Category: Statistics

Zhonghua Jie He He Hu Xi Za Zhi. 2021 Mar 12;44(3):218-224. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.cn112147-20200617-00715.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To analyze the distribution of blood eosinophils (EOS) in COPD patients in the community and outpatient clinics, and to study the clinical characteristics and influencing factors of COPD patients with high EOS counts. Methods: This study included 237 patients with stable COPD, of which the median age was 68 years and males accounted for 81.2%. There were 45 community patients from the China Pulmonary Health study conducted in 2012-2013 and another 192 outpatients who attended the Respiratory Department of Peking University Third Hospital from August 2013 to November 2014 or from September 2015 to May 2018. Taking 100 cells/μl as the cut-off value, it was divided into high EOS group (146 people, 61.6%) and low EOS group (91 people, 38.4%). We compared demographic characteristics, respiratory symptoms, acute exacerbation, lung function, inflammation, imaging and other indicators. Results: The median EOS count of community patients was 110.4 cells/μl, and that of outpatients was 110.0 cells/μl. There was no statistically significant difference in the distribution of blood EOS among community and outpatients. The median EOS count of the general population was 110.0 cells/μl, and the median percentage was 1.8%. EOS≥300 cells/μl accounted for 11.4%. In the high EOS group, the percentage of male gender was higher (85.6% vs 74.7%), the GOLD grade was more severe, and the percentage of neutrophils was lower (61.70% vs 64.70%) (P<0.05 for these three characteristics). After multivariate analysis, the high EOS group was closely related to older age (OR=1.035, 95%CI:1.004-1.067, P=0.029), heavier GOLD grade (P=0.015) and lower percentage of neutrophils (OR=0.956, 95%CI:0.923-0.991, P=0.015). Conclusion: The distribution of blood EOS of COPD patients between the community and the outpatient clinics is not significantly different. About 60% of COPD patients have blood EOS≥100 cells/μl, which is associated with advanced age, male, severe airflow limitation, and low neutrophils.

PMID:33721935 | DOI:10.3760/cma.j.cn112147-20200617-00715

Zhonghua Jie He He Hu Xi Za Zhi. 2021 Mar 12;44(3):225-229. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.cn112147-20210108-00021.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To analyze the drug resistance of tuberculosis patients to clofazimine. Methods: Retrospective analysis was conducted on the case data of 1 770 tuberculosis patients in Department of tuberculosis, Beijing Chest Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University from January 2015 to June 2018, including 1 225 males and 545 females, aged 8-92 (43.2±15.2) years old. Drug sensitivity tests using proportion method (hereinafter referred to as drug susceptibility test) for TB strains anti-tb drug resistance test. Using χ² test or Fisher’s exact test. Results: 1 770 cases of tuberculosis patients, 1 713 cases of patients with clofazimine sensitive, of 57 patients with drug resistance, and resistant rate was 3.2% (57/1 770), including patients with recurrent clofazimine, significantly higher than the initial percentages of patients [5.8% (38/656), 1.7% (19/1 114), χ²= 22.129, P = 0.000, P<0.01]; The drug resistance rates of poly-resistant, multi-drug resistant and extensively resistant patients to clofazimine were 1.0% (17/1 770), 1.2% (21/1 770) and 1.1% (19/1 770), respectively. Has a history of hospitalization of clofazimine resistance of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant patients resistant rate 2.4% (14/594), 2.7% (16/594), respectively, higher than 0.6% (7/1 176) with no history of hospitalized patients, 0.3% (3/1 176), the differences were statistically significant (χ²=10.447,22.099,P=0.001,<0.001). Conclusion: Clofazimine has a low resistance rate, which can improve the treatment success rate of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis and has important value.

PMID:33721936 | DOI:10.3760/cma.j.cn112147-20210108-00021

Phys Med. 2021 Mar 12;82:321-331. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2021.02.014. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The aim of this methods work is to explore the different behavior of radiomic features resulting by using or not the contrast medium in chest CT imaging of non-small cell lung cancer.

METHODS: Chest CT scans, unenhanced and contrast-enhanced, of 17 patients were selected from images collected as part of the staging process. The major T1-T3 lesion was contoured through a semi-automatic approach. These lesions formed the lesion phantoms to study features behavior. The stability of 94 features of the 3D-Slicer package Radiomics was analyzed. Feature discrimination power was quantified by means of Gini’s coefficient. Correlation between distance matrices was evaluated through Mantel statistic. Heatmap, cluster and silhouette plots were applied to find well-structured partitions of lesions.

RESULTS: The Gini’s coefficient evidenced a low discrimination power, <0.05, for four features and a large discrimination power, around 0.8, for five features. About 90% of features was affected by the contrast medium, masking tumor lesions variability; thirteen features only were found stable. On 8178 combinations of stable features, only one group of four features produced the same partition of lesions with the silhouette width greater than 0.51, both on unenhanced and contrast-enhanced images.

CONCLUSIONS: Gini’s coefficient highlighted the features discrimination power in both CT series. Many features were sensitive to the use of the contrast medium, masking the lesions intrinsic variability. Four stable features produced, on both series, the same partition of cancer lesions with reasonable structure; this may merit being objects of further validation studies and interpretative investigations.

PMID:33721791 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejmp.2021.02.014

Nanotechnology. 2021 Mar 15. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/abeeb2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Point defects may significantly influence the electrical and optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional tungsten diselenide (WSe2), while precise information about point defects distribution (e.g., species and concentration) in monolayer (ML-) WSe2 are hard to obtain. In this letter, we tried to partly fill this knowledge gap via performing quantitative and statistical analysis of intrinsic point defects in WSe2 monolayers prepared by three so-called main-stream approaches i.e., mechanical exfoliation (ME), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), which are promising for providing high-quality samples. Via a conjunction of statistic atomic-resolution annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF-STEM) imaging, software-based automated defect identification and counting, together with image simulations, defect species and concentrations were quantitatively determined. Seven types of intrinsic point defects were identified in ML-WSe2 and the most dominant one is selenium mono-vacancy (VSe) (corresponding to one Se atom missing), irrespective of the synthetic route and growth conditions. Exact contents and diversity of point defects depend on the specific preparation method: CVD grown ML-WSe2 is the most defective (for example, the density of VSe reaches 1.40% in atomic ratio), followed by ME (~ 0.79 at% for VSe) and MBE grown samples (~ 0.42 at% for VSe). Our results, though still with limited sampling, provide preliminary quantitative information of point defects in ML-WSe2, which can serve as a reference to achieve the precisely controlled large-scale sample growth and establish the structure-property relationship of two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDCs) materials.

PMID:33721843 | DOI:10.1088/1361-6528/abeeb2

J Radiol Prot. 2021 Mar 15. doi: 10.1088/1361-6498/abee96. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The effect of external radiation on lymphoma, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and multiple myeloma (MM) incidence was evaluated in the National Registry for Radiation Workers (NRRW) based upon the 3rd analysis cohort but with an additional 10 years of follow-up. The study includes 172,452 workers, of whom (90%) were men with 3.6 million person-years of follow-up from 1950 through to the end of 2011. A total of 711 cases of NHL, 113 cases of HL and 279 cases of MM were registered. Poisson regression was used to estimate the excess relative risk (ERR) per unit of cumulative exposure to ionising radiation. A statistically significant association was found between radiation dose and the incidence of NHL and MM. There was no evidence of radiation associated excess risk for HL. The reported associations are based on a very small proportion of exposed workers, in particular among workers with cumulative doses above 0.5 Sv so should be treated with caution, further investigations are necessary to confirm our results.

PMID:33721859 | DOI:10.1088/1361-6498/abee96

Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2021 Mar 16. doi: 10.1097/PCC.0000000000002702. Online ahead of print.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:33721879 | DOI:10.1097/PCC.0000000000002702

Biomed Pharmacother. 2021 Mar 3;138:111457. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111457. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

With continued expansion of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2), both antiviral drugs as well as effective vaccines are desperately needed to treat patients at high risk of life-threatening disease. Here, we present in vitro evidence for significant inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 by oleandrin and a defined extract of N. oleander (designated as PBI-06150). Using Vero cells, we found that prophylactic (pre-infection) oleandrin (as either the pure compound or as the active principal ingredient in PBI-06150) administration at concentrations as low as 0.05 µg/ml exhibited potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, with an 800-fold reduction in virus production, and a 0.1 µg/ml concentration resulted in a greater than 3000-fold reduction in infectious virus production. The half maximal effective concentration (EC₅₀) values were 11.98 ng/ml when virus output was measured at 24 h post-infection, and 7.07 ng/ml measured at 48 h post-infection. Therapeutic (post-infection) treatment up to 24 h after SARS-CoV-2 infection of Vero cells also reduced viral titers, with 0.1 µg/ml and 0.05 µg/ml concentrations causing greater than 100-fold reduction as measured at 48 h, and the 0.05 µg/ml concentration resulting in a 78-fold reduction. Concentrations of oleandrin up to 10 µg/ml were well tolerated in Vero cells. We also present in vivo evidence of the safety and efficacy of defined N. oleander extract (PBI-06150), which was administered to golden Syrian hamsters in a preparation containing as high as 130 µg/ml of oleandrin. In comparison to administration of control vehicle, PBI-06150 provided a statistically significant reduction of the viral titer in the nasal turbinates (nasal conchae). The potent prophylactic and therapeutic antiviral activities demonstrated here, together with initial evidence of its safety and efficacy in a relevant hamster model of COVID-19, support the further development of oleandrin and/or defined extracts containing this molecule for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 and associated COVID-19 disease and potentially also for reduction of virus spread by persons diagnosed early after infection.

PMID:33721754 | DOI:10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111457

Int Immunopharmacol. 2021 Mar 12;95:107524. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2021.107524. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Rituximab (RTX) is widely used in the treatment of connective tissue disease (CTD) because it can target and eliminate pathogenic B cells. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is one of the common complications of CTD; however, the clinical benefits of RTX in connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) are still controversial. This meta-analysis was performed to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of RTX in CTD-ILD patients.

METHODS: We performed a systematic online query in PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase up to February 2020. Randomized controlled trials and observational studies on the use of RTX and conventional treatment in CTD-ILD patients were comprehensively reviewed and investigated.

RESULTS: In total, 6 studies, including 242 participants, were analysed. The pooled results showed that RTX is superior to conventional treatment methods in improving forced vital capacity and modified Rodnan skin scores (MRSS) in patients with systemic sclerosis (P＜0. 05), but there was no statistically significant difference between RTX and conventional treatment method in the improvement of lung diffusion function. The risk of adverse effects declined in the RTX therapy groups compared with the conventional therapy groups in terms of infection and the blood system.

CONCLUSION: The pooled results of this meta-analysis indicated that RTX is well tolerated, and RTX is able to improve or stabilize pulmonary function in CTD-ILD patients.

PMID:33721757 | DOI:10.1016/j.intimp.2021.107524

Psychiatry Res. 2021 Feb 24;299:113837. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113837. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

ABO blood types and their corresponding antigens have long been assumed to be related to different human diseases. So far, smaller studies on the relationship between mental disorders and blood types yielded contradicting results. In this study we analyzed the association between ABO blood types and lifetime major depressive disorder (MDD). We performed a pooled analysis with data from 26 cohorts that are part of the MDD working group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). The dataset included 37,208 individuals of largely European ancestry of which 41.6% were diagnosed with lifetime MDD. ABO blood types were identified using three single nucleotide polymorphisms in the ABO gene: rs505922, rs8176746 and rs8176747. Regression analyses were performed to assess associations between the individual ABO blood types and MDD diagnosis as well as putative interaction effects with sex. The models were adjusted for sex, cohort and the first ten genetic principal components. The percentage of blood type A was slightly lower in cases than controls while blood type O was more prominent in cases. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Our analyses found no evidence of an association between ABO blood types and major depressive disorder.

PMID:33721783 | DOI:10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113837

Arch Oral Biol. 2021 Mar 4;125:105103. doi: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2021.105103. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To determine nickel levels and their impact on protein carbonylation in gum samples from patients with gingival overgrowth by orthodontic treatment.

DESIGN: A retrospective observational study with 33 patients divided into three groups. Group 1 patients with gingival overgrowth by orthodontic appliances; group 2 patients without gingival overgrowth but with a history of orthodontic treatment; group 3 patients without overgrowth and history of orthodontic appliances. Nickel level in gingiva samples was measured by atomic absorption while protein carbonylation was determined by Western Blot. Furthermore, three proteins were identified in carbonylated protein bands by mass spectrometry.

RESULTS: Statistically significant differences (p < 0,05) in tissue nickel levels among groups were established (nickel levels group 1: 1.33 ± 1.52; group 2: 0.33 ± 0.44; group 3: 0.20 ± 0.22 μg Ni/g tissue). Protein carbonylation was higher in patients with gingival enlargement (group 1) and history of appliance use (group 2) than controls (group 3). It was observed that band A of the Western blots presented the highest intensity (Rf 0.23) with an average intensity of 4.133.830 ± 1.958.569 for group 1; 4.420.146 ± 1.594.679 for group 2 and 2.110. 727 ± 1.640.721 for group 3. Also, the proteins Teneurin-4, Bromodomain adjacent to zinc finger domain protein 2B, Lysine-specific demethylase 5B, and Serum albumin, were identified from oxidized bands.

CONCLUSIONS: The gum of patients with gingival overgrowth by orthodontic appliances contains higher nickel residues and carbonylation of its proteins.

PMID:33721694 | DOI:10.1016/j.archoralbio.2021.105103