Category: Statistics

J Res Health Sci. 2022 Dec;22(4):e00568. doi: 10.34172/jrhs.2022.103.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effects of biopsychosocial interventions on non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) and disabilities caused by it among Students.

STUDY DESIGN: A two-group pretest-posttest randomized clinical trial.

METHODS: The statistical population of the study was female students enrolled at the first-stage secondary school in Hamadan, Iran. A total of 200 students were selected through cluster sampling and randomized into two groups of intervention and control. The primary evaluation was performed by the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ), the Health-Related Quality of Life (SF-36), the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-S), the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS), and the visual analogue scale (VAS). Upon developing and implementing the biopsychosocial model-based interventions for ten weekly two-hour sessions, the secondary evaluation was fulfilled, and the extracted data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS version 21.

RESULTS: The independent-group t-test results revealed that the mean scores of quality of life (QOL) and physical activity significantly elevated in the intervention group, compared to the control. In addition, the mean value of disabilities, the amount of disorder in the lumbar region, and the VAS scores in the intervention group substantially declined compared to the control group.

CONCLUSION: The significant variations in the biopsychosocial factors demonstrated that the development of some interventions based on the bio-psychosocial model (BPSM) could help manage the NSCLBP and its ensuing disabilities. Therefore, the BPSM-based interventions could be exploited to minimize musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in students.

PMID:37571939 | DOI:10.34172/jrhs.2022.103

J Res Health Sci. 2022 Dec;22(4):e00564. doi: 10.34172/jrhs.2022.99.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are one of the most critical factors that endanger human health. More specifically, head and neck injuries are the main causes of deaths and disabilities among motorcyclists. This study aimed to investigate the predictive factors of helmet use behavior among motorcyclists based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB).

STUDY DESIGN: This study followed the cross-sectional design.

METHODS: This study was conducted on randomly selected 730 motorcyclist employees in Qom, Iran, in 2021. The data collection tool was a self-administered researcher-made questionnaire, including items on demographic characteristics, history of RTIs, and constructs of TPB. Data were analyzed using descriptive summary statistics, analysis of variance, independent samples t test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and structural equation modeling (SEM).

RESULTS: In this study, only 9.8% of the participants reported that they always used a helmet while riding a motorcycle. About 60% reported a history of a motorcycle crash, and 11.5% had a history of head injuries. The direct effect of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on the intention to use a helmet were statistically significant, explaining 59% of the variation in behavioral intention (intention to use a helmet) (R²=0.59). Moreover, perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention had significant effects on helmet use behavior (R²=0.26).

CONCLUSION: The prevalence of helmet use among the studied population was very low. Moreover, TPB was useful in identifying the determinants of behavior and especially behavioral intention of helmet use among motorcyclists.

PMID:37571935 | DOI:10.34172/jrhs.2022.99

Acta Oncol. 2023 Aug 12:1-7. doi: 10.1080/0284186X.2023.2245552. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) after breast-conserving surgery for DCIS lowers the relative local recurrence risk by half. To identify a low-risk group with the minimal benefit of RT could avoid side effects and spare costs. In this study, the outcome was compared for different RT-strategies using data from the randomized SweDCIS trial.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Five strategies were compared in a Swedish setting: RT-to-none or all, RT to high-risk women defined by DCISionRT, modified Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 9804 criteria, and Swedish Guidelines. Ten-year recurrence risks and cost including adjuvant RT and local recurrence treatment cost were calculated.

RESULTS: The mean age at recurrence was 64.4 years (36-90) and the mean cost for treating a recurrence was $21,104. In the SweDCIS cohort (n = 504), 59 women developed DCIS, and 31 invasive recurrence. Ten-year absolute local recurrence risk (invasive and DCIS) according to different strategies varied between 18.6% (12.5-23.6%) and 7.8% (5.0-12.6%) for RT-to-none or to-all, with an additional cost of $2614 US dollars per women and $24,201 per prevented recurrence for RT-to-all. The risk differences between other strategies were not statistically significant, but the larger proportion receiving RT, the fewer recurrences. DCISionRT spared 48% from RT with 8.1% less recurrences compared to RT-to-none, and a cost of $10,534 per prevented recurrence with additional cost depending on the price of the test. RTOG 9804 spared 39% from RT, with 9.7% less recurrences, $9525 per prevented recurrence and Swedish Guidelines spared 13% from RT, with 10.0% less recurrences, and $21,521 per prevented recurrence.

CONCLUSION: It seems reasonable to omit RT in pre-specified low-risk groups with minimal effect on recurrence risk. Costs per prevented recurrence varied more than two-fold but which strategy that could be considered most cost-effective needs to be further evaluated, including the DCISionRT-test price.

PMID:37571927 | DOI:10.1080/0284186X.2023.2245552

Br J Haematol. 2023 Aug 12. doi: 10.1111/bjh.19009. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In fetal/neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT), maternal alloantibodies against paternal human platelet antigens (HPA) cross the placenta and lead to platelet destruction. The extent of thrombocytopenia varies among neonates, and inflammation may constitute an important trigger. A set of stable inflammatory markers was measured in serum samples from neonates with low platelet counts, of which n = 50 were diagnosed with FNAIT due to anti-HPA-1a antibodies and n = 50 were thrombocytopenic without detectable maternal HPA antibodies. Concentrations of C-reactive protein, soluble CD14, procalcitonin, and sFlt-1 did not differ between the two cohorts. There was no correlation between C-reactive protein or soluble CD14 and the platelet count, but a negative correlation between procalcitonin concentrations and the neonatal platelet count in both cohorts. sFlt-1 concentration and the platelet count were correlated in FNAIT cases exclusively. None of the inflammatory markers was statistically different between cases with and without intracranial haemorrhage. We were unable to identify systemic inflammation as a relevant factor for thrombocytopenia in FNAIT. The antiangiogenic enzyme sFlt-1, released by the placenta, did correlate with the platelet count in FNAIT cases. Our findings may give rise to the hypothesis that placental inflammation rather than systemic inflammation modulates disease severity in FNAIT.

PMID:37571926 | DOI:10.1111/bjh.19009

Psychooncology. 2023 Aug 12. doi: 10.1002/pon.6199. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of digital and face-to-face interventions in reducing fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) among individuals with cancer.

METHODS: This study was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for evaluating the efficacy of psychological interventions for FCR published between July 2018 and December 2021. We searched for research papers using PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane and assessed their quality using the Revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials.

RESULTS: Of the 2113 identified studies, we analyzed 17 samples (N = 1482) from 14 studies, of which 13 were RCTs. The overall sample showed a moderate effect size (Hedges’ g = 0.607; 0.356 to 0.858; p < 0.001; I² = 81.29%) in FCR reduction. The overall effect size was 0.621 (95% CI, 0.276 to 0.966; p < 0.001; I² = 81.78%) for face-to-face interventions and 0.517 (95% CI, 0.093 to 0.941; p = 0.017; I² = 83.19%) for digital interventions. The difference between the two effect sizes was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION: Our meta-analysis suggests that digital interventions are moderately effective in reducing FCR, similar to face-to-face interventions. However, given the high degree of heterogeneity, this conclusion should be interpreted with caution. Further studies are required to identify the most effective digital interventions and the populations that may benefit from them.

PMID:37571918 | DOI:10.1002/pon.6199

Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2023 May 31;69(5):1-5. doi: 10.14715/cmb/2023.69.5.1.

ABSTRACT

Sport genetics has become increasingly important in recent years. The concept of performance includes genetic and anthropometric factors. These factors have not been adequately examined when the current literature is examined. One of the aims of this study is to identify a possible interaction between the ACE ID and ACTN3 R577X polymorphisms and the sedentary, national arm wrestlers and amateur arm wrestlers, while another aim is to reveal some physical differences between the same persons. The research included 24 arm wrestlers who were members of the Turkish national team, 23 amateur arm wrestlers with club licenses, and 34 sedentary, all of the wrestlers participated voluntarily in the research. The genotype distribution of the ACE gene and ACTN gene and the statistical significance of the R, X, I, and D allele frequencies were compared by the Chi-Square test. The Anova one-way variance analysis was used to assess the difference among the palm circumference, wrist circumference, and forearm width among the groups, the significance was tested at p<.05 level. After the data was evaluated, significant differences were not found statistically in ACE nor ACTN3 polymorphisms in terms of the three groups (p>0.05). In addition, statistically significant differences were found in the palm, wrist, and forearm circumferences of the arm wrestlers who were the members of the Turkish national team compared especially to the sedentary (p<0.05). From the conducted research it was concluded that the success of the athlete in arm wrestling could not be directly explained by the ACE and ACTN3 genotypic characteristics. Another result revealed by this study was that the success of the athlete in arm wrestling was more related to palm, wrist, and forearm circumferences.

PMID:37571909 | DOI:10.14715/cmb/2023.69.5.1

Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2023 May 31;69(5):32-39. doi: 10.14715/cmb/2023.69.5.6.

ABSTRACT

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is considered as the foremost cause of hospital-acquired infections due to its innate and plasmid-mediated resistance to multiple antibiotics making it a multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogen. This study aimed to determine the biofilm formation ability and the presence of different virulence factors genes (pslA, pelA, exoS, toxA and algD) among biofilm-forming strains of P. aeruginosa clinical isolates from burn units in Ismailia Hospitals, Egypt. In our cross-sectional study, one hundred and twenty-six (126) non-duplicate clinical P. aeruginosa isolates were recovered from 450 clinical specimens from burn units in Ismailia Hospitals. The antibiotic sensitivity of strong and moderate biofilm producer isolates was investigated using the disc diffusion method. The isolated bacteria were tested for their ability to form biofilm using a microtiter plate assay. The expression of (pslA, pelA, exoS, toxA and algD) genes in biofilm producers isolates was detected using PCR. The MPA detected 80% (95 /126) isolates as biofilm producers, 18% (22/126) were strong biofilm producers, 34% (43/126) were moderate biofilm producers, 28% (35/126) were weak biofilm producers and 20% (31/126) non-biofilm producers. Susceptibility pattern analysis of biofilm-forming P. aeruginosa isolates (95) detected that 60% (68/ 95) were multi-drug resistant isolates (MDR). Resistance to all used antibiotics and multidrug resistance was higher among biofilm-producing than non-biofilm-producing strains, but the difference was statistically non-significant. Investigation of virulence factors associated genes revealed that 96%, 94%, 86.4%, 80.0% and 74% of the biofilm producers isolates were harboring algD, pslA, pel A, toxA and exoS gene, respectively. The present study confirmed that antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes were more prominent in biofilm-producing P. aeruginosa than in non-biofilm-producers.

PMID:37571905 | DOI:10.14715/cmb/2023.69.5.6

Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2023 May 31;69(5):58-62. doi: 10.14715/cmb/2023.69.5.10.

ABSTRACT

This study was to investigate the role and mechanism of osteopontin(OPN) in renal injury in patients with inherited hypercalciuria-bearing urinary calculi. The genetic hypercalcemia urolithiasis (GHS) rat model was established, and GHS rats were set as the experimental group (12 cases) and normal SD rats as the control group (12 cases). OPN and calcification levels in the kidney tissues of the two groups were compared by ELISA. According to calcium intervention or not, GHS rats were rolled into an intervention group (the intervention group was divided into 0.2g/L group, 0.4g/L group, and 0.7g/L group regarding the calcium injection dose, each group with 2 cases) and a normal group, each group with 6 cases. The levels of OPN and kidney injury in the two groups after 5h, 20h, and 40h were compared. Seventy patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria (IH) were rolled into a control group (injected with normal saline) and an observation group (injected with saline and OPN). The levels of OPN and calcification in kidney tissue of GHS rats in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The OPN level of GHS rats in the 0.2g/L group, 0.4g/L group, and 0.7g/L group was higher than that in the intervention group, and the OPN level at 5h, 10h, and 20h showed an upward trend (P<0.05). The incidence of renal injury in the intervention group (100%) was higher than that in the non-intervention group (16.67%) (P<0.05). Clinical verification results showed that urinary calcium excretion of IH patients in the observation group significantly decreased at 6 and 12 days, with statistical significance (P<0.05). The high probability of overactivation of OPN was one of the pathogeneses of hypercalciuria and calcium-bearing urolithiasis. The results suggested that OPN was closely related to the formation of urinary calculi and may cause certain damage to the kidney, which may be a key step in the prevention and treatment of urinary calculi.

PMID:37571900 | DOI:10.14715/cmb/2023.69.5.10

Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2023 May 31;69(5):75-79. doi: 10.14715/cmb/2023.69.5.13.

ABSTRACT

Diabetes is caused by peripheral insulin resistance and lack of insulin secretion due to the apoptosis of pancreatic beta cells. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), a pro-inflammatory cytokine secreted from the tissue on the insulin signaling pathway, can play a role in causing fat resistance to insulin in type 2 diabetes patients. Adiponectin is a specific protein of adipose tissue. It belongs to the collectin family, which is present in human plasma at a high level and can protect against vascular lesions. Considering the importance of epigenetic changes in the development of multifactorial diseases, this study was conducted to investigate the methylation of TNF-α gene promoter in patients with type diabetes with cardiovascular disease and compare it with diabetic people without cardiovascular disease. Also, the serum concentration of adiponectin was investigated in diabetic patients with and without cardiovascular disease. For this purpose, 95 patients with type 2 diabetes referred to Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center were divided into two groups: cardiovascular disease and without cardiovascular disease, based on the angiography results. Serum adiponectin level was measured by the RIA method. In addition to adiponectin, indicators such as FBS, cholesterol, triglycerides, and HDL were also measured in these patients. Then, the promoter region of the TNF-α gene was investigated by bisulfite treatment method, nested PCR, and finally, sequence determination. The results showed that the serum level of adiponectin was higher in diabetic patients without cardiovascular disease than in diabetic patients with cardiovascular disease, but this difference was not statistically significant. Also, no change was observed between men and women in TNF-α gene promoter methylation in diabetic and non-diabetic groups. In general, the decrease in adiponectin concentration in diabetic people can be a factor in causing macroangiopathy, so it can be predicted that the production of recombinant adiponectin can be helpful in the treatment and protection of cardiovascular disease in these patients. Also, it seems that the epigenetic changes of cytokines that play a role in causing insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic patients are not noticeable in the peripheral blood sample. In this regard, other tissues should probably be investigated.

PMID:37571897 | DOI:10.14715/cmb/2023.69.5.13

Allergy. 2023 Aug 12. doi: 10.1111/all.15837. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Viruses may drive immune mechanisms responsible for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP), but little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms.

OBJECTIVES: To identify epigenetic and transcriptional responses to a common upper respiratory pathogen, rhinovirus (RV), that are specific to patients with CRSwNP using a primary sinonasal epithelial cell culture model.

METHODS: Airway epithelial cells were collected at surgery from patients with CRSwNP (cases) and from controls without sinus disease, cultured, and then exposed to RV or vehicle for 48 h. Differential gene expression and DNA methylation (DNAm) between cases and controls in response to RV were determined using linear mixed models. Weighted gene co-expression analysis (WGCNA) was used to identify (a) co-regulated gene expression and DNAm signatures, and (b) genes, pathways, and regulatory mechanisms specific to CRSwNP.

RESULTS: We identified 5585 differential transcriptional and 261 DNAm responses (FDR <0.10) to RV between CRSwNP cases and controls. These differential responses formed three co-expression/co-methylation modules that were related to CRSwNP and three that were related to RV (Bonferroni corrected p < .01). Most (95%) of the differentially methylated CpGs (DMCs) were in modules related to CRSwNP, whereas the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were more equally distributed between the CRSwNP- and RV-related modules. Genes in the CRSwNP-related modules were enriched in known CRS and/or viral response immune pathways.

CONCLUSION: RV activates specific epigenetic programs and correlated transcriptional networks in the sinonasal epithelium of individuals with CRSwNP. These novel observations suggest epigenetic signatures specific to patients with CRSwNP modulate response to viral pathogens at the mucosal environmental interface. Determining how viral response pathways are involved in epithelial inflammation in CRSwNP could lead to therapeutic targets for this burdensome airway disorder.

PMID:37571876 | DOI:10.1111/all.15837