Prediction of the start of next recession

The future value of the binary recession variable is modeled to be dependent on the present and past values of a set of m US economic variables selected from a pool of 14 variables via a conditional distribution which is derived from an -dimensional power-normal distribution. The mean together with the 2.5% and 97.5% points of the conditional distribution are used to predict the start of the next US recession. When and , some of the models can provide fairly good indicators for the start of the next US recession

A systematic density-based clustering method using anchor points

National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under its AI Singapore Programme; Singapore Ministry of Health under its National Innovation Challenge on Active and Confident Agein

A novel density peak clustering algorithm based on squared residual error

The density peak clustering (DPC) algorithm is designed to quickly identify intricate-shaped clusters with high dimensionality by finding high-density peaks in a non-iterative manner and using only one threshold parameter. However, DPC has certain limitations in processing low-density data points because it only takes the global data density distribution into account. As such, DPC may confine in forming low-density data clusters, or in other words, DPC may fail in detecting anomalies and borderline points. In this paper, we analyze the limitations of DPC and propose a novel density peak clustering algorithm to better handle low-density clustering tasks. Specifically, our algorithm provides a better decision graph comparing to DPC for the determination of cluster centroids. Experimental results show that our algorithm outperforms DPC and other clustering algorithms on the benchmarking datasets.NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore)Accepted versio

Korean Studies on Blood Stasis: An Overview

Blood stasis is one of the important pathological concepts in Korean medicine. We analyzed the Korean studies concerning blood stasis. We searched for articles in eight electronic databases from their inception to September, 2014. We included reviews, clinical studies, and preclinical studies that had studied blood stasis and excluded articles in which blood stasis was not mentioned or in which the original authors had not explained blood stasis. Of 211 total included studies, 19 were reviews, 52 were clinical studies, and 140 were preclinical articles. “Stagnant blood within the body” was the most frequently mentioned phrase of the traditional concept of blood stasis. Traumatic injury was the most frequently studied disease/condition in the clinical studies. In the preclinical studies, coagulopathy was studied most frequently, followed by hyperviscosity, hyperlipidemia, inflammation, neoplasm, ischemic brain injury, and atherosclerosis. Hyeolbuchukeo-tang and Angelicae Gigantis Radix were the most frequent formula and single herb, respectively, used in the blood stasis researches. The results showed that blood stasis was mainly recognized as disorder of circulation and many studies showed the effectiveness of activating blood circulating herbs for diseases and pathologies such as traumatic injury or coagulopathy. Further studies are needed in the pathologic mechanisms and various diseases of blood stasis

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19: a cross-sectional study in South Korea

Background The public must routinely practice precautionary behaviors to control the spread of COVID-19, as no vaccines and antiviral treatments are currently available. This paper examines the publics knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to COVID-19 and their relationships and identified the pandemics vulnerable populations to provide recommendations for behavioral interventions and policies. Methods Data collection took place over 3 days (June 26–29) via an online survey 5 months after the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) confirmed the first COVID case in South Korea; 970 subjects were included in the statistical data analysis. Results Knowledge directly affected both attitudes (e.g., perceived risk and efficacy belief) and practices (e.g., personal hygiene practices and social distancing). Among the influencing factors of COVID-19 preventive behaviors, efficacy belief was the most influential and significant practice factor. It mediated the relationship between knowledge and all three preventive behaviors (wearing facial masks, practicing hand hygiene, and avoiding crowded places). The level of knowledge varied by sociodemographic characteristics. Females (β = 0.06, p <  0.05) and individuals with higher levels of education (β = 0.06, p <  0.05) demonstrated higher levels of knowledge. Conclusion To increase precautionary behaviors among the public, health officials and policymakers must promote knowledge and efficacy belief. Future interventions and policies should also be developed in a person-centered approach, targeting vulnerable subgroups, embracing them, and closing the gap of KAP toward COVID-19.This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (BK21 Center for Integrative Response to Health Disasters, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University); the Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

MicroRNA-143 and-145 modulate the phenotype of synovial fibroblasts in rheumatoid arthritis

Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) constitute a major cell subset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovia. Dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) has been implicated in activation and proliferation of RA-FLSs. However, the functional association of various miRNAs with their targets that are characteristic of the RA-FLS phenotype has not been globally elucidated. In this study, we performed microarray analyses of miRNAs and mRNAs in RA-FLSs and osteoarthritis FLSs (OA-FLSs), simultaneously, to validate how dysregulated miRNAs may be associated with the RA-FLS phenotype. Global miRNA profiling revealed that miR-143 and miR-145 were differentially upregulated in RA-FLSs compared to OA-FLSs. miR-143 and miR-145 were highly expressed in independent RA-FLSs. The miRNA-target prediction and network model of the predicted targets identified insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5 (IGFBP5) and semaphorin 3A (SEMA3A) as potential target genes downregulated by miR-143 and miR-145, respectively. IGFBP5 level was inversely correlated with miR-143 expression, and its deficiency rendered RA-FLSs more sensitive to TNFα stimulation, promoting IL-6 production and NF-κB activity. Moreover, SEMA3A was a direct target of miR-145, as determined by a luciferase reporter assay, antagonizing VEGF165-induced increases in the survival, migration and invasion of RA-FLSs. Taken together, our data suggest that enhanced expression of miR-143 and miR-145 renders RA-FLSs susceptible to TNFα and VEGF165 stimuli by downregulating IGFBP5 and SEMA3A, respectively, and that these miRNAs could be therapeutic targets. © 2017 KSBMB4