Changes In Means Research Articles

Dynamics of language in social emergency: investigating COVID-19 hot words on Weibo

Drawing on word embeddings techniques and tracking the frequency and semantic change of hot words on Sina Weibo during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates how language and discourse change during crisis. More specifically, correlation tests were conducted between word frequency ranks, pandemic data, and word meaning change ratio. Results indicated that the frequency of some hot words changed with both pandemic data and the frequency of other hot words, which were significantly correlated with the American pandemic data rather than that of China. Moreover, February of 2020 saw the most distinctive semantic changes marked by a large part of the nearest neighbors for WAR metaphors. The correlations between changes in the frequency and nearest neighbors of COVID-19 related hot words exhibited some acceptable peculiarities. This study proves the availability of studying discourse through language change by observing minor semantic change on connotation level from social media, which adds a new perspective to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of personality and entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention, the personality traits that can affect entrepreneurial intention, and the traits that cause positive changes in entrepreneurial intention after the intervention of an entrepreneurship program. In order to measure the changes in entrepreneurial intention levels, two questionnaires (pretest-posttest group design) were used. Both questionnaires were completed by 202 business students, studying at a public university based in Athens, Greece. Our analysis indicates that the personality traits that affect entrepreneurial intention levels are openness, extraversion, and risk aversion. Using paired samples test we found an increase in entrepreneurial intention following the course attendance. Cluster analysis indicated that students with higher levels of extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and lower levels of risk aversion and neuroticism demonstrated statistically significant and higher means change in entrepreneurial intention levels (at the end of the entrepreneurship program). The literature examining the personality traits of individuals who benefit most from entrepreneurship education has been developing in recent years. However, the studies that refer to this topic are scant (Burch, Murphy, & Tocher, 2019; Israr, 2017). The findings of this paper emphasize the need for further investigation of the results in different contexts in order to validate them.

어휘 변화와 어휘사 연구 동향

In this paper, basic works were performed to systematically deal with the pattern of meaning changes in Korean vocabulary. First, several concepts for describing the change in lexical meanings were examined and our own views were presented. And ‘lexeme’, ‘meaning change’, and ‘meaning relationship’ were defined. Second, from the perspective of research methodology, existing studies on history of vocabulary were summarized and reviewed. Third, the distribution hypothesis-based research methodology(Word2vec), which recently began to be used in lexical research, was applied to studies of history of vocabulary. Through this, the significance and limitations of this research methodology could be examined.

Indications for rapid evolution of trait means and thermal plasticity in range-expanding populations of a butterfly.

Currently, poleward range expansions are observed in many taxa, often in response to anthropogenic climate change. At the expanding front, populations likely face cooler and more variable temperature conditions, imposing thermal selection. This may result in changes in trait means or plasticity, the relative contribution of which is not well understood. We, here, investigate evolutionary change in range-expanding populations of the butterfly Pieris mannii, by comparing populations from the core and the newly established northern range under laboratory conditions. We observed both changes in trait means and in thermal reaction norms. Range-expanding populations showed a more rapid development, potentially indicative of counter-gradient variation and an increased cold tolerance compared with core populations. Genotype-environment interactions prevailed in all associated traits, such that the above differences were restricted to cooler environmental conditions. In range-expanding populations, plasticity was decreased in developmental traits enabling relatively rapid growth even under cooler conditions but increased in cold tolerance arguably promoting higher activity under thermally challenging conditions. Notably, these changes must have occurred within a time period of ca. 10years only. Our results suggest, in line with contemporary theory, that the evolution of plasticity may play a hitherto underestimated role for adaptation to climatic variation. However, rather than generally increased or decreased levels of plasticity, our results indicate fine-tuned, trait-specific evolutionary responses to increase fitness in novel environments.

The Efficacy of Plant-Based Dietary Program in Patients with Diabetes: A Pilot Study

Dietary choices play a key role in insulin sensitivity among diabetes patients. An 8-week pilot study was conducted to evaluate whether a mostly plant-based dietary program will lead to improvement in biochemical markers in adults with diabetes. The dietary program included educational presentations, weekly cooking demonstrations and small group discussions. A sample of thirty-two adults with diabetes (types 1 and 2) were recruited and seventeen (53%) completed the study. Matched-pair tests and Fishers exact tests were used to compare the changes in means and proportion of the participants’ responses. There were changes in HbA1c, lipids, CRP (mg/L), cholesterol (mg/dL), HDL (mg/dL), triglycerides (mg/dL), LDL (mg/dL), non-HDL (mg/dL), Insulin (uIU/mL), AST (U/L), ALT (U/L), weight (lbs), systolic blood pressure (mmHg), diastolic (mmHg). The mean (std) age for the matched pair participant is 60.5 (11.35). Five type 1 and twelve type 2 diabetes patients showed a significant improvement in HbA1c (p = 0.001), weight (p = 0.002), intake of vegetables per day (p-value = 0.003), intake of plant-based protein (p-value < 0.001) and self-reported reduction in fatigue and improvement in energy levels. Our 8-week dietary program showed an improvement in biochemical markers and positive attitudes toward the adoption of plant-based diets.

Assessing the representative elementary volume of rock types by X-ray computed tomography (CT) – a simple approach to demonstrate the heterogeneity of the Boda Claystone Formation in Hungary

Abstract X-ray computed tomography (CT) can reveal internal, three-dimensional details of objects in a non-destructive way and provide high-resolution, quantitative data in the form of CT numbers. The sensitivity of the CT number to changes in material density means that it may be used to identify lithology changes within cores of sedimentary rocks. The present pilot study confirms the use of Representative Elementary Volume (REV) to quantify inhomogeneity of CT densities of rock constituents of the Boda Claystone Formation. Thirty-two layers, 2 m core length, of this formation were studied. Based on the dominant rock-forming constituent, two rock types could be defined, i.e., clayey siltstone (20 layers) and fine siltstone (12 layers). Eleven of these layers (clayey siltstone and fine siltstone) showed sedimentary features such as, convolute laminations, desiccation cracks, cross-laminations and cracks. The application of the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Averages, Statistical Process Control (ARIMA SPC) method to define Representative Elementary Volume (REV) of CT densities (Hounsfield unit values) affirmed the following results: i) the highest REV values corresponded to the presence of sedimentary structures or high ratios of siltstone constituents (> 60%). ii) the REV average of the clayey siltstone was (5.86 cm3) and (6.54 cm3) of the fine siltstone. iii) normalised REV percentages of the clayey siltstone and fine siltstone, on the scale of the core volume studied were 19.88% and 22.84%; respectively. iv) whenever the corresponding layer did not reveal any sedimentary structure, the normalised REV values would be below 10%. The internal void space in layers with sedimentary features might explain the marked textural heterogeneity and elevated REV values. The drying process of the core sample might also have played a significant role in increasing erroneous pore proportions by volume reducation of clay minerals, particularly within sedimentary structures, where authigenic clay and carbonate cement were presumed to be dominant.

Reduced emotion regulatory selection flexibility in post-traumatic stress disorder: converging performance-based evidence from two PTSD populations.

Contemporary views of emotion dysregulation in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) highlight reduced ability to flexibly select regulatory strategies according to differing situational demands. However, empirical evidence of reduced regulatory selection flexibility in PTSD is lacking. Multiple studies show that healthy individuals demonstrate regulatory selection flexibility manifested in selecting attentional disengagement regulatory strategies (e.g. distraction) in high-intensity emotional contexts and selecting engagement meaning change strategies (e.g. reappraisal) in low-intensity contexts. Accordingly, we hypothesized that PTSD populations will show reduced regulatory selection flexibility manifested in diminished increase in distraction (over reappraisal) preference as intensity increases from low to high intensity. Study 1 compared student participants with high (N = 22) post-traumatic symptoms (PTS, meeting the clinical cutoff for PTSD) and participants with low (N = 22) post-traumatic symptoms. Study 2 compared PTSD diagnosed women (N = 31) due to childhood sexual abuse and matched non-clinical women (N = 31). In both studies, participants completed a well-established regulatory selection flexibility performance-based paradigm that involves selecting between distraction and reappraisal to regulate negative emotional words of low and high intensity. Beyond demonstrating adequate psychometric properties, Study 1 confirmed that relative to the low PTS group, the high PTS group presented reduced regulatory selection flexibility (p = 0.01, ŋ²ₚ= 0.14). Study 2 critically extended findings of Study 1, in showing similar reduced regulatory selection flexibility in a diagnosed PTSD population, relative to a non-clinical population (p = 0.002, ŋ²ₚ= 0.114). Two studies provide converging evidence for reduced emotion regulatory selection flexibility in two PTSD populations.

Efficacy and safety of recombinant human erythropoietin (Hema-Plus®) for management of anemia in Thai patients on peritoneal dialysis.

BACKGROUNDHema-Plus, a recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) or epoetin alfa has shown effectiveness in correction of anemia in Thai population in clinical practice. This study was aimed to demonstrate efficacy and safety under the evidence-based approach.AIMTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of rHuEPO (Hema-Plus) for treatment of anemia over 12 wk in Thai patients with Stage V chronic kidney disease (CKD) on peritoneal dialysis (PD).METHODSThis study was an open-label, multi-center study to enroll 30 CKD patients identified to start PD with hemoglobin (Hb) less than 9.5 g/dL, serum ferritin more than 100 ng/mL, serum transferrin saturation more than or equal to 20% and who had not previously received epoetin. Patients with conditions that could increase the risk of adverse effects from study participation or interfere with study outcomes, were using concomitant androgens or had secondary hyperparathyroidism were excluded. All eligible patients started Hema-Plus by SC injection at 4000 IU once or twice weekly (week 0) and with follow-up at weeks 2, 4, 8, and 12. Dosage adjustment could be done to achieve Hb level of 11-12 g/dL. Primary end point was mean change in Hb level from baseline to end of treatment (week 12). Safety was assessed throughout the study. Quality of life (QoL) was assessed using KDQOL-36.RESULTSAll 30 enrolled patients completed the study. Mean (standard deviation) Hb at baseline (week 0) to the end of 12 wk was significantly increased from 7.39 (1.29) g/dL to 11.15 (1.73) g/dL (paired t-test, P value < 0.001). Overall change of Hb means from baseline over the other 4 visits was statistically significantly increased (repeated measure ANOVA, P value < 0.001). Ten out of 39 adverse events (AEs) were serious. Two serious AEs were probably related to study medication by investigators’ assessment. At week 12, the QoL scores in all domains were significantly increased from baseline. CONCLUSIONHema-Plus administered for 12 wk for treatment of anemia in patients on PD effectively increased Hb levels with acceptable safety profile.

Historical comparisons show evolutionary changes in drought responses in European plant species after two decades of climate change

Plants must continuously respond to environmental changes, and a timely question is whether and how populations respond to ongoing global warming and increased drought frequencies and intensities. Plants can either respond through migration or through phenotypic plasticity or their populations can adapt evolutionarily, which encompasses the evolution of trait means and of trait plasticity. One way to detect such evolutionary changes within plant populations is through historical comparisons where plants grown from seeds collected in the past (“ancestors”) are compared to freshly collected seeds from the same populations (“descendants”) in common garden experiments. We used 21- to 26-year-old seeds stored in seed banks for two multi-species experiments that investigated changes in phenotypic traits and their plasticity conferring drought tolerance in early life stages of European plant species. In the first experiment, we used seedlings of four Mediterranean species, ceased watering and recorded their day of mortality. In the second experiment, we studied phenotypic responses to drought in juvenile plants of nine species originating from temperate regions in Europe. In one of four species in the first experiment, descendants survived significantly longer without watering and were smaller than their ancestors. In the second experiment, descendant plants were generally taller under well-watered conditions but smaller under drought than their ancestors, thus showing stronger plasticity. Our historical comparisons suggest that some populations have likely evolved through changes in trait means and plasticity in ways consistent with adaptation to increased drought. Using seed bank material for historical comparisons has several weaknesses, such as unknown sampling protocols or invisible fractions. However, we show how accurately sampled and stored seed bank collections can be used similar to the resurrection approach for investigating rapid evolutionary processes in early life stages of plants under climate change.

Arthroplasty for weight-bearing shoulders

IntroductionRepeated transfers and wheelchair propulsion in patients with a neurological deficit of the lower limbs overloads the upper limbs mechanically, particularly the shoulders, which become weight-bearing. Under these conditions, arthroplasty implants are subjected to large stresses, even though this indication is controversial in such a context. We hypothesized that joint replacement in weight-bearing shoulders will relieve pain and improve range of motion, with a positive impact on function and autonomy, without increasing the complication rate relative to the able-bodied population. Materials and methodsThis retrospective study involved 13 implants in 11 patients (4 total shoulder arthroplasty, 4 hemi-arthroplasty and 3 reverse shoulder arthroplasty) who had a mean follow-up of 33.7 ± 27 months (12-85 months). The clinical assessment included active and passive range of motion, pain, Constant score, and the Wheelchair User's Shoulder Pain Index (WUSPI). Radiographs were evaluated to look for signs of loosening and scapular notching. The patients’ autonomy was evaluated through the number of transfers, means of locomotion (manual or electric wheelchair) and the functional independence measure (FIM). Two subgroups were defined based on the initial pathology: neurological shoulder or functional shoulder. ResultsThe 11 patients had a mean age of 64±19 years (23-85 years) and were all long-term wheelchair users (electrical or mechanical). The pain level on VAS decreased from 8±3 preoperatively to 4±2 postoperatively (p=0.003). The mean Constant score increased 90% from 22±11 preoperatively to 42±23 postoperatively (p=0.008). The WUSPI score decreased by 73% from 80±30 to 21±15 (p=0.001). The range of motion improved in the subgroup of patients with functional shoulders but not in the subgroup of patients with neurological shoulders. The means of locomotion was altered in five patients (63%) by the acquisition of an electric wheelchair, but with no significant change in the number of daily transfers. There were no radiographic signs of implant loosening at the final assessment. Two implants had to be revised: one anatomical prosthesis was converted to a reverse configuration because of a secondary rotator cuff rupture; one case of early infection required a two-stage implant change. DiscussionJoint replacement in weight-bearing shoulders is an effective medium-term solution for cuff tear arthropathy and glenohumeral OA, mainly for addressing pain, with slight improvements in range of motion, depending on the initial pathology. This intervention requires lifestyle adaptations such as changes in daily transfer practices and means of locomotion. Level of evidenceIV, retrospective study.

DUKweb, diachronic word representations from the UK Web Archive corpus

Lexical semantic change (detecting shifts in the meaning and usage of words) is an important task for social and cultural studies as well as for Natural Language Processing applications. Diachronic word embeddings (time-sensitive vector representations of words that preserve their meaning) have become the standard resource for this task. However, given the significant computational resources needed for their generation, very few resources exist that make diachronic word embeddings available to the scientific community. In this paper we present DUKweb, a set of large-scale resources designed for the diachronic analysis of contemporary English. DUKweb was created from the JISC UK Web Domain Dataset (1996–2013), a very large archive which collects resources from the Internet Archive that were hosted on domains ending in ‘.uk’. DUKweb consists of a series word co-occurrence matrices and two types of word embeddings for each year in the JISC UK Web Domain dataset. We show the reuse potential of DUKweb and its quality standards via a case study on word meaning change detection.

How Many Trials are Needed to Assess Ankle Joint Proprioception in Children with Chronic Ankle Instability?

The assessment of ankle joint repositioning is commonly used to detect joint impairment in people with chronic ankle instability (CAI). To decrease measurement fluctuation errors, it has been suggested that an average of 10 measurements be utilized. However, learning and tiredness difficulties, particularly in children, might make this difficult. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the repeatability of 3 and 10 measures of ankle joint repositioning using an isokinetic dynamometer (Biodex) in children with CAI. Ten children with CAI with an average age of 11.21 years were recruited in the study. The ankle inversion and eversion angles for 3 and 10 trials using active and passive reproduction protocols were recorded using Biodex Multi-Joint System 4TM. The error of reproduction angle was presented by the mean, correlation, and percentage changes for both active and passive reposition angles. The means of the error for ankle joint reproduction angles revealed no significant differences between 3 and 10 trials for both active and passive protocols (p &gt; 0.05). The ICC(3,1) revealed high correlations between 3 and 10 trials of assessments (ICC(3,1) = 0.82 - 0.91). The percentage changes of means and standard deviations showed learning effect of ankle joint proprioception measurement after the 4th and the 5th trials for inversion and eversion, respectively. Therefore, to prevent learning and fatigue effects, a 3-trial protocol would be more appropriate than a 10-trial protocol. However, a 4-trial protocol and a 5-trial protocol were suggested for inversion and eversion, respectively. The suggested protocols are recommended to use for further reliability studies of the ankle joint proprioception in children with CAI. HIGHLIGHTS Ankle joint reproduction assessments using active and passive protocols are needed to identify the impairment of joint position sense in children with chronic ankle instability To prevent fatigue effect, 3 trials are sufficient for testing of ankle joint position sense in children with chronic ankle instability In research setting, a 4-trial protocol for ankle joint inversion and a 5-trial protocol for ankle joint eversion are more appropriate than a 10-trial protocol

의미 변화의 양적 추정 - 말뭉치를 이용한 의미 변화 연구 -

This study introduces methods that can objectively and scientifically capture and describe changes in meaning using corpus data through studies applying statistical methods that have been conducted recently. For statistical inference on the change in meaning, historically recorded data must be quantified and used through a specific calculation method. A representative method of numerically analyzing language data is to use the Semantic Vector Space(SVM), which is also commonly used in the language data analysis method that has been very active in recent years. Recently, a great progress has been made in capturing and explaining semantic changes using these methods. Quantitative estimation of semantic change using computational statistics is based on frequency-based, similarity-based, and network-based methods depending on the representation of meaning can be divided into. The difference between the use of meaning in the present and the use of meaning in the past can be confirmed by comparing the context similarity of the text. If there is a large change in usage compared to the present, the context similarity will be lower, and if there is no change, the context similarity will be high. In order to grasp a detailed and specific change in meaning, a method of comparing a list of key expressions or words that well reveals the meaning of the context can be used by calculating the similarity between expressions or words in the corpus by period. Meaning expansion and reduction, which are representative results of meaning change, can be grasped by measuring the change in the scope of use, and the rise and fall of meaning can be grasped through sentiment analysis. By statistically analyzing the historical corpus in this way, it is possible to statistically grasp the historical changes in the meaning of the Korean language, and suggest implications on how to identify and analyze the change in language meaning.

Bone Quality and Fractures in Women With Osteoporosis Treated With Bisphosphonates for 1 to 14 Years.

ABSTRACTOral bisphosphonates are the primary medication for osteoporosis, but concerns exist regarding potential bone‐quality changes or low‐energy fractures. This cross‐sectional study used artificial intelligence methods to analyze relationships among bisphosphonate treatment duration, a wide variety of bone‐quality parameters, and low‐energy fractures. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and histomorphometry quantified bone‐quality parameters in 67 osteoporotic women treated with oral bisphosphonates for 1 to 14 years. Artificial intelligence methods established two models relating bisphosphonate treatment duration to bone‐quality changes and to low‐energy clinical fractures. The model relating bisphosphonate treatment duration to bone quality demonstrated optimal performance when treatment durations of 1 to 8 years were separated from treatment durations of 9 to 14 years. This may be due to a change in relationship of bone‐quality parameters with treatment duration. This model also showed that the effects of bisphosphonate treatment duration were most highly correlated with changes in means and standard deviations of infrared spectroscopically derived mineral and matrix parameters and histomorphometric bone turnover parameters. A second model related treatment duration to bone fracture in all 22 patients who fractured while on treatment with bisphosphonates for more than 8 years. This second model showed that bisphosphonate treatment duration, not hip bone mineral density (BMD), was the most strongly correlated parameter to these low‐energy bone fractures. Application of artificial intelligence enabled analysis of large quantities of structural, cellular, mineral, and matrix bone‐quality parameters to determine relationships with long‐term oral bisphosphonate treatment and fracture. Infrared spectroscopy provides clinically relevant bone‐quality information of which bone mineral purity is among the most relevant. Nine or more years of bisphosphonate treatment was associated with abnormal bone mineral purity, matrix abnormalities, and low‐energy fractures. These data justify limiting bisphosphonate treatment duration to 8 years. © 2021 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

“Crossing the Sea under Camouflage”: Class Action and Investor Research

For a long time, China’s capital market has failed to establish a mature mechanism to coordinate the contradiction between the company and the small and medium-sized shareholders. Because the illegal income of listed companies far exceeds the illegal cost, the interests of small and medium-sized shareholders are constantly infringed. The situation that small and medium-sized investors are difficult to form a group and safeguard their rights has not been solved. The promulgation of the new “Securities Law” in 2020 further improves the representative litigation system, establishes the litigation principle of “implied entry and express exit”, increases the punishment for illegal listed companies, and strengthens the protection for investors. What needs to be explored is whether the promulgation of the new “Securities Law” has really increased the illegal cost of listed companies, what ways listed companies will adopt to manage investor relations, and how investors will be affected. Taking 36357 lawsuits, 1639 securities violations and 2341 A-share listed companies involved in lawsuits from 2001 to 2020 as research samples, this paper uses the event study method and the DID model to investigate the influence of the “representative litigation system” on the trial of class action cases, market reaction and company investor relationship management. Then, this paper discusses the impact of company violations and class action lawsuits on long-term and short-term corporate performance, and analyzes the mechanism of the impact on corporate performance from the perspective of investor sentiment.It is found that after the implementation of the new “Securities Law”, the trial time of class action cases is shorter, the probability of losing the lawsuit is higher, and the actual compensation accounts for a larger proportion of the amount of the lawsuit; compared with individual lawsuits, the market reaction of class actions is worse on the day of litigation announcement; once involved in a class action lawsuit, in order to hedge the negative impact of litigation, the company is more inclined to “hide” information in investor research, and investors obtain significantly less information about the company’s characteristics. Further mechanism analysis shows that although the company’s concealment behavior can produce the effect of “stabilizing” investor sentiment, thus playing a “masking effect” on the negative impact of class action on the company’s long-term and short-term performance, the company involved in the lawsuit cannot really “crossing the sea under camouflage”. Compared with the companies that violate the rules but have not been sued by the collective, after the promulgation of the new “Securities Law”, the short-term performance and long-term value of the companies that violate the rules and have been sued collectively are worse than before. After controlling endogeneity and conducing sensitivity analysis, the above conclusions are still valid.Due to the inherent imperfection of law, tort litigation and contract litigation, which are two means of private enforcement, are costly and unpredictable, and are not enough to prevent securities fraud. The introduction of public enforcement into the new “Securities Law” can effectively reduce the operation cost of the capital market; at the same time, the new “Securities Law” strengthens the relevant liability rules of information disclosure and investor recovery, promotes private enforcement, and thus promotes the development of the capital market. Based on the quasi-natural experiment of strengthening public enforcement in the new “Securities Law”, this paper provides empirical evidence for the above theory. The conclusion of this paper enriches the research on the motives, behaviors and corresponding economic consequences of corporate illegality in the capital market. It provides a reference for small and medium-sized investors to protect their legitimate rights and interests through the law and for companies to manage investor relations. It also provides inspiration for the realization of the change and innovation of legal means of securities order and the promotion of high-quality economic development.

Integrating video tracking and GPS to quantify accelerations and decelerations in elite soccer

The aim of this study was to analyze the degree of agreement comparing number and distance covered in different acceleration and deceleration sections registered by a video tracking system (MEDIACOACH) and a GPS device (WIMU PRO) during official competition. Data from a Spanish professional club were registered over the course of a season. First, the descriptive statistics presented more bursts of accelerations and decelerations in WIMU PRO than in MEDIACOACH, whereas the distances covered recorded by both systems were similar. Second, negative relationships were found (i.e., negative bias) comparing WIMU PRO to MEDIACOACH in the number of accelerations and decelerations between 0/1 m/s2 and ½ m/s2 (p < 0.05), and in the distances covered in accelerations and decelerations (p < 0.05) between 0/1 m/s2 and in accelerations and decelerations registered between 2/3 m/s2 and more than 3 m/s2. Moreover, the differences in means (i.e., standardized mean bias) across the two devices were trivial (> 0.19) and small (0.2–0.59) for most variables. The standardized typical errors in the estimate (TEE) were moderate (0.3–0.59) and small to moderate (0.1–0.29 to 0.3–0.59), respectively. Also, the Intra class Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) for agreement and consistency between systems showed good and excellent values (> 0.90). The magnitude of change in means (%) between systems, defined as the percentage change between the numbers or values, was below 14% and 7% for number and distances covered, respectively. All scores in the smallest worthwhile change were lower than 9% and in the coefficients of variation were lower than 95% and 15%, respectively. Thus, both systems demonstrated an acceptable degree of agreement and could be useful in analyzing players’ acceleration demands in professional soccer. However, caution is required when interpreting the results and a comparison with a gold standard is required in order to validate both systems.

Psychotherapeutic intervention in the modality of emotional support network with family members of cancer patients as part of the service of a hospital oncology center

The main objective of this research – intervention is focused on promoting the description and characterization of a network of emotional support as a psychotherapeutic model at a cancer hospital setting, led to the relatives of those who are experiencing the phenomenon of cancer.&#x0D; To carry out the work, use was made of the constructionist approach systemic - constructivist, which allowed not only the construction of interactional contexts with the people involved, but also the generation of an experiential and symbolic process of research on the phenomenon. From there, they facilitated understanding, hermeneutics from the perspective the way in which people who had experienced the phenomenon of cancer, senses and social meanings built, family and therapeutic about the different actions in the cancer experience.&#x0D; The research - intervention, took in to consideration the look narrative is based on different epistemological and paradigmatic early systemic perspective. It was conducted at the Hospital of San Ignacio, taking in to account the parameters of research that establishes the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana through the Masters in clinical psychology with systemic approach.&#x0D; Seven conversational narrative scenarios as a support network in which fourteen people, relatives of terminally ill patients and were related Javeriano Cancer Center participated were conducted.&#x0D; Qualitative research and study methodology, from which an experiential, subjective and contextual analysis of the experiences of each person is allowed intervention was used,&#x0D; - to carry out the investigation process. From there, the being able to pick up the different versions of the way in which people lived and meant the phenomenon of cancer, made possible the construction and reconstruction of identity processes of each of the participants, including investigating - intervening in where the therapeutic conversational scenarios, became a process of co-construction of realities and identities.&#x0D; As results evidenced how different family systems able to configure a world of meanings and directions about faith, spirituality and family unity as resilient resources in building worlds from the experience hopeful about cancer phenomenon, taking in to account the organization and reorganization of family dynamics to face a critical moment of life as is the terminal disease one of its members, resulting in drastic changes of meanings, interactions, feelings and painful feelings in the way of a process Hospital.

Effect of canagliflozin on N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic heart failure according to baseline use of glucose-lowering agents

BackgroundSodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors reduce the risk of a deterioration in heart failure (HF) and mortality in patients with a broad range of cardiovascular risks. Recent guidelines recommend considering the use of SGLT2 inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and HF, irrespective of their glycemic control status and background use of other glucose-lowering agents including metformin. However, only a small number of studies have investigated whether the effects of SGLT2 inhibitor in these patients differ by the concomitant use of other glucose-lowering agents.MethodsThis was a post-hoc analysis of the CANDLE trial (UMIN000017669), an investigator-initiated, multicenter, open-label, randomized, controlled trial. The primary aim of the analysis was to assess the effect of 24 weeks of treatment with canagliflozin, relative to glimepiride, on N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentration in patients with T2D and clinically stable chronic HF. In the present analysis, the effect of canagliflozin on NT-proBNP concentration was assessed in the patients according to their baseline use of other glucose-lowering agents.ResultsAlmost all patients in the CANDLE trial presented as clinically stable (New York Heart Association class I to II), with about 70% of participants having HF with a preserved ejection fraction phenotype (defined as a left ventricular ejection fraction ≥ 50%) at baseline. Of the 233 patients randomized to either canagliflozin (100 mg daily) or glimepiride (starting dose 0.5 mg daily), 85 (36.5%) had not been taking any glucose-lowering agents at baseline (naïve). Of the 148 patients who had been taking at least one glucose-lowering agent at baseline (non-naïve), 44 (29.7%) and 127 (85.8%) had received metformin or a dipeptidyl dipeptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor, respectively. The group ratio (canagliflozin vs. glimepiride) of proportional changes in the geometric means of NT-proBNP concentration was 0.95 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.76 to 1.18, p = 0.618) for the naïve subgroup, 0.92 (95% CI 0.79 to1.07, p = 0.288) for the non-naïve subgroup, 0.90 (95% CI 0.68 to 1.20, p = 0.473) for the metformin-user subgroup, and 0.91 (95% CI 0.77 to 1.08, p = 0.271) for the DPP-4 inhibitor-user subgroup. No heterogeneity in the effect of canagliflozin, relative to glimepiride, on NT-proBNP concentration was observed in the non-naïve subgroups compared to that in the naïve subgroup.ConclusionThe impact of canagliflozin treatment on NT-proBNP concentration appears to be independent of the background use of diabetes therapy in the patient population examined.Trial registration University Medical Information Network Clinical Trial Registry, number 000017669. Registered on May 25, 2015

Effect of Online Health Protective Guidelines to Qualify Adult People to Return after Pandemic Curfew of Covid-19

Background: The corona virus pandemic is causing large magnitude loss of life and severe human distress worldwide. It is the biggest public health emergency in living memory. Aim: The study aims to evaluate the effect of implementing online health-protective guidelines to qualify adult people to return after the pandemic curfew of Covid-19. Design: A quasi-experimental design was utilized. Setting: The data collected through an electronic questionnaire using google forms to design then using google drive link to distribute it through using social media. Subjects: A convenient sample includes available adult members within 6 months. Tools: An electronic self- administered questionnaire was designed by the researchers, it included three parts: Part I. Adult member’s socio-demographic characteristics. Part II. Knowledge involves study member's knowledge about Covid-19. Part III. Reported practices. Results: illuminates that there were noticeable changes of means ± SD in all tested items of knowledge before and after implementing online health-protective guidelines, with highly statistically significant differences were observed (P >0.000). Also, there was a radical satisfactory improvement among the majority of studied members’ total score of reported practices as well there were highly statistically significant improvements were observed in the studied members’ mean scores in most of all tested items of reported practice (P >0.000). There was a statistically significant strong relation between total scores of pre-and post-knowledge & reported practices of online health-protective guidelines with their sociodemographic characteristics (p > 0.001). Conclusion: Online health-protective guidelines achieved their aim as well as a significant improvement of the studied members’ means scores of COVID-19 knowledge and protective reported practices after implementation of online health- protective guidelines about pandemic COVID-19. Recommendations: Development of online health-protective guidelines targeting vulnerable population as pregnant, elderly people and school- age students. As well delivering regular and accurate information updates on the COVID-19 healthy protective guidelines is needed.

Translation Alternatives of Indonesian Public Signs

Public signs written in two languages are found everywhere in public places in Bali. Appropriate translations of the public signs could help foreigners get information and they also could reflect good image of the places. To be able to create better image of the place, deep investigation on the translations of public signs is needed. This study examined the translations of public signs from Indonesian into English found in Bali. Deploying the concept of translation equivalence by House (2015) and translation strategies by Malone (1988), this study focused on target text alternatives when a certain strategy was applied in translating public signs from Indonesian into English. The data were collected in two regions in Bali, i.e. Denpasar city and Badung regency. This research revealed that the Indonesian public signs were translated by applying strategies of substitution, amplification, reduction, condensation, and re-ordering. The strategies resulted in some translation alternatives. In some cases, the alternatives induced by the translation strategies applied involved the changes of pragmatic and textual meanings. However, they are semantically equivalent.