Listening to placebos: the contested lessons of antidepressants debates.

The goal of this paper is to explore a set of epistemological and ontological issues regarding the historical and philosophical role of placebos in the contested history of antidepressants. Starting from an account of the dual nature of the placebo as both an epistemic and a therapeutic tool, and against the background of the heated debates on the efficacy of second-generation antidepressants, I propose two related arguments. First, I argue that placebos as controls played a crucial but paradoxical role in the rise of so-called evidence-based approaches to depression.

The Impact of Interdisciplinary, Gender and Geographic Distributions on the Citation Patterns of the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling.

There has been a growing recognition of the need for diversity and inclusion in scientific fields. This trend is reflected in the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling (JCIM), where there has been a gradual increase in the number of papers that embrace this diversity. In this viewpoint, we analyze the evolution of the profile of papers published in JCIM from 1996 to 2022 addressing three diversity criteria, namely interdisciplinarity, geographic and gender distributions, and their impact on citation patterns.

Effect of Flattened Structures of Molecules and Materials on Machine Learning Model Training.

A key aspect of producing accurate and reliable machine learning models for the prediction of properties of quantum chemistry (QC) data is identifying possible data characteristics that may negatively influence model training. In previous work, we identified that molecules and materials with a low volume of the convex hull (VCH) of atomic positions may be harmful in model training and a source of prediction outliers. In this paper, we extend this analysis further and develop a biased sampling study to evaluate the influence of VCH on the training data of a model using different structures of molecules and materials.

Systematic Investigation of Error Distribution in Machine Learning Algorithms Applied to the Quantum-Chemistry QM9 Data Set Using the Bias and Variance Decomposition.

Most machine learning applications in quantum-chemistry (QC) data sets rely on a single statistical error parameter such as the mean square error (MSE) to evaluate their performance. However, this approach has limitations or can even yield incorrect interpretations. Here, we report a systematic investigation of the two components of the MSE, i.

Correlation-Based Framework for Extraction of Insights from Quantum Chemistry Databases: Applications for Nanoclusters.

The amount of quantum chemistry (QC) data is increasing year by year due to the continuous increase of computational power and development of new algorithms. However, in most cases, our atom-level knowledge of molecular systems has been obtained by manual data analyses based on selected descriptors. In this work, we introduce a data mining framework to accelerate the extraction of insights from QC datasets, which starts with a featurization process that converts atomic features into molecular properties (AtoMF).

Machine Learning Prediction of Nine Molecular Properties Based on the SMILES Representation of the QM9 Quantum-Chemistry Dataset.

Machine learning (ML) models can potentially accelerate the discovery of tailored materials by learning a function that maps chemical compounds into their respective target properties. In this realm, a crucial step is encoding the molecular systems into the ML model, in which the molecular representation plays a crucial role. Most of the representations are based on the use of atomic coordinates (structure); however, it can increase ML training and predictions' computational cost.

Ab initio insights into the structural, energetic, electronic, and stability properties of mixed CeZrO nanoclusters.

Mixed CeO2-ZrO2 nanoclusters have the potential to play a crucial role in nanocatalysis, however, the atomistic understanding of those nanoclusters is far from satisfactory. In this work, we report a density functional theory investigation combined with Spearman rank correlation analysis of the energetic, structural and electronic properties of mixed CenZr15-nO30 nanoclusters as a function of the composition (n = 0, 1,…,14, 15). For instance, we found a negative excess energy for all putative global minimum CenZr15-nO30 configurations with a minimum at about n = 6 (i.

A Prospective, Single Arm, Multi-site, Clinical Evaluation of a Nonradioactive Surgical Guidance Technology for the Location of Nonpalpable Breast Lesions during Excision.

Objectives: This study was a multicenter evaluation of the SAVI SCOUT(®) breast localization and surgical guidance system using micro-impulse radar technology for the removal of nonpalpable breast lesions. The study was designed to validate the results of a recent 50-patient pilot study in a larger multi-institution trial. The primary endpoints were the rates of successful reflector placement, localization, and removal.

Pilot Study of a New Nonradioactive Surgical Guidance Technology for Locating Nonpalpable Breast Lesions.

Background: The current technique for locating nonpalpable breast lesions is wire localization (WL). Radioactive seed localization and intraoperative ultrasound were developed to improve difficulties with WL. The SAVI SCOUT surgical guidance system was developed to improve these methods.

The effects of ammonia and water hardness on the hormonal, osmoregulatory and metabolic responses of the freshwater silver catfish Rhamdia quelen.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of ammonia and water hardness on endocrine, osmoregulatory and metabolic parameters in silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen). The specimens (60-120g) were subjected to six treatments in triplicate, combining three levels of un-ionized ammonia (NH3) (0.020±0.

Accuracy of clinical evaluation of locally advanced breast cancer in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Background: Physical examination (PE), mammography (MG), breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET), and pathologic evaluation are used to assess primary breast cancer. To the authors' knowledge, their accuracy has not been well studied in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Accuracies of each modality in tumor and lymph node assessment in patients with T3/T4 tumors receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy were compared.

Histopathologic characteristics predicting HER-2/neu amplification in breast cancer.

The HER-2/neu gene is a proto-oncogene that is amplified in 10-30% of breast cancers. New drugs for targeted therapy, such as Herceptin, are effective for patients with HER-2/neu-positive tumors, making it necessary to have a noncostly and accurate method to assess HER-2/neu status. We studied the correlation of findings made by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining and the possibility of combining IHC and other clinicopathologic characteristics of breast tumors to predict FISH-determined HER-2/neu status.

Modification of respiratory function parameters in patients with severe Parkinson's disease.

Respiratory dysfunction remains one of the most common causes of death in patients with complicated Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of this study was to investigate pulmonary function in fluctuating PD patients during "on" and "off" states of the disease. We studied 12 fluctuating, non-smoking PD patients (H&Y stages 3-5) without a history of lung or cardiovascular disease; all patients underwent Hoehn and Yahr scale (H&Y) and Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS items 18-31) to evaluate extrapyramidal impairment, as well as pulmonary function tests (PFT) and arterial blood gas analyses to assess respiratory function.

[Splenectomy for hematologic disease. Mini-invasive versus traditional technique].

Background: This study aimed to compare the safety, efficacy and clinical benefits of laparoscopic splenectomy (LS) to open splenectomy (OS) in patients with hematologic disorders.

Experimental Design: prospective study;

Setting: II Department of Surgery, Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, Reggio Emilia and III Department of Surgery, Santo Spirito Hospital Pescara;

Patients: 48 consecutive adult patients underwent splenectomy; 30 patients under-went LS and 18 OS. Perioperative characteristics, outcomes, complications and costs were comparatively analyzed.

Ventricular evoked response in patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy treated with DDD pacing.

Objective: To assess the changes in ventricular evoked responses (VER) produced by the decrease in left ventricular outflow tract gradient (LVOTG) in patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) treated with dual-chamber (DDD) pacing.

Methods: A pulse generator Physios CTM (Biotronik, Germany) was implanted in 9 patients with severe drug-refractory HOCM. After implantation, the following conditions were assessed: 1) Baseline evaluation: different AV delay (ranging from 150 ms to 50 ms) were sequentially programmed during 5 to 10 minutes, and the LVOTG (as determined by Doppler echocardiography) and VER recorded; 2) standard evaluation, when the best AV delay (resulting in the lowest LVOTG) programmed at the initial evaluation was maintained so that its effect on VER and LVOTG could be assessed during each chronic pacing evaluation.

24-hour leg and forearm haemodynamics in transected spinal cord subjects.

Objective: A circadian rhythm of blood pressure has been demonstrated both in subjects who are physically active during the day and in those confined to bed. The study of the circadian rhythm of arterial flow and peripheral resistance, on the other hand, is limited to pioneer experiments. This paper is aimed at demonstrating that leg peripheral resistance has circadian fluctuations which are modulated by spinal neural traffic.

A prospective, parallel, double-blind comparison of iodixanol and iohexol in extremity phlebography.

Rationale And Objectives: A two-center, prospective, double-blind study was conducted to compare the performance parameters (efficacy, safety, and injection-associated discomfort) of iohexol with those of the new, isosmolar contrast medium iodixanol in extremity phlebography.

Methods: Ninety-nine patients from two centers, for whom venography was clinically indicated, were blindly randomized into two groups, iohexol at 300 mg I/ml (IOH 300) or iodixanol at 270 mg I/ml (IOD-270). Patient vital signs and reports of adverse events were recorded for a minimum of 1 hr and monitored until the outcome was known.

Primary lymphoma of the spleen. Report of a case with diagnosis by fine-needle guided biopsy.

Primary splenic lymphoma is a relatively infrequent disease; the diagnosis of this entity is currently made with splenectomy. In a 52-year-old female with left upper quadrant abdominal pain, ultrasound showed a normal-sized spleen with an internal hypoechoic focal lesion. Ultrasonically-guided fine-needle aspiration and tissue core biopsy of the splenic lesion showed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).

Lack of effect of vitamin B-6 supplementation on the lipoprotein profile of post-menopausal chronic hemodialysis patients.

This study was designed to analyze the effect of vitamin B-6 supplementation on the lipoprotein profile of chronic hemodialysis patients. Individuals on chronic hemodialysis experience an acceleration of atherosclerosis, which is often accompanied by abnormal lipid metabolism. Although total plasma cholesterol is usually normal, high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is often low.