Category: Nevin Manimala

J Dent Hyg. 2023 Feb;97(1):56-65.

ABSTRACT

Purpose Chronic kidney disease is highly prevalent in the general population and can progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The purpose of this pilot study was to assess dental hygiene and dental therapy students’ knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions towards ESRD and evaluate the feasibility of a larger scale study.Methods A convenience sample (n=59) of dental hygiene (DH) and dual degree DH/dental therapy students were invited to participate in an electronic survey for the pilot study. The investigator designed survey consisted of a total of 37 items: demographics (4), perceived knowledge, confidence, importance and attitudes (14), knowledge of chronic kidney disease (18). The knowledge questions were adapted from the Chronic Kidney Disease Self-Management Knowledge Tool (CKD-SMKT) with permission. Descriptive statistics and the non-parametric two-sample Wilcoxon rank sum test were used to analyze the data.Results Twenty-five participants completed the survey for a 42% response rate. Fewer than half (36%) perceived having some knowledge regarding ESRD, its oral manifestations (28%) and mental health implications (12%). The importance of managing oral health for ESRD was rated by most respondents as “very important” or “extremely important” (76%). Respondent attitudes indicated high interest (68%) regarding employment in hospital settings to care for individuals with ESRD.Knowledge scores from the CKD-SMKT were low in the categories of general knowledge of ESRD and dental hygiene care modifications for individuals with ESRD.Conclusion Results of this pilot study indicate that using a validated instrument on a national sample is feasible to determine the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of dental hygiene students regarding ESRD. Future research should include knowledge and awareness of hypertension, diabetes, and the role that management of chronic kidney disease plays in the prevention of ESRD.

PMID:36854578

Drug Alcohol Rev. 2023 Feb 28. doi: 10.1111/dar.13627. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Online alcohol purchasing and home delivery has increased in recent years, accelerated by the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This article aims to investigate the purchasing and drinking behaviour of Australians who use online alcohol delivery services.

METHOD: A cross-sectional self-report survey with a convenience sample of 1158 Australians ≥18 years (49.3% female) who used an online alcohol delivery service in the past 3 months, recruited through paid social media advertisements from September to November 2021. Quota sampling was used to obtain a sample with age and gender strata proportional to the Australian adult population. Descriptive statistics were generated and logistic regression used to explore variables that predict hazardous/harmful drinking (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test score ≥8).

RESULTS: One-in-five (20.1%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 17.8-22.5) participants had used an alcohol delivery service to extend a home drinking session because they had run out of alcohol and wanted to continue drinking and, of these, one-third (33.9%, 95% CI 27.9-40.4) indicated that if the service was not available they would have stopped drinking. Using delivery services in this way was associated with six times higher odds of drinking at hazardous/harmful levels (odds ratio 6.26, 95% CI 3.78-10.36). Participants ≤25 years were significantly more likely to report never having their identification verified when receiving their alcohol delivery at the door compared with purchasing takeaway alcohol in-person at a bottle shop (p < 0.001, McNemar).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Given the risks associated with alcohol delivery, regulation of these services should be improved to meet the same standards as bricks-and-mortar bottle shops.

PMID:36853829 | DOI:10.1111/dar.13627

New Microbiol. 2023 Feb;46(1):18-23.

ABSTRACT

Existing evidence about HIV and SARS-CoV-2 co-infection has, so far, yield conflicting results. Methods: This is a cohort, single center, clinical study aimed at identifying possible characteristics of PLWH that could correlate with the risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 and would influence the outcome. 155 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were compared with 307 PLWH who tested negative. No variable was associated with an increased risk of infection. SARS-CoV-2 PLWH were completely asymptomatic in 20.6% of cases. Factors associated with severe COVID-19 were age (P=0.001), diabetes (P=0.009) hypertension (P=0.004), cardiovascular disease (P=0.001) or an increasing number of chronic co-morbidities (P=0.002); only the first two variables retained statistical significance in a multivariable model. Only older age and a lower CD4 count were statistically associated with death in the multivariate model. Sixteen PLWH not included in the analysis were infected by SARS-Cov-2 after vaccination. In 4 cases the infection was completely asymptomatic, while in the remaining 12 cases the infection was mild and resembled a flu-like syndrome. Conclusions: No baseline characteristic defines patients at greater risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Older age and the presence of multi-comorbidities are risk factors for a severe clinical course. Lower CD4 counts correlate with a fatal outcome.

PMID:36853813

JCI Insight. 2023 Feb 28:e166901. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.166901. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Fibrocytes are bone marrow-derived circulating cells that traffic to the injured lungs and contribute to fibrogenesis. The mTOR inhibitor, sirolimus, inhibits fibrocyte CXCR4 expression, reducing fibrocyte traffic and attenuating lung fibrosis in animal models. We sought to test the hypothesis that short-term treatment with sirolimus reduces the concentration of CXCR4+ circulating fibrocytes in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

METHODS: We conducted a short-term randomised double-blind placebo-controlled crossoverpilot trial to assess the safety and tolerability of sirolimus in IPF. Subjects were randomly assigned to sirolimus or placebo for approximately 6 weeks, and after a 4 week washout, assigned to the alternate treatment. Toxicity, lung function, and the concentration of circulating fibrocytes were measured before and after each treatment.

RESULTS: In the 28 study subjects, sirolimus resulted in a statistically significant 35% decline in the concentration of total fibrocytes, 34% decline in CXCR4+ fibrocytes, and 42% decline in fibrocytes expressing ɑ-smooth muscle actin, but no significant change in these populations occurred on placebo. Respiratory adverse events occurred more frequently during treatment with placebo than sirolimus; the incidence of adverse events and drug tolerability did not otherwise differ during therapy with drug and placebo. Lung function was unaffected by either treatment with the exception of a small decline in gas transfer during treatment with placebo.

CONCLUSIONS: As compared with placebo, short-term treatment with sirolimus resulted inreduction of circulating fibrocyte concentrations in subjects with IPF with an acceptable safety profile.

CLINICALTRIALS: gov identifier number NCT01462006FUNDING. NIH R01HL098329 and American Heart Association 18TPA34170486.

PMID:36853800 | DOI:10.1172/jci.insight.166901

Mod Pathol. 2023 Feb;36(2):100003. doi: 10.1016/j.modpat.2022.100003. Epub 2023 Jan 9.

ABSTRACT

The pathologic diagnosis of bone marrow disorders relies in part on the microscopic analysis of bone marrow aspirate (BMA) smears and the manual counting of marrow nucleated cells to obtain a differential cell count (DCC). This manual process has significant limitations, including the analysis of only a small subset of optimal slide areas and nucleated cells, as well as interobserver variability due to differences in cell selection and classification. To address these shortcomings, we developed an automated machine learning-based pipeline for obtaining 11-component DCCs on whole-slide BMAs. This pipeline uses a sequential process of identifying optimal BMA regions with high proportions of marrow nucleated cells, detecting individual cells within these optimal areas, and classifying these cells into 1 of 11 DCC components. Convolutional neural network models were trained on 396,048 BMA region, 28,914 cell boundary, and 1,510,976 cell class images from manual annotations. The resulting automated pipeline produced 11-component DCCs that demonstrated a high statistical and diagnostic concordance with manual DCCs among a heterogeneous group of testing BMA slides with varying pathologies and cellularities. Additionally, we demonstrated that an automated analysis can reduce the intraslide variance in DCCs by analyzing the whole slide and marrow nucleated cells within all optimal regions. Finally, the pipeline outputs of region classification, cell detection, and cell classification can be visualized using whole-slide image analysis software. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a fully automated pipeline for generating DCCs on scanned whole-slide BMA images, with the potential for improving the current standard of practice for utilizing BMA smears in the laboratory analysis of hematologic disorders.

PMID:36853796 | DOI:10.1016/j.modpat.2022.100003

Mod Pathol. 2023 Feb;36(2):100006. doi: 10.1016/j.modpat.2022.100006. Epub 2023 Jan 9.

ABSTRACT

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC) is an uncommon type of invasive breast carcinoma with a favorable prognosis. However, some cases are aggressive. The study aims to define the clinicopathologic predictors of outcome. Clinical, radiological, and pathologic variables were recorded for 76 AdCC cases from 11 institutions. The following histologic characteristics were evaluated by the breast pathologist in each respective institution, including Nottingham grade (NG), percentages of various growth patterns (solid, cribriform, trabecular-tubular), percentage of basaloid component, tumor borders (pushing, infiltrative), perineural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, necrosis, and distance from the closest margin. Various grading systems were evaluated, including NG, salivary gland-type grading systems, and a new proposed grading system. The new grading system incorporated the growth pattern (percent solid, percent cribriform), percent basaloid morphology, and mitotic count using the Youden index criterion. All variables were correlated with recurrence-free survival. Nineteen (25%) women developed local and/or distant recurrence. Basaloid morphology (≥25% of the tumor) was identified in 20 (26.3%) cases and a solid growth pattern (using ≥60% cutoff) in 22 (28.9%) cases. In the univariate analysis, the following variables were significantly correlated with worse recurrence-free survival: solid growth pattern, basaloid morphology, lymphovascular invasion, necrosis, perineural invasion, and pN-stage. In the multivariate analysis including basaloid morphology, pN-stage, lymphovascular invasion, and perineural invasion, basaloid morphology was statistically significant, with a hazard ratio of 3.872 (95% CI, 1.077; 13.924; P =.038). The NG and the new grading system both correlated with recurrence-free survival. However, grade 2 had a similar risk as grade 3 in the NG system and a similar risk as grade 1 in the new grading system. For solid growth patterns and basaloid morphology, using a 2-tier system with 1 cutoff was better than a 3-tier system with 2 cutoffs. Basaloid morphology and solid growth pattern have prognostic values for AdCC, with a 2-tier grading system performing better than a 3-tier system.

PMID:36853781 | DOI:10.1016/j.modpat.2022.100006

J Med Internet Res. 2023 Feb 28;25:e43116. doi: 10.2196/43116.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Formative experiences in adolescence lay the foundation for healthy and pleasurable romantic and sexual relationships. Exposure to pornography may affect these experiences.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to synthesize evidence published in the past decade on the relationship between exposure to pornography and sexual behavior (earlier age of first sex [<16 years], condomless sex, past-year multiple partners [>1], lifetime multiple partners [>1], group sex, sexual aggression including forced sex, paid sex, teenage pregnancy, and history of sexually transmitted infection) in adolescents aged between 10 and 19 years.

METHODS: We identified 19 eligible studies by searching MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane, CINAHL, Embase, and Web of Science databases from January 2010 to November 2022.

RESULTS: Out of 8 studies that assessed earlier age of first sex, 5 studies, including 1 longitudinal study, found a statistically significant association with exposure to pornography. Given that most studies were cross-sectional or had substantial limitations, causal inference could not be made. Also, exposure to pornography was not measured consistently. The evidence was conflicting or insufficient to draw any conclusions regarding other outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS: More quantitative research is needed to elucidate the association between pornography exposure and sexual behavior, and sex education should adopt evidence-based approaches to minimize the potential harms from pornography.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42021227390; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=227390.

PMID:36853749 | DOI:10.2196/43116

J Med Internet Res. 2023 Feb 28;25:e42131. doi: 10.2196/42131.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Scientific researchers who wish to reuse health data pertaining to individuals can obtain consent through an opt-in procedure or opt-out procedure. The choice of procedure may have consequences for the consent rate and representativeness of the study sample and the quality of the research, but these consequences are not well known.

OBJECTIVE: This review aimed to provide insight into the consequences for the consent rate and consent bias of the study sample of opt-in procedures versus opt-out procedures for the reuse of routinely recorded health data for scientific research purposes.

METHODS: A systematic review was performed based on searches in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, and the Cochrane Library. Two reviewers independently included studies based on predefined eligibility criteria and assessed whether the statistical methods used in the reviewed literature were appropriate for describing the differences between consenters and nonconsenters. Statistical pooling was conducted, and a description of the results was provided.

RESULTS: A total of 15 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Of the 15 studies, 13 (87%) implemented an opt-in procedure, 1 (7%) implemented an opt-out procedure, and 1 (7%) implemented both the procedures. The average weighted consent rate was 84% (60,800/72,418 among the studies that used an opt-in procedure and 96.8% (2384/2463) in the single study that used an opt-out procedure. In the single study that described both procedures, the consent rate was 21% in the opt-in group and 95.6% in the opt-out group. Opt-in procedures resulted in more consent bias compared with opt-out procedures. In studies with an opt-in procedure, consenting individuals were more likely to be males, had a higher level of education, higher income, and higher socioeconomic status.

CONCLUSIONS: Consent rates are generally lower when using an opt-in procedure compared with using an opt-out procedure. Furthermore, in studies with an opt-in procedure, participants are less representative of the study population. However, both the study populations and the way in which opt-in or opt-out procedures were organized varied widely between the studies, which makes it difficult to draw general conclusions regarding the desired balance between patient control over data and learning from health data. The reuse of routinely recorded health data for scientific research purposes may be hampered by administrative burdens and the risk of bias.

PMID:36853745 | DOI:10.2196/42131

STAR Protoc. 2023 Jan 28;4(1):102074. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102074. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In vivo brainstem imaging with miniature microscopy has been challenging due to surgical difficulty, high motion, and correlated activity between neurons. Here, we present a protocol for brainstem imaging in freely moving mice using the dorsal raphe nucleus as an example. We describe surgical procedures to inject a virus encoding GCaMP6m and securely implant a GRIN lens in the brainstem. We then detail motion correction and cell segmentation from the data to parse single-cell activity from correlated networks. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Paquelet et al. (2022).¹.

PMID:36853724 | DOI:10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102074

STAR Protoc. 2023 Jan 25;4(1):102069. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102069. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Understanding cellular metabolism is important across biotechnology and biomedical research and has critical implications in a broad range of normal and pathological conditions. Here, we introduce the user-friendly web-based platform ImmCellFie, which allows the comprehensive analysis of metabolic functions inferred from transcriptomic or proteomic data. We explain how to set up a run using publicly available omics data and how to visualize the results. The ImmCellFie algorithm pushes beyond conventional statistical enrichment and incorporates complex biological mechanisms to quantify cell activity. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Richelle et al. (2021).¹.

PMID:36853701 | DOI:10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102069