A causal research pipeline and tutorial for psychologists and social scientists.

Causality is a fundamental part of the scientific endeavor to understand the world. Unfortunately, causality is still taboo in much of psychology and social science. Motivated by a growing number of recommendations for the importance of adopting causal approaches to research, we reformulate the typical approach to research in psychology to harmonize inevitably causal theories with the rest of the research pipeline.

User-avatar bond as diagnostic indicator for gaming disorder: A word on the side of caution.

In their study, Stavropoulos et al. (2023) capitalized on supervised machine learning and a longitudinal design and reported that the User-Avatar Bond could be accurately employed to detect Gaming Disorder (GD) risk in a community sample of gamers. The authors suggested that the User-Avatar Bond is a "digital phenotype" that could be used as a diagnostic indicator for GD risk.

Trying to outrun causality with machine learning: Limitations of model explainability techniques for exploratory research.

Machine learning explainability techniques have been proposed as a means for psychologists to "explain" or interrogate a model in order to gain an understanding of a phenomenon of interest. Researchers concerned with imposing overly restrictive functional form (e.g.

Longitudinal evidence over 2 years of the pandemic shows that poor mental health in people living with obesity may be underestimated.

It is well-documented that people living with obesity are at greater risk of poorer mental health outcomes. The aim of our study was twofold: First, to examine the longitudinal trajectories of depression and anxiety in people living with obesity over two years across eight waves of a UK national COVID-19 survey (March 2020-March 2022) using smoothing-splines mixed-effects models. Second, to investigate participation effects via a missingness analysis to check whether survey attrition over time was related to participant characteristics.

Emotion dynamic patterns between intimate relationship partners predict their separation two years later: A machine learning approach.

Contemporary emotion theories predict that how partners' emotions are coupled together across an interaction can inform on how well the relationship functions. However, few studies have compared how individual (i.e.

Toward a causal link between attachment styles and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Recent research has shown that insecure attachment, especially attachment anxiety, is associated with poor mental health outcomes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other research suggests that insecure attachment may be linked to nonadherence to social distancing behaviours during the pandemic.

Aims: The present study aims to examine the causal links between attachment styles (secure, anxious, avoidant), mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, loneliness) and adherence to social distancing behaviours during the first several months of the UK lockdown (between April and August 2020).

Misspecification and unreliable interpretations in psychology and social science.

The replicability crisis has drawn attention to numerous weaknesses in psychology and social science research practice. In this work we focus on three issues that cannot be addressed with replication alone, and which deserve more attention: Functional misspecification, structural misspecification, and unreliable interpretation of results. We demonstrate a number of possible consequences via simulation, and provide recommendations for researchers to improve their research practice.

Is Infidelity Predictable? Using Explainable Machine Learning to Identify the Most Important Predictors of Infidelity.

Infidelity can be a disruptive event in a romantic relationship with a devastating impact on both partners' well-being. Thus, there are benefits to identifying factors that can explain or predict infidelity, but prior research has not utilized methods that would provide the relative importance of each predictor. We used a machine learning algorithm, random forest (a type of interpretable highly non-linear decision tree), to predict in-person and online infidelity across two studies (one individual and one dyadic, N = 1,295).

Spectral and cross-spectral analysis-A tutorial for psychologists and social scientists.

Social scientists have become increasingly interested in using intensive longitudinal methods to study social phenomena that change over time. Many of these phenomena are expected to exhibit cycling fluctuations (e.g.

Uncovering the Most Important Factors for Predicting Sexual Desire Using Explainable Machine Learning.

Background: Low sexual desire is the most common sexual problem reported with 34% of women and 15% of men reporting lack of desire for at least 3 months in a 12-month period. Sexual desire has previously been associated with both relationship and individual well-being highlighting the importance of understanding factors that contribute to sexual desire as improving sexual desire difficulties can help improve an individual's overall quality of life.

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to identify the most salient individual (eg, attachment style, attitudes toward sexuality, gender) and relational (eg, relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, romantic love) predictors of dyadic and solitary sexual desire from a large number of predictor variables.

What can be learned from couple research: Examining emotional co-regulation processes in face-to-face interactions.

A crucial component of successful counseling and psychotherapy is the dyadic emotion co-regulation process between patient and therapist that unfolds moment to moment during therapy sessions. The major reason for the disappointing progress in understanding this process is the lack of appropriate methods to assess subjectively experienced emotions continuously during therapy sessions without disturbing the natural flow of the interaction. The resulting inability has forced the field to focus on patients' overall emotion ratings at the end of each session with limited predictive value of the dyadic interplay between patient and therapist's emotional states within each session.

The Impact of Family Economic Strain On Work-Family Conflict, Marital Support, Marital Quality, and Marital Stability During the Middle Years.

Over the past few decades, US families have been faced with several economic recessions. The regularity and severity of these economic crises lends to the importance of having an understanding of how these events affect families. The present study investigates the effects of family economic strain on marital quality and marital stability through individual and dyadic models, incorporating work-family conflict and marital support as mediators.

Using spectral and cross-spectral analysis to identify patterns and synchrony in couples' sexual desire.

Sexual desire discrepancy is one of the most frequently reported sexual concerns for individuals and couples and has been shown to be negatively associated with sexual and relationship satisfaction. Sexual desire has increasingly been examined as a state-like construct that ebbs and flows, but little is known about whether there are patterns in the fluctuation of sexual desire. Utilizing spectral and cross-spectral analysis, we transformed 30 days of dyadic daily diary data for perceived levels of sexual desire for a non-clinical sample of 133 couples (266 individuals) into the frequency domain to identify shared periodic state fluctuations in sexual desire.

Factors affecting microbial contamination rate of cord blood collected for transplantation.

Background: Collection and processing of cord blood (CB) is associated with significant risk of microbial contamination and hence relevant standards mandate microbial screening of the final product. This study aimed to determine the contamination rate and associated risk factors during 14 years of banking at the Sydney Cord Blood Bank.

Study Design And Methods: CB was collected and processed using a closed system and tested for contamination using blood culture bottles (BacT/ALERT, bioMérieux) incubated for a minimum of 5 days.

The generation and analysis of deficiencies within a small genomic region on the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster containing two genes, enhancer of rudimentary and CG15352.

The enhancer of rudimentary gene, e(r), encodes a 104-amino-acid, highly conserved transcription cofactor. Hypomorphic mutations of e(r) show an enhancement of a hypomorphic rudimentary mutant wing phenotype. These mutants in a wild-type background are viable, fertile, and morphologically wild-type.

Outcome following unrelated cord blood transplant in 136 patients with malignant and non-malignant diseases: a report from the Australian and New Zealand children's haematology and oncology group.

Unrelated umbilical cord blood (UCB) is an alternative stem cell source for paediatric patients lacking a matched related or unrelated marrow donor. We report the results of all paediatric unrelated UCB transplants performed in Australia and New Zealand over a 10-year period. A total of 135 patients were transplanted, 100 for malignant disease (74%) and 35 for non-malignant disorders.

Failure to lactate: a possible late effect of cranial radiation.

We conducted a retrospective review of the lactation experience of female survivors who received 24 Gy cranial radiotherapy as CNS prophylaxis for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood prior to 1982 and who attend the Long-Term Follow-Up Clinic at Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, Australia. Median time since diagnosis is 28 years (range 25-37 years). Twelve have produced offspring.

Long-term outcomes in children with high-risk neuroblastoma treated with autologous stem cell transplantation.

We retrospectively analysed the outcomes of children transplanted for high-risk neuroblastoma (NB) at a single institution predominantly transplanted with total body irradiation and chemotherapy. The aims of this study were to determine the prognostic impact of clinical and biological features and to document long-term health outcomes. Forty patients were transplanted with a single unpurged autograft.

Ethnicity, equity and public benefit: a critical evaluation of public umbilical cord blood banking in Australia.

Over the past decade umbilical cord blood (UCB) has been increasingly used as a source of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for patients who require a HSC transplant but do not have an HLA-matched donor. It was anticipated that using UCB as an alternative source of HSCs would increase the chance of finding a donor, particularly for the otherwise underrepresented ethnic minority groups. To evaluate the effectiveness of the Australian public UCB banks to increase the ethnic diversity of available HSC donations, this paper analyses the ethnic diversity of the Sydney Cord Blood Bank (SCBB), comparing this diversity to that of the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR).

Novel cryoprotectant significantly improves the post-thaw recovery and quality of HSC from CB.

Background: Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) have traditionally been frozen using the cryoprotectant DMSO in dextran-40, saline or albumin. However, the process of freezing and thawing results in loss of HSC numbers and/or function.

Methods: This study investigated the use of CryoStor for the freezing of HSC from cord blood (CB).

No longer a biological waste product: umbilical cord blood.

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation is an accepted curative therapy for many cancers and inherited non-malignant diseases, including bone marrow failure syndromes, haemoglobinopathies, and inborn errors of metabolism. Stem cells can be used from the bone marrow or blood of matched siblings or appropriately matched unrelated volunteers, but many patients do not have a suitably matched donor. Umbilical cord blood (UCB) has been successfully used as an alternative stem cell source.

Factors associated with outcomes of unrelated cord blood transplant: guidelines for donor choice.

Objective: Optimizing cord blood donor selection based mainly on cell dose and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) disparities may further improve results of unrelated cord blood transplants (UCBT).

Materials And Results: We analyzed 550 UCBTs for hematologic malignancies reported to the Eurocord Registry. Main outcomes and prognostic factors were analyzed in univariable and multivariable analyses incorporating center and period effects and using death and relapse as competitive risks for nonfatal endpoints.

Osteochondroma after total body irradiation: an age-related complication.

Background: The discovery of a mass lesion in a long-term cancer survivor causes significant anxiety. The causes of such a mass include benign osteochondroma, which has been reported following focal irradiation and total body irradiation (TBI).

Procedure: To establish the incidence of osteochondromas following TBI, the medical records of all children treated at the Sydney Children's Hospital who received TBI as part of the conditioning prior to bone-marrow transplantation between 1978 and 1997 were reviewed.

Unrelated cord blood transplantation for childhood acute myeloid leukemia: a Eurocord Group analysis.

Results of unrelated cord blood transplantation (UCBT) in childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have not been previously reported. We analyzed 95 children receiving UCB transplants for AML (20 in first complete remission [CR1], 47 in CR2, and 28 in more advanced stage). Poor prognosis cytogenetic abnormalities were identified in 29 cases.

Results of consecutive trials for children newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia from the Australian and New Zealand Children's Cancer Study Group.

Despite improvements in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), approximately 50% of children die of the disease. Clinical trials in adult patients with AML indicate that idarubicin may have superior efficacy when compared to daunorubicin in the remission-induction phases of chemotherapy. We conducted consecutive clinical trials in children with newly diagnosed AML in which daunorubicin (group 1, n = 102) or idarubicin (group 2, n = 160) was used during the remission-induction (RI) and the early consolidation phases of chemotherapy.