Category: Statistics

Sci Rep. 2022 Apr 5;12(1):5692. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09704-w.

ABSTRACT

To improve the reliability of the quantitative scorings of the synovial biopsies, we evaluate whether diameter of arthroscopic forceps influences histological quality of synovial tissue and/or histological scores and we compare the intra- and inter-observer performances of the main histological scoring systems. Synovial biopsies were retrieved in the same part of the joint using 1, 2 and 4 mm diameters grasping forceps. After standard staining and immunohistochemistry with anti-CD68 antibody, slides were scored blindly by 2 independent experienced operators for tissue quality and with Krenn score, de Bois-Tak score and CD68 semi-quantitative score. Four samples did not pass quality control. No difference other than a higher number of vessels in the 4 mm versus 2 mm forceps (p = 0.01) was found among the 3 groups. CD68 score was significantly higher in the 2 versus 4 mm forceps (p = 0.009). So we concluded that only vessels quantification and CD68 semi-quantitative score seemed affected by the forceps size. The intra-reader agreement was variable across observers and features: 0.78 (0.66-0.87) for the Krenn scoring system, 0.89 (0.78-0.97) for the de Bois-Tak score and 0.93 (0.81-1.00) for the CD68 score. Interobserver reliabilities of Krenn score, de Bois-Tak score and CD68 scores were satisfactory: 0.95 (0.92-0.99) for Krenn, 0.98 (0.96-0.99) for de Bois-Tak and 0.80 (0.71-0.89) for CD68.

PMID:35383240 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-022-09704-w

Sci Rep. 2022 Apr 5;12(1):5657. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09462-9.

ABSTRACT

New recommendations on evaluation of peritoneal membrane function suggest ruling out catheter dysfunction when evaluating patients with low ultrafiltration capacity. We introduce the use of a combination of parameters obtained from the cycler software PD Link with HomeChoicePro (Baxter International Inc., Illinois, United States) cyclers for predicting catheter dysfunction in automated peritoneal dialysis patients (APD). Out of 117 patients treated at the Medical University of Vienna between 2015 and 2021, we retrospectively identified all patients with verified catheter dysfunction (n = 14) and compared them to controls without clinical evidence of mechanical catheter problems and a recent X-ray confirming PD catheter tip in the rectovesical/rectouterine space (n = 19). All patients had a coiled single-cuff PD catheter, performed tidal PD, and received neutral pH bicarbonate/lactate-buffered PD fluids with low-glucose degradation products on APD. Icodextrin-containing PD fluids were used for daytime dwells. We retrieved cycler data for seven days each and tested parameters’ predictive capability of catheter dysfunction. Total number of alarms/week > 7 as single predictive parameter of catheter dislocation identified 85.7% (sensitivity) of patients with dislocated catheter, whereas 31.6% (1-specificity) of control patients were false positive. A combination of parameters (number of alarms/week > 7, total drain time > 22 min, ultrafiltration of last fill < 150 mL) where at least two of three parameters appeared identified the same proportion of patients with catheter dislocation, but was more accurate in identifying controls (21.1% false positive). In contrast to yearly PET measurements, an easily applicable combination of daily cycler readout parameters, also available in new APD systems connected to remote monitoring platforms shows potential for diagnosis of catheter dysfunction during routine follow-up.

PMID:35383211 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-022-09462-9

Sci Rep. 2022 Apr 5;12(1):5716. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09644-5.

ABSTRACT

Blood pressure (BP) shows a seasonal variation with higher levels at lower temperatures. Many hypertensives, however, report on BP disturbances rather in association with acutely changing weather conditions than with absolute temperatures. To date, the impact of changing meteorological parameters on hypertensive episodes remains elusive. We performed a retrospective time series regression analysis on 203,703 patients in three hospitals in Germany between 2010 and 2018, of whom 7362 patients were admitted for hypertensive disease. Numbers of daily admissions for hypertension were associated with metereological data obtained from three nearby weather stations. Data comprised temperature (mean, maximal, minimal and range within 24 h), athmospheric pressure, and precipitation. Changes of these parameters were calculated over a two and three day period. There was an inverse correlation between maximal daily temperature and the number of admissions for hypertensive disease, which remained significant both after adjustment for seasonality and week day in a spline model and in a constrained distributed lag model. A decrease of maximal temperature by 5 °C was associated with a 3% increase of risk for admission for hypertension and vice versa. There were no significant effects of precipitation and athmospheric pressure on the number of admissions. With regard to all observed metereological parameters, neither the change within two, nor within three days was consistently associated with the number of daily admissions. High temperatures are associated with lower numbers of hypertensive episodes requiring hospital admission. In contrast to the subjective perception of many hypertensive patients, however, acutely changing weather conditions are not associated with a higher risk of hypertensive emergency.

PMID:35383236 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-022-09644-5

Nat Commun. 2022 Apr 5;13(1):1828. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29497-w.

ABSTRACT

Alternative splicing (AS) is a highly-regulated post-transcriptional mechanism known to modulate isoform expression within genes and contribute to cell-type identity. However, the extent to which alternative isoforms establish co-expression networks that may be relevant in cellular function has not been explored yet. Here, we present acorde, a pipeline that successfully leverages bulk long reads and single-cell data to confidently detect alternative isoform co-expression relationships. To achieve this, we develop and validate percentile correlations, an innovative approach that overcomes data sparsity and yields accurate co-expression estimates from single-cell data. Next, acorde uses correlations to cluster co-expressed isoforms into a network, unraveling cell type-specific alternative isoform usage patterns. By selecting same-gene isoforms between these clusters, we subsequently detect and characterize genes with co-differential isoform usage (coDIU) across cell types. Finally, we predict functional elements from long read-defined isoforms and provide insight into biological processes, motifs, and domains potentially controlled by the coordination of post-transcriptional regulation. The code for acorde is available at https://github.com/ConesaLab/acorde .

PMID:35383181 | DOI:10.1038/s41467-022-29497-w

Nat Commun. 2022 Apr 5;13(1):1829. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29457-4.

ABSTRACT

The transformation of sensory input to motor output is often conceived as a decoder operating on neural representations. We seek a mechanistic understanding of sensory decoding by mimicking neural circuitry in the decoder’s design. The results of a simple experiment shape our approach. Changing the size of a target for smooth pursuit eye movements changes the relationship between the variance and mean of the evoked behavior in a way that contradicts the regime of “signal-dependent noise” and defies traditional decoding approaches. A theoretical analysis leads us to propose a circuit for pursuit that includes multiple parallel pathways and multiple sources of variation. Behavioral and neural responses with biomimetic statistics emerge from a biologically-motivated circuit model with noise in the pathway that is dedicated to flexibly adjusting the strength of visual-motor transmission. Our results demonstrate the power of re-imagining decoding as processing through the parallel pathways of neural systems.

PMID:35383170 | DOI:10.1038/s41467-022-29457-4

Nat Commun. 2022 Apr 5;13(1):1824. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29367-5.

ABSTRACT

The acute stress response mobilizes energy to meet situational demands and re-establish homeostasis. However, the underlying molecular cascades are unclear. Here, we use a brief swim exposure to trigger an acute stress response in mice, which transiently increases anxiety, without leading to lasting maladaptive changes. Using multiomic profiling, such as proteomics, phospho-proteomics, bulk mRNA-, single-nuclei mRNA-, small RNA-, and TRAP-sequencing, we characterize the acute stress-induced molecular events in the mouse hippocampus over time. Our results show the complexity and specificity of the response to acute stress, highlighting both the widespread changes in protein phosphorylation and gene transcription, and tightly regulated protein translation. The observed molecular events resolve efficiently within four hours after initiation of stress. We include an interactive app to explore the data, providing a molecular resource that can help us understand how acute stress impacts brain function in response to stress.

PMID:35383160 | DOI:10.1038/s41467-022-29367-5

Nat Commun. 2022 Apr 5;13(1):1837. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29389-z.

ABSTRACT

Large scale screening is a critical tool in the life sciences, but is often limited by reagents, samples, or cost. An important recent example is the challenge of achieving widespread COVID-19 testing in the face of substantial resource constraints. To tackle this challenge, screening methods must efficiently use testing resources. However, given the global nature of the pandemic, they must also be simple (to aid implementation) and flexible (to be tailored for each setting). Here we propose HYPER, a group testing method based on hypergraph factorization. We provide theoretical characterizations under a general statistical model, and carefully evaluate HYPER with alternatives proposed for COVID-19 under realistic simulations of epidemic spread and viral kinetics. We find that HYPER matches or outperforms the alternatives across a broad range of testing-constrained environments, while also being simpler and more flexible. We provide an online tool to aid lab implementation: http://hyper.covid19-analysis.org .

PMID:35383149 | DOI:10.1038/s41467-022-29389-z

Occup Environ Med. 2022 Apr 5:oemed-2021-107947. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2021-107947. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the reported UK incidence of occupational inhalation accidents, and to consider changes of incidence and potential causes over time.

METHODS: Cases of occupational inhalation accident reported to Surveillance of Work Related Occupational Respiratory Diseases (SWORD) over 20 years were grouped into four 5-year time periods. Cases were characterised by causative exposure, occupation and industrial sector. Incidence rates were calculated using Office of National Statistics employment data.

RESULTS: The 172 actual cases reported to SWORD equated to an estimated 502 cases after adjusting for reporting frequency. Their mean age was 41.3 years (SD 12.3); 77% were male. The annual incidence fell from 1.7 per million employed in the first 5-year period, to 0.5 in the most recent. The most common occupations, responsible for 35% of all cases, were in descending order (number, % of total cases): Labourers in process and plant operations (8, 4.7), welding trades (8, 4.7), fire service officers (8, 4.7), heavy goods vehicle drivers (7, 4.1), metal working production and maintenance fitters (7, 4.1), civil service administrative officers and assistants (7, 4.1), food, drink and tobacco process operatives (6, 3.5), and three summated categories of elementary and service occupations including cleaners and domestics (10, 5.8).Three of 40 exposure categories were common to all time periods; acids (19.6% of all cases 1999-2004, 2.3% 2005-2009, 6.3% 2010-2013, 6.3% 2014-2018), chlorine/hypochlorites (7.2%, 7.0%, 2.5%, 6.3%, respectively) and solvents (14.4%, 11.6%, 12.5%, 6.3%, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of inhalation accidents appears to have fallen, although certain exposures appear to be persistently linked to cases.

PMID:35383119 | DOI:10.1136/oemed-2021-107947

Anat Cell Biol. 2022 Apr 6. doi: 10.5115/acb.21.217. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Cubital fossa is the site where the venous accesses are frequently made. Superficial veins at this site display variations in their pattern among different populations. Knowledge of different venous pattern in the cubital fossa is important for diagnostic, surgical and therapeutic procedures. The purpose of this study was to report variations of the cubital superficial vein patterns in the southern Ethiopian subjects. An institution based cross-sectional study design was employed among 401 randomly selected patients presented at the triage room of Arba Minch General Hospital from January 15 to February 15, 2021. A questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data and images of the common and variant superficial venous patterns were recorded. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. P < 0.05 was considered as statistical significance. In the present study, a total of 802 cubital fossae from 401 study participants were examined. Five patterns of superficial veins were identified. Type 2 was the most common pattern and observed in 55% of cubital fossae (42.1% right and 67.9 left cubital fossae). The least common, type 5 variant was detected in 2.6% cubital fossae (2.8% right and 2.5 left). Statistically significant association based on sex and laterality was noted. The current study concluded that type 2 and type 3 patterns were more frequent superficial venous patterns in the cubital fossa and more common in males than female. Awareness of these uncommon cubital venous patterns and their incidence is very useful for those performing venipuncture or venisection especially under emergency conditions.

PMID:35383135 | DOI:10.5115/acb.21.217

eNeuro. 2022 Apr 4:ENEURO.0447-21.2022. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0447-21.2022. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Visuomotor rotations are frequently used to study cognitive processes underlying motor adaptation. Explicit aiming strategies and implicit recalibration are two of these processes. A large body of literature indicates that both processes are in fact dissociable and mainly independent components that can be measured using different manipulations in visuomotor rotation tasks. Visual feedback is a crucial element in these tasks, and it therefore plays an important role when assessing explicit re-aiming and implicit recalibration. For instance, researchers have found timing of visual feedback to affect the contribution of implicit recalibration to learning: if feedback is shown only at the end of the movement (instead of continuously), implicit recalibration decreases. Similarly, participants show lower levels of implicit recalibration if visual feedback is presented with a delay (instead of immediately). We thus hypothesized that the duration of feedback availability might also play a role. The goal of this study was thus to investigate the effect of longer versus shorter feedback durations on implicit recalibration in human participants. To this end, we compared three feedback durations in a between-subject design: 200ms, 600ms and 1200ms. Using a large sample size, we found differences between groups to be quite small, to the point where most differences indicated statistical equivalence between group means. We therefore hypothesize that feedback duration, when only endpoint feedback is presented, has a negligible effect on implicit recalibration. We propose that future research investigate the effect of feedback duration on other parameters of adaptation, so as proprioceptive recalibration and explicit re-aiming.Significance statementKnowledge about explicit and implicit processes in motor adaptation forms a crucial aspect in our understanding of motor learning in general. We know that the smallest changes in visual feedback might lead to more or less implicit recalibration, which in turn can lead to changes in performance. One aspect, that has not yet been tested, is whether duration of visual feedback affects implicit recalibration. We find that changes implicit recalibration are very small, if they exist at all. This is an important finding which extends our knowledge about the factors that do or don’t influence implicit recalibration.

PMID:35383109 | DOI:10.1523/ENEURO.0447-21.2022