Preference Behavior Research Articles

Oxytocin protective effects on zebrafish larvae models of autism-like spectrum disorder.

Autism is a complicated neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social interaction deficiencies, hyperactivity, anxiety, communication disorders, and a limited range of interests. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a social vertebrate used as a biomedical research model to understand social behavior mechanisms. After spawning, the eggs were exposed to sodium valproate for 48 hr, after which the eggs were divided into eight groups. Except for the positive and control groups, there were six treatment groups based on oxytocin concentration (25, 50, and 100 μM) and time point (24 and 48 hr). Treatment was performed on days 6 and 7, examined by labeling oxytocin with fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate (FITC) and imaging with confocal microscopy and the expression levels of potential genes associated with the qPCR technique. Behavioral studies, including light-dark background preference test, shoaling behavior, mirror test, and social preference, were performed on 10, 11, 12, and 13 days post fertilization (dpf), respectively. The results showed that the most significant effect of oxytocin was at the concentration of 50 μM and the time point of 48 hr. Increased expression of shank3a, shank3b, and oxytocin receptor genes was also significant at this oxytocin concentration. Light-dark background preference results showed that oxytocin in the concentration of 50 µM significantly increased the number of crosses between dark and light areas compared with valproic acid (positive group). Also, oxytocin showed an increase in the frequency and time of contact between the two larvae. We showed a decrease in the distance in the larval group and an increase in time spent at a distance of one centimeter from the mirror. Our findings showed that the increased gene expression of shank3a, shank3b, and oxytocin receptors improved autistic behavior. Based on this study some indications showed that oxytocin administration in the larval stage could significantly improve the autism-like spectrum.

Effects of urban waterfront park landscape elements on visual behavior and public preference: Evidence from eye-tracking experiments

High-quality urban blue-green spaces are essential to enhance the well-being of residents. Public preferences in urban landscapes are closely related to visual behavior and can meet human needs. By combining objective eye-movement data with subjective evaluation data, public preferences for blue-green typical spatial waterfront parks were analyzed based on visual behavior. Taking Wuhan, a megacity in China, as an example, four types of landscapes were identified: waterscape, plantscape, hardscape, and integrated landscape. Using visual clustering to identify eye movement indicators, we analyzed the influence of element types, proportions and combinations on public preferences based on visual behavior differences related to landscape elements. The results indicated that: (1) visual behaviors differ among elements and preferences, arbor commands overall attention, and pavilion is the element attended to first. (2) The positive correlation between water and fatigue recovery increased by 0.163 after combination with reflection, while the correlation between arbor and fatigue recovery changed from 0.353 (p < 0.01) to − 0.251 (p < 0.01) after combination with shrub and grass. (3) Plantscape and waterscape were rated as more natural, intimate, and restorative, but the most element-rich integrated landscape had the highest beauty ratings. Hardscape had significantly lower ratings but were generally considered to be fully utilized spaces. (4) The most significant visual behavior factor affecting evaluations was fixation duration, and the most critical landscape elements were arbor and pavilion. This study reveals differences in people's visual perceptions and preferences for waterfront parks through eye-movement experiments, and could lead to more judicious landscape element selections and park space compositions.

Learning Shared Representations for Recommendation with Dynamic Heterogeneous Graph Convolutional Networks

Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) have been widely used for collaborative filtering, due to their effectiveness in exploiting high-order collaborative signals. However, two issues have not been well addressed by existing studies. First, usually only one kind of information is utilized, i.e., user preference in user-item graphs or item dependency in item-item graphs. Second, they usually adopt static graphs, which cannot retain the temporal evolution of the information. These can limit the recommendation quality. To address these limitations, we propose to mine three kinds of information (user preference, item dependency, and user behavior similarity) and their temporal evolution by constructing multiple discrete dynamic heterogeneous graphs (i.e., a user-item dynamic graph, an item-item dynamic graph, and a user-subseq dynamic graph) from interaction data. A novel network (PDGCN) is proposed to learn the representations of users and items in these dynamic graphs. Moreover, we designed a structural neighbor aggregation module with novel pooling and convolution operations to aggregate the features of structural neighbors. We also design a temporal neighbor aggregation module based on self-attention mechanism to aggregate the features of temporal neighbors. We conduct extensive experiments on four real-world datasets. The results indicate that our approach outperforms several competing methods in terms of Hit Ratio (HR) and Normalized Discounted Cumulative Gain (NDCG). Dynamic graphs are also shown to be effective in improving recommendation performance.

Effects of a variable light intensity lighting program on the welfare and performance of commercial broiler chickens.

Our previous variable-light intensity lighting program studies indicate the light intensity preference behavior of broilers for their daily activity including eating and resting. To evaluate the effects of variable-light intensity lighting program on performance and welfare of broilers, four commercial trials were conducted for looking at behaviors, mortality, leg-health, performance, and brain welfare indicator genes including tryptophan hydroxylase 2 and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), glucocorticoid receptor (GR), brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), and melanopsin (Opn4) gene expression. One-day-old broilers were housed in four commercial broiler houses. Each quadrant (section) of the house was placed with 4,800 chicks. A total of four lighting programs began on day 7 with 5 lux (lx), 20 lx, natural light (NL, 480 lx), and variable light (2-5/40 lx) using LED lights on a 16L:8D photoperiod. In the variable-light house, the number of dustbathing holes was significantly higher than that in natural-light houses and 5-lx and 20-lx houses. Daily physical activities, footpad condition, fear response to novel objects, body weight, feed conversion ratio, and the number of leg-problem induced culled birds were affected by the variable-light intensity lighting program. Expression of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 in the DRN and VTA of variable-light treated birds was lower than that of 5-lx- and 20-lx-treated birds on day 42 (p < 0.05). Higher expression of VTA-TH in 5-lx-treated birds than that in 20-lx-, NL-, and variable-light-treated birds suggests the high stress-susceptibility of 5-lx treated birds. Lower VTA-GR expression in 20-lx- and variable-light-treated birds indicates lower stress than that in NL- and 5-lx-treated birds (p < 0.05). The VTA-BDNF expression of NL-treated birds was 2.5 fold higher than that of 5-lx-, 20-lx-, and variable-light-treated birds (p < 0.05), and variable-light-treated birds showed the lowest level of BDNF expression (p < 0.05), suggesting the chronic social defeat stress in NL-treated birds. The result of VTA-Opn4 expression on day 42 suggests the possible role of VTA-Opn4 in broiler welfare through central light perception. Taken together, the variable-light intensity lighting program increased volunteer natural behaviors and physical activity, which may improve footpad condition and leg health of birds, consequently. Performance data including the increased daily weight gain and the lowered feed conversion ratio and results of brain welfare indicator gene expression showed the beneficial effect of the variable-light intensity lighting program on the performance and welfare of commercial broilers.

Dysfunction of Prkcaa Links Social Behavior Defects with Disturbed Circadian Rhythm in Zebrafish.

Protein kinase Cα (PKCα/PRKCA) is a crucial regulator of circadian rhythm and is associated with human mental illnesses such as autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. However, the roles of PRKCA in modulating animal social behavior and the underlying mechanisms remain to be explored. Here we report the generation and characterization of prkcaa-deficient zebrafish (Danio rerio). The results of behavioral tests indicate that a deficiency in Prkcaa led to anxiety-like behavior and impaired social preference in zebrafish. RNA-sequencing analyses revealed the significant effects of the prkcaa mutation on the expression of the morning-preferring circadian genes. The representatives are the immediate early genes, including egr2a, egr4, fosaa, fosab and npas4a. The downregulation of these genes at night was attenuated by Prkcaa dysfunction. Consistently, the mutants demonstrated reversed day-night locomotor rhythm, which are more active at night than in the morning. Our data show the roles of PRKCA in regulating animal social interactions and link the social behavior defects with a disturbed circadian rhythm.

Highly Conducting Poly(arylene-imidazolium) Anion Exchange Membranes Containing Thin-Span Channels Constructed by Cation–Dipole Interaction

The membrane-based alkaline electrolyzer and fuel cell system has a significant drawback because it uses a concentrated, corrosive alkaline electrolyte. The anion exchange membranes (AEMs) also have lower conductivity than proton exchange membranes (PEMs) because OH– ions have a lower penetration coefficient. In this study, intending to prepare AEMs with high ionic conductivity in low concentrations of alkaline solution, two imidazolium diol monomers have been synthesized as unique candidates for the synthesis of stable anion exchange polymers. Then a strategy for designing AEMs with ion-conducting channels using a strong cation-dipole interaction between imidazolium cations and polar poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) (PAIm1/PVP blend membrane and Cross-PAIm1-PVP membrane) was reported. At 25 °C, the PAIm1/PVP blend and Cross-PAIm1-PVP membrane have ionic conductivities of 77.1, 104.9 mS cm–1 in water (Cl– form), and 315, 356.1 mS cm–1 in KOH 0.2 M, respectively. Also, a semicrystalline poly(arylene-imidazolium)2 (PAIm2) was synthesized and blended with PVP to increase the ions’ orientation for boosted ion conductivity. The ionic conductivity of the PAIm2/PVP blend membrane is 25.9 mS cm–1 in water (Cl– form) and 86.1 mS cm–1 in KOH 0.2 M at 25 °C. In addition, the prepared membranes in direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) show preferable behavior in single-cell performance, with a peak power density (Pmax) of 17.7, 11.1, and 9.1 mW cm–2 at 30 °C for PAIm1/PVP, PAIm2/PVP, and Cross-PAIm1-PVP membranes, respectively. The results demonstrate that the prepared AEMs can use in electrolyzers and fuel cells.

Influence of behavioral adoption preference based on heterogeneous population on multiple weighted networks

The study of behavioral propagation is taken more into account intimate heterogeneity on social networks. Meanwhile, with the development of information technology, people present a multiplicity of social ways, i.e., individuals normally receive or spread information on different social networks. More importantly, the behavioral preference of heterogenous population lacks in-depth research on the information propagation. Firstly, a multi-layer network with edge weighted distribution is considered. Then, we build a trapezoid-like and a triangle-like probability functions to represent individual continuous fashion trend (ICFT) and individual fashion passion trend (IFPT) behaviors separately, defining the adoption behavior preference of different population. Furthermore, a generalized edge-based compartmental theory including edge weight, ICFT and IFPT thresholds is proposed to reveal the behavioral preference. Through simulated experiments, decreasing the proportion of sensitive individuals can raise a hybrid phase transition, in which the final adoption size first increases continuously at the first critical value, and then increases discontinuously at the second critical value. Moreover, when the proportion of sensitive individuals is fixed, the strong adoption capacity of individuals can induce a discontinuous phase transition. Contrarily, the weak adoption capacity of individuals can induce a continuous phase transition. Finally, the edge weight and degree heterogeneity can alter the behavioral propagation on social networks.

Reserpine and PCPA reduce heat tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster is a model organism to study molecular mechanisms and the role of the genes and proteins involved in thermal nociception. Monoamines (i.e. dopamine) have been involved in temperature preference behavior in D. melanogaster. Therefore, we investigated whether the monoamines, particularly dopamine and serotonin, participate in the response to thermal nociceptive stimuli in D. melanogaster. Flies were treated with reserpine (an inhibitor of vesicular monoamines transporter, 3–300 μM), 3-Iodo-L-tyrosine (3-I-T, an inhibitor of tyrosine hydroxylase, 16.28–65.13 mM), and para-Chloro-DL-phenylalanine (PCPA, an inhibitor of tryptophan hydroxylase, 20–80 mM); then, the flies were subjected to tests of thermal tolerance and avoidance of noxious heat. Climbing behavior was used as a test to evaluate locomotor activity. Reserpine reduces the thermal tolerance profile of the D. melanogaster, as well as the avoidance of noxious heat and locomotor activity depending on the concentration. PCPA, but not 3-I-T, decreased heat tolerance and avoidance of noxious heat. These data suggest that monoamines, particularly serotonin, are associated with the impaired avoidance of noxious heat which could be related to the reduction of heat tolerance in D. melanogaster.

Energy Trading Strategy of Distributed Energy Resources Aggregator in Day-Ahead Market Considering Risk Preference Behaviors

Distributed energy resources aggregators (DERAs) are permitted to participate in regional wholesale markets in many counties. At present, new market players such as aggregators participate in China’s power market transactions. However, studies related to market trading strategy have mostly focused on centralized wind power and PV generation units. Few studies have been conducted on the decision-making strategies for DERAs in China’s power market. This paper proposes an auxiliary decision-making model for distributed energy systems to participate in the day-ahead market with more reasonable trading strategies. Firstly, the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is used to deal with the uncertainties of wind power and photovoltaic (PV) output in the distributed energy system. Secondly, the information gap decision theory (IGDT) is used to deal with the uncertainty of price fluctuations in the spot electricity market. Thirdly, according to the different risk preferences of the DERAs facing market price fluctuation, the robust decision model and opportunity decision-making model in the day-ahead market are constructed, respectively. Finally, to deal with the irrational behavior of the DERAs’ perception of “gain” and “loss” with market risks in China’s two-tier market environment, the prospect theory and the marine predator’s algorithm (MPA) are employed to obtain a day-ahead trading decision scheme for DERA. The analyses show that RDES with robust preference can withstand greater price volatility in the day-ahead market; they will reduce the bidding expectations and increase the system operating cost to improve the achievability of the expected revenue. However, DERAs under the opportunity strategy is more inclined to sell electricity to the market and offset system operating costs with revenue. The proposed model can provide strategic reference for DERAs with different risk preferences to bid in day-ahead market and can improve the level of aggregators’ participation in electricity trading.

Matrix metalloproteinase-9 overexpression in the hippocampus reduces alcohol-induced conditioned-place preference by regulating synaptic plasticity in mice

Extracellular matrix proteins appear to be necessary for the synaptic plasticity that underlies addiction memory. In the brain, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), especially matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), have been recently implicated in processes involving alcohol reward and memory. Here, we showed for the first time, the positive effects of MMP-9 on alcohol-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) behavior and hippocampal neuron plasticity in C57BL/6 mice. Using recombinant adeno-associated viruses to overexpress MMP-9 in the hippocampus, we investigated the NMDAR, PSD-95, and cellular cytoskeleton proteins F-actin/G-actin in the modulation of alcohol reward behavior in mice exposed to CPP. We found that hippocampal infusions of MMP-9 decreased alcohol-induced place preference suggesting a reduction in alcohol reward. Western blot analysis demonstrated that protein expression of NMDA receptors (GluN1, GluN2A and GluN2B) in the hippocampus of alcohol-exposed mice were higher than that of the saline group. Further, the expression of these proteins was decreased in MMP-9 overexpressing mice. MMP-9 also regulated the ratio of F-actin/G-actin (dendritic spines cytoskeleton proteins), which might be the key mediator for behavioral changes in mice. Consequently, our results highlight new evidence that MMP-9 may play an important role in the molecular mechanism underlying alcohol reward and preference.

Comparative Observation and Analysis of Preference Behavior Based on Three Types of Taxes and Locomotor Activity in the Goldfish, Carassius auratus.

Psychophysiological studies in vertebrates have focused on taxes as indicators of behavioral change. Actually, a considerable number of studies about anxiety-like and anti-anxiety-like behaviors involving geotaxis, scototaxis, and thigmotaxis have been conducted on fish. However, few analyses considering these behaviors based on taxes in fish have been conducted. Here, using goldfish, we measured the time spent in the bright or dark area of a horizontally long rectangular tank (HLRT), in the upper or lower area of a vertically long rectangular tank (VLRT), and in the central or edge area of a circular tank (CT), respectively, for the first 30 min and the last 30 min in a 3-h period after fish had been introduced to tanks. Dark, lower, and edge preference behaviors were observed for the first 30 min in all tanks. While dark and edge preference behaviors were maintained even for the last 30 min, the lower preference was lost. Swimming distance and the number of area crossings in each tank were also compared between the first 30 min and the last 30 min. Both decreased significantly or tended to decrease in the last 30 min in the HLRT and the CT, but no change was observed in the VLRT. These results suggest that, in goldfish, preference behavior is stable for a short time, and that environmental habituation may depend on the shape of the tank and the elapsed time.

Dual-Channel Pricing Decisions for Product Recycling in Green Supply Chain Operations: Considering the Impact of Consumer Loss Aversion.

With the vigorous rise of online third-party recycling platforms, dual-channel recycling has become the primary recycling mode in the reverse supply chain (RSC). However, as the main body of recycling, consumers have a significant impact on the recycling process, and their behavioral preferences are rarely considered in the pricing decision of the reverse recycling supply chain. Based on the dual-channel RSC, this paper considers the competition among channels. It introduces the loss aversion behavior preference of consumers to establish a dual-channel RSC composed of remanufacturers and online and offline recyclers. This study aims to analyze the impact of consumers' loss aversion behavior on the recycling pricing and profit of each node in the green RSC and discuss the decision of recyclers under consumers' loss aversion behavior. The results show that the deeper consumers' aversion to the loss of recycling price, the lower the recycling price of dual-channel recyclers will be, which will be more conducive to the increase in the profit of online recyclers. However, the profit of remanufacturers will be reduced, and the total amount of recycling will decline. This paper considers the impact of consumer loss aversion behavior on dual-channel reverse supply chain pricing decisions based on prospect theory. It provides references for chain members to set recycling prices to increase people's enthusiasm for recycling and the amount of recycled scrap, contributes to the cause of resource conservation and environmental protection, and improves the economic efficiency of recycling enterprises.

Comparative demography, population projection, functional response and host age preference behavior of the parasitoid Goniozus legneri on two lepidopterous insect hosts

BackgroundThis study was conducted to investigate life table characteristics of the parasitoid species, Goniozus legneri Gordh (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae), a major gregarious larval ecto-parasitoids of the carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae Zeller (Lep.: Pyralidae). Demographic parameters of G. legneri reared on two hosts, the carob moth and the flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), were studied under laboratory conditions using age-stage, two-sex life table. Host stage preference and the functional response of this parasitoid were also determined.ResultsThe duration of the immature period, adult pre-ovipositional period and total pre-ovipositional period of G. legneri reared on E. kuehniella was significantly longer than that of those reared on E. ceratoniae, while fecundity and ovipositional days of the wasp were greater/longer in females reared on E. ceratoniae. There were also significant differences in intrinsic and finite rates of increase and mean generation time between wasp parasitoid reared on two hosts. Moreover, population projection indicated that the G. legneri population can grow swifter when reared on E. ceratoniae than on E. kuehniella. Based on the experiments conducted to determine the larval stage preferences of G. legneri, for both hosts, larger larvae were more preferred stages compared to smaller ones, thereby fulfilling the optimal oviposition theory. The functional responses of G. legneri to different population densities of E. kuehniella two last instar larvae were determined as type III at 25 °C and 60% RH.ConclusionThe results offer valuable information on some life history attributes of G. legneri. Although G. legneri performed better on E. ceratoniae larvae than on E. kuehniella, as the use of E. ceratoniae larvae as the main host in rearing of G. legneri might be a laborious process and can increase the production costs, E. kuehniella can be used as an alternative host. Further studies are required under greenhouse and field conditions for effective use of this biocontrol agent against the carob moth.

Task type, preference, and occupation affect standing desk utilization in office workers.

Adjustable height sit-stand desks are becoming the norm in many workplaces. It is not known how task type, worker preference, and occupation impact utilization of the adjustable height feature. This survey-based study aimed to determine how task type, preference and occupation affect office workers' sitting and standing behaviors at work. Office workers (n = 123) from different occupations completed surveys about actual and preferred positions (sit, stand, either/both) during 39 common tasks from 4 different categories, as well as barriers to use. Each position was analyzed by task type, behavior, and occupation. There were differences between actual and preferred behavior for each position, with participants sitting more and standing less than preferred across all task categories. There were differences between task categories with participants sitting less for generative and routine, and standing more for communication tasks. The highest rates of either/both responses were for routine tasks. Engineers reported the lowest standing rates, and also indicated standing more than preferred. Information Tech and Engineering had the highest either/both responses. Finance reported the highest sitting rates. Personal, task-based and workplace limitations were cited as barriers to preferred use. Office workers would prefer to stand more at work. Occupation-specific needs and preferences, as well as types of tasks should be considered when providing workplace standing options.

Essential Oil Trunk Injection Into Orchard Trees: Consequences on the Performance and Preference of Hemipteran Pests.

Apples and pears are among the most widely cultivated fruit species in the world. Pesticides are commonly applied using ground sprayers in conventional orchards; however, most of it will not reach the target plant, increasing the contamination of nontarget organisms such as natural predators, pollinators, and decomposers. Trunk injection is an alternative method of pesticide application that could reduce risks to beneficials and workers. Essential oils represent a 'green' alternative to pesticides due to their reported insecticidal, antimicrobial, antiviral, nematicidal, and antifungal properties. The aim of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the impact that the injection of a cinnamon essential oil solution into the trunk of apple and pear trees could have on their respective pests, Dysaphis plantaginea and Cacopsylla pyri, respectively. The feeding behavior (preference), the life history traits (performance), and the timing of this effect were measured. The injection of an essential oil emulsion in trees impacted hemipteran host-plant colonization, as for both species a modification of their preference and of their performance was observed. The feeding behavior of D. plantaginea was altered as a significantly lower proportion of aphids ingested phloem sap on injected trees, suggesting that the aphids starved to death. On the contrary, the feeding behavior of the psyllids was little changed compared to the control condition, implying that the observed mortality was due to intoxication. The results presented here could theoretically be used to control these two orchard hemipteran pests, although the effectiveness in real conditions still has to be demonstrated.

Host selection behaviour of the banded pine weevil, Pissodes castaneus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Abstract Pissodes castaneus represents an emerging pest species for Pinus spp. production in Latin America. This species attacks all the cultivated pine species in Patagonia Argentina causing wood damage and tree death. The objectives of this work were to describe the host preference behaviour of P. castaneus and the influence of wood damage by conspecifics on its host selection. In two‐choice bioassays, P. castaneus showed a feeding preference for Pinus contorta over P. ponderosa. However, percent weight gain when feeding on either species was similar. In other bioassays, P. castaneus spent more time in areas with twigs on which other conspecifics had recently fed, although they were able to successfully feed on twigs without previous damage. These results show that while P. castaneus can successfully colonize different pine species, P. contorta may be more susceptible to attack than P. ponderosa. Silvicultural management should be prioritized considering the weevil's preference for attacking damaged hosts.

Selection of preferred thermal environment and cold-avoidance responses in rats rely on signals transduced by the dorsal portion of the lateral funiculus of the spinal cord

ABSTRACT Thermoregulatory behaviors are powerful effectors for core body temperature (Tc) regulation. We evaluated the involvement of afferent fibers ascending through the dorsal portion of the lateral funiculus (DLF) of the spinal cord in “spontaneous” thermal preference and thermoregulatory behaviors induced by thermal and pharmacological stimuli in a thermogradient apparatus. In adult Wistar rats, the DLF was surgically severed at the first cervical vertebra bilaterally. The functional effectiveness of funiculotomy was verified by the increased latency of tail-flick responses to noxious cold (−18°C) and heat (50°C). In the thermogradient apparatus, funiculotomized rats showed a higher variability of their preferred ambient temperature(Tpr) and, consequently, increased Tc fluctuations, as compared to sham-operated rats. The cold-avoidance (warmth-seeking) response to moderate cold (whole-body exposure to ~17°C) or epidermal menthol (an agonist of the cold-sensitive TRPM8 channel) was attenuated in funiculotomized rats, as compared to sham-operated rats, and so was the Tc (hyperthermic) response to menthol. In contrast, the warmth-avoidance (cold-seeking) and Tc responses of funiculotomized rats to mild heat (exposure to ~28°C) or intravenous RN-1747 (an agonist of the warmth-sensitive TRPV4; 100 μg/kg) were unaffected. We conclude that DLF-mediated signals contribute to driving spontaneous thermal preference, and that attenuation of these signals is associated with decreased precision of Tc regulation. We further conclude that thermally and pharmacologically induced changes in thermal preference rely on neural, presumably afferent, signals that travel in the spinal cord within the DLF. Signals conveyed by the DLF are important for cold-avoidance behaviors but make little contribution to heat-avoidance responses.

Behavior management techniques adopted by pediatric dentists in Cairo, Egypt: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: The child patient is exposed to the dental environment that triggers natural fear response, so behavior management strategies are required to meet their needs. Objective: The objective of the study was to identify the most common behavior management techniques adopted by pediatric dentists in three Egyptian universities for each patient group. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we applied convenient sample to the three major governmental universities located in Cairo. Ninety-two questionnaires were distributed to all pediatric dentistry specialists of the three universities. They were designed to record participants’ demographic and practice information and their current use of behavior management techniques for each patient age. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square (χ2) test, and Bonferroni corrections were used to analyze data. Results: Questionnaires were returned by 72 pediatric dentists (27.8% were males and 72.2% were females). Parental presence was practiced by all participants mainly for patients less than 2 years (93.1%). Tell-show-do is the most used technique (95.8%) for patients of 3–5 years. The use of advanced techniques by respondents was less than basic techniques, being least for sedation and highest for general anesthesia. Female respondent preferred basic behavior management techniques, whereas male participants chose advanced techniques more than females. Conclusions: Different behavior management techniques are being practiced for each patient group. The choice of the technique was influenced by the practitioner gender, years in practice, and position in the faculty.

A Novel Framework to Facilitate User Preferred Tuning for a Robotic Knee Prosthesis.

The tuning of robotic prosthesis control is essential to provide personalized assistance to individual prosthesis users. Emerging automatic tuning algorithms have shown promise to ease the device personalization procedure. However, very few automatic tuning algorithms consider the user preference as the tuning goal, which may limit the adoptability of the robotic prosthesis. In this study, we propose and evaluate a novel prosthesis control tuning framework for a robotic knee prosthesis, which could enable user preferred robot behavior in the device tuning process. The framework consists of 1) a User-Controlled Interface that allows the user to select their preferred knee kinematics in gait and 2) a reinforcement learning-based algorithm for tuning high-dimension prosthesis control parameters to meet the desired knee kinematics. We evaluated the performance of the framework along with usability of the developed user interface. In addition, we used the developed framework to investigate whether amputee users can exhibit a preference between different profiles during walking and whether they can differentiate between their preferred profile and other profiles when blinded. The results showed effectiveness of our developed framework in tuning 12 robotic knee prosthesis control parameters while meeting the user-selected knee kinematics. A blinded comparative study showed that users can accurately and consistently identify their preferred prosthetic control knee profile. Further, we preliminarily examined gait biomechanics of the prosthesis users when walking with different prosthesis control and did not find clear difference between walking with preferred prosthesis control and when walking with normative gait control parameters. This study may inform future translation of this novel prosthesis tuning framework for home or clinical use.

Chronotype preference, sleep quality, and night-eating behaviors in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Assessing the relationship with disease severity and fibrosis.

Our primary objective is to examine the variance in chronotype, night-eating patterns, and sleep quality in patients with biopsy-proven metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. In addition, we aim to establish a correlation between these variables and the severity of the disease and fibrosis. Patients who were following up with biopsy-proven metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) were included in the study. Histologically severe disease is characterized by a Steatosis, Activity, and Fibrosis activity score of ≥3 or the presence of advanced fibrosis (≥F3). Participants who met the inclusion criteria were given the Morningness and Evening Questionnaire (MEQ), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Night Eating Questionnaire to complete. A total of 93 patients were included in this study. According to the MEQ, 48 patients were morning type (51.6%), and 42 (45.2%) were neither type. Sleep quality was determined to be inferior in the non-morningness group (p=0.002). A significantly higher proportion of patients with nocturnal eating syndrome had a non-morningness chronotype preference (n=22, 23.7%), compared to those with a morningness chronotype (n=9, 9.7%) (p=0.001). In the multivariate analysis, both age and poor sleep quality had significant impacts on advanced fibrosis, with odds ratios of 1.11 and 3.81, respectively. Despite the non-morningness chronotype demonstrating poorer sleep quality and a higher prevalence of night-eating behavior, our findings revealed no statistically significant differences in terms of sleep quality, nocturnal eating habits, or chronotype preferences among patients with varying degrees of MASLD severity. On the other hand, advanced fibrosis was significantly impacted by poor sleep quality.