235 research outputs found
Contagion processes on the static and activity driven coupling networks
The evolution of network structure and the spreading of epidemic are common
coexistent dynamical processes. In most cases, network structure is treated
either static or time-varying, supposing the whole network is observed in a
same time window. In this paper, we consider the epidemic spreading on a
network consisting of both static and time-varying structures. At meanwhile,
the time-varying part and the epidemic spreading are supposed to be of the same
time scale. We introduce a static and activity driven coupling (SADC) network
model to characterize the coupling between static (strong) structure and
dynamic (weak) structure. Epidemic thresholds of SIS and SIR model are studied
on SADC both analytically and numerically with various coupling strategies,
where the strong structure is of homogeneous or heterogeneous degree
distribution. Theoretical thresholds obtained from SADC model can both recover
and generalize the classical results in static and time-varying networks. It is
demonstrated that weak structures can make the epidemics break out much more
easily in homogeneous coupling but harder in heterogeneous coupling when
keeping same average degree in SADC networks. Furthermore, we show there exists
a threshold ratio of the weak structure to have substantive effects on the
breakout of the epidemics. This promotes our understanding of why epidemics can
still break out in some social networks even we restrict the flow of the
population
Similarities and differences of functional connectivity in drug-naïve, first-episode adolescent and young adult with major depressive disorder and schizophrenia
Major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are considered two distinct psychiatric disorders. Yet, they have considerable overlap in symptomatology and clinical features, particularly in the initial phases of illness. The amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC) appear to have critical roles in these disorders; however, abnormalities appear to manifest differently. In our study forty-nine drug-naïve, first-episode MDD, 45 drug-naïve, first-episode SZ, and 50 healthy control (HC) participants from 13 to 30 years old underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Functional connectivity (FC) between the amygdala and PFC was compared among the three groups. Significant differences in FC were observed between the amygdala and ventral PFC (VPFC), dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC), and dorsal anterior cingulated cortex (dACC) among the three groups. Further analyses demonstrated that MDD showed decreased amygdala-VPFC FC and SZ had reductions in amygdala-dACC FC. Both the diagnostic groups had significantly decreased amygdala-DLPFC FC. These indicate abnormalities in amygdala-PFC FC and further support the importance of the interaction between the amygdala and PFC in adolescents and young adults with these disorders. Additionally, the alterations in amygdala-PFC FC may underlie the initial similarities observed between MDD and SZ and suggest potential markers of differentiation between the disorders at first onset
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Mortality burdens in California due to air pollution attributable to local and nonlocal emissions.
Limited research has been conducted on the contributions of local and nonlocal emission sources to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) and their associated mortality. In this study, we estimated the total mortality resulting from long-term PM2.5 and O3 exposures in California in 2012 using multiple concentration response functions (CRFs) and attributed the estimated mortality to different emission groups. The point estimates of PM2.5-associated mortality in California ranged from 12,700 to 26,700, of which 53% were attributable to in-state anthropogenic emissions. Based on new epidemiological evidence, we estimated that O3 could be associated with up to 13,700 deaths from diseases of both the respiratory and cardiovascular systems in California. In addition, 75% of the ambient O3 in California was due to distant emissions outside the western United States, leading to 92% of the O3-associated mortality. Overall, distant emissions lead to greater mortality burdens of air pollution in California than local anthropogenic emissions
Structural and functional abnormities of amygdala and prefrontal cortex in major depressive disorder with suicide attempts
Finding neural features of suicide attempts (SA) in major depressive disorder (MDD) may be helpful in preventing suicidal behavior. The ventral and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), as well as the amygdala form a circuit implicated in emotion regulation and the pathogenesis of MDD. The aim of this study was to identify whether patients with MDD who had a history of SA show structural and functional connectivity abnormalities in the amygdala and PFC relative to MDD patients without a history of SA. We measured gray matter volume in the amygdala and PFC and amygdala-PFC functional connectivity using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 158 participants [38 MDD patients with a history of SA, 60 MDD patients without a history of SA, and 60 healthy control (HC)]. MDD patients with a history of SA had decreased gray matter volume in the right and left amygdala (F = 30.270, P = 0.000), ventral/medial/dorsal PFC (F = 15.349, P = 0.000), and diminished functional connectivity between the bilateral amygdala and ventral and medial PFC regions (F = 22.467, P = 0.000), compared with individuals who had MDD without a history of SA, and the HC group. These findings provide evidence that the amygdala and PFC may be closely related to the pathogenesis of suicidal behavior in MDD and implicate the amygdala-ventral/medial PFC circuit as a potential target for suicide intervention
Structural and functional abnormities of amygdala and prefrontal cortex in major depressive disorder with suicide attempts
Finding neural features of suicide attempts (SA) in major depressive disorder (MDD) may be helpful in preventing suicidal behavior. The ventral and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), as well as the amygdala form a circuit implicated in emotion regulation and the pathogenesis of MDD. The aim of this study was to identify whether patients with MDD who had a history of SA show structural and functional connectivity abnormalities in the amygdala and PFC relative to MDD patients without a history of SA. We measured gray matter volume in the amygdala and PFC and amygdala-PFC functional connectivity using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 158 participants [38 MDD patients with a history of SA, 60 MDD patients without a history of SA, and 60 healthy control (HC)]. MDD patients with a history of SA had decreased gray matter volume in the right and left amygdala (F = 30.270, P = 0.000), ventral/medial/dorsal PFC (F = 15.349, P = 0.000), and diminished functional connectivity between the bilateral amygdala and ventral and medial PFC regions (F = 22.467, P = 0.000), compared with individuals who had MDD without a history of SA, and the HC group. These findings provide evidence that the amygdala and PFC may be closely related to the pathogenesis of suicidal behavior in MDD and implicate the amygdala-ventral/medial PFC circuit as a potential target for suicide intervention
HealthPrism: A Visual Analytics System for Exploring Children's Physical and Mental Health Profiles with Multimodal Data
The correlation between children's personal and family characteristics (e.g.,
demographics and socioeconomic status) and their physical and mental health
status has been extensively studied across various research domains, such as
public health, medicine, and data science. Such studies can provide insights
into the underlying factors affecting children's health and aid in the
development of targeted interventions to improve their health outcomes.
However, with the availability of multiple data sources, including context data
(i.e., the background information of children) and motion data (i.e., sensor
data measuring activities of children), new challenges have arisen due to the
large-scale, heterogeneous, and multimodal nature of the data. Existing
statistical hypothesis-based and learning model-based approaches have been
inadequate for comprehensively analyzing the complex correlation between
multimodal features and multi-dimensional health outcomes due to the limited
information revealed. In this work, we first distill a set of design
requirements from multiple levels through conducting a literature review and
iteratively interviewing 11 experts from multiple domains (e.g., public health
and medicine). Then, we propose HealthPrism, an interactive visual and
analytics system for assisting researchers in exploring the importance and
influence of various context and motion features on children's health status
from multi-level perspectives. Within HealthPrism, a multimodal learning model
with a gate mechanism is proposed for health profiling and cross-modality
feature importance comparison. A set of visualization components is designed
for experts to explore and understand multimodal data freely. We demonstrate
the effectiveness and usability of HealthPrism through quantitative evaluation
of the model performance, case studies, and expert interviews in associated
domains.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, Accepted by IEEE VIS2
Decreased Functional Connectivity in Insular Subregions in Depressive Episodes of Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder
Objective: Clinically, it is very difficult to distinguish between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) in the period of depression. Increasing evidence shows that the insula plays an important role in depression. We aimed to compare the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of insular subregions in patients with MDD and BD in depressive episodes (BDD), who had never experienced manic or hypomanic episodes when they were scanned to identify biomarkers for the identification of two diseases.Methods: We recruited 21 BDD patients, 40 MDD patients and 70 healthy controls (HC). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was performed. BDD patients had never had manic or hypomanic episodes when they were scanned, and the diagnoses were determined by follow-up. We divided the insula into three parts including the ventral anterior insular cortex (v-AIN), dorsal anterior insular cortex (d-AIN), and posterior insula (PI). The insular-based rsFC was compared among the three groups, and an analysis of the correlation between the rsFC value and Hamilton depression and anxiety scales was carried out.Results: BDD and MDD patients demonstrated decreased rsFC from the v-AIN to the left superior/middle frontal gyrus compared with the HC group. Versus MDD and HC groups, BDD patients exhibited decreased rsFC from the v-AIN to the area in the left orbital frontal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus (included temporal pole), from the PI to the right lateral postcentral gyrus and from all three insular subregions to the somatosensory and motor cortex. Meanwhile, a correlation between the rsFC value of the PI-right lateral postcentral gyrus and anxiety score was observed in patients.Conclusion: Our findings show BDD and MDD patients have similar decreases in insular connectivity in the dorsal lateral frontal regions, and BDD patients have specific decreased insular connectivity, especially in the somatosensory and motor cortex, which may be used as imaging evidence for clinical identification
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