Random survival forest in determination of important risk factors on overall survival and disease-free survival in gastric cancer patients

Objective: Although the incidence of stomach cancer is decreasing in the world, its incidence is still high in Iran. Despite different treatments for cancer, disease recurrence, and death may occur in some patients. Various factors affect survival and recurrence after treatment. This study aims to identify factors affecting overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with gastric cancer (GC) using a random survival forest (RSF). Patients and Methods: In this retrospective study, 553 patients with GC, diagnosed between 2010 and 2018 in Kurdistan province in the west of Iran, were assessed. Important factors of OS and DFS were identified using the COX model and RSF. Analysis of data was implemented by R free software version 3.5.3. Results: The mean (Standard Deviation(SD)) age of patients was 66.99 (13.3) years. The median of OS and DFS was 18 and 37.5 months, respectively. Using RSF, the important affected factors on OS were tumor grade, stage, age, recurrence, surgery, and metastasis, respectively. Also according to the RSF model, stage, tumor grade, radiotherapy, tumor site, surgery, and age were the important risk factors for DFS. Based on the prediction error criterion, the random survival forest performed well in predicting disease-free survival. meanwhile, both RSF and Cox models had the same performance in predicting overall survival. Conclusions: Due to the relationship between tumor grade, disease stage and age, the random survival forest identified these variables as important variables in predicting both outcomes, although the Cox model was not able to detect these factors, which indicates better performance of RSF

The Effect of Training Premenstrual Coping Skills in Undergraduate Students in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan-Iran

Background: The premenstrual Syndrome is a collection of physical, mental and emotional symptoms which influence the quality of individual’s life, so it is important to control and treat it. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Training Premenstrual Coping Skills in Undergraduate Students in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan-Iran. Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study including a before and after design on 140 students of Nursing and Midwifery in Hamadan-Iran, which was conducted in 2015. 80 Eligible individuals were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The research tool which we used was a questionnaire related to stress and coping strategies before and it was completed before and two months after the intervention in two groups. The students were trained the coping skills in the intervention group over five weeks, for 60 to 90 minutes. Results: The average age between girls in intervention group is 21.71±3.21 and control group 21.94±3.16 is years old. Based on the results of Wilcoxon test average tension score’s comparison before Menstruation and also before and after intervention in each different statistical group is meaningful (p<0.01). Despite the reduction of tension score before Menstruation in the group of intervention difference, the comparison is not so meaningful (p=0.07). Conclusion: Training the Coping skills had no significant impact on reducing premenstrual stress, but contributes to improving people's coping skills. It is recommended to hold premenstrual stress coping skills training sessions with a longer time to achieve valuable result

O-C Study of 545 Lunar Occultations from 13 Double Stars

International audienceIn this article, we have studied the reports of lunar occultations by this project observation's teams (named APTO) in comparison with other observations of the objects. Thirteen binary stars were selected for this study. All the previous observations of these stars were also collected. Finally, an analysis of O-C of all reports were performed

Physical health behaviours and health locus of control in people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and bipolar disorder: a cross-sectional comparative study with people with non-psychotic mental illness

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>People with mental illness experience high levels of morbidity and mortality from physical disease compared to the general population. Our primary aim was to compare how people with severe mental illness (SMI; i.e. schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder) and non-psychotic mental illness perceive their: (i) global physical health, (ii) barriers to improving physical health, (iii) physical health with respect to important aspects of life and (iv) motivation to change modifiable high-risk behaviours associated with coronary heart disease. A secondary aim was to determine health locus of control in these two groups of participants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>People with SMI and non-psychotic mental illness were recruited from an out-patient adult mental health service in London. Cross-sectional comparison between the two groups was conducted by means of a self-completed questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 146 people participated in the study, 52 with SMI and 94 with non-psychotic mental illness. There was no statistical difference between the two groups with respect to the perception of global physical health. However, physical health was considered to be a less important priority in life by people with SMI (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2-0.9, <it>p </it>= 0.029). There was no difference between the two groups in their desire to change high risk behaviours. People with SMI are more likely to have a health locus of control determined by powerful others (<it>p </it>< 0.001) and chance (<it>p </it>= 0.006).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>People with SMI appear to give less priority to their physical health needs. Health promotion for people with SMI should aim to raise awareness of modifiable high-risk lifestyle factors. Findings related to locus of control may provide a theoretical focus for clinical intervention in order to promote a much needed behavioural change in this marginalised group of people.</p

Emotional Fuzzy Sliding-Mode Control for Unknown Nonlinear Systems

[[abstract]]The brain emotional learning model can be implemented with a simple hardware and processor; however, the learning model cannot model the qualitative aspects of human knowledge. To solve this problem, a fuzzy-based emotional learning model (FELM) with structure and parameter learning is proposed. The membership functions and fuzzy rules can be learned through the derived learning scheme. Further, an emotional fuzzy sliding-mode control (EFSMC) system, which does not need the plant model, is proposed for unknown nonlinear systems. The EFSMC system is applied to an inverted pendulum and a chaotic synchronization. The simulation results with the use of EFSMC system demonstrate the feasibility of FELM learning procedure. The main contributions of this paper are (1) the FELM varies its structure dynamically with a simple computation; (2) the parameter learning imitates the role of emotions in mammalians brain; (3) by combining the advantage of nonsingular terminal sliding-mode control, the EFSMC system provides very high precision and finite-time control performance; (4) the system analysis is given in the sense of the gradient descent method.[[notice]]補正完

Is Symptomatic Long QT Syndrome Associated with Depression in Women and Men?

We examined whether long QT syndrome (LQTS) mutation carrier status or symptomatic LQTS are associated with depression, and whether there are sex differences in these potential relationships. The sample comprised 782 participants (252 men). Of the 369 genetically defined LQTS mutation carriers, 169 were symptomatic and 200 were asymptomatic. The control group consisted of 413 unaffected relatives. Depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). No association was found for LQTS mutation carrier status with depression. The multinomial logistic regression showed that LQTS mutation carrier men with arrhythmic events scored higher on depression compared with the control group, even when adjusting for age, beta-blockers, antidepressants, and social support (OR = 1.09, 95 % CI [1.02, 1.15], p = .007). The binary logistic regression comparing symptomatic and asymptomatic LQTS mutation carriers showed that symptomatic LQTS was associated with depression in men (OR = 1.10, 95 % CI [1.03, 1.19], p = .009). The results were unchanged when additionally adjusted for education. These findings suggest that symptomatic LQTS is associated with depression in men but not in women. Overall, however, depression is more frequent in women than men. Thus, regular screening for depression in LQTS mutation carriers and their unaffected family members can be important.Peer reviewe

Physical inactivity in Parkinson’s disease

Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are likely to become physically inactive, because of their motor, mental, and emotional symptoms. However, specific studies on physical activity in PD are scarce, and results are conflicting. Here, we quantified daily physical activities in a large cohort of PD patients and another large cohort of matched controls. Moreover, we investigated the influence of disease-related factors on daily physical activities in PD patients. Daily physical activity data of PD patients (n = 699) were collected in the ParkinsonNet trial and of controls (n = 1,959) in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA); data were determined using the LAPAQ, a validated physical activity questionnaire. In addition, variables that may affect daily physical activities in PD were recorded, including motor symptoms, depression, disability in daily life, and comorbidity. Patients were physically less active; a reduction of 29% compared to controls (95% CI, 10–44%). Multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that greater disease severity, gait impairment, and greater disability in daily living were associated with less daily physical activity in PD (R2 = 24%). In this large study, we show that PD patients are about one-third less active compared to controls. While disease severity, gait, and disability in daily living predicted part of the inactivity, a portion of the variance remained unexplained, suggesting that additional determinants may also affect daily physical activities in PD. Because physical inactivity has many adverse consequences, work is needed to develop safe and enjoyable exercise programs for patients with PD

Life Expectancy at Birth for People with Serious Mental Illness and Other Major Disorders from a Secondary Mental Health Care Case Register in London

Despite improving healthcare, the gap in mortality between people with serious mental illness (SMI) and general population persists, especially for younger age groups. The electronic database from a large and comprehensive secondary mental healthcare provider in London was utilized to assess the impact of SMI diagnoses on life expectancy at birth.People who were diagnosed with SMI (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder), substance use disorder, and depressive episode/disorder before the end of 2009 and under active review by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM) in southeast London during 2007-09 comprised the sample, retrieved by the SLAM Case Register Interactive Search (CRIS) system. We estimated life expectancy at birth for people with SMI and each diagnosis, from national mortality returns between 2007-09, using a life table method.A total of 31,719 eligible people, aged 15 years or older, with SMI were analyzed. Among them, 1,370 died during 2007-09. Compared to national figures, all disorders were associated with substantially lower life expectancy: 8.0 to 14.6 life years lost for men and 9.8 to 17.5 life years lost for women. Highest reductions were found for men with schizophrenia (14.6 years lost) and women with schizoaffective disorders (17.5 years lost).The impact of serious mental illness on life expectancy is marked and generally higher than similarly calculated impacts of well-recognised adverse exposures such as smoking, diabetes and obesity. Strategies to identify and prevent causes of premature death are urgently required

Improving physical health and reducing substance use in psychosis - randomised control trial (IMPACT RCT): study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

The National Institute for Health Research funds the IMPACT programme at King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (ref: RP-PG-0606-1049)