Nevin Manimala

Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2023 Jan 18;233:107360. doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2023.107360. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to solve the non-stationarity and complexity characteristics and huge individual differences in the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals for depression classification.

METHODS: To address those problems, the Lempel-Ziv complexity feature matrices were extracted from the EEG signals under the two paradigms of eyes open and eyes closed in the resting state. Topographical map of brain and statistical analysis were introduced to investigate the significance of eyes open and eyes closed EEG for depression classification. To promote the classification accuracy, feature matrices from the two paradigms were fused. And linear combination and concatenation fusion methods were proposed to further reveal the underlying mechanism of improving classification accuracy. Support vector machine (SVM), K-nearest neighbor, and decision tree classifiers were employed and compared to classify depression under the eyes open, eyes closed and fused paradigm.

RESULTS: The classification results of 10-fold cross-validation showed that the highest average accuracy (86.58%) under a single paradigm was achieved in the eyes-open state. The multiparadigm fusion method of concatenation was better than the linear combination. The best classification result was obtained using multiparadigm feature concatenation under the SVM classifier, yielding an accuracy of 94.03%.

CONCLUSION: The multiparadigm feature fusion method proposed in this paper can effectively improve the accuracy of depression classification. It was proved that eyes open and eyes closed EEG have complementary information, which was benefit for the cross-subject classification of depression. It provides new ideas for depression classification in clinics.

PMID:36944276 | DOI:10.1016/j.cmpb.2023.107360

Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2023 Feb 10;64:102277. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2023.102277. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Cross-cultural competence of healthcare providers is crucial to create a culturally safe environment. Cancer poses special challenges to cross-culturally competent communication and decision-making. Yet, no research synthesis on cross-cultural competence interventions has focused specifically on oncology.

METHODS: We conducted a meta-analysis and qualitative review of literature on the effectiveness of cross-cultural competence interventions in oncology. No limitations were placed on publication date, language, oncology setting, or geographic region. Of 1.565 citations identified, 15 articles met the inclusion criteria. Information on study design, samples, measured outcomes, and effectiveness statistics were coded. Average weighted effects were calculated applying meta-analysis methodology.

RESULTS: Studies were published between 2000 and 2020; more than half in the last seven years; two thirds in the USA. Overall study quality was at a low to moderate level, notably only one study provided a control-group-design. In sum, nurses constituted the largest occupational group among participants. Results of the meta-analysis indicate that cross-cultural competence interventions have differential effects. While the overall effect of cross-cultural competence interventions was not statistically significant, results showed that the cross-cultural competence dimensions of knowledge and behavior did improve. Effects beyond that remain unclear.

CONCLUSIONS: We provide valuable information on research gaps. The lack of studies and insufficient methodological rigor of available studies show that more research is needed to support the claim that interventions actually improve the various dimensions of cross-cultural competence in oncology. To build a stronger evidence base, it is necessary to include patient-reported outcomes and to center their experiences in future research.

PMID:36944274 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejon.2023.102277

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2023 Mar 21:kead135. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kead135. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Osteoarthritis has been the subject of abundant research in the last years with limited translation to the clinical practice, probably due to the disease’s high heterogeneity. In this study, we aimed to identify different phenotypes in Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients with joint effusion based on their metabolic and inflammatory profiles.

METHODS: A non-supervised strategy based on Statistical and Machine Learning methods was applied to 45 parameters measured on 168 female KOA patients with persistent joint effusion, consecutively recruited at our hospital after a monographic OA outpatient visit. Data comprised anthropometric and metabolic factors and a panel of systemic and local inflammatory markers. The resulting clusters were compared regarding their clinical, radiographic and ultrasound severity at baseline and their radiographic progression at two years.

RESULTS: Our analyses identified four KOA Inflammatory Phenotypes (KOIP): a group characterized by metabolic syndrome, probably driven by body fat and obesity, and by high local and systemic inflammation (KOIP-1); a metabolically healthy phenotype with mild overall inflammation (KOIP-2); a non-metabolic phenotype with high inflammation levels (KOIP-3) and; a metabolic phenotype with low inflammation and cardiovascular risk factors not associated with obesity (KOIP-4). Of interest, these groups exhibited differences regarding pain, functional disability and radiographic progression, pointing to a clinical relevance of the uncovered phenotypes.

CONCLUSION: Our results support the existence of different KOA phenotypes with clinical relevance and differing pathways regarding their pathophysiology and disease evolution, which entails implications in patients’ stratification, treatment tailoring and the search of novel and personalized therapies.

PMID:36944271 | DOI:10.1093/rheumatology/kead135

Phys Med Biol. 2023 Mar 21. doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/acc634. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Blood pool region of interest (ROI) data extracted from the field of view of a PET scanner can be impacted by both dispersive and background effects. This circumstance compromises the ability to correctly extract the arterial input function (AIF) signal. The paper explores a novel approach to addressing this difficulty. The method involves representing the AIF in terms of the whole-body impulse response (IP) to the injection profile. Analysis of a collection/population of directly sampled arterial data sets allows the statistical behaviour of the tracer’s IP to be evaluated. It is proposed that this information be used to develop a penalty term for construction of a data-adaptive method of regularization estimator of the AIF for use when dispersive and/or background effects maybe impacting the blood pool ROI data. Computational efficiency of the approach derives from the linearity of the IP representation of the AIF and the ability to substantially rely on quadratic programming techniques for numerical implementation.
Data from eight different tracers, used in PET cancer imaging studies, are considered. Sample image-based AIF extractions for brain studies with:¹⁸F-labeled fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG) and fluoro-thymidine (FLT),¹¹C-labeled carbon dioxide (CO2) and¹⁵O-labeled water (H2O) are presented. Results are compared to the true AIF based on direct arterial sampling. Formal numerical simulations are used to evaluate the performance of the AIF extraction method when the ROI data has varying amounts of contamination, in comparison to a direct approach that ignores such effects. It is found that even with quite small amounts of contamination, the mean squared error of the regularized AIF is significantly better than the error associated with direct use of the ROI data.
Overall the proposed IP-based AIF extraction scheme offers a promising methodological approach for cases where the input ROI data may be contaminated by background and/or dispersion effects.&#xD.

PMID:36944257 | DOI:10.1088/1361-6560/acc634

Orthop Nurs. 2023 Mar-Apr 01;42(2):105-112. doi: 10.1097/NOR.0000000000000929.

ABSTRACT

Guided imagery distracts patients from disturbing feelings and thoughts, positively affects emotional well-being, and reduces pain by producing pleasing mental images. This study aimed to determine the effects of guided imagery on postoperative pain management in patients undergoing lower extremity surgery. This randomized controlled study was conducted between April 2018 and May 2019. This study included 60 patients who underwent lower extremity surgery. After using guided imagery, the posttest mean Visual Analog Scale score of patients in the intervention group was found to be 2.56 (1.00 ± 6.00), whereas the posttest mean score of patients in the control group was 4.10 (3.00 ± 6.00), and the difference between the groups was statistically significant (p <.001). Guided imagery reduces short-term postoperative pain after lower extremity surgery.

PMID:36944205 | DOI:10.1097/NOR.0000000000000929

Rev Environ Health. 2023 Mar 22. doi: 10.1515/reveh-2022-0248. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Low-frequency electromagnetic fields have grown exponentially in recent years due to technological development and modernization. The World Health Organization (WHO)/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), and recent studies have investigated the association between exposure to electromagnetic fields in parents and possible health effects in children, especially the development of tumours of the central nervous system (CNS). The objective of this systematic review was to collate all evidence on the relationship between parental occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields and the development of CNS cancer in children and to evaluate this association. This review was prepared according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched from January 1990 to April 2021. The search was conducted using the following search string: “occupational” AND “child” AND “electromagnetic” AND “cancer”. Seventeen articles met our inclusion criteria: 13 case-control studies, two cohort studies, and 2 meta-analyses. Most of the studies showed several methodological weaknesses that limited their results. Due to a lack of consistency regarding the outcome as well as the heterogeneity in the reviewed studies, the body of evidence for the effects of parental exposure to electromagnetic fields is not clear. Methodological heterogeneity in the way that studies were conducted could be responsible for the lack of consistency in the findings. Overall, the body of evidence allows no conclusion on the question of whether parental exposure to electromagnetic.

PMID:36944196 | DOI:10.1515/reveh-2022-0248

Oncotarget. 2023 Mar 21;14:219-235. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.28388.

ABSTRACT

Glypicans (GPC1-6) are associated with tumorigenic processes and their involvement in neoplastic behavior has been discussed in different cancer types. Here, a cancer-wide GPC expression study, using clinical cancer patient data in The Cancer Genome Atlas, reveals net upregulation of GPC1 and GPC2 in primary solid tumors, whereas GPC3, GPC5 and GPC6 display lowered expression pattern compared to normal tissues. Focusing on GPC1, survival analyses of the clinical cancer patient data reveal statistically significant correlation between high expression of GPC1 and poor prognosis in 10 particular cancer types i.e., bladder urothelial carcinoma, brain lower grade glioma, liver hepatocellular carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma, kidney renal clear cell carcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma, mesothelioma, ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma, uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma and uveal melanoma. In vitro studies targeting GPC1 expression by CRISPR/Cas9 or siRNA or treatment with an anti-GPC1 antibody resulted in attenuation of proliferation of cancer cells from bladder carcinoma, glioma and hepatocellular carcinoma patients (T24, U87 and HepG2 cells). Further, overexpression of GPC1 exhibited a significant and negative correlation between GPC1 expression and proliferation of T24 cells. Attempt to reveal the mechanism through which downregulation of GPC1 leads to attenuation of tumor growth using systematic Ingenuity Pathway Analysis indicate that suppression of GPC1 results in ECM-mediated inhibition of specific pro-cancer signaling pathways involving TGF-β and p38 MAPK. Identified differential expression and pleiotropic effects of GPCs in specific cancer types emphasize their potential of as novel diagnostic tools and prognostic factors and open doors for future GPC targeted therapy.

PMID:36944188 | DOI:10.18632/oncotarget.28388

J Comput Assist Tomogr. 2023 Mar 16. doi: 10.1097/RCT.0000000000001461. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 75 lesions in 50 patients with pathologically proven breast cancer who underwent MRI in prone and supine positions between December 2019 and December 2020. The transverse, anteroposterior, and craniocaudal dimensions (in millimeters) of the tumor in the x-, y-, and z-axes were measured. Distances from the center of the tumor to the chest wall and the adjacent skin were measured on transverse and reformatted sagittal images. In cases where multifocal lesions were present, the transverse, anteroposterior, and craniocaudal distances between the tumor centers in the x-, y-, and z-axes were measured. Differences between measurements in supine and prone MRI were evaluated with the Mann-Whitney U and the Wilcoxon tests. P values of less than 0.05 were considered to indicate a statistically significant difference.

RESULTS: The analysis revealed 31 MRIs with 1 and 20 with multifocal lesions. The x-axis dimension of the lesions in prone and supine positions did not significantly differ (P = 0.198) between the 2 positions. A significant difference in the y- and z-axes dimensions was observed between the prone and supine position (P = 0.00 for both). The distance from the tumor to the chest wall and the adjacent skin showed significant difference (P = 0.00 for both). For multifocal lesions, the distance between the lesions showed a significant difference on the y-axis (P = 0.00).

CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a significant difference in the tumor size, location, and tumor-to-tumor distances due to change of patient position, from the standard prone MRI to the supine position in the operating room, resulting in distortion, spatial repositioning, and convergence of the lesions. Supine MRI may be considered in providing a less extensive surgery.

PMID:36944155 | DOI:10.1097/RCT.0000000000001461

Games Health J. 2023 Mar 21. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2022.0160. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Objective: Pediatric hemiplegia is associated with wide-ranging deficits in arm and hand motor function, neg-atively impacting participation in daily occupations and quality of life. This study investigated whether performance measures generated during therapy videogame play by children with hemiplegia can be valid indicators of upper extremity motor function. Materials and Methods: Ten children with hemiplegia used a custom therapy game system alternatively using their affected and non-affected hand to provide motion capture data that spans a wide range of motor function status. The children also completed a series of standardized outcome measure assessments with each hand, including the Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test, the Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test, and the Wolf Motor Function Test. Results: Statistical analysis using the nonparametric Spearman rank correlation revealed high and significant correlation between videogame-derived motion capture measures, characterizing the speed and smoothness of movements, and the standardized outcome measure assessments. Conclusion: The results suggest that a low-cost motion capture system can be used to monitor a child’s motor function status and progress during a therapy program.

PMID:36944143 | DOI:10.1089/g4h.2022.0160

Metab Syndr Relat Disord. 2023 Mar 21. doi: 10.1089/met.2022.0088. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease often associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and obesity. Both obesity and NASH are closely related to inflammation. In this study, we examined how exenatide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 analog, affects inflammatory and NASH-related markers in patients with diabetes. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 100 patients who visited our hospital with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. NASH-related indices and inflammatory indices were calculated from data obtained at baseline and at the third month of exenatide treatment. All data were analyzed first in all patients, and then the patients were grouped according to glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels of <8% or ≥8% and body mass index (BMI) of <40 or ≥40 kg/m² and their data were reanalyzed. Results: A highly significant improvement was found in the conventional lipid profile. Among NASH-related indices, the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) fibrosis score and aspartate aminotransferase-platelet ratio index (APRI) showed statistically significant decreases (P < 0.001 and P = 0.016, respectively). In particular, these significant decreases were independent of BMI and glycemic parameters. No statistically significant change was found in inflammatory indices. The decreases in NAFLD fibrosis score and APRI were statistically more significant in the group with HbA1c ≥8% (P = 0.021 and P = 0.002, respectively) and the group with BMI ≥40 kg/m² (P = 0.002 and P = 0.029, respectively). Conclusions: Besides its established effects, such as lowering fasting plasma glucose levels and weight loss, exenatide exerts positive effects on the conventional lipid profile and NASH-associated indexes.

PMID:36944132 | DOI:10.1089/met.2022.0088