Erratum to Montemayor and Eisen.

Reports an error in the article "The Development of Self-Conceptions from Childhood to Adolescence," by Raymond Montemayor and Marvin Eisen (Developmental Psychology. Vol 13[4] Jul 1977, 314-319). On page 317, the first sentence of the first complete paragraph should be changed to read: The mean number of categories used at least once by students at each age was as follows: 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, 9.5, and 11.1; F(4, 257) = 3.86, p 1978-07730-001.) Studied self-concept development from childhood to adolescence from a cognitive-structural perspective. The responses of 136 males and 126 females from Grades 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 to the question "Who am I?", and to the Twenty Statements Test were analyzed by means of a 30-category scoring system. Results indicate that between childhood and adolescence, there was a significant increase in self-conceptions categorized as follows: occupational role; existential, individuating; ideological and belief references; sense of self-determination; sense of unity; interpersonal style; and psychic style. A significant decrease occurred for self-conceptions based on (a) territoriality, citizenship; (b) possessions, resources; and (c) physical self, body image. Curvilinear age changes were found for the use of the categories sex; name; kinship role; membership in an abstract category; and judgments, tastes, likes. The results for self-concept development are in general agreement with H. Werner's (1957) notion that cognitive development proceeds from a concrete to an abstract mode of representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intelligent Firefly Algorithm Deep Transfer Learning Based COVID-19 Monitoring System

With the increasing and rapid growth rate of COVID-19 cases, the healthcare scheme of several developed countries have reached the point of collapse. An important and critical steps in fighting against COVID-19 is powerful screening of diseased patients, in such a way that positive patient can be treated and isolated. A chest radiology image-based diagnosis scheme might have several benefits over traditional approach. The accomplishment of artificial intelligence (AI) based techniques in automated diagnoses in the healthcare sector and rapid increase in COVID-19 cases have demanded the requirement of AI based automated diagnosis and recognition systems. This study develops an Intelligent Firefly Algorithm Deep Transfer Learning Based COVID-19 Monitoring System (IFFA-DTLMS). The proposed IFFA-DTLMS model majorly aims at identifying and categorizing the occurrence of COVID19 on chest radiographs. To attain this, the presented IFFA-DTLMS model primarily applies densely connected networks (DenseNet121) model to generate a collection of feature vectors. In addition, the firefly algorithm (FFA) is applied for the hyper parameter optimization of DenseNet121 model. Moreover, autoencoder-long short term memory (AE-LSTM) model is exploited for the classification and identification of COVID19. For ensuring the enhanced performance of the IFFA-DTLMS model, a wide-ranging experiments were performed and the results are reviewed under distinctive aspects. The experimental value reports the betterment of IFFA-DTLMS model over recent approaches.     

Hemodialysis Central Venous Catheter-Related Bacteremia: Time to Onset

Bacteremia (B) is a well-known complication of an indwelling central venous catheter (CVC). Although prophylactic measures such as topical and catheter lock antibiotics have been demonstrated to decrease the risk of B in hemodialysis (HD) in patients with a CVC, there are concerns about the development of resistance to these agents when used for long periods of time.
Objective:  We wondered if we could limit the use of these agents by identifying the period when B was most common after CVC placement.
Method: We prospectively noted all patients with a CVC who developed B in any of our 3 units in CT, U.S.A.; 62 episodes of B occurred between 1/1/03 and 9/18/03. 35% of all of the HD patients had a CVC for access during the study period.
Results: Staphylococcus aureus accounted for 22 (35.5%) episodes; Gram-negative organisms for 21 (33.8%) and other staphylococcal species for 14 (22.6%). The other 3 episodes were other Gram-positive organisms and 6 patients developed B with more than 1 organism. 3 (4.8%) patients expired while being treated for the B. The average time to onset of B was 96 ± 98 CVC days with a range of 1–365 days. There was no difference in time to onset based on organism. 43.5% of the episodes of B occurred less than 60 days after the CVC was inserted, but 27.4% occurred greater than 100 days after CVC insertion.
Conclusion:  The time to onset of CVC-related B was variable among the patients developing B in this study. Preventative strategies aimed at reducing the risk of B in patients with a CVC must be used for the life of the CVC.     

Detection of multiple disease indicators by an autonomous biomolecular computer

The promise of biomolecular computers is their ability to interact with naturally occurring biomolecules, enabling in the future the development of context-dependent programmable drugs. Here we show a context-sensing mechanism of a biomolecular automaton that can simultaneously sense different types of molecules, allowing future integration of biomedical knowledge on a broad range of molecular disease symptoms in the decision of a biomolecular computer to release a drug molecule.     

Why Do So Many Patients Have a Dialysis Catheter and Not Arteriovenous Fistulae or Grafts?

The Dialysis Outcome and Quality Initiative has guidelines for vascular access and states that the dialysis catheter (DC) should be limited to less than 20% of the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Our center has found this target difficult to achieve.
Objective:  We wondered what the reasons for use of a DC might be.
Methods:  We noted the number of patients with a DC in place and assessed the reasons why the DC was being used on 8/1/03.
Results:  73 of the 170 (42.9%) patients had a DC on 8/1/03. 24 (32.9%) of the patients refused to have initial arteriovenous fistulae or grafts (AVF/G) or a secondary AVF/G revision or replacement procedure performed after initial AVF/G failure. 15 (20.5%) patients had a maturing AVF/G, 12 (16.4%) had significant medical and/or surgical contraindications for AVF/G placement, 9 (12.3%) patients were awaiting surgical thrombectomy, revision or placement of AVF/G, 6 patients (8.2%) were awaiting transfer to CPD therapy, 4 (5.5%) patients were undecided about having an AVF/G placed, and 1 (1.4%) had acute renal failure and early ESRD recovery was expected. Only 2 (2.7%) patients had no access plan by the nephrology team.
Conclusions:  Patients' refusal for an AVF/G placement and patients with a maturing AVF/G or awaiting surgical revision or placement were the most common reasons for the use of a DC in our center. To significantly impact on the high use of the DC, it would be crucial to better understand the reasons for patients' refusals.     

Complications associated with the development of bacteremia with Staphylococcus aureus

Access-related infections are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among hemodialysis patients. Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia accounts for 25% of these episodes. Nissenson et al., found that 20.7% of the patients developing S. aureus bacteremia had infectious complications as well as hospital readmissions related to the S. aureus bacteremia. This retrospective analysis did not determine whether the S. aureus bacteremia was access related, nor how each episode was treated. We have prospectively collected a database of all access-related S. aureus bacteremia developing in our unit between 1/1/03 and 8/31/05, including the management of the access. Episodes of S. aureus bacteremia with an identifiable source other than the vascular access were excluded. Seventy-two episodes of S. aureus bacteremia were identified; 54 developed in patients using a catheter and 18 developed in patients using an arteriovenous graft/fistula. The mean age was 64+/-15 years, and 56% of the patients were Caucasian. All patients were treated with 4 weeks of antibiotics. A total of 6 (8%) deaths and 15 (20.8%) infectious complications related to the S. aureus bacteremia were identified. Infectious complications included endocarditis (4), metastatic infection (7), discitis (3), and a myocardial abscess (1). Seventeen (23.6%) of the patients were readmitted within 30 days of the episode of S. aureus bacteremia; 4 readmissions were related to the S. aureus bacteremia. Five of the 54 catheter patients who developed S. aureus bacteremia expired and 14 developed infectious complications despite the catheter being removed/exchanged in all but one patient. One of the arteriovenous graft patients who developed S. aureus bacteremia expired. We conclude that infectious complications from S. aureus bacteremia are common, as 23.6% of the patients in our study developed an infectious complication. Eight percent of the patients who developed S. aureus bacteremia expired. Strategies to avoid S. aureus bacteremia are needed.     

A twin study of the association between pathological gambling and antisocial personality disorder.

Many individuals with a history of pathological gambling (PG) also have a history of engaging in antisocial behaviors, and this has often been interpreted as a result of the former causing the latter. In a sample of 7,869 men in 4,497 twin pairs form the Vietnam Era Twin Registry, the authors examined (a) the association between PG and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), (b) the extent to which PG might be differentially associated with childhood conduct disorder (CD) and adult antisocial behavior (AAB), and (c) the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the association of PG with ASPD, CD, and AAB. PG was significantly associated with all 3 antisocial behavior disorders, and the association of PG with ASPD, CD, and AAB was predominantly explained by genetic factors. The results of this study suggest that the greater-than-chance co-occurrence of PG and antisocial behavior disorders is partially due to their sharing a common genetic vulnerability. The antisocial behavior observed among many individuals with PG probably cannot be interpreted as being simply a consequence of the PG. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familial influences on gambling behavior: an analysis of 3359 twin pairs

BACKGROUND: Pathological gambling is becoming an increasing problem in the United States as the number of legalized gambling establishments grows. To examine vulnerability to pathological gambling, we estimated the familial contributions (i.e. inherited factors and/or experiences shared by twin siblings during childhood) to DSM-III-R pathological gambling symptoms and disorder. METHODS: Data were obtained from a telephone interview performed in 1991-92 utilizing the Diagnostic Interview Schedule Version III-Revised. Interviews were administered to 6718 members of the nationally distributed Vietnam Era Twin Registry of male-male monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs who served in the military during the Vietnam era. RESULTS: Inherited factors explain between 35% (95% CI: 28%, 42%) and 54% (95% CI: 39%, 67%) of the liability for the five individual symptoms of pathological gambling behavior that could be estimated statistically. In addition, familial factors explain 56% (95% CI: 36%, 71%) of the report of three or more symptoms of pathological gambling and 62% (95% CI: 40%, 79%) of the diagnosis of pathological gambling disorder (four or more symptoms). CONCLUSIONS: Familial factors have an important influence on risk for pathological gambling behavior. The increasing access to legalized gambling is likely to result in a higher prevalence of pathological gambling behavior among individuals who are more vulnerable because of familial factors.     

The inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate system is involved in rapid effects of aldosterone in human mononuclear leukocytes

There is increasing evidence for rapid steroid action on electrolyte transport in human mononuclear leukocytes (HML). In HML, aldosterone stimulates the Na+/H+ antiporter within a few minutes. Because a variety of hormones and growth factors activate the Na+/H+ antiporter via protein kinase C and inositol phospholipids, a possible involvement of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) in the rapid effects of aldosterone in HML was investigated. The stimulation of IP3 generation was started by the addition of aldosterone, concanavalin A, or other steroids. A significant increase in IP3 levels by aldosterone (1 nmol/L, P < 0.05) was found after 1 min, similar to that found after concanavalin A (25 micrograms/mL). Aldosterone caused a concentration-dependent elevation of IP3 levels, with an apparent EC50 of approximately 0.1 nmol/L. Fludrocortisone stimulated IP3 generation at similar concentrations, whereas a weaker IP3 stimulation by glucocorticoids (hydrocortisone, dexamethasone) occurred at micromolar concentrations only. Canrenone, a potent inhibitor of classical aldosterone action, was not effective up to a concentration of 100 nmol/L. These findings show kinetic and pharmacological similarities with both the functional data on Na+/H+ antiport stimulation by aldosterone and the studies of 125I-aldosterone binding to plasma membranes of HML. Thus, these data are the first to indicate an involvement of the phosphoinositide pathway in the rapid membrane effects of aldosterone.