Category: Statistics

Bioinformatics. 2021 Oct 21:btab728. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btab728. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

SUMMARY: Eukaryotic gene expression requires coordination among hundreds of transcriptional regulators. To characterize a specific transcriptional regulator, identifying how it shares genomic-binding profiles with others can generate important insights into its action. As genomic data such as ChIP-Seq are being rapidly generated from individual labs, there is a demand for timely integration and analysis of these new data. We have developed an R package, GPSmatch (Genomic-binding Profile Similarity match), for calculating the Jaccard index to compare ChIP-Seq peaks from one experiment to the peaks of other ChIP-Seq experiments stored in a user-supplied customizable database. GPSmatch also evaluates the statistical significance of the calculated Jaccard index using a nonparametric Monte Carlo procedure. We show that GPSmatch is suitable for identifying transcriptional regulators that share similar genomic-binding profiles, which may unravel potential mechanistic actions of gene regulation.

AVAILABILITY: The software is freely available at https://github.com/Bao-Lab/GPSmatch.

PMID:34672337 | DOI:10.1093/bioinformatics/btab728

Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Sep;33(Suppl 10):89-96.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate and analyze the role of general practitioners/family physicians (GPs/FPs) in counseling and encouraging early cancer prevention, their perception of value systems towards health and disease (especially malignant diseases), knowledge and experience with the national and local cancer early detection program.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study included 38 GPs/FPs from nine municipalities in the Hercegovina-Neretva and West Herzegovina canton. Data were collected by using an Individual questionnaire for all GPs/FPs which was prepared according to the Questionnaire for family physicians on implementing the Cancer Control Program, which is used in Croatia.

RESULTS: Statistical analysis showed that most GPs/FPs carried out activities on primary cancer prevention (educating patients about smoking, alcohol, diet, physical activity, cancer education, and screening). The majority of respondents stated that it was not profitable to do screening for lung cancer and stomach cancer. Most GPs/FPs (73.7%) recommended mammography to women individually, sporadically, according to individual risk assessment.

CONCLUSIONS: The scientific contribution and the results of this work can be applied in practice in local communities. Given its position in the health system, ongoing contact with the population that elected it, and its impact on the local community in which it operates, GP/FP plays an important role in the prevention of disease. Integration of preventive activities into the daily work of the doctor plays the most important role in achieving excellent results. Family medicine is primarily focused on primary and secondary prevention, which is carried out through a continuous approach and long-term management of patients.

PMID:34672277

Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Sep;33(Suppl 10):109-113.

ABSTRACT

Persons in leadership positions are more likely to manifest hubristic symptomatology, the longer the person exercises power and the greater the power they exercise. No data exists for healthcare staff, such as nurses and more specifically for gerontological nurses who exercise power on their colleagues as well as older persons. This study aims to examine whether there are emotional correlates of gerontological nurses’ experienced hubris when serving in a leadership position, and to investigate possible gender differences during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a little investigated period regarding its emotional aspects on healthcare professionals. Gerontological nurses in leadership positions completed Job Affect Scale, Emotional Labour Scale, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Generalized Immediacy Scale, General Index of Job Satisfaction, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Wong-Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, State-Anxiety-Inventory, Perceived Cohesion Scale, and a 5-point Likert scale measuring hubristic attributes. No statistically significant differences were found between male and female nurses regarding the abovementioned classic administered emotional scales and hubris. The analyses yielded only a negative correlation between negative affect and hubris. This research provides for the first time data regarding gerontological nurses in leadership positions, suggesting that various negative and positive emotional variables do no directly relate to hubristic symptoms for this group of healthcare professionals. As hubristic behaviors and their dangerous consequences are found not to be related to abovementioned emotional variables, researchers and hospital managers should consider and focus on other indices in their attempt to prevent such phenomena.

PMID:34672282

Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Sep;33(Suppl 10):25-29.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: It is important to study impulsivity and sensation seeking in medical staff because they might shed light into the effectiveness of decision-making processes and performed responses. The aims of this study were to specify if functional impulsivity prevailed in medical staff compared to dysfunctional impulsivity; how strong the relationships between functional, dysfunctional impulsivity and sensation seeking were; furthermore, it aimed to differentiate functional and dysfunctional impulsivity, according to the size of the place where medical care was practised.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A sample of 323 medical workers and 99 medical students filled in Radoslavova and Velichkov’s (2005) questionnaire measuring sensation seeking, functional impulsivity and dysfunctional impulsivity.

RESULTS: Sensation seeking and functional impulsivity in medical staff did not differ statistically significantly (t₍₄₂₁₎=1.171, p=0.242), but functional impulsivity was significantly more intensive than dysfunctional impulsivity among medical personnel (t₍₄₂₁₎=8.132, p<0.001). Sensation seeking was significantly more strongly expressed than dysfunctional impulsivity among medical specialists (t₍₄₂₁₎=7.388, p<0.001). Correlation analysis revealed that sensation seeking in medical specialists was more strongly related to functional impulsivity than to dysfunctional impulsivity (p<0.001). The studied medical staff practicing in the capital were more prone to functional impulsivity than the medical staff practicing in towns up to 50,000 inhabitants (p_Tukey=0.007).

CONCLUSIONS: This was the first study to reveal stronger relationships between functional impulsivity and sensation seeking in medical staff than between dysfunctional impulsivity and sensation seeking which were interpreted as an influencing factor of the quality of decision-making responses. Functional impulsivity prevailed over dysfunctional impulsivity in medical occupations, so decision-making in medical care should be more effective and timelier than inappropriate, especially for medical personnel working in the capital.

PMID:34672268

Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Sep;33(Suppl 10):58-62.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Association of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection with the length of dialysis in dialysis patients is contradictory. This study was conducted in order to determine the association between the duration of dialysis and the HP infection status in the dialysis patients. Furthemore, biochemical parameters were monitored in two subject groups that were included in this study.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study included 51 patients on chronic hemodialysis program who had gastrointestinal symptoms. The subjects were divided in two groups per the length of dialysis treatment. In this study we analyzed age, gender, the time period since the onset of the chronic hemodialysis program, body mass index, biochemical parameters, and whether the patients have arterial hypertension and/or diabetes. The presence of HP antigen was determined in the stool samples with use of he UlcoGnost AG test plate.

RESULTS: The incidence of HP infection in hemodialysis patients, with some of the gastrointestinal symptoms, was 25.5%. Patients on hemodialysis for less than 24 months had lower incidence of HP infection than those on hemodialysis program for more than 24 months. HP positive and HP negative subjects were also compared by gender, age, biochemical parameters and body mass index. There was no statistical significant difference between the groups in any of those characteristics. When comparing the HP status of the subjects with the presence of arterial hypertension and diabetes, no statistically significant difference was found between the groups.

CONCLUSION: This study showed negative correlation between HP infection and the length of hemodialysis program. Analysis of age, gender, body mass index, biochemical parameters, presence of arterial hypertension and/or diabetes showed no statistically significant difference was found between the hemodialysis patients who were HP positive and those who were HP negative. Additional studies are needed to elucidate the correlation mechanism between the HP infection and the duration of dialysis, in order to examine how long the dialysis time period is the most susceptible to HP infection, and then to improve the prognosis of patients with renal disease.

PMID:34672273

J Med Biogr. 2021 Oct 21:9677720211046588. doi: 10.1177/09677720211046588. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

William Wilde, father of Oscar Wilde, made a significant contribution to ophthalmology and otology. Qualified as a surgeon. educated in statistics and showing sympathy for the Irish population, Wilde was appointed a Commissioner for the 1851 Census, which covered the time of the Irish Famine (1845-1852). Wilde, steeped in Irish mythology, used his knowledge to develop a close rapport with the Irish peasantry. However, his life was a paradox; he supported the British Government’s approach to the Famine and at the same time he showed humanity to the Irish peasantry. In his personal life he was implicated in an abortive libel case involving a young female patient who had accused him of rape. Wilde lived as though he had two separate lives: on the one hand the successful surgeon, famine Commissioner and cataloguer of Irish antiquities, and the other a countryman and disciple of Irish mythology. Wilde was highly preceptive especially in his views on the recording of medical data and outcomes in clinical practice. We argue that Wilde was probably unmatched in the variety of his talents but was also perplexing in the various actions he took during his life and that indeed Wilde was an enigma.

PMID:34672235 | DOI:10.1177/09677720211046588

Elife. 2021 Oct 21;10:e70068. doi: 10.7554/eLife.70068. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

A hallmark of electrophysiological brain activity is its 1/f-like spectrum – power decreases with increasing frequency. The steepness of this ‘roll-off’ is approximated by the spectral exponent, which in invasively recorded neural populations reflects the balance of excitatory to inhibitory neural activity (E:I balance). Here, we first establish that the spectral exponent of non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) recordings is highly sensitive to general (i.e., anaesthesia-driven) changes in E:I balance. Building on the EEG spectral exponent as a viable marker of E:I, we then demonstrate its sensitivity to the focus of selective attention in an EEG experiment during which participants detected targets in simultaneous audio-visual noise. In addition to these endogenous changes in E:I balance, EEG spectral exponents over auditory and visual sensory cortices also tracked auditory and visual stimulus spectral exponents, respectively. Individuals’ degree of this selective stimulus-brain coupling in spectral exponents predicted behavioural performance. Our results highlight the rich information contained in 1/f-like neural activity, providing a window into diverse neural processes previously thought to be inaccessible in non-invasive human recordings.

PMID:34672259 | DOI:10.7554/eLife.70068

J Comp Eff Res. 2021 Oct 21. doi: 10.2217/cer-2021-0195. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Aim: To evaluate the effects of 12-week Pilates training program on cardiac autonomic modulation. Materials & methods: A randomized controlled trial of a 12-week Pilates training program was conducted. A total of 54 men were randomly allocated to either a control or a Pilates group. Initially, the RR intervals were captured for 20 min for later analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). The training protocol was then initiated, in which the Pilates group performed 36 sessions of the Pilates method for approximately 60 min each session, three-times a week, totaling 12 weeks. The control group was instructed to maintain their normal activities during this period. One week after the end of the training, the final evaluations were performed with the capture of RR intervals in both the groups. Linear indices in the time (SDNN and rMSSD) and frequency (low frequency [LF] and high frequency [HF]) domains, and the Poincaré plot (SD1 and SD2) were used. Nonlinear indices were also analyzed (approximate entropy and detrended fluctuation analysis). Descriptive statistics and generalized mixed models were performed. Results: There was a group effect for LF (ms²) and a time effect for SD2. There was a training effect observed by the time*group interactions in which an increase in global HRV indices was found for the Pilates group after 12 weeks (SDNN: mean difference [MD] = 9.82; standard deviation [SD] = 18.52; ES = -0.514; LF [ms²]: MD = 334.23; SD = 669.43; ES = -0.547; SD2: MD = 14.58; SD = 24.28; ES = -0.693). Conclusion: A 12-week Pilates training program promotes significant improvement in global modulation of HRV in the Pilates group considering the significant increase in SDNN, LF (ms²) and SD2 indices. Trial registration number: NCT03232866.

PMID:34672201 | DOI:10.2217/cer-2021-0195

Expert Rev Vaccines. 2021 Oct 21. doi: 10.1080/14760584.2021.1994858. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: : V114 (15-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine [PCV15]) and a 20-valent PCV (PCV20) are approved for adults (≥18 years of age) in the United States. We present methodologies to indirectly compare immune responses to V114 versus PCV20.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: : Indirect treatment comparison and matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC) were performed to estimate immune responses to V114 and PCV20 for 13 serotypes (STs) shared with a 13-valent PCV (PCV13) among pneumococcal-vaccine naïve adults aged ≥60 years. Data from three V114 studies were pooled (V114, N=2,196; PCV13, N=843). In the MAIC analysis, data were reweighted, matching participant age and sex in NCT03760146 (PCV20, N=1,507; PCV13, N=1,490). Opsonophagocytic activity (OPA) geometric mean titer (GMT) ratios of V114/PCV20 at 30 days post-vaccination used PCV13 as common comparator.

RESULTS: : V114 was non-inferior to PCV20 (lower bound of OPA GMT ratio V114/PCV20 >0.5) for all PCV13 STs and statistically superior (lower bound of OPA GMT ratio V114/PCV20 >1.2) for five STs (3, 6A, 6B, 18C, and 23F) shared with PCV13. V114 was associated with 77% greater OPA GMT for ST3 versus PCV20.

CONCLUSION: : V114 was non-inferior to PCV20 for all PCV13 STs and statistically superior for five STs covered in all three vaccines.

PMID:34672224 | DOI:10.1080/14760584.2021.1994858

Geospat Health. 2021 Oct 19;16(2). doi: 10.4081/gh.2021.982.

ABSTRACT

In the late 1960s, Indonesia established community health centres (CHCs) throughout the country to provide basic healthcare services for the poor. However, CHC expenditures and investments vary widely at the sub-provincial level, among administrative areas known as cities and regencies, raising concern that facilities and services do not correspond to population needs. This study aimed to examine spatial and socioeconomic inequalities in the availability of CHCs in the Jakarta region. We used spatial and statistical analysis methods at the village level to investigate these inequalities based on CHC data from the Ministry of Health and socioeconomic data from Indonesia Statistics. Results show that CHCs and the healthcare workers within them are unevenly distributed. In areas with high need, the availability of CHCs and healthcare workers were found to be low. There is a mismatch in healthcare services and delivery for low-income, unemployed populations at the village level that needs to be addressed. The findings discussed in this paper suggest that Jakarta Department of Health should coordinate with local public health districts to determine locations for new CHCs and assign healthcare workers to each CHC based on need as this would improve access to essential health services for the low-income population.

PMID:34672179 | DOI:10.4081/gh.2021.982