic data, can explicate mechanisms of action in psychotherapy research and illustrate the temporal patterns underlying personality disorders. PMID:22745811

Pain sensitivity profiles in patients with advanced knee osteoarthritis

PubMed Central

Frey-Law, Laura A.; Bohr, Nicole L.; Sluka, Kathleen A.; Herr, Keela; Clark, Charles R.; Noiseux, Nicolas O.; Callaghan, John J; Zimmerman, M Bridget; Rakel, Barbara A.

2016-01-01

The development of patient profiles to subgroup individuals on a variety of variables has gained attention as a potential means to better inform clinical decision-making. Patterns of pain sensitivity response specific to quantitative sensory testing (QST) modality have been demonstrated in healthy subjects. It has not been determined if these patterns persist in a knee osteoarthritis population. In a sample of 218 participants, 19 QST measures along with pain, psychological factors, self-reported function, and quality of life were assessed prior to total knee arthroplasty. Component analysis was used to identify commonalities across the 19 QST assessments to produce standardized pain sensitivity factors. Cluster analysis then grouped individuals that exhibited similar patterns of standardized pain sensitivity component scores. The QST resulted in four pain sensitivity components: heat, punctate, temporal summation, and pressure. Cluster analysis resulted in five pain sensitivity profiles: a “low pressure pain” group, an “average pain” group, and three “high pain” sensitivity groups who were sensitive to different modalities (punctate, heat, and temporal summation). Pain and function differed between pain sensitivity profiles, along with sex distribution; however no differences in OA grade, medication use, or psychological traits were found. Residualizing QST data by age and sex resulted in similar components and pain sensitivity profiles. Further, these profiles are surprisingly similar to those reported in healthy populations suggesting that individual differences in pain sensitivity are a robust finding even in an older population with significant disease. PMID:27152688

Changes of choroidal neovascularization in indocyanine green angiography after intravitreal ranibizumab injection.

PubMed

Lee, Ji Eun; Kim, Hyun Woong; Lee, Sang Joon; Lee, Joo Eun

2015-05-01

To investigate vascular structural changes of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) followed by intravitreal ranibizumab injections using indocyanine green angiography. A total of 31 patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration and CNV whose structures were identifiable in indocyanine green angiography were included. Ranibizumab was injected into the vitreous cavity once a month for 3 months and then as needed for the next 3 months prospectively. Indocyanine green angiography was performed at baseline, 3, and 6 months. Early to midphase images of the indocyanine green angiography in the details of vascular structure of the CNV were discerned the best were used in the image analysis. Vascular structures of CNV were described as arteriovenular and capillary components, and structural changes were assessed. Arteriovenular components were observed in 29 eyes (94%). Regression of the capillary components was observed in most cases. Although regression of arteriovenular component was noted in 14 eyes (48%), complete resolution was not observed. The eyes were categorized into 3 groups according to CNV structural changes: the regressed (Group R, 10 eyes, 31%), the matured (Group M, 7 eyes, 23%), and the growing (Group G, 14 eyes, 45%). In Group R, there was no regrowth of CNV found at 6 months. In Group M, distinct vascular structures were observed at 3 months and persisted without apparent changes at 6 months. In Group G, growth or reperfusion of capillary components from the persisting arteriovenular components was noted at 6 months. Both capillary and arteriovenular components were regressed during monthly ranibizumab injections. However, CNV regrowth was observed in a group of patients during the as-needed treatment phase.

Neuroforecasting Aggregate Choice

PubMed Central

Knutson, Brian; Genevsky, Alexander

2018-01-01

Advances in brain-imaging design and analysis have allowed investigators to use neural activity to predict individual choice, while emerging Internet markets have opened up new opportunities for forecasting aggregate choice. Here, we review emerging research that bridges these levels of analysis by attempting to use group neural activity to forecast aggregate choice. A survey of initial findings suggests that components of group neural activity might forecast aggregate choice, in some cases even beyond traditional behavioral measures. In addition to demonstrating the plausibility of neuroforecasting, these findings raise the possibility that not all neural processes that predict individual choice forecast aggregate choice to the same degree. We propose that although integrative choice components may confer more consistency within individuals, affective choice components may generalize more broadly across individuals to forecast aggregate choice. PMID:29706726

An efficient classification method based on principal component and sparse representation.

PubMed

Zhai, Lin; Fu, Shujun; Zhang, Caiming; Liu, Yunxian; Wang, Lu; Liu, Guohua; Yang, Mingqiang

2016-01-01

As an important application in optical imaging, palmprint recognition is interfered by many unfavorable factors. An effective fusion of blockwise bi-directional two-dimensional principal component analysis and grouping sparse classification is presented. The dimension reduction and normalizing are implemented by the blockwise bi-directional two-dimensional principal component analysis for palmprint images to extract feature matrixes, which are assembled into an overcomplete dictionary in sparse classification. A subspace orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm is designed to solve the grouping sparse representation. Finally, the classification result is gained by comparing the residual between testing and reconstructed images. Experiments are carried out on a palmprint database, and the results show that this method has better robustness against position and illumination changes of palmprint images, and can get higher rate of palmprint recognition.

Distribution and Taxonomic Significance of Secondary Metabolites Occurring in the Methanol Extracts of the Stonecrops (Sedum L., Crassulaceae) from the Central Balkan Peninsula.

PubMed

Stojanovic, Gordana S; Jovanović, Snežana C; Zlatković, Bojan K

2015-06-01

The present study is engaged in the chemical composition of methanol extracts of Sedum taxa from the central part of the Balkan Peninsula, and representatives from other genera of Crassulaceae (Crassula, Echeveria and Kalanchoe) considered as out-groups. The chemical composition of extracts was determined by HPLC analysis, according to retention time of standards and characteristic absorption spectra of components. Identified components were considered as original variables with possible chemotaxonomic significance. Relationships of examined plant samples were investigated by agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis (AHC). The obtained results showed how the distribution of methanol extract components (mostly phenolics) affected grouping of the examined samples. The obtained clustering showed satisfactory grouping of the examined samples, among which some representatives of the Sedum series, Rupestria and Magellensia, are the most remote. The out-group samples were not clearly singled out with regard to Sedum samples as expected; this especially applies to samples of Crassula ovata and Echeveria lilacina, while Kalanchoe daigremontiana was more separated from most of the Sedum samples.

Tissue and cell-type co-expression networks of transcription factors and wood component genes in Populus trichocarpa.

PubMed

Shi, Rui; Wang, Jack P; Lin, Ying-Chung; Li, Quanzi; Sun, Ying-Hsuan; Chen, Hao; Sederoff, Ronald R; Chiang, Vincent L

2017-05-01

Co-expression networks based on transcriptomes of Populus trichocarpa major tissues and specific cell types suggest redundant control of cell wall component biosynthetic genes by transcription factors in wood formation. We analyzed the transcriptomes of five tissues (xylem, phloem, shoot, leaf, and root) and two wood forming cell types (fiber and vessel) of Populus trichocarpa to assemble gene co-expression subnetworks associated with wood formation. We identified 165 transcription factors (TFs) that showed xylem-, fiber-, and vessel-specific expression. Of these 165 TFs, 101 co-expressed (correlation coefficient, r > 0.7) with the 45 secondary cell wall cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin biosynthetic genes. Each cell wall component gene co-expressed on average with 34 TFs, suggesting redundant control of the cell wall component gene expression. Co-expression analysis showed that the 101 TFs and the 45 cell wall component genes each has two distinct groups (groups 1 and 2), based on their co-expression patterns. The group 1 TFs (44 members) are predominantly xylem and fiber specific, and are all highly positively co-expressed with the group 1 cell wall component genes (30 members), suggesting their roles as major wood formation regulators. Group 1 TFs include a lateral organ boundary domain gene (LBD) that has the highest number of positively correlated cell wall component genes (36) and TFs (47). The group 2 TFs have 57 members, including 14 vessel-specific TFs, and are generally less correlated with the cell wall component genes. An exception is a vessel-specific basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) gene that negatively correlates with 20 cell wall component genes, and may function as a key transcriptional suppressor. The co-expression networks revealed here suggest a well-structured transcriptional homeostasis for cell wall component biosynthesis during wood formation.

High efficiency direct detection of ions from resonance ionization of sputtered atoms

DOEpatents

Gruen, Dieter M.; Pellin, Michael J.; Young, Charles E.

1986-01-01

A method and apparatus are provided for trace and other quantitative analysis with high efficiency of a component in a sample, with the analysis involving the removal by ion or other bombardment of a small quantity of ion and neutral atom groups from the sample, the conversion of selected neutral atom groups to photoions by laser initiated resonance ionization spectroscopy, the selective deflection of the photoions for separation from original ion group emanating from the sample, and the detection of the photoions as a measure of the quantity of the component. In some embodiments, the original ion group is accelerated prior to the RIS step for separation purposes. Noise and other interference are reduced by shielding the detector from primary and secondary ions and deflecting the photoions sufficiently to avoid the primary and secondary ions.

High efficiency direct detection of ions from resonance ionization of sputtered atoms

DOEpatents

Gruen, D.M.; Pellin, M.J.; Young, C.E.

1985-01-16

A method and apparatus are provided for trace and other quantitative analysis with high efficiency of a component in a sample, with the analysis involving the removal by ion or other bombardment of a small quantity of ion and neutral atom groups from the sample, the conversion of selected neutral atom groups to photoions by laser initiated resonance ionization spectroscopy, the selective deflection of the photoions for separation from original ion group emanating from the sample, and the detection of the photoions as a measure of the quantity of the component. In some embodiments, the original ion group is accelerated prior to the RIS step for separation purposes. Noise and other interference are reduced by shielding the detector from primary and secondary ions and deflecting the photoions sufficiently to avoid the primary and secondary ions.

On 3-D inelastic analysis methods for hot section components. Volume 1: Special finite element models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nakazawa, S.

1988-01-01

This annual status report presents the results of work performed during the fourth year of the 3-D Inelastic Analysis Methods for Hot Section Components program (NASA Contract NAS3-23697). The objective of the program is to produce a series of new computer codes permitting more accurate and efficient 3-D analysis of selected hot section components, i.e., combustor liners, turbine blades and turbine vanes. The computer codes embody a progression of math models and are streamlined to take advantage of geometrical features, loading conditions, and forms of material response that distinguish each group of selected components. Volume 1 of this report discusses the special finite element models developed during the fourth year of the contract.

Impact of reduced-radiation dual-energy protocols using 320-detector row computed tomography for analyzing urinary calculus components: initial in vitro evaluation.

PubMed

Cai, Xiangran; Zhou, Qingchun; Yu, Juan; Xian, Zhaohui; Feng, Youzhen; Yang, Wencai; Mo, Xukai

2014-10-01

To evaluate the impact of reduced-radiation dual-energy (DE) protocols using 320-detector row computed tomography on the differentiation of urinary calculus components. A total of 58 urinary calculi were placed into the same phantom and underwent DE scanning with 320-detector row computed tomography. Each calculus was scanned 4 times with the DE protocols using 135 kV and 80 kV tube voltage and different tube current combinations, including 100 mA and 570 mA (group A), 50 mA and 290 mA (group B), 30 mA and 170 mA (group C), and 10 mA and 60 mA (group D). The acquisition data of all 4 groups were then analyzed by stone DE analysis software, and the results were compared with x-ray diffraction analysis. Noise, contrast-to-noise ratio, and radiation dose were compared. Calculi were correctly identified in 56 of 58 stones (96.6%) using group A and B protocols. However, only 35 stones (60.3%) and 16 stones (27.6%) were correctly diagnosed using group C and D protocols, respectively. Mean noise increased significantly and mean contrast-to-noise ratio decreased significantly from groups A to D (P <.05). In addition, the effective dose decreased markedly from groups A to D at 3.78, 1.81, 1.07, and 0.37 mSv, respectively. Decreasing the DE tube currents from 100 mA and 570 mA to 50 mA and 290 mA resulted in 96.6% accuracy for urinary calculus component analysis while reducing patient radiation exposure to 1.81 mSv. Further reduction of tube currents may compromise diagnostic accuracy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A novel approach to analyzing fMRI and SNP data via parallel independent component analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jingyu; Pearlson, Godfrey; Calhoun, Vince; Windemuth, Andreas

2007-03-01

There is current interest in understanding genetic influences on brain function in both the healthy and the disordered brain. Parallel independent component analysis, a new method for analyzing multimodal data, is proposed in this paper and applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. The method aims to identify the independent components of each modality and the relationship between the two modalities. We analyzed 92 participants, including 29 schizophrenia (SZ) patients, 13 unaffected SZ relatives, and 50 healthy controls. We found a correlation of 0.79 between one fMRI component and one SNP component. The fMRI component consists of activations in cingulate gyrus, multiple frontal gyri, and superior temporal gyrus. The related SNP component is contributed to significantly by 9 SNPs located in sets of genes, including those coding for apolipoprotein A-I, and C-III, malate dehydrogenase 1 and the gamma-aminobutyric acid alpha-2 receptor. A significant difference in the presences of this SNP component is found between the SZ group (SZ patients and their relatives) and the control group. In summary, we constructed a framework to identify the interactions between brain functional and genetic information; our findings provide new insight into understanding genetic influences on brain function in a common mental disorder.

Unique and shared areas of cognitive function in children with intractable frontal or temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Law, Nicole; Widjaja, Elysa; Smith, Mary Lou

2018-03-01

Previous findings have been mixed in terms of identifying a distinct pattern of neuropsychological deficits in children with frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) and in those with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The current study investigated the neuropsychological similarities and differences across these two pediatric medically intractable localization-related epilepsies. Thirty-eight children with FLE, 20 children with TLE, and 40 healthy children (HC) participated in this study. A comprehensive battery of standardized tests assessed five neuropsychological domains including intelligence, language, memory, executive function, and motor function. A principal component analysis (PCA) was used to distill our neuropsychological measures into latent components to compare between groups. Principal component analysis extracted 5 latent components: executive function (F1), verbal semantics (F2), motor (F3), nonverbal cognition/impulsivity (F4), and verbal cognition/attention (F5). The group with FLE differed from the HC group on F1, F2, F4, and F5, and had worse performance than the group with TLE on F1; the group with TLE had lower performance relative to the HC group on F2. Our findings suggest that, in comparison with neurotypically developing children, children with medically intractable FLE have more widespread neuropsychological impairments than do children with TLE. The differences between the two patient groups were greatest for the factor score most clearly related to executive function. The results provide mixed support for the concept of specificity in neuropsychological dysfunction among different subtypes of localization-related medically intractable childhood epilepsies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Functional Group Analysis for Diesel-like Mixing-Controlled Compression Ignition Combustion Blendstocks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gaspar, Daniel J.; McCormick, Robert L.; Polikarpov, Evgueni

This report addresses the suitability of hydrocarbon and oxygenate functional groups for use as a diesel-like fuel blending component in an advanced, mixing-controlled, compression ignition combustion engine. The functional groups are chosen from those that could be derived from a biomass feedstock, and represent a full range of chemistries. This first systematic analysis of functional groups will be of value to all who are pursuing new bio-blendstocks for diesel-like fuels.

[Toward exploration of morphological diversity of measurable traits of mammalian skull. 2. Scalar and vector parameters of the forms of group variation].

PubMed

Lisovskiĭ, A A; Pavlinov, I Ia

2008-01-01

Any morphospace is partitioned by the forms of group variation, its structure is described by a set of scalar (range, overlap) and vector (direction) characteristics. They are analyzed quantitatively for the sex and age variations in the sample of 200 skulls of the pine marten described by 14 measurable traits. Standard dispersion and variance components analyses are employed, accompanied with several resampling methods (randomization and bootstrep); effects of changes in the analysis design on results of the above methods are also considered. Maximum likelihood algorithm of variance components analysis is shown to give an adequate estimates of portions of particular forms of group variation within the overall disparity. It is quite stable in respect to changes of the analysis design and therefore could be used in the explorations of the real data with variously unbalanced designs. A new algorithm of estimation of co-directionality of particular forms of group variation within the overall disparity is elaborated, which includes angle measures between eigenvectors of covariation matrices of effects of group variations calculated by dispersion analysis. A null hypothesis of random portion of a given group variation could be tested by means of randomization of the respective grouping variable. A null hypothesis of equality of both portions and directionalities of different forms of group variation could be tested by means of the bootstrep procedure.

Subject order-independent group ICA (SOI-GICA) for functional MRI data analysis.

PubMed

Zhang, Han; Zuo, Xi-Nian; Ma, Shuang-Ye; Zang, Yu-Feng; Milham, Michael P; Zhu, Chao-Zhe

2010-07-15

Independent component analysis (ICA) is a data-driven approach to study functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Particularly, for group analysis on multiple subjects, temporally concatenation group ICA (TC-GICA) is intensively used. However, due to the usually limited computational capability, data reduction with principal component analysis (PCA: a standard preprocessing step of ICA decomposition) is difficult to achieve for a large dataset. To overcome this, TC-GICA employs multiple-stage PCA data reduction. Such multiple-stage PCA data reduction, however, leads to variable outputs due to different subject concatenation orders. Consequently, the ICA algorithm uses the variable multiple-stage PCA outputs and generates variable decompositions. In this study, a rigorous theoretical analysis was conducted to prove the existence of such variability. Simulated and real fMRI experiments were used to demonstrate the subject-order-induced variability of TC-GICA results using multiple PCA data reductions. To solve this problem, we propose a new subject order-independent group ICA (SOI-GICA). Both simulated and real fMRI data experiments demonstrated the high robustness and accuracy of the SOI-GICA results compared to those of traditional TC-GICA. Accordingly, we recommend SOI-GICA for group ICA-based fMRI studies, especially those with large data sets. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ground reaction force analysed with correlation coefficient matrix in group of stroke patients.

PubMed

Szczerbik, Ewa; Krawczyk, Maciej; Syczewska, Małgorzata

2014-01-01

Stroke is the third cause of death in contemporary society and causes many disorders. Clinical scales, ground reaction force (GRF) and objective gait analysis are used for assessment of patient's rehabilitation progress during treatment. The goal of this paper is to assess whether signal correlation coefficient matrix applied to GRF can be used for evaluation of the status of post-stroke patients. A group of patients underwent clinical assessment and instrumented gait analysis simultaneously three times. The difference between components of patient's GRF (vertical, fore/aft, med/lat) and normal ones (reference GRF of healthy subjects) was calculated as correlation coefficient. Patients were divided into two groups ("worse" and "better") based on the clinical functional scale tests done at the beginning of rehabilitation process. The results obtained by these two groups were compared using statistical analysis. An increase of median value of correlation coefficient is observed in all components of GRF, but only in non-paretic leg. Analysis of GRF signal can be helpful in assessment of post-stroke patients during rehabilitation. Improvement in stroke patients was observed in non-paretic leg of the "worse" group. GRF analysis should not be the only tool for objective validation of patient's improvement, but could be used as additional source of information.

Chemical composition of individual aerosol particles in workplace air during production of manganese alloys.

PubMed

Gunst, S; Weinbruch, S; Wentzel, M; Ortner, H M; Skogstad, A; Hetland, S; Thomassen, Y

2000-02-01

Aerosol particle samples were collected at ELKEM ASA ferromanganese (FeMn) and silicomanganese (SiMn) smelters at Porsgrunn, Norway, during different production steps: raw material mixing, welding of protective steel casings, tapping of FeMn and slag, crane operation moving the ladles with molten metal, operation of the Metal Oxygen Refinement (MOR) reactor and casting of SiMn. Aerosol fractions were assessed for the analysis of the bulk elemental composition as well as for individual particle analysis. The bulk elemental composition was determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. For individual particle analysis, an electron microprobe was used in combination with wavelength-dispersive techniques. Most particles show a complex composition and cannot be attributed to a single phase. Therefore, the particles were divided into six groups according to their chemical composition: Group I, particles containing mainly metallic Fe and/or Mn; Group II, slag particles containing mainly Fe and/or Mn oxides; Group III, slag particles consisting predominantly of oxidized flux components such as Si, Al, Mg, Ca, Na and K; Group IV, particles consisting mainly of carbon; Group V, mixtures of particles from Groups II, III and IV; Group VI, mixtures of particles from Groups II and III. In raw material mixing, particles originating from the Mn ores were mostly found. In the welding of steel casings, most particles were assigned to Group II, Mn and Fe oxides. During the tapping of slag and metal, mostly slag particles from Group III were found (oxides of the flux components). During movement of the ladles, most particles came from Group II. At the MOR reactor, most of the particles belonged to the slag phase consisting of the flux components (Group III). The particles collected during the casting of SiMn were mainly attributed to the slag phase (Groups III and V). Due to the compositional complexity of the particles, toxicological investigations on the kinetics of pure compounds may not be easily associated with the results of this study.

Analysis of intra-host genetic diversity of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) using amplicon next generation sequencing

PubMed Central

Constable, Fiona E.; Nancarrow, Narelle; Plummer, Kim M.; Rodoni, Brendan

2017-01-01

PCR amplicon next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis offers a broadly applicable and targeted approach to detect populations of both high- or low-frequency virus variants in one or more plant samples. In this study, amplicon NGS was used to explore the diversity of the tripartite genome virus, Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) from 53 PNRSV-infected trees using amplicons from conserved gene regions of each of PNRSV RNA1, RNA2 and RNA3. Sequencing of the amplicons from 53 PNRSV-infected trees revealed differing levels of polymorphism across the three different components of the PNRSV genome with a total number of 5040, 2083 and 5486 sequence variants observed for RNA1, RNA2 and RNA3 respectively. The RNA2 had the lowest diversity of sequences compared to RNA1 and RNA3, reflecting the lack of flexibility tolerated by the replicase gene that is encoded by this RNA component. Distinct PNRSV phylo-groups, consisting of closely related clusters of sequence variants, were observed in each of PNRSV RNA1, RNA2 and RNA3. Most plant samples had a single phylo-group for each RNA component. Haplotype network analysis showed that smaller clusters of PNRSV sequence variants were genetically connected to the largest sequence variant cluster within a phylo-group of each RNA component. Some plant samples had sequence variants occurring in multiple PNRSV phylo-groups in at least one of each RNA and these phylo-groups formed distinct clades that represent PNRSV genetic strains. Variants within the same phylo-group of each Prunus plant sample had ≥97% similarity and phylo-groups within a Prunus plant sample and between samples had less ≤97% similarity. Based on the analysis of diversity, a definition of a PNRSV genetic strain was proposed. The proposed definition was applied to determine the number of PNRSV genetic strains in each of the plant samples and the complexity in defining genetic strains in multipartite genome viruses was explored. PMID:28632759

Introgression of genomic components from Chinese Brassica rapa contributes to widening the genetic diversity in rapeseed (B. napus L.), with emphasis on the evolution of Chinese rapeseed.

PubMed

Qian, W; Meng, J; Li, M; Frauen, M; Sass, O; Noack, J; Jung, C

2006-06-01

In spite of its short history of being an oil crop in China, the Chinese semi-winter rapeseed (Brassica napus L., 2n = 38, AACC) has been improved rapidly by intentional introgression of genomic components from Chinese B. rapa (2n = 20, AA). As a result, the Chinese semi-winter rapeseed has diversified genetically from the spring and winter rapeseed grown in the other regions such as Europe and North America. The objectives of this study were to investigate the roles of the introgression of the genomic components from the Chinese B. rapa in widening the genetic diversity of rapeseed and to verify the role of this introgression in the evolution of the Chinese rapeseed. Ten lines of the new type of rapeseed, which were produced by introgression of Chinese B. rapa to Chinese normal rapeseed, were compared for genetic diversity using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) with three groups of 35 lines of the normal rapeseed, including 9 semi-winter rapeseed lines from China, 9 winter rapeseed lines from Europe and 17 spring rapeseed lines from Northern Europe, Canada and Australia. Analysis of 799 polymorphic fragments revealed that within the groups, the new type rapeseed had the highest genetic diversity, followed by the semi-winter normal rapeseed from China. Spring and winter rapeseed had the lowest genetic diversity. Among the groups, the new type rapeseed group had the largest average genetic distance to the other three groups. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis, however, could not separate the new type rapeseed group from Chinese normal rapeseed group. Our data suggested that the introgression of Chinese B. rapa could significantly diversify the genetic basis of the rapeseed and play an important role in the evolution of Chinese rapeseed. The use of new genetic variation for the exploitation of heterosis in Brassica hybrid breeding is discussed.

Comparison of multi-subject ICA methods for analysis of fMRI data

PubMed Central

Erhardt, Erik Barry; Rachakonda, Srinivas; Bedrick, Edward; Allen, Elena; Adali, Tülay; Calhoun, Vince D.

2010-01-01

Spatial independent component analysis (ICA) applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data identifies functionally connected networks by estimating spatially independent patterns from their linearly mixed fMRI signals. Several multi-subject ICA approaches estimating subject-specific time courses (TCs) and spatial maps (SMs) have been developed, however there has not yet been a full comparison of the implications of their use. Here, we provide extensive comparisons of four multi-subject ICA approaches in combination with data reduction methods for simulated and fMRI task data. For multi-subject ICA, the data first undergo reduction at the subject and group levels using principal component analysis (PCA). Comparisons of subject-specific, spatial concatenation, and group data mean subject-level reduction strategies using PCA and probabilistic PCA (PPCA) show that computationally intensive PPCA is equivalent to PCA, and that subject-specific and group data mean subject-level PCA are preferred because of well-estimated TCs and SMs. Second, aggregate independent components are estimated using either noise free ICA or probabilistic ICA (PICA). Third, subject-specific SMs and TCs are estimated using back-reconstruction. We compare several direct group ICA (GICA) back-reconstruction approaches (GICA1-GICA3) and an indirect back-reconstruction approach, spatio-temporal regression (STR, or dual regression). Results show the earlier group ICA (GICA1) approximates STR, however STR has contradictory assumptions and may show mixed-component artifacts in estimated SMs. Our evidence-based recommendation is to use GICA3, introduced here, with subject-specific PCA and noise-free ICA, providing the most robust and accurate estimated SMs and TCs in addition to offering an intuitive interpretation. PMID:21162045

3-D inelastic analysis methods for hot section components. Volume 2: Advanced special functions models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, R. B.; Banerjee, P. K.

1987-01-01

This Annual Status Report presents the results of work performed during the third year of the 3-D Inelastic Analysis Methods for Hot Sections Components program (NASA Contract NAS3-23697). The objective of the program is to produce a series of computer codes that permit more accurate and efficient three-dimensional analyses of selected hot section components, i.e., combustor liners, turbine blades, and turbine vanes. The computer codes embody a progression of mathematical models and are streamlined to take advantage of geometrical features, loading conditions, and forms of material response that distinguish each group of selected components.

Metal-backed versus all-polyethylene tibial components in primary total knee arthroplasty

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background and purpose The choice of either all-polyethylene (AP) tibial components or metal-backed (MB) tibial components in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains controversial. We therefore performed a meta-analysis and systematic review of randomized controlled trials that have evaluated MB and AP tibial components in primary TKA. Methods The search strategy included a computerized literature search (Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) and a manual search of major orthopedic journals. A meta-analysis and systematic review of randomized or quasi-randomized trials that compared the performance of tibial components in primary TKA was performed using a fixed or random effects model. We assessed the methodological quality of studies using Detsky quality scale. Results 9 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2000 and 2009 met the inclusion quality standards for the systematic review. The mean standardized Detsky score was 14 (SD 3). We found that the frequency of radiolucent lines in the MB group was significantly higher than that in the AP group. There were no statistically significant differences between the MB and AP tibial components regarding component positioning, knee score, knee range of motion, quality of life, and postoperative complications. Interpretation Based on evidence obtained from this study, the AP tibial component was comparable with or better than the MB tibial component in TKA. However, high-quality RCTs are required to validate the results. PMID:21895503

Directional connectivity of resting state human fMRI data using cascaded ICA-PDC analysis.

PubMed

Silfverhuth, Minna J; Remes, Jukka; Starck, Tuomo; Nikkinen, Juha; Veijola, Juha; Tervonen, Osmo; Kiviniemi, Vesa

2011-11-01

Directional connectivity measures, such as partial directed coherence (PDC), give us means to explore effective connectivity in the human brain. By utilizing independent component analysis (ICA), the original data-set reduction was performed for further PDC analysis. To test this cascaded ICA-PDC approach in causality studies of human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Resting state group data was imaged from 55 subjects using a 1.5 T scanner (TR 1800 ms, 250 volumes). Temporal concatenation group ICA in a probabilistic ICA and further repeatability runs (n = 200) were overtaken. The reduced data-set included the time series presentation of the following nine ICA components: secondary somatosensory cortex, inferior temporal gyrus, intracalcarine cortex, primary auditory cortex, amygdala, putamen and the frontal medial cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, comprising the default mode network components. Re-normalized PDC (rPDC) values were computed to determine directional connectivity at the group level at each frequency. The integrative role was suggested for precuneus while the role of major divergence region may be proposed to primary auditory cortex and amygdala. This study demonstrates the potential of the cascaded ICA-PDC approach in directional connectivity studies of human fMRI.

Batch Computed Tomography Analysis of Projectiles

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-01

error calculation. Projectiles are then grouped together according to the similarity of their components. Also discussed is graphical- cluster analysis...ballistic, armor, grouping, clustering 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT UU 18. NUMBER OF...Fig. 10 Graphical structure of 15 clusters of the jacket/core radii profiles with plots of the profiles contained within each cluster . The size of

Validating the Heirarchy of the iStartSmart® Academic Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McManis, Perry, W.; McManis, Mark, H.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this analysis was to investigate the validity of skill groupings in an instructional technology learning system designed for use by children in early childhood education classrooms. A Principal Component Analysis was performed to measure the fit of 18 skill games to their 5 assigned groupings in the system, covering a range of…

Audio-visual speech perception in adult readers with dyslexia: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Rüsseler, Jascha; Ye, Zheng; Gerth, Ivonne; Szycik, Gregor R; Münte, Thomas F

2018-04-01

Developmental dyslexia is a specific deficit in reading and spelling that often persists into adulthood. In the present study, we used slow event-related fMRI and independent component analysis to identify brain networks involved in perception of audio-visual speech in a group of adult readers with dyslexia (RD) and a group of fluent readers (FR). Participants saw a video of a female speaker saying a disyllabic word. In the congruent condition, audio and video input were identical whereas in the incongruent condition, the two inputs differed. Participants had to respond to occasionally occurring animal names. The independent components analysis (ICA) identified several components that were differently modulated in FR and RD. Two of these components including fusiform gyrus and occipital gyrus showed less activation in RD compared to FR possibly indicating a deficit to extract face information that is needed to integrate auditory and visual information in natural speech perception. A further component centered on the superior temporal sulcus (STS) also exhibited less activation in RD compared to FR. This finding is corroborated in the univariate analysis that shows less activation in STS for RD compared to FR. These findings suggest a general impairment in recruitment of audiovisual processing areas in dyslexia during the perception of natural speech.

Effects of physiotherapy treatment on knee osteoarthritis gait data using principal component analysis.

PubMed

Gaudreault, Nathaly; Mezghani, Neila; Turcot, Katia; Hagemeister, Nicola; Boivin, Karine; de Guise, Jacques A

2011-03-01

Interpreting gait data is challenging due to intersubject variability observed in the gait pattern of both normal and pathological populations. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of using principal component analysis for grouping knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients' gait data in more homogeneous groups when studying the effect of a physiotherapy treatment. Three-dimensional (3D) knee kinematic and kinetic data were recorded during the gait of 29 participants diagnosed with knee OA before and after they received 12 weeks of physiotherapy treatment. Principal component analysis was applied to extract groups of knee flexion/extension, adduction/abduction and internal/external rotation angle and moment data. The treatment's effect on parameters of interest was assessed using paired t-tests performed before and after grouping the knee kinematic data. Increased quadriceps and hamstring strength was observed following treatment (P<0.05). Except for the knee flexion/extension angle, two different groups (G(1) and G(2)) were extracted from the angle and moment data. When pre- and post-treatment analyses were performed considering the groups, participants exhibiting a G(2) knee moment pattern demonstrated a greater first peak flexion moment, lower adduction moment impulse and smaller rotation angle range post-treatment (P<0.05). When pre- and post-treatment comparisons were performed without grouping, the data showed no treatment effect. The results of the present study suggest that the effect of physiotherapy on gait mechanics of knee osteoarthritis patients may be masked or underestimated if kinematic data are not separated into more homogeneous groups when performing pre- and post-treatment comparisons. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conceptual model of iCAL4LA: Proposing the components using comparative analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Siti Zulaiha; Mutalib, Ariffin Abdul

2016-08-01

This paper discusses an on-going study that initiates an initial process in determining the common components for a conceptual model of interactive computer-assisted learning that is specifically designed for low achieving children. This group of children needs a specific learning support that can be used as an alternative learning material in their learning environment. In order to develop the conceptual model, this study extracts the common components from 15 strongly justified computer assisted learning studies. A comparative analysis has been conducted to determine the most appropriate components by using a set of specific indication classification to prioritize the applicability. The results of the extraction process reveal 17 common components for consideration. Later, based on scientific justifications, 16 of them were selected as the proposed components for the model.

A Model of Small Group Facilitator Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolb, Judith A.; Jin, Sungmi; Song, Ji Hoon

2008-01-01

This study used small group theory, quantitative and qualitative data collected from experienced practicing facilitators at three points of time, and a building block process of collection, analysis, further collection, and consolidation to develop a model of small group facilitator competencies. The proposed model has five components:…

Patterns in longitudinal growth of refraction in Southern Chinese children: cluster and principal component analysis.

PubMed

Chen, Yanxian; Chang, Billy Heung Wing; Ding, Xiaohu; He, Mingguang

2016-11-22

In the present study we attempt to use hypothesis-independent analysis in investigating the patterns in refraction growth in Chinese children, and to explore the possible risk factors affecting the different components of progression, as defined by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A total of 637 first-born twins in Guangzhou Twin Eye Study with 6-year annual visits (baseline age 7-15 years) were available in the analysis. Cluster 1 to 3 were classified after a partitioning clustering, representing stable, slow and fast progressing groups of refraction respectively. Baseline age and refraction, paternal refraction, maternal refraction and proportion of two myopic parents showed significant differences across the three groups. Three major components of progression were extracted using PCA: "Average refraction", "Acceleration" and the combination of "Myopia stabilization" and "Late onset of refraction progress". In regression models, younger children with more severe myopia were associated with larger "Acceleration". The risk factors of "Acceleration" included change of height and weight, near work, and parental myopia, while female gender, change of height and weight were associated with "Stabilization", and increased outdoor time was related to "Late onset of refraction progress". We therefore concluded that genetic and environmental risk factors have different impacts on patterns of refraction progression.

Patterns in longitudinal growth of refraction in Southern Chinese children: cluster and principal component analysis

PubMed Central

Chen, Yanxian; Chang, Billy Heung Wing; Ding, Xiaohu; He, Mingguang

2016-01-01

In the present study we attempt to use hypothesis-independent analysis in investigating the patterns in refraction growth in Chinese children, and to explore the possible risk factors affecting the different components of progression, as defined by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A total of 637 first-born twins in Guangzhou Twin Eye Study with 6-year annual visits (baseline age 7–15 years) were available in the analysis. Cluster 1 to 3 were classified after a partitioning clustering, representing stable, slow and fast progressing groups of refraction respectively. Baseline age and refraction, paternal refraction, maternal refraction and proportion of two myopic parents showed significant differences across the three groups. Three major components of progression were extracted using PCA: “Average refraction”, “Acceleration” and the combination of “Myopia stabilization” and “Late onset of refraction progress”. In regression models, younger children with more severe myopia were associated with larger “Acceleration”. The risk factors of “Acceleration” included change of height and weight, near work, and parental myopia, while female gender, change of height and weight were associated with “Stabilization”, and increased outdoor time was related to “Late onset of refraction progress”. We therefore concluded that genetic and environmental risk factors have different impacts on patterns of refraction progression. PMID:27874105

Analysis of indoor air pollutants checklist using environmetric technique for health risk assessment of sick building complaint in nonindustrial workplace

PubMed Central

Syazwan, AI; Rafee, B Mohd; Juahir, Hafizan; Azman, AZF; Nizar, AM; Izwyn, Z; Syahidatussyakirah, K; Muhaimin, AA; Yunos, MA Syafiq; Anita, AR; Hanafiah, J Muhamad; Shaharuddin, MS; Ibthisham, A Mohd; Hasmadi, I Mohd; Azhar, MN Mohamad; Azizan, HS; Zulfadhli, I; Othman, J; Rozalini, M; Kamarul, FT

2012-01-01

Purpose To analyze and characterize a multidisciplinary, integrated indoor air quality checklist for evaluating the health risk of building occupants in a nonindustrial workplace setting. Design A cross-sectional study based on a participatory occupational health program conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Malaysia) and Universiti Putra Malaysia. Method A modified version of the indoor environmental checklist published by the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, based on the literature and discussion with occupational health and safety professionals, was used in the evaluation process. Summated scores were given according to the cluster analysis and principal component analysis in the characterization of risk. Environmetric techniques was used to classify the risk of variables in the checklist. Identification of the possible source of item pollutants was also evaluated from a semiquantitative approach. Result Hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis resulted in the grouping of factorial components into three clusters (high complaint, moderate-high complaint, moderate complaint), which were further analyzed by discriminant analysis. From this, 15 major variables that influence indoor air quality were determined. Principal component analysis of each cluster revealed that the main factors influencing the high complaint group were fungal-related problems, chemical indoor dispersion, detergent, renovation, thermal comfort, and location of fresh air intake. The moderate-high complaint group showed significant high loading on ventilation, air filters, and smoking-related activities. The moderate complaint group showed high loading on dampness, odor, and thermal comfort. Conclusion This semiquantitative assessment, which graded risk from low to high based on the intensity of the problem, shows promising and reliable results. It should be used as an important tool in the preliminary assessment of indoor air quality and as a categorizing method for further IAQ investigations and complaints procedures. PMID:23055779

Analysis of indoor air pollutants checklist using environmetric technique for health risk assessment of sick building complaint in nonindustrial workplace.

PubMed

Syazwan, Ai; Rafee, B Mohd; Juahir, Hafizan; Azman, Azf; Nizar, Am; Izwyn, Z; Syahidatussyakirah, K; Muhaimin, Aa; Yunos, Ma Syafiq; Anita, Ar; Hanafiah, J Muhamad; Shaharuddin, Ms; Ibthisham, A Mohd; Hasmadi, I Mohd; Azhar, Mn Mohamad; Azizan, Hs; Zulfadhli, I; Othman, J; Rozalini, M; Kamarul, Ft

2012-01-01

To analyze and characterize a multidisciplinary, integrated indoor air quality checklist for evaluating the health risk of building occupants in a nonindustrial workplace setting. A cross-sectional study based on a participatory occupational health program conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Malaysia) and Universiti Putra Malaysia. A modified version of the indoor environmental checklist published by the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, based on the literature and discussion with occupational health and safety professionals, was used in the evaluation process. Summated scores were given according to the cluster analysis and principal component analysis in the characterization of risk. Environmetric techniques was used to classify the risk of variables in the checklist. Identification of the possible source of item pollutants was also evaluated from a semiquantitative approach. Hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis resulted in the grouping of factorial components into three clusters (high complaint, moderate-high complaint, moderate complaint), which were further analyzed by discriminant analysis. From this, 15 major variables that influence indoor air quality were determined. Principal component analysis of each cluster revealed that the main factors influencing the high complaint group were fungal-related problems, chemical indoor dispersion, detergent, renovation, thermal comfort, and location of fresh air intake. The moderate-high complaint group showed significant high loading on ventilation, air filters, and smoking-related activities. The moderate complaint group showed high loading on dampness, odor, and thermal comfort. This semiquantitative assessment, which graded risk from low to high based on the intensity of the problem, shows promising and reliable results. It should be used as an important tool in the preliminary assessment of indoor air quality and as a categorizing method for further IAQ investigations and complaints procedures.

ToF-SIMS analysis of a polymer microarray composed of poly(meth)acrylates with C6 derivative pendant groups.

PubMed

Hook, Andrew L; Scurr, David J

2016-04-01

Surface analysis plays a key role in understanding the function of materials, particularly in biological environments. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) provides highly surface sensitive chemical information that can readily be acquired over large areas and has, thus, become an important surface analysis tool. However, the information-rich nature of ToF-SIMS complicates the interpretation and comparison of spectra, particularly in cases where multicomponent samples are being assessed. In this study, a method is presented to assess the chemical variance across 16 poly(meth)acrylates. Materials are selected to contain C 6 pendant groups, and ten replicates of each are printed as a polymer microarray. SIMS spectra are acquired for each material with the most intense and unique ions assessed for each material to identify the predominant and distinctive fragmentation pathways within the materials studied. Differentiating acrylate/methacrylate pairs is readily achieved using secondary ions derived from both the polymer backbone and pendant groups. Principal component analysis (PCA) is performed on the SIMS spectra of the 16 polymers, whereby the resulting principal components are able to distinguish phenyl from benzyl groups, mono-functional from multi-functional monomers and acrylates from methacrylates. The principal components are applied to copolymer series to assess the predictive capabilities of the PCA. Beyond being able to predict the copolymer ratio, in some cases, the SIMS analysis is able to provide insight into the molecular sequence of a copolymer. The insight gained in this study will be beneficial for developing structure-function relationships based upon ToF-SIMS data of polymer libraries. © 2016 The Authors Surface and Interface Analysis Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cone-Beam Computed Tomography Analysis of Mucosal Thickening in Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate Maxillary Sinuses.

PubMed

Kula, Katherine; Hale, Lindsay N; Ghoneima, Ahmed; Tholpady, Sunil; Starbuck, John M

2016-11-01

  To compare maxillary mucosal thickening and sinus volumes of unilateral cleft lip and palate subjects (UCLP) with noncleft (nonCLP) controls.   Randomized, retrospective study of cone-beam computed tomographs (CBCT).   University.   Fifteen UCLP subjects and 15 sex- and age-matched non-CLP controls, aged 8 to 14 years.   Following institutional review board approval and reliability tests, Dolphin three-dimensional imaging software was used to segment and slice maxillary sinuses on randomly selected CBCTs. The surface area (SA) of bony sinus and airspace on all sinus slices was determined using Dolphin and multiplied by slice thickness (0.4 mm) to calculate volume. Mucosal thickening was the difference between bony sinus and airspace volumes. The number of slices with bony sinus and airspace outlines was totaled. Right and left sinus values for each group were pooled (t tests, P > .05; n = 30 each group). All measures were compared (principal components analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, analysis of variance) by group and age (P ≤ .016 was considered significant).   Principal components analysis axis 1 and 2 explained 89.6% of sample variance. Principal components analysis showed complete separation based on the sample on axis 1 only. Age groups showed some separation on axis 2. Unilateral cleft lip and palate subjects had significantly smaller bony sinus and airspace volumes, fewer bony and airspace slices, and greater mucosal thickening and percentage mucosal thickening when compared with controls. Older subjects had significantly greater bony sinus and airspace volumes than younger subjects.   Children with UCLP have significantly more maxillary sinus mucosal thickening and smaller sinuses than controls.

Evaluation of the accuracy of patient-specific cutting blocks for total knee arthroplasty: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Cavaignac, Etienne; Pailhé, Regis; Laumond, Gregoire; Murgier, Jérôme; Reina, Nicolas; Laffosse, Jean Michel; Bérard, Emilie; Chiron, Philippe

2015-08-01

Because published studies on the accuracy achieved with patient-specific guides during total knee arthroplasty (TKA) contradict each other, this systematic review and meta-analysis sought to compare radiological TKA outcomes when patient-specific cutting blocks (PSCB) were used to the outcomes when standard manual instrumentation was used. The meta-analysis was implemented according to PRISMA Statement Criteria. The primary endpoint was the hip-knee-ankle (HKA) angle, which represents the leg's mechanical axis. The accuracy of component placement in the coronal and sagittal planes, and the accuracy of femoral component rotation were also compiled. After testing for publication bias and heterogeneity across studies, data were aggregated random-effects modeling when necessary. Fifteen articles were included: 916 total knee arthroplasty cases in the PSCB group and 998 in the MI group. The mechanical axis did not differ between the two groups (weighted mean difference 0.07°; 95 % CI, -0.5° to 0.65°; p = 0.8). Risk ratio analysis revealed no protective effect of using PSCB relative to the appearance of HKA angle outliers (RR = 0.88; 95 % CI, 0.68-1.13; p = 0.3). There was a trend towards a protective effect with PSCB for the risk of femoral component outliers, but the opposite was observed for the tibial component. The implantation procedure was stopped in 30 cases because the surgeon-authors found excessive discrepancies between the intra-operative observations and the pre-operative plan. This meta-analysis found no evidence that using patient-specific cutting blocks provides superior accuracy to using manual instrumentation during TKA.

Assessing factorial invariance of two-way rating designs using three-way methods

PubMed Central

Kroonenberg, Pieter M.

2015-01-01

Assessing the factorial invariance of two-way rating designs such as ratings of concepts on several scales by different groups can be carried out with three-way models such as the Parafac and Tucker models. By their definitions these models are double-metric factorially invariant. The differences between these models lie in their handling of the links between the concept and scale spaces. These links may consist of unrestricted linking (Tucker2 model), invariant component covariances but variable variances per group and per component (Parafac model), zero covariances and variances different per group but not per component (Replicated Tucker3 model) and strict invariance (Component analysis on the average matrix). This hierarchy of invariant models, and the procedures by which to evaluate the models against each other, is illustrated in some detail with an international data set from attachment theory. PMID:25620936

The influence of iliotibial band syndrome history on running biomechanics examined via principal components analysis.

PubMed

Foch, Eric; Milner, Clare E

2014-01-03

Iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) is a common knee overuse injury among female runners. Atypical discrete trunk and lower extremity biomechanics during running may be associated with the etiology of ITBS. Examining discrete data points limits the interpretation of a waveform to a single value. Characterizing entire kinematic and kinetic waveforms may provide additional insight into biomechanical factors associated with ITBS. Therefore, the purpose of this cross-sectional investigation was to determine whether female runners with previous ITBS exhibited differences in kinematics and kinetics compared to controls using a principal components analysis (PCA) approach. Forty participants comprised two groups: previous ITBS and controls. Principal component scores were retained for the first three principal components and were analyzed using independent t-tests. The retained principal components accounted for 93-99% of the total variance within each waveform. Runners with previous ITBS exhibited low principal component one scores for frontal plane hip angle. Principal component one accounted for the overall magnitude in hip adduction which indicated that runners with previous ITBS assumed less hip adduction throughout stance. No differences in the remaining retained principal component scores for the waveforms were detected among groups. A smaller hip adduction angle throughout the stance phase of running may be a compensatory strategy to limit iliotibial band strain. This running strategy may have persisted after ITBS symptoms subsided. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A new approach for computing a flood vulnerability index using cluster analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez, Paulo; Mourato, Sandra; Moreira, Madalena; Pereira, Luísa

2016-08-01

A Flood Vulnerability Index (FloodVI) was developed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and a new aggregation method based on Cluster Analysis (CA). PCA simplifies a large number of variables into a few uncorrelated factors representing the social, economic, physical and environmental dimensions of vulnerability. CA groups areas that have the same characteristics in terms of vulnerability into vulnerability classes. The grouping of the areas determines their classification contrary to other aggregation methods in which the areas' classification determines their grouping. While other aggregation methods distribute the areas into classes, in an artificial manner, by imposing a certain probability for an area to belong to a certain class, as determined by the assumption that the aggregation measure used is normally distributed, CA does not constrain the distribution of the areas by the classes. FloodVI was designed at the neighbourhood level and was applied to the Portuguese municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia where several flood events have taken place in the recent past. The FloodVI sensitivity was assessed using three different aggregation methods: the sum of component scores, the first component score and the weighted sum of component scores. The results highlight the sensitivity of the FloodVI to different aggregation methods. Both sum of component scores and weighted sum of component scores have shown similar results. The first component score aggregation method classifies almost all areas as having medium vulnerability and finally the results obtained using the CA show a distinct differentiation of the vulnerability where hot spots can be clearly identified. The information provided by records of previous flood events corroborate the results obtained with CA, because the inundated areas with greater damages are those that are identified as high and very high vulnerability areas by CA. This supports the fact that CA provides a reliable FloodVI.

Development of STS/Centaur failure probabilities liftoff to Centaur separation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hudson, J. M.

1982-01-01

The results of an analysis to determine STS/Centaur catastrophic vehicle response probabilities for the phases of vehicle flight from STS liftoff to Centaur separation from the Orbiter are presented. The analysis considers only category one component failure modes as contributors to the vehicle response mode probabilities. The relevant component failure modes are grouped into one of fourteen categories of potential vehicle behavior. By assigning failure rates to each component, for each of its failure modes, the STS/Centaur vehicle response probabilities in each phase of flight can be calculated. The results of this study will be used in a DOE analysis to ascertain the hazard from carrying a nuclear payload on the STS.

RSA prediction of high failure rate for the uncoated Interax TKA confirmed by meta-analysis.

PubMed

Pijls, Bart G; Nieuwenhuijse, Marc J; Schoones, Jan W; Middeldorp, Saskia; Valstar, Edward R; Nelissen, Rob G H H

2012-04-01

In a previous radiostereometric (RSA) trial the uncoated, uncemented, Interax tibial components showed excessive migration within 2 years compared to HA-coated and cemented tibial components. It was predicted that this type of fixation would have a high failure rate. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate whether this RSA prediction was correct. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the revision rate for aseptic loosening of the uncoated and cemented Interax tibial components. 3 studies were included, involving 349 Interax total knee arthroplasties (TKAs) for the comparison of uncoated and cemented fixation. There were 30 revisions: 27 uncoated and 3 cemented components. There was a 3-times higher revision rate for the uncoated Interax components than that for cemented Interax components (OR = 3; 95% CI: 1.4-7.2). This meta-analysis confirms the prediction of a previous RSA trial. The uncoated Interax components showed the highest migration and turned out to have the highest revision rate for aseptic loosening. RSA appears to enable efficient detection of an inferior design as early as 2 years postoperatively in a small group of patients.

Lifestyle and accidents among young drivers.

PubMed

Gregersen, N P; Berg, H Y

1994-06-01

This study covers the lifestyle component of the problems related to young drivers' accident risk. The purpose of the study is to measure the relationship between lifestyle and accident risk, and to identify specific high-risk and low-risk groups. Lifestyle is measured through a questionnaire, where 20-year-olds describe themselves and how often they deal with a large number of different activities, like sports, music, movies, reading, cars and driving, political engagement, etc. They also report their involvement in traffic accidents. With a principal component analysis followed by a cluster analysis, lifestyle profiles are defined. These profiles are finally correlated to accidents, which makes it possible to define high-risk and low-risk groups. The cluster analysis defined 15 clusters including four high-risk groups with an average overrisk of 150% and two low-risk groups with an average underrisk of 75%. The results are discussed from two perspectives. The first is the importance of theoretical understanding of the contribution of lifestyle factors to young drivers' high accident risk. The second is how the findings could be used in practical road safety measures, like education, campaigns, etc.

Chemical Composition and Crystal Morphology of Epicuticular Wax in Mature Fruits of 35 Pear (Pyrus spp.) Cultivars

PubMed Central

Wu, Xiao; Yin, Hao; Shi, Zebin; Chen, Yangyang; Qi, Kaijie; Qiao, Xin; Wang, Guoming; Cao, Peng; Zhang, Shaoling

2018-01-01

An evaluation of fruit wax components will provide us with valuable information for pear breeding and enhancing fruit quality. Here, we dissected the epicuticular wax concentration, composition and structure of mature fruits from 35 pear cultivars belonging to five different species and hybrid interspecies. A total of 146 epicuticular wax compounds were detected, and the wax composition and concentration varied dramatically among species, with the highest level of 1.53 mg/cm2 in Pyrus communis and the lowest level of 0.62 mg/cm2 in Pyrus pyrifolia. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analysis showed amorphous structures of the epicuticular wax crystals of different pear cultivars. Cluster analysis revealed that the Pyrus bretschneideri cultivars were grouped much closer to Pyrus pyrifolia and Pyrus ussuriensis, and the Pyrus sinkiangensis cultivars were clustered into a distant group. Based on the principal component analysis (PCA), the cultivars could be divided into three groups and five groups according to seven main classes of epicuticular wax compounds and 146 wax compounds, respectively. PMID:29875784

Characterization of volatile profile from ten different varieties of Chinese jujubes by HS-SPME/GC-MS coupled with E-nose.

PubMed

Chen, Qinqin; Song, Jianxin; Bi, Jinfeng; Meng, Xianjun; Wu, Xinye

2018-03-01

Volatile profile of ten different varieties of fresh jujubes was characterized by HS-SPME/GC-MS (headspace solid phase micro-extraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) and E-nose (electronic nose). GC-MS results showed that a total of 51 aroma compounds were identified in jujubes, hexanoic acid, hexanal, (E)-2-hexenal, (Z)-2-heptenal, benzaldehyde and (E)-2-nonenal were the main aroma components with contributions that over 70%. Differentiation of jujube varieties was conducted by cluster analysis of GC-MS data and principal component analysis & linear discriminant analysis of E-nose data. Both results showed that jujubes could be mainly divided into two groups: group A (JZ, PDDZ, JSXZ and LWZZ) and group B (BZ, YZ, MZ, XZ and DZ). There were significant differences in contents of alcohols, acids and aromatic compounds between group A and B. GC-MS coupled with E-nose could be a fast and accurate method to identify the general flavor difference in different varieties of jujubes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Autonomic nervous functions in fetal type Minamata disease patients: assessment of heart rate variability.

PubMed

Oka, Tomoko; Matsukura, Makoto; Okamoto, Miwako; Harada, Noriaki; Kitano, Takao; Miike, Teruhisa; Futatsuka, Makoto

2002-12-01

In order to assess the cardiovascular autonomic nervous functions in patients with fetal type Minamata disease (FMD), we investigated blood pressure (BP), and conducted time and frequency domain analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). Subjects were 9 patients in Meisuien recognized as FMD, and 13 healthy age matched control subjects. HRV and BP were assessed after subjects rested in a supine position for 10 minutes. Electrocardiographic (ECG) data were collected for 3 minutes during natural breathing. Time domain analysis (the average of R-R intervals [Mean RR], standard deviation of R-R intervals [SD RR], coefficient of variation [CV]), and frequency domain analysis by fast Fourier transformation (FFT) (power of low frequency [LF] and high frequency [HF] component, expressed in normalized units[nu]) were then conducted. In the time domain analysis, the mean RR of the FMD group was significantly lower than that of the control group. Neither SD RR nor CV showed significant differences between the two groups, but both tended to be lower in the FMD group. In the frequency domain analysis, the HF component of the FMD group was significantly lower than that of the control group. Pulse pressure (PP) was significantly lower in the FMD subjects. These findings suggest that parasympathetic nervous dysfunction might exist in FMD patients, who were exposed to high doses of methylmercury (MeHg) during the prenatal period. Decrease of PP might be due to degenerative changes of blood vessels driven by exposure to high doses of MeHg.

Analysis of the mutations induced by conazole fungicides in vivo.

PubMed

Ross, Jeffrey A; Leavitt, Sharon A

2010-05-01

The mouse liver tumorigenic conazole fungicides triadimefon and propiconazole have previously been shown to be in vivo mouse liver mutagens in the Big Blue transgenic mutation assay when administered in feed at tumorigenic doses, whereas the non-tumorigenic conazole myclobutanil was not mutagenic. DNA sequencing of the mutants recovered from each treatment group as well as from animals receiving control diet was conducted to gain additional insight into the mode of action by which tumorigenic conazoles induce mutations. Relative dinucleotide mutabilities (RDMs) were calculated for each possible dinucleotide in each treatment group and then examined by multivariate statistical analysis techniques. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis of RDM values segregated two independent control groups together, along with the non-tumorigen myclobutanil. The two tumorigenic conazoles clustered together in a distinct grouping. Partitioning around mediods of RDM values into two clusters also groups the triadimefon and propiconazole together in one cluster and the two control groups and myclobutanil together in a second cluster. Principal component analysis of these results identifies two components that account for 88.3% of the variability in the points. Taken together, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that propiconazole- and triadimefon-induced mutations do not represent clonal expansion of background mutations and support the hypothesis that they arise from the accumulation of reactive electrophilic metabolic intermediates within the liver in vivo.

Principal component analysis and analysis of variance on the effects of Entellan New on the Raman spectra of fibers.

PubMed

Yu, Marcia M L; Sandercock, P Mark L

2012-01-01

During the forensic examination of textile fibers, fibers are usually mounted on glass slides for visual inspection and identification under the microscope. One method that has the capability to accurately identify single textile fibers without subsequent demounting is Raman microspectroscopy. The effect of the mountant Entellan New on the Raman spectra of fibers was investigated to determine if it is suitable for fiber analysis. Raman spectra of synthetic fibers mounted in three different ways were collected and subjected to multivariate analysis. Principal component analysis score plots revealed that while spectra from different fiber classes formed distinct groups, fibers of the same class formed a single group regardless of the mounting method. The spectra of bare fibers and those mounted in Entellan New were found to be statistically indistinguishable by analysis of variance calculations. These results demonstrate that fibers mounted in Entellan New may be identified directly by Raman microspectroscopy without further sample preparation. © 2011 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Assessing agro-environmental performance of dairy farms in northwest Italy based on aggregated results from indicators.

PubMed

Gaudino, Stefano; Goia, Irene; Grignani, Carlo; Monaco, Stefano; Sacco, Dario

2014-07-01

Dairy farms control an important share of the agricultural area of Northern Italy. Zero grazing, large maize-cropped areas, high stocking densities, and high milk production make them intensive and prone to impact the environment. Currently, few published studies have proposed indicator sets able to describe the entire dairy farm system and their internal components. This work had four aims: i) to propose a list of agro-environmental indicators to assess dairy farms; ii) to understand which indicators classify farms best; iii) to evaluate the dairy farms based on the proposed indicator list; iv) to link farmer decisions to the consequent environmental pressures. Forty agro-environmental indicators selected for this study are described. Northern Italy dairy systems were analysed considering both farmer decision indicators (farm management) and the resulting pressure indicators that demonstrate environmental stress on the entire farming system, and its components: cropping system, livestock system, and milk production. The correlations among single indicators identified redundant indicators. Principal Components Analysis distinguished which indicators provided meaningful information about each pressure indicator group. Analysis of the communalities and the correlations among indicators identified those that best represented farm variability: Farm Gate N Balance, Greenhouse Gas Emission, and Net Energy of the farm system; Net Energy and Gross P Balance of the cropping system component; Energy Use Efficiency and Purchased Feed N Input of the livestock system component; N Eco-Efficiency of the milk production component. Farm evaluation, based on the complete list of selected indicators demonstrated organic farming resulted in uniformly high values, while farms with low milk-producing herds resulted in uniformly low values. Yet on other farms, the environmental quality varied greatly when different groups of pressure indicators were considered, which highlighted the importance of expanding environmental analysis to effects within the farm. Statistical analysis demonstrated positive correlations between all farmer decision and pressure group indicators. Consumption of mineral fertiliser and pesticide negatively influenced the cropping system. Furthermore, stocking rate was found to correlate positively with the milk production component and negatively with the farm system. This study provides baseline references for ex ante policy evaluation, and monitoring tools for analysis both in itinere and ex post environment policy implementation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Security Analysis of Smart Grid Cyber Physical Infrastructures Using Modeling and Game Theoretic Simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abercrombie, Robert K; Sheldon, Frederick T.

Cyber physical computing infrastructures typically consist of a number of sites are interconnected. Its operation critically depends both on cyber components and physical components. Both types of components are subject to attacks of different kinds and frequencies, which must be accounted for the initial provisioning and subsequent operation of the infrastructure via information security analysis. Information security analysis can be performed using game theory implemented in dynamic Agent Based Game Theoretic (ABGT) simulations. Such simulations can be verified with the results from game theory analysis and further used to explore larger scale, real world scenarios involving multiple attackers, defenders, andmore » information assets. We concentrated our analysis on the electric sector failure scenarios and impact analyses by the NESCOR Working Group Study, From the Section 5 electric sector representative failure scenarios; we extracted the four generic failure scenarios and grouped them into three specific threat categories (confidentiality, integrity, and availability) to the system. These specific failure scenarios serve as a demonstration of our simulation. The analysis using our ABGT simulation demonstrates how to model the electric sector functional domain using a set of rationalized game theoretic rules decomposed from the failure scenarios in terms of how those scenarios might impact the cyber physical infrastructure network with respect to CIA.« less

Identification of pulmonary edema in forensic autopsy cases of fatal anaphylactic shock using Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy.

PubMed

Lin, Hancheng; Luo, Yiwen; Wang, Lei; Deng, Kaifei; Sun, Qiran; Fang, Ruoxi; Wei, Xin; Zha, Shuai; Wang, Zhenyuan; Huang, Ping

2018-03-01

Anaphylaxis is a rapid allergic reaction that may cause sudden death. Currently, postmortem diagnosis of anaphylactic shock is sometimes difficult and often achieved through exclusion. The aim of our study was to investigate whether Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy combined with pattern recognition methods would be complementary to traditional methods and provide a more accurate postmortem diagnosis of fatal anaphylactic shock. First, the results of spectral peak area analysis showed that the pulmonary edema fluid of the fatal anaphylactic shock group was richer in protein components than the control group, which included mechanical asphyxia, brain injury, and acute cardiac death. Subsequently, principle component analysis (PCA) was performed and showed that the anaphylactic shock group contained more turn and α-helix protein structures as well as less tyrosine-rich proteins than the control group. Ultimately, a partial least-square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model combined with a variables selection method called the genetic algorithm (GA) was built and demonstrated good separation between these two groups. This pilot study demonstrates that FTIR microspectroscopy has the potential to be an effective aid for postmortem diagnosis of fatal anaphylactic shock.

Computer-Aided Modeling and Analysis of Power Processing Systems (CAMAPPS). Phase 1: Users handbook

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, S.; Lee, J.; Cho, B. H.; Lee, F. C.

1986-01-01

The EASY5 macro component models developed for the spacecraft power system simulation are described. A brief explanation about how to use the macro components with the EASY5 Standard Components to build a specific system is given through an example. The macro components are ordered according to the following functional group: converter power stage models, compensator models, current-feedback models, constant frequency control models, load models, solar array models, and shunt regulator models. Major equations, a circuit model, and a program listing are provided for each macro component.

On 3-D inelastic analysis methods for hot section components. Volume 1: Special finite element models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nakazawa, S.

1987-01-01

This Annual Status Report presents the results of work performed during the third year of the 3-D Inelastic Analysis Methods for Hot Section Components program (NASA Contract NAS3-23697). The objective of the program is to produce a series of new computer codes that permit more accurate and efficient three-dimensional analysis of selected hot section components, i.e., combustor liners, turbine blades, and turbine vanes. The computer codes embody a progression of mathematical models and are streamlined to take advantage of geometrical features, loading conditions, and forms of material response that distinguish each group of selected components. This report is presented in two volumes. Volume 1 describes effort performed under Task 4B, Special Finite Element Special Function Models, while Volume 2 concentrates on Task 4C, Advanced Special Functions Models.

Effect of Humeral Component Version on Outcomes in Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty.

PubMed

Aleem, Alexander W; Feeley, Brian T; Austin, Luke S; Ma, C Benjamin; Krupp, Ryan J; Ramsey, Matthew L; Getz, Charles L

2017-05-01

Although reverse shoulder arthroplasty provides excellent clinical results in appropriately selected patients, loss of external and internal rotation may occur. Component selection, design, and placement affect postoperative results. Recent studies considered the effect of humeral component version on functional results. The current study investigated whether humeral stem retroversion affects the outcomes of reverse shoulder arthroplasty with a retrospective review of a multisurgeon, industry-sponsored, prospectively gathered database of a single reverse shoulder arthroplasty implant. All patients had at least 2-year follow-up. Clinical outcomes, including American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score, visual analog scale pain score, Short Form-12 Mental and Physical Component scores, range of motion, and internal rotation function, were compared between patients with humeral retroversion of 10° or less (group A) and those with humeral retroversion of 20° or greater (group B). Radiographic outcomes were compared. The analysis included 64 patients (group A, 29 patients; group B, 35 patients). No clinical or statistically significant difference was found in American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores. Both groups showed statistical and clinical improvement vs preoperative scores, with group A averaging 77.8 and group B averaging 79.2 at final follow-up. No differences were found between groups in range of motion or ability to perform tasks that require shoulder internal rotation. Patients can expect good clinical improvement after reverse shoulder arthroplasty. No difference was found in clinical or radiologic outcomes based on humeral component retroversion. Despite the theoretical increase in external rotation when the humeral component is placed closer to native retroversion, the results did not show this effect. [Orthopedics. 2017; 40(3):179-186.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Assessment of sediment quality in the Mediterranean Sea-Boughrara lagoon exchange areas (southeastern Tunisia): GIS approach-based chemometric methods.

PubMed

Kharroubi, Adel; Gargouri, Dorra; Baati, Houda; Azri, Chafai

2012-06-01

Concentrations of selected heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Mn, and Fe) in surface sediments from 66 sites in both northern and eastern Mediterranean Sea-Boughrara lagoon exchange areas (southeastern Tunisia) were studied in order to understand current metal contamination due to the urbanization and economic development of nearby several coastal regions of the Gulf of Gabès. Multiple approaches were applied for the sediment quality assessment. These approaches were based on GIS coupled with chemometric methods (enrichment factors, geoaccumulation index, principal component analysis, and cluster analysis). Enrichment factors and principal component analysis revealed two distinct groups of metals. The first group corresponded to Fe and Mn derived from natural sources, and the second group contained Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu originated from man-made sources. For these latter metals, cluster analysis showed two distinct distributions in the selected areas. They were attributed to temporal and spatial variations of contaminant sources input. The geoaccumulation index (I (geo)) values explained that only Cd, Pb, and Cu can be considered as moderate to extreme pollutants in the studied sediments.

Principal component analysis for designed experiments.

PubMed

Konishi, Tomokazu

2015-01-01

Principal component analysis is used to summarize matrix data, such as found in transcriptome, proteome or metabolome and medical examinations, into fewer dimensions by fitting the matrix to orthogonal axes. Although this methodology is frequently used in multivariate analyses, it has disadvantages when applied to experimental data. First, the identified principal components have poor generality; since the size and directions of the components are dependent on the particular data set, the components are valid only within the data set. Second, the method is sensitive to experimental noise and bias between sample groups. It cannot reflect the experimental design that is planned to manage the noise and bias; rather, it estimates the same weight and independence to all the samples in the matrix. Third, the resulting components are often difficult to interpret. To address these issues, several options were introduced to the methodology. First, the principal axes were identified using training data sets and shared across experiments. These training data reflect the design of experiments, and their preparation allows noise to be reduced and group bias to be removed. Second, the center of the rotation was determined in accordance with the experimental design. Third, the resulting components were scaled to unify their size unit. The effects of these options were observed in microarray experiments, and showed an improvement in the separation of groups and robustness to noise. The range of scaled scores was unaffected by the number of items. Additionally, unknown samples were appropriately classified using pre-arranged axes. Furthermore, these axes well reflected the characteristics of groups in the experiments. As was observed, the scaling of the components and sharing of axes enabled comparisons of the components beyond experiments. The use of training data reduced the effects of noise and bias in the data, facilitating the physical interpretation of the principal axes. Together, these introduced options result in improved generality and objectivity of the analytical results. The methodology has thus become more like a set of multiple regression analyses that find independent models that specify each of the axes.

Uncovering the Mechanisms of Chinese Herbal Medicine (MaZiRenWan) for Functional Constipation by Focused Network Pharmacology Approach.

PubMed

Huang, Tao; Ning, Ziwan; Hu, Dongdong; Zhang, Man; Zhao, Ling; Lin, Chengyuan; Zhong, Linda L D; Yang, Zhijun; Xu, Hongxi; Bian, Zhaoxiang

2018-01-01

MaZiRenWan (MZRW, also known as Hemp Seed Pill) is a Chinese Herbal Medicine which has been demonstrated to safely and effectively alleviate functional constipation (FC) in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study with 120 subjects. However, the underlying pharmacological actions of MZRW for FC, are still largely unknown. We systematically analyzed the bioactive compounds of MZRW and mechanism-of-action biological targets through a novel approach called "focused network pharmacology." Among the 97 compounds identified by UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS in MZRW extract, 34 were found in rat plasma, while 10 were found in rat feces. Hierarchical clustering analysis suggest that these compounds can be classified into component groups, in which compounds are highly similar to each other and most of them are from the same herb. Emodin, amygdalin, albiflorin, honokiol, and naringin were selected as representative compounds of corresponding component groups. All of them were shown to induce spontaneous contractions of rat colonic smooth muscle in vitro . Network analysis revealed that biological targets in acetylcholine-, estrogen-, prostaglandin-, cannabinoid-, and purine signaling pathways are able to explain the prokinetic effects of representative compounds and corresponding component groups. In conclusion, MZRW active components enhance colonic motility, possibly by acting on multiple targets and pathways.

Uncovering the Mechanisms of Chinese Herbal Medicine (MaZiRenWan) for Functional Constipation by Focused Network Pharmacology Approach

PubMed Central

Huang, Tao; Ning, Ziwan; Hu, Dongdong; Zhang, Man; Zhao, Ling; Lin, Chengyuan; Zhong, Linda L. D.; Yang, Zhijun; Xu, Hongxi; Bian, Zhaoxiang

2018-01-01

MaZiRenWan (MZRW, also known as Hemp Seed Pill) is a Chinese Herbal Medicine which has been demonstrated to safely and effectively alleviate functional constipation (FC) in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study with 120 subjects. However, the underlying pharmacological actions of MZRW for FC, are still largely unknown. We systematically analyzed the bioactive compounds of MZRW and mechanism-of-action biological targets through a novel approach called “focused network pharmacology.” Among the 97 compounds identified by UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS in MZRW extract, 34 were found in rat plasma, while 10 were found in rat feces. Hierarchical clustering analysis suggest that these compounds can be classified into component groups, in which compounds are highly similar to each other and most of them are from the same herb. Emodin, amygdalin, albiflorin, honokiol, and naringin were selected as representative compounds of corresponding component groups. All of them were shown to induce spontaneous contractions of rat colonic smooth muscle in vitro. Network analysis revealed that biological targets in acetylcholine-, estrogen-, prostaglandin-, cannabinoid-, and purine signaling pathways are able to explain the prokinetic effects of representative compounds and corresponding component groups. In conclusion, MZRW active components enhance colonic motility, possibly by acting on multiple targets and pathways. PMID:29632490

The genetics of East African populations: a Nilo-Saharan component in the African genetic landscape

PubMed Central

Dobon, Begoña; Hassan, Hisham Y.; Laayouni, Hafid; Luisi, Pierre; Ricaño-Ponce, Isis; Zhernakova, Alexandra; Wijmenga, Cisca; Tahir, Hanan; Comas, David; Netea, Mihai G.; Bertranpetit, Jaume

2015-01-01

East Africa is a strategic region to study human genetic diversity due to the presence of ethnically, linguistically, and geographically diverse populations. Here, we provide new insight into the genetic history of populations living in the Sudanese region of East Africa by analysing nine ethnic groups belonging to three African linguistic families: Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic. A total of 500 individuals were genotyped for 200,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Principal component analysis, clustering analysis using ADMIXTURE, FST statistics, and the three-population test were used to investigate the underlying genetic structure and ancestry of the different ethno-linguistic groups. Our analyses revealed a genetic component for Sudanese Nilo-Saharan speaking groups (Darfurians and part of Nuba populations) related to Nilotes of South Sudan, but not to other Sudanese populations or other sub-Saharan populations. Populations inhabiting the North of the region showed close genetic affinities with North Africa, with a component that could be remnant of North Africans before the migrations of Arabs from Arabia. In addition, we found very low genetic distances between populations in genes important for anti-malarial and anti-bacterial host defence, suggesting similar selective pressures on these genes and stressing the importance of considering functional pathways to understand the evolutionary history of populations. PMID:26017457

Effects of modulation phase on profile analysis in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, Deanna; Lentz, Jennifer

2003-04-01

The ability to discriminate between sounds with different spectral shapes in the presence of amplitude modulation was measured in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. The standard stimulus was the sum of equal-amplitude modulated tones, and the signal stimulus was generated by increasing the level of half the tones (up components) and decreasing the level of half the tones (down components). The down components had the same modulation phase, and a phase shift was applied to the up components to encourage segregation from the down tones. The same phase shift was used in both standard and signal stimuli. Profile-analysis thresholds were measured as a function of the phase shift between up and down components. The phase shifts were 0, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 180 deg. As expected, thresholds were lowest when all tones had the same modulation phase and increased somewhat with increasing phase disparity. This small increase in thresholds was similar for both groups. These results suggest that hearing-impaired listeners are able to use modulation phase to group sounds in a manner similar to that of normal listeners. [Work supported by NIH (DC 05835).

Using Internet Groups in the Learning of Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arikan, Arda

2008-01-01

In this paper, an application of one aspect of the Internet technology, namely Internet groups, into the teaching of American and British literatures is evaluated by means of a content analysis of the Internet group which was used as the course component. The aim of this paper was to see how students used the Internet group in the learning of…

The influence of essential oils on human attention. I: alertness.

PubMed

Ilmberger, J; Heuberger, E; Mahrhofer, C; Dessovic, H; Kowarik, D; Buchbauer, G

2001-03-01

Scientific research on the effects of essential oils on human behavior lags behind the promises made by popular aromatherapy. Nearly all aspects of human behavior are closely linked to processes of attention, the basic level being that of alertness, which ranges from sleep to wakefulness. In our study we measured the influence of essential oils and components of essential oils [peppermint, jasmine, ylang-ylang, 1,8-cineole (in two different dosages) and menthol] on this core attentional function, which can be experimentally defined as speed of information processing. Substances were administered by inhalation; levels of alertness were assessed by measuring motor and reaction times in a reaction time paradigm. The performances of the six experimental groups receiving substances (n = 20 in four groups, n = 30 in two groups) were compared with those of corresponding control groups receiving water. Between-group analysis, i.e. comparisons between experimental groups and their respective control groups, mainly did not reach statistical significance. However, within-group analysis showed complex correlations between subjective evaluations of substances and objective performance, indicating that effects of essentials oils or their components on basic forms of attentional behavior are mainly psychological.

Early Literacy and Numeracy Skills in Bilingual Minority Children: Toward a Relative Independence of Linguistic and Numerical Processing

PubMed Central

Bonifacci, Paola; Tobia, Valentina; Bernabini, Luca; Marzocchi, Gian Marco

2016-01-01

Many studies have suggested that the concept of “number” is relatively independent from linguistic skills, although an increasing number of studies suggest that language abilities may play a pivotal role in the development of arithmetic skills. The condition of bilingualism can offer a unique perspective into the role of linguistic competence in numerical development. The present study was aimed at evaluating the relationship between language skills and early numeracy through a multilevel investigation in monolingual and bilingual minority children attending preschool. The sample included 156 preschool children. Of these, 77 were bilingual minority children (mean age = 58.27 ± 5.90), and 79 were monolinguals (mean age = 58.45 ± 6.03). The study focused on three levels of analysis: group differences in language and number skills, concurrent linguistic predictors of early numeracy and, finally, profile analysis of linguistic skills in children with impaired vs. adequate numeracy skills. The results showed that, apart from the expected differences in linguistic measures, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in numerical skills with a verbal component, such as semantic knowledge of digits, but they did not differ in a pure non-verbal component such as quantity comparison. The multigroup structural equation model indicated that letter knowledge was a significant predictor of the verbal component of numeracy for both groups. Phonological awareness was a significant predictor of numeracy skills only in the monolingual group. Profile analysis showed that children with a selective weakness in the non-verbal component of numeracy had fully adequate verbal skills. Results from the present study suggest that only some specific components of language competence predict numerical processing, although linguistic proficiency may not be a prerequisite for developing adequate early numeracy skills. PMID:27458413

Macrophage biospecific extraction and HPLC-ESI-MSn analysis for screening immunological active components in Smilacis Glabrae Rhizoma.

PubMed

Zheng, Zhao-Guang; Duan, Ting-Ting; He, Bao; Tang, Dan; Jia, Xiao-Bin; Wang, Ru-Shang; Zhu, Jia-Xiao; Xu, You-Hua; Zhu, Quan; Feng, Liang

2013-04-15

A cell-permeable membrane, as typified by Transwell insert Permeable Supports, permit accurate repeatable invasion assays, has been developed as a tool for screening immunological active components in Smilacis Glabrae Rhizoma (SGR). In this research, components in the water extract of SGR (ESGR) might conjugate with the receptors or other targets on macrophages which invaded Transwell inserts, and then the eluate which contained components biospecific binding to macrophages was identified by HPLC-ESI-MS(n) analysis. Six compounds, which could interact with macrophages, were detected and identified. Among these compounds, taxifolin (2) and astilbin (4) were identified by comparing with the chromatography of standards, while the four others including 5-O-caffeoylshikimic acid (1), neoastilbin (3), neoisoastilbin (5) and isoastilbin (6), were elucidated by their structure clearage characterizations of tandem mass spectrometry. Then compound 1 was isolated and purified from SGR, along with 2 and 4, was applied to the macrophage migration and adhesion assay in HUVEC (Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells) -macrophages co-incultured Transwell system for immunological activity assessment. The results showed that compounds 1, 2 and 4 with concentration of 5μM (H), 500nM (M) and 50nM (L) could remarkably inhibit the macrophage migration and adhesion (Vs AGEs (Advanced Glycation End Produces) group, 1-L, 2-H and 4-L groups: p<0.05; other groups: p<0.01). Moreover, 1 and 4 showed satisfactory dose-effect relationship. In conclusion, the application of macrophage biospecific extraction coupled with HPLC-ESI-MS(n) analysis is a rapid, simple and reliable method for screening immunological active components from Traditional Chinese Medicine. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Early Literacy and Numeracy Skills in Bilingual Minority Children: Toward a Relative Independence of Linguistic and Numerical Processing.

PubMed

Bonifacci, Paola; Tobia, Valentina; Bernabini, Luca; Marzocchi, Gian Marco

2016-01-01

Many studies have suggested that the concept of "number" is relatively independent from linguistic skills, although an increasing number of studies suggest that language abilities may play a pivotal role in the development of arithmetic skills. The condition of bilingualism can offer a unique perspective into the role of linguistic competence in numerical development. The present study was aimed at evaluating the relationship between language skills and early numeracy through a multilevel investigation in monolingual and bilingual minority children attending preschool. The sample included 156 preschool children. Of these, 77 were bilingual minority children (mean age = 58.27 ± 5.90), and 79 were monolinguals (mean age = 58.45 ± 6.03). The study focused on three levels of analysis: group differences in language and number skills, concurrent linguistic predictors of early numeracy and, finally, profile analysis of linguistic skills in children with impaired vs. adequate numeracy skills. The results showed that, apart from the expected differences in linguistic measures, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in numerical skills with a verbal component, such as semantic knowledge of digits, but they did not differ in a pure non-verbal component such as quantity comparison. The multigroup structural equation model indicated that letter knowledge was a significant predictor of the verbal component of numeracy for both groups. Phonological awareness was a significant predictor of numeracy skills only in the monolingual group. Profile analysis showed that children with a selective weakness in the non-verbal component of numeracy had fully adequate verbal skills. Results from the present study suggest that only some specific components of language competence predict numerical processing, although linguistic proficiency may not be a prerequisite for developing adequate early numeracy skills.

All-Polyethylene Tibial Components: An Analysis of Long-Term Outcomes and Infection.

PubMed

Houdek, Matthew T; Wagner, Eric R; Wyles, Cody C; Watts, Chad D; Cass, Joseph R; Trousdale, Robert T

2016-07-01

There is debate regarding tibial component modularity and composition in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Biomechanical studies have suggested improved stress distribution in metal-backed tibias; however, these results have not translated clinically. The purpose of this study was to analyze the outcomes of all-polyethylene components and to compare the results to those with metal-backed components. We reviewed 31,939 patients undergoing a primary TKA over a 43-year period (1970-2013). There were 28,224 (88%) metal-backed and 3715 (12%) all-polyethylene tibial components. The metal-backed and all-polyethylene groups had comparable demographics with respect to gender, age and body mass index (BMI). Mean follow-up was 7 years. The mean survival for all primary TKAs at the 5-, 10-, 20- and 30-year time points was 95%, 89%, 73%, and 57%, respectively. All-polyethylene tibial components were found to have a significantly improved (P < .0001) survivorship when compared with their metal-backed counterparts. All-polyethylene tibial components were also found to have a significantly lower rate of infection, instability, tibial component loosening, and periprosthetic fracture. The all-polyethylene group had improved survival rates in all age groups, except in patients 85 years old or greater, where there was no significant difference. All-polyethylene tibial components had improved survival for all BMI groups except in the morbidly obese (BMI ≥ 40) where there was no significant difference. All-polyethylene tibial components had significantly improved implant survival, reduced rates of postoperative infection, fracture, and tibial component loosening. All polyethylene should be considered for most of the patients, regardless of age and BMI. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Organosolv Lignins using Thermal and FT-IR Spectroscopic Analysis

Treesearch

Rhea J. Sammons; David P. Harper; Nicole Labbe; Joseph J. Bozell; Thomas Elder; Timothy G. Rials

2013-01-01

A group of biomass-derived lignins isolated using organosolv fractionation was characterized by FT-IR spectral and thermal property analysis coupled with multivariate analysis. The principal component analysis indicated that there were significant variations between the hardwood, softwood, and grass lignins due to the differences in syringyl and guaiacyl units as well...

SSME Post Test Diagnostic System: Systems Section

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bickmore, Timothy

1995-01-01

An assessment of engine and component health is routinely made after each test firing or flight firing of a Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). Currently, this health assessment is done by teams of engineers who manually review sensor data, performance data, and engine and component operating histories. Based on review of information from these various sources, an evaluation is made as to the health of each component of the SSME and the preparedness of the engine for another test or flight. The objective of this project - the SSME Post Test Diagnostic System (PTDS) - is to develop a computer program which automates the analysis of test data from the SSME in order to detect and diagnose anomalies. This report primarily covers work on the Systems Section of the PTDS, which automates the analyses performed by the systems/performance group at the Propulsion Branch of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). This group is responsible for assessing the overall health and performance of the engine, and detecting and diagnosing anomalies which involve multiple components (other groups are responsible for analyzing the behavior of specific components). The PTDS utilizes several advanced software technologies to perform its analyses. Raw test data is analyzed using signal processing routines which detect features in the data, such as spikes, shifts, peaks, and drifts. Component analyses are performed by expert systems, which use 'rules-of-thumb' obtained from interviews with the MSFC data analysts to detect and diagnose anomalies. The systems analysis is performed using case-based reasoning. Results of all analyses are stored in a relational database and displayed via an X-window-based graphical user interface which provides ranked lists of anomalies and observations by engine component, along with supporting data plots for each.

[In vitro transdermal delivery of the active fraction of xiangfusiwu decoction based on principal component analysis].

PubMed

Li, Zhen-Hao; Liu, Pei; Qian, Da-Wei; Li, Wei; Shang, Er-Xin; Duan, Jin-Ao

2013-06-01

The objective of the present study was to establish a method based on principal component analysis (PCA) for the study of transdermal delivery of multiple components in Chinese medicine, and to choose the best penetration enhancers for the active fraction of Xiangfusiwu decoction (BW) with this method. Improved Franz diffusion cells with isolated rat abdomen skins were carried out to experiment on the transdermal delivery of six active components, including ferulic acid, paeoniflorin, albiflorin, protopine, tetrahydropalmatine and tetrahydrocolumbamine. The concentrations of these components were determined by LC-MS/MS, then the total factor scores of the concentrations at different times were calculated using PCA and were employed instead of the concentrations to compute the cumulative amounts and steady fluxes, the latter of which were considered as the indexes for optimizing penetration enhancers. The results showed that compared to the control group, the steady fluxes of the other groups increased significantly and furthermore, 4% azone with 1% propylene glycol manifested the best effect. The six components could penetrate through skin well under the action of penetration enhancers. The method established in this study has been proved to be suitable for the study of transdermal delivery of multiple components, and it provided a scientific basis for preparation research of Xiangfusiwu decoction and moreover, it could be a reference for Chinese medicine research.

Designers' models of the human-computer interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gillan, Douglas J.; Breedin, Sarah D.

1993-01-01

Understanding design models of the human-computer interface (HCI) may produce two types of benefits. First, interface development often requires input from two different types of experts: human factors specialists and software developers. Given the differences in their backgrounds and roles, human factors specialists and software developers may have different cognitive models of the HCI. Yet, they have to communicate about the interface as part of the design process. If they have different models, their interactions are likely to involve a certain amount of miscommunication. Second, the design process in general is likely to be guided by designers' cognitive models of the HCI, as well as by their knowledge of the user, tasks, and system. Designers do not start with a blank slate; rather they begin with a general model of the object they are designing. The author's approach to a design model of the HCI was to have three groups make judgments of categorical similarity about the components of an interface: human factors specialists with HCI design experience, software developers with HCI design experience, and a baseline group of computer users with no experience in HCI design. The components of the user interface included both display components such as windows, text, and graphics, and user interaction concepts, such as command language, editing, and help. The judgments of the three groups were analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis and Pathfinder. These methods indicated, respectively, how the groups categorized the concepts, and network representations of the concepts for each group. The Pathfinder analysis provides greater information about local, pairwise relations among concepts, whereas the cluster analysis shows global, categorical relations to a greater extent.

1 H NMR study and multivariate data analysis of reindeer skin tanning methods.

PubMed

Zhu, Lizheng; Ilott, Andrew J; Del Federico, Eleonora; Kehlet, Cindie; Klokkernes, Torunn; Jerschow, Alexej

2017-04-01

Reindeer skin clothing has been an essential component in the lives of indigenous people of the arctic and sub-arctic regions, keeping them warm during harsh winters. However, the skin processing technology, which often conveys the history and tradition of the indigenous group, has not been well documented. In this study, NMR spectra and relaxation behaviors of reindeer skin samples treated with a variety of vegetable tannin extracts, oils and fatty substances are studied and compared. With the assistance of principal component analysis (PCA), one can recognize patterns and identify groupings of differently treated samples. These methods could be important aids in efforts to conserve museum leather artifacts with unknown treatment methods and in the analysis of reindeer skin tanning processes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluation of anterior knee pain in a PS total knee arthroplasty: the role of patella-friendly femoral component and patellar size.

PubMed

Atzori, F; Sabatini, L; Deledda, D; Schirò, M; Lo Baido, R; Baido, R L; Massè, A

2015-04-01

Total knee arthroplasty gives excellent objective results. Nevertheless, the subjective findings do not match the normal knee perception: Often, it depends on patellar pain onset. In this study, we analyzed clinical and radiological items that can affect resurfaced patellar tracking, and role of a patella-friendly femoral component and patellar size on patellar pain onset. Thirty consecutive patients were implanted using the same-cemented posterior-stabilized TKA associated with patella resurfacing. Fifteen patients were implanted using a classical femoral component, while another 15 patients were implanted using a patella-friendly femoral component. The statistical analysis was set to detect a significant difference (p < 0.05) in clinical and radiological outcomes related to several surgical parameters. Clinical and functional outcomes were recorded using the Knee Society Scoring System (KSS) and patellar pain with the Burnett questionnaire. Mean follow-up was 25 months. KSS results were excellent in both groups. Group 2 (patella-friendly femoral model) reached a higher percentage of 100 points in the clinical and functional KSS, but there was no statistical difference. Also, no statistical differences for Burnett Questionnaire results were recorded. We had one case of patellar clunk syndrome in the standard femoral component group and one poor result in the second group. Postoperative radiographic measurements evidenced no statistical differences in both groups. In group 1 (classical femoral component), better significant result (p < 0.05) war recorded at clinical evaluation according to the Knee Society Scoring System (KSS) in case of wider patellar component resurfaced. The present study reveals no statistically significant difference in the incidence of anterior knee pain between classical and "patella-friendly" femoral components. With the particular type of implant design utilized in this study, when the classical femoral component is used, bigger patellar implant sizes (38 and 41 mm) showed superior clinical outcome.

Artifact removal in the context of group ICA: a comparison of single-subject and group approaches

PubMed Central

Du, Yuhui; Allen, Elena A.; He, Hao; Sui, Jing; Wu, Lei; Calhoun, Vince D.

2018-01-01

Independent component analysis (ICA) has been widely applied to identify intrinsic brain networks from fMRI data. Group ICA computes group-level components from all data and subsequently estimates individual-level components to recapture inter-subject variability. However, the best approach to handle artifacts, which may vary widely among subjects, is not yet clear. In this work, we study and compare two ICA approaches for artifacts removal. One approach, recommended in recent work by the Human Connectome Project, first performs ICA on individual subject data to remove artifacts, and then applies a group ICA on the cleaned data from all subjects. We refer to this approach as Individual ICA based artifacts Removal Plus Group ICA (IRPG). A second proposed approach, called Group Information Guided ICA (GIG-ICA), performs ICA on group data, then removes the group-level artifact components, and finally performs subject-specific ICAs using the group-level non-artifact components as spatial references. We used simulations to evaluate the two approaches with respect to the effects of data quality, data quantity, variable number of sources among subjects, and spatially unique artifacts. Resting-state test-retest datasets were also employed to investigate the reliability of functional networks. Results from simulations demonstrate GIG-ICA has greater performance compared to IRPG, even in the case when single-subject artifacts removal is perfect and when individual subjects have spatially unique artifacts. Experiments using test-retest data suggest that GIG-ICA provides more reliable functional networks. Based on high estimation accuracy, ease of implementation, and high reliability of functional networks, we find GIG-ICA to be a promising approach. PMID:26859308

State and group dynamics of world stock market by principal component analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nobi, Ashadun; Lee, Jae Woo

2016-05-01

We study the dynamic interactions and structural changes by a principal component analysis (PCA) to cross-correlation coefficients of global financial indices in the years 1998-2012. The variances explained by the first PC increase with time and show a drastic change during the crisis. A sharp change in PC coefficient implies a transition of market state, a situation which occurs frequently in the American and Asian indices. However, the European indices remain stable over time. Using the first two PC coefficients, we identify indices that are similar and more strongly correlated than the others. We observe that the European indices form a robust group over the observation period. The dynamics of the individual indices within the group increase in similarity with time, and the dynamics of indices are more similar during the crises. Furthermore, the group formation of indices changes position in two-dimensional spaces due to crises. Finally, after a financial crisis, the difference of PCs between the European and American indices narrows.

Comparative proteomic analysis of male and female venoms from the Cuban scorpion Rhopalurus junceus.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Ravelo, Rodolfo; Batista, Cesar V F; Coronas, Fredy I V; Zamudio, Fernando Z; Hernández-Orihuela, Lorena; Espinosa-López, Georgina; Ruiz-Urquiola, Ariel; Possani, Lourival D

2015-12-01

A complete mass spectrometry analysis of venom components from male and female scorpions of the species Rhophalurus junceus of Cuba is reported. In the order of 200 individual molecular masses were identified in both venoms, from which 63 are identical in male and females genders. It means that a significant difference of venom components exists between individuals of different sexes, but the most abundant components are present in both sexes. The relative abundance of identical components is different among the genders. Three well defined groups of different peptides were separated and identified. The first group corresponds to peptides with molecular masses of 1000-2000 Da; the second to peptides with 3500-4500 Da molecular weight, and the third with 6500-8000 Da molecular weights. A total of 86 peptides rich in disulfide bridges were found in the venoms, 27 with three disulfide bridges and 59 with four disulfide bridges. LC-MS/MS analysis allowed the identification and amino acid sequence determination of 31 novel peptides in male venom. Two new putative K(+)-channel peptides were sequences by Edman degradation. They contain 37 amino acid residues, packed by three disulfide bridges and were assigned the systematic numbers: α-KTx 1.18 and α-KTx 2.15. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Univariate and multivariate molecular spectral analyses of lipid related molecular structural components in relation to nutrient profile in feed and food mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abeysekara, Saman; Damiran, Daalkhaijav; Yu, Peiqiang

2013-02-01

The objectives of this study were (i) to determine lipid related molecular structures components (functional groups) in feed combination of cereal grain (barley, Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) based dried distillers grain solubles (wheat DDGSs) from bioethanol processing at five different combination ratios using univariate and multivariate molecular spectral analyses with infrared Fourier transform molecular spectroscopy, and (ii) to correlate lipid-related molecular-functional structure spectral profile to nutrient profiles. The spectral intensity of (i) CH3 asymmetric, CH2 asymmetric, CH3 symmetric and CH2 symmetric groups, (ii) unsaturation (Cdbnd C) group, and (iii) carbonyl ester (Cdbnd O) group were determined. Spectral differences of functional groups were detected by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal components analysis (PCA). The results showed that the combination treatments significantly inflicted modifications (P < 0.05) in nutrient profile and lipid related molecular spectral intensity (CH2 asymmetric stretching peak height, CH2 symmetric stretching peak height, ratio of CH2 to CH3 symmetric stretching peak intensity, and carbonyl peak area). Ratio of CH2 to CH3 symmetric stretching peak intensity, and carbonyl peak significantly correlated with nutrient profiles. Both PCA and HCA differentiated lipid-related spectrum. In conclusion, the changes of lipid molecular structure spectral profiles through feed combination could be detected using molecular spectroscopy. These changes were associated with nutrient profiles and functionality.

Chemical discrimination of lubricant marketing types using direct analysis in real time time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Maric, Mark; Harvey, Lauren; Tomcsak, Maren; Solano, Angelique; Bridge, Candice

2017-06-30

In comparison to other violent crimes, sexual assaults suffer from very low prosecution and conviction rates especially in the absence of DNA evidence. As a result, the forensic community needs to utilize other forms of trace contact evidence, like lubricant evidence, in order to provide a link between the victim and the assailant. In this study, 90 personal bottled and condom lubricants from the three main marketing types, silicone-based, water-based and condoms, were characterized by direct analysis in real time time of flight mass spectrometry (DART-TOFMS). The instrumental data was analyzed by multivariate statistics including hierarchal cluster analysis, principal component analysis, and linear discriminant analysis. By interpreting the mass spectral data with multivariate statistics, 12 discrete groupings were identified, indicating inherent chemical diversity not only between but within the three main marketing groups. A number of unique chemical markers, both major and minor, were identified, other than the three main chemical components (i.e. PEG, PDMS and nonoxynol-9) currently used for lubricant classification. The data was validated by a stratified 20% withheld cross-validation which demonstrated that there was minimal overlap between the groupings. Based on the groupings identified and unique features of each group, a highly discriminating statistical model was then developed that aims to provide the foundation for the development of a forensic lubricant database that may eventually be applied to casework. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Pulsed Direct Current Electrospray: Enabling Systematic Analysis of Small Volume Sample by Boosting Sample Economy.

PubMed

Wei, Zhenwei; Xiong, Xingchuang; Guo, Chengan; Si, Xingyu; Zhao, Yaoyao; He, Muyi; Yang, Chengdui; Xu, Wei; Tang, Fei; Fang, Xiang; Zhang, Sichun; Zhang, Xinrong

2015-11-17

We had developed pulsed direct current electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (pulsed-dc-ESI-MS) for systematically profiling and determining components in small volume sample. Pulsed-dc-ESI utilized constant high voltage to induce the generation of single polarity pulsed electrospray remotely. This method had significantly boosted the sample economy, so as to obtain several minutes MS signal duration from merely picoliter volume sample. The elongated MS signal duration enable us to collect abundant MS(2) information on interested components in a small volume sample for systematical analysis. This method had been successfully applied for single cell metabolomics analysis. We had obtained 2-D profile of metabolites (including exact mass and MS(2) data) from single plant and mammalian cell, concerning 1034 components and 656 components for Allium cepa and HeLa cells, respectively. Further identification had found 162 compounds and 28 different modification groups of 141 saccharides in a single Allium cepa cell, indicating pulsed-dc-ESI a powerful tool for small volume sample systematical analysis.

A managerial accounting analysis of hospital costs.

PubMed Central

Frank, W G

1976-01-01

Variance analysis, an accounting technique, is applied to an eight-component model of hospital costs to determine the contribution each component makes to cost increases. The method is illustrated by application to data on total costs from 1950 to 1973 for all U.S. nongovernmental not-for-profit short-term general hospitals. The costs of a single hospital are analyzed and compared to the group costs. The potential uses and limitations of the method as a planning and research tool are discussed. PMID:965233

A managerial accounting analysis of hospital costs.

PubMed

Frank, W G

1976-01-01

Variance analysis, an accounting technique, is applied to an eight-component model of hospital costs to determine the contribution each component makes to cost increases. The method is illustrated by application to data on total costs from 1950 to 1973 for all U.S. nongovernmental not-for-profit short-term general hospitals. The costs of a single hospital are analyzed and compared to the group costs. The potential uses and limitations of the method as a planning and research tool are discussed.

Reading comprehension and immersion schooling: evidence from component skills.

PubMed

Hansen, Laura Birke; Morales, Julia; Macizo, Pedro; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni; Saldaña, David; Carreiras, Manuel; Fuentes, Luis J; Bajo, M Teresa

2017-01-01

The present research aims to assess literacy acquisition in children becoming bilingual via second language immersion in school. We adopt a cognitive components approach, assessing text-level reading comprehension, a complex literacy skill, as well as underlying cognitive and linguistic components in 144 children aged 7 to 14 (72 immersion bilinguals, 72 controls). Using principal component analysis, a nuanced pattern of results was observed: although emergent bilinguals lag behind their monolingual counterparts on measures of linguistic processing, they showed enhanced performance on a memory and reasoning component. For reading comprehension, no between-group differences were evident, suggesting that selective benefits compensate costs at the level of underlying cognitive components. Overall, the results seem to indicate that literacy skills may be modulated by emerging bilingualism even when no between-group differences are evident at the level of complex skill, and the detection of such differences may depend on the focus and selectivity of the task battery used. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Principal component analysis study of visual and verbal metaphoric comprehension in children with autism and learning disabilities.

PubMed

Mashal, Nira; Kasirer, Anat

2012-01-01

This research extends previous studies regarding the metaphoric competence of autistic and learning disable children on different measures of visual and verbal non-literal language comprehension, as well as cognitive abilities that include semantic knowledge, executive functions, similarities, and reading fluency. Thirty seven children with autism (ASD), 20 children with learning disabilities (LD), and 21 typically developed (TD) children participated in the study. Principal components analysis was used to examine the interrelationship among the various tests in each group. Results showed different patterns in the data according to group. In particular, the results revealed that there is no dichotomy between visual and verbal metaphors in TD children but rather metaphor are classified according to their familiarity level. In the LD group visual metaphors were classified independently of the verbal metaphors. Verbal metaphoric understanding in the ASD group resembled the LD group. In addition, our results revealed the relative weakness of the ASD and LD children in suppressing irrelevant information. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multivariate analysis of chromatographic retention data as a supplementary means for grouping structurally related compounds.

PubMed

Fasoula, S; Zisi, Ch; Sampsonidis, I; Virgiliou, Ch; Theodoridis, G; Gika, H; Nikitas, P; Pappa-Louisi, A

2015-03-27

In the present study a series of 45 metabolite standards belonging to four chemically similar metabolite classes (sugars, amino acids, nucleosides and nucleobases, and amines) was subjected to LC analysis on three HILIC columns under 21 different gradient conditions with the aim to explore whether the retention properties of these analytes are determined from the chemical group they belong. Two multivariate techniques, principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis (DA), were used for statistical evaluation of the chromatographic data and extraction similarities between chemically related compounds. The total variance explained by the first two principal components of PCA was found to be about 98%, whereas both statistical analyses indicated that all analytes are successfully grouped in four clusters of chemical structure based on the retention obtained in four or at least three chromatographic runs, which, however should be performed on two different HILIC columns. Moreover, leave-one-out cross-validation of the above retention data set showed that the chemical group in which an analyte belongs can be 95.6% correctly predicted when the analyte is subjected to LC analysis under the same four or three experimental conditions as the all set of analytes was run beforehand. That, in turn, may assist with disambiguation of analyte identification in complex biological extracts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hydrochemical characteristics and water quality assessment of surface water and groundwater in Songnen plain, Northeast China.

PubMed

Zhang, Bing; Song, Xianfang; Zhang, Yinghua; Han, Dongmei; Tang, Changyuan; Yu, Yilei; Ma, Ying

2012-05-15

Water quality is the critical factor that influence on human health and quantity and quality of grain production in semi-humid and semi-arid area. Songnen plain is one of the grain bases in China, as well as one of the three major distribution regions of soda saline-alkali soil in the world. To assess the water quality, surface water and groundwater were sampled and analyzed by fuzzy membership analysis and multivariate statistics. The surface water were gather into class I, IV and V, while groundwater were grouped as class I, II, III and V by fuzzy membership analysis. The water samples were grouped into four categories according to irrigation water quality assessment diagrams of USDA. Most water samples distributed in category C1-S1, C2-S2 and C3-S3. Three groups were generated from hierarchical cluster analysis. Four principal components were extracted from principal component analysis. The indicators to water quality assessment were Na, HCO(3), NO(3), Fe, Mn and EC from principal component analysis. We conclude that surface water and shallow groundwater are suitable for irrigation, the reservoir and deep groundwater in upstream are the resources for drinking. The water for drinking should remove of the naturally occurring ions of Fe and Mn. The control of sodium and salinity hazard is required for irrigation. The integrated management of surface water and groundwater for drinking and irrigation is to solve the water issues. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Human Relations Class. A Syllabus.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guillen, Mary A.

A junior high level human relations class develops human interaction and oral communication skills. A week-by-week syllabus contains the following components: introduction of the students to each other and to the principles of body language, transactional analysis, and group interaction; behavior contracts; group dynamics topics and exercises;…

Improving Cluster Analysis with Automatic Variable Selection Based on Trees

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

regression trees Daisy DISsimilAritY PAM partitioning around medoids PMA penalized multivariate analysis SPC sparse principal components UPGMA unweighted...unweighted pair-group average method ( UPGMA ). This method measures dissimilarities between all objects in two clusters and takes the average value

Can a dual-energy computed tomography predict unsuitable stone components for extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy?

PubMed

Ahn, Sung Hoon; Oh, Tae Hoon; Seo, Ill Young

2015-09-01

To assess the potential of dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) to identify urinary stone components, particularly uric acid and calcium oxalate monohydrate, which are unsuitable for extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). This clinical study included 246 patients who underwent removal of urinary stones and an analysis of stone components between November 2009 and August 2013. All patients received preoperative DECT using two energy values (80 kVp and 140 kVp). Hounsfield units (HU) were measured and matched to the stone component. Significant differences in HU values were observed between uric acid and nonuric acid stones at the 80 and 140 kVp energy values (p<0.001). All uric acid stones were red on color-coded DECT images, whereas 96.3% of the nonuric acid stones were blue. Patients with calcium oxalate stones were divided into two groups according to the amount of monohydrate (calcium oxalate monohydrate group: monohydrate≥90%, calcium oxalate dihydrate group: monohydrate<90%). Significant differences in HU values were detected between the two groups at both energy values (p<0.001). DECT improved the characterization of urinary stone components and was a useful method for identifying uric acid and calcium oxalate monohydrate stones, which are unsuitable for ESWL.

Active Aging in Very Old Age and the Relevance of Psychological Aspects.

PubMed

Paúl, Constança; Teixeira, Laetitia; Ribeiro, Oscar

2017-01-01

Active aging encompasses a socially and individually designed mix of different domains that range from personal and familial, to social and professional. In being a key policy concept often focused on the young-old individuals, efforts in studying its dimensions in advanced ages have seldom been made. Nevertheless, there is a recognized need to promote adequate responses to the growing number of individuals reaching advanced ages and to recognize their specific dependability on health-related aspects, services attendance, social interactions, or on psychological characteristics for what it means to "age actively." This study provides a secondary analysis of data and follows the preceding work on the operationalization of the World Health Organization's (WHO) active aging model by means of an assessment protocol to measure which variables, within the model's determinants, contribute the most for an active aging process (1). Authors used the achieved model (composed by six factors: health, psychological component, cognitive performance, social relationships, biological component, and personality) and performed multi-group analysis of structural invariance to examine hypothetical differences between age groups (<75 years vs. ≥75 years) and to contrast obtained findings with the originally achieved model for the total sample (1,322 individuals aged 55 +). The structural covariances for the two age groups were statistically different. The comparison of components between age groups revealed a major relevance of the psychological component for the older age group. These findings reinforce the importance of psychological functioning in active aging in oldest old, and the need for further research on specific psychological features underlying the subjective meaning of active aging in more advanced ages.

Effectiveness of Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Component Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Judith A.; And Others

1990-01-01

Evaluated effects of group behavioral therapy including aerobic exercise, behavioral therapy alone, and aerobic exercise alone on pain and physical and psychological disability among mildly disabled chronic low-back-pain patients (n=96). The combined behavioral therapy and exercise group improved significantly more pretreatment to posttreatment…

Development of a software tool to support chemical and biological terrorism intelligence analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunt, Allen R.; Foreman, William

1997-01-01

AKELA has developed a software tool which uses a systems analytic approach to model the critical processes which support the acquisition of biological and chemical weapons by terrorist organizations. This tool has four major components. The first is a procedural expert system which describes the weapon acquisition process. It shows the relationship between the stages a group goes through to acquire and use a weapon, and the activities in each stage required to be successful. It applies to both state sponsored and small group acquisition. An important part of this expert system is an analysis of the acquisition process which is embodied in a list of observables of weapon acquisition activity. These observables are cues for intelligence collection The second component is a detailed glossary of technical terms which helps analysts with a non- technical background understand the potential relevance of collected information. The third component is a linking capability which shows where technical terms apply to the parts of the acquisition process. The final component is a simple, intuitive user interface which shows a picture of the entire process at a glance and lets the user move quickly to get more detailed information. This paper explains e each of these five model components.

[Study based on ICA of "dorsal attention network" in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy].

PubMed

Yang, Zhigen; Wang, Huinan; Zhang, Zhiqiang; Zhong, Yuan; Chen, Zhili; Lu, Guangming

2010-02-01

Many functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have revealed the deactivation phenomenon of default mode network in the patients with epilepsy; however, nearly not any of the reports has focused on the dorsal attention network of epilepsy. In this paper, independent component analysis (ICA) was used to isolate the dorsal attention network of 16 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and of 20 healthy normals; and a goodness-of-fit analysis was applied at the individual subject level to choose the interesting component. Intra-group analysis and inter-group analysis were performed. The results indicated that the dorsal attention network included bilateral intraparietal sulcus, middle frontal gyrus, human frontal eye field, posterior lobe of right cerebellum, etc. The TLE group showed decreased functional connectivity in most of the dorsal attention regions with the predominance in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus, middle frontal gyrus, and posterior lobe of right cerebellum. These data suggested that the intrinsic organization of the brain function might be disrupted in TLE. In addition, the decrease of goodness-of-fit scores suggests that activity in the dorsal attention network may ultimately prove a sensitive biomarker for TLE.

Accuracy evaluation of Fourier series analysis and singular spectrum analysis for predicting the volume of motorcycle sales in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sasmita, Yoga; Darmawan, Gumgum

2017-08-01

This research aims to evaluate the performance of forecasting by Fourier Series Analysis (FSA) and Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) which are more explorative and not requiring parametric assumption. Those methods are applied to predicting the volume of motorcycle sales in Indonesia from January 2005 to December 2016 (monthly). Both models are suitable for seasonal and trend component data. Technically, FSA defines time domain as the result of trend and seasonal component in different frequencies which is difficult to identify in the time domain analysis. With the hidden period is 2,918 ≈ 3 and significant model order is 3, FSA model is used to predict testing data. Meanwhile, SSA has two main processes, decomposition and reconstruction. SSA decomposes the time series data into different components. The reconstruction process starts with grouping the decomposition result based on similarity period of each component in trajectory matrix. With the optimum of window length (L = 53) and grouping effect (r = 4), SSA predicting testing data. Forecasting accuracy evaluation is done based on Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The result shows that in the next 12 month, SSA has MAPE = 13.54 percent, MAE = 61,168.43 and RMSE = 75,244.92 and FSA has MAPE = 28.19 percent, MAE = 119,718.43 and RMSE = 142,511.17. Therefore, to predict volume of motorcycle sales in the next period should use SSA method which has better performance based on its accuracy.

Establishing ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance based metabonomics fingerprinting profile for spinal cord injury: a pilot study.

PubMed

Jiang, Hua; Peng, Jin; Zhou, Zhi-yuan; Duan, Yu; Chen, Wei; Cai, Bin; Yang, Hao; Zhang, Wei

2010-09-01

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a complex trauma that consists of multiple pathological mechanisms involving cytotoxic, oxidation stress and immune-endocrine. This study aimed to establish plasma metabonomics fingerprinting atlas for SCI using (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) based metabonomics methodology and principal component analysis techniques. Nine Sprague-Dawley (SD) male rats were randomly divided into SCI, normal and sham-operation control groups. Plasma samples were collected for (1)H NMR spectroscopy 3 days after operation. The NMR data were analyzed using principal component analysis technique with Matlab software. Metabonomics analysis was able to distinguish the three groups (SCI, normal control, sham-operation). The fingerprinting atlas indicated that, compared with those without SCI, the SCI group demonstrated the following characteristics with regard to second principal component: it is made up of fatty acids, myc-inositol, arginine, very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglyceride (TG), glucose, and 3-methyl-histamine. The data indicated that SCI results in several significant changes in plasma metabolism early on and that a metabonomics approach based on (1)H NMR spectroscopy can provide a metabolic profile comprising several metabolite classes and allow for relative quantification of such changes. The results also provided support for further development and application of metabonomics technologies for studying SCI and for the utilization of multivariate models for classifying the extent of trauma within an individual.

RP-HPLC method using 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate incorporated with normalization technique in principal component analysis to differentiate the bovine, porcine and fish gelatins.

PubMed

Azilawati, M I; Hashim, D M; Jamilah, B; Amin, I

2015-04-01

The amino acid compositions of bovine, porcine and fish gelatin were determined by amino acid analysis using 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate as derivatization reagent. Sixteen amino acids were identified with similar spectral chromatograms. Data pre-treatment via centering and transformation of data by normalization were performed to provide data that are more suitable for analysis and easier to be interpreted. Principal component analysis (PCA) transformed the original data matrix into a number of principal components (PCs). Three principal components (PCs) described 96.5% of the total variance, and 2 PCs (91%) explained the highest variances. The PCA model demonstrated the relationships among amino acids in the correlation loadings plot to the group of gelatins in the scores plot. Fish gelatin was correlated to threonine, serine and methionine on the positive side of PC1; bovine gelatin was correlated to the non-polar side chains amino acids that were proline, hydroxyproline, leucine, isoleucine and valine on the negative side of PC1 and porcine gelatin was correlated to the polar side chains amino acids that were aspartate, glutamic acid, lysine and tyrosine on the negative side of PC2. Verification on the database using 12 samples from commercial products gelatin-based had confirmed the grouping patterns and the variables correlations. Therefore, this quantitative method is very useful as a screening method to determine gelatin from various sources. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of Facilitation on Practice Outcomes in the National Demonstration Project Model of the Patient-Centered Medical Home

PubMed Central

Nutting, Paul A.; Crabtree, Benjamin F.; Stewart, Elizabeth E.; Miller, William L.; Palmer, Raymond F.; Stange, Kurt C.; Jaén, Carlos Roberto

2010-01-01

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to elucidate the effect of facilitation on practice outcomes in the 2-year patient-centered medical home (PCMH) National Demonstration Project (NDP) intervention, and to describe practices’ experience in implementing different components of the NDP model of the PCMH. METHODS Thirty-six family practices were randomized to a facilitated intervention group or a self-directed intervention group. We measured 3 practice-level outcomes: (1) the proportion of 39 components of the NDP model that practices implemented, (2) the aggregate patient rating of the practices’ PCMH attributes, and (3) the practices’ ability to make and sustain change, which we term adaptive reserve. We used a repeated-measures analysis of variance to test the intervention effects. RESULTS By the end of the 2 years of the NDP, practices in both facilitated and self-directed groups had at least 70% of the NDP model components in place. Implementation was relatively harder if the model component affected multiple roles and processes, required coordination across work units, necessitated additional resources and expertise, or challenged the traditional model of primary care. Electronic visits, group visits, team-based care, wellness promotion, and proactive population management presented the greatest challenges. Controlling for baseline differences and practice size, facilitated practices had greater increases in adaptive reserve (group difference by time, P = .005) and the proportion of NDP model components implemented (group difference by time, P=.02); the latter increased from 42% to 72% in the facilitated group and from 54% to 70% in the self-directed group. Patient ratings of the practices’ PCMH attributes did not differ between groups and, in fact, diminished in both of them. CONCLUSIONS Highly motivated practices can implement many components of the PCMH in 2 years, but apparently at a cost of diminishing the patient’s experience of care. Intense facilitation increases the number of components implemented and improves practices’ adaptive reserve. Longer follow-up is needed to assess the sustained and evolving effects of moving independent practices toward PCMHs PMID:20530393

Age and gender differences in adolescent and adult overarm throwing.

PubMed

Lorson, Kevin M; Stodden, David F; Langendorfer, Stephen J; Goodway, Jacqueline D

2013-06-01

The purposes of this study were to examine age and gender differences in throwing performance across an underexplored portion of the lifespan: middle adolescents (14-17 years old), young adults (18-25 years old), and adults (35-55 years old). Throwing performance was assessed using the body component levels from Roberton's developmental sequences for force and ball velocity that were recorded by a radar gun. Participants in each age group performed between 5 to 10 forceful overhand throws toward a target approximately 15m to 20m from the thrower. A Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney Test was used to determine gender differences and a Wilcoxon-Signed Ranks Test was used to determine age-group differences for each component. Gender and age-group differences in ball speed were determined by a 3 (age group) x 2 (gender) factorial analysis of variance with follow-up post-hoc tests. Young-adult men had higher body component levels and ball speed compared with the adolescent boys and adult men. Female age-group differences existed only for humerus action between young-adult and adult groups and for ball speed between young-adult and adolescent groups. Gender differences (p < .01) existed in component levels for the adolescent and young-adult groups, but not the adult groups. Gender differences in ball speed (p < .001) existed within each age group. Although these data were cross-sectional, the regressive developmental changes observed and the narrowing gender gap may eventually provide insight related to the relationships among motor skill competence, physical fitness, and physical activity across the lifespan.

Psychosocial factors and tooth wear with a significant component of attrition.

PubMed

da Silva, A M; Oakley, D A; Hemmings, K W; Newman, H N; Watkins, S

1997-06-01

Pathological tooth wear is often associated with bruxism, which appears in turn to be influenced by psychosocial factors. This study investigated putative relationships between psychosocial factors (total and average perceived stress, state and trait anxiety) and tooth wear, comparing 45 patients exhibiting tooth wear with a significant component of attrition to 45 controls. Groups were matched for gender and age. Subjects completed the Modified and Perceived Stress Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. A between-groups multivariate analysis of variance indicated that the two groups did not differ significantly on the combined psychosocial factors, F(4,85) = 1.16, P > 0.05. However, a univariate F-test showed that tooth-wear patients presented significantly more trait anxiety than controls, F(1,88) = 4.15, P < 0.05. Further research is indicated to clarify the importance of trait anxiety and other psychosocial factors in the progression of tooth wear with a significant component of attrition.

Are sectioning and soldering of short-span implant-supported prostheses necessary procedures?

PubMed

Bianchini, Marco A; Souza, João G O; Souza, Dircilene C; Magini, Ricardo S; Benfatti, Cesar A M; Cardoso, Antonio C

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the fit between dental abutments and the metal framework of a 3-unit fixed prosthesis screwed to two implants to determine whether sectioning and soldering of the framework are in fact necessary procedures. The study was based on a model of a metal framework of a 3-unit prosthesis screwed to two implants. A total of 18 metal frameworks were constructed and divided into 3 groups: (1) NS group - each framework was cast in one piece and not sectioned; (2) CS group - the components of each sectioned framework were joined by conventional soldering; and (3) LW group - the components of each sectioned framework were joined by laser welding. The control group consisted of six silver-palladium alloy copings that were not cast together. Two analyses were mperformed: in the first analysis, the framework was screwed only to the first abutment, and in the second analysis, the framework was screwed to both abutments. The prosthetic fit was assessed at a single point using a measuring microscope (Measurescope, Nikon, Japan) and the marginal gap was measured in micrometers. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Scheffe's test, Student's t-test, and Mann-Whitney U test. The NS group had larger marginal gaps than the other groups (p<0.01), while the CS and LW groups had a similar degree of misfit with no significant difference between them. The results revealed that, in the case of short-span 3-unit fixed prostheses, the framework should be sectioned and soldered or welded to prevent or reduce marginal gaps between the metal framework and dental abutments.

Identification among morphologically similar Argyreia (Convolvulaceae) based on leaf anatomy and phenetic analyses.

PubMed

Traiperm, Paweena; Chow, Janene; Nopun, Possathorn; Staples, G; Swangpol, Sasivimon C

2017-12-01

The genus Argyreia Lour. is one of the species-rich Asian genera in the family Convolvulaceae. Several species complexes were recognized in which taxon delimitation was imprecise, especially when examining herbarium materials without fully developed open flowers. The main goal of this study is to investigate and describe leaf anatomy for some morphologically similar Argyreia using epidermal peeling, leaf and petiole transverse sections, and scanning electron microscopy. Phenetic analyses including cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to investigate the similarity of these morpho-types. Anatomical differences observed between the morpho-types include epidermal cell walls and the trichome types on the leaf epidermis. Additional differences in the leaf and petiole transverse sections include the epidermal cell shape of the adaxial leaf blade, the leaf margins, and the petiole transverse sectional outline. The phenogram from cluster analysis using the UPGMA method represented four groups with an R value of 0.87. Moreover, the important quantitative and qualitative leaf anatomical traits of the four groups were confirmed by the principal component analysis of the first two components. The results from phenetic analyses confirmed the anatomical differentiation between the morpho-types. Leaf anatomical features regarded as particularly informative for morpho-type differentiation can be used to supplement macro morphological identification.

Rapid Characterization of Components in Bolbostemma paniculatum by UPLC/LTQ-Orbitrap MSn Analysis and Multivariate Statistical Analysis for Herb Discrimination.

PubMed

Zeng, Yanling; Lu, Yang; Chen, Zhao; Tan, Jiawei; Bai, Jie; Li, Pengyue; Wang, Zhixin; Du, Shouying

2018-05-11

Bolbostemma paniculatum is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) showed various therapeutic effects. Owing to its complex chemical composition, few investigations have acquired a comprehensive cognition for the chemical profiles of this herb and explicated the differences between samples collected from different places. In this study, a strategy based on UPLC tandem LTQ-Orbitrap MS n was established for characterizing chemical components of B. paniculatum . Through a systematic identification strategy, a total of 60 components in B. paniculatum were rapidly separated in 30 min and identified. Then based on peak intensities of all the characterized components, principle component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were employed to classify 18 batches of B. paniculatum into four groups, which were highly consistent with the four climate types of their original places. And five compounds were finally screened out as chemical markers to discriminate the internal quality of B. paniculatum . As the first study to systematically characterize the chemical components of B. paniculatum by UPLC-MS n , the above results could offer essential data for its pharmacological research. And the current strategy could provide useful reference for future investigations on discovery of important chemical constituents in TCM, as well as establishment of quality control and evaluation method.

Application of principal component analysis to distinguish patients with schizophrenia from healthy controls based on fractional anisotropy measurements.

PubMed

Caprihan, A; Pearlson, G D; Calhoun, V D

2008-08-15

Principal component analysis (PCA) is often used to reduce the dimension of data before applying more sophisticated data analysis methods such as non-linear classification algorithms or independent component analysis. This practice is based on selecting components corresponding to the largest eigenvalues. If the ultimate goal is separation of data in two groups, then these set of components need not have the most discriminatory power. We measured the distance between two such populations using Mahalanobis distance and chose the eigenvectors to maximize it, a modified PCA method, which we call the discriminant PCA (DPCA). DPCA was applied to diffusion tensor-based fractional anisotropy images to distinguish age-matched schizophrenia subjects from healthy controls. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated by the one-leave-out method. We show that for this fractional anisotropy data set, the classification error with 60 components was close to the minimum error and that the Mahalanobis distance was twice as large with DPCA, than with PCA. Finally, by masking the discriminant function with the white matter tracts of the Johns Hopkins University atlas, we identified left superior longitudinal fasciculus as the tract which gave the least classification error. In addition, with six optimally chosen tracts the classification error was zero.

Exploring the molecular mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine components using gene expression signatures and connectivity map.

PubMed

Yoo, Minjae; Shin, Jimin; Kim, Hyunmin; Kim, Jihye; Kang, Jaewoo; Tan, Aik Choon

2018-04-04

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been practiced over thousands of years in China and other Asian countries for treating various symptoms and diseases. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of TCM are poorly understood, partly due to the "multi-component, multi-target" nature of TCM. To uncover the molecular mechanisms of TCM, we perform comprehensive gene expression analysis using connectivity map. We interrogated gene expression signatures obtained 102 TCM components using the next generation Connectivity Map (CMap) resource. We performed systematic data mining and analysis on the mechanism of action (MoA) of these TCM components based on the CMap results. We clustered the 102 TCM components into four groups based on their MoAs using next generation CMap resource. We performed gene set enrichment analysis on these components to provide additional supports for explaining these molecular mechanisms. We also provided literature evidence to validate the MoAs identified through this bioinformatics analysis. Finally, we developed the Traditional Chinese Medicine Drug Repurposing Hub (TCM Hub) - a connectivity map resource to facilitate the elucidation of TCM MoA for drug repurposing research. TCMHub is freely available in http://tanlab.ucdenver.edu/TCMHub. Molecular mechanisms of TCM could be uncovered by using gene expression signatures and connectivity map. Through this analysis, we identified many of the TCM components possess diverse MoAs, this may explain the applications of TCM in treating various symptoms and diseases. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

About normal distribution on SO(3) group in texture analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savyolova, T. I.; Filatov, S. V.

2017-12-01

This article studies and compares different normal distributions (NDs) on SO(3) group, which are used in texture analysis. Those NDs are: Fisher normal distribution (FND), Bunge normal distribution (BND), central normal distribution (CND) and wrapped normal distribution (WND). All of the previously mentioned NDs are central functions on SO(3) group. CND is a subcase for normal CLT-motivated distributions on SO(3) (CLT here is Parthasarathy’s central limit theorem). WND is motivated by CLT in R 3 and mapped to SO(3) group. A Monte Carlo method for modeling normally distributed values was studied for both CND and WND. All of the NDs mentioned above are used for modeling different components of crystallites orientation distribution function in texture analysis.

Sparse modeling of spatial environmental variables associated with asthma

PubMed Central

Chang, Timothy S.; Gangnon, Ronald E.; Page, C. David; Buckingham, William R.; Tandias, Aman; Cowan, Kelly J.; Tomasallo, Carrie D.; Arndt, Brian G.; Hanrahan, Lawrence P.; Guilbert, Theresa W.

2014-01-01

Geographically distributed environmental factors influence the burden of diseases such as asthma. Our objective was to identify sparse environmental variables associated with asthma diagnosis gathered from a large electronic health record (EHR) dataset while controlling for spatial variation. An EHR dataset from the University of Wisconsin’s Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Departments was obtained for 199,220 patients aged 5–50 years over a three-year period. Each patient’s home address was geocoded to one of 3,456 geographic census block groups. Over one thousand block group variables were obtained from a commercial database. We developed a Sparse Spatial Environmental Analysis (SASEA). Using this method, the environmental variables were first dimensionally reduced with sparse principal component analysis. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling was then used to identify block group variables associated with asthma from sparse principal components. The addresses of patients from the EHR dataset were distributed throughout the majority of Wisconsin’s geography. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling captured spatial variation of asthma. Four sparse principal components identified via model selection consisted of food at home, dog ownership, household size, and disposable income variables. In rural areas, dog ownership and renter occupied housing units from significant sparse principal components were associated with asthma. Our main contribution is the incorporation of sparsity in spatial modeling. SASEA sequentially added sparse principal components to Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling. This method allowed association of geographically distributed environmental factors with asthma using EHR and environmental datasets. SASEA can be applied to other diseases with environmental risk factors. PMID:25533437

Sparse modeling of spatial environmental variables associated with asthma.

PubMed

Chang, Timothy S; Gangnon, Ronald E; David Page, C; Buckingham, William R; Tandias, Aman; Cowan, Kelly J; Tomasallo, Carrie D; Arndt, Brian G; Hanrahan, Lawrence P; Guilbert, Theresa W

2015-02-01

Geographically distributed environmental factors influence the burden of diseases such as asthma. Our objective was to identify sparse environmental variables associated with asthma diagnosis gathered from a large electronic health record (EHR) dataset while controlling for spatial variation. An EHR dataset from the University of Wisconsin's Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Departments was obtained for 199,220 patients aged 5-50years over a three-year period. Each patient's home address was geocoded to one of 3456 geographic census block groups. Over one thousand block group variables were obtained from a commercial database. We developed a Sparse Spatial Environmental Analysis (SASEA). Using this method, the environmental variables were first dimensionally reduced with sparse principal component analysis. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling was then used to identify block group variables associated with asthma from sparse principal components. The addresses of patients from the EHR dataset were distributed throughout the majority of Wisconsin's geography. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling captured spatial variation of asthma. Four sparse principal components identified via model selection consisted of food at home, dog ownership, household size, and disposable income variables. In rural areas, dog ownership and renter occupied housing units from significant sparse principal components were associated with asthma. Our main contribution is the incorporation of sparsity in spatial modeling. SASEA sequentially added sparse principal components to Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling. This method allowed association of geographically distributed environmental factors with asthma using EHR and environmental datasets. SASEA can be applied to other diseases with environmental risk factors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Extraction and Analysis of Food Lipids

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Along with proteins and carbohydrates, lipids are one of the main components of foods. Lipids are often defined as a group of biomolecules that are insoluble in water and soluble in organic solvents such as hexane, diethyl ether or chloroform. Modern methods for the extraction and analysis of lipi...

LARVAL FISH HABITAT QUALITY : THE EFFECTS OF FRESHWATER FLOW

EPA Science Inventory

We sampled larval fish in Suisun Marsh, in the San Francisco Bay estuary from February to June 1994-1999. We used principal components analysis (PCA) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) on 13 taxonomic groups making up 99.7% of the catch and several environmental variable...

Measurement Characteristics of the Quality of Life Index When Used with Adults Who Have Severe Mental Retardation. Brief Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campo, Stephanie F.; And Others

1996-01-01

The Quality of Life Index was completed by 120 residential staff for 60 adults with severe to profound mental retardation residing in group homes. Measurement integrity was analyzed through use of principal components analysis, confirmatory rotation of components, and Cronbach alphas. Results are compared with results obtained from a more…

Comparison of common components analysis with principal components analysis and independent components analysis: Application to SPME-GC-MS volatolomic signatures.

PubMed

Bouhlel, Jihéne; Jouan-Rimbaud Bouveresse, Delphine; Abouelkaram, Said; Baéza, Elisabeth; Jondreville, Catherine; Travel, Angélique; Ratel, Jérémy; Engel, Erwan; Rutledge, Douglas N

2018-02-01

The aim of this work is to compare a novel exploratory chemometrics method, Common Components Analysis (CCA), with Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Independent Components Analysis (ICA). CCA consists in adapting the multi-block statistical method known as Common Components and Specific Weights Analysis (CCSWA or ComDim) by applying it to a single data matrix, with one variable per block. As an application, the three methods were applied to SPME-GC-MS volatolomic signatures of livers in an attempt to reveal volatile organic compounds (VOCs) markers of chicken exposure to different types of micropollutants. An application of CCA to the initial SPME-GC-MS data revealed a drift in the sample Scores along CC2, as a function of injection order, probably resulting from time-related evolution in the instrument. This drift was eliminated by orthogonalization of the data set with respect to CC2, and the resulting data are used as the orthogonalized data input into each of the three methods. Since the first step in CCA is to norm-scale all the variables, preliminary data scaling has no effect on the results, so that CCA was applied only to orthogonalized SPME-GC-MS data, while, PCA and ICA were applied to the "orthogonalized", "orthogonalized and Pareto-scaled", and "orthogonalized and autoscaled" data. The comparison showed that PCA results were highly dependent on the scaling of variables, contrary to ICA where the data scaling did not have a strong influence. Nevertheless, for both PCA and ICA the clearest separations of exposed groups were obtained after autoscaling of variables. The main part of this work was to compare the CCA results using the orthogonalized data with those obtained with PCA and ICA applied to orthogonalized and autoscaled variables. The clearest separations of exposed chicken groups were obtained by CCA. CCA Loadings also clearly identified the variables contributing most to the Common Components giving separations. The PCA Loadings did not highlight the most influencing variables for each separation, whereas the ICA Loadings highlighted the same variables as did CCA. This study shows the potential of CCA for the extraction of pertinent information from a data matrix, using a procedure based on an original optimisation criterion, to produce results that are complementary, and in some cases may be superior, to those of PCA and ICA. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multivariate analysis to evaluate genetic groups and production traits of crossbred Holstein × Zebu cows.

PubMed

Fraga, Angelina Bossi; de Lima Silva, Fabiane; Hongyu, Kuang; Da Silva Santos, Darlim; Murphy, Thomas Wayne; Lopes, Fernando Brito

2016-03-01

The objective of this research was to try to unveil the relationship between production traits and genotypic proportions of crossbred dairy cattle using principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. The herd consists of crossbred animals of Holstein (H) and Zebu (Z) (Gir and Guzerat) in different genotypic proportions; the composition of which varies from 12.5 to 100.0 % of the genetic group H. For this study, 834 milk production records from 257 cows from the years 1997 to 2014 were analyzed. The animals were all managed at a farm located in northeastern Brazil. The variables in the PCA were total milk yield per lactation (MY), milk yield adjusted to 305 days (MY305), lactation length (LL), and proportion of H and Z breeding. This analysis reduced the size of the sample space from the original five variables to two principal components (PCs) that together explained 89.4 % of the total variation. MY, MY305, LL, and genotypic proportion of H all contributed positively to PC1. The genotypic proportion of Z contributed negatively, which established a contrast between H and Z. Further cluster analysis identified two distinct groups when considering production performance and genotype of the animals. The high-performance group was predominantly Holstein breeding, while the lower performing group consisted mostly of Zebu. Under the environmental and management conditions in which this research was conducted, the best performances for the traits considered were achieved from cows whose genotypic proportion was between 38.0 and 94.0 % Holstein breeding.

Univariate and multivariate molecular spectral analyses of lipid related molecular structural components in relation to nutrient profile in feed and food mixtures.

PubMed

Abeysekara, Saman; Damiran, Daalkhaijav; Yu, Peiqiang

2013-02-01

The objectives of this study were (i) to determine lipid related molecular structures components (functional groups) in feed combination of cereal grain (barley, Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) based dried distillers grain solubles (wheat DDGSs) from bioethanol processing at five different combination ratios using univariate and multivariate molecular spectral analyses with infrared Fourier transform molecular spectroscopy, and (ii) to correlate lipid-related molecular-functional structure spectral profile to nutrient profiles. The spectral intensity of (i) CH(3) asymmetric, CH(2) asymmetric, CH(3) symmetric and CH(2) symmetric groups, (ii) unsaturation (CC) group, and (iii) carbonyl ester (CO) group were determined. Spectral differences of functional groups were detected by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal components analysis (PCA). The results showed that the combination treatments significantly inflicted modifications (P<0.05) in nutrient profile and lipid related molecular spectral intensity (CH(2) asymmetric stretching peak height, CH(2) symmetric stretching peak height, ratio of CH(2) to CH(3) symmetric stretching peak intensity, and carbonyl peak area). Ratio of CH(2) to CH(3) symmetric stretching peak intensity, and carbonyl peak significantly correlated with nutrient profiles. Both PCA and HCA differentiated lipid-related spectrum. In conclusion, the changes of lipid molecular structure spectral profiles through feed combination could be detected using molecular spectroscopy. These changes were associated with nutrient profiles and functionality. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Incorporating biological information in sparse principal component analysis with application to genomic data.

PubMed

Li, Ziyi; Safo, Sandra E; Long, Qi

2017-07-11

Sparse principal component analysis (PCA) is a popular tool for dimensionality reduction, pattern recognition, and visualization of high dimensional data. It has been recognized that complex biological mechanisms occur through concerted relationships of multiple genes working in networks that are often represented by graphs. Recent work has shown that incorporating such biological information improves feature selection and prediction performance in regression analysis, but there has been limited work on extending this approach to PCA. In this article, we propose two new sparse PCA methods called Fused and Grouped sparse PCA that enable incorporation of prior biological information in variable selection. Our simulation studies suggest that, compared to existing sparse PCA methods, the proposed methods achieve higher sensitivity and specificity when the graph structure is correctly specified, and are fairly robust to misspecified graph structures. Application to a glioblastoma gene expression dataset identified pathways that are suggested in the literature to be related with glioblastoma. The proposed sparse PCA methods Fused and Grouped sparse PCA can effectively incorporate prior biological information in variable selection, leading to improved feature selection and more interpretable principal component loadings and potentially providing insights on molecular underpinnings of complex diseases.

Implementation and Qualifications Lessons Learned for Space Flight Photonic Components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ott, Melanie N.

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the process for implementation and qualification of space flight photonic components. It discusses the causes for most common anomalies for the space flight components, design compatibility, a specific failure analysis of optical fiber that occurred in a cable in 1999-2000, and another ExPCA connector anomaly involving pins that broke off. It reviews issues around material selection, quality processes and documentation, and current projects that the Photonics group is involved in. The importance of good documentation is stressed.

Using principal component analysis to capture individual differences within a unified neuropsychological model of chronic post-stroke aphasia: Revealing the unique neural correlates of speech fluency, phonology and semantics.

PubMed

Halai, Ajay D; Woollams, Anna M; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A

2017-01-01

Individual differences in the performance profiles of neuropsychologically-impaired patients are pervasive yet there is still no resolution on the best way to model and account for the variation in their behavioural impairments and the associated neural correlates. To date, researchers have generally taken one of three different approaches: a single-case study methodology in which each case is considered separately; a case-series design in which all individual patients from a small coherent group are examined and directly compared; or, group studies, in which a sample of cases are investigated as one group with the assumption that they are drawn from a homogenous category and that performance differences are of no interest. In recent research, we have developed a complementary alternative through the use of principal component analysis (PCA) of individual data from large patient cohorts. This data-driven approach not only generates a single unified model for the group as a whole (expressed in terms of the emergent principal components) but is also able to capture the individual differences between patients (in terms of their relative positions along the principal behavioural axes). We demonstrate the use of this approach by considering speech fluency, phonology and semantics in aphasia diagnosis and classification, as well as their unique neural correlates. PCA of the behavioural data from 31 patients with chronic post-stroke aphasia resulted in four statistically-independent behavioural components reflecting phonological, semantic, executive-cognitive and fluency abilities. Even after accounting for lesion volume, entering the four behavioural components simultaneously into a voxel-based correlational methodology (VBCM) analysis revealed that speech fluency (speech quanta) was uniquely correlated with left motor cortex and underlying white matter (including the anterior section of the arcuate fasciculus and the frontal aslant tract), phonological skills with regions in the superior temporal gyrus and pars opercularis, and semantics with the anterior temporal stem. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Assessing School Work Culture: A Higher-Order Analysis and Strategy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, William L.; Johnson, Annabel M.; Zimmerman, Kurt J.

This paper reviews a work culture productivity model and reports the development of a work culture instrument based on the culture productivity model. Higher order principal components analysis was used to assess work culture, and a third-order factor analysis shows how the first-order factors group into higher-order factors. The school work…

Examination of a Social-Networking Site Activities Scale (SNSAS) Using Rasch Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alhaythami, Hassan; Karpinski, Aryn; Kirschner, Paul; Bolden, Edward

2017-01-01

This study examined the psychometric properties of a social-networking site (SNS) activities scale (SNSAS) using Rasch Analysis. Items were also examined with Rasch Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Differential Item Functioning (DIF) across groups of university students (i.e., males and females from the United States [US] and Europe; N =…

A unified framework for group independent component analysis for multi-subject fMRI data

PubMed Central

Guo, Ying; Pagnoni, Giuseppe

2008-01-01

Independent component analysis (ICA) is becoming increasingly popular for analyzing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. While ICA has been successfully applied to single-subject analysis, the extension of ICA to group inferences is not straightforward and remains an active topic of research. Current group ICA models, such as the GIFT (Calhoun et al., 2001) and tensor PICA (Beckmann and Smith, 2005), make different assumptions about the underlying structure of the group spatio-temporal processes and are thus estimated using algorithms tailored for the assumed structure, potentially leading to diverging results. To our knowledge, there are currently no methods for assessing the validity of different model structures in real fMRI data and selecting the most appropriate one among various choices. In this paper, we propose a unified framework for estimating and comparing group ICA models with varying spatio-temporal structures. We consider a class of group ICA models that can accommodate different group structures and include existing models, such as the GIFT and tensor PICA, as special cases. We propose a maximum likelihood (ML) approach with a modified Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm for the estimation of the proposed class of models. Likelihood ratio tests (LRT) are presented to compare between different group ICA models. The LRT can be used to perform model comparison and selection, to assess the goodness-of-fit of a model in a particular data set, and to test group differences in the fMRI signal time courses between subject subgroups. Simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method under varying structures of group spatio-temporal processes. We illustrate our group ICA method using data from an fMRI study that investigates changes in neural processing associated with the regular practice of Zen meditation. PMID:18650105

Automated Classification and Analysis of Non-metallic Inclusion Data Sets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdulsalam, Mohammad; Zhang, Tongsheng; Tan, Jia; Webler, Bryan A.

2018-05-01

The aim of this study is to utilize principal component analysis (PCA), clustering methods, and correlation analysis to condense and examine large, multivariate data sets produced from automated analysis of non-metallic inclusions. Non-metallic inclusions play a major role in defining the properties of steel and their examination has been greatly aided by automated analysis in scanning electron microscopes equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The methods were applied to analyze inclusions on two sets of samples: two laboratory-scale samples and four industrial samples from a near-finished 4140 alloy steel components with varying machinability. The laboratory samples had well-defined inclusions chemistries, composed of MgO-Al2O3-CaO, spinel (MgO-Al2O3), and calcium aluminate inclusions. The industrial samples contained MnS inclusions as well as (Ca,Mn)S + calcium aluminate oxide inclusions. PCA could be used to reduce inclusion chemistry variables to a 2D plot, which revealed inclusion chemistry groupings in the samples. Clustering methods were used to automatically classify inclusion chemistry measurements into groups, i.e., no user-defined rules were required.

Quantifying Individual Brain Connectivity with Functional Principal Component Analysis for Networks.

PubMed

Petersen, Alexander; Zhao, Jianyang; Carmichael, Owen; Müller, Hans-Georg

2016-09-01

In typical functional connectivity studies, connections between voxels or regions in the brain are represented as edges in a network. Networks for different subjects are constructed at a given graph density and are summarized by some network measure such as path length. Examining these summary measures for many density values yields samples of connectivity curves, one for each individual. This has led to the adoption of basic tools of functional data analysis, most commonly to compare control and disease groups through the average curves in each group. Such group differences, however, neglect the variability in the sample of connectivity curves. In this article, the use of functional principal component analysis (FPCA) is demonstrated to enrich functional connectivity studies by providing increased power and flexibility for statistical inference. Specifically, individual connectivity curves are related to individual characteristics such as age and measures of cognitive function, thus providing a tool to relate brain connectivity with these variables at the individual level. This individual level analysis opens a new perspective that goes beyond previous group level comparisons. Using a large data set of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, relationships between connectivity and two measures of cognitive function-episodic memory and executive function-were investigated. The group-based approach was implemented by dichotomizing the continuous cognitive variable and testing for group differences, resulting in no statistically significant findings. To demonstrate the new approach, FPCA was implemented, followed by linear regression models with cognitive scores as responses, identifying significant associations of connectivity in the right middle temporal region with both cognitive scores.

Different brain activations between own- and other-race face categorization: an fMRI study using group independent component analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Wenjuan; Liu, Jiangang; Dai, Ruwei; Feng, Lu; Li, Ling; Tian, Jie

2014-03-01

Previous behavioral research has proved that individuals process own- and other-race faces differently. One well-known effect is the other-race effect (ORE), which indicates that individuals categorize other-race faces more accurately and faster than own-race faces. The existed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of the other-race effect mainly focused on the racial prejudice and the socio-affective differences towards own- and other-race face. In the present fMRI study, we adopted a race-categorization task to determine the activation level differences between categorizing own- and other-race faces. Thirty one Chinese participants who live in China with Chinese as the majority and who had no direct contact with Caucasian individual were recruited in the present study. We used the group independent component analysis (ICA), which is a method of blind source signal separation that has proven to be promising for analysis of fMRI data. We separated the entail data into 56 components which is estimated based on one subject using the Minimal Description Length (MDL) criteria. The components sorted based on the multiple linear regression temporal sorting criteria, and the fit regression parameters were used in performing statistical test to evaluate the task-relatedness of the components. The one way anova was performed to test the significance of the component time course in different conditions. Our result showed that the areas, which coordinates is similar to the right FFA coordinates that previous studies reported, were greater activated for own-race faces than other-race faces, while the precuneus showed greater activation for other-race faces than own-race faces.

Principal component analysis of the Norwegian version of the quality of life in late-stage dementia scale.

PubMed

Mjørud, Marit; Kirkevold, Marit; Røsvik, Janne; Engedal, Knut

2014-01-01

To investigate which factors the Quality of Life in Late-Stage Dementia (QUALID) scale holds when used among people with dementia (pwd) in nursing homes and to find out how the symptom load varies across the different severity levels of dementia. We included 661 pwd [mean age ± SD, 85.3 ± 8.6 years; 71.4% women]. The QUALID and the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale were applied. A principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization was applied to test the factor structure. Nonparametric analyses were applied to examine differences of symptom load across the three CDR groups. The mean QUALID score was 21.5 (±7.1), and the CDR scores of the three groups were 1 in 22.5%, 2 in 33.6% and 3 in 43.9%. The results of the statistical measures employed were the following: Crohnbach's α of QUALID, 0.74; Bartlett's test of sphericity, p <0.001; the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure, 0.77. The PCA analysis resulted in three components accounting for 53% of the variance. The first component was 'tension' ('facial expression of discomfort', 'appears physically uncomfortable', 'verbalization suggests discomfort', 'being irritable and aggressive', 'appears calm', Crohnbach's α = 0.69), the second was 'well-being' ('smiles', 'enjoys eating', 'enjoys touching/being touched', 'enjoys social interaction', Crohnbach's α = 0.62) and the third was 'sadness' ('appears sad', 'cries', 'facial expression of discomfort', Crohnbach's α 0.65). The mean score on the components 'tension' and 'well-being' increased significantly with increasing severity levels of dementia. Three components of quality of life (qol) were identified. Qol decreased with increasing severity of dementia. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Characterization of exopolymers of aquatic bacteria by pyrolysis-mass spectrometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ford, T.; Sacco, E.; Black, J.; Kelley, T.; Goodacre, R.; Berkeley, R. C.; Mitchell, R.

1991-01-01

Exopolymers from a diverse collection of marine and freshwater bacteria were characterized by pyrolysis-mass spectrometry (Py-MS). Py-MS provides spectra of pyrolysis fragments that are characteristic of the original material. Analysis of the spectra by multivariate statistical techniques (principal component and canonical variate analysis) separated these exopolymers into distinct groups. Py-MS clearly distinguished characteristic fragments, which may be derived from components responsible for functional differences between polymers. The importance of these distinctions and the relevance of pyrolysis information to exopolysaccharide function in aquatic bacteria is discussed.

Multidimensional change in psychotherapy.

PubMed

Jones, E E

1980-04-01

Assessed psychotherapy outcome for 177 patients who were seen for an average of 31 therapy hours with the Rating Scales for Outcome of Therapy and a Therapist Questionnaire. Results of a components analysis did not support Storrow's rational groupings of the Rating Scales into five dimensions and suggested that two general areas of psychological adjustment underlie the 11 scales. A second components analysis that included both outcome measures supports only in part the contention that when results from diverse outcome measures are factor analyzed, the factors necessarily are associated with method of measurement rather than substantive dimensions of change.

[A study of Boletus bicolor from different areas using Fourier transform infrared spectrometry].

PubMed

Zhou, Zai-Jin; Liu, Gang; Ren, Xian-Pei

2010-04-01

It is hard to differentiate the same species of wild growing mushrooms from different areas by macromorphological features. In this paper, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with principal component analysis was used to identify 58 samples of boletus bicolor from five different areas. Based on the fingerprint infrared spectrum of boletus bicolor samples, principal component analysis was conducted on 58 boletus bicolor spectra in the range of 1 350-750 cm(-1) using the statistical software SPSS 13.0. According to the result, the accumulated contributing ratio of the first three principal components accounts for 88.87%. They included almost all the information of samples. The two-dimensional projection plot using first and second principal component is a satisfactory clustering effect for the classification and discrimination of boletus bicolor. All boletus bicolor samples were divided into five groups with a classification accuracy of 98.3%. The study demonstrated that wild growing boletus bicolor at species level from different areas can be identified by FTIR spectra combined with principal components analysis.

Association of change in the type of job with prevalence of components of the metabolic syndrome-special reference to job stress.

PubMed

Mikurube, Hajime; Kaneko, Mitsunobu; Murata, Chisato; Komaki, Yoko; Ishikawa, Noriko; Higashiyama, Reiichi; Fukasawa, Kenji; Watanabe, Tetsu

2005-11-01

It is well established that job stress is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease. The relationship with the metabolic syndrome, however, has received only limited attention. The present study was designed to investigate associations between change of the type of job and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome components from the aspect of on-the-job stress and alteration in life style. Thirty-six male workers of the manufacturing department were transferred to the carsales department at the same automobile company in 1992 to 1993. These same workers were transferred back to the manufacturing department after two years. We compared the first health-check data before the transfer in 1992 (Term A), a second set of data two years after transfer in 1994-95 (Term B) and a third set of data two years following transfer back to the manufacturing department in 1996-1998 (Term C). The workers were requested to provide information about drinking and smoking habits, and answer Karasek's questionnaire and a simple stress questionnaire in order to clarify the possibility of job stress in occurrence of the metabolic syndrome, defined in terms of obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and impaired glucose tolerance as components. Five workers had two or more components of the metabolic syndrome before the transfer to the car-sales department (Group I). One demonstrated improvement, three no change, and one increase in symptoms from A to B. Seven workers had more than two components after the transfer to car-sales department (Group II), and six of them exhibited decrease two years following transfer back to the manufacturing department. Five of them also showed elevated liver enzymes in serum with the appearance of the components, and three of them demonstrated recover. Three workers had two components of the metabolic syndrome only at time point C (Group III), while the remaining 21 workers had 0 to one component throughout the observation period (Group IV). Amount of drinking and smoking increased significantly when working in the sales department but these items returned to the previous values after rejoining manufacturing, though differences were not observed between workers with (Group II) and without (Group IV) components of the metabolic syndrome. Body mass index (BMI) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) increased significantly when workers moved to the sales department and that was significant in Group II as compared to Group IV. Three components of Karasek's JCQ changed significantly during job transfer, though differences were not observed between the workers with (Group II) and without (Group IV) components of the metabolic syndrome. Logistic regression analysis with age, lifestyle, Karasek's JCQ, and ALT revealed that elevation of ALT value was associated with having two or more components of metabolic syndrome, while hours of sleep demonstrated an inverse association. Elevated ALT and reduction of sleep hours may be associated with development of the metabolic syndrome in workers who change their type of job.

The impact of catchment source group classification on the accuracy of sediment fingerprinting outputs.

PubMed

Pulley, Simon; Foster, Ian; Collins, Adrian L

2017-06-01

The objective classification of sediment source groups is at present an under-investigated aspect of source tracing studies, which has the potential to statistically improve discrimination between sediment sources and reduce uncertainty. This paper investigates this potential using three different source group classification schemes. The first classification scheme was simple surface and subsurface groupings (Scheme 1). The tracer signatures were then used in a two-step cluster analysis to identify the sediment source groupings naturally defined by the tracer signatures (Scheme 2). The cluster source groups were then modified by splitting each one into a surface and subsurface component to suit catchment management goals (Scheme 3). The schemes were tested using artificial mixtures of sediment source samples. Controlled corruptions were made to some of the mixtures to mimic the potential causes of tracer non-conservatism present when using tracers in natural fluvial environments. It was determined how accurately the known proportions of sediment sources in the mixtures were identified after unmixing modelling using the three classification schemes. The cluster analysis derived source groups (2) significantly increased tracer variability ratios (inter-/intra-source group variability) (up to 2122%, median 194%) compared to the surface and subsurface groupings (1). As a result, the composition of the artificial mixtures was identified an average of 9.8% more accurately on the 0-100% contribution scale. It was found that the cluster groups could be reclassified into a surface and subsurface component (3) with no significant increase in composite uncertainty (a 0.1% increase over Scheme 2). The far smaller effects of simulated tracer non-conservatism for the cluster analysis based schemes (2 and 3) was primarily attributed to the increased inter-group variability producing a far larger sediment source signal that the non-conservatism noise (1). Modified cluster analysis based classification methods have the potential to reduce composite uncertainty significantly in future source tracing studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dislocation structure in textured zirconium tensile-deformed along rolling and transverse directions determined by X-ray diffraction line profile analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Zhijian; Jóni, Bertalan; Xie, Lei; Ribárik, Gábor; Ungár, Tamás

2018-04-01

Specimens of cold-rolled zirconium were tensile-deformed along the rolling (RD) and the transverse (TD) directions. The stress-strain curves revealed a strong texture dependence. High resolution X-ray line profile analysis was used to determine the prevailing active slip-systems in the specimens with different textures. The reflections in the X-ray diffraction patterns were separated into two groups. One group corresponds to the major and the other group to the random texture component, respectively. The dislocation densities, the subgrain size and the prevailing active slip-systems were evaluated by using the convolutional multiple whole profile (CMWP) procedure. These microstructure parameters were evaluated separately in the two groups of reflections corresponding to the two different texture components. Significant differences were found in both, the evolution of dislocation densities and the development of the fractions of and type slip systems in the RD and TD specimens during tensile deformation. The differences between the RD and TD stress-strain curves are discussed in terms of the differences of the microstructure evolution.

Method for multimodal analysis of independent source differences in schizophrenia: combining gray matter structural and auditory oddball functional data.

PubMed

Calhoun, V D; Adali, T; Giuliani, N R; Pekar, J J; Kiehl, K A; Pearlson, G D

2006-01-01

The acquisition of both structural MRI (sMRI) and functional MRI (fMRI) data for a given study is a very common practice. However, these data are typically examined in separate analyses, rather than in a combined model. We propose a novel methodology to perform independent component analysis across image modalities, specifically, gray matter images and fMRI activation images as well as a joint histogram visualization technique. Joint independent component analysis (jICA) is used to decompose a matrix with a given row consisting of an fMRI activation image resulting from auditory oddball target stimuli and an sMRI gray matter segmentation image, collected from the same individual. We analyzed data collected on a group of schizophrenia patients and healthy controls using the jICA approach. Spatially independent joint-components are estimated and resulting components were further analyzed only if they showed a significant difference between patients and controls. The main finding was that group differences in bilateral parietal and frontal as well as posterior temporal regions in gray matter were associated with bilateral temporal regions activated by the auditory oddball target stimuli. A finding of less patient gray matter and less hemodynamic activity for target detection in these bilateral anterior temporal lobe regions was consistent with previous work. An unexpected corollary to this finding was that, in the regions showing the largest group differences, gray matter concentrations were larger in patients vs. controls, suggesting that more gray matter may be related to less functional connectivity in the auditory oddball fMRI task. Hum Brain Mapp, 2005. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The role of anthropometric, growth and maturity index (AGaMI) influencing youth soccer relative performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bisyri Husin Musawi Maliki, Ahmad; Razali Abdullah, Mohamad; Juahir, Hafizan; Muhamad, Wan Siti Amalina Wan; Afiqah Mohamad Nasir, Nur; Muazu Musa, Rabiu; Musliha Mat-Rasid, Siti; Adnan, Aleesha; Azura Kosni, Norlaila; Abdullah, Farhana; Ain Shahirah Abdullah, Nurul

2018-04-01

The main purpose of this study was to develop Anthropometric, Growth and Maturity Index (AGaMI) in soccer and explore its differences to soccer player physical attributes, fitness, motivation and skills. A total 223 adolescent soccer athletes aged 12 to 18 years old were selected as respondent. AGaMI was develop based on anthropometric components (bicep, tricep, subscapular, suprailiac, calf circumference and muac) with growth and maturity component using tanner scale. Meanwhile, relative performance namely physical, fitness, motivation and skills attributes of soccer were measured as dependent variables. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) are used to achieve the objective in this study. AGaMI had categorized players into three different groups namely; high (5 players), moderate (88 players) and low (91 players). PCA revealed a moderate to very strong dominant range of 0.69 to 0.90 of factor loading on AGaMI. Further analysis assigned AGaMI groups as treated as independent variables (IV) and physical, fitness, motivation and skills attributes were treated as dependent variables (DV). Finally, ANOVA showed that flexibility, leg power, age, weight, height, sitting height, short and long pass are the most significant parameters statistically differentiate by the groups of AGaMI (p<0.05). As a summary, body fat mass, growth and maturity are an essential component differentiating the output of the soccer players relative performance. In future, information of the AGaMI model are useful to the coach and players for identifying the suitable biological and physiological demand reflects more comprehensive means of youth soccer relative performance. This study further highlights the importance of assessing AGaMI when identifying soccer relative performance.

LARVAL FISH DIVERSITY IN SUISAN MARSH, CALIFORNIA: ARE INTERMEDIATE FLOWS THE BEST?

EPA Science Inventory

We sampled larval fish in Suisun Marsh, in the San Francisco Bay estuary from February to June 1995-1999. We used principal components analysis (PCA) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) on 13 taxonomic groups making up 99.7% of the catch and several environmental variable...

Analysis of symptoms and their potential associations with e-liquids' components: a social media study.

PubMed

Li, Qiudan; Zhan, Yongcheng; Wang, Lei; Leischow, Scott J; Zeng, Daniel Dajun

2016-07-30

The electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) market has grown rapidly in recent years. However, causes of e-cigarette related symptoms among users and their impact on health remain uncertain. This research aims to mine the potential relationships between symptoms and e-liquid components, such as propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerine (VG), flavor extracts, and nicotine, using user-generated data collected from Reddit. A total of 3605 e-liquid related posts from January 1st, 2011 to June 30th, 2015 were collected from Reddit. Then the patterns of VG/PG distribution among different flavors were analyzed. Next, the relationship between throat hit, which was a typical symptom of e-cigarette use, and e-liquid components was studied. Finally, other symptoms were examined based on e-liquid components and user sentiment. We discovered 3 main sets of findings: 1) We identified three groups of flavors in terms of VG/PG ratios. Fruits, cream, and nuts flavors were similar. Sweet, menthol, and seasonings flavors were classified into one group. Tobacco and beverages flavors were the third group. 2) Throat hit was analyzed and we found that menthol and tobacco flavors, as well as high ratios of PG and nicotine level, could produce more throat hit. 3) A total of 9 systems of 25 symptoms were identified and analyzed. Components including VG/PG ratio, flavor, and nicotine could be possible reasons for these symptoms. E-liquid components shown to be associated with e-cigarette use symptomology were VG/PG ratios, flavors, and nicotine levels. Future analysis could be conducted based on the structure of e-liquid components categories built in this study. Information revealed in this study could be utilized by e-cigarette users to understand the relationship between e-liquid type and symptoms experienced, by vendors to choose appropriate recipes of e-liquid, and by policy makers to develop new regulations.

The Effect of Multidimensional Motivation Interventions on Cognitive and Behavioral Components of Motivation: Testing Martin's Model

PubMed Central

Pooragha Roodbarde, Fatemeh; Talepasand, Siavash; Rahimian Boogar, Issac

2017-01-01

Objective: The present study aimed at examining the effect of multidimensional motivation interventions based on Martin's model on cognitive and behavioral components of motivation. Method: The research design was prospective with pretest, posttest, and follow-up, and 2 experimental groups. In this study, 90 students (45 participants in the experimental group and 45 in the control group) constituted the sample of the study, and they were selected by available sampling method. Motivation interventions were implemented for fifteen 60-minute sessions 3 times a week, which lasted for about 2 months. Data were analyzed using repeated measures multivariate variance analysis test. Results: The findings revealed that multidimensional motivation interventions resulted in a significant increase in the scores of cognitive components such as self-efficacy, mastery goal, test anxiety, and feeling of lack of control, and behavioral components such as task management. The results of one-month follow-up indicated the stability of the created changes in test anxiety and cognitive strategies; however, no significant difference was found between the 2 groups at the follow-up in self-efficacy, mastery goals, source of control, and motivation. Conclusion: The research evidence indicated that academic motivation is a multidimensional component and is affected by cognitive and behavioral factors; therefore, researchers, teachers, and other authorities should attend to these factors to increase academic motivation. PMID:28659984

The Effect of Multidimensional Motivation Interventions on Cognitive and Behavioral Components of Motivation: Testing Martin's Model.

PubMed

Pooragha Roodbarde, Fatemeh; Talepasand, Siavash; Rahimian Boogar, Issac

2017-04-01

Objective: The present study aimed at examining the effect of multidimensional motivation interventions based on Martin's model on cognitive and behavioral components of motivation. Method: The research design was prospective with pretest, posttest, and follow-up, and 2 experimental groups. In this study, 90 students (45 participants in the experimental group and 45 in the control group) constituted the sample of the study, and they were selected by available sampling method. Motivation interventions were implemented for fifteen 60-minute sessions 3 times a week, which lasted for about 2 months. Data were analyzed using repeated measures multivariate variance analysis test. Results: The findings revealed that multidimensional motivation interventions resulted in a significant increase in the scores of cognitive components such as self-efficacy, mastery goal, test anxiety, and feeling of lack of control, and behavioral components such as task management. The results of one-month follow-up indicated the stability of the created changes in test anxiety and cognitive strategies; however, no significant difference was found between the 2 groups at the follow-up in self-efficacy, mastery goals, source of control, and motivation. Conclusion: The research evidence indicated that academic motivation is a multidimensional component and is affected by cognitive and behavioral factors; therefore, researchers, teachers, and other authorities should attend to these factors to increase academic motivation.

Using Technology to Expand and Enhance Applied Behavioral Analysis Programs for Children with Autism in Military Families

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-07-01

group and seven in the control group . Mean component skills implemented correctly on the pretest and posttest for the treatment and control groups for...in the control group showed no improvement (white bar on posttest column). In Figure 2, instead of reporting the percentage of trials implemented...above. Both groups performed poorly on the BISPA (Figure 3, upper-left panel) during the pretest (Ms = 19.17% and 13.89% on the pretest

[Swallowing sound signal: description in normal and laryngectomized subjects].

PubMed

Morinière, S; Boiron, M; Beutter, P

2008-02-01

Recently, we described three sound components in the pharyngeal swallowing sound. The aim of the present study was to identify the origin of these components using modern techniques providing numeric, synchronized acoustic-radiological data in a normal population and in a partial supracricoid laryngectomized population (SCL group) and a total laryngectomized (TL group) population in pre- and postoperative situations. We enrolled 15 normal subjects (10 men and five women; mean age, 29.5+/-8 years), 11 patients in the SCL group (11 men; mean age, 62; range, 45-75 years), and nine patients in the TL group (three women, six men; mean age, 56; range, 39-73). An X-ray camera was connected to a video acquisition card to obtain acoustic-radiological data (2 images/s). The microphone was attached to each subject's skin overlying the lateral border of the cricoid. The subjects were asked to swallow 10 ml of a barium suspension. We performed the acoustic-radiological analysis using Visualisation and Cool Edit Pro software. Each sound component was associated with a specific position of the bolus and the moving anatomic structure. Three sound components were identified: the laryngeal ascension sound (LAS), the upper sphincter opening sound (USOS), and the laryngeal release sound (LRS). We quantified the total duration of the pharyngeal sound and its components, as well as the duration of the interval. The average duration of the normal pharyngeal sound was 690+/-162 ms and was significantly decreased in the TL group (296+/-105 ms) and increased in the SCL group (701+/-186 ms). The USOS was present in 100% of the recordings. A typical profile of the swallowing sound for each group was obtained. This study allowed us to determine the origin of the three main sound components of the pharyngeal swallowing sound with respect to movements in anatomic structures and the different positions of the bolus, and to describe the main variations induced by a partial and a total laryngectomy.

Sex differences in the association of phospholipids with components of the metabolic syndrome in young adults.

PubMed

Rauschert, Sebastian; Uhl, Olaf; Koletzko, Berthold; Mori, Trevor A; Beilin, Lawrence J; Oddy, Wendy H; Hellmuth, Christian

2017-01-01

There are differences in the prevalence and severity of diseases between males, females not taking hormonal contraceptives (non-HC females) and females taking hormonal contraceptives (HC females). The aim of this study was to identify sex-specific differences in the metabolome and its relation to components of the metabolic syndrome in a young adult population. The subjects analysed are from the 20-year follow-up of the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Two hundred fifteen plasma metabolites were analysed in 1021 fasted plasma samples by a targeted liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) metabolomics approach. Principal component analysis between males ( n  = 550), non-HC females ( n  = 199) and HC females ( n  = 269) was applied. Regression analysis with a sex × metabolite concentration interaction was performed on components of the MetS, namely waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, and plasma HDL-C, triglycerides and glucose concentration, as outcome to select the significant metabolites of the interaction. Those selected metabolites were used as predictors in a sex group stratified analysis to compare the different β coefficients and therefore the sex group-dependent associations. Principal component analysis between males, non-HC females, and HC females showed a general discriminating trend between males and HC females. One hundred twenty-seven metabolites were significantly different between males and non-HC females, whereas 97 differed between non-HC females and HC females. Males and non-HC females mainly differed in sphingomyelin, lyso-phosphatidylcholine, acyl-carnitine and amino acid species, whilst non-HC females and HC females mainly differed in phosphatidylcholine, lyso-phosphatidylcholine and acyl-carnitine concentrations. Forty-one metabolites (phosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelines, lyso-phosphatidylcholine) were significantly differently associated with the MetS factors in the different groups. We have shown clear differences between plasma metabolite concentrations in males, and HC or non-HC females, especially in lyso-phosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin and phosphatidylcholine, which have been shown to associate with obesity in other studies. The association of these metabolites differed between sexes with components of the metabolic syndrome, which means that development of diseases like obesity and diabetes may differ between the sexes. Our findings highlight the importance of considering sex differences when conducting a metabolomics study and the need to account for the effect of HC usage in females in future studies.

COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF SWALLOWING MECHANICS UNDERLYING IMPAIRED EPIGLOTTIC INVERSION

PubMed Central

Pearson, William G.; Taylor, Brandon K; Blair, Julie; Martin-Harris, Bonnie

2015-01-01

Objective Determine swallowing mechanics associated with the first and second epiglottic movements, that is, movement to horizontal and full inversion respectively, in order to provide a clinical interpretation of impaired epiglottic function. Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods A heterogeneous cohort of patients with swallowing difficulties was identified (n=92). Two speech-language pathologists reviewed 5ml thin and 5ml pudding videofluoroscopic swallow studies per subject, and assigned epiglottic component scores of 0=complete inversion, 1=partial inversion, and 2=no inversion forming three groups of videos for comparison. Coordinates mapping minimum and maximum excursion of the hyoid, pharynx, larynx, and tongue base during pharyngeal swallowing were recorded using ImageJ software. A canonical variate analysis with post-hoc discriminant function analysis of coordinates was performed using MorphoJ software to evaluate mechanical differences between groups. Eigenvectors characterizing swallowing mechanics underlying impaired epiglottic movements were visualized. Results Nineteen of 184 video-swallows were rejected for poor quality (n=165). A Goodman-Kruskal index of predictive association showed no correlation between epiglottic component scores and etiologies of dysphagia (λ=.04). A two-way analysis of variance by epiglottic component scores showed no significant interaction effects between sex and age (f=1.4, p=.25). Discriminant function analysis demonstrated statistically significant mechanical differences between epiglottic component scores: 1&2, representing the first epiglottic movement (Mahalanobis distance=1.13, p=.0007); and, 0&1, representing the second epiglottic movement (Mahalanobis distance=0.83, p=.003). Eigenvectors indicate that laryngeal elevation and tongue base retraction underlie both epiglottic movements. Conclusion Results suggest that reduced tongue base retraction and laryngeal elevation underlie impaired first and second epiglottic movements. The styloglossus, hyoglossus and long pharyngeal muscles are implicated as targets for rehabilitation in dysphagic patients with impaired epiglottic inversion. PMID:27426940

Genome-wide selection components analysis in a fish with male pregnancy.

PubMed

Flanagan, Sarah P; Jones, Adam G

2017-04-01

A major goal of evolutionary biology is to identify the genome-level targets of natural and sexual selection. With the advent of next-generation sequencing, whole-genome selection components analysis provides a promising avenue in the search for loci affected by selection in nature. Here, we implement a genome-wide selection components analysis in the sex role reversed Gulf pipefish, Syngnathus scovelli. Our approach involves a double-digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD-seq) technique, applied to adult females, nonpregnant males, pregnant males, and their offspring. An F ST comparison of allele frequencies among these groups reveals 47 genomic regions putatively experiencing sexual selection, as well as 468 regions showing a signature of differential viability selection between males and females. A complementary likelihood ratio test identifies similar patterns in the data as the F ST analysis. Sexual selection and viability selection both tend to favor the rare alleles in the population. Ultimately, we conclude that genome-wide selection components analysis can be a useful tool to complement other approaches in the effort to pinpoint genome-level targets of selection in the wild. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Proposed Models of Appropriate Website and Courseware for E-Learning in Higher Education: Research Based Design Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khlaisang, Jintavee

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate proper website and courseware for e-learning in higher education. Methods used in this study included the data collection, the analysis surveys, the experts' in-depth interview, and the experts' focus group. Results indicated that there were 16 components for website, as well as 16 components for…

An application of principal component analysis to the clavicle and clavicle fixation devices.

PubMed

Daruwalla, Zubin J; Courtis, Patrick; Fitzpatrick, Clare; Fitzpatrick, David; Mullett, Hannan

2010-03-26

Principal component analysis (PCA) enables the building of statistical shape models of bones and joints. This has been used in conjunction with computer assisted surgery in the past. However, PCA of the clavicle has not been performed. Using PCA, we present a novel method that examines the major modes of size and three-dimensional shape variation in male and female clavicles and suggests a method of grouping the clavicle into size and shape categories. Twenty-one high-resolution computerized tomography scans of the clavicle were reconstructed and analyzed using a specifically developed statistical software package. After performing statistical shape analysis, PCA was applied to study the factors that account for anatomical variation. The first principal component representing size accounted for 70.5 percent of anatomical variation. The addition of a further three principal components accounted for almost 87 percent. Using statistical shape analysis, clavicles in males have a greater lateral depth and are longer, wider and thicker than in females. However, the sternal angle in females is larger than in males. PCA confirmed these differences between genders but also noted that men exhibit greater variance and classified clavicles into five morphological groups. This unique approach is the first that standardizes a clavicular orientation. It provides information that is useful to both, the biomedical engineer and clinician. Other applications include implant design with regard to modifying current or designing future clavicle fixation devices. Our findings support the need for further development of clavicle fixation devices and the questioning of whether gender-specific devices are necessary.

Adhesive strength of total knee endoprostheses to bone cement - analysis of metallic and ceramic femoral components under worst-case conditions.

PubMed

Bergschmidt, Philipp; Dammer, Rebecca; Zietz, Carmen; Finze, Susanne; Mittelmeier, Wolfram; Bader, Rainer

2016-06-01

Evaluation of the adhesive strength of femoral components to the bone cement is a relevant parameter for predicting implant safety. In the present experimental study, three types of cemented femoral components (metallic, ceramic and silica/silane-layered ceramic) of the bicondylar Multigen Plus knee system, implanted on composite femora were analysed. A pull-off test with the femoral components was performed after different load and several cementing conditions (four groups and n=3 components of each metallic, ceramic and silica/silane-layered ceramic in each group). Pull-off forces were comparable for the metallic and the silica/silane-layered ceramic femoral components (mean 4769 N and 4298 N) under standard test condition, whereas uncoated ceramic femoral components showed reduced pull-off forces (mean 2322 N). Loading under worst-case conditions led to decreased adhesive strength by loosening of the interface implant and bone cement using uncoated metallic and ceramic femoral components, respectively. Silica/silane-coated ceramic components were stably fixed even under worst-case conditions. Loading under high flexion angles can induce interfacial tensile stress, which could promote early implant loosening. In conclusion, a silica/silane-coating layer on the femoral component increased their adhesive strength to bone cement. Thicker cement mantles (>2 mm) reduce adhesive strength of the femoral component and can increase the risk of cement break-off.

Parallel ICA of FDG-PET and PiB-PET in three conditions with underlying Alzheimer's pathology

PubMed Central

Laforce, Robert; Tosun, Duygu; Ghosh, Pia; Lehmann, Manja; Madison, Cindee M.; Weiner, Michael W.; Miller, Bruce L.; Jagust, William J.; Rabinovici, Gil D.

2014-01-01

The relationships between clinical phenotype, β-amyloid (Aβ) deposition and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are incompletely understood yet have important ramifications for future therapy. The goal of this study was to utilize multimodality positron emission tomography (PET) data from a clinically heterogeneous population of patients with probable AD in order to: (1) identify spatial patterns of Aβ deposition measured by (11C)-labeled Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB-PET) and glucose metabolism measured by FDG-PET that correlate with specific clinical presentation and (2) explore associations between spatial patterns of Aβ deposition and glucose metabolism across the AD population. We included all patients meeting the criteria for probable AD (NIA–AA) who had undergone MRI, PiB and FDG-PET at our center (N = 46, mean age 63.0 ± 7.7, Mini-Mental State Examination 22.0 ± 4.8). Patients were subclassified based on their cognitive profiles into an amnestic/dysexecutive group (AD-memory; n = 27), a language-predominant group (AD-language; n = 10) and a visuospatial-predominant group (AD-visuospatial; n = 9). All patients were required to have evidence of amyloid deposition on PiB-PET. To capture the spatial distribution of Aβ deposition and glucose metabolism, we employed parallel independent component analysis (pICA), a method that enables joint analyses of multimodal imaging data. The relationships between PET components and clinical group were examined using a Receiver Operator Characteristic approach, including age, gender, education and apolipoprotein E ε4 allele carrier status as covariates. Results of the first set of analyses independently examining the relationship between components from each modality and clinical group showed three significant components for FDG: a left inferior frontal and temporoparietal component associated with AD-language (area under the curve [AUC] 0.82, p = 0.011), and two components associated with AD-visuospatial (bilateral occipito-parieto-temporal [AUC 0.85, p = 0.009] and right posterior cingulate cortex [PCC]/precuneus and right lateral parietal [AUC 0.69, p = 0.045]). The AD-memory associated component included predominantly bilateral inferior frontal, cuneus and inferior temporal, and right inferior parietal hypometabolism but did not reach significance (AUC 0.65, p = 0.062). None of the PiB components correlated with clinical group. Joint analysis of PiB and FDG with pICA revealed a correlated component pair, in which increased frontal and decreased PCC/precuneus PiB correlated with decreased FDG in the frontal, occipital and temporal regions (partial r = 0.75, p < 0.0001). Using multivariate data analysis, this study reinforced the notion that clinical phenotype in AD is tightly linked to patterns of glucose hypometabolism but not amyloid deposition. These findings are strikingly similar to those of univariate paradigms and provide additional support in favor of specific involvement of the language network, higher-order visual network, and default mode network in clinical variants of AD. The inverse relationship between Aβ deposition and glucose metabolism in partially overlapping brain regions suggests that Aβ may exert both local and remote effects on brain metabolism. Applying multivariate approaches such as pICA to multimodal imaging data is a promising approach for unraveling the complex relationships between different elements of AD pathophysiology. PMID:24818077

Rat growth during chronic centrifugation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pitts, G. C.; Oyama, J.

1978-01-01

Female weanling rats were chronically centrifuged at 4.15 G with controls at terrestrial gravity. Samples were sacrificed for body composition studies at 0, 28, 63, 105 and 308 days of centrifugation. The centrifuged group approached a significantly lower mature body mass than the controls (251 and 318g) but the rate of approach was the same in both groups. Retirement to 1G on the 60th day resulted in complete recovery. Among individual components muscle, bone, skin, CNS, heart, kidneys, body water and body fat were changed in the centrifuged group. However, an analysis of the growth of individual components relative to growth of the total fat-free compartment revealed that only skin (which increased in mass) was responding to centrifugation per se.

Effect of interaction between dynapenic component of the European working group on sarcopenia in older people sarcopenia criteria and obesity on activities of daily living in the elderly.

PubMed

Kim, Yeon-Pyo; Kim, Sun; Joh, Ju-Youn; Hwang, Hwan-Sik

2014-05-01

To examine the effects of interaction between dynapenic component of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) sarcopenia and obesity (dynapenia × obesity) on activities of daily living (ADL) in older participants. Cross-sectional analysis of the Validity and Reliability of Korean Frailty Index and the Validity and Reliability of the Kaigo-Yobo Checklist in Korean Elderly studies. Six welfare facilities operated by government in South Korea. Four hundred eighty-seven community-dwelling individuals (157 males, 330 females) >65 years of age. Dynapenic component of the EWGSOP sarcopenia was defined as usual gait speed <0.8 m/s or grip strength lower than cut-off value (male <25.3 kg, female <12.0 kg). Obesity was defined as body mass index ≥27.5 kg/m(2). ADL were assessed using the Barthel index. There were 14 obese with dynapenic component cases (2 males, 12 females) of the 487 participants. Interaction of dynapenia and obesity was significant on multivariate generalized linear model analysis (P = .015). Dynapenic component of the EWGSOP sarcopenia and obesity in the elderly is associated with multiplicative interactions rather than additive interactions in ADL. Copyright © 2014 American Medical Directors Association, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A data fusion-based drought index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azmi, Mohammad; Rüdiger, Christoph; Walker, Jeffrey P.

2016-03-01

Drought and water stress monitoring plays an important role in the management of water resources, especially during periods of extreme climate conditions. Here, a data fusion-based drought index (DFDI) has been developed and analyzed for three different locations of varying land use and climate regimes in Australia. The proposed index comprehensively considers all types of drought through a selection of indices and proxies associated with each drought type. In deriving the proposed index, weekly data from three different data sources (OzFlux Network, Asia-Pacific Water Monitor, and MODIS-Terra satellite) were employed to first derive commonly used individual standardized drought indices (SDIs), which were then grouped using an advanced clustering method. Next, three different multivariate methods (principal component analysis, factor analysis, and independent component analysis) were utilized to aggregate the SDIs located within each group. For the two clusters in which the grouped SDIs best reflected the water availability and vegetation conditions, the variables were aggregated based on an averaging between the standardized first principal components of the different multivariate methods. Then, considering those two aggregated indices as well as the classifications of months (dry/wet months and active/non-active months), the proposed DFDI was developed. Finally, the symbolic regression method was used to derive mathematical equations for the proposed DFDI. The results presented here show that the proposed index has revealed new aspects in water stress monitoring which previous indices were not able to, by simultaneously considering both hydrometeorological and ecological concepts to define the real water stress of the study areas.

The assisted prediction modelling frame with hybridisation and ensemble for business risk forecasting and an implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hui; Hong, Lu-Yao; Zhou, Qing; Yu, Hai-Jie

2015-08-01

The business failure of numerous companies results in financial crises. The high social costs associated with such crises have made people to search for effective tools for business risk prediction, among which, support vector machine is very effective. Several modelling means, including single-technique modelling, hybrid modelling, and ensemble modelling, have been suggested in forecasting business risk with support vector machine. However, existing literature seldom focuses on the general modelling frame for business risk prediction, and seldom investigates performance differences among different modelling means. We reviewed researches on forecasting business risk with support vector machine, proposed the general assisted prediction modelling frame with hybridisation and ensemble (APMF-WHAE), and finally, investigated the use of principal components analysis, support vector machine, random sampling, and group decision, under the general frame in forecasting business risk. Under the APMF-WHAE frame with support vector machine as the base predictive model, four specific predictive models were produced, namely, pure support vector machine, a hybrid support vector machine involved with principal components analysis, a support vector machine ensemble involved with random sampling and group decision, and an ensemble of hybrid support vector machine using group decision to integrate various hybrid support vector machines on variables produced from principle components analysis and samples from random sampling. The experimental results indicate that hybrid support vector machine and ensemble of hybrid support vector machines were able to produce dominating performance than pure support vector machine and support vector machine ensemble.

Differentiation of commercial fuels based on polar components using negative electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rostad, C.E.

2006-01-01

Polar components in fuels may enable differentiation between fuel types or commercial fuel sources. A range of commercial fuels from numerous sources were analyzed by flow injection analysis/electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry without extensive sample preparation, separation, or chromatography. This technique enabled screening for unique polar components at parts per million levels in commercial hydrocarbon products, including a range of products from a variety of commercial sources and locations. Because these polar compounds are unique in different fuels, their presence may provide source information on hydrocarbons released into the environment. This analysis was then applied to mixtures of various products, as might be found in accidental releases into the environment. Copyright ?? Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

A Bayesian Network Based Global Sensitivity Analysis Method for Identifying Dominant Processes in a Multi-physics Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, H.; Chen, X.; Ye, M.; Song, X.; Zachara, J. M.

2016-12-01

Sensitivity analysis has been an important tool in groundwater modeling to identify the influential parameters. Among various sensitivity analysis methods, the variance-based global sensitivity analysis has gained popularity for its model independence characteristic and capability of providing accurate sensitivity measurements. However, the conventional variance-based method only considers uncertainty contribution of single model parameters. In this research, we extended the variance-based method to consider more uncertainty sources and developed a new framework to allow flexible combinations of different uncertainty components. We decompose the uncertainty sources into a hierarchical three-layer structure: scenario, model and parametric. Furthermore, each layer of uncertainty source is capable of containing multiple components. An uncertainty and sensitivity analysis framework was then constructed following this three-layer structure using Bayesian network. Different uncertainty components are represented as uncertain nodes in this network. Through the framework, variance-based sensitivity analysis can be implemented with great flexibility of using different grouping strategies for uncertainty components. The variance-based sensitivity analysis thus is improved to be able to investigate the importance of an extended range of uncertainty sources: scenario, model, and other different combinations of uncertainty components which can represent certain key model system processes (e.g., groundwater recharge process, flow reactive transport process). For test and demonstration purposes, the developed methodology was implemented into a test case of real-world groundwater reactive transport modeling with various uncertainty sources. The results demonstrate that the new sensitivity analysis method is able to estimate accurate importance measurements for any uncertainty sources which were formed by different combinations of uncertainty components. The new methodology can provide useful information for environmental management and decision-makers to formulate policies and strategies.

High prevalence of hypovitaminosis D and K in patients with hip fracture.

PubMed

Nakano, Tetsuo; Tsugawa, Naoko; Kuwabara, Akiko; Kamao, Maya; Tanaka, Kiyoshi; Okano, Toshio

2011-01-01

Although hip fracture is considered to be associated with hypovitaminosis D and K, few reports have previously studied both of them. We have studied the vitamin D- and K-status as well as the general nutritional status in ninety-nine patients with hip fracture. Mean serum concentration of 25hydroxy-vitamin D (25OH-D) in female fractured patients was only approximately 9 ng/mL, suggesting severe vitamin D deficiency. There was no significant difference between the two groups in serum concentration of intact parathyroid hormone in both genders and serum 25OH-D levels in the male subjects. Plasma concentrations of phylloquinone (vitamin K1; PK) and menaquinone-7 (MK-7) were significantly lower in the fractured group than in the control group in both genders. Logistic regression analysis indicated that circulating concentrations of albumin, PK and 25OH-D were the significant and independent determinants of fracture risk, with their higher concentrations associated with decreased fracture risk. Finally, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to summarize the clinical parameters into smaller numbers of independent components. Three components were obtained, each representing the overall nutritional status, the vitamin D status, and the vitamin K status. In conclusion, our study has shown that patients with hip fracture have vitamin D and K deficiency independent of general malnutrition.

The influence of foot hyperpronation on pelvic biomechanics during stance phase of the gait: A biomechanical simulation study.

PubMed

Yazdani, Farzaneh; Razeghi, Mohsen; Karimi, Mohammad Taghi; Raeisi Shahraki, Hadi; Salimi Bani, Milad

2018-05-01

Despite the theoretical link between foot hyperpronation and biomechanical dysfunction of the pelvis, the literature lacks evidence that confirms this assumption in truly hyperpronated feet subjects during gait. Changes in the kinematic pattern of the pelvic segment were assessed in 15 persons with hyperpronated feet and compared to a control group of 15 persons with normally aligned feet during the stance phase of gait based on biomechanical musculoskeletal simulation. Kinematic and kinetic data were collected while participants walked at a comfortable self-selected speed. A generic OpenSim musculoskeletal model with 23 degrees of freedom and 92 muscles was scaled for each participant. OpenSim inverse kinematic analysis was applied to calculate segment angles in the sagittal, frontal and horizontal planes. Principal component analysis was employed as a data reduction technique, as well as a computational tool to obtain principal component scores. Independent-sample t-test was used to detect group differences. The difference between groups in scores for the first principal component in the sagittal plane was statistically significant (p = 0.01; effect size = 1.06), but differences between principal component scores in the frontal and horizontal planes were not significant. The hyperpronation group had greater anterior pelvic tilt during 20%-80% of the stance phase. In conclusion, in persons with hyperpronation we studied the role of the pelvic segment was mainly to maintain postural balance in the sagittal plane by increasing anterior pelvic inclination. Since anterior pelvic tilt may be associated with low back symptoms, the evaluation of foot posture should be considered in assessing the patients with low back and pelvic dysfunction.

Regionalization of precipitation characteristics in Iran's Lake Urmia basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fazel, Nasim; Berndtsson, Ronny; Uvo, Cintia Bertacchi; Madani, Kaveh; Kløve, Bjørn

2018-04-01

Lake Urmia in northwest Iran, once one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world, has shrunk by almost 90% in area and 80% in volume during the last four decades. To improve the understanding of regional differences in water availability throughout the region and to refine the existing information on precipitation variability, this study investigated the spatial pattern of precipitation for the Lake Urmia basin. Daily rainfall time series from 122 precipitation stations with different record lengths were used to extract 15 statistical descriptors comprising 25th percentile, 75th percentile, and coefficient of variation for annual and seasonal total precipitation. Principal component analysis in association with cluster analysis identified three main homogeneous precipitation groups in the lake basin. The first sub-region (group 1) includes stations located in the center and southeast; the second sub-region (group 2) covers mostly northern and northeastern part of the basin, and the third sub-region (group 3) covers the western and southern edges of the basin. Results of principal component (PC) and clustering analyses showed that seasonal precipitation variation is the most important feature controlling the spatial pattern of precipitation in the lake basin. The 25th and 75th percentiles of winter and autumn are the most important variables controlling the spatial pattern of the first rotated principal component explaining about 32% of the total variance. Summer and spring precipitation variations are the most important variables in the second and third rotated principal components, respectively. Seasonal variation in precipitation amount and seasonality are explained by topography and influenced by the lake and westerly winds that are related to the strength of the North Atlantic Oscillation. Despite using incomplete time series with different lengths, the identified sub-regions are physically meaningful.

MIR and NIR group spectra of n-alkanes and 1-chloroalkanes.

PubMed

Kwaśniewicz, Michał; Czarnecki, Mirosław A

2015-05-15

Numerous attempts were undertaken to resolve the absorption originating from different parts of alkanes. The separation of the contributions from the terminal and midchain methylene units was observed only in the spectra of solid alkanes at low temperatures. On the other hand, for liquid alkanes this effect was not reported as yet. In this study, ATR-IR, Raman and NIR spectra of eight n-alkanes and seven 1-chloroalkanes in the liquid phase were measured from 1000 to 12,000cm(-1). The spectra were analyzed by using two-dimensional (2D) correlation approach and chemometrics methods. It was shown that in 2D asynchronous contour plots, constructed from the spectra of n-alkanes and 1-chloroalkanes, the methylene band was resolved into two components. These two components were assigned to the terminal and midchain methylene groups. For the first time, the contributions from these two molecular fragments were resolved in the spectra of liquid n-alkanes and 1-chloroalkanes. MCR-ALS resolved these spectra into two components that were assigned to the ethyl and midchain methylene groups. These components represent the group spectra that can be used for assignment, spectral analysis and prediction of unknown spectra. The spectral prediction based on the group spectra provides very good results for n-alkanes, especially in the first and second overtone regions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chemical Characterization and Water Content Determination of Bio-Oils Obtained from Various Biomass Species using 31P NMR Spectroscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

David, K.; Ben, H.; Muzzy, J.

2012-03-01

Pyrolysis is a promising approach to utilize biomass for biofuels. One of the key challenges for this conversion is how to analyze complicated components in the pyrolysis oils. Water contents of pyrolysis oils are normally analyzed by Karl Fischer titration. The use of 2-chloro-4,4,5,5,-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane followed by {sup 31}P NMR analysis has been used to quantitatively analyze the structure of hydroxyl groups in lignin and whole biomass. Results: {sup 31}P NMR analysis of pyrolysis oils is a novel technique to simultaneously characterize components and analyze water contents in pyrolysis oils produced from various biomasses. The water contents of various pyrolysis oilsmore » range from 16 to 40 wt%. The pyrolysis oils obtained from Loblolly pine had higher guaiacyl content, while that from oak had a higher syringyl content. Conclusion: The comparison with Karl Fischer titration shows that {sup 31}P NMR could also reliably be used to measure the water content of pyrolysis oils. Simultaneously with analysis of water content, quantitative characterization of hydroxyl groups, including aliphatic, C-5 substituted/syringyl, guaiacyl, p-hydroxyl phenyl and carboxylic hydroxyl groups, could also be provided by {sup 31}P NMR analysis.« less

Simultaneous quantitation of 14 active components in Yinchenhao decoction by using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection: Method development and ingredient analysis of different commonly prepared samples.

PubMed

Yi, YaXiong; Zhang, Yong; Ding, Yue; Lu, Lu; Zhang, Tong; Zhao, Yuan; Xu, XiaoJun; Zhang, YuXin

2016-11-01

We developed a novel quantitative analysis method based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection for the simultaneous determination of the 14 main active components in Yinchenhao decoction. All components were separated on an Agilent SB-C18 column by using a gradient solvent system of acetonitrile/0.1% phosphoric acid solution at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min for 35 min. Subsequently, linearity, precision, repeatability, and accuracy tests were implemented to validate the method. Furthermore, the method has been applied for compositional difference analysis of 14 components in eight normal-extraction Yinchenhao decoction samples, accompanied by hierarchical clustering analysis and similarity analysis. The result that all samples were divided into three groups based on different contents of components demonstrated that extraction methods of decocting, refluxing, ultrasonication and extraction solvents of water or ethanol affected component differentiation, and should be related to its clinical applications. The results also indicated that the sample prepared by patients in the family by using water extraction employing a casserole was almost same to that prepared using a stainless-steel kettle, which is mostly used in pharmaceutical factories. This research would help patients to select the best and most convenient method for preparing Yinchenhao decoction. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The Influence of Adaptation and Inhibition on the Effects of Onset Asynchrony on Auditory Grouping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Stephen D.; Roberts, Brian

2011-01-01

Onset asynchrony is an important cue for auditory scene analysis. For example, a harmonic of a vowel that begins before the other components contributes less to the perceived phonetic quality. This effect was thought primarily to involve high-level grouping processes, because the contribution can be partly restored by accompanying the leading…

Genetic Variability and Population Structure of Disanthus cercidifolius subsp. longipes (Hamamelidaceae) Based on AFLP Analysis

PubMed Central

Yu, Yi; Fan, Qiang; Shen, Rujiang; Guo, Wei; Jin, Jianhua; Cui, Dafang; Liao, Wenbo

2014-01-01

Disanthus cercidifolius subsp. longipes is an endangered species in China. Genetic diversity and structure analysis of this species was investigated using amplified fragments length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting. Nei's gene diversity ranged from 0.1290 to 0.1394. The AMOVA indicated that 75.06% of variation was distributed within populations, while the between-group component 5.04% was smaller than the between populations-within-group component 19.90%. Significant genetic differentiation was detected between populations. Genetic and geographical distances were not correlated. PCA and genetic structure analysis showed that populations from East China were together with those of the Nanling Range. These patterns of genetic diversity and levels of genetic variation may be the result of D. c. subsp. longipes restricted to several isolated habitats and “excess flowers production, but little fruit set”. It is necessary to protect all existing populations of D. c. subsp. longipes in order to preserve as much genetic variation as possible. PMID:25250583

High Performance Descriptive Semantic Analysis of Semantic Graph Databases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Joslyn, Cliff A.; Adolf, Robert D.; al-Saffar, Sinan

As semantic graph database technology grows to address components ranging from extant large triple stores to SPARQL endpoints over SQL-structured relational databases, it will become increasingly important to be able to understand their inherent semantic structure, whether codified in explicit ontologies or not. Our group is researching novel methods for what we call descriptive semantic analysis of RDF triplestores, to serve purposes of analysis, interpretation, visualization, and optimization. But data size and computational complexity makes it increasingly necessary to bring high performance computational resources to bear on this task. Our research group built a novel high performance hybrid system comprisingmore » computational capability for semantic graph database processing utilizing the large multi-threaded architecture of the Cray XMT platform, conventional servers, and large data stores. In this paper we describe that architecture and our methods, and present the results of our analyses of basic properties, connected components, namespace interaction, and typed paths such for the Billion Triple Challenge 2010 dataset.« less

Diversity in phenotypic and nutritional traits in vegetable amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor), a nutritionally underutilised crop.

PubMed

Shukla, Sudhir; Bhargava, Atul; Chatterjee, Avijeet; Pandey, Avinash Chandra; Mishra, Brij K

2010-01-15

Assessment of genetic diversity in a crop-breeding programme helps in the identification of diverse parental combinations to create segregating progenies with maximum genetic variability and facilitates introgression of desirable genes from diverse germplasm into the available genetic base. In the present study, 39 strains of vegetable amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor) were evaluated for eight morphological and seven quality traits for two test seasons to study the extent of genetic divergence among the strains. Multivariate analysis showed that the first four principal components contributed 67.55% of the variability. Cluster analysis grouped the strains into six clusters that displayed a wide range of diversity for most of the traits. Cluster analysis has proved to be an effective method in grouping strains that may facilitate effective management and utilisation in crop-breeding programmes. The diverse strains falling in different clusters were identified, which can be utilised in different hybridisation programmes to develop high-foliage-yielding varieties rich in nutritional components. Copyright (c) 2009 Society of Chemical Industry.

SPICE: exploration and analysis of post-cytometric complex multivariate datasets.

PubMed

Roederer, Mario; Nozzi, Joshua L; Nason, Martha C

2011-02-01

Polychromatic flow cytometry results in complex, multivariate datasets. To date, tools for the aggregate analysis of these datasets across multiple specimens grouped by different categorical variables, such as demographic information, have not been optimized. Often, the exploration of such datasets is accomplished by visualization of patterns with pie charts or bar charts, without easy access to statistical comparisons of measurements that comprise multiple components. Here we report on algorithms and a graphical interface we developed for these purposes. In particular, we discuss thresholding necessary for accurate representation of data in pie charts, the implications for display and comparison of normalized versus unnormalized data, and the effects of averaging when samples with significant background noise are present. Finally, we define a statistic for the nonparametric comparison of complex distributions to test for difference between groups of samples based on multi-component measurements. While originally developed to support the analysis of T cell functional profiles, these techniques are amenable to a broad range of datatypes. Published 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Real-space analysis of radiation-induced specific changes with independent component analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borek, Dominika; Bromberg, Raquel; Hattne, Johan

A method of analysis is presented that allows for the separation of specific radiation-induced changes into distinct components in real space. The method relies on independent component analysis (ICA) and can be effectively applied to electron density maps and other types of maps, provided that they can be represented as sets of numbers on a grid. Here, for glucose isomerase crystals, ICA was used in a proof-of-concept analysis to separate temperature-dependent and temperature-independent components of specific radiation-induced changes for data sets acquired from multiple crystals across multiple temperatures. ICA identified two components, with the temperature-independent component being responsible for themore » majority of specific radiation-induced changes at temperatures below 130 K. The patterns of specific temperature-independent radiation-induced changes suggest a contribution from the tunnelling of electron holes as a possible explanation. In the second case, where a group of 22 data sets was collected on a single thaumatin crystal, ICA was used in another type of analysis to separate specific radiation-induced effects happening on different exposure-level scales. Here, ICA identified two components of specific radiation-induced changes that likely result from radiation-induced chemical reactions progressing with different rates at different locations in the structure. In addition, ICA unexpectedly identified the radiation-damage state corresponding to reduced disulfide bridges rather than the zero-dose extrapolated state as the highest contrast structure. The application of ICA to the analysis of specific radiation-induced changes in real space and the data pre-processing for ICA that relies on singular value decomposition, which was used previously in data space to validate a two-component physical model of X-ray radiation-induced changes, are discussed in detail. This work lays a foundation for a better understanding of protein-specific radiation chemistries and provides a framework for analysing effects of specific radiation damage in crystallographic and cryo-EM experiments.« less

Evidence from paranoid schizophrenia for more than one component of theory of mind

PubMed Central

Scherzer, Peter; Achim, André; Léveillé, Edith; Boisseau, Emilie; Stip, Emmanuel

2015-01-01

We previously reported finding that performance was impaired on four out of five theory of mind (ToM) tests in a group of 21 individuals diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia (pScz), relative to a non-clinical group of 29 individuals (Scherzer et al., 2012). Only the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test did not distinguish between groups. A principal components analysis revealed that the results on the ToM battery could be explained by one general ToM factor with the possibility of a latent second factor. As well, the tests were not equally sensitive to the pathology. There was also overmentalization in some ToM tests and under-mentalisation in others. These results led us to postulate that there is more than one component to ToM. We hypothesized that correlations between the different EF measures and ToM tests would differ sufficiently within and between groups to support this hypothesis. We considered the relationship between the performance on eight EF tests and five ToM tests in the same diagnosed and non-clinical individuals as in the first study. The ToM tests shared few EF correlates and each had its own best EF predictor. These findings support the hypothesis of multiple ToM components. PMID:26579026

Architectural measures of the cancellous bone of the mandibular condyle identified by principal components analysis.

PubMed

Giesen, E B W; Ding, M; Dalstra, M; van Eijden, T M G J

2003-09-01

As several morphological parameters of cancellous bone express more or less the same architectural measure, we applied principal components analysis to group these measures and correlated these to the mechanical properties. Cylindrical specimens (n = 24) were obtained in different orientations from embalmed mandibular condyles; the angle of the first principal direction and the axis of the specimen, expressing the orientation of the trabeculae, ranged from 10 degrees to 87 degrees. Morphological parameters were determined by a method based on Archimedes' principle and by micro-CT scanning, and the mechanical properties were obtained by mechanical testing. The principal components analysis was used to obtain a set of independent components to describe the morphology. This set was entered into linear regression analyses for explaining the variance in mechanical properties. The principal components analysis revealed four components: amount of bone, number of trabeculae, trabecular orientation, and miscellaneous. They accounted for about 90% of the variance in the morphological variables. The component loadings indicated that a higher amount of bone was primarily associated with more plate-like trabeculae, and not with more or thicker trabeculae. The trabecular orientation was most determinative (about 50%) in explaining stiffness, strength, and failure energy. The amount of bone was second most determinative and increased the explained variance to about 72%. These results suggest that trabecular orientation and amount of bone are important in explaining the anisotropic mechanical properties of the cancellous bone of the mandibular condyle.

Chemotaxonomic significance of the terpene composition in natural populations of Pinus nigra J.F.Arnold from Serbia.

PubMed

Sarac, Zorica; Bojović, Srdjan; Nikolić, Biljana; Tešević, Vele; Ethorđević, Iris; Marin, Petar D

2013-08-01

The essential-oil variability in seven native populations belonging to different infraspecific taxa of Pinus nigra (ssp. nigra, var. gocensis, ssp. pallasiana, and var. banatica) growing wild in Serbia was analyzed. In the needles of 195 trees from seven populations, 58 essential-oil components were identified. The major components were α-pinene (43.6%) and germacrene D (29.8%), comprising together 73.4% of the total oil composition. Based on the average chemical profile of the main terpene components (with contents >5%), the studied populations were found to be the most similar to populations from central Italy and Greece (ssp. nigra). Cluster analysis showed the division of the populations into three principal groups: the first group consisted of Populations I, II, III, IV, and V (considered as ssp. nigra group), the second of Population VI (ssp. pallasiana group), and the third of Population VII, which had the most distinct oil composition (ssp. banatica group). The taxonomic implications of the essential-oil profiles of the investigated taxa of this very complex species are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta AG, Zürich.

Cognitive Task Analysis of Prioritization in Air Traffic Control.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redding, Richard E.; And Others

A cognitive task analysis was performed to analyze the key cognitive components of the en route air traffic controllers' jobs. The goals were to ascertain expert mental models and decision-making strategies and to identify important differences in controller knowledge, skills, and mental models as a function of expertise. Four groups of…

Integration of Guided Discovery in the Teaching of Real Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dumitrascu, Dorin

2009-01-01

I discuss my experience with teaching an advanced undergraduate Real Analysis class using both lecturing and the small-group guided discovery method. The article is structured as follows. The first section is about the organizational and administrative components of the class. In the second section I give examples of successes and difficulties…

``Low-cost Electronic nose evaluated on Thai-herb of Northern-Thailand samples using multivariate analysis methods''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

na ayudhaya, Paisarn Daungjak; Klinbumrung, Arrak; Jaroensutasinee, Krisanadej; Pratontep, Sirapat; Kerdcharoen, Teerakiat

2009-05-01

In case of species of natural and aromatic plant originated from the northern Thailand, sensory characteristics, especially odours, have unique identifiers of herbs. The instruments sensory analysis have performed by several of differential of sensing, so call `electronic nose', to be a significantly and rapidly for chemometrics. The signal responses of the low cost electronic nose were evaluated by principal component analysis (PCA). The aims of this paper evaluated various of Thai-herbs grown in Northern of Thailand as data preprocessing tools of the Low-cost electronic nose (enNU-PYO1). The essential oil groups of Thai herbs such as Garlic, Lemongrass, Shallot (potato onion), Onion, Zanthoxylum limonella (Dennst.) Alston (Thai name is Makaen), and Kaffir lime leaf were compared volatilized from selected fresh herbs. Principal component analysis of the original sensor responses did clearly distinguish either all samples. In all cases more than 97% for cross-validated group were classified correctly. The results demonstrated that it was possible to develop in a model to construct a low-cost electronic nose to provide measurement of odoriferous herbs.

Failure Analysis Techniques for the Evaluation of Electrical and Electronic Components in Aircraft Accident Investigations

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-08-01

of the review are presented in Tables 1 and 2 by aircraft and type of component. The totals for each component are combined in Table 3. Adjusted...of Table 3 have been grouped according to basic system functions and combined percentages for each of the basic functions have been computed as shown...and the free oxygen combines with the tungsten to form 29 Fig. 2.5 Notching of lamp aged 77 hours at 28 Volts DC. 2000X. (Reference 2.1) 30 DAMAGE

Serum Biochemical Phenotypes in the Domestic Dog

PubMed Central

Chang, Yu-Mei; Hadox, Erin; Szladovits, Balazs; Garden, Oliver A.

2016-01-01

The serum or plasma biochemical profile is essential in the diagnosis and monitoring of systemic disease in veterinary medicine, but current reference intervals typically take no account of breed-specific differences. Breed-specific hematological phenotypes have been documented in the domestic dog, but little has been published on serum biochemical phenotypes in this species. Serum biochemical profiles of dogs in which all measurements fell within the existing reference intervals were retrieved from a large veterinary database. Serum biochemical profiles from 3045 dogs were retrieved, of which 1495 had an accompanying normal glucose concentration. Sixty pure breeds plus a mixed breed control group were represented by at least 10 individuals. All analytes, except for sodium, chloride and glucose, showed variation with age. Total protein, globulin, potassium, chloride, creatinine, cholesterol, total bilirubin, ALT, CK, amylase, and lipase varied between sexes. Neutering status significantly impacted all analytes except albumin, sodium, calcium, urea, and glucose. Principal component analysis of serum biochemical data revealed 36 pure breeds with distinctive phenotypes. Furthermore, comparative analysis identified 23 breeds with significant differences from the mixed breed group in all biochemical analytes except urea and glucose. Eighteen breeds were identified by both principal component and comparative analysis. Tentative reference intervals were generated for breeds with a distinctive phenotype identified by comparative analysis and represented by at least 120 individuals. This is the first large-scale analysis of breed-specific serum biochemical phenotypes in the domestic dog and highlights potential genetic components of biochemical traits in this species. PMID:26919479

A feasibility study on age-related factors of wrist pulse using principal component analysis.

PubMed

Jang-Han Bae; Young Ju Jeon; Sanghun Lee; Jaeuk U Kim

2016-08-01

Various analysis methods for examining wrist pulse characteristics are needed for accurate pulse diagnosis. In this feasibility study, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to observe age-related factors of wrist pulse from various analysis parameters. Forty subjects in the age group of 20s and 40s were participated, and their wrist pulse signal and respiration signal were acquired with the pulse tonometric device. After pre-processing of the signals, twenty analysis parameters which have been regarded as values reflecting pulse characteristics were calculated and PCA was performed. As a results, we could reduce complex parameters to lower dimension and age-related factors of wrist pulse were observed by combining-new analysis parameter derived from PCA. These results demonstrate that PCA can be useful tool for analyzing wrist pulse signal.

Evidence that molecular changes in cells occur before morphological alterations during the progression of breast ductal carcinoma

PubMed Central

Castro, Nadia P; Osório, Cynthia ABT; Torres, César; Bastos, Elen P; Mourão-Neto, Mário; Soares, Fernando A; Brentani, Helena P; Carraro, Dirce M

2008-01-01

Introduction Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast includes a heterogeneous group of preinvasive tumors with uncertain evolution. Definition of the molecular factors necessary for progression to invasive disease is crucial to determining which lesions are likely to become invasive. To obtain insight into the molecular basis of DCIS, we compared the gene expression pattern of cells from the following samples: non-neoplastic, pure DCIS, in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma, and invasive ductal carcinoma. Methods Forty-one samples were evaluated: four non-neoplastic, five pure DCIS, 22 in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma, and 10 invasive ductal carcinoma. Pure cell populations were isolated using laser microdissection. Total RNA was purified, DNase treated, and amplified using the T7-based method. Microarray analysis was conducted using a customized cDNA platform. The concept of molecular divergence was applied to classify the sample groups using analysis of variance followed by Tukey's test. Results Among the tumor sample groups, cells from pure DCIS exhibited the most divergent molecular profile, consequently identifying cells from in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma as very similar to cells from invasive lesions. Additionally, we identified 147 genes that were differentially expressed between pure DCIS and in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma, which can discriminate samples representative of in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma from 60% of pure DCIS samples. A gene subset was evaluated using quantitative RT-PCR, which confirmed differential expression for 62.5% and 60.0% of them using initial and partial independent sample groups, respectively. Among these genes, LOX and SULF-1 exhibited features that identify them as potential participants in the malignant process of DCIS. Conclusions We identified new genes that are potentially involved in the malignant transformation of DCIS, and our findings strongly suggest that cells from the in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma exhibit molecular alterations that enable them to invade the surrounding tissue before morphological changes in the lesion become apparent. PMID:18928525

Evidence that molecular changes in cells occur before morphological alterations during the progression of breast ductal carcinoma.

PubMed

Castro, Nadia P; Osório, Cynthia A B T; Torres, César; Bastos, Elen P; Mourão-Neto, Mário; Soares, Fernando A; Brentani, Helena P; Carraro, Dirce M

2008-01-01

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast includes a heterogeneous group of preinvasive tumors with uncertain evolution. Definition of the molecular factors necessary for progression to invasive disease is crucial to determining which lesions are likely to become invasive. To obtain insight into the molecular basis of DCIS, we compared the gene expression pattern of cells from the following samples: non-neoplastic, pure DCIS, in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma, and invasive ductal carcinoma. Forty-one samples were evaluated: four non-neoplastic, five pure DCIS, 22 in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma, and 10 invasive ductal carcinoma. Pure cell populations were isolated using laser microdissection. Total RNA was purified, DNase treated, and amplified using the T7-based method. Microarray analysis was conducted using a customized cDNA platform. The concept of molecular divergence was applied to classify the sample groups using analysis of variance followed by Tukey's test. Among the tumor sample groups, cells from pure DCIS exhibited the most divergent molecular profile, consequently identifying cells from in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma as very similar to cells from invasive lesions. Additionally, we identified 147 genes that were differentially expressed between pure DCIS and in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma, which can discriminate samples representative of in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma from 60% of pure DCIS samples. A gene subset was evaluated using quantitative RT-PCR, which confirmed differential expression for 62.5% and 60.0% of them using initial and partial independent sample groups, respectively. Among these genes, LOX and SULF-1 exhibited features that identify them as potential participants in the malignant process of DCIS. We identified new genes that are potentially involved in the malignant transformation of DCIS, and our findings strongly suggest that cells from the in situ component of lesions with co-existing invasive ductal carcinoma exhibit molecular alterations that enable them to invade the surrounding tissue before morphological changes in the lesion become apparent.

Design of self-coded combinatorial libraries to facilitate direct analysis of ligands by mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Hughes, I

1998-09-24

The direct analysis of selected components from combinatorial libraries by sensitive methods such as mass spectrometry is potentially more efficient than deconvolution and tagging strategies since additional steps of resynthesis or introduction of molecular tags are avoided. A substituent selection procedure is described that eliminates the mass degeneracy commonly observed in libraries prepared by "split-and-mix" methods, without recourse to high-resolution mass measurements. A set of simple rules guides the choice of substituents such that all components of the library have unique nominal masses. Additional rules extend the scope by ensuring that characteristic isotopic mass patterns distinguish isobaric components. The method is applicable to libraries having from two to four varying substituent groups and can encode from a few hundred to several thousand components. No restrictions are imposed on the manner in which the "self-coded" library is synthesized or screened.

Investigation of the anxiolytic effects of linalool, a lavender extract, in the male Sprague-Dawley rat.

PubMed

Cline, Michael; Taylor, John E; Flores, Jesus; Bracken, Samuel; McCall, Suzanne; Ceremuga, Thomas E

2008-02-01

The purpose of our study was to investigate the anxiolytic effects of linalool and its potential interaction with the GABAA receptor in Sprague-Dawley rats. Lavender has been used traditionally as an herbal remedy in the treatment of many medical conditions, including anxiety. Linalool is a major component of the essential oil of lavender. Forty-four rats were divided into 4 groups: control, linalool, midazolam (positive control), and flumazenil and linalool. The behavioral and the neurohormonal/physiological components of anxiety were evaluated. The behavioral component was examined by using the elevated plus maze (open arm time/total time) and the neurohormonal/physiological component by measuring serum catecholamine and corticosterone levels. Data analysis was performed using a 2-tailed Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Sheffe post-hoc test. Our data suggest that linalool does not produce anxiolysis by modulation of the GABAA receptor; however, linalool may modulate motor movements and locomotion.

Analysis of feline and canine allergen components in patients sensitized to pets.

PubMed

Ukleja-Sokołowska, Natalia; Gawrońska-Ukleja, Ewa; Żbikowska-Gotz, Magdalena; Socha, Ewa; Lis, Kinga; Sokołowski, Łukasz; Kuźmiński, Andrzej; Bartuzi, Zbigniew

2016-01-01

Component resolved allergen diagnosis allows for a precise evaluation of the sensitization profiles of patients sensitized to felines and canines. An accurate interpretation of these results allows better insight into the evolution of a given patients sensitizations, and allows for a more precise evaluation of their prognoses. 70 patients (42 women and 28 men, aged 18-65, with the average of 35.5) with a positive feline or canine allergy diagnosis were included in the research group. 30 patients with a negative allergy diagnosis were included in the control group. The total IgE levels of all patients with allergies as well as their allergen-specific IgE to feline and canine allergens were measured. Specific IgE levels to canine (Can f 1, Can f 2, Can f 3, Can f 5) and feline (Fel d 1, Fel d 2, Fel d 4) allergen components were also measured with the use of the ImmunoCap method. Monosensitization for only one canine or feline component was found in 30% of patients. As predicted, the main feline allergen was Fel d 1, which sensitized as many as 93.9% of patients sensitized to felines. Among 65 patients sensitized to at least one feline component, for 30 patients (46.2%) the only sensitizing feline component was Fel d 1. Only 19 patients in that group (63.3%) were not simultaneously sensitized to dogs and 11 (36.7%), the isolated sensitization to feline Fel d 1 notwithstanding, displayed concurrent sensitizations to one of the canine allergen components. Fel d 4 sensitized 49.2% of the research group.64.3% of patients sensitized to canine components had heightened levels of specific IgE to Can f 1. Monosensitization in that group occurred for 32.1% of the patients. Sensitization to Can f 5 was observed among 52.4% of the patients. Concurrent sensitizations to a few allergic components, not only cross-reactive but also originating in different protein families, are a significant problem for patients sensitized to animals.

Staff nurse commitment, work relationships, and turnover intentions: a latent profile analysis.

PubMed

Gellatly, Ian R; Cowden, Tracy L; Cummings, Greta G

2014-01-01

The three-component model of organization commitment has typically been studied using a variable-centered rather than a person-centered approach, preventing a more complete understanding of how these forms of commitment are felt and expressed as a whole. Latent profile analysis was used to identify qualitatively distinct categories or profiles of staff nurses' commitment. Then, associations of the profiles with perceived work unit relations and turnover intentions were examined. Three hundred thirty-six registered nurses provided data on affective, normative, and continuance commitment, perceived work unit relations, and turnover intentions. Latent profile analysis of the nurses' commitment scores revealed six distinct profile groups. Work unit relations and turnover intentions were compared in the six profile-defined groups. Staff nurses with profiles characterized by high affective commitment and/or high normative commitment in relation to other components experienced stronger work unit relations and reported lower turnover intentions. Profiles characterized by high continuance commitment relative to other components or by low overall commitment experienced poorer work unit relations, and the turnover risk was higher. High continuance commitment in combination with high affective and normative commitment was experienced differently than high continuance commitment in combination with low affective and normative commitment. Healthcare organizations often foster commitment by using continuance commitment-enhancing strategies (e.g., offer high salaries and attractive benefits) that may inadvertently introduce behavioral risk. This work suggests the importance of changing the context in which continuance commitment occurs by strengthening the other two components.

Impact of the implementation of telemanagement on a disease management program in an elderly heart failure cohort.

PubMed

Gambetta, Miguel; Dunn, Patrick; Nelson, Dawn; Herron, Bobbi; Arena, Ross

2007-01-01

The purpose of the present investigation is to examine the impact of a telemanagement component on an outpatient disease management program in patients with heart failure (HF). A total of 282 patients in whom HF was diagnosed and who were enrolled in an outpatient HF program were included in this analysis. One hundred fifty-eight patients additionally participated in a self-directed telemanagement component. The remaining 124 patients received care at an HF clinic but declined telemanagement. During the 7-month tracking period, 19 patients in the HF clinic plus telemanagement group and 53 patients in the HF clinic only group were hospitalized for cardiac reasons (log rank, 36.0; P<.001). The HF clinic only group had a significantly higher risk for hospitalization (hazard ratio, 4.0; 95% confidence interval, 2.4-6.7; P<.001). The results of the present study indicate that telemanagement is an important component of a disease management program in patients with HF.

Approaches to Capture Variance Differences in Rest fMRI Networks in the Spatial Geometric Features: Application to Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Gopal, Shruti; Miller, Robyn L; Baum, Stefi A; Calhoun, Vince D

2016-01-01

Identification of functionally connected regions while at rest has been at the forefront of research focusing on understanding interactions between different brain regions. Studies have utilized a variety of approaches including seed based as well as data-driven approaches to identifying such networks. Most such techniques involve differentiating groups based on group mean measures. There has been little work focused on differences in spatial characteristics of resting fMRI data. We present a method to identify between group differences in the variability in the cluster characteristics of network regions within components estimated via independent vector analysis (IVA). IVA is a blind source separation approach shown to perform well in capturing individual subject variability within a group model. We evaluate performance of the approach using simulations and then apply to a relatively large schizophrenia data set (82 schizophrenia patients and 89 healthy controls). We postulate, that group differences in the intra-network distributional characteristics of resting state network voxel intensities might indirectly capture important distinctions between the brain function of healthy and clinical populations. Results demonstrate that specific areas of the brain, superior, and middle temporal gyrus that are involved in language and recognition of emotions, show greater component level variance in amplitude weights for schizophrenia patients than healthy controls. Statistically significant correlation between component level spatial variance and component volume was observed in 19 of the 27 non-artifactual components implying an evident relationship between the two parameters. Additionally, the greater spread in the distance of the cluster peak of a component from the centroid in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy controls was observed for seven components. These results indicate that there is hidden potential in exploring variance and possibly higher-order measures in resting state networks to better understand diseases such as schizophrenia. It furthers comprehension of how spatial characteristics can highlight previously unexplored differences between populations such as schizophrenia patients and healthy controls.

Executive dysfunction among children with reading comprehension deficits.

PubMed

Locascio, Gianna; Mahone, E Mark; Eason, Sarah H; Cutting, Laurie E

2010-01-01

Emerging research supports the contribution of executive function (EF) to reading comprehension; however, a unique pattern has not been established for children who demonstrate comprehension difficulties despite average word recognition ability (specific reading comprehension deficit; S-RCD). To identify particular EF components on which children with S-RCD struggle, a range of EF skills was compared among 86 children, ages 10 to 14, grouped by word reading and comprehension abilities: 24 average readers, 44 with word recognition deficits (WRD), and 18 S-RCD. An exploratory principal components analysis of EF tests identified three latent factors, used in subsequent group comparisons: Planning/ Spatial Working Memory, Verbal Working Memory, and Response Inhibition. The WRD group exhibited deficits (relative to controls) on Verbal Working Memory and Inhibition factors; S-RCD children performed more poorly than controls on the Planning factor. Further analyses suggested the WRD group's poor performance on EF factors was a by-product of core deficits linked to WRD (after controlling for phonological processing, this group no longer showed EF deficits). In contrast, the S-RCD group's poor performance on the planning component remained significant after controlling for phonological processing. Findings suggest reading comprehension difficulties are linked to executive dysfunction; in particular, poor strategic planning/organizing may lead to reading comprehension problems.

Biomolecular Characterization of Diazotrophs Isolated from the Tropical Soil in Malaysia

PubMed Central

Naher, Umme Aminun; Othman, Radziah; Latif, Mohammad Abdul; Panhwar, Qurban Ali; Amaddin, Puteri Aminatulhawa Megat; Shamsuddin, Zulkifli H

2013-01-01

This study was conducted to evaluate selected biomolecular characteristics of rice root-associated diazotrophs isolated from the Tanjong Karang rice irrigation project area of Malaysia. Soil and rice plant samples were collected from seven soil series belonging to order Inceptisol (USDA soil taxonomy). A total of 38 diazotrophs were isolated using a nitrogen-free medium. The biochemical properties of the isolated bacteria, such as nitrogenase activity, indoleacetic acid (IAA) production and sugar utilization, were measured. According to a cluster analysis of Jaccard’s similarity coefficients, the genetic similarities among the isolated diazotrophs ranged from 10% to 100%. A dendogram constructed using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) showed that the isolated diazotrophs clustered into 12 groups. The genomic DNA rep-PCR data were subjected to a principal component analysis, and the first four principal components (PC) accounted for 52.46% of the total variation among the 38 diazotrophs. The 10 diazotrophs that tested highly positive in the acetylene reduction assay (ARA) were identified as Bacillus spp. (9 diazotrophs) and Burkholderia sp. (Sb16) using the partial 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. In the analysis of the biochemical characteristics, three principal components were accounted for approximately 85% of the total variation among the identified diazotrophs. The examination of root colonization using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) proved that two of the isolated diazotrophs (Sb16 and Sb26) were able to colonize the surface and interior of rice roots and fixed 22%–24% of the total tissue nitrogen from the atmosphere. In general, the tropical soils (Inceptisols) of the Tanjong Karang rice irrigation project area in Malaysia harbor a diverse group of diazotrophs that exhibit a large variation of biomolecular characteristics. PMID:23999588

The effects of a family fitness program on the physical activity and nutrition behaviors of third-grade children.

PubMed

Hopper, Chris A; Munoz, Kathy D; Gruber, Mary B; Nguyen, Kim P

2005-06-01

This study examined the efficacy of a school-based exercise and nutrition program with a parent component. Third-grade children (N = 238) from six elementary schools participated in the study, with three schools randomly assigned to a program group and the other three schools to a control group. The program group received a health-related fitness school-based program and a home program that required parents and children to complete activities and earn points for nutrition and exercise activities. The control group received their traditional physical education and nutrition education program. Univariate analysis of variance on pre- and posttest scores were completed on the following variables: height, weight, body mass index, skinfold, blood cholesterol, mile run, exercise and nutrition knowledge, calories, protein, carbohydrates, total fat, saturated fat, dietary cholesterol, fiber, sodium, percentage of calories from carbohydrates, and percentage of calories from fat. At pretest, the treatment and control groups did not significantly differ on the measures using schools as the unit of analysis. Girls scored significantly higher than boys on skinfold and pretest knowledge. At posttest, the treatment group scored significantly higher than the control group on exercise and nutrition knowledge and significantly lower than the control group on total fat intake, using schools as the unit of analysis. There was no improvement in physiological measures, including blood cholesterol. The study demonstrated that schools can adjust curriculum to meet some health needs of students and achieve modest changes in exercise and nutrition knowledge and diet. The family component of the program provided a practical approach to improving physical activity and nutrition behaviors for elementary school teachers who teach many participants in a crowded curriculum.

Time-frequency analysis of stimulus frequency otoacoustic emissions and their changes with efferent stimulation in guinea pigs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berezina-Greene, Maria A.; Guinan, John J.

2015-12-01

To aid in understanding their origin, stimulus frequency otoacoustic emissions (SFOAEs) were measured at a series of tone frequencies using the suppression method, both with and without stimulation of medial olivocochlear (MOC) efferents, in anesthetized guinea pigs. Time-frequency analysis showed SFOAE energy peaks in 1-3 delay components throughout the measured frequency range (0.5-12 kHz). One component's delay usually coincided with the phase-gradient delay. When multiple delay components were present, they were usually near SFOAE dips. Below 2 kHz, SFOAE delays were shorter than predicted from mechanical measurements. With MOC stimulation, SFOAE amplitude was decreased at most frequencies, but was sometimes enhanced, and all SFOAE delay components were affected. The MOC effects and an analysis of model data suggest that the multiple SFOAE delay components arise at the edges of the traveling-wave peak, not far basal of the peak. Comparisons with published guinea-pig neural data suggest that the short latencies of low-frequency SFOAEs may arise from coherent reflection from an organ-of-Corti motion that has a shorter group delay than the traveling wave.

FT-IR spectroscopy and multivariate analysis as an auxiliary tool for diagnosis of mental disorders: Bipolar and schizophrenia cases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogruc Ildiz, G.; Arslan, M.; Unsalan, O.; Araujo-Andrade, C.; Kurt, E.; Karatepe, H. T.; Yilmaz, A.; Yalcinkaya, O. B.; Herken, H.

2016-01-01

In this study, a methodology based on Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and principal component analysis and partial least square methods is proposed for the analysis of blood plasma samples in order to identify spectral changes correlated with some biomarkers associated with schizophrenia and bipolarity. Our main goal was to use the spectral information for the calibration of statistical models to discriminate and classify blood plasma samples belonging to bipolar and schizophrenic patients. IR spectra of 30 samples of blood plasma obtained from each, bipolar and schizophrenic patients and healthy control group were collected. The results obtained from principal component analysis (PCA) show a clear discrimination between the bipolar (BP), schizophrenic (SZ) and control group' (CG) blood samples that also give possibility to identify three main regions that show the major differences correlated with both mental disorders (biomarkers). Furthermore, a model for the classification of the blood samples was calibrated using partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), allowing the correct classification of BP, SZ and CG samples. The results obtained applying this methodology suggest that it can be used as a complimentary diagnostic tool for the detection and discrimination of these mental diseases.

Classification of hydrogeologic areas and hydrogeologic flow systems in the basin and range physiographic province, southwestern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Anning, David W.; Konieczki, Alice D.

2005-01-01

The hydrogeology of the Basin and Range Physiographic Province in parts of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, and most of Nevada was classified at basin and larger scales to facilitate information transfer and to provide a synthesis of results from many previous hydrologic investigations. A conceptual model for the spatial hierarchy of the hydrogeology was developed for the Basin and Range Physiographic Province and consists, in order of increasing spatial scale, of hydrogeologic components, hydrogeologic areas, hydrogeologic flow systems, and hydrogeologic regions. This hierarchy formed a framework for hydrogeologic classification. Hydrogeologic areas consist of coincident ground-water and surface-water basins and were delineated on the basis of existing sets of basin boundaries that were used in past investigations by State and Federal government agencies. Within the study area, 344 hydrogeologic areas were identified and delineated. This set of basins not only provides a framework for the classification developed in this report, but also has value for regional and subregional purposes of inventory, study, analysis, and planning throughout the Basin and Range Physiographic Province. The fact that nearly all of the province is delineated by the hydrogeologic areas makes this set well suited to support regional-scale investigations. Hydrogeologic areas are conceptualized as a control volume consisting of three hydrogeologic components: the soils and streams, basin fill, and consolidated rocks. The soils and streams hydrogeologic component consists of all surface-water bodies and soils extending to the bottom of the plant root zone. The basin-fill hydrogeologic component consists of unconsolidated and semiconsolidated sediment deposited in the structural basin. The consolidated-rocks hydrogeologic component consists of the crystalline and sedimentary rocks that form the mountain blocks and basement rock of the structural basin. Hydrogeologic areas were classified into 19 groups through a cluster analysis of 8 characteristics of each area's hydrologic system. Six characteristics represented the inflows and outflows of water through the soils and streams, basin fill, and consolidated rocks, and can be used to determine the hydrogeologic area's position in a hydrogeologic flow system. Source-, link-, and sink-type hydrogeologic areas have outflow but not inflow, inflow and outflow, and inflow but not outflow, respectively, through one or more of the three hydrogeologic components. Isolated hydrogeologic areas have no inflow or outflow through any of the three hydrogeologic components. The remaining two characteristics are indexes that represent natural recharge and discharge processes and anthropogenic recharge and discharge processes occurring in the hydrogeologic area. Of the 19 groups of hydrogeologic areas, 1 consisted of predominantly isolated-type hydrogeologic areas, 7 consisted of source-type hydrogeologic areas, 9 consisted of link-type hydrogeologic areas, and 2 consisted of sink-type hydrogeologic areas. Groups comprising the source-, link-, and sink-type hydrogeologic areas can be distinguished between each other on the basis of the hydrogeologic component(s) through which interbasin flow occurs, as well as typical values for the two indexes. Conceptual models of the hydrologic systems of a representative hydrogeologic area for each group were developed to help distinguish groups and to synthesize the variation in hydrogeologic systems in the Basin and Range Physiographic Province. Hydrogeologic flow systems consist of either a single isolated hydrogeologic area or a series of multiple hydrogeologic areas that are hydraulically connected through interbasin flows. A total of 54 hydrogeologic flow systems were identified and classified into 9 groups. One group consisted of single isolated hydrogeologic areas. The remaining eight groups consisted of multiple hydrogeologic areas and were distinguished o

Functional subdivision of group-ICA results of fMRI data collected during cinema viewing.

PubMed

Pamilo, Siina; Malinen, Sanna; Hlushchuk, Yevhen; Seppä, Mika; Tikka, Pia; Hari, Riitta

2012-01-01

Independent component analysis (ICA) can unravel functional brain networks from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. The number of the estimated components affects both the spatial pattern of the identified networks and their time-course estimates. Here group-ICA was applied at four dimensionalities (10, 20, 40, and 58 components) to fMRI data collected from 15 subjects who viewed a 15-min silent film ("At land" by Maya Deren). We focused on the dorsal attention network, the default-mode network, and the sensorimotor network. The lowest dimensionalities demonstrated most prominent activity within the dorsal attention network, combined with the visual areas, and in the default-mode network; the sensorimotor network only appeared with ICA comprising at least 20 components. The results suggest that even very low-dimensional ICA can unravel the most prominent functionally-connected brain networks. However, increasing the number of components gives a more detailed picture and functionally feasible subdivision of the major networks. These results improve our understanding of the hierarchical subdivision of brain networks during viewing of a movie that provides continuous stimulation embedded in an attention-directing narrative.

Quantitative chromatin pattern description in Feulgen-stained nuclei as a diagnostic tool to characterize the oligodendroglial and astroglial components in mixed oligo-astrocytomas.

PubMed

Decaestecker, C; Lopes, B S; Gordower, L; Camby, I; Cras, P; Martin, J J; Kiss, R; VandenBerg, S R; Salmon, I

1997-04-01

The oligoastrocytoma, as a mixed glioma, represents a nosologic dilemma with respect to precisely defining the oligodendroglial and astroglial phenotypes that constitute the neoplastic cell lineages of these tumors. In this study, cell image analysis with Feulgen-stained nuclei was used to distinguish between oligodendroglial and astrocytic phenotypes in oligodendrogliomas and astrocytomas and then applied to mixed oligoastrocytomas. Quantitative features with respect to chromatin pattern (30 variables) and DNA ploidy (8 variables) were evaluated on Feulgen-stained nuclei in a series of 71 gliomas using computer-assisted microscopy. These included 32 oligodendrogliomas (OLG group: 24 grade II and 8 grade III tumors according to the WHO classification), 32 astrocytomas (AST group: 13 grade II and 19 grade III tumors), and 7 oligoastrocytomas (OLGAST group). Initially, image analysis with multivariate statistical analyses (Discriminant Analysis) could identify each glial tumor group. Highly significant statistical differences were obtained distinguishing the morphonuclear features of oligodendrogliomas from those of astrocytomas, regardless of their histological grade. When compared with the 7 mixed oligoastrocytomas under study, 5 exhibited DNA ploidy and chromatin pattern characteristics similar to grade II oligodendrogliomas, I to grade III oligodendrogliomas, and I to grade II astrocytomas. Using multifactorial statistical analyses (Discriminant Analysis combined with Principal Component Analysis). It was possible to quantify the proportion of "typical" glial cell phenotypes that compose grade II and III oligodendrogliomas and grade II and III astrocytomas in each mixed glioma. Cytometric image analysis may be an important adjunct to routine histopathology for the reproducible identification of neoplasms containing a mixture of oligodendroglial and astrocytic phenotypes.

Qualitative and quantitative aspects of pain in lateral posterior thoracotomy patients.

PubMed

Xavier, Thaiza Teixeira; Torres, Gilson de Vasconcelos; da Rocha, Vera Maria

2006-01-01

Descriptive study that proposed to compare the qualitative and quantitative behavior of the pain in lateral posterior thoracotomy patients. The sample was consisted of 18 individuals with an average age of 44 years. The instruments used were physiotherapy evaluation form, numerical pain scale and McGill questionnaire for pain. The pain on the numerical pain scale was considered moderate(5) for both sexes. The descriptors of the McGill questionnaire choosen by the patients with higher frequency were: in the sensorial component, beat4, pointed1, shock2, final and pull2; in the afetive component, tired1, bored1, punishald1 and miserable1 and in the evaluative component was flat. The characteristics of pain in the sensorial group were more evidents on male group. No significant statistical difeferences were observed between quantitative answers concerning pain between the men and women. On the qualitative aspects , was observed an predominancy of the same descriptors of pain in afetive component for both sexes. Pain intensity was categorized as moderate. No significant statistical difference were observed between the pain on the post-operatory lateral posterior thoracotomy. These data demonstrate a necessity for an analysis with a larger study group.

Kinetics and mechanism of catalytic hydroprocessing of components of coal-derived liquids. Sixteenth quarterly report, February 16, 1983-May 15, 1983.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gates, B. C.; Olson, H. H.; Schuit, G. C.A.

1983-08-22

A new method of structural analysis is applied to a group of hydroliquefied coal samples. The method uses elemental analysis and NMR data to estimate the concentrations of functional groups in the samples. The samples include oil and asphaltene fractions obtained in a series of hydroliquefaction experiments, and a set of 9 fractions separated from a coal-derived oil. The structural characterization of these samples demonstrates that estimates of functional group concentrations can be used to provide detailed structural profiles of complex mixtures and to obtain limited information about reaction pathways. 11 references, 1 figure, 7 tables.

An Analysis of a Comprehensive Evaluation Model for Guided Group Interaction Techniques with Juvenile Delinquents. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silverman, Mitchell

Reported are the first phase activities of a longitudinal project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of Guided Group Interaction (GGI) technique as a meaningful approach in the field of corrections. The main findings relate to the establishment of reliability for the main components of the Revised Behavior Scores System developed to assess the…

Time-Varying, Multi-Scale Adaptive System Reliability Analysis of Lifeline Infrastructure Networks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gearhart, Jared Lee; Kurtz, Nolan Scot

2014-09-01

The majority of current societal and economic needs world-wide are met by the existing networked, civil infrastructure. Because the cost of managing such infrastructure is high and increases with time, risk-informed decision making is essential for those with management responsibilities for these systems. To address such concerns, a methodology that accounts for new information, deterioration, component models, component importance, group importance, network reliability, hierarchical structure organization, and efficiency concerns has been developed. This methodology analyzes the use of new information through the lens of adaptive Importance Sampling for structural reliability problems. Deterioration, multi-scale bridge models, and time-variant component importance aremore » investigated for a specific network. Furthermore, both bridge and pipeline networks are studied for group and component importance, as well as for hierarchical structures in the context of specific networks. Efficiency is the primary driver throughout this study. With this risk-informed approach, those responsible for management can address deteriorating infrastructure networks in an organized manner.« less

Cardiorespiratory Coordination after Training and Detraining. A Principal Component Analysis Approach

PubMed Central

Balagué, Natàlia; González, Jacob; Javierre, Casimiro; Hristovski, Robert; Aragonés, Daniel; Álamo, Juan; Niño, Oscar; Ventura, Josep L.

2016-01-01

Our purpose was to study the effects of different training modalities and detraining on cardiorespiratory coordination (CRC). Thirty-two young males were randomly assigned to four training groups: aerobic (AT), resistance (RT), aerobic plus resistance (AT + RT), and control (C). They were assessed before training, after training (6 weeks) and after detraining (3 weeks) by means of a graded maximal test. A principal component (PC) analysis of selected cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory variables was performed to evaluate CRC. The first PC (PC1) coefficient of congruence in the three conditions (before training, after training and after detraining) was compared between groups. Two PCs were identified in 81% of participants before the training period. After this period the number of PCs and the projection of the selected variables onto them changed only in the groups subject to a training programme. The PC1 coefficient of congruence was significantly lower in the training groups compared with the C group [H(3, N=32) = 11.28; p = 0.01]. In conclusion, training produced changes in CRC, reflected by the change in the number of PCs and the congruence values of PC1. These changes may be more sensitive than the usually explored cardiorespiratory reserve, and they probably precede it. PMID:26903884

Korean, Japanese, and Chinese populations featured similar genes encoding drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters: a DMET Plus microarray assessment.

PubMed

Yi, SoJeong; An, Hyungmi; Lee, Howard; Lee, Sangin; Ieiri, Ichiro; Lee, Youngjo; Cho, Joo-Youn; Hirota, Takeshi; Fukae, Masato; Yoshida, Kenji; Nagatsuka, Shinichiro; Kimura, Miyuki; Irie, Shin; Sugiyama, Yuichi; Shin, Dong Wan; Lim, Kyoung Soo; Chung, Jae-Yong; Yu, Kyung-Sang; Jang, In-Jin

2014-10-01

Interethnic differences in genetic polymorphism in genes encoding drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters are one of the major factors that cause ethnic differences in drug response. This study aimed to investigate genetic polymorphisms in genes involved in drug metabolism, transport, and excretion among Korean, Japanese, and Chinese populations, the three major East Asian ethnic groups. The frequencies of 1936 variants representing 225 genes encoding drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters were determined from 786 healthy participants (448 Korean, 208 Japanese, and 130 Chinese) using the Affymetrix Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes and Transporters Plus microarray. To compare allele or genotype frequencies in the high-dimensional data among the three East Asian ethnic groups, multiple testing, principal component analysis (PCA), and regularized multinomial logit model through least absolute shrinkage and selection operator were used. On microarray analysis, 1071 of 1936 variants (>50% of markers) were found to be monomorphic. In a large number of genetic variants, the fixation index and Pearson's correlation coefficient of minor allele frequencies were less than 0.034 and greater than 0.95, respectively, among the three ethnic groups. PCA identified 47 genetic variants with multiple testing, but was unable to discriminate ethnic groups by the first three components. Multinomial least absolute shrinkage and selection operator analysis identified 269 genetic variants that showed different frequencies among the three ethnic groups. However, none of those variants distinguished between the three ethnic groups during subsequent PCA. Korean, Japanese, and Chinese populations are not pharmacogenetically distant from one another, at least with regard to drug disposition, metabolism, and elimination.

HepG2 cells biospecific extraction and HPLC-ESI-MS analysis for screening potential antiatherosclerotic active components in Bupeuri radix.

PubMed

Liu, Shuqiang; Tan, Zhibin; Li, Pingting; Gao, Xiaoling; Zeng, Yuaner; Wang, Shuling

2016-03-20

HepG2 cells biospecific extraction method and high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) analysis was proposed for screening of potential antiatherosclerotic active components in Bupeuri radix, a well-known Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The hypothesis suggested that when cells are incubated together with the extracts of TCM, the potential bioactive components in the TCM should selectively combine with the receptor or channel of HepG2 cells, then the eluate which contained biospecific component binding to HepG2 cells was identified using HPLC-ESI-MS analysis. The potential bioactive components of Bupeuri radix were investigated using the proposed approach. Five compounds in the saikosaponins of Bupeuri radix were detected as these components selectively combined with HepG2 cells, among these compounds, two potentially bioactive compounds namely saikosaponin b1 and saikosaponin b2 (SSb2) were identified by comparing with the chromatography of the standard sample and analysis of the structural clearance characterization of MS. Then SSb2 was used to assess the uptake of DiI-high density lipoprotein (HDL) in HepG2 cells for antiatherosclerotic activity. The results have showed that SSb2, with indicated concentrations (5, 15, 25, and 40 μM) could remarkably uptake dioctadecylindocarbocyanine labeled- (DiI) -HDL in HepG2 cells (Vs control group, *P<0.01). In conclusion, the application of HepG2 biospecific extraction coupled with HPLC-ESI-MS analysis is a rapid, convenient, and reliable method for screening potential bioactive components in TCM and SSb2 may be a valuable novel drug agent for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of psycho-educational interventions on quality of life in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

PubMed

Kao, Chi-Wen; Chen, Miao-Yi; Chen, Ting-Yu; Lin, Pai-Hui

2016-09-30

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) were developed for primary and secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death. However, ICD recipients' mortality is significantly predicted by their quality of life (QOL). The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effects of psycho-educational interventions on QOL in patients with ICDs. We systematically searched PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, and CINAHL through April 2015 and references of relevant articles. Studies were reviewed if they met following criteria: (1) randomized controlled trial, (2) participants were adults with an ICD, and (3) data were sufficient to evaluate the effect of psychological or educational interventions on QOL measured by the SF-36 or SF-12. Studies were independently selected and their data were extracted by two reviewers. Study quality was evaluated using a modified Jadad scale. The meta-analysis was conducted using the Cochrane Collaboration's Review Manager Software Package (RevMan 5). Study heterogeneity was assessed by Q statistics and I 2 statistic. Depending on heterogeneity, data were pooled across trials using fixed-effect or random-effect modeling. Seven randomized controlled trials fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and included 1017 participants. The psycho-educational interventions improved physical component summary (PCS) scores in the intervention groups more than in control groups (mean difference 2.08, 95 % CI 0.86 to 3.29, p < 0.001), but did not significantly affect mental component summary (MCS) scores (mean difference 0.84, 95 % CI -1.68 to 3.35, p = 0.52). Our meta-analysis demonstrates that psycho-educational interventions improved the physical component, but not the mental component of QOL in patients with ICDs.

Group Independent Component Analysis (gICA) and Current Source Density (CSD) in the study of EEG in ADHD adults.

PubMed

Ponomarev, Valery A; Mueller, Andreas; Candrian, Gian; Grin-Yatsenko, Vera A; Kropotov, Juri D

2014-01-01

To investigate the performance of the spectral analysis of resting EEG, Current Source Density (CSD) and group independent components (gIC) in diagnosing ADHD adults. Power spectra of resting EEG, CSD and gIC (19 channels, linked ears reference, eyes open/closed) from 96 ADHD and 376 healthy adults were compared between eyes open and eyes closed conditions, and between groups of subjects. Pattern of differences in gIC and CSD spectral power between conditions was approximately similar, whereas it was more widely spatially distributed for EEG. Size effect (Cohen's d) of differences in gIC and CSD spectral power between groups of subjects was considerably greater than in the case of EEG. Significant reduction of gIC and CSD spectral power depending on conditions was found in ADHD patients. Reducing power in a wide frequency range in the fronto-central areas is a common phenomenon regardless of whether the eyes were open or closed. Spectral power of local EEG activity isolated by gICA or CSD in the fronto-central areas may be a suitable marker for discrimination of ADHD and healthy adults. Spectral analysis of gIC and CSD provides better sensitivity to discriminate ADHD and healthy adults. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The classification of the patients with pulmonary diseases using breath air samples spectral analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kistenev, Yury V.; Borisov, Alexey V.; Kuzmin, Dmitry A.; Bulanova, Anna A.

2016-08-01

Technique of exhaled breath sampling is discussed. The procedure of wavelength auto-calibration is proposed and tested. Comparison of the experimental data with the model absorption spectra of 5% CO2 is conducted. The classification results of three study groups obtained by using support vector machine and principal component analysis methods are presented.

Points of View Analysis Revisited: Fitting Multidimensional Structures to Optimal Distance Components with Cluster Restrictions on the Variables.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meulman, Jacqueline J.; Verboon, Peter

1993-01-01

Points of view analysis, as a way to deal with individual differences in multidimensional scaling, was largely supplanted by the weighted Euclidean model. It is argued that the approach deserves new attention, especially as a technique to analyze group differences. A streamlined and integrated process is proposed. (SLD)

Temporal Sequence of Hemispheric Network Activation during Semantic Processing: A Functional Network Connectivity Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Assaf, Michal; Jagannathan, Kanchana; Calhoun, Vince; Kraut, Michael; Hart, John, Jr.; Pearlson, Godfrey

2009-01-01

To explore the temporal sequence of, and the relationship between, the left and right hemispheres (LH and RH) during semantic memory (SM) processing we identified the neural networks involved in the performance of functional MRI semantic object retrieval task (SORT) using group independent component analysis (ICA) in 47 healthy individuals. SORT…

Building bridges with clinicians.

PubMed

Brady, Timothy S; Hankins, Robert W

2003-06-01

Clinical and ancillary staff need and welcome the opportunity to be involved in healthcare financial management. To provide them with the financial tools they need, a group of clinical and nonclinical professionals identified the key components of a curriculum that addressed financial, managerial, and cost accounting, along with training objectives that include understanding cost allocation, trend analysis, and variance analysis.

A general probabilistic model for group independent component analysis and its estimation methods

PubMed Central

Guo, Ying

2012-01-01

SUMMARY Independent component analysis (ICA) has become an important tool for analyzing data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. ICA has been successfully applied to single-subject fMRI data. The extension of ICA to group inferences in neuroimaging studies, however, is challenging due to the unavailability of a pre-specified group design matrix and the uncertainty in between-subjects variability in fMRI data. We present a general probabilistic ICA (PICA) model that can accommodate varying group structures of multi-subject spatio-temporal processes. An advantage of the proposed model is that it can flexibly model various types of group structures in different underlying neural source signals and under different experimental conditions in fMRI studies. A maximum likelihood method is used for estimating this general group ICA model. We propose two EM algorithms to obtain the ML estimates. The first method is an exact EM algorithm which provides an exact E-step and an explicit noniterative M-step. The second method is an variational approximation EM algorithm which is computationally more efficient than the exact EM. In simulation studies, we first compare the performance of the proposed general group PICA model and the existing probabilistic group ICA approach. We then compare the two proposed EM algorithms and show the variational approximation EM achieves comparable accuracy to the exact EM with significantly less computation time. An fMRI data example is used to illustrate application of the proposed methods. PMID:21517789

Groundwater quality assessment of urban Bengaluru using multivariate statistical techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulgundi, Mohammad Shahid; Shetty, Amba

2018-03-01

Groundwater quality deterioration due to anthropogenic activities has become a subject of prime concern. The objective of the study was to assess the spatial and temporal variations in groundwater quality and to identify the sources in the western half of the Bengaluru city using multivariate statistical techniques. Water quality index rating was calculated for pre and post monsoon seasons to quantify overall water quality for human consumption. The post-monsoon samples show signs of poor quality in drinking purpose compared to pre-monsoon. Cluster analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis (DA) were applied to the groundwater quality data measured on 14 parameters from 67 sites distributed across the city. Hierarchical cluster analysis (CA) grouped the 67 sampling stations into two groups, cluster 1 having high pollution and cluster 2 having lesser pollution. Discriminant analysis (DA) was applied to delineate the most meaningful parameters accounting for temporal and spatial variations in groundwater quality of the study area. Temporal DA identified pH as the most important parameter, which discriminates between water quality in the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons and accounts for 72% seasonal assignation of cases. Spatial DA identified Mg, Cl and NO3 as the three most important parameters discriminating between two clusters and accounting for 89% spatial assignation of cases. Principal component analysis was applied to the dataset obtained from the two clusters, which evolved three factors in each cluster, explaining 85.4 and 84% of the total variance, respectively. Varifactors obtained from principal component analysis showed that groundwater quality variation is mainly explained by dissolution of minerals from rock water interactions in the aquifer, effect of anthropogenic activities and ion exchange processes in water.

Topologic analysis and comparison of brain activation in children with epilepsy versus controls: an fMRI study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oweis, Khalid J.; Berl, Madison M.; Gaillard, William D.; Duke, Elizabeth S.; Blackstone, Kaitlin; Loew, Murray H.; Zara, Jason M.

2010-03-01

This paper describes the development of novel computer-aided analysis algorithms to identify the language activation patterns at a certain Region of Interest (ROI) in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Previous analysis techniques have been used to compare typical and pathologic activation patterns in fMRI images resulting from identical tasks but none of them analyzed activation topographically in a quantitative manner. This paper presents new analysis techniques and algorithms capable of identifying a pattern of language activation associated with localization related epilepsy. fMRI images of 64 healthy individuals and 31 patients with localization related epilepsy have been studied and analyzed on an ROI basis. All subjects are right handed with normal MRI scans and have been classified into three age groups (4-6, 7-9, 10-12 years). Our initial efforts have focused on investigating activation in the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (LIFG). A number of volumetric features have been extracted from the data. The LIFG has been cut into slices and the activation has been investigated topographically on a slice by slice basis. Overall, a total of 809 features have been extracted, and correlation analysis was applied to eliminate highly correlated features. Principal Component analysis was then applied to account only for major components in the data and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) has been applied to test for significantly different features between normal and patient groups. Twenty Nine features have were found to be significantly different (p<0.05) between patient and control groups

Silicone-containing composition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mohamed, Mustafa

A silicone-containing composition comprises the reaction product of a first component and an excess of an isocyanate component relative to the first component to form an isocyanated intermediary. The first component is selected from one of a polysiloxane and a silicone resin. The first component includes a carbon-bonded functional group selected from one of a hydroxyl group and an amine group. The isocyanate component is reactive with the carbon-bonded functional group of the first component. The isocyanated intermediary includes a plurality of isocyanate functional groups. The silicone-containing composition comprises the further reaction product of a second component, which is selectedmore » from the other of the polysiloxane and the silicone resin. The second component includes a plurality of carbon-bonded functional groups reactive with the isocyanate functional groups of the isocyanated intermediary for preparing the silicone-containing composition.« less

Which has a Greater Influence on Smile Esthetics Perception: Teeth or Lips?

PubMed

Farzanegan, Fahimeh; Jahanbin, Arezoo; Darvishpour, Hadi; Salari, Soheil

2013-09-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of teeth and lips in the perception of smile esthetics. Thirty women, ranging between 20 and 30 years of age, all with Class I canine and molar relationships and no history of orthodontic treatment, were chosen. Five black and white photographs were taken of each participant in a natural head position while smiling. The most natural photo, demonstrating a social smile, was selected. Two other photographs were also taken from a dental frontal view of each subject using a retractor, as well as a lip-together smile. Three groups of judges including 20 orthodontists, 20 restorative specialists, and 20 laypersons were selected. The judges were then asked to confirm the esthetics of each picture on a visual analogue scale. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Pearson correlation test were used for statistical analysis. For the orthodontists group, correlation between the scores given to the full smile and each of its components was significant (α=0.05), with equal correlation of each component with the full smile. In contrast to laypersons, the correlation between the scores given to the full smile and each of its components among restorative specialists was significant. For orthodontists and restorative specialists, esthetic details and the components of the smile (teeth and perioral soft tissues) were important in esthetics perception. In contrast, laypersons perceived no effect of esthetics detail or smile components.

Which has a Greater Influence on Smile Esthetics Perception: Teeth or Lips?

PubMed Central

Farzanegan, Fahimeh; Jahanbin, Arezoo; Darvishpour, Hadi; Salari, Soheil

2013-01-01

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of teeth and lips in the perception of smile esthetics. Materials and Methods: Thirty women, ranging between 20 and 30 years of age, all with Class I canine and molar relationships and no history of orthodontic treatment, were chosen. Five black and white photographs were taken of each participant in a natural head position while smiling. The most natural photo, demonstrating a social smile, was selected. Two other photographs were also taken from a dental frontal view of each subject using a retractor, as well as a lip-together smile. Three groups of judges including 20 orthodontists, 20 restorative specialists, and 20 laypersons were selected. The judges were then asked to confirm the esthetics of each picture on a visual analogue scale. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Pearson correlation test were used for statistical analysis. Results: For the orthodontists group, correlation between the scores given to the full smile and each of its components was significant (α=0.05), with equal correlation of each component with the full smile. In contrast to laypersons, the correlation between the scores given to the full smile and each of its components among restorative specialists was significant. Conclusion: For orthodontists and restorative specialists, esthetic details and the components of the smile (teeth and perioral soft tissues) were important in esthetics perception. In contrast, laypersons perceived no effect of esthetics detail or smile components. PMID:24303447

Analysis of systems hardware flown on LDEF. Results of the systems special investigation group

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dursch, Harry W.; Spear, W. Steve; Miller, Emmett A.; Bohnhoff-Hlavacek, Gail L.; Edelman, Joel

1992-01-01

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was retrieved after spending 69 months in low Earth orbit (LEO). LDEF carried a remarkable variety of mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical systems, subsystems, and components. The Systems Special Investigation Group (Systems SIG) was formed to investigate the effects of the long duration exposure to LEO on systems related hardware and to coordinate and collate all systems analysis of LDEF hardware. Discussed here is the status of the LDEF Systems SIG investigation through the end of 1991.

Chemometric techniques on the analysis of Raman spectra of serum blood samples of breast cancer patients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rocha-Osornio, L. N.; Pichardo-Molina, J. L.; Barbosa-Garcia, O.; Frausto-Reyes, C.; Araujo-Andrade, C.; Huerta-Franco, R.; Gutiérrez-Juárez, G.

2008-02-01

Raman spectroscopy and Multivariate methods were used to study serum blood samples of control and breast cancer patients. Blood samples were obtained from 11 patients and 12 controls from the central region of Mexico. Our results show that principal component analysis is able to discriminate serum sample of breast cancer patients from those of control group, also the loading vectors of PCA plotted as a function of Raman shift shown which bands permitted to make the maximum discrimination between both groups of samples.

Analysis of systems hardware flown on LDEF. Results of the systems special investigation group

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dursch, H.W.; Spear, W.S.; Miller, E.A.

1992-04-01

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was retrieved after spending 69 months in low Earth orbit (LEO). LDEF carried a remarkable variety of mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical systems, subsystems, and components. The Systems Special Investigation Group (Systems SIG) was formed to investigate the effects of the long duration exposure to LEO on systems related hardware and to coordinate and collate all systems analysis of LDEF hardware. Discussed here is the status of the LDEF Systems SIG investigation through the end of 1991.

Exploring the underlying structure of mental disorders: cross-diagnostic differences and similarities from a network perspective using both a top-down and a bottom-up approach.

PubMed

Wigman, J T W; van Os, J; Borsboom, D; Wardenaar, K J; Epskamp, S; Klippel, A; Viechtbauer, W; Myin-Germeys, I; Wichers, M

2015-08-01

It has been suggested that the structure of psychopathology is best described as a complex network of components that interact in dynamic ways. The goal of the present paper was to examine the concept of psychopathology from a network perspective, combining complementary top-down and bottom-up approaches using momentary assessment techniques. A pooled Experience Sampling Method (ESM) dataset of three groups (individuals with a diagnosis of depression, psychotic disorder or no diagnosis) was used (pooled N = 599). The top-down approach explored the network structure of mental states across different diagnostic categories. For this purpose, networks of five momentary mental states ('cheerful', 'content', 'down', 'insecure' and 'suspicious') were compared between the three groups. The complementary bottom-up approach used principal component analysis to explore whether empirically derived network structures yield meaningful higher order clusters. Individuals with a clinical diagnosis had more strongly connected moment-to-moment network structures, especially the depressed group. This group also showed more interconnections specifically between positive and negative mental states than the psychotic group. In the bottom-up approach, all possible connections between mental states were clustered into seven main components that together captured the main characteristics of the network dynamics. Our combination of (i) comparing network structure of mental states across three diagnostically different groups and (ii) searching for trans-diagnostic network components across all pooled individuals showed that these two approaches yield different, complementary perspectives in the field of psychopathology. The network paradigm therefore may be useful to map transdiagnostic processes.

Coordination pattern of baseball pitching among young pitchers of various ages and velocity levels.

PubMed

Chen, Hsiu-Hui; Liu, Chiang; Yang, Wen-Wen

2016-09-01

This study compared the whole-body movement coordination of pitching among 72 baseball players of various ages and velocity levels. Participants were classified as senior, junior, and little according to their age, with each group comprising 24 players. The velocity levels of the high-velocity (the top eight) and low-velocity (the lowest eight) groups were classified according to their pitching velocity. During pitching, the coordinates of 15 markers attached to the major joints of the whole-body movement system were collected for analysis. Sixteen kinematic parameters were calculated to compare the groups and velocity levels. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to quantify the coordination pattern of pitching movement. The results were as follows: (1) five position and two velocity parameters significantly differed among the age groups, and two position and one velocity parameters significantly differed between the high- and low-velocity groups. (2) The coordination patterns of pitching movement could be described using three components, of which the eigenvalues and contents varied according to age and velocity level. In conclusion, the senior and junior players showed greater elbow angular velocity, whereas the little players exhibited a wider shoulder angle only at the beginning of pitching. The players with high velocity exhibited higher trunk and shoulder rotation velocity. The variations among groups found using PCA and kinematics parameter analyses were consistent.

Effect of superoxidized water and sodium hypochlorite, associated or not with EDTA, on organic and inorganic components of bovine root dentin.

PubMed

Ghisi, Alexandre Corrêa; Kopper, Patrícia Maria Poli; Baldasso, Flávia E R; Stürmer, Caroline P; Rossi-Fedele, Giampiero; Steier, Liviu; de Figueiredo, José Antonio Poli; Morgental, Renata Dornelles; Vier-Pelisser, Fabiana Vieira

2015-06-01

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Sterilox (Sx), a superoxidized water, 5% and 2% sodium hypochlorite (5NaOCl and 2NaOCl), and 17% EDTA (E) on the organic and inorganic components of bovine dentin. Eighty bovine incisors were randomly divided into 8 groups (n = 10): 5NaOCl, 5NaOCl + E, 2NaOCl, 2NaOCl + E, Sx, Sx + E, E alone, and distilled water (H2O). Root canal instrumentation was performed by using the corresponding irrigant. The apical 15 mm was longitudinally sectioned into 2 fragments, one for light microscopy analysis in slides stained with picrosirius red (organic component) and the other for scanning electron microscopy analysis (inorganic component). Scores data obtained in the light microscopy analysis were submitted to the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by multiple comparisons test (P < .05). Scanning electron microscopy images were analyzed descriptively. The chemical solution 5NaOCl had a greater effect on the organic component of dentin in area and depth than 2NaOCl. The chemical solutions 5NaOCl + E, 5NaOCl and 2NaOCl + E caused the greatest change in the collagenous organic matrix near the root canal lumen. The chemical solution 2NaOCl showed similar behavior to Sx, associated or not with E, promoting more superficial disorganization of collagen in a smaller area. Demineralization was observed in all groups in which E was used. However, areas of erosion and open dentinal tubules were detected only when it was combined with NaOCl. Five percent NaOCl promoted the most extensive damage to the organic component of dentin, and when associated to EDTA, dentinal erosion could be seen. Considering these specific aspects, 2% NaOCl and Sx had milder effects on bovine root dentin. Copyright © 2015 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PIXE analysis on Maya blue in Prehispanic and colonial mural paintings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez del Río, M.; Martinetto, P.; Solís, C.; Reyes-Valerio, C.

2006-08-01

Particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) experiments have been carried out at the AGLAE facility (Paris) on several mural samples containing Maya blue from different Prehispanic archaeological sites (Cacaxtla, El Tajín, Tamuin, Santa Cecilia Acatitlán) and from several colonial convents in the Mexican plateau (Jiutepec, Totimehuacán, Tezontepec and Cuauhtinchán). The analysis of the concentration of several elements permitted to extract some information on the technique used for painting the mural, usually fresco. Principal component analysis permitted to classify the samples into groups. This grouping is discussed in relation to geographic and historic data.

Dataset of Fourier transform-infrared coupled with chemometric analysis used to distinguish accessions of Garcinia mangostana L. in Peninsular Malaysia.

PubMed

Samsir, Sri A'jilah; Bunawan, Hamidun; Yen, Choong Chee; Noor, Normah Mohd

2016-09-01

In this dataset, we distinguish 15 accessions of Garcinia mangostana from Peninsular Malaysia using Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy coupled with chemometric analysis. We found that the position and intensity of characteristic peaks at 3600-3100 cm(-) (1) in IR spectra allowed discrimination of G. mangostana from different locations. Further principal component analysis (PCA) of all the accessions suggests the two main clusters were formed: samples from Johor, Melaka, and Negeri Sembilan (South) were clustered together in one group while samples from Perak, Kedah, Penang, Selangor, Kelantan, and Terengganu (North and East Coast) were in another clustered group.

CHANGES IN SOMATOTYPE CHARACTERISTICS IN THE MIDDLE-AGED BULGARIAN MEN.

PubMed

Andreenko, Emiliya; Mladenova, Silviya

2015-12-01

the objective of this cross-sectional research was to outline the different somatotypes and the trends in the changes of the three basic components (endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy) among the middle-aged Bulgarian men. the Heath-Carter method was used to identify the anthropometric somatotypes of 860 adult men, aged 30-50 years old, from the city of Plovdiv, located in Central Bulgaria. The men were divided into 4 age groups, in five-year intervals. In each case body height, weight and a series of skinfolds, circumferences and diameters were measured to calculate the somatotype. The SPSS package was used for the statistical analysis. the results show a prominent endo-mesomorphic model in the study sample of male population. We found age-related increase of the values of the musclebone component, retention of the level of the fatty component and a decline in the ectomorphy. Regardless the quantitative changes of the three components, the correlation between them remains constant and the mean somatotype is preserved. A greater variety of morphotypes is found in the group of men aged 30-35. The most homogeneous group is that of the 45-50 year old men. This group is entirely dominated by the mesomorphic component (strength), and the endomorphic component (obesity) is greater than the ectomorphic one (linearity). the study finds that in the years between 30 and 50 the men tend to build muscle rather than fat. The 50 year-old men are more mesomorphic than the men at the age of 30, but they are shorter and with less elongated body segments. Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

Supportive supervision and constructive relationships with healthcare workers support CHW performance: Use of a qualitative framework to evaluate CHW programming in Uganda.

PubMed

Ludwick, Teralynn; Turyakira, Eleanor; Kyomuhangi, Teddy; Manalili, Kimberly; Robinson, Sheila; Brenner, Jennifer L

2018-02-13

While evidence supports community health worker (CHW) capacity to improve maternal and newborn health in less-resourced countries, key implementation gaps remain. Tools for assessing CHW performance and evidence on what programmatic components affect performance are lacking. This study developed and tested a qualitative evaluative framework and tool to assess CHW team performance in a district program in rural Uganda. A new assessment framework was developed to collect and analyze qualitative evidence based on CHW perspectives on seven program components associated with effectiveness (selection; training; community embeddedness; peer support; supportive supervision; relationship with other healthcare workers; retention and incentive structures). Focus groups were conducted with four high/medium-performing CHW teams and four low-performing CHW teams selected through random, stratified sampling. Content analysis involved organizing focus group transcripts according to the seven program effectiveness components, and assigning scores to each component per focus group. Four components, 'supportive supervision', 'good relationships with other healthcare workers', 'peer support', and 'retention and incentive structures' received the lowest overall scores. Variances in scores between 'high'/'medium'- and 'low'-performing CHW teams were largest for 'supportive supervision' and 'good relationships with other healthcare workers.' Our analysis suggests that in the Bushenyi intervention context, CHW team performance is highly correlated with the quality of supervision and relationships with other healthcare workers. CHWs identified key performance-related issues of absentee supervisors, referral system challenges, and lack of engagement/respect by health workers. Other less-correlated program components warrant further study and may have been impacted by relatively consistent program implementation within our limited study area. Applying process-oriented measurement tools are needed to better understand CHW performance-related factors and build a supportive environment for CHW program effectiveness and sustainability. Findings from a qualitative, multi-component tool developed and applied in this study suggest that factors related to (1) supportive supervision and (2) relationships with other healthcare workers may be strongly associated with variances in performance outcomes within a program. Careful consideration of supervisory structure and health worker orientation during program implementation are among strategies proposed to increase CHW performance.

Linking implementation process to intervention outcomes in a middle school obesity prevention curriculum, ‘Choice, Control and Change’

PubMed Central

Gray, Heewon Lee; Contento, Isobel R.; Koch, Pamela A.

2015-01-01

This study investigates the link between process evaluation components and the outcomes of a school-based nutrition curriculum intervention, ‘Choice, Control and Change’. Ten New York City public middle schools were recruited and randomly assigned into intervention or control condition. The curriculum was to improve sixth to seventh grade students’ energy balance related behaviors, based on social cognitive and self-determination theories, and implemented during the 2006–2007 school year (n = 1136). Behaviors and psychosocial variables were measured by self-reported questionnaires. Process components were evaluated with classroom observations, teacher interviews, and a student questionnaire. Using ‘Teacher Implementation’ (dose delivered) and ‘Student Reception’ (dose received) process data; intervention group was further categorized into medium- and high-implementation groups. Analysis of covariance revealed that, compared with control group, only high-implementation group showed significant improvement in students’ behavior and psychosocial outcomes. Hierarchical linear models showed that ‘Teacher Implementation’ and ‘Student Reception’ significantly predicted students’ sweetened beverage outcomes (P < 0.05). ‘Student Satisfaction’ was also greater when these implementation components were higher, and significantly associated with behavior and psychosocial outcomes (P < 0.05). Implementation process influenced the effectiveness of the ‘Choice, Control and Change’ intervention study. It is important to take into account the process components when interpreting the results of such research. PMID:25700557

Phase transition in crystalline benzil : an infrared study of vibrational excitons.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Roy, A.; Et-Tabti, O.; Guérin, R.

1993-03-01

The molecular crystal of benzil, [C 6 H 5 CO] 2, is known to undergo a phase transition at T c = 84 K. The phase transition is from a high temperature trigonal phase with space group D 43 (P3 121) to a low temperature monoclinic phase with space group C 32 (C 2). This paper reports a study of the exciton structure of the infrared bands of benzil as a function of temperature in the vicinity of T c = 84 K. The benzil molecule belongs to the C 2 molecular point group. Group theoretical analysis of the exciton structure of infrared bands predicts two components for molecular B modes and one component for molecular A modes in the high temperature phase. Below T c all the internal modes of benzil are expected to split into two components. Our experimental results show that the A molecular modes are resolved in a doublet structure in the low temperature phase whereas only one component is observed above T c. The doublet structure of infrared bands is studied as a function of temperature in the vicinity of T c. These splittings of crystal states in the low temperature phase are found to be described by a ¦T c - T¦ β law. The temperature dependence of the doublet structure of internal B modes is also studied below and above T c.

Lipidomics study of plasma phospholipid metabolism in early type 2 diabetes rats with ancient prescription Huang-Qi-San intervention by UPLC/Q-TOF-MS and correlation coefficient.

PubMed

Wu, Xia; Zhu, Jian-Cheng; Zhang, Yu; Li, Wei-Min; Rong, Xiang-Lu; Feng, Yi-Fan

2016-08-25

Potential impact of lipid research has been increasingly realized both in disease treatment and prevention. An effective metabolomics approach based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS) along with multivariate statistic analysis has been applied for investigating the dynamic change of plasma phospholipids compositions in early type 2 diabetic rats after the treatment of an ancient prescription of Chinese Medicine Huang-Qi-San. The exported UPLC/Q-TOF-MS data of plasma samples were subjected to SIMCA-P and processed by bioMark, mixOmics, Rcomdr packages with R software. A clear score plots of plasma sample groups, including normal control group (NC), model group (MC), positive medicine control group (Flu) and Huang-Qi-San group (HQS), were achieved by principal-components analysis (PCA), partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Biomarkers were screened out using student T test, principal component regression (PCR), partial least-squares regression (PLS) and important variable method (variable influence on projection, VIP). Structures of metabolites were identified and metabolic pathways were deduced by correlation coefficient. The relationship between compounds was explained by the correlation coefficient diagram, and the metabolic differences between similar compounds were illustrated. Based on KEGG database, the biological significances of identified biomarkers were described. The correlation coefficient was firstly applied to identify the structure and deduce the metabolic pathways of phospholipids metabolites, and the study provided a new methodological cue for further understanding the molecular mechanisms of metabolites in the process of regulating Huang-Qi-San for treating early type 2 diabetes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemometric analysis of Hymenoptera toxins and defensins: A model for predicting the biological activity of novel peptides from venoms and hemolymph.

PubMed

Saidemberg, Daniel M; Baptista-Saidemberg, Nicoli B; Palma, Mario S

2011-09-01

When searching for prospective novel peptides, it is difficult to determine the biological activity of a peptide based only on its sequence. The "trial and error" approach is generally laborious, expensive and time consuming due to the large number of different experimental setups required to cover a reasonable number of biological assays. To simulate a virtual model for Hymenoptera insects, 166 peptides were selected from the venoms and hemolymphs of wasps, bees and ants and applied to a mathematical model of multivariate analysis, with nine different chemometric components: GRAVY, aliphaticity index, number of disulfide bonds, total residues, net charge, pI value, Boman index, percentage of alpha helix, and flexibility prediction. Principal component analysis (PCA) with non-linear iterative projections by alternating least-squares (NIPALS) algorithm was performed, without including any information about the biological activity of the peptides. This analysis permitted the grouping of peptides in a way that strongly correlated to the biological function of the peptides. Six different groupings were observed, which seemed to correspond to the following groups: chemotactic peptides, mastoparans, tachykinins, kinins, antibiotic peptides, and a group of long peptides with one or two disulfide bonds and with biological activities that are not yet clearly defined. The partial overlap between the mastoparans group and the chemotactic peptides, tachykinins, kinins and antibiotic peptides in the PCA score plot may be used to explain the frequent reports in the literature about the multifunctionality of some of these peptides. The mathematical model used in the present investigation can be used to predict the biological activities of novel peptides in this system, and it may also be easily applied to other biological systems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Survey of whole air data from the second airborne Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment using principal component analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Yunsoo; Elliott, Scott; Simpson, Isobel J.; Blake, Donald R.; Colman, Jonah J.; Dubey, Manvendra K.; Meinardi, Simone; Rowland, F. Sherwood; Shirai, Tomoko; Smith, Felisa A.

2003-03-01

Hydrocarbon and halocarbon measurements collected during the second airborne Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment (BIBLE-B) were subjected to a principal component analysis (PCA), to test the capability for identifying intercorrelated compounds within a large whole air data set. The BIBLE expeditions have sought to quantify and understand the products of burning, electrical discharge, and general atmospheric chemical processes during flights arrayed along the western edge of the Pacific. Principal component analysis was found to offer a compact method for identifying the major modes of composition encountered in the regional whole air data set. Transecting the continental monsoon, urban and industrial tracers (e.g., combustion byproducts, chlorinated methanes and ethanes, xylenes, and longer chain alkanes) dominated the observed variability. Pentane enhancements reflected vehicular emissions. In general, ethyl and propyl nitrate groupings indicated oxidation under nitrogen oxide (NOx) rich conditions and hence city or lightning influences. Over the tropical ocean, methyl nitrate grouped with brominated compounds and sometimes with dimethyl sulfide and methyl iodide. Biomass burning signatures were observed during flights over the Australian continent. Strong indications of wetland anaerobics (methane) or liquefied petroleum gas leakage (propane) were conspicuous by their absence. When all flights were considered together, sources attributable to human activity emerged as the most important. We suggest that factor reductions in general and PCA in particular may soon play a vital role in the analysis of regional whole air data sets, as a complement to more familiar methods.

Anthropometric profile of combat athletes via multivariate analysis.

PubMed

Burdukiewicz, Anna; Pietraszewska, Jadwiga; Stachoń, Aleksandra; Andrzejewska, Justyna

2017-11-07

Athletic success is a complex phenotype influenced by multiple factors, from sport-specific skills to anthropometric characteristics. Considering the latter, the literature has repeatedly indicated that athletes possess distinct physical characteristics depending on the practiced discipline. The aim of the present study was to apply univariate and multivariate methods to assess a wide range of morphometric and somatotypic characteristics in male combat athletes. Biometric data were obtained from 206 male university-level practitioners of judo, jiu-jitsu, karate, kickboxing, taekwondo, and wrestling. Measures included height- and length-based variables, breadths, circumferences, and skinfolds. Body proportions and somatotype, using Sheldon's method of somatotopy as modified by Heath and Carter, were then determined. Body fat percentage was assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis using tetrapolar hand-to-foot electrodes. Data were subjected to a wide array of statistical analysis. The results show between-group differences in the magnitudes of the analyzed characteristics. While mesomorphy was the dominant component of each group somatotype, enhanced ectomorphy was observed in those disciplines that require a high level of agility. Principal component analysis reduced the multivariate dimensionality of the data to three components (characterizing body size, height-based measures, and the anthropometric structure of the upper extremities) that explained the majority of data variance. The development of a sport-specific anthropometric profile via height- and mass-based and morphometric and somatotypic variables can aid in the design of training protocols and the identification of athlete markers as well as serve as a diagnostic criterion in predicting combat athlete performance.

Survivorship comparison of all-polyethylene and metal-backed tibial components in cruciate-substituting total knee arthroplasty--Chinese experience.

PubMed

Shen, Bin; Yang, Jing; Zhou, Zongke; Kang, Pengde; Wang, Liao; Pei, Fuxing

2009-10-01

Considering its cost saving, the all-polyethylene tibial component is of potential interest in developing countries like China. But to our knowledge, a survivorship comparison of all-polyethylene and metal-backed tibial components in posterior cruciate ligament-substituting total knee arthroplasty (PS-TKA) has not been studied in China previously. Using survivorship analysis, we have studied the midterm outcome of 34 cemented PS-TKA using an all-polyethylene tibial component and of 34 cemented PS-TKA using a metal-backed tibial component which has an identical articular surface with all-polyethylene tibial components. All operations were performed by the same group of surgeons; 58 patients underwent a unilateral operation and five patients a bilateral operation. These patients had a mean follow-up of 5.9 years (range: 5-7 years); three patients were lost to follow-up and one was revised for infection. No significant difference between the two groups was reported regarding HSS scores, ROM, clinical and radiographic parameters measured and survival rates. Although the Asian lifestyle includes more squatting and bending of the knee, the results of this series of TKA using all-polyethylene tibial components in Chinese people are comparable to the satisfactory results of other reported all-polyethylene series whose patients are mainly Western people. Considering its cost saving and excellent clinical result, the all-polyethylene tibial component is of potential interest in developing countries.

Validation of orthopedic postoperative pain assessment methods for dogs: a prospective, blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

PubMed

Rialland, Pascale; Authier, Simon; Guillot, Martin; Del Castillo, Jérôme R E; Veilleux-Lemieux, Daphnée; Frank, Diane; Gauvin, Dominique; Troncy, Eric

2012-01-01

In the context of translational research, there is growing interest in studying surgical orthopedic pain management approaches that are common to humans and dogs. The validity of postoperative pain assessment methods is uncertain with regards to responsiveness and the potential interference of analgesia. The hypothesis was that video analysis (as a reference), electrodermal activity, and two subjective pain scales (VAS and 4A-VET) would detect different levels of pain intensity in dogs after a standardized trochleoplasty procedure. In this prospective, blinded, randomized study, postoperative pain was assessed in 25 healthy dogs during a 48-hour time frame (T). Pain was managed with placebo (Group 1, n = 10), preemptive and multimodal analgesia (Group 2, n = 5), or preemptive analgesia consisting in oral tramadol (Group 3, n = 10). Changes over time among groups were analyzed using generalized estimating equations. Multivariate regression tested the significance of relationships between pain scales and video analysis. Video analysis identified that one orthopedic behavior, namely 'Walking with full weight bearing' of the operated leg, decreased more in Group 1 at T24 (indicative of pain), whereas three behaviors indicative of sedation decreased in Group 2 at T24 (all p<0.004). Electrodermal activity was higher in Group 1 than in Groups 2 and 3 until T1 (p<0.0003). The VAS was not responsive. 4A-VET showed divergent results as its orthopedic component (4A-VETleg) detected lower pain in Group 2 until T12 (p<0.0009), but its interactive component (4A-VETbeh) was increased in Group 2 from T12 to T48 (p<0.001). Concurrent validity established that 4A-VETleg scores the painful orthopedic condition accurately and that pain assessment through 4A-VETbeh and VAS was severely biased by the sedative side-effect of the analgesics. Finally, the video analysis offered a concise template for assessment in dogs with acute orthopedic pain. However, subjective pain quantification methods and electrodermal activity need further investigation.

Positive effect of removal of subchondral bone plate for cemented acetabular component fixation in total hip arthroplasty: a randomised RSA study with ten-year follow-up.

PubMed

Flivik, G; Kristiansson, I; Ryd, L

2015-01-01

We hypothesised that the removal of the subchondral bone plate (SCBP) for cemented acetabular component fixation in total hip arthroplasty (THA) offers advantages over retention by improving the cement-bone interface, without jeopardising implant stability. We have previously published two-year follow-up data of a randomised controlled trial (RCT), in which 50 patients with primary osteoarthritis were randomised to either retention or removal of the SCBP. The mean age of the retention group (n = 25, 13 males) was 70.0 years (sd 6.8). The mean age in the removal group (n = 25, 16 males) was 70.3 years (sd 7.9). Now we have followed up the patients at six (retention group, n = 21; removal group, n = 20) and ten years (retention group: n = 17, removal group: n = 18), administering clinical outcome questionnaires and radiostereometric analysis (RSA), and determining the presence of radiolucent lines (RLLs) on conventional radiographs. RSA demonstrated similar translation and rotation patterns up to six years. Between six and ten years, proximal acetabular component migration and changes of inclination were larger in the retention group, although the mean differences did not reach statistical significance. Differences in migration were driven by two patients in the SCBP retention group with extensive migration versus none in the SCBP removal group. The significant difference (p < 0.001) in the development of radiolucent lines in the retention group, previously observed at two years, increased even further during the course of follow-up (p < 0.001). While recognising SCBP removal is a more demanding technique, we conclude that, wherever possible, the SCBP should be removed to improve the cement-bone interface in order to maximise acetabular component stability and longevity. ©2015 The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery.

A search for specificity in DNA-drug interactions.

PubMed

Cruciani, G; Goodford, P J

1994-06-01

The GRID force field and a principal component analysis have been used in order to predict the interactions of small chemical groups with all 64 different triplet sequences of B-DNA. Factors that favor binding to guanine-cytosine base pairs have been identified, and a dictionary of ligand groups and their locations is presented as a guide to the design of specific DNA ligands.

Preserving subject variability in group fMRI analysis: performance evaluation of GICA vs. IVA

PubMed Central

Michael, Andrew M.; Anderson, Mathew; Miller, Robyn L.; Adalı, Tülay; Calhoun, Vince D.

2014-01-01

Independent component analysis (ICA) is a widely applied technique to derive functionally connected brain networks from fMRI data. Group ICA (GICA) and Independent Vector Analysis (IVA) are extensions of ICA that enable users to perform group fMRI analyses; however a full comparison of the performance limits of GICA and IVA has not been investigated. Recent interest in resting state fMRI data with potentially higher degree of subject variability makes the evaluation of the above techniques important. In this paper we compare component estimation accuracies of GICA and an improved version of IVA using simulated fMRI datasets. We systematically change the degree of inter-subject spatial variability of components and evaluate estimation accuracy over all spatial maps (SMs) and time courses (TCs) of the decomposition. Our results indicate the following: (1) at low levels of SM variability or when just one SM is varied, both GICA and IVA perform well, (2) at higher levels of SM variability or when more than one SMs are varied, IVA continues to perform well but GICA yields SM estimates that are composites of other SMs with errors in TCs, (3) both GICA and IVA remove spatial correlations of overlapping SMs and introduce artificial correlations in their TCs, (4) if number of SMs is over estimated, IVA continues to perform well but GICA introduces artifacts in the varying and extra SMs with artificial correlations in the TCs of extra components, and (5) in the absence or presence of SMs unique to one subject, GICA produces errors in TCs and IVA estimates are accurate. In summary, our simulation experiments (both simplistic and realistic) and our holistic analyses approach indicate that IVA produces results that are closer to ground truth and thereby better preserves subject variability. The improved version of IVA is now packaged into the GIFT toolbox (http://mialab.mrn.org/software/gift). PMID:25018704

Magnetoencephalogram blind source separation and component selection procedure to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease patients.

PubMed

Escudero, Javier; Hornero, Roberto; Abásolo, Daniel; Fernández, Alberto; Poza, Jesús

2007-01-01

The aim of this study was to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients applying a blind source separation (BSS) and component selection procedure to their magnetoencephalogram (MEG) recordings. MEGs from 18 AD patients and 18 control subjects were decomposed with the algorithm for multiple unknown signals extraction. MEG channels and components were characterized by their mean frequency, spectral entropy, approximate entropy, and Lempel-Ziv complexity. Using Student's t-test, the components which accounted for the most significant differences between groups were selected. Then, these relevant components were used to partially reconstruct the MEG channels. By means of a linear discriminant analysis, we found that the BSS-preprocessed MEGs classified the subjects with an accuracy of 80.6%, whereas 72.2% accuracy was obtained without the BSS and component selection procedure.

Identification of Pulmonary Edema in Forensic Autopsy Cases of Sudden Cardiac Death Using Fourier Transform Infrared Microspectroscopy: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Lin, Hancheng; Luo, Yiwen; Sun, Qiran; Zhang, Ji; Tuo, Ya; Zhang, Zhong; Wang, Lei; Deng, Kaifei; Chen, Yijiu; Huang, Ping; Wang, Zhenyuan

2018-02-20

Many studies have proven the usefulness of biofluid-based infrared spectroscopy in the clinical domain for diagnosis and monitoring the progression of diseases. Here we present a state-of-the-art study in the forensic field that employed Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy for postmortem diagnosis of sudden cardiac death (SCD) by in situ biochemical investigation of alveolar edema fluid in lung tissue sections. The results of amide-related spectral absorbance analysis demonstrated that the pulmonary edema fluid of the SCD group was richer in protein components than that of the neurologic catastrophe (NC) and lethal multiple injuries (LMI) groups. The complementary results of unsupervised principle component analysis (PCA) and genetic algorithm-guided partial least-squares discriminant analysis (GA-PLS-DA) further indicated different global spectral band patterns of pulmonary edema fluids between these three groups. Ultimately, a random forest (RF) classification model for postmortem diagnosis of SCD was built and achieved good sensitivity and specificity scores of 97.3% and 95.5%, respectively. Classification predictions of unknown pulmonary edema fluid collected from 16 cases were also performed by the model, resulting in 100% correct discrimination. This pilot study demonstrates that FTIR microspectroscopy in combination with chemometrics has the potential to be an effective aid for postmortem diagnosis of SCD.

Prospective political analysis for policy design: enhancing the political viability of single-payer health reform in Vermont.

PubMed

Blanchet, Nathan J; Fox, Ashley M

2013-06-01

In 2011 the state of Vermont adopted legislation that aims to create the nation's first state-level single-payer health care system, a system that would go well beyond national reform efforts. To conduct a prospective, institutional stakeholder analysis to guide development of a politically viable, universal health care reform proposal, as commissioned by Vermont's legislature in July 2010. A total of 64 semi-structured stakeholder interviews with nearly 120 individuals, representing 60 different groups/institutions, were conducted between July and December 2010. Interviews probed stakeholders regarding five major design components: financing options, decoupling insurance from employment, organization/governance, comprehensiveness of benefits, and payment reform. There was a range of opposition and support across stakeholder groups and components, and more remarkably a diversity of views within groups often believed to be unwavering supporters or detractors of comprehensive health reform. Given the balance of conflicting views, relative power, and acceptable trade-offs, the research team proposed a single-payer health care system financed through payroll taxes, decoupled from employment, with a generous benefit package, governed by a public-private intermediary. Prospective political analysis can assist in choosing among a range of technically sound policy options to create a more politically viable health reform package. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Absolute Hounsfield unit measurement on noncontrast computed tomography cannot accurately predict struvite stone composition.

PubMed

Marchini, Giovanni Scala; Gebreselassie, Surafel; Liu, Xiaobo; Pynadath, Cindy; Snyder, Grace; Monga, Manoj

2013-02-01

The purpose of our study was to determine, in vivo, whether single-energy noncontrast computed tomography (NCCT) can accurately predict the presence/percentage of struvite stone composition. We retrospectively searched for all patients with struvite components on stone composition analysis between January 2008 and March 2012. Inclusion criteria were NCCT prior to stone analysis and stone size ≥4 mm. A single urologist, blinded to stone composition, reviewed all NCCT to acquire stone location, dimensions, and Hounsfield unit (HU). HU density (HUD) was calculated by dividing mean HU by the stone's largest transverse diameter. Stone analysis was performed via Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. Independent sample Student's t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to compare HU/HUD among groups. Spearman's correlation test was used to determine the correlation between HU and stone size and also HU/HUD to % of each component within the stone. Significance was considered if p<0.05. Fourty-four patients met the inclusion criteria. Struvite was the most prevalent component with mean percentage of 50.1%±17.7%. Mean HU and HUD were 820.2±357.9 and 67.5±54.9, respectively. Struvite component analysis revealed a nonsignificant positive correlation with HU (R=0.017; p=0.912) and negative with HUD (R=-0.20; p=0.898). Overall, 3 (6.8%) had <20% of struvite component; 11 (25%), 25 (56.8%), and 5 (11.4%) had 21% to 40%, 41% to 60%, and 61% to 80% of struvite, respectively. ANOVA revealed no difference among groups regarding HU (p=0.68) and HUD (p=0.37), with important overlaps. When comparing pure struvite stones (n=5) with other miscellaneous stones (n=39), no difference was found for HU (p=0.09) but HUD was significantly lower for pure stones (27.9±23.6 v 72.5±55.9, respectively; p=0.006). Again, significant overlaps were seen. Pure struvite stones have significantly lower HUD than mixed struvite stones, but overlap exists. A low HUD may increase the suspicion for a pure struvite calculus.

Development of AMSTAR: a measurement tool to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews.

PubMed

Shea, Beverley J; Grimshaw, Jeremy M; Wells, George A; Boers, Maarten; Andersson, Neil; Hamel, Candyce; Porter, Ashley C; Tugwell, Peter; Moher, David; Bouter, Lex M

2007-02-15

Our objective was to develop an instrument to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews, building upon previous tools, empirical evidence and expert consensus. A 37-item assessment tool was formed by combining 1) the enhanced Overview Quality Assessment Questionnaire (OQAQ), 2) a checklist created by Sacks, and 3) three additional items recently judged to be of methodological importance. This tool was applied to 99 paper-based and 52 electronic systematic reviews. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify underlying components. The results were considered by methodological experts using a nominal group technique aimed at item reduction and design of an assessment tool with face and content validity. The factor analysis identified 11 components. From each component, one item was selected by the nominal group. The resulting instrument was judged to have face and content validity. A measurement tool for the 'assessment of multiple systematic reviews' (AMSTAR) was developed. The tool consists of 11 items and has good face and content validity for measuring the methodological quality of systematic reviews. Additional studies are needed with a focus on the reproducibility and construct validity of AMSTAR, before strong recommendations can be made on its use.

H-binding of size- and polarity-fractionated soil and lignite humic acids after removal of metal and ash components.

PubMed

Drosos, Marios; Leenheer, Jerry A; Avgeropoulos, Apostolos; Deligiannakis, Yiannis

2014-03-01

A fractionation technique, combining dialysis removal of metal and ash components with hydrofluoric acid and pH 10 citrate buffer followed by chromatography of dialysis permeate on XAD-8 resin at decreasing pH values, has been applied to lignite humic acid (lignite-HA) and soil humic acid (soil-HA). H-binding data and non ideal competitive adsorption-Donnan model parameters were obtained for the HA fractions by theoretical analysis of H-binding data which reveal a significant increase of the carboxyl and the phenolic charge for the lignite-HA fractions vs. the parental lignite humic acid (LParentalHA). The fractionated lignite-HA material consisted mainly of permeate fractions, some of which were fulvic acid-like. The fractionated soil-HA material consisted mainly of large macromolecular structures that did not permeate the dialysis membrane during deashing. Chargeable groups had comparable concentrations in soil-HA fractions and parental soil humic acid (SParentalHA), indicating minimal interference of ash components with carboxyl and phenolic (and/or enolic) groups. Fractionation of HA, combined with theoretical analysis of H-binding, can distinguish the supramolecular vs. macromolecular nature of fractions within the same parental HA.

A microcosm of musical expression: II. Quantitative analysis of pianists' dynamics in the initial measures of Chopin's Etude in E major.

PubMed

Repp, B H

1999-03-01

Patterns of expressive dynamics were measured in bars 1-5 of 115 commercially recorded performances of Chopin's Etude in E major, op. 10, No. 3. The grand average pattern (or dynamic profile) was representative of many performances and highly similar to the average dynamic profile of a group of advanced student performances, which suggests a widely shared central norm of expressive dynamics. The individual dynamic profiles were subjected to principal components analysis, which yielded Varimax-rotated components, each representing a different, nonstandard dynamic profile associated with a small subset of performances. Most performances had dynamic patterns resembling a mixture of several components, and no clustering of of performances into distinct groups was apparent. Some weak relationships of dynamic profiles with sociocultural variables were found, most notably a tendency of female pianists to exhibit a greater dynamic range in the melody. Within the melody, there were no significant relationships between expressive timing [Repp, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 104, 1085-1100 (1998)] and expressive dynamics. These two important dimensions seemed to be controlled independently at this local level and thus offer the artist many degrees of freedom in giving a melody expressive shape.

H-binding of size- and polarity-fractionated soil and lignite humic acids after removal of metal and ash components

USGS Publications Warehouse

Drosos, Marios; Leenheer, Jerry A.; Avgeropoulos, Apostolos; Deligiannakis, Yiannis

2014-01-01

A fractionation technique, combining dialysis removal of metal and ash components with hydrofluoric acid and pH 10 citrate buffer followed by chromatography of dialysis permeate on XAD-8 resin at decreasing pH values, has been applied to lignite humic acid (lignite-HA) and soil humic acid (soil-HA). H-binding data and non ideal competitive adsorption-Donnan model parameters were obtained for the HA fractions by theoretical analysis of H-binding data which reveal a significant increase of the carboxyl and the phenolic charge for the lignite-HA fractions vs. the parental lignite humic acid (LParentalHA). The fractionated lignite-HA material consisted mainly of permeate fractions, some of which were fulvic acid-like. The fractionated soil-HA material consisted mainly of large macromolecular structures that did not permeate the dialysis membrane during deashing. Chargeable groups had comparable concentrations in soil-HA fractions and parental soil humic acid (SParentalHA), indicating minimal interference of ash components with carboxyl and phenolic (and/or enolic) groups. Fractionation of HA, combined with theoretical analysis of H-binding, can distinguish the supramolecular vs. macromolecular nature of fractions within the same parental HA.

The development and exploratory analysis of the Back Pain Attitudes Questionnaire (Back-PAQ).

PubMed

Darlow, Ben; Perry, Meredith; Mathieson, Fiona; Stanley, James; Melloh, Markus; Marsh, Reginald; Baxter, G David; Dowell, Anthony

2014-05-23

To develop an instrument to assess attitudes and underlying beliefs about back pain, and subsequently investigate its internal consistency and underlying structures. The instrument was developed by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and researchers based on analysis of qualitative interviews with people experiencing acute and chronic back pain. Exploratory analysis was conducted using data from a population-based cross-sectional survey. Qualitative interviews with community-based participants and subsequent postal survey. Instrument development informed by interviews with 12 participants with acute back pain and 11 participants with chronic back pain. Data for exploratory analysis collected from New Zealand residents and citizens aged 18 years and above. 1000 participants were randomly selected from the New Zealand Electoral Roll. 602 valid responses were received. The 34-item Back Pain Attitudes Questionnaire (Back-PAQ) was developed. Internal consistency was evaluated by the Cronbach α coefficient. Exploratory analysis investigated the structure of the data using Principal Component Analysis. The 34-item long form of the scale had acceptable internal consistency (α=0.70; 95% CI 0.66 to 0.73). Exploratory analysis identified five two-item principal components which accounted for 74% of the variance in the reduced data set: 'vulnerability of the back'; 'relationship between back pain and injury'; 'activity participation while experiencing back pain'; 'prognosis of back pain' and 'psychological influences on recovery'. Internal consistency was acceptable for the reduced 10-item scale (α=0.61; 95% CI 0.56 to 0.66) and the identified components (α between 0.50 and 0.78). The 34-item long form of the scale may be appropriate for use in future cross-sectional studies. The 10-item short form may be appropriate for use as a screening tool, or an outcome assessment instrument. Further testing of the 10-item Back-PAQ's construct validity, reliability, responsiveness to change and predictive ability needs to be conducted. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Picture of All Solutions of Successive 2-Block Maxbet Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choulakian, Vartan

2011-01-01

The Maxbet method is a generalized principal components analysis of a data set, where the group structure of the variables is taken into account. Similarly, 3-block[12,13] partial Maxdiff method is a generalization of covariance analysis, where only the covariances between blocks (1, 2) and (1, 3) are taken into account. The aim of this paper is…

Total and Lower Extremity Lean Mass Percentage Positively Correlates With Jump Performance.

PubMed

Stephenson, Mitchell L; Smith, Derek T; Heinbaugh, Erika M; Moynes, Rebecca C; Rockey, Shawn S; Thomas, Joi J; Dai, Boyi

2015-08-01

Strength and power have been identified as valuable components in both athletic performance and daily function. A major component of strength and power is the muscle mass, which can be assessed with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The primary purpose of this study was to quantify the relationship between total body lean mass percentage (TBLM%) and lower extremity lean mass percentage (LELM%) and lower extremity force/power production during a countermovement jump (CMJ) in a general population. Researchers performed a DXA analysis on 40 younger participants aged 18-35 years, 28 middle-aged participants aged 36-55 years, and 34 older participants aged 56-75 years. Participants performed 3 CMJ on force platforms. Correlations revealed significant and strong relationships between TBLM% and LELM% compared with CMJ normalized peak vertical ground reaction force (p < 0.001, r = 0.59), normalized peak vertical power (p < 0.001, r = 0.73), and jump height (p < 0.001, r = 0.74) for the combined age groups. Most relationships were also strong within each age group, with some relationships being relatively weaker in the middle-aged and older groups. Minimal difference was found between correlation coefficients of TBLM% and LELM%. Coefficients of determination were all below 0.6 for the combined group, indicating that between-participant variability in CMJ measures cannot be completely explained by lean mass percentages. The findings have implications in including DXA-assessed lean mass percentage as a component for evaluating lower extremity strength and power. A paired DXA analysis and CMJ jump test may be useful for identifying neuromuscular deficits that limit performance.

Suitability of a Group Behavioural Therapy Module for Workplace Smoking Cessation Programs in Malaysia: a Pilot Study.

PubMed

Maarof, Muhammad Faizal; Ali, Adliah Mhd; Amit, Noh; Bakry, Mohd Makmor; Taha, Nur Akmar

2016-01-01

In Malaysia, data on components suitability the established smoking cessation module is limited. This exploratory study aimed to evaluate the suitability of the components developed in the module for group behavioural therapy in workplace smoking cessation programs. Twenty staff were identified but only eight individuals were selected according to the study criteria during the recruitment period in May 2014. Focus group discussion was conducted to identify themes relevant to the behavioural issues among smokers. Thematic analysis yielded seven major themes which were reasons for regular smoking, reasons for quitting, comprehending smoking characteristics, quit attempt experiences, support and encouragement, learning new skills and behaviour, and preparing for lapse/relapse or difficult situations. As a result, the developed module was found to be relevant and suitable for use based on these themes.

Quantization of Motor Activity into Primitives and Time-Frequency Atoms Using Independent Component Analysis and Matching Pursuit Algorithms

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-10-25

form: (1) A is a scaling factor, t is time and r a coordinate vector describing the limb configuration. We...combination of limb state and EMG. In our early examination of EMG we detected underlying groups of muscles and phases of activity by inspection and...representations of EEG or other biological signals has been thoroughly explored. Such components might be used as a basis for neuroprosthetic control

Insights into the interaction between carbamazepine and natural dissolved organic matter in the Yangtze Estuary using fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectra coupled with parallel factor analysis.

PubMed

Wang, Ying; Zhang, Manman; Fu, Jun; Li, Tingting; Wang, Jinggang; Fu, Yingyu

2016-10-01

The interaction between carbamazepine (CBZ) and dissolved organic matter (DOM) from three zones (the nearshore, the river channel, and the coastal areas) in the Yangtze Estuary was investigated using fluorescence quenching titration combined with excitation emission matrix spectra and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). The complexation between CBZ and DOM was demonstrated by the increase in hydrogen bonding and the disappearance of the C=O stretch obtained from the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. The results indicated that two protein-like substances (component 2 and component3) and two humic-like substances (component 1 and 4) were identified in the DOM from the Yangtze Estuary. The fluorescence quenching curves of each component with the addition of CBZ and the Ryan and Weber model calculation results both demonstrated that the different components exhibited different complexation activities with CBZ. The protein-like components had a stronger affinity with CBZ than did the humic-like substances. On the other hand, the autochthonous tyrosine-like C2 played an important role in the complexation with DOM from the river channel and coastal areas, while C3 influenced by anthropogenic activities showed an obvious effect in the nearshore area. DOMs from the river channel have the highest binding capacity for CBZ, which may ascribe to the relatively high phenol content group in the DOM.

Exploring the Factor Structure of Neurocognitive Measures in Older Individuals

PubMed Central

Santos, Nadine Correia; Costa, Patrício Soares; Amorim, Liliana; Moreira, Pedro Silva; Cunha, Pedro; Cotter, Jorge; Sousa, Nuno

2015-01-01

Here we focus on factor analysis from a best practices point of view, by investigating the factor structure of neuropsychological tests and using the results obtained to illustrate on choosing a reasonable solution. The sample (n=1051 individuals) was randomly divided into two groups: one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and principal component analysis (PCA), to investigate the number of factors underlying the neurocognitive variables; the second to test the “best fit” model via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). For the exploratory step, three extraction (maximum likelihood, principal axis factoring and principal components) and two rotation (orthogonal and oblique) methods were used. The analysis methodology allowed exploring how different cognitive/psychological tests correlated/discriminated between dimensions, indicating that to capture latent structures in similar sample sizes and measures, with approximately normal data distribution, reflective models with oblimin rotation might prove the most adequate. PMID:25880732

High wavenumber Raman spectroscopy in the characterization of urinary metabolites of normal subjects, oral premalignant and malignant patients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brindha, Elumalai; Rajasekaran, Ramu; Aruna, Prakasarao; Koteeswaran, Dornadula; Ganesan, Singaravelu

2017-01-01

Urine has emerged as one of the diagnostically potential bio fluids, as it has many metabolites. As the concentration and the physiochemical properties of the urinary metabolites may vary under pathological transformation, Raman spectroscopic characterization of urine has been exploited as a significant tool in identifying several diseased conditions, including cancers. In the present study, an attempt was made to study the high wavenumber (HWVN) Raman spectroscopic characterization of urine samples of normal subjects, oral premalignant and malignant patients. It is concluded that the urinary metabolites flavoproteins, tryptophan and phenylalanine are responsible for the observed spectral variations between the normal and abnormal groups. Principal component analysis-based linear discriminant analysis was carried out to verify the diagnostic potentiality of the present technique. The discriminant analysis performed across normal and oral premalignant subjects classifies 95.6% of the original and 94.9% of the cross-validated grouped cases correctly. In the second analysis performed across normal and oral malignant groups, the accuracy of the original and cross-validated grouped cases was 96.4% and 92.1% respectively. Similarly, the third analysis performed across three groups, normal, oral premalignant and malignant groups, classifies 93.3% and 91.2% of the original and cross-validated grouped cases correctly.

Optimizing of MALDI-ToF-based low-molecular-weight serum proteome pattern analysis in detection of breast cancer patients; the effect of albumin removal on classification performance.

PubMed

Pietrowska, M; Marczak, L; Polanska, J; Nowicka, E; Behrent, K; Tarnawski, R; Stobiecki, M; Polanski, A; Widlak, P

2010-01-01

Mass spectrometry-based analysis of the serum proteome allows identifying multi-peptide patterns/signatures specific for blood of cancer patients, thus having high potential value for cancer diagnostics. However, because of problems with optimization and standardization of experimental and computational design, none of identified proteome patterns/signatures was approved for diagnostics in clinical practice as yet. Here we compared two methods of serum sample preparation for mass spectrometry-based proteome pattern analysis aimed to identify biomarkers that could be used in early detection of breast cancer patients. Blood samples were collected in a group of 92 patients diagnosed at early (I and II) stages of the disease before the start of therapy, and in a group of age-matched healthy controls (104 women). Serum specimens were purified and analyzed using MALDI-ToF spectrometry, either directly or after membrane filtration (50 kDa cut-off) to remove albumin and other large serum proteins. Mass spectra of the low-molecular-weight fraction (2-10 kDa) of the serum proteome were resolved using the Gaussian mixture decomposition, and identified spectral components were used to build classifiers that differentiated samples from breast cancer patients and healthy persons. Mass spectra of complete serum and membrane-filtered albumin-depleted samples have apparently different structure and peaks specific for both types of samples could be identified. The optimal classifier built for the complete serum specimens consisted of 8 spectral components, and had 81% specificity and 72% sensitivity, while that built for the membrane-filtered samples consisted of 4 components, and had 80% specificity and 81% sensitivity. We concluded that pre-processing of samples to remove albumin might be recommended before MALDI-ToF mass spectrometric analysis of the low-molecular-weight components of human serum Keywords: albumin removal; breast cancer; clinical proteomics; mass spectrometry; pattern analysis; serum proteome.

HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS Analysis of Flavonoids from Leaves of Different Cultivars of Sweet Osmanthus.

PubMed

Wang, Yiguang; Fu, Jianxin; Zhang, Chao; Zhao, Hongbo

2016-09-14

Osmanthus fragrans Lour. has traditionally been a popular ornamental plant in China. In this study, ethanol extracts of the leaves of four cultivar groups of O. fragrans were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) and high-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization and mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS). The results suggest that variation in flavonoids among O. fragrans cultivars is quantitative, rather than qualitative. Fifteen components were detected and separated, among which, the structures of 11 flavonoids and two coumarins were identified or tentatively identified. According to principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) based on the abundance of these components (expressed as rutin equivalents), 22 selected cultivars were classified into four clusters. The seven cultivars from Cluster III ('Xiaoye Sugui', 'Boye Jingui', 'Wuyi Dangui', 'Yingye Dangui', 'Danzhuang', 'Foding Zhu', and 'Tianxiang Taige'), which are enriched in rutin and total flavonoids, and 'Sijigui' from Cluster II which contained the highest amounts of kaempferol glycosides and apigenin 7-O-glucoside, could be selected as potential pharmaceutical resources. However, the chemotaxonomy in this paper does not correlate with the distribution of the existing cultivar groups, demonstrating that the distribution of flavonoids in O. fragrans leaves does not provide an effective means of classification for O. fragrans cultivars based on flower color.

Identification of novel candidate maternal serum protein markers for Down syndrome by integrated proteomic and bioinformatic analysis.

PubMed

Kang, Yuan; Dong, Xinran; Zhou, Qiongjie; Zhang, Ying; Cheng, Yan; Hu, Rong; Su, Cuihong; Jin, Hong; Liu, Xiaohui; Ma, Duan; Tian, Weidong; Li, Xiaotian

2012-03-01

This study aimed to identify candidate protein biomarkers from maternal serum for Down syndrome (DS) by integrated proteomic and bioinformatics analysis. A pregnancy DS group of 18 women and a control group with the same number were prepared, and the maternal serum proteins were analyzed by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation and mass spectrometry, to identify DS differentially expressed maternal serum proteins (DS-DEMSPs). Comprehensive bioinformatics analysis was then employed to analyze DS-DEMSPs both in this paper and seven related publications. Down syndrome differentially expressed maternal serum proteins from different studies are significantly enriched with common Gene Ontology functions, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, transcription factor binding sites, and Pfam protein domains, However, the DS-DEMSPs are less functionally related to known DS-related genes. These evidences suggest that common molecular mechanisms induced by secondary effects may be present upon DS carrying. A simple scoring scheme revealed Alpha-2-macroglobulin, Apolipoprotein A1, Apolipoprotein E, Complement C1s subcomponent, Complement component 5, Complement component 8, alpha polypeptide, Complement component 8, beta polypeptide and Fibronectin as potential DS biomarkers. The integration of proteomics and bioinformatics studies provides a novel approach to develop new prenatal screening methods for noninvasive yet accurate diagnosis of DS. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Identification of Volatile Flavor Components by Headspace Analysis: A Quick and Easy Experiment for Introducing GC/MS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kjonaas, Richard; Soller, Jean L.; McCoy, Leslee A.

1997-09-01

By placing a piece of chewing gum (Wrigley's) or a crushed piece of hard candy (LifeSavers or Runts) into a vial, followed by GC/MS analysis of a five microliter sample of the headspace, students are able to identify several of the volatile flavoring components which are present. The experiment has been used successfully with sophomore organic chemistry students, and with visiting groups of talented high school students over a three year period. Identification is simplified by handing out a list of the structural formulas of some likely candidates. Some of the components that these students easily identity include ethyl acetate, isobutyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, limonene, and cinnamaldehyde. Some of the more difficult to identify components include menthol, menthone, carvone, cineole, myrcene, alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, para-cymene, and gama-terpinene. Most of the major headspace components give signals whose size is comparable to that of the carbon dioxide which is present in each injection. Even with split injection, the background noise is trivial compared to the signals from the major components. The experiments were carried out with a commercially available tabletop GC/MS (Varian 3400 with Saturn MS).

[A novel method of multi-channel feature extraction combining multivariate autoregression and multiple-linear principal component analysis].

PubMed

Wang, Jinjia; Zhang, Yanna

2015-02-01

Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems identify brain signals through extracting features from them. In view of the limitations of the autoregressive model feature extraction method and the traditional principal component analysis to deal with the multichannel signals, this paper presents a multichannel feature extraction method that multivariate autoregressive (MVAR) model combined with the multiple-linear principal component analysis (MPCA), and used for magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals and electroencephalograph (EEG) signals recognition. Firstly, we calculated the MVAR model coefficient matrix of the MEG/EEG signals using this method, and then reduced the dimensions to a lower one, using MPCA. Finally, we recognized brain signals by Bayes Classifier. The key innovation we introduced in our investigation showed that we extended the traditional single-channel feature extraction method to the case of multi-channel one. We then carried out the experiments using the data groups of IV-III and IV - I. The experimental results proved that the method proposed in this paper was feasible.

Authentication of virgin olive oil by a novel curve resolution approach combined with visible spectroscopy.

PubMed

Ferreiro-González, Marta; Barbero, Gerardo F; Álvarez, José A; Ruiz, Antonio; Palma, Miguel; Ayuso, Jesús

2017-04-01

Adulteration of olive oil is not only a major economic fraud but can also have major health implications for consumers. In this study, a combination of visible spectroscopy with a novel multivariate curve resolution method (CR), principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is proposed for the authentication of virgin olive oil (VOO) samples. VOOs are well-known products with the typical properties of a two-component system due to the two main groups of compounds that contribute to the visible spectra (chlorophylls and carotenoids). Application of the proposed CR method to VOO samples provided the two pure-component spectra for the aforementioned families of compounds. A correlation study of the real spectra and the resolved component spectra was carried out for different types of oil samples (n=118). LDA using the correlation coefficients as variables to discriminate samples allowed the authentication of 95% of virgin olive oil samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Local Wind Pump for Marginal Societies in Indonesia: A Perspective of Fault Tree Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunawan, Insan; Taufik, Ahmad

2007-10-01

There are many efforts to reduce a cost of investment of well established hybrid wind pump applied to rural areas. A recent study on a local wind pump (LWP) for marginal societies in Indonesia (traditional farmers, peasant and tribes) was one of the efforts reporting a new application area. The objectives of the study were defined to measure reliability value of the LWP due to fluctuated wind intensity, low wind speed, economic point of view regarding a prolong economic crisis occurring and an available local component of the LWP and to sustain economics productivity (agriculture product) of the society. In the study, a fault tree analysis (FTA) was deployed as one of three methods used for assessing the LWP. In this article, the FTA has been thoroughly discussed in order to improve a better performance of the LWP applied in dry land watering system of Mesuji district of Lampung province-Indonesia. In the early stage, all of local component of the LWP was classified in term of its function. There were four groups of the components. Moreover, all of the sub components of each group were subjected to failure modes of the FTA, namely (1) primary failure modes; (2) secondary failure modes and (3) common failure modes. In the data processing stage, an available software package, ITEM was deployed. It was observed that the component indicated obtaining relative a long life duration of operational life cycle in 1,666 hours. Moreover, to enhance high performance the LWP, maintenance schedule, critical sub component suffering from failure and an overhaul priority have been identified in term of quantity values. Throughout a year pilot project, it can be concluded that the LWP is a reliable product to the societies enhancing their economics productivities.

Correlation between the pattern volatiles and the overall aroma of wild edible mushrooms.

PubMed

de Pinho, P Guedes; Ribeiro, Bárbara; Gonçalves, Rui F; Baptista, Paula; Valentão, Patrícia; Seabra, Rosa M; Andrade, Paula B

2008-03-12

Volatile and semivolatile components of 11 wild edible mushrooms, Suillus bellini, Suillus luteus, Suillus granulatus, Tricholomopsis rutilans, Hygrophorus agathosmus, Amanita rubescens, Russula cyanoxantha, Boletus edulis, Tricholoma equestre, Fistulina hepatica, and Cantharellus cibarius, were determined by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and by liquid extraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Fifty volatiles and nonvolatiles components were formally identified and 13 others were tentatively identified. Using sensorial analysis, the descriptors "mushroomlike", "farm-feed", "floral", "honeylike", "hay-herb", and "nutty" were obtained. A correlation between sensory descriptors and volatiles was observed by applying multivariate analysis (principal component analysis and agglomerative hierarchic cluster analysis) to the sensorial and chemical data. The studied edible mushrooms can be divided in three groups. One of them is rich in C8 derivatives, such as 3-octanol, 1-octen-3-ol, trans-2-octen-1-ol, 3-octanone, and 1-octen-3-one; another one is rich in terpenic volatile compounds; and the last one is rich in methional. The presence and contents of these compounds give a considerable contribution to the sensory characteristics of the analyzed species.

Application of Multivariate Statistical Analysis to Biomarkers in Se-Turkey Crude Oils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gürgey, K.; Canbolat, S.

2017-11-01

Twenty-four crude oil samples were collected from the 24 oil fields distributed in different districts of SE-Turkey. API and Sulphur content (%), Stable Carbon Isotope, Gas Chromatography (GC), and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) data were used to construct a geochemical data matrix. The aim of this study is to examine the genetic grouping or correlations in the crude oil samples, hence the number of source rocks present in the SE-Turkey. To achieve these aims, two of the multivariate statistical analysis techniques (Principle Component Analysis [PCA] and Cluster Analysis were applied to data matrix of 24 samples and 8 source specific biomarker variables/parameters. The results showed that there are 3 genetically different oil groups: Batman-Nusaybin Oils, Adıyaman-Kozluk Oils and Diyarbakir Oils, in addition to a one mixed group. These groupings imply that at least, three different source rocks are present in South-Eastern (SE) Turkey. Grouping of the crude oil samples appears to be consistent with the geographic locations of the oils fields, subsurface stratigraphy as well as geology of the area.

Quantitative and Qualitative Differences in Morphological Traits Revealed between Diploid Fragaria Species

PubMed Central

SARGENT, DANIEL J.; GEIBEL, M.; HAWKINS, J. A.; WILKINSON, M. J.; BATTEY, N. H.; SIMPSON, D. W.

2004-01-01

• Background and Aims The aims of this investigation were to highlight the qualitative and quantitative diversity apparent between nine diploid Fragaria species and produce interspecific populations segregating for a large number of morphological characters suitable for quantitative trait loci analysis. • Methods A qualitative comparison of eight described diploid Fragaria species was performed and measurements were taken of 23 morphological traits from 19 accessions including eight described species and one previously undescribed species. A principal components analysis was performed on 14 mathematically unrelated traits from these accessions, which partitioned the species accessions into distinct morphological groups. Interspecific crosses were performed with accessions of species that displayed significant quantitative divergence and, from these, populations that should segregate for a range of quantitative traits were raised. • Key Results Significant differences between species were observed for all 23 morphological traits quantified and three distinct groups of species accessions were observed after the principal components analysis. Interspecific crosses were performed between these groups, and F2 and backcross populations were raised that should segregate for a range of morphological characters. In addition, the study highlighted a number of distinctive morphological characters in many of the species studied. • Conclusions Diploid Fragaria species are morphologically diverse, yet remain highly interfertile, making the group an ideal model for the study of the genetic basis of phenotypic differences between species through map-based investigation using quantitative trait loci. The segregating interspecific populations raised will be ideal for such investigations and could also provide insights into the nature and extent of genome evolution within this group. PMID:15469944

Diagnostics of oral lichen planus based on analysis of volatile organic compounds in saliva

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kistenev, Yury; Borisov, Alexey; Shapovalov, Alexander; Baydik, Olga; Titarenko, Maria

2017-03-01

The ability of diagnostics of oral lichen planus (OLP) based on spectral analysis of saliva using the THz spectroscopy is presented. The study included 8 patients with clinically proven OLP. The comparison group consisted of 8 healthy volunteers. Absorption spectra of the saliva was measured using time-domain spectrometer T-spec (EXPLA) in the range 0.2-3THz and have been considered as the feature vectors of the state. The spatial distribution of the objects under study in the feature space was analyzed using principle component analysis. The groups under study were shown to separate in full. Thus, the saliva analysis by the THz spectroscopy technique can be potentially used as a method of noninvasive diagnostics of the OLP.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Supplementation: Therapeutic Potential in a Mouse Model of Stargardt Disease.

PubMed

Prokopiou, Ekatherine; Kolovos, Panagiotis; Kalogerou, Maria; Neokleous, Anastasia; Nicolaou, Orthodoxia; Sokratous, Kleitos; Kyriacou, Kyriacos; Georgiou, Tassos

2018-06-01

To evaluate the therapeutic effects of omega-3 (ω3) fatty acids on retinal degeneration in the ABCA4-/- model of Stargardt disease when the blood level of arachidonic acid (AA)/eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) ratio is between 1 and 1.5. Eight-month-old mice were allocated to three groups: wild type (129S1), ABCA4-/- untreated, and ABCA4-/- ω3 treated. ω3 treatment lasted 3 months and comprised daily gavage administration of EPA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Blood and retinal fatty acid analysis was performed using gas chromatography to adjust the blood AA/EPA ∼1 to 1.5. Eyecups were histologically examined using transmission electron microscopy and confocal microscopy to evaluate lipofuscin granules and the photoreceptor layer. Retinal N-retinylidene-N-retinylethanolamine (A2E), a major component of retinal pigment epithelium lipofuscin, was quantified using liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry, in addition to retinal proteomic analysis to determine changes in inflammatory proteins. EPA levels increased and AA levels decreased in the blood and retinas of the treatment group. Significantly less A2E and lipofuscin granules were observed in the treatment group. The thickness of the outer nuclear layer was significantly greater in the treatment group (75.66 ± 4.80 μm) than in the wild-type (61.40 ± 1.84 μm) or untreated ABCA4-/- (56.50 ± 3.24 μm) groups. Proteomic analysis indicated lower levels of complement component 3 (C3) in the treatment group, indicative of lower complement-induced inflammatory response. Three months of ω3 supplementation (AA/EPA ∼1-1.5) reduces A2E levels, lipofuscin granules, and C3 levels in the ABCA4-/- mouse model of Stargardt disease, consistent with slowing of the disease.

Microbial community analysis of field-grown soybeans with different nodulation phenotypes.

PubMed

Ikeda, Seishi; Rallos, Lynn Esther E; Okubo, Takashi; Eda, Shima; Inaba, Shoko; Mitsui, Hisayuki; Minamisawa, Kiwamu

2008-09-01

Microorganisms associated with the stems and roots of nonnodulated (Nod(-)), wild-type nodulated (Nod(+)), and hypernodulated (Nod(++)) soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merril] were analyzed by ribosomal intergenic transcribed spacer analysis (RISA) and automated RISA (ARISA). RISA of stem samples detected no bands specific to the nodulation phenotype, whereas RISA of root samples revealed differential bands for the nodulation phenotypes. Pseudomonas fluorescens was exclusively associated with Nod(+) soybean roots. Fusarium solani was stably associated with nodulated (Nod(+) and Nod(++)) roots and less abundant in Nod(-) soybeans, whereas the abundance of basidiomycetes was just the opposite. The phylogenetic analyses suggested that these basidiomycetous fungi might represent a root-associated group in the Auriculariales. Principal-component analysis of the ARISA results showed that there was no clear relationship between nodulation phenotype and bacterial community structure in the stem. In contrast, both the bacterial and fungal community structures in the roots were related to nodulation phenotype. The principal-component analysis further suggested that bacterial community structure in roots could be classified into three groups according to the nodulation phenotype (Nod(-), Nod(+), or Nod(++)). The analysis of root samples indicated that the microbial community in Nod(-) soybeans was more similar to that in Nod(++) soybeans than to that in Nod(+) soybeans.

Microbial Community Analysis of Field-Grown Soybeans with Different Nodulation Phenotypes▿

PubMed Central

Ikeda, Seishi; Rallos, Lynn Esther E.; Okubo, Takashi; Eda, Shima; Inaba, Shoko; Mitsui, Hisayuki; Minamisawa, Kiwamu

2008-01-01

Microorganisms associated with the stems and roots of nonnodulated (Nod−), wild-type nodulated (Nod+), and hypernodulated (Nod++) soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merril] were analyzed by ribosomal intergenic transcribed spacer analysis (RISA) and automated RISA (ARISA). RISA of stem samples detected no bands specific to the nodulation phenotype, whereas RISA of root samples revealed differential bands for the nodulation phenotypes. Pseudomonas fluorescens was exclusively associated with Nod+ soybean roots. Fusarium solani was stably associated with nodulated (Nod+ and Nod++) roots and less abundant in Nod− soybeans, whereas the abundance of basidiomycetes was just the opposite. The phylogenetic analyses suggested that these basidiomycetous fungi might represent a root-associated group in the Auriculariales. Principal-component analysis of the ARISA results showed that there was no clear relationship between nodulation phenotype and bacterial community structure in the stem. In contrast, both the bacterial and fungal community structures in the roots were related to nodulation phenotype. The principal-component analysis further suggested that bacterial community structure in roots could be classified into three groups according to the nodulation phenotype (Nod−, Nod+, or Nod++). The analysis of root samples indicated that the microbial community in Nod− soybeans was more similar to that in Nod++ soybeans than to that in Nod+ soybeans. PMID:18658280

A K-means multivariate approach for clustering independent components from magnetoencephalographic data.

PubMed

Spadone, Sara; de Pasquale, Francesco; Mantini, Dante; Della Penna, Stefania

2012-09-01

Independent component analysis (ICA) is typically applied on functional magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalographic and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data due to its data-driven nature. In these applications, ICA needs to be extended from single to multi-session and multi-subject studies for interpreting and assigning a statistical significance at the group level. Here a novel strategy for analyzing MEG independent components (ICs) is presented, Multivariate Algorithm for Grouping MEG Independent Components K-means based (MAGMICK). The proposed approach is able to capture spatio-temporal dynamics of brain activity in MEG studies by running ICA at subject level and then clustering the ICs across sessions and subjects. Distinctive features of MAGMICK are: i) the implementation of an efficient set of "MEG fingerprints" designed to summarize properties of MEG ICs as they are built on spatial, temporal and spectral parameters; ii) the implementation of a modified version of the standard K-means procedure to improve its data-driven character. This algorithm groups the obtained ICs automatically estimating the number of clusters through an adaptive weighting of the parameters and a constraint on the ICs independence, i.e. components coming from the same session (at subject level) or subject (at group level) cannot be grouped together. The performances of MAGMICK are illustrated by analyzing two sets of MEG data obtained during a finger tapping task and median nerve stimulation. The results demonstrate that the method can extract consistent patterns of spatial topography and spectral properties across sessions and subjects that are in good agreement with the literature. In addition, these results are compared to those from a modified version of affinity propagation clustering method. The comparison, evaluated in terms of different clustering validity indices, shows that our methodology often outperforms the clustering algorithm. Eventually, these results are confirmed by a comparison with a MEG tailored version of the self-organizing group ICA, which is largely used for fMRI IC clustering. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Predictors of degenerative medial meniscus extrusion: radial component and knee osteoarthritis.

PubMed

Lee, Dae-Hee; Lee, Bum-Sik; Kim, Jong-Min; Yang, Kyung-Sook; Cha, Eun-Jong; Park, Ji-Hun; Bin, Seong-Il

2011-02-01

the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a radial tear on degenerative medial meniscus posterior horn tear extrusion and to identify predictors of medial meniscus extrusion. we reviewed the records of 102 knees with medial meniscus posterior horn tears and degeneration that underwent a partial meniscectomy. Tears were classified as root (n = 17) and non-root (n = 85) tears, or as radial (n = 46) and non-radial (n = 56) tears. Groups were compared in terms of absolute and relative meniscal extrusion, and the proportion of knees with major (> 3 mm) extrusion. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify predictors of extrusion. the radial group had greater mean absolute (4 ± 1 vs. 3 ± 1 mm, P = 0.001) and relative (31 ± 11 vs. 23 ± 12%, P = 0.031) extrusion than the non-radial group. The radial group also had a greater proportion of major extrusions than the non-radial group (74% vs. 26%; P = 0.016). In contrast, the root tear and non-root tear groups were similar in terms of mean absolute (3 ± 1 vs. 3 ± 1 mm, P = n.s.) and relative (30 ± 7 vs. 26 ± 13%; P = n.s.) extrusion and in terms of proportion with major extrusions (59 vs. 55%; P = n.s.). Extrusion was found to be associated with a similar strength with both the presence of a radial component and the preoperative Kellgren-Lawrence grade. meniscal extrusion was greater and more severe in knees with a radial tear component than in knees without a radial component. The incidence and degree of major extrusion was similar in knees with root tears and non-root tears. A radial component and knee osteoarthritis severity were similarly predictive of absolute and relative extrusion. Meniscal extrusion in osteoarthritic knees was associated not only with degenerative meniscal tear but also with osteoarthritis severity. Therefore, arthroscopic meniscal procedures, especially meniscal repair, should be cautiously considered in patients with meniscal extrusion.

Abelmoschi Corolla non-flavonoid components altered the pharmacokinetic profile of its flavonoids in rat.

PubMed

Lu, Linling; Qian, Dawei; Guo, Jianming; Qian, Yefei; Xu, Boyi; Sha, Mei; Duan, Jinao

2013-07-30

Abelmoschi Corolla is a well-known herbal medicine used for the treatment of chronic renal disease. Flavonoids are the major bioactive ingredients of Abelmoschi Corolla, but some non-flavonoid components also exist in this herb. In order to clarify the influences of non-flavonoid components on the pharmacokinetics profile of the flavonoid fraction from Abelmoschi Corolla (FFA), an investigation was carried out to compare the pharmacokinetic parameters of seven flavonoid components after administration of FFA and after administration of FFA combined with different non-flavonoid fractions. A selective and sensitive UPLC-MS/MS method was established to determine the plasma concentrations of the seven compounds. Sprague-Dawley rats were allocated to four groups which orally administered FFA, FFA combined with macromolecular fraction (FFA-MF), FFA combined with small molecule fraction (FFA-SF) and FFA combined with MF-SF (FFA-MF-SF) with approximately the same dose of FFA. At different time points, the concentration of rutin (1), hyperoside (2), isoquercitrin (3), hibifolin (4), myricetin (5), quercetin-3'-O-glucose (6), quercetin (7) in rat plasma were determined and main pharmacokinetic parameters including T(1/2), T(max), AUC and C(max) were calculated using the DAS 2.0 software package. The statistical analysis was performed using the Student's t-test with P<0.05 as the level of significance. Flavonoids almost had similar pharmacokinetics profile that were rapidly absorbed, reached the peak concentration at 30-60 min in group A, but the pharmacokinetic profiles and parameters of these flavonoids changed when co-administered with non-flavonoid components. It was found that AUC of five flavonoids but not hibifolin and quercetin in group FFA-SF and group FFA-MF-SF increased (P<0.05) in comparison with group FFA while the tendency was not observed in group FFA-MF. Moreover, seven flavonoids had varying degrees of differences in the pharmacokinetics parameters such as C(max), T(max) and T(1/2) (P<0.05) in group FFA-MF, FFA-SF and FFA-MF-SF by comparison with group FFA. These results indicate that non-flavonoid components could improve the bioavailability and delay the elimination of some flavonoids in rat. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Collection of Biological Information for Fatigue Evaluation during Visual Display Terminals (VDT) Operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hachiya, Yuriko; Ogai, Harutoshi; Okazaki, Hiroko; Fujisaki, Takeshi; Uchida, Kazuhiko; Oda, Susumu; Wada, Futoshi; Mori, Koji

A method for the analysis of fatigue parameters has been rarely researched in VDT operation. Up to now, fatigue was evaluated by changing of biological information. If signals regarding fatigue are detected, fatigue can be measured. The purpose of this study proposed experiment and analysis method to extract parameters related to fatigue from the biological information during VDT operation using the Independent Component Analysis (ICA). An experiment had 11 subjects. As for the experiment were light loaded VDT operation and heavy loaded VDT operation. A measurement item were amount of work, a mistake number, subjective symptom, surface skin temperature (forehead and apex nasi), heart rate, skin blood flow of forearm and respiratory rate. In the heavy loaded operation group, mistake number and subjective symptom score were increased to compare with the other. And Two-factor ANOVA was used for analysis. The result of mistake number was confirmed that heavy loaded. After the moving averages of waveshape were calculated, it was made to extract independent components by using the ICA. The results of the ICA suggest that the independent components increase according to accumulation of fatigue. Thus, the independent components would be a possible parameter of fatigue. However, further experiments should continue in order to obtain the conclusive finding of our research.

Virulence control in group A Streptococcus by a two-component gene regulatory system: global expression profiling and in vivo infection modeling.

PubMed

Graham, Morag R; Smoot, Laura M; Migliaccio, Cristi A Lux; Virtaneva, Kimmo; Sturdevant, Daniel E; Porcella, Stephen F; Federle, Michael J; Adams, Gerald J; Scott, June R; Musser, James M

2002-10-15

Two-component gene regulatory systems composed of a membrane-bound sensor and cytoplasmic response regulator are important mechanisms used by bacteria to sense and respond to environmental stimuli. Group A Streptococcus, the causative agent of mild infections and life-threatening invasive diseases, produces many virulence factors that promote survival in humans. A two-component regulatory system, designated covRS (cov, control of virulence; csrRS), negatively controls expression of five proven or putative virulence factors (capsule, cysteine protease, streptokinase, streptolysin S, and streptodornase). Inactivation of covRS results in enhanced virulence in mouse models of invasive disease. Using DNA microarrays and quantitative RT-PCR, we found that CovR influences transcription of 15% (n = 271) of all chromosomal genes, including many that encode surface and secreted proteins mediating host-pathogen interactions. CovR also plays a central role in gene regulatory networks by influencing expression of genes encoding transcriptional regulators, including other two-component systems. Differential transcription of genes influenced by covR also was identified in mouse soft-tissue infection. This analysis provides a genome-scale overview of a virulence gene network in an important human pathogen and adds insight into the molecular mechanisms used by group A Streptococcus to interact with the host, promote survival, and cause disease.

Functional Subdivision of Group-ICA Results of fMRI Data Collected during Cinema Viewing

PubMed Central

Pamilo, Siina; Malinen, Sanna; Hlushchuk, Yevhen; Seppä, Mika; Tikka, Pia; Hari, Riitta

2012-01-01

Independent component analysis (ICA) can unravel functional brain networks from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. The number of the estimated components affects both the spatial pattern of the identified networks and their time-course estimates. Here group-ICA was applied at four dimensionalities (10, 20, 40, and 58 components) to fMRI data collected from 15 subjects who viewed a 15-min silent film (“At land” by Maya Deren). We focused on the dorsal attention network, the default-mode network, and the sensorimotor network. The lowest dimensionalities demonstrated most prominent activity within the dorsal attention network, combined with the visual areas, and in the default-mode network; the sensorimotor network only appeared with ICA comprising at least 20 components. The results suggest that even very low-dimensional ICA can unravel the most prominent functionally-connected brain networks. However, increasing the number of components gives a more detailed picture and functionally feasible subdivision of the major networks. These results improve our understanding of the hierarchical subdivision of brain networks during viewing of a movie that provides continuous stimulation embedded in an attention-directing narrative. PMID:22860044

Genetic algorithm applied to the selection of factors in principal component-artificial neural networks: application to QSAR study of calcium channel antagonist activity of 1,4-dihydropyridines (nifedipine analogous).

PubMed

Hemmateenejad, Bahram; Akhond, Morteza; Miri, Ramin; Shamsipur, Mojtaba

2003-01-01

A QSAR algorithm, principal component-genetic algorithm-artificial neural network (PC-GA-ANN), has been applied to a set of newly synthesized calcium channel blockers, which are of special interest because of their role in cardiac diseases. A data set of 124 1,4-dihydropyridines bearing different ester substituents at the C-3 and C-5 positions of the dihydropyridine ring and nitroimidazolyl, phenylimidazolyl, and methylsulfonylimidazolyl groups at the C-4 position with known Ca(2+) channel binding affinities was employed in this study. Ten different sets of descriptors (837 descriptors) were calculated for each molecule. The principal component analysis was used to compress the descriptor groups into principal components. The most significant descriptors of each set were selected and used as input for the ANN. The genetic algorithm (GA) was used for the selection of the best set of extracted principal components. A feed forward artificial neural network with a back-propagation of error algorithm was used to process the nonlinear relationship between the selected principal components and biological activity of the dihydropyridines. A comparison between PC-GA-ANN and routine PC-ANN shows that the first model yields better prediction ability.

Dynamic analysis environment for nuclear forensic analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stork, C. L.; Ummel, C. C.; Stuart, D. S.; Bodily, S.; Goldblum, B. L.

2017-01-01

A Dynamic Analysis Environment (DAE) software package is introduced to facilitate group inclusion/exclusion method testing, evaluation and comparison for pre-detonation nuclear forensics applications. Employing DAE, the multivariate signatures of a questioned material can be compared to the signatures for different, known groups, enabling the linking of the questioned material to its potential process, location, or fabrication facility. Advantages of using DAE for group inclusion/exclusion include built-in query tools for retrieving data of interest from a database, the recording and documentation of all analysis steps, a clear visualization of the analysis steps intelligible to a non-expert, and the ability to integrate analysis tools developed in different programming languages. Two group inclusion/exclusion methods are implemented in DAE: principal component analysis, a parametric feature extraction method, and k nearest neighbors, a nonparametric pattern recognition method. Spent Fuel Isotopic Composition (SFCOMPO), an open source international database of isotopic compositions for spent nuclear fuels (SNF) from 14 reactors, is used to construct PCA and KNN models for known reactor groups, and 20 simulated SNF samples are utilized in evaluating the performance of these group inclusion/exclusion models. For all 20 simulated samples, PCA in conjunction with the Q statistic correctly excludes a large percentage of reactor groups and correctly includes the true reactor of origination. Employing KNN, 14 of the 20 simulated samples are classified to their true reactor of origination.

Development and validation of a questionnaire to evaluate patient satisfaction with diabetes disease management.

PubMed

Paddock, L E; Veloski, J; Chatterton, M L; Gevirtz, F O; Nash, D B

2000-07-01

To develop a reliable and valid questionnaire to measure patient satisfaction with diabetes disease management programs. Questions related to structure, process, and outcomes were categorized into 14 domains defining the essential elements of diabetes disease management. Health professionals confirmed the content validity. Face validity was established by a patient focus group. The questionnaire was mailed to 711 patients with diabetes who participated in a disease management program. To reduce the number of questionnaire items, a principal components analysis was performed using a varimax rotation. The Scree test was used to select significant components. To further assess reliability and validity; Cronbach's alpha and product-moment correlations were calculated for components having > or =3 items with loadings >0.50. The validated 73-item mailed satisfaction survey had a 34.1% response rate. Principal components analysis yielded 13 components with eigenvalues > 1.0. The Scree test proposed a 6-component solution (39 items), which explained 59% of the total variation. Internal consistency reliabilities computed for the first 6 components (alpha = 0.79-0.95) were acceptable. The final questionnaire, the Diabetes Management Evaluation Tool (DMET), was designed to assess patient satisfaction with diabetes disease management programs. Although more extensive testing of the questionnaire is appropriate, preliminary reliability and validity of the DMET has been demonstrated.

Surface shape analysis with an application to brain surface asymmetry in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Brignell, Christopher J; Dryden, Ian L; Gattone, S Antonio; Park, Bert; Leask, Stuart; Browne, William J; Flynn, Sean

2010-10-01

Some methods for the statistical analysis of surface shapes and asymmetry are introduced. We focus on a case study where magnetic resonance images of the brain are available from groups of 30 schizophrenia patients and 38 controls, and we investigate large-scale brain surface shape differences. Key aspects of shape analysis are to remove nuisance transformations by registration and to identify which parts of one object correspond with the parts of another object. We introduce maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods for registering brain images and providing large-scale correspondences of the brain surfaces. Brain surface size-and-shape analysis is considered using random field theory, and also dimension reduction is carried out using principal and independent components analysis. Some small but significant differences are observed between the the patient and control groups. We then investigate a particular type of asymmetry called torque. Differences in asymmetry are observed between the control and patient groups, which add strength to other observations in the literature. Further investigations of the midline plane location in the 2 groups and the fitting of nonplanar curved midlines are also considered.

Central cholinergic dysfunction could be associated with oropharyngeal dysphagia in early Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Lee, Kyung Duck; Koo, Jung Hoi; Song, Sun Hong; Jo, Kwang Deog; Lee, Moon Kyu; Jang, Wooyoung

2015-11-01

Dysphagia is an important issue in the prognosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Although several studies have reported that oropharyngeal dysphagia may be associated with cognitive dysfunction, the exact relationship between cortical function and swallowing function in PD patients is unclear. Therefore, we investigated the association between an electrophysiological marker of central cholinergic function, which reflected cognitive function, and swallowing function, as measured by videofluoroscopic studies (VFSS). We enrolled 29 early PD patients. Using the Swallowing Disturbance Questionnaire (SDQ), we divided the enrolled patients into two groups: PD with dysphagia and PD without dysphagia. The videofluoroscopic dysphagia scale (VDS) was applied to explore the nature of the dysphagia. To assess central cholinergic dysfunction, short latency afferent inhibition (SAI) was evaluated. We analyzed the relationship between central cholinergic dysfunction and oropharyngeal dysphagia and investigated the characteristics of the dysphagia. The SAI values were significantly different between the two groups. The comparison of each VFSS component between the PD with dysphagia group and the PD without dysphagia group showed statistical significance for most of the oral phase components and for a single pharyngeal phase component. The total score on the VDS was higher in the PD with dysphagia group than in the PD without dysphagia group. The Mini-Mental State Examination and SAI values showed significant correlations with the total score of the oral phase components. According to binary logistic regression analysis, SAI value independently contributed to the presence of dysphagia in PD patients. Our findings suggest that cholinergic dysfunction is associated with dysphagia in early PD and that an abnormal SAI value is a good biomarker for predicting the risk of dysphagia in PD patients.

The ratio of cancer cells to stroma after induction therapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

PubMed

Goto, Masaki; Naito, Masahito; Saruwatari, Koichi; Hisakane, Kakeru; Kojima, Motohiro; Fujii, Satoshi; Kuwata, Takeshi; Ochiai, Atsushi; Nomura, Shogo; Aokage, Keiju; Hishida, Tomoyuki; Yoshida, Junji; Yokoi, Kohei; Tsuboi, Masahiro; Ishii, Genichiro

2017-02-01

Induction therapy induces degenerative changes of various degrees in both cancerous and non-cancerous cells of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The effect of induction therapy on histological characteristics, in particular the ratio of residual cancer cells to non-cancerous components, is unknown. Seventy-four NSCLC patients treated with induction therapy followed by surgery were enrolled. Residual cancer cells were identified using anti-pan-cytokeratin antibody (AE1/AE3). We analyzed and quantified the following three factors via digital image analysis; (1) the tumor area containing cancer cells and non-cancerous components (TA), (2) the total area of AE1/AE3 positive cancer cells (TACC), (3) the percentage of TACC to TA (%TACC). These factors were also analyzed in a matched control group (surgery alone, n = 80). The median TACC of the induction therapy group was significantly lower than that of the control group (p < 0.01). In addition, the median %TACC of the induction therapy group (5.9 %) was significantly lower than that of the control group (58.6 %) (p < 0.01). TACC had a strong positive correlation with TA in the control group (r = 0.93), but not in the induction therapy group. Conversely, TACC had a strong positive correlation with %TACC in the induction therapy group (r = 0.95), but not in the control group. Unlike the control group, the smaller the total area of residual cancer cells, the higher residual tumor contained non-cancerous components in the induction group, which may be the characteristic histological feature of NSCLC after induction therapy.

Interethnic genetic differentiation: HLA class I antigens in the population of Mongolia.

PubMed

Chimge, Nyam-Osorin; Batsuuri, Jamiyangiin

1999-09-01

A total of 1668 individuals representing 10 major Mongolian ethnic groups were serologically typed for HLA-A, -B, and -C antigens. Antigens A2, A24, B61, B51, B58, Cw3, Cw7, and Cw6 were the most frequent specificities in Mongolians and no case of B42 was noted in all ethnic groups. The cluster analysis of Principal Components I and II shows that Mongolian speaking groups form one cluster vs Turkic-speaking Kazakhs. The analysis reveals a low, but significant differentiation of Mongolian ethnic groups as measured by F(ST) = 0.0100 (P < 0.001). Gene diversity analysis shows that the genetic diversity of the Mongolian population can be attributed largely to its ethnic component, which makes up 64% of total genetic variation. The low degree of interpopulation variation and high level of intrapopulation diversity can be explained by the nomadic way of life of this indigenous population. Three-locus haplotypes A24-B61-Cw3, A33-B58-Cw3 are the most common haplotypic associations in Mongolians. The presence of antigens characteristic of Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid populations in Mongolians suggests a unique genetic background of this indigenous population. The three-locus haplotype distribution among Mongolians relative to other world populations supports the migration of ancient people from Central Asia to the New World, Korean Peninsula, and Southeast Asia. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 11:603-618, 1999. Copyright 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Analysis of the genetic structure of the Malay population: Ancestry-informative marker SNPs in the Malay of Peninsular Malaysia.

PubMed

Yahya, Padillah; Sulong, Sarina; Harun, Azian; Wan Isa, Hatin; Ab Rajab, Nur-Shafawati; Wangkumhang, Pongsakorn; Wilantho, Alisa; Ngamphiw, Chumpol; Tongsima, Sissades; Zilfalil, Bin Alwi

2017-09-01

Malay, the main ethnic group in Peninsular Malaysia, is represented by various sub-ethnic groups such as Melayu Banjar, Melayu Bugis, Melayu Champa, Melayu Java, Melayu Kedah Melayu Kelantan, Melayu Minang and Melayu Patani. Using data retrieved from the MyHVP (Malaysian Human Variome Project) database, a total of 135 individuals from these sub-ethnic groups were profiled using the Affymetrix GeneChip Mapping Xba 50-K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array to identify SNPs that were ancestry-informative markers (AIMs) for Malays of Peninsular Malaysia. Prior to selecting the AIMs, the genetic structure of Malays was explored with reference to 11 other populations obtained from the Pan-Asian SNP Consortium database using principal component analysis (PCA) and ADMIXTURE. Iterative pruning principal component analysis (ipPCA) was further used to identify sub-groups of Malays. Subsequently, we constructed an AIMs panel for Malays using the informativeness for assignment (I n ) of genetic markers, and the K-nearest neighbor classifier (KNN) was used to teach the classification models. A model of 250 SNPs ranked by I n , correctly classified Malay individuals with an accuracy of up to 90%. The identified panel of SNPs could be utilized as a panel of AIMs to ascertain the specific ancestry of Malays, which may be useful in disease association studies, biomedical research or forensic investigation purposes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multiple frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis: a cross-validation study of the inductor circuit and Cole models.

PubMed

Ward, L; Cornish, B H; Paton, N I; Thomas, B J

1999-11-01

It has been proposed that multiple frequency bioelectrical impedance models of the human body should include an inductive property for the circulatory system, the inductor circuit model (ICM), and that such a model, when coupled with a new method of data analysis, can improve the predictive power of multiple frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MFBIA). This hypothesis was tested using MFBIA measurements and gold standard measures of total body and extracellular water volumes in a cross-validation study in two subject groups (viz. controls and HIV). The MFBIA measurements were analysed using the current, widely accepted Cole model and the alternative ICM model which includes an inductive component. Correlations in the range 0.75 to 0.92 (for TBW) and 0.46 to 0.79 (for ECW) for impedance quotients versus gold standard measures within the subject groups were observed. These decreased, to as low as r = 0.50 for TBW and r = 0.29 for ECW, when the derived algorithms were applied to the alternative subject group. These results suggest that lack of portability of MFBIA algorithms between subject groups is not due to an inadequacy of the analogue circuit model per se but is possibly due more to fundamental flaws in the principles associated with its application. These include assuming a constant proportionality of body segment geometries and tissue fluid resistivities. This study has also demonstrated that this inadequacy cannot be overcome by simply introducing an inductive component into the analogue electrical circuit.

An adaptive singular spectrum analysis method for extracting brain rhythms of electroencephalography

PubMed Central

Hu, Hai; Guo, Shengxin; Liu, Ran

2017-01-01

Artifacts removal and rhythms extraction from electroencephalography (EEG) signals are important for portable and wearable EEG recording devices. Incorporating a novel grouping rule, we proposed an adaptive singular spectrum analysis (SSA) method for artifacts removal and rhythms extraction. Based on the EEG signal amplitude, the grouping rule determines adaptively the first one or two SSA reconstructed components as artifacts and removes them. The remaining reconstructed components are then grouped based on their peak frequencies in the Fourier transform to extract the desired rhythms. The grouping rule thus enables SSA to be adaptive to EEG signals containing different levels of artifacts and rhythms. The simulated EEG data based on the Markov Process Amplitude (MPA) EEG model and the experimental EEG data in the eyes-open and eyes-closed states were used to verify the adaptive SSA method. Results showed a better performance in artifacts removal and rhythms extraction, compared with the wavelet decomposition (WDec) and another two recently reported SSA methods. Features of the extracted alpha rhythms using adaptive SSA were calculated to distinguish between the eyes-open and eyes-closed states. Results showed a higher accuracy (95.8%) than those of the WDec method (79.2%) and the infinite impulse response (IIR) filtering method (83.3%). PMID:28674650

Application of multivariable statistical techniques in plant-wide WWTP control strategies analysis.

PubMed

Flores, X; Comas, J; Roda, I R; Jiménez, L; Gernaey, K V

2007-01-01

The main objective of this paper is to present the application of selected multivariable statistical techniques in plant-wide wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) control strategies analysis. In this study, cluster analysis (CA), principal component analysis/factor analysis (PCA/FA) and discriminant analysis (DA) are applied to the evaluation matrix data set obtained by simulation of several control strategies applied to the plant-wide IWA Benchmark Simulation Model No 2 (BSM2). These techniques allow i) to determine natural groups or clusters of control strategies with a similar behaviour, ii) to find and interpret hidden, complex and casual relation features in the data set and iii) to identify important discriminant variables within the groups found by the cluster analysis. This study illustrates the usefulness of multivariable statistical techniques for both analysis and interpretation of the complex multicriteria data sets and allows an improved use of information for effective evaluation of control strategies.

[Principal component analysis and cluster analysis of inorganic elements in sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus].

PubMed

Liu, Xiao-Fang; Xue, Chang-Hu; Wang, Yu-Ming; Li, Zhao-Jie; Xue, Yong; Xu, Jie

2011-11-01

The present study is to investigate the feasibility of multi-elements analysis in determination of the geographical origin of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus, and to make choice of the effective tracers in sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus geographical origin assessment. The content of the elements such as Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Hg and Pb in sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus samples from seven places of geographical origin were determined by means of ICP-MS. The results were used for the development of elements database. Cluster analysis(CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to differentiate the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus geographical origin. Three principal components which accounted for over 89% of the total variance were extracted from the standardized data. The results of Q-type cluster analysis showed that the 26 samples could be clustered reasonably into five groups, the classification results were significantly associated with the marine distribution of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus samples. The CA and PCA were the effective methods for elements analysis of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus samples. The content of the mineral elements in sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus samples was good chemical descriptors for differentiating their geographical origins.

Analysis of independent components of cognitive event related potentials in a group of ADHD adults.

PubMed

Markovska-Simoska, Silvana; Pop-Jordanova, Nada; Pop-Jordanov, Jordan

In the last decade, many studies have tried to define the neural correlates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The main aim of this study is the comparison of the ERPs independent components in the four QEEG subtypes in a group of ADHD adults as a basis for defining the corresponding endophenotypes among ADHD population. Sixty-seven adults diagnosed as ADHD according to the DSM-IV criteria and 50 age-matched control subjects participated in the study. The brain activity of the subjects was recorded by 19 channel quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) system in two neuropsychological tasks (visual and emotional continuous performance tests). The ICA method was applied for separation of the independent ERPs components. The components were associated with distinct psychological operations, such as engagement operations (P3bP component), comparison (vcomTL and vcom TR), motor inhibition (P3supF) and monitoring (P4monCC) operations. The ERPs results point out that there is disturbance in executive functioning in investigated ADHD group obtained by the significantly lower amplitude and longer latency for the engagement (P3bP), motor inhibition (P3supF) and monitoring (P4monCC) components. Particularly, the QEEG subtype IV was with the most significant ERPs differences comparing to the other subtypes. In particular, the most prominent difference in the ERPs independent components for the QEEG subtype IV in comparison to other three subtypes, rise many questions and becomes the subject for future research. This study aims to advance and facilitate the use of neurophysiological procedures (QEEG and ERPs) in clinical practice as objective measures of ADHD for better assessment, subtyping and treatment of ADHD.

Genetic diversity and relationship analysis of Gossypium arboreum accessions.

PubMed

Liu, F; Zhou, Z L; Wang, C Y; Wang, Y H; Cai, X Y; Wang, X X; Zhang, Z S; Wang, K B

2015-11-19

Simple sequence repeat techniques were used to identify the genetic diversity of 101 Gossypium arboreum accessions collected from India, Vietnam, and the southwest of China (Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan provinces). Twenty-six pairs of SSR primers produced a total of 103 polymorphic loci with an average of 3.96 polymorphic loci per primer. The average of the effective number of alleles, Nei's gene diversity, and Shannon's information index were 0.59, 0.2835, and 0.4361, respectively. The diversity varied among different geographic regions. The result of principal component analysis was consistent with that of unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean clustering analysis. The 101 G. arboreum accessions were clustered into 2 groups.

Self-selection of two diet components by Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) larvae and its impact on fitness.

PubMed

Morales-Ramos, J A; Rojas, M G; Shapiro-Ilan, D I; Tedders, W L

2011-10-01

We studied the ability of Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) to self-select optimal ratios of two dietary components to approach nutritional balance and maximum fitness. Relative consumption of wheat bran and dry potato flakes was determined among larvae feeding on four different ratios of these components (10, 20, 30, and 40% potato). Groups of early instars were provided with a measured amount of food and the consumption of each diet component was measured at the end of 4 wk and again 3 wk later. Consumption of diet components by T. molitor larvae deviated significantly from expected ratios indicating nonrandom self-selection. Mean percentages of dry potato consumed were 11.98, 19.16, 19.02, and 19.27% and 11.89, 20.48, 24.67, and 25.97% during the first and second experimental periods for diets with 10, 20, 30, and 40% potato, respectively. Life table analysis was used to determine the fitness of T. molitor developing in the four diet mixtures in a no-choice experiment. The diets were compared among each other and a control diet of wheat bran only. Doubling time was significantly shorter in groups consuming 10 and 20% potato than the control and longer in groups feeding on 30 and 40% potato. The self-selected ratios of the two diet components approached 20% potato, which was the best ratio for development and second best for population growth. Our findings show dietary self-selection behavior in T. molitor larvae, and these findings may lead to new methods for optimizing dietary supplements for T. molitor.

Hilbert-Huang transform analysis of dynamic and earthquake motion recordings

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zhang, R.R.; Ma, S.; Safak, E.; Hartzell, S.

2003-01-01

This study examines the rationale of Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) for analyzing dynamic and earthquake motion recordings in studies of seismology and engineering. In particular, this paper first provides the fundamentals of the HHT method, which consist of the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and the Hilbert spectral analysis. It then uses the HHT to analyze recordings of hypothetical and real wave motion, the results of which are compared with the results obtained by the Fourier data processing technique. The analysis of the two recordings indicates that the HHT method is able to extract some motion characteristics useful in studies of seismology and engineering, which might not be exposed effectively and efficiently by Fourier data processing technique. Specifically, the study indicates that the decomposed components in EMD of HHT, namely, the intrinsic mode function (IMF) components, contain observable, physical information inherent to the original data. It also shows that the grouped IMF components, namely, the EMD-based low- and high-frequency components, can faithfully capture low-frequency pulse-like as well as high-frequency wave signals. Finally, the study illustrates that the HHT-based Hilbert spectra are able to reveal the temporal-frequency energy distribution for motion recordings precisely and clearly.

A Food Transfer Program without a Formal Education Component Modifies Complementary Feeding Practices in Poor Rural Mexican Communities.

PubMed

Ramírez-Luzuriaga, María J; Unar-Munguía, Mishel; Rodríguez-Ramírez, Sonia; Rivera, Juan A; González de Cosío, Teresa

2016-01-01

Inadequate complementary feeding partially explains micronutrient deficiencies in the first 2 y of life. To prevent malnutrition, the Mexican government implemented the Programa de Apoyo Alimentario (PAL), which transferred either food baskets containing micronutrient-fortified milk and animal food products or cash to beneficiary families along with educational sessions. This study evaluated the impact of PAL on 2 indicators of complementary feeding: minimum dietary diversity and consumption of iron-rich or iron-fortified foods in children aged 6-23 mo. A secondary analysis of the original PAL evaluation design was conducted through a randomized community trial implemented with 3 intervention groups (food basket with education, food basket without education, and cash transfer with education) and a control. The impact of PAL after 14 mo of exposure was estimated in 2 cross-sectional groups of children aged 6-23 mo at baseline and at follow-up in a panel of 145 communities by using difference-in-difference models. Only children who lived in households and communities that were similar between treatment groups at baseline were included in the analysis. These children were identified by using a propensity score. Of the 3 intervention groups, when compared with the control, only the food basket without education group component increased the consumption of iron-rich or iron-fortified foods by 31.2 percentage points (PP) (P < 0.01) and the prevalence of minimum dietary diversity by 21.6 PP (P < 0.01). These findings suggest that in order to improve dietary quality in children, food baskets that include fortified complementary foods may be more effective than cash transfers. The fact that the 2 food basket groups differed in the observed impact does not allow for more convincing conclusions to be made about the education component of the program. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01304888. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.

Multivariate Statistical Analysis of MSL APXS Bulk Geochemical Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, V. E.; Edwards, C. S.; Thompson, L. M.; Schmidt, M. E.

2014-12-01

We apply cluster and factor analyses to bulk chemical data of 130 soil and rock samples measured by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity through sol 650. Multivariate approaches such as principal components analysis (PCA), cluster analysis, and factor analysis compliment more traditional approaches (e.g., Harker diagrams), with the advantage of simultaneously examining the relationships between multiple variables for large numbers of samples. Principal components analysis has been applied with success to APXS, Pancam, and Mössbauer data from the Mars Exploration Rovers. Factor analysis and cluster analysis have been applied with success to thermal infrared (TIR) spectral data of Mars. Cluster analyses group the input data by similarity, where there are a number of different methods for defining similarity (hierarchical, density, distribution, etc.). For example, without any assumptions about the chemical contributions of surface dust, preliminary hierarchical and K-means cluster analyses clearly distinguish the physically adjacent rock targets Windjana and Stephen as being distinctly different than lithologies observed prior to Curiosity's arrival at The Kimberley. In addition, they are separated from each other, consistent with chemical trends observed in variation diagrams but without requiring assumptions about chemical relationships. We will discuss the variation in cluster analysis results as a function of clustering method and pre-processing (e.g., log transformation, correction for dust cover) and implications for interpreting chemical data. Factor analysis shares some similarities with PCA, and examines the variability among observed components of a dataset so as to reveal variations attributable to unobserved components. Factor analysis has been used to extract the TIR spectra of components that are typically observed in mixtures and only rarely in isolation; there is the potential for similar results with data from APXS. These techniques offer new ways to understand the chemical relationships between the materials interrogated by Curiosity, and potentially their relation to materials observed by APXS instruments on other landed missions.

Family support group in psychosocial rehabilitation

PubMed Central

Ponnuchamy, L.; Mathew, Baijumon K.; Mathew, Sheeba; Udayakumar, G.S.; Kalyanasundaram, S.; Ramprasad, Dharitri

2005-01-01

Background: Support groups for families of persons with mental illness are emerging as significant components in psychosocial rehabilitation programmes. Aim: To ascertain the expectations of family members who attend family support group meetings and to find out the efficacy of such programmes. Methods: The data were collected from support group members using a semi-structured interview schedule. The study sample (n=20) was drawn from family members who attended the support group meetings regularly for a minimum period of 6 months. Data analysis was done using percentile. Results: Analysis of the data revealed that members attending the support group meetings expected to get more information about the illness, develop skills to cope with problems at home and learn skills to deal with the ill person. An important finding of the study was that the members developed a ‘feeling of togetherness’ as a result of being a member of a group with common aims. Conclusion: Participation in a support group meeting positively affects key variables in the participant's adaptation to mental illness in a relative. PMID:20814460

Measuring Academic Library Efficiency and Alignment with Institutional Resource Utilization Priorities Using Data Envelopment Analysis: An Analysis of Institutions of Higher Education in Texas and Their Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shupala, Christine M.

2012-01-01

Academic and library administrators are increasingly required to demonstrate efficiency in programs, services, and operations as well as effectiveness. An important component of efficiency measurement is identification of a relevant peer group against which to compare the administrative unit to determine relative efficiency. The two-fold purpose…

Spectral Parameters of HRV In Yoga Practitioners, Athletes And Sedentary Males.

PubMed

Peter, Rosemary; Sood, Sushma; Dhawan, Ashwani

2015-01-01

Physical inactivity is an important risk factor for cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Exercise is considered an acceptable method for improving and maintaining physical and emotional health. Although yoga is historically a spiritual discipline, a growing body of evidence supports the belief that yoga benefits physical and mental health. The objective of this study was to evaluate heart rate variability which reflects autonomic control of heart among yoga practitioners, athletes and individuals with sedentary lifestyle. The study was carried out in the departments of physiology at MAMC Agroha, Hisar and Pt. BD Sharma PGIMS Rohtak, Haryana. The study group comprised of 1200 healthy male volunteers of 16 to 55 years of age. The study group was divided into four age groups: Group A of age 16 to 25 years; Group B of age 26 to 35 years; Group C of age 36 to 45 years and Group D of age 46 to 55 years. All age groups were further divided into three categories i.e athlete (runner), yoga (yoga practitioners) and sedentary in which individuals with sedentary life style were included. The basal recording of ECG in lead II was done for 5 minutes. The Polyrite-D ECG data was used for analysis of heart rate variability by frequency domain method. Two spectral components were recorded namely high frequency (HF) component (0.15-0.4 Hz), an indicator of vagal efferent activity and low frequency (LF) component (0.04-.15 Hz), replicator of composite sympatho-vagal interplay. HF component in normalized unit was found significantly high in age group B and C in yoga practitioners and athletes as compared to sedentary individuals and in age group D significantly high in yoga practitioners as compared to athletes and sedentary individuals. Significantly decreased LF/HF ratio was found in age group B and C in yoga and athlete subjects as compared to sedentary individuals and in age group D in yoga practitioners as compared to athletes and sedentary individuals. This indicates that parasympathetic activity is substantially greater in yoga practitioners.

Student satisfaction and self-assessment after small group discussion in a medical ethics education program.

PubMed

Joh, Hee-Kyung; Shin, Jwa-Seop

2009-09-01

Small group discussions are useful tools in medical ethics education. We aimed to assess student satisfaction with specific components of a small group discussion and to evaluate student self-assessment of the objectives of education. A structured questionnaire was developed after a literature review and a focus group interview. Components of the small group discussion were categorized by discussion case (self, other), individual activities (self-study, making materials, presentation experience), and group activities (preclass/in-class/postclass/plenary discussion, instructor's comments). The items for student self-assessment were: "To specify ethical issue in actual practice", "To get new knowledge", "To consider doctor's entity", "Empathy to others", "To get multidimensional viewpoint", "Viewpoint change", "To deliver my thought clearly", and "Ability to confront the medical ethics dilemma in the future". After the survey, an in-depth interview was performed to determine the reason behind the students' answers. A total of 121 students responded, for whom overall satisfaction and self-assessment were high. Students reported greater satisfaction with self-case, presentation experience, in-class discussion, and instructor's comments but less satisfaction with self-study before class and postclass discussion. Student self-assessment was highest in the ability to specify an ethical issue and lowest for viewpoint change and self-confidence. After multivariate analysis, higher student self-assessment was associated with greater satisfaction with the small group discussion. To improve the quality of medical ethics education, close investigation and monitoring of each component of the small group discussion and student achievement are essential, as is continuous feedback.

Population Differentiations and Phylogenetic Analysis of Tibet and Qinghai Tibetan Groups Based on 30 InDel Loci.

PubMed

Guo, Yuxin; Shen, Chunmei; Meng, Haotian; Dong, Qian; Kong, Tingting; Yang, Chunhua; Wang, Hongdan; Jin, Rui; Zhu, Bofeng

2016-12-01

In recent years, Insertion/Deletion (InDel) polymorphisms have become a hot area of forensic research. In this study, 30 InDel loci were selected to investigate the genetic polymorphisms of Tibetan groups, which are from Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai province of China, and explore the genetic relationships between Tibetan groups and other groups. Allele frequencies of the 30 InDel loci ranged from 0.1219 (HLD111) to 0.5609 (HLD57) in the Tibet Tibetan group and 0.1639 (HLD118) to 0.5655 (HLD124) in the Qinghai Tibetan group. The combined power of discrimination, matching probability, and power of exclusion were 0.999999999986, 0.999999988, and 0.9913 in the Tibet Tibetan group, respectively, and 0.99999999999204, 0.9999999796, and 0.9862 in the Qinghai Tibetan group. The results of principal component analysis, phylogenetic tree, and population structure demonstrated that the four Tibetan groups (Tibetan1, Tibetan2, Tibet, and Qinghai Tibetan groups) clustered together and had relatively close genetic relationships with nine Asian groups and then European and Amerindian groups.

An Innovative Pharmaceutical Care Practical Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bulatova, N. R.; Aburuz, S.; Yousef, A. M.

2007-01-01

The innovative practical course was developed to improve the students' ability to acquire pharmaceutical care skills. The primary components of the course were in-school training using small group discussions and hospital experience including identification, analysis, prevention and resolution of drug-therapy problems, patient counseling on their…

Ultraviolet photography of the in vivo human cornea unmasks the Hudson-Stähli line and physiologic vortex patterns.

PubMed

Every, Sean G; Leader, John P; Molteno, Anthony C B; Bevin, Tui H; Sanderson, Gordon

2005-10-01

To perform ultraviolet (UV) macrophotography of the normal in vivo human cornea, establishing biometric data of the major component of UV absorption for comparison with the Hudson-Stähli (HS) line, the distribution of iron demonstrated by Perl stain, and cases of typical amiodarone keratopathy. Nonrandomized comparative case series of UV photographs of 76 normal corneas (group 1) and 16 corneas with typical amiodarone keratopathy (group 2). Image-analysis software was used to grade the major component of UV absorption for slope and the coordinates of its points of intersection with the vertical corneal meridian and inflection. In group 1 the major component had a mean slope of 5.8 degrees, sloping down from nasal to temporal cornea. The mean coordinates of points of intersection with the vertical corneal meridian and inflection were (0, 0.30) and (0.02, 0.31), respectively. No significant differences between groups 1 and 2 were found for slope (P = 0.155), intersection with the vertical corneal meridian (P = 0.517), and point of inflection (P = 0.344). The major component of UV absorption was consistent with published characteristics of the HS line, and coincidence of UV absorption and Perl-stained iron was demonstrated in one corneal button. A vortex pattern of UV absorption was observed in all corneas. UV photography demonstrates subclinical corneal iron, confirming its deposition in an integrated HS line/vortex pattern. Coincident iron and amiodarone deposition occurs in amiodarone keratopathy.

Metabolomic analysis for the protective effects of mangiferin on sepsis-induced lung injury in mice.

PubMed

Wang, Yilin; Liu, Yang; Cao, Qiqi; Shi, Xuan; Lu, Hongtao; Gao, Songyan; Yang, Rui

2018-06-01

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of mangiferin, including its known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on sepsis-induced lung injury induced by a classical cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) models in mouse using a metabolomics approach. A total of 24 mice were randomly divided into four groups: the sham group was given saline before sham operation. The CLP group received the CLP operation only. HMF and LMF groups were given mangiferin treatment of high dose and low dose of mangiferin, respectively, before the CLP operation. One week after treatment, the mice were sacrificed and their lungs were collected for metabolomics analysis. We developed ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry to perform lung metabolic profiling analysis. With the methods of principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis, 58 potential metabolites associated with amino acid metabolism, purine metabolism, lipid metabolism and energy regulation were observed to be increased or reduced in HMF and LMF groups compared with the CLP group. Conclusively, our results suggest that mangiferin plays a protective role in the moderation of sepsis-induced lung injury through reducing oxidative stress, regulating lipid metabolism and energy biosynthesis. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Disciplinary differences of the impact of altmetric.

PubMed

Ortega, José Luis

2018-04-01

The main objective of this work was to group altmetric indicators according to their relationships and detect disciplinary differences with regard to altmetric impact in a set of 3793 research articles published in 2013. Three of the most representative altmetric providers (Altmetric, PlumX and Crossref Event Data) and Scopus were used to extract information about these publications and their metrics. Principal component analysis was used to summarize the information on these metrics and detect groups of indicators. The results show that these metrics can be grouped into three components: social media, gathering metrics from social networks and online media; usage, including metrics on downloads and views; and citations and saves, grouping metrics related to research impact and saves in bookmarking sites. With regard to disciplinary differences, articles in the General category attract more attention from social media, Social Sciences articles have higher usage than Physical Sciences, and General articles are more cited and saved than Health Sciences and Social Sciences articles.

Aging-related changes in the default mode network and its anti-correlated networks: a resting-state fMRI study.

PubMed

Wu, Jing-Tao; Wu, Hui-Zhen; Yan, Chao-Gan; Chen, Wen-Xin; Zhang, Hong-Ying; He, Yong; Yang, Hai-Shan

2011-10-17

Intrinsic brain activity in a resting state incorporates components of the task negative network called default mode network (DMN) and task-positive networks called attentional networks. In the present study, the reciprocal neuronal networks in the elder group were compared with the young group to investigate the differences of the intrinsic brain activity using a method of temporal correlation analysis based on seed regions of posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). We found significant decreased positive correlations and negative correlations with the seeds of PCC and vmPFC in the old group. The decreased coactivations in the DMN network components and their negative networks in the old group may reflect age-related alterations in various brain functions such as attention, motor control and inhibition modulation in cognitive processing. These alterations in the resting state anti-correlative networks could provide neuronal substrates for the aging brain. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

PCA-LBG-based algorithms for VQ codebook generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Jinn-Tsong; Yang, Po-Yuan

2015-04-01

Vector quantisation (VQ) codebooks are generated by combining principal component analysis (PCA) algorithms with Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG) algorithms. All training vectors are grouped according to the projected values of the principal components. The PCA-LBG-based algorithms include (1) PCA-LBG-Median, which selects the median vector of each group, (2) PCA-LBG-Centroid, which adopts the centroid vector of each group, and (3) PCA-LBG-Random, which randomly selects a vector of each group. The LBG algorithm finds a codebook based on the better vectors sent to an initial codebook by the PCA. The PCA performs an orthogonal transformation to convert a set of potentially correlated variables into a set of variables that are not linearly correlated. Because the orthogonal transformation efficiently distinguishes test image vectors, the proposed PCA-LBG-based algorithm is expected to outperform conventional algorithms in designing VQ codebooks. The experimental results confirm that the proposed PCA-LBG-based algorithms indeed obtain better results compared to existing methods reported in the literature.

EVALUATION OF THE EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX OF INJURED SUPRASPINATUS IN RATS

PubMed Central

Almeida, Luiz Henrique Oliveira; Ikemoto, Roberto; Mader, Ana Maria; Pinhal, Maria Aparecida Silva; Munhoz, Bruna; Murachovsky, Joel

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the evolution of injuries of the supraspinatus muscle by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and anatomopathological analysis in animal model (Wistar rats). Methods: Twenty-five Wistar rats were submitted to complete injury of the supraspinatus tendon, then subsequently sacrificed in groups of five animals at the following periods: immediately after the injury, 24h after the injury, 48h after, 30 days after and three months after the injury. All groups underwent histological and IHC analysis. Results: Regarding vascular proliferation and inflammatory infiltrate, we found a statistically significant difference between groups 1(control group) and 2 (24h after injury). IHC analysis showed that expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) showed a statistically significant difference between groups 1 and 2, and collagen type 1 (Col-1) evaluation presented a statistically significant difference between groups 1 and 4. Conclusion: We observed changes in the extracellular matrix components compatible with remodeling and healing. Remodeling is more intense 24h after injury. However, VEGF and Col-1 are substantially increased at 24h and 30 days after the injury, respectively. Level of Evidence I, Experimental Study. PMID:26997907

Cultural inter-population differences do not reflect biological distances: an example of interdisciplinary analysis of populations from Eastern Adriatic coast.

PubMed

Bašić, Željana; Fox, Ayano R; Anterić, Ivana; Jerković, Ivan; Polašek, Ozren; Anđelinović, Šimun; Holland, Mitchell M; Primorac, Dragan

2015-06-01

To compare the population group from the Šopot graveyard with population groups from traditional Croatian medieval graveyards by using anthropological, craniometrics, and mitochondrial (mtDNA) analysis and to examine if the cultural differences between population groups reflect biological differences. We determined sex, age at death, pathological, and traumatic changes of skeletal remains from the Šopot graveyard and compared them with a cumulative medieval sample from the same region. We also performed principal component analysis to compare skeletal remains from Šopot with those from Ostrovica and other Central European samples according to 8 cranial measurements. Finally, we compared 46 skeletons from Šopot with medieval (Ostrovica) and contemporary populations using mDNA haplogroup profiling. The remains from Šopot were similar to the cumulative sample in lifestyle and quality of life markers. Principal component analysis showed that they were closely related to Eastern Adriatic coast sites (including Ostrovica and Šopot) in terms of cranial morphology, indicating similar biological makeup. According to mDNA testing, Šopot population showed no significant differences in the haplogroup prevalence from either medieval or contemporary populations. This study shows that the Šopot population does not significantly differ from other medieval populations from this area. Besides similar quality of life markers, these populations also had similar biological markers. Substantial archeological differences can therefore be attributed to apparent cultural influences, which in this case do not reflect biological differences.

Cultural inter-population differences do not reflect biological distances: an example of interdisciplinary analysis of populations from Eastern Adriatic coast

PubMed Central

Bašić, Željana; Fox, Ayano R; Anterić, Ivana; Jerković, Ivan; Polašek, Ozren; Anđelinović, Šimun; Holland, Mitchell M; Primorac, Dragan

2015-01-01

Aim To compare the population group from the Šopot graveyard with population groups from traditional Croatian medieval graveyards by using anthropological, craniometrics, and mitochondrial (mtDNA) analysis and to examine if the cultural differences between population groups reflect biological differences. Methods We determined sex, age at death, pathological, and traumatic changes of skeletal remains from the Šopot graveyard and compared them with a cumulative medieval sample from the same region. We also performed principal component analysis to compare skeletal remains from Šopot with those from Ostrovica and other Central European samples according to 8 cranial measurements. Finally, we compared 46 skeletons from Šopot with medieval (Ostrovica) and contemporary populations using mDNA haplogroup profiling. Results The remains from Šopot were similar to the cumulative sample in lifestyle and quality of life markers. Principal component analysis showed that they were closely related to Eastern Adriatic coast sites (including Ostrovica and Šopot) in terms of cranial morphology, indicating similar biological makeup. According to mDNA testing, Šopot population showed no significant differences in the haplogroup prevalence from either medieval or contemporary populations. Conclusion This study shows that the Šopot population does not significantly differ from other medieval populations from this area. Besides similar quality of life markers, these populations also had similar biological markers. Substantial archeological differences can therefore be attributed to apparent cultural influences, which in this case do not reflect biological differences. PMID:26088847

Survivorship comparison of all-polyethylene and metal-backed tibial components in cruciate-substituting total knee arthroplasty—Chinese experience

PubMed Central

Shen, Bin; Yang, Jing; Zhou, Zongke; Kang, Pengde; Wang, Liao

2008-01-01

Considering its cost saving, the all-polyethylene tibial component is of potential interest in developing countries like China. But to our knowledge, a survivorship comparison of all-polyethylene and metal-backed tibial components in posterior cruciate ligament-substituting total knee arthroplasty (PS-TKA) has not been studied in China previously. Using survivorship analysis, we have studied the midterm outcome of 34 cemented PS-TKA using an all-polyethylene tibial component and of 34 cemented PS-TKA using a metal-backed tibial component which has an identical articular surface with all-polyethylene tibial components. All operations were performed by the same group of surgeons; 58 patients underwent a unilateral operation and five patients a bilateral operation. These patients had a mean follow-up of 5.9 years (range: 5–7 years); three patients were lost to follow-up and one was revised for infection. No significant difference between the two groups was reported regarding HSS scores, ROM, clinical and radiographic parameters measured and survival rates. Although the Asian lifestyle includes more squatting and bending of the knee, the results of this series of TKA using all-polyethylene tibial components in Chinese people are comparable to the satisfactory results of other reported all-polyethylene series whose patients are mainly Western people. Considering its cost saving and excellent clinical result, the all-polyethylene tibial component is of potential interest in developing countries. PMID:18688613

The semantic component of the evoked potential of differentiation.

PubMed

Izmailov, Chingis A; Korshunova, Svetlana G; Sokolov, Yevgeniy N

2008-05-01

This work analyzes data from recordings of (occipital and temporal) cortical evoked potentials (called evoked potentials of differentiation (EPD) occurring in humans in response to an abrupt substitution of stimuli. As stimuli we used three groups of words: the names of the ten basic colors taken from Newton's color circle; the names of seven basic emotions forming Shlossberg's circle of emotions; and seven nonsense words comprised of random combinations of letters. Within each group of word stimuli we constructed a matrix of the differences between the amplitudes of mid-latency components of EPD for each pair of words. This matrix was analyzed using the method of multidimensional scaling. As a result of this analysis we were able to distinguish the semantic and configurational components of EPD amplitude. The semantic component of EPD amplitude was evaluated by comparing structure of the data obtained to the circular structures of emotion and color names. The configurational component was evaluated on the basis of the attribute of word length (number of letters). It was demonstrated that the semantic component of the EPD can only be detected in the left occipital lead at an interpeak amplitude of P120-N180. The configurational component is reflected in the occipital and temporal leads to an identical extent, but only in the amplitude of a later (N180-P230) component of the EPD. The results obtained are discussed in terms of the coding of categorized, configurational, and semantic attributes of a visual stimulus.

Principal Component Analysis of Cerebellar Shape on MRI Separates SCA Types 2 and 6 into Two Archetypal Modes of Degeneration

PubMed Central

Jung, Brian C.; Choi, Soo I.; Du, Annie X.; Cuzzocreo, Jennifer L.; Geng, Zhuo Z.; Ying, Howard S.; Perlman, Susan L.; Toga, Arthur W.; Prince, Jerry L.

2014-01-01

Although “cerebellar ataxia” is often used in reference to a disease process, presumably there are different underlying pathogenetic mechanisms for different subtypes. Indeed, spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) types 2 and 6 demonstrate complementary phenotypes, thus predicting a different anatomic pattern of degeneration. Here, we show that an unsupervised classification method, based on principal component analysis (PCA) of cerebellar shape characteristics, can be used to separate SCA2 and SCA6 into two classes, which may represent disease-specific archetypes. Patients with SCA2 (n=11) and SCA6 (n=7) were compared against controls (n=15) using PCA to classify cerebellar anatomic shape characteristics. Within the first three principal components, SCA2 and SCA6 differed from controls and from each other. In a secondary analysis, we studied five additional subjects and found that these patients were consistent with the previously defined archetypal clusters of clinical and anatomical characteristics. Secondary analysis of five subjects with related diagnoses showed that disease groups that were clinically and pathophysiologically similar also shared similar anatomic characteristics. Specifically, Archetype #1 consisted of SCA3 (n=1) and SCA2, suggesting that cerebellar syndromes accompanied by atrophy of the pons may be associated with a characteristic pattern of cerebellar neurodegeneration. In comparison, Archetype #2 was comprised of disease groups with pure cerebellar atrophy (episodic ataxia type 2 (n=1), idiopathic late-onset cerebellar ataxias (n=3), and SCA6). This suggests that cerebellar shape analysis could aid in discriminating between different pathologies. Our findings further suggest that magnetic resonance imaging is a promising imaging biomarker that could aid in the diagnosis and therapeutic management in patients with cerebellar syndromes. PMID:22258915

Describing patterns of weight changes using principal components analysis: results from the Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) research group.

PubMed

Espeland, Mark A; Bray, George A; Neiberg, Rebecca; Rejeski, W Jack; Knowler, William C; Lang, Wei; Cheskin, Lawrence J; Williamson, Don; Lewis, C Beth; Wing, Rena

2009-10-01

To demonstrate how principal components analysis can be used to describe patterns of weight changes in response to an intensive lifestyle intervention. Principal components analysis was applied to monthly percent weight changes measured on 2,485 individuals enrolled in the lifestyle arm of the Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) clinical trial. These individuals were 45 to 75 years of age, with type 2 diabetes and body mass indices greater than 25 kg/m(2). Associations between baseline characteristics and weight loss patterns were described using analyses of variance. Three components collectively accounted for 97.0% of total intrasubject variance: a gradually decelerating weight loss (88.8%), early versus late weight loss (6.6%), and a mid-year trough (1.6%). In agreement with previous reports, each of the baseline characteristics we examined had statistically significant relationships with weight loss patterns. As examples, males tended to have a steeper trajectory of percent weight loss and to lose weight more quickly than women. Individuals with higher hemoglobin A(1c) (glycosylated hemoglobin; HbA(1c)) tended to have a flatter trajectory of percent weight loss and to have mid-year troughs in weight loss compared to those with lower HbA(1c). Principal components analysis provided a coherent description of characteristic patterns of weight changes and is a useful vehicle for identifying their correlates and potentially for predicting weight control outcomes.

Preparation of the low molecular weight serum proteome for mass spectrometry analysis.

PubMed

Waybright, Timothy J; Chan, King C; Veenstra, Timothy D; Xiao, Zhen

2013-01-01

The discovery of viable biomarkers or indicators of disease states is complicated by the inherent complexity of the chosen biological specimen. Every sample, whether it is serum, plasma, urine, tissue, cells, or a host of others, contains thousands of large and small components, each interacting in multiple ways. The need to concentrate on a group of these components to narrow the focus on a potential biomarker candidate becomes, out of necessity, a priority, especially in the search for immune-related low molecular weight serum biomarkers. One such method in the field of proteomics is to divide the sample proteome into groups based on the size of the protein, analyze each group, and mine the data for statistically significant items. This chapter details a portion of this method, concentrating on a method for fractionating and analyzing the low molecular weight proteome of human serum.

Software for storage and processing coded messages for the international exchange of meteorological information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popov, V. N.; Botygin, I. A.; Kolochev, A. S.

2017-01-01

The approach allows representing data of international codes for exchange of meteorological information using metadescription as the formalism associated with certain categories of resources. Development of metadata components was based on an analysis of the data of surface meteorological observations, atmosphere vertical sounding, atmosphere wind sounding, weather radar observing, observations from satellites and others. A common set of metadata components was formed including classes, divisions and groups for a generalized description of the meteorological data. The structure and content of the main components of a generalized metadescription are presented in detail by the example of representation of meteorological observations from land and sea stations. The functional structure of a distributed computing system is described. It allows organizing the storage of large volumes of meteorological data for their further processing in the solution of problems of the analysis and forecasting of climatic processes.

Biomarkers of furan exposure by metabolic profiling of rat urine with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and principal component analysis.

PubMed

Kellert, Marco; Wagner, Silvia; Lutz, Ursula; Lutz, Werner K

2008-03-01

Furan has been found in a number of heated food items and is carcinogenic in the liver of rats and mice. Estimates of human exposure on the basis of concentrations measured in food are not reliable because of the volatility of furan. A biomarker approach is therefore indicated. We searched for metabolites excreted in the urine of male Fischer 344 rats treated by oral gavage with 40 mg of furan per kg of body weight. A control group received the vehicle oil only. Urine collected over two 24-h periods both before and after treatment was analyzed by a column-switching LC-MS/MS method. Data were acquired by a full scan survey scan in combination with information dependent acquisition of fragmentation spectra by the use of a linear ion trap. Areas of 449 peaks were extracted from the chromatograms and used for principal component analysis (PCA). The first principal component fully separated the samples of treated rats from the controls in the first post-treatment sampling period. Thirteen potential biomarkers selected from the corresponding loadings plot were reanalyzed using specific transitions in the MRM mode. Seven peaks that increased significantly upon treatment were further investigated as biomarkers of exposure. MS/MS information indicated conjugation with glutathione on the basis of the characteristic neutral loss of 129 for mercapturates. Adducts with the side chain amino group of lysine were characterized by a neutral loss of 171 for N-acetyl- l-lysine. Analysis of products of in vitro incubations of the reactive furan metabolite cis-2-butene-1,4-dial with the respective amino acid derivatives supported five structures, including a new 3-methylthio-pyrrole metabolite probably formed by beta-lyase reaction on a glutathione conjugate, followed by methylation of the thiol group. Our results demonstrate the potential of comprehensive mass spectrometric analysis of urine combined with multivariate analyses for metabolic profiling in search of biomarkers of exposure.

A robust, high-throughput method for computing maize ear, cob, and kernel attributes automatically from images.

PubMed

Miller, Nathan D; Haase, Nicholas J; Lee, Jonghyun; Kaeppler, Shawn M; de Leon, Natalia; Spalding, Edgar P

2017-01-01

Grain yield of the maize plant depends on the sizes, shapes, and numbers of ears and the kernels they bear. An automated pipeline that can measure these components of yield from easily-obtained digital images is needed to advance our understanding of this globally important crop. Here we present three custom algorithms designed to compute such yield components automatically from digital images acquired by a low-cost platform. One algorithm determines the average space each kernel occupies along the cob axis using a sliding-window Fourier transform analysis of image intensity features. A second counts individual kernels removed from ears, including those in clusters. A third measures each kernel's major and minor axis after a Bayesian analysis of contour points identifies the kernel tip. Dimensionless ear and kernel shape traits that may interrelate yield components are measured by principal components analysis of contour point sets. Increased objectivity and speed compared to typical manual methods are achieved without loss of accuracy as evidenced by high correlations with ground truth measurements and simulated data. Millimeter-scale differences among ear, cob, and kernel traits that ranged more than 2.5-fold across a diverse group of inbred maize lines were resolved. This system for measuring maize ear, cob, and kernel attributes is being used by multiple research groups as an automated Web service running on community high-throughput computing and distributed data storage infrastructure. Users may create their own workflow using the source code that is staged for download on a public repository. © 2016 The Authors. The Plant Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Validation of Direct Analysis Real Time source/Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry for organophosphate quantitation on wafer surface.

PubMed

Hayeck, Nathalie; Ravier, Sylvain; Gemayel, Rachel; Gligorovski, Sasho; Poulet, Irène; Maalouly, Jacqueline; Wortham, Henri

2015-11-01

Microelectronic wafers are exposed to airborne molecular contamination (AMC) during the fabrication process of microelectronic components. The organophosphate compounds belonging to the dopant group are one of the most harmful groups. Once adsorbed on the wafer surface these compounds hardly desorb and could diffuse in the bulk of the wafer and invert the wafer from p-type to n-type. The presence of these compounds on wafer surface could have electrical effect on the microelectronic components. For these reasons, it is of importance to control the amount of these compounds on the surface of the wafer. As a result, a fast quantitative and qualitative analytical method, nondestructive for the wafers, is needed to be able to adjust the process and avoid the loss of an important quantity of processed wafers due to the contamination by organophosphate compounds. Here we developed and validated an analytical method for the determination of organic compounds adsorbed on the surface of microelectronic wafers using the Direct Analysis in Real Time-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (DART-ToF-MS) system. Specifically, the developed methodology concerns the organophosphate group. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Essential oil variation among natural populations of Lavandula multifida L. (Lamiaceae).

PubMed

Chograni, Hnia; Zaouali, Yosr; Rajeb, Chayma; Boussaid, Mohamed

2010-04-01

Volatiles from twelve wild Tunisian populations of Lavandula multifida L. growing in different bioclimatic zones were assessed by GC (RI) and GC/MS. Thirty-six constituents, representing 83.48% of the total oil were identified. The major components at the species level were carvacrol (31.81%), beta-bisabolene (14.89%), and acrylic acid dodecyl ester (11.43%). These volatiles, together with alpha-pinene, were also the main compounds discriminating the populations. According to these dominant compounds, one chemotype was revealed, a carvacrol/beta-bisabolene/acrylic acid dodecyl ester chemotype. However, a significant variation among the populations was observed for the majority of the constituents. A high chemical-population structure, estimated both by principal component analysis (PCA) and unweighted pair group method with averaging (UPGMA) cluster analysis based on Euclidean distances, was observed. Both methods allowed separation of the populations in three groups defined rather by minor than by major compounds. The population groups were not strictly concordant with their bioclimatic or geographic location. Conservation strategies should concern all populations, because of their low size and their high level of destruction. Populations exhibiting particular compounds other than the major ones should be protected first.

Aberrant temporal and spatial brain activity during rest in patients with chronic pain

PubMed Central

Malinen, Sanna; Vartiainen, Nuutti; Hlushchuk, Yevhen; Koskinen, Miika; Ramkumar, Pavan; Forss, Nina; Kalso, Eija; Hari, Riitta

2010-01-01

In the absence of external stimuli, human hemodynamic brain activity displays slow intrinsic variations. To find out whether such fluctuations would be altered by persistent pain, we asked 10 patients with unrelenting chronic pain of different etiologies and 10 sex- and age-matched control subjects to rest with eyes open during 3-T functional MRI. Independent component analysis was used to identify functionally coupled brain networks. Time courses of an independent component comprising the insular cortices of both hemispheres showed stronger spectral power at 0.12 to 0.25 Hz in patients than in control subjects, with the largest difference at 0.16 Hz. A similar but weaker effect was seen in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas activity of the precuneus and early visual cortex, used as a control site, did not differ between the groups. In the patient group, seed point-based correlation analysis revealed altered spatial connectivity between insulae and anterior cingulate cortex. The results imply both temporally and spatially aberrant activity of the affective pain-processing areas in patients suffering from chronic pain. The accentuated 0.12- to 0.25-Hz fluctuations in the patient group might be related to altered activity of the autonomic nervous system. PMID:20308545

Portable XRF and principal component analysis for bill characterization in forensic science.

PubMed

Appoloni, C R; Melquiades, F L

2014-02-01

Several modern techniques have been applied to prevent counterfeiting of money bills. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the potential of Portable X-ray Fluorescence (PXRF) technique and the multivariate analysis method of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for classification of bills in order to use it in forensic science. Bills of Dollar, Euro and Real (Brazilian currency) were measured directly at different colored regions, without any previous preparation. Spectra interpretation allowed the identification of Ca, Ti, Fe, Cu, Sr, Y, Zr and Pb. PCA analysis separated the bills in three groups and subgroups among Brazilian currency. In conclusion, the samples were classified according to its origin identifying the elements responsible for differentiation and basic pigment composition. PXRF allied to multivariate discriminate methods is a promising technique for rapid and no destructive identification of false bills in forensic science. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impacts of a flash flood on drinking water quality: case study of areas most affected by the 2012 Beijing flood.

PubMed

Sun, Rubao; An, Daizhi; Lu, Wei; Shi, Yun; Wang, Lili; Zhang, Can; Zhang, Ping; Qi, Hongjuan; Wang, Qiang

2016-02-01

In this study, we present a method for identifying sources of water pollution and their relative contributions in pollution disasters. The method uses a combination of principal component analysis and factor analysis. We carried out a case study in three rural villages close to Beijing after torrential rain on July 21, 2012. Nine water samples were analyzed for eight parameters, namely turbidity, total hardness, total dissolved solids, sulfates, chlorides, nitrates, total bacterial count, and total coliform groups. All of the samples showed different degrees of pollution, and most were unsuitable for drinking water as concentrations of various parameters exceeded recommended thresholds. Principal component analysis and factor analysis showed that two factors, the degree of mineralization and agricultural runoff, and flood entrainment, explained 82.50% of the total variance. The case study demonstrates that this method is useful for evaluating and interpreting large, complex water-quality data sets.

Multilevel Dynamic Generalized Structured Component Analysis for Brain Connectivity Analysis in Functional Neuroimaging Data.

PubMed

Jung, Kwanghee; Takane, Yoshio; Hwang, Heungsun; Woodward, Todd S

2016-06-01

We extend dynamic generalized structured component analysis (GSCA) to enhance its data-analytic capability in structural equation modeling of multi-subject time series data. Time series data of multiple subjects are typically hierarchically structured, where time points are nested within subjects who are in turn nested within a group. The proposed approach, named multilevel dynamic GSCA, accommodates the nested structure in time series data. Explicitly taking the nested structure into account, the proposed method allows investigating subject-wise variability of the loadings and path coefficients by looking at the variance estimates of the corresponding random effects, as well as fixed loadings between observed and latent variables and fixed path coefficients between latent variables. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach by applying the method to the multi-subject functional neuroimaging data for brain connectivity analysis, where time series data-level measurements are nested within subjects.

A dominant bursting electromyograph pattern in dystonic conditions predicts an early response to pallidal stimulation.

PubMed

Yianni, John; Wang, Shou Yan; Liu, Xuguang; Bain, Peter G; Nandi, Dipankar; Gregory, Ralph; Joint, Carole; Stein, John F; Aziz, Tipu Z

2006-08-01

Although chronic pallidal deep brain stimulation (DBS) is effective in the treatment of medically intractable dystonia, there is no way of predicting the variations in clinical outcome, partly due to our limited understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying this condition. We recorded electromyographic (EMG) activity from the most severely affected muscle groups in seven dystonia patients before and after pallidal DBS. Patient EMG recordings could be classified into two groups: one consisting of patients who at rest demonstrated a dominant low frequency component of activity on power spectral analysis (ranging from 2 to 5 Hz), and one group in which this dominant pattern was absent. Early postoperative improvements (within 2-3 days) were observed in the former group, whereas the latter group benefited more gradually (over several months). Analysis of EMG activity may provide a sensitive means of identifying dystonic patients who are likely to be most responsive to functional neurosurgical intervention.

Stable Scalp EEG Spatiospectral Patterns Across Paradigms Estimated by Group ICA.

PubMed

Labounek, René; Bridwell, David A; Mareček, Radek; Lamoš, Martin; Mikl, Michal; Slavíček, Tomáš; Bednařík, Petr; Baštinec, Jaromír; Hluštík, Petr; Brázdil, Milan; Jan, Jiří

2018-01-01

Electroencephalography (EEG) oscillations reflect the superposition of different cortical sources with potentially different frequencies. Various blind source separation (BSS) approaches have been developed and implemented in order to decompose these oscillations, and a subset of approaches have been developed for decomposition of multi-subject data. Group independent component analysis (Group ICA) is one such approach, revealing spatiospectral maps at the group level with distinct frequency and spatial characteristics. The reproducibility of these distinct maps across subjects and paradigms is relatively unexplored domain, and the topic of the present study. To address this, we conducted separate group ICA decompositions of EEG spatiospectral patterns on data collected during three different paradigms or tasks (resting-state, semantic decision task and visual oddball task). K-means clustering analysis of back-reconstructed individual subject maps demonstrates that fourteen different independent spatiospectral maps are present across the different paradigms/tasks, i.e. they are generally stable.

The identification of group II inclusions in carbonaceous chondrites by electron probe microanalysis of perovskite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kornacki, A. S.; Wood, J. A.

1985-01-01

The technique developed by Kornacki (1984) for identifying group II Ca/Al-rich inclusions in carbonaceous chondrites by electron-microprobe analysis of the ZrO2 or Y2O3 content of their perovskite component is demonstrated using material from 20 Allende inclusions. The results are presented in tables and graphs and compared with findings obtained by other procedures. Group II inclusions are found to have perovskites generally containing less than 0.10 wt pct ZrO2 and/or Y2O3 (average of several grains), while those of groups I, III, V, and VI have more than 0.25 wt pct ZrO2. Analysis of data on eight Allende Ca/Al-rich inclusions shows that 75 percent of the fine-grained inclusions belong to group II. The implications of these findings for fractionation processes in the primitive solar nebula are indicated.

Executive Dysfunction Among Children With Reading Comprehension Deficits

PubMed Central

Locascio, Gianna; Mahone, E. Mark; Eason, Sarah H.; Cutting, Laurie E.

2010-01-01

Emerging research supports the contribution of executive function (EF) to reading comprehension; however, a unique pattern has not been established for children who demonstrate comprehension difficulties despite average word recognition ability (specific reading comprehension deficit; S-RCD). To identify particular EF components on which children with S-RCD struggle, a range of EF skills was compared among 86 children, ages 10 to 14, grouped by word reading and comprehension abilities: 24 average readers, 44 with word recognition deficits (WRD), and 18 S-RCD. An exploratory principal components analysis of EF tests identified three latent factors, used in subsequent group comparisons: Planning/Spatial Working Memory, Verbal Working Memory, and Response Inhibition. The WRD group exhibited deficits (relative to controls) on Verbal Working Memory and Inhibition factors; S-RCD children performed more poorly than controls on the Planning factor. Further analyses suggested the WRD group’s poor performance on EF factors was a by-product of core deficits linked to WRD (after controlling for phonological processing, this group no longer showed EF deficits). In contrast, the S-RCD group’s poor performance on the planning component remained significant after controlling for phonological processing. Findings suggest reading comprehension difficulties are linked to executive dysfunction; in particular, poor strategic planning/organizing may lead to reading comprehension problems. PMID:20375294

Functional analysis of circadian pacemaker neurons in Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Rieger, Dirk; Shafer, Orie Thomas; Tomioka, Kenji; Helfrich-Förster, Charlotte

2006-03-01

The molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms are well known, but how multiple clocks within one organism generate a structured rhythmic output remains a mystery. Many animals show bimodal activity rhythms with morning (M) and evening (E) activity bouts. One long-standing model assumes that two mutually coupled oscillators underlie these bouts and show different sensitivities to light. Three groups of lateral neurons (LN) and three groups of dorsal neurons govern behavioral rhythmicity of Drosophila. Recent data suggest that two groups of the LN (the ventral subset of the small LN cells and the dorsal subset of LN cells) are plausible candidates for the M and E oscillator, respectively. We provide evidence that these neuronal groups respond differently to light and can be completely desynchronized from one another by constant light, leading to two activity components that free-run with different periods. As expected, a long-period component started from the E activity bout. However, a short-period component originated not exclusively from the morning peak but more prominently from the evening peak. This reveals an interesting deviation from the original Pittendrigh and Daan (1976) model and suggests that a subgroup of the ventral subset of the small LN acts as "main" oscillator controlling M and E activity bouts in Drosophila.

Using participant hedonic ratings of food images to construct data driven food groupings.

PubMed

Johnson, Susan L; Boles, Richard E; Burger, Kyle S

2014-08-01

Little is known regarding how individuals' hedonic ratings of a variety of foods interrelate and how hedonic ratings correspond to habitual dietary intake. Participant ratings of food appeal of 104 food images were collected while participants were in a fed state (n = 129). Self-reported frequency of intake of the food items, perceived hunger, body mass index (BMI), and dietary restraint were also assessed. Principal components analysis (PCA) was employed to analyze hedonic ratings of the foods, to identify component structures and to reduce the number of variables. The resulting component structures comprised 63 images loading on seven components including Energy-Dense Main Courses, Light Main Courses and Seafood as well as components more analogous to traditional food groups (e.g., Fruits, Grains, Desserts, Meats). However, vegetables were not represented in a unique, independent component. All components were positively correlated with reported intake of the food items (r's = .26-.52, p <.05), except for the Light Main Course component (r = .10). BMI showed a small positive relation with aggregated food appeal ratings (r = .19; p <.05), which was largely driven by the relations between BMI and appeal ratings for Energy-Dense Main Courses (r = .24; p <.01) and Desserts (r = .27; p <.01). Dietary restraint showed a small significant negative relation to Energy-Dense Main Courses (r = -.21; p <.05), and Meats (r = -.18; p <.05). The present investigation provides novel evidence regarding how individuals' hedonic ratings of foods aggregate into food components and how these component ratings relate to dietary intake. The notable absence of a vegetable component suggests that individuals' liking for vegetables is highly variable and, from an empirical standpoint, not related to how they respond hedonically to other food categories. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Counties eliminating racial disparities in colorectal cancer mortality.

PubMed

Rust, George; Zhang, Shun; Yu, Zhongyuan; Caplan, Lee; Jain, Sanjay; Ayer, Turgay; McRoy, Luceta; Levine, Robert S

2016-06-01

Although colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality rates are declining, racial-ethnic disparities in CRC mortality nationally are widening. Herein, the authors attempted to identify county-level variations in this pattern, and to characterize counties with improving disparity trends. The authors examined 20-year trends in US county-level black-white disparities in CRC age-adjusted mortality rates during the study period between 1989 and 2010. Using a mixed linear model, counties were grouped into mutually exclusive patterns of black-white racial disparity trends in age-adjusted CRC mortality across 20 three-year rolling average data points. County-level characteristics from census data and from the Area Health Resources File were normalized and entered into a principal component analysis. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to test the relation between these factors (clusters of related contextual variables) and the disparity trend pattern group for each county. Counties were grouped into 4 disparity trend pattern groups: 1) persistent disparity (parallel black and white trend lines); 2) diverging (widening disparity); 3) sustained equality; and 4) converging (moving from disparate outcomes toward equality). The initial principal component analysis clustered the 82 independent variables into a smaller number of components, 6 of which explained 47% of the county-level variation in disparity trend patterns. County-level variation in social determinants, health care workforce, and health systems all were found to contribute to variations in cancer mortality disparity trend patterns from 1990 through 2010. Counties sustaining equality over time or moving from disparities to equality in cancer mortality suggest that disparities are not inevitable, and provide hope that more communities can achieve optimal and equitable cancer outcomes for all. Cancer 2016;122:1735-48. © 2016 American Cancer Society. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Independent Component Analysis of Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Pedophiles.

PubMed

Cantor, J M; Lafaille, S J; Hannah, J; Kucyi, A; Soh, D W; Girard, T A; Mikulis, D J

2016-10-01

Neuroimaging and other studies have changed the common view that pedophilia is a result of childhood sexual abuse and instead is a neurologic phenomenon with prenatal origins. Previous research has identified differences in the structural connectivity of the brain in pedophilia. To identify analogous differences in functional connectivity. Functional magnetic resonance images were recorded from three groups of participants while they were at rest: pedophilic men with a history of sexual offenses against children (n = 37) and two control groups: non-pedophilic men who committed non-sexual offenses (n = 28) and non-pedophilic men with no criminal history (n = 39). Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were subjected to independent component analysis to identify known functional networks of the brain, and groups were compared to identify differences in connectivity with those networks (or "components"). The pedophilic group demonstrated wide-ranging increases in functional connectivity with the default mode network compared with controls and regional differences (increases and decreases) with the frontoparietal network. Of these brain regions (total = 23), 20 have been identified by meta-analytic studies to respond to sexually relevant stimuli. Conversely, of the brain areas known to be those that respond to sexual stimuli, nearly all emerged in the present data as significantly different in pedophiles. This study confirms the presence of significant differences in the functional connectivity of the brain in pedophilia consistent with previously reported differences in structural connectivity. The connectivity differences detected here and elsewhere are opposite in direction from those associated with anti-sociality, arguing against anti-sociality and for pedophilia as the source of the neuroanatomic differences detected. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Behavioral and cognitive outcomes for clinical trials in children with neurofibromatosis type 1.

PubMed

van der Vaart, Thijs; Rietman, André B; Plasschaert, Ellen; Legius, Eric; Elgersma, Ype; Moll, Henriëtte A

2016-01-12

To evaluate the appropriateness of cognitive and behavioral outcome measures in clinical trials in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) by analyzing the degree of deficits compared to reference groups, test-retest reliability, and how scores correlate between outcome measures. Data were analyzed from the Simvastatin for cognitive deficits and behavioral problems in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1-SIMCODA) trial, a randomized placebo-controlled trial of simvastatin for cognitive deficits and behavioral problems in children with NF1. Outcome measures were compared with age-specific reference groups to identify domains of dysfunction. Pearson r was computed for before and after measurements within the placebo group to assess test-retest reliability. Principal component analysis was used to identify the internal structure in the outcome data. Strongest mean score deviations from the reference groups were observed for full-scale intelligence (-1.1 SD), Rey Complex Figure Test delayed recall (-2.0 SD), attention problems (-1.2 SD), and social problems (-1.1 SD). Long-term test-retest reliability were excellent for Wechsler scales (r > 0.88), but poor to moderate for other neuropsychological tests (r range 0.52-0.81) and Child Behavioral Checklist subscales (r range 0.40-0.79). The correlation structure revealed 2 strong components in the outcome measures behavior and cognition, with no correlation between these components. Scores on psychosocial quality of life correlate strongly with behavioral problems and less with cognitive deficits. Children with NF1 show distinct deficits in multiple domains. Many outcome measures showed weak test-retest correlations over the 1-year trial period. Cognitive and behavioral outcomes are complementary. This analysis demonstrates the need to include reliable outcome measures on a variety of cognitive and behavioral domains in clinical trials for NF1. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

Identification of Immunoglobulin E-Binding Proteins of the Xerophilic Fungus Aspergillus penicillioides Crude Mycelial Mat Extract and Serological Reactivity Assessment in Subjects with Different Allergen Reactivity Profiles.

PubMed

González De León, Joenice; González Méndez, Ricardo; Cadilla, Carmen L; Rivera-Mariani, Félix E; Bolaños-Rosero, Benjamín

2018-01-01

Aspergillus penicillioides is a very common indoor xerophilic fungus and potential causative agent of respiratory conditions. Although people are constantly exposed to A. penicillioides, no proteins with allergenic potential have been described. Therefore, we aim to confirm allergic sensitization to A. penicillioides through reactivity in serological assays and detect immunoglobulin E (IgE)-binding proteins. In an indirect ELISA, we compared the serological reactivity to A. penicillioides between subjects with specific IgE (sIgE) (group 1, n = 54) and no sIgE reactivity (group 2, n = 15) against commercial allergens. Correlations and principal component analysis were performed to identify associations between reactivity to commercial allergens and A. penicillioides. IgE-binding proteins in A. penicillioides were visualized using Western blotting (WB) in group 1. The IgE-binding proteins with the highest reactivity were analyzed by mass spectrometry and confirmed by transcript matching. There was no statistical significance (p = 0.1656) between the study groups in serological reactivity. Correlations between reactivity to A. penicillioides, dog epithelia, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Penicillium chrysogenum were observed. WB experiments showed 6 IgE-binding proteins with molecular weights ranging from 45 to 145 kDa. Proteins of 108, 83, and 56 kDa showed higher reactivity. Mass spectrometry analysis of these 3 proteins led to the putative identification of NADP-specific glutamate dehydrogenase and catalase B. This was confirmed with transcriptome analysis. These results provide evidence of the presence of potential allergenic components in A. penicillioides. Further analysis of the putatively identified proteins should reveal their allergenic potential. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Analysis of model Titan atmospheric components using ion mobility spectrometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kojiro, D. R.; Cohen, M. J.; Wernlund, R. F.; Stimac, R. M.; Humphry, D. E.; Takeuchi, N.

1991-01-01

The Gas Chromatograph-Ion Mobility Spectrometer (GC-IMS) was proposed as an analytical technique for the analysis of Titan's atmosphere during the Cassini Mission. The IMS is an atmospheric pressure, chemical detector that produces an identifying spectrum of each chemical species measured. When the IMS is combined with a GC as a GC-IMS, the GC is used to separate the sample into its individual components, or perhaps small groups of components. The IMS is then used to detect, quantify, and identify each sample component. Conventional IMS detection and identification of sample components depends upon a source of energetic radiation, such as beta radiation, which ionizes the atmospheric pressure host gas. This primary ionization initiates a sequence of ion-molecule reactions leading to the formation of sufficiently energetic positive or negative ions, which in turn ionize most constituents in the sample. In conventional IMS, this reaction sequence is dominated by the water cluster ion. However, many of the light hydrocarbons expected in Titan's atmosphere cannot be analyzed by IMS using this mechanism at the concentrations expected. Research at NASA Ames and PCP Inc., has demonstrated IMS analysis of expected Titan atmospheric components, including saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons, using two alternate sample ionizations mechanisms. The sensitivity of the IMS to hydrocarbons such as propane and butane was increased by several orders of magnitude. Both ultra dry (waterless) IMS sample ionization and metastable ionization were successfully used to analyze a model Titan atmospheric gas mixture.

Based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy analysis of serum albumin in different stages of liver disease for early screening primary liver cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, Fadian; Ruan, Qiuyong; Lin, Juqiang; Lin, Jinyong; Zeng, Yongyi; Li, Ling; Huang, Zufang; Liu, Nenrong; Chen, Rong

2014-09-01

Despite the introduction of high-technology methods of detection and diagnosis, screening of primary liver cancer (PLC) remains imperfect. To diagnosis PLC earlier, Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) coupled with cellulose-acetate membrane electrophoresis were introduced to separate human serum albumin and SERS spectra. Three groups (15 normal persons' samples, 17 hepatitis/cirrhosis samples, 15 cases of PLC) of serum albumin were tested. Silver colloid was used to obtain SERS spectra of human serum albumin. Principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were also employed for statistical analysis. The mean Raman spectra of three groups and the difference spectra of any two suggested that the albumin has changed in liver patients. Compared to normal groups, some Raman peaks have shifted or even disappeared in hepatitis/cirrhosis and PLCs groups. The sensitivity and specificity between PLCs and normal groups is 80% and 93.3%. Among hepatitis/cirrhosis and normal groups, the sensitivity is 88.2% and specificity is also 93.3%. Besides, the sensitivity and specificity between PLCs and hepatitis/cirrhosis groups is 86.7% and 76.5%. All the above data and results indicated that early screening of PLC is potential by SERS in different stages of liver disease before cancer occurs.

Longitudinal analysis of bioaccumulative contaminants in freshwater fishes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sun, Jielun; Kim, Y.; Schmitt, C.J.

2003-01-01

The National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program (NCBP) was initiated in 1967 as a component of the National Pesticide Monitoring program. It consists of periodic collection of freshwater fish and other samples and the analysis of the concentrations of persistent environmental contaminants in these samples. For the analysis, the common approach has been to apply the mixed two-way ANOVA model to combined data. A main disadvantage of this method is that it cannot give a detailed temporal trend of the concentrations since the data are grouped. In this paper, we present an alternative approach that performs a longitudinal analysis of the information using random effects models. In the new approach, no grouping is needed and the data are treated as samples from continuous stochastic processes, which seems more appropriate than ANOVA for the problem.

Peri-apatite coating decreases uncemented tibial component migration: long-term RSA results of a randomized controlled trial and limitations of short-term results.

PubMed

Van Hamersveld, Koen T; Marang-Van De Mheen, Perla J; Nelissen, Rob G H H; Toksvig-Larsen, Sören

2018-05-09

Background and purpose - Biological fixation of uncemented knee prostheses can be improved by applying hydroxyapatite coating around the porous surface via a solution deposition technique called Peri-Apatite (PA). The 2-year results of a randomized controlled trial, evaluating the effect of PA, revealed several components with continuous migration in the second postoperative year, particularly in the uncoated group. To evaluate whether absence of early stabilization is diagnostic of loosening, we now present long-term follow-up results. Patients and methods - 60 patients were randomized to PA-coated or uncoated (porous only) total knee arthroplasty of which 58 were evaluated with radiostereometric analysis (RSA) performed at baseline, at 3 months postoperatively and at 1, 2, 5, 7, and 10 years. A linear mixed-effects model was used to analyze the repeated measurements. Results - PA-coated components had a statistically significantly lower mean migration at 10 years of 0.94 mm (95% CI 0.72-1.2) compared with the uncoated group showing a mean migration of 1.72 mm (95% CI 1.4-2.1). Continuous migration in the second postoperative year was seen in 7 uncoated components and in 1 PA-coated component. All of these implants stabilized after 2 years except for 2 uncoated components. Interpretation - Peri-apatite enhances stabilization of uncemented components. The number of components that stabilized after 2 years emphasizes the importance of longer follow-up to determine full stabilization and risk of loosening in uncemented components with biphasic migration profiles.

Teaching Analytical Method Development in an Undergraduate Instrumental Analysis Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lanigan, Katherine C.

2008-01-01

Method development and assessment, central components of carrying out chemical research, require problem-solving skills. This article describes a pedagogical approach for teaching these skills through the adaptation of published experiments and application of group-meeting style discussions to the curriculum of an undergraduate instrumental…

Raman exfoliative cytology for oral precancer diagnosis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahu, Aditi; Gera, Poonam; Pai, Venkatesh; Dubey, Abhishek; Tyagi, Gunjan; Waghmare, Mandavi; Pagare, Sandeep; Mahimkar, Manoj; Murali Krishna, C.

2017-11-01

Oral premalignant lesions (OPLs) such as leukoplakia, erythroplakia, and oral submucous fibrosis, often precede oral cancer. Screening and management of these premalignant conditions can improve prognosis. Raman spectroscopy has previously demonstrated potential in the diagnosis of oral premalignant conditions (in vivo), detected viral infection, and identified cancer in both oral and cervical exfoliated cells (ex vivo). The potential of Raman exfoliative cytology (REC) in identifying premalignant conditions was investigated. Oral exfoliated samples were collected from healthy volunteers (n=20), healthy volunteers with tobacco habits (n=20), and oral premalignant conditions (n=27, OPL) using Cytobrush. Spectra were acquired using Raman microprobe. Spectral acquisition parameters were: λex: 785 nm, laser power: 40 mW, acquisition time: 15 s, and average: 3. Postspectral acquisition, cell pellet was subjected to Pap staining. Multivariate analysis was carried out using principal component analysis and principal component-linear discriminant analysis using both spectra- and patient-wise approaches in three- and two-group models. OPLs could be identified with ˜77% (spectra-wise) and ˜70% (patient-wise) sensitivity in the three-group model while with 86% (spectra-wise) and 83% (patient-wise) in the two-group model. Use of histopathologically confirmed premalignant cases and better sampling devices may help in development of improved standard models and also enhance the sensitivity of the method. Future longitudinal studies can help validate potential of REC in screening and monitoring high-risk populations and prognosis prediction of premalignant lesions.

Tuning the Voices of a Choir: Detecting Ecological Gradients in Time-Series Populations.

PubMed

Buras, Allan; van der Maaten-Theunissen, Marieke; van der Maaten, Ernst; Ahlgrimm, Svenja; Hermann, Philipp; Simard, Sonia; Heinrich, Ingo; Helle, Gerd; Unterseher, Martin; Schnittler, Martin; Eusemann, Pascal; Wilmking, Martin

2016-01-01

This paper introduces a new approach-the Principal Component Gradient Analysis (PCGA)-to detect ecological gradients in time-series populations, i.e. several time-series originating from different individuals of a population. Detection of ecological gradients is of particular importance when dealing with time-series from heterogeneous populations which express differing trends. PCGA makes use of polar coordinates of loadings from the first two axes obtained by principal component analysis (PCA) to define groups of similar trends. Based on the mean inter-series correlation (rbar) the gain of increasing a common underlying signal by PCGA groups is quantified using Monte Carlo Simulations. In terms of validation PCGA is compared to three other existing approaches. Focusing on dendrochronological examples, PCGA is shown to correctly determine population gradients and in particular cases to be advantageous over other considered methods. Furthermore, PCGA groups in each example allowed for enhancing the strength of a common underlying signal and comparably well as hierarchical cluster analysis. Our results indicate that PCGA potentially allows for a better understanding of mechanisms causing time-series population gradients as well as objectively enhancing the performance of climate transfer functions in dendroclimatology. While our examples highlight the relevance of PCGA to the field of dendrochronology, we believe that also other disciplines working with data of comparable structure may benefit from PCGA.

Tuning the Voices of a Choir: Detecting Ecological Gradients in Time-Series Populations

PubMed Central

Buras, Allan; van der Maaten-Theunissen, Marieke; van der Maaten, Ernst; Ahlgrimm, Svenja; Hermann, Philipp; Simard, Sonia; Heinrich, Ingo; Helle, Gerd; Unterseher, Martin; Schnittler, Martin; Eusemann, Pascal; Wilmking, Martin

2016-01-01

This paper introduces a new approach–the Principal Component Gradient Analysis (PCGA)–to detect ecological gradients in time-series populations, i.e. several time-series originating from different individuals of a population. Detection of ecological gradients is of particular importance when dealing with time-series from heterogeneous populations which express differing trends. PCGA makes use of polar coordinates of loadings from the first two axes obtained by principal component analysis (PCA) to define groups of similar trends. Based on the mean inter-series correlation (rbar) the gain of increasing a common underlying signal by PCGA groups is quantified using Monte Carlo Simulations. In terms of validation PCGA is compared to three other existing approaches. Focusing on dendrochronological examples, PCGA is shown to correctly determine population gradients and in particular cases to be advantageous over other considered methods. Furthermore, PCGA groups in each example allowed for enhancing the strength of a common underlying signal and comparably well as hierarchical cluster analysis. Our results indicate that PCGA potentially allows for a better understanding of mechanisms causing time-series population gradients as well as objectively enhancing the performance of climate transfer functions in dendroclimatology. While our examples highlight the relevance of PCGA to the field of dendrochronology, we believe that also other disciplines working with data of comparable structure may benefit from PCGA. PMID:27467508

Application of principal component analysis to ecodiversity assessment of postglacial landscape (on the example of Debnica Kaszubska commune, Middle Pomerania)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojciechowski, Adam

2017-04-01

In order to assess ecodiversity understood as a comprehensive natural landscape factor (Jedicke 2001), it is necessary to apply research methods which recognize the environment in a holistic way. Principal component analysis may be considered as one of such methods as it allows to distinguish the main factors determining landscape diversity on the one hand, and enables to discover regularities shaping the relationships between various elements of the environment under study on the other hand. The procedure adopted to assess ecodiversity with the use of principal component analysis involves: a) determining and selecting appropriate factors of the assessed environment qualities (hypsometric, geological, hydrographic, plant, and others); b) calculating the absolute value of individual qualities for the basic areas under analysis (e.g. river length, forest area, altitude differences, etc.); c) principal components analysis and obtaining factor maps (maps of selected components); d) generating a resultant, detailed map and isolating several classes of ecodiversity. An assessment of ecodiversity with the use of principal component analysis was conducted in the test area of 299,67 km2 in Debnica Kaszubska commune. The whole commune is situated in the Weichselian glaciation area of high hypsometric and morphological diversity as well as high geo- and biodiversity. The analysis was based on topographical maps of the commune area in scale 1:25000 and maps of forest habitats. Consequently, nine factors reflecting basic environment elements were calculated: maximum height (m), minimum height (m), average height (m), the length of watercourses (km), the area of water reservoirs (m2), total forest area (ha), coniferous forests habitats area (ha), deciduous forest habitats area (ha), alder habitats area (ha). The values for individual factors were analysed for 358 grid cells of 1 km2. Based on the principal components analysis, four major factors affecting commune ecodiversity were distinguished: hypsometric component (PC1), deciduous forest habitats component (PC2), river valleys and alder habitats component (PC3), and lakes component (PC4). The distinguished factors characterise natural qualities of postglacial area and reflect well the role of the four most important groups of environment components in shaping ecodiversity of the area under study. The map of ecodiversity of Debnica Kaszubska commune was created on the basis of the first four principal component scores and then five classes of diversity were isolated: very low, low, average, high and very high. As a result of the assessment, five commune regions of very high ecodiversity were separated. These regions are also very attractive for tourists and valuable in terms of their rich nature which include protected areas such as Slupia Valley Landscape Park. The suggested method of ecodiversity assessment with the use of principal component analysis may constitute an alternative methodological proposition to other research methods used so far. Literature Jedicke E., 2001. Biodiversität, Geodiversität, Ökodiversität. Kriterien zur Analyse der Landschaftsstruktur - ein konzeptioneller Diskussionsbeitrag. Naturschutz und Landschaftsplanung, 33(2/3), 59-68.

Radiographic changes differ between two different short press-fit humeral stem designs in total shoulder arthroplasty.

PubMed

Denard, Patrick J; Noyes, Matthew P; Walker, J Brock; Shishani, Yousef; Gobezie, Reuben; Romeo, Anthony A; Lederman, Evan

2018-02-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the radiographic changes of the humerus in the short term after total shoulder arthroplasty with two different short-stem humeral components. The hypothesis was that there would be no difference in radiographic changes or functional outcome based on component type. A retrospective review was conducted of primary total shoulder arthroplasties performed with a short press-fit humeral component. Group A included a collarless humeral stem with an oval geometry and curved stem (Ascend or Ascend Flex; Wright Medical, Memphis, TN, USA). Group B included a humeral stem with a metaphyseal collar, rectangular geometry, and straight stem (Apex; Arthrex, Inc., Naples, FL, USA). Radiographic changes and functional outcome were evaluated at a minimum of 2 years postoperatively. There were 42 patients in group A and 35 patients in group B available for analysis. There was no difference in functional outcome between the groups. In group A, the mean total radiographic change score of the humerus was 3.9, with changes classified as low in 38% and high in 62%. In group B, the mean total radiographic change score of the humerus was 2.5, with changes classified as low in 77% and high in 23% (P < .001). Medial calcar osteolysis was present in 71% of group A compared with 28.5% of group B (P < .001). At short-term follow-up, there is no difference in functional outcome or revision between 2 different humeral stem designs. However, bone adaptive changes and the rate of medial calcar osteolysis are significantly different. Copyright © 2017 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Identification of mineral compositions in some renal calculi by FT Raman and IR spectral analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tonannavar, J.; Deshpande, Gouri; Yenagi, Jayashree; Patil, Siddanagouda B.; Patil, Nikhil A.; Mulimani, B. G.

2016-02-01

We present in this paper accurate and reliable Raman and IR spectral identification of mineral constituents in nine samples of renal calculi (kidney stones) removed from patients suffering from nephrolithiasis. The identified mineral components include Calcium Oxalate Monohydrate (COM, whewellite), Calcium Oxalate Dihydrate (COD, weddellite), Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate Hexahydrate (MAPH, struvite), Calcium Hydrogen Phosphate Dihydrate (CHPD, brushite), Pentacalcium Hydroxy Triphosphate (PCHT, hydroxyapatite) and Uric Acid (UA). The identification is based on a satisfactory assignment of all the observed IR and Raman bands (3500-400 cm- 1) to chemical functional groups of mineral components in the samples, aided by spectral analysis of pure materials of COM, MAPH, CHPD and UA. It is found that the eight samples are composed of COM as the common component, the other mineral species as common components are: MAPH in five samples, PCHT in three samples, COD in three samples, UA in three samples and CHPD in two samples. One sample is wholly composed of UA as a single component; this inference is supported by the good agreement between ab initio density functional theoretical spectra and experimental spectral measurements of both sample and pure material. A combined application of Raman and IR techniques has shown that, where the IR is ambiguous, the Raman analysis can differentiate COD from COM and PCHT from MAPH.

Identification of mineral compositions in some renal calculi by FT Raman and IR spectral analysis.

PubMed

Tonannavar, J; Deshpande, Gouri; Yenagi, Jayashree; Patil, Siddanagouda B; Patil, Nikhil A; Mulimani, B G

2016-02-05

We present in this paper accurate and reliable Raman and IR spectral identification of mineral constituents in nine samples of renal calculi (kidney stones) removed from patients suffering from nephrolithiasis. The identified mineral components include Calcium Oxalate Monohydrate (COM, whewellite), Calcium Oxalate Dihydrate (COD, weddellite), Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate Hexahydrate (MAPH, struvite), Calcium Hydrogen Phosphate Dihydrate (CHPD, brushite), Pentacalcium Hydroxy Triphosphate (PCHT, hydroxyapatite) and Uric Acid (UA). The identification is based on a satisfactory assignment of all the observed IR and Raman bands (3500-400c m(-1)) to chemical functional groups of mineral components in the samples, aided by spectral analysis of pure materials of COM, MAPH, CHPD and UA. It is found that the eight samples are composed of COM as the common component, the other mineral species as common components are: MAPH in five samples, PCHT in three samples, COD in three samples, UA in three samples and CHPD in two samples. One sample is wholly composed of UA as a single component; this inference is supported by the good agreement between ab initio density functional theoretical spectra and experimental spectral measurements of both sample and pure material. A combined application of Raman and IR techniques has shown that, where the IR is ambiguous, the Raman analysis can differentiate COD from COM and PCHT from MAPH. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Multi-Dimensional Functional Principal Components Analysis of EEG Data

PubMed Central

Hasenstab, Kyle; Scheffler, Aaron; Telesca, Donatello; Sugar, Catherine A.; Jeste, Shafali; DiStefano, Charlotte; Şentürk, Damla

2017-01-01

Summary The electroencephalography (EEG) data created in event-related potential (ERP) experiments have a complex high-dimensional structure. Each stimulus presentation, or trial, generates an ERP waveform which is an instance of functional data. The experiments are made up of sequences of multiple trials, resulting in longitudinal functional data and moreover, responses are recorded at multiple electrodes on the scalp, adding an electrode dimension. Traditional EEG analyses involve multiple simplifications of this structure to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, effectively collapsing the functional and longitudinal components by identifying key features of the ERPs and averaging them across trials. Motivated by an implicit learning paradigm used in autism research in which the functional, longitudinal and electrode components all have critical interpretations, we propose a multidimensional functional principal components analysis (MD-FPCA) technique which does not collapse any of the dimensions of the ERP data. The proposed decomposition is based on separation of the total variation into subject and subunit level variation which are further decomposed in a two-stage functional principal components analysis. The proposed methodology is shown to be useful for modeling longitudinal trends in the ERP functions, leading to novel insights into the learning patterns of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their typically developing peers as well as comparisons between the two groups. Finite sample properties of MD-FPCA are further studied via extensive simulations. PMID:28072468

A multi-dimensional functional principal components analysis of EEG data.

PubMed

Hasenstab, Kyle; Scheffler, Aaron; Telesca, Donatello; Sugar, Catherine A; Jeste, Shafali; DiStefano, Charlotte; Şentürk, Damla

2017-09-01

The electroencephalography (EEG) data created in event-related potential (ERP) experiments have a complex high-dimensional structure. Each stimulus presentation, or trial, generates an ERP waveform which is an instance of functional data. The experiments are made up of sequences of multiple trials, resulting in longitudinal functional data and moreover, responses are recorded at multiple electrodes on the scalp, adding an electrode dimension. Traditional EEG analyses involve multiple simplifications of this structure to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, effectively collapsing the functional and longitudinal components by identifying key features of the ERPs and averaging them across trials. Motivated by an implicit learning paradigm used in autism research in which the functional, longitudinal, and electrode components all have critical interpretations, we propose a multidimensional functional principal components analysis (MD-FPCA) technique which does not collapse any of the dimensions of the ERP data. The proposed decomposition is based on separation of the total variation into subject and subunit level variation which are further decomposed in a two-stage functional principal components analysis. The proposed methodology is shown to be useful for modeling longitudinal trends in the ERP functions, leading to novel insights into the learning patterns of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their typically developing peers as well as comparisons between the two groups. Finite sample properties of MD-FPCA are further studied via extensive simulations. © 2017, The International Biometric Society.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of workplace intervention strategies to reduce sedentary time in white-collar workers.

PubMed

Chu, A H Y; Ng, S H X; Tan, C S; Win, A M; Koh, D; Müller-Riemenschneider, F

2016-05-01

Prolonged sedentary behaviour has been associated with various detrimental health risks. Workplace sitting is particularly important, providing it occupies majority of total daily sedentary behaviour among desk-based employees. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the effectiveness of workplace interventions overall, and according to different intervention strategies (educational/behavioural, environmental and multi-component interventions) for reducing sitting among white-collar working adults. Articles published through December 2015 were identified in five online databases and manual searches. Twenty-six controlled intervention studies published between 2003 and 2015 of 4568 working adults were included. All 26 studies were presented qualitatively, and 21 studies with a control group without any intervention were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled intervention effect showed a significant workplace sitting reduction of -39.6 min/8-h workday (95% confidence interval [CI]: -51.7, -27.5), favouring the intervention group. Multi-component interventions reported the greatest workplace sitting reduction (-88.8 min/8-h workday; 95% CI: -132.7, -44.9), followed by environmental (-72.8 min/8-h workday; 95% CI: -104.9, -40.6) and educational/behavioural strategies -15.5 min/8-h workday (95% CI:-22.9,-8.2). Our study found consistent evidence for intervention effectiveness in reducing workplace sitting, particularly for multi-component and environmental strategies. Methodologically rigorous studies using standardized and objectively determined outcomes are warranted. © 2016 World Obesity. © 2016 World Obesity.

Molecular reclassification of Crohn's disease: a cautionary note on population stratification.

PubMed

Maus, Bärbel; Jung, Camille; Mahachie John, Jestinah M; Hugot, Jean-Pierre; Génin, Emmanuelle; Van Steen, Kristel

2013-01-01

Complex human diseases commonly differ in their phenotypic characteristics, e.g., Crohn's disease (CD) patients are heterogeneous with regard to disease location and disease extent. The genetic susceptibility to Crohn's disease is widely acknowledged and has been demonstrated by identification of over 100 CD associated genetic loci. However, relating CD subphenotypes to disease susceptible loci has proven to be a difficult task. In this paper we discuss the use of cluster analysis on genetic markers to identify genetic-based subgroups while taking into account possible confounding by population stratification. We show that it is highly relevant to consider the confounding nature of population stratification in order to avoid that detected clusters are strongly related to population groups instead of disease-specific groups. Therefore, we explain the use of principal components to correct for population stratification while clustering affected individuals into genetic-based subgroups. The principal components are obtained using 30 ancestry informative markers (AIM), and the first two PCs are determined to discriminate between continental origins of the affected individuals. Genotypes on 51 CD associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are used to perform latent class analysis, hierarchical and Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) cluster analysis within a sample of affected individuals with and without the use of principal components to adjust for population stratification. It is seen that without correction for population stratification clusters seem to be influenced by population stratification while with correction clusters are unrelated to continental origin of individuals.

Molecular Reclassification of Crohn’s Disease: A Cautionary Note on Population Stratification

PubMed Central

Maus, Bärbel; Jung, Camille; Mahachie John, Jestinah M.; Hugot, Jean-Pierre; Génin, Emmanuelle; Van Steen, Kristel

2013-01-01

Complex human diseases commonly differ in their phenotypic characteristics, e.g., Crohn’s disease (CD) patients are heterogeneous with regard to disease location and disease extent. The genetic susceptibility to Crohn’s disease is widely acknowledged and has been demonstrated by identification of over 100 CD associated genetic loci. However, relating CD subphenotypes to disease susceptible loci has proven to be a difficult task. In this paper we discuss the use of cluster analysis on genetic markers to identify genetic-based subgroups while taking into account possible confounding by population stratification. We show that it is highly relevant to consider the confounding nature of population stratification in order to avoid that detected clusters are strongly related to population groups instead of disease-specific groups. Therefore, we explain the use of principal components to correct for population stratification while clustering affected individuals into genetic-based subgroups. The principal components are obtained using 30 ancestry informative markers (AIM), and the first two PCs are determined to discriminate between continental origins of the affected individuals. Genotypes on 51 CD associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are used to perform latent class analysis, hierarchical and Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) cluster analysis within a sample of affected individuals with and without the use of principal components to adjust for population stratification. It is seen that without correction for population stratification clusters seem to be influenced by population stratification while with correction clusters are unrelated to continental origin of individuals. PMID:24147066

Extracting galactic structure parameters from multivariated density estimation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, B.; Creze, M.; Robin, A.; Bienayme, O.

1992-01-01

Multivariate statistical analysis, including includes cluster analysis (unsupervised classification), discriminant analysis (supervised classification) and principle component analysis (dimensionlity reduction method), and nonparameter density estimation have been successfully used to search for meaningful associations in the 5-dimensional space of observables between observed points and the sets of simulated points generated from a synthetic approach of galaxy modelling. These methodologies can be applied as the new tools to obtain information about hidden structure otherwise unrecognizable, and place important constraints on the space distribution of various stellar populations in the Milky Way. In this paper, we concentrate on illustrating how to use nonparameter density estimation to substitute for the true densities in both of the simulating sample and real sample in the five-dimensional space. In order to fit model predicted densities to reality, we derive a set of equations which include n lines (where n is the total number of observed points) and m (where m: the numbers of predefined groups) unknown parameters. A least-square estimation will allow us to determine the density law of different groups and components in the Galaxy. The output from our software, which can be used in many research fields, will also give out the systematic error between the model and the observation by a Bayes rule.

Dynamic interactions of the cortical networks during thought suppression.

PubMed

Aso, Toshihiko; Nishimura, Kazuo; Kiyonaka, Takashi; Aoki, Takaaki; Inagawa, Michiyo; Matsuhashi, Masao; Tobinaga, Yoshikazu; Fukuyama, Hidenao

2016-08-01

Thought suppression has spurred extensive research in clinical and preclinical fields, particularly with regard to the paradoxical aspects of this behavior. However, the involvement of the brain's inhibitory system in the dynamics underlying the continuous effort to suppress thoughts has yet to be clarified. This study aims to provide a unified perspective for the volitional suppression of internal events incorporating the current understanding of the brain's inhibitory system. Twenty healthy volunteers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed thought suppression blocks alternating with visual imagery blocks. The whole dataset was decomposed by group-independent component analysis into 30 components. After discarding noise components, the 20 valid components were subjected to further analysis of their temporal properties including task-relatedness and between-component residual correlation. Combining a long task period and a data-driven approach, we observed a right-side-dominant, lateral frontoparietal network to be strongly suppression related. This network exhibited increased fluctuation during suppression, which is compatible with the well-known difficulty of suppression maintenance. Between-network correlation provided further insight into the coordinated engagement of the executive control and dorsal attention networks, as well as the reciprocal activation of imagery-related components, thus revealing neural substrates associated with the rivalry between intrusive thoughts and the suppression process.

Investigation into three dimensional hip anatomy in anterior dislocation after THA. Influence of the position of the hip rotation centre.

PubMed

Sariali, Elhadi; Klouche, Shahnez; Mamoudy, Patrick

2012-07-01

The components position is a major factor under the surgeon's control in determining the risk of dislocation post total hip arthroplasty. The aim of this study was to investigate the proper three-dimensional components position including the centre of rotation in the case of anterior dislocation. Among 1764 consecutive patients who underwent total hip arthroplasty using a direct anterior approach, 27 experienced anterior dislocation. The three-dimensional hip anatomy was investigated in 12 patients who were paired with 12 patients from the same initial cohort who did not experience dislocation and also with 36 control patients with osteoarthritis. A pelvic Cartesian referential was defined to perform the acetabular analysis. The coordinates were expressed as percentages of the pelvic width, height and depth. The anteversion angles were measured. The hip centre of rotation was significantly shifted medially and posteriorly in the dislocation group when compared to the non-dislocation group and also to the control group. There was no significant difference in component angular position between the dislocation-group and the non-dislocation group. However, the stem anteversion in the dislocation group was increased in comparison to the mean natural femoral anteversion of the control group. A medial and posterior displacement of the hip rotation centre was found to correlate to anterior dislocation post total hip arthoplasty. These results suggest the importance of an accurate restoration of the centre of rotation, whilst avoiding an excessive acetabular reaming which may induce a medial and a posterior displacement. III comparative non randomised. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teaching in conflict contexts: dimensions of subjective wellbeing in Palestinian teachers living in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

PubMed

Pepe, Alessandro; Addimando, Loredana; Dagdouke, Jamal; Yagi, Shaher; Veronese, Guido

2018-02-21

Subjective wellbeing can be defined in terms of good mental state, including positive and negative evaluations that people make of their affect and lives. The aim of this study was to identify specific domains of wellbeing that are salient to Palestinian teachers living in three different contexts (West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Israel) and to map how components of subjective wellbeing vary between the three cohorts. Data were gathered from interviews of teachers participating in 16 focus groups and from 36 key informants (including psychologists, counsellors, school principals, lawyers). Participants were divided into three groups according to their working locations. Data were analysed by using a mixed-method approach. We used thematic textual analysis, and data were cross-validated with results of statistical significance of lexical specificities (ie, domain-specific terms extracted from specific participants' lexicon) and semantic network analysis. We interviewed 104 teachers. First-order hierarchical categorisation of thematic analysis revealed four dimensions of subjective wellbeing: psychosocial, professional-related, economic issues, and contextual factors. Some second-order subcategories were quality of teaching work, personality aspects, emotional dimensions, political dimensions, and psychological dimensions. Analysis of lexical specificities and results of semantic network analysis revealed that the importance of different components of subjective wellbeing varied across geographical cohorts. Overall, the results of qualitative and quantitative data analysis showed a clear relationship between the teachers' subjective wellbeing and the places they lived. General themes were common in all populations, but the three cohorts differed in terms of the relative salience of each theme. The prominent themes for the Gazan group were quality of teaching, social dimensions, and religion. The key themes for the West Bank group were economic, social dimensions, and recognition. Salient themes for the Arab-Israeli group were professional, emotional, and social dimensions. Despite some differences between the diasporic Palestinian populations in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, the categories of wellbeing are supported in all cohorts. None. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rapid characterization of transgenic and non-transgenic soybean oils by chemometric methods using NIR spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luna, Aderval S.; da Silva, Arnaldo P.; Pinho, Jéssica S. A.; Ferré, Joan; Boqué, Ricard

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and multivariate classification were applied to discriminate soybean oil samples into non-transgenic and transgenic. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to extract relevant features from the spectral data and to remove the anomalous samples. The best results were obtained when with Support Vectors Machine-Discriminant Analysis (SVM-DA) and Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) after mean centering plus multiplicative scatter correction. For SVM-DA the percentage of successful classification was 100% for the training group and 100% and 90% in validation group for non transgenic and transgenic soybean oil samples respectively. For PLS-DA the percentage of successful classification was 95% and 100% in training group for non transgenic and transgenic soybean oil samples respectively and 100% and 80% in validation group for non transgenic and transgenic respectively. The results demonstrate that NIR spectroscopy can provide a rapid, nondestructive and reliable method to distinguish non-transgenic and transgenic soybean oils.

The Effects of Chlordiazepoxide and d-Amphetamine during a Three-Component Multiple Schedule

PubMed Central

Romanowich, Paul; Lamb, R. J.

2013-01-01

Multiple schedules have been used in behavioral pharmacology research to show that a drug’s effect on behavior can be a function of the schedule of reinforcement that supports that behavior. However, less research has examined whether the context of the schedule of reinforcement in a multiple schedule can change the drug’s effect on behavior. We examined the effects of acute chlordiazepoxide and d-amphetamine injections on the behavior of two groups of pigeons trained on a three-component multiple schedule with identical schedules of reinforcement in the first and last components. For one group of pigeons reinforcement was unavailable during the middle component (decreased-middle-component). For the second group reinforcement rate was higher during the middle component than during the first or third components (increased-middle-component). In the decreased-middle-component group, chlordiazepoxide (3.2-32 mg/kg) decreased third-component response rates less than it decreased responding in the first component. Conversely, in the increased-middle-component group, chlordiazepoxide (3.2-10 mg/kg) decreased third-component response rates more than in the first component. In both groups, d-amphetamine did not differentially affect response rates across components. These results are consistent with previous research showing that drugs can differentially affect responding to two different schedules of reinforcement during the same session, and suggest that pharmacological preparations may be helpful in elucidating the mechanisms that control multiple schedule interactions. PMID:23633164

Effectiveness of a program to facilitate recovery for people with long-term mental illness in Japan.

PubMed

Chiba, Rie; Miyamoto, Yuki; Kawakami, Norito; Harada, Naoko

2014-09-01

Recovery is defined as the process of developing new meaning and purpose in life as one grows beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness. This study aimed to develop a program to facilitate recovery and examine its effectiveness in a randomized controlled trial. The program was developed with three components that enhance benefit finding, personal meaning, and a sense of happiness. Sixty-three participants with long-term mental illness were randomly allocated to the intervention group (n = 32) or the control group (n = 31). The intervention group attended eight 2-h group sessions, with one held every week. Recovery was assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and at a three-month follow-up. In the per-protocol analysis, after excluding those who dropped out, the intervention group showed significant improvement in recovery compared with the control group (P < 0.05). In the intention-to-treat analysis, a repeated measures analysis of variance did not show any significant intervention effect (time × group) (P > 0.05). The program had the potential to facilitate recovery. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Spatial and spectral analysis of corneal epithelium injury using hyperspectral images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Md Noor, Siti Salwa; Michael, Kaleena; Marshall, Stephen; Ren, Jinchang

2017-12-01

Eye assessment is essential in preventing blindness. Currently, the existing methods to assess corneal epithelium injury are complex and require expert knowledge. Hence, we have introduced a non-invasive technique using hyperspectral imaging (HSI) and an image analysis algorithm of corneal epithelium injury. Three groups of images were compared and analyzed, namely healthy eyes, injured eyes, and injured eyes with stain. Dimensionality reduction using principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to reduce massive data and redundancies. The first 10 principal components (PCs) were selected for further processing. The mean vector of 10 PCs with 45 pairs of all combinations was computed and sent to two classifiers. A quadratic Bayes normal classifier (QDC) and a support vector classifier (SVC) were used in this study to discriminate the eleven eyes into three groups. As a result, the combined classifier of QDC and SVC showed optimal performance with 2D PCA features (2DPCA-QDSVC) and was utilized to classify normal and abnormal tissues, using color image segmentation. The result was compared with human segmentation. The outcome showed that the proposed algorithm produced extremely promising results to assist the clinician in quantifying a cornea injury.

Evaluation of the anxiolytic properties of myristicin, a component of nutmeg, in the male Sprague-Dawley rat.

PubMed

Leiter, Emily; Hitchcock, Gavin; Godwin, Stuart; Johnson, Michelle; Sedgwick, William; Jones, Wendy; McCall, Suzanne; Ceremuga, Thomas E

2011-04-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the anxiolytic effects of myristicin, a major compound found in nutmeg, and its potential interaction with the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA(A)) receptor in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Nutmeg has traditionally been used as a spice in food preparation and as an herbal remedy in the treatment of many medical conditions, including anxiety. Fifty-five rats were divided equally into 5 groups: control (vehicle); myristicin; midazolam (positive control); flumazenil and myristicin; and midazolam and myristicin. The behavioral component of anxiety was examined by using the elevated plus-maze (open-arm and closed-arm times) along with analysis of gross and fine motor movements. Data analysis was performed using a 2-tailed multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and least significant difference post-hoc test. Our data suggest that myristicin does not decrease anxiety by modulation of the GABA(A) receptor but may promote anxiogenesis. When myristicin was combined with midazolam, an antagonist-like effect similar to the flumazenil and myristicin combination was exhibited by a decrease in anxiolysis compared with the midazolam-only group. Myristicin may antagonize the anxiolytic effects of midazolam, increase anxiety, and affect motor movements.

Probiotic-fermented purple sweet potato yogurt activates compensatory IGF‑IR/PI3K/Akt survival pathways and attenuates cardiac apoptosis in the hearts of spontaneously hypertensive rats.

PubMed

Lin, Pei-Pei; Hsieh, You-Miin; Kuo, Wei-Wen; Lin, Yueh-Min; Yeh, Yu-Lan; Lin, Chien-Chung; Tsai, Fuu-Jen; Tsai, Chang-Hai; Huang, Chih-Yang; Tsai, Cheng-Chih

2013-12-01

Apoptosis is recognized as a predictor of adverse outcomes in subjects with cardiac diseases. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of probiotic-fermented purple sweet potato yogurt (PSPY) with high γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) content on cardiac apoptosis in spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) hearts. The rats were orally adminsitered with 2 different concentrations of PSPY (10 and 100%) or captopril, 15.6 mg/kg, body weight (BW)/day. The control group was administered distilled water. DAPI and TUNEL staining were used to detect the numbers of apoptotic cells. A decrease in the number of TUNEL-positive cardiac myocytes was observed in the SHR-PSPY (10 and 100%) groups. In addition, the levels of key components of the Fas receptor- and mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathways were determined by western blot analysis. The results revealed that the levels of the key components of the Fas receptor- and mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathway were significantly decreased in the SHR-captopril, and 10 and 100% PSPY groups. Additionally, the levels of phosphorylated insulin-like growth factor‑I receptor (p-IGF‑IR) were increased in SHR hearts from the SHR-control group; however, no recovery in the levels of downstream signaling components was observed. In addition, the levels of components of the compensatory IGF-IR-dependent survival pathway (p-PI3K and p-Akt) were all highly enhanced in the left ventricles in the hearts form the SHR-10 and 100% PSPY groups. Therefore, the oral administration of PSPY may attenuate cardiomyocyte apoptosis in SHR hearts by activating IGF‑IR-dependent survival signaling pathways.

Craters on Earth, Moon, and Mars: Multivariate classification and mode of origin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pike, R.J.

1974-01-01

Testing extraterrestrial craters and candidate terrestrial analogs for morphologic similitude is treated as a problem in numerical taxonomy. According to a principal-components solution and a cluster analysis, 402 representative craters on the Earth, the Moon, and Mars divide into two major classes of contrasting shapes and modes of origin. Craters of net accumulation of material (cratered lunar domes, Martian "calderas," and all terrestrial volcanoes except maars and tuff rings) group apart from craters of excavation (terrestrial meteorite impact and experimental explosion craters, typical Martian craters, and all other lunar craters). Maars and tuff rings belong to neither group but are transitional. The classification criteria are four independent attributes of topographic geometry derived from seven descriptive variables by the principal-components transformation. Morphometric differences between crater bowl and raised rim constitute the strongest of the four components. Although single topographic variables cannot confidently predict the genesis of individual extraterrestrial craters, multivariate statistical models constructed from several variables can distinguish consistently between large impact craters and volcanoes. ?? 1974.

Identification of "binge-prone" women: an experimentally and psychometrically validated cluster analysis in a college population.

PubMed

Beebe, D W; Holmbeck, G N; Albright, J S; Noga, K; DeCastro, B

1995-01-01

This study investigated the escape model of binge eating through a cluster analysis using standardized measures. A sample of 126 undergraduate women underwent a manipulation of their level of cognition and were asked to "taste-test" several flavors of ice cream. Questionnaire data from these women were entered into a cluster analysis. Two groups emerged: women in the "binge-prone" group were significantly more depressed, had lower self-esteem, had more chaotic and extreme eating patterns, and were more self-conscious than those in the control group. In validation work, binge-prone women were shown to report elevated levels of bulimic symptomatology and, when in the presence of a food they enjoyed, to respond to increases in level of cognition by eating more. These results were consistent with some, but not all, of the components of the escape model.

Diagnosis of oral lichen planus from analysis of saliva samples using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and chemometrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kistenev, Yury V.; Borisov, Alexey V.; Titarenko, Maria A.; Baydik, Olga D.; Shapovalov, Alexander V.

2018-04-01

The ability to diagnose oral lichen planus (OLP) based on saliva analysis using THz time-domain spectroscopy and chemometrics is discussed. The study involved 30 patients (2 male and 28 female) with OLP. This group consisted of two subgroups with the erosive form of OLP (n = 15) and with the reticular and papular forms of OLP (n = 15). The control group consisted of six healthy volunteers (one male and five females) without inflammation in the mucous membrane in the oral cavity and without periodontitis. Principal component analysis was used to reveal informative features in the experimental data. The one-versus-one multiclass classifier using support vector machine binary classifiers was used. The two-stage classification approach using several absorption spectra scans for an individual saliva sample provided 100% accuracy of differential classification between OLP subgroups and control group.

Analysis of Pulsed Flow Modification Alternatives, Lower Missouri River, 2005

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jacobson, Robert B.

2008-01-01

The graphical, tabular, and statistical data presented in this report resulted from analysis of alternative flow regime designs considered by a group of Missouri River managers, stakeholders, and scientists during the summer of 2005. This plenary group was charged with designing a flow regime with increased spring flow pulses to support reproduction and survival of the endangered pallid sturgeon. Environmental flow components extracted from the reference natural flow regime were used to design and assess performance of alternative flow regimes. The analysis is based on modeled flow releases from Gavins Point Dam (near Yankton, South Dakota) for nine design alternatives and two reference scenarios; the reference scenarios are the run-of-the-river and the water-control plan implemented in 2004. The alternative designs were developed by the plenary group with the goal of providing pulsed spring flows, while retaining traditional social and economic uses of the river.

Risk factors associated with liver steatosis and fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B patient with component of metabolic syndrome.

PubMed

Cai, Shaohang; Ou, Zejin; Liu, Duan; Liu, Lili; Liu, Ying; Wu, Xiaolu; Yu, Tao; Peng, Jie

2018-05-01

We investigated whether metabolic syndrome exacerbated the risk of liver fibrosis among chronic hepatitis B patients and risk factors associated with liver steatosis and fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B patients with components of metabolic syndrome. This study included 1236 chronic hepatitis B patients with at least one component of metabolic syndrome. The controlled attenuation parameter and liver stiffness, patient information and relevant laboratory data were recorded. Controlled attenuation parameter was increased progressively with the number of metabolic syndrome components ( p  < 0.001). Multivariate analysis indicated younger age, high gamma-glutamyltransferase level, high waist-hip ratio, and high body mass index were independent risk factors associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease among chronic hepatitis B patients with metabolic syndrome. In the fibrosis and non-fibrosis groups, most of blood lipid was relatively lower in fibrosis group. An increased proportion of chronic hepatitis B patients with liver fibrosis was found concomitant with an increasing number of components of metabolic syndrome. Male gender, older age, smoking, aspartate aminotransferase levels, high body mass index, and low platelet level were identified as independent risk factors associated with liver fibrosis. For chronic hepatitis B patients with coexisting components of metabolic syndrome, stratification by independent risk factors for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and fibrosis can help with management of their disease.

Source attribution of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in surface waters from Rhode Island and the New York Metropolitan Area

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xianming; Lohmann, Rainer; Dassuncao, Clifton; Hu, Xindi C.; Weber, Andrea K.; Vecitis, Chad D.; Sunderland, Elsie M.

2017-01-01

Exposure to poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) has been associated with adverse health effects in humans and wildlife. Understanding pollution sources is essential for environmental regulation but source attribution for PFASs has been confounded by limited information on industrial releases and rapid changes in chemical production. Here we use principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical clustering, and geospatial analysis to understand source contributions to 14 PFASs measured across 37 sites in the Northeastern United States in 2014. PFASs are significantly elevated in urban areas compared to rural sites except for perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), N-methyl perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetic acid (N-MeFOSAA), perfluoroundecanate (PFUnDA) and perfluorododecanate (PFDoDA). The highest PFAS concentrations across sites were for perfluorooctanate (PFOA, 56 ng L−1) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFOS, 43 ng L−1) and PFOS levels are lower than earlier measurements of U.S. surface waters. PCA and cluster analysis indicates three main statistical groupings of PFASs. Geospatial analysis of watersheds reveals the first component/cluster originates from a mixture of contemporary point sources such as airports and textile mills. Atmospheric sources from the waste sector are consistent with the second component, and the metal smelting industry plausibly explains the third component. We find this source-attribution technique is effective for better understanding PFAS sources in urban areas. PMID:28217711

ERP evidence suggests executive dysfunction in ecstasy polydrug users.

PubMed

Roberts, C A; Fairclough, S H; Fisk, J E; Tames, F; Montgomery, C

2013-08-01

Deficits in executive functions such as access to semantic/long-term memory have been shown in ecstasy users in previous research. Equally, there have been many reports of equivocal findings in this area. The current study sought to further investigate behavioural and electro-physiological measures of this executive function in ecstasy users. Twenty ecstasy-polydrug users, 20 non-ecstasy-polydrug users and 20 drug-naïve controls were recruited. Participants completed background questionnaires about their drug use, sleep quality, fluid intelligence and mood state. Each individual also completed a semantic retrieval task whilst 64 channel Electroencephalography (EEG) measures were recorded. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed no between-group differences in behavioural performance on the task. Mixed ANOVA on event-related potential (ERP) components P2, N2 and P3 revealed significant between-group differences in the N2 component. Subsequent exploratory univariate ANOVAs on the N2 component revealed marginally significant between-group differences, generally showing greater negativity at occipito-parietal electrodes in ecstasy users compared to drug-naïve controls. Despite absence of behavioural differences, differences in N2 magnitude are evidence of abnormal executive functioning in ecstasy-polydrug users.

Chemometric and multivariate statistical analysis of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry spectra from complex Cu-Fe sulfides.

PubMed

Kalegowda, Yogesh; Harmer, Sarah L

2012-03-20

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) spectra of mineral samples are complex, comprised of large mass ranges and many peaks. Consequently, characterization and classification analysis of these systems is challenging. In this study, different chemometric and statistical data evaluation methods, based on monolayer sensitive TOF-SIMS data, have been tested for the characterization and classification of copper-iron sulfide minerals (chalcopyrite, chalcocite, bornite, and pyrite) at different flotation pulp conditions (feed, conditioned feed, and Eh modified). The complex mass spectral data sets were analyzed using the following chemometric and statistical techniques: principal component analysis (PCA); principal component-discriminant functional analysis (PC-DFA); soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA); and k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) classification. PCA was found to be an important first step in multivariate analysis, providing insight into both the relative grouping of samples and the elemental/molecular basis for those groupings. For samples exposed to oxidative conditions (at Eh ~430 mV), each technique (PCA, PC-DFA, SIMCA, and k-NN) was found to produce excellent classification. For samples at reductive conditions (at Eh ~ -200 mV SHE), k-NN and SIMCA produced the most accurate classification. Phase identification of particles that contain the same elements but a different crystal structure in a mixed multimetal mineral system has been achieved.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus: distribution of genetic markers in Kazakh population.

PubMed

Sikhayeva, Nurgul; Talzhanov, Yerkebulan; Iskakova, Aisha; Dzharmukhanov, Jarkyn; Nugmanova, Raushan; Zholdybaeva, Elena; Ramanculov, Erlan

2018-01-01

Ethnic differences exist in the frequencies of genetic variations that contribute to the risk of common disease. This study aimed to analyse the distribution of several genes, previously associated with susceptibility to type 2 diabetes and obesity-related phenotypes, in a Kazakh population. A total of 966 individuals belonging to the Kazakh ethnicity were recruited from an outpatient clinic. We genotyped 41 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with type 2 diabetes in other ethnic groups and 31 of these were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The obtained allele frequencies were further compared to publicly available data from other ethnic populations. Allele frequencies for other (compared) populations were pooled from the haplotype map (HapMap) database. Principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling (MDS) were used for the analysis of genetic relationship between the populations. Comparative analysis of allele frequencies of the studied SNPs showed significant differentiation among the studied populations. The Kazakh population was grouped with Asian populations according to the cluster analysis and with the Caucasian populations according to PCA. According to MDS, results of the current study show that the Kazakh population holds an intermediate position between Caucasian and Asian populations. A high percentage of population differentiation was observed between Kazakh and world populations. The Kazakh population was clustered with Caucasian populations, and this result may indicate a significant Caucasian component in the Kazakh gene pool.

Influence of geomagnetic activity and atmospheric pressure in hypertensive adults.

PubMed

Azcárate, T; Mendoza, B

2017-09-01

We performed a study of the systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressure behavior under natural variables such as the atmospheric pressure and the horizontal geomagnetic field component. We worked with a group of eight adult hypertensive volunteers, four men and four women, with ages between 18 and 27 years in Mexico City during a geomagnetic storm in 2014. The data was divided by gender, age, and day/night cycle. We studied the time series using three methods: correlations, bivariate analysis, and superposed epoch (within a window of 2 days around the day of occurrence of a geomagnetic storm) analysis, between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the natural variables. The correlation analysis indicated a correlation between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the atmospheric pressure and the horizontal geomagnetic field component, being the largest during the night. Furthermore, the correlation and bivariate analyses showed that the largest correlations are between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the horizontal geomagnetic field component. Finally, the superposed epoch analysis showed that the largest number of significant changes in the blood pressure under the influence of geomagnetic field occurred in the systolic blood pressure for men.

Influence of geomagnetic activity and atmospheric pressure in hypertensive adults

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azcárate, T.; Mendoza, B.

2017-09-01

We performed a study of the systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressure behavior under natural variables such as the atmospheric pressure and the horizontal geomagnetic field component. We worked with a group of eight adult hypertensive volunteers, four men and four women, with ages between 18 and 27 years in Mexico City during a geomagnetic storm in 2014. The data was divided by gender, age, and day/night cycle. We studied the time series using three methods: correlations, bivariate analysis, and superposed epoch (within a window of 2 days around the day of occurrence of a geomagnetic storm) analysis, between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the natural variables. The correlation analysis indicated a correlation between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the atmospheric pressure and the horizontal geomagnetic field component, being the largest during the night. Furthermore, the correlation and bivariate analyses showed that the largest correlations are between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the horizontal geomagnetic field component. Finally, the superposed epoch analysis showed that the largest number of significant changes in the blood pressure under the influence of geomagnetic field occurred in the systolic blood pressure for men.

What Everyone Should Know about Archeans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeland, Peter

2013-01-01

For many years biologists supposed that one group of microorganisms, which they called archaebacteria, were an ancient and primitive type of bacteria. Following biochemical analysis of their RNA and other cell components, it soon became clear that their distinct features merited classification in a separate domain, the archea. From an evolutionary…

Thiazolidine peracetates: carbohydrate derivatives that readily assign cis-, trans-2,3- monosaccharides by GC/MS analysis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A novel group of carbohydrate derivatives is described that uniquely assign cis/trans-2,3 aldose stereoisomers at low nanomolar concentrations. Aldopentoses or aldohexoses, or component aldoses from hydrolysis of polysaccharides or oligosaccharides, react with cysteamine in pyridine to give quantita...

Narrative Analysis: Clinical Applications of Story Generation and Story Retelling.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merritt, Donna DiSegna; Liles, Betty Z.

1989-01-01

Twenty language-disordered and 20 nonimpaired children, aged 9-11, performed story generation and story retelling tasks. For both groups, retold narratives were longer and contained more story grammar components and complete episode structures. Clause length differentiated story generation from story retelling for the language-disordered children…

Assessing Underreporting Response Bias on the MMPI-2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bagby, R. Michael; Marshall, Margarita B.

2004-01-01

The authors assess the replicability of the two-factor model of underreporting response style. They then examine the relative performance of scales measuring these styles in analog (ARD) and differential prevalence group (DPG) designs. Principal components analysis produced a two-factor structure corresponding to self-deceptive (SD) and impression…

A Three-Level Analysis of Collaborative Learning in Dual-Interaction Spaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lonchamp, Jacques

2009-01-01

CSCL systems which follow the dual-interaction spaces paradigm support the synchronous construction and discussion of shared artifacts by distributed or colocated small groups of learners. The most recent generic dual-interaction space environments, either model based or component based, can be deeply customized by teachers for supporting…

Analysis of exogenous components of mortality risks.

PubMed

Blinkin, V L

1998-04-01

A new technique for deriving exogenous components of mortality risks from national vital statistics has been developed. Each observed death rate Dij (where i corresponds to calendar time (year or interval of years) and j denotes the number of corresponding age group) was represented as Dij = Aj + BiCj, and unknown quantities Aj, Bi, and Cj were estimated by a special procedure using the least-squares principle. The coefficients of variation do not exceed 10%. It is shown that the term Aj can be interpreted as the endogenous and the second term BiCj as the exogenous components of the death rate. The aggregate of endogenous components Aj can be described by a regression function, corresponding to the Gompertz-Makeham law, A(tau) = gamma + beta x e alpha tau, where gamma, beta, and alpha are constants, tau is age, A(tau) [symbol: see text] tau = tau j identical to A(tau j) identical to Aj and tau j is the value of age tau in jth age group. The coefficients of variation for such a representation does not exceed 4%. An analysis of exogenous risk levels in the Moscow and Russian populations during 1980-1995 shows that since 1992 all components of exogenous risk in the Moscow population had been increasing up to 1994. The greatest contribution to the total level of exogenous risk was lethal diseases, and their death rate was 387 deaths per 100,000 persons in 1994, i.e., 61.9% of all deaths. The dynamics of exogenous mortality risk change during 1990-1994 in the Moscow population and in the Russian population without Moscow had been identical: the risk had been increasing and its value in the Russian population had been higher than that in the Moscow population.

Classification of stevia sweeteners in soft drinks using liquid chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Kakigi, Y; Suzuki, T; Icho, T; Uyama, A; Mochizuki, N

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive analytical method for the characterisation of stevia sweeteners in soft drinks. By using LC and time-of-flight MS, we detected 30 steviol glycosides from nine stevia sweeteners. The mass spectral data of these compounds were applied to the analysis to determine steviol glycosides in nine soft drinks. On the basis of chromatographic data and principal-component analysis, these soft drinks were classified into three groups, and the soft drinks of each group, respectively, contained high-rebaudioside A extract, normal stevia extract or alfa-glucosyltransferase-treated stevia extract.

Social support and support groups among people with HIV/AIDS in Ghana.

PubMed

Abrefa-Gyan, Tina; Wu, Liyun; Lewis, Marilyn W

2016-01-01

HIV/AIDS, a chronic burden in Ghana, poses social and health outcome concerns to those infected. Examining the Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS) instrument among 300 Ghanaians from a cross-sectional design, Principal Component Analysis yielded four factors (positive interaction, trust building, information giving, and essential support), which accounted for 85.73% of the total variance in the MOS-SSS. A logistic regression analysis showed that essential support was the strongest predictor of the length of time an individual stayed in the support group, whereas positive interaction indicated negative association. The study's implications for policy, research, and practice were discussed.

Susceptibility of linear and nonlinear otoacoustic emission components to low-dose styrene exposure.

PubMed

Tognola, G; Chiaramello, E; Sisto, R; Moleti, A

2015-03-01

To investigate potential susceptibility of active cochlear mechanisms to low-level styrene exposure by comparing TEOAEs in workers and controls. Two advanced analysis techniques were applied to detect sub-clinical changes in linear and nonlinear cochlear mechanisms of OAE generation: the wavelet transform to decompose TEOAEs into time-frequency components and extract signal-to-noise ratio and latency of each component, and the bispectrum to detect and extract nonlinear TEOAE contributions as quadratic frequency couplings (QFCs). Two cohorts of workers were examined: subjects exposed exclusively to styrene (N = 9), and subjects exposed to styrene and noise (N = 6). The control group was perfectly matched by age and sex to the exposed group. Exposed subjects showed significantly lowered SNR in TEOAE components at mid-to-high frequencies (above 1.6 kHz) and a shift of QFC distribution towards lower frequencies than controls. No systematic differences were observed in latency. Low-level styrene exposure may have induced a modification of cochlear functionality as concerns linear and nonlinear OAE generation mechanisms. The lack of change in latency seems to suggest that the OAE components, where generation region and latency are tightly coupled, may not have been affected by styrene and noise exposure levels considered here.

Mental health stigmatisation in deployed UK Armed Forces: a principal components analysis.

PubMed

Fertout, Mohammed; Jones, N; Keeling, M; Greenberg, N

2015-12-01

UK military research suggests that there is a significant link between current psychological symptoms, mental health stigmatisation and perceived barriers to care (stigma/BTC). Few studies have explored the construct of stigma/BTC in depth amongst deployed UK military personnel. Three survey datasets containing a stigma/BTC scale obtained during UK deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan were combined (n=3405 personnel). Principal component analysis was used to identify the key components of stigma/BTC. The relationship between psychological symptoms, the stigma/BTC components and help seeking were examined. Two components were identified: 'potential loss of personal military credibility and trust' (stigma Component 1, five items, 49.4% total model variance) and 'negative perceptions of mental health services and barriers to help seeking' (Component 2, six items, 11.2% total model variance). Component 1 was endorsed by 37.8% and Component 2 by 9.4% of personnel. Component 1 was associated with both assessed and subjective mental health, medical appointments and admission to hospital. Stigma Component 2 was associated with subjective and assessed mental health but not with medical appointments. Neither component was associated with help-seeking for subjective psycho-social problems. Potential loss of credibility and trust appeared to be associated with help-seeking for medical reasons but not for help-seeking for subjective psychosocial problems. Those experiencing psychological symptoms appeared to minimise the effects of stigma by seeking out a socially acceptable route into care, such as the medical consultation, whereas those who experienced a subjective mental health problem appeared willing to seek help from any source. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

An immune-related lncRNA signature for patients with anaplastic gliomas.

PubMed

Wang, Wen; Zhao, Zheng; Yang, Fan; Wang, Haoyuan; Wu, Fan; Liang, Tingyu; Yan, Xiaoyan; Li, Jiye; Lan, Qing; Wang, Jiangfei; Zhao, Jizong

2018-01-01

We investigated immune-related long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that may be exploited as potential therapeutic targets in anaplastic gliomas. We obtained 572 lncRNAs and 317 immune genes from the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas microarray and constructed immune-related lncRNAs co-expression networks to identify immune-related lncRNAs. Two additional datasets (GSE16011, REMBRANDT) were used for validation. Gene set enrichment analysis and principal component analysis were used for functional annotation. Immune-lncRNAs co-expression networks were constructed. Nine immune-related lncRNAs (SNHG8, PGM5-AS1, ST20-AS1, LINC00937, AGAP2-AS1, MIR155HG, TUG1, MAPKAPK5-AS1, and HCG18) signature was identified in patients with anaplastic gliomas. Patients in the low-risk group showed longer overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival than those in the high-risk group (P < 0.0001; P < 0.0001). Additionally, patients in the high-risk group displayed no-deletion of chromosomal arms 1p and/or 19q, isocitrate dehydrogenase wild-type, classical and mesenchymal TCGA subtype, G3 CGGA subtype, and lower Karnofsky performance score (KPS). Moreover, the signature was an independent factor and was significantly associated with the OS (P = 0.000, hazard ratio (HR) = 1.434). These findings were further validated in two additional datasets (GSE16011, REMBRANDT). Low-risk and high-risk groups displayed different immune status based on principal components analysis. Our results showed that the nine immune-related lncRNAs signature has prognostic value for anaplastic gliomas.

Characterization of spatial and temporal variability in hydrochemistry of Johor Straits, Malaysia.

PubMed

Abdullah, Pauzi; Abdullah, Sharifah Mastura Syed; Jaafar, Othman; Mahmud, Mastura; Khalik, Wan Mohd Afiq Wan Mohd

2015-12-15

Characterization of hydrochemistry changes in Johor Straits within 5 years of monitoring works was successfully carried out. Water quality data sets (27 stations and 19 parameters) collected in this area were interpreted subject to multivariate statistical analysis. Cluster analysis grouped all the stations into four clusters ((Dlink/Dmax) × 100<90) and two clusters ((Dlink/Dmax) × 100<80) for site and period similarities. Principal component analysis rendered six significant components (eigenvalue>1) that explained 82.6% of the total variance of the data set. Classification matrix of discriminant analysis assigned 88.9-92.6% and 83.3-100% correctness in spatial and temporal variability, respectively. Times series analysis then confirmed that only four parameters were not significant over time change. Therefore, it is imperative that the environmental impact of reclamation and dredging works, municipal or industrial discharge, marine aquaculture and shipping activities in this area be effectively controlled and managed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discrimination of healthy and osteoarthritic articular cartilage by Fourier transform infrared imaging and Fisher’s discriminant analysis

PubMed Central

Mao, Zhi-Hua; Yin, Jian-Hua; Zhang, Xue-Xi; Wang, Xiao; Xia, Yang

2016-01-01

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic imaging (FTIRI) technique can be used to obtain the quantitative information of content and spatial distribution of principal components in cartilage by combining with chemometrics methods. In this study, FTIRI combining with principal component analysis (PCA) and Fisher’s discriminant analysis (FDA) was applied to identify the healthy and osteoarthritic (OA) articular cartilage samples. Ten 10-μm thick sections of canine cartilages were imaged at 6.25μm/pixel in FTIRI. The infrared spectra extracted from the FTIR images were imported into SPSS software for PCA and FDA. Based on the PCA result of 2 principal components, the healthy and OA cartilage samples were effectively discriminated by the FDA with high accuracy of 94% for the initial samples (training set) and cross validation, as well as 86.67% for the prediction group. The study showed that cartilage degeneration became gradually weak with the increase of the depth. FTIRI combined with chemometrics may become an effective method for distinguishing healthy and OA cartilages in future. PMID:26977354

An Efficient Data Compression Model Based on Spatial Clustering and Principal Component Analysis in Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Yin, Yihang; Liu, Fengzheng; Zhou, Xiang; Li, Quanzhong

2015-08-07

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been widely used to monitor the environment, and sensors in WSNs are usually power constrained. Because inner-node communication consumes most of the power, efficient data compression schemes are needed to reduce the data transmission to prolong the lifetime of WSNs. In this paper, we propose an efficient data compression model to aggregate data, which is based on spatial clustering and principal component analysis (PCA). First, sensors with a strong temporal-spatial correlation are grouped into one cluster for further processing with a novel similarity measure metric. Next, sensor data in one cluster are aggregated in the cluster head sensor node, and an efficient adaptive strategy is proposed for the selection of the cluster head to conserve energy. Finally, the proposed model applies principal component analysis with an error bound guarantee to compress the data and retain the definite variance at the same time. Computer simulations show that the proposed model can greatly reduce communication and obtain a lower mean square error than other PCA-based algorithms.

[Automated morphometric evaluation of the chromatin structure of liver cell nuclei after vagotomy].

PubMed

Butusova, N N; Zhukotskiĭ, A V; Sherbo, I V; Gribkov, E N; Dubovaia, T K

1989-05-01

The morphometric analysis of the interphase chromatine structure of the hepatic cells nuclei was carried out on the automated TV installation for the quantitative analysis of images "IBAS-2" (by the OPTON firm, the FRG) according to 50 optical and geometric parameters during various periods (1.2 and 4 weeks) after the vagotomy operation. It is determined that upper-molecular organisation of chromatine undergoes the biggest changes one week after operation, and changes of granular component are more informative than changes of the nongranular component (with the difference 15-20%). It was also revealed that chromatine components differ in tinctorial properties, which are evidently dependent on physicochemical characteristics of the chromatine under various functional conditions of the cell. As a result of the correlation analysis the group of morphometric indices of chromatine structure was revealed, which are highly correlated with level of transcription activity of chromatine during various terms after denervation. The correlation quotient of these parameters is 0.85-0.97. The summing up: vagus denervation of the liver causes changes in the morphofunctional organisation of the chromatine.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Lu; Albright, Austin P; Rahimpour, Alireza

Wide-area-measurement systems (WAMSs) are used in smart grid systems to enable the efficient monitoring of grid dynamics. However, the overwhelming amount of data and the severe contamination from noise often impede the effective and efficient data analysis and storage of WAMS generated measurements. To solve this problem, we propose a novel framework that takes advantage of Multivariate Empirical Mode Decomposition (MEMD), a fully data-driven approach to analyzing non-stationary signals, dubbed MEMD based Signal Analysis (MSA). The frequency measurements are considered as a linear superposition of different oscillatory components and noise. The low-frequency components, corresponding to the long-term trend and inter-areamore » oscillations, are grouped and compressed by MSA using the mean shift clustering algorithm. Whereas, higher-frequency components, mostly noise and potentially part of high-frequency inter-area oscillations, are analyzed using Hilbert spectral analysis and they are delineated by statistical behavior. By conducting experiments on both synthetic and real-world data, we show that the proposed framework can capture the characteristics, such as trends and inter-area oscillation, while reducing the data storage requirements« less

Effect of Web-based lifestyle modification on weight control: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Kodama, S; Saito, K; Tanaka, S; Horikawa, C; Fujiwara, K; Hirasawa, R; Yachi, Y; Iida, K T; Shimano, H; Ohashi, Y; Yamada, N; Sone, H

2012-05-01

Web-based treatment programs are attractive in primary care because of their ability to reach numerous individuals at low cost. Our aim of this meta-analysis is to systematically review the weight loss or maintenance effect of the Internet component in obesity treatment programs. MEDLINE and EMBASE literature searches were conducted to identify studies investigating the effect of Web-based individualized advice on lifestyle modification on weight loss. Randomized controlled trials that consisted of a Web-user experimental and non-Web user control group were included. Weight changes in the experimental group in comparison with the control group were pooled with a random-effects model. A total of 23 studies comprising 8697 participants were included. Overall, using the Internet had a modest but significant additional weight-loss effect compared with non-Web user control groups (-0.68 kg, P=0.03). In comparison with the control group, stratified analysis indicated that using the Internet as an adjunct to obesity care was effective (-1.00 kg, P<0.001), but that using it as a substitute for face-to-face support was unfavorable (+1.27 kg, P=0.01). An additional effect on weight control was observed when the aim of using the Internet was initial weight loss (-1.01 kg; P=0.03), but was not observed when the aim was weight maintenance (+0.68 kg; P=0.26). The relative effect was diminished with longer educational periods (P-trend=0.04) and was insignificant (-0.20 kg; P=0.75) in studies with educational periods of 12 months or more. The current meta-analysis indicates that the Internet component in obesity treatment programs has a modest effect on weight control. However, the effect was inconsistent, largely depending on the type of usage of the Internet or the period of its use.

Health related quality of life among Iraqi immigrants settled in Malaysia.

PubMed

Daher, Aqil M; Ibrahim, Hisham S; Daher, Thaaer M; Anbori, Ali K

2011-05-30

Migrants everywhere face several demands for health and maintaining good health and quality of life could be challenging. Iraqis are the second largest refugee group that has sought refuge in the recent years, yet little is known about their health related quality of life (HRQOL). The study aims at assessing the HRQOL among Iraqis living in Malaysia. A self-administered Arabic version of Sf-36 questionnaire was distributed among 300 Iraqi migrants in Malaysia. The questionnaire taps eight concepts of physical and mental health to assess the HRQOL. Univariate analysis was performed for group analysis (t test, ANOVA) and Multiple Linear Regression was used to control for confounding effects. Two hundred and fifty three participants ranging in age from 18 to 67 years (Mean = 33.6) returned the completed questionnaire. The majority was males (60.1%) and more than half of the respondents (59.5%) were married. Less than half (45.4%) and about a quarter (25.9%) reported bachelor degree and secondary school education respectively and the remaining 28.7% had either a master or a PhD degree.Univariate analysis showed that the HRQOL scores among male immigrants were found to be higher than those of females in physical function (80.0 vs. 73.5), general health (72.5 vs. 60.7) and bodily pain (87.9 vs. 72.5) subscales. The youngest age group had significantly higher physical function (79.32) and lower mental health scores (57.62).The mean score of physical component summary was higher than the mental component summary mean score (70.22 vs. 63.34).Stepwise multiple linear regression, revealed that gender was significantly associated with physical component summary (β = - 6.06, p = 0.007) and marital status was associated with mental component summary (β = 7.08, p = 0.003). From the data it appears that Iraqi immigrants living in Malaysia have HRQOL scores that might be considered to indicate a relatively moderate HRQOL. The HRQOL is significantly affected by gender and marital status. Further studies are needed to explore determinants of HRQOL consequent to immigration. The findings could be worthy of further exploration.

Health related quality of life among Iraqi immigrants settled in Malaysia

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Migrants everywhere face several demands for health and maintaining good health and quality of life could be challenging. Iraqis are the second largest refugee group that has sought refuge in the recent years, yet little is known about their health related quality of life (HRQOL). The study aims at assessing the HRQOL among Iraqis living in Malaysia. Methods A self-administered Arabic version of Sf-36 questionnaire was distributed among 300 Iraqi migrants in Malaysia. The questionnaire taps eight concepts of physical and mental health to assess the HRQOL. Univariate analysis was performed for group analysis (t test, ANOVA) and Multiple Linear Regression was used to control for confounding effects. Results Two hundred and fifty three participants ranging in age from 18 to 67 years (Mean = 33.6) returned the completed questionnaire. The majority was males (60.1%) and more than half of the respondents (59.5%) were married. Less than half (45.4%) and about a quarter (25.9%) reported bachelor degree and secondary school education respectively and the remaining 28.7% had either a master or a PhD degree. Univariate analysis showed that the HRQOL scores among male immigrants were found to be higher than those of females in physical function (80.0 vs. 73.5), general health (72.5 vs. 60.7) and bodily pain (87.9 vs. 72.5) subscales. The youngest age group had significantly higher physical function (79.32) and lower mental health scores (57.62). The mean score of physical component summary was higher than the mental component summary mean score (70.22 vs. 63.34). Stepwise multiple linear regression, revealed that gender was significantly associated with physical component summary (β = - 6.06, p = 0.007) and marital status was associated with mental component summary (β = 7.08, p = 0.003). Conclusions From the data it appears that Iraqi immigrants living in Malaysia have HRQOL scores that might be considered to indicate a relatively moderate HRQOL. The HRQOL is significantly affected by gender and marital status. Further studies are needed to explore determinants of HRQOL consequent to immigration. The findings could be worthy of further exploration. PMID:21624118

Is cupping blister harmful?-A proteomical analysis of blister fluid induced by cupping therapy and scald.

PubMed

Liu, Zhidan; Chen, Chunlan; Li, Xiaoyan; Zhao, Chuang; Li, Zunyuan; Liang, Wei; Lin, Yufang

2018-02-01

Cupping therapy has a long history in traditional medicine especially in Asian countries. It was controversial whether cupping induced blisters are beneficial to healing effects, and the formation and content in the blisters remain unexplored. We aimed to identify and compare the molecular components of the blister fluid from the cupping therapy and the scalds to explore the necessary of inducing cupping induced blisters. Fluid sample of blisters from fifteen patients receiving cupping therapy (Cupping group) and scald burns (Scald group) were collected in this study. Proteins from the blisters were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2D-gel) and further analyzed by mass spectrometry. In addition, the changes in particular proteins were confirmed by Western blotting. The protein components are significantly different between blister from cupping therapy and scalds. The immune responses, oxidative stress and metabolic related proteins (Ig lambda-2 chain C regions, Ig gamma-1 chain C region, hemopexin, prdx2, calmodulin, succinyl-CoA ligase and tetranectin) were increased, whereas the hemoglobin subunit beta was decreased in the Cupping group compared with the Scald group. Cupping induced blisters contain several proteins which relate to the activation of certain immune pathways including anti-oxidation, anti-apoptosis, tissue repairing and metabolic regulation. This proteomic analysis may indicate a significant clue to the mechanism study of cupping. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Encephalization and quantitative brain composition in bats in relation to their life-habits.

PubMed

Pirlot, P; Pottier, J

1977-12-01

A quantitative analysis of the brains of 43 bat species is presented. Eleven brain components were studied. The species were arranged according to seven distinct dietary groups and it was found that the relative development of the principal components is related to those groups. The importance of neocorticalization as a reflection of evolution of all the bats in contrast to specialization in some species is stressed. This work gives a clearer view of Chiropteran progressiveness or primitiveness: the insectivorous forms occupy the least advanced, although most specialized, level; the vampires, the carnivorous species and the flying foxes are at the top of the scale. The importance of behaviour and the relative development of the central nervous system in the hierarchial classification of mammals is stressed.

Self-aggregation in scaled principal component space

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ding, Chris H.Q.; He, Xiaofeng; Zha, Hongyuan

2001-10-05

Automatic grouping of voluminous data into meaningful structures is a challenging task frequently encountered in broad areas of science, engineering and information processing. These data clustering tasks are frequently performed in Euclidean space or a subspace chosen from principal component analysis (PCA). Here we describe a space obtained by a nonlinear scaling of PCA in which data objects self-aggregate automatically into clusters. Projection into this space gives sharp distinctions among clusters. Gene expression profiles of cancer tissue subtypes, Web hyperlink structure and Internet newsgroups are analyzed to illustrate interesting properties of the space.

Process weakness assessment by profiling all incoming design components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhuang, Linda; Cai, MengFeng; Zhu, Annie; Zhang, Yifan; Sweis, Jason; Lai, Ya-Chieh

2017-03-01

Foundries normally receive a large number of designs from different customers every day. It is desired to automatically profile each incoming design to quantify certain metrics like 1) the number of polygons per GDS layers 2) what kind of electrical components the design contains 3) what the dimensions of each electrical component are 4) how frequently any size of components have been used and their physical locations. This paper will present a novel method of how to generate a complete profile of components for any particular design. The component checking flow need to be completed within hours so it will have very little impact on the tape-out time. A pre-layer checking method is also run to group commonly used layers for different electrical components and then employ different layout profiling flows. The foundry does this design chip analysis in order to find potentially weak devices due to their size or special size requirements for particular electrical components. The foundry can then take pre-emptive action to avoid yield loss or make an unnecessary mask for new incoming products before fab processing starts.

Variation of gunshot injury patterns in mortality associated with human rights abuses and armed conflict: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Baraybar, Jose Pablo

2015-09-01

The analysis of the distribution of gunshot injuries in a sample of 777 sets of human remains of proven human rights abuse from Somaliland, the Balkans and Peru is compared to frequencies of injuries sustained by combatants in contemporary conflicts reported in the literature. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) reduced the data to three components accounting for 82.94% of the variance. The first component with 38.31% of variance shows segments Arms and thorax/abdomen to be positively correlated (0.887 and 0.662, respectively); the segment head/neck is strongly correlated (0.951) to the second component while the segment thorax/abdomen shows a low, negative correlation (-0.388). Finally in the third component only the legs are strongly correlated (0.991). Data was further subjected to a K-means cluster analysis to determine the likely groupings combining the four types of injuries. Each of the three clusters reproduced similar patterns observed in the PCA: Cluster 1 shows the prevalence of injuries to the thorax/abdomen and extremities in addition to injuries to the head/neck; Cluster 2 shows injuries to the head/neck and Cluster 3 injuries to the thorax/abdomen and a lower representation of the arms and legs. Most of the cases (70.5%), irrespective of geography and type of site (attack or detention), were grouped into Cluster 2. Such comparison shows that in human rights abuse, irrespective of their geography, gunshot injuries tend to follow a pattern favouring the head/neck and thorax/abdomen areas over the extremities, the reverse pattern observed in contemporary combat operations. In those settings gunshot wound trauma is the second cause of mortality/morbidity (after fragmenting ammunition) and its distribution concentrates on the extremities, thorax/abdomen and head; following the pattern of protective armour when it is used. Considering that human rights abuses are often presented as encounters between two armed groups in the context of counter-insurgency operations, a careful analysis of gunshot injury patterns could serve as an indicator that in fact murder, rather than combat, took place and the intention was to kill rather than to maim or render people unfit for battle. To compare the variation of gunshot injury patterns between mortality associated with human rights abuses and armed conflict in selected samples from different countries. Literature review and case analysis. Original statistical analysis of gunshot injuries on human remains (n=777) recovered from mass or clandestine graves associated with human rights abuses in countries in Somaliland, the Balkans and Peru (1983-1995) and literature review of mortality caused by armed conflicts. Mechanism of gunshot injury and wound distribution pattern in geographically diverse samples of human rights abuse. Copyright © 2015 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Health-related quality of life and sense of coherence among partners of women with breast cancer in Israel.

PubMed

Shor, Vlada; Grinstein-Cohen, Orli; Reinshtein, Judith; Liberman, Orly; Delbar, Vered

2015-02-01

To compare HRQOL of husbands of women with non-metastatic breast cancer to husbands of healthy women. Additionally, to examine the impact of Sense of Coherence (SOC), socio-demographic, and clinical variables, on HRQOL of spouses in both groups. This study used a comparative, matched, convenience sample. Husbands of women with non-metastatic breast cancer (n = 50), undergoing chemotherapy during 3-6 months after diagnoses and spouses of healthy women (n = 50) participated in a study. HRQOL was measured using the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS SF-36), and coping characteristics were measured using the Short Sense of Coherence scale. Socio-demographic factors, cancer stage, and treatments were collected. The groups were matched by age, education, employment (working/not working). The physical and mental component summary scores were dependent variables in the regression analysis. Physical and Mental Component Summary indexes in the study group were significantly lower than in the control group. Higher education level, greater income, or more daily working hours were associated with better physical health index (added 30% to explaining the variance). The only personal variable predicting the mental component of QOL was financial situation (added 7%). Higher SOC was associated with higher HRQOL. Disease and treatment characteristics were found to have no influence upon the husbands' QOL. While the main influence found in this study of a woman's breast cancer on her partner's quality of life is on the mental component, the partner's physical health should also be taken into account. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A comparison of short term radiological alignment outcomes of the patient specific and standard instrumentation for primary total knee arthroplasty: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Alcelik, Ilhan; Blomfield, Mark; Öztürk, Cenk; Soni, Ashish; Charity, Richard; Acornley, Alex

2017-05-01

The aim of this study was to review the radiological alignment outcomes of patient Specific (PS) cutting blocks and Standard Instrumentation in Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty. We hypothesized that the use of PS techniques would significantly improve sagittal, coronal and rotational alignment of the prosthesis on short term. We performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis including all the randomised controlled trials (RCT) using PS and standard (ST) total knee arthroplasty to date. A total of 538 PS TKA and 549 ST TKA were included in the study. Statistical analysis of the outliers for femoral component sagittal, coronal and rotational positioning, tibial component sagittal and coronal positioning and the overall mechanical axis were assessed. We found that there was no significant benefit from using PS instrumentation in primary knee arthroplasty to aid in the positioning of either the tibial or femoral components. Furthermore sagittal plane tibial component positioning was worse in the PS than the traditional ST group. Our results suggest that at present PS instrumentation is not superior to ST instrumentation in primary total knee arthroplasty. Level 1, Systematic review of therapeutic studies. Copyright © 2017 Turkish Association of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The development and discussion of computerized visual perception assessment tool for Chinese characters structures - Concurrent estimation of the overall ability and the domain ability in item response theory approach.

PubMed

Wu, Huey-Min; Lin, Chin-Kai; Yang, Yu-Mao; Kuo, Bor-Chen

2014-11-12

Visual perception is the fundamental skill required for a child to recognize words, and to read and write. There was no visual perception assessment tool developed for preschool children based on Chinese characters in Taiwan. The purposes were to develop the computerized visual perception assessment tool for Chinese Characters Structures and to explore the psychometrical characteristic of assessment tool. This study adopted purposive sampling. The study evaluated 551 kindergarten-age children (293 boys, 258 girls) ranging from 46 to 81 months of age. The test instrument used in this study consisted of three subtests and 58 items, including tests of basic strokes, single-component characters, and compound characters. Based on the results of model fit analysis, the higher-order item response theory was used to estimate the performance in visual perception, basic strokes, single-component characters, and compound characters simultaneously. Analyses of variance were used to detect significant difference in age groups and gender groups. The difficulty of identifying items in a visual perception test ranged from -2 to 1. The visual perception ability of 4- to 6-year-old children ranged from -1.66 to 2.19. Gender did not have significant effects on performance. However, there were significant differences among the different age groups. The performance of 6-year-olds was better than that of 5-year-olds, which was better than that of 4-year-olds. This study obtained detailed diagnostic scores by using a higher-order item response theory model to understand the visual perception of basic strokes, single-component characters, and compound characters. Further statistical analysis showed that, for basic strokes and compound characters, girls performed better than did boys; there also were differences within each age group. For single-component characters, there was no difference in performance between boys and girls. However, again the performance of 6-year-olds was better than that of 4-year-olds, but there were no statistical differences between the performance of 5-year-olds and 6-year-olds. Results of tests with basic strokes, single-component characters and compound characters tests had good reliability and validity. Therefore, it can be apply to diagnose the problem of visual perception at preschool. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

No difference in terms of radiostereometric analysis between fixed- and mobile-bearing total knee arthroplasty: a randomized, single-blind, controlled trial.

PubMed

Schotanus, M G M; Pilot, P; Kaptein, B L; Draijer, W F; Tilman, P B J; Vos, R; Kort, N P

2017-09-01

A concern that arises with any new prosthesis is whether it will achieve satisfactory long-term implant stability. The gold standard of assessing the quality of fixation in a new or relatively new implant is to undertake a randomized controlled trial using radiostereometric analysis. It was hypothesized that both mobile-bearing total knee arthroplasty and fixed-bearing total knee arthroplasty have comparable migration patterns at 2-year follow-up. This study investigated two types of cemented total knee arthroplasty, the mobile- or fixed-bearing variant from the same family with use of radiostereometric analysis. This prospective, patient-blinded, randomized, controlled trial was designed to investigate early migration of the tibia component after two years of follow-up with use of radiostereometric analysis. A total of 50 patients were randomized to receive a mobile- or fixed-bearing TKA from the same family. Patients were evaluated during 2-year follow-up, including radiostereometric analysis, physical and clinical examination and patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). At two-year follow-up, the mean (±SD) maximum total point motion (MTPM) in the fixed-bearing group was 0.82 (±1.16) versus 0.92 mm (±0.64) in the mobile-bearing group (p = n.s) with the largest migration seen during the first 6 weeks (0.45 ± 0.32 vs. 0.54 ± 0.30). The clinical outcome and PROMs significantly improved within each group, not between both groups. Measuring early micromotion is useful for predicting clinical loosening that can lead to revision. The results of this study demonstrate that early migration of the mobile-bearing is similar to that of the fixed-bearing component at two years and was mainly seen in the first weeks after implantation. Randomized, single-blind, controlled trial, Level I.

Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Water Quality data in Indian River Lagoon, Florida

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sayemuzzaman, M.; Ye, M.

2015-12-01

The Indian River Lagoon, is part of the longest barrier island complex in the United States, is a region of particular concern to the environmental scientist because of the rapid rate of human development throughout the region and the geographical position in between the colder temperate zone and warmer sub-tropical zone. Thus, the surface water quality analysis in this region always brings the newer information. In this present study, multivariate statistical procedures were applied to analyze the spatial and temporal water quality in the Indian River Lagoon over the period 1998-2013. Twelve parameters have been analyzed on twelve key water monitoring stations in and beside the lagoon on monthly datasets (total of 27,648 observations). The dataset was treated using cluster analysis (CA), principle component analysis (PCA) and non-parametric trend analysis. The CA was used to cluster twelve monitoring stations into four groups, with stations on the similar surrounding characteristics being in the same group. The PCA was then applied to the similar groups to find the important water quality parameters. The principal components (PCs), PC1 to PC5 was considered based on the explained cumulative variances 75% to 85% in each cluster groups. Nutrient species (phosphorus and nitrogen), salinity, specific conductivity and erosion factors (TSS, Turbidity) were major variables involved in the construction of the PCs. Statistical significant positive or negative trends and the abrupt trend shift were detected applying Mann-Kendall trend test and Sequential Mann-Kendall (SQMK), for each individual stations for the important water quality parameters. Land use land cover change pattern, local anthropogenic activities and extreme climate such as drought might be associated with these trends. This study presents the multivariate statistical assessment in order to get better information about the quality of surface water. Thus, effective pollution control/management of the surface waters can be undertaken.

Neurocognitive Deficits in Male Alcoholics: An ERP/sLORETA Analysis of the N2 Component in an Equal Probability Go/NoGo Task

PubMed Central

Pandey, AK; Kamarajan, C; Tang, Y; Chorlian, DB; Roopesh, BN; Manz, N; Stimus, A; Rangaswamy, M; Porjesz, B

2011-01-01

In alcoholism research, studies concerning time-locked electrophysiological aspects of response inhibition have concentrated mainly on the P3 component of the event-related potential (ERP). The objective of the present study was to investigate the N2 component of the ERP to elucidate possible brain dysfunction related to the motor response and its inhibition using a Go/NoGo task in alcoholics. The sample consisted of 78 abstinent alcoholic males and 58 healthy male controls. The N2 peak was compared across group and task conditions. Alcoholics showed significantly reduced N2 peak amplitudes compared to normal controls for Go as well as NoGo task conditions. Control subjects showed significantly larger NoGo than Go N2 amplitudes at frontal regions, whereas alcoholics did not show any differences between task conditions at frontal regions. Standardized Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography Analysis (sLORETA) indicated that alcoholics had significantly lower current density at the source than control subjects for the NoGo condition at bilateral anterior prefrontal regions, whereas the differences between groups during the Go trials was not statistically significant. Furthermore, NoGo current density across both groups revealed significantly more activation in bilateral anterior cingulate cortical (ACC) areas, with the maximum activation in the right cingulate regions. However, the magnitude of this difference was much less in alcoholics compared to control subjects. These findings suggest that alcoholics may have deficits in effortful processing during the motor response and its inhibition, suggestive of possible frontal lobe dysfunction. PMID:22024409

Analysis of serum from type II diabetes mellitus and diabetic complication using surface-enhanced Raman spectra (SERS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, H. W.; Yan, X. L.; Dong, R. X.; Ban, G.; Li, K.

2009-03-01

In this paper, we show surface-enhanced Raman spectra (SERS) of serums from type II diabetes mellitus and diabetic complication (coronary disease, glaucoma and cerebral infarction), and analyze the SERS through the multivariate statistical methods of principal component analysis (PCA). In particular, we find that there exist many adenines in these serums, which maybe come from DNA (RNA) damage. The relative intensity of the band at 725±2 cm-1 assigned to adenine is higher for patients than for the healthy volunteers; therefore, it can be used as an important ‘fingerprint’ in order to diagnose these diseases. It is also shown that serums from type II diabetes mellitus group, diabetic complication group and healthy volunteers group can be discriminated by PCA.

Very-low-fat diets may be associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome in the adult population.

PubMed

Park, Sunmin; Ahn, Jaeouk; Lee, Byung-Kook

2016-10-01

Although fat intake has often been targeted to decrease the prevalence of metabolic syndrome; however decreasing dietary fat intake has not had this result. We studied the association between fat intake and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in adults using KNHANES 2007-2013 data, a representative sample of the non-institutionalized civilian population. This cross-sectional study included 34,003 Korean adults aged ≥19 years. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) for the components of metabolic syndrome were measured according to fat intake (≤15, 15-25, ≥25% of daily energy intake) while controlling for covariates that affect metabolic syndrome using linear and logistic regression analysis while incorporating the sample weights for the complex sample design of the survey. Surprisingly, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was significantly higher in the ≤15% fat intake group (OR = 1.277), accompanied by lower daily energy intake compared to the reference group (≥25% fat intake). Higher daily fat intake was associated with significantly lower ORs for four components of metabolic syndrome, except diabetes mellitus, using continuous variable analysis, whereas only three serum components (serum HDL, serum triglyceride, and blood pressure) exhibited significantly higher ORs in the lowest tertile of dietary fat intake (≤15%) compared with the reference group (≥25% fat-intake tertile). Subjects in a low-fat intake group had about 6.0 g polyunsaturated fatty acid/day that did not meet the recommended intake. Consumption of grain groups was a significant predictor of low fat intake, whereas milk food groups were significant predictors of not having low fat intake. Subjects in the low-fat group (≤15%) had much lower daily energy intake, by 500 kcal, compared with subjects who consumed high-fat diets (≥25%). All nutrients except carbohydrates had significantly lower mean values in the low-fat-intake group as compared to the high-fat-intake group. Low fat intake, <15%, was associated with a higher incidence of metabolic syndrome in the adult population, despite the daily energy intakes being lower by 500 kcal and the intakes with proper ratio (1:1.03:1.01) of saturate, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid; this may be related to lower intake of various nutrients other than carbohydrates. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.

Quantitative Ultrasound Using Texture Analysis of Myofascial Pain Syndrome in the Trapezius.

PubMed

Kumbhare, Dinesh A; Ahmed, Sara; Behr, Michael G; Noseworthy, Michael D

2018-01-01

Objective-The objective of this study is to assess the discriminative ability of textural analyses to assist in the differentiation of the myofascial trigger point (MTrP) region from normal regions of skeletal muscle. Also, to measure the ability to reliably differentiate between three clinically relevant groups: healthy asymptomatic, latent MTrPs, and active MTrP. Methods-18 and 19 patients were identified with having active and latent MTrPs in the trapezius muscle, respectively. We included 24 healthy volunteers. Images were obtained by research personnel, who were blinded with respect to the clinical status of the study participant. Histograms provided first-order parameters associated with image grayscale. Haralick, Galloway, and histogram-related features were used in texture analysis. Blob analysis was conducted on the regions of interest (ROIs). Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed followed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to determine the statistical significance of the features. Results-92 texture features were analyzed for factorability using Bartlett's test of sphericity, which was significant. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.94. PCA demonstrated rotated eigenvalues of the first eight components (each comprised of multiple texture features) explained 94.92% of the cumulative variance in the ultrasound image characteristics. The 24 features identified by PCA were included in the MANOVA as dependent variables, and the presence of a latent or active MTrP or healthy muscle were independent variables. Conclusion-Texture analysis techniques can discriminate between the three clinically relevant groups.

VARIABLE SELECTION IN NONPARAMETRIC ADDITIVE MODELS

PubMed Central

Huang, Jian; Horowitz, Joel L.; Wei, Fengrong

2010-01-01

We consider a nonparametric additive model of a conditional mean function in which the number of variables and additive components may be larger than the sample size but the number of nonzero additive components is “small” relative to the sample size. The statistical problem is to determine which additive components are nonzero. The additive components are approximated by truncated series expansions with B-spline bases. With this approximation, the problem of component selection becomes that of selecting the groups of coefficients in the expansion. We apply the adaptive group Lasso to select nonzero components, using the group Lasso to obtain an initial estimator and reduce the dimension of the problem. We give conditions under which the group Lasso selects a model whose number of components is comparable with the underlying model, and the adaptive group Lasso selects the nonzero components correctly with probability approaching one as the sample size increases and achieves the optimal rate of convergence. The results of Monte Carlo experiments show that the adaptive group Lasso procedure works well with samples of moderate size. A data example is used to illustrate the application of the proposed method. PMID:21127739

Differences in chewing sounds of dry-crisp snacks by multivariate data analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Belie, N.; Sivertsvik, M.; De Baerdemaeker, J.

2003-09-01

Chewing sounds of different types of dry-crisp snacks (two types of potato chips, prawn crackers, cornflakes and low calorie snacks from extruded starch) were analysed to assess differences in sound emission patterns. The emitted sounds were recorded by a microphone placed over the ear canal. The first bite and the first subsequent chew were selected from the time signal and a fast Fourier transformation provided the power spectra. Different multivariate analysis techniques were used for classification of the snack groups. This included principal component analysis (PCA) and unfold partial least-squares (PLS) algorithms, as well as multi-way techniques such as three-way PLS, three-way PCA (Tucker3), and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) on the first bite and subsequent chew. The models were evaluated by calculating the classification errors and the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) for independent validation sets. It appeared that the logarithm of the power spectra obtained from the chewing sounds could be used successfully to distinguish the different snack groups. When different chewers were used, recalibration of the models was necessary. Multi-way models distinguished better between chewing sounds of different snack groups than PCA on bite or chew separately and than unfold PLS. From all three-way models applied, N-PLS with three components showed the best classification capabilities, resulting in classification errors of 14-18%. The major amount of incorrect classifications was due to one type of potato chips that had a very irregular shape, resulting in a wide variation of the emitted sounds.

Increase of posterior connectivity in aging within the Ventral Attention Network: A functional connectivity analysis using independent component analysis.

PubMed

Deslauriers, Johnathan; Ansado, Jennyfer; Marrelec, Guillaume; Provost, Jean-Sébastien; Joanette, Yves

2017-02-15

Multiple studies have found neurofunctional changes in normal aging in a context of selective attention. Furthermore, many articles report intrahemispheric alteration in functional networks. However, little is known about age-related changes within the Ventral Attention Network (VAN), which underlies selective attention. The aim of this study is to examine age-related changes within the VAN, focusing on connectivity between its regions. Here we report our findings on the analysis of 27 participants' (13 younger and 14 older healthy adults) BOLD signals as well as their performance on a letter-matching task. We identified the VAN independently for both groups using spatial independent component analysis. Three main findings emerged: First, younger adults were faster and more accurate on the task. Second, older adults had greater connectivity among posterior regions (right temporoparietal junction, right superior parietal lobule, right middle temporal gyrus and left cerebellum crus I) than younger adults but lower connectivity among anterior regions (right anterior insula, right medial superior frontal gyrus and right middle frontal gyrus). Older adults also had more connectivity between anterior and posterior regions than younger adults. Finally, correlations between connectivity and response time on the task showed a trend toward connectivity in posterior regions for the older group and in anterior regions for the younger group. Thus, this study shows that intrahemispheric neurofunctional changes in aging also affect the VAN. The results suggest that, in contexts of selective attention, posterior regions increased in importance for older adults, while anterior regions had reduced centrality. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The dimensions of responsiveness of a health system: a Taiwanese perspective.

PubMed

Hsu, Chih-Cheng; Chen, Likwang; Hu, Yu-Whuei; Yip, Winnie; Shu, Chen-Chun

2006-03-17

Responsiveness is an indicator used to measure how well a health system performs relative to non-health aspects. This study assessed whether seven dimensions proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to measure responsiveness (dignity, autonomy, confidentiality, prompt attention, social support, basic amenities, and choices of providers) are applicable in evaluating the health system of Taiwan. A key informant survey and focus group research were used in this study. The translated WHO proposed questionnaire was sent to 205 nominated key informants by mail, and 132 (64.4%) were returned. We used principal component analysis to extract factors. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between the total score and the extracted factors. A qualitative content analysis was also carried out in focus group research. Principal component analysis produced five factors (respect, access, confidentiality, basic amenities, and social support) that explained 63.5% of the total variances. These five factors demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and four of them (except social support) were significantly correlated with the total responsiveness score. The focus group interviews revealed health providers' communication ability and medical ethics were also highly appraised by Taiwanese. When the performance of a health system is to be evaluated, elements of responsiveness proposed by WHO may have to be tailored to fit different cultural backgrounds. Four key features illustrate the uniqueness of Taiwanese perspectives: the idea of autonomy may not be conceptualized, prompt attention and choice of providers are on the same track, social support during care is trivially correlated to the total responsiveness score, and accountability of health providers is deemed essential to a health system.

The effectiveness of interventions to increase physical activity among adolescent girls: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Pearson, Natalie; Braithwaite, Rock; Biddle, Stuart J H

2015-01-01

Research has shown that a clear decline in physical activity among girls starting in early adolescence. Therefore, adolescent girls have been identified as a key target population for physical activity behavior change. The quantification of intervention effectiveness for this group has not been previously reported in a meta-analysis, and this therefore was the objective of the current meta-analysis. Included were interventions in which the main component, or 1 of the components, was aimed at promoting physical activity through behavior change in any setting. Interventions had to include a non-physical activity control group or comparison group, and include a quantitative outcome assessment of physical activity behavior in girls aged 12 to 18 years. Science Direct, PubMed, PsychINFO, Web of Science, Cochrane Libraries, and EPPI Centre databases were searched up to and including May 2013. Forty-five studies (k = 34 independent samples) were eligible from an initial 13,747 references. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted. The average treatment effect for adolescent girls involved in physical activity interventions was significant but small (g = 0.350, 95% confidence interval 0.12, 0.58, P < .001). Moderator analyses showed larger effects for interventions that were theory based, performed in schools, were girls only, with younger girls, used multicomponent strategies, and involved targeting both physical activity and sedentary behavior. Interventions to increase physical activity in adolescent girls show small but significant effects, suggesting that behavior change may be challenging. Results suggest some approaches that appear to be successful. Copyright © 2015 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Baseline response rates affect resistance to change.

PubMed

Kuroda, Toshikazu; Cook, James E; Lattal, Kennon A

2018-01-01

The effect of response rates on resistance to change, measured as resistance to extinction, was examined in two experiments. In Experiment 1, responding in transition from a variable-ratio schedule and its yoked-interval counterpart to extinction was compared with pigeons. Following training on a multiple variable-ratio yoked-interval schedule of reinforcement, in which response rates were higher in the former component, reinforcement was removed from both components during a single extended extinction session. Resistance to extinction in the yoked-interval component was always either greater or equal to that in the variable-ratio component. In Experiment 2, resistance to extinction was compared for two groups of rats that exhibited either high or low response rates when maintained on identical variable-interval schedules. Resistance to extinction was greater for the lower-response-rate group. These results suggest that baseline response rate can contribute to resistance to change. Such effects, however, can only be revealed when baseline response rate and reinforcement rate are disentangled (Experiments 1 and 2) from the more usual circumstance where the two covary. Furthermore, they are more cleanly revealed when the programmed contingencies controlling high and low response rates are identical, as in Experiment 2. © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Genetic differentiation and forensic efficiency evaluation for Chinese Salar ethnic minority based on a 5-dye multiplex insertion and deletion panel.

PubMed

Ma, Ruilin; Shen, Chunmei; Wei, Yuanyuan; Jin, Xiaoye; Guo, Yuxin; Mu, Yuling; Sun, Siqi; Chen, Chong; Cui, Wei; Wei, Zhaoming; Lian, Zhenmin

2018-06-20

The present study investigated the genetic diversities of 30 autosomal insertion and deletion (InDel) loci of Investigator DIPplex kit (Qiagen) in Chinese Salar ethnic minority and explored the genetic relationships between the studied Salar group and other populations. The allelic frequencies of deletion alleles at the 30 InDel loci were in the range of 0.1739 (HLD64) to 0.8478 (HLD39). The discrimination power, polymorphism information content and probability of exclusion ranged from 0.4101 (HLD39) to 0.6447 (HLD136), 0.2247 (HLD39) to 0.3750 (HLD92) and 0.0400 (HLD39) to 0.2806 (HLD92), respectively. The observed and expected heterozygosity were in the range of 0.2348 (HLD39) to 0.5913 (HLD92), and 0.2580 (HLD39) to 0.5000 (HLD92), respectively. The cumulative discrimination power and probability of exclusion of the 30 loci reached 0.999999999993418 and 0.99039, respectively. The results of population genetic differentiation comparisons revealed that Salar group had similar allele distributions with Qinghai Tibetan, Xibe and Yi groups. Population Bayesian cluster analysis showed that there were similar ancestry components between Salar group and most Chinese populations. Besides, the principal components analysis and phylogenetic reconstructions further indicated that Salar group had intimate genetic relationships with Qinghai Tibetan and Xibe groups. In short, the results of the current studies indicated the genetic distributions of the 30 InDel loci in Salar group were relatively high genetic polymorphisms, which could be used in forensic individual identifications and as a supplementary tool for complex paternity testing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluating effectiveness of small group information literacy instruction for Undergraduate Medical Education students using a pre- and post-survey study design.

PubMed

McClurg, Caitlin; Powelson, Susan; Lang, Eddy; Aghajafari, Fariba; Edworthy, Steven

2015-06-01

The Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) programme at the University of Calgary is a three-year programme with a strong emphasis on small group learning. The purpose of our study was to determine whether librarian led small group information literacy instruction, closely integrated with course content and faculty participation, but without a hands on component, was an effective means to convey EBM literacy skills. Five 15-minute EBM information literacy sessions were delivered by three librarians to 12 practicing physician led small groups of 15 students. Students were asked to complete an online survey before and after the sessions. Data analysis was performed through simple descriptive statistics. A total of 144 of 160 students responded to the pre-survey, and 112 students answered the post-survey. Instruction in a small group environment without a mandatory hands on component had a positive impact on student's evidence-based information literacy skills. Students were more likely to consult a librarian and had increased confidence in their abilities to search and find relevant information. Our study demonstrates that student engagement and faculty involvement are effective tools for delivering information literacy skills when working with students in a small group setting outside of a computer classroom. © 2015 Health Libraries Group.

Nasolabial appearance after two palatoplasty types in cleft lip and palate.

PubMed

Brudnicki, A; Bronkhorst, E M; Nada, R; Dudkiewicz, Z; Kaminek, M; Katsaros, C; Fudalej, P S

2014-05-01

Facial appearance is important for normal psychosocial development in children with cleft lip and palate (CLP). There is conflicting evidence on how deficient maxillary growth may affect nasolabial esthetics. We retrospectively investigated nasolabial appearance in two groups, the Langenback (35 children; mean age 11.1 years; range: 7.9-13.6) and Vomerplasty (58 children; mean age 10.8 years; range: 7.8-14), who received unilateral CLP surgery by the same surgeon. The hard palate repair technique differed between the two groups. In the Langenback group, palatal bone on the non-cleft side only was left denuded, inducing scar formation and inhibiting maxillary growth. In the Vomerplasty group, a vomerplasty with tight closure of the soft tissues on the palate was applied. Thirteen lay judges rated nasolabial esthetics on photographs using a modified Asher-McDade's index. Nasolabial esthetics in both groups was comparable (p > 0.1 for each nasolabial component). Inferior view was judged as the least esthetic component and demonstrated mean scores 3.18 (SD = 0.63) and 3.13 (SD = 0.47) in the Langenback and Vomerplasty groups, respectively. Mean scores for other components were from 2.52 (SD = 0.63) to 2.81 (SD = 0.62). Regression analysis showed that vomerplasty is related with slight improvement in the nasal profile only (coefficient B = -0.287; p = 0.043; R(2 ) = 0.096). This study demonstrates that the use of vomerplasty instead of the Langenbeck technique is weakly associated with the nasolabial appearance among pre-adolescent patients with UCLP. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of smoking abstinence on reaction time variability in smokers with and without ADHD: an ex-Gaussian analysis.

PubMed

Kollins, Scott H; McClernon, F Joseph; Epstein, Jeff N

2009-02-01

Smoking abstinence differentially affects cognitive functioning in smokers with ADHD, compared to non-ADHD smokers. Alternative approaches for analyzing reaction time data from these tasks may further elucidate important group differences. Adults smoking > or = 15 cigarettes with (n=12) or without (n=14) a diagnosis of ADHD completed a continuous performance task (CPT) during two sessions under two separate laboratory conditions--a 'Satiated' condition wherein participants smoked up to and during the session; and an 'Abstinent' condition, in which participants were abstinent overnight and during the session. Reaction time (RT) distributions from the CPT were modeled to fit an ex-Gaussian distribution. The indicator of central tendency for RT from the normal component of the RT distribution (mu) showed a main effect of Group (ADHD < Control) and a Group x Session interaction (ADHD group RTs decreased when abstinent). RT standard deviation for the normal component of the distribution (sigma) showed no effects. The ex-Gaussian parameter tau, which describes the mean and standard deviation of the non-normal component of the distribution, showed significant effects of session (Abstinent > Satiated), Group x Session interaction (ADHD increased significantly under Abstinent condition compared to Control), and a trend toward a main effect of Group (ADHD > Control). Alternative approaches to analyzing RT data provide a more detailed description of the effects of smoking abstinence in ADHD and non-ADHD smokers and results differ from analyses using more traditional approaches. These findings have implications for understanding the neuropsychopharmacology of nicotine and nicotine withdrawal.

Transcriptional regulation of crystallin, redox, and apoptotic genes by C-Phycocyanin in the selenite-induced cataractogenic rat model

PubMed Central

Kumari, Rasiah Pratheepa; Ramkumar, Srinivasagan; Thankappan, Bency; Natarajaseenivasan, Kalimuthusamy; Balaji, Sadhasivam

2015-01-01

Purpose This study was designed to examine the constrictive potential of C-Phycocyanin (C-PC) in regulating changes imposed on gene expression in the selenite-induced cataract model. Methods Wistar rat pups were divided into three groups of eight each. On P10, Group I received an intraperitoneal injection of normal saline. Groups II and III received a subcutaneous injection of sodium selenite (19 μmol/kg bodyweight); Group III also received an intraperitoneal injection of C-PC (200 mg/kg bodyweight) on P9–14. Total RNA was isolated on P16, and the relative abundance of mRNA of the crystallin structural genes, redox components, and apoptotic cascade were ascertained with real-time PCR with reference to the internal control β-actin. Results Real-time PCR analysis showed the crystallin genes (αA-, βB1-, γD-) and redox cycle components (Cat, SOD-1, Gpx) were downregulated, the apoptotic components were upregulated, and antiapoptotic Bcl-2 was downregulated in Group II. Treatment with 200 mg/kg bodyweight C-PC (Group III) transcriptionally regulated the instability of the expression of these genes, thus ensuring C-PC is a prospective anticataractogenic agent that probably delays the onset and progression of cataractogenesis induced by sodium selenite. Conclusions C-PC treatment possibly prevented cataractogenesis triggered by sodium selenite, by regulating the lens crystallin, redox genes, and apoptotic cascade mRNA expression and thus maintains lens transparency. C-PC may be developed as a potential antioxidant compound applied in the future to prevent and treat age-related cataract. PMID:25593511

Cemented total hip replacement cable debris and acetabular construct durability.

PubMed

Altenburg, Aaron J; Callaghan, John J; Yehyawi, Tameem M; Pedersen, Douglas R; Liu, Steve S; Leinen, Jessica A; Dahl, Kevin A; Goetz, Devon D; Brown, Thomas D; Johnston, Richard C

2009-07-01

Third-body wear can adversely affect the outcome of total hip arthroplasty by causing increased polyethylene wear, osteolysis, and component loosening. We hypothesized that there would be greater generation and migration of metal debris to the bearing surfaces in hips in which cobalt-chromium cables were used to reattach the osteotomized greater trochanter when compared with hips in which stainless steel wires were used. Between June 1981 and December 1983, 196 consecutive total hip arthroplasties were performed with use of an Iowa stem and a titanium-backed cemented acetabular component, with cobalt-chromium cable trochanteric reattachment. After nineteen to twenty years of follow-up, the patients were evaluated with regard to the depth of head penetration into the polyethylene (as a surrogate for wear), osteolysis, loosening, and the need for revision. The results were compared with those for a series of 304 total hip arthroplasties that were performed by the same surgeon from January 1984 to December 1985 with use of the same components and the same surgical technique, but with stainless steel wire trochanteric reattachment. The two groups had a comparable nineteen to twenty-year follow-up. All living patients (fifty-nine hips in the cable group and ninety-two hips in the wire group) had minimum ten-year follow-up radiographs. The polyethylene wear rate was 0.101 mm/yr for the cable group and 0.082 mm/yr for the wire group (p = 0.039). For the living patients, the rate of revision of the acetabular component because of aseptic loosening was 37.3% (twenty-two hips) for the cable group and 20.7% (nineteen hips) for the wire group (p = 0.025). The rate of acetabular osteolysis was 44% (twenty-six hips) for the cable group and 26% (twenty-four hips) for the wire group (p = 0.022). Kaplan-Meier analysis with revision of the acetabular component because of aseptic loosening as the end point demonstrated survival rates of 73.7% +/- 9% and 83% +/- 7% for the cable and wire groups, respectively, at twenty years (p = 0.03). Because cable trochanteric attachment led to significantly greater polyethylene wear, osteolysis, acetabular loosening, and acetabular revision, presumably due to third-body metallic debris generation in this cemented total hip replacement construct, surgeons should be aware of the deleterious effects of third-body debris and avoid the use of potential debris generators in the total hip arthroplasty construct. If cable is used and fretting is recognized, especially with intra-articular migration of metallic material or nonunion of the greater trochanter, consideration should be given to cable removal.

Mixed Methods in Prostate Cancer Prevention and Service Utilization Planning: Combining Focus Groups, Survey Research, and Community Engagement.

PubMed

Tataw, David Besong; Ekúndayò, Olúgbémiga T

2017-01-01

This article reports on the use of sequential and integrated mixed-methods approach in a focused population and small-area analysis. The study framework integrates focus groups, survey research, and community engagement strategies in a search for evidence related to prostate cancer screening services utilization as a component of cancer prevention planning in a marginalized African American community in the United States. Research and data analysis methods are synthesized by aggregation, configuration, and interpretive analysis. The results of synthesis show that qualitative and quantitative data validate and complement each other in advancing our knowledge of population characteristics, variable associations, the complex context in which variables exist, and the best options for prevention and service planning. Synthesis of findings and interpretive analysis provided two important explanations which seemed inexplicable in regression outputs: (a) Focus group data on the limitations of the church as an educational source explain the negative association between preferred educational channels and screening behavior found in quantitative analysis. (b) Focus group data on unwelcoming provider environments explain the inconsistent relationship between knowledge of local sites and screening services utilization found in quantitative analysis. The findings suggest that planners, evaluators, and scientists should grow their planning and evaluation evidence from the community they serve.

Chemical variability of Xylopia quintasii Engl. & Diels leaf oil from Côte d'Ivoire.

PubMed

Yapi, Thierry Acafou; Boti, Jean Brice; Tonzibo, Zanahi Félix; Ahibo, Coffy Antoine; Bighelli, Ange; Casanova, Joseph; Tomi, Félix

2014-02-01

The chemical composition of 42 essential-oil samples isolated from the leaves of Xylopia quintasii harvested in three Ivoirian forests was investigated by GC-FID, including the determination of retention indices (RIs), and by (13) C-NMR analyses. In total, 36 components accounting for 91.9-92.6% of the oil composition were identified. The content of the main components varied drastically from sample to sample: (E)-β-caryophyllene (0.9-56.9%), (Z)-β-ocimene (0.3-54.6%), β-pinene (0.8-27.9%), α-pinene (0.1-22.8%), and furanoguaia-1,4-diene (0.0-17.6%). The 42 oil compositions were submitted to hierarchical cluster and principal components analysis, which allowed the distinction of three groups within the oil samples. The composition of the oils of the major group (22 samples) was dominated by (E)-β-caryophyllene. The oils of the second group (12 samples) contained β-pinene and α-pinene as the principal compounds, while the oils of the third group (8 samples) were dominated by (Z)-β-ocimene, germacrene D, (E)-β-ocimene, and furanoguaia-1,4-diene. The oil samples of Group I and II came from clay-soil forests, while the oil samples belonging to Group III were isolated from leaves harvested in a sandy-soil forest. Copyright © 2014 Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta AG, Zürich.

KIC 2557430: A Triple System Containing One γ Dor and Two Flaring Components?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamil, Ceren; Dal, Hasan Ali

2017-07-01

The results are presented for eclipsing binary KIC 2557430. The mass ratio was computed as 0.868 ± 0.002, while the inclination (i) was found as 69°.75 ± 0°.01 with T 2 = 6271±1 K. 50 frequencies were found in the period analysis. 48 frequencies of them are caused due to the primary component, a γ Doradus star, while two of them are caused by the cool spots. 69 flares were detected in the analyses. Two OPEA models were derived for flares, which indicates that the flares were come from two different sources. The Plateau value was found to be 1.4336 ± 0.1104 s for Source 1, which is seen as possible the secondary component and 0.7550 ± 0.0677 s for Source 2, which is seen as possible third body. The half-life value was computed as 2278.1 s for Group 1 and 1811.2 s for Group 2. The flare frequency N 1 was found to be 0.02726 h -1 and N 2 was computed as 0.00002 for Group 1, while N 1 was found to be 0.01977 h -1 and N 2 was computed as 0.00001 for Group 2. In a results, KIC 2557430 is a possible triple system consisting of a γ Doradus-type star, a chromospherically active star, and also a flaring third body.

[Contributions of the Council of Europe's Blood Transfusion Steering Committee to the determination of rules for the selection of donors of blood and blood components and the study of sexual behaviors having an impact on blood safety].

PubMed

Behr-Gross, M-E; Heiden, M; Norda, R

2013-05-01

In November 2009, the Council of Europe's Blood Transfusion Steering Committee created a group of experts to explore the problem of behaviors having an impact on the management of donors of blood and blood components and on blood transfusion safety in Europe. This ad hoc group sought a harmonised interpretation of temporary exclusion (or temporary deferral), as opposed to permanent exclusion (or permanent deferral), in the context of the selection of donors of blood and blood components. It was also given the mandate to assess, on the basis of available data, the possibility of differentiating "at risk" behaviours from behaviours "at high risk" of contamination by serious infectious diseases transmitted by blood, blood components or derived therapeutic products. The primary objective of this work was to ensure the safety of blood, blood components and derived therapeutic products for future recipients by promoting a risk analysis-based approach, given that some countries envisaged amending their provisions for donor selection. However, a risk analysis can only be performed on groups, not individuals, which may give the impression of a discriminatory approach, so it needed to be justified in the context of transfusion safety. A collaborative project, which included an investigation phase, led to the drafting of a technical memorandum that summarised the data collected in ten Council of Europe member states on the selection criteria for blood donors and the epidemiology of infectious diseases (with a focus on human immunodeficiency virus) in the general population and among blood donors. The technical memorandum was published in 2011 on the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Healthcare website dedicated to this project. A draft resolution of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe was then developed by the Council of Europe's Blood Transfusion Steering Committee. This text was circulated among member and observer states of the Council of Europe for review and comments. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Health-related quality of life in Japanese men with localized prostate cancer: assessment with the SF-8.

PubMed

Sugimoto, Mikio; Takegami, Misa; Suzukamo, Yoshimi; Fukuhara, Shunichi; Kakehi, Yoshiyuki

2008-06-01

To evaluate health related quality of life (HRQOL) using the Medical Outcomes Study 8-items Short Form Health Survey (SF-8) questionnaire in Japanese patients with early prostate cancer. A cross-sectional analysis was done in 457 patients with prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy, external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy, androgen deprivation therapy, and watchful waiting or a combination these therapies. General HRQOL was measured using the Japanese version of the SF-8 questionnaire and disease-specific HRQOL was assessed using the Japanese version of the Extended Prostate Cancer Index Composite. The external beam radiotherapy group reported significantly lower values for the physical health component summary score (PCS) in comparison to the radical prostatectomy and brachytherapy groups (P < 0.05). In the analysis of both the PCS and the mental health component summary score (MCS) over time after treatment, higher scores with time were found in the radical prostatectomy group. No significant change over time after androgen deprivation therapy in the PCS was found. In contrast, the MCS was found to deteriorate in the early period, showing a significant increase over time. SF-8 in combination with the Extended Prostate Cancer Index Composite has shown to be a helpful tool in the HRQOL assessment of Japanese patients treated for localized prostate cancer.

Evaluation of CDOM sources and their links with water quality in the lakes of Northeast China using fluorescence spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Ying; Song, Kaishan; Wen, Zhidan; Fang, Chong; Shang, Yingxin; Lv, Lili

2017-07-01

The spatial distributions of the fluorescence intensities Fmax for chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) components, the fluorescence indices (FI370 and FI310) and their correlations with water quality of 19 lakes in the Songhua River Basin (SHRB) across semiarid regions of Northeast China were examined with the data collected in September 2012 and 2015. The 19 lakes were divided into two groups according to EC (threshold value = 800 μS cm-1): fresh water (N = 13) and brackish water lakes (N = 6). The fluorescent characteristics of CDOM in the 19 lakes were investigated using excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (EEM) coupled with parallel factor (PARAFAC) and multivariate analysis. Two humic-like components (C1 and C3), one tryptophan-like component (C2), and one tyrosine-like component (C4) were identified by PARAFAC. The component C4 was not included in subsequent analyses due to the strong scatter in some colloidal water samples from brackish water lakes. The correlations between Fmax for the three EEM-PARAFAC extracted CDOM components C1-C3, the fluorescence indices (FI370 and FI310) and the water quality parameters (i.e., TN, TP, Chl-a, pH, EC, turbidity (Turb) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC)) were determined by redundancy analysis (RDA). The results of RDA analysis showed that spatial variation in land cover, pollution sources, and salinity/EC gradients in water quality affected Fmax for the fluorescent components C1-C3 and the fluorescence indices (FI370 and FI310). Further examination indicated that the CDOM fluorescent components and the fluorescence indices (FI370 and FI310) did not significantly differ (t-test, p > 0.05) in fresh water (N = 13) and brackish water lakes (N = 6). There was a difference in the distribution of the average Fmax for the CDOM fluorescent components between C1 to C3 from agricultural sources and urban wastewater sources in hypereutrophic brackish water lakes. The Fmax for humic-like components C1 and C3 spatially varied with land cover among the 19 lakes. Our results indicated that the spatial distributions of Fmax for CDOM fluorescent components and their correlations with water quality can be evaluated by EEM-PARAFAC and multivariate analysis among the 19 lakes across semiarid regions of Northeast China, which has potential implication for lakes with similar genesis.

Characterization of CDOM from urban waters in Northern-Northeastern China using excitation-emission matrix fluorescence and parallel factor analysis.

PubMed

Zhao, Ying; Song, Kaishan; Li, Sijia; Ma, Jianhang; Wen, Zhidan

2016-08-01

Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) plays an important role in aquatic systems, but high concentrations of organic materials are considered pollutants. The fluorescent component characteristics of CDOM in urban waters sampled from Northern and Northeastern China were examined by excitation-emission matrix fluorescence and parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC) to investigate the source and compositional changes of CDOM on both space and pollution levels. One humic-like (C1), one tryptophan-like component (C2), and one tyrosine-like component (C3) were identified by PARAFAC. Mean fluorescence intensities of the three CDOM components varied spatially and by pollution level in cities of Northern and Northeastern China during July-August, 2013 and 2014. Principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted to identify the relative distribution of all water samples. Cluster analysis (CA) was also used to categorize the samples into groups of similar pollution levels within a study area. Strong positive linear relationships were revealed between the CDOM absorption coefficients a(254) (R (2) = 0.89, p < 0.01); a(355) (R (2) = 0.94, p < 0.01); and the fluorescence intensity (F max) for the humic-like C1 component. A positive linear relationship (R (2) = 0.77) was also exhibited between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the F max for the humic-like C1 component, but a relatively weak correlation (R (2) = 0.56) was detected between DOC and the F max for the tryptophan-like component (C2). A strong positive correlation was observed between the F max for the tryptophan-like component (C2) and total nitrogen (TN) (R (2) = 0.78), but moderate correlations were observed with ammonium-N (NH4-N) (R (2) = 0.68), and chemical oxygen demand (CODMn) (R (2) = 0.52). Therefore, the fluorescence intensities of CDOM components can be applied to monitor water quality in real time compared to that of traditional approaches. These results demonstrate that EEM-PARAFAC is useful to evaluate the dynamics of CDOM fluorescent components in urban waters from Northern and Northeastern China and this method has potential applications for monitoring urban water quality in different regions with various hydrological conditions and pollution levels.

Fine phenotyping of pod and seed traits in Arachis germplasm accessions using digital image analysis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Reliable and objective phenotyping of peanut pod and seed traits is important for cultivar selection and genetic mapping of yield components. To develop useful and efficient methods to quantitatively define peanut pod and seed traits, a group of peanut germplasm with high levels of phenotypic varia...

Power Analysis for Models of Change in Cluster Randomized Designs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Wei; Konstantopoulos, Spyros

2017-01-01

Field experiments in education frequently assign entire groups such as schools to treatment or control conditions. These experiments incorporate sometimes a longitudinal component where for example students are followed over time to assess differences in the average rate of linear change, or rate of acceleration. In this study, we provide methods…

Analysis of Multi-State Systems with Multi-State Components Using EVMDDs

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

Fault-Tolerant Computing (FTCS), pp. 249– 258, June 1995. [5] T. Kam, T. Villa, R. K. Brayton , and A. L. Sangiovanni- Vincentelli, “Multi-valued...Shmerko, and R. S. Stankovic, Decision Diagram Techniques for Micro- and Nanoelectronic Design, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2006. [16] X. Zang, D

An Implementation of the Action Space Concept in Behavioral Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgs, Gary K.

The Contact Action Space (CAS) of an individual, or group of individuals, has a significant impact on the location of activities and the organization of the use of space. Beginning with the most basic components of a CAS, the individual behavior pattern element is developed, and operational variations affecting alignment and configuration are…

76 FR 26363 - Medicare Program; Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-06

... previous case-mix classification system. It also includes a discussion of a Non-Therapy Ancillary component... facilities. Finally, it proposes certain changes relating to the payment of group therapy services and... Payment for SNF Non-Therapy Ancillary Costs 1. Previous Research 2. Conceptual Analysis 3. Analytic Sample...

Characterization and Discrimination of Oueslati Virgin Olive Oils from Adult and Young Trees in Different Ripening Stages Using Sterols, Pigments, and Alcohols in Tandem with Chemometrics.

PubMed

Chtourou, Fatma; Jabeur, Hazem; Lazzez, Ayda; Bouaziz, Mohamed

2017-05-03

Dynamics of squalene, sterol, aliphatic alcohol, pigment, and triterpenic diol accumulations in olive oils from adult and young trees of the Oueslati cultivar were studied for two consecutive years, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. Data were compared statistically for differences by age of trees, maturation of olive, and year of harvesting. Results showed that the mean campesterol content in olive oil from adult trees at the green stage of maturation was significantly (p < 0.02) above the limit established by IOC legislation. However, the mean values of campesterol and Δ-7-stigmastenol were significantly (p < 0.01) above the limits in oils from young trees at the black stage of ripening. Principal component analysis was applied to alcohols, squalene, pigments, and sterols having noncompliance with the legislation. Then, data of 36 samples were subjected to a discriminant analysis with "maturation" as grouping variable and principal components as input variables. The model revealed clear discrimination of each tree age/maturation stage group.

[Neurophysiological Features of Perception of Emotional Stimuli in Health and in Patients with Paranoid Schizophrenia].

PubMed

Arkhipov, A Yu; Strelets, V B

2015-01-01

Cognitive and emotional disorders, as far as is known, are the main syndromes of schizophrenia. Disorders of these functions are mainly determined by the clinical picture, as well as by psychophysiological correlates. The purpose of our study was to identify some psychophysiological factors which cause perceptual and emotional disturbances in patients with schizophrenia. These disorders of mental functions form the first rank (top) syndrome in patients with schizophrenia [1]. The studied patients had acute psychosis with a predominance of paranoid hallucinatory syndrome and did not receive antipsychotic therapy; i.e., the disturbances of sensory perception were most pronounced. The analysis of early component P100 and intermediate one N170 of event related potentials (ERPs) in the control group showed an increased level of excitation in response to emotionally threatening stimuli; the amplitude increased and the latency decreased in all leads. In contrast the analysis of components P100 and N170 in the group of patients with schizophrenia showed the increased latency and decreased amplitude. The obtained data provide evidence of pathological inhibition in the passive perception of emotionally significant stimuli.

Factorial structure of the 'ToM Storybooks': A test evaluating multiple components of Theory of Mind.

PubMed

Bulgarelli, Daniela; Testa, Silvia; Molina, Paola

2015-06-01

This study examined the factorial structure of the Theory of Mind (ToM) Storybooks, a comprehensive 93-item instrument tapping the five components in Wellman's model of ToM (emotion recognition, understanding of desire and beliefs, ability to distinguish between physical and mental entities, and awareness of the link between perception and knowledge). A sample of 681 three- to eight-year-old Italian children was divided into three age groups to assess whether factorial structure varied across different age ranges. Partial credit model analysis was applied to the data, leading to the empirical identification of 23 composite variables aggregating the ToM Storybooks items. Confirmatory factor analysis was then conducted on the composite variables, providing support for the theoretical model. There were partial differences in the specific composite variables making up the dimensions for each of the three age groups. A single test evaluating distinct dimensions of ToM is a valuable resource for clinical practice which may be used to define differential profiles for specific populations. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Component analysis and heavy metal adsorption ability of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from sulfate reducing bacteria.

PubMed

Yue, Zheng-Bo; Li, Qing; Li, Chuan-chuan; Chen, Tian-hu; Wang, Jin

2015-10-01

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play an important role in the treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). In this paper, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans was used as the test strain to explore the effect of heavy metals on the components and adsorption ability of EPS. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis results showed that heavy metals did not influence the type of functional groups of EPS. Potentiometric titration results indicated that the acidic constants (pKa) of the EPS fell into three ranges of 3.5-4.0, 5.9-6.7, and 8.9-9.8. The adsorption site concentrations of the surface functional groups also increased. Adsorption results suggested that EPS had a specific binding affinity for the dosed heavy metal, and that EPS extracted from the Zn(2+)-dosed system had a higher binding affinity for all heavy metals. Additionally, Zn(2+) decreased the inhibitory effects of Cd(2+) and Cu(2+) on the SRB. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychometrics of a new questionnaire to assess glaucoma adherence: the Glaucoma Treatment Compliance Assessment Tool (an American Ophthalmological Society thesis).

PubMed

Mansberger, Steven L; Sheppler, Christina R; McClure, Tina M; Vanalstine, Cory L; Swanson, Ingrid L; Stoumbos, Zoey; Lambert, William E

2013-09-01

To report the psychometrics of the Glaucoma Treatment Compliance Assessment Tool (GTCAT), a new questionnaire designed to assess adherence with glaucoma therapy. We developed the questionnaire according to the constructs of the Health Belief Model. We evaluated the questionnaire using data from a cross-sectional study with focus groups (n = 20) and a prospective observational case series (n=58). Principal components analysis provided assessment of construct validity. We repeated the questionnaire after 3 months for test-retest reliability. We evaluated predictive validity using an electronic dosing monitor as an objective measure of adherence. Focus group participants provided 931 statements related to adherence, of which 88.7% (826/931) could be categorized into the constructs of the Health Belief Model. Perceived barriers accounted for 31% (288/931) of statements, cues-to-action 14% (131/931), susceptibility 12% (116/931), benefits 12% (115/931), severity 10% (91/931), and self-efficacy 9% (85/931). The principal components analysis explained 77% of the variance with five components representing Health Belief Model constructs. Reliability analyses showed acceptable Cronbach's alphas (>.70) for four of the seven components (severity, susceptibility, barriers [eye drop administration], and barriers [discomfort]). Predictive validity was high, with several Health Belief Model questions significantly associated (P <.05) with adherence and a correlation coefficient (R (2)) of .40. Test-retest reliability was 90%. The GTCAT shows excellent repeatability, content, construct, and predictive validity for glaucoma adherence. A multisite trial is needed to determine whether the results can be generalized and whether the questionnaire accurately measures the effect of interventions to increase adherence.

Dermatoglyphics from All Chinese Ethnic Groups Reveal Geographic Patterning

PubMed Central

Jin, Li; Case, D. Troy; Jiao, Yun-Ping; Wang, Xian-Ping; Bai, Chong-Xian; Jin, Gang; Yang, Jiang-Ming; Wang, Han; Yuan, Jian-Bing; Huang, Wei; Wang, Zhu-Gang; Chen, Ren-Biao

2010-01-01

Completion of a survey of dermatoglyphic variables for all ethnic groups in an ethnically diverse country like China is a huge research project, and an achievement that anthropological and dermatoglyphic scholars in the country could once only dream of. However, through the endeavors of scientists in China over the last 30 years, the dream has become reality. This paper reports the results of a comprehensive analysis of dermatoglyphics from all ethnic groups in China. Using cluster analysis and principal component analysis of dermatoglyphics, it has been found that Chinese populations can be generally divided into a southern group and a northern group. Furthermore, there has been considerable debate about the origins of many Chinese populations and about proper assignment of these peoples to larger ethnic groups. In this paper, we suggest that dermatoglyphic data can inform these debates by helping to classify a Chinese population as a northern or southern group, using selected reference populations and quantitative methods. This study is the first to assemble and investigate dermatoglyphics from all 56 Chinese ethnic groups. It is fortunate that data on population dermatoglyphics, a field of physical anthropology, have now been collected for all 56 Chinese ethnic groups, because intermarriage between individuals from different Chinese ethnic groups occurs more frequently in recent times, making population dermatoglyphic research an ever more challenging field of inquiry. PMID:20098698

Characterization of groups using composite kernels and multi-source fMRI analysis data: application to schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Castro, Eduardo; Martínez-Ramón, Manel; Pearlson, Godfrey; Sui, Jing; Calhoun, Vince D.

2011-01-01

Pattern classification of brain imaging data can enable the automatic detection of differences in cognitive processes of specific groups of interest. Furthermore, it can also give neuroanatomical information related to the regions of the brain that are most relevant to detect these differences by means of feature selection procedures, which are also well-suited to deal with the high dimensionality of brain imaging data. This work proposes the application of recursive feature elimination using a machine learning algorithm based on composite kernels to the classification of healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia. This framework, which evaluates nonlinear relationships between voxels, analyzes whole-brain fMRI data from an auditory task experiment that is segmented into anatomical regions and recursively eliminates the uninformative ones based on their relevance estimates, thus yielding the set of most discriminative brain areas for group classification. The collected data was processed using two analysis methods: the general linear model (GLM) and independent component analysis (ICA). GLM spatial maps as well as ICA temporal lobe and default mode component maps were then input to the classifier. A mean classification accuracy of up to 95% estimated with a leave-two-out cross-validation procedure was achieved by doing multi-source data classification. In addition, it is shown that the classification accuracy rate obtained by using multi-source data surpasses that reached by using single-source data, hence showing that this algorithm takes advantage of the complimentary nature of GLM and ICA. PMID:21723948

Imageless navigation system does not improve component rotational alignment in total knee arthroplasty.

PubMed

Cheng, Tao; Zhang, Guoyou; Zhang, Xianlong

2011-12-01

The aim of computer-assisted surgery is to improve accuracy and limit the range of surgical variability. However, a worldwide debate exists regarding the importance and usefulness of computer-assisted navigation for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The main purpose of this study is to summarize and compare the radiographic outcomes of TKA performed using imageless computer-assisted navigation compared with conventional techniques. An electronic search of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane library databases was made, in addition to manual search of major orthopedic journals. A meta-analysis of 29 quasi-randomized/randomized controlled trials (quasi-RCTs/RCTs) and 11 prospective comparative studies was conducted through a random effects model. Additional a priori sources of clinical heterogeneity were evaluated by subgroup analysis with regard to radiographic methods. When the outlier cut-off value of lower limb axis was defined as ±2° or ±3° from the neutral, the postoperative full-length radiographs demonstrated that the risk ratio was 0.54 or 0.39, respectively, which were in favor of the navigated group. When the cut-off value used for the alignment in the coronal and sagittal plane was 2° or 3°, imageless navigation significantly reduced the outlier rate of the femoral and tibial components compared with the conventional group. Notably, computed tomography scans demonstrated no statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding the outliers in the rotational alignment of the femoral and tibial components; however, there was strong statistical heterogeneity. Our results indicated that imageless computer-assisted navigation systems improve lower limb axis and component orientation in the coronal and sagittal planes, but not the rotational alignment in TKA. Further multiple-center clinical trials with long-term follow-up are needed to determine differences in the clinical and functional outcomes of knee arthroplasties performed using computer-assisted techniques. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of 5 Weeks of Bench Press Training on Muscle Synergies: A Randomized Controlled Study.

PubMed

Kristiansen, Mathias; Samani, Afshin; Madeleine, Pascal; Hansen, Ernst A

2016-07-01

Kristiansen, M, Samani, A, Madeleine, P, and Hansen, EA. Effects of 5 weeks of bench press training on muscle synergies: A randomized controlled study. J Strength Cond Res 30(7): 1948-1959, 2016-The ability to perform forceful muscle contractions has important implications in sports performance and in activities of daily living. However, there is a lack of knowledge on adaptations in intermuscular coordination after strength training. The purpose of this study was therefore to assess muscle synergies before and after 5 weeks of bench press training. Thirty untrained male subjects were randomly allocated to a training group (TRA) or a control group (CON). After the pretest, TRA completed 5 weeks of bench press training, before completing a posttest, whereas subjects in CON continued their normal life. During test sessions, surface electromyography (EMG) was recorded from 13 different muscles. Muscle synergies were extracted from EMG data using nonnegative matrix factorization. To evaluate differences between pretest and posttest, we performed a cross-correlation analysis and a cross-validation analysis, in which the synergy components extracted in the pretest session were recomputed, using the fixed synergy components from the posttest session. Two muscle synergies accounted for 90% of the total variance and reflected the concentric and eccentric phase, respectively. TRA significantly increased 3 repetition maximum in bench press with 19.0% (25th; 75th percentile, 10.3%; 21.7%) (p < 0.001), whereas no change occurred in CON. No significant differences were observed in synergy components between groups. However, decreases in correlation values for intragroup comparisons in TRA may suggest that the synergy components changed, whereas this was not the case in CON. Strength and conditioning professionals may consider monitoring changes in muscle synergies in training and rehabilitation programs as a way to benchmark changes in intermuscular coordination.

Cortical subnetwork dynamics during human language tasks.

PubMed

Collard, Maxwell J; Fifer, Matthew S; Benz, Heather L; McMullen, David P; Wang, Yujing; Milsap, Griffin W; Korzeniewska, Anna; Crone, Nathan E

2016-07-15

Language tasks require the coordinated activation of multiple subnetworks-groups of related cortical interactions involved in specific components of task processing. Although electrocorticography (ECoG) has sufficient temporal and spatial resolution to capture the dynamics of event-related interactions between cortical sites, it is difficult to decompose these complex spatiotemporal patterns into functionally discrete subnetworks without explicit knowledge of each subnetwork's timing. We hypothesized that subnetworks corresponding to distinct components of task-related processing could be identified as groups of interactions with co-varying strengths. In this study, five subjects implanted with ECoG grids over language areas performed word repetition and picture naming. We estimated the interaction strength between each pair of electrodes during each task using a time-varying dynamic Bayesian network (tvDBN) model constructed from the power of high gamma (70-110Hz) activity, a surrogate for population firing rates. We then reduced the dimensionality of this model using principal component analysis (PCA) to identify groups of interactions with co-varying strengths, which we term functional network components (FNCs). This data-driven technique estimates both the weight of each interaction's contribution to a particular subnetwork, and the temporal profile of each subnetwork's activation during the task. We found FNCs with temporal and anatomical features consistent with articulatory preparation in both tasks, and with auditory and visual processing in the word repetition and picture naming tasks, respectively. These FNCs were highly consistent between subjects with similar electrode placement, and were robust enough to be characterized in single trials. Furthermore, the interaction patterns uncovered by FNC analysis correlated well with recent literature suggesting important functional-anatomical distinctions between processing external and self-produced speech. Our results demonstrate that subnetwork decomposition of event-related cortical interactions is a powerful paradigm for interpreting the rich dynamics of large-scale, distributed cortical networks during human cognitive tasks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Integrative sparse principal component analysis of gene expression data.

PubMed

Liu, Mengque; Fan, Xinyan; Fang, Kuangnan; Zhang, Qingzhao; Ma, Shuangge

2017-12-01

In the analysis of gene expression data, dimension reduction techniques have been extensively adopted. The most popular one is perhaps the PCA (principal component analysis). To generate more reliable and more interpretable results, the SPCA (sparse PCA) technique has been developed. With the "small sample size, high dimensionality" characteristic of gene expression data, the analysis results generated from a single dataset are often unsatisfactory. Under contexts other than dimension reduction, integrative analysis techniques, which jointly analyze the raw data of multiple independent datasets, have been developed and shown to outperform "classic" meta-analysis and other multidatasets techniques and single-dataset analysis. In this study, we conduct integrative analysis by developing the iSPCA (integrative SPCA) method. iSPCA achieves the selection and estimation of sparse loadings using a group penalty. To take advantage of the similarity across datasets and generate more accurate results, we further impose contrasted penalties. Different penalties are proposed to accommodate different data conditions. Extensive simulations show that iSPCA outperforms the alternatives under a wide spectrum of settings. The analysis of breast cancer and pancreatic cancer data further shows iSPCA's satisfactory performance. © 2017 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Structural covariance networks across healthy young adults and their consistency.

PubMed

Guo, Xiaojuan; Wang, Yan; Guo, Taomei; Chen, Kewei; Zhang, Jiacai; Li, Ke; Jin, Zhen; Yao, Li

2015-08-01

To investigate structural covariance networks (SCNs) as measured by regional gray matter volumes with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from healthy young adults, and to examine their consistency and stability. Two independent cohorts were included in this study: Group 1 (82 healthy subjects aged 18-28 years) and Group 2 (109 healthy subjects aged 20-28 years). Structural MRI data were acquired at 3.0T and 1.5T using a magnetization prepared rapid-acquisition gradient echo sequence for these two groups, respectively. We applied independent component analysis (ICA) to construct SCNs and further applied the spatial overlap ratio and correlation coefficient to evaluate the spatial consistency of the SCNs between these two datasets. Seven and six independent components were identified for Group 1 and Group 2, respectively. Moreover, six SCNs including the posterior default mode network, the visual and auditory networks consistently existed across the two datasets. The overlap ratios and correlation coefficients of the visual network reached the maximums of 72% and 0.71. This study demonstrates the existence of consistent SCNs corresponding to general functional networks. These structural covariance findings may provide insight into the underlying organizational principles of brain anatomy. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Hypolipidemic mechanism of oryzanol components- ferulic acid and phytosterols.

PubMed

Bhaskaragoud, G; Rajath, S; Mahendra, V P; Kumar, G Sunil; Gopala Krishna, A G; Kumar, G Suresh

2016-07-22

The effect of oryzanol (well known hypolipidemic component in rice bran oil) and its chemical constituents- ferulic acid (FA) and phytosterols on hypolipidemia were investigated. Docking (in silico) studies showed that FA had a better binding ability with lipase while sterols bound well with HMG-CoA reductase. Further in vivo studies of feeding high fat (30%) to rats increased body weights, serum TC, TG, non-HDL-C and reduced HDL-C were observed, compared to normal diet fed group (ND). ORZ treated groups alleviated the lipid profile. Furthermore, increased organ weights, higher intestinal lipase activity, and liver lipid peroxidation was observed in the high-fat group (HF). These effects were ameliorated in oryzanol concentrate fed groups (ORZ). Higher fecal fat was found in ORZ groups, analysis of fecal matter by mass spectroscopy revealed the presence of FA. In vitro, a bile acid binding study supported the strong affinity of sterol towards bile acids. In conclusion, oryzanol in the intestine is cleaved into FA and sterol by intestinal lipase enzymes both lipase and HMG-CoA reductase activities were inhibited, respectively. These hydrolysates eliminated the bile acids, thus lowering lipid profiles. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Brewing and volatiles analysis of three tea beers indicate a potential interaction between tea components and lager yeast.

PubMed

Rong, Lei; Peng, Li-Juan; Ho, Chi-Tang; Yan, Shou-He; Meurens, Marc; Zhang, Zheng-Zhu; Li, Da-Xiang; Wan, Xiao-Chun; Bao, Guan-Hu; Gao, Xue-Ling; Ling, Tie-Jun

2016-04-15

Green tea, oolong tea and black tea were separately introduced to brew three kinds of tea beers. A model was designed to investigate the tea beer flavour character. Comparison of the volatiles between the sample of tea beer plus water mixture (TBW) and the sample of combination of tea infusion and normal beer (CTB) was accomplished by triangular sensory test and HS-SPME GC-MS analysis. The PCA of GC-MS data not only showed a significant difference between volatile features of each TBW and CTB group, but also suggested some key compounds to distinguish TBW from CTB. The results of GC-MS showed that the relative concentrations of many typical tea volatiles were significantly changed after the brewing process. More interestingly, the behaviour of yeast fermentation was influenced by tea components. A potential interaction between tea components and lager yeast could be suggested. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical Composition of Cacti Wood and Comparison with the Wood of Other Taxonomic Groups.

PubMed

Maceda, Agustín; Soto-Hernández, Marcos; Peña-Valdivia, Cecilia B; Terrazas, Teresa

2018-04-01

The aims of this study were to determine the wood chemical composition of 25 species of Cactaceae and to relate the composition to their anatomical diversity. The hypothesis was that wood chemical components differ in relationship to their wood features. The results showed significant differences in wood chemical compounds across species and genera (P < 0.05). Pereskia had the highest percentage of lignin, whereas species of Coryphantha had the lowest; extractive compounds in water were highest for Echinocereus, Mammillaria, and Opuntia. Principal component analysis showed that lignin proportion separated the fibrous, dimorphic, and non-fibrous groups; additionally, the differences within each type of wood occurred because of the lignification of the vascular tissue and the type of wall thickening. Compared with other groups of species, the Cactaceae species with fibrous and dimorphic wood had a higher lignin percentage than did gymnosperms and Acer species. Lignin may confer special rigidity to tracheary elements to withstand desiccation without damage during adverse climatic conditions. © 2018 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.

Retrospective case-control non-inferiority analysis of intravenous lidocaine in a colorectal surgery enhanced recovery program.

PubMed

Naik, Bhiken I; Tsang, Siny; Knisely, Anne; Yerra, Sandeep; Durieux, Marcel E

2017-01-31

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs typically utilizes multi-modal analgesia to reduce perioperative opioid consumption. Systemic lidocaine is used in several of these ERAS algorithms and has been shown to reduce opioid use after colorectal surgery. However it is unclear how much the other components of an ERAS protocol contribute to the final outcome. Using a noninferiority analysis we sought to assess the role of perioperative lidocaine in an ERAS program for colorectal surgery, using pain and opioid consumption as outcomes. We conducted a retrospective review of patients who had received intravenous lidocaine perioperatively during colorectal surgery. We matched them with patients who were managed using a multi-component ERAS protocol, which included perioperative lidocaine. We tested a joint hypothesis of noninferiority of lidocaine infusion to ERAS protocol in postoperative pain scores and opioid consumption. We assigned a noninferiority margin of 1 point (on an 11-point numerical rating scale) difference in pain and a ratio [mean (lidocaine) / mean (ERAS)] of 1.2 in opioid consumption, respectively. Fifty-two patients in the lidocaine group were matched with patients in the ERAS group. With regards to opioid consumption, in the overall [1.68 (1.43-1.98)] [odds ratio (95% confidence interval)] analysis and on postoperative day (POD) 1 [2.38 (1.74-3.31)] lidocaine alone was inferior to multi-modal analgesia. On POD 2 and beyond, although the mean odds ratio for opioid consumption was 1.43 [1.43 (1.17-1.73)], the lower limit extended beyond the pre-defined cut-off of 1.2, rendering the outcome inconclusive. For pain scores lidocaine is non-inferior to ERAS [-0.17 (-1.08-0.74)] on POD 2 and beyond. Pain scores on POD 1 and in the overall cohort were inconclusive based on the noninferiority analysis. The addition of a multi-component ERAS protocol to intravenous lidocaine incrementally reduces opioid consumption, most evident on POD 1. For pain scores the data is inconclusive on POD 1, however on POD 2 and beyond lidocaine alone is non-inferior to an ERAS program with lidocaine. Opioid-related complications, including return of bowel function, were not different between the groups despite reduced opioid use in the ERAS group.

Predication of different stages of Alzheimer's disease using neighborhood component analysis and ensemble decision tree.

PubMed

Jin, Mingwu; Deng, Weishu

2018-05-15

There is a spectrum of the progression from healthy control (HC) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) without conversion to Alzheimer's disease (AD), to MCI with conversion to AD (cMCI), and to AD. This study aims to predict the different disease stages using brain structural information provided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. The neighborhood component analysis (NCA) is applied to select most powerful features for prediction. The ensemble decision tree classifier is built to predict which group the subject belongs to. The best features and model parameters are determined by cross validation of the training data. Our results show that 16 out of a total of 429 features were selected by NCA using 240 training subjects, including MMSE score and structural measures in memory-related regions. The boosting tree model with NCA features can achieve prediction accuracy of 56.25% on 160 test subjects. Principal component analysis (PCA) and sequential feature selection (SFS) are used for feature selection, while support vector machine (SVM) is used for classification. The boosting tree model with NCA features outperforms all other combinations of feature selection and classification methods. The results suggest that NCA be a better feature selection strategy than PCA and SFS for the data used in this study. Ensemble tree classifier with boosting is more powerful than SVM to predict the subject group. However, more advanced feature selection and classification methods or additional measures besides structural MRI may be needed to improve the prediction performance. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Principal components of wrist circumduction from electromagnetic surgical tracking.

PubMed

Rasquinha, Brian J; Rainbow, Michael J; Zec, Michelle L; Pichora, David R; Ellis, Randy E

2017-02-01

An electromagnetic (EM) surgical tracking system was used for a functionally calibrated kinematic analysis of wrist motion. Circumduction motions were tested for differences in subject gender and for differences in the sense of the circumduction as clockwise or counter-clockwise motion. Twenty subjects were instrumented for EM tracking. Flexion-extension motion was used to identify the functional axis. Subjects performed unconstrained wrist circumduction in a clockwise and counter-clockwise sense. Data were decomposed into orthogonal flexion-extension motions and radial-ulnar deviation motions. PCA was used to concisely represent motions. Nonparametric Wilcoxon tests were used to distinguish the groups. Flexion-extension motions were projected onto a direction axis with a root-mean-square error of [Formula: see text]. Using the first three principal components, there was no statistically significant difference in gender (all [Formula: see text]). For motion sense, radial-ulnar deviation distinguished the sense of circumduction in the first principal component ([Formula: see text]) and in the third principal component ([Formula: see text]); flexion-extension distinguished the sense in the second principal component ([Formula: see text]). The clockwise sense of circumduction could be distinguished by a multifactorial combination of components; there were no gender differences in this small population. These data constitute a baseline for normal wrist circumduction. The multifactorial PCA findings suggest that a higher-dimensional method, such as manifold analysis, may be a more concise way of representing circumduction in human joints.

Microbial ingrowth around single- and multi-component adhesives studied in vitro.

PubMed

Preussker, S; Klimm, W; Pöschmann, M; Koch, R

2003-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare the in vitro microbial leakage in 4 micro-hybrid composites in combination with 4 single-component dental adhesives (Scotchbond 1/Z100 MP = group 1; Syntac Single-Component/Tetric Flow = group 3; OptiBond Solo/XRV Herculite = group 5; Solobond M/Arabesk Top = group 7) and 4 multi-component dental adhesives (Scotchbond Multi-Purpose/Z100 MP = group 2; Syntac/Tetric Flow = group 4; OptiBond FL/XRV Herculite = group 6; Solobond Plus/Arabesk Top = group 8). Ninety-four mixed standardized Class V cavities of human caries-free extracted premolars were filled with eight different composite adhesive systems using a one-layer (groups 1-4) or a two-layer technique (groups 5-8). After thermocycling and incubation in a broth culture of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus, followed by decalcification and staining, the extent and the type of microbial leakage were measured histologically. The extent of microbial leakage in the composite restorations was very low in all groups and there were no significant differences between adhesives. Z100 MP in combination with single- and multi-component adhesives showed a significantly higher microbial leakage than Tetric Flow systems (U test: p=0.037). XRV Herculite adhesive systems showed significantly less extensive microbial leakage than Arabesk Top adhesive systems (U test: p<0.001). The single-component dental adhesives achieved a marginal adaptation of composites comparable to that of multi-component adhesives in vitro. Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

Genetic variation and forensic efficiency of autosomal insertion/deletion polymorphisms in Chinese Bai ethnic group: phylogenetic analysis to other populations

PubMed Central

Yang, Chun-Hua; Yin, Cai-Yong; Shen, Chun-Mei; Guo, Yu-Xin; Dong, Qian; Yan, Jiang-Wei; Wang, Hong-Dan; Zhang, Yu-Dang; Meng, Hao-Tian; Jin, Rui

2017-01-01

Thirty insertion/deletion loci were utilized to study the genetic diversities of 125 bloodstain samples collected from Bai group in Yunnan Dali region, China. The observed heterozygosity and expected heterozygosity of the 30 loci ranged from 0.1520 to 0.5680, and 0.1927 to 0.4997, respectively. No deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium tests after Bonferroni correction were found at all 30 loci in Bai group. The cumulative probability of exclusion and combined discrimination power were 0.9859 and 0.9999999999887, respectively, which indicated the 30 loci could be used as complementary genetic markers for paternity testing and were qualified for personal identification in forensic cases. We found the studied Bai group had close relationships with Tibetan, Yi and Han groups from China by the population structure, principal component analysis, population differentiations, and phylogenetic reconstruction studies. Even so, for a better understanding of Bai ethnicity's genetic milieu, DNA genotyping at various genetic markers is necessary in future studies. PMID:28465476

Genetic variation and forensic efficiency of autosomal insertion/deletion polymorphisms in Chinese Bai ethnic group: phylogenetic analysis to other populations.

PubMed

Yang, Chun-Hua; Yin, Cai-Yong; Shen, Chun-Mei; Guo, Yu-Xin; Dong, Qian; Yan, Jiang-Wei; Wang, Hong-Dan; Zhang, Yu-Dang; Meng, Hao-Tian; Jin, Rui; Chen, Feng; Zhu, Bo-Feng

2017-06-13

Thirty insertion/deletion loci were utilized to study the genetic diversities of 125 bloodstain samples collected from Bai group in Yunnan Dali region, China. The observed heterozygosity and expected heterozygosity of the 30 loci ranged from 0.1520 to 0.5680, and 0.1927 to 0.4997, respectively. No deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium tests after Bonferroni correction were found at all 30 loci in Bai group. The cumulative probability of exclusion and combined discrimination power were 0.9859 and 0.9999999999887, respectively, which indicated the 30 loci could be used as complementary genetic markers for paternity testing and were qualified for personal identification in forensic cases. We found the studied Bai group had close relationships with Tibetan, Yi and Han groups from China by the population structure, principal component analysis, population differentiations, and phylogenetic reconstruction studies. Even so, for a better understanding of Bai ethnicity's genetic milieu, DNA genotyping at various genetic markers is necessary in future studies.

[Effects decomposition in mediation analysis: a numerical example].

PubMed

Zugna, Daniela; Richiardi, Lorenzo

2018-01-01

Mediation analysis aims to decompose the total effect of the exposure on the outcome into a direct effect (unmediated) and an indirect effect (mediated by a mediator). When the interest also lies on understanding whether the exposure effect differs in different sub-groups of study population or under different scenarios, the mediation analysis needs to be integrated with interaction analysis. In this setting it is necessary to decompose the total effect not only into two components, the direct and indirect effects, but other two components linked to interaction. The interaction between the exposure and the mediator in their effect on the outcome could indeed act through the effect of the exposure on the mediator or through the mediator when the mediator is not totally explained by the exposure. We describe options for decomposition, proposed in literature, of the total effect and we illustrate them through a hypothetical example of the effect of age at diagnosis of cancer on survival, mediated and unmediated by the therapeutical approach, and a numerical example.

Biomolecular characterization of wild sicilian oregano: phytochemical screening of essential oils and extracts, and evaluation of their antioxidant activities.

PubMed

Tuttolomondo, Teresa; La Bella, Salvatore; Licata, Mario; Virga, Giuseppe; Leto, Claudio; Saija, Antonella; Trombetta, Domenico; Tomaino, Antonio; Speciale, Antonio; Napoli, Edoardo M; Siracusa, Laura; Pasquale, Andrea; Curcuruto, Giusy; Ruberto, Giuseppe

2013-03-01

An extensive survey of wild Sicilian oregano was made. A total of 57 samples were collected from various sites, followed by taxonomic characterization from an agronomic perspective. Based on morphological and production characteristics obtained from the 57 samples, cluster analysis was used to divide the samples into homogeneous groups, to identify the best biotypes. All samples were analyzed for their phytochemical content, applying a cascade-extraction protocol and hydrodistillation, to obtain the non volatile components and the essential oils, respectively. The extracts contained thirteen polyphenol derivatives, i.e., four flavanones, seven flavones, and two organic acids. Their qualitative and quantitative characterization was carried out by LC/MS analyses. The essential oils were characterized using a combination of GC-FID and GC/MS analyses; a total of 81 components were identified. The major components of the oils were thymol, p-cymene, and γ-terpinene. Cluster analysis was carried out on both phytochemical profiles and resulted in the division of the oregano samples into different chemical groups. The antioxidant activity of the essential oils and extracts was investigated by the Folin-Ciocalteau (FC) colorimetric assay, by UV radiation-induced peroxidation in liposomal membranes (UV-IP test), and by determining the O(2)(∙-)-scavenging activity. Copyright © 2013 Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta AG, Zürich.

Genetic Diversity and Association Studies in US Hispanic/Latino Populations: Applications in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

PubMed Central

Conomos, Matthew P.; Laurie, Cecelia A.; Stilp, Adrienne M.; Gogarten, Stephanie M.; McHugh, Caitlin P.; Nelson, Sarah C.; Sofer, Tamar; Fernández-Rhodes, Lindsay; Justice, Anne E.; Graff, Mariaelisa; Young, Kristin L.; Seyerle, Amanda A.; Avery, Christy L.; Taylor, Kent D.; Rotter, Jerome I.; Talavera, Gregory A.; Daviglus, Martha L.; Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia; Schneiderman, Neil; Heiss, Gerardo; Kaplan, Robert C.; Franceschini, Nora; Reiner, Alex P.; Shaffer, John R.; Barr, R. Graham; Kerr, Kathleen F.; Browning, Sharon R.; Browning, Brian L.; Weir, Bruce S.; Avilés-Santa, M. Larissa; Papanicolaou, George J.; Lumley, Thomas; Szpiro, Adam A.; North, Kari E.; Rice, Ken; Thornton, Timothy A.; Laurie, Cathy C.

2016-01-01

US Hispanic/Latino individuals are diverse in genetic ancestry, culture, and environmental exposures. Here, we characterized and controlled for this diversity in genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). We simultaneously estimated population-structure principal components (PCs) robust to familial relatedness and pairwise kinship coefficients (KCs) robust to population structure, admixture, and Hardy-Weinberg departures. The PCs revealed substantial genetic differentiation within and among six self-identified background groups (Cuban, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Central and South American). To control for variation among groups, we developed a multi-dimensional clustering method to define a “genetic-analysis group” variable that retains many properties of self-identified background while achieving substantially greater genetic homogeneity within groups and including participants with non-specific self-identification. In GWASs of 22 biomedical traits, we used a linear mixed model (LMM) including pairwise empirical KCs to account for familial relatedness, PCs for ancestry, and genetic-analysis groups for additional group-associated effects. Including the genetic-analysis group as a covariate accounted for significant trait variation in 8 of 22 traits, even after we fit 20 PCs. Additionally, genetic-analysis groups had significant heterogeneity of residual variance for 20 of 22 traits, and modeling this heteroscedasticity within the LMM reduced genomic inflation for 19 traits. Furthermore, fitting an LMM that utilized a genetic-analysis group rather than a self-identified background group achieved higher power to detect previously reported associations. We expect that the methods applied here will be useful in other studies with multiple ethnic groups, admixture, and relatedness. PMID:26748518

Facial anthropometric differences among gender, ethnicity, and age groups.

PubMed

Zhuang, Ziqing; Landsittel, Douglas; Benson, Stacey; Roberge, Raymond; Shaffer, Ronald

2010-06-01

The impact of race/ethnicity upon facial anthropometric data in the US workforce, on the development of personal protective equipment, has not been investigated to any significant degree. The proliferation of minority populations in the US workforce has increased the need to investigate differences in facial dimensions among these workers. The objective of this study was to determine the face shape and size differences among race and age groups from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health survey of 3997 US civilian workers. Survey participants were divided into two gender groups, four racial/ethnic groups, and three age groups. Measurements of height, weight, neck circumference, and 18 facial dimensions were collected using traditional anthropometric techniques. A multivariate analysis of the data was performed using Principal Component Analysis. An exploratory analysis to determine the effect of different demographic factors had on anthropometric features was assessed via a linear model. The 21 anthropometric measurements, body mass index, and the first and second principal component scores were dependent variables, while gender, ethnicity, age, occupation, weight, and height served as independent variables. Gender significantly contributes to size for 19 of 24 dependent variables. African-Americans have statistically shorter, wider, and shallower noses than Caucasians. Hispanic workers have 14 facial features that are significantly larger than Caucasians, while their nose protrusion, height, and head length are significantly shorter. The other ethnic group was composed primarily of Asian subjects and has statistically different dimensions from Caucasians for 16 anthropometric values. Nineteen anthropometric values for subjects at least 45 years of age are statistically different from those measured for subjects between 18 and 29 years of age. Workers employed in manufacturing, fire fighting, healthcare, law enforcement, and other occupational groups have facial features that differ significantly than those in construction. Statistically significant differences in facial anthropometric dimensions (P < 0.05) were noted between males and females, all racial/ethnic groups, and the subjects who were at least 45 years old when compared to workers between 18 and 29 years of age. These findings could be important to the design and manufacture of respirators, as well as employers responsible for supplying respiratory protective equipment to their employees.

GC-MS analysis and hepatoprotective activity of the n-hexane extract of Acrocarpus fraxinifolius leaves against paracetamol-induced hepatotoxicity in male albino rats.

PubMed

Abd El-Ghffar, Eman A; El-Nashar, Heba A S; Eldahshan, Omayma A; Singab, Abdel Nasser B

2017-12-01

In Egypt, the burden of liver diseases is exceptionally high. To investigate the components of the n-hexane extract of Acrocarpus fraxinifolius Arn. (Leguminosae) and its hepatoprotective activity against paracetamol (APAP)-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. TRACE GC ultra gas chromatogaphic spectrometry was used for extract analysis. Thirty albino rats were divided into six groups (five rats in each). Group 1 was the healthy control; Groups 2 and 3 were healthy treated groups (250 and 500 mg/kg b.w. of the extract, respectively) for seven days. Group 4 was hepatotoxicity control (APAP intoxicated group). Groups 5 and 6 received APAP + extract 250 and APAP + extract 500, respectively. Chromatographic analysis revealed the presence of 36 components. Major compounds were α-tocopherol (18.23%), labda-8 (20)-13-dien-15-oic acid (13.15%), lupeol (11.93%), phytol (10.95%) and squalene (7.19%). In the acute oral toxicity study, the mortality rates and behavioural signs of toxicity were zero in all groups (doses from 0 to 5 g/kg b.w. of A. fraxinifolius). LD 50 was found to be greater than 5 g/kg of the extract. Only the high dose (500 mg/kg b.w.) of extract significantly alleviated the liver relative weight (4.01 ± 0.06) and biomarkers, as serum aspartate aminotransferase (62.87 ± 1.41), alanine aminotransferase (46.74 ± 1.45), alkaline phosphatase (65.96 ± 0.74), lipid profiles (180.39 ± 3.51), bilirubin profiles (2.30 ± 0.06) and hepatic lipid peroxidation (114.20 ± 2.06), and increased body weight (11.58 ± 0.20), serum protein profile (11.09 ± 0.46) and hepatic total antioxidant capacity (23.78 ± 0.66) in APAP-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Our study proves the antihepatotoxic/antioxidant efficacies of A. fraxinifolius hexane extract.

The relation of object naming and other visual speech production tasks: a large scale voxel-based morphometric study.

PubMed

Lau, Johnny King L; Humphreys, Glyn W; Douis, Hassan; Balani, Alex; Bickerton, Wai-Ling; Rotshtein, Pia

2015-01-01

We report a lesion-symptom mapping analysis of visual speech production deficits in a large group (280) of stroke patients at the sub-acute stage (<120 days post-stroke). Performance on object naming was evaluated alongside three other tests of visual speech production, namely sentence production to a picture, sentence reading and nonword reading. A principal component analysis was performed on all these tests' scores and revealed a 'shared' component that loaded across all the visual speech production tasks and a 'unique' component that isolated object naming from the other three tasks. Regions for the shared component were observed in the left fronto-temporal cortices, fusiform gyrus and bilateral visual cortices. Lesions in these regions linked to both poor object naming and impairment in general visual-speech production. On the other hand, the unique naming component was potentially associated with the bilateral anterior temporal poles, hippocampus and cerebellar areas. This is in line with the models proposing that object naming relies on a left-lateralised language dominant system that interacts with a bilateral anterior temporal network. Neuropsychological deficits in object naming can reflect both the increased demands specific to the task and the more general difficulties in language processing.

Body composition analysis: Cellular level modeling of body component ratios.

PubMed

Wang, Z; Heymsfield, S B; Pi-Sunyer, F X; Gallagher, D; Pierson, R N

2008-01-01

During the past two decades, a major outgrowth of efforts by our research group at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital is the development of body composition models that include cellular level models, models based on body component ratios, total body potassium models, multi-component models, and resting energy expenditure-body composition models. This review summarizes these models with emphasis on component ratios that we believe are fundamental to understanding human body composition during growth and development and in response to disease and treatments. In-vivo measurements reveal that in healthy adults some component ratios show minimal variability and are relatively 'stable', for example total body water/fat-free mass and fat-free mass density. These ratios can be effectively applied for developing body composition methods. In contrast, other ratios, such as total body potassium/fat-free mass, are highly variable in vivo and therefore are less useful for developing body composition models. In order to understand the mechanisms governing the variability of these component ratios, we have developed eight cellular level ratio models and from them we derived simplified models that share as a major determining factor the ratio of extracellular to intracellular water ratio (E/I). The E/I value varies widely among adults. Model analysis reveals that the magnitude and variability of each body component ratio can be predicted by correlating the cellular level model with the E/I value. Our approach thus provides new insights into and improved understanding of body composition ratios in adults.

Molecular Analysis of Flood Deposits in the Tennessee River Valley: Implications for Understanding Carbon Cycling in Fluvial Environments and Anthropogenic Impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blackaby, E.; Craven, O. D.; Hockaday, W. C.; Forman, S. L.; Stinchcomb, G. E.

2017-12-01

The middle Tennessee River Valley contains both historic and prehistoric (>AD 1600) flood deposits. Stratigraphic sequences of stacked flood deposits that often bury soils provide new insights on organic matter transported and preserved prior to and after European colonization. This study focused on understanding carbon cycling within a dynamic fluvial system and quantifying the anthropogenic effect on flood processes through the analysis of molecular components of the organic matter. The data may be helpful in discerning the organic geochemical fingerprint for historic and prehistoric flood deposits. Ten samples were collected from three sites at varying depths and dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). All samples underwent solid-state cross polar 13C NMR analysis at twelve kilohertz, and a molecular mixing model (MMM) was used to determine the molecular components of the organic matter present in each sample. The MMM categorized carbon molecules present in each sample in terms of carbohydrate, protein, lipid, lignin, char, or pure carbonyl. Char was the most prominent molecular component of all ten samples ranging from 28.7 to 55.9% and comprised larger percentages in prehistoric deposits. The historic deposits, while still char dominated, showed more molecular diversity with higher percentages in non-char carbon groups. The carbonyl, lipid, and carbohydrate groups are present throughout all the samples with the carbonyl ranging from 9.3 to 31.4%, the lipid from 5.5 to 16.7%, and the carbohydrate from 4.4 to 16.9%. The high amount of carbonyl throughout the samples indicates that the deposits existed in a highly oxidizing environment. Differences in the presence and amount of carbon groups between historic and prehistoric flood deposits potentially reflect diagenic alternation of organic matter through time, changes in human land use, or some combination processes. These preliminary results possibly indicate changes in carbon pools accessed with European cultivation and continued degradation of organic moieties during a ca. 400 years burial, and mostly in oxidizing conditions.

Exploring relationships between Dairy Herd Improvement monitors of performance and the Transition Cow Index in Wisconsin dairy herds.

PubMed

Schultz, K K; Bennett, T B; Nordlund, K V; Döpfer, D; Cook, N B

2016-09-01

Transition cow management has been tracked via the Transition Cow Index (TCI; AgSource Cooperative Services, Verona, WI) since 2006. Transition Cow Index was developed to measure the difference between actual and predicted milk yield at first test day to evaluate the relative success of the transition period program. This project aimed to assess TCI in relation to all commonly used Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) metrics available through AgSource Cooperative Services. Regression analysis was used to isolate variables that were relevant to TCI, and then principal components analysis and network analysis were used to determine the relative strength and relatedness among variables. Finally, cluster analysis was used to segregate herds based on similarity of relevant variables. The DHI data were obtained from 2,131 Wisconsin dairy herds with test-day mean ≥30 cows, which were tested ≥10 times throughout the 2014 calendar year. The original list of 940 DHI variables was reduced through expert-driven selection and regression analysis to 23 variables. The K-means cluster analysis produced 5 distinct clusters. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the 23 variables per cluster grouping. Using principal components analysis, cluster analysis, and network analysis, 4 parameters were isolated as most relevant to TCI; these were energy-corrected milk, 3 measures of intramammary infection (dry cow cure rate, linear somatic cell count score in primiparous cows, and new infection rate), peak ratio, and days in milk at peak milk production. These variables together with cow and newborn calf survival measures form a group of metrics that can be used to assist in the evaluation of overall transition period performance. Copyright © 2016 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Protein-coding genes combined with long noncoding RNA as a novel transcriptome molecular staging model to predict the survival of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

PubMed

Guo, Jin-Cheng; Wu, Yang; Chen, Yang; Pan, Feng; Wu, Zhi-Yong; Zhang, Jia-Sheng; Wu, Jian-Yi; Xu, Xiu-E; Zhao, Jian-Mei; Li, En-Min; Zhao, Yi; Xu, Li-Yan

2018-04-09

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the predominant subtype of esophageal carcinoma in China. This study was to develop a staging model to predict outcomes of patients with ESCC. Using Cox regression analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), partitioning clustering, Kaplan-Meier analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and classification and regression tree (CART) analysis, we mined the Gene Expression Omnibus database to determine the expression profiles of genes in 179 patients with ESCC from GSE63624 and GSE63622 dataset. Univariate cox regression analysis of the GSE63624 dataset revealed that 2404 protein-coding genes (PCGs) and 635 long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were associated with the survival of patients with ESCC. PCA categorized these PCGs and lncRNAs into three principal components (PCs), which were used to cluster the patients into three groups. ROC analysis demonstrated that the predictive ability of PCG-lncRNA PCs when applied to new patients was better than that of the tumor-node-metastasis staging (area under ROC curve [AUC]: 0.69 vs. 0.65, P < 0.05). Accordingly, we constructed a molecular disaggregated model comprising one lncRNA and two PCGs, which we designated as the LSB staging model using CART analysis in the GSE63624 dataset. This LSB staging model classified the GSE63622 dataset of patients into three different groups, and its effectiveness was validated by analysis of another cohort of 105 patients. The LSB staging model has clinical significance for the prognosis prediction of patients with ESCC and may serve as a three-gene staging microarray.

Which type of sedentary behaviour intervention is more effective at reducing body mass index in children? A meta-analytic review.

PubMed

Liao, Y; Liao, J; Durand, C P; Dunton, G F

2014-03-01

Sedentary behaviour is emerging as an independent risk factor for paediatric obesity. Some evidence suggests that limiting sedentary behaviour alone could be effective in reducing body mass index (BMI) in children. However, whether adding physical activity and diet-focused components to sedentary behaviour reduction interventions could lead to an additive effect is unclear. This meta-analysis aims to assess the overall effect size of sedentary behaviour interventions on BMI reduction and to compare whether interventions that have multiple components (sedentary behaviour, physical activity and diet) have a higher mean effect size than interventions with single (sedentary behaviour) component. Included studies (n = 25) were randomized controlled trials of children (<18 years) with intervention components aimed to reduce sedentary behaviour and measured BMI at pre- and post-intervention. Effect size was calculated as the mean difference in BMI change between children in an intervention group and a control group. Results indicated that sedentary behaviour interventions had a significant effect on BMI reduction. The pooled effect sizes of multi-component interventions (g = -0.060∼-0.089) did not differ from the single-component interventions (g = -0.154), and neither of them had a significant effect size on its own. Future paediatric obesity interventions may consider focusing on developing strategies to decrease multiple screen-related sedentary behaviours. © 2013 The Authors. obesity reviews © 2013 International Association for the Study of Obesity.

Identification of chemical components of combustion emissions that affect pro-atherosclerotic vascular responses in mice

PubMed Central

Seilkop, Steven K.; Campen, Matthew J.; Lund, Amie K.; McDonald, Jacob D.; Mauderly, Joe L.

2012-01-01

Combustion emissions cause pro-atherosclerotic responses in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE/−) mice, but the causal components of these complex mixtures are unresolved. In studies previously reported, ApoE−/− mice were exposed by inhalation 6 h/day for 50 consecutive days to multiple dilutions of diesel or gasoline exhaust, wood smoke, or simulated “downwind” coal emissions. In this study, the analysis of the combined four-study database using the Multiple Additive Regression Trees (MART) data mining approach to determine putative causal exposure components regardless of combustion source is reported. Over 700 physical–chemical components were grouped into 45 predictor variables. Response variables measured in aorta included endothelin-1, vascular endothelin growth factor, three matrix metalloproteinases (3, 7, 9), metalloproteinase inhibitor 2, heme-oxygenase-1, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. Two or three predictors typically explained most of the variation in response among the experimental groups. Overall, sulfur dioxide, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide were most highly predictive of responses, although their rankings differed among the responses. Consistent with the earlier finding that filtration of particles had little effect on responses, particulate components ranked third to seventh in predictive importance for the eight response variables. MART proved useful for identifying putative causal components, although the small number of pollution mixtures (4) can provide only suggestive evidence of causality. The potential independent causal contributions of these gases to the vascular responses, as well as possible interactions among them and other components of complex pollutant mixtures, warrant further evaluation. PMID:22486345

Identification of chemical components of combustion emissions that affect pro-atherosclerotic vascular responses in mice.

PubMed

Seilkop, Steven K; Campen, Matthew J; Lund, Amie K; McDonald, Jacob D; Mauderly, Joe L

2012-04-01

Combustion emissions cause pro-atherosclerotic responses in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE/⁻) mice, but the causal components of these complex mixtures are unresolved. In studies previously reported, ApoE⁻/⁻ mice were exposed by inhalation 6 h/day for 50 consecutive days to multiple dilutions of diesel or gasoline exhaust, wood smoke, or simulated "downwind" coal emissions. In this study, the analysis of the combined four-study database using the Multiple Additive Regression Trees (MART) data mining approach to determine putative causal exposure components regardless of combustion source is reported. Over 700 physical-chemical components were grouped into 45 predictor variables. Response variables measured in aorta included endothelin-1, vascular endothelin growth factor, three matrix metalloproteinases (3, 7, 9), metalloproteinase inhibitor 2, heme-oxygenase-1, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. Two or three predictors typically explained most of the variation in response among the experimental groups. Overall, sulfur dioxide, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide were most highly predictive of responses, although their rankings differed among the responses. Consistent with the earlier finding that filtration of particles had little effect on responses, particulate components ranked third to seventh in predictive importance for the eight response variables. MART proved useful for identifying putative causal components, although the small number of pollution mixtures (4) can provide only suggestive evidence of causality. The potential independent causal contributions of these gases to the vascular responses, as well as possible interactions among them and other components of complex pollutant mixtures, warrant further evaluation.

COMPADRE: an R and web resource for pathway activity analysis by component decompositions.

PubMed

Ramos-Rodriguez, Roberto-Rafael; Cuevas-Diaz-Duran, Raquel; Falciani, Francesco; Tamez-Peña, Jose-Gerardo; Trevino, Victor

2012-10-15

The analysis of biological networks has become essential to study functional genomic data. Compadre is a tool to estimate pathway/gene sets activity indexes using sub-matrix decompositions for biological networks analyses. The Compadre pipeline also includes one of the direct uses of activity indexes to detect altered gene sets. For this, the gene expression sub-matrix of a gene set is decomposed into components, which are used to test differences between groups of samples. This procedure is performed with and without differentially expressed genes to decrease false calls. During this process, Compadre also performs an over-representation test. Compadre already implements four decomposition methods [principal component analysis (PCA), Isomaps, independent component analysis (ICA) and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF)], six statistical tests (t- and f-test, SAM, Kruskal-Wallis, Welch and Brown-Forsythe), several gene sets (KEGG, BioCarta, Reactome, GO and MsigDB) and can be easily expanded. Our simulation results shown in Supplementary Information suggest that Compadre detects more pathways than over-representation tools like David, Babelomics and Webgestalt and less false positives than PLAGE. The output is composed of results from decomposition and over-representation analyses providing a more complete biological picture. Examples provided in Supplementary Information show the utility, versatility and simplicity of Compadre for analyses of biological networks. Compadre is freely available at http://bioinformatica.mty.itesm.mx:8080/compadre. The R package is also available at https://sourceforge.net/p/compadre.

A projection pursuit algorithm to classify individuals using fMRI data: Application to schizophrenia.

PubMed

Demirci, Oguz; Clark, Vincent P; Calhoun, Vince D

2008-02-15

Schizophrenia is diagnosed based largely upon behavioral symptoms. Currently, no quantitative, biologically based diagnostic technique has yet been developed to identify patients with schizophrenia. Classification of individuals into patient with schizophrenia and healthy control groups based on quantitative biologically based data is of great interest to support and refine psychiatric diagnoses. We applied a novel projection pursuit technique on various components obtained with independent component analysis (ICA) of 70 subjects' fMRI activation maps obtained during an auditory oddball task. The validity of the technique was tested with a leave-one-out method and the detection performance varied between 80% and 90%. The findings suggest that the proposed data reduction algorithm is effective in classifying individuals into schizophrenia and healthy control groups and may eventually prove useful as a diagnostic tool.