Research Infinity - Search Results

Social Science

Welfare costs of suboptimal retiree decisions

We make a novel investigation of welfare costs associated with various suboptimal decisions made by retirees, both analytically and numerically. We utilize a unique framework that incorporates recursive utility with housing, and also encompasses expected utility and recursive utility without housing as special cases. Our findings indicate that under-investment in stocks incurs lower welfare costs ...
Posted 8 months ago

Biomedical

Electrophysiological grading scale for polyneuropathy severity

Objective To establish a simple electrophysiological scale for patients with distal symmetric axonal polyneuropathy, in order to promote standardized and informative electrodiagnostic reporting, and understand the complex relationship between electrophysiological and clinical polyneuropathy severity. Methods We included 76 patients with distal symmetric axonal polyneuropathy, from a cohort ...
Posted 8 months ago

Physics Maths Engineering

Reinterpretation of the results of randomized clinical trials

Background Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) shape our clinical practice. Several studies report a mediocre replicability rate of the studied RCTs. Many researchers believe that the relatively low replication rate of RCTs is attributed to the high p value significance threshold. To solve this problem, some researchers proposed using a lower threshold, which is inevitably associated with a decreas...
Posted 8 months ago

Social Science

Foreign shareholder, overseas sale and corporate profit margin

China is actively promoting the development of a robust trading nation. In this context, utilizing data from China’s A-share listed companies spanning from 2003 to 2021, this study investigates the impact of foreign shareholders on enterprises in a scenario where overseas sales reduce the profit margin of Chinese firms. The findings reveal that overseas sales do indeed decrease the profit margin...
Posted 8 months ago

Physics Maths Engineering

Backward induction-based deep image search

Conditional image retrieval (CIR), which involves retrieving images by a query image along with user-specified conditions, is essential in computer vision research for efficient image search and automated image analysis. The existing approaches, such as composed image retrieval (CoIR) methods, have been actively studied. However, these methods face challenges as they require either a triplet datas...
Posted 8 months ago

Biomedical

Measuring trust in one’s physician: A scoping review

Trust in one’s physician drives positive health practices. However, the conceptualization and subsequent operationalization of trust have become clouded due to the multitude of approaches that have resulted in several different measures with varied dimensions and indicators. The objectives of this scoping review were: 1) to discover any new developments in the measurement of trust, 2) to identif...
Posted 7 months ago

Social Science

Gentrification and crime in Buffalo, New York

Since the 1990s, gentrification has significantly changed American urban landscapes. Its implications for crime are under recent scrutiny, particularly in large cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. We extend this literature by focusing on the gentrification-crime link in the midsize city of Buffalo, New York using nine years of data from the American Community Survey and the Buffal...
Posted 7 months ago

Physics Maths Engineering

AI technology specialization and national competitiveness

This study investigates the factors influencing specialization in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, a critical element of national competitiveness. We utilized a revealed comparative advantage matrix to evaluate technological specialization across countries and employed a three-way fixed-effect panel logit model to examine the relationship between AI specialization and its determinants. The...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Predictability: A new distinguishing feature of cancer?

Cancer is a consequence of stochastic (mutations, genetic, and epigenetic instabilities) and deterministic (evolutionary bottlenecks) events. Stochastic events are less amenable to prediction, whereas deterministic events yield more predictable results. The relative contribution of these opposing forces determines cancer predictability, which affects the accuracy of our prognostic predictions and ...
Posted 7 months ago

Humanities and Arts

An intertextual reading of the novel Defend the Name

The general objective of this intertextual analysis’s was to explore Wolde’s novel Defend the Name (1969) with the view to identify and interpret the several thematic and stylistic intertexts that are woven throughout the narrative. Based on available research, there is a scarcity of critical studies that have utilized the theory of intertextuality for the analysis and interpretation of Ethiop...
Posted 7 months ago

Physics Maths Engineering

Emergent coordination in temporal partitioning congestion games

In this article we study the social dynamic of temporal partitioning congestion games (TPGs), in which participants must coordinate an optimal time-partitioning for using a limited resource. The challenge in TPGs lies in determining whether users can optimally self-organize their usage patterns. Reaching an optimal solution may be undermined, however, by a collectively destructive meta-reasoning p...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Fixing science means an end to gaming the system

Summary:

During the last decade, there has been a substantial acceleration in the open science movement. Most people would probably hope to have seen signs of positive change in that time, yet it seems that the process of improving the practice of science is moving at a glacial pace. Nicholas J. L. Brown's article highlights that, despite the ...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Remember oligodendrocytes: Uncovering their overlooked role in Alzheimer’s disease

Summary

The article "Remember oligodendrocytes: Uncovering their overlooked role in Alzheimer’s disease" by Lena Spieth and Mikael Simons (2024) explores the significant yet underappreciated role of oligodendrocytes in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Below are key questions addressed in the study: This study highlights a pa...
Posted 7 months ago

Social Science

Turning global water security research into policy and action

Summary

Evan Thomas's article emphasizes the urgent need to convert water security research into actionable policies. Highlighting the water sector's significant contribution to global emissions and the widespread lack of safe drinking water, Thomas calls for researchers to engage directly with policymakers. By doing so, the gap between resea...
Posted 7 months ago

Social Science

Integrating data within watershed management and public health

Summary

The study, Integrating Data Within Watershed Management and Public Health by Lars K. Hallstrom (2024), explores the critical interplay between water resources, ecosystem health, and public health. It emphasizes the importance of integrating data from diverse sources to address challenges like climate change, water scarcity, and their ef...
Posted 7 months ago

Social Science

The political preferences of LLMs

I report here a comprehensive analysis about the political preferences embedded in Large Language Models (LLMs). Namely, I administer 11 political orientation tests, designed to identify the political preferences of the test taker, to 24 state-of-the-art conversational LLMs, both closed and open source. When probed with questions/statements with political connotations, most conversational LLMs ten...
Posted 7 months ago

Social Science

Network science for museums

This paper introduces network science to museum studies. The spatial structure of the museum and the exhibit display largely determine what visitors see and in which order, thereby shaping their visit experience. Despite the importance of spatial properties in museum studies, few scientific tools have been developed to analyze and compare the results across museums. This paper introduces the six h...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Cancer Risk Among Children Born After Fertility Treatment

Summary of Cancer Risk Study in Children Born After Fertility Treatment

Study Overview

Research Focus: Cancer risk in children conceived through fertility treatments Sample Size: Over 8.5 million children Study Period: 2010-2021, with follow-up to June 2022. Key Findings Overall Cancer R...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Addressing the Emotional Body in Patients With Chronic Pain

Summary; Importance: Health care aims to reduce symptoms and improve health status, yet continuing dubious treatments can lead to complacency and suboptimal care. Objective: Investigate the potential bias in intuitive reasoning following marginal symptom improvement after dubious treatments. Design and Participants: 1,497 community members across North America 100 healthcare professionals (pha...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Post Hoc Bias in Treatment Decisions

Importance A goal of health care is to reduce symptoms and improve health status, whereas continuing dubious treatments can contribute to complacency, discourage the search for alternatives, and lead to shortfalls in care. Objective To test a potential bias in intuitive reasoning following a marginal improvement in symptoms after a dubious treatment (post hoc bias).Design, Setting, and Particip...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Using Nonprobabilistic Surveys to Measure COVID-19 Incidence

Summary:

The article discusses the potential of nonprobability online surveys as an efficient and timely method for measuring COVID-19 incidence. These surveys, when integrated with wastewater surveillance data, provide useful estimates of disease spread, particularly in the absence of precise official case counts. They offer demographic insig...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Smoking and Melanoma Outcomes—Another Reason to Quit

Summary: The study by Jackson et al. shows that smoking significantly increases the risk of melanoma-associated death (MAD) in patients with clinically localized melanoma. Smokers had a 48% higher risk of death from melanoma compared to nonsmokers, with heavier smokers facing an even greater risk. The study highlights that smoking may reduce blood flow and impair immune responses, contributing to ...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Unraveling the Importance of Seizure Duration in Electroconvulsive Therapy

Summary:

The article explores the role of seizure duration in Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), a treatment used for various psychiatric conditions, especially depression. The study examined a large cohort of Swedish patients undergoing ECT for unipolar major depression and focused on the duration of the first seizure. The findings indicate t...
Posted 7 months ago

Social Science

Universal Background Checks, Permit Requirements, and Firearm Homicide Rates

ImportanceA loophole in US gun policy is that people can purchase guns from private sellers without going through any background check. Some states have addressed this loophole by requiring universal background checks for all gun sales, either at the point of sale or through a permit system; however, most studies on the effectiveness of universal background checks have not analyzed these 2 policy ...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

The Power of Community Engagement and Patient Voices

The study by Wieland et al. explores the use of digital narratives to improve glycemic control among Hispanic adults with type 2 diabetes. A randomized clinical trial demonstrated a small improvement in glycemic control for those in the intervention group who watched culturally tailored digital narratives. The study highlights the importance of community-based participatory research, culturally re...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Wastewater and the Elimination of Bias

The article discusses the advantages of wastewater sampling for monitoring drug use in communities. It highlights how wastewater surveillance avoids biases seen in other drug monitoring methods and offers valuable insights into drug consumption patterns. The paper also addresses the potential for wastewater sampling to identify novel psychoactive substances (NPS) and warns about the stigmatization...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Shifting the Lens on Lung Cancer Screening Inequities

Summary

The study highlights racial disparities in lung cancer screening, particularly within Black communities in the US. It points to the role of medical mistrust, rooted in historical and contemporary racism, in affecting screening decisions. Black individuals experience lower screening uptake, contributing to worse health outcomes. The rese...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Exposure to Burn Pit Emissions and Respiratory Diseases?

Summary

The commentary examines the potential health risks associated with exposure to burn pit emissions, particularly in military personnel who have been deployed to conflict zones. Burn pits are open-air areas where waste materials, such as plastics and metals, are burned, creating harmful emissions that may impact respiratory health. Sev...
Posted 7 months ago

Physics Maths Engineering

Exploring the Frontier of Electrocardiogram Analysis Using rGO Nanoelectrodes

T he growing popularity of long-term, continuous, and unsupervised tracking of human physiological data for health care monitoring and preventive treatment has made biomedical applications of nanotechnology a major research focus. Generally, the monitoring and prevention of diseases in humans is performed through the collection of biomedical data and signals. In current methodologies, ...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

CER818: A Highly Specific and Sensitive HPV L1 High‐Risk Serological Lateral Flow Rapid Test for Early Detection of Cervical Cancer and Its Precursor Lesions

Objective: The objective of the study is to validate a new human papillomavirus (HPV) L1 high‐risk specific serological assay in a case‐control study.Methods: Serum samples of 138 patients (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1, 2, and 3 and cervical cancer), 21 vaccinees, and 246 female controls were tested for the presence of HPV L1 high‐risk specific antibodies.Results: HPV L1 high�...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Determinants of Cervical Cancer Screening among Female Health Professionals in Harar Town, Eastern Ethiopia: A Cross‐Sectional Study

Background. Early screening for cervical cancer is a key life‐saving intervention in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. Despite the high burden of cervical cancer, the coverage of cervical cancer screening is low in developing countries, including Ethiopia. There is a paucity of information on the utilization of cervical cancer screening among female health professionals in eastern Ethio...
Posted 7 months ago

Social Science

Electrochemical techniques and sensors for ocean research

This paper presents a review of applications of electrochemical methods in ocean sensing. It follows the white paper presented at the OceanSensors08 workshop held at the Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung, Warnemünde, Germany, from 31 March to 4 April 2008. The principles of electrochemical techniques are briefly recalled and described. For each technique, relevant electrochemical sensors are ...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Complete blood count alterations in COVID-19 patients

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents a scientific and social crisis. One of the main unmet needs for coronavirus disease 2019 is its unpredictable clinical course, which can rapidly change in an irreversible outcome. COVID-19 patients can be classified into mild, moderate, and severe. Several haematological parameters, such as platelets, white blood cell total count, lymphocytes...
Posted 7 months ago

Physics Maths Engineering

Bias, the unfinished symphony

In laboratory medicine, mathematical equations are frequently used to calculate various parameters including bias, imprecision, measurement uncertainty, sigma metric (SM), creatinine clearance, LDL-cholesterol concentration, etc. Mathematical equations have strict limitations and cannot be used in all situations and are not open to manipulations. Recently, a paper “Bias estimation for Sigma metr...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Defining laboratory medicine, or squaring the circle?

In the August 2020 issue of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Giuseppe Lippi and Mario Plebani proposed a definition of laboratory medicine, which ends with this sentence: “The results of these measurements are translated into actionable information for improving the care and/or maintaining the wellness of both a single individual and an entire population”. Nevertheless, the selfishn...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Poem: Waiting for the barbarian Corona viruses

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Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Atrophic Postacne Scar Treatment: Narrative Review

Acne scarring is a frequent complication of acne. Scars negatively impact psychosocial and physical well‐being. Optimal treatments significantly improve the appearance, quality of life, and self-esteem of people with scarring. A wide range of interventions have been proposed for acne scars. This narrative review aimed to focus on facial atrophic scarring interventions. The management of acne sca...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Themes and Topics on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in JMIR Dermatology Publications

Publications dealing with topics considered to be pertinent to diversity, equity, and inclusion are increasing. Due to the increasing trend, dermatology journals have started to implement ways to evaluate and understand these publications. Here, we discuss a keyword approach to identify and then categorize these publications. Keywords identified 43 manuscripts. Two reviewers screened the articles�...
Posted 7 months ago

Physics Maths Engineering

Patients, Doctors, and Chatbots

Medical advice is key to the relationship between doctor and patient. The question I will address is “how may chatbots affect the interaction between patients and doctors in regards to medical advice?” I describe what lies ahead when using chatbots and identify questions galore for the daily work of doctors. I conclude with a gloomy outlook, expectations for the urgently needed ethical discou...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Blood Bonds: Transforming Blood Donation Through Innovation, Inclusion, and Engagement

The journey of receiving blood as a patient with transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia has profoundly shaped my understanding of the life-saving power of blood donation. This personal experience underscores the critical importance of blood donors, not just for individual recipients but for the broader community, enhancing public health, productivity, and well-being. There are several challenges t...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Metabolic Surgery in Patients With High BMI and Obesity

The article "Metabolic Surgery in Patients With High BMI and Obesity" by Magnus Sundbom (2024) examines the role of metabolic surgery in individuals with a high body mass index (BMI) and obesity. The study highlights that metabolic surgeries, such as laparoscopic gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy, have become standard treatments for severe obesity (BMI ≥35). These procedures have demonstrate...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Programmatic Implications of a Revised Classification System for Undernutrition

Gausman et al argue that multiple measures of anthropometric failure (AF) are needed to assess undernutrition in the country context and design public health and nutrition programs to reach the most economically disadvantaged children younger than 5 years. But in practice, how can programs use information on AF to improve delivery of crucial interventions?

Biomedical

Effects of Electroacupuncture for Depression-Related Insomnia

Summary

The article "Effects of Electroacupuncture for Depression-Related Insomnia" by Albert Yeung and David Mischoulon (2022) investigates the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture (EA) in treating insomnia associated with depression. The study involved 270 patients who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: EA treatment combined...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Gait and Cognitive Declines in Dementia—Double or Nothing

Summary

The article "Gait and Cognitive Declines in Dementia—Double or Nothing" by Joe Verghese (2022) discusses the interrelationship between gait performance and cognitive decline in dementia. It emphasizes that impairments in gait are often observed early in the course of dementia and that changes in gait speed can serve as early indicator...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Considering Value in Prescribing and Deprescribing for Older Adults

Physicians know how easy it is to start a medication for a chronic condition in older adults. Often, these medications have marginal benefits and substantial potential harms and can be difficult to stop once started. Many older patients receive multiple medications with potential interactions and harms, which can be costly and is sometimes referred to as financial toxicity from treatment. Yet the ...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Underfilled blood tube containing EDTA

Introduction Blood samples having inappropriate volume are a substantial part of preanalytical errors. Inadequate sample volume for glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) test may be a common problem of patients with diabetes mellitus having vascular changes. In this study, we compared HbA1c concentrations of underfilled and appropriately filled blood collection tubes. Materials and methods To compare Hb...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

Laboratory medicine in arterial hypertension

In the initial diagnostics of arterial hypertension (AH) laboratory medicine is a cornerstone, along with a blood pressure (BP) measurement and an electrocardiogram. It mainly refers to routine blood and urine tests for diagnosis and monitoring primary hypertension and its associated conditions such as asymptomatic hypertension-mediated organ damage, chronic kidney disease and hypertensive disorde...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

The apparent prevalence, the true prevalence

Serologic tests are important for conducting seroepidemiologic and prevalence studies. However, the tests used are typically imperfect and produce false-positive and false-negative results. This is why the seropositive rate (apparent prevalence) does not typically reflect the true prevalence of the disease or condition of interest. Herein, we discuss the way the true prevalence could be derived fr...
Posted 7 months ago

Physics Maths Engineering

Bias estimation for Sigma metric calculation

I read with great interest the study of Keleş on the evaluation of analytical performances of clinical chemistry assays using the Six Sigma methodology (1). The author has computed Sigma metrics according to their laboratory performance as well as the manufacturer’s data in the reagent package inserts. For Sigma metric calculation according to laboratory performance, the author has estimated...
Posted 7 months ago

Biomedical

A sudden creatinine increase: A case report

Creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) are first-line laboratory parameters in the diagnosis of various renal diseases. In recent decades, cystatin C (cysC) has furthered the laboratory repertoire regarding renal status assessment and has been implemented in many clinical guidelines. Accordingly, with the establishment of cysC as a renal routine biomarker, further opportunities...
Posted 7 months ago

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Summary of Cancer Risk Study in Children Born After Fertility Treatment

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Biomedical

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