Category: Nevin Manimala

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2023 Mar 9. doi: 10.1007/s10549-023-06900-8. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To determine the associations between ethnicity, age at diagnosis, obesity, multimorbidity, and odds of experiencing breast cancer (BC) treatment-related side effects among long-term Hispanic and non-Hispanic white (NHW) survivors from New Mexico and explore differences by tamoxifen use.

METHODS: Lifestyle and clinical information including self-reported tamoxifen use and presence of treatment- related side effects were collected at follow-up interviews (12-15 years) for 194 BC survivors. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine associations between predictors and odds of experiencing side effects overall and by tamoxifen use.

RESULTS: Women ranged in age at diagnosis (30-74, M = 49.3, SD = 9.37), most were NHW (65.4%) and had in-situ or localized BC (63.4%). Less than half reportedly used tamoxifen (44.3%), of which 59.3% reported using > 5 years. Overall, survivors who were overweight/obese at follow-up were 5.42 times more likely to experience treatment-related pain (95% CI 1.40-21.0) compared to normal weight survivors. Survivors with multimorbidity, compared to survivors without, were more likely to report treatment-related sexual health issues (aOR 6.90, 95% CI 1.43-33.2) and poorer mental health (aOR 4.51, 95% CI 1.06-19.1). The statistical interactions between ethnicity and overweight/obese with tamoxifen use were significant (p-interaction < 0.05) for treatment-related sexual health issues.

CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that survivors with overweightness/obesity or multimorbidity may be more likely to experience BC treatment-related side effects. Tamoxifen use modifies associations between ethnicity, being overweight/obese, and sexual health issues following treatment. The likelihood of experiencing treatment-related side effects were more favorable for those on tamoxifen or those who had used tamoxifen for longer durations. These findings highlight the importance of fostering side effect awareness and applying appropriate interventions to assist with disease management throughout BC survivorship care.

PMID:36892724 | DOI:10.1007/s10549-023-06900-8

Metabolomics. 2023 Mar 9;19(3):17. doi: 10.1007/s11306-023-01979-y.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Liverworts are a group of non-vascular plants that possess unique metabolism not found in other plants. Many liverwort metabolites have interesting structural and biochemical characteristics, however the fluctuations of these metabolites in response to stressors is largely unknown.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the metabolic stress-response of the leafy liverwort Radula complanata.

METHODS: Five phytohormones were applied exogenously to in vitro cultured R. complanata and an untargeted metabolomic analysis was conducted. Compound classification and identification was performed with CANOPUS and SIRIUS while statistical analyses including PCA, ANOVA, and variable selection using BORUTA were conducted to identify metabolic shifts.

RESULTS: It was found that R. complanata was predominantly composed of carboxylic acids and derivatives, followed by benzene and substituted derivatives, fatty acyls, organooxygen compounds, prenol lipids, and flavonoids. The PCA revealed that samples grouped based on the type of hormone applied, and the variable selection using BORUTA (Random Forest) revealed 71 identified and/or classified features that fluctuated with phytohormone application. The stress-response treatments largely reduced the production of the selected primary metabolites while the growth treatments resulted in increased production of these compounds. 4-(3-Methyl-2-butenyl)-5-phenethylbenzene-1,3-diol was identified as a biomarker for the growth treatments while GDP-hexose was identified as a biomarker for the stress-response treatments.

CONCLUSION: Exogenous phytohormone application caused clear metabolic shifts in Radula complanata that deviate from the responses of vascular plants. Further identification of the selected metabolite features can reveal metabolic biomarkers unique to liverworts and provide more insight into liverwort stress responses.

PMID:36892716 | DOI:10.1007/s11306-023-01979-y

Clin Rheumatol. 2023 Mar 9. doi: 10.1007/s10067-023-06563-2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and adenitis (PFAPA) syndrome is the most common periodic fever syndrome during early childhood period with regular febrile attacks of sterile upper airway inflammation. The cessation of attacks following tonsillectomy points to fundamental role of tonsil tissue on etiopathogenesis of disease, which is not clarified satisfactorily. The aim of this study is to explore the immunological basis of PFAPA by evaluating the cellular properties of tonsils, and microbial exposition such as Helicobacter pylori on tonsillectomy materials.

METHODS: The paraffinized tonsil samples of 26 PFAPA and 29 control patients with obstructive upper airway disorder were compared in terms of immunohistochemical staining features including CD4, CD8, CD123, CD1a, CD20, and H. pylori.

RESULTS: The median number of CD8+ cells was 1485 (1218-1287) in PFAPA while it was 1003 (852-1261.5) in control group and the difference was statistically significant (p=0.001). Similarly, CD4+ cell counts were statistically higher in PFAPA group than control (833.5 vs 622). The ratio of CD4/CD8 did not differ between two groups; also, there was no statistically difference in terms of the other immunohistochemical staining results, such as CD20, CD1a, CD123 and H. pylori.

CONCLUSION: This is the largest number of pediatric tonsillar tissue study of PFAPA patients in current literature and we emphasized the triggering effects of CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells on PFAPA tonsils.

KEY POINTS: • The cessation of attacks following tonsillectomy points to fundamental role of tonsil tissue on etiopathogenesis of disease, which is not clarified satisfactorily. • In current study, 92.3% of our patients did not experience any attacks following operation similarly with literature. • We observed the increased number of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts on PFAPA tonsils compared to control group and emphasized the active role of both CD4+ and CD8+ cells localized on PFAPA tonsils in immune dysregulation. • Some other cell types evaluated in this study such as CD19+ (B cells), CD1a (dendritic cells), and CD123 (IL-3 receptors, for pluripotent stem cells) and H. pylori did not differ in PFAPA patients compared to the control group.

PMID:36892710 | DOI:10.1007/s10067-023-06563-2

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Mar 9. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-26203-1. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This research was conducted in the urban area of Patna region, the capital and largest city of Bihar, which is part of the Indo-Gangetic alluvium plain. This study aims to identify the sources and processes controlling groundwater’s hydrochemical evolution in the Patna region’s urban area. In this research, we evaluated the interplay between several measures of groundwater quality, the various possible causes of groundwater pollution, and the resulting health risks. Twenty groundwater samples were taken from various locations and examined to determine the water quality. The average EC of the groundwater in the investigated area was 728 ± 331.84 µS/cm, with a range of around 300-1700 µS/cm. Positive loadings were seen for total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), calcium (Ca²⁺), magnesium (Mg²⁺), sodium (Na⁺), chloride (Cl^–), and sulphate (SO₄^2-) in principal component analysis (PCA), demonstrating that these variables accounted for 61.78% of the total variance. In the groundwater samples, the following main cations are the most prevalent such as Na⁺ > Ca²⁺ > Mg²⁺ > K⁺, while the dominant anions are HCO₃^– > Cl^– > SO₄^2-. The elevated HCO₃^– and Na⁺ ions indicate that carbonate mineral dissolution might affect the study area. The result demonstrated that 90% of samples fall into the Ca-Na-HCO₃ type, remaining in the mixing zone. The presence of the NaHCO₃ kind of water is suggestive of shallow meteoric water, which may have originated from the river Ganga that is located nearby. The results show that a multivariate statistical analysis and graphical plots successfully identify the parameters controlling groundwater quality. In accordance with guidelines for safe drinking water, the electrical conductivity and potassium ion concentrations in the groundwater samples are 5% higher than acceptable levels. People who take large amounts of salt replacements report feeling tight in the chest, vomiting, having diarrhoea, developing hyperkalaemia, having trouble breathing, and even experiencing heart failure.

PMID:36892700 | DOI:10.1007/s11356-023-26203-1

Biom J. 2023 Mar 8:e2200236. doi: 10.1002/bimj.202200236. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Ordinal data in a repeated measures design of a crossover study for rare diseases usually do not allow for the use of standard parametric methods, and hence, nonparametric methods should be considered instead. However, only limited simulation studies in settings with small sample sizes exist. Therefore, starting from an Epidermolysis Bullosa simplex trial with the above-mentioned design, a rank-based approach using the R package nparLD and different generalized pairwise comparisons (GPC) methods were compared impartially in a simulation study. The results revealed that there was not one single best method for this particular design, because a trade-off exists between achieving high power, accounting for period effects, and for missing data. Specifically, nparLD as well as the unmatched GPC approaches do not address crossover aspects, and the univariate GPC variants partly ignore the longitudinal information. The matched GPC approaches, on the other hand, take the crossover effect into account in the sense of incorporating the within-subject association. Overall, the prioritized unmatched GPC method achieved the highest power in the simulation scenarios, although this may be due to the specified prioritization. The rank-based approach yielded good power even at a sample size of $N=6$ , whereas the matched GPC method could not control the type I error.

PMID:36890631 | DOI:10.1002/bimj.202200236

Biom J. 2023 Mar 8:e2200091. doi: 10.1002/bimj.202200091. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Comparative simulation studies are workhorse tools for benchmarking statistical methods. As with other empirical studies, the success of simulation studies hinges on the quality of their design, execution, and reporting. If not conducted carefully and transparently, their conclusions may be misleading. In this paper, we discuss various questionable research practices, which may impact the validity of simulation studies, some of which cannot be detected or prevented by the current publication process in statistics journals. To illustrate our point, we invent a novel prediction method with no expected performance gain and benchmark it in a preregistered comparative simulation study. We show how easy it is to make the method appear superior over well-established competitor methods if questionable research practices are employed. Finally, we provide concrete suggestions for researchers, reviewers, and other academic stakeholders for improving the methodological quality of comparative simulation studies, such as preregistering simulation protocols, incentivizing neutral simulation studies, and code and data sharing.

PMID:36890629 | DOI:10.1002/bimj.202200091

Disabil Rehabil. 2023 Mar 8:1-11. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2023.2185688. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To determine the test-retest reliability and validity of the Imagined Timed Up and Go Test (iTUG) as a Motor Imagery measure of temporal accuracy in people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive study was conducted following the GRRAS recommendations. Thirty-two people with idiopathic, mild to moderate PD (Hoehn and Yahr I-III), without cognitive impairment (MMSE ≥ 24), were assessed twice (7-15 days apart) with the iTUG. The absolute unadjusted difference in seconds, and the absolute adjusted difference as percentage of estimation error, between real and imagined TUG times, were calculated as outcome measures. Test-retest reliability was assessed using a two-way mixed-effects model of the ICC. Construct validity was tested with the Imagined Box and Blocks Test (iBBT) and convergent validity with clinical characteristics of PD, using the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

RESULTS: The ICC for the unadjusted and adjusted measures of the iTUG was ICC = 0.61 and ICC = 0.55, respectively. Correlations between iTUG and iBBT were not statistically significant. The iTUG was partially correlated to clinical characteristics of PD.

CONCLUSIONS: Test-retest reliability of the iTUG was moderate. Construct validity between iTUG and iBBT was poor, so caution should be taken when using them concurrently to assess imagery’s temporal accuracy.

PMID:36890615 | DOI:10.1080/09638288.2023.2185688

Nurs Open. 2023 Mar 8. doi: 10.1002/nop2.1711. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: This study aimed to describe the circadian characteristics of hospitalized mortality in order to provide nursing guidance for preventing in-hospital mortality.

DESIGN: A retrospective analysis on inpatient information was implemented.

METHODS: Harmonic Analysis of Time Series was applied to quantify the periodic structure of the frequency of the occurrence of death.

RESULTS: A total of 3300 cases were included in the present study (male, 63.4% and median age 73 years), including 1540 (46.7%) ICU patients. Incidence of overall hospitalized death exhibited a circadian pattern, presenting peaks from 07:00 to 12:00 and 15:00 to 20:00 P.M., with 21.5% and 13.1% increase above the average at those peak points, respectively. Similarly, the incidence of sudden cardiac death (SCD) showed peaks between 06:00-12:00 and 15:00-20:00, with a 34.7% and 28.0% increase above the average at peak time, respectively. The distribution of death incidence revealed no statistical difference between SCD and non-SCD (p = 0.525).

PMID:36890609 | DOI:10.1002/nop2.1711

BMC Nutr. 2023 Mar 8;9(1):44. doi: 10.1186/s40795-023-00702-3.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Excess consumption of free sugar (FS) increases the risk of dental caries and unhealthy weight gain. However, the contribution of snacks and beverages to young children’s FS intake is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to determine FS intake from snacks and beverages among preschool-aged Canadian children.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study examined baseline data from 267 children 1.5 to 5 y enrolled in the Guelph Family Health Study. Dietary assessment was completed over a 24-h period using ASA24-Canada-2016 to, 1) estimate the proportion of children whose FS intake from snacks and beverages consumed exceeded 5% total energy intake (TE) and 10% TE, and 2) identify the top snack and beverage sources of FS.

RESULTS: FS contributed 10.6 ± 6.9% TE (mean ± SD). 30 and 8% of children consumed ≥ 5% TE and ≥ 10% TE from snack FS, respectively. Furthermore, 17 and 7% of children consumed ≥ 5% TE and ≥ 10% TE from beverages FS, respectively. Snacks and beverages accounted for 49 ± 30.9% of FS energy. Top snack sources of FS (% children, children’s %TE from FS) were bakery products (55%, 2.4%), candy and sweet condiments (21%, 3.0%), and sugar-containing beverages (20%, 4.1%). Top sugar-containing beverage sources of FS (48%, 5.3%) were 100% fruit juice (22%, 4.6%) and flavored milk (11%, 3.1%).

CONCLUSIONS: Snacks and beverages contributed nearly half of FS intake among a sample of young children in Canada. Thus, long-term monitoring of snacking behavior and consumption of FS is warranted. These findings may help inform nutritional strategies and public policies to improve diet quality and FS intake in preschool-aged children.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: The Clinical Trial Registry number is NCT02939261 from clinicaltrials.gov. Date of Registration: October 20, 2016.

PMID:36890595 | DOI:10.1186/s40795-023-00702-3

BMC Nutr. 2023 Mar 8;9(1):43. doi: 10.1186/s40795-023-00699-9.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Despite numerous interventions, child undernutrition continues as a problem of global concern. Although consumption of animal source foods has shown positive associations with child undernutrition, no much evidence exists on its trends and predictors among children in Tigrai.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the trends in and predictors of consumption of animal source foods among children 6-23 months of age in Tigrai.

METHODOLOGY: This study used complex data of 756 children extracted from three consecutive Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys. Data were analyzed using STATA 14.0 by accounting for sampling weight and cluster and strata variables. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the independent predictors of animal source foods consumption. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were used to measure strength of association at a statistical significance of p < 0.05.

RESULTS: Although statistically not significant (p-trend = 0.28), animal source foods consumption increased from 31.3% to 2005 through 35.9% in 2011 to 41.5% in 2016. For every month increase in the age of a child, a 9% increment in the odds of animal source food consumption was observed. Muslim children showed 3.1 times higher odds of animal source food consumption than Orthodox Christians. The likelihood of animal source foods consumption were 33% lower among children born to mothers who didn’t attend formal education as compared to their counterparts. A unit increase in the number of household assets and number of livestock led to a 20% and 2% increase in the odds of animal source foods consumption, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Animal source foods consumption showed a statistically non-significant increase over the three consecutive Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys. This study found out that consumption of animal source foods might be increased through pro-maternal education policies, programs with household asset increasing schemes, and pro-livestock projects. Our study also highlighted the need for considering religion as one important player when planning or undertaking ASF programs.

PMID:36890578 | DOI:10.1186/s40795-023-00699-9