Endogenous orienting modulates the Simon effect: critical factors in experimental design

Responses are faster when the side of stimulus and response correspond than when they do not correspond, even if stimulus location is irrelevant to the task at hand: the correspondence, spatial compatibility effect, or Simon effect. Generally, it is assumed that an automatically generated spatial code is responsible for this effect, but the precise mechanism underlying the formation of this code is still under dispute. Two major alternatives have been proposed: the referential-coding account, which can be subdivided into a static version and an attention-centered version, and the attention-shift account. These accounts hold clear-cut predictions for attentional cuing experiments. The former would assume a Simon effect irrespective of attentional cuing in its static version, whereas the attention-centered version of the referential-coding account and the attention-shift account would predict a decreased Simon effect on validly as opposed to invalidly cued trials. However, results from previous studies are equivocal to the effects of attentional cuing on the Simon effect. We argue here that attentional cueing reliably modulates the Simon effect if some crucial experimental conditions, mostly relevant for optimizing attentional allocation, are met. Furthermore, we propose that the Simon effect may be better understood within the perspective of supra-modal spatial attention, thereby providing an explanation for observed discrepancies in the literature

Harnessing ChatGPT for thematic analysis: Are we ready?

ChatGPT is an advanced natural language processing tool with growing applications across various disciplines in medical research. Thematic analysis, a qualitative research method to identify and interpret patterns in data, is one application that stands to benefit from this technology. This viewpoint explores the utilization of ChatGPT in three core phases of thematic analysis within a medical context: 1) direct coding of transcripts, 2) generating themes from a predefined list of codes, and 3) preprocessing quotes for manuscript inclusion. Additionally, we explore the potential of ChatGPT to generate interview transcripts, which may be used for training purposes. We assess the strengths and limitations of using ChatGPT in these roles, highlighting areas where human intervention remains necessary. Overall, we argue that ChatGPT can function as a valuable tool during analysis, enhancing the efficiency of the thematic analysis and offering additional insights into the qualitative data.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, 1 textbo

Integrating gamification into a system to improve diet compliance for elderly users

Nowadays, gamification is applied in many areas, including healthy lifestyle promotion. In earlier work, a system has been proposed to stimulate diet compliance and adherence of participants of a trial within the PROMISS-project. In this paper, we describe the design of a gamified version of this system. The goal of the gamification is to further stimulate diet compliance and adherence to the system, but also to increase the knowledge about the diet and make the use of the system more fun. To do so, we implemented gamification elements (profile page, achievements, mini-games, and a reward garden) to address multiple behaviour change techniques. Based on a small evaluation, the system has been improved so that it can be used by participants of the PROMISS trial. At the end of this paper, future improvements are suggested in the future work sectio

Diagnostic and treatment procedures induced by cervical cancer screening

Abstract The amount of diagnostic and treatment procedures induced by cervical cancer screening has been assessed prospectively and related to mortality reduction. Assumptions are based on data from Dutch screening programmes and on a scenario for future developments. With 5 invitations for screening, between ages 37–70 every eight years, 13 deaths are avoided per million women per screening year. Each death avoided is balanced by 2800 preventive smears, 9 women referred to a gynaecology department and 4 minor treatment procedures (conserving treatment or exconisation). 25 invitations in a life-time avoids 27 deaths per million women per screening year but with 7300 preventive smears, 22 referrals and 8 small treatment procedures. Thus intensifying screening will not only result in diminishing returns of extra screening efforts, but also in increasing risk for women to undergo unnecessary (no invasive disease or death avoided) diagnostic and treatment procedures. The balance between beneficial and adverse effects deteriorates strongly when hysterectomies play an important part in the management of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

Drug-free remission, functioning and radiographic damage after 4 years of response-driven treatment in patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis

0.05, group 4 versus groups 1 and 2, group 3 versus group 2). Conclusions: In patients with recent-onset active RA, drug-free remission was achieved in up to 18% of patients. DAS-driven treatment maintained clinical and functional improvement, independent of the treatment strategy. Joint damage progression remained significantly lower after initial combination therapy compared with initial monotherap

Multi-frequency VEMPs improve detection of present otolith responses in bilateral vestibulopathy

ObjectiveTo investigate whether multi-frequency Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (VEMP) testing at 500, 750, 1,000, and 2,000 Hz, would improve the detection of present dynamic otolith responses in patients with bilateral vestibulopathy (BV).MethodsProspective study in a tertiary referral center. BV patients underwent multi-frequency VEMP testing. Cervical VEMPs and ocular VEMPs were recorded with the Neuro-Audio system (v2010, Neurosoft, Ivanovo, Russia). The stimuli included air-conducted tone bursts of 500, 750, 1,000, and 2,000 Hz, at a stimulation rate of 13 Hz. Outcome measures included the percentage of present and absent VEMP responses, and VEMP thresholds. Outcomes were compared between frequencies and type of VEMPs (cVEMPs, oVEMPs). VEMP outcomes obtained with the 500 Hz stimulus, were also compared to normative values obtained in healthy subjects.ResultsForty-nine BV patients completed VEMP testing: 47 patients completed cVEMP testing and 48 patients completed oVEMP testing. Six to 15 % more present VEMP responses were obtained with multifrequency testing, compared to only testing at 500 Hz. The 2,000 Hz stimulus elicited significantly fewer present cVEMP responses (right and left ears) and oVEMP responses (right ears) compared to the other frequencies (p ≤ 0.044). Using multi-frequency testing, 78% of BV patients demonstrated at least one present VEMP response in at least one ear. In 46% a present VEMP response was found bilaterally. BV patients demonstrated a significantly higher percentage of absent VEMP responses and significantly higher VEMP thresholds than healthy subjects, when corrected for age (p ≤ 0.002). Based on these results, a pragmatic VEMP testing paradigm is proposed, taking into account multi-frequency VEMP testing.ConclusionMulti-frequency VEMP testing improves the detection rate of present otolith responses in BV patients. Therefore, multi-frequency VEMPs should be considered when evaluation of (residual) otolith function is indicated

Randomised comparison of initial triple DMARD therapy with methotrexate monotherapy in combination with low-dose glucocorticoid bridging therapy; 1-year data of the tREACH trial

Objectives To compare 1-year clinical efficacy of (1) initial triple disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy (iTDT) with initial methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy (iMM) and (2) different glucocorticoid (GC) bridging therapies: oral versus a single intramuscular injection in early rheumatoid arthritis. Methods In a single-blinded randomised clinical trial patients were randomised into three arms: (A) iTDT (methotrexate+sulfasalazine+hydroxychloroquine) with GCs intramuscularly; (B) iTDT with an oral GC tapering scheme and (C) MTX with oral GCs similar to B. Primary outcomes were (1) area under the curve (AUC) of Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and Disease Activity Score (DAS) and (2) the proportion of patients with radiographic progression. Results 281 patients were randomly assigned to arms A (n=91), B (n=93) or C (n=97). The AUC DAS and HAQ were respectively -2.39 (95% CI -4.77 to -0.00) and -1.67 (95% CI -3.35 to 0.02) lower in patients receiving iTDT than in those receiving iMM. After 3 months, treatment failure occurred less often in the iTDT group, resulting in 40% fewer treatment intensifications. The difference in treatment intensifications between the arms required to maintain the predefined treatment goal remained over time. No differences were seen between the two GC bridging therapies. Respectively 21%, 24% and 23% of patients in arms A, B and C had radiographic progression after 1 year. Patients receiving iTDT had more adjustments of their medication owing to adverse events than those receiving iMM. Conclusions Treatment goals are attained more quickly and maintained with fewer treatment intensifications with iTDT than with iMM. However, no difference in radiographic progression is seen. Both GC bridging therapies are equally effective and, therefore, both can be used

Recommended centrifuge method: specific grain size separation in the <63 µm fraction of marine sediments

The isolation of specific grain size classes of lithogenic samples and biogenic carbonate from the <63 µm fraction (i.e. clay and silt) of marine sediment is often a prerequisite to further pre-treatments and/or analytical measurements for palaeoceanographic studies. Established techniques employed have included sieving, settling and micro-filtration (and/or a combination of these). However, these methods often use significant amounts of bulk sediment (often up to ∼3 g) and/or require considerable amounts of time during sediment processing (ranging from 48 hours to 3 weeks) to isolate a size specific class for further analyses. Here, we build on previous approaches to isolate three grain size classes (e.g. <2 µm, clay; 2-10 µm, fine silt; and 10-63 µm, coarse silt) from the <63 µm fraction of marine sediment with the aid of a centrifuge at varying revolutions per minute using Stokes’ Law. We show the utility of our approach using two common sediment types dominated by (i) lithogenic and (ii) biogenic carbonate (specifically coccoliths) components of marine sediment cores. Our method reduces the amount of sample material required to 1-2 g to provide an isolated clay fraction (or other targeted size fraction) and decreases the sample processing time (to ∼1 hour) to enable high throughput of analysis, when compared to previous techniques for palaeoceanographic proxy measurements. • We recommend a more straightforward grain size isolation method for lithogenic sediment and biogenic carbonate sediment types • Isolating commonly targeted grain size fractions for palaeoceanographic studies using a centrifug