37 research outputs found
Being Old Doesn't Mean Acting Old: How Older Users Interact with Spoken Dialogue System.
Most studies on adapting voice interfaces to older users work top-down by comparing the interaction behavior of older and younger users. In contrast, we present a bottom-up approach. A statistical cluster analysis of 447 appointment scheduling dialogs between 50 older and younger users and 9 simulated spoken dialog systems revealed two main user groups, a “social” group and a “factual” group. “Factual” users adapted quickly to the systems and interacted efficiently with them. “Social” users, on the other hand, were more likely to treat the system like a human, and did not adapt their interaction style. While almost all “social” users were older, over a third of all older users belonged in the “factual” group. Cognitive abilities and gender did not predict group membership. We conclude that spoken dialog systems should adapt to users based on observed behavior, not on age
The MATCH Corpus: A Corpus of Older and Younger Users' Interactions With Spoken Dialogue Systems.
We present the MATCH corpus, a unique data set of 447 dialogues in
which 26 older and 24 younger adults interact with nine different spoken dialogue
systems. The systems varied in the number of options presented and the confirmation
strategy used. The corpus also contains information about the users’
cognitive abilities and detailed usability assessments of each dialogue system. The
corpus, which was collected using a Wizard-of-Oz methodology, has been fully
transcribed and annotated with dialogue acts and ‘‘Information State Update’’ (ISU)
representations of dialogue context. Dialogue act and ISU annotations were performed semi-automatically. In addition to describing the corpus collection and
annotation, we present a quantitative analysis of the interaction behaviour of older
and younger users and discuss further applications of the corpus. We expect that the
corpus will provide a key resource for modelling older people’s interaction with
spoken dialogue systems
Reducing working memory load in spoken dialogue systems
We evaluated two strategies for alleviating working memory load for users of voice interfaces: presenting fewer options per turn and providing confirmations. Forty-eight users booked appointments using nine different dialogue systems, which varied in the number of options presented and the confirmation strategy used. Participants also performed four cognitive tests and rated the usability of each dialogue system on a standardised questionnaire. When systems presented more options per turn and avoided explicit confirmation subdialogues, both older and younger users booked appointments more quickly without compromising task success. Users with lower information processing speed were less likely to remember all relevant aspects of the appointment. Working memory span did not affect appointment recall. Older users were slightly less satisfied with the dialogue systems than younger users. We conclude that the number of options is less important than an accurate assessment of the actual cognitive demands of the task at hand
Occupational physical activity in relation with prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia
Using data from two case-control studies undertaken in Athens, Greece from 1994 to 1997, we have examined the association of occupational physical activity with the risk of prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Cases consisted of 320 patients with histologically confirmed incident prostate cancer and 184 patients with surgically treated BPH. Controls were 246 patients hospitalized for minor conditions. Occupations before retirement were classified, independently and blindly as to case-control status, into high, medium, and low physical activity levels. After fine controlling for years of schooling, there was a suggestive inverse association of physical activity with prostate cancer (P for trend 0.12) and a significant one with BPH (P for trend 0.04). The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for high versus low activity was 0.69 (0.40-1.22) for prostate cancer and 0.59 (0.31-1.11) for BPH. The association of physical activity with both conditions tended to be more pronounced among men 65 years old or younger. Given the high frequency of occurrence of the examined conditions in the male population and our limited knowledge about other modifiable risk factors, preventive measures may have to focus on increasing physical activity. European Journal of Cancer Prevention 17:336-339 © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams and Wilkins
Diet and Expression of Estrogen Alpha and Progesterone Receptors in Malignant Mammary Tissue
Estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PR) expression has
been associated with more favorable breast cancer prognosis. Results on
the differential association of diet with ER and/or PR positive and
negative tumors have been inconclusive. In a large case-control study
conducted in Athens, Greece, we investigated whether diet is associated
with the expression of ERalpha or PR in mammary tumors of 421 women with
histologically confirmed breast cancer. Diet was assessed through an
extensive food frequency questionnaire and results were analyzed using
multiple logistic regression. After controlling for non-nutritional
variables and mutually adjusting for energy-generating nutrients and
ethanol, carbohydrate intake was inversely associated with ER-alpha (P =
0.04) and PR (P = 0.10) expression. The odds ratios (OR) per one
standard deviation increment were 0.69 with 95% confidence interval
(95% CI) 0.48-0.98 for ER-alpha and 0.72 (95% CI 0.49-1.07) for PR
expression. No consistent or statistically significant associations were
noted for any of the other energy-generating nutrients or food groups
examined. Although in these data no strong relations of qualitative
aspects of diet with hormone receptor expression in breast cancer tumors
were evident, the inverse association of carbohydrate intake with
ERalpha, and perhaps PR, expression merits further study in future
investigations
Expression of estrogen receptors in non-malignant mammary tissue modifies the association between insulin-like growth factor 1 and breast cancer risk
Background: Several studies have reported that the insulin-like growth
factor 1 (IGF-1) is positively associated with estrogen
receptor-positive [ER(+)] breast cancer risk, whereas there is little
or no association with respect to ER(-) breast cancer. All comparisons
of ER(+) breast cancer cases, however, have been made versus healthy
controls, for whom there is no information about the ER expression in
their mammary gland.
Patients and methods: In the context of a case-control investigation
conducted in Athens, Greece, we studied 102 women with incident ER
alpha(+) breast cancer and compared their IGF-1 blood levels with those
of 178 ER alpha(+) and 83 ER alpha(-) women with benign breast disease
(BBD) who underwent biopsies in the context of their standard medical
care. Data were analysed using multiple logistic regression and
controlling for potential confounding variables.
Results: ER alpha(+) breast cancer patients had higher IGF-1 levels
compared with women with BBD [odds ratio (OR) 1.36, 95% confidence
interval (CI): 0.95-1.94, per 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in
IGF-1 levels]. When ER alpha status of women with BBD was taken into
account, the difference in IGF-1 levels between ER alpha(+) breast
cancer patients and women with BBD was clearly driven by the comparison
with BBD women who were ER alpha(+) (OR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.31-2.89 per 1
SD increase in IGF-1 levels), whereas there was essentially no
association with IGF-1 levels when ER alpha(+) breast cancer patients
were compared with ER alpha(-) BBD women. These contrasts were
particularly evident among post/peri-menopausal women.
Conclusion(s): We found evidence in support of an interaction of IGF-1
with the expression of ER alpha in the non-malignant mammary tissue in
the context of breast cancer pathogenesis. This is in line with previous
evidence suggesting that IGF-1 increases the risk of ER(+) breast
cancer
The hormonal profile of benign breast disease
Background: Limited information exists about the endocrine milieu of
benign breast disease (BBD), a documented breast cancer risk factor. We
compared blood levels of estrogens, testosterone and insulin-like growth
factor-1 (IGF-1) between BBD patients by histological type and women
without breast pathology.
Methods: We studied 578 BBD patients and 178 healthy women in Athens,
Greece, who provided blood samples, and completed
interviewer-administered questionnaires.
Results: Of the BBD patients, 254 had non-proliferative disease, 268
proliferative disease without atypia and 56 atypical hyperplasia.
Comparing BBD patients with healthy women, the per cent differences (and
95% confidence intervals) for blood hormones, among pre-menopausal and
peri/post-menopausal women, respectively, were: 22.4% (-4.0%, 56.1%)
and 32.0% (5.6%, 65.1%) for estradiol; 26.2% (10.1%, 44.8%) and
30.9% (16.8%, 46.6%) for estrone; 19.5% (3.1%, 38.4%) and 16.5%
(-5.0%, 42.9%) for testosterone; and -5.2% (-13.8%, 4.4%) and
-12.1% (-19.8%, -3.6%) for IGF-1. Steroid hormones tended to be
higher in proliferative compared with non-proliferative BBD.
Conclusions: Circulating steroid hormones tend to be higher among women
with BBD than women with no breast pathology and higher in proliferative
than non-proliferative disease; these patterns are more evident among
peri/post-menopausal women. In peri/post-menopausal women IGF-1 was
lower among women with BBD compared with healthy women
A comparison of hormonal profiles between breast cancer and benign breast disease: a case-control study
Benign breast disease (BBD), particularly proliferative BBD, is an
established breast cancer risk factor. However, there has been no
systematic attempt to compare the hormonal profiles of the two
conditions. In a case-control investigation in Athens, Greece, we
compared levels of estrogens, testosterone and insulin-like growth
factor-1 (IGF-1), as well as their principal binding proteins, between
breast cancer patients, women with BBD by histological type
(proliferative and nonproliferative) and women with no breast pathology.
We studied 466 women with incident breast cancer, 704 women with BBD and
244 healthy women. We used multiple regression to compare
log-transformed serum hormone levels of breast cancer patients with
those of healthy women and women with BBD by histological type
(proliferative and nonproliferative BBD).
The hormonal profile of breast cancer in our study was in line with the
generally accepted hormonal profile of this disease, as reported from
large cohort studies. Compared with healthy women, breast cancer
patients tended to have higher levels of steroid hormones. The evidence
was strong for estrone (difference 21.5%, P < 0.001), weaker for
testosterone (difference 15.8%, P = 0.07) and weaker still for
estradiol (difference 12.0%, P = 0.18). Also compared with healthy
women, breast cancer patients had barely higher levels of IGF-1
(difference 2.0%, P = 0.51), but had significantly lower levels of IGF
binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) (difference -6.7%, P = 0.001). Compared
with women with BBD, breast cancer patients had nonstatistically
significantly lower levels of steroid hormones, but they had higher
levels of IGF-1 [difference 5.5%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7%
to 10.6%] and lower levels of IGFBP-3 (difference -3.7%, 95% CI
-6.7% to -0.7%). Differences were more pronounced when breast cancer
patients were contrasted to women with proliferative BBD.
Our findings suggest that high levels of IGF-1 may be an important
factor toward the evolution of BBD to breast cancer