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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Does pain tolerance mediate the effect of physical activity on chronic pain in the general population? The Tromsø Study

Pain. 2024 Mar 5. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003209. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Knowledge is needed regarding mechanisms acting between physical activity (PA) and chronic pain. We investigated whether cold pain tolerance mediates an effect of leisure-time physical activity on the risk of chronic pain 7 to 8 years later using consecutive surveys of the population-based Tromsø Study. We included participants with information on baseline leisure-time PA (LTPA) and the level of cold pressor-assessed cold pain tolerance, who reported chronic pain status at follow-up as any of the following: chronic pain for ≥3 months, widespread chronic pain, moderate-to-severe chronic pain, or widespread moderate-to-severe chronic pain. We included 6834 participants (52% women; mean age, 55 years) in counterfactual mediation analyses. Prevalence decreased with severity, for example, 60% for chronic pain vs 5% for widespread moderate-to-severe chronic pain. People with one level higher LTPA rating (light to moderate or moderate to vigorous) at baseline had lower relative risk (RR) of 4 chronic pain states 7 to 8 years later. Total RR effect of a 1-level LTPA increase was 0.95 (0.91-1.00), that is, -5% decreased risk. Total effect RR for widespread chronic pain was 0.84 (0.73-0.97). Indirect effect for moderate-to-severe chronic pain was statistically significant at RR 0.993 (0.988-0.999); total effect RR was 0.91 (0.83-0.98). Statistically significantly mediated RR for widespread moderate-to-severe chronic pain was 0.988 (0.977-0.999); total effect RR was 0.77 (0.64-0.94). This shows small mediation of the effect of LTPA through pain tolerance on 2 moderate-to-severe chronic pain types. This suggests pain tolerance to be one possible mechanism through which PA modifies the risk of moderate-to-severe chronic pain types with and without widespread pain.

PMID:38442413 | DOI:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003209

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Adopting Optimal Statistical Practices: Graduate Programs

J Nurs Educ. 2024 Mar;63(3):197-198. doi: 10.3928/01484834-20240108-12. Epub 2024 Mar 1.

ABSTRACT

In 2024, the Methodology Corner will briefly look at how we might foster enduring commitments from nurse education researchers to remain up-to-date on their statistical expertise and to use optimal statistical methods. The first column of the year specifically looks at how graduate programs might enrich their statistics curriculum in a manner that could foster an increasingly valid science of nursing education. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(3):197-198.].

PMID:38442402 | DOI:10.3928/01484834-20240108-12

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Sleep Quality and Associated Factors Among Survivors of Breast Cancer: From Diagnosis to One Year Postdiagnosis

Oncol Nurs Forum. 2024 Feb 19;51(2):163-174. doi: 10.1188/24.ONF.163-174.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To examine sleep quality and self-reported causes of sleep disturbance among patients with breast cancer at diagnosis and one year later.

SAMPLE & SETTING: 486 of 606 patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer completed a Pittsburgh Quality Sleep Index (PSQI) survey at the time of diagnosis and again one year later.

METHODS & VARIABLES: In this secondary data analysis, descriptive statistics were computed for seven PSQI components and its global score. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and McNemar’s tests were used. Self-reported reasons for sleep disturbances were summarized.

RESULTS: PSQI scores significantly increased from baseline (mean = 6.75) to one-year follow-up (mean= 7.12), indicating worsened sleep. Sleep disturbance and onset latency scores increased, whereas sleep efficiency decreased. The two most frequently reported reasons for sleep disturbance were waking up late in the night or early in the morning (more than 50%) and needing to use the bathroom (49%). Feeling too hot and experiencing pain three or more times per week were reported by participants at baseline and one year later.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Results can aid in monitoring patient response to treatment methods and formulating benchmarks to manage sleep problems.

PMID:38442284 | DOI:10.1188/24.ONF.163-174

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Associations of Demographic and Social Factors on Health-Related Quality-of-Life Changes Among Older Women With Breast or Gynecologic Cancer

Oncol Nurs Forum. 2024 Feb 19;51(2):127-141. doi: 10.1188/24.ONF.127-141.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To examine associations of sociodemographic factors and social limitations with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) from pre- to postdiagnosis in older female cancer survivors.

SAMPLE & SETTING: 9,807 women aged 65 years or older with breast or gynecologic cancer from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare Health Outcomes Survey.

METHODS & VARIABLES: Physical and mental HRQOL were assessed using the physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) of the Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey. Descriptive statistics and mixed-effects models for repeated measures were used.

RESULTS: Social limitations were the only significant factor associated with changes in MCS scores. Race and ethnicity, rurality, and social interference were associated with significant decreases in PCS scores.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Nurses can assess mental and physical HRQOL after diagnosis and advocate for appropriate referrals. Oncology care should be tailored to cultural considerations, including race and ethnicity, rurality, and social support.

PMID:38442282 | DOI:10.1188/24.ONF.127-141

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Early warning indicators via latent stochastic dynamical systems

Chaos. 2024 Mar 1;34(3):031101. doi: 10.1063/5.0195042.

ABSTRACT

Detecting early warning indicators for abrupt dynamical transitions in complex systems or high-dimensional observation data are essential in many real-world applications, such as brain diseases, natural disasters, and engineering reliability. To this end, we develop a novel approach: the directed anisotropic diffusion map that captures the latent evolutionary dynamics in the low-dimensional manifold. Then three effective warning signals (Onsager-Machlup indicator, sample entropy indicator, and transition probability indicator) are derived through the latent coordinates and the latent stochastic dynamical systems. To validate our framework, we apply this methodology to authentic electroencephalogram data. We find that our early warning indicators are capable of detecting the tipping point during state transition. This framework not only bridges the latent dynamics with real-world data but also shows the potential ability for automatic labeling on complex high-dimensional time series.

PMID:38442235 | DOI:10.1063/5.0195042

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Deep learning-based state prediction of the Lorenz system with control parameters

Chaos. 2024 Mar 1;34(3):033108. doi: 10.1063/5.0187866.

ABSTRACT

Nonlinear dynamical systems with control parameters may not be well modeled by shallow neural networks. In this paper, the stable fixed-point solutions, periodic and chaotic solutions of the parameter-dependent Lorenz system are learned simultaneously via a very deep neural network. The proposed deep learning model consists of a large number of identical linear layers, which provide excellent nonlinear mapping capability. Residual connections are applied to ease the flow of information and a large training dataset is further utilized. Extensive numerical results show that the chaotic solutions can be accurately forecasted for several Lyapunov times and long-term predictions are achieved for periodic solutions. Additionally, the dynamical characteristics such as bifurcation diagrams and largest Lyapunov exponents can be well recovered from the learned solutions. Finally, the principal factors contributing to the high prediction accuracy are discussed.

PMID:38442234 | DOI:10.1063/5.0187866

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Dynamical vaccination behavior with risk perception and vaccination rewards

Chaos. 2024 Mar 1;34(3):033109. doi: 10.1063/5.0186899.

ABSTRACT

Vaccination is the most effective way to control the epidemic spreading. However, the probability of people getting vaccinated changes with the epidemic situation due to personal psychology. Facing various risks, some people are reluctant to vaccinate and even prefer herd immunity. To encourage people to get vaccinated, many countries set up reward mechanisms. In this paper, we propose a disease transmission model combining vaccination behaviors based on the SIR (Susceptible-Infected-Recovered) model and introduce three vaccination mechanisms. We analyze the impact of the infection rate and the recovery rate on the total cost and the epidemic prevalence. Numerical simulations fit with our intuitive feelings. Then, we study the impact of vaccination rewards on the total social cost. We find that when vaccination rewards offset vaccination costs, both the total cost and the epidemic prevalence reach the lowest levels. Finally, this paper suggests that encouraging people to get vaccinated at the beginning of an epidemic has the best effect.

PMID:38442233 | DOI:10.1063/5.0186899

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

The Fragility of Statistical Findings in the Femoral Neck Fracture Literature: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

J Orthop Trauma. 2024 Mar 4. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0000000000002793. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the femoral neck fracture literature frequently report p-values for outcomes which have substantial implications in guiding surgical management. This study utilized the fragility index (FI), reverse fragility index (rFI), and fragility quotient (FQ) to assess the statistical stability of outcomes reported in RCTs evaluating the management and treatment of femoral neck fractures.

METHODS: Data Sources: Pubmed, Emabse, and MEDLINE were queried for RCTs (January 1, 2010 to February 28th, 2023) that evaluated surgical management/treatment of femoral neck fractures. Study Selection: RCTs with two treatment arms reporting categorical dichotomous outcomes were included. Non-RCT studies, RCTs with greater than 2 treatment arms, and RCTs without a femoral neck fracture cohort were excluded.Data Extraction and Synthesis: The FI and rFI were calculated as the number of outcome event reversals required to alter statistical significance for significant (p<0.05) and non-significant (p≥0.05) outcomes, respectively. The FQ was calculated by dividing the FI by the sample size for the study.

RESULTS: 985 articles were screened with 71 studies included for analysis. The median FI across a total of 197 outcomes was 4 (IQR 2-5) with an associated FQ of 0.033 (IQR 0.017-0.060). 47 outcomes were statistically significant with a median FI of 2 (IQR 1-4) and associated FQ of 0.02 (IQR 0.014-0.043). 150 outcomes were statistically non-significant with a median rFI of 4 (IQR 3-5) and associated FQ of 0.037 (IQR 0.019-0.065).

CONCLUSION: Statistical findings in femoral neck fracture RCTs are fragile with reversal of a median 4 outcomes altering significance of study findings. The authors thus recommend standardized reporting of p-values with FI and FQ metrics to aid in interpreting the robustness of outcomes in femoral neck fracture RCTs.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

PMID:38442195 | DOI:10.1097/BOT.0000000000002793

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Reply to Muralidhar et al., Kenny et al., and Hotz et al.: The benefits of engagement with external research teams

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Mar 12;121(11):e2401501121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2401501121. Epub 2024 Mar 5.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:38442177 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2401501121

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

The key role of absolute risk in the disclosure risk assessment of public data releases

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Mar 12;121(11):e2321882121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2321882121. Epub 2024 Mar 5.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:38442168 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2321882121