Category: Statistics

Global Spine J. 2023 Jun 6:21925682231181884. doi: 10.1177/21925682231181884. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective comparative study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the accuracy of intra-operative navigation-assisted percutaneous pedicle screw insertion between bone fixed and skin fixed dynamic reference frame (DRF) in Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF).

METHODS: Between October 2018 and September 2022, patients who underwent MIS-TLIF were included in this study with DRF fixed either on bone (group B) or skin (group S). Pedicle screws were inserted under the guidance of intra-operative Cone bean Computed tomography (cbCT) based navigation. Accuracy of pedicle screw placement was immediately checked by a final intra-operative cbCT Spin.

RESULTS: Among 170 patients, group B included 91 patients and group S included 79 patients. Out of total 680 screws, 364 screws (group B) and 316 screws (group S) were placed. Patient’s demographic data and distribution of screws showed no statistically significant difference. The accuracy showed no significant difference between both the groups (94.5% in group B and 94.3% in group S).

CONCLUSION: Skin fixed DRF can serve as an alternate way for placement and avoids extra incision with similar accuracy in pedicle screw insertions with bone fixed DRF using intra-operative CT guided navigation in MIS TLIF.

PMID:37279918 | DOI:10.1177/21925682231181884

J Appl Microbiol. 2023 Jun 5:lxad117. doi: 10.1093/jambio/lxad117. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: The aim of this study was to determine the biofilm-forming ability of a strain belonging to Ps. fluorescens group isolated from the dairy environment under food-relevant conditions. Moreover, the effects of commercial sanitizers against preformed biofilms were assessed both in terms of viability and structure.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The biofilms were formed on polystyrene, stainless steel (SS), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in a wide range of temperatures (4-25°C) and were subjected to the action of ten different sanitizers. The strain under study showed to be a strong biofilm-former regardless of temperature, particularly on polystyrene. The biofilms were mostly sensitive to chlorine and peracetic acid-based sanitizers. For some sanitizers (e.g. amphoteric), a relationship was observed between the material and the tolerance, while the temperature was not statistically significant. The formation of long-term biofilms on SS was also structurally affected by the temperature, showing microcolonies more irregular in shape and with lower cellularity at 4°C compared to 15°C, where the biofilm was more compact and with a high presence of EPS.

CONCLUSIONS: The strain belonging to Ps. fluorescens group was shown to quickly adhere and form mature biofilm at temperatures and on materials relevant to the food sector, however, biofilms formed under different conditions were differently tolerant to disinfectants.

PMID:37279902 | DOI:10.1093/jambio/lxad117

Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes. 2023 Jun 6. doi: 10.1055/a-2106-4732. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: One of the goals of the St. Vincent Declaration was to reduce serious complications of diabetes, including strokes. However, it remains uncertain whether this goal has been achieved.

STUDY AIM: The aim of our review was to evaluate the incidence of stroke in the diabetic population and its differences regarding sex, ethnicities, age and regions, to compare the incidence rate (IR) in people with and without diabetes, and to investigate time trends.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic review was conducted according to the guidelines for meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology (the MOOSE group) and to the PRISMA group guidelines.

RESULTS: Nineteen of the 6.470 studies retrieved were included in the analysis. The incidence of stroke in the population with diabetes ranged from 238 per 100,000 person-years (PYs) in Germany in 2014 to 1191 during the 1990s in the United Kingdom. The RR comparing people with diabetes to those without diabetes varied between 1.0 and 2.84 for total stroke, 1.0 and 3.7 for ischemic stroke, and 0.68 and 1.6 for hemorrhagic stroke. Significant differences were found between fatal and non-fatal stroke depending on the time period and the population. We found decreasing time trends in people with diabetes and stable incidence rates of stroke over time in people without diabetes.

CONCLUSION: The considerable differences between results can partly be explained by differences in study designs, statistical methods, definitions of stroke, and methods used to identify patients with diabetes. The lack of evidence arising from these differences ought to be rectified by new studies.

PMID:37279879 | DOI:10.1055/a-2106-4732

J Arthroplasty. 2023 Jun 4:S0883-5403(23)00603-4. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2023.05.061. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic-loaded bone cement (ALBC) is commonly used in the treatment of periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) to increase the local concentration of antibiotic at the site of infection. The use of ALBC has been associated with rare instances of acute kidney injury (AKI) despite low systemic absorption of the nephrotoxic antibiotics; however, the incidence of AKI is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of and risk factors for AKI associated with ALBC.

METHODS: This single-site, retrospective cohort study compared 162 PJI patients who underwent a Stage 1 revision to a spacer with ALBC to 115 PJI patients who underwent a debridement and implant retention (DAIR) without the use of ALBC. Both groups received similar systemic antibiotics post-operatively. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regressions were used to analyze risk factors for AKI.

RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of AKI: 29 patients (17.9%) in the ALBC group and 17 (14.7%) in DAIR group developed AKI (Odds Ratio 1.43; 95% Confidence Interval 0.70-2.93). There was a trend toward increased severity of AKI in the ALBC group. Chronic kidney disease, systemic vancomycin, and diuretic use were independent factors associated with the risk of AKI.

CONCLUSION: An AKI occurred in 17% of PJI patients receiving either a spacer with ALBC or a DAIR. The use of ALBC was not associated with a significant increased risk of AKI. However, the use of systemic vancomycin and diuretic use were independent predictors of AKI in this patient population.

PMID:37279850 | DOI:10.1016/j.arth.2023.05.061

J Environ Manage. 2023 Jun 4;342:118289. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118289. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study examines the health consequences of prenatal exposure to air pollution by combining child health data from an original survey with the Air Pollution Index (API) from official Chinese statistics. Our results show that exposure to air pollution in late trimester (four-week windows before delivery) is negatively associated with health outcomes in children in the short and long terms. One standard deviation increase in the API in the final 28 days before delivery decreased birth weight and length by 0.388 and 0.458, respectively, in z-scores and lowered the weight-for-age and height-for-age by 0.370 and 0.441, respectively, in z-scores at 13-15 years post-exposure. Although the timing of exposure and its consequences have been the subject of debate in existing literature, our results focus on four-week windows and demonstrate that exposure during the late pregnancy period may have adverse health effects on children. We conducted analyses that accounted for potential covariates and omitted variables, and our results remain robust and statistically significant. We also found gender heterogeneous effects that girls are more vulnerable to fetal air pollution exposure than boys. Our findings uncover fetal and child health risks regarding air pollution and reinforce the importance of policies for mitigating air pollution in developing countries.

PMID:37279606 | DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118289

J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2023 Jun 5:glad118. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glad118. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Neighborhood deprivation and depression have been linked to epigenetic age acceleration. The next-generation epigenetic clocks including the DNA methylation (DNAm) GrimAge, and PhenoAge have incorporated clinical biomarkers of physiological dysregulation by selecting cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites that are associated with risk factors for disease, and have shown improved accuracy in predicting morbidity and time-to-mortality compared to the first-generation clocks. The aim of this study is to examine the association between neighborhood deprivation and DNAm GrimAge and PhenoAge acceleration in adults, and assess interaction with depressive symptoms.

METHODS: The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging recruited 51 338 participants aged 45-85 years across provinces in Canada. This cross-sectional analysis is based on a subsample of 1 445 participants at baseline (2011-2015) for whom epigenetic data were available. Epigenetic age acceleration (years) was assessed using the DNAm GrimAge and PhenoAge, and measured as residuals from regression of the biological age on chronological age.

RESULTS: A greater neighborhood material and/or social deprivation compared to lower deprivation (b = 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.21, 1.12) and depressive symptoms scores (b = 0.07; 95% CI = 0.01, 0.13) were associated with higher DNAm GrimAge acceleration. The regression estimates for these associations were higher but not statistically significant when epigenetic age acceleration was estimated using DNAm PhenoAge. There was no evidence of a statistical interaction between neighborhood deprivation and depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms and neighborhood deprivation are independently associated with premature biological aging. Policies that improve neighborhood environments and address depression in older age may contribute to healthy aging among older adults living in predominantly urban areas.

PMID:37279588 | DOI:10.1093/gerona/glad118

J Exp Bot. 2023 Jun 3:erad216. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erad216. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

High throughput phenotyping (HTP) has expanded the dimensionality of data in plant research, however HTP has resulted in few novel biological discoveries to date. Field based high-throughput phenotyping (FHTP), using small unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAV) equipped with imaging sensors can be deployed routinely to monitor segregating plant population interactions with the environment under biologically meaningful conditions. Here, flowering dates and plant height, important phenological fitness traits, were collected on 520 segregating recombinant maize inbred lines (RILs) in both irrigated and drought stress trials in 2018. Using UAV phenomic, SNP genomic, as well as combined data, flowering times were predicted using several scenarios. Untested genotypes were predicted with 0.58, 0.59 and 0.41 prediction ability for anthesis, silking and terminal plant height using genomic data; but prediction ability increased 0.77, 0.76 and 0.58 when phenomic and genomic data were used together. Using the phenomic data in a genome-wide association study, a heat related candidate gene (GRMZM2G083810; hsp18f) was discovered using temporal reflectance phenotypes belonging to flowering times (both irrigated and drought) trials where heat stress also peaked. Thus, a relation between plants and abiotic stresses belonging to a specific time of growth was revealed only through use of temporal phenomic data. Overall, this study showed that (i) it is possible to predict complex traits using high dimensional phenomic data between different environments, and (ii) temporal phenomic data can reveal time-dependent association between genotypes and abiotic stresses, which can help understand mechanisms to develop resilient plants.

PMID:37279568 | DOI:10.1093/jxb/erad216

J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2023 Jun 3:glad141. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glad141. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization considers falls the second leading cause of death by accidental injury worldwide and one of the most frequent complications in older adults during activities of daily living. Several tasks related to fall risk have been individually assessed describing kinematic changes in older adults. The study proposal was identify which functional task differentiates faller and non-faller older adults using the movement deviation profile (MDP).

METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited 68 older adults aged ≥ 60 years by convenience sampling. Older adults were divided into two groups: with and without a history of falls (34 older adults in each group). The MDP analyzed the three-dimensional angular kinematics data of tasks (i.e., gait, walking turn, stair ascent and descent, sit-to-stand, and stand-to-sit), and the Z-score of the mean MDP identified which task presented the greatest difference between fallers and non-fallers. A multivariate analysis (MANOVA) with Bonferroni post hoc verified the interaction between groups considering angular kinematic data and the cycle time of the task. Statistical significance was set at 5% (p < 0.05).

RESULTS: Z-score of the MDPmean showed an interaction between groups (λ= 0.67, F = 5.085, p < 0.0001). Fallers differed significantly from non-fallers in all tasks and the greatest difference was in stair descent (Z-Score = 0.89). The time to complete each task was not different between groups.

CONCLUSION: The MDP distinguished older adult fallers from non-fallers. The stair descent task should be highlighted since it presented the greatest difference between groups.

PMID:37279546 | DOI:10.1093/gerona/glad141

Menopause. 2023 Jun 6. doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000002204. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study are to understand the prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women in urban Tianjin, China and its related factors through a questionnaire and to assess the correlation between individual characteristics, physical mobility, psychological and emotional well-being, and prevalence, as well as people’s awareness of osteoporosis.

METHODS: We selected 240 postmenopausal women from 12 randomly selected streets in 6 administrative districts of Tianjin for bone mineral density measurement and a face-to-face questionnaire survey to obtain the relevant data. Female residents who had lived in the communities under the jurisdiction of the incorporated streets for more than 10 years and had been in menopause for 2 years were included. The women were made aware of the study, there were no communication barriers, and they were willing to undergo dual-energy absorptiometry and cooperate in completing the questionnaire. We used one-way analysis of variance, Fisher exact test, and Pearson correlation analysis for the statistical analysis.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women in the six districts of Tianjin was found to be 52.08%, and the χ2 test for trend showed a clear trend of increasing with age (P = 0.035). Body mass index was found to be the most significant personal characteristic affecting the prevalence of osteoporosis; the mean values of the nonosteoporosis and osteoporosis group were (25.45 ± 3.09) and (23.85 ± 3.16), respectively (P < 0.001); previous fractures were closely associated with the prevalence of osteoporosis. Awareness about osteoporosis had not disseminated among the population, and 9.17% of the participants had never heard of the disease. While 75.42% and 72.92% of the participants, respectively, believe that the harm of osteoporosis cannot be compared with heart disease and cerebral infarction, 56.67% had never had an examination for osteoporosis and paid little to no attention to this disease. People still had major misconceptions about the hazards of osteoporosis and common-sense precautions that needed to be followed.

CONCLUSIONS: Although osteoporosis is prevalent among postmenopausal women in urban Tianjin and is strongly linked to both history of fracture and body mass index, most women are only familiar with the disease’s name and lack an understanding of the dangers it poses as well as the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. To ensure the prevention and control of osteoporosis, it is crucial to focus on increasing the examination and treatment rates and spreading awareness of the three-level diagnosis and treatment pattern among the public.

PMID:37279508 | DOI:10.1097/GME.0000000000002204

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2023 Jun 3:dgad333. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgad333. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

CONTEXT: The lack of syndrome-specific reference ranges for thyroid function tests (TFT) among pediatric patients with Down syndrome (DS) results in an overestimation of the occurrence of hypothyroidism in this population.

OBJECTIVES: a) to outline the age-dependent distribution of TFT among pediatric patients with DS; b) to describe the intraindividual variability of TFT over time; c) to assess the role of elevated TSH in predicting the future onset of overt hypothyroidism.

DESIGN: Retrospective, monocentric, observational analysis.

PATIENTS: We included 548 Down patients (0-18 years) longitudinally assessed between 1992 and 2022. Exclusion criteria: abnormal thyroid anatomy, treatments affecting TFT and positive thyroid auto-antibodies.

RESULTS: We determined the age-dependent distribution of TSH, FT3 and FT4 and outlined the relative nomograms for children with DS. Compared to non-syndromic patients, median TSH levels were statistically greater at any age (p < 0.001). Median FT3 and FT4 levels were statistically lower than controls (p < 0.001) only in specific age classes (0-11 for FT3, 11-18 years for FT4).TSH levels showed a remarkable fluctuation over time, with a poor (23-53%) agreement between the TSH centile classes at two sequential assessments.Finally, the 75th centile was the threshold above which TSH values predicted future evolution into overt hypothyroidism with the best statistical accuracy, with a satisfactory negative predictive value (NPP, 0.91), but poor positive (P) PV (0.15).

CONCLUSIONS: By longitudinally assessing TFT in a wide pediatric DS population, we outlined the syndrome-specific reference nomograms for TSH, FT3 and FT4 and demonstrated a persistent upward shift of TSH compared to non-syndromic children.

PMID:37279507 | DOI:10.1210/clinem/dgad333