Publications by authors named "E A Elster"

Objective: Conduct disorder (CD) is associated with deficits in the use of punishment for reinforcement learning (RL) and subsequent decision-making, contributing to reckless, antisocial, and aggressive behaviors. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine whether differences in behavioral learning rates derived from computational modeling, particularly for punishment, are reflected in aberrant neural responses in youths with CD compared to typically-developing controls (TDCs).

Methods: 75 youths with CD and 99 TDCs (9-18 years, 47% girls) performed a probabilistic RL task with punishment, reward, and neutral contingencies.

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Sijilmassi et al. suggest that group myths explaining the shared history of a people succeed and propagate by leveraging cognitive cues from fitness interdependence. We offer an alternative and mutually compatible account rooting the success of group myths in cues from a different cognitive domain: The development of self-concepts.

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Background: Patients with sepsis-induced hypotension are generally treated with a combination of intravenous fluids and vasopressors. The attributes of patients receiving a liberal compared to a restrictive fluid strategy have not been fully characterized. We use machine learning (ML) techniques to identify key predictors of restrictive versus liberal fluids strategy, and the likelihood of receiving each strategy in distinct patient phenotypes.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study aims to enhance prediction of patient outcomes after severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) by integrating clinical data with serum inflammatory and neuronal protein levels.
  • Researchers enrolled 53 adult patients and used machine learning techniques to develop models predicting post-traumatic vasospasm (PTV) and mortality, identifying specific biomarkers and clinical signs as key predictors.
  • Findings reveal that certain inflammatory markers and demographic factors can better predict PTV development and mortality than standard clinical tools, indicating the importance of biochemical data in assessing sTBI outcomes.
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The Uniformed Services University is known for its dual mission of preparing military medical officers for operational readiness and leadership roles. The Joint Expeditionary Medical Officer (JEMO) project is a novel internal program that was initiated in 2022 and aims to fortify and evaluate the essential Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) within the School of Medicine's Molecules to Military Medicine curriculum that are pivotal for the development of a deployment-ready military medical officer. The JEMO-KSA program identifies and deliberately develops a core set of mission-critical skills during the course of students' undergraduate medical education.

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