Nevin Manimala

Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2023 May 27. doi: 10.1038/s41391-023-00678-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Outcomes of radical prostatectomy (RP) in men with history of lower urinary tract symptoms related to benign prostatic enlargement (LUTS/BPE) surgery represents a controversial issue. We performed an updated systematic review and meta- analysis evaluating oncological and functional outcomes of RP in this subset of patients.

METHODS: Eligible studies were identified from MEDLINE, Web of Science and the Scopus databases. The following outcomes were evaluated: incidence of positive surgical margins (PSM), incidence of biochemical recurrence (BCR), 3-mo and 1-year urinary continence (UC) rates, incidence of nerve-sparing (NS) procedures, 1-year erectile function (EF) recovery rates. We estimated pooled Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using random effects models. Sub-analyses were performed according to the type of RP and LUTS/BPE surgery.

RESULTS: Twenty-five retrospective studies including 11,101 patients undergoing RP were included in the analysis (2113 with history of LUTS/BPE surgery, and 8898 controls). PSM rate was significantly higher in patients with history of LUTS/BPE surgery (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.18-1.63, p < 0.001). No statistically significant difference in terms of BCR emerged between patients with or without history of LUTS/BPE surgery (OR 1.46, 95% CI 0.97-2.18, p = 0.066). Three-months and 1-year UC rates were significantly lower in patients with previous LUTS/BPE surgery (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.34-0.68, p < 0.001 and OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.31-0.62, p < 0.001; respectively). Although not statistically significant differences between the two groups emerged in terms of adoption of NS procedures (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.32-1.12, p = 0.107), 1-year EF recovery was significantly lower in patients with history of LUTS/BPE procedures (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.40-0.89, p = 0.010).

CONCLUSIONS: In conclusions, RP in patients with history of previous LUTS/BPE surgery is associated with increased incidence of PSM, lower UC rates at both 3-months and 1-year follow-up as well as lower rates of EF recovery at 1-year follow-up.

PMID:37244971 | DOI:10.1038/s41391-023-00678-y

Sci Rep. 2023 May 27;13(1):8627. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35918-7.

ABSTRACT

Wild edible plants, particularly berries, are relevant nutritional elements in the Nordic countries. In contrast to decreasing global trends, approximately 60% of the Finnish population is actively involved in (berry) foraging. We conducted 67 interviews with Finns and Karelians living in Finnish Karelia to: (a) detect the use of wild edible plants, (b) compare those results with the published data about neighbouring Russian Karelians, and (c) document the sources of local plant knowledge. The results revealed three main findings. First, we observed a similarity in wild food plant knowledge among Karelians and Finns from Karelia. Second, we detected divergences in wild food plant knowledge among Karelians living on both sides of the Finnish-Russian border. Third, the sources of local plant knowledge include vertical transmission, acquisition through literary sources, acquisition from “green” nature shops promoting healthy lifestyles, childhood foraging activities performed during the famine period following WWII, and outdoor recreational activities. We argue that the last two types of activities in particular may have influenced knowledge and connectedness with the surrounding environment and its resources at a stage of life that is crucial for shaping adult environmental behaviours. Future research should address the role of outdoor activities in maintaining (and possibly enhancing) local ecological knowledge in the Nordic countries.

PMID:37244965 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-35918-7

Sci Rep. 2023 May 27;13(1):8632. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35884-0.

ABSTRACT

In this manuscript, we construct an attribute control chart (ACC) for the number of defective items using time-truncated life tests (TTLT) when the lifetime of a manufacturing item follows two lifetime data distributions: the half-normal distribution (HND) and the half-exponential power distribution (HEPD). To assess the potential of the proposed charts, necessary derivations are made to obtain the value of the average run length (ARL) when the production process is in-control and out-of-control. The performance of the presented charts is evaluated for different sample sizes, control coefficients, and truncated constants for shifted phases in terms of ARL. The behavior of ARLs is studied for the shifted process by introducing shifts in its parameters. The advantages of the proposed HEPD-based chart are discussed in the form of ARLs with HND and Exponential Distribution (ED) based ACCs under TTLT, showing the excellent assessment of the proposed chart. Additionally, the advantages of another proposed ACC using HND are compared with ED-based ACC, and the findings support the HND in the form of smaller ARLs. Finally, simulation testing and real-life implementation are also discussed for functional purposes.

PMID:37244949 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-35884-0

Sci Rep. 2023 May 27;13(1):8609. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35779-0.

ABSTRACT

In Statistical Process Control, many techniques exist for monitoring the stability of a process over time. In this work, we study the relationship of the response variable with explanatory variables in the form of linear profiles for detecting changes in slope and intercept of the linear quality profiles. We used the transformation of explanatory variables approach used for make the regression estimates independent of each other to have zero average. A comparative study of three phase-II methods using DEWMA statistics in monitoring and capturing undesirable deviations in the slope, intercept, and variability is also studied by applying different proposed run rules schemes i.e., R_1/1, R_2/3, R_3/3. Monte Carlo simulations were carried out on R-Software for finding the results of proposed schemes by taking various levels of shifts for intercept, slope, and standard deviation in identifying the false alarm rate of a process. The simulation results based on the average run length criterion show that the proposed run rule schemes improve the detection ability of the control structure. Among all the proposed schemes R_2/3 is found to be the best one because of its quick detection ability of false alarm rate. The proposed scheme also shows superiority in comparison to other schemes. The simulation results are further justified with a real data application.

PMID:37244943 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-35779-0

Heredity (Edinb). 2023 May 27. doi: 10.1038/s41437-023-00623-8. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Several studies over recent decades have reported a lack of contemporary improvement in thoroughbred racehorse speed, despite apparent additive genetic variance and putatively strong selection. More recently, it has been shown that some phenotypic improvement is ongoing, but rates are low in general and particularly so over longer distances. Here we used pedigree-based analysis of 692,534 records from 76,960 animals to determine whether these phenotypic trends are underpinned by genetic selection responses, and to evaluate the potential for more rapid improvement. We show that thoroughbred speed in Great Britain is only weakly heritable across sprint (h² = 0.124), middle-distance (h² = 0.122) and long-distance races (h² = 0.074), but that mean predicted breeding values are nonetheless increasing across cohorts born between 1995 and 2012 (and racing from 1997 to 2014). For all three race distance categories, estimated rates of genetic improvement are statistically significant and also greater than can be explained by drift. Taken together our results show genetic improvement for thoroughbred speed is ongoing but slow, likely due to a combination of long generation times and low heritabilities. Additionally, estimates of realised selection intensities raises the possibility that the contemporary selection emerging from the collective actions of horse breeders is weaker than previously assumed, particularly over long distances. We suggest that unmodelled common environment effects may have upwardly biased estimates of heritability, and thus expected selection response, previously.

PMID:37244934 | DOI:10.1038/s41437-023-00623-8

Sci Rep. 2023 May 27;13(1):8646. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35456-2.

ABSTRACT

This study explored the structural, optical, and dielectric properties of Pure and Mn⁺² doped ZnO nano-particles (Zn_1-xMn_xO) with x ≥ 20%, synthesized by co-precipitation method followed by annealing at 450⁰C. Different characterization techniques were conducted to characterize the as-prepared nano-particles. X-ray Diffraction analysis of the pure and Mn⁺² doped presented a hexagonal wurtzite structure and a decreased crystallite size with increasing doping concentration. Morphological analysis from SEM revealed finely dispersed spherical nanoparticles with particle size of 40-50 nm. Compositional analysis from EDX confirmed the incorporation of Mn⁺²ions in ZnO structure. The Results of UV spectroscopy showed that changing the doping concentration affects the band gap, and a red shift is observed as the doping concentration is increased. The band gap changes from 3.3 to 2.75 eV. Dielectric measurements exhibited decrease in the relative permittivity, dielectric loss factor and ac conductivity by increasing Mn concentration.

PMID:37244922 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-35456-2

Nat Commun. 2023 May 27;14(1):3071. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38862-2.

ABSTRACT

Topological metals are conducting materials with gapless band structures and nontrivial edge-localized resonances. Their discovery has proven elusive because traditional topological classification methods require band gaps to define topological robustness. Inspired by recent theoretical developments that leverage techniques from the field of C^∗-algebras to identify topological metals, here, we directly observe topological phenomena in gapless acoustic crystals and realize a general experimental technique to demonstrate their topology. Specifically, we not only observe robust boundary-localized states in a topological acoustic metal, but also re-interpret a composite operator-mathematically derived from the K-theory of the problem-as a new Hamiltonian whose physical implementation allows us to directly observe a topological spectral flow and measure the topological invariants. Our observations and experimental protocols may offer insights for discovering topological behaviour across a wide array of artificial and natural materials that lack bulk band gaps.

PMID:37244911 | DOI:10.1038/s41467-023-38862-2

Sci Rep. 2023 May 27;13(1):8631. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35405-z.

ABSTRACT

A large number of materials and various criteria fashion material selection problems as complex multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. This paper proposes a new decision-making method called the simple ranking process (SRP) to solve complex material selection problems. The accuracy of the criteria weights has a direct impact on the outcomes of the new method. In contrast to current MCDM methods, the normalization step has been eliminated from the SRP method as a potential source of producing incorrect results. The application of the method is appropriate for situations with high levels of complexity in material selection because it only considers the ranks of alternatives in each criterion. The first scenario of vital-immaterial mediocre method (VIMM) is used as a tool to derive criteria weights based on expert assessment. The result of SRP is compared with a number of MCDM methods. In order to evaluate the findings of analytical comparison, a novel statistical measure known as compromise decision index (CDI) is proposed in this paper. CDI revealed that the MCDM methods’ outputs for solving the material selection could not be theoretically proven and requires to be evaluated through practice. As a result, the dependency analysis-an additional innovative statistical measure is introduced to demonstrate the reliability of MCDM methods by assessing its dependency on criteria weights. The findings demonstrated that SRP is extremely reliant on criteria weights and its reliability rises with the number of criteria, making it a perfect tool for solving challenging MCDM problems.

PMID:37244904 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-35405-z

Braz J Psychiatry. 2023 May 27. doi: 10.47626/1516-4446-2023-3037. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore differences in regional cortical morphometric structure between adolescents at risk for depression or with current depression.

METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional structural neuroimaging data from a sample of 150 Brazilian adolescents classified as low-risk (n=50) or high-risk for depression (n=50) or with current depression (n=50) through a vertex-based approach with measurements of cortical volume, surface area and thickness. Differences between groups in subcortical volumes and in the organization of networks of structural covariance were also explored.

RESULTS: No significant differences in brain structure between groups were observed in whole-brain vertex-wise cortical volume, surface area or thickness. Also, no significant differences in subcortical volume were observed between risk groups. In relation to the structural covariance network, there was an indication of an increase in the hippocampus betweenness centrality index in the high-risk group network compared to the low-risk and current depression group networks. However, this result was only statistically significant when applying false discovery rate correction for nodes within the affective network.

CONCLUSION: In an adolescent sample recruited using an empirically based composite risk score, no major differences in brain structure were detected according to the risk and presence of depression.

PMID:37243979 | DOI:10.47626/1516-4446-2023-3037

Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2023 May 27:e30452. doi: 10.1002/pbc.30452. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: We compared the prognostic value of chest radiograph (CXR)- and computed tomography (CT)-derived definition of large mediastinal adenopathy (LMA) in pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma (HL).

MATERIALS/METHODS: Total 143 patients treated for stage IIIB/IVB HL on COG AHOD0831 were included in this study. Six definitions of LMA were investigated: (i) mediastinal mass ratio on CXR (MR_CXR ) > 1/3; (ii) mediastinal mass ratio on CT (MR_CT ) > 1/3; (iii) mediastinal mass volume on CT (MV_CT ) > 200 mL; (iv) normalized mediastinal mass volume (MV_CT /thoracic diameter [TD]) > 1 mL/mm; (v) mediastinal mass diameter on CT (MD_CT ) > 10 cm; and (vi) normalized mediastinal mass diameter (MD_CT /TD) > 1/3.

RESULTS: Median age at diagnosis was 15.8 years (range: 5.2-21.3 years). In patients with a slow early response (SER) to chemotherapy, MV_CT > 200 mL, MD_CT > 10 cm, and MD_CT /TD > 1/3 were associated with worse relapse-free survival (RFS) on MVA, while MR_CXR > 1/3, MR_CT > 1/3, and MV_CT /TD > 1 mL/mm trended toward worse RFS; MD_CT /TD was the most strongly prognostic for inferior RFS, with a hazard ratio of 6.41 for MD_CT /TD > 1/3 versus ≤1/3 on MVA (p = .02).

CONCLUSION: LMA according to MV_CT > 200 mL, MD_CT > 10 cm, and MD_CT /TD > 1/3 is associated with poor prognosis in advanced-stage HL patients with SER. The normalized mediastinal diameter, MD_CT /TD > 1/3 appears to be the strongest predictor of inferior RFS.

PMID:37243975 | DOI:10.1002/pbc.30452