The Impact of Adjacent-Letter Flanking Bigrams on Lexical Decision Performance

Some models of word identification hypothesize that the word recognition system includes units responsive to bigrams (letter pairs). Grainger, Mathot, and Vitu (2014) and Palinski (2016) found that target-flanking bigrams consisting of letters adjacent in targets (e.g., OG FROG FR) affect decisions about whether letter strings are words: Bigram-letter order, but not proximity of bigram letters to their locations in the targets, affected performance. (Average performance was better with FR FROG OG and OG FROG FR than with RF FROG GO and GO FROG RF, but no different with FR FROG OG and RF FROG GO than with OG FROG FR and GO FROG RF.) In a second experiment, Palinski (2016) included nonadjacent-letter flanking bigrams (e.g., FO FROG RG). For adjacent-letter bigrams she found, as did Araya, Russo, and Smith (2017) in an exact replication, significant effects of both letter order and letter proximity. To investigate whether performance with adjacent-letter bigrams depends on the presence of non-adjacent-letter bigrams, we presented these in different blocks of trials. The results were consistent with those of Palinski and of Araya et al. Lexical decision performance with adjacent-letter flanking bigrams appears to depend on the presence of non-adjacent letter bigrams in the experimental context.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2018/1044/thumbnail.jp

Reading Between the Bigrams

In lexical decision experiments in which target strings were flanked by pairs of bigrams, Grainger, Mathot, and Vitu (2014) and Palinski (2016) found, for words, better performance when flanking bigrams contained target-string letters (e.g., FR FROG OG; OG FROG FR; RF FROG GO; GO FROG RF) than when they did not (e.g., EX FROG IT); better performance when flanking bigrams contained letters ordered as in the target (e.g., FR FROG OG; OG FROG FR) than switched (e.g., RF FROG GO; GO FROG RF); and no effect on performance of proximity of flanking letters to their locations in the targets. We plan (and have programmed) an experiment to investigate (1) whether the effects of whether flanking bigrams contain target-string letters are facilitative, interfering, or both; (2) the general effect of flanking characters; and (3) whether proximity of flanking letters to their locations in targets affects performance when flanking letters are ordered as in targets. This experiment will include three previously used display conditions (e.g., FR FROG OG; OG FROG FR; EX FROG IT) and two control conditions—one in which no characters will flank targets and one in which targets will be flanked by special character bigrams (e.g., #* FROG %&).https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2018/1045/thumbnail.jp

Safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in patients on dialysis: a multicentre cohort study in Italy

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines in patients undergoing haemodialysis in Italy compared to the general population.Methods In this cohort study, 118 dialysis centres from 18 Italian Regions participated. Individuals older than 16 years on dialysis treatment for at least 3 months, who provided informed consent were included. We collected demographic and clinical information, as well as data on vaccination status, hospitalisations, access to intensive care units and adverse events. We calculated the incidence, hospitalisation, mortality, and fatality rates in the vaccinated dialysis cohort, adjusted for several covariates. The incidence rates of infection in the dialysis cohort and the general population were compared through Standardised Incidence Rate Ratio.Results The study included 6555 patients vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 infection according to the schedule recommended in Italy. Between March 2021 and May 2022, there were 1096 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with an incidence rate after completion of the three-dose vaccination cycle of 37.7 cases per 100 person-years. Compared to the general population, we observed a 14% reduction in the risk of infection for patients who received three vaccine doses (Standardised Incidence Rate Ratio: 0.86; 95% Confidence Interval: 0.81-0.91), whereas no statistically significant differences were found for COVID-19-related hospitalisations, intensive care unit admissions or death. No safety signals emerged from the reported adverse events.Conclusions The vaccination program against SARS-CoV-2 in the haemodialysis population showed an effectiveness and safety profile comparable to that seen in the general population

Impact of COVID-19 vaccines in patients on hemodialysis: an Italian multicentre cohort study

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the impact on the national health system of COVID-19 infection in vaccinated patients undergoing haemodialysis.MethodsFrom the cohort of vaccinated dialysis patients enrolled in 118 dialysis centres, we calculated hospitalisation incidence in COVID-19-infected subjects. COVID-19-related hospitalisations and ICU admissions were analysed over two time periods (prior to administration of the third dose and following administration of the third dose of vaccine) and adjusted for several co-variates. Using the general population as the reference, we then calculated the Standardized Incidence Ratio (SIR) of hospitalisation.ResultsEighty-two subjects out of 1096 infected patients were hospitalised (7.5%) and sixty-four hospitalisations occurred among the 824 infected persons after the third dose. Age >= 60 years (Adj RR 2.91; 95% CI 1.34-6.30) and lung disease (Adj RR = 2.45; 95% CI 1.32-4.54) were the only risk factors associated with hospitalisation. The risk of ICU admission in the second time period (Time 2) was reduced by 86% (RR = 0.14; 95% CI 0.03-0.71) compared to the first time period (Time 1). The SIR of hospitalisation (SIR 14.51; 95% CI 11.37-17.65) and ICU admission (SIR 14.58; 95% CI 2.91-26.24) showed an increase in the number of events in dialysis patients compared to the general population.ConclusionsOur analysis revealed that while the second variant of the virus increased infection rates, it was concurrently associated with mitigated severity of infections. Dialysis patients exhibited a higher susceptibility to both COVID-19 hospitalisation and ICU admission than the general population throughout the pandemic

Safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in patients on dialysis: a multicentre cohort study in Italy

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines in patients undergoing haemodialysis in Italy compared to the general population.Methods In this cohort study, 118 dialysis centres from 18 Italian Regions participated. Individuals older than 16 years on dialysis treatment for at least 3 months, who provided informed consent were included. We collected demographic and clinical information, as well as data on vaccination status, hospitalisations, access to intensive care units and adverse events. We calculated the incidence, hospitalisation, mortality, and fatality rates in the vaccinated dialysis cohort, adjusted for several covariates. The incidence rates of infection in the dialysis cohort and the general population were compared through Standardised Incidence Rate Ratio.Results The study included 6555 patients vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 infection according to the schedule recommended in Italy. Between March 2021 and May 2022, there were 1096 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with an incidence rate after completion of the three-dose vaccination cycle of 37.7 cases per 100 person-years. Compared to the general population, we observed a 14% reduction in the risk of infection for patients who received three vaccine doses (Standardised Incidence Rate Ratio: 0.86; 95% Confidence Interval: 0.81-0.91), whereas no statistically significant differences were found for COVID-19-related hospitalisations, intensive care unit admissions or death. No safety signals emerged from the reported adverse events.Conclusions The vaccination program against SARS-CoV-2 in the haemodialysis population showed an effectiveness and safety profile comparable to that seen in the general population