Category: Statistics

Int J Phytoremediation. 2022 Jan 25:1-12. doi: 10.1080/15226514.2022.2027865. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Direct discharge of raw domestic sewage enriched with nitrogenous and phosphorous compounds into the water bodies causes eutrophication and other environmental hazards with detrimental impacts on public and ecosystem health. The present study focuses on phycoremediation of gray water with Arthrospira sp. using an innovative hydrophobic ceramic membrane-based photobioreactor system integrated with CO₂ biofixation and biodiesel production, aiming for green technology development. Surfactant and oil-rich gray water collected from the domestic kitchen was used wherein, chloride, sulfate, and surfactant concentrations were statistically optimized using response surface methodology (RSM), considering maximum microalgal growth rate as a response for the design. Ideal concentrations (mg/L) of working parameters were found to be 7.91 (sulfate), 880.49 (chloride), and 144.02 (surfactant), respectively to achieve optimum growth rate of 0.43 g_dwt/L/day. Enhancement of growth rate of targeted microalgae by 150% with suitable CO₂ (19.5%) supply and illumination in the photobioreactor affirms its efficient operation. Additionally, harvested microalgal biomass obtained from the process showed a biodiesel content of around 5.33% (dry weight). The microalgal treatment enabled about 96.82, 87.5, and 99.8% reductions in BOD, COD, and TOC, respectively, indicating the potential of the process in pollutant assimilation and recycling of such wastewater along with value-added product generation.

PMID:35075966 | DOI:10.1080/15226514.2022.2027865

Waste Manag Res. 2022 Jan 25:734242X211073852. doi: 10.1177/0734242X211073852. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Optimising biogas yields from anaerobic digestion of organic wastes is significant to maximum energy recovery in the biodigestion process and has become an important topic of interest. Substrate particle size is an important process parameter in biogas production, and it precedes other pretreatments methods for the majority of the lignocellulose materials. Optimisation of biogas yield using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was done, and temperature, hydraulic retention time and particle size were considered variables to develop the predictive models. Pretreatment of groundnut shells was investigated using particle size reduction of mechanical pretreatment methods. After pretreatment, 30 samples were digested in a batch digester at mesophilic temperature. The experimental results showed that the temperature, hydraulic retention time and particle size had significant effects of interaction (p < 0.05). The optimum experimental and predicted yields are: 44.70 and 42.92 (l_NkgoDM) organic dry matter biogas yield, 20.80 and 19.09 (l_N/kgFM) fresh mass biogas yield, 24.00 and 22.68 (l_NCH₄oDM) organic dry methane yield and 12.30 and 15.59 (l_NCH₄FM) fresh mass methane yield, respectively. The R² recorded for the four yield components were 0.6268, 0.5875, 0.6109 and 0.5547. These values seem to be lower and a sign of the average fit of the model. Biogas production from groundnut shells was significantly improved with statistical optimisation and the pretreatment method.

PMID:35075967 | DOI:10.1177/0734242X211073852

J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2022 Jan 25:10781552221074629. doi: 10.1177/10781552221074629. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Despite harboring a high burden of cancer patients who are at high risk of potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs), there is scarcity of published information about pDDIs in cancer patients from Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate frequency, pattern, mechanism and factors associated with pDDIs in cancer patients treated at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan.

METHODS: In this cross-sectional analytical study, a total of 253 eligible ambulatory cancer patients treated at Center for Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy Hospital Quetta were evaluated for pDDIs using IBM Micromedex® Drug Interactions. SPSS (version 26) was used for conducting multivariate analysis to find factors associated with the presence pDDIs. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: A total of 141/253 (55.7%) patients were exposed to at-least one pDDI. A total of 251 pDDIs were noted with a median of one pDDI/per patient (interquartile range:1-2) Majority interactions were of major severity (72.9%), pharmacodynamic (49.8%) and had fair documentation level (64.1%). Anti-cancer drugs were involved in 73.0% pDDIs with doxorubicin as the most commonly involved (40.0%) anti-cancer followed by cyclophosphamide (27.6%) and cisplatin (13.5%). Potential cardiac adverse events made the bulk (33.8%) of predicted events. Receiving >2 anti-cancer (OR = 5.19, p-value = 0.001) and >6 ancillary drugs (OR = 4.16, p-value = 0.033) emerged as the risk factors of pDDIs.

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of pDDIs was within the range reported in published literature. Solid medication review, availability of DDI detecting tools and clinical pharmacist, and paying special attention to the high-risk patients may reduce the frequency of pDDIs at the study site.

PMID:35075930 | DOI:10.1177/10781552221074629

J Telemed Telecare. 2022 Jan 25:1357633X221074863. doi: 10.1177/1357633X221074863. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: To reduce COVID-19 exposure risk, virtual visits became widely adopted as a common form of healthcare delivery for the general population. It is unknown how this affected the deaf population, a sociolinguistic minority group that continues to face communication and healthcare barriers. The survey’s objective was to describe the deaf participants’ experiences with telehealth visits.

METHODS: A 28-item online survey, available in American Sign Language and English, was developed and disseminated between November 2020 and January 2021. Ninety-nine deaf participants responded. Descriptive statistics were performed to assess the participant’s virtual health care use, experiences, and communication approaches.

RESULTS: Seventy-five percent of respondents used telehealth at least once in the past 12 months (n = 74; age = 37.6 ± 14.5 years). Of those who used telehealth, nearly two-thirds experienced communication challenges (65.3%; n = 49). Half of the participants reported having to connect via a video relay service that employs interpreters who maintain general certification instead of a remote interpreter with specialized health care interpreting certifications for video visits with their health care providers (n = 37) and a third of participants reported needing to use their residual hearing to communicate with their providers (n = 25).

CONCLUSION: Standard protocols for health care systems and providers are needed to minimize the burden of access on deaf patients and ensure virtual visits are equitable. It is recommended these visits be offered on Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant platforms and include multi-way video to allow for the inclusion of remote medical interpreters and/or real-time captionists to ensure effective communication between the provider and the deaf patient occurs.

PMID:35075938 | DOI:10.1177/1357633X221074863

Clin Nurs Res. 2022 Jan 25:10547738211069725. doi: 10.1177/10547738211069725. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Currently, there is controversy concerning potential factors that contribute to the development of breast cancer. Our study analyzed the possible association between weight status, cigarette consumption, lactation period, serum estrogen levels, family history of breast cancer, and age at breast cancer diagnosis. We conducted a retrospective study at a University Hospital in Granada (Spain) by consulting the medical records of 524 women aged 19 to 91 years, all of them diagnosed and treated for breast cancer from 2011 to 2019. Our findings indicated that in non-morbidly obese females who were also non-smokers, a maternal lactation period of more than 3 months (p = .013) and the absence of family antecedents of cancer (p = .025) were statistically significant factors that led to a more advanced age at breast cancer diagnosis. Thus, maternal lactation seems to have a potential protective effect on breast cancer.

PMID:35075913 | DOI:10.1177/10547738211069725

Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2022 Jan 25:48674211072437. doi: 10.1177/00048674211072437. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Perception of loneliness has been identified as the strongest predictor of health-related quality of life assessed with the Assessment of Quality of Life-4D in people with psychotic disorders. We aimed to establish contributors to perceived loneliness, and ascertain the mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between identified contributors to loneliness and other known predictors of health-related quality of life with health-related quality of life.

METHODS: Data for 1642 people collected as part of the 2010 Australian National Survey of Psychosis were analysed. Health-related quality of life was assessed using the Assessment of Quality of Life-4D, and loneliness through a single-item five-level categorical variable. To identify independent contributors to loneliness, a statistical model was constructed with reference to a theoretical model comprising 23 variables. A predictive model with health-related quality of life as the dependent variable was then developed and tested to assess the mediating role of loneliness.

RESULTS: Nine contributors to loneliness were found (social dysfunction, experienced stigma, contact with friends, diagnosis, depressive symptoms, anxiety, mental health service utilisation, arthritis and traumatic events in childhood), with social dysfunction the strongest. In the prediction of health-related quality of life, all contributors to loneliness were partially mediated through loneliness (except service utilisation) as were negative symptoms and use of psychotropic/anticholinergic medications.

CONCLUSION: Assuming a plausible causal model of mediation, loneliness was found to have direct and indirect effects on health-related quality of life in people with psychotic disorders. Findings add impetus to efforts to develop and trial strategies aimed at reducing loneliness in this population, and, in turn, improving their health-related quality of life.

PMID:35075914 | DOI:10.1177/00048674211072437

Nutr Hosp. 2022 Jan 25. doi: 10.20960/nh.03846. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: this study aimed to evaluate the relationship of Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002) and in-hospital major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in patients with severe heart failure.

METHODS: an observational study was conducted at the emergency intensive care units (EICU) of Shandong University Qilu Hospital from January 2017 to December 2019. Nutritional screening and assessment were performed at the time of admission to hospital with the NRS2002.

RESULTS: of the 209 patients included, 16 cases (7.66 %) were not at nutritional risk, and 193 cases (92.34 %) were at risk. Among them, 12 cases (5.74 %) were malnourished, 38 cases (18.18 %) were at high nutritional risk, and 115 cases (55.02 %) were overweight and obese. The differences in prealbumin (PA) and N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide precursor (NT-proBNP) between the 2 groups were statistically significant (p < 0.05). A total of 134 cases (64.12 %) received nutrition treatment support, of which 39 cases (29.10 %) received enteral nutrition (EN), 77 cases (57.46 %) parenteral nutrition, and 18 cases (13.43 %) enteral nutrition combined with parenteral nutrition (EN + SPN) support treatment. In all, 31 cases (54.39 %) reached 100 % of the target dose. Patients in the EN and EN + SPN groups had 37 MACE (64.91 %) and 31 enteral nutrition complications (54.39 %), with differences between the 3 groups being statistically significant (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: the nutritional risk of patients with severe heart failure is high, and age and heart function are positively correlated with nutritional risk. The complications rate of patients with high nutritional risk is significantly higher than in those with low risk; the higher the nutritional risk, the higher the hospital mortality rate – that is, nutritional risk affects disease outcome.

PMID:35075911 | DOI:10.20960/nh.03846

Minerva Dent Oral Sci. 2021 Dec;70(6):248-256. doi: 10.23736/S2724-6329.21.04521-6.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Xenografts can be produced in various particle sizes by using different bone types. Currently, there is no consensus about the ideal type of xenograft for sinus augmentations, and this choice depends on the personal experience of clinicians. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the effects of three different xenografts used in sinus augmentation simultaneously with implant placement on the survival of the implants and the dimensional changes of the region.

METHODS: One hundred nine sinus augmentations and 164 implants were evaluated in 76 patients. Three different xenografts were used: 41 Gen-Os^® (250-1000µm, Corticocancellous; Tecnoss, Giaveno, Turin, Italy), 35 Bio-Oss^® (1000-2000µm, Cancellous; Geistlich Biomaterials italia S.r.l., Vicenza, Italy) and 33 Apatos-Cortical^® (600-1000µm, Cortical; Tecnoss). The preoperative, postoperative, and follow-up (21±8.8 month) radiographs were evaluated for the dimensional changes and the implant survivals. The data were statistically analyzed.

RESULTS: Among the implant failures; 3 (5.6%) in 53 implants in Apatos, 2 (3.6%) in 55 implants in Bio-Oss, 9 (16%) in 56 implants in Gen-Os, and 14 (8.5%) total implant failures were observed. This difference between the groups was statistically significant and was due to the high loss rate in the Gen-Os (P=0.044). There was a mean difference of -1.8±1.5mm between the measured bone heights on postoperative day (14.2±2.4mm) and the last follow-up (12.4±2.5 mm). While the loss of height was not affected due to the graft type (P=0.981), the general 12.6% vertical loss was statistically significant (P<0.0001), also the length of implants placed reduced this loss (P=0.036).

CONCLUSIONS: Within the limits of this retrospective study, it can be concluded that: 1) The sinus augmentation procedures with thicker particle size grafts achieved higher success rate; and 2) over the time, 12.6% loss may occur in the height of grafted area.

PMID:35075889 | DOI:10.23736/S2724-6329.21.04521-6

Huan Jing Ke Xue. 2022 Feb 8;43(2):1089-1096. doi: 10.13227/j.hjkx.202105243.

ABSTRACT

Environmental antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are a type of emerging pollutant that has been widely concerning. However, investigations into the contamination of ARGs in mining areas have been scarce. Here, the types, abundances, and influencing factors of ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were investigated in soil/sediment of the Dexing copper mine area in June 2019 by using high-throughput quantitative polymerase chain reaction (HT-qPCR). Furthermore, the influence of heavy metals and MGEs factors on ARGs was studied using the multivariate statistical analysis method. The results showed that there were a variety of ARGs in the Dexing copper mining area, and the maximum detected number of ARGs was 70. At the relative abundance level, the relative abundance of individual sites reached 0.085. In the Dexing copper mine, multidrug, MLSB, β-lactamases, tetracycline, and aminoglycoside resistance genes were the dominant ARG classes based on their numbers. The efflux pump was the most dominant resistance mechanism, followed by antibiotic deactivation and cellular protection. There was a significant positive correlation between the abundance of ARGs and MGEs (P<0.05), and TnpA04 and Inti1 were the most important MEGs in Dexing copper mine samples, indicating that horizontal gene transfer might be an important mechanism for the spread of environmental ARGs. The results of Pearson correlation analysis and RDA analysis showed that the content of Cu was significantly positively correlated with the detected numbers and abundance of ARGs (P<0.05), suggesting that the high content of Cu in the Dexing copper mining area might be an important driving factor for the formation of ARGs.

PMID:35075883 | DOI:10.13227/j.hjkx.202105243

Huan Jing Ke Xue. 2022 Feb 8;43(2):649-662. doi: 10.13227/j.hjkx.202104292.

ABSTRACT

The weather research and forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem) was used to investigate the impact of meteorological conditions on PM_2.5 in Jiangsu Province from 2001 to 2019. Under the condition of constant emission sources, the strongest positive and negative anomalies of annual PM_2.5 concentration caused by meteorological conditions occurred in 2008 and 2001, respectively. Furthermore, their anomalies respectively accounted for 10.5% and -14.3% relative to the long-time averaged annual PM_2.5 concentration, indicating that meteorological conditions are an important factor causing the interannual variation in PM_2.5 concentration in Jiangsu Province. The empirical orthogonal function decomposition results show that the influence of meteorological conditions on the spatial distribution of PM_2.5 concentration in Jiangsu Province is consistent under this mode. Additionally, the boundary layer height, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and precipitation all have significant negative correlations with the PM_2.5 concentration in Jiangsu Province. Meanwhile, the linear regression equation constructed by the above meteorological factors can characterize the relationship between PM_2.5 concentration and meteorological conditions well. Moreover, the correlation between the fitting value and the simulated value was 0.73, which was statistically significant at a 99% confidence level according to a student’s t test.

PMID:35075839 | DOI:10.13227/j.hjkx.202104292