PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Exploration”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 451 records · Page 25Linked to original sources

The influence of exploration mode, orientation, and configuration on the haptic Müller-Lyer illusion.

We studied the impact of manner of exploration, orientation, spatial position, and configuration on the haptic Müller-Lyer illusion. Blindfolded sighted subjects felt raised-line Müller-Lyer and control stimuli. The stimuli were felt by tracing with the index finger, free exploration, grasping with the index finger and thumb, or by measuring with the use of any two or more fingers. For haptic judgments of extent a sliding tangible ruler was used. The illusion was present in all exploration conditions, with overestimation of the wings-out compared to wings-in stimuli. Tracing with the index finger reduced the magnitude of the illusion. However, tracing and grasping induced an overall underestimation of size. The illusion was greatly attenuated when stimuli were felt with the index fingers of both hands. Illusory misperception was not altered by the position in space of the Müller-Lyer stimuli. No effects of changes in the thickness of the line shaft were found, but there were effects of the length of the wing endings for the smaller, 5.1 cm stimuli. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Analysis of Variance↗

Planetary exploration in the time of astrobiology: protecting against biological contamination.

These are intriguing times in the exploration of other solar-system bodies. Continuing discoveries about life on Earth and the return of data suggesting the presence of liquid water environments on or under the surfaces of other planets and moons have combined to suggest the significant possibility that extraterrestrial life may exist in this solar system. Similarly, not since the Viking missions of the mid-1970s has there been as great an appreciation for the potential for Earth life to contaminate other worlds. Current plans for the exploration of the solar system include constraints intended to prevent biological contamination from being spread by solar-system exploration missions.

Exobiology↗

Age, sex and genotype effects on stimulus exploration and locomotor activity in young mice.

Age and sex effects on stimulus exploration and locomotor activity were investigated in three genetic stocks of mice. Three measures of exploratory behavior and one measure of locomotor activity were recorded in an arena testing situation. The results showed that measures requiring locomotor activity are more affected by differences in age and sex than measures of stimulus exploration. The results are discussed in terms of the previously established genetic models of stimulus exploration and activity.

Age Factors↗

Accelerated likelihood surface exploration: the likelihood ratchet.

The existence of multiple likelihood maxima necessitates algorithms that explore a large part of the tree space. However, because of computational constraints, stepwise addition-based tree-searching methods do not allow for this exploration in reasonable time. Here, I present an algorithm that increases the speed at which the likelihood landscape can be explored. The iterative algorithm combines the computational speed of distance-based tree construction methods to arrive at approximations of the global optimum with the accuracy of optimality criterion based branch-swapping methods to improve on the result of the starting tree. The algorithm moves between local optima by iteratively perturbing the tree landscape through a process of reweighting randomly drawn samples of the underlying sequence data set. Tests on simulated and real data sets demonstrated that the optimal solution obtained using stepwise addition-based heuristic searches was found faster using the algorithm presented here. Tests on a previously published data set that established the presence of tree islands under maximum likelihood demonstrated that the algorithm identifies the same tree islands in a shorter amount of time than that needed using stepwise addition. The algorithm can be readily applied using standard software for phylogenetic inference.

Algorithms↗

Exploring links between the concepts of Quality of Life and resilience.

This paper explores links between the concepts of Quality of Life (QoL) and resilience. First, the definitions of QoL and resilience are explored separately, emphasizing that both concepts have been criticized for a lack of theory with resulting problems in description, prediction and measurement. The similarities and differences are then considered between these two related psychological concepts-resilience and QoL. The need is identified for establishing a theoretical model of QoL, and how elements from resilience research can be beneficially integrated within such a model is discussed. Further empirical work is needed to explore explicitly the relationship between these two related psychological concepts, and establish how well resilience can help explain individual variation in QoL reports in young children.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Differentiating among insecure mother-infant attachment classifications: a focus on child-friend interaction and exploration during solitary play at 36 months.

Utilizing data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care, the primary objective of the current report was to examine how avoidant and resistant mother - infant attachment classifications at 15 months were differentially associated with children's interaction with a same-sex friend and exploration during solitary play at 36 months. The added contributions of attachment security at 36 months and maternal sensitivity from 6 to 36 months to the prediction of child outcomes were also explored. As hypothesized, an avoidant attachment history was related to more instrumental aggression during child-friend interaction, whereas a resistant attachment history was associated with less self-assertion/control among friends and less attention and pretend play during exploration. Maternal sensitivity and concurrent attachment security also made unique contributions to the prediction of child outcomes at 36 months, although associations with 15-month attachment remained significant when these subsequent measures of the mother - child relationship were considered. Few differences emerged for the disorganized mother - infant attachment category in this relatively low-risk sample. Results underscore the need to differentiate between avoidant and resistant attachment groups and illustrate how early attachment history and subsequent indices of the mother - child relationship contribute to children's functioning.

Adult↗

Effects of limitations on the use of some visual and kinaesthetic information in spatial mapping during exploration in the rat.

The purpose of this experiment was to study the effects of limiting visual and/or locomotor access to a part of the environment in the building up of a spatial representation of the whole space. During five sessions, rats were allowed to explore separately and successively the two halves (subspaces) of a circular open field containing four objects. During exploration of each half, continuous or discontinuous locomotor and/or visual access to the other half was provided by using opaque or transparent partitions, with or without doors. Once habituation was complete, the partition was removed for some subjects but remained for others. The locomotor and exploratory reactions to this removal were recorded. Whatever their locomotor experience (continuous or discontinuous), rats that had a discontinuous visual experience between the subspaces displayed a renewal of exploratory activity, whereas the rats that had received a continuous visual experience did not re-explore the objects. This result suggests that continuous visual access to the whole space is necessary for the construction of an overall representation. Furthermore, continuous locomotor activity does not seem to compensate for the discontinuity of visual information.

Animals↗

Effect of fluid irrigation on core body temperature during laparoscopic common bile duct exploration.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic common bile duct exploration uses large volumes of intraperitoneal irrigation fluid. Much of this fluid crosses the peritoneal cavity. This study was performed to examine its effect on core body temperature. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten patients undergoing laparoscopic bile duct exploration were studied. Core temperature was measured intraoperatively. Patients were covered with a warming blanket. The volume of fluid irrigated, carbon dioxide used, and intravenous fluid infused were recorded. Ten patients having cholecystectomy alone were studied as a control group. RESULTS: There was a small but significant rise in core temperature in both the study (P = 0.010) and control (P = 0.002) groups. There was no significant difference in the change in core temperature between the groups (P = 0.706).The mean volume of irrigation fluid used was 2640 mL in the study group and 915 mL in the control group. Mean gas volume used was 162.9 L and 73.3 L and the volume of intravenous fluid infused was 1620 mL and 1190 mL in the study and control groups, respectively. CONCLUSION: The use of large volumes of irrigation fluid during laparoscopic bile duct exploration does not cause a fall in core temperature.

Body Temperature↗

TrExML: a maximum-likelihood approach for extensive tree-space exploration.

MOTIVATION: Maximum-likelihood analysis of nucleotide and amino acid sequences is a powerful approach for inferring phylogenetic relationships and for comparing evolutionary hypotheses. Because it is a computationally demanding and time-consuming process, most algorithms explore only a minute portion of tree-space, with the emphasis on finding the most likely tree while ignoring the less likely, but not significantly worse, trees. However, when such trees exist, it is equally important to identify them to give due consideration to the phylogenetic uncertainty. Consequently, it is necessary to change the focus of these algorithms such that near optimal trees are also identified. RESULTS: This paper presents the Advanced Stepwise Addition Algorithm for exploring tree-space and two algorithms for generating all binary trees on a set of sequences. The Advanced Stepwise Addition Algorithm has been implemented in TrExML, a phylogenetic program for maximum-likelihood analysis of nucleotide sequences. TrExML is shown to be more effective at finding near optimal trees than a similar program, fastDNAml, implying that TrExML offers a better approach to account for phylogenetic uncertainty than has previously been possible. A program, TreeGen, is also described; it generates binary trees on a set of sequences allowing for extensive exploration of tree-space using other programs. AVAILABILITY: TreeGen, TrExML, and the sequence data used to test the programs are available from the following two WWW sites: http://whitetail.bemidji.msus. edu/trexml/and http://jcsmr.anu.edu.au/dmm/humgen.+ ++html.

Algorithms↗

Target and biomarker exploration portal for drug discovery.

MOTIVATION: The discovery of novel drug targets and precision biomarkers remains a major challenge in drug development, with traditional differential expression analysis often overlooking key regulatory proteins. Here, we present a novel, web-based bioinformatics tool, the Target and Biomarker Exploration Portal (TBEP), designed to accelerate the drug discovery process by integrating large-scale biomedical data with network analysis techniques. RESULTS: TBEP harnesses machine-learning approaches to mine and combine multimodal datasets, including human genetics, functional genomics, and protein-protein interaction networks, to decode causal disease mechanisms and uncover novel therapeutic targets and precision biomarkers for specific phenotypes. A unique feature of the tool is its ability to process large-scale data in real-time, facilitated by an efficient cloud-based architecture. Additionally, the tool incorporates an integrated large language model (LLM), which assists researchers in exploring and interpreting complex biological relationships within the generated networks and multi-omics data using natural language (English). By offering an intuitive, interactive interface, the LLM enhances the exploration of biological insights, making it easier for scientists to derive actionable conclusions. This powerful integration of network analysis, multi-omics data, and LLM provides a robust framework for accelerating the identification of novel drug targets. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The tool is publicly available at https://tbep.missouri.edu. The source code, documentation and installation instructions are available at GitHub repository: https://github.com/mizzoudbl/tbep.

Drug Discovery↗

ChemGenXplore: an interactive tool for exploring and analysing chemical genomic data.

MOTIVATION: Chemical genomics is a powerful high-throughput approach to systematically link phenotypes to genotypes. However, the vast datasets generated remain challenging to explore due to the lack of integrated, interactive tools for visualization and analysis. Existing workflows often require multiple independent software tools, limiting data accessibility and collaboration. Therefore, we created a user-friendly platform that enables efficient exploration and sharing of chemical genomics data. RESULTS: We developed ChemGenXplore, a web-based Shiny application designed to streamline the visualization and analysis of chemical genomic screens. It offers two primary functionalities: one for exploring pre-implemented datasets and another for analysing user-uploaded datasets. ChemGenXplore enables users to visualize phenotypic profiles, assess gene-gene and condition-condition correlations, perform GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, and generate customizable, interactive heatmaps. To further support collaborative research, ChemGenXplore also facilitates the comparative analysis of chemical genomic and other omics datasets. By consolidating these features into a single interactive and accessible tool, ChemGenXplore facilitates data sharing, enhances reproducibility, and promotes collaboration within the research community. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: ChemGenXplore is freely accessible as a web application at https://chemgenxplore.kaust.edu.sa/. Source code and documentation, including instructions for local installation, are provided on GitHub (https://github.com/Hudaahmadd/ChemGenXplore). A Docker image is also available on DockerHub (https://hub.docker.com/r/hudaahmad/chemgenxplore) to ensure reproducibility and simplify installation.

Software↗

Yomix: an interactive tool for the exploration of low-dimensional embeddings in omics data.

SUMMARY: In the analysis of diverse omics data, a common and important preliminary step involves computing low-dimensional embeddings using techniques such as PCA, UMAP, t-SNE, or variational autoencoders. These embeddings provide a global overview of sample distributions and their relationships, often serving as the basis for formulating biological hypotheses. To facilitate rapid and intuitive exploration of such low-dimensional embeddings, we developed Yomix, an interactive omics-agnostic visualization and data exploration tool. Yomix enables users to flexibly define subsets of interest using a lasso selection tool, instantly compute their feature signatures, and compare their distributions. Yomix is a fast and efficient tool for interactive exploration of diverse omics datasets. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Yomix and its documentation are publicly available at https://github.com/perrin-isir/yomix.

Software↗

Data exploration tools for the Gene Ontology database.

MOTIVATION: To improve the ability of biologists (both researchers and students) to ask biologically interesting questions of the Gene Ontology (GO) database and to explore the ontologies by seeing large portions of the ontology graphs in context, along with details of individual terms in the ontologies. RESULTS: GoGet and GoView are two new tools built as part of an extensible web application system based on Java 2 Enterprise Edition technology. GoGet has a user interface that enables users to ask biologically interesting questions, such as (1) What are the DNA binding proteins involved in DNA repair, but not in DNA replication? and (2) Of the terms containing the word triphosphatase, which have associated gene products from mouse, but not fruit fly? The results of such queries can be viewed in a collapsed tabular format that eases the burden of getting through large tables of data. GoView enables users to explore the large directed acyclic graph structure of the ontologies in the GO database. The two tools are coordinated, so that results from queries in GoGet can be visualized in GoView in the ontology in which they appear, and explorations started from GoView can request details of gene product associations to appear in a result table in GoGet. AVAILABILITY: Free access to the GoGet query tool and free download of the GoView ontology viewer are provided to all users at http://db.math.macalester.edu/goproject. In addition, source code for the GoView tool is also available from this site, along with a user manual for both tools.

Algorithms↗

eQTL Explorer: integrated mining of combined genetic linkage and expression experiments.

The development of computational resources to visualize and explore data from combined genome-wide expression and linkage studies is essential for the development of testable hypotheses. eQTL Explorer stores expression profiles, linkage data and information from external sources in a relational database and enables simultaneous visualization and intuitive interpretation of the combined data via a Java graphical interface. eQTL Explorer provides a new and powerful tool to interrogate these very large and complex datasets.

Algorithms↗

Exploring attitudes: the case for Q methodology.

Attitudes are often referred to, researched and considered in the discipline of health education and health promotion. This paper highlights Q methodology as an appropriate and relevant means of exploring and studying attitudes within this field. It begins by discussing the difficulties in defining attitude and the problems inherent in attitude measurement. A brief history of Q methodology is given, followed by an explanation of what Q methodology is and the processes involved. This paper argues the case for the use of Q methodology when studying attitudes and justifies why Q methodology should particularly be selected in the study of attitudes within the health field. There are many reasons for this assertion which are explored throughout the paper. The principle one is that Q methodology is a more robust technique, than alternative methods, for the measurement of attitudes and subjective opinion. This paper concludes by proposing that Q methodology is taken up by researchers within health education and health promotion who are concerned with exploring attitudes and subjective opinion.

Attitude to Health↗

Pulmonary histoplasmosis associated with exploration of a bat cave.

Approximately 14 days after exploring a limestone cave in northcentral Florida in February 1973, an 18-year-old female developed a respiratory illness with pronounced shortness of breath and cyanosis. The following day, an 18-year-old male presented to the hospital with similar complaints. The association of illness with their recent caving experience prompted further epidemiologic investigation. Twenty-nine members of a church-sponsored youth group explored the implicated cave. Twenty-three of them later became ill with complaints of cough, afternoon fever and sweats, chest discomfort, and dyspnea on exertion. Histoplasmin skin tests were positive in 18 of 24 individuals tested. Serum for complement fixation (CF) was positive in 12 of 26. Testing of area residents revealed a low incidence of skin test and CF positivity (7% and 0%, respectively). That spelunkers are at risk of acquiring pulmonary histoplasmosis has been noted previously; in Florida this has been related to the exploration of caves infested with bats. This is the largest reported outbreak of acute pulmonary histoplasmosis that has been associated with spelunking and further points out that only those individuals who enter the cave are at risk of acquiring the disease, and not those who reside in the surrounding area.

Adolescent↗

Intraoperative confirmation of parathyroid tissue during parathyroid exploration: a retrospective evaluation of the frozen section.

Although the frozen section is widely used to identify tissue type during parathyroid exploration in patients with hyperparathyroidism, questions regarding its accuracy have been raised. Frozen section error has been identified as a significant factor contributing to surgical failure. The purpose of this study was to establish the accuracy of frozen section in this setting and to identify pitfalls underlying frozen section error. The final pathologic diagnoses were compared with the paired frozen section diagnoses for all patients who underwent parathyroid exploration at this institution in the period between 1984 and 1997. For those cases in which a discrepancy was identified, the original histopathology slides and the medical records were reviewed. Of the 1579 frozen sections, a definitive and accurate diagnosis could not be determined in 20 cases (1.3%); in 7 (0.4%), the frozen section diagnosis was deferred, and in the other 13 cases, the frozen section diagnosis was incorrect. Overall accuracy rate was 99.2% after deferred cases were excluded. Frozen section artifact, sampling error, and judgmental error contributed to deferred or incorrect diagnoses. Several features confounded the distinction between parathyroid and thyroid tissue in 10 cases: the coexistence of parathyroid and nodular thyroid disease; intrathyroidal parathyroid glands showing conspicuous follicle formations or abundant oncocytic cells; and thyroid nodules with fatty stroma. The frozen section is a highly reliable means of identifying tissue type during parathyroid exploration. In exceptional cases, however, the distinction between parathyroid and thyroid tissue may not be possible owing to a striking overlap seen at the clinical, gross, and microscopic levels.

Artifacts↗

The measurement of intra-abdominal pressure as a criterion for abdominal re-exploration.

Acute elevation of intra-abdominal pressure above 30 mmHg caused oliguria in 11 postoperative patients. Operative re-exploration and decompression in seven patients resulted in immediate diuresis. Four patients who were not re-explored developed renal failure and died. If intra-abdominal pressure rises above 25 mmHg in the early postoperative period and is associated with oliguria and normal blood pressure and cardiac index, the patient should undergo re-exploration and decompression of the abdomen.

Abdomen↗