Category: Statistics

Health Rep. 2022 Aug 18;33(8):19-30. doi: 10.25318/82-003-x202200800002-eng.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Mental health among Canadians has worsened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to identify profiles of mental health difficulties and to quantify the relationships between mental health profiles, negative impacts related to the pandemic and suicidal ideation.

DATA AND METHODS: Participants were 22,721 adults (18 years and older) from the 2020 and 2021 Survey on COVID-19 and Mental Health. Latent profile analysis was used to identify patterns of anxiety, depression and psychological distress. The relationships between mental health profiles, negative impacts and suicidal ideation were examined using logistic regression models.

RESULTS: Three mental health profiles were identified. Individuals were classified as having no mental health difficulties (Profile 1, 65.70%), low-to-moderate mental health difficulties (Profile 2, 25.52%) and severe mental health difficulties (Profile 3, 8.78%). Individuals in Profiles 2 and 3 were at greater odds than individuals in Profile 1 of experiencing emotional distress; the death of a family member, friend or colleague; difficulty in meeting financial obligations or essential needs; the loss of a job or income; feelings of loneliness or isolation; physical health problems; challenges in personal relationships with household members; and other impacts. Individuals in Profile 2 (4.27%, odds ratio (OR) = 24.30) and Profile 3 (19.09%, odds ratio (OR) = 115.75) were considerably more likely to have contemplated suicide since the onset of the pandemic compared with those in Profile 1 (0.16%).

INTERPRETATION: Individuals who experienced high levels of anxiety, depression and psychological distress were most vulnerable to negative impacts related to the pandemic and suicidal ideation.

PMID:35984951 | DOI:10.25318/82-003-x202200800002-eng

Health Rep. 2022 Aug 18;33(8):31-38. doi: 10.25318/82-003-x202200800003-eng.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Globally, the suicide rate is two times higher for males than for females. Previous studies in Newfoundland and Labrador did not examine age-specific rates by sex. The objectives of this study were to determine suicide rates by sex and age group and to compare the demographic and clinical characteristics of males and females who died by suicide.

DATA AND METHODS: This observational study analyzed a routinely collected dataset based on all medical examiner-determined suicide deaths among people aged 10 years and older in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, between 1997 and 2016. Age-standardized and age-specific suicide rates and rate ratios were calculated based on the number of deaths during the period, and descriptive statistics were used to compare demographic and clinical characteristics between males and females.

RESULTS: The age-standardized suicide rate was 4.6 times higher among males than females and was higher for males in most age groups. Rates were highest in the young adult age groups for males (20 to 24 years) and females (35 to 39 years). Males who died by suicide were more likely to be from a rural community and to have died by firearm; females were more likely to die by self-poisoning and to have had a mental illness or substance use history.

INTERPRETATION: The results are broadly consistent with previous research, though this is the first study to report age-specific suicide rates among females across the life course in Newfoundland and Labrador. The results underscore the need to design public health and clinical interventions that account for sex differences in suicide risks.

PMID:35984952 | DOI:10.25318/82-003-x202200800003-eng

Health Rep. 2022 Aug 18;33(8):3-18. doi: 10.25318/82-003-x202200800001-eng.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Recently, the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults were released, and included a revised physical activity (PA) recommendation. The recommendation of 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) was revised, from requiring that MVPA be accrued in bouts of 10 minutes or more (bouted) to having no bout requirement (non-bouted). The objective of this study was to assess whether there were differences in sociodemographic, health and fitness characteristics of Canadians who met the bouted and non-bouted PA recommendations.

DATA AND METHODS: Using adult (aged 18 to 79 years) accelerometer data from three combined cycles of the nationally representative Canadian Health Measures Survey (N = 7,102), this study compared adherence to the bouted and non-bouted recommendations. Differences in sociodemographic, health and fitness measures were assessed using independent t-tests and chi-squares. Multivariate linear and logistic regressions controlling for age, sex, household education and smoking examined associations with health and fitness measures.

RESULTS: More adults met the PA recommendation using the non-bouted versus bouted (45.3% vs. 18.5%) requirement. Characteristics of those who met the bouted and only the non-bouted recommendations were similar. Exceptions among those who met only the non-bouted recommendation compared with meeting the bouted recommendation included fewer adults aged 65 years and older; lower MVPA, recreation PA and transport PA; and higher sedentary time, light PA and grip strength.

INTERPRETATION: Although the removal of the 10-minute bout requirement increased the proportion of Canadian adults who met the PA recommendation, there were no substantial differences in the sociodemographic and health characteristics of the populations captured by the bouted and non-bouted definitions. Results help to inform the transition in reporting for PA surveillance.

PMID:35984950 | DOI:10.25318/82-003-x202200800001-eng

J Aerosol Med Pulm Drug Deliv. 2022 Aug 18. doi: 10.1089/jamp.2022.0006. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Background: Suboptimal use of pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) remains a major barrier to inhaled therapy success. Verbal inhaler technique training (VT) fails to maintain patients’ good pMDI use, thus training tools might help. Trainhaler^® (THR device) and Flo-Tone^® CR (FTCR device), two novel pMDI technique training tools, were evaluated and compared in terms of relative lung and systemic bioavailability and oropharyngeal deposition of salbutamol inhaled from Ventolin^® Evohaler^® (GlaxoSmithKline) either alone following THR or connected to FTCR. Methods: Sixteen healthy adults inhaled 2 × 100 μg salbutamol puffs (1 minute apart) from Ventolin using the THR device or FTCR device in a two-period, randomized crossover study. A 7-day washout separated THR and FTCR approaches. Immediately after each puff inhalation, each subject gargled with 20 mL water for oropharyngeal deposition determination. Urine samples were collected 0.5 hour (pre-inhalation) and 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 hours post-inhalation. Urine was then pooled till 24-hour post-inhalation. The relative lung bioavailability (0- to 0.5-hour urinary salbutamol excretion-USAL0.5) and relative systemic bioavailability (0- to 24-hour urinary excretion of salbutamol and its metabolite-USALMET24) were determined. Results: The mean (standard deviation [SD]) USAL0.5 of the THR and FTCR groups was 5.70 (6.43) and 11.39 (9.67) μg, respectively. The mean (SD) oropharyngeal deposition was 11.11 (4.37) and 6.09 (1.89) μg, respectively. The THR and FTCR devices were statistically significantly different in USAL0.5 and oropharyngeal deposition (p < 0.001), whereas there was no statistically significant difference in USALMET24. Conclusion: The THR device and the FTCR device showed positive impact on inhaled pMDI delivery. Indeed, the FTCR device doubled the relative lung bioavailability and minimized the unwanted oropharyngeal deposition of inhaled salbutamol. In practice, these pMDI trainers would complement and maintain VT. Study Registration: The study was registered on the ISRCTN registry (Reference: ISRCTN88332465-06/12/2017 [Prospectively Registered]).

PMID:35984934 | DOI:10.1089/jamp.2022.0006

Expert Rev Respir Med. 2022 Aug 19. doi: 10.1080/17476348.2022.2115361. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The results of associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes in DNA repairing pathway and lung cancer (LC) risk are inconsistent.

METHODS: We applied allele, dominant and recessive models to explore the risk of researched variants to LC in total LC and subgroups by ethnicity or LC subtypes with a cutoff point of p <0.05.

RESULTS: 76935 cases and 88649 controls from 192 articles were included. Among the analyzed 40 variants from 20 genes, we found 9 statistically significant variants in overall populations by allele model, including five SNPs (rs1760944, rs9344, rs13181, rs1001581 and rs915927) increasing LC risk (odd ratios [ORs]=1.10-1.71) and four SNPs (rs1042522, rs3213245, rs11615 and rs238406) decreasing the risk (ORs=0.75-0.94). We identified rs1042522 and rs13181 as significant variants for LC in three models. Additionally, we identified differential significant SNPs in ethnic and subtype’s analysis with comparison to total population.

CONCLUSIONS: There are five SNPs in DNA repairing pathway associated with increased LC risk and four others decreased LC risk. Besides, the risky SNPs in different ethnicities and various LC subtypes were partly different, and the contribution of different genotypes to risk alleles were various as well.

PMID:35984915 | DOI:10.1080/17476348.2022.2115361

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Aug 19. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c09910. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Well-defined block copolymers have been widely used as emulsifiers, stabilizers, and dispersants in the chemical industry for at least 50 years. In contrast, nature employs amphiphilic proteins as polymeric surfactants whereby the spatial distribution of hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acids within the polypeptide chains is optimized for surface activity. Herein, we report that polydisperse statistical copolymers prepared by conventional free-radical copolymerization can provide superior foaming performance compared to the analogous diblock copolymers. A series of predominantly (meth)acrylic comonomers are screened to identify optimal surface activity for foam stabilization of aqueous ethanol solutions. In particular, all-acrylic statistical copolymers comprising trimethylhexyl acrylate and poly(ethylene glycol) acrylate, P(TMHA-stat-PEGA), confer strong foamability and also lower the surface tension of a range of ethanol-water mixtures to a greater extent than the analogous block copolymers. For ethanol-rich hand sanitizer formulations, foam stabilization is normally achieved using environmentally persistent silicone-based copolymers or fluorinated surfactants. Herein, the best-performing fully hydrocarbon-based copolymer surfactants effectively stabilize ethanol-rich foams by a mechanism that resembles that of naturally-occurring proteins. This ability to reduce the surface tension of low-surface-energy liquids suggests a wide range of potential commercial applications.

PMID:35984897 | DOI:10.1021/acsami.2c09910

Sci Adv. 2022 Aug 19;8(33):eabn8007. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abn8007. Epub 2022 Aug 19.

ABSTRACT

Flexural oscillations of freestanding films, nanomembranes, and nanowires are attracting growing attention for their importance to the fundamental physical and optical properties and device applications of two-dimensional and nanostructured (meta)materials. Here, we report on the observation of short-time scale ballistic motion in the flexural mode of a nanomembrane cantilever, driven by thermal fluctuation of flexural phonons, including measurements of ballistic velocities and displacements performed with subatomic resolution, using a free electron edge-scattering technique. Within intervals <10 μs, the membrane moves ballistically at a constant velocity, typically ~300 μm/s, while Brownian-like dynamics emerge for longer observation periods. Access to the ballistic regime provides verification of the equipartition theorem and Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics for flexural modes and can be used in fast thermometry and mass sensing during atomic absorption/desorption processes on the membrane.

PMID:35984884 | DOI:10.1126/sciadv.abn8007

J Med Food. 2022 Aug 18. doi: 10.1089/jmf.2022.0040. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of ashwagandha (ASH) (Withania somnifera) on sleep, perceived stress, and cravings in a college student population. Sixty healthy students were screened/enrolled into a 30-day double-blinded placebo (PLA)-controlled intervention (700 mg daily, full spectrum extract of ASH root). Anthropometrics, demographics, and validated questionnaires assessing physical activity, restorative sleep, perceived stress, and food cravings were assessed before and after the study. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlations, and point biserial correlations were used to screen the data. For sleep and stress, a nonsignificant mixed (group × time) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was followed by one-way MANOVA (time on sleep/stress) and one-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) (group on sleep/stress, using initial sleep as a covariate) as follow-up tests. Further follow-up tests for this MANCOVA showed group membership affected final sleep (58.4 ± 12.4 vs. 48.2 ± 15.0 ASH vs. PLA respectively, P < .05) using initial sleep as a covariate. Initial sleep (confounder) affected final stress, but not final sleep. Mixed analysis of variance (group × time) showed an interaction effect on food cravings, where the ASH group experienced lower cravings than the PLA group over time at end of study. The 30-day intervention was shorter than most other studies where more pronounced stress differences were seen at six weeks, indicating ASH may need the longer time period to show more pronounced stress relieving differences. ASH can be an effective safe intervention in young adult populations to help manage stress and its detrimental impacts on sleep and satiety in as little as 30 days. Clinical Trial Registration number-NCT05430685.

PMID:35984871 | DOI:10.1089/jmf.2022.0040

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 19;17(8):e0271904. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271904. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

Research on the occurrence and the final size of wildland fires typically models these two events as two separate processes. In this work, we develop and apply a compound process framework for jointly modelling the frequency and the severity of wildland fires. Separate modelling structures for the frequency and the size of fires are linked through a shared random effect. This allows us to fit an appropriate model for frequency and an appropriate model for size of fires while still having a method to estimate the direction and strength of the relationship (e.g., whether days with more fires are associated with days with large fires). The joint estimation of this random effect shares information between the models without assuming a causal structure. We explore spatial and temporal autocorrelation of the random effects to identify additional variation not explained by the inclusion of weather related covariates. The dependence between frequency and size of lightning-caused fires is found to be negative, indicating that an increase in the number of expected fires is associated with a decrease in the expected size of those fires, possibly due to the rainy conditions necessary for an increase in lightning. Person-caused fires were found to be positively dependent, possibly due to dry weather increasing human activity as well as the amount of dry few. For a test for independence, we perform a power study and find that simply checking whether zero is in the credible interval of the posterior of the linking parameter is as powerful as more complicated tests.

PMID:35984856 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0271904

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 19;17(8):e0272488. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272488. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Socio-demographic factors influence the magnitude of anemia in endemic areas. The purpose of this study is to establish the magnitude of anemia and to determine anemia preventive practices carried out by mothers with children under five years of age in the Kadjebi District of the Volta region of Ghana.

METHODS: This purposive sampling study involved women of reproductive age with children less than five years of age from Saint Mary Theresa Hospital and nurses practicing in the pediatric ward of the hospital. A questionnaire and interview guide were administered respectively, and the data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21.

RESULTS: A total of 150 participants were studied; among which analysis of anemia was carried out on 129 women whose children had their hemoglobin levels checked and recorded in the laboratory. Hemoglobin levels recorded for these children showed that 85.3% were anemic, even though 93.8% of the mothers had been given iron supplements during their pregnancy. Furthermore, anemia prevention practices comprised whether the child had been given any anti-malaria prophylaxis (98.4% denied), if the child had been dewormed in the last three months (89.9% denied), whether the child was given iron supplements in the last three months (59.7% denied), if the child had been given vitamin supplements in the last three months (24.0% denied).

CONCLUSION: Most of the children in the study were anemic. Mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding, iron, and vitamin supplementation, and ensured that children slept under insecticide-treated mosquito nets as a means of preventing malaria.

PMID:35984853 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0272488