Protocol for the development of a tool (INSPECT-SR) to identify problematic randomised controlled trials in systematic reviews of health interventions

This research is funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme (NIHR203568). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.Peer reviewe

Cortical thickness and resting-state cardiac function across the lifespan: a cross-sectional pooled mega analysis

Understanding the association between autonomic nervous system [ANS] function and brain morphology across the lifespan provides important insights into neurovisceral mechanisms underlying health and disease. Resting state ANS activity, indexed by measures of heart rate [HR] and its variability [HRV] has been associated with brain morphology, particularly cortical thickness [CT]. While findings have been mixed regarding the anatomical distribution and direction of the associations, these inconsistencies may be due to sex and age differences in HR/HRV and CT. Previous studies have been limited by small sample sizes, which impede the assessment of sex differences and aging effects on the association between ANS function and CT. To overcome these limitations, 20 groups worldwide contributed data collected under similar protocols of CT assessment and HR/HRV recording to be pooled in a mega-analysis (N = 1,218 (50.5% female), mean age 36.7 years (range: 12-87)). Findings suggest a decline in HRV as well as CT with increasing age. CT, particularly in the orbitofrontal cortex, explained additional variance in HRV, beyond the effects of aging. This pattern of results may suggest that the decline in HRV with increasing age is related to a decline in orbitofrontal CT. These effects were independent of sex and specific to HRV; with no significant association between CT and HR. Greater CT across the adult lifespan may be vital for the maintenance of healthy cardiac regulation via the ANS – or greater cardiac vagal activity as indirectly reflected in HRV may slow brain atrophy. Findings reveal an important association between cortical thickness and cardiac parasympathetic activity with implications for healthy aging and longevity that should be studied further in longitudinal research

The GRIM test: A simple technique detects numerous anomalies in the reporting of results in psychology

We present a simple mathematical technique that we call GRIM (Granularity-Related Inconsistency of Means) for verifying the summary statistics of published research reports in psychology. This technique evaluates whether the reported means of integer data such as type scales are consistent with the given sample size and number of items. We tested this 16 technique with a sample of 260 recent articles in leading journals within empirical psychology. 17 Of the subset of articles that were amenable to testing with the GRIM technique (N = 71), around 18 half (N = 36; 50.7%) appeared to contain at least one reported mean inconsistent with the 19 reported sample sizes and scale characteristics, and more than 20% (N = 16) contained multiple 20 such inconsistencies. We requested the data sets corresponding to 21 of these articles, receiving 21 positive responses in 9 cases. We were able to confirm the presence of at least one reporting 22 error in all cases, with 2 articles requiring extensive corrections. The implications for the 23 reliability and replicability of empirical psychology are discussed. These results (and similarly improbable but provocative data in real articles) may garner 37 both intense public interest and skepticism. They also sometimes provoke speculation over their 38 fidelity; this speculation frequently continues in public fora such as PubPeer and Twitter in the 39 absence of re-analysis of the data in question. However, in a subset of cases, it is possible to 40 determine the fidelity of scale data directly from the descriptive statistics. 41 The case cited above, for example, seems superficially reasonable but actually describes a 42 situation which is mathematically impossible. The reported means represent either errors of 43 transcription, some version of misreporting, or the deliberate manipulation of results. 44 1 The popular metaphor referred to in this example may be based on a distortion of reality PeerJ Preprints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2064v1 | CC-BY 4.0 Open Access

The GRIM Test:A Simple Technique Detects Numerous Anomalies in the Reporting of Results in Psychology

We present a simple mathematical technique that we call granularity-related inconsistency of means (GRIM) for verifying the summary statistics of research reports in psychology. This technique evaluates whether the reported means of integer data such as Likert-type scales are consistent with the given sample size and number of items. We tested this technique with a sample of 260 recent empirical articles in leading journals. Of the articles that we could test with the GRIM technique (N = 71), around half (N = 36) appeared to contain at least one inconsistent mean, and more than 20% (N = 16) contained multiple such inconsistencies. We requested the data sets corresponding to 21 of these articles, receiving positive responses in 9 cases. We confirmed the presence of at least one reporting error in all cases, with three articles requiring extensive corrections. The implications for the reliability and replicability of empirical psychology are discussed

Young children's affective responses to another's distress: dynamic and physiological features.

Two descriptive studies set out a new approach for exploring the dynamic features of children's affective responses (sadness and interest-worry) to another's distress. In two samples (N(study1) = 75; N(study2) = 114), Kindergarten children were shown a video-vignette depicting another child in distress and the temporal pattern of spontaneous expressions were examined across the unfolding vignette. Results showed, in both study 1 and 2, that sadness and interest-worry had distinct patterns of elicitation across the events of the vignette narrative and there was little co-occurrence of these affects within a given child. Temporal heart rate changes (study 2) were closely aligned to the events of the vignette and, furthermore, affective responses corresponded to distinctive physiological response profiles. The implications of distinct temporal patterns of elicitation for the meaning of sadness and interest-worry are discussed within the framework of emotion regulation and empathy

A performance evaluation in Ethiopia

Non-PRIFPRI5PHND; DSG

Mean Duration of Affect and Heart Rate Period (Study 2).

<p> Mean duration of expressions of sadness and interest-worry (top) and heart rate changes (bottom) during 10-second epochs of the First Day vignette for children that expressed both affects, <i>n =</i> 19. Shaded area delineates the critical period (error bars represent 1 standard error).</p

Duration of Affect by Affect Group (Study 2).

<p>Mean duration of sadness and interest-worry as a function of affect group in the First Day vignette (error bars represent 1 standard error).</p

Mean Duration of Affect (Study 1).

<p>Mean percent duration of expressions of sadness and interest-worry across the three vignette epochs in Study 1 (error bars represent 1 standard error).</p