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Mayo Clinic Proceedings Dec 2012To develop a concise and statistically robust instrument to assess autonomic symptoms that provides clinically relevant scores of autonomic symptom severity based on the...
OBJECTIVE
To develop a concise and statistically robust instrument to assess autonomic symptoms that provides clinically relevant scores of autonomic symptom severity based on the well-established 169-item Autonomic Symptom Profile (ASP) and its validated 84-question scoring instrument, the Composite Autonomic Symptom Score (COMPASS).
PATIENTS AND METHODS
We assessed the internal consistency of COMPASS using Cronbach α coefficients based on the ASP of 405 healthy control subjects recruited and seen in the Mayo Clinic Autonomic Disorders Center between March 1, 1995, and March 31, 2010. Applying a simplified scoring algorithm, we then used exploratory factor analysis with orthogonal rotation and eigenvalue calculations to extract internally consistent domains and to reduce dimensionality. This analysis was followed by expert revisions to eliminate redundant content and to retain clinically important questions and final assessment of the new instrument.
RESULTS
The new simplified scoring algorithm alone resulted in higher Cronbach α values in all domains. Factor analysis revealed 7 domains with a total of 54 questions retained. Expert revisions resulted in further reduction of questions and domains with a remaining total of 31 questions in 6 domains (COMPASS 31). Measures of internal consistency were much improved compared to those for COMPASS. Following appropriate weighting, this instrument provides an autonomic symptom score from 0 to 100.
CONCLUSION
COMPASS 31 is a refined, internally consistent, and markedly abbreviated quantitative measure of autonomic symptoms. It is based on the original ASP and COMPASS, applies a much simplified scoring algorithm, and is suitable for widespread use in autonomic research and practice.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Algorithms; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases; Child; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Severity of Illness Index; Surveys and Questionnaires; Symptom Assessment; Young Adult
PubMed: 23218087
DOI: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2012.10.013 -
International Journal of Environmental... Aug 2020The present study examined the muscle activation in lateral raise with humerus rotated externally (LR-external), neutrally (LR-neutral), internally (LR-internal), with...
The present study examined the muscle activation in lateral raise with humerus rotated externally (LR-external), neutrally (LR-neutral), internally (LR-internal), with flexed elbow (LR-flexed) and frontal raise during both the concentric and eccentric phase. Ten competitive bodybuilders performed the exercises. Normalized surface electromyographic root mean square (sEMG RMS) was obtained from , , and , , , and . During the concentric phase, and showed greater sEMG RMS in frontal raise (effect size (ES)-range: 1.78/9.25)) and LR-internal (ES-range: 10.79/21.34), respectively, vs. all other exercises. showed greater sEMG RMS in LR-neutral than LR-external (ES: 1.47 (95% confidence-interval-CI: 0.43/2.38)), frontal raise (ES: 10.28(95% CI: 6.67/13.01)), and LR-flexed (ES: 6.41(95% CI: 4.04/8.23)). showed greater sEMG RMS in frontal raise vs. all other exercises (ES-range: 17.2/29.5), while (ES-range: 2.66/7.18) and (ES-range: 0.41/3.31) showed greater sEMG RMS in LR-internal vs. all other exercises. Similar recruitment patterns were found during the eccentric phase. When humerus rotates internally, greater activation of , , and occurs. Humerus external rotation increases the activation of and Frontal raise mainly activates and . LR variations and frontal raise activate specifically shoulders muscles and should be proposed accordingly.
Topics: Arm; Electromyography; Exercise; Humans; Muscle, Skeletal; Range of Motion, Articular; Shoulder; Weight Lifting
PubMed: 32824894
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17176015 -
Public Health Nutrition Dec 2023To develop and internally validate a Free Sugars Screener (FSS) for Australian children aged 2 and 5 years.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and internally validate a Free Sugars Screener (FSS) for Australian children aged 2 and 5 years.
DESIGN
Using data collected from a ninety-nine-item (2-year-olds) and ninety-eight-item (5-year-olds) FFQ in the Study of Mothers' and Infants' Life Events affecting oral health (SMILE-FFQ), a regression-based prediction modelling approach was employed to identify a subset of items that accurately estimate total free sugars intake (FSI). The predictors were grams of free sugars (FSg) for individual items in the SMILE-FFQ and child's age and sex. The outcome variable was total FSI per person. To internally validate the SMILE-FSS items, the estimated FSg was converted to percent energy from free sugars (%EFS) for comparison to the WHO free sugars guideline categories (< 5 %, 5-< 10 % and ≥ 10 %EFS) using cross-classification analysis.
SETTING
Australia.
PARTICIPANTS
858 and 652 2- and 5-year-old children, respectively, with complete dietary (< 5 % missing) and sociodemographic data.
RESULTS
Twenty-two and twenty-six items were important in predicting FSI at 2 and 5 years, respectively. Items were similar between ages with more discretionary beverage items (e.g. sugar-sweetened beverages) at 5 years. %EFS was overestimated by 4·4 % and 2·6 %. Most children (75 % and 82 %) were categorised into the same WHO free sugars category with most (87 % and 95 %) correctly identified as having < 10 %EFS in line with the WHO recommendation.
CONCLUSIONS
The SMILE-FSS has good internal validity and can be used in research and practice to estimate young Australian children's FSI and compare to the WHO free sugars guidelines to identify those 'at risk'.
Topics: Female; Infant; Humans; Child, Preschool; Sugars; Australia; Diet; Dietary Carbohydrates; Mothers; Beverages; Energy Intake
PubMed: 37905405
DOI: 10.1017/S1368980023002380 -
Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence 2023Recent advances in deep learning have improved the performance of many Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks such as translation, question-answering, and text... (Review)
Review
Recent advances in deep learning have improved the performance of many Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks such as translation, question-answering, and text classification. However, this improvement comes at the expense of model explainability. Black-box models make it difficult to understand the internals of a system and the process it takes to arrive at an output. Numerical (LIME, Shapley) and visualization (saliency heatmap) explainability techniques are helpful; however, they are insufficient because they require specialized knowledge. These factors led rationalization to emerge as a more accessible explainable technique in NLP. Rationalization justifies a model's output by providing a natural language explanation (rationale). Recent improvements in natural language generation have made rationalization an attractive technique because it is intuitive, human-comprehensible, and accessible to non-technical users. Since rationalization is a relatively new field, it is disorganized. As the first survey, rationalization literature in NLP from 2007 to 2022 is analyzed. This survey presents available methods, explainable evaluations, code, and datasets used across various NLP tasks that use rationalization. Further, a new subfield in Explainable AI (XAI), namely, Rational AI (RAI), is introduced to advance the current state of rationalization. A discussion on observed insights, challenges, and future directions is provided to point to promising research opportunities.
PubMed: 37818431
DOI: 10.3389/frai.2023.1225093 -
Biological Cybernetics Oct 2016ICE stands for internally coupled ears. More than half of the terrestrial vertebrates, such as frogs, lizards, and birds, as well as many insects, are equipped with ICE...
ICE stands for internally coupled ears. More than half of the terrestrial vertebrates, such as frogs, lizards, and birds, as well as many insects, are equipped with ICE that utilize an air-filled cavity connecting the two eardrums. Its effect is pronounced and twofold. On the basis of a solid experimental and mathematical foundation, it is known that there is a low-frequency regime where the internal time difference (iTD) as perceived by the animal may well be 2-5 times higher than the external ITD, the interaural time difference, and that there is a frequency plateau over which the fraction iTD/ITD is constant. There is also a high-frequency regime where the internal level (amplitude) difference iLD as perceived by the animal is much higher than the interaural level difference ILD measured externally between the two ears. The fundamental tympanic frequency segregates the two regimes. The present special issue devoted to "internally coupled ears" provides an overview of many aspects of ICE, be they acoustic, anatomical, auditory, mathematical, or neurobiological. A focus is on the hotly debated topic of what aspects of ICE animals actually exploit neuronally to localize a sound source.
Topics: Acoustics; Animals; Ear; Hearing; Sound Localization; Tympanic Membrane
PubMed: 27838890
DOI: 10.1007/s00422-016-0702-x -
Current Protocols Aug 2022Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy (TIRFM) is an elegant optical technique that provides for the excitation of fluorophores in an extremely thin... (Review)
Review
Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy (TIRFM) is an elegant optical technique that provides for the excitation of fluorophores in an extremely thin axial region ("optical section"). The method is based on the principle that when excitation light is completely internally reflected in a transparent solid (e.g., coverglass) at its interface with liquid, an electromagnetic field, called the evanescent wave, is generated in the liquid at the solid-liquid interface and is the same frequency as the excitation light. Since the intensity of the evanescent wave exponentially decays with distance from the surface of the solid, only fluorescent molecules within a few hundred nanometers of the solid are efficiently excited. This overview will review the history, optical theory, and hardware configurations used in TIRFM. In addition, it will provide experimental details and methodological considerations for studying receptors at the plasma membrane in neurons. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Topics: Cell Membrane; Electromagnetic Fields; Fluorescent Dyes; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Neurons
PubMed: 35972209
DOI: 10.1002/cpz1.517 -
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland) Dec 2013An understanding of wildness is being developed as a quality of interactive processing that increases survival opportunities in nature. A link is made between the need... (Review)
Review
An understanding of wildness is being developed as a quality of interactive processing that increases survival opportunities in nature. A link is made between the need to improve interactive quality for wildness, and cognitive desires and interests in art, music, religion and philosophy as these can also be seen as attempts to improve interactive quality internally and externally. Interactive quality can be improved through gains in parsimony, that is, simplifications in the organisation of skills. The importance of parsimony in evolution is discussed, along with indicators of an internal parsimony desire that experiences joy if achieved through processes such as insight and understanding. A mechanism for the production and measurement of the parsimony desire is proposed, based on the number of subcortical pleasure hotspots that can be stimulated at once within the 'archipelago' available in the limbic system.
PubMed: 25379257
DOI: 10.3390/bs3040576 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Dec 2020Sperm competition is a powerful selective force that has shaped sexual traits throughout animal evolution. Yet, how fertilization mode (i.e. external versus internal... (Review)
Review
Sperm competition is a powerful selective force that has shaped sexual traits throughout animal evolution. Yet, how fertilization mode (i.e. external versus internal fertilization) influences the scope and potential for sperm competition to act on ejaculates remains unclear. Here, I examine how fertilization mode shapes ejaculatory responses to sperm competition in fishes, a diverse group that constitute the majority of vertebrate biological diversity. Fishes are an ideal group for this examination because they exhibit a wide range of reproductive behaviours and an unparalleled number of transitions in fertilization mode compared to any other vertebrate group. Drawing on data from cartilaginous and bony fishes, I first show that rates of multiple paternity are higher in internally than externally fertilizing fishes, contrary to the prevailing expectation. I then summarize how sperm competition acts on sperm number and quality in internally and externally fertilizing fishes, highlighting where theoretical predictions differ between these groups. Differences in how ejaculates respond to sperm competition between fertilization modes are most apparent when considering sperm size and swimming performance. Clarifying how fertilization mode influences evolutionary responses in ejaculates will inform our understanding of ejaculate evolution across the animal tree of life. This article is part of the theme issue 'Fifty years of sperm competition'.
Topics: Animals; Fertilization; Fishes; Male; Spermatozoa
PubMed: 33070731
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0074 -
Journal of Neurophysiology Feb 2022The pressure of our own finger on the arm feels differently than the same pressure exerted by an external agent: the latter involves just touch, whereas the former...
The pressure of our own finger on the arm feels differently than the same pressure exerted by an external agent: the latter involves just touch, whereas the former involves a combination of touch and predictive output from the internal model of the body. This internal model predicts the movement of our own finger, and hence the intensity of the sensation of the finger press is decreased. A decrease in intensity of the self-produced stimulus is called sensory attenuation. It has been reported that, because of decreased proprioception with age and an increased reliance on the prediction of the internal model, sensory attenuation is increased in older adults. In this study, we used a force matching paradigm to test whether sensory attenuation is also present over the arm and whether aging increases sensory attenuation. We demonstrated that, although both young and older adults overestimate a self-produced force, older adults overestimate it even more, showing an increased sensory attenuation. In addition, we also found that both younger and older adults self-produce higher forces when activating the homologous muscles of the upper limb. Although this is traditionally viewed as evidence for an increased reliance on internal model function in older adults because of decreased proprioception, proprioception appeared unimpaired in our older participants. This begs the question of whether an age-related decrease in proprioception is really responsible for the increased sensory attenuation observed in older people. Forces generated externally (by the environment on the participant) and internally (by the participant on her/his body) are not perceived with the same intensity. Internally generated forces are perceived less intensely than externally generated ones. This difference in force sensation has been shown to be higher in elderly participants when the forces were applied on the fingers because of their impaired proprioception. Here we replicated this finding for the arm but suggest that it is unlikely to be linked to impaired proprioception.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aging; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Proprioception; Touch Perception; Upper Extremity; Young Adult
PubMed: 34936521
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00558.2020