Heterogeneity and overlap in the continuum of linguistic profile of logopenic and semantic variants of primary progressive aphasia: a Profile Analysis based on Multidimensional Scaling study.

BACKGROUND: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) diagnostic criteria underestimate the complex presentation of semantic (sv) and logopenic (lv) variants, in which symptoms partially overlap, and mixed clinical presentation (mixed-PPA) and heterogenous profile (lvPPA +) are frequent. Conceptualization of similarities and differences of these clinical conditions is still scarce. METHODS: Lexical, semantic, phonological, and working memory errors from nine language tasks of sixty-seven PPA were analyzed using Profile Analysis based on Multidimensional Scaling, which allowed us to create a distributed representation of patients' linguistic performance in a shared space. Patients had been studied with [18F] FDG-PET. Correlations were performed between metabolic and behavioral data. RESULTS: Patients' profiles were distributed across a continuum. All PPA, but two, presented a lexical retrieval impairment, in terms of reduced production of verbs and nouns. svPPA patients occupied a fairly clumped space along the continuum, showing a preponderant semantic deficit, which correlated to fusiform gyrus hypometabolism, while only few presented working memory deficits. Adjacently, lvPPA + presented a semantic impairment combined with phonological deficits, which correlated with metabolism in the anterior fusiform gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus. Starting from the shared phonological deficit side, a large portion of the space was occupied by all lvPPA, showing a combination of phonological, lexical, and working memory deficits, with the latter correlating with posterior temporo-parietal hypometabolism. Mixed PPA did not show unique profile, distributing across the space. DISCUSSION: Different clinical PPA entities exist but overlaps are frequent. Identifying shared and unique clinical markers is critical for research and clinical practice. Further research is needed to identify the role of genetic and pathological factors in such distribution, including also higher sample size of less represented groups.

Factorization of person response profiles to identify summative profiles carrying central response patterns.

A data matrix, where rows represent persons and columns represent measured subtests, can be viewed as a stack of person profiles, as rows are actually person profiles of observed responses on column subtests. Profile analysis seeks to identify a small number of latent profiles from a large number of person response profiles to identify central response patterns, which are useful for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of individuals across multiple dimensions in domains of interest. Moreover, the latent profiles are mathematically proven to be summative profiles that linearly combine all person response profiles. Since person response profiles are confounded with profile level and response pattern, the level effect must be controlled when they are factorized to identify a latent (or summative) profile that carries the response pattern effect. However, when the level effect is dominant but uncontrolled, only a summative profile carrying the level effect would be considered statistically meaningful according to a traditional metric (e.g., eigenvalue ≥ 1) or parallel analysis results. Nevertheless, the response pattern effect among individuals can provide assessment-relevant insights that are overlooked by conventional analysis; to achieve this, the level effect must be controlled. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to demonstrate how to correctly identify summative profiles containing central response patterns regardless of the centering techniques used on data sets. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining the generality and specificity of gender moderation in obsessive compulsive beliefs: Stacked prediction by correspondence analysis.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we examined the degree of generality and specificity of OC beliefs are moderated by gender among individuals with OC disorders. METHODS: The diagnostic groups consisted of: (1) individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; N = 398); (2) individuals with other anxiety disorders (N = 104); and (3) undergraduate students (N = 285). To evaluate the gender moderating effect, we employed stacked prediction by correspondence analysis (CA). To conduct the analysis, we generated a two-way contingency table with rows of gender nested within the diagnostic groups and columns of OC beliefs stacked to OC symptom severity. To conduct prediction by CA of this stacked table, we considered OC beliefs as predictors and OC symptoms as outcomes. RESULTS: We confirmed with the CA results that OC belief generality, but not specificity because the OCD group members did show higher endorsement of OC beliefs compared to individuals with other anxiety disorders. Gender moderated the OC related beliefs of overestimation of threat, inflated responsibility, and intolerance of uncertainty, but not perfectionism in predicting OC symptoms. The correlational results obtained from the stacked prediction by CA further showed that as depression and anxiety increased, endorsement of OC beliefs was stronger for males than females. DISCUSSION: Clinical implications and future directions are discussed. PRACTITIONER POINTS: OC belief generality was evident in the study but not specificity. Gender moderation was demonstrated in overestimation of threat, inflated responsibility, and intolerance of uncertainty. As depression and anxiety increased, endorsement of OC beliefs was stronger for males than females.

Assessment of improvement in anxiety severity for children with autism spectrum disorder: The matched correspondence analysis approach.

INTRODUCTION: Clinical trials typically involve random assignment to treatment conditions. However, random assignment does not guarantee a lack of systematic variation in the outcomes, and application of covariation methods for multiple dependent measures requires complicated assumptions that are often not met. METHODS: This study employed matched correspondence analysis (CA) for controlling systematic variation and handling multiple outcomes. One hundred nine children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were assessed for anxiety symptom severity across four studies, where participants were randomly assigned to either cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or treatment as usual or waitlist (TAU/WT). Matched CA is designed to optimally scale only the differences between baseline and posttreatment, rendering the systematic baseline carryover effects irrelevant. RESULTS: Differences in treatment efficacy were observed. CBT showed treatment efficacy on anxiety severity and anxiety-related impairment relative to TAU/WT, after the control of baseline carryover effects. CONCLUSION: This study provides a way to control systematic variation between groups at the outset of treatment trials and is expected to provide a novel pathway to more proper assessment of treatment efficacy for children with ASD and anxiety.

Age moderated-anxiety mediation for multimodal treatment outcome among children with obsessive-compulsive disorder: An evaluation with correspondence analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Anxiety expression varies by age in youth, and evaluation of putative mechanisms in treatment must consider both conjointly. Accordingly, age would moderate the mediation effect of anxiety in a youth obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) treatment trial. METHODS: Fifty-six children ages 7 - 17 participated in an RCT comparing three treatments: CBT with standard dosing of sertraline, CBT with slow dosing of sertraline, and CBT with placebo. To examine the moderated-mediation effects for OCD symptom improvement, we discretized the continuous anxiety and OCD measures into three symptom outcome categories, "improved", "unchanged", and "deteriorated". To evaluate the moderating effect of age, we further examined the association of age and anxiety with the "improved" OCD category. For analysis, the age groups used as rows were cross tabulated with discretized anxiety and OCD measures. To estimate category associations with correlations, we adopted correspondence analysis. RESULTS: The correlational results indicate that for all treatment conditions, age was a moderator of the mediation effect of physical anxiety symptoms for the improved OCD measures (outcomes). Specifically, age suppressed correlations with OCD outcomes, with Physical Symptoms as a mediator for the outcome measures. This moderated mediation effect was most evident for ages 8-10 in the CBT with placebo group. LIMITATIONS: The moderated mediation effect manifest in this single RCT-based study should be validated in other studies. DISCUSSION: Future research investigating a wider range of ages as a potential moderator of other symptom and emotion mediators of outcome is warranted, particularly in relation to individual symptom profiles of OCD.

The Utility of a Pre-Transplant Psychosocial Evaluation in Predicting Post-Liver Transplant Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: There is insufficient evidence about the ability of pretransplant psychosocial evaluations to predict posttransplant outcomes. While standardized assessments were developed to increase predictive validity, it is unclear whether the risk scores they yield predict outcomes. We investigated if the Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation (SIPAT), a scaling approach to those assessments, would have been a superior predictor than the standard psychosocial evaluation. METHODS: In this retrospective study, medical records of 182 adult liver transplant recipients who were at least 1 year posttransplant and prescribed tacrolimus for immunosuppression were analyzed. Regression analyses predicted outcomes of interest, including immunosuppressant nonadherence and biopsy-proven rejection, obtained 1-year posttransplant to time of data collection. Nonadherence was determined using the medication level variability index (MLVI). RESULTS: Approximately 49% of patients had MLVI > 2.5, suggestive of nonadherence, and 15% experienced rejection. SIPAT total score did not predict adherence either using the continuous (P = .70), or dichotimized score, above or below > 2.5 (P = .14), or rejection (P = 0.87). Using a SIPAT threshold (total score > 69) did not predict adherence (p = .16) nor was a superior predictor of the continuous adherence score (P = .45), MLVI > 2.5 (P = .42), or rejection (P = 0.49), than the standard evaluation. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the SIPAT is unable to predict 2 of the most important outcomes in this population, immunosuppressant adherence and rejection. Research efforts should attempt to evaluate the best manner to use psychosocial evaluations.

Combining Associations Between Emotional Intelligence, Work Motivation, and Organizational Justice With Counterproductive Work Behavior: A Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) Approach.

The need for better incorporation of the construct emotional intelligence (EI) into counterproductive work behavior (CWB) research may be achieved via a unified conceptual framework. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to use the Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) approach, and a conceptual framework that unifies motivational process with antecedents and outcomes, to assess differences in EI concerning a variety of constructs: organizational justice, CWB, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation. Employing established scales within a framework unifying CWB, intrinsic motivation, EI, organizational justice, and outcome constructs, two EI-based profiles displayed associations with CWB based on responses from 3,293 employees. Both the first core profile, high overall justice and low emotional intelligence, and the second core profile, high emotional intelligence and low work motivation, displayed associations with interpersonal deviance and organizational deviance, as well as emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. The results are discussed with respect to possible underlying theory and an overarching unified motivation framework that incorporates goal choice, intrinsic motivation, antecedents, and outcomes. We also provide directions for future research and implications for managers in the workplace based on heuristic conceptual frameworks that combine multiple motivational perspectives into a unified model.

Test treatment effect differences in repeatedly measured symptoms with binary values: The matched correspondence analysis approach.

When a continuous variable is measured twice, paired t test can be used to examine the statistical difference between two time points. However, when several related but dichotomously scored (0, 1) variables are measured twice, it would not be reasonable to use paired t test (or chi-squared test) to examine the related binary variable differences. Therefore, the present study introduces a novel statistical approach, called matched correspondence analysis (matched CA), which tests the related binary value differences between two time points. Matched CA was originally designed to study between-group comparisons (e.g., gender) in two contingency tables of the same size, with the same row and column quantities. However, unlike the original matched CA, the present study applies matched CA to the analysis of within-group matched matrices (e.g., at admission and at discharge) and examines the related binary value differences between two time points. To test the stability of parameter estimates, permutation and bootstrapping methods are used, and the pros and cons of within-group matched CA are discussed.

Obsessive-compulsive symptom profiles in individuals exposed to interpersonal versus noninterpersonal trauma.

Obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms have been associated with trauma exposure. Although no studies have specified relations between type of trauma and OC symptom presentations, this information may inform personalized care for this complex population. Thus, this study used profile analysis via multidimensional scaling to characterize typical OC symptom profiles in individuals exposed to interpersonal versus noninterpersonal traumas. Profiles were also correlated with self-reported disgust and mental contamination, which have been related to OC symptoms and interpersonal trauma in prior research. The interpersonal trauma group revealed two profiles: (1) Obsessing (high obsessing, low neutralizing), and (2) Ordering (high ordering, low obsessing). The noninterpersonal trauma group showed two profiles: (1) Hoarding/Ordering (high hoarding and ordering, low washing), and (2) Hoarding Only (high hoarding, low ordering). No significant correlations were found between OC profiles and disgust-related constructs. Clinical implications, limitations, and future directions are explored.

Assessing treatment efficacy by examining relationships between age groups of children with autism spectrum disorder and clinical anxiety symptoms: Prediction by correspondence analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental in nature and are frequently accompanied by anxiety. To fully assess treatment efficacy, we examined rates of anxiety symptom change by age groups following either cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or treatment as usual (TAU). METHODS: One hundred sixty-three children with ASD and ASD-related anxiety symptoms were randomly assigned to either CBT or TAU. Utilizing prediction by correspondence analysis (CA), we evaluated the age effect (defined in three groups; ages 6-9, 10-12, and 13-16) and the changes in correlations between age and anxiety severity levels over the course of treatment. RESULTS: Significantly greater anxiety symptom reduction was associated with CBT compared with TAU across the three age groups. Of particular note, the children ages 10-12 who received CBT showed the greatest improvement compared to all other groups. Late childhood, prior to adolescence, showed the best response to CBT for anxiety in ASD. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that treatment programs need to more closely address developmental factors within narrower bands of age groups. The present results are limited in their generalization to the CBT efficacy for a specific age band (ages 10-12). Longitudinal investigations are recommended to confirm whether the similar age group children who receive CBT experience the greatest benefit in reducing their ASD-related anxiety symptoms.

Gaining from discretization of continuous data: The correspondence analysis biplot approach.

According to Stevens's classification of measurement, continuous data can be either ratio or interval scale data. The relationship between two continuous variables is assumed to be linear and is estimated with the Pearson correlation coefficient, which assumes normality between the variables. If researchers use conventional statistics (t test or analysis of variance) or factor analysis of correlation matrices to study gender or race differences, the data are assumed to be continuous and normally distributed. If continuous data are discretized, they become ordinal; thus, discretization is widely considered to be a downgrading of measurement. However, discretization is advantageous for data analysis, because it provides interactive relationships between the discretized variables and naturally measured categorical variables such as gender and race. Such interactive relationship information between categories is not available with the ratio or interval scale of measurement, but it is useful to researchers in some applications. In the present study, Wechsler intelligence and memory scores were discretized, and the interactive relationships were examined among the discretized Wechsler scores (by gender and race). Unlike in previous studies, we estimated category associations and used correlations to enhance their interpretation, and our results showed distinct gender and racial/ethnic group differences in the correlational patterns.

Relationships Between Workplace Deviance Interacted With Gender and Marital Status: The Correspondence Analysis Approach.

This exploratory study employed correspondence analysis to examine how employees' gender and marital status might affect levels of interpersonal and organizational deviant workplace behaviors in the workplace. The subjects were 122 employees from a large electricity supplier company in Israel. Four levels of deviant behaviors relating to interpersonal and organizational deviance behaviors were generated according to their "typicality" as follows: (1) "untypical" (z-score less than -1.00), (2) "somewhat untypical" (-1.00-0), (3) "somewhat typical" (0-1.00), and (4) "typical" (larger than 1.00). We assessed the marital status categories by gender: unmarried males and females, divorced males and females, and males and females who were married. Results indicated that married men and divorced women exhibited mostly typical types of deviance. Both married and divorced men reported untypical deviance for both types of deviant behaviors. Married women only reported somewhat untypical deviance for both types of deviant behaviors. Accordingly, we suggest that psychological stressors, as well as cultural and societal expectations, may account for the obtained differences. Yet, future research is needed to shed light on underlying mechanisms.

Gender profiles of workplace individual and organizational deviance / Perfiles de género de desviación individual y organizacional en el trabajo

Employees' workplace deviant behaviors have a harmful potential for organizations in many respects. Past research has indicated that individual variables may account for personal differences in work deviance. One of the prevalent findings is that men display direct aggression more frequently than women. Yet, most of the past studies have reported results providing information on the magnitude of a general behavioral tendency of each gender, leading to rough distinctions. Unlike the previous studies, we focused on examining profiles of the role of gender in interpersonal and organizational deviance, utilizing Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling that allowed us to compare specific deviance behavior indicators between males and females included in the profiles. The current exploratory study reveals that gender differences in aggressive workplace behavior are not only those apparent in inter-personal relations but also when directed towards the organization. Moreover, the reported results point to specific behavioral profiles of men and women that could not be revealed using the mean difference analyses

Las conductas inapropiadas de los empleados en el lugar de trabajo tienen un potencial perjudicial para las organizaciones en muchos aspectos. Investigaciones anteriores indican que las variables individuales pueden explicar las diferencias personales en el comportamiento laboral inadecuado. Uno de los hallazgos prevalentes es que los hombres muestran agresión directa con más frecuencia que las mujeres. Sin embargo, la mayoría de los estudios presentan resultados con información sobre la magnitud de una tendencia de comportamiento general de cada género, lo que lleva a distinciones muy generales. A diferencia de los estudios anteriores, nos centramos en examinar el papel del género en la inadecuación interpersonal y organizacional utilizando el Análisis de Perfil por Escalamiento Multidimensional, que permite comparar los indicadores específicos de comportamiento inadecuado entre hombres y mujeres incluidos en los perfiles. El estudio actual revela que las diferencias de género en el comportamiento agresivo en el lugar de trabajo no sólo son evidentes en las relaciones interpersonales, sino también cuando se dirigen hacia la organización. Además, los resultados apuntan a perfiles de conducta específicos de hombres y mujeres que no aparecían en los análisis de diferencia de medias

Estimating correlations among cardiovascular patients' psychiatric and physical symptom indicators: The biplot in correspondence analysis approach.

OBJECTIVES: We employed the correspondence analysis (CA) biplot to estimate correlations between gender-age levels of cardiovascular disease patients and their psychiatric and physical symptoms. Utilization of this correlation estimation can inform clinical practice by elucidating associations between certain psychiatric or physical symptoms and specific gender-age levels. METHOD: The CA biplot utilized here was designed to visually inspect row-column category associations in a 2-dimensional plane and then to numerically estimate the category associations with correlations. To do so, we (a) estimated dimensions from row and column categories with CA; (b) verified statistical significance of dimensions with a permutation test; (c) projected row and column categories in a plan constructed with the first 2 dimensions that were statistically significant; (d) visually inspected category associations in the plane; and (e) numerically estimated category associations with correlations. RESULTS: Consistent with the previous results, female cardiovascular disease patients were more likely to experience psychiatric symptoms than the male patients. However, when examining the results by gender and age, both female and male patients in their 50s and 60s tended to experience elevated rates of the psychiatric symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The CA biplot can be useful for isolating key clinical concerns among any medical populations.

Profile Analysis of Psychological Symptoms Associated With Misophonia: A Community Sample.

Misophonia is characterized by extreme aversive reactions to certain classes of sounds. It has recently been recognized as a condition associated with significant disability. Research has begun to evaluate psychopathological correlates of misophonia. This study sought to identify profiles of psychopathology that characterize misophonia in a large community sample. A total of N = 628 adult participants completed a battery of measures assessing anxiety and anxiety sensitivity, depression, stress responses, anger, dissociative experiences, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and beliefs, distress tolerance, bodily perceptions, as well as misophonia severity. Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) was employed to evaluate profiles associated with elevated misophonia and those without symptoms. Three profiles were extracted. The first two accounted for 70% total variance and did not show distinctions between groups. The third profile accounted for 11% total variance, and showed that misophonia is associated with lower obsessive-compulsive symptoms for neutralizing, obsessions generally, and washing compared to those not endorsing misophonia, and higher levels of obsessive-compulsive symptoms associated with ordering and harm avoidance. This third profile extracted also showed significant differences between those with and without misophonia on the scale assessing physical concerns (that is, sensitivity to interoceptive sensations) as assessed with the ASI-3. Further research is called for involving diagnostic interviewing and experimental methods to clarify these putative mechanisms associated with misophonia.

Profile analysis of treatment effect changes in eating disorder indicators.

We investigated differential treatment effects on specific eating disorder (ED) indicators to enhance conclusions about treatment efficacy. Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling, which identifies core profiles in a population and interprets person profiles with core profile information, was utilized to identify core profiles from a sample of 5,177 patients who were repeatedly measured with the ED inventory-2 at admission and at discharge. To assess differential treatment effects for individual ED indicators, we compared the core profiles at admission with those at discharge. Three core profiles were identified and labeled as High Body Dissatisfaction with Low Bulimia (Core Profile 1), High Interoceptive Awareness with Low Body Dissatisfaction (Core Profile 2), and High Ineffectiveness with Low Bulimia (Core Profile 3). Treatment had the greatest effects on Core Profile 2. The patients whose profile patterns were similar to that of Core Profiles 1 and 2 were positively related with weight gain. However, treatment was least on Core Profile 3, and the patients whose profile patterns were like that of Core Profile 3 were negatively related with weight gain. In conclusion, those patients who fit Core Profile 3 may benefit from different treatment modalities than those that are standard in inpatient settings.

The structure of obsessive compulsive symptoms and beliefs: A correspondence and biplot analysis.

Research has suggested that obsessive-compulsive (OC) beliefs are differentially predictive of OC symptom dimensions. One additional way in which beliefs and symptoms may be related is by severity; that is, the role of beliefs may vary as a function of symptom severity. In order to evaluate this possibility, correspondence analysis with biplot was applied to evaluate the association between OC beliefs and OC symptom severity across three subsamples, individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; N=398), individuals with anxiety disorders (N=104), and undergraduate students (N=285). To do so, we generated five row categories of symptom severity and six columns based on the Obsessive Compulsive Beliefs Questionnaire (OBQ) for three subsamples. Unlike factor analyses of inter-variable correlations (or covariances), the CA-biplot paradigm calibrates simultaneously row and column information and estimates dimensional coordinates (analogous to factor loadings) separately for rows and columns. We used the first two dimensions from each subsample because they accounted for most variance (on average 89%) so as to construct a hypothetical plane with them. Then, we visually inspected associations among five severity categories (rows) and six OBQ subscales (columns) in the plane and also calculated their correlations. The visual configurations and numerical correlations were consistent across three subsamples, indicating that inflated responsibility was significantly associated with OC symptoms, but only for those with the least severe symptoms. Importance and control of thoughts were associated with OC symptoms across all levels of symptom severity. The implications of these findings for the cognitive model of OCD are considered.

Extracting body image symptom dimensions among eating disorder patients: the Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) approach.

The present study employs Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS), a procedure for extracting dimensions, in order to identify core eating disorder symptoms in a clinical sample. A large sample of patients with eating disorders (N=5193) presenting for treatment completed the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (EDI-2; Garner, 1991), and PAMS was then employed to estimate individual profile weights that reflect the degree to which an individual's observed symptom profile approximates the pattern of the dimensions. The findings revealed three symptom dimensions: Body Thinness, Body Perfectionism, and Body Awareness. Subsequent analysis using individual level data illustrate that the PAMS profiles properly operate as prototypical profiles that encapsulate all individuals' response patterns. The implications of these dimensional findings for the assessment and diagnosis of eating disorders are discussed.