Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The International Journal of Biostatistics Instruments and Bounds for Causal Effects under the Monotonic Selection Assumption

Noncompliance with assigned treatment is an important problem of randomized clinical trials. In this situation, the structural mean model (SMM) approach focuses on the average treatment effect among patients actually treated (ATT). In contrast, the principal stratification (PS) approach addresses the effect on a certain subgroup defined by latent compliance behavior. While these approaches target different causal effects, the estimators have the same form as the classical instrumental variable estimator, under the assumption of no effect modification (NEM) and monotonic selection. In this article, we clarify the relation between SMM and PS under the monotonic selection assumption. Specifically, we translate the NEM assumption for the SMM estimator into the words of the PS approach. Then, we propose a new bound for the ATT by making a possibly more plausible assumption than the NEM assumption based on the PS approach. Furthermore, we extend these results to the average treatment effect for the entire population. The proposed bounds are illustrated with applications to a real clinical trial data. Although our assumption cannot be empirically verified, the proposed bounds can be considerably tighter than those previously proposed.
Affect during incremental exercise: The role of inhibitory cognition, autonomic cardiac function, and cerebral oxygenation

Background Pleasure is a key factor for physical activity behavior in sedentary individuals. Inhibitory cognitive control may play an important role in pleasure perception while exercising, especially at high intensities. In addition, separate work suggests that autonomic regulation and cerebral hemodynamics influence the affective and cognitive responses during exercise. Purpose We investigated the effects of exercise intensity on affect, inhibitory control, cardiac autonomic function, and prefrontal cortex (PFC) oxygenation. Methods Thirty-seven sedentary young adults performed two experimental conditions (exercise and control) in separate sessions in a repeated-measures design. In the exercise condition, participants performed a maximum graded exercise test on a cycle ergometer as we continuously measured oxygen consumption, heart rate variability (HRV), and PFC oxygenation. At each of 8 intensity levels we also measured inhibitory control (Stroop test), associative and dissociative thoughts (ADT), and affective/pleasure ratings. In the control condition, participants sat motionless on a cycle ergometer without active pedaling, and we collected the same measures at the same points in time as the exercise condition. We evaluated the main effects and interactions of exercise condition and intensity level for each measure using two-way repeated measures ANOVAs. Additionally, we evaluated the relationship between affect and inhibitory control, ADT, HRV, and PFC oxygenation using Pearson’s correlation coefficients. Results For exercise intensities below and at the ventilatory threshold (VT), participants reported feeling neutral, with preservation of inhibitory control, while intensities above the VT were associated with displeasure (p<0.001), decreased inhibitory control and HRV (p<0.001), and increased PFC oxygenation (p<0.001). At the highest exercise intensity, pleasure was correlated with the low-frequency index of HRV (r = -0.34; p<0.05) and the low-frequency/high-frequency HRV ratio (r = -0.33; p<0.05). PFC deoxyhemoglobin was correlated with pleasure two stages above the VT (r = -0.37; p<0.05). Conclusion Our results support the notion that exercise at high intensities influences inhibitory control and one’s perception of pleasure, which are linked to changes in cardiac autonomic control and cerebral hemodynamics. These findings strengthen the existence of an integrated brain-heart-body system and highlight the importance of exercise intensity in exercise-related behavior in sedentary individuals.
Synaptic shunting by a baseline of synaptic conductances modulates responses to inhibitory input volleys in cerebellar Purkinje cells

When processing synaptic input in vivo, large neurons in the brain must cope with thousands of events each second. Much work has focused on the specific processing of synchronous excitatory input volleys, both in cerebellar and cerebral cortical research. Here we pursue the question of how a continuous background of ongoing ‘noise’ inputs interacts with the processing of synchronous inhibitory input volleys. Specifically we examine the processing of inhibitory input transients in cerebellar Purkinje cells, which by inducing pauses in Purkinje cell spike activity may lead to a disinhibition of the deep cerebellar nuclei and thus to cerebellar motor command signals. We use the technique of dynamic clamping in vitro to simulate controlled patterns of in vivo like background inputs. We use electrical stimulation of inhibitory interneurons in the deep or upper molecular layer to create inhibitory input transients that lead to spike pauses in Purkinje cell activity. These pauses were much longer in the absence than in the presence of background inputs applied with dynamic clamping. We found that a significant amount of the synaptic current elicited by electrical stimulation was shunted by the background inputs. The overall amount of background conductance as well as the pattern of background inputs modulated spike pause duration in a specific manner. This modulation by shunting may be employed in vivo to evaluate the salience of specific sensory input received by cerebellar cortex.
Egg incubation position affects toxicity of air cell administered polychlorinated biphenyl 126 (3,3′,4,4′,5‐pentachlorobiphenyl) in chicken (Gallus gallus) embryos

The avian egg is used extensively for chemical screening and determining the relative sensitivity of species to environmental contaminants (e.g., metals, pesticides, polyhalogenated compounds). The effect of egg incubation position on embryonic survival, pipping, and hatching success was examined following air cell administration of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener 126 (3,3′,4,4′,5‐pentachlorobiphenyl [PCB 126]; 500–2,000 pg/g egg) on day 4 of development in fertile chicken (Gallus gallus) eggs. Depending on dose, toxicity was found to be up to nine times greater in vertically versus horizontally incubated eggs. This may be due to enhanced embryonic exposure to the injection bolus in vertically incubated eggs compared to more gradual uptake in horizontally incubated eggs. Following air cell administration of PCB 126, horizontal incubation of eggs may more closely approximate uptake and toxicity that has been observed with naturally incorporated contaminants. These data have implications for chemical screening and use of laboratory data for ecological risk assessments.
Evaluation of a diabetes referral pathway for the management of hypoglycaemia following emergency contact with the ambulance service to a diabetes specialist nurse team

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of ambulance crew referral of patients treated for acute hypoglycaemia, to a diabetes specialist nurse (DSN) team. Patients were assessed by the ambulance service and did not attend an emergency department. Methods: For a 3 month period patients were referred from two areas of West Yorkshire by the ambulance service to specialist diabetes teams. The DSNs contacted the patients within 7 days by telephone and arranged further review if necessary. Satisfaction questionnaires were sent to patients. Results: Thirty eight patients were referred and all were reviewed by telephone; 30 (79%) also required a clinic review appointment. Warning signs of hypoglycaemia were identified by 21 (55%) patients, but 14 (37%) had none (three had incomplete data). Twelve patients had had a self-treated episode in the previous 6 months; nine patients had had three or more. Fifteen (39%) patients had called an emergency ambulance for similar reasons in the previous 6 months (27 “999” calls). Twenty patients (53%) had their drug treatment altered at a clinic appointment and 14 (37%) required ongoing review. Twenty six patients returned the satisfaction questionnaire; of these 88% agreed or strongly agreed that they had improved their understanding of hypoglycaemia and 73% felt more able to treat a hypoglycaemic episode in the future. Patient satisfaction with this care pathway was high. Conclusions: The ambulance service can coordinate successful referral of patients with episodes of acute hypoglycaemia to a DSN-led service. Patients often required treatment review. They valued this service and felt more confident managing their diabetes.
The Relationship Between Gambling Severity and Risk of Criminal Recidivism

Individuals involved with the criminal justice system have the highest prevalence of gambling disorder. Yet, this is an understudied area, especially in relation to postrelease functioning and recidivism risk. Participants (N = 100) were recruited from a local nonprofit organization and a federal probation office. Participants completed both self‐report and interviewer‐administered questionnaires assessing past‐year and lifetime gambling behaviors and problems, legal history, health, and risk of recidivism. Past‐year (8%) and lifetime (18%) rates of gambling disorder among the current sample are significantly greater than those of the general population and similar to rates found in incarcerated populations. Furthermore, 13% of individuals reported a direct relationship between their gambling and crime, and analyses revealed that increased gambling severity was a significant predictor of increased recidivism risk. Results suggest the need for screening and intervention efforts and call for policy reform among incarcerated and ex‐offender populations.
A Cointegration Analysis of the Relationship Between Underwriting Margins and Interest Rates: 1930-1989

This article presents evidence that 90-day Treasury bill rates and underwriting margins for stock property-liability insurers were negatively related and cointegrated over the period 1930-1989. These results imply that underwriting margins fluctuated around a long-term equilibrium relationship with interest rates in a way that is consistent with financial models of insurance prices.
Dissecting "Peer Presence" and "Decisions" to Deepen Understanding of Peer Influence on Adolescent Risky Choice.

This study evaluated the aspects of complex decisions influenced by peers, and components of peer involvement influential to adolescents' risky decisions. Participants (N = 140) aged 13-25 completed the Columbia Card Task (CCT), a risky choice task, isolating deliberation-reliant and affect-reliant decisions while alone, while a friend monitors choices, and while a friend is merely present. There is no condition in which a nonfriend peer is present. Results demonstrated the risk-increasing peer effect occurred in the youngest participants in the cold CCT and middle-late adolescents in the hot CCT, whereas other ages and contexts showed a risk-decreasing peer effect. Mere presence was not sufficient to influence risky behavior. These boundaries in age, decision, and peer involvement constrain prevailing models of adolescent peer influence.
Subungual exostosis and subungual osteochondromas: a description of 25 cases

Subungual exostosis (SE) and subungual osteochondroma (SO) are an uncommon, benign tumor of the distal phalanx. The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate clinical, demographical, and radiological features; treatment modalities; and follow‐up results in SE and SO cases.
External Validation of the PediBIRN Clinical Prediction Rule for Abusive Head Trauma

In this study, we externally validate a CPR aiding detection of AHT in admitted young children. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: A 4-variable abusive head trauma (AHT) clinical prediction rule (CPR) for use in the PICU was derived and validated for children <3 years of age by the Pediatric Brain Injury Research Network (PediBIRN). We aimed to externally validate PediBIRN as designed (PICU only) as well as using broader inclusion criteria (admitted children with head injuries). METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of a prospective multicenter study of pediatric head injuries at 5 Australian and New Zealand tertiary pediatric centers. Possible AHT was identified by clinician suspicion, epidemiology codes, or a high-risk group (<3 years of age, admitted, abnormal neuroimaging results). At 1 center, we additionally reviewed head injuries in the forensic database. We designated patients as positive for AHT, negative for AHT, or having indeterminate outcome after multidisciplinary review and applied the PediBIRN CPR, blinded to outcome, to PICU admissions only, and any head injury admissions. CPR accuracy was calculated by using 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: One hundred and forty-one patients were admitted with abnormal neuroimaging results. Twenty-eight (20%) were positive for AHT, 94 (67%) were negative for AHT, and 19 (13%) had indeterminate outcome. Excluding indeterminate cases, in the PICU (n = 28), the CPR was 100% (75%–100%) sensitive and 11% (0%–48%) specific; in all admitted patients (n = 141), sensitivity was 96% (82%–100%) and specificity of 43% (32%–53%). CONCLUSIONS: This validation revealed high sensitivity and low specificity for PICU patients. Specificity was improved but moderate in a broader group of admitted head injury patients.
Characterization of Physico-Chemical Properties and Antioxidant Capacities of Bioactive Honey Produced from Australian Grown Agastache rugosa and its Correlation with Colour and Poly-Phenol Content

The antioxidant and antimicrobial components of honey vary based on sourced of nectar. Medicinal plants with the therapeutic value have potential to produce honey with greater bioactivity. The aim of the present study was to characterize the physico-chemical and antioxidant capacities of Agastache honey produced from Agastache rugosa and compare them with other popular commercial honeys sold in Australia. The total phenolics, total flavonoids, moisture content, colour, pH, protein content and antioxidant capacity were evaluated for Agastache, Manuka, Jelly bush, Tea tree, Super manuka and Jarrah honeys. The results reveal that the moisture content ranged from 17–21%, pH ranged from 3.8–4.3 and estimated protein content ranged from 900–2200 µg/g. The DPPH•, ABTS•+, ORAC and FRAP methods were used to measure the antioxidant capacity of the honey samples. The DPPH• % inhibition, ABTS•+, ORAC and FRAP values for Agastache honey were 9.85 (±1.98 µmol TE/g), 26.88 (±0.32 µmol TE/g), 19.78 (±1.1 µmol TE/g) and 3.61 (±0.02 µmol TE/g) whereas the highest antioxidant capacity values obtained were 18.69 (±0.9 µmol TE/g), 30.72 (±0.27 µmol TE/g), 26.95 (±0.9 µmol TE/g) and 3.68 (±0.04 µmol TE/g), respectively. There was a positive correlation between colour, total phenolic content and DPPH• scavenging activity for most of the honeys except Tea tree honey. However, there was no clear correlation with ABTS•+, ORAC and FRAP values. The measured antioxidant capacity of samples varied with the assays used. The DPPH• assay clearly indicated that the phenolic compounds contribute to the scavenging activity of the honeys. Nevertheless, all assays confirm that Agastache honey has significant antioxidant capacity. Therefore, Agastache honey can be important to human nutrition and health.
A Meta-Analysis of the Interactive, Additive, and Relative Effects of Cognitive Ability and Motivation on Performance

We tested the longstanding belief that performance is a function of the interaction between cognitive ability and motivation. Using raw data or values obtained from primary study authors as input (k = 40 to 55; N = 8,507 to 11,283), we used meta-analysis to assess the strength and consistency of the multiplicative effects of ability and motivation on performance. A triangulation of evidence based on several types of analyses revealed that the effects of ability and motivation on performance are additive rather than multiplicative. For example, the additive effects of ability and motivation accounted for about 91% of the explained variance in job performance, whereas the ability-motivation interaction accounted for only about 9% of the explained variance. In addition, when there was an interaction, it did not consistently reflect the predicted form (i.e., a stronger ability-performance relation when motivation is higher). Other key findings include that ability was relatively more important to training performance and to performance on work-related tasks in laboratory studies, whereas ability and motivation were similarly important to job performance. In addition, statelike measures of motivation were better predictors of performance than were traitlike measures. These findings have implications for theories about predictors of performance, state versus trait motivation, and maximal versus typical performance. They also have implications for talent management practices concerned with human capital acquisition and the prediction of employee performance.
Looking Back

The American Economist has a distinctive legacy in economics by being the official publication of the organization that honors academic excellence in the field, Omicron Delta Epsilon, The International Honor Society in Economics. This paper examines the history of The American Economist from its beginnings as a student-produced annual publication to a professionally produced academic journal with a global reach. During its more than 50-year run, the journal has published original works by many eminent economists, including 23 Nobel Prize winners. As one of the first journals that academic economists encounter, The American Economist continues to have a unique influence and impact on the economics profession.
Assessing psychological distress in cancer patients: validation of a self-administered questionnaire.

BACKGROUND Screening for psychological distress in cancer patients is important, considering the high prevalence of psychiatric disorders responsive to treatment. The aim of this study is to test the psychometric properties of the Psychological Distress Inventory (PDI), a 13-item self-administered questionnaire developed to measure psychological distress in cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS The PDI was tested in three samples of 434 cancer patients. In the first sample (n = 102) it was administered with the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Its validity as a screening method for psychiatric disorders was evaluated through a clinical interview in the second sample (n = 107). The third sample (n = 225) provided information on the ability of the PDI to discriminate among patients in different clinical phases of disease and allowed an estimate of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in these groups of patients. RESULTS A 0.88 alpha coefficient was obtained in the whole study sample. The correlations with the STAI scales were > 0.70. A positive correlation with neuroticism (r = 0.59) and a negative correlation with extroversion (r = -0.34) was observed. In the second sample, 67 patients (62.6%) received a psychiatric diagnosis according to the ICD-X criteria. The mean PDI scores were significantly lower for the 40 patients with no psychiatric diagnosis (mean 24.5) as compared with the 49 patients with adjustment disorders (mean 36.4) and with the 12 patients with depressive disorders (mean 40.8). The area under curve, estimated through a Receiver-Operating Characteristics analysis, was 0.88. A cut-off of 29 was associated with a 75% sensitivity and a 85% specificity. In the third sample, the lowest PDI scores were in patients with no evidence of disease (mean 24.7, 95% CL 23.0-26.4) as compared to patients undergoing antineoplastic treatment (mean 30.9, 95% CL 28.9-32.9) and to patients under palliative therapy (mean 36.0, 95% CL 34.0-37.9). The estimated prevalence of patients with psychiatric disorders in these three groups were respectively 5.0, 56.6 and 98.8%. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that the PDI is a reliable and valid tool for measuring psychological distress in cancer patients and to detect psychiatric disorders through a screening procedure.
Differential gene expression in narrow‐ and broad‐headed European glass eels (Anguilla anguilla) points to a transcriptomic link of head shape dimorphism with growth rate and chemotaxis

One of the major challenges in evolutionary biology is to understand the mechanisms underlying morphological dimorphism and plasticity, including the genomic basis of traits and links to ecology. At the yellow eel stage of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), two morphotypes are found: broad‐ and narrow‐heads. This dimorphism has been linked to dietary differences, with broad‐heads feeding on harder, larger prey than narrow‐heads. However, recent research showed that both morphotypes could be distinguished at the glass eel stage, the nonfeeding predecessor of the yellow eel stage, implying that nondietary factors play a role in the development of this head shape dimorphism. Here, we used transcriptome profiling (RNAseq) to identify differentially expressed genes between broad‐ and narrow‐headed glass eels. We found 260 significantly differentially expressed genes between the morphotypes, of which most were related to defence and immune responses. Interestingly, two genes involved in growth (soma and igf2) were significantly upregulated in narrow‐heads, while nine genes involved in chemotaxis showed significant differential expression. Thus, we found support for the observation that head shape is associated with somatic growth, with fast‐growing eels developing a narrower head. Additionally, observations in the wild have shown that slow‐growers prefer freshwater, while fast‐growers prefer brackish water. The differential expression of genes involved in chemotaxis seems to indicate that glass eel growth rate and habitat choice are linked. We hypothesize that two levels of segregation could take place in the European eel: first according to habitat choice and second according to feeding preference.
On the Interdependence of the Financial Market and Open Access Spectrum Market in the 5G Network

Modern 5G networks offer a large space for innovation and a completely new approach to addressing network functioning. A fixed spectrum assignment policy is a significant limitation of today’s wireless communication network practice and is to be replaced by a completely new approach called dynamic spectrum access (DSA). However, there is no general agreement on the organization of the DSA. Some studies suggest that open access market can be inspired by the electricity or financial markets. It allows to treat operators with region coverage as investors entering the market and trading the spectra on an on-demand basis. Because investors operate in both the financial markets and the markets for spectra, new interference between both markets emerges. Our paper shows how the risk-free rate of return stemming from the financial markets influences the techno-economic properties of the network. We show that, for low risk-free returns, the spectrum market becomes oversupplied, which keeps service prices very low and spectrum trading volumes large. In contrast, if risk-free returns are high, then spectrum trading volumes decline and the market becomes price sensitive; in other words, economic rules begin to work better.