Data Mining Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques

The neuropeptides oxytocin (OXT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are evolutionarily highly conserved mediators in the regulation of complex social cognition and behaviour. Recent studies have investigated the effects of OXT and AVP on human social interaction, the genetic mechanisms of inter-individual variation in social neuropeptide signalling and the actions of OXT and AVP in the human brain as revealed by neuroimaging. These data have advanced our understanding of the mechanisms by which these neuropeptides contribute to human social behaviour. OXT and AVP are emerging as targets for novel treatment approaches — particularly in synergistic combination with psychotherapy — for mental disorders characterized by social dysfunction, such as autism, social anxiety disorder, borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia.

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Oxytocin and vasopressin in the human brain: social neuropeptides for translational medicine

Although genetic association studies have been with us for many years, even for the simplest analyses there is little consensus on the most appropriate statistical procedures. Here I give an overview of statistical approaches to population association studies, including preliminary analyses (Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium testing, inference of phase and missing data, and SNP tagging), and single-SNP and multipoint tests for association. My goal is to outline the key methods with a brief discussion of problems (population structure and multiple testing), avenues for solutions and some ongoing developments.

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A tutorial on statistical methods for population association studies

/pdf/practice-guideline-for-the-treatment-of-patients-with-major-ofberaz3o1.pdf

PRACTICE GUIDELINE FOR THE Treatment of Patients With Major Depressive Disorder

America's health care system has become too complex and costly to continue business as usual. Best Care at Lower Cost explains that inefficiencies, an overwhelming amount of data, and other economic and quality barriers hinder progress in improving health and threaten the nation's economic stability and global competitiveness. According to this report, the knowledge and tools exist to put the health system on the right course to achieve continuous improvement and better quality care at a lower cost.The costs of the system's current inefficiency underscore the urgent need for a systemwide transformation. About 30 percent of health spending in 2009--roughly $750 billion--was wasted on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud, and other problems. Moreover, inefficiencies cause needless suffering. By one estimate, roughly 75,000 deaths might have been averted in 2005 if every state had delivered care at the quality level of the best performing state. This report states that the way health care providers currently train, practice, and learn new information cannot keep pace with the flood of research discoveries and technological advances.About 75 million Americans have more than one chronic condition, requiring coordination among multiple specialists and therapies, which can increase the potential for miscommunication, misdiagnosis, potentially conflicting interventions, and dangerous drug interactions. Best Care at Lower Cost emphasizes that a better use of data is a critical element of a continuously improving health system, such as mobile technologies and electronic health records that offer significant potential to capture and share health data better. In order for this to occur, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, IT developers, and standard-setting organizations should ensure that these systems are robust and interoperable. Clinicians and care organizations should fully adopt these technologies, and patients should be encouraged to use tools, such as personal health information portals, to actively engage in their care.This book is a call to action that will guide health care providers; administrators; caregivers; policy makers; health professionals; federal, state, and local government agencies; private and public health organizations; and educational institutions.

Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America

The goal of this study was to identify distinct trajectories of adjustment to breast cancer over 4 years as well as to distinguish among the different trajectories. The mental and physical functioning of 287 women with breast cancer who remained alive and disease free through 4 years of follow-up were examined. The majority of women showed slight and steady improvement in functioning with time, but subgroups of women were identified who showed marked improvement and marked deteriorations over time. Age successfully distinguished different trajectories of physical functioning. Indices of personal resources (i.e., self-image, optimism, perceived control) and social resources (i.e., social support) successfully distinguished different courses of mental and physical functioning.

https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/hea/23/1/3.pdf

Psychological and physical adjustment to breast cancer over 4 years: identifying distinct trajectories of change.

OBJECTIVE: In this article, we aim to (a) identify distinct trajectories of psychological distress in the first year after a breast cancer diagnosis in women treated with adjuvant therapy and (b) explore possible predictors of these trajectories, that is, demographic, medical, and personal characteristics. METHOD: The 171 patients were assessed after diagnosis, after surgery, after adjuvant treatment, in the reentry phase, and in the (short-term) survivorship phase (2 and 6 months after the end of treatment, respectively). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Psychological distress was assessed with the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. RESULTS: There were four trajectories of distress: a group that experienced no distress (36.3%), a group that experienced distress only in the active treatment phase (33.3%), a group that experienced distress in the reentry and survivorship phase (15.2%), and a group that experienced chronic distress (15.2%). Personality and physical complaints resulting from adjuvant treatment could distinguish the distress trajectories. Mastery was the only unique predictor. CONCLUSION: Most patients were not distressed in response to breast cancer or only temporarily so. Yet, a minority of patients became or remained distressed after the end of treatment.

Identification and prediction of distress trajectories in the first year after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Critical issues in cyclosporine monitoring: report of the task force on cyclosporine monitoring

A large body of evidence supports the importance of focused attention for encoding and task performance. Yet young children with immature regulation of focused attention are often placed in elementary-school classrooms containing many displays that are not relevant to ongoing instruction. We investigated whether such displays can affect children’s ability to maintain focused attention during instruction and to learn the lesson content. We placed kindergarten children in a laboratory classroom for six introductory science lessons, and we experimentally manipulated the visual environment in the classroom. Children were more distracted by the visual environment, spent more time off task, and demonstrated smaller learning gains when the walls were highly decorated than when the decorations were removed.

Visual Environment, Attention Allocation, and Learning in Young Children When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad

Objective Oxytocin is a hypothalamic neuropeptide that plays a key role in mammalian female reproductive function. Animal research indicates that central oxytocin facilitates adaptive social attachments and modulates stress and anxiety responses. Major depression is prevalent among postpubertal females, and is associated with perturbations in social attachments, dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress axis, and elevated levels of anxiety. Thus, depressed women may be at risk to display oxytocin dysregulation. The current study was developed to compare patterns of peripheral oxytocin release exhibited by depressed and nondepressed women. Methods Currently depressed (N = 17) and never-depressed (N = 17) women participated in a laboratory protocol designed to stimulate, measure, and compare peripheral oxytocin release in response to two tasks: an affiliation-focused Guided Imagery task and a Speech Stress task. Intermittent blood samples were drawn over the course of two, 1-hour sessions including 20-minute baseline, 10-minute task, and 30-minute recovery periods. Results The 10-minute laboratory tasks did not induce identifiable, acute changes in peripheral oxytocin. However, as compared with nondepressed controls, depressed women displayed greater variability in pulsatile oxytocin release over the course of both 1-hour sessions, and greater oxytocin concentrations during the 1-hour affiliation-focused imagery session. Oxytocin concentrations obtained during the imagery session were also associated with greater symptoms of depression, anxiety, and interpersonal dysfunction. Conclusions Depressed women are more likely than controls to display a dysregulated pattern of peripheral oxytocin release. Further research is warranted to elucidate the clinical significance of peripheral oxytocin release in both depressed and nondepressed women.

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Howard Seltman

Papers

Psychological and physical adjustment to breast cancer over 4 years: identifying distinct trajectories of change.

Identification and prediction of distress trajectories in the first year after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Critical issues in cyclosporine monitoring: report of the task force on cyclosporine monitoring

Visual Environment, Attention Allocation, and Learning in Young Children When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad

Evidence of dysregulated peripheral oxytocin release among depressed women.