Exclusion Conditions Research Articles

Social Exclusion and Consumer Preference for Crowded Shopping Environments: The Moderating Role of Time Perspective

Introduction: This study investigates how social exclusion influences consumer preferences for crowded shopping environments and examines the moderating role of time perspective. Specifically, it explores the mediating role of social connectedness and how present hedonism and fatalism impact these preferences.Methods: Three experimental studies tested the hypotheses. Participants were randomly assigned to social exclusion or inclusion conditions, and their preferences for crowded environments were measured. Time perspective (present hedonism and fatalism) and social connectedness were also assessed.Results: Results show that socially excluded consumers prefer crowded environments to fulfill their social connectedness needs. Present hedonism intensifies this preference, while present fatalism diminishes it. The findings demonstrate the significant role of social exclusion and time perspective in shaping consumer behavior.Practical Implications: These findings provide actionable strategies for retailers to design environments that address the psychological needs of socially excluded consumers. Retailers can use these insights to create targeted marketing strategies, especially in a post-pandemic context, where social interactions are evolving.Originality/Value: This study offers new insights into the psychological mechanisms behind consumer behavior in response to social exclusion. By integrating Belongingness Theory and Time Perspective Theory, it deepens the understanding of how social exclusion drives consumer preferences for crowded environments, highlighting the moderating effects of present hedonism and fatalism

SwinUNeCCt: bidirectional hash-based agent transformer for cervical cancer MRI image multi-task learning

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common malignant tumor among women globally, posing a significant threat to women’s health. In 2022, approximately 600,000 new cases were reported, and 340,000 deaths occurred due to cervical cancer. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the preferred imaging method for diagnosing, staging, and evaluating cervical cancer. However, manual segmentation of MRI images is time-consuming and subjective. Therefore, there is an urgent need for automatic segmentation models to identify cervical cancer lesions in MRI scans accurately. All MRIs in our research are from cervical cancer patients diagnosed by pathology at Tongren City People’s Hospital. Strict data selection criteria and clearly defined inclusion and exclusion conditions were established to ensure data consistency and accuracy of research results. The dataset contains imaging data from 122 cervical cancer patients, with each patient having 100 pelvic dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI scans. Annotations were jointly completed by medical professionals from Universiti Putra Malaysia and the Radiology Department of Tongren City People’s Hospital to ensure data accuracy and reliability. Additionally, a novel computer-aided diagnosis model named SwinUNeCCt is proposed. This model incorporates (i) A bidirectional hash-based agent multi-head self-attention mechanism, which optimizes the interaction between local and global features in MRI, aiding in more accurate lesion identification. (ii) Reduced computational complexity of the self-attention mechanism. The effectiveness of the SwinUNeCCt model has been validated through comparisons with state-of-the-art 3D medical models, including nnUnet, TransBTS, nnFormer, UnetR, UnesT, SwinUNetR, and SwinUNeLCsT. In semantic segmentation tasks without a classification module, the SwinUNeCCt model demonstrates excellent performance across multiple key metrics: achieving a 95HD of 6.25, an IoU of 0.669, and a DSC of 0.802, all of which are the best results among the compared models. Simultaneously, SwinUNeCCt strikes a good balance between computational efficiency and model complexity, requiring only 442.7 GFLOPs of computational power and 71.2 M parameters. Furthermore, in semantic segmentation tasks that include a classification module, the SwinUNeCCt model also exhibits powerful recognition capabilities. Although this slightly increases computational overhead and model complexity, its performance surpasses other comparative models. The SwinUNeCCt model demonstrates excellent performance in semantic segmentation tasks, achieving the best results among state-of-the-art 3D medical models across multiple key metrics. It balances computational efficiency and model complexity well, maintaining high performance even with the inclusion of a classification module.

“Ins and outs”: Ethnic identity, the need to belong, and responses to inclusion and exclusion in inclusive common ingroups

An often overlooked aspect of intergroup relations is how people react to inclusion in a beneficial superordinate category. To examine this issue, we conducted four studies ( N = 1,686) in Kosovo about the European Union (EU), using adult (Studies 1, 3, 4) and adolescent (Study 2) samples. We employed experimental designs (Studies 1, 3, 4) and a two-wave longitudinal design (Study 2). In Studies 1–3, we assessed ethnic identification before exposing participants to one of three experimental conditions: inclusion in the superordinate category, exclusion, or a control. Results showed that individuals with low ethnic identification perceived less discrimination (i.e., less unfair treatment), greater metahumanization (i.e., being seen as equal), and less collective victimhood (i.e., lower feelings of being unjustly targeted) in the inclusion condition compared to exclusion or control conditions, whereas those with high ethnic identification exhibited the opposite reactions regardless of condition. In Study 4, we assessed the need to belong to the EU and ethnic identification before exposing participants to similar conditions. Results showed that individuals with a high need to belong to the EU perceived less discrimination, greater metahumanization, and lower collective victimhood in the inclusion condition compared to other conditions, regardless of ethnic identification. This pattern also held for those with a low need to belong to the EU and low ethnic identification. However, it did not appear for those with a low need to belong to the EU and high ethnic identification, whose reactions to inclusion differed from those of participants in other conditions. These effects were mediated by collective victimhood.

How to build resiliency in autistic individuals: an implication to advance mental health

IntroductionIndividuals on the autism spectrum (ASD) often experience poor mental health and coping strategies compared to their peers due to social exclusion and co-occurring conditions. Resiliency has been identified as a key factor in preventing adverse outcomes and promoting mental health. Therefore, it is important to determine what strategies can be used to build resiliency among autistic individuals. The current paper is one of the first studies that aims to collect information from autistic individuals and their caregivers on potential strategies to enhance resiliency.MethodsWe interviewed 18 participants from various provinces in Canada, comprising of 13 autistic individuals and 5 parents. We used thematic analysis to identify patterns in the data.ResultsThematic analysis revealed three themes to indicate strategies that could be used to enhance resiliency, including: (a) self-reliant strategies, (b) using community-based facilities, and (c) contextual and individual characteristics.ConclusionAlthough the body of literature on resiliency is evolving, this paper provides a unique perspective as it is one of the few studies that considers the experiences of individuals on the spectrum. In addition, this study focuses on identifying and describing specific strategies that can be used to enhance resiliency and mental health, which consequently can help address the existing gaps in knowledge and practice.

From Exclusion to Connection: The Role of Anthropomorphic Chatbots in Shaping Customer Responses Post-Social Exclusion

In a world where digital interactions have become the norm, chatbots are evolving to not only assist with tasks but also to alleviate feelings of social exclusion. This study investigates how anthropomorphic chatbots influence customer engagement and emotional responses following social exclusion, and further impact their commercial decisions. Through a between-subject experiment involving 609 participants, we explored the effects of anthropomorphic (vs. non-anthropomorphic) chatbots across three social exclusion conditions (ignored, rejected, and control). Our findings reveal that anthropomorphic chatbots significantly enhance purchase intention, relational investment, and organizational trust, mediated by increased senses of belonging and control and enhanced parasocial interactions. This research enriches the marketing literature by applying the need-threat model and illuminating the psychological mechanisms underlying customer responses. The practical implications for marketing and public relations professionals include strategies for optimizing brand-consumer interactions through the strategic use of anthropomorphic chatbots.

Artificial shading of teinturier grape Kolor clusters reveals light-responsive biomarkers: focus on flavonoid profiles and metabolism.

Kolor is a teinturier grape cultivar, that accumulates flavonoids in the skin and pulp. However, the concentrations and proportions of flavonoids in Kolor skin and pulp differ, suggesting tissue specificity in teinturier grapes. Light conditions significantly influence the evolution of flavonoids. Moreover, studies on the mechanisms governing flavonoid accumulation in light response sensitivity of teinturier grapes are limited. In the three consecutive years of study, the exposure of Kolor clusters was altered by bagging from pre-veraison to harvest. QqQ/MS and RT‒qPCR wereused to determine the individual anthocyanin contents and the relative gene expression. There was a significant decrease in the total anthocyanins and flavonols in the Kolor berries, with flavonols showing greater sensitivity to bagging. Bagging did not exert a consistent impact on the flavan-3-ols in Kolor berries. The sensitivities of anthocyanins in Kolor skin and pulp differed under light exclusion conditions. The concentration of trihydroxy-substituted anthocyanins in the skin decreased, while the proportion of dihydroxy-substituted anthocyanins in the pulp significantly increased, but the anthocyanin concentration in the pulp did not change significantly after bagging. The contents of malvidins and quercetins in the skin, and myricetins and quercetins in the pulp, were significantly reduced after bagging. The expression of flavonoid synthesis genes in Kolor skin and pulp was tissue-specific. After bagging, UFGT expression increased in the pulp and decreased in the skin. In addition, LDOX, FLS-1, CHI-1, CHI-2, F3H-1, F3H-2, and MYB4a exhibited sensitive light responses in both the skin and pulp. This study offers new insights into the regulation of flavonoids in Kolor grapes under light exclusion conditions.

The effects of acute social ostracism on subsequent snacking behavior and future body mass index in children.

Ostracism may lead to increased food intake, yet it is unclear whether greater reactivity to ostracism contributes to higher body mass index (BMI). We investigated whether children who exhibited greater stress to social exclusion subsequently consume more energy and whether this predicts BMI 6- and 18-months later. Children (8.5 years-old) (N = 262, males = 50.4%; Chinese = 58.4%) completed a laboratory-based manipulation of social exclusion (the Cyberball task) prior to an ad-libitum snack. Heart rate variability (HRV) was measured during the inclusion and exclusion conditions and proportionate changes were calculated as a physiological measure of exclusion-related stress. Social anxiety and social-emotional assets were also measured as moderators. Greater stress (as measured physiologically or by self-report) did not directly, or indirectly via energy intake, predict later BMI (at 9- and 10-years). However, among children reporting higher social anxiety, greater stress as measured by proportionate changes in HRV was associated with increased energy intake (B = 532.88, SE = 226.49, t(255) = 2.35, [CI95 = 86.85,978.92]). A significant moderated mediation was also observed (index: (b = 0.01, bootSE = 0.01, [CI95 = 0.001, 0.036]), such that among children reporting higher social anxiety, greater stress from social exclusion predicted increased energy intake from a subsequent snack, which in turn predicted higher BMI 1.5 years later. This prospective study suggests that a pattern of greater snack intake in response to heightened vulnerability to the effects of ostracism may contribute to increases in child BMI scores.

The effect of ostracism on prospective memory in problem solving

Successfully generating plans, while seemingly straightforward, can be riddled with external and internal interferences. One important possible source of interference is ostracism, which has been consistently shown to induce negative psychological effects in various executive functions. Therefore, understanding the impact of unforeseen ostracism on planning is vital to a broad spectrum of the population, from university students, whose self-esteem partly derives from social acceptance, to healthcare professionals, whose performance oftentimes relies on peer feedback. An individual's ability to navigate through intended actions is an evaluation of their prospective memory (PM), which is traditionally divided into three consecutive phases: (1) planning, (2) recall, and (3) performance. This study primarily focused on the impacts of ostracism via Cyberball simulation on the first two phases of PM in the Tower of London (TOL), an assessment of executive functioning designed specifically to test planning ability during problem solving. Using Bayesian analysis, the study found substantial evidence of there being no difference in planning success between social exclusion and inclusion conditions. However, an individual's sex had significant effects on their planning success at baseline (i.e., inclusion condition). Surprisingly, there was no difference in performance between male participants and female participants when excluded, suggesting that ostracism may play an equalizing role. In addition, male participants both listed more moves at planning and recalled more moves, which led to no difference between sexes in terms of recall percentage. This study underscores a need to consider various factors such as sex and differing perceptions of ostracism when analyzing and addressing problem solving performance.

Impact of years of grazing exclusion on surface soil temperature and hydrothermal relations in arid and semi‐arid grasslands

AbstractSoil temperature (Ts) and hydrothermal processes are determinants of grassland vegetation growth in arid and semi‐arid area. Implementation of grazing exclusion in grazed grasslands is bound to change the state of vegetation and soil, with consequent effects on Ts and hydrothermal relations. To investigate the differences in the response of Ts and hydrothermal variation to different durations of grazing exclusion, this study conducted a 4‐year fencing exclusion experiment from 2019 to 2022 in Eritu Ranch, Xilingole League, Inner Mongolia. Soil water content (SWC), Ts and precipitation were continuously observed under grazing and different years of grazing exclusion. Statistical correlation analysis was used to assess changes in Ts and moisture after 1 and 4 years of grazing exclusion, and to investigate the differences in Ts response to the same rainfall events and changes during freeze–thaw periods under different grazing exclusion durations. The results show that after 1 year of grazing exclusion, the summer surface Ts decreased by 0.23°C, while the winter surface Ts increased by 0.55°C. After 4 years of grazing exclusion, the summer surface Ts decreased further by 1.18°C, while the winter surface Ts decreased by 0.39°C. This suggests that grazing exclusion has differential effects on seasonal Ts dynamics. Compared with grazing grassland (GG), Ts in grazing exclusion grassland (GEG) shows less response to rainfall. During the freeze–thaw period, soil moisture in GEG is more sensitive to precipitation than in GG. Regression analysis revealed that the correlation between Ts and moisture during the freezing phase was weaker in GEG than in GG. Furthermore, the difference in correlation between 1 and 4 years of grazing exclusion was smaller than expected. During the melting phase, the relationship between Ts and SWC in the soil differed less after 1 year of grazing exclusion compared with GG. However, after 4 years of grazing exclusion, the correlation between Ts and SWC was generally greater in the GEG, suggesting that grazing exclusion may lead to changes in soil moisture dynamics that affect Ts. The results indicate that after 4 years of grazing exclusion, Ts and SWC conditions are better than those after 1 year of grazing exclusion. These findings have significant implications for understanding the impact of grazing‐induced soil warming and drying processes on ecosystems.

META-ANALYSIS OF MIND MAPPING IN VOCABULARY LEARNING OF THE PAST DECADE

The type of research used is meta-analysis research aimed at determining the level of effectiveness or quality of mind mapping in vocabulary learning, including at elementary, middle, high school, and college levels. This quality was examined using several previous research results that collected data with inclusion and exclusion conditions from the Google Scholar, DOAJ, and Scopus databases. The search results found up to 51 dates that met the requirements with the number of students (N), F-counts, t-counts, and r-counts. The results of data analysis obtained by the simulation software JASP showed that the impact on learning media vocabulary based on mind mapping is 73% significant, which included the High category. The moderator variable is the lowest level of education, the high impact of using mind mapping, namely the college level, with an estimate of the effect of 0.569, Based on the number of participants, the application of mind mapping has more influence on participants totaling more than 30 students with an estimate of 0.928 (strong category), while the lowest effect is seen from the number of participants who collected more than 91 students with an estimate of 0.529, meaning that this mind mapping learning model is most appropriate to be applied in high school rows with more than 30 participants in order to maximize student learning outcomes.

Do cues of infectious disease shape people's affective responses to social exclusion?

Social exclusion triggers aversive reactions (e.g., increased negative affect), but being excluded may bring substantial benefits by reducing pathogen exposure associated with social interactions. Is exclusion less aversive when cues of infectious diseases are salient in the environment? We conducted two preregistered experiments with a 2 (belonging status: included vs. excluded) × 2 (disease salience: low vs. high) design, using scenarios (Study 1, N = 347) and a well-validated exclusion paradigm, Cyberball (Study 2, N = 519). Positive affect and negative affect were measured as the key outcomes. Across the 2 studies, we found little evidence that disease salience moderated the effect of exclusion (vs. inclusion) on positive affect. At the same time, we observed consistent evidence that disease salience moderated the effect of exclusion (vs. inclusion) on the other affective component: negative affect. Concretely, disease salience increased participants' negative affect in inclusion conditions; in exclusion conditions, the effect of disease salience on negative affect was negligible or nearly zero. Using a novel and robust approach of mediation analysis (interventional indirect effects), we further showed that the motive of disease avoidance rivals the motive of affiliation in shaping people's experiences of social interactions. These findings suggest that cues of disease salience alter people's affective experience with inclusion but not exclusion. The current research represents an important step toward understanding people's affective responses to social exclusion and inclusion in complex social situations involving multiple, and potentially conflicting motives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A predictive model to analyze the factors affecting the presence of serious chest injury in the occupants on motor vehicle crashes: Logistic regression approach

Objective Chest injuries that occur in motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) include rib fractures, pneumothorax, hemothorax, and hemothorax depending on the injury mechanism. Many risk factors are associated with serious chest injuries from MVCs. The Korean In-Depth Accident Study database was analyzed to identify risk factors associated with motor vehicle occupants’ serious chest injury. Methods Among 3,697 patients who visited the emergency room in regional emergency medical centers after MVCs between 2011 and 2018, we analyzed data from 1,226 patients with chest injuries. Vehicle damage was assessed using the Collision Deformation Classification (CDC) code and images of the damaged vehicle, and trauma scores were used to determine injury severity. Serious chest injury was defined as an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score for the chest code was more than 3. The patients were divided into two groups: serious chest injury patients with MAIS ≥ 3 and those with non-serious chest injury with MAIS < 3. A predictive model to analyze the factors affecting the presence of serious chest injury in the occupants on MVCs was constructed by a logistic regression analysis. Results Among the 1,226 patients with chest injuries, 484 (39.5%) had serious chest injuries. Patients in the serious group were older than those in the non-serious group (p=.001). In analyses based on vehicle type, the proportion of light truck occupants was higher in the serious group than in the non-serious group (p=.026). The rate of seatbelt use was lower in the serious group than in the non-serious group (p=.008). The median crush extent (seventh column of the CDC code) was higher in the serious group than in the non-serious group (p<.001). Emergency room data showed that the rates of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death were higher among patients with serious injuries (p<.001). Similarly, the general ward/ICU admission data showed that the transfer and death rates were higher in patients with serious injuries (p<.001). The median ISS was higher in the serious group than in the non-serious group (p<.001). A predictive model was derived based on sex, age, vehicle type, seating row, belt status, collision type, and crush extent. This predictive model had an explanatory power of 67.2% for serious chest injuries. The model was estimated for external validation using the confusion matrix by applying the predictive model to the 2019 and 2020 data of the same structure as the data at the time of model development in the KIDAS database. Conclusions Although this study had a major limitation in that the explanatory power of the predictive model was weak due to the small number of samples and many exclusion conditions, it was meaningful in that it suggested a model that could predict serious chest injuries in motor vehicle occupants (MVOs) based on actual accident investigation data in Korea. Future studies should yield more meaningful results, for example, if the chest compression depth value is derived through the reconstruction of MVCs using accurate collision speed values, and better models can be developed to predict the relationship between these values and the occurrence of serious chest injury.

Penile Pyoderma Gangrenosum in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis.

A 17-year-old male was hospitalized with 6 weeks of worsening lower abdominal pain associated with >10 episodes of bloody diarrhea per day and weight loss. The patient endorsed additional complaints of bleeding from a painful ulcerative lesion at the dorsal penile base. This appeared 2 weeks prior as a single pustule before subsequent rupture and ulceration. Magnetic resonance enterography identified radiological features compatible for pancolitis, consistent with histological findings on colonoscopy diagnostic for ulcerative colitis (UC). Small bowel disease involvement inclusive of the terminal ileum was excluded by unremarkable magnetic resonance enterography and esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Relative to the penile lesion, evaluation for sexually transmitted infections was negative. There were no oral, ophthalmologic, or intestinal manifestations to suggest Behçet syndrome. Dermatology consultation considered penile pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) as a leading differential diagnosis in the clinical setting of UC, pathergy at the lesion site, and ultimately the rapid therapeutic response to systemic corticosteroids and antibiotics (Fig. 1). Biopsy from the lesion site was not recommended based on the above-mentioned clinical grounds. Gastrointestinal complaints related to the patient’s UC were corticosteroid responsive, with anticipation to start a biologic as an outpatient.FIGURE 1.: Dorsal penile base ulcerative lesion, superficial base with scab formation post 2 d of systemic corticosteroids.Cutaneous manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are well described with an incidence of 10%–15% in pediatric IBD.1 PG occurs in less than 5% of children with IBD, having no association to intestinal disease activity.2 PG is an autoinflammatory progressive ulcerative skin disorder, often associated with systemic disease. Diagnosis is made on a clinical basis and biopsy can be supportive but nonspecific.3 Alternative causes of genital ulcerations warrant exclusion, where infectious and noninfectious conditions are known to have similar cutaneous findings. Syphilis, herpes simplex, and Haemophilus ducreyi comprise common infectious agents for4genital ulcerations.3 Mycobacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections should be ruled out if relevant. Noninfectious causes encompass a wide differential including but not limited to squamous cell carcinoma, Behçet syndrome, ulcerative sarcoidosis, antiphospholipid syndrome, Sweet syndrome, and metastatic Crohn disease.4 Clinical presentation of PG typically involves a single or numerous pustules that rapidly progress to painful ulcerations typically on the extremities, head, or gluteal region in children.4 Genital involvement of PG is rare, limited to adult case reports with the majority involving underlying Crohn disease and a single adult case of penile PG associated with UC.5 Management is to treat the underlying systemic disease, and includes systemic and local immunosuppression with emphasis on wound care and pain control.6 This is one of the first reports of a case of penile PG associated with pediatric UC. Clinicians should be aware of these unique presentations of cutaneous manifestations linked to IBD. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Informed consent from the patient and their parent was obtained prior to publication of the case details.

What kind of schools parents choose when they have more options? Effects of school transport subsidies

It seems that facilitating access to a higher spectrum of schools implies that students will attend higher quality schools, as measured by students’ end-of-class test scores. We test this hypothesis showing new evidence for the effects of school transport subsidies targeting low-income students on school choice in the context of a developing country (Colombia) using a unique panel dataset involving a public-school population with approximately 15 million records. We built a creative instrument deducing unobserved optimal commute decisions, which seems to satisfy the exclusion and relevance conditions, and we found by means of two-stage least squares that metro and bus subsidy beneficiaries choose statistically and economically significantly better schools, approximately a 33% and 37% improvement in the quality school index, respectively. In addition, we found using endogenous ordered probit models that these subsidies increase the probability of attending very high-quality schools by 59% and 94% for the representative beneficiary, respectively. These results suggest that the reduction of costs of transport not only increases accessibility and the set of school choices among low-income students, but also targets students enrolled in better quality schools. Therefore, the local government should increase efforts to get more subsidies targeting uncovered areas.

The regulation of emotions associated with social exclusion: modulating effects of tDCS on patients with borderline personality disorder

Abstract Background. Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) show negative emotional reactions following both social exclusion and normally including scenarios; only experimental conditions of extreme inclusion decrease BPD patients’ rejection-related emotions to levels comparable to healthy individuals. At the brain level, emotional reactions to social exclusion are mediated by the right Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex (rVLPFC). Among healthy subjects, the neuromodulation of this region by means of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) decreases negative emotional responses and pain following social exclusion. However, no study yet evaluated whether, among BPD patients, tDCS on rVLPFC reduces the intense negative emotions elicited by both social exclusion and social inclusion. Methods: Forty BPD patients (36 females) were randomly assigned to receive either real or sham tDCS on rVLPFC while, in a one session experiment, they were socially included, then excluded, and finally overincluded by using the Cyberball paradigm. Participants self-reported their level of rejection-related emotions after each Cyberball condition. Results. Overall, BPD patients reported high levels of rejection-related emotions in the ostracism condition, intermediate in the inclusion condition, and low in the overinclusion condition. tDCS, compared to sham stimulation, reduced the overall levels of rejection-related emotions following both the exclusion and inclusion conditions. tDCS stimulation on rVLPFC did not influence patients’ negative emotions in the overinclusion condition. Conclusion: Our results showed that tDCS applied to rVLPFC helped to downregulate negative emotions of BPD patients in both excluding and including interactions. Conversely, the sham group manifested higher negative reactions in both these conditions. A ceiling effect was hypothesized for the overinclusion condition. Overall, these findings improve evidence of rVLPFC involvement in responses to perceived social exclusion in BPD and provide new data on neuromodulation effects in BPD patients. Research Category and Technology and Methods Clinical Research: 9. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Keywords: Borderline Personality Disorder, Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex, Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, Social exclusion

Experience of the drug utilization pattern of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs used in outpatient attendees (Patients) having osteoarthritis of a tertiary care hospital in central India

Objective: The prime goal of prescription utilization study aims to facilitate patients’ rational drug use for osteoarthritis (OA). OA being the commonest form of joint disease and the foremost cause of pain in aged people. The aim of this research was to offer feedback on the use of medicines for OA treatment. Methods: A 1-year prospective observational research conducted in collaboration with the orthopaedics department. 280 patients were enrolled satisfying the exclusion and inclusion conditions using the convenience sampling technique. Patients’ data were recorded in the case report form and analysed. Results: Among 280 patients enrolled in the study, OA seemed to be more common in females as 53.5% of patients were females as compared to 45% of male patients. The most impacted age grouping in the study was 46–60 (60.7%) followed by 61–75 (30.7%). Aceclofenac and paracetamol are the most commonly used nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs in 29.6% of patients followed by a combination of diclofenac + paracetamol in 18.5%, etoricoxib in 16.7% and paracetamol and tramadol in combination in 8.2% of patients. Conclusions: In our study, it was seen that OA affects females more often than males and the knee joint being the commonly affected joint. Aceclofenac and paracetamol combination was the most the most preferred drug. Drug use research’s main goal is to encourage communities to take medications responsibly. Drug prescribing studies seek to inform prescribers about the proper use of medications and to give them feedback for rational use of drugs.

Probing potential priming: Defining, quantifying, and testing the causal priming effect using the potential outcomes framework.

Having previously seen an item helps uncover the item another time, given a perceptual or cognitive cue. Oftentimes, however, it may be difficult to quantify or test the existence and size of a perceptual or cognitive effect, in general, and a priming effect, in particular. This is because to examine the existence of and quantify the effect, one needs to compare two outcomes: the outcome had one previously seen the item vs. the outcome had one not seen the item. But only one of the two outcomes is observable. Here, we argue that the potential outcomes framework is useful to define, quantify, and test the causal priming effect. To demonstrate its efficacy, we apply the framework to study the priming effect using data from a between-subjects study involving English word identification. In addition, we show that what has been used intuitively by experimentalists to assess the priming effect in the past has a sound mathematical foundation. Finally, we examine the links between the proposed method in studying priming and the multinomial processing tree (MPT) model, and how to extend the method to study experimental paradigms involving exclusion and inclusion instructional conditions.

The effect of social exclusion on intertemporal choice in suicide attempters: A preliminary experimental study

BackgroundSuicide-related theories and a growing body of evidence suggest that suicidal patients may have a tendency toward “short-sightedness"—the preference for immediate gratification when making intertemporal choice—and that social exclusion may exacerbate this tendency in suicidal patients. The present study examined the intertemporal choice performance of suicide attempters under conditions of social exclusion in a sample of affective disorder patients. MethodsA total of 64 affective disorder patients (22 non-suicidal patients, 24 single-suicide attempters and 18 multiple-suicide attempters) completed an intertemporal choice task in an exclusion or a non-exclusion condition. Social exclusion was manipulated using the Cyberball paradigm. ResultsNon-suicidal patients and single-suicide attempters both exhibited an exaggerated preference for immediate rewards in the exclusion condition compared with the non-exclusion condition; in contrast, the multiple-suicide attempters appeared relatively indifferent to the social exclusion, exhibiting virtually identical preferences for immediate rewards in both the exclusion and non-exclusion conditions. In addition, the multiple-suicide attempters exhibited an exaggerated preference for immediate rewards compared with non-suicidal patients and single-suicide attempters in the non-exclusion condition, while the three groups did not differ in the exclusion condition. ConclusionsAffective disorder patients with a single or no suicide attempts are more short-sighted after being excluded, while those with multiple suicide attempts appeared consistent short-sightedness in both exclusion and non-exclusion conditions. The study provides preliminary evidence of the role of disadvantageous intertemporal choice in the suicidal process. Future research replicate and extend these findings could have implications for suicide prevention and intervention.

Self-exclusion from gambling: A toothless tiger?

While there is evidence for self-exclusion (SE) as an individual-level harm reduction intervention, its effects on reducing harm from gambling at the population level remain unclear. Based on a review of national legal frameworks and SE programs, including their utilization and enforcement in selected high-income societies, the present analysis aims to explore the reach and strengths of SE in the protection of gamblers in these jurisdictions. It places particular emphasis on SE programs' potential to prevent and minimize gambling harm at the population level. The overview examined SE in Finland, Germany, Italy, Massachusetts (USA), Norway, Sweden, and Victoria (Australia). These jurisdictions differ considerably in how gambling is regulated as well as in how SE is implemented and enforced. The reach and extent of enforcement of SE apparently vary with the polity's general policy balance between reducing gambling problems and increasing gambling revenue. But in any case, though SE may benefit individual gamblers and those around them, it does not appear to be capable of significantly reducing gambling harm at the population level. To render SE programs an effective measure that prevents gamblers and those linked to them from financial, social, and psychological harm, utilization needs to be substantially increased by reforming legal regulations and exclusion conditions.

Potentials of Renewable Energy Sources in Germany and the Influence of Land Use Datasets

Potential analyses identify possible locations for renewable energy installations, such as wind turbines and photovoltaic arrays. The results of previous potential studies for Germany, however, are not consistent due to different assumptions, methods, and datasets being used. For example, different land-use datasets are applied in the literature to identify suitable areas for technologies requiring open land. For the first time, commonly used datasets are compared regarding the area and position of identified features to analyze their impact on potential analyses. It is shown that the use of Corine Land Cover is not recommended as it leads to potential area overestimation in a typical wind potential analyses by a factor of 4.7 and 5.2 in comparison to Basis-DLM and Open Street Map, respectively. Furthermore, we develop scenarios for onshore wind, offshore wind, and open-field photovoltaic potential estimations based on land-eligibility analyses using the land-use datasets that were proven to be best by our pre-analysis. Moreover, we calculate the rooftop photovoltaic potential using 3D building data nationwide for the first time. The potentials have a high sensitivity towards exclusion conditions, which are also currently discussed in public. For example, if restrictive exclusions are chosen for the onshore wind analysis the necessary potential for climate neutrality cannot be met. The potential capacities and possible locations are published for all administrative levels in Germany in the freely accessible database (Tool for Renewable Energy Potentials—Database), for example, to be incorporated into energy system models.