1. Introduction and Overview. 2. Detecting Influential Observations and Outliers. 3. Detecting and Assessing Collinearity. 4. Applications and Remedies. 5. Research Issues and Directions for Extensions. Bibliography. Author Index. Subject Index.

Regression Diagnostics: Identifying Influential Data and Sources of Collinearity

Handwriting has continued to persist as a means of communication and recording information in day-to-day life even with the introduction of new technologies. Given its ubiquity in human transactions, machine recognition of handwriting has practical significance, as in reading handwritten notes in a PDA, in postal addresses on envelopes, in amounts in bank checks, in handwritten fields in forms, etc. This overview describes the nature of handwritten language, how it is transduced into electronic data, and the basic concepts behind written language recognition algorithms. Both the online case (which pertains to the availability of trajectory data during writing) and the off-line case (which pertains to scanned images) are considered. Algorithms for preprocessing, character and word recognition, and performance with practical systems are indicated. Other fields of application, like signature verification, writer authentification, handwriting learning tools are also considered.

/pdf/online-and-off-line-handwriting-recognition-a-comprehensive-4qmt9ty596.pdf

Online and off-line handwriting recognition: a comprehensive survey

What is Twitter

Essays written by currently-depressed, formerly-depressed, and never-depressed college students were examined for differences in language that might shed light on the cognitive operations associated with depression and depression-vulnerability. A text analysis program computed the incidence of words in predesignated categories. Consistent with Beck's cognitive model and with Pyczsinski and Greenberg's self-focus model of depression, depressed participants used more negatively valenced words and used the word, "I" more than did never-depressed participants. Formerly-depressed (presumably depression-vulnerable) participants did not differ from never-depressed participants on these indices of depressive processing. However, consistent with prediction, formerly-depressed participants' use of the word "I" increased across the essays and was significantly greater than that of never-depressed writers in the final portion of the essays.

Language use of depressed and depression-vulnerable college students

A revision of the 2000 British Association for Psychopharmacology evidence-based guidelines for treating depressive disorders with antidepressants was undertaken to incorporate new evidence and to update the recommendations where appropriate. A consensus meeting involving experts in depressive disorders and their management was held in May 2006. Key areas in treating depression were reviewed, and the strength of evidence and clinical implications were considered. The guidelines were drawn up after extensive feedback from participants and interested parties. A literature review is provided, which identifies the quality of evidence to inform the recommendations, the strength of which are based on the level of evidence. These guidelines cover the nature and detection of depressive disorders, acute treatment with antidepressant drugs, choice of drug versus alternative treatment, practical issues in prescribing and management, next-step treatment, relapse prevention, treatment of relapse, and stopping treatment.

/pdf/evidence-based-guidelines-for-treating-depressive-disorders-2py43vtx76.pdf

Evidence-based guidelines for treating depressive disorders with antidepressants: A revision of the 2000 British Association for Psychopharmacology guidelines

The sequence of events shortly before the initiation of diabetes in female non-obese diabetic mice was studied. Immunologically, anti-lymphocyte antibodies appeared most frequently at 3 weeks of age and decreased thereafter. Insulin concentrations dropped after the initiation of mononuclear cell infiltration into the islets. The majority of female mice lost approximately 85% of their insulin at aged 22 weeks. Islet cell surface antibodies appeared most frequently during this period (12–18 weeks). Morphological examination revealed that mononuclear cells start to infiltrate islets at 6 weeks of age and involve major areas of the islets in females aged 22 weeks. Among these mononuclear cells, IgM-positive cells were found to be a major constituent, forming follicular (nodular) cell aggregates. T-helper and/or T-cytotoxic cells (Lyt-1-, and/or Lyt-2-positive cells) were fewer and located mainly around the follicular structures. Asialo GM1-positive lymphocytes (natural killer cells), though present, were far fewer. The process of destruction of pancreatic islets in non-obese diabetic mice is discussed with emphasis on the characteristic local immune response in the pancreas.

https://rd.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2FBF00275663.pdf

Non-obese-diabetic mice: immune mechanisms of pancreatic β-cell destruction

This study attempted to identify a specific personality disorder (PD) or PD cluster that independently worsens the 4-month treatment outcome of major depression under adequate antidepressant. The material of the study was 96 consecutive outpatients with major depression. For the Axis I and Axis II diagnoses, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) was used. In the material, the presence of any PD significantly worsened the 4-month outcome. The discriminant function analysis, conducted to identify a specific PD or PD cluster that influences the outcome, found that the number of PD from only cluster A and the number of criteria met for only schizoid PD was significantly correlated with the 4-month outcome of depression.

Is there any specific personality disorder or personality disorder cluster that worsens the short-term treatment outcome of major depression?

Sakado K, Sato T, Uehara T, Sato S, Kameda K. Discriminant validity of the inventory to diagnose depression, lifetime version.



Scand 1996: 93: 257–260. © Munksgaard 1996.



We examined the discriminant validity of the Inventory to Diagnose Depression, lifetime version (IDDL), that is, a self-report instrument designed to diagnose a lifetime history of major depressive disorder. Remitted patients with major depression (MD), remitted patients with anxiety disorders (ADS) and controls completed the IDDL. The IDDL results were then compared in the three contrasts: MD vs. ADs + controls, MD vs. ADS, and MD vs. controls. The agreement between the IDDL and clinical diagnoses was high in each of the three contrasts, and the IDDL total score in the MD group was the highest among the three groups and distinguished from the ADS group or controls. However, the IDDL occasionally diagnosed subjects with a lifetime history of ADS as having a lifetime history of MD.

Shosuke Sato

Papers

Non-obese-diabetic mice: immune mechanisms of pancreatic β-cell destruction

Is there any specific personality disorder or personality disorder cluster that worsens the short-term treatment outcome of major depression?

Discriminant validity of the inventory to diagnose depression, lifetime version

Developmental change of bombyxin content in the brain of the silkmoth Bombyx mori

Ten years after the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake and tsunami: Geological and environmental effects and implications for disaster policy changes