Nevin Manimala

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Sep 4:166727. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166727. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Temperature anomalies and changes in the diurnal temperature range (DTR) are expected to pose physiological challenges to biota; hence, both spatial and temporal variations in DTR provide important insights into temperature-induced stress in humans, animals, and vegetation. Furthermore, vegetation could dampen temperature variability. Here, we use the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) remote sensing data of Land Surface Temperature (LST) to evaluate the global variation in DTR and its rate of change in spatial and temporal scales for the two decades spanning from 2001 to 2020. We show that North America, Africa, and Antarctica, as well as the global mean, experienced statistically significant DTR rates of change over the last 20 years in either summer, winter, or the annual mean. The rates were all negative, indicating the day-night temperature differences are decreasing in those regions because night temperatures are increasing at a faster rate than day temperatures. MODIS data of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) revealed a strongly negative correlation with DTR, with a spatial correlation coefficient of -0.61. This correlation demonstrates a prominent dampening effect of vegetation on diurnal temperature oscillations. For future DTR projections, we used 19 models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) to predict global DTR trends from 2021 to 2050 with low and high CO₂ concentration scenarios. The high CO₂ emission scenario projects significant decreases in DTR in circumpolar regions, central Africa, and India compared to the low CO₂ scenario. This difference in the two scenarios underscores the substantial influence of increased global temperatures and elevated CO₂ concentration on DTR and, consequently, on the ecosystems in certain regions.

PMID:37673261 | DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166727

Am J Public Health. 2023 Oct;113(10):1116-1119. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2023.307355.

ABSTRACT

Objectives. To assess geographic and sociodemographic variations in prevalence of mental health symptoms among US youths. Methods. We analyzed data from the Household Pulse Survey, phases 3.5 and 3.6, between June 1 and November 14, 2022. The sample included 103 296 households with an estimated 190 017 youths younger than 18 years. We defined mental health symptoms based on parental responses and estimated prevalence by state and subgroups, including race/ethnicity, parental education, household income, housing tenure, household food sufficiency, and health insurance coverage. All analyses incorporated sampling weight. Results. An estimated 34.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 33.7%, 35.3%) of youths had parent-reported mental health symptoms. The prevalence of symptoms varied across states, ranging from 27.9% (95% CI = 23.8%, 32.0%) in Florida to 46.4% (95% CI = 41.9%, 50.9%) in New Hampshire. We observed variations by subgroup, with youths in households that did not pay rent reporting a prevalence of 43.8% (95% CI = 39.3%, 48.4%) and those experiencing food insufficiency reporting a prevalence of 56.0% (95% CI = 50.9%, 61.2%). Conclusions. There is an urgent need for attention to mental health challenges among youths, taking into account geographic and sociodemographic variations. (Am J Public Health. 2023;113(10):1116-1119. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307355).

PMID:37672739 | DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2023.307355

J Phys Chem B. 2023 Sep 6. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c02498. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Many biological molecules respond to external stimuli that can cause their conformational states to shift from one steady state to another. Single-molecule FRET (Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer) is of particular interest to not only define the steady-state conformational ensemble usually averaged out in the ensemble of molecules but also characterize the dynamics of biomolecules. To study steady-state transitions, i.e., non-equilibrium transitions, a data analysis methodology is necessary to analyze single-molecule FRET photon trajectories, which contain mixtures of contributions from two steady-state statuses and include non-equilibrium transitions. In this study, we introduce a novel methodology called WAVE (Wasserstein distance Analysis in steady-state Variations in smFRET) to detect and locate non-equilibrium transition positions in FRET trajectories. Our method first utilizes a combined STaSI-HMM (Stepwise Transitions with State Inference Hidden Markov Model) algorithm to convert the original FRET trajectories into discretized trajectories. We then apply Maximum Wasserstein Distance analysis to differentiate the FRET state compositions of the fitting trajectories before and after the non-equilibrium transition. Forward and backward algorithms, based on the Minimum Description Length (MDL) principle, are used to find the refined positions of the non-equilibrium transitions. This methodology allows us to observe changes in experimental conditions in chromophore-tagged biomolecules or vice versa.

PMID:37672727 | DOI:10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c02498

Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2023 Sep 6:izad192. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izad192. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Multidisciplinary teams (MDT) aid the diagnosis and management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and improve patient outcomes. The direct impact of a gastrointestinal expert pathologist on MDT care of IBD patients is unknown.

METHODS: A retrospective chart review was conducted evaluating all cases (N = 289) discussed at the IBD MDT conference at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital from June 1, 2013, through December 31, 2019. Cases were discussed between 1 and 6 times at the conference. Data collected included demographics, diagnosis before and after conference, reason for diagnostic change, endoscopy findings, medications, surgeries, and clinical follow-up.

RESULTS: Approximately 15% to 42% of patients had a change in diagnosis after the first 3 conferences. The majority of diagnostic changes after the first (84%), second (73%), and third (67%) conferences were due to expert pathologist interpretation. Indeterminate colitis was the most frequently changed diagnosis, and Crohn’s disease was the most common new diagnosis after conference. Among patients with a diagnostic change, 28.6% to 38.5% of patients had a change in their IBD medication regimen, and 7.7% to 10.9% had a surgical intervention after the first 2 conferences. Approximately 54.2% to 60% of patients reported clinical improvement or remission within 6 months of the first 3 conferences.

CONCLUSION: The majority of diagnostic changes made at the multidisciplinary IBD conference were due to histopathologic re-interpretation. A change in diagnosis at times led to significant modifications in medical or surgical management. An expert gastrointestinal pathologist is an essential MDT member for IBD management.

PMID:37672726 | DOI:10.1093/ibd/izad192

J Integr Complement Med. 2023 Sep 6. doi: 10.1089/jicm.2023.0043. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Approximately 30% of children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the most prevalent mental health disorder in children worldwide, do not respond to conventional pharmaceutical treatments. Previous studies of homeopathic treatment for ADHD have been inconclusive. The objectives of this study were to determine if there (a) is an overall effect of homeopathic treatment (homeopathic medicines plus consultation) in the treatment of ADHD; (b) are any specific effects the homeopathic consultation alone in the treatment of ADHD; and (c) are any specific effects of homeopathic medicines in the treatment of ADHD. Design: The design was a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Setting/Location: Toronto, Canada. Subjects: Children aged 6-16 years diagnosed with ADHD. Interventions: Participants were randomized to one of three arms: Arm 1 (Remedy and Consultation); Arm 2 (Placebo and Consultation); or Arm 3 (Usual Care). Outcome Measures: Primary Outcome was the change of CGI-P T score between baseline and 28 weeks. Results: There was an improvement in ADHD symptoms as measured by the Conner 3 Global Index-Parent T-score in the two groups (Arms 1 and 2) that received consultations with a homeopathic practitioner when compared with the usual care control group (Arm 3). Parents of the children in the study who received homeopathic consultations (Arms 1 and 2) also reported greater coping efficacy compared with those receiving usual care (Arm 3). There was no difference in adverse events among the three study arms. Conclusions: In this study, homeopathic consultations provided over 8 months with the use of homeopathic remedy was associated with a decrease in ADHD symptoms in children aging 6-16 years when compared with usual treatment alone. Children treated with homeopathic consultations and placebo experienced a similar decrease in ADHD symptoms; however, this finding did not reach statistical significance when correcting for multiple comparisons. Homeopathic remedies in and of themselves were not associated with any change in ADHD symptoms. Clinical Trial Registration: This trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT02086864.

PMID:37672605 | DOI:10.1089/jicm.2023.0043

Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2023 Sep 6:zwad270. doi: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwad270. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: Heavy alcohol consumption is an established risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the association between habitual changes in heavy habitual drinkers and incident AF remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether absolute abstinence or reduced drinking decreases incident AF in heavy habitual drinkers.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Atrial fibrillation-free participants with heavy alcohol consumption registered in the Korean National Health Insurance Service database between 2005 and 2008 were enrolled. Habitual changes in alcohol consumption between 2009 and 2012 were classified as sustained heavy drinking, reduced drinking, and absolute abstinence. The primary outcome measure was new-onset AF during the follow-up. To minimize the effect of confounding variables on outcome events, inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) analysis was performed. Overall, 19 425 participants were evaluated. The absolute abstinence group showed a 63% lower incidence of AF (IPTW hazard ratio: 0.379, 95% confidence interval: 0.169-0.853) than did the sustained heavy drinking group. Subgroup analysis identified that abstinence significantly reduced incident AF in participants with normal body mass index and without hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, heart failure, stroke, chronic kidney disease, or coronary artery disease (all P-value <0.05). There was no statistical difference in incident AF in participants with reduced drinking compared with sustained heavy alcohol group.

CONCLUSION: Absolute abstinence could reduce the incidence of AF in heavy alcohol drinkers. Comprehensive clinical measures and public health policies are warranted to motivate alcohol abstinence in heavy drinkers.

PMID:37672594 | DOI:10.1093/eurjpc/zwad270

Sci Adv. 2023 Sep 8;9(36):eadg1261. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg1261. Epub 2023 Sep 6.

ABSTRACT

Complex disordered matter is of central importance to a wide range of disciplines, from bacterial colonies and embryonic tissues in biology to foams and granular media in materials science to stellar configurations in astrophysics. Because of the vast differences in composition and scale, comparing structural features across such disparate systems remains challenging. Here, by using the statistical properties of Delaunay tessellations, we introduce a mathematical framework for measuring topological distances between general three-dimensional point clouds. The resulting system-agnostic metric reveals subtle structural differences between bacterial biofilms as well as between zebrafish brain regions, and it recovers temporal ordering of embryonic development. We apply the metric to construct a universal topological atlas encompassing bacterial biofilms, snowflake yeast, plant shoots, zebrafish brain matter, organoids, and embryonic tissues as well as foams, colloidal packings, glassy materials, and stellar configurations. Living systems localize within a bounded island-like region of the atlas, reflecting that biological growth mechanisms result in characteristic topological properties.

PMID:37672580 | DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adg1261

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Sep 6;17(9):e0011580. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011580. eCollection 2023 Sep.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease of significant public health importance. Domestic dogs are the main reservoir and transmitter of this disease, particularly in developing countries. Community awareness about rabies is one of the key components of prevention. This study describes the knowledge, attitudes, and practices about rabies disease among dog owners at Kahama town council, Shinyanga Region, Tanzania.

METHODOLOGY: This was a cross sectional community-based study which was done in May 2021. Structured questionnaires were administered to collect the data among 422 dog owners. The information collected included demographic characteristics of the dog owners, as well as their knowledge, attitude and practice towards rabies. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 20.

RESULTS: Out of 422 respondents, 421 (99.76%) knew that rabies can be transmitted by dogs, 384 (91%) knew that rabies can be prevented by vaccination of dogs, 269 (63.74%) knew the symptoms and signs, and 379 (89.81%) believed that it was necessary to vaccinate all owned dogs, but 227 (53.79%) had not vaccinated their dogs. Education level (p = 0.006) and occupation (p = 0.002) were significantly associated with a positive attitude, whereby those with a higher level of education and farmers were more likely to have a positive attitude. Also there was statistically significant association between gender (p = 0.038), marital status (p < 0.001) occupation (p < 0.001), education level (p = 0.006) and the practices of the respondents in the community whereby majority of male, unmarried dog owner who are farmer with primary education level had lower practice score.

CONCLUSION: This study concludes that respondents had good knowledge, a relatively good attitude, and poor practice towards rabies prevention and control. Rabies awareness with an emphasis on the importance of vaccination as well as vaccination campaigns should, therefore, be intensified, especially among the least educated dog owners.

PMID:37672544 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pntd.0011580

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Sep 6;17(9):e0011624. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011624. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

There has been a recent upsurge in human cases of leptospirosis in New Zealand, with wildlife a suspected emerging source, but up-to-date knowledge on this topic is lacking. We conducted a cross-sectional study in two farm environments to estimate Leptospira seroprevalence in wildlife and sympatric livestock, PCR/culture prevalence in wildlife, and compare seroprevalence and prevalence between species, sex, and age groups. Traps targeting house mice (Mus musculus), black rats (Rattus rattus), hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) and brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) were set for 10 trap-nights in March-April 2017 on a dairy (A) and a beef and sheep (B) farm. Trapped wild animals and an age-stratified random sample of domestic animals, namely cattle, sheep and working dogs were blood sampled. Sera were tested by microagglutination test for five serogroups and titres compared using a Proportional Similarity Index (PSI). Wildlife kidneys were sampled for culture and qPCR targeting the lipL32 gene. True prevalence in mice was assessed using occupancy modelling by collating different laboratory results. Infection profiles varied by species, age group and farm. At the MAT cut-point of ≥ 48, up to 78% of wildlife species, and 16-99% of domestic animals were seropositive. Five of nine hedgehogs, 23/105 mice and 1/14 black rat reacted to L. borgpetersenii sv Ballum. The sera of 4/18 possums and 4/9 hedgehogs reacted to L. borgpetersenii sv Hardjobovis whilst 1/18 possum and 1/9 hedgehog reacted to Tarassovi. In ruminants, seroprevalence for Hardjobovis and Pomona ranged 0-90% and 0-71% depending on the species and age group. Titres against Ballum, Tarassovi and Copenhageni were also observed in 4-20%, 0-25% and 0-21% of domestic species, respectively. The PSI indicated rodents and livestock had the most dissimilar serological responses. Three of nine hedgehogs, 31/105 mice and 2/14 rats were carrying leptospires (PCR and/or culture positive). True prevalence estimated by occupancy modelling in mice was 38% [95% Credible Interval 26, 51%] on Farm A and 22% [11, 40%] on Farm B. In the same environment, exposure to serovars found in wildlife species was commonly detected in livestock. Transmission pathways between and within species should be assessed to help in the development of efficient mitigation strategies against Leptospira.

PMID:37672535 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pntd.0011624

PLOS Glob Public Health. 2023 Sep 6;3(9):e0002117. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002117. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

Anaemia is a significant public health issue, particularly affecting women in India. However, little is known about the burden of anaemia among adolescent women in India over time. This study aimed to analyse the change in the prevalence of anaemia among adolescent women in India from 2015 to 2021 and identify the factors associated with anaemia in this population. This study used information on 116,117 and 109,400 adolescent women (aged 15-19) from the fourth and fifth round of National Family Health Survey, respectively. Bivariate statistics and multivariable logistic regression were employed to identify the statistically significant predictors of anaemia. The prevalence of anaemia among adolescent women in India increased from 54.2% (99% CI: 53.6-54.8) to 58.9% (99% CI: 58.3-59.5) over the study period (2015-16 to 2019-21). Among the 28 Indian states, 21 reported an increase in the prevalence of anaemia. However, the levels of increase varied across the states. While Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Tripura showed a substantial rise of 15 percentage points, the states of Punjab, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh recorded a marginal increase of less than 5 percentage points. Notably, Uttarakhand and Kerala exhibited a decline in anaemia prevalence during the study period. Additionally, the number of states with anaemia prevalence exceeding 60%, doubled from 5 in 2015-16 to 11 in 2019-21. Several factors were found associated with anaemia, including having more than one child (AOR: 1.33, 99% CI: 1.16-1.51), having no education (AOR: 1.25, 99% CI: 1.16-1.34), belonging to Scheduled Tribes (AOR: 1.47, 99% CI: 1.40-1.53), being in the lowest wealth quintile (AOR: 1.17, 99% CI: 1.12-1.23), year of survey (AOR: 1.26, 99% CI: 1.23-1.29), and being underweight (AOR: 1.10, 99% CI: 1.07-1.12). In conclusion, the rise in anaemia prevalence among adolescent women in India suggests the need for targeted interventions to mitigate the burden of anaemia and enhance the overall health of this population.

PMID:37672528 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pgph.0002117