INTRODUCTION Several studies have shown that goal-directed hemodynamic and fluid optimization may result in improved outcome. However, the methods used were either invasive or had other limitations. The aim of this study was to perform intraoperative goal-directed therapy with a minimally invasive, easy to use device (FloTrac/Vigileo), and to evaluate possible improvements in patient outcome de...

In everyday life, decisions are often made under stress and while being occupied with multiple tasks. It has recently been shown that acute stress impairs decision making under risk. Performing a parallel executive task also caused riskier decision making. To investigate the effects of a combination of these two factors on decision making, we conducted a large (N = 126) experimental study with ...

Recent studies have shown that acute stress can lead to riskier decision making. Yet, the underlying mechanisms of the stress effects on decisions under risk remain poorly understood. To gain a better understanding of decision-making processes and potential strategy application under stress, we investigated decision making in pure gain and loss domains with unequal expected values (EVs) across ...

We propose a new method for family-based tests of association and linkage called transmission/disequilibrium tests incorporating unaffected offspring (TDTU). This new approach, constructed based on transmission/disequilibrium tests for quantitative traits (QTDT), provides a natural extension of the transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) to utilize transmission information from heterozygous pare...

This study is a critical review of General Design Theory (GDT), a mathematical theory of design. The study reviews the assumptions (axioms) and predictions (theorems) of GDT with respect to design and illustrate them with a simple example. The scope of GDT with respect to design, the guidelines it provides for building computer-aided design (CAD) systems, and the possibility of implementing the...

General Design Theory (GDT) is an axiomatic theory of design invented by Yoshikawa. In GDT, design is formulated by using topological spaces which is defined over the set of all entities. In this paper, we shall extend GDT and give a general model of design synthesis. Firstly, we shall introduce three kinds of spaces (a design specification space, an entity space, and a design space), and defin...

BACKGROUND Alexithymia is characterised by difficulties identifying and describing emotions. Few studies have investigated how alexithymia influences decision-making under different conditions (ambiguity and risk). This study aimed to examine whether alexithymia contributes to impairment in decision-making. METHOD This study included 42 participants with high scores in the Chinese version of ...

Goal-directed therapy (GDT) utilizes monitoring techniques to help guide clinicians with administering fluids, vasopressors, inotropes, or other treatments to patients in various clinical settings. Multiple studies have investigated the potential benefits of GDT, but no consensus on the use of GDT exists. Future trials which address fluid and inotrope choice as well as expanding the results to ...

We present an overview of the ninth round of Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction (CASP9) "Template free modeling" category (FM). Prediction models were evaluated using a combination of established structural and sequence comparison measures and a novel automated method designed to mimic manual inspection by capturing both global and local structural features. These scores were c...

The Critical Assessment of techniques for protein Structure Prediction (or CASP) is a community-wide blind test experiment to reveal the best accomplishments of structure modeling. Assessors have been using the Global Distance Test (GDT_TS) measure to quantify prediction performance since CASP3 in 1998. However, identifying significant score differences between close models is difficult because...