When using multiple regression, researchers frequently wish to explore how the relationship between two variables is moderated by another variable; this is termed an interaction. Historically, two ...approaches have been used to probe interactions: the pick-a-point approach and the Johnson-Neyman (JN) technique. The pick-a-point approach has limitations that can be avoided using the JN technique. Currently, the software available for implementing the JN technique and creating corresponding figures lacks several desirable features-most notably, ease of use and figure quality. To fill this gap in the literature, we offer a free Microsoft Excel 2013 workbook, CAHOST (a concatenation of the first two letters of the authors' last names), that allows the user to seamlessly create publication-ready figures of the results of the JN technique.
The present study examined individual characteristics potentially associated with changes in mitigation behaviors (social distancing and hygiene) recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and ...Prevention. Analysis of online survey responses from 361 adults, ages 20-78, with US IP addresses, identified significant correlates of adaptive behavioral changes, with implications for preventive strategies and mental health needs. The extent to which individuals changed their mitigation behaviors was unrelated to self-rated health or concern regarding the personal effects of COVID-19 but was related to concern regarding the effects of the pandemic on others. Thus, mitigation behaviors do not appear to be primarily motivated by self-protection. Importantly, adaptive changes in mitigation behaviors increased with age. However, these changes, particularly those related to the frequency of close proximity encounters, appear to be due to age-related decreases in anxiety and depression. Taken together, the present results argue against over-reliance on 'fear appeals' in public health messages as they may increase anxiety and depression. Instead, the present findings argue for more appeals to people's concern for others to motivate mitigation as well as indicating an immediate need to address individual mental health concerns for the sake of society as a whole.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Objective
Focal brain lesions can have important remote effects on the function of distant brain regions. The resulting network dysfunction may contribute significantly to behavioral deficits ...observed after stroke. This study investigates the behavioral significance of changes in the coherence of spontaneous activity in distributed networks after stroke by measuring resting state functional connectivity (FC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Methods
In acute stroke patients, we measured FC in a dorsal attention network and an arm somatomotor network, and determined the correlation of FC with performance obtained in a separate session on tests of attention and motor function. In particular, we compared the behavioral correlation with intrahemispheric FC to the behavioral correlation with interhemispheric FC.
Results
In the attention network, disruption of interhemispheric FC was significantly correlated with abnormal detection of visual stimuli (Pearson r with field effect = −0.624, p = 0.002). In the somatomotor network, disruption of interhemispheric FC was significantly correlated with upper extremity impairment (Pearson r with contralesional Action Research Arm Test = 0.527, p = 0.036). In contrast, intrahemispheric FC within the normal or damaged hemispheres was not correlated with performance in either network. Quantitative lesion analysis demonstrated that our results could not be explained by structural damage alone.
Interpretation
These results suggest that lesions cause state changes in the spontaneous functional architecture of the brain, and constrain behavioral output. Clinically, these results validate using FC for assessing the health of brain networks, with implications for prognosis and recovery from stroke, and underscore the importance of interhemispheric interactions. ANN NEUROL 2010;67:365–375
Background. A common assumption is that changes in upper limb (UL) capacity, or what an individual is capable of doing, translates to improved UL performance in daily life, or what an individual ...actually does. This assumption should be explicitly tested for individuals with UL paresis poststroke. Objective. To examine changes in UL performance after an intensive, individualized, progressive, task-specific UL intervention for individuals at least 6 months poststroke. Methods. Secondary analysis on 78 individuals with UL paresis who participated in a phase II, single-blind, randomized parallel dose-response trial. Participants were enrolled in a task-specific intervention for 8 weeks. Participants were randomized into 1 of 4 treatment groups with each group completing different amounts of UL movement practice. UL performance was assessed with bilateral, wrist-worn accelerometers once a week for 24 hours throughout the duration of the study. The 6 accelerometer variables were tested for change and the influence of potential modifiers using hierarchical linear modeling. Results. No changes in UL performance were found on any of the 6 accelerometer variables used to quantify UL performance. Neither changes in UL capacity nor the overall amount of movement practice influenced changes in UL performance. Stroke chronicity, baseline UL capacity, concordance, and ADL status significantly increased the baseline starting points but did not influence the rate of change (slopes) for participants. Conclusions. Improved motor capacity resulting from an intensive outpatient UL intervention does not appear to translate to increased UL performance outside the clinic.
Strokes often cause multiple behavioural deficits that are correlated at the population level. Here, we show that motor and attention deficits are selectively associated with abnormal patterns of ...resting state functional connectivity in the dorsal attention and motor networks. We measured attention and motor deficits in 44 right hemisphere-damaged patients with a first-time stroke at 1-2 weeks post-onset. The motor battery included tests that evaluated deficits in both upper and lower extremities. The attention battery assessed both spatial and non-spatial attention deficits. Summary measures for motor and attention deficits were identified through principal component analyses on the raw behavioural scores. Functional connectivity in structurally normal cortex was estimated based on the temporal correlation of blood oxygenation level-dependent signals measured at rest with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Any correlation between motor and attention deficits and between functional connectivity in the dorsal attention network and motor networks that might spuriously affect the relationship between each deficit and functional connectivity was statistically removed. We report a double dissociation between abnormal functional connectivity patterns and attention and motor deficits, respectively. Attention deficits were significantly more correlated with abnormal interhemispheric functional connectivity within the dorsal attention network than motor networks, while motor deficits were significantly more correlated with abnormal interhemispheric functional connectivity patterns within the motor networks than dorsal attention network. These findings indicate that functional connectivity patterns in structurally normal cortex following a stroke link abnormal physiology in brain networks to the corresponding behavioural deficits.
This paper presents a full simulation study of the measurement of the production cross section (σZH) of the Higgsstrahlung process e+e−→ZH and the Higgs boson mass (MH) at the International Linear ...Collider (ILC), using events in which a Higgs boson recoils against a Z boson decaying into a pair of muons or electrons. The analysis is carried out for three center-of-mass energies s=250, 350, and 500 GeV, and two beam polarizations eL−eR+ and eR−eL+, for which the polarizations of e− and e+ are (Pe−,Pe+)=(−80%,+30%) and (+80%, −30%), respectively. Assuming an integrated luminosity of 250 fb−1 for each beam polarization at s=250 GeV, where the best lepton momentum resolution is obtainable, σZH and MH can be determined with a precision of 2.5% and 37 MeV for eL−eR+ and 2.9% and 41 MeV for eR−eL+, respectively. Regarding a 20 year ILC physics program, the expected precisions for the HZZ coupling and MH are estimated to be 0.4% and 14 MeV, respectively. The event selection is designed to optimize the precisions of σZH and MH while minimizing the bias on the measured σZH due to discrepancy in signal efficiencies among Higgs decay modes. For the first time, model independence has been demonstrated to a sub-percent level for the σZH measurement at each of the three center-of-mass energies. The results presented show the impact of center-of-mass energy and beam polarization on the evaluated precisions and serve as a benchmark for the planning of the ILC run scenario.
New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a heterogeneous group of synthetic intoxicating substances. What they have in common is their "new" appearance as a narcotic drug. Many of them imitate known ...drugs; some of them are derivatives of substances developed as drugs many years ago. Changed or completely newly developed chemical structures often give the NPS a massively increased effect. This includes not only the effects desired by the consumer, but also the undesirable effects with sometimes fatal consequences. The use of NPS has been an increasing phenomenon for years. In 2018, 2.6% of German adults had already had experience with NPS. NPS-intoxicated persons represent a challenge for the treating physicians not only because of the heterogeneity of the substances, but also because of the unpredictable effects for the users. The clinical assessment is often made more difficult due to the presence of a mixed intoxication. Only systemic toxicological analysis-generally not readily available-provides safety, as conventional rapid or bedside tests do not record many substances. There is no global definition of NPS. A practical, clinical classification differentiates into four groups: synthetic stimulants, synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic hallucinogens, and synthetic sedatives.
CDC-recommended mitigation behaviors and vaccination status were assessed in an online sample (
N
= 810; ages 18–80). Results were consistent with a differential distress hypothesis positing that ...whereas psychological distress, which is induced in part by social deprivation, interferes with mitigation behaviors involving social distancing, it motivates vaccination, in part because it, in turn, can increase social interaction. Age modulated these effects. Despite the greater risk of severe consequences, older adults not only showed less distress, but compared to younger participants with equivalent levels of distress, the older adults showed less effect of distress on both social distancing and vaccination status. Together these findings highlight a conundrum faced in public health messaging. Traditional “fear messages” may be less effective for older adults, who are most in danger, whereas in younger adults, the distress induced by fear messages may motivate vaccination but diminish mitigation behaviors needed to prevent subsequent “breakthrough” infections.
Cognitive aging researchers have been challenged with demonstrating age-related effects above and beyond global slowing ever since Cerella raised this issue in 1990. As the literature has made clear, ...this has indeed proved to be a difficult task and continues to plague the field. One way that researchers have attempted to test for disproportionate age differences across task conditions is by using Brinley plots, or plotting the mean response latencies of older adults against the mean latencies for younger adults. The simplicity and large proportion of variance accounted for by these models has led to the widespread use of Brinley plots over the years. However, as systematically tested here through eight cases of simulated data, it is clear that the Brinley technique is not well suited to either identify or display the underlying structure of datasets examining age-related differences in attentional control. Some of the problems with conventional Brinley plots can be resolved by using a modified Brinley plot that includes study-specific slopes linking trial types and a no-age-difference reference line. Multilevel models find all of the relevant effects, especially if applied to trial-level data, and have the advantage of incorporating study-level moderators that might account for slope heterogeneity. Ultimately, we encourage fellow cognitive aging researchers to access the code and data for this project on OSF (https://osf.io/zxus8/) and employ the use of multilevel models over Brinley plots.
People often turn to others for help with regulating their emotions, a process known as interpersonal emotion regulation (IER). Emerging research has begun to document the importance of IER in ...well-being. However, the basic elements of IER in daily life are still not clearly understood. We aimed to better understand the characteristics of adults’ everyday IER. In this 2-week experience sampling study (five surveys daily), 87 adults (mean age = 45.5 years) reported on whether, from whom (i.e., sharing partner role type and gender), and why (i.e., IER goals) they sought IER. They also indicated which IER strategies their sharing partners used, including putatively supportive (i.e., reappraisal, problem solving, affection, encouraging sharing) and unsupportive (i.e., invalidation, blaming) strategies. Results showed that most people engaged in IER. Using multilevel modeling, we found that people tended to seek IER from close versus non-close others and were more likely to seek emotion-oriented (e.g., empathy) relative to problem-oriented goals (e.g., advice). Sharing partners were more likely to provide (a) supportive than unsupportive strategies, with reappraisal, problem solving, and affection being most frequently endorsed, and (b) problem-oriented supportive strategies (e.g., problem solving) than emotion-oriented supportive strategies (e.g., affection). We also explored gender and age differences in IER. This research contributes to the broader emotion regulation literature by elucidating everyday IER behaviors in adults. Findings highlight the ubiquity of IER as well as people’s tendencies when seeking and providing IER.
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