Impact of Appointment Waiting Time on Attendance Rates at a Clinical Cancer Genetics Service

The increase in demand for clinical cancer genetics services has impacted the ability to provide services timeously. Given limited resources, this often results in extended appointment waiting times. Over the last 3 years, the Cancer Genetics Service at the National Cancer Centre Singapore has continued to experience a steady increase in demand for its service. Nevertheless, significant no-show rates have been reported. This study sought to determine whether an association exists between appointment waiting times and attendance rates. Data was gathered for all participants meeting inclusion criteria. Attendance rates and appointment waiting times were calculated. The relationship between mean waiting times for those who did and did not attend their scheduled appointments was evaluated using Welch’s t test and linear regression model. The results showed a significant difference in mean appointment waiting times between patients who did and did not attend (32.66 versus 43.50 days respectively; p?<?0.0001). Furthermore, patients who waited for longer than 37 days were significantly less likely to attend. No-show rates increased as the waiting time increased, at a rate of 19.60% per 20 days and 21.40% per 30 days. In conclusion, appointment waiting time is a significant predictor for patient attendance. Strategies to ensure patients receive an appointment within the necessary timeframe at the desired setting are important to ensure that individuals at increased cancer risk attend their appointments in order to manage their cancer risks effectively.     

Computation and application of generalized linear mixed model derivatives using lme4

Psychometrika - Maximum likelihood estimation of generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) is difficult due to marginalization of the random effects. Derivative computations of a fitted GLMM’s...     

Psychiatric Distress and Suicidal Tendencies in Adult Cancer Survivors: Verifying the Validity of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 for Identifying Suicidal Ideation in the Hospitalized Population of Mainland China

The Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18) is widely used to assess psychiatric distress but has not been verified in the Chinese population. From March to April 2019, 293 hospitalized cancer patients, aged 20–87, completed the cross-sectional survey with demographics questionnaire, BSI-18, and PHQ-9. We analyzed the single suicide-related item of PHQ-9 with the full score clinical outpoint for BSI-18 and PHQ-9 using SPSS 22.0 and R 2.15, including Pearson's χ² test and ROC curve analyses. A Pearson's χ² test was carried out to compare the three different methods with the gold screening criteria. The p-value was correspondingly to .006, .066, .838. When the PHQ-9?≥?10 criteria for the BSI-18, receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that AUC values were 0.839, optimal cut-off points for both BSI-18?≥?50, the sensitivity of 85.8%, and 62.5%, respectively. The BSI-18 is suitable for a screening tool for psychological distress and could also be used in clinical settings for preliminary screening of hospitalized cancer patients.

     

Group size,partner choice and collaborative actions in male Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus)

Animal Cognition - Due to the diversity of the phenomenon, dolphin cooperation has attracted considerable research interest in both wild populations and those under human care. Dolphins cooperate...     

面孔生命性加工的时间进程：ERP研究

本研究采用事件相关电位技术,通过参数设计考察了大脑加工面孔生命性时的神经电活动动态进程。结果显示：非生命性面孔比生命性面孔在中央顶区诱发了更大的LPP波幅;生命性和非生命性面孔诱发的LPP波幅均显著大于中间等级（60%）面孔,提示随生命性信息增强,LPP波幅呈“U”型变化。P1和N170未表现出面孔类别差异。结果表明LPP是探测面孔生命性加工的有效成分,支持面孔生命性加工位于面孔加工的晚期阶段的观点。     

亲社会性视频游戏对内隐攻击性认知抑制效应的实验

利用亲社会性视频游戏和IAT测验,从内隐社会认知的角度研究亲社会性视频游戏对高中生内隐攻击性认知的影响,并分析影响是否具有性别差异和攻击特质差异。结果表明:(1)亲社会性视频游戏对高中生内隐攻击性认知的抑制效应显著;(2)游戏类型和性别对内隐攻击性认知的交互作用显著,亲社会性视频游戏更容易对女生的内隐攻击性认知产生抑制效应;(3)攻击特质对高中生的内隐攻击性认知的主效应显著,并且游戏类型和攻击特质对高中生内隐攻击性认知的交互作用显著,亲社会性视频游戏更容易对低攻击特质学生产生抑制效应。由此可见,亲社会性视频游戏能够有效抑制高中生的内隐攻击性认知水平。     

线上“秀恩爱”与旁观者主观幸福感的关系:自尊的中介作用和依恋的调节作用

随着互联网技术的普及,社交网站已经成为个体日常生活的重要部分,对个体的社会发展和社会适应产生重要影响。为探讨线上“秀恩爱”与旁观者主观幸福感的关系,以及自尊和依恋在其中的作用,本研究采用问卷法对458名成人进行了调查。结果表明：（1）被动接受“秀恩爱”程度越高,个体的主观幸福感和自尊越低。（2）自尊在被动接受“秀恩爱”程度与主观幸福感之间存在中介效应,被动接受“秀恩爱”程度越高,会引发个体自尊下降,进一步降低主观幸福感。（3）依恋焦虑在被动接受“秀恩爱”程度与自尊之间有调节效应,当依恋焦虑水平较低时,被动接受“秀恩爱”程度对自尊的削弱效应较强。     

发展“中医人类学”的必要性与意义

中医人类学不同于惯常的人类学将目光投向“异域”医疗体系与疾病文化的理解,而是借用人类学的基本理念与研究方法,同时接纳中医文化中看待、感受、体悟事物的习惯及方式,以此为基点再去看待其他医学体系的理论与方法,甚至包括所谓“主流”的西医。同时,中医人类学为现代生物医学的话语霸权、中医现代化的取向提供反思性引导;以中医视角批判生物医学的研究,为“中西之争”提供建设性话题,为中医药走出去开辟蹊径;并尝试以中医视角对其他医学体系进行研究,为传统医疗体系的发展开拓多元化道路。     

基本需要在导师排斥感知与研究生心理健康的关系中的作用

为探讨导师排斥感知对研究生心理健康的影响及作用机制,本研究采用导师排斥感知问卷、基本需要问卷、生活满意度量表、简版流调中心抑郁量表及攻击问卷,对北京市六所本科院校的864名在校硕士和博士研究生进行问卷调查。结果发现：（1）导师排斥感知正向预测研究生的抑郁和攻击性,负向预测其生活满意度;（2）基本需要在导师排斥感知与研究生的生活满意度、抑郁之间起着完全中介作用,在导师排斥感知与攻击性之间起部分中介作用。结果表明,研究生导师排斥感知越强,基本需要的满足水平越低,进而导致研究生的抑郁水平越高、攻击性越强、生活满意度越低。即研究生感知的导师排斥感越强,其心理健康水平越低。     

决策信心校准水平对元认知监控作用的影响

决策信心是个体对自身决策正确性的主观评价,是对决策过程的元认知体验。决策信心校准指决策信心水平与实际的决策正确率之间的匹配程度,其指标有信心水平和决策正确率的相关系数及Type II信号检测论中的ROC曲线下面积（Aroc）等。已有研究发现进行决策信心评估能够增强对当前或后续决策的元认知监控作用,但目前尚不清楚这种效应是否依赖于个体的决策信心校准水平。本研究通过设置知觉决策后是否进行决策信心评估（有信心评估与无信心评估）两种条件,考察个体决策信心的校准水平（Aroc）对元认知监控作用的影响。结果显示：1）与无信心评估条件相比,有信心评估的决策反应时显著增长,决策正确率显著提高（p<0.005）;2）Aroc与有、无信心评估条件下决策正确率的增加值显著正相关（r=0.25,p=0.034）,且高Aroc组的决策正确率增加值显著高于低Aroc组（p<0.05）。结果表明,在知觉决策过程中加入决策信心评估具有增强元认知监控作用的效应,体现为决策时间的增长和决策正确率的提高。并且,这种效应的大小依赖于个体的决策信心校准水平,校准水平越高元认知监控作用越好。