Author: Nevin Manimala

Pediatr Pulmonol. 2022 May 16. doi: 10.1002/ppul.25976. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the comments by Professor Siamak Sabour regarding possible methodological and statistical issues of our article “Ultrasound of pneumothorax in neonates: diagnostic value of the anterior transverse plane and of mirrored ribs This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:35575600 | DOI:10.1002/ppul.25976

Radiol Oncol. 2022 May 17;56(2):248-258. doi: 10.2478/raon-2022-0016.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Potential changes in patient anatomy during proton radiotherapy may lead to a deviation of the delivered dose. A dose estimate can be computed through a deformable image registration (DIR) driven dose accumulation. The present study evaluates the accumulated dose uncertainties in a patient subject to an inadvertent breathing associated motion.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A virtual lung tumour was inserted into a pair of single participant landmark annotated computed tomography images depicting opposite breathing phases, with the deep inspiration breath-hold the planning reference and the exhale the off-reference geometry. A novel Monte Carlo N-Particle, Version 6 (MCNP6) dose engine was developed, validated and used in treatment plan optimization. Three DIR methods were compared and used to transfer the exhale simulated dose to the reference geometry. Dose conformity and homogeneity measures from International Committee on Radioactivity Units and Measurements (ICRU) reports 78 and 83 were evaluated on simulated dose distributions registered with different DIR algorithms.

RESULTS: The MCNP6 dose engine handled patient-like geometries in reasonable dose calculation times. All registration methods were able to align image associated landmarks to distances, comparable to voxel sizes. A moderate deterioration of ICRU measures was encountered in comparing doses in on and off-reference anatomy. There were statistically significant DIR driven differences in ICRU measures, particularly a 10% difference in the relative D_98% for planning tumour volume and in the 3 mm/3% gamma passing rate.

CONCLUSIONS: T he dose accumulation over two anatomies resulted in a DIR driven uncertainty, important in reporting the associated ICRU measures for quality assurance.

PMID:35575586 | DOI:10.2478/raon-2022-0016

Demography. 2022 May 16:9968420. doi: 10.1215/00703370-9968420. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Infant sex ratios that differ from the biological norm provide a measure of gender status inequality that is not susceptible to social desirability bias. Ratios may become less biased with educational expansion through reduced preference for male children. Alternatively, bias could increase with education through more access to sex-selective medical technologies. Using National Vital Statistics data on the population of live births in the United States for 1969-2018, we examine trends in infant sex ratios by parental race/ethnicity, education, and birth parity over five decades. We find son-biased infant sex ratios among Chinese and Asian Indian births that have persisted in recent years, and regressions suggest son-biased ratios among births to Filipino and Japanese mothers with less than a high school education. Infant sex ratios are more balanced at higher levels of maternal education, particularly when both parents are college educated. Results suggest greater equality of gender status with higher education in the United States.

PMID:35575584 | DOI:10.1215/00703370-9968420

J Am Chem Soc. 2022 May 16. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c03662. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Understanding the chemical environment and interparticle dynamics of nanoparticle electrocatalysts under operating conditions offers valuable insights into tuning their activity and selectivity. This is particularly important to the design of Cu nanocatalysts for CO₂ electroreduction due to their dynamic nature under bias. Here, we have developed operando electrochemical resonant soft X-ray scattering (EC-RSoXS) to probe the chemical identity of active sites during the dynamic structural transformation of Cu nanoparticle (NP) ensembles through 1 μm thick electrolyte. Operando scattering-enhanced X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) serves as a powerful technique to investigate the size-dependent catalyst stability under beam exposure while monitoring the potential-dependent surface structural changes. Small NPs (7 nm) in aqueous electrolyte were found to experience a predominant soft X-ray beam-induced oxidation to CuO despite only sub-second X-ray exposure. In comparison, large NPs (18 nm) showed improved resistivity to beam damage, which allowed the reliable observation of surface Cu₂O electroreduction to metallic Cu. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) statistically probes the particle-particle interactions of large ensembles of NPs. This study points out the need for rigorous examination of beam effects for operando X-ray studies on electrocatalysts. The strategy of using EC-RSoXS that combines soft XAS and SAXS can serve as a general approach to simultaneously investigate the chemical environment and interparticle information on nanocatalysts.

PMID:35575474 | DOI:10.1021/jacs.2c03662

Elife. 2022 May 16;11:e76864. doi: 10.7554/eLife.76864. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Ecological preferences and life history strategies have enormous impacts on the evolution and phenotypic diversity of salamanders, but the yet established reliable ecological indicators from bony skeletons hinder investigations into the paleobiology of early salamanders. Here we statistically demonstrate, by using time-calibrated cladograms and geometric morphometric analysis on 71 specimens in 36 species, that both the shape of the palate and many non-shape covariates particularly associated with vomerine teeth are ecologically informative in early stem- and basal crown-group salamanders. Disparity patterns within the morphospace of the palate in ecological preferences, life history strategies and taxonomic affiliations were analyzed in detail, and evolutionary rates and ancestral states of the palate were reconstructed. Our results show that the palate is heavily impacted by convergence constrained by feeding mechanisms and also exhibits clear stepwise evolutionary patterns with alternative phenotypic configurations to cope with similar functional demand. Salamanders are diversified ecologically before the Middle Jurassic and achieved all their present ecological preferences in the Early Cretaceous. Our results reveal that the last common ancestor of all salamanders shares with other modern amphibians a unified biphasic ecological preference, and metamorphosis is significant in the expansion of ecomorphospace of the palate in early salamanders.

PMID:35575462 | DOI:10.7554/eLife.76864

Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2022 May 16. doi: 10.23736/S1973-9087.22.06436-X. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Resistance training and protein supplementation are recommended strategies to combat sarcopenia.

AIM: Quantification of muscle thickness (MT) by musculoskeletal ultrasound is a promising method to follow changes in skeletal muscles. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of six months of resistance training with or without nutritional supplementation on MT of m. quadriceps in institutionalized old adults.

DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, multi-arm parallel and controlled intervention study.

SETTING: This study was conducted in five different retirement care facilities.

POPULATION: Institutionalized individuals (mean age 82.6 ± 6.2 years) were randomly assigned to an elastic band resistance training (n=41), training with nutritional supplementation (n=36) or control group (n=40).

METHODS: Health status and handgrip strength was investigated at baseline. MT of all parts of m. quadriceps of the left leg was assessed using musculoskeletal ultrasound at baseline and after six months. Linear regression models adjusted for age, BMI and sex were calculated to investigate the influence of baseline characteristics on MT. Multivariable regression analyses were performed for investigation of study intervention on MT. Follow up examinations were performed after 12 and 18 months.

RESULTS: Handgrip strength of both hands was significantly correlated with MT of m. vastus lateralis. Moreover the sum of regularly taken medication was significantly correlated to MT of all parts of quadriceps. Six months of training or nutritional supplementation was not able to alter MT. However, participants with lower baseline MT values or a higher number of diseases and medications at baseline showed significant higher increases in MT after intervention.

CONCLUSIONS: Resistance training using elastic bands with or without nutritional supplementation did not alter MT of m. quadriceps of old institutionalized individuals. However, baseline values and health status had a significant influence on the training effect.

CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: As old individuals are very heterogenic according to their health and muscle status, further studies might focus on individualising training regimes with particular emphasize on accompanied diseases and medications of this population.

PMID:35575453 | DOI:10.23736/S1973-9087.22.06436-X

Hum Brain Mapp. 2022 May 16. doi: 10.1002/hbm.25907. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Children with perinatally acquired HIV (CPHIV) have poor cognitive outcomes despite early combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). While CPHIV-related brain alterations can be investigated separately using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹ H-MRS), structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and functional MRI (fMRI), a set of multimodal MRI measures characteristic of children on cART has not been previously identified. We used the embedded feature selection of a logistic elastic-net (EN) regularization to select neuroimaging measures that distinguish CPHIV from controls and measured their classification performance via the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) using repeated cross validation. We also wished to establish whether combining MRI modalities improved the models. In single modality analysis, sMRI volumes performed best followed by DTI, whereas individual EN models on spectroscopic, gyrification, and cortical thickness measures showed no class discrimination capability. Adding DTI and ¹ H-MRS in basal measures to sMRI volumes produced the highest classification performance validation accuracy=85%AUC=0.80$$ left(mathrm{validation} mathrm{accuracy}=85%,mathrm{AUC}=0.80right) $$ . The best multimodal MRI set consisted of 22 DTI and sMRI volume features, which included reduced volumes of the bilateral globus pallidus and amygdala, as well as increased mean diffusivity (MD) and radial diffusivity (RD) in the right corticospinal tract in cART-treated CPHIV. Consistent with previous studies of CPHIV, select subcortical volumes obtained from sMRI provide reasonable discrimination between CPHIV and controls. This may give insight into neuroimaging measures that are relevant in understanding the effects of HIV on the brain, thereby providing a starting point for evaluating their link with cognitive performance in CPHIV.

PMID:35575438 | DOI:10.1002/hbm.25907

J Natl Cancer Inst. 2022 May 16:djac101. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djac101. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence for the inherited basis of susceptibility to childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Genome-wide association studies have identified non-coding ALL risk variants at the ARID5B gene locus, but their exact functional effects and the molecular mechanism linking ARID5B to B-ALL leukemogenesis remain largely unknown.

METHODS: We performed targeted sequencing of ARID5B in germline DNA of 5,008 children with ALL. Variants were evaluated for association with ALL susceptibility using 3,644 subjects from the UK10K cohort as non-ALL controls, under an additive model. Cis-regulatory elements in ARID5B were systematically identified using CRISPRi enhancer screen in ALL cells. Disruption of transcription factor binding by ARID5B variant was predicted informatically and then confirmed using chromatin immunoprecipitation and co-immunoprecipitation. ARID5B variant association with hematological traits was examined using UK Biobank dataset. All statistical tests are two-sided.

RESULTS: We identified 54 common variants in ARID5B significantly associated with leukemia risk, all of which were non-coding. Six cis-regulatory elements at the ARID5B locus were discovered using CRISPR-based high-throughput enhancer screening. Strikingly, the top ALL risk variant (rs7090445, P=5.57 × 10-45) is located precisely within the strongest enhancer element, which is also distally tethered to the ARID5B promoter. The variant allele disrupts the MEF2C binding motif sequence, resulting in reduced MEF2C affinity and decreased local chromosome accessibility. MEF2C influences ARID5B expression in ALL, likely via a transcription factor complex with RUNX1. Using the UK Biobank dataset (n = 349,861), we showed that rs7090445 was also associated with lymphocyte percentage and count in the general population (P=8.6 × 10-22 and 2.1 × 10-18, respectively).

CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that ALL risk variants in ARID5B function by modulating cis-regulatory elements at this locus.

PMID:35575404 | DOI:10.1093/jnci/djac101

Klin Lab Diagn. 2022 Apr 17;67(4):244-249. doi: 10.51620/0869-2084-2022-67-4-244-249.

ABSTRACT

To carry the comparative analysis of sample preparation methods for the most effective identification of Candida yeast by mass spectrometric analysis. 265 strains of yeast and yeast-like fungi isolated from the sputum of patients with pneumonia were investigated. The selected strains were identified by conventional methods (cultural, morphological, tinctorial, enzymatic properties) and MALDI-ToF MS using the Autoflex speed III Bruker Daltonics mass spectrometer (Germany) and Flex Control software. To evaluate the effectiveness of fungi species determinination, the comparative analysis of sample preparation was performed using 4 methods: direct application to the target, an extended direct application method, protein extraction using ethanol/formic acid or trifluoroacetic acid. The accelerated scheme of identification of fungi by the culture method does not provide clear and unambiguous results. When using mass spectrometric analysis, the reliability of the results depended on the sample preparation. A comparative study of the effectiveness of fungi species determination by various methods of the sample preparation of 50 clinical isolates was carried out. It was revealed that the extraction of cells using TFC acid does not lead to the appearance of the recordable protein spectra. The use of direct and extended direct application methods made it possible to establish the species only in 32-44% of the strains. The most effective method of sample preparation was the method using formic acid and ethanol, which allowed us to determine the species affiliation in 100% of the studied fungi (Score 2.0). Depending on the yeast species, a high statistical indicator (Score≥2.3) was registered for 42-100% of samples. The results of present study show that the use of MALDI-ToF MS is the most reliable and informative method of Candida spp.identification.

PMID:35575399 | DOI:10.51620/0869-2084-2022-67-4-244-249

Klin Lab Diagn. 2022 Apr 17;67(4):204-206. doi: 10.51620/0869-2084-2022-67-4-204-206.

ABSTRACT

Fabry disease is an X-linked hereditary lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the GLA gene. Neonatal screening for Fabry disease in males is feasible by measurement of α-galactosidase A activity in DBS using either the mass spectrometric or fluorigenic substrate. The aim of the study: to assess the possibility of introducing the compared methods into the practice of neonatal screening. In the both assays performed a statistically significant difference of the enzyme activity between affected individuals and controls is reported. The slight modification of the fluorimetric method by centrifugation of a 96-well microplate before measurement could improve signal to noise ratio.

PMID:35575392 | DOI:10.51620/0869-2084-2022-67-4-204-206