Bias modification

OBJECTIVE: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterised by dysfunctional cognitive biases but these have rarely been investigated in adolescents with AN. The present study systematically assessed cognitive biases in adolescents with AN and addressed the questions of content-specificity (i.e., do biases occur only for eating disorder-related information?) and disorder-specificity (i.e., are biases unique to individuals with AN?). METHODS: Cognitive biases on three information processing levels (attention, interpretation, memory) and for two types of information content (eating disorder-related, non-eating disorder-related) were assessed within a single experimental paradigm based on the Scrambled Sentences Task...

INTRODUCTION: Previous research has shown that cognitive bias modification of interpretations (CBM-I) may be a promising intervention for anxiety in youth; however, results are mixed. Given the high comorbidity between anxiety and depression in youth, it is surprising that no child studies have targeted biases associated with both. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of an online CBM-I intervention (Mindmaster) for children with symptom scores of anxiety or depression above a borderline or clinical threshold...

Adenosine Deaminases Acting on RNA (ADARs) catalyze the deamination of adenosine to inosine in double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). ADARs' ability to recognize and edit dsRNA is dependent on local sequence context surrounding the edited adenosine and the length of the duplex. A deeper understanding of how editing efficiency is affected by mismatches, loops, and bulges around the editing site would aid in the development of therapeutic gRNAs for ADAR-mediated site-directed RNA editing (SDRE). Here, a SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) approach was employed to identify dsRNA substrates that bind to the deaminase domain of human ADAR2 (hADAR2d) with high affinity...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to understand the epidemic status and phylogenetic relationships of rotavirus group A (RVA) in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province, China. METHODS: This study included individuals aged 28 days-85 years. A total of 706 stool samples from patients with acute gastroenteritis collected between January 2019 and January 2020 were analyzed for 17 causative pathogens, including RVA, using a Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel, followed by genotyping, virus isolation, and complete sequencing to assess the genetic diversity of RVA...

PURPOSE: To compare the effectiveness of anodized and sandblasted large-grit acid-etched surface modification implants in clinical applications. METHODS: This systematic review has been registered at PROSPERO (CRD42023423656). A systematic search was performed using seven databases. The meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.4 program and Stata 17.0 software. An analysis of the risk of bias in the included studies was conducted using the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and the Newcastle-Ottawa scale...

OBJECTIVES: Hispanic adults display a higher likelihood of early-stage cognitive decline than their White counterparts yet receive fewer clinical diagnoses. This troubling trend highlights the significance of longitudinal surveys like the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) in monitoring cognitive changes in aging Hispanics. Using NSHAP's Rounds 2 and 3, we observed notable cognitive score differences between English and Spanish speakers, as assessed by the survey-adapted version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-SA)...

The variation in histologic staining between different medical centers is one of the most profound challenges in the field of computer-aided diagnosis. The appearance disparity of pathological whole slide images causes algorithms to become less reliable, which in turn impedes the wide-spread applicability of downstream tasks like cancer diagnosis. Furthermore, different stainings lead to biases in the training which in case of domain shifts negatively affect the test performance. Therefore, in this paper we propose MultiStain-CycleGAN, a multi-domain approach to stain normalization based on CycleGAN...

OBJECTIVE: It remains unclear which individual or combined strategies are most beneficial for methamphetamine use disorders (MUDs). We compared the effects of aerobic exercise, attentional bias modification, and combined intervention on male patients with MUD. METHOD: One hundred male patients with MUD were randomly assigned to combined intervention, aerobic exercise, attentional bias modification, or control groups (25 patients per group). The 8-week intervention protocol included three 60-minute sessions of aerobic exercises per week...

The decline of children's opportunities to play outdoors raises a new concern about the quality of outdoor play environments, and their developmental and well-being benefits for children. This systematic review aims to synthesize the associations between outdoor play features and children's behavior and health. PRISMA guidelines were followed (2021). The inclusion criteria were studies with children aged between 5 and 12 (Population); that addressed presence, absence or disposition of equipment, natural elements, loose parts, resources availability, type of terrain and space modifications (Intervention or Exposure); in pre-post intervention or between groups (Comparison); related to health and behavior in different domains (Outcomes); with an experimental, observational, descriptive or longitudinal design (Study design)...

Evolution shapes protein sequences for their functions. Here, we studied the moonlighting functions of the N-linked sequon NXS/T, where X is not P, in human nucleocytosolic proteins. By comparing membrane and secreted proteins in which sequons are well known for N-glycosylation, we discovered that cyto-sequons can participate in nucleic acid binding, particularly in zinc finger proteins. Our global studies further discovered that sequon occurrence is largely proportional to protein length. The contribution of sequons to protein functions, including both N-glycosylation and nucleic acid binding, can be regulated through their density as well as the biased usage between NXS and NXT...

Introduction  CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, leveraging bacterial defense mechanisms, offers precise DNA modifications, holding promise in curing genetic diseases. This review critically assesses its potential, analyzing evidence on therapeutic applications, challenges, and future prospects. Examining diverse genetic disorders, it evaluates efficacy, safety, and limitations, emphasizing the need for a thorough understanding among medical professionals and researchers. Acknowledging its transformative impact, a systematic review is crucial for informed decision-making, responsible utilization, and guiding future research to unlock CRISPR-Cas9's full potential in realizing the cure for genetic diseases...

Post-transcriptional modifications in RNA can significantly impact their structure and function. In particular, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are heavily modified, with around 100 different naturally occurring nucleotide modifications contributing to codon bias and decoding efficiency. Here, we describe our efforts to investigate the impact of RNA modifications on the structure and stability of tRNA Phenylalanine (tRNA Phe ) from S. cerevisiae using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Through temperature replica exchange MD (T-REMD) studies, we explored the unfolding pathway to understand how RNA modifications influence the conformational dynamics of tRNA Phe , both in the presence and absence of magnesium ions (Mg 2+ )...

Tikhonov regularization, or truncated singular value decomposition (TSVD), is usually used for dynamic light scattering (DLS) inversion of particles in suspension. The Tikhonov regularization method uses a regularization matrix to modify all singular values in the kernel matrix. The modification of large singular values cannot effectively reduce the variance of the estimated values but may introduce bias in the solution, resulting in poor disturbance resistance in the inversion results. The TSVD method, on the other hand, truncates all small singular values, which leads to the loss of particle size information during the inversion process...

INTRODUCTION: Anxiety disorders are characterized by widespread and persistent anxiety or recurrent panic attacks. As a result of their high prevalence, chronicity, and comorbidity, patients' quality of life and functioning are severely compromised. However, several patients do not receive treatment. AREAS COVERED: This review discusses the effectiveness, safety, and limitations of major medications and cognitive bias modification (CBM) for treating anxiety disorders...

BACKGROUND: Writing multiple choice questions (MCQs) for the purpose of medical exams is challenging. It requires extensive medical knowledge, time and effort from medical educators. This systematic review focuses on the application of large language models (LLMs) in generating medical MCQs. METHODS: The authors searched for studies published up to November 2023. Search terms focused on LLMs generated MCQs for medical examinations. Non-English, out of year range and studies not focusing on AI generated multiple-choice questions were excluded...

OBJECTIVES: As part of geriatric education at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Dentistry, undergraduate students are required to interview an older adult over 65 years old and critically reflect in writing on the meaning of this interview to themselves and their professional lives in not more than 2000 words. They are also encouraged to use a life grid. This study explored the impact of this assignment on the students as learners and on their views about their profession...

BackgroundScarce European data in early 2021 suggested lower vaccine effectiveness (VE) against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron lineages than previous variants.AimWe aimed to estimate primary series (PS) and first booster VE against symptomatic BA.1/BA.2 infection and investigate potential biases.MethodsThis European test-negative multicentre study tested primary care patients with acute respiratory symptoms for SARS-CoV-2 in the BA.1/BA.2-dominant period. We estimated PS and booster VE among adults and adolescents (PS only) for all products combined and for Comirnaty alone, by time since vaccination, age and chronic condition...

Plant tissue regeneration is critical for genetic transformation and genome editing techniques. During the regeneration process, changes in epigenetic modifications accompany the cell fate transition. However, how allele-specific DNA methylation in two haplotypes contributes to the transcriptional dynamics during regeneration remains elusive. Here we applied an inter-species hybrid poplar ( Populus alba × P. glandulosa cv. 84 K) as a system to characterize the DNA methylation landscape during de novo shoot organogenesis at allele level...

Healthcare visits were reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing disturbances in sustainable MAFLD monitoring. Telemedicine acts to maintain connectivity between patients and healthcare professionals. This review aimed to assess the role of telemedicine in monitoring MAFLD during the pandemic. Databases searched included l PubMed Central and ScienceDirect from 2020 to 2023. Assessment with The Cochrane Risk of Bias for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for non-RCTs systematic reviews...

Given the current and escalating global energy and environmental concerns, this work explores an innovative approach to mitigate a widely employed commercial herbicide using a direct glyphosate (Gly) photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC). The device generates power continuously by converting solar radiation, degrading and mineralizing commercial glyphosate-based fuel, and reducing sodium persulfate at the cathode. Pristine and modified hematite photoanodes were coupled to Pt/C nanoparticles dispersed in a carbon paper (CP) support (Pt/C/CP) dark cathode by using an H-type cell...