Default Inheritance in Modified Statements: Bias or Inference?
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Stroßner C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8120151 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Abstract Objective Application for otolaryngology residency is highly competitive, with letters of recommendation (LORs) and applicant personal statements (PSs) representing important components of the application process. However, their inherently subjective nature predisposes them to potential implicit bias. Otolaryngology has historically been predominated by male physicians and while implicit sex bias has been demonstrated in LORs for application to residency of multiple specialties, data is limited for otolaryngology. Methods LORs and PSs for all otolaryngology applicants to an academic medical center during the 2019–20 and 2020–21 cycles were abstracted. Quantitative analysis was performed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 (LIWC2015), a validated software application designed to analyze various emotional, cognitive, and structural components of written text. Results LORs written for females were found to be written from a perspective of higher expertise and confidence while LORs written for males were associated with a more honest, personal, and disclosing tone. Moreover, LORs written for female applicants were found to reference achievement and “grindstone” terminology more than those written for men. No differences were observed in any word category between PSs written by male and female applicants. Conclusion Minor linguistic differences exist in multiple domains between LORs written for male and female applicants for otolaryngology residency. These tended to favor female applicants, with their letters demonstrating higher clout, achievement, and grindstone scores. This trend was unexpected in this historically predominantly male specialty. While differences were statistically significant, the overall difference in an entire letter of recommendation is likely subtle. Level of Evidence 3. Implicit sex bias has been demonstrated in letters of recommendation for application to residency of multiple specialties; however, data is limited for otolaryngology. Letters of recommendation and personal statements for all otolaryngology applicants to an academic medical center during the 2019–20 and 2020–21 cycles were analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015, a validated software application designed to analyze various emotional, cognitive, and structural components of written text. Minor linguistic differences exist in multiple domains between LORs written for male and female applicants for otolaryngology residency.
| S-EPMC9764768 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Approach and avoidance constitute a basic dimension of all animal behavior. Although a large number of studies have investigated approach and avoidance elicited by specific sensory stimuli, comparatively little is known about default approach biases when stimulus information is absent or reduced. The amygdala is well known to contribute to approach and avoidance behaviors in response to specific sensory stimuli; we tested whether the amygdala's role might extend to situations in which stimulus information is reduced. In a novel task, 3 patients with rare bilateral amygdala lesions (and control subjects) made approach-related judgments about photos of intact faces and of the same faces with all internal facial features occluded. Direct comparisons of the judgments of these stimuli isolated a default bias. The patients showed a greater tendency than the control subjects to rate occluded faces as more approachable than whole faces. These findings suggest that the amygdala's role in approach behavior extends beyond responses to specific stimuli.
| S-EPMC4607547 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionThe persistent lack of racial and ethnic diversity within the field of otolaryngology calls for an analysis of potential bias within the residency application system. Letters of recommendation (LORs) and personal statements (PSs) are the most important subjective application constituents. This subjectivity predisposes these components to implicit bias. In applications to various surgical subspecialties, prior linguistic studies assessing bias in reviews of LOR show race-based differences. Thus far, racial and ethnic linguistic differences in LORs for otolaryngology applicants have not been analyzed in the literature.MethodsLORs and PSs were abstracted from otolaryngology - head and neck surgery applications in the Electronic Residency Application Service for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 application cycles. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 was used for quantitative analysis of emotional, cognitive, and structural components of written text.ResultsRace-pair analysis of the 2019-2021 application cycles revealed higher mean "teaching" scores for LORs for Asian, black, Hispanic, and white applicants when compared to applicants who self-identified as Other. White applicants had lower scores for the terms "research" and "analytic" when compared to Asian and black applicants, respectively. Analysis of PSs revealed greater scores for an "authentic" writing style for white versus Asian applicants. White applicants were found to have higher scores for "tone" compared to black applicants.ConclusionMinor racial and ethnic language differences exist in both LORs and PSs. A statistically significant difference was observed among LORs, with the "teaching" term used more frequently for Asian, black, Hispanic, and white applicants compared to self-identified Other individuals. For PSs, statistically significant differences were observed among white applicants, who wrote about themselves using more "authentic" language when compared with Asian applicants and who also had higher scores for "tone" compared to black applicants. Although these differences were statistically significant, the practical impact of the variances is likely small.
| S-EPMC10871677 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Copy Number Variation (CNV) is increasingly implicated in disease pathogenesis. CNVs are often identified by statistical models applied to data from single nucleotide polymorphism panels. Family information for samples provides additional information for CNV inference. Two modes of PennCNV (the Joint-call and Posterior-call), which are some of the most well-developed family-based CNV calling methods, use a "Joint-model" as a main component. This models all family members' CNV states together with Mendelian inheritance. Methods based on the Joint-model are used to infer CNV calls of cases and controls in a pedigree, which may be compared to each other to test an association. Although benefits from the Joint-model have been shown elsewhere, equality of call rates in parents and offspring has not been evaluated previously. This can affect downstream analyses in studies that compare CNV rates in cases vs. controls in pedigrees. In this paper, we show that the Joint-model can introduce different CNV call rates among family members in the absence of a true difference. We show that the Joint-model may analytically introduce differential CNV calls because of asymmetry of the model. We demonstrate these differential call rates using single-marker simulations. We show that call rates using the two modes of PennCNV also differ between parents and offspring in one multimarker simulated dataset and two real datasets. Our results advise need for caution in use of the Joint-model calls in CNV association studies with family-based datasets.
| S-EPMC3678551 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe diagnosis of constrictive bronchiolitis (CB) in previously deployed individuals, and evaluation of respiratory symptoms more broadly, presents considerable challenges, including using consistent histopathologic criteria and clinical assessments.Research questionWhat are the recommended diagnostic workup and associated terminology of respiratory symptoms in previously deployed individuals?Study design and methodsNineteen experts participated in a three-round modified Delphi study, ranking their level of agreement for each statement with an a priori definition of consensus. Additionally, rank-order voting on the recommended diagnostic approach and terminology was performed.ResultsTwenty-five of 28 statements reached consensus, including the definition of CB as a histologic pattern of lung injury that occurs in some previously deployed individuals while recognizing the importance of considering alternative diagnoses. Consensus statements also identified a diagnostic approach for the previously deployed individual with respiratory symptoms, distinguishing assessments best performed at a local or specialty referral center. Also, deployment-related respiratory disease (DRRD) was proposed as a broad term to subsume a wide range of potential syndromes and conditions identified through noninvasive evaluation or when surgical lung biopsy reveals evidence of multicompartmental lung injury that may include CB.InterpretationUsing a modified Delphi technique, consensus statements provide a clinical approach to possible CB in previously deployed individuals. Use of DRRD provides a broad descriptor encompassing a range of postdeployment respiratory findings. Additional follow-up of individuals with DRRD is needed to assess disease progression and to define other features of its natural history, which could inform physicians better and lead to evolution in this nosology.
| S-EPMC10154857 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Insertion sequences (IS) are compact and pervasive transposable elements found in bacteria, which encode only the genes necessary for their mobilization and maintenance. IS200/IS605 elements undergo ‘peel-and-paste’ transposition catalyzed by a TnpA transposase, but intriguingly, they also encode diverse, TnpB-family genes that are evolutionarily related to the CRISPR-associated effectors Cas9 and Cas12. Recent studies demonstrated that TnpB-family enzymes function as RNA-guided DNA endonucleases, but the broader biological role of this activity has remained enigmatic. Here we show that IscB and TnpB are essential to prevent loss of the donor IS element and potential transposon extinction as a consequence of the TnpA transposition mechanism. We first performed phylogenetic analysis of IscB/TnpB proteins and selected a family of related IS elements from Geobacillus stearothermophilus that we predicted would be mobilized by a common TnpA homolog. After reconstituting transposition using a heterologous expression system in E. coli, we found that IS elements were readily lost from the donor site due to the activity of TnpA in rejoining the flanking sequences back together upon excision. However, these IS elements also encode non-coding RNAs that guide TnpB and IscB nucleases to precisely recognize and cleave these excision products, leading either to elimination of the excision product or re-installation of the transposon through recombination. Indeed, under experimental conditions in which TnpA and TnpB-RNA complexes were co-expressed together with a genomically integrated IS element, transposon retention was significantly increased relative to conditions expressing TnpA alone. Remarkably, both TnpA and TnpB recognize the same AT-rich transposon-adjacent motif (TAM) during transposon excision and RNA-guided DNA cleavage, respectively, revealing a striking convergence in the evolution of DNA sequence specificity between transposase and nuclease. Collectively, our study reveals that RNA-guided DNA cleavage is a primal biochemical activity that arose to bias the selfish inheritance of transposable elements, which was later co-opted during the evolution of CRISPR-Cas adaptive immunity for antiviral defense.
2023-06-01 | GSE223127 | GEO
Project description:During genome replication, parental histones are recycled to newly replicated DNA with their post-translational modifications (PTMs). It remains unknown whether sister chromatids inherit modified histones evenly. Here, we measured histone PTM partition to sister chromatids in embryonic stem cells. We found that parental histones H3-H4 segregate to both daughter DNA strands with a weak leading strand bias, skewing partition at topologically associating domain (TAD) borders and enhancers proximal to replication initiation zones. Segregation of parental histones to the leading strand increased markedly in cells with histone-binding mutations in MCM2, part of the replicative helicase, exacerbating histone PTM sister chromatid asymmetry. This work reveals how histones are inherited to sister chromatids and identifies a mechanism for how symmetric cell division is ensured by the replication machinery.
2018-08-16 | GSE117274 | GEO
Project description:Virtual cancer care (i.e., teleoncology) was rapidly adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet the needs of patients with cancer. However, there is a paucity of guidance for clinicians regarding virtual cancer care. We sought to develop consensus-based statements to guide the optimal provision of virtual care for clinicians caring for patients with cancer, using a modified Delphi consensus process with a 29-member panel consisting of an interprofessional group of clinicians caring for patients with cancer and patient representatives. The consensus process consisted of two rounds and one synchronous final consensus meeting. At the end of the modified Delphi process, 62 of 62 statements achieved consensus. Fifty-seven statements reached consensus in the first round of the process. Concerns regarding the ability to convey difficult news virtually and maintaining similar standards as in-person care without disproportionate strain on clinicians and patients were addressed in the consensus process. We achieved interprofessional consensus on virtual cancer care practices. Further research examining the impact of virtual cancer care on person-centred and clinical outcomes are needed to inform practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
| S-EPMC8700064 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeCorrection of Rician signal bias in magnitude MR images.MethodsA model-based, iterative fitting procedure is used to simultaneously estimate true signal and underlying Gaussian noise with standard deviation σg on a pixel-by-pixel basis in magnitude MR images. A precomputed function that relates absolute residuals between measured signals and model fit to σg is used to iteratively estimate σg . The feasibility of the method is evaluated and compared to maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) for diffusion signal decay simulations and diffusion-weighted images of the prostate considering 21 linearly spaced b-values from 0 to 3000 s/mm2 . A multidirectional analysis was performed with publically available brain data.ResultsModel simulations show that the Rician bias correction algorithm is fast, with an accuracy and precision that is on par to model-based MLE and direct fitting in the case of pure Gaussian noise. Increased accuracy in parameter prediction in a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) scenario is ideally achieved by using a composite of multiple signal decays from neighboring voxels as input for the algorithm. For patient data, good agreement with high SNR reference data of diffusion in prostate is achieved.ConclusionsOBSIDIAN is a novel, alternative, simple to implement approach for rapid Rician bias correction applicable in any case where differences between true signal decay and underlying model function can be considered negligible in comparison to noise. The proposed composite fitting approach permits accurate parameter estimation even in typical clinical scenarios with low SNR, which significantly simplifies comparison of complex diffusion parameters among studies.
| S-EPMC9009782 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Electronic health records (EHR) are not designed for population-based research, but they provide easy and quick access to longitudinal health information for a large number of individuals. Many statistical methods have been proposed to account for selection bias, missing data, phenotyping errors, or other problems that arise in EHR data analysis. However, addressing multiple sources of bias simultaneously is challenging. We developed a methodological framework (R package, SAMBA) for jointly handling both selection bias and phenotype misclassification in the EHR setting that leverages external data sources. These methods assume factors related to selection and misclassification are fully observed, but these factors may be poorly understood and partially observed in practice. As a follow-up to the methodological work, we demonstrate how to apply these methods for two real-world case studies, and we evaluate their performance. In both examples, we use individual patient-level data collected through the University of Michigan Health System and various external population-based data sources. In case study (a), we explore the impact of these methods on estimated associations between gender and cancer diagnosis. In case study (b), we compare corrected associations between previously identified genetic loci and age-related macular degeneration with gold standard external summary estimates. These case studies illustrate how to utilize diverse auxiliary information to achieve less biased inference in EHR-based research.
| S-EPMC9826451 | biostudies-literature