Category: Nevin Manimala

Eur J Neurol. 2021 Apr 9. doi: 10.1111/ene.14860. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Mounting evidence supports an association between Guillain-Barré syndrome spectrum (GBSs) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, GBSs in the setting of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) remains poorly characterized, while GBSs prevalence among COVID-19 patients has not been previously systematically evaluated using a meta-analytical approach.

METHODS: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational cohort and case-series studies reporting on the occurrence, clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with COVID-19-associated GBSs. A random-effects model was used to calculate pooled estimates and odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs), when comparing to non-COVID-19, contemporary or historical GBSs patients.

RESULTS: We identified 18 eligible studies (11 cohorts, 7 case-series) including a total of 136,746 COVID-19 patients. Among COVID-19 patients, including hospitalized and non-hospitalized cases, the pooled GBSs prevalence was 0.15‰ (95%CI:0-0.49‰; I² =96%). Compared to non-infected contemporary or historical controls, patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection had increased odds for demyelinating GBSs subtypes (OR=3.27; 95%CI: 1.32-8.09; I² =0%). In SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, olfactory or concomitant cranial nerve involvement was noted in 41.4% (95%CI:3.5-60.4%; I² =46%) and 42.8% (95%CI:32.8-53%; I² =0%) of the patients, respectively. Clinical outcomes including in-hospital mortality were comparable between COVID-19 GBSs patients and non-infected contemporary or historical GBSs controls.

CONCLUSIONS: GBSs prevalence was estimated at 15 cases per 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 infections. COVID-19 appears to be associated with an increased likelihood of GBSs and with demyelinating GBSs variants in particular.

PMID:33837630 | DOI:10.1111/ene.14860

Int J Clin Pract. 2021 Apr 10:e14196. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.14196. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Tinnitus severity has been exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and those with tinnitus require additional support. Such support should be informed by patient preferences and needs. The objective of this study was to gather information from individuals with tinnitus living in Europe to inform stakeholders of the (i) support they needed in relation to changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and (ii) suggestions regarding tinnitus care for the future.

METHODS: A cross-sectional mixed methods study design was used using closed and open-ended questions via an online survey. Data was gathered from 710 adults experiencing tinnitus in Western Europe, with the majority living in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Sweden. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics.

RESULTS: Those with tinnitus indicated the following support needs during the pandemic (a) support for tinnitus, (b) support for hearing-related difficulties, (c) social support, and (d) pandemic-related support. Five directions for future tinnitus care were provided, namely (a) need for understanding professional support and access to multidisciplinary experts, (b) greater range of therapies and resources, (c) access to more information about tinnitus, (d) prioritizing tinnitus research, and (e) more support for hearing protection and hearing loss prevention CONCLUSIONS: The findings point to the need for accessible (remote), patient-centred, suitable and evidence-based tinnitus care. Insights from the current study can be used by various stakeholders including clinical practitioners and tinnitus support services to ensure those with tinnitus have access to the help and support required in order to reduce service provision insufficiencies.

PMID:33837639 | DOI:10.1111/ijcp.14196

BJOG. 2021 Apr 9. doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.16719. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the discrepancy between historical and more recent descriptions of the first stage of labour by testing whether the statistical techniques used recently (repeated measures polynomial and interval censored regression) were appropriate for detection of periods of rapid acceleration of cervical dilatation as might occur at the time of transition from a latent to an active phase of labour.

DESIGN AND SETTING: A simulation study using regression techniques.

SAMPLE: We created a simulated dataset for 500,000 labours with clearly defined latent and active phases using the parameters described by Friedman. Additionally, we created a dataset comprising 500,000 labours with a progressively increasing rate of cervical dilatation as described by Zhang et al. METHODS: Repeated-measures polynomial regression was used to create summary labour curves based on simulated cervical examinations. Interval-censored regression was used to create centimetre-by-centimetre estimates of rates of cervical dilatation and their 95^th centiles.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Labour summary curves and rates of cervical dilatation.

RESULTS: Repeated-measures polynomial regression did not detect the rapid acceleration in cervical dilatation (i.e. ‘acceleration phase’) and over-estimated lengths of labour, especially at smaller cervical dilatations. There was a two-fold overestimation in the mean rate of cervical dilatation from four to six centimetres. Interval-censored regression overestimated median transit-times, at four to five centimetres cervical dilatation or when cervical examinations occurred less than 0.5 to 1.5 hourly.

CONCLUSION: Repeated-measures polynomial regression and interval-censored regression should not be routinely used to define labour progress because they do not accurately reflect the underlying data.

PMID:33837643 | DOI:10.1111/1471-0528.16719

Histopathology. 2021 Apr 10. doi: 10.1111/his.14384. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CCA) is an uncommon hepatic malignancy with a poor outcome. The 2019 WHO classification modified the definition and discarded the subtypes harboring stem cell features. However, the differences among cHCC-CCA, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), HCC with stem cell features (HCCscf) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) remain undetermined. The aim of the study is to investigate the characteristics of cHCC-CCA in comparisons with other primary liver cancers utilizing the updated WHO classification.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively analyzed 64 cHCC-CCA and 55 HCCscf patients from Dec2007 to May2018. A propensity score matching was conducted to compare with HCC and iCCA patients. Clinicopathological characteristics, event-free (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated with multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression. In a median follow-up of 55.9 months, patients with cHCC-CCA had a significantly poor survival as compared with HCCscf and an intermediate survival outcome between HCC and iCCA. HBV infection and high tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were associated with a favorable survival in cHCC-CCA. In the multivariate analysis, poor hepatic reserve, absence of HBV infection, stage IV disease and low TILs were significant negative prognostic factors in cHCC-CCA. After pooling with other primary liver cancers, tumor type of cHCC-CCA and iCCA predicted the worse survival results.

CONCLUSION: cHCC-CCA have an intermediate survival between HCC and iCCA and HBV infection and high TILs predict the favorable survival. Our study provides clinical correlations for the new 2019 WHO classification.

PMID:33837585 | DOI:10.1111/his.14384

Trop Med Int Health. 2021 Apr 10. doi: 10.1111/tmi.13587. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of nanopermethrin as a potential new formulation for pest and vector control.

METHODS: Permethrin nanoparticles were prepared by the ionic gelation method and its structure and the formulations were designed using Box-Behnken statistical technique. The effect of independent variables (Chitosan/Permethrin ratio, tripolyphosphate quantity, sonication time) on the properties of nanoparticles was investigated to determine the optimal formulation.

RESULTS: The size of the nanoparticles ranged from 135.27±5.88 to 539.5±24.01nm and the insecticide entrapment efficiency percent (EE%) ranged from 7.72±1.36 to 63.59±3.17%. Anopheles stephensi larvae were then bioassayed with the nanopermethrin and compared with the results of the bioassay with the mother molecule of permethrin using a standard WHO recommended mosquito larval bioassay kit. LC₅₀ with permethrin and nanopermethrin on larvae of An. stephensi were 0.125 and 0.026 ppm showing a 4.8 times difference. The LC₅₀ for permethrin and nanopermethrin on Cx. pipiens were 0.003 and 0.00032 ppm respectively showing a 9.4-fold difference.

CONCLUSION: Nanopermethrin is much more potent than its mother molecule against larvae of An. stephensi and Cx. pipiens.

PMID:33837621 | DOI:10.1111/tmi.13587

J Occup Health. 2021 Jan;63(1):e12215. doi: 10.1002/1348-9585.12215.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to analyse age-standardised mortality trends in Japan among blue- and white-collar male workers aged 25-64 years, by major causes of mortality from 1980 to 2015.

METHODS: Five-yearly mortality data were extracted from occupation-specific vital statistics maintained by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. A time series study was conducted among employed men aged 25-64 years. Age-standardised mortality trends by occupational category were calculated separately for all cancers, ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and suicide. Poisson regression analysis was performed to analyse mortality trends by occupational category for each cause.

RESULTS: Mortality rates for all cancers and ischaemic heart disease were higher among white-collar workers than blue-collar workers throughout the 35-year study period. The gap in the mortality rates for all four causes of death among blue- and white-collar workers widened in 2000 after Japan’s economic bubble burst in the late 1990s. Simultaneously, suicide mortality rates among white-collar workers increased sharply and have remained higher than among blue-collar workers.

CONCLUSIONS: White-collar male workers in Japan have a higher risk of mortality than male blue-collar workers. However, despite substantial differences, significant progress has been made in recent years in reducing mortality across all occupations in Japan.

PMID:33837627 | DOI:10.1002/1348-9585.12215

Med Phys. 2021 Apr 10. doi: 10.1002/mp.14878. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To show that intrinsic radiosensitivity varies greatly for protons and carbon (C) ions in addition to photons, and that DNA repair capacity remains important in governing this variability.

METHODS: We measured or obtained from the literature clonogenic survival data for a number of human cancer cell lines exposed to photons, protons (9.9 keV/μm), and C-ions (13.3-77.1 keV/μm). We characterized their intrinsic radiosensitivity by the dose for 10% or 50% survival (D_10% or D_50% ), and quantified the variability at each radiation quality by the coefficient of variation (COV) in D_10% and D_50% . We also treated cells with DNA repair inhibitors prior to irradiation to assess how DNA repair capacity affects their variability.

RESULTS: We found no statistically significant differences in the COVs of D_10% or D_50% between any of the radiation qualities investigated. The same was true regardless of whether the cells were treated with DNA repair inhibitors, or whether they were stratified into histologic subsets. Even within histologic subsets, we found remarkable differences in radiosensitivity for high LET C-ions that were often greater than the variations in RBE, with brain cancer cells varying in D_10% (D_50% ) up to 100% (131%) for 77.1 keV/μm C-ions, and non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer cell lines varying up to 55% (76%) and 51% (78%), respectively, for 60.5 keV/μm C-ions. The cell lines with modulated DNA repair capacity had greater variability in intrinsic radiosensitivity across all radiation qualities.

CONCLUSIONS: Even for cell lines of the same histologic type, there are remarkable variations in intrinsic radiosensitivity, and these variations do not differ significantly between photon, proton or C-ion radiation. The importance of DNA repair capacity in governing the variability in intrinsic radiosensitivity is not significantly diminished for higher LET radiation.

PMID:33837540 | DOI:10.1002/mp.14878

J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2021 Apr 9. doi: 10.1111/jgh.15517. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The current prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection and hepatitis C virus-associated mortality in Japan falls short of the World Health Organization goal of viral hepatitis elimination by 2030. We aimed to evaluate the trends in hepatitis C virus-associated mortality in Japan.

METHODS: This nationwide observational study used the Japanese Vital Statistics from 1998 to 2017 and included all Japanese hepatitis C virus-associated deaths (84,936) of adults aged ≥40 years. We calculated the crude and age-standardized mortality rates per 100,000 persons by age and sex. Joinpoint regression analysis was used to identify significant changing points in trends and to estimate the annual percentage changes and the average annual percentage changes for the entire study period.

RESULTS: The crude mortality rate per 100,000 persons (annual death number) increased from 5.5 (3,548) in 1998 to 7.0 (4,843) in 2005 and decreased to 4.0 (3,095) in 2017. By 2017, the crude mortality rates per 100,000 persons among men and women had dropped to 3.6 and 4.3, respectively. The age-standardized mortality rate was higher in women than in men. The average annual percentage change was -3.8% (95% confidence interval: -5.0 to -2.5). The declining trend was more rapid in men (-4.5%, 95% confidence interval: -5.3 to -3.6) than in women (-2.7%, 95% confidence interval: -3.8 to -1.6).

CONCLUSIONS: Trends in hepatitis C virus-associated mortality rates have declined in an accelerating manner in Japan, especially among men.

PMID:33837565 | DOI:10.1111/jgh.15517

Biom J. 2021 Apr 9. doi: 10.1002/bimj.202000207. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In a paper published in 1939 in The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Wald and Wolfowitz discussed the possible validity of a probability inequality between one- and two-sided coverage probabilities for the empirical distribution function. Twenty-eight years later, Vandewiele and Noé proved this inequality for Kolmogorov-Smirnov type goodness of fit tests. We refer to this type of inequality as one-two inequality. In this paper, we generalize their result for one- and two-sided union-intersection tests based on positively associated random variables and processes. Thereby, we give a brief review of different notions of positive association and corresponding results. Moreover, we introduce the notion of one-two dependence and discuss relationships with other dependence concepts. While positive association implies one-two dependence, the reverse implication fails. Last but not least, the Bonferroni inequality and the one-two inequality yield lower and upper bounds for two-sided acceptance/rejection probabilities which differ only slightly for significance levels not too large. We discuss several examples where the one-two inequality applies. Finally, we briefly discuss the possible impact of the validity of a one-two inequality on directional error control in multiple testing.

PMID:33837570 | DOI:10.1002/bimj.202000207

J Anim Ecol. 2021 Apr 10. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13492. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

1. Neonicotinoid insecticides are the most widely used class of insecticides in the world and can have both lethal and sub-lethal effects on non-target organisms in agricultural areas. Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) have experienced dramatic declines in recent decades and, given that a large proportion of milkweed on the landscape grows in agricultural areas, there is concern about the negative effects of neonicotinoids on this non-target insect. 2. In the field, we exposed common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), an obligate host plant of monarch butterflies, to agriculturally-realistic levels of clothianidin, a widely used neonicotinoid insecticide. We tested whether this treatment influenced the number of eggs laid and larval survival over two years. 3. Milkweeds were transplanted into 60 experimental plots alongside a corn crop planted with a clothianidin seed-coat and 60 control plots alongside an untreated corn crop. The number of eggs, larvae at each stage (first-fifth instar), and presence of other arthropods were recorded weekly from June to the end of August and survival from egg to fifth instar was estimated using a Bayesian state-space statistical model. 4. We counted more eggs in treated plots compared to control plots, suggesting a preference for treated milkweed. The number of plots with arthropods did not differ between treatments, but within treated plots, there was a greater decrease in the number of arthropods throughout the season. There was no evidence that monarchs selected plots with fewer arthropods for oviposition. Larval survival was lower in clothianidin-treated plots compared to control plots. 5. Our results suggest milkweed near clothianidin-treated crops can reduce larval survival of monarch butterflies. While we provide some evidence that clothianidin could also act as an ecological trap for this species, further work is needed to identify additional components of fitness, including individual egg-laying rates and survival beyond the pupal stage. Our findings add to a growing body of evidence that neonicotinoids can negatively affect non-target organisms.

PMID:33837530 | DOI:10.1111/1365-2656.13492