An Estimator Of Intervention Effect On Disease Severity

When a medical intervention prevents a dichotomous outcome, the size of its effect is often estimated with the prevented fraction. Some interventions may reduce the severity of an outcome without entirely preventing it. To quantify the effect of a severity-moderating intervention, a measure termed the mitigated fraction (MF) is proposed. MF has broad applicability, because it measures the overlap of two empirical distributions based on their stochastic ordering. It is also useful in the specific context of medical interventions, because it shares certain structural and functional features with the prevented fraction. The two measures may be applied together in a single semiparametric model with components for outcome prevention and for severity conditional on the presence of the outcome

Meta-analytic findings reveal lower means but higher variances in visuospatial ability in dyslexia

Conflicting empirical and theoretical accounts suggest that dyslexia is associated with either average, enhanced, or impoverished high-level visuospatial processing relative to controls. Such heterogeneous results could be due to the presence of wider variability in dyslexic samples, which is unlikely to be identified at the single study level, due to lack of power. To address this, the current study reports a meta-analysis of means and variances in high-level visuospatial ability in 909 non-dyslexic and 956 dyslexic individuals. The findings suggest that dyslexia is associated not only with a lower mean performance on visuospatial tasks, but also with greater variability in performance. Through novel meta-analytic techniques, we demonstrate a negative effect size for mean differences (-.457), but a positive effect size for SD differences (+.118; SD ratio = 1.107). In doing so, this is the first study to demonstrate impoverished visuospatial processing of the majority of individuals with dyslexia in addition to greater variance in performance in this group. The findings advocate for further consideration of both the presence of, and reasons for, increased variance in perception, attention and memory across neurodevelopmental disorders

Intercontinental antenna arraying by symbol stream combining at ICE Giacobini-Zinner encounter

Deep space tracking stations on different continents were arrayed during the encounter of the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft with the comet Giacobini-Zinner during September 9 through 12, 1985. This is the first time that telemetry signals received on different continents have been combined to enhance signal to noise ratio. The arraying was done in non-real time using the method of symbol stream combining. The improvement in signal to noise ratio was typically 2 dB over the stronger of the two stations in each array

Attentional Bias And Training In Individuals With High Dental Anxiety

Dental anxiety is common and associated with negative outcomes. According to information-processing models, anxiety is maintained by maladaptive patterns of processing threatening information. Furthermore, attention training interventions can reduce anxiety in one session. Fifty-three individuals with high levels of dental anxiety completed a Posner reaction-time task. Participants were randomized to attention training or control using a dot-probe task, and then attentional bias was remeasured using another Posner task. Participants then completed a script-driven imaginal exposure task. Results indicated that individuals high in dental anxiety exhibit threat-relevant attentional bias. There was mixed evidence about the efficacy of attention training. On the one hand, training did not eliminate attentional bias and training condition did not predict distress during the imagery task. On the other hand, cue dependency scores in the control group were higher for dental than neutral cues, but did not differ in the training group. In addition, cue dependency scores for both dental and neutral cues predicted subjective anxiety in anticipation of the imagery task. The mixed results of training are considered in terms of the possibility that it enhanced attentional control, rather than reducing bias

Physical Activity Reduces the Risk of Fragility Fracture

The authors discuss a new study, with a 35 year follow up, showing that exercise reduces the risk of fragility fractures in men

Impact Of The COVID-19 Pandemic On Online Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Support Community Members: Survey Study

Background: People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have faced unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research from the first two months of the pandemic suggests that a small proportion of people with OCD experienced worsening in their OCD symptoms since the pandemic began, whereas the rest experienced either no change or an improvement in their symptoms. However, as society-level factors relating to the pandemic have evolved, the effects of the pandemic on people with OCD have likely changed as well, in complex and population-specific ways. Therefore, this study contributes to a growing body of knowledge on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people and demonstrates how differences across studies might emerge when studying specific populations at specific timepoints. Objective: This study aimed to assess how members of online OCD support communities felt the COVID-19 pandemic had affected their OCD symptoms, around 3 months after the pandemic began. Methods: We recruited participants from online OCD support communities for our brief survey. Participants indicated how much they felt their OCD symptoms had changed since the pandemic began and how much they felt that having OCD was making it harder to deal with the pandemic. Results: We collected survey data from June through August 2020 and received a total of 196 responses, some of which were partial responses. Among the nonmissing data, 65.9% (108/164) of the participants were from the United States and 90.5% (152/168) had been subjected to a stay-at-home order. In all, 92.9% (182/196) of the participants said they experienced worsening of their OCD symptoms since the pandemic began, although the extent to which their symptoms worsened differed across dimensions of OCD; notably, symmetry and completeness symptoms were less likely to have worsened than others. Moreover, 95.5% (171/179) of the participants felt that having OCD made it difficult to deal with the pandemic. Conclusions: Our study of online OCD support community members found a much higher rate of OCD symptom worsening than did other studies on people with OCD conducted during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Factors such as quarantine length, location, overlapping society-level challenges, and differing measurement and sampling choices may help to explain this difference across studies

Assessing Sexual Orientation Symptoms In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Development And Validation Of The Sexual Orientation Obsessions And Reactions Test (SORT)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) includes many symptom presentations, which creates unique diagnostic challenges. Fears surrounding one’s sexual orientation are common within OCD (also called SO-OCD), but SO-OCD is consistently misdiagnosed by physicians and psychologists. To address this issue, we describe the development of a self-report measure for assessing SO-OCD to help distinguish OCD from distress caused by a sexual orientation identity crisis. The current paper details two studies that established the psychometric properties and clinical utility of this measure. In Study 1, the factor structure, validity, and reliability were examined for the measure’s 12 items in a sample of 1,673 university students. The results revealed a two-factor solution for the measure (Factor 1: Transformation Fears; Factor 2: Somatic Checking) and preliminary evidence of validity and reliability. In Study 2, the measure was tested with LGBTQ and heterosexual community samples and clinical samples of individuals with SO-OCD and other types of OCD. The two-factor solution and evidence of validity and reliability were supported in these samples. Cut-off points were established to distinguish between community members and SO-OCD sufferers, as well as between those experiencing SO-OCD and other types of OCD. Limitations and future directions are discussed

Examining Military Population And Trauma Type As Moderators Of Treatment Outcome For First-Line Psychotherapies For PTSD: A Meta-Analysis

There is conflicting evidence as to whether military populations (i.e., veteran and active-duty military service members) demonstrate a poorer response to psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to civilians. Existing research may be complicated by the fact that treatment outcomes differences could be due to the type of trauma exposure (e.g., combat) or population differences (e.g., military culture). This meta-analysis evaluated PTSD treatment outcomes as a function of trauma type (combat v. assault v. mixed) and population (military v. civilian). Unlike previous meta-analyses, we focused exclusively on manualized, first-line psychotherapies for PTSD as defined by expert treatment guidelines. Treatment outcomes were large across trauma types and population; yet differences were observed between trauma and population subgroups. Military populations demonstrated poorer treatment outcomes compared to civilians. The combat and assault trauma subgroups had worse treatment outcomes compared to the mixed trauma subgroup, but differences were not observed between assault and combat subgroups. Higher attrition rates predicted poorer treatment outcomes, but did not vary between military populations and civilians. Overall, manualized, first-line psychotherapies for PTSD should continue to be used for civilians and military populations with various trauma types. However, greater emphasis should be placed on enhancing PTSD psychotherapies for military populations and on treatment retention across populations based on findings from this meta-analysis

The Relationship between Perceived Social Support and Severity of Body Dysmorphic Disorder Symptoms: The Role of Gender

OBJECTIVE: Whether social support is associated with severity of body dysmorphic symptoms is unknown. To address this gap in the literature, the present study aims to examine the association between three domains of perceived social support (i.e., family, friends, and significant others) and severity of body dysmorphic disorder symptoms. METHOD: Participants (N = 400) with symptoms consistent with diagnosis of body dysmorphic disorder completed measures of symptomatology and social support via the internet. RESULTS: More perceived social support from friends and significant others was associated with less severe body dysmorphic disorder symptoms for males, and more perceived social support from family and friends was associated with less severe body dysmorphic disorder symptoms among females. Additionally, gender moderated the association between perceived social support from significant others and symptom severity, such that perceived social support from a significant other was significantly negatively associated with body dysmorphic symptom severity in males, but not females. CONCLUSION: The present study implicates social support as an important area of future body dysmorphic disorder research