Biomechanical Changes Related to Low Back Pain: An Innovative Tool for Movement Pattern Assessment and Treatment Evaluation in Rehabilitation.

Low back pain (LBP) is a highly prevalent disorder frequently related to biomechanical alterations. Movement pattern assessments have a role in the rehabilitation management of patients with LBP; however, a precise assessment is challenging in routine clinical settings. Thus, this study aims to assess the biomechanical alterations related to LBP through the development and application of an innovative assessment tool named CameraLab.

Nudges for people who think.

The naiveté of the dominant 'cognitive-miser' metaphor of human thinking hampers theoretical progress in understanding how and why subtle behavioural interventions-'nudges'-could work. We propose a reconceptualization that places the balance in agency between, and the alignment of representations held by, people and choice architects as central to determining the prospect of observing behaviour change. We argue that two aspects of representational (mis)alignment are relevant: cognitive (how people construe the factual structure of a decision environment) and motivational (the importance of a choice to an individual).

Reliability and validity of the hand-held dynamometer "NOD": a new instrument for assessment of isometric grip strength.

Introduction: Hand grip strength (HGS) is an important measure in a physiotherapy assessment and for this purpose it is necessary to have valid and reliable instruments to measure it. In this study we aimed at investigating the reliability, validity, and agreement of the new hand-held dynamometer NOD (OT-Bioelettronica, To-Italy) compared to Jamar® hydraulic dynamometer (JD), the gold standard.

Methods: Fifty healthy subjects were selected; 9 trials for the dominant hand and 9 trials for the non-dominant hand were administrated to each of them: 3 trials of HGS with the JD in rung #3, 3 trials with the JD-adapted-grip (like the NOD one), and 3 trials with NOD.

The psychometric properties of the EQ-HWB and EQ-HWB-S in patients with breast cancer: a comparative analysis with EQ-5D-5L, FACT-8D and SWEMWBS.

Objectives: The EQ Health and Well Being is a new generic measure that captures constructs beyond health-related quality of life, with a 25-item long form (EQ-HWB) and a shorter 9-item version (EQ-HWB-S). This study aims to assess the psychometric performance of both versions in breast cancer, which is the most prevalent cancer globally, and compare them to other instruments.

Methods: A longitudinal survey in Indonesia (2023-24) with 300 female patients used the EQ-HWB, EQ-5D-5L, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G, from which FACT-8D was derived), Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS, from which SWEMWBS was derived).

Revealing urban area from mobile positioning data.

Researchers face the trade-off between publishing mobility data along with their papers while protecting the privacy of the individuals. In addition to the anonymization process, other techniques, such as spatial discretization and location concealing or removal, are applied to achieve these dual objectives. The primary research question is whether concealing the observation area is an adequate form of protection or whether human mobility patterns in urban areas are inherently revealing of location.

Qualitative evidence on EQ-5D-5L skin irritation and self-confidence bolt-ons in Darier's disease and Hailey-Hailey disease.

Objectives: Limited evidence is available about the content validity of the EQ-5D-5L in rare skin fragility disorders. Previous research has demonstrated that the skin irritation and self-confidence additional dimensions (bolt-ons) improve the content validity of the EQ-5D-5L in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Our aim was to investigate the content validity of the EQ-5D-5L and the two bolt-ons in Darier's disease and Hailey-Hailey disease.

Leveraging Agri-advocacy to promote animal genetic diversity for climate change mitigation: Kenya and Tanzania perspective.

The role that genetic diversity in animal genetic resources (AnGR) plays in mitigating the effects of climate change on the global protein supply is of the utmost significance. East Africa historically played a pivotal role in the dispersal of domesticated livestock species across the African continent. At present, it maintains a substantial contribution to worldwide biodiversity as a result of its reservoir of a diverse array of AnGR, characterized by genetic and species diversity.

What makes a devoted local-food-buying club customer?

Local food-buying clubs (LFBCs) are special types of consumer-driven grassroots groups that are particularly well suited to enhancing the transition to a post-growth economy, given the finite growth potential of individual communities, the tendency of groups to distribute rather than accumulate capital, and the prospects of the movement for expansion. This paper analyses consumers of LFBCs and analyses how the different constructs proposed by the theory of planned behaviour are applicable according to engagement with LFBCs. A representative survey was run in May 2020 in Hungary.

Learning the lie of the land: How people construct mental representations of distributions.

An unexamined assumption in many studies of learning and decision making is that people learn underlying probability distributions. However, the acquisition of distributional knowledge is rarely the focus of investigations. We report five experiments ( = 580 adults) that provide this focus and highlight the factors that impact people's ability to accurately learn and reproduce underlying distributions.

The Associations of Peer-Rated Popularity and Likeability With Dark Triad Personality Traits in Adolescent Groups.

One of the most significant challenges in adolescence is the pursuit of social acceptance, which can manifest in various forms, including likeability and popularity. Achieving social acceptance is associated with positive outcomes, while its absence is linked to adverse consequences. Existing research into the personality determinants impacting the ability to elicit likeability or gain popularity remains limited, primarily focusing on the influence of Big Five traits.

Exploring the content validity of the EQ-5D-5L and four bolt-ons (skin irritation, self-confidence, sleep, social relationships) in atopic dermatitis and chronic urticaria.

Background: The objective of this study was to assess the content validity of the EQ-5D-5L and four bolt-ons: skin irritation, self-confidence, social relationships and sleep, for people with atopic dermatitis (AD) and chronic urticaria (CU).

Methods: Adults with AD or CU in the United Kingdom, with varying levels of severity, participated in either online or in-person semi-structured interviews. During the interviews, participants were first asked about the symptoms and impacts of their condition.

Bottling it? Consumer responses to less environmentally friendly products: A choice experiment for water in plastic packaging in the UK.

Consumers have several options when confronted with less environmentally friendly packaging like water in single use plastic bottles - they can ignore environmental concerns and proceed with a purchase, refuse to buy any such product, seek out a less damaging version like water in biodegradable bottles, and/or engage in offsetting/compensatory behavior such as donating to a charity. Understanding how consumers value these options is an important academic and management challenge. To address this, a stated choice experiment is employed.

Quantifying firm-level greenwashing: A systematic literature review.

In this systematic methodological literature review, we provide an overview, a typology, and a critical analysis of firm-level greenwashing measures derived from secondary data and utilized in empirical studies. 111 eligible studies were incorporated in this review. The high number of recently published studies in the field signals that in addition to conceptualizing greenwashing, lately there has been significant advancement in its operationalization.

Antidepressant use in spatial social networks.

Social networks may help individuals maintain their mental health. Most empirical work based on small-scale surveys finds that cohesive social networks are critical for mental well-being, while diverse networks are considered less important. Here, we link data on antidepressant use of 277,344 small-town residents to a nationwide online social network.

EQ-5D-5L population norms and health inequality for Trinidad and Tobago in 2022-2023 and comparison with 2012.

Background: The use of EQ-5D instruments in clinical, policy and economic applications continues to grow internationally. Population norms studies provide baseline values against which demographic and patient groups are compared and inequality is assessed. This study presents updated EQ-5D-5L population norms for 2022-2023, evaluates inequality and compares the results with those of 2012.

Directed reciprocity subverts cooperation in highly adaptive populations.

We examine the generally accepted hypothesis that directed reciprocity is a powerful driver for cooperation. To do so, we consider a framework where agents situated on a circle network interact with their neighbors and have the choice to be egoistic, altruistic, or partially cooperative. We study the interaction between reciprocity, the likelihood that an agent reproduces value to the neighbor who has recently produced value for the agent, and inertia, the tendency of agents to repeat their previous choices even if other strategies are more successful.

Between east and west, between past and future: The effects of exclusive historical victimhood on geopolitical attitudes in Hungary and Serbia.

In Eastern Europe, collective victim beliefs have become integral elements of national ideologies, especially amid rising geopolitical polarization. In this study, we investigated how exclusive victimhood was related to geopolitical attitudes in Hungary and Serbia. The study involved Serbian (N = 630) and Hungarian (N = 471) adult national samples stratified by gender, age, political orientation, and place of residence.

Large language models (LLMs) as agents for augmented democracy.

We explore an augmented democracy system built on off-the-shelf large language models (LLMs) fine-tuned to augment data on citizens' preferences elicited over policies extracted from the government programmes of the two main candidates of Brazil's 2022 presidential election. We use a train-test cross-validation set-up to estimate the accuracy with which the LLMs predict both: a subject's individual political choices and the aggregate preferences of the full sample of participants. At the individual level, we find that LLMs predict out of sample preferences more accurately than a 'bundle rule', which would assume that citizens always vote for the proposals of the candidate aligned with their self-reported political orientation.

Validity, test-retest reliability, and responsiveness of the Indonesian version of FACIT-COST measure for subjective financial toxicity.

Background: Financial toxicity describes the impairment of financial wellbeing in patients due to the burden of cancer diagnosis and care. The COST: A Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Measure of Financial Toxicity (FACIT-COST) is the most widely used cancer-specific measure of subjective financial toxicity, having been validated in multiple languages, but not in Indonesian. This study aimed to validate the Indonesian version of FACIT-COST in a breast cancer sample.

Comparing EQ-5D-5L, PROPr, SF-6D and TTO utilities in patients with chronic skin diseases.

Objectives: We aim to compare the measurement properties of three indirect (EQ-5D-5L, PROPr, SF-6D) and one direct (time trade-off, TTO) utility assessment methods in patients with chronic skin diseases.

Methods: 120 patients with physician-diagnosed chronic skin diseases (psoriasis 39%, atopic dermatitis 27%, acne 19%) completed a cross-sectional survey. Respondents completed the EQ-5D-5L, PROMIS-29+2 and SF-36v1 questionnaires and a 10-year TTO task for own current health.

Large language models reduce public knowledge sharing on online Q&A platforms.

Large language models (LLMs) are a potential substitute for human-generated data and knowledge resources. This substitution, however, can present a significant problem for the training data needed to develop future models if it leads to a reduction of human-generated content. In this work, we document a reduction in activity on Stack Overflow coinciding with the release of ChatGPT, a popular LLM.

Prospects of Food Taxes for Planetary Health: A Systematic Review of Modeling Studies.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the modeling methodologies of fiscal policies on food with health or environmental outcomes.

Background: Evidence suggests that fiscal policies on food can contribute to addressing the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases and climate change. These policies should be modeled in advance to see the implications for the environment and health.

G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 and collagen XVII endodomain expression in human cutaneous melanomas: can they serve as prognostic factors?

Melanoma incidence is increasing globally. Although novel therapies have improved the survival of primary melanoma patients over the past decade, the overall survival rate for metastatic melanoma remains low. In addition to traditional prognostic factors such as Breslow thickness, ulceration, and mitotic rate, novel genetic and molecular markers have been investigated.