Bayesian estimation has played a pivotal role in the understanding of individual differences. However, for many models in psychology, Bayesian estimation of model parameters can be difficult. One reason for this difficulty is that conventional sampling algorithms, such as Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), can be inefficient and impractical when ...

PURPOSE: We describe an experiment to build a de-identification system for clinical records using the open source MITRE Identification Scrubber Toolkit (MIST). We quantify the human annotation effort needed to produce a system that de-identifies at high accuracy. METHODS: Using two types of clinical records (history and physical notes, and ...

Tools for molecular de novo design are actively sought incorporating sets of chemical rules for fast and efficient identification of structurally new chemotypes endowed with a desired set of biological properties. In this paper, we present LiGen, a suite of programs which can be used sequentially or as stand-alone tools ...

This paper details a practical method for the direct reconstruction of high dose rate (192)Ir source dwell positions in ring applicators using gafchromic film in the treatment planning of brachytherapy cervix patients. It also details the uncertainties associated with such a process. Eight Nucletron interstitial ring applicators-Ø26 mm (×4), Ø30 mm (×3) ...

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Computer-aided design (CAD) methods are highly valuable for the analysis of skin lesions using digital dermoscopy due to low rate of diagnostic accuracy of expert dermatologist. In computerized diagnostic methods, automatic border detection is the first and crucial step. METHOD: In this study, a novel unified approach is proposed ...

A model for the combustion of butanol is studied using a recently developed theoretical method for the systematic improvement of the kinetic mechanism. The butanol mechanism includes 1446 reactions, and we demonstrate that it is straightforward and computationally feasible to implement a full global sensitivity analysis incorporating all the reactions. ...

Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer and it is costly for dermatologists to screen every patient for melanoma. There is a need for a system to assess the risk of melanoma based on dermatological photographs of a skin lesion. However, the presence of illumination variation in the ...

The fast development of next-generation sequencing technology presents a major computational challenge for data processing and analysis. A fast algorithm, de Bruijn graph has been successfully used for genome DNA de novo assembly; nevertheless, its performance for transcriptome assembly is unclear. In this study, we used both simulated and real ...

Transcriptome reconstruction is an important application of RNA-Seq, providing critical information for further analysis of transcriptome. Although RNA-Seq offers the potential to identify the whole picture of transcriptome, it still presents special challenges. To handle these difficulties and reconstruct transcriptome as completely as possible, current computational approaches mainly employ two ...

We introduce a biophysical model of miRNA-target interaction and infer its parameters from Argonaute 2 cross-linking and immunoprecipitation data. We show that a substantial fraction of human miRNA target sites are noncanonical and that predicted target-site affinity correlates well with the extent of target destabilization. Our model provides a rigorous ...

De Sousa's comprehensive two-part review of a diversity of contemporary approaches to the study of consciousness is highly welcome. He makes us aware of a proliferation of theoretical and empirical approaches targeting a common theme, but diverging in many ways. He skilfully accomplishes a classification of kinds of approach, identification ...

During minimally invasive surgical procedures (e.g., needle insertion during interventional radiological procedures), needle-tissue interactions and physiological processes cause tissue deformation. Target displacement is caused by soft-tissue deformation, which results in misplacement of the surgical tool (needle). This study presents a technique to predict target displacement in three-dimensions (3D) by combining ...

We study group chase and escape with some fast chasers. In our model chasers look for the nearest target and move to one of the nearest sites in order to catch the target. On the other hand, targets try to escape from the nearest chaser. When a chaser catches a ...

The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of a smartphone-based application developed for photographic-based goniometry, DrGoniometer (DrG), by comparing its measurement of the knee joint angle with that made by a universal goniometer (UG). Joint goniometry is a common mode of clinical assessment used in many disciplines, ...

AIMS: To investigate the effect of different well sizes and pre-diffusion times at 4°C, on the sensitivity, accuracy and precision of nisin quantification by agar diffusion bioassay. METHODS AND RESULTS: Nisin solution (0.625-125 μg ml(-1) ) was filled in wells (3.5 mm or 7 mm diameter) made on agar plates ...

A modeling and validation method of photometric characteristics of the space target was presented in order to track and identify different satellites effectively. The background radiation characteristics models of the target were built based on blackbody radiation theory. The geometry characteristics of the target were illustrated by the surface equations ...

Most existing target acquisition (TA) models neglect the influence of background clutter, which results in inaccurate prediction of TA performance in a complicated environment. In this paper, all the background clutter is first quantitatively characterized by the distribution of edge clutter metric, and its effects on the target detection probability ...

Adverse toxicologic effects are categorized as chemical-based, on-target, or off-target effects. Chemical-based toxicity is defined as toxicity that is related to the physicochemical characteristics of a compound and its effects on cellular organelles, membranes, and/or metabolic pathways. On-target refers to exaggerated and adverse pharmacologic effects at the target of interest ...

Recent advancements in computational methods for protein-structure prediction have made it possible to generate the high-quality de novo models required for ab initio phasing of crystallographic diffraction data using molecular replacement. Despite those encouraging achievements in ab initio phasing using de novo models, its success is limited only to those ...

OBJECTIVE: De-identification allows faster and more collaborative clinical research while protecting patient confidentiality. Clinical narrative de-identification is a tedious process that can be alleviated by automated natural language processing methods. The goal of this research is the development of an automated text de-identification system for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) clinical ...

Fragment assembly is one of the most important problems of sequence assembly. Algorithms for DNA fragment assembly using de Bruijn graph have been widely used. These algorithms require a large amount of memory and running time to build the de Bruijn graph. Another drawback of the conventional de Bruijn approach ...

This paper presents and describes new foot fossils from the species Homo antecessor, found in level TD6 of the site of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). These new fossils consist of an almost complete left talus (ATD6-95) and the proximal three-quarters of a right fourth metatarsal (ATD6-124). The ...

At present, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is considered a type of autoimmune disease. Its pathology is not certain, and effective drugs with less toxicity have not been established. The establishment and application of animal models are effective methods for RA research, especially using animal models similar to humans. Arthritis is more ...

ABSTRACT. Application of low concentration acetic acid solution to various types of human epithelia, in vivo, is a well-established technique for the visual identification of neoplastic and potential precancerous lesions, especially in the cervix. An acetic acid application produces a transient whitening effect associated with the aforementioned lesions (acetowhite effect). ...

Effective radium concentration EC(Ra), product of radium concentration and radon emanation, is the source term for radon release into the pore space of rocks and the environment. To measure EC(Ra), we have conducted, over a period of three years, more than 5500 radon-222 accumulation experiments in the laboratory with scintillation ...

Effective radium concentration EC(Ra), product of radium concentration and radon emanation, is the source term for radon release into the pore space of rocks and the environment. Over a period of three years, we performed more than 6000 radon-222 accumulation experiments in the laboratory with scintillation flasks and SSNTDs and ...

Tolo Harbour, located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong's New Territories, China, has a high frequency of algal blooms and red tides. An attempt was made to first quantify the submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) into Tolo Harbour using (226)Ra, and then to estimate the nutrient fluxes into the Harbour ...

The wrist is the most complex joint for virtual three-dimensional simulations, and the complexity is even more pronounced when dealing with skeletal disorders of the joint such, as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In order to analyse the biomechanical difference between healthy and diseased joints, three-dimensional models of these two wrist conditions ...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects approximately 1.5 million people in the US. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α inhibitors have been shown to effectively treat and maintain remission in patients with moderately to severely active RA compared with conventional agents. The high acquisition cost of TNF-α inhibitors prohibits ...

Topical retinoids are believed to increase inflammatory lesions within the first few weeks of treatment. We evaluated data from several clinical trials for evidence of a signal for retinoid aggravation of inflammatory lesions using a psychometric method and the proportion of participants who demonstrated varying degrees of increased lesion counts. ...

This chapter describes three-dimensional gait analysis and common gait deviations in adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA). Furthermore, we describe changes in gait deviations following surgical and non-surgical interventions. Gait analysis is used to define gait deviations and to evaluate varying surgical approaches, types of surgeries and non-pharmacologic ...

To assess whether neuroretinal rim area (RA) measurements of the optic disc could be used to improve the estimate of the rate of change in visual field (VF) mean sensitivity in patients with ocular hypertension (OHT) using a Bayesian linear regression (BLR), compared to a standard ordinary least squares linear ...

PURPOSE: To determine whether the weakness of the structure-function relationship could be produced by test variability alone, without implying underlying dissociation between the true rates of structural and functional change. METHODS: Perimetric mean deviation (MD), and rim area (RA) and cup volume (CV) from confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, over six ...

The aim of this study was to comprehensively study the radiological hazards of granite and marble used as a building material in Egypt. The activity concentrations of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K were determined using high-resolution hyper-pure germanium detectors in 25 samples of different types of commercially available granite and marble. ...

Allergic asthma has emerged as an important public health problem of urban populations in developed countries. Very often herbal medicine is used to treat this widespread disease, due to the lack of efficacy and the important side effects related to the classical drugs in use. Along this line, Ocimum gratissimum ...

ObjectivesElectronic health records (EHR) can allow for the generation of large cohorts of individuals with given diseases for clinical and genomic research. A rate-limiting step is the development of electronic phenotype selection algorithms to find such cohorts. This study evaluated the portability of a published phenotype algorithm to identify rheumatoid ...

Despite the tremendous advances made in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), there is still excess mortality observed in RA patients, which is mainly caused by cardiovascular disease (CVD). Altered lipid metabolism plays a major role in the etiology of CVD. A second common complication observed in RA patients is ...

PURPOSE: To determine healthcare claim patterns associated using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: The CADEUS study randomly identified NSAID users within the French health insurance database. One-year claims data were extracted, and NSAID indication was obtained from prescribers. Logistic regression was used in a development sample ...

OBJECTIVE.: To adapt and cross-culturally validate the Foot Impact Scale for Rheumatoid Arthritis (FIS-RA) using Rasch analysis. METHODS.: The FIS-RA was translated from English to German, Hungarian and Dutch target languages and administered to 653 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Rasch analysis was undertaken on the impairment/footwear (FIS-RA(IF) ) and activity/participation ...

Introduction There is increasing evidence that staying active is an important part of a recovery process for individuals on sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). It has been suggested that using part-time sick-leave rather than full-time sick leave will enhance the possibility of full recovery to the workforce, and ...

In this paper, we present an evaluation of the hybrid best-of-breed automated VHA (Veteran's Health Administration) clinical text de-identification system, nicknamed BoB, developed within the VHA Consortium for Healthcare Informatics Research. We also evaluate two available machine learning-based text de-identifications systems: MIST and HIDE. Two different clinical corpora were used ...

Estimating the rate of glucose appearance (R(a)) after ingestion of a mixed meal may be highly valuable in diabetes management. The gold standard technique for estimating R(a) is the use of a multitracer oral glucose protocol. However, this technique is complex and is usually not convenient for large studies. Alternatively, ...

11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type1 (11βHSD1) regulates the conversion from inactive cortisone to active cortisol. Increased cortisol results in diabetes, hence quelling the activity of 11βHSD1 has been thought of as an effective approach for the treatment of diabetes. Quantitative hypotheses were developed and validated to identify the critical chemical features with ...

Next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have greatly changed the landscape of transcriptomic studies of non-model organisms. Since there is no reference genome available, de novo assembly methods play key roles in the analysis of these data sets. Because of the huge amount of data generated by NGS technologies for each ...

Traditional algorithms to solve the problem of sorting by signed reversals output just one optimal solution while the space of all optimal solutions can be huge. A so-called trace represents a group of solutions which share the same set of reversals that must be applied to sort the original ...

This paper describes the business model of municipally-owned MSW (municipal solid waste) companies in Sweden. A comparative study of two of these companies shows that they combine three types of activities: public service activities that collect solid waste from households, commercial establishments, and industry; processing activities that transform this waste; ...

This paper compares the isotopes (60)Co and (192)Ir as radiation sources for high-dose-rate (HDR) afterloading brachytherapy. The smaller size of (192)Ir sources made it the preferred radionuclide for temporary brachytherapy treatments. Recently also (60)Co sources have been made available with identical geometrical dimensions. This paper compares the characteristics of both ...

Workplace bullying has been a topic of increasing interest since the 90s. Several studies have contributed to a better understanding of the antecedents and consequences of being exposed to negative acts at work during a prolonged period of time. However, there is a lack of validated instruments in Italian to ...

Introduction Evidence suggests that supervisors' behaviors have a strong influence on employees' health and well-being outcomes. Few have examined the specific behaviors associated with managing an employee back to work following long-term sick leave. This study describes the development of a behavior measure for Supervisors to Support Return to Work ...

Exposure to pesticides affects most of the population, not only persons occupationally exposed. In a context of high variability of exposure, biological monitoring is important because of the various routes by which exposure can occur and because it assesses both occupational and non-occupational exposure. The main aim of this paper ...