Search

Purpose: To investigate the reliability of partial coherence laser interferometry for optical biometry in highly myopic eyes. Methods: Axial length measurements by the IOLMaster (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Germany) with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ≥2 were performed in 52 consecutive myopic subjects with axial length ≥26.5 mm and 45 emmetropic patients before cataract surgery. Axial length measurements and SNR were analyzed and compared among the two study groups. Results: Axial length measurements were feasible in 46 of 52 (88.5%) highly myopic eyes and in 41 of 45 (91.1%) eyes with normal axial length. To achieve two reliable axial length values with SNR ≥2, a mean number of 2.06±0.25 measurements was necessary in myopic eyes and 2.10±0.37 in emmetropic counterparts. Mean SNR after two measurements was 4.98±2.44 in myopic eyes versus 5.56±2.32 in control eyes. Even though successful measurement was independent of preoperative visual acuity, patients with visual acuity better than 20/63 showed significantly higher SNR values. Conclusions: Partial coherence laser interferometry shows satisfying feasibility and good signal quality for axial length determination in highly myopic eyes with stable retinal condition and clear media.

Introduction: Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, represents an abnormal perception of sound in the ears or head without an appropriate external sound source. Today, it is known that tinnitus is not a single disease but rather a group of different disorders with various underlying mechanisms, hence requiring different types of treatment. Tinnitus lacks visible signs of illness and does not endanger life, but in many ways affects the quality of life and causes suffering. Aim: The aims of this study were: to use questionnaires to indicate the relationship between tinnitus and quality of life, to identify which areas of daily life are most affected by the presence of tinnitus, and to determine whether there is a significant difference between genders in terms of the impact of tinnitus on quality of life. Material and Methods: The study included 80 adult patients aged 18 to 82 years. Inclusion criteria for patients in the study were: tinnitus in one or both ears or in the head, tinnitus persisting continuously for 6 months or longer, and older than 18 years. Exclusion criteria for the study are patients who experience auditory hallucinations in the form of music and speech. Otologic diagnostic methods were used, including ear, nose, and throat (ENT) examination, pure tone audiometry, and tympanometry with acoustic reflex testing. Patients completed two questionnaires: a specific questionnaire for tinnitus, the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, and a general questionnaire for assessing quality of life, the Nottingham Health Profile. Results: The prevalence of tinnitus increases with age, up to 65 years, and thereafter either remains independent of aging or decreases. The majority of participants had sensorineural hearing loss ranging from moderate to severe, predominantly affecting high frequencies, and descending. There are statistically significant positive correlations between audiometric parameters and THI scores for all frequencies except for 4000 Hz, both in the left and right ears. Conclusion: By using questionnaires as instruments to assess quality of life and the severity of tinnitus, this study has shown a negative impact of tinnitus on quality of life. We found that the duration of tinnitus affects its severity.

Smartphones and tablets are part of everyday family life. Experts who work with children or deal with various aspects of early childhood development warn of the resulting harmful consequences. It is also feared that research on the impact of the use of smartphones and tablets on children's development cannot keep up with rapid technological development. Bearing these facts in mind, in this research we tried to evaluate the quality of speech, sensorimotor development and socio-emotional behavior in children in the most sensitive period of their growth, preschool age. The research sample consisted of 40 participants, 28 boys and 12 girls, aged 5 to 6 years. Only children whose parents declared that their child spends more than three hours a day in front of the screen were included in the sample. The research used an adapted test for assessing the articulation abilities of children, the Global Articulation Test and the Scale for assessing the psychophysiological abilities of children from 0 to 7 years of age. The results of this research show that there are differences in the quality of speech in preschool children. Statistically significant differences in sensorimotor development and socioemotional behavior in preschool children were obtained by applying one-factor multivariate ANOVA. Knowledge and understanding of the harmful effects of screens on the functioning and development of children in the immediate environment is essential for taking measures to control screen exposure by parents and educators in order to prevent further regressions in the development of speech, language, sensorimotor and socio-emotional maturity and thereby stimulate optimal early development.

The paper investigates the relationship between written reviews and numerical ratings of vegan and vegetarian restaurants, aiming to develop a predictive model that accurately determines numerical ratings based on review content. The dataset was obtained by scraping reviews from November 2022 until January 2023 from the TripAdvisor website. The study applies multidimensional scaling and clustering using the KNN algorithm to visually represent the textual data. Sentiment analysis and rating predictions are conducted using neural networks, support vector machines (SVM), random forest, Naïve Bayes, and BERT models. Text vectorization is accomplished through term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) and global vectors (GloVe). The analysis identified three main topics related to vegan and vegetarian restaurant experiences: (1) restaurant ambiance, (2) personal feelings towards the experience, and (3) the food itself. The study processed a total of 33,439 reviews, identifying key aspects of the dining experience and testing various machine learning methods for sentiment and rating predictions. Among the models tested, BERT outperformed the others, and TF-IDF proved slightly more effective than GloVe for word representation.

Treatment and management of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) includes physical activity, nutrition, and pharmacological management. Recently, the importance of reducing and breaking up sedentary behaviour has become recognized. This review aimed to summarize and synthesize the effectiveness of interventions in reducing and/or breaking up sedentary behaviour and cardiometabolic biomarkers in adults with T2D. A study protocol was preregistered on PROSPERO (CRD42022357281) and a database search (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library) was conducted on 16/09/2022 and updated on 03/01/2024. This review followed PRISMA guidelines and study quality was assessed with the Cochrane risk of Bias Tools. Twenty-eight articles were included in the review. The meta-analysis of short-term (Range: 3 hours- 4 days) sedentary behaviour interventions found significant improvement in continuous interstitial glucose measured for 24 hours after the sedentary behaviour intervention compared to control (SMD:-0.819,95%CI:-1.255,-0.383,p

Extraosseous Ewing’s sarcoma is extremely rare in the soft tissues of the neck, especially in the sternocleidomastoid muscle. It usually manifests clinically as a rapidly growing mass that shows great potential for local spread. The aim of this paper is to present a rare case of еxtraosseous Ewing’s sarcoma in the sternocleidomastoid muscle. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of extraskeletal Ewing’s sarcoma at this location. The patient was admitted to our clinic because of a neck tumefaction. The computerized tomography finding showed a tumor mass, most of which was in the V region of the neck, measuring 40 × 27 × 35 mm. Pathohistological and immunohistochemical findings showed that it was Ewing’s sarcoma. Unfortunately, the patient passed away nine months after the initial diagnosis. Extraosseous Ewing sarcoma is a rare, fast-growing malignant tumor manifesting histomorphological similarities to bone Ewing’s sarcoma. Most reports state that extraosseous Ewing sarcoma has a worse prognosis than skeletal. Extraosseous Ewing sarcoma should be borne in mind in the differential diagnosis of soft tissue tumors of the neck.

Integrating large language model (LLM) agents within game theory demonstrates their ability to replicate human-like behaviors through strategic decision making. In this paper, we introduce an augmented LLM agent, called the private agent, which engages in private deliberation and employs deception in repeated games. Utilizing the partially observable stochastic game (POSG) framework and incorporating in-context learning (ICL) and chain-of-thought (CoT) prompting, we investigated the private agent’s proficiency in both competitive and cooperative scenarios. Our empirical analysis demonstrated that the private agent consistently achieved higher long-term payoffs than its baseline counterpart and performed similarly or better in various game settings. However, we also found inherent deficiencies of LLMs in certain algorithmic capabilities crucial for high-quality decision making in games. These findings highlight the potential for enhancing LLM agents’ performance in multi-player games using information-theoretic approaches of deception and communication with complex environments.

Frequent use of psychoactive drugs, alcohol and tobacco can lead to pathological changes in the vocal cords. The aim of this study is to analyze the connection between the consumption of psychoactive substances and disturbances in the quality of the voice by reviewing the previous literature. Voice disorders in users of psychoactive substances occur over time, due to the appearance of organic changes in the vocal apparatus. Marijuana smoke causes irritation of the mucous membrane of the larynx, which causes hoarseness and hoarseness in the voice. The effect of electronic cigarettes on voice quality is milder compared to the effect of conventional cigarettes. The results of this study also show that drug users have lower results in the domain of social functioning compared to alcohol and tobacco users. The findings of this study suggest that users of psychoactive substances have respiratory disorders and worse lung function, changes in vocal folds, disturbance of auditory and perceptual parameters of voice quality and worse quality of life. Additional implications suggest the necessary help and support of speech therapists in educating users of psychoactive substances about the ways of their use and their connection with voice disorders and quality of life as a whole.

Swallowing disorders can occur at any age, although they occur more often in old age when the physiology of swallowing changes due to aging. Oropharyngeal dysphagia is a very common clinical condition affecting 13% of the total population over 65 years of age and 51% of institutionalized older people. Given that oropharyngeal dysphagia can lead to increased morbidity and mortality in the elderly, it is necessary to prevent the occurrence of dysphagia in this population group as much as possible. In relation to this, the paper aims to provide insight into contemporary research into the etiology, pathophysiology, and symptomatology of oropharyngeal dysphagia in the elderly. In this review study, the electronic databases of Google Scholar Advanced Search and the Consortium of Serbian Libraries for Unified Procurement - KoBSON were searched. The following keywords and phrases were used in the search: swallowing, dysphagia, oropharyngeal dysphagia, aging, age and dysphagia, etiology of oropharyngeal dysphagia, the clinical picture of oropharyngeal dysphagia, pathophysiology of oropharyngeal dysphagia. This systematic review and meta-analysis of papers showed significant progress in the effective diagnostic approach of oropharyngeal dysphagia during the last years but also a significant lack of knowledge about adequate modifications of drugs applied during the treatment of patients with dysphagia. A good understanding of the etiology, pathophysiology, and symptomatology of oropharyngeal dysphagia would eliminate the harmful effects of pharmacological substances on the function of swallowing, given that the elderly, on the advice of a doctor, use them daily.

The paper investigates the relationship between written reviews and numerical ratings of vegan and vegetarian restaurants, aiming to develop a predictive model that accurately determines numerical ratings based on review content. The dataset was obtained by scraping reviews from November 2022 until January 2023 from the TripAdvisor website. The study applies multidimensional scaling and clustering using the KNN algorithm to visually represent the textual data. Sentiment analysis and rating predictions are conducted using neural networks, support vector machines (SVM), random forest, Naïve Bayes, and BERT models. Text vectorization is accomplished through term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) and global vectors (GloVe). The analysis identified three main topics related to vegan and vegetarian restaurant experiences: (1) restaurant ambiance, (2) personal feelings towards the experience, and (3) the food itself. The study processed a total of 33,439 reviews, identifying key aspects of the dining experience and testing various machine learning methods for sentiment and rating predictions. Among the models tested, BERT outperformed the others, and TF-IDF proved slightly more effective than GloVe for word representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to examine the differences in people suffering from depression (EG, N=18) compared to the healthy controls (CG1, N=24) and people with the diagnosed psychogenic voice disorder (CG2, N=9), nine acoustic features of voice were assessed among the total of 51 participants using the MDVP software programme ("Kay Elemetrics" Corp., model 4300). Nine acoustic parameters were analysed on the basis of the sustained phonation of the vowel /a/. The results revealed that the mean values of all acoustic parameters differed in the EG compared to both the CG1 and CG2 as follows: the parameters which indicate frequency variability (Jitt, PPQ), amplitude variability (Shim, vAm, APQ) and noise and tremor parameters (NHR, VTI) were higher; only the parameters of fundamental frequency (F0) and soft index phonation (SPI) were lower (F0 compared to CG1, and SPI compared to CG1 and CG2). Only the PPQ parameter was not significant. vAm and APQ had the highest discriminant value for depression. The acoustic features of voice, analysed in this study with regard to the sustained phonation of a vowel, were different and discriminant in the EG compared to CG1 and CG2. In voice analysis, the parameters vAm and APQ could potentially be the markers indicative of depression. The results of this research point to the importance of the voice, that is, its acoustic indicators, in recognizing depression. Important parameters that could help create a programme for the automatic recognition of depression are those from the domain of voice intensity variation.

The readiness to start school includes the emotional and social maturity of the child. In order for a child to master the demands of the school program as easily as possible, a certain harmony is needed in the development of his abilities. The ability of sensory perception and the ability to integrate sensory stimuli specifically determine the development of reading and writing skills. The aim of this study is to analyze the ability to read and write in hypersensitive and hyposensitive types of sensory integration disorders, with special reference to the analysis of individualization measures in the work with these students in the school system. Disorder of sensory integration is expressed in two basic forms: increased sensitivity (hypersensitivity) and decreased sensitivity (hyposensitivity). In the school system, both forms of sensory integration disorders dominate. Hypersensitivity is manifested by rapid mental fatigue compared to other children. These children have difficulty reading and writing at the same time. They can read a word in many different ways without realizing it. Compared to the hypersensitive child who seems inert, the hyposensitive child is in constant motion, craving additional sensory stimuli in the classroom. These children have great problems with reading and writing figures and symbols such as tables, geometric shapes and musical symbols. Adjusting the teaching material for these children means increasing the font and font color before reading, dividing large-scale tasks into smaller units, using different types of writing pens, constantly emphasizing important units in the lesson, providing a summary of the lesson at the end of the lesson, and occasionally checking the legibility of the handwriting. In this way, students are provided with easier visual, auditory and tactile processing, and therefore more successful writing, reading and understanding of the read material. Thus, a student with sensory processing disorder can achieve academic success, but it is necessary to adapt the curriculum to the appropriate level of sensations.

Recently, web-based job sites appear to be the major source of advertisements. However, it has been argued that search engine toolkits restrict wording used to find job skill requirements, which requires clearly defined commonly used terms. This article aims to analyse 16 000 online job advertisements using content analysis to identify current skills required by various professions in order to allow the comparison across countries through time to identify if trends vary in different national markets. In addition, algorithmic approaches to processing data were used to collect, sift, and organize content as well as to improve the efficiency and reliability of the analysis, and to derive a conceptual model of practitioner knowledge, skills, and abilities. Useful insights were given about the skills that employers require, based on online job advertisements from the USA, UK, Ireland, and Hong Kong

In polder-type land, water dynamics are heavily influenced by the artificial maintenance of water levels. Polders are low-lying areas of land that have been reclaimed from the sea or from freshwater bodies and are protected from flooding by dikes or other types of flood-protection structures. The water regime in polders is typically managed using a system of canals, pumps, and sluices to control the flow of water in and out of the area. In this study, the temporal changes in water salinity in the polder-type agricultural floodplain within the Neretva River Delta (NRD), Croatia, were analyzed by applying multivariate statistics and forecast modelling. The main aim of the study was to test the model that can be used in practice to forecast, primarily, water suitability for irrigation in a coastal low-lying agricultural catchment. The specific aim of this study was to use hydrochemistry data series to explain processes in water salinity dynamics and to test the model which may provide accurate salinity prediction, or finally select the conditions in which the model can be applied. We considered the accuracy of the model, and it was validated using independent data sets. To describe different patterns of chemical changes in different water classes due to their complex hydrological connectivity, multivariate statistics (PCA) were coupled with time-series analysis and Vector Autoregression (VAR) model forecasting. The multivariate statistics applied here did not indicate a clear connection between water salinity of the surface-water bodies and groundwater. The lack of correlation lies in the complex hydrological dynamics and interconnectivity of the water bodies highly affected by the artificial maintenance of the groundwater level within the polder area, as well as interventions in the temporal release of freshwater into the drainage canal network. Not all individual water classes contributed equally to the dominant patterns of ionic species identified by PCA. Apparently, land use and agricultural management practices in the different polders lead to uneven water chemistry and the predominant contributions of specific ions, especially nutrients. After applying the Granger causality test to reveal the causal information and explain hidden relationships among the variables, only two surface-water and two groundwater monitoring locations displayed a strong causal relationship between water electrical conductivity (ECw) as an effect and sea level as a possible cause. The developed models can be used to evaluate and emphasize the unique characteristics and phenomena of low-lying land and to communicate their importance and influence to management authorities and agricultural producers in managing and planning irrigation management in the wider Mediterranean area.

Microgreens are young plants of various vegetables, medicinal and aromatic plants, cereals and edible wild plants that were first associated with nouvelle cuisine as decoration in dishes due to their attractive appearance and strong flavor. Recently, they have become more sought after in the market due to their high nutritional value. This is due to the growing interest of consumers in a healthy lifestyle that includes a varied diet with emphasis on fresh, functional foods. Nowadays, commercial production of microgreens is shifting to modern hydroponic systems due to their numerous advantages, such as accelerated plant growth and biomass production, earlier harvesting, and more production cycles that positively affect yield and chemical composition. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the content of specialized metabolites and antioxidant capacity of hydroponically grown alfalfa (Medicago sativa) cv. ‘Kangaroo’, yellow beet (Beta vulgaris var. conditiva) cv. ‘Yellow Lady’, red cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. rubra) cv. ‘Red Carpet’, and fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) cv. ‘Aganarpo’ microgreens. The highest content of total phenols (408.03 mg GAE/100 g fw), flavonoids (214.47 mg GAE/100 g fw), non-flavonoids (193.56 mg GAE/100 g fw) and ascorbic acid (74.94 mg/100 g fw) was found in fennel microgreens. The highest content of all analyzed chlorophyll pigments (Chl_a 0.536 mg/g fw, Chl_b 0.248 mg/g fw, and TCh 0.785 mg/g fw) was found in alfalfa microgreens. However, in addition to alfalfa, high levels of chlorophyll a (0.528 mg/g fw), total chlorophyll (0.713 mg/g fw) and the highest level of total carotenoids (0.196 mg/g fw) were also detected in fennel microgreens. The results suggest that microgreens grown on perlite in floating hydroponics have high nutritional potential as a functional food important for human health and therefore could be recommended for daily diet.

Deception in computer-mediated communication represents a threat, and there is a growing need to develop efficient methods of detecting it. Machine learning models have, through natural language processing, proven to be extremely successful at detecting lexical patterns related to deception. In this study, four selected machine learning models are trained and tested on data collected through a crowdsourcing platform on the topics of COVID-19 and climate change. The performance of the models was tested by analyzing n-grams (from unigrams to trigrams) and by using psycho-linguistic analysis. A selection of important features was carried out and further deepened with additional testing of the models on different subsets of the obtained features. This study concludes that the subjectivity of the collected data greatly affects the detection of hidden linguistic features of deception. The psycho-linguistic analysis alone and in combination with n-grams achieves better classification results than an n-gram analysis while testing the models on own data, but also while examining the possibility of generalization, especially on trigrams where the combined approach achieves a notably higher accuracy of up to 16%. The n-gram analysis proved to be a more robust method during the testing of the mutual applicability of the models while psycho-linguistic analysis remained most inflexible.

Treatment and management of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) includes physical activity, nutrition, and pharmacological management. Recently, the importance of reducing and breaking up sedentary behaviour has become recognized. This review aimed to summarize and synthesize the effectiveness of interventions in reducing and/or breaking up sedentary behaviour and cardiometabolic biomarkers in adults with T2D. A study protocol was preregistered on PROSPERO (CRD42022357281) and a database search (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library) was conducted on 16/09/2022 and updated on 03/01/2024. This review followed PRISMA guidelines and study quality was assessed with the Cochrane risk of Bias Tools. Twenty-eight articles were included in the review. The meta-analysis of short-term (Range: 3 hours– 4 days) sedentary behaviour interventions found significant improvement in continuous interstitial glucose measured for 24 hours after the sedentary behaviour intervention compared to control (SMD:-0.819,95%CI:-1.255,-0.383,p<0.001). Similarly, there was a significant improvement in postprandial interstitial glucose after the sedentary behaviour intervention compared to control (SMD:-0.347,95%CI:-0.584,-0.110,p = 0.004). Ten out of eleven longer-term (Range: 5 weeks– 3 years) sedentary behaviour interventions improved at least one measure of sedentary behaviour compared to control. Eight out of eight longer-term sedentary behaviour interventions improved at least one cardiometabolic biomarker compared to control. Reducing sedentary behaviour, independent of physical activity, can improve glycemic control in adults with T2D. Further, sedentary behaviour may be a feasible/ sustainable behaviour change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Providing care for someone with a disease or chronic condition can have a negative psychological, physical, social, and economic impact upon informal caregivers. Despite the socio-economic relevance and more than three decades of caregiver intervention research only very few translational efforts of successful interventions are reported. Still less of these interventions have been implemented into routine services. The aim of the ReDiCare study (German acronym BerTA) is to evaluate the effectiveness of a stepped counselling approach for burdened caregivers delivered by care counsellors of two long-term care insurances and registered psychotherapists. Methods/ design A pragmatic randomised controlled trial with 572 caregivers of older adults (≥ 60 years) receiving benefits of one of the two participating long-term care insurances. Participants are assigned (t0) to either the ReDiCare intervention or a control group receiving routine care and counselling. Data are collected at baseline (-t1), 3-month (t1), 9-month (t2) and 15-month (t3). The 9-month post-intervention assessment (t2) is the primary endpoint to evaluate the results on the primary and secondary outcomes, measured by self-reported questionnaires. Depressive symptoms measured with the CES-D are the primary outcome. The main secondary outcomes are physical complaints, utilization of psychosocial resources, caregiver self-efficacy and burden, positive aspects of caregiving and perceived care quality. A process evaluation, including audio tapes, self-report questionnaires and documentation will be conducted to examine internal and external validity of the intervention. Data on direct and indirect costs are collected for the (health) economic evaluation, using a health care perspective and a societal perspective. Discussion While comparable previous caregiver interventions have been developed and evaluated for specific caregiver groups (e.g. dementia caregivers, stroke caregivers), the ReDiCare study will indicate whether a stepped approach will be effective also in a broader group of caregivers. The intervention is one of the very few translational studies in caregiver intervention research and will provide valuable insights into relevant factors for training, intervention protocol adherence, effectiveness, and costs for future implementation steps. Trial registration Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien (German Clinical Trials Register), DRKS00014593 ( www.drks.de, registered 14 May 2018) and International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, DRKS00014593 ( https://apps.who.int/trialsearch/ ).

Abstract Background Finding reliable information on one of more than 7000 rare diseases is a major challenge for those affected. Since rare diseases are defined only by the prevalence criterion, a multitude of heterogeneous diseases are included. Common to all, however, are difficulties regarding information access. Even though various quantitative studies have analyzed the use of different information sources for specific rare diseases, little is known about the use of information sources for different rare diseases, how users rate these information sources based on their experiences, and how the use and importance of these information sources change over time. Methods Fifty-five patients with a variety of rare diseases and 13 close relatives participated in qualitative interviews. For these interviews, a semi-structured guideline was developed, piloted, and revised. Data analysis involved a qualitative content analysis developed by Philipp Mayring. Results The participants considered internet as the most important and widespread information source, especially for early information. Although patients have difficulty dealing with information obtained online, they consider online searching a quick and practical option to gather information. During the course of the disease, personal contact partners, especially self-help associations and specialized doctors, become more important. This is also because information provided online is sometimes insufficiently detailed to answer their information needs, which can be complemented by information from doctors and self-help. Conclusions People rarely use just one type of source, but rather refer to different sources and informants. The source used depends on the type of information sought as well as other person-related factors such as preexisting knowledge and the disease stage. To improve people’s information searching and connect them with medical specialists in rare diseases, a central information portal on rare diseases might be a suitable access point to provide free and quality assured information for patients, caregivers, and physicians. This would allow not only patients but also doctors to find quality assured information on symptoms and therapies as well as patient associations and specialized doctors.