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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Artificial Sweeteners and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in the Prospective NutriNet-Santé Cohort

Diabetes Care. 2023 Jul 25:dc230206. doi: 10.2337/dc23-0206. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationships between artificial sweeteners, accounting for all dietary sources(total and by type of artificial sweetener) and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), in a large-scale prospective cohort.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The analyses included 105,588 participants from the web-based NutriNet-Santé study (France, 2009-2022; mean age 42.5 ± 14.6 years, 79.2% women). Repeated 24-h dietary records, including brands and commercial names of industrial products, merged with qualitative and quantitative food additive composition data, enabled artificial sweetener intakes to be accurately assessed from all dietary sources. Associations between artificial sweeteners (total, aspartame, acesulfame potassium [K], and sucralose) and T2D were investigated using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for potential confounders, including weight variation during follow-up.

RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 9.1 years (946,650 person-years, 972 incident T2D), compared with nonconsumers, higher consumers of artificial sweeteners (i.e., above the sex-specific medians of 16.4 mg/day in men and 18.5 mg/day in women) had higher risks of developing T2D (hazard ratio [HR] 1.69; 95% CI 1.45-1.97; P-trend <0.001). Positive associations were also observed for individual artificial sweeteners: aspartame (HR 1.63 [95% CI 1.38-1.93], P-trend <0.001), acesulfame-K (HR 1.70 [1.42-2.04], P-trend <0.001), and sucralose (HR 1.34 [1.07-1.69], P-trend = 0.013).

CONCLUSIONS: Potential for reverse causality cannot be eliminated; however, many sensitivity analyses were computed to limit this and other potential biases. These findings of positive associations between artificial sweetener intakes and increased T2D risk strengthen the evidence that these additives may not be safe sugar alternatives. This study provides important insights in the context of on-going reevaluation of artificial sweeteners by health authorities worldwide.

PMID:37490630 | DOI:10.2337/dc23-0206

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Do Polymorphisms Predict Hypnotherapy Response in Children with Functional Abdominal Pain Disorders: an Explorative Study

J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2023 Jul 25. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0000000000003895. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Genetic variations, in specific COMT, OPRM1 and MAO-A polymorphisms, have been associated with hypnotizability in adults. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate whether these polymorphisms are also associated with response to hypnotherapy (HT) in children. Patients (8-18 years, n=260) diagnosed with a functional abdominal pain disorder (FAPDs) from a previous trial assessing HT efficacy were approached for participation and 144 agreed to collect a buccal sample. Primary aim was to explore the association between COMT, OPRM1 and MAO-A polymorphisms with treatment success after 3-month HT. Additionally, associations between these polymorphisms and adequate relief, anxiety, depression, quality of life, somatization, hypnotic susceptibility, expectations, pain beliefs, and coping strategies were evaluated. Participants with different variations of COMT, MAO-A and OPRM1 achieved similar treatment success levels (p > .05). No associations were found between these polymorphisms and secondary outcomes. This suggest that in pediatric patients with FAPDs, COMT, OPRM1 and MAO-A polymorphisms do not predict HT response.

PMID:37490618 | DOI:10.1097/MPG.0000000000003895

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Longitudinal Examination of Morphosyntactic Skills in Bilingual Children: Spanish and English Standardized Scores

J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2023 Jul 25:1-17. doi: 10.1044/2023_JSLHR-22-00495. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine changes in English and Spanish morphosyntactic standardized scores over time in bilingual children.

METHOD: One hundred bilingual children participated in this longitudinal study. The average age of the children at the beginning of the study was 5;11 (years;months). A subset of the participants was identified as children with developmental language disorder (DLD, n = 43). Children completed behavioral testing in Spanish and English at three time points over a period of 2 years. Growth curve modeling was employed to analyze longitudinal data.

RESULTS: Distinct patterns of Spanish and English language growth were observed. While the average standard score in English increased, the average score in Spanish decreased over time for both groups. Children with DLD showed persistent language difficulties in both Spanish and English over time in comparison to their peers.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide evidence of a shift in language proficiency from Spanish to English for bilingual children with and without language disorders. This study also shows that bilingual children with DLD show a protracted but parallel growth in morphosyntactic skills in comparison to children without DLD.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23671464.

PMID:37490611 | DOI:10.1044/2023_JSLHR-22-00495

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Medical pluralism, healthcare utilization and patient wellbeing: The case of Akan cancer patients in Ghana

Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2023 Dec;18(1):2238994. doi: 10.1080/17482631.2023.2238994.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: As cancers increase in Ghana and in many low-and middle-income countries, healthcare utilization has become critical for disease management and patients’ wellbeing. There is evidence that medical pluralism is common among cancer patients in Ghana and many other African countries, which results in lack of adherence to and absconding from hospital treatments. The objective of this study was to examine ways in which beliefs in disease causation influence medical pluralism among Akan cancer patients in Ghana.

METHODS: A qualitative research approach was employed in this study. In-depth interviews were conducted for thirty (30) cancer patients who were purposively recruited from Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana. Thematic content analysis was used in analysing data.

RESULTS: Our findings revealed that cancer patients ascribed both physical and spiritual causality to their illness. As such, they combined orthodox treatment with spiritual healing and herbal medicine. Regarding the order of therapeutic search, patients reported to herbal and spiritual centres before going to the hospital, a phenomenon which contributes to the late reporting and diagnosis as well as bad prognosis of cancers in Ghana.

CONCLUSION: The findings of this research elucidate the relationship between culture and health care choices of cancer patients in Ghana. Increased awareness creation is crucial in eradicating myths surrounding cancers in Ghana.

PMID:37490583 | DOI:10.1080/17482631.2023.2238994

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Prevalence of Hospital-Onset Bacteremia Pre- and Post-Implementation of a Needleless Blood Sampling Device From Existing Peripheral Catheters

J Infus Nurs. 2023 Jul 24. doi: 10.1097/NAN.0000000000000513. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Repeated access of peripheral intravenous (IV) devices theoretically increases the risk of bacterial exposure. PIVO™ (VelanoVascular) is a needleless, single-use device that enables blood sampling from an existing peripheral IV. The goal of this retrospective observational exploratory study was to evaluate the influence of PIVO use on rates of hospital-onset bacteremia and fungemia (HOB) by comparing HOB rates in the year before and after PIVO introduction in hospitals implementing PIVO and over similar time periods in “control” hospitals with no PIVO. Two hospitals implementing PIVO (Hospital 1, a large community hospital; Hospital 2, a tertiary oncology center), and 71 control hospitals were included. During the 1-year period before and after PIVO introduction, HOB rates decreased in hospitals 1 and 2 by 31.9% and 41.8%, respectively. Control hospitals that did not use PIVO had a 12.4% decrease in HOB rates. Multivariable logistic regression analyses found that PIVO was associated with a lower risk (Hospital 1 odds ratio [OR]: 0.63; 95% CI, 0.42-0.94) or no change (Hospital 2 OR: 1.05; 95% CI, 0.72-1.52) in HOB rates. Control hospitals also showed no change in HOB rates between the 2 time periods. These data do not support concerns about increased risk of bacteremia with PIVO.

PMID:37490579 | DOI:10.1097/NAN.0000000000000513

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Impact of fully guided implant planning software training on the knowledge acquisition and satisfaction of dental undergraduate students

Med Educ Online. 2023 Dec;28(1):2239453. doi: 10.1080/10872981.2023.2239453.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: A majority of dental school students do not undergo hands-on clinical training in implantology in the undergraduate curriculum. Training is usually restricted to pre-implant evaluation and post-implant prostheses. Virtual implant planning software (VIPS) provides an alternative opportunity for undergraduate students to experience implant planning much before gaining hands-on experience. However, not many studies have the contribution of VIPS to the knowledge acquisition of students. We conducted a preliminary study to evaluate the knowledge acquisition of the students when exposed to a hands-on session of VIPS. We also evaluated students’ satisfaction levels, when exposed to hands-on training in fully guided implant planning software.

METHODS: A two-part theory lecture on fully guided implant planning was delivered to 90, 5th (final)-year dental undergraduate students by the oral radiology faculty. The students were then randomly divided into three groups. Group A was exposed to didactic lectures only. Group B was shown a video for fully guided implant planning in addition to the didactic lecture. Group C was shown a video for fully guided implant planning in addition to a didactic lecture and then performed a hands-on session of virtual implant planning under faculty guidance. Students from all groups were given an MCQ-based test. After the completion of the test students from group A and B also received VIPS hands-on training. Students from all three groups answered and a feedback questionnaire regarding their satisfaction levels with VIPS.

RESULTS: The overall test score of students in Group C was higher than their colleagues in both Groups A and B and the differences were statistically significant (p = 0.01). More than 85% of the students were satisfied with the teaching approach.

CONCLUSIONS: The utilization of VIPS in the training of dental undergraduate students improves their performance confirming better knowledge acquisition and content mastery.

PMID:37490557 | DOI:10.1080/10872981.2023.2239453

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Tunable nonlinear optical mapping in a multiple-scattering cavity

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Aug;120(31):e2305027120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2305027120. Epub 2023 Jul 25.

ABSTRACT

Nonlinear disordered systems are not only a model system for fundamental studies but also in high demand for practical applications. However, optical nonlinearity based on intrinsic material response is weak in random scattering systems. Here, we propose and experimentally realize a highly nonlinear mapping between the scattering potential and the emerging light of a reconfigurable multiple-scattering cavity. A quantitative analysis of the degree of nonlinearity reveals its dependence on the number of scattering events. The effective order of nonlinear mapping can be tuned over a wide range at low optical lower. The strong nonlinear mapping enhances output intensity fluctuations and long-range correlations. The flexibility, robustness, and energy efficiency of our approach provides a versatile platform for exploring such nonlinear mappings for various applications.

PMID:37490539 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2305027120

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Approximate message passing from random initialization with applications to Z2 synchronization

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Aug;120(31):e2302930120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2302930120. Epub 2023 Jul 25.

ABSTRACT

This paper is concerned with the problem of reconstructing an unknown rank-one matrix with prior structural information from noisy observations. While computing the Bayes optimal estimator is intractable in general due to the requirement of computing high-dimensional integrations/summations, Approximate Message Passing (AMP) emerges as an efficient first-order method to approximate the Bayes optimal estimator. However, the theoretical underpinnings of AMP remain largely unavailable when it starts from random initialization, a scheme of critical practical utility. Focusing on a prototypical model called [Formula: see text] synchronization, we characterize the finite-sample dynamics of AMP from random initialization, uncovering its rapid global convergence. Our theory-which is nonasymptotic in nature-in this model unveils the non-necessity of a careful initialization for the success of AMP.

PMID:37490538 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2302930120

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Quantum advantage in variational Bayes inference

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Aug;120(31):e2212660120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2212660120. Epub 2023 Jul 25.

ABSTRACT

Variational Bayes (VB) inference algorithm is used widely to estimate both the parameters and the unobserved hidden variables in generative statistical models. The algorithm-inspired by variational methods used in computational physics-is iterative and can get easily stuck in local minima, even when classical techniques, such as deterministic annealing (DA), are used. We study a VB inference algorithm based on a nontraditional quantum annealing approach-referred to as quantum annealing variational Bayes (QAVB) inference-and show that there is indeed a quantum advantage to QAVB over its classical counterparts. In particular, we show that such better performance is rooted in key quantum mechanics concepts: i) The ground state of the Hamiltonian of a quantum system-defined from the given data-corresponds to an optimal solution for the minimization problem of the variational free energy at very low temperatures; ii) such a ground state can be achieved by a technique paralleling the quantum annealing process; and iii) starting from this ground state, the optimal solution to the VB problem can be achieved by increasing the heat bath temperature to unity, and thereby avoiding local minima introduced by spontaneous symmetry breaking observed in classical physics based VB algorithms. We also show that the update equations of QAVB can be potentially implemented using ⌈logK⌉ qubits and 𝒪(K) operations per step, where K is the number of values hidden categorical variables can take. Thus, QAVB can match the time complexity of existing VB algorithms, while delivering higher performance.

PMID:37490536 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2212660120

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Partitioning Quantum Chemistry Simulations with Clifford Circuits

J Chem Theory Comput. 2023 Jul 25. doi: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00335. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Current quantum computing hardware is restricted by the availability of only few, noisy qubits which limits the investigation of larger, more complex molecules in quantum chemistry calculations on quantum computers in the near term. In this work, we investigate the limits of their classical and near-classical treatment while staying within the framework of quantum circuits and the variational quantum eigensolver. To this end, we consider naive and physically motivated, classically efficient product ansatz for the parametrized wavefunction adapting the separable-pair ansatz form. We combine it with post-treatment to account for interactions between subsystems originating from this ansatz. The classical treatment is given by another quantum circuit that has support between the enforced subsystems and is folded into the Hamiltonian. To avoid an exponential increase in the number of Hamiltonian terms, the entangling operations are constructed from purely Clifford or near-Clifford circuits. While Clifford circuits can be simulated efficiently classically, they are not universal. In order to account for missing expressibility, near-Clifford circuits with only few, selected non-Clifford gates are employed. The exact circuit structure to achieve this objective is molecule-dependent and is constructed using simulated annealing and genetic algorithms. We demonstrate our approach on a set of molecules of interest and investigate the extent of our methodology’s reach.

PMID:37490516 | DOI:10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00335