Category: Nevin Manimala

MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2023 Apr 21;72(16):421-425. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7216a2.

ABSTRACT

Non-Hispanic Asian (Asian) and non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) persons represent growing segments of the U.S. population (1). Epidemiologic cancer studies often aggregate Asian and NHPI persons (2,3); however, because Asian and NHPI persons are culturally, geographically, and linguistically diverse (2,4), subgroup analyses might provide insights into the distribution of health outcomes. To examine the frequency and percentage of new cancer cases among 25 Asian and NHPI subgroups, CDC analyzed the most current 2015-2019 U.S. Cancer Statistics data.* The distribution of new cancer cases among Asian and NHPI subgroups differed by sex, age, cancer type, and stage at diagnosis (for screening-detected cancers). The percentage of cases diagnosed among females ranged from 47.1% to 68.2% and among persons aged <40 years, ranged from 3.1% to 20.2%. Among the 25 subgroups, the most common cancer type varied. For example, although breast cancer was the most common in 18 subgroups, lung cancer was the most common cancer among Chamoru, Micronesian race not otherwise specified (NOS), and Vietnamese persons; colorectal cancer was the most common cancer among Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Papua New Guinean persons. The frequency of late-stage cancer diagnoses among all subgroups ranged from 25.7% to 40.3% (breast), 38.1% to 61.1% (cervical), 52.4% to 64.7% (colorectal), and 70.0% to 78.5% (lung). Subgroup data illustrate health disparities among Asian and NHPI persons, which might be reduced through the design and implementation of culturally and linguistically responsive cancer prevention and control programs, including programs that address social determinants of health.

PMID:37079478 | DOI:10.15585/mmwr.mm7216a2

Oper Dent. 2023 Apr 20. doi: 10.2341/22-042-L. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The objective was to investigate the radiopacity of 11 commercial posterior restorative materials by establishing their mean gray values (MGVs) and comparing them with dental hard tissues.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: Five-disc specimens were prepared for each of the following materials: Cerasmart 270 CAD/CAM block A3LT (CS), Amalgam (A), Ketac Molar A3 (KM), Cention-N A2 (CN), G-aenial Universal Flo AO2 (GO2) and A2 (G2), Ever-X Flow Dentine (EXD) and Bulk (EXB) shades, Equia Forte HT Fil A2 (EF2) and A3 (EF3), and Equia Fil A3 (E3). Freshly extracted maxillary premolar teeth were used as a control. The MGVs of specimens and a 10-step aluminum stepwedge (Al) were measured with Adobe Photoshop. ANOVA and Dunnett T3 tests were used to assess the significance of the differences (α=0.05).

RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were revealed between some of the groups. Amalgam had the highest radiopacity. The radiopacity of dentin and CS were close to that of 1 mm Al. G2, KM, GO2, EXB, and EXD showed higher mean radiopacity than dentin. Enamel had a radiopacity equivalent to 2 mm Al. CN, EF2, and E3 had higher mean radiopacity than enamel.

CONCLUSIONS: All materials met the ISO requirements. Alkasite and reinforced glass ionomer restoratives demonstrated higher mean radiopacity than the posterior flowable composites. Material shades did not affect the radiopacity.

PMID:37079911 | DOI:10.2341/22-042-L

Pain. 2023 Apr 20. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002915. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Behavioral pain management interventions are efficacious for reducing pain in patients with cancer. However, optimal dosing of behavioral pain interventions for pain reduction is unknown, and this hinders routine clinical use. A Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) was used to evaluate whether varying doses of Pain Coping Skills Training (PCST) and response-based dose adaptation can improve pain management in women with breast cancer. Participants (N = 327) had stage I-IIIC breast cancer and a worst pain score of >5/10. Pain severity (a priori primary outcome) was assessed before initial randomization (1:1 allocation) to PCST-Full (5 sessions) or PCST-Brief (1 session) and 5 to 8 weeks later. Responders (>30% pain reduction) were rerandomized to a maintenance dose or no dose and nonresponders (<30% pain reduction) to an increased or maintenance dose. Pain severity was assessed again 5 to 8 weeks later (assessment 3) and 6 months later (assessment 4). As hypothesized, PCST-Full resulted in greater mean percent pain reduction than PCST-Brief (M [SD] = -28.5% [39.6%] vs M [SD]= -14.8% [71.8%]; P = 0.041). At assessment 3 after second dosing, all intervention sequences evidenced pain reduction from assessment 1 with no differences between sequences. At assessment 4, all sequences evidenced pain reduction from assessment 1 with differences between sequences (P = 0.027). Participants initially receiving PCST-Full had greater pain reduction at assessment 4 (P = 0.056). Varying PCST doses led to pain reduction over time. Intervention sequences demonstrating the most durable decreases in pain reduction included PCST-Full. Pain Coping Skills Training with intervention adjustment based on response can produce sustainable pain reduction.

PMID:37079854 | DOI:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002915

Psychol Trauma. 2023 Apr 20. doi: 10.1037/tra0001501. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The main goal of the present study was to examine the association between personal characteristics and public stigma toward posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) survivors.

METHOD: Two hundred and ninety (N = 290) Israeli participants completed a survey that included demographic, self-esteem, spirituality, well-being, and stigma questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, correlations, linear regressions, and structural-equation modeling were conducted in order to examine the study model and hypotheses.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The study findings demonstrate that self-esteem is associated with higher levels of belief that mental-health professionals can provide effective treatment for PTSD survivors, that survivors can recover and maintain normal relationships, and that survivors are not inclined to neglect their appearance and feel comfortable and calm with PTSD survivors. Spirituality is associated with a belief in professionals’ ability to effectively treat PTSD and lower levels of belief that survivors are easily noticeable. Well-being is associated with a belief that survivors are careless with their hygiene and feel anxious around PTSD survivors. Muslim participants were more likely than Jewish participants to believe that survivors can fully recover, are careless with their hygiene, and that it is relatively easy to spot survivors. They were also more likely to feel anxious around survivors. Acquaintance with a PTSD survivor was associated with lower levels of belief that it would be difficult to maintain a relationship with a survivor and a stronger belief that survivors are relatively easy to spot. These findings make an important contribution to our understanding of the relationship between personal characteristics and the public stigmas attached to PTSD survivors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

PMID:37079840 | DOI:10.1037/tra0001501

Rehabil Psychol. 2023 Apr 20. doi: 10.1037/rep0000493. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: People with disabilities (PWD) experience barriers to accessibility and employment, harming their quality of life. Strategies aimed at reducing disparity for PWD have not changed key statistics such as unemployment rates. Previous research has focused on explicit attitudes, generally found to be positive, prompting investigation into factors such as implicit bias. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated implicit bias toward PWD and associated factors.

METHOD: Forty-six peer-reviewed studies published between January 2000 and April 2020 utilizing the Implicit Association Test were included. Of these, 12 studies met the inclusion criteria for meta-analysis.

RESULTS: A significant moderate pooled effect (mean difference = 0.503, 95% CI [0.497-0.509], p < .001) was found, suggesting moderate negative implicit attitudes toward general disability. Negative implicit attitudes were also found toward physical, and intellectual disability. PWD were implicitly stereotyped as incompetent, cold, and “child-like.” Findings were inconsistent for factors associated with bias including age, race, sex, and individual differences. Contact with PWD may be associated with implicit bias; however, measures were inconsistent.

CONCLUSION: This review has found moderate negative implicit biases toward PWD, however, factors associated with this bias remain unclear. Further research should investigate implicit bias toward specific disability groups and strategies to shift such biases. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

PMID:37079819 | DOI:10.1037/rep0000493

Am Psychol. 2023 Apr 20. doi: 10.1037/amp0001161. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Frank L. Schmidt was born on a dairy farm outside Louisville, Kentucky, on April 29, 1944, the oldest of six children to Swiss German parents with a grade-school education. At his first faculty job at Michigan State University, he met John (Jack) Hunter, with whom he began a prolific, impactful collaboration that lasted until Hunter’s 2002 death. Together, they invented the methods of psychometric meta-analysis. He believed that the goal of science is to establish universal principles. Schmidt and Hunter’s pioneering development of validity generalization (VG) methods showed that statistical artifacts were responsible for study-to-study differences in cognitive ability tests’ validities. Schmidt’s influential articles included research on selection, bias, utility, job performance, employee engagement, smoking cessation, psychopathology, and corporate social responsibility. But psychometric meta-analysis was his most far-reaching contribution. Schmidt coauthored four widely cited and used books on the technique. Meta-analysis transformed hundreds of fields, where it became the bedrock of scientific knowledge. Schmidt received many prestigious awards for his significant contributions. Schmidt was a paradigm-shifting scientist, a father of modern meta-analytic techniques, and an ardent and intellectually honest researcher of individual differences. He leaves behind a legacy that will continue to shape the future of psychology and management, but also more broadly, science in general. He offered an elegant and quantitative way of knowing. His legacy will live in those whose intellects continue to be shaped by the ideas that he introduced. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

PMID:37079817 | DOI:10.1037/amp0001161

Psychol Addict Behav. 2023 Apr 20. doi: 10.1037/adb0000924. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of research conducted online in the addiction field has increased rapidly over the past decade. However, little focus has been given to careless responding in these online studies, despite the issues it may cause for statistical inference and generalizability. Our aim was to examine whether alcohol use is associated with careless responses.

METHOD: Raw data were requested from online studies examining alcohol use and related problems which also addressed careless responding. We obtained 13 data sets of 12,237 participants (M_age = 42.16, SD = 15.65, 50.5% female). The sample had an average Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score of 10.88 (SD = 7.77). Predictors included demographic information (age, gender) and AUDIT total scores. The primary outcome was whether an individual was classed as a careless responder, for example, by failing an explicit attention check question.

RESULTS: AUDIT total scores were associated with careless responding (OR = 1.07, 95% CI [1.06, 1.08], p < .001). Hazardous drinking or worse was associated with 2.21 greater odds (OR = 2.21, 95% CI [1.81, 2.71] of careless responding, whereas harmful drinking or worse was associated with 3.43 greater odds (OR = 3.43, 95% CI [2.83, 4.17]) and probable dependence was associated with 3.63 greater odds (OR = 3.63, 95% CI [2.95, 4.48]).

CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol use and related problems are positively associated with careless responding in online research. Removal of individuals identified as careless responders may lead to issues of generalizability, and more care should be taken to identify and handle careless responder data. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

PMID:37079806 | DOI:10.1037/adb0000924

J Phys Chem Lett. 2023 Apr 20:3970-3979. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00444. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Machine-learned coarse-grained (CG) models have the potential for simulating large molecular complexes beyond what is possible with atomistic molecular dynamics. However, training accurate CG models remains a challenge. A widely used methodology for learning bottom-up CG force fields maps forces from all-atom molecular dynamics to the CG representation and matches them with a CG force field on average. We show that there is flexibility in how to map all-atom forces to the CG representation and that the most commonly used mapping methods are statistically inefficient and potentially even incorrect in the presence of constraints in the all-atom simulation. We define an optimization statement for force mappings and demonstrate that substantially improved CG force fields can be learned from the same simulation data when using optimized force maps. The method is demonstrated on the miniproteins chignolin and tryptophan cage and published as open-source code.

PMID:37079800 | DOI:10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00444

Prev Chronic Dis. 2023 Apr 20;20:E30. doi: 10.5888/pcd20.220380.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important public health problem. In 2017, the global prevalence was estimated at 9.1%. Appropriate tools to predict the risk of developing CKD are necessary to prevent its progression. Type 2 diabetes is a leading cause of CKD; screening the population living with the disease is a cost-effective solution to prevent CKD. The aim of our study was to identify the existing prediction scores and their diagnostic accuracy for detecting CKD in apparently healthy populations and populations with type 2 diabetes.

METHODS: We conducted an electronic search in databases, including Medline/PubMed, Embase, Health Evidence, and others. For the inclusion criteria we considered studies with a risk predictive score in healthy populations and populations with type 2 diabetes. We extracted information about the models, variables, and diagnostic accuracy, such as area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), C statistic, or sensitivity and specificity.

RESULTS: We screened 2,359 records and included 13 studies for healthy population, 7 studies for patients with type 2 diabetes, and 1 for both populations. We identified 12 models for patients with type 2 diabetes; the range of C statistic was from 0.56 to 0.81, and the range of AUC was from 0.71 to 0.83. For healthy populations, we identified 36 models with the range of C statistics from 0.65 to 0.91, and the range of AUC from 0.63 to 0.91.

CONCLUSION: This review identified models with good discriminatory performance and methodologic quality, but they need more validation in populations other than those studied. This review did not identify risk models with variables comparable between them to enable conducting a meta-analysis.

PMID:37079751 | DOI:10.5888/pcd20.220380

Toxicol Sci. 2023 Apr 20:kfad041. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfad041. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Hazard evaluation of substances of “unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products and biological materials” (UVCBs) remains a major challenge in regulatory science because their chemical composition is difficult to ascertain. Petroleum substances are representative UVCBs and human cell-based data has been previously used to substantiate their groupings for regulatory submissions. We hypothesized that a combination of phenotypic and transcriptomic data could be integrated to make decisions as to selection of group-representative worst-case petroleum UVCBs for subsequent toxicity evaluation in vivo. We used data obtained from 141 substances from 16 manufacturing categories previously tested in six human cell types (induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived hepatocytes, cardiomyocytes, neurons, and endothelial cells, and MCF7 and A375 cell lines). Benchmark doses for gene-substance combinations were calculated, and both transcriptomic and phenotype-derived points of departure (PODs) were obtained. Correlation analysis and machine learning were used to assess associations between phenotypic and transcriptional PODs and to determine the most informative cell types and assays, thus representing a cost-effective integrated testing strategy. We found that two cell types-iPSC-derived-hepatocytes and -cardiomyocytes-contributed the most informative and protective PODs and may be used to inform selection of representative petroleum UVCBs for further toxicity evaluation in vivo. Overall, while the use of new approach methodologies to prioritize UVCBs has not been widely adopted, our study proposes a tiered testing strategy based on iPSC-derived hepatocytes and cardiomyocytes to inform selection of representative worst-case petroleum UVCBs from each manufacturing category for further toxicity evaluation in vivo.

PMID:37079747 | DOI:10.1093/toxsci/kfad041