Multimodal Prediction of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Comorbid Depression Severity and Energy Delivered by Deep Brain Electrodes.

To develop reliable, valid, and efficient measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) severity, comorbid depression severity, and total electrical energy delivered (TEED) by deep brain stimulation (DBS), we trained and compared random forests regression models in a clinical trial of participants receiving DBS for refractory OCD. Six participants were recorded during open-ended interviews at pre- and post-surgery baselines and then at 3-month intervals following DBS activation. Ground-truth severity was assessed by clinical interview and self-report.

Treatment of verb tense inflection and sentence production in Persian individuals with agrammatism.

Production of verb morphology, especially tense inflection, is usually impaired in individuals with agrammatism. There have been relatively few studies on treatment of verb tense inflection in agrammatic aphasia. In this study we adapted ACTION (a linguistically motivated treatment) to Persian language, to treat the production of regular and irregular verbs separately in sentence context.

The Efficacy of Structural Priming in the Production of Sentences with Prepositions in Persian Patients with Poststroke Aphasia.

Introduction: Problems with the production of sentences with prepositions are one of the most common language problems in people with aphasia (PWA). Structural priming (SP) is one of the theory-based therapeutic approaches to improve these deficits. Although several studies have been conducted on the sentence construction problems of PWA, there is no study on the SP protocol for the production of sentences with Persian prepositions.

Automated affect classification and task difficulty adaptation in a competitive scenario based on physiological linkage: An exploratory study.

In competitive and cooperative scenarios, task difficulty should be dynamically adapted to suit people with different abilities. State-of-the-art difficulty adaptation methods for such scenarios are based on task performance, which conveys little information about user-specific factors such as workload. Thus, we present an exploratory study of automated affect recognition and task difficulty adaptation in a competitive scenario based on physiological linkage (covariation of participants' physiological responses).

User Experience With Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment Methods for an Affective Exergame: Comparative Laboratory-Based Study.

Background: In affective exergames, game difficulty is dynamically adjusted to match the user's physical and psychological state. Such an adjustment is commonly made based on a combination of performance measures (eg, in-game scores) and physiological measurements, which provide insight into the player's psychological state. However, although many prototypes of affective games have been presented and many studies have shown that physiological measurements allow more accurate classification of the player's psychological state than performance measures, few studies have examined whether dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) based on physiological measurements (which requires additional sensors) results in a better user experience than performance-based DDA or manual difficulty adjustment.

Automated Detection of Enhanced DBS Device Settings.

Continuous deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the ventral striatum (VS) is an effective treatment for severe, treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Optimal parameter settings are signaled by a mirth response of intense positive affect, which are subjectively identified by clinicians. Subjective judgments are idiosyncratic and difficult to standardize.

Classification of Multiple Psychological Dimensions in Computer Game Players Using Physiology, Performance, and Personality Characteristics.

Human psychological (cognitive and affective) dimensions can be assessed using several methods, such as physiological or performance measurements. To date, however, few studies have compared different data modalities with regard to their ability to enable accurate classification of different psychological dimensions. This study thus compares classification accuracies for four psychological dimensions and two subjective preferences about computer game difficulty using three data modalities: physiology, performance, and personality characteristics.

Using Physiological Linkage for Patient State Assessment In a Competitive Rehabilitation Game.

Competitive rehabilitation games can enhance motivation and exercise intensity compared to solo exercise; however, since such games may be played by two people with different abilities, game difficulty must be dynamically adapted to suit both players. State-of-the-art adaptation algorithms are based on players' performance (e.g.

A Brief Measure of Interpersonal Interaction for 2-Player Serious Games: Questionnaire Validation.

Background: Competitive and cooperative serious games have become increasingly popular in areas such as rehabilitation and education and have several potential advantages over single-player games. However, they are not suitable for everyone, and the user experience in competitive and cooperative serious games depends on many factors. One important factor is the verbal interaction between players, but the effect of this factor has not been extensively studied because of the lack of a validated measurement tool.

Identifying the Causes of Drivers' Hazardous States Using Driver Characteristics, Vehicle Kinematics, and Physiological Measurements.

Drivers' hazardous physical and mental states (e.g., distraction, fatigue, stress, and high workload) have a major effect on driving performance and strongly contribute to 25-50% of all traffic accidents.

Comparison of two difficulty adaptation strategies for competitive arm rehabilitation exercises.

This paper presents two different strategies for difficulty adaptation in a competitive arm rehabilitation game: a manual adaptation strategy and an automatic performance-based adaptation strategy. The two strategies were implemented in a competitive game controlled with an inertial-sensor-based home rehabilitation device. They were first evaluated with 32 pairs of unimpaired participants, who played the game with manual adaptation, automated adaptation, or no adaptation.

The Effect of Prophylactic Antibiotics on Post Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Infectious Complications: A Double-Blinded Clinical Trial.

Background: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is one of the most common surgeries in laparoscopic surgery. Although, it is believed that LC has low-risk for post-operative infectious complications, the use of a prophylactic antibiotic is still controversial in elective LC.

Objective: To determine the impact of prophylactic antibiotics on postoperative infection complications in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Comparing the production of complex sentences in Persian patients with post-stroke aphasia and non-damaged people with normal speaking.

Background: Cerebrovascular disease leading to stroke is the most common cause of aphasia. Speakers with agrammatic non-fluent aphasia have difficulties in production of movement-derived sentences such as passive sentences, topicalized constituents, and Wh-questions. To assess the production of complex sentences, some passive, topicalized and focused sentences were designed for patients with non-fluent Persian aphasic.

Influence of splenectomy on immunoglobulins and complement components in major thalassemia.

Background: Thalassemia is the most common anemia with hereditary base in Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the humoral immune system and assess the effect of splenectomy on the serum level of immunoglobulins IgG, IgM, and IgG and complement components in patients with major thalassemia.

Methods: This quasi-experimental study (before-after) was performed on 40 patients with major thalassemia that referred to the treatment centers of Babol for splenectomy from March 2011 to March 2013.

Extracellular spike detection from multiple electrode array using novel intelligent filter and ensemble fuzzy decision making.

Background: The information obtained from signal recorded with extracellular electrodes is essential in many research fields with scientific and clinical applications. These signals are usually considered as a point process and a spike detection method is needed to estimate the time instants of action potentials. In order to do so, several steps are taken but they all depend on the results of the first step, which filters the signals.

Evaluation of chest and abdominal injuries in trauma patients hospitalized in the surgery ward of poursina teaching hospital, guilan, iran.

Background: Trauma, especially chest and abdominal trauma are increasing due to the growing number of vehicles on the roads, which leads to an increased incidence of road accidents. Urbanization, industrialization and additional problems are the other associated factors which accelerate this phenomenon. A better understanding of the etiology and pattern of such injuries can help to improve the management and ultimate the outcomes of these patients.

Unresolved abdominal mass in an adult cryptorchid testis: a case report.

This case study aims to report an unresolved abdominal mass in an adult with cryptorchid testis and provide a review of related literature. We investigated a 54-year-old man who had cryptorchidism with a history of left orchiectomy 18 years prior. He was diagnosed with an intra-abdominal testicular mass after referring to the emergency ward with pelvic pain.