Building a simpler moderated nonlinear factor analysis model with Markov Chain Monte Carlo estimation.

Moderated nonlinear factor analysis (MNLFA) has emerged as an important and flexible data analysis tool, particularly in integrative data analysis setting and psychometric studies of measurement invariance and differential item functioning. Substantive applications abound in the literature and span a broad range of disciplines. MNLFA unifies item response theory, multiple group, and multiple indicator multiple cause modeling traditions, and it extends these frameworks by conceptualizing latent variable heterogeneity as a source of differential item functioning.

Exploration of the MCMC Wald test with linear regression.

Recently, Asparouhov and Muthén Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 28, 1-14, (2021a, 2021b) proposed a variant of the Wald test that uses Markov chain Monte Carlo machinery to generate a chi-square test statistic for frequentist inference. Because the test's composition does not rely on analytic expressions for sampling variation and covariation, it potentially provides a way to get honest significance tests in cases where the likelihood-based test statistic's assumptions break down (e.g.

Keratometry Changes Between Year One to Seven After Corneal Cross-Linking in Patients With Keratoconus.

Purpose: We evaluated the timing at and extent to which midterm to long-term keratometric changes can occur in year 1 to 7 after corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) in patients with keratoconus.

Methods: We conducted a subgroup analysis of a retrospective cohort study of all consecutive patients who underwent CXL at our cornea center between 2007 and 2011. The inclusion criteria comprised CXL according to the Dresden protocol and a full set of keratometry parameters collected by Scheimpflug tomography preoperatively and at year 1, 3, 5, and 7 after CXL.

Longitudinal associations between adolescent skin color satisfaction and adult health outcomes in Black women.

Objective: Although emerging studies examine the inverse relationship between body satisfaction and disordered eating for Black women, it has not been established how racially salient aspects of body satisfaction may have implications for eating behaviors and longitudinal health outcomes.

Method: In a longitudinal sample of 455 Black women, we examined whether skin color satisfaction across ages 10-15 was directly related to adult health outcomes at age 40 (e.g.

A practice quit model to test early efficacy of medications for alcohol use disorder in a randomized clinical trial.

Rationale: Screening novel medications for alcohol use disorder (AUD) requires models that are both efficient and ecologically-valid. Ideally, such models would be associated with the outcomes of a given medication in clinical trials.

Objectives: To test a novel human laboratory model in which individuals with intrinsic motivation to change their drinking engage in a "practice quit" attempt consisting of 6 days of complete abstinence from alcohol.

A simple Monte Carlo method for estimating power in multilevel designs.

Estimating power for multilevel models is complex because there are many moving parts, several sources of variation to consider, and unique sample sizes at Level 1 and Level 2. Monte Carlo computer simulation is a flexible tool that has received considerable attention in the literature. However, much of the work to date has focused on very simple models with one predictor at each level and one cross-level interaction effect, and approaches that do not share this limitation require users to specify a large set of population parameters.

Comparing DIC and WAIC for multilevel models with missing data.

In Bayesian statistics, the most widely used criteria of Bayesian model assessment and comparison are Deviance Information Criterion (DIC) and Watanabe-Akaike Information Criterion (WAIC). We use a multilevel mediation model as an illustrative example to compare different types of DIC and WAIC. More specifically, we aim to compare the performance of conditional and marginal DICs and WAICs, and investigate their performance with missing data.

Longitudinal Stability of Disordered-Eating Symptoms From Age 12 to 40 in Black and White Women.

The purpose of the current study was to test the longitudinal association between disordered eating symptoms (body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness and bulimia) in adolescence (ages 12, 14, 16, 18, 19) and adulthood (age 40) in a sample of 883 white and Black women. We also investigated moderation by race. Adolescent symptoms at each time point significantly predicted adulthood symptoms for the body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness subscales, for both Black and white women.

Evaluation of Automated Measurement of Macular Ischemic Changes in Retinal Vein Occlusion With Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography.

Objective: The foveal avascular zone (FAZ) is altered in patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and correlates inversely with visual acuity. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is an imaging tool to visualize FAZ safely and easily. Automated measurements can facilitate interpretation of OCTA images.

Multigenerational adversity impacts on human gut microbiome composition and socioemotional functioning in early childhood.

Adversity exposures in the prenatal and postnatal period are associated with an increased risk for psychopathology, which can be perpetuated across generations. Nonhuman animal research highlights the gut microbiome as a putative biological mechanism underlying such generational risks. In a sample of 450 mother-child dyads living in Singapore, we examined associations between three distinct adversity exposures experienced across two generations-maternal childhood maltreatment, maternal prenatal anxiety, and second-generation children's exposure to stressful life events-and the gut microbiome composition of second-generation children at 2 y of age.

Personality predicts pre-COVID-19 to COVID-19 trajectories of transdiagnostic anxiety and depression symptoms.

This study aimed to characterize within-person pre-COVID-19 and coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) transdiagnostic anxiety and depression symptom trajectories in emerging adults and determine the roles of neuroticism and behavioral activation in predicting these COVID-19-related changes. We recruited a sample of 342 emerging adults (aged 18-19 at baseline) who were screened on neuroticism and behavioral activation and completed symptom questionnaires on multiple occasions before and after the start of the pandemic. We examined estimates of the symptom factors of General Distress, Anhedonia-Apprehension, and Fears at each wave.

A factored regression model for composite scores with item-level missing data.

Composite scores are an exceptionally important psychometric tool for behavioral science research applications. A prototypical example occurs with self-report data, where researchers routinely use questionnaires with multiple items that tap into different features of a target construct. Item-level missing data are endemic to composite score applications.

Reutilization of disposable rebound tonometer probes: Risk or return?

Purpose: An advantage of rebound tonometry (RT) is its ease of use so that it can also be operated by health care technicians. However, the cost of the disposable measuring probes is high and their reuse carries the risk of infection. Therefore, this study aims to objectify the potential risk of bacterial transmission by RT.

[Thyroid Eye Disease-Compressive Optic Neuropathy].

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the functional outcomes in terms of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and visual field (VF) defects in optic nerve compression (thyroid eye disease-compressive optic neuropathy, TED-CON) patients after treatment.

Patients And Methods: In this observational, retrospective study, the medical charts of 51 patients (96 eyes) with a diagnosis of definitive TED-CON between 2010-2020 were included.

Results: After the diagnosis of TED-CON, 16 patients (27 eyes) received steroid-pulse (medical) treatment alone, 67 eyes received an additional surgical orbital decompression, whereas 1 patient (2 eyes) refused both treatment methods.

Missing data: An update on the state of the art.

The year 2022 is the 20th anniversary of Joseph Schafer and John Graham's paper titled "Missing data: Our view of the state of the art," currently the most highly cited paper in the history of . Much has changed since 2002, as missing data methodologies have continually evolved and improved; the range of applications that are possible with modern missing data techniques has increased dramatically, and software options are light years ahead of where they were. This article provides an update on the state of the art that catalogs important innovations from the past two decades of missing data research.

An Investigation of Factored Regression Missing Data Methods for Multilevel Models with Cross-Level Interactions.

A growing body of literature has focused on missing data methods that factorize the joint distribution into a part representing the analysis model of interest and a part representing the distributions of the incomplete predictors. Relatively little is known about the utility of this method for multilevel models with interactive effects. This study presents a series of Monte Carlo computer simulations that investigates Bayesian and multiple imputation strategies based on factored regressions.

See clearer: survey on the subjective and objective information levels as well as perception and information transfer using virtual reality headsets in patients with diabetic macular edema receiving anti-VEGF treatment.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of a VR Headset in routine clinical practice as an additional source of information for patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) and their companions.

Methods: Survey including 121 patients with DME, 22 companions, and 14 healthcare professionals from 8 ophthalmology centers in Germany. Patients' and their companions' health literacy was assessed by questionnaires including knowledge statements before and after watching a VR-based 3-D educational video.

Morphometric analyses in patients treated with subthreshold laser photocoagulation for central serous chorioretinopathy.

Background And Objective: To analyze changes in selected parameters in optical coherence tomography (OCT) after subthreshold laser coagulation (ST-LP) in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR).

Materials And Methods: Fifty-four eyes of 49 patients with CSCR were included in the study. Each patient underwent therapy with ST-LP with a frequency-doubled Neodym-YAG Laser and OCT imaging.

Combination treatment with varenicline and naltrexone reduces World Health Organization risk drinking levels.

Background: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration identifies abstinence and the absence of heavy drinking days as outcomes for pharmacotherapy trials for alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Corneal cross-linking in patients with keratoconus: up to 13 years of follow-up.

Introduction: To evaluate long-term safety and efficacy of corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) in patients with keratoconus up to 13 years.

Materials And Methods: In this mono-centre exploratory study, we included all consecutive patients who underwent CXL in our cornea centre from 01/01/2007 to 12/30/2011 and met the inclusion criteria. CXL was performed in all patients according to the Dresden protocol.

Examining the dimensionality of anxiety and depression: A latent profile approach to modeling transdiagnostic features.

Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent psychological disorders; our understanding of these conditions remains limited. Efforts to explain anxiety and depression have been constrained in part by binary classification systems. Dimensional approaches to understanding psychopathology may be more effective.

Prospective relationships between skin color satisfaction, body satisfaction, and binge eating in Black girls.

Although it has been demonstrated that (a) body dissatisfaction and internalization of societal appearance standards contribute to disordered eating and (b) that internalization of societal appearance standards leads to decreased skin color satisfaction among Black women, it has not been established whether skin color dissatisfaction contributes to disordered eating among Black women or girls. The objective of the present study is to determine the influence of skin color satisfaction as a potential predictor for binge eating, and its effect through body image in Black girls during the vulnerable developmental period of adolescence. Using data from ten annual measurements in 1213 Black girls across ages 10-19, we sought to determine whether skin color satisfaction predicts Binge Eating Disorder (BED) risk and symptoms using pre-registered logistic and multilevel models.

Early-life adversity and risk for depression and anxiety: The role of interpersonal support.

Early-life adversity is a major risk factor for psychopathology, but not all who experience adversity develop psychopathology. The current study evaluated whether the links between child and adolescent adversity and depression and anxiety were described by general benefits andor buffering effects of interpersonal support. Data from 456 adolescents oversampled on neuroticism over a 5-year period were examined in a series of discrete-time survival analyses to predict subsequent disorder onsets.

Evolutionary patterns of chromosomal instability and mismatch repair deficiency in proximal and distal colorectal cancer.

Aim: Colorectal carcinomas (CRCs) progress through heterogeneous pathways. The aim of this study was to analyse whether or not the cytogenetic evolution of CRC is linked to tumour site, level of chromosomal imbalance and metastasis.

Method: A set of therapy-naïve pT3 CRCs comprising 26 proximal and 49 distal pT3 CRCs was studied by combining immunohistochemistry of mismatch repair (MMR) proteins, microsatellite analyses and molecular karyotyping as well as clinical parameters.

Central Serous Chorioretinopathy: Morphological and Functional Outcome after Subthreshold Thermal Laser Coagulation with a Frequency-Doubled Nd:YAG Continuous-Wave Laser.

Purpose: Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) presents itself as a serous detachment of the central neurosensory retina (NR), which may be accompanied by focal detachment of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and changes in the RPE itself. It is often self-limiting; however, if the macular region is affected, visual impairment can be serious. If spontaneous remission does not occur, data on the effectiveness of further treatment options are sparse.