Category: Statistics

Environ Int. 2022 Mar 30;163:107216. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107216. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: A growing body of studies have reported the health benefits of greenness. However, less is known about the potential beneficial effects of residential greenness on gut microbiota, which is essential to human health. In this study, we aim to examine the association between residential greenness and gut microbiota in a population-based cohort study.

METHODS: We included 1758 participants based on the China Multi-Ethnic Cohort (CMEC) study and collected their stool samples for 16S sequencing to derive gut microbiota data. Residential greenness was estimated using the satellite-based data on enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and the normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) in circular buffers of 250 m, 500 m, and 1000 m. The relationships between residential greenness levels and the composition of gut microbiota, measured by standardized α-diversity and taxonomic composition, were assessed using linear regression and Spearman correlation weighted by generalized propensity scores.

RESULTS: Higher greenness levels were significantly positively associated with standardized α-diversity. Per interquartile range (IQR) increase of EVI and NDVI in the circular buffer of 250 m were associated with the increments of 0.995(95% confidence interval (CI): 0.212-1.778) and 0.653(95% CI: 0.160-1.146) in the standardized Shannon index. For the taxonomic composition of gut microbiota, higher greenness levels were significantly correlated with 29 types of microbial taxonomic composition. NDVI in the circular buffer of 250 m was associated with increased Firmicutes (r = 0.102, adjusted p value = 0.004), which was the dominant composition in the gut microbiota.

CONCLUSIONS: Increased amounts of residential greenness may support healthy gut microbiota by benignly altering their composition. These findings suggested that green spaces should be designed to support diverse gut microbiota and ultimately optimize health benefits.

PMID:35366558 | DOI:10.1016/j.envint.2022.107216

Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Mar 30;178:113580. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113580. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Industrial and commercial port activities are widely recognized worldwide as an important source of pollution to proximal estuaries. In this study, we analysed geochemical and sedimentological parameters including major and trace elements, organic matter and sediment texture in surface sediments from the estuarine environment of Southampton Water, U.K. Using these data, and multivariate statistical tools [correlation, factor and cluster analysis and pollution indices such as Enrichment Factor (EF), Pollution Load Index (PLI) and the Adverse Effect Index (AEI)], we examine sedimentary trace metal and metalloid contamination, contamination sources, and potential biological impacts of the contamination present. The geochemical data, multivariate statistical analysis and pollution indices indicate that the spatial distribution of trace metals and metalloids is influenced by both sediment composition (and mixing) and anthropogenic activities. Most trace metal and metalloid concentrations are close to local geological background levels, except for Cu, Zn and Pb. The spatial distribution of these elements indicates that the Exxon oil refinery, Southampton port, local marinas and runoff from domestic and industrial activities act effectively as point sources of these elements. Pollution indices calculations highlight a degraded environment as a result of these pollutants, and further work is needed to assess the current impact of trace metals and metalloids on local ecology.

PMID:35366548 | DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113580

Epilepsy Behav. 2022 Mar 30;130:108676. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2022.108676. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) is a promising noninvasive electrical stimulation therapy for neuropsychiatric diseases. Invasive neuromodulation using alternating current has been efficacious for drug-resistant epilepsy, but it is associated with surgical and medical complications. We aimed to explore the safeness and effectivity on seizure frequency reduction of two tACS protocols against placebo in patients with multifocal refractory epilepsy. This was a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial with 3-arm parallel-group (placebo, 30 min/2 mA daily sessions for 3 days [tACS-30], and 60 min/2 mA weekday sessions [tACS-60]). The main outcome was considered a change in reducing seizure frequency at 2 months after the intervention. Secondary outcomes were the apparition of any adverse effects during follow-up. At the second month, we observed a nonsignificant reduction in the seizure frequency in the placebo (7.3 ± 40.4%, p > 0.05) and the tACS-60 (26 ± 37.7%, p > 0.05). While the tACS-30 group showed a nonsignificant increase in seizure frequency (63.6 ± 155.3%, p > 0.05). No changes were statistically different from the placebo group. Otherwise, participants experienced only minor adverse events – the most common being an initial local transient tingling sensation (21%). This pilot study of tACS raises no severe safety issues, but provides negligible evidence for efficacy using this brief treatment protocol. Therefore, more studies are warranted testing different parameters to further verify the safety and effectivity of tACS in multifocal epilepsy.

PMID:35366528 | DOI:10.1016/j.yebeh.2022.108676

Nurse Educ Today. 2022 Mar 19;112:105333. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105333. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional education (IPE) is a concept focusing on the improvement of a good teamwork environment bringing professionals from diffferent professions together to obtain high-quality health care and improve health outcomes. Determining health discipline students’ IPE perceptions and readiness is important to develop, implement and maintain effective IPE programs.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine perception and readiness for interprofessional education of health discipline students.

DESIGN: This study utilized a descriptive and cross-sectional design.

SETTINGS: A public university in Turkey. The study was conducted with students enrolled in Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical Faculty, Faculty of Dentistry, or Vocational School of Health Services.

PARTICIPANTS: The participants included 646 health discipline students who were enrolled in nursing, midwifery, medical, dentistry, medical imaging technology, first and emergency aid, and elderly care departments.

METHODS: Data were collected through the “Data Collection Form”, the “Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS-TR)” and the “Readiness for Inter-professional Learning Scale (RIPLS)”.

RESULTS: The participants’ IEPS-TR and RIPLS total mean scores were found 65.81 ± 19.86 and 67.90 ± 13.53, respectively. The IEPS-TR and RIPLS mean scores and the variables such as choosing the department willingly and being satisfied with the department indicated a statistically significant correlation (p < 0.05). In addition, RIPLS mean scores and the variables such as age, and willingness to take classes with other healthcare students indicated a statistically significant correlation (p < 0.05). However, no statistically significant correlation was found between the IEPS-TR and RIPLS total mean scores and department-related variables (p > 0.05). The participants’ IEPS-TR and RIPLS mean scores demonstrated a positive and significant relationship (r = 0.314, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that health discipline students had a high level of perception of interdisciplinary education and were ready for interprofessional education. The study also demonstrated that students’ perception of interdisciplinary education increased with the increase in their readiness for this education.

PMID:35366530 | DOI:10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105333

Cognition. 2022 Mar 30;225:105112. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105112. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Exponential growth is frequently underestimated, an error that can have a heavy social cost in the context of epidemics. To clarify its origins, we measured the human capacity (N = 521) to extrapolate linear and exponential trends in scatterplots. Four factors were manipulated: the function underlying the data (linear or exponential), the response modality (pointing or venturing a number), the scale on the y axis (linear or logarithmic), and the amount of noise in the data. While linear extrapolation was precise and largely unbiased, we observed a consistent underestimation of noisy exponential growth, present for both pointing and numerical responses. A biased ideal-observer model could explain these data as an occasional misperception of noisy exponential graphs as quadratic curves. Importantly, this underestimation bias was mitigated by participants’ math knowledge, by using a logarithmic scale, and by presenting a noiseless exponential curve rather than a noisy data plot, thus suggesting concrete avenues for interventions.

PMID:35366484 | DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105112

Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2022 Mar 24;59:102692. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2022.102692. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Body fluid identification is an important step in the forensic DNA workflow, and more advanced methods, such as microRNA (miRNA) analysis, have been research topics within the community over the last few decades. We previously reported a reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) panel of eight miRNAs that could classify blood, menstrual secretions, feces, urine, saliva, semen, and vaginal secretions through analysis of differential gene expression. The purpose of this project was to evaluate this panel in a larger population size, develop a more statistically robust analysis method and perform a series of developmental validation studies. Each of the eight miRNA markers was analyzed in > 40 donors each of blood, menstrual secretions, feces, urine, saliva, semen, and vaginal secretions. A 10-fold cross-validated quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) model yielded the highest classification accuracy of 93% after eliminating miR-26b and miR-1246 from the panel. Accuracy of body fluid predictions was between 84% and 100% when various population demographics and samples from the same donor over multiple time periods were evaluated, but the assay demonstrated limited scope and reduced accuracy when mixed body fluid samples were tested. Limit of detection was found to be less than 10⁴ copies/µL across multiple commercially available RT-qPCR analysis methods. These data suggest that miR-200b, miR-320c, miR-10b, and miR-891a, when normalized to let-7 g and let-7i, can consistently and robustly classify blood, feces and urine, but additional work is important to improve classification of saliva, semen, and female intimate secretions before implementation in forensic casework.

PMID:35366474 | DOI:10.1016/j.fsigen.2022.102692

Thromb Res. 2022 Mar 24;213:138-144. doi: 10.1016/j.thromres.2022.03.017. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to detail the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in England.

METHODS: This was an exploratory retrospective analysis of observational data from the Hospital Episode Statistics dataset for England. All patients aged ≥18 years in England with a diagnosis of COVID-19 who had a hospital stay that was completed between 1st March 2020 and 31st March 2021 were included. A recorded diagnosis of VTE during the index stay or during a subsequent admission in the six weeks following discharge was the primary outcome in the main analysis. In secondary analysis, VTE diagnosis was the primary exposure and in-hospital mortality the primary outcome.

RESULTS: Over the 13 months, 374,244 unique patients had a diagnosis of COVID-19 during a hospital stay, of whom 17,346 (4.6%) had a recorded diagnosis of VTE. VTE was more commonly recorded in patients aged 40-79 years, males and in patients of Black ethnicity, even after adjusting for covariates. Recorded VTE diagnosis was associated with longer hospital stay and higher adjusted in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 1.35 (95% confidence interval 1.29 to 1.41)).

CONCLUSIONS: VTE was a common complication of hospitalisation with COVID-19 in England. VTE was associated with both increased length of stay and mortality rate.

PMID:35366435 | DOI:10.1016/j.thromres.2022.03.017

Cell. 2022 Mar 27:S0092-8674(22)00267-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.03.007. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The Avars settled the Carpathian Basin in 567/68 CE, establishing an empire lasting over 200 years. Who they were and where they came from is highly debated. Contemporaries have disagreed about whether they were, as they claimed, the direct successors of the Mongolian Steppe Rouran empire that was destroyed by the Turks in ∼550 CE. Here, we analyze new genome-wide data from 66 pre-Avar and Avar-period Carpathian Basin individuals, including the 8 richest Avar-period burials and further elite sites from Avar’s empire core region. Our results provide support for a rapid long-distance trans-Eurasian migration of Avar-period elites. These individuals carried Northeast Asian ancestry matching the profile of preceding Mongolian Steppe populations, particularly a genome available from the Rouran period. Some of the later elite individuals carried an additional non-local ancestry component broadly matching the steppe, which could point to a later migration or reflect greater genetic diversity within the initial migrant population.

PMID:35366416 | DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2022.03.007

Gait Posture. 2022 Mar 27;94:203-209. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2022.03.019. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused great changes in daily activities, especially in children. In Spain, to avoid infections, a home quarantine was declared, which caused a drastic reduction in daily or weekly physical activity in children.

OBJECTIVE: to analyse the balance performance after the COVID-19-induced quarantine on children’s balance, through the use of balance tests, considering the type of sport practiced.

METHODS: an observational and longitudinal study was carried out with a sample size of 150 healthy children (69 boys and 81 girls) with a mean age of 10.02 ± 1.15 years. Postural control was evaluated under different equilibrium conditions before and after the quarantine period. Two data collections using the Gyko system were compared, with a difference of 8 months between them. In addition, the influence of foot type and physical activity was analysed.

RESULTS: After the quarantine, statistically significant differences were found in terms of balance results, which were worse than before (p < 0.05). Postural control was not influenced by the type of sport practiced (i.e., individual, collective and / or not practicing sport), nor by the surface which the test was performed (p > 0.05). Physically active children (i.e., individual and / or collective sport) presented worse results than physically inactive children. A statistically significant impairment in terms of balance was demonstrated in children who performed high and moderate physical activity (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: After the quarantine period, a significant reduction in balance performance was found in children. The findings suggest that regular physical activity benefits postural control. Loss of balance does not differ in postural stability by the type of sport practised. Postural stability is not influenced by the type of footprint after the period of physical inactivity. Postural control is influenced in children with a great level of physical activity.

PMID:35366430 | DOI:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2022.03.019

Lancet Public Health. 2022 Apr;7(4):e347-e355. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(22)00026-3.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: There is a need to know how changes in health expectancy differ for population subgroups globally. The aim of this study was to estimate 10-year trends in health expectancies by individual markers of socioeconomic position from three points over the lifecourse, evaluating how compression and expansion of morbidity have varied within a national population.

METHODS: We analysed data from two cohorts of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. The cohorts were followed annually from 2001 to 2007 (n=4720; baseline age range 50-100 years) and 2011 to 2017 (n=6632; baseline age range 50-99 years). Health expectancies were estimated at age 65 years for four outcomes reflecting activity limitations, disability, perceived health, and mental health. Cohort differences were compared by gender, age left school, occupational prestige, and housing tenure.

FINDINGS: Women with low socioeconomic position were the only group with no improvements in life expectancy across the two cohorts. Among men with low education and all women gains in life expectancy comprised entirely of years lived with global activity limitations. Compression of years lived with severe-disability, poor self-rated health, and poor mental health was most consistently observed for men and women with high education and home ownership. Occupational prestige did not greatly differentiate cohort differences in health expectancies.

INTERPRETATION: Over the past two decades in Australia, social disparities in health expectancies have at least been maintained, and have increased for some outcomes. Equitable gains in health expectancies should be a major public health goal, and will help support sustainable health and social care systems.

FUNDING: Australian Research Council.

PMID:35366409 | DOI:10.1016/S2468-2667(22)00026-3