Low Levels Of Factor Research Articles

Concurrent diagnosis of severe haemophilia A and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a child: First report in Greece

Haemophilia A is a congenital bleeding disorder resulting by deficiency of coagulation factor VIII and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) Is the most common cancer type in children. The concurrence of hemophilia and ALL in pediatric patients is quite rare. We report a case of a 2.5 year old boy, with an uneventful past history, which presented with pallor, petechiae, ecchymoses and lethargy to the emergency department. A full blood count on admission revealed severe leukocytosis, anemia and thrombocytopenia. Diagnosis of ALL was confirmed and the patient was put on chemotherapy. Excessive bleeding from the site of entry of the central venous catheter led to complementary testing, which revealed very low levels of Factor VIII and severe Haemophilia A was also diagnosed. The patient suffered from minor gastrointestinal bleeds and a severe intrabdominal hemorrhage due to an abcess eruption during his treatment for ALL. To date, very few cases of ALL and Haemophilia have been reported in children, and due to this rarity there are no guidelines concerning the adjustments in treatment in this small population of patients.

Context matters: The importance of investigating random effects in hierarchical models for early childhood education researchers

This paper highlights the importance of examining individual, classroom, and school-level variables simultaneously in early childhood education research. While it is well known that Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) in school-based studies can be used to account for the clustering of students within classrooms or schools, less known is that HLM can use random effects to investigate how higher-level factors (e.g., effects that vary by school) moderate associations between lower-level factors. This possible moderation can be detected even if higher-level data are not collected. Despite this important use of HLM, a clear resource explaining how to test this type of effect is not available for early childhood researchers. This paper demonstrates this use of HLM by presenting three analytic examples using empirical early childhood education data. First, we review school-level effects literature and HLM concepts to provide the rationale for testing cross-level moderation effects in education research; next we do a short review of literature on the variables that will be used in our three examples (viz., teacher beliefs and student socioemotional behavior); next we describe the dataset that will be analyzed; and finally we guide the reader step-by-step through analyses that show the presence and absence of fixed effects of teacher beliefs on student social outcomes and the erroneous conclusions that can occur if school-level moderation (i.e., random effects) tests are excluded from analyses. This paper provides evidence for the importance of testing for how teachers and students impact each other as a function of school differences, shows how this can be accomplished, and highlights the need to examine random effects of clustering in educational models to ensure the full context is accounted for when predicting student outcomes.

Adherence to antihypertensive medication and its associated factors among patients with hypertension attending a tertiary hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of premature mortality and morbidity globally. Despite the evidences of the availability of effective treatment for hypertension, its management remains suboptimal. Medication adherence is the most crucial factor for blood pressure control. It is important to identify the factors associated with adherence to antihypertensive treatment for better management. Hence, this study assessed the level of antihypertensive medication adherence and its associated factors among patients with hypertension visiting a tertiary-level hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out among 308 diagnosed patients with hypertension who were prescribed antihypertensive medication. The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) was used to assess medication adherence. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews and analysed using SPSS v26. A bivariate and multivariate logistic regression model was used to assess the factors associated with low medication adherence. More than half (61%) of the study participants had moderate to high levels of medication adherence. Upon bivariate analysis, there was a significant association between presence of side effects, blood pressure status, forgetfulness, high cost, fear of taking medicine lifelong and irregular follow-up with a low level of adherence. Upon multivariate the logistic regression analysis, forgetfulness [Adjusted Odd's Ratio (AOR) 22.5, 95% Confidence Interval(CI) 10.56-47.86], high cost (AOR 3.8, 95%CI 1.25-11.60) and fear of taking medicines lifelong (AOR 6.04, 95%CI 2.96-12.33) were found to be associated factors of low level of adherence. There is an urgency to develop evidence-based strategies to improve the level of adherence to antihypertensive medications among patients with hypertension. Strategies like reminder messaging, setting alarms, expanding the scope of national health insurance and proper counselling to reduce fear could help to improve medication adherence. Hence, the feasibility and effectiveness of such intervention should be explored in future studies.

Diabetes surpasses obesity as a risk factor for low serum testosterone level

BackgroundMale obesity is one of the most associated factors with substandard testosterone levels. However, there is growing evidence linking low testosterone levels to insulin resistance and diabetic complications. We aimed to study the impact of diabetes mellitus on testosterone levels and to assess the correlation of various clinical and biochemical factors with hypogonadism.Subjects and methodsThis case-control study was conducted on 160 adult males categorized into four equal groups (40 each); Group A: lean men with T2DM, Group B: obese with T2DM, Group C: lean with normal glycemic profile, Group D: obese with normal glycemic profile. Serum total testosterone (TT), SHBG and HbA1c have been measured. Free testosterone (cFT) and HOMA-IR were calculated.ResultsA significant negative correlation of serum TT and cFTwith BMI (r -0.16, p 0.04/ r -0.26, p < 0.001, respectively) and with waist circumference (WC) (r -0.23, p 0.003 and r -0.3, p < 0.001, respectively). A significant decrease in TT and cFT in the diabetes group versus the non-diabetes one (p < 0.001 for both). TT level was significantly lower in the diabetic lean group than in the non-diabetic lean (p < 0.001), and even significantly lower than in the non-diabetic obese (p < 0.001). TT level in the diabetic obese group was lower than in the non-diabetic obese (p < 0.001). The same for cFT level, lower in the diabetic lean group than in non-diabetic lean (p < 0.001) and lower in the diabetic obese than in the non-diabetic obese (p < 0.001). Concomitant significant reduction in SHBG in the diabetes group (p < 0.001). Linear regression analysis revealed that TT significantly correlated with HOMA-IR. HOMA-IR with WC, age and the duration of diabetes correlated significantly with cFT. In our model, HOMA-IR and HbA1c accounted for approximately 51.3% of TT variability (adjusted R-squared 0.513).ConclusionsThe impact of T2DM on serum testosterone levels was more significant than that of obesity. Our study showed a decrease in SHBG together with cFT among the diabetes group. Hypogonadism is significantly correlated to insulin resistance and poor glycemic control, which implies another perspective on the impact of suboptimal glycemic control on the development of hypogonadism.

Is object-based warping solely object-based?

Object-based warping is a visual illusion in which dots appear farther apart from each other when superimposed on an object. Previous research found that the illusion's strength varies with the perceived objecthood of the display. We tested whether objecthood alone determines the strength of the visual illusion or if low-level factors separable from objecthood also play a role. In Experiments 1-2, we varied low-level features to assess their impact on the warping illusion. We found that the warping illusion is equally strong for a variety of shapes but varies with the elements by which shape is defined. Shapes composed of continuous edges produced larger warping effects than shapes defined by disconnected elements. In Experiment 3, we varied a display's objecthood while holding low-level features constant. Displays with matched low-level features produced warping effects of the same size even when the perceived unity of the elements in the display varied. In Experiments 4-6, we tested whether displays with low-level features predicted to be important in spatial warping produced the visual illusion even when the display weakly configured into a single object. Results showed that the presence of low-level features like contour solidity and convexity determined warping effect sizes over and above what could be accounted for by the display's perceived objecthood. Our findings challenge the view that the spatial warping illusion is solely object-based. Other factors like the solidity of contours and contours' position relative to reference dots appear to play separate and important roles in determining warping effect sizes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Age-related differences in saccadic indices of top-down guidance via short-term memory during visual search.

Aging has been associated with significant declines in the speed and accuracy of visual search. These effects have been attributed partly to low-level (bottom-up) factors including reductions in sensory acuity and general processing speed. Aging is also associated with changes in top-down attentional control, but the impact of these on search is less well-understood. The present study investigated age-related differences in top-down attentional control by comparing the speed and accuracy of saccadic sampling in the presence and absence of top-down information about target color in young (YA) and older (OA) observers. Displays contained an equal number of red and blue Landholt stimuli. Targets were distinguished from distractors by a unique orientation, and observers reported the direction of the target's gap on each trial. Single-target cues signaled the color of the target with 100% validity. Dual-target cues indicated the target could be present in either colored subgroup. The results revealed reliable group differences in the benefits associated with top-down information on single-target cues compared to dual-target cues. On single-target searches, OA made significantly more saccades than YA to stimuli in the uncued color subset. Single-target cues also produced a smaller advantage in the time taken to fixate the target in OA compared to YA. These results support an age-related decline in observers' use of top-down information to restrict sequences of saccades to a task-relevant subset of objects during visual search. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Psychological Characteristics of People with High and Low Levels of Professional Well-Being

The article presents a comparative analysis of the psychological characteristics of people having high and low levels of professional well-being. There were significant differences for all studied indicators between groups with high and low professional well-being. The widest differences between the two groups were found for average values of professional commitment, job satisfaction, autonomous motivation, in-demand profession, and professional psychological well-being; the smallest differences were determined for average values of life satisfaction, climate in a team and controlled motivation. Significant differences depending on a level of professional well-being were revealed and professional well-being correlations with the studied indicators in groups with its high and low levels were analyzed. A high level of professional well-being correlated strongly with many indicators of professional work: professional commitment, in demand in profession, psychological capital, professional self-attitude, meaningfulness of life, job satisfaction, professional psychological well-being, autonomous motivation and climate in a team. A low level of professional well-being correlated with the examined indicators with medium to weak strength. This confirms the integral nature of the phenomenon of professional well-being. The regression models for factors of high and low levels of professional well-being were similar. In both groups, the most important factors of professional well-being were: professional commitment, in demand in profession, climate in a team, subjective social well-being and meaningfulness of life. The differences were revealed only for the signs of coefficients applied to subjective social well-being and meaningfulness of life.

Women and girls with inherited bleeding disorders: Focus on haemophilia carriers and heavy menstrual bleeding.

Raising awareness and improving recognition, accurate classification, and enhanced access to new treatments represent current key challenges for carriers of haemophilia. Women and girls carrying genes for haemophilia often experience significant bleeding and/or low factor levels. The bleeding associated with female haemophilia is frequently overlooked, has a weak correlation with factor levels, and manifests differently than in males, with heavy menstrual bleeding being a predominant symptom. Recent changes in terminology now allow the diagnosis of haemophilia in females with low factor levels and differentiate between symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers of the gene. Observations from real-world experiences and limited clinical trial data have highlighted the positive impact of various new haemophilia treatments for women and girls with clotting factor deficiencies. There is an urgent need for initiatives that increase their access to these treatments and encourage well-designed clinical trials focusing on female-specific outcomes. In women with inherited bleeding disorders, early recognition and optimal management of heavy menstrual bleeding are crucial. However, treatment options and guidance from high-quality clinical trials are currently insufficient. Menstrual health assessment should be a regular part of monitoring women and girls with inherited bleeding disorders throughout their lives, emphasizing the importance of gathering data to improve future management.

Interrelations of the Factors Influencing the Whole-Life Cost Estimation of Buildings: A Systematic Literature Review

The global GDP has witnessed a significant upswing, majorly due to the growth of the construction industry. Embracing the whole-life costing (WLC) approach, the construction sector strategically manages expenses across a construction project’s life cycle. However, despite its widespread adoption, accurate cost forecasting remains a major challenge. The intricate interplay of various influencing factors has not been fully explored, leading to inaccurate cost estimations. A comprehensive understanding of specific factors and their interrelationships is crucial to address this issue. Therefore, it is imperative to conduct further research to identify and explore the subtle nuances of these factors that impact whole-life cost estimation. Our study fills this gap, analysing 51 factors from 84 papers across prominent repositories. We assess interrelationships using a systematic literature review and pairwise comparison as in the analytical hierarchy process. The International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS) framework structures these relationships and is represented in the causal loop diagrams (CLDs). The pioneering CLDs are a notable contribution, illustrating interrelationships and polarities among the 51 WLC factors. Six reinforcing loops and one balancing loop provide valuable insights into their dynamic nature. Importantly, lower-level factors do not always directly connect with upper-level factors. Instead, they interact within the same level before linking to top-level factors. These findings are significant for professionals, such as cost estimators, quantity surveyors and scholars, offering a comprehensive understanding of the WLC system.

Driving factors of individual differences in broad retrieval ability: Gr is more than the sum of its parts.

Broad retrieval ability (Gr) posits an essential factor of human cognitive abilities. Previous literature indicates Gr is best modeled as a higher-order factor model with lower-level factors such as ideational fluency (IF), word fluency (WF), expressional fluency (EF), or figural fluency (FF). However, the dimensionality of Gr is not well studied. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether specific retrieval affordances such as differing retrieval time periods (e.g., short vs. long) can be psychometrically separated from more general retrieval affordances. Such a distinction would imply differential associations between specific retrieval, general retrieval, and other cognitive abilities, which, in turn, depict a vital part of explanatory models of individual differences in Gr. To test these assumptions, we conducted a multivariate study (N = 331) and evaluated competing latent variable measurement models for a variety of Gr tests. We then regressed the best measurement model onto working memory capacity, secondary memory, mental speed, and crystallized intelligence in order to evaluate the distinctiveness of Gr. Our results suggest that no specific retrieval affordances with regard to time periods can be distinguished. A higher-order model, with a second-order Gr factor above three first-order factors (IF, WF, EF, and FF) fitted the data best, extending previous literature by increasing construct coverage through the implementation of FF. All covariates show incremental predictive validity, beyond their communality. Summarizing, our results endorse a perspective on Gr as a strong and discriminant factor of cognitive abilities that is not affected by time constraints, and show that Gr is more than a linear combination of its parts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Dynamics of Entrepreneurial Actors: A Study of Economic Conditions and Psychological Capital

This study aims to determine the dynamics of entrepreneurs through the reasons why people choose entrepreneurship in Anabanua Village, Maniangpajo Subdistrict, Wajo Regency and the economic conditions of the people of Anabanua Village, Maniangpajo Subdistrict, Wajo Regency from the perspective of psychological capital. This research uses a qualitative method taking the research location in Anabanua Village, Maniangpajo District, Wajo Regency. Determination of subjects and informants in this study is by using the snow ball technique. The data collection techniques used were observation, interviews and documentation. The data analysis technique used is qualitative data analysis. The results showed that the economic conditions of entrepreneurial actors in Anabanua Village, Maniangpajo Subdistrict, Wajo Regency have high psychological capital so that economic conditions in the family have the potential to increase. However, there is one informant who has a psychological capital problem, namely low self-efficacy so that economic conditions in the family have the potential to decline. Factors that are the reason for choosing entrepreneurship in addition to encouragement from parents is also one of the factors of low education levels and entrepreneurs are the backbone of the family who want to prosper the family.

Maximizing key biochemical products of Spirulina platensis: optimal light quantities and best harvesting time

Light management can optimize algal biomass and biochemical composition, but responses vary based on growth stage and harvesting time. A 22 factorial design along with 3 center point runs was used to investigate the effects of light intensity (50, 100, and 150 μmol photon m−2 s−1) and exposure time (10.5, 16, and 21.5 h) on lipid, protein, carbohydrate, and pigments content, density, and productivity of Spirulina platensis. By analyzing trends in cellular content, the time each key metabolite reached its maximum was chosen as its best harvesting time. Low factor levels during the mid-exponential phase resulted in the highest protein content, while high levels at the very early exponential phase showed the most carbohydrates. Low light intensity favored the accumulation of lipids, chlorophyll, and carotenoids at the end of exponential phase. The highest phycobiliproteins were obtained at intermediate factor levels during the late exponential phase. Harvesting at high levels of factors at the end of exponential phase led to the highest component density. The maximum productivities were observed at high factor levels. These findings emphasize the importance of carefully selecting the harvesting time in different light conditions to achieve the desired biochemical content, density, and productivity in Spirulina applications.

Investigating the Relationship between Endogenous Factor VIII Levels and Annual Bleed Rates and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Hemophilia a Not Treated with Factor VIII Prophylaxis

Background Haemophilia A (HA) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by excessive bleeding caused by dysfunctional or absent clotting factor VIII (FVIII). Levels of FVIII determine severity of HA; 5% to &amp;lt;40% of normal FVIII levels is classified as mild disease, 1-5% is moderate, and &amp;lt;1% is severe. Current standard of care for severe hemophilia A is prophylaxis, with FVIII replacement keeping levels above 3-5% to prevent bleeding episodes. Less severe patients, or patients who opt-out of prophylaxis, may be treated on-demand. In patients not on prophylaxis, factor levels (FLs) are considered endogenous. Aims The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between endogenous FLs and ABR; and FLs and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), in patients across all severities treated on-demand. Methods The analysis was conducted using the CHESS II dataset - a retrospective, cross-sectional study conducted in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and The United Kingdom [2018-19]. Physicians completed questionnaires about their patients, and patients completed HRQoL questionnaires. The inclusion criteria for this analysis was restricted to adult male patients without inhibitors or treated with prophylaxis. ABR was defined as the total number of bleeds recorded in the patient's medical records within the previous 12 months from patient enrolment. HRQoL was measured using the EQ5D-5L and valued using UK preference weights for comparison. Spearman's correlation was used to assess the relationships between FLs and both ABR and HRQoL. Regression models were used to estimate the relationships controlling for key covariates, including age, body mass index, and blood-borne viruses (HIV, Hepatitis B and C). Results A total of 403 patients from six countries (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Romania, and United Kingdom) were included. Patients with mild, moderate, or severe HA accounted for 30%, 33%, and 37% of the sample, respectively. The mean age was 37.2 years with mean BMI 24.5 kg/m 2. The mean baseline FLs of all patients in the sample was 7 IU/dL (SD, 10.2) overall and 8.1 IU/dL (SD, 11.3) for the subset with HRQoL data (N = 167). The mean ABR was 2.3 bleeds/year (SD, 2.64) and the mean HRQoL score (n = 167) was 0.777 (SD, 0.197). Correlation analyses identified statistically significant, non-linear relationships between FLs and ABR, and FLs and HRQoL. The model showed lower ABRs in patients with higher endogenous FLs (figure 1). The regression suggests that on average, for every 1% higher endogenous FLs, ABR is 3.9% [95%CI: 2.8, 5.0%] (0.09 units) lower. In other words, an increase in FLs of 11% is associated with a reduction in ABR of approximately 1 bleed per year (figure 1). For HRQoL and FLs, the regression analyses show higher HRQoL with higher FLs (figure 2). The model showed every 1% higher FLs was associated with 0.0054 [95%CI: 0.003, 0.008] points higher EQ5D scores on average; therefore, an increase in FLs of 13% could achieve a minimal clinically important difference in HRQoL. Given non-linearity of the relationship, larger gains in HRQoL may come from raising FLs in more severe patients. Conclusion The results of this study reflect the spectrum of patients with HA treated on-demand in Europe. Due to the selection of patients not treated with prophylaxis, some of whom may have lower bleeding phenotypes, bleed rates and HRQoL are likely underestimated. The analyses show patients with higher endogenous FLs may experience fewer bleeds and better HRQoL than patients with lower FLs. This relationship may be maintained when considering FLs during prophylactic treatment. Higher FLs are not only related to clinical benefits, but also humanistic outcomes.

Psychophysical measurement of perceived motion flow of naturalistic scenes

The neural and computational mechanisms underlying visual motion perception have been extensively investigated over several decades, but little attempt has been made to measure and analyze, how human observers perceive the map of motion vectors, or optical flow, in complex naturalistic scenes. Here, we developed a psychophysical method to assess human-perceived motion flows using local vector matching and a flash probe. The estimated perceived flow for naturalistic movies agreed with the physically correctflow (ground truth) at many points, but also showed consistent deviations from the ground truth (flow illusions) at other points. Comparisons with the predictions of various computational models, including cutting-edge computer vision algorithms and coordinate transformation models, indicated that some flow illusions are attributable to lower-level factors such as spatiotemporal pooling and signal loss, while others reflect higher-level computations, including vector decomposition. Our study demonstrates a promising data-driven psychophysical paradigm for an advanced understanding of visual motion perception.

AGILE ESTIMATIONS: EMPIRICAL STUDY USING WEIGHTED COMPLEXITY FACTORS

Software time and cost estimates are always challenging due to the quickly changing software process. Especially Agile project estimations are complex, and the story points differ from person to person. Due to the person-to-person variations, project managers have difficulty arriving at the project cost for development projects with different sizes or complexity of systems/software. This paper proposes a new estimation model named the WEighted COmplexity Factor Estimation (WECOFE) Model to reduce the complexities of Agile story point estimations. Weighted complexities factors identify Low, Moderate, and High Project Level Factors and Story Level Factors. For each level, multiple factors were defined. Derived Weighted complexity based on Project, Requirement, and Resource Level factors. Each story's point estimation is explained based on weighted complexity defined and assigned factors values. Conducted study on various industry projects, showing that the WECOFE approach is promising by observing the Magnitude of Relative Error (MRE) and Mean Magnitude of Relative Error (MMRE). Also, performed a t-test for one sprint project with 51 stories, and paired sample means are equal for WECOFE with actual story points spent by the team.

Lexical Processing Strongly Affects Reading Times But Not Skipping During Natural Reading.

In a typical text, readers look much longer at some words than at others, even skipping many altogether. Historically, researchers explained this variation via low-level visual or oculomotor factors, but today it is primarily explained via factors determining a word's lexical processing ease, such as how well word identity can be predicted from context or discerned from parafoveal preview. While the existence of these effects is well established in controlled experiments, the relative importance of prediction, preview and low-level factors in natural reading remains unclear. Here, we address this question in three large naturalistic reading corpora (n = 104, 1.5 million words), using deep neural networks and Bayesian ideal observers to model linguistic prediction and parafoveal preview from moment to moment in natural reading. Strikingly, neither prediction nor preview was important for explaining word skipping-the vast majority of explained variation was explained by a simple oculomotor model, using just fixation position and word length. For reading times, by contrast, we found strong but independent contributions of prediction and preview, with effect sizes matching those from controlled experiments. Together, these results challenge dominant models of eye movements in reading, and instead support alternative models that describe skipping (but not reading times) as largely autonomous from word identification, and mostly determined by low-level oculomotor information.

Composição centesimal, minerais, taninos, fitatos e qualidade de cozimento de cultivares comerciais de feijão-caupi

ABSTRACT Cowpea is a socioeconomically important legume in the Northeast region of Brazil, and the most grown and consumed type of bean, representing the main source of low-cost vegetable protein for rural and urban populations in this region. The objective of this work was to characterize the proximate composition, minerals, tannins, phytic acid, and cooking quality of whole grains of cowpea from the commercial cultivars BRS Aracê, BRS Inhuma, and BRS Xiquexique. Grain samples of the cultivars were ground in a zirconium ball mill and the flour was used for analysis. The proximate composition was carried out according to the AOAC methodology. The minerals were determined by nitro-perchloric digestion and reading in a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The anti-nutritional factors tannins and phytic acid were determined by extraction and reading in a spectrophotometer. Cooking quality was assessed using an electric pressure cooker and then a Mattson cooker. A completely randomized experimental design was used, with three treatments (cultivars) and three replications. The data were subjected to analysis of variance and the means were compared by the Tukey's test (p&lt;0.05). The cowpea cultivars showed significant differences (p&lt;0.05) for most characteristics evaluated and were similar in terms of ash, lipids, total dietary fiber, and most macrominerals. The results showed that grains of the cultivars BRS Aracê and BRS Xiquexique are excellent sources of dietary fiber, proteins, and minerals and present high cooking quality, while grains of the cultivar BRS Inhuma stood out regarding carbohydrates, soluble dietary fibers, total energetic value, and low levels of factors, anti-nutritional tannins and phytic acid.

Faces in scenes attract rapid saccades.

During natural vision, the human visual system has to process upcoming eye movements in parallel to currently fixated stimuli. Saccades targeting isolated faces are known to have lower latency and higher velocity, but it is unclear how this generalizes to the natural cycle of saccades and fixations during free-viewing of complex scenes. To which degree can the visual system process high-level features of extrafoveal stimuli when they are embedded in visual clutter and compete with concurrent foveal input? Here, we investigated how free-viewing dynamics vary as a function of an upcoming fixation target while controlling for various low-level factors. We found strong evidence that face- versus inanimate object-directed saccades are preceded by shorter fixations and have higher peak velocity. Interestingly, the boundary conditions for these two effects are dissociated. The effect on fixation duration was limited to face saccades, which were small and followed the trajectory of the preceding one, early in a trial. This is reminiscent of a recently proposed model of perisaccadic retinotopic shifts of attention. The effect on saccadic velocity, however, extended to very large saccades and increased with trial duration. These findings suggest that multiple, independent mechanisms interact to process high-level features of extrafoveal targets and modulate the dynamics of natural vision.

Coagulation biomarkers and coronavirus disease 2019 phenotyping: a prospective cohort study

BackgroundBecause severe acute respiratory syndrome coronarivus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) leads to severe conditions and thrombus formation, evaluation of the coagulation markers is important in determining the prognosis and phenotyping of patients with COVID-19.MethodsIn a prospective study that included 213 COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) the levels of antithrombin, C-reactive protein (CRP); factors XI, XII, XIII; prothrombin and D-dimer were measured. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to assess the pairwise correlations between the biomarkers. Hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analysis was performed using the levels of biomarkers to identify patients´ phenotypes. Multivariate binary regression was used to determine the association of the patient´s outcome with clinical variables and biomarker levels.ResultsThe levels of factors XI and XIII were significantly higher in patients with less severe COVID-19, while factor XIII and antithrombin levels were significantly associated with mortality. These coagulation biomarkers were associated with the in-hospital survival of COVID-19 patients over and above the core clinical factors on admission. Hierarchical cluster analysis showed a cluster between factor XIII and antithrombin, and this hierarchical cluster was extended to CRP in the next step. Furthermore, a non-hierarchical K-means cluster analysis was performed, and two phenotypes were identified based on the CRP and antithrombin levels independently of clinical variables and were associated with mortality.ConclusionCoagulation biomarkers were associated with in-hospital survival of COVID-19 patients. Lower levels of factors XI, XII and XIII and prothrombin were associated with disease severity, while higher levels of both CRP and antithrombin clustered with worse prognosis. These results suggest the role of coagulation abnormalities in the development of COVID-19 and open the perspective of identifying subgroups of patients who would benefit more from interventions focused on regulating coagulation.

Safety accident analysis of power transmission and substation projects based on association rule mining.

To achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of power transmission and substation project construction, statistical analysis was used to provide an outline of safety accidents, the 4M1E method was applied for sorting out and analyzing the risk factors, and the Apriori algorithm was carried out for exploring the intrinsic interaction among risk factors based on association rule mining. The results showed that the safety accidents that happen in the construction of power transmission and substation projects were not much frequent, but deadly; the process of foundation construction and high fall was the most accident-prone process and injury type respectively. In addition, human behaviors were the foremost factors leading to accidents, and there was a strong correlation among the risk factors of low project management level, lack of safety awareness, and poor risk identification ability. For improving the security situation, measures should be taken for controlling human factors, performing flexible management, and strengthening safety training. In further research, more detailed and diversified accident reports and case data should be analyzed, and more consideration should be put on the weighted risk factor analysis to obtain more comprehensive and objective safety accident analysis results for power transmission and substation projects. This study highlights the risks in power transmission and substation project construction and introduces a novel method for better analyzing the intrinsic interaction among risk factors, which provides theoretical support for related departments to conduct sustainable safety management.