Network Graph Research Articles

Screening and identification of susceptibility genes for cervical cancer via bioinformatics analysis and the construction of an mitophagy-related genes diagnostic model

PurposeThis study aims to utilize bioinformatics methods to systematically screen and identify susceptibility genes for cervical cancer, as well as to construct and validate an mitophagy-related genes (MRGs) diagnostic model. The objective is to increase the understanding of the disease’s pathogenesis and improve early diagnosis and treatment.MethodWe initially collected a large amount of genomic data, including gene expression profile and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data, from the control group and Cervical cancer (CC) patients. Through bioinformatics analysis, which employs methods such as differential gene expression analysis and pathway enrichment analysis, we identified a set of candidate susceptibility genes associated with cervical cancer.ResultsMRGs were extracted from single-cell RNA sequencing data, and a network graph was constructed on the basis of intercellular interaction data. Furthermore, using machine learning algorithms, we constructed a clinical prognostic model and validated and optimized it via extensive clinical data. Through bioinformatics analysis, we successfully identified a group of genes whose expression significantly differed during the development of CC and revealed the biological pathways in which these genes are involved. Moreover, our constructed clinical prognostic model demonstrated excellent performance in the validation phase, accurately predicting the clinical prognosis of patients.ConclusionThis study delves into the susceptibility genes of cervical cancer through bioinformatics approaches and successfully builds a reliable clinical prognostic model. This study not only helps uncover potential pathogenic mechanisms of cervical cancer but also provides new directions for early diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Portable Network Resolving Huge-Graph Isomorphism Problem

Abstract The graph isomorphism, as a key task in graph data analysis, is of great significance for the understanding, feature extraction, and pattern recognition of graph data. The best performance of traditional methods is the quasi-polynomial time complexity, which is infeasible for huge graphs. This paper aims to propose a lightweight graph network to resolve the problem of isomorphism in huge graphs. We propose a partitioning algorithm with linear time complexity based on isomorphic necessary condition to handle network graphs that cannot be fully computed by a single computer. We use anti-weight convolution analysis and skip connections to obtain a more stable representation with fewer layers and parameters. We implement simulations on personal computer (PC) with graphs consisting of hundred millions of edges, demonstrating the identification performance ($>98\%$) and time efficiency.

Accurately Predicting Barrier Heights for Radical Reactions in Solution Using Deep Graph Networks.

Quantitative estimates of reaction barriers and solvent effects are essential for developing kinetic mechanisms and predicting reaction outcomes. Here, we create a new data set of 5,600 unique elementary radical reactions calculated using the M06-2X/def2-QZVP//B3LYP-D3(BJ)/def2-TZVP level of theory. A conformer search is done for each species using TPSS/def2-TZVP. Gibbs free energies of activation and of reaction for these radical reactions in 40 common solvents are obtained using COSMO-RS for solvation effects. These balanced reactions involve the elements H, C, N, O, and S, contain up to 19 heavy atoms, and have atom-mapped SMILES. All transition states are verified by an intrinsic reaction coordinate calculation. We next train a deep graph network to directly estimate the Gibbs free energy of activation and of reaction in both gas and solution phases using only the atom-mapped SMILES of the reactant and product and the SMILES of the solvent. This simple input representation avoids computationally expensive optimizations for the reactant, transition state, and product structures during inference, making our model well-suited for high-throughput predictive chemistry and quickly providing information for (retro-)synthesis planning tools. To properly measure model performance, we report results on both interpolative and extrapolative data splits and also compare to several baseline models. During training and testing, the data set is augmented by including the reverse direction of each reaction and variants with different resonance structures. After data augmentation, we have around 2 million entries to train the model, which achieves a testing set mean absolute error of 1.16 kcal mol-1 for the Gibbs free energy of activation in solution. We anticipate this model will accelerate predictions for high-throughput screening to quickly identify relevant reactions in solution, and our data set will serve as a benchmark for future studies.

Decoupled semantic graph neural network for knowledge graph embedding

Knowledge graph embedding (KGE) learns an embedding space for a more accurate representation of entities and relations. Although the KGE model has proliferated, it often fails to fully capture the rich semantics in knowledge graphs. Some studies attempt to apply decoupling methods to decompose node representations, yet they neglect the semantic noise generated during the decoupled process. To address these issues, we introduce the decoupled semantic graph network for KGE (named DSGNet), which employs a novel approach that combines semantic decoupling with structural awareness. DSGNet begins by projecting the knowledge graph into distinct semantic spaces, ensuring minimal correlation between them to achieve effective semantic decoupling. To mitigate semantic noise, a top-k sampling technique is applied to the decoupled graphs. DSGNet then aggregates these different semantic graphs using a relation-aware aggregation module, followed by a multi-layer aggregation process for enhanced node representation. The extensive experiments demonstrate that DSGNet performs competitively on two popular datasets. We make our code publicly available at https://github.com/HubuKG/DSGNet.

Emotion Recognition Using EEG Signals through the Design of a Dry Electrode Based on the Combination of Type 2 Fuzzy Sets and Deep Convolutional Graph Networks.

Emotion is an intricate cognitive state that, when identified, can serve as a crucial component of the brain-computer interface. This study examines the identification of two categories of positive and negative emotions through the development and implementation of a dry electrode electroencephalogram (EEG). To achieve this objective, a dry EEG electrode is created using the silver-copper sintering technique, which is assessed through Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDXA) evaluations. Subsequently, a database is generated utilizing the designated electrode, which is based on the musical stimulus. The collected data are fed into an improved deep network for automatic feature selection/extraction and classification. The deep network architecture is structured by combining type 2 fuzzy sets (FT2) and deep convolutional graph networks. The fabricated electrode demonstrated superior performance, efficiency, and affordability compared to other electrodes (both wet and dry) in this study. Furthermore, the dry EEG electrode was examined in noisy environments and demonstrated robust resistance across a diverse range of Signal-To-Noise ratios (SNRs). Furthermore, the proposed model achieved a classification accuracy of 99% for distinguishing between positive and negative emotions, an improvement of approximately 2% over previous studies. The manufactured dry EEG electrode is very economical and cost-effective in terms of manufacturing costs when compared to recent studies. The proposed deep network, combined with the fabricated dry EEG electrode, can be used in real-time applications for long-term recordings that do not require gel.

Copula Approximate Bayesian Computation Using Distribution Random Forests

Ongoing modern computational advancements continue to make it easier to collect increasingly large and complex datasets, which can often only be realistically analyzed using models defined by intractable likelihood functions. This Stats invited feature article introduces and provides an extensive simulation study of a new approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) framework for estimating the posterior distribution and the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) of the parameters of models defined by intractable likelihoods, that unifies and extends previous ABC methods proposed separately. This framework, copulaABCdrf, aims to accurately estimate and describe the possibly skewed and high-dimensional posterior distribution by a novel multivariate copula-based meta-t distribution based on univariate marginal posterior distributions that can be accurately estimated by distribution random forests (drf), while performing automatic summary statistics (covariates) selection, based on robustly estimated copula dependence parameters. The copulaABCdrf framework also provides a novel multivariate mode estimator to perform MLE and posterior mode estimation and an optional step to perform model selection from a given set of models using posterior probabilities estimated by drf. The posterior distribution estimation accuracy of the ABC framework is illustrated and compared with previous standard ABC methods through several simulation studies involving low- and high-dimensional models with computable posterior distributions, which are either unimodal, skewed, or multimodal; and exponential random graph and mechanistic network models, each defined by an intractable likelihood from which it is costly to simulate large network datasets. This paper also proposes and studies a new solution to the simulation cost problem in ABC involving the posterior estimation of parameters from datasets simulated from the given model that are smaller compared to the potentially large size of the dataset being analyzed. This proposal is motivated by the fact that, for many models defined by intractable likelihoods, such as the network models when they are applied to analyze massive networks, the repeated simulation of large datasets (networks) for posterior-based parameter estimation can be too computationally costly and vastly slow down or prohibit the use of standard ABC methods. The copulaABCdrf framework and standard ABC methods are further illustrated through analyses of large real-life networks of sizes ranging between 28,000 and 65.6 million nodes (between 3 million and 1.8 billion edges), including a large multilayer network with weighted directed edges. The results of the simulation studies show that, in settings where the true posterior distribution is not highly multimodal, copulaABCdrf usually produced similar point estimates from the posterior distribution for low-dimensional parametric models as previous ABC methods, but the copula-based method can produce more accurate estimates from the posterior distribution for high-dimensional models, and, in both dimensionality cases, usually produced more accurate estimates of univariate marginal posterior distributions of parameters. Also, posterior estimation accuracy was usually improved when pre-selecting the important summary statistics using drf compared to ABC employing no pre-selection of the subset of important summaries. For all ABC methods studied, accurate estimation of a highly multimodal posterior distribution was challenging. In light of the results of all the simulation studies, this article concludes by discussing how the copulaABCdrf framework can be improved for future research.

SSR-DTA: Substructure-aware multi-layer graph neural networks for drug–target binding affinity prediction

Accurate prediction of drug–target binding affinity (DTA) is essential in the field of drug discovery. Recently, scientists have been attempting to utilize artificial intelligence prediction to screen out a significant number of ineffective compounds, thereby mitigating labor and financial losses. While graph neural networks (GNNs) have been applied to DTA, existing GNNs have limitations in effectively extracting substructural features across various sizes. Functional groups play a crucial role in modulating molecular properties, but existing GNNs struggle with feature extraction from certain motifs due to scale mismatches. Additionally, sequence-based models for target proteins lack the integration of structural information. To address these limitations, we present SSR-DTA, a multi-layer graph network capable of adapting to diverse structural sizes, which can extract richer biological features, thereby improving the robustness and accuracy of predictions. Multi-layer GNNs enable the capture of molecular motifs across different scales, ranging from atomic to macrocyclic motifs. Furthermore, we introduce BiGNN to simultaneously learn sequence and structural information. Sequence information corresponds to the primary structure of proteins, while graph information represents the tertiary structure. BiGNN assimilates richer information compared to sequence-based methods while mitigating the impact of errors from predicted structures, resulting in more accurate predictions. Through rigorous experimental evaluations conducted on four benchmark datasets, we demonstrate the superiority of SSR-DTA over state-of-the-art models. Particularly, in comparison to state-of-the-art models, SSR-DTA demonstrates an impressive 20% reduction in mean squared error on the Davis dataset and a 5% reduction on the KIBA dataset, underscoring its potential as a valuable tool for advancing DTA prediction.

Context propagation based influence maximization model for dynamic link prediction

Influence maximization (IM) in dynamic social networks is an optimization problem to analyze the changes in social networks for different periods. However, the existing IM methods ignore the context propagation of interaction behaviors among users. Hence, context-based IM in multiplex networks is proposed here. Initially, multiplex networks along with their contextual data are taken as input. Community detection is performed for the network using the Wilcoxon Hypothesized K-Means (WH-KMA) algorithm. From the detected communities, the homogeneous network is used for extracting network topological features, and the heterogeneous networks are used for influence path analysis based on which the node connections are weighted. Then, the influence-path-based features along with contextual features are extracted. These extracted features are given for the link prediction model using the Parametric Probability Theory-based Long Short-Term Memory (PPT-LSTM) model. Finally, from the network graph, the most influencing nodes are identified using the Linear Scaling based Clique (LS-Clique) detection algorithm. The experimental outcomes reveal that the proposed model achieves an enhanced performance.

Framework to process vehicles uncertain locations for intelligent transportation

Many factors affect the precision and accuracy of location data. These factors include, but not limited to, environmental obstructions (e.g., high buildings and forests), hardware issues (e.g., malfunctioning and poor calibration), and privacy concerns (e.g., users denying consent to fine-grained location tracking). These factors lead to uncertainty about users’ location which in turn affects the quality of location-aware services. This paper proposes a novel framework called UMove, which stands for uncertain movements, to manage the trajectory of moving objects under location uncertainty. The UMove framework employs the connectivity (i.e., links between edges) and constraints (i.e., travel time and distance) on road network graphs to reduce the uncertainty of the object’s past, present, and projected locations. To accomplish this, UMove incorporates (i) a set-based pruning algorithm to reduce or eliminate uncertainty from imprecise trajectories; and (ii) a wrapper that can extend user-defined probability models designed to predict future locations of moving objects under uncertainty. Intensive experimental evaluations based on real data sets of GPS trajectories collected by Didi Chuxing in China prove the efficiency of the proposed UMove framework. In terms of accuracy, for past exact-location inference, UMove achieves rates from 88% to 97% for uncertain regions with sizes of 75 meters and 25 meters respectively; for future exact-location inference, accuracy rates reach up to 72% and 82% for 75 meters and 25 meters of uncertain regions.

An Adaptive Spatiotemporal Decouple Graph Convolutional Network Based Quality‐Related Fault Detection Method for Complex Industrial Processes

ABSTRACTWith the rapid development of industrial technology, industrial processes become increasingly complex, presenting characteristics of large‐scale and multi‐unit collaboration. However, most current fault detection methods focus on nonlinearity, dynamics, and other characteristics, while neglecting spatiotemporal information. To address this issue, an adaptive spatiotemporal decouple graph convolutional network based quality‐related fault detection method is proposed in this article. First, the temporal graph convolutional network and spatial graph convolutional network are combined organically in the form of joint training. Second, considering that fixed graph structures cannot reflect the dynamic relationships among nodes, we proposed an adaptive weighted mask mechanism to construct dynamic correlation graph embedded with priori knowledge. Multi‐attention mechanism is used to integrate spatiotemporal information, besides, we designed a decoupling layer to avoid information redundancy. Finally, the proposed spatiotemporal graph convolutional network is used to establish a regression model, the quality‐related latent variables are extracted by the decoupling layer, and the statistic is constructed based on Kullback–Leibler divergence. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method are illustrated with the hot strip mill process and the Tennessee Eastman process.

Optimizing Wireless Sensor Networks by Identifying Key Nodes Using Centrality Measures

This study underscores the critical role of graph theory in optimizing the functionality of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Our research aims to enhance network efficiency by utilizing a variety of centrality metrics, including degree, betweenness, closeness, eigenvector, Katz, PageRank, subgraph, harmonic, and percolation centrality, to identify pivotal nodes. Employing an extended Barabási-Albert model graph of a 50-node network, our methodology focuses on pinpointing nodes crucial for optimal data processing, monitoring, and analysis in WSNs. This comprehensive approach deepens our understanding of sensor networks and significantly boosts operational efficiency by leveraging strategic node functionalities. The findings from our study are poised to revolutionize network management strategies, promoting the development of more robust and efficient WSN operations.

SENGraph: A Self-Learning Evolutionary and Node-Aware Graph Network for Soft Sensing in Industrial Processes.

The last decade has witnessed the growing prevalence of deep models on soft sensing in industrial processes. However, most of the existing soft sensing models are developed to learn from regular data in the Euclidean space, ignoring the complex coupling relations among process variables. On the other hand, graph networks are gaining attraction in handling non-Euclidean relations in industrial data. However, the existing graph networks on soft sensing models still suffer from two major issues: 1) how to capture the intervariable structural relations and intravariable temporal dependencies from dynamic and strongly coupled industrial data and 2) how to learn from nodes with distinctive importance for the soft sensing task. To address these problems, we propose a self-learning evolutionary and node-aware graph network (SENGraph) for industrial soft sensing. We first develop a self-learning graph generation (SLG) module to combine the coarse-and fine-grained graphs to capture the global trend and local dynamics from process data. Then, we build a self-evolutionary graph module (EGM) to obtain diversified node features from the entire graph using mutation and crossover strategies. Finally, we design a node-aware module (NAM) to highlight the informative nodes and suppress the less significant ones to further improve the discriminative ability of the downstream soft sensing. Extensive experimental results and analysis on four real-world industrial datasets demonstrate that our proposed SENGraph model outperforms the existing state-of-the-art (SOTA) soft sensing methods.

Collaborative graph neural networks for augmented graphs: A local-to-global perspective

In the field of graph neural networks (GNNs) for representation learning, a noteworthy highlight is the potential of embedding fusion architectures for augmented graphs. However, prevalent GNN embedding fusion architectures mainly focus on handling graph combinations from a global perspective, often ignoring their collaboration with the information of local graph combinations. This inherent limitation constrains the ability of the constructed models to handle multiple input graphs, particularly when dealing with noisy input graphs collected from error-prone sources or those resulting from deficiencies in graph augmentation methods. In this paper, we propose an effective and robust embedding fusion architecture from a local-to-global perspective termed collaborative graph neural networks for augmented graphs (LoGo-GNN). Essentially, LoGo-GNN leverages a pairwise graph combination scheme to generate local perspective inputs. Together with the global graph combination, this serves as the basis to generate a local-to-global perspective. Specifically, LoGo-GNN employs a perturbation augmentation strategy to generate multiple augmentation graphs, thereby facilitating collaboration and embedding fusion from a local-to-global perspective through the use of graph combinations. In addition, LoGo-GNN incorporates a novel loss function for learning complementary information between different perspectives. We also conduct theoretical analysis to assess its expressive power under ideal conditions, demonstrating the effectiveness of LoGo-GNN. Our experiments, focusing on node classification and clustering tasks, highlight the superior performance of LoGo-GNN compared to state-of-the-art methods. Additionally, robustness analysis further confirms its effectiveness in addressing uncertainty challenges.

Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Method for discrete network (graph) models

In this paper, we consider a time-dependent discrete network model with highly varying connectivity. The approximation by time is performed using an implicit scheme. We propose the coarse scale approximation construction of network models based on the Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Method. An accurate coarse-scale approximation is generated by solving local spectral problems in sub-networks. Convergence analysis of the proposed method is presented for semi-discrete and discrete network models. We establish the stability of the multiscale discrete network. Numerical results are presented for structured and random heterogeneous networks.

GIAE-DTI: Predicting Drug-Target Interactions Based on Heterogeneous Network and GIN-based Graph Autoencoder.

Accurate prediction of drug-target interactions (DTIs) is essential for advancing drug discovery and repurposing. However, the sparsity of DTI data limits the effectiveness of existing computational methods, which primarily focus on sparse DTI networks and have poor performance in aggregating information from neighboring nodes and representing isolated nodes within the network. In this study, we propose a novel deep learning framework, named GIAE-DTI, which considers cross-modal similarity of drugs and targets and constructs a heterogeneous network for DTI prediction. Firstly, the model calculates the cross-modal similarity of drugs and proteins from the relationships among drugs, proteins, diseases, and side effects, and performs similarity integration by taking the average. Then, a drug-target heterogeneous network is constructed, including drug-drug interactions, protein-protein interactions, and drug-target interactions processed by weighted K nearest known neighbors. In the heterogeneous network, a graph autoencoder based on a graph isomorphism network is employed for feature extraction, while a dual decoder is utilized to achieve better self-supervised learning, resulting in latent feature representations for drugs and targets. Finally, a deep neural network is employed to predict DTIs. The experimental results indicate that on the benchmark dataset, GIAE-DTI achieves AUC and AUPR scores of 0.9533 and 0.9619, respectively, in DTI prediction, outperforming the current state-of-the-art methods. Additionally, case studies on four 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor-related targets and five drugs related to mental diseases show the great potential of the proposed method in practical applications.

A sharding blockchain protocol for enhanced scalability and performance optimization through account transaction reconfiguration

Sharding is a critical technology for enhancing blockchain scalability. However, existing sharding blockchain protocols suffer from a high cross-shard ratio, high transaction latency, limited throughput enhancement, and high account migration. To address these problems, this paper proposes a sharding blockchain protocol for enhanced scalability and performance optimization through account transaction reconfiguration. Firstly, we construct a blockchain transaction account graph network structure to analyze transaction account correlations. Secondly, a modularity-based account transaction reconfiguration algorithm and a detailed account reconfiguration process is designed to minimize cross-shard transactions. Finally, we introduce a transaction processing mechanism for account transaction reconfiguration in parallel with block consensus uploading, which reduces the reconfiguration time overhead and system latency. Experimental results demonstrate substantial performance improvements compared to existing shard protocols: up to a 34.7% reduction in cross-shard transaction ratio, at least an 83.2% decrease in transaction latency, at least a 52.7% increase in throughput and a 7.8% decrease in account migration number. The proposed protocol significantly enhances the overall performance and scalability of blockchain, providing robust support for blockchain applications in various fields such as financial services, supply chain management, and industrial Internet of Things. It also enables better support for high-concurrency scenarios and large-scale network environments.

Adaptive Knowledge Contrastive Learning with Dynamic Attention for Recommender Systems

Knowledge graphs equipped with graph network networks (GNNs) have led to a successful step forward in alleviating cold start problems in recommender systems. However, the performance highly depends on precious high-quality knowledge graphs and supervised labels. This paper argues that existing knowledge-graph-based recommendation methods still suffer from insufficiently exploiting sparse information and the mismatch between personalized interests and general knowledge. This paper proposes a model named Adaptive Knowledge Contrastive Learning with Dynamic Attention (AKCL-DA) to address the above challenges. Specifically, instead of building contrastive views by randomly discarding information, in this study, an adaptive data augmentation method was designed to leverage sparse information effectively. Furthermore, a personalized dynamic attention network was proposed to capture knowledge-aware personalized behaviors by dynamically adjusting user attention, therefore alleviating the mismatch between personalized behavior and general knowledge. Extensive experiments on Yelp2018, LastFM, and MovieLens datasets show that AKCL-DA achieves a strong performance, improving the NDCG by 4.82%, 13.66%, and 4.41% compared to state-of-the-art models, respectively.

Deep scene understanding with extended text description for human object interaction detection

Human–object interaction (HOI) detection plays a pivotal role in scene understanding, enabling the identification, localization, and behavioral intention prediction of humans and objects within a visual scene. Conventional approaches, such as graph-based networks, have demonstrated effectiveness in capturing spatio-temporal interaction cues. However, relying solely on visual information within these networks limits their ability to comprehensively grasp the intricate aspects of human interactions. To address this shortcoming, we propose a novel deep scene understanding graph network that harnesses the power of extended text descriptions to represent and interpret interactions between humans and objects effectively. Text serves as a rich source of information, directly conveying the nature of interactions within a visual scene. Our model seamlessly integrates text descriptions with visual features extracted from the entire video sequence, enabling it to capture the context and nuances of human–object interactions. This approach significantly enhances the model’s ability to accurately predict ambiguous human actions and anticipate future interactions. Extensive experiments on two benchmark datasets, CAD-120, and Something-Else, demonstrate that our proposed method achieves remarkable improvements in the F1-Score for both HOI detection and anticipation tasks. This work paves the way for more accurate and comprehensive HOI understanding in various real-world scenarios, highlighting the potential of text-augmented graph networks for effective interaction modeling.

Routing Task in Dynamic Fog Computing Network

Relevance. In the context of traffic growth, transition to IMT-2030 networks and Telepresence services, the tasks of efficient management of network and computing resources occupy a special place. Fog computing as the next stage of decomposition of the architecture of multi access edge cloud computing is designed to radically change the models and methods of distributing computing tasks, influencing, among other things, the user-operator interaction models. At the moment, there is a whole layer of scientific problems for revealing the possibilities of fog computing. They can be divided into a number of areas, such as: study of models and methods for implementing services of ultra-reliable and ultra-low latency communications, defined in IMT-2020 networks; study of models and methods for ensuring quality of service, including quality of experience; study of methods for live migration of microservices, as well as groups of typical microservices; study of models and methods for distributing resources of dynamic fog computing while ensuring the stability of fog computing forms (clusters, nebulae); one of the potentially effective areas is research in the field of combining federated learning with dynamic fog computing. This paper solves a routing problem that can be attributed to the direction of infrastructure research in dynamic fog computing.Problem statement: research and develop the effective methods for routes determination in a dynamic fog computing network, including tasks of migrating microservices of telepresence services. Goal of the work: research and development of an effective method for ways determination to migrate microservices in communication networks using fog computing technologies, which could take into account not only the characteristics of connections (edges of the network graph), but also the computing capabilities and limitations of fog computing devices, as well as their features - the dynamics of computing devices. Methods: in order to test the proposed method, the program model was developed in the NS-3 modeling environment. Result. Analysis of the results showed the effectiveness of the proposed method within the framework of the task and various application scenarios. Novelty. A microservice migration method has been developed as a new routing protocol in a dynamic fog computing environment, which differs from the known ones in that this method ensures the interaction of fog computing devices for migrating microservices, while achieving a reduction in energy consumption by fog computing devices by 41% and reducing the share of lost packages on average up to 34%. Practical significance: The developed method can be used to implement fog computing in conditions of mobility of end devices in order to achieve the requirements of promising services of IMT-2030 networks.

A symptom-level perspective on irritability, PTSD, and depression in children and adults

BackgroundAlthough irritability is a prominent clinical manifestation among traumatized populations, its relationships with other psychopathologies are rarely studied. Adopting a symptom-level perspective, this study aimed to explore how symptoms of irritability, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression are associated. MethodThe Brief Irritability Test, the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were used to measure irritability, PTSD, and depression, respectively, in a large sample of trauma-exposed children and adolescents (n = 5454), trauma-exposed adults (n = 4718), and children and adolescents with probable PTSD (n = 556). Exploratory graph analysis (EGA) and network analysis were conducted to examine potential communities and significant relations. ResultsAlthough irritability, PTSD, and depression were highly correlated at the disorder level, EGA results indicated that, at the symptom level, they formed highly stable and dense communities, respectively. Relations across disorders mainly emerged at symptoms related to negative cognition, dysphoria, and suicidal thoughts. Especially, strong transdiagnostic relations across all samples were “negative beliefs” and “suicidal thoughts”, “numbing” and “suicidal thoughts”, “startle” and “moving slowly or restless”, “bothering” and “moving slowly or restless”. Furthermore, irritability symptoms seem more central than PTSD and depression symptoms, with “snap” being the most central node across all networks, especially in the child and adolescent sample. ConclusionIrritability, PTSD, and depression are relatively independent constructs when analyzed at the symptom level. Irritability symptoms emerged as core symptoms in trauma-exposed populations. Our findings highlight the importance of independent assessment of irritability in the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD.