Nevin Manimala

Patient Prefer Adherence. 2022 Apr 26;16:1105-1114. doi: 10.2147/PPA.S363477. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Compliance is essential to achieve treatment goals in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The current study evaluated compliance and related factors in a large and diverse population.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with RA who received active treatment were invited to participate in an online survey. The Arabic versions of the 5-Item Compliance Questionnaire for Rheumatology (ACQR-5) and the RA Impact of Disease (RAID) were used to measure compliance and disability, respectively. The patients were sub-grouped based on background disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Variables associated with high compliance were selected for the logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: A total of 1241 patients completed the survey and were included in the final analysis. Of those, 1055 (85%) were females with a mean (±SD) age and disease duration of 47.14 ± 13.71 and 8.77 ± 7.43 years, respectively. The mean RAID was 4.4±2.58, with 980 (79%) having an unacceptable level state. Patients with an unacceptable RAID level had a lower compliance rate (78.8% vs 85.8%, p = 0.001). Demographics associated with high compliance were female sex and increased age, with reported odds ratios of 1.018 (95% CI: 1.007-1.028) and 1.464 (95% CI: 1.016-2.108), respectively. Compliance was similar between patients on Janus kinase inhibitors or biological DMARDs (88.14% vs 80.83%, p = 0.17), between monotherapy, double therapy, or triple therapy recipients (80% vs 82.23% vs 81.32%, p = 0.665), and between patients receiving injectable and oral therapy (77.32% vs 81.14%, p = 0.246).

CONCLUSION: A high compliance level was observed in this population, with patient demographics influencing compliance rather than the medication type or route of administration. Interventional studies should focus on the of high-risk patients identified in this study.

PMID:35502428 | PMC:PMC9056069 | DOI:10.2147/PPA.S363477

Resour Policy. 2022 Apr 28:102740. doi: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.102740. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Equity markets are prone to several external factors, especially in the lethal pandemic situation when the uncertainty regarding the spread of the COVID disrupts the daily financial and economic activities along with the sharp decline in the oil price causing severe devastations to people not just in terms of life and health but also in the form of finance. Therefore, to assess the presence of empirical association of the oil price, Covid-19, and news-based uncertainty with the equity market condition, the method of QARDL was applied in the current investigation. The results revealed that the relationship of OIL was found to be positive and significant across all of the quantiles of the Stock Price Index (SPI); news-based uncertainty was found to be negative and significant across all of the quantiles of SPI, whereas COVID19 has the negative and significant impact on SPI only in the bearish and stable market conditions. Based on the findings, balance government interventions are recommended, balancing the generation of economic activities and counter COVID spread.

PMID:35502418 | PMC:PMC9046082 | DOI:10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.102740

Comput Math Methods Med. 2022 Apr 23;2022:5001594. doi: 10.1155/2022/5001594. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The application of botulinum toxin type A (BTXA) in the treatment of paralytic strabismus has been recognized, but there are few studies on the treatment of acute acquired comitant esotropia (AACE). This study was aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of AACE and compare the therapeutic effects of BTXA and traditional surgery.

METHODS: 78 patients with AACE in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University between March 2019 and March 2021 were reviewed. The relevant medical records of the patients were collected, and they were divided into surgical group (n = 46) and botulinum toxin type A (BTXA) group (n = 32) according to different treatment approaches. The surgical group was treated with squint correction, whereas the BTXA group was treated with microinjection of BTXA in MR. Eye alignment, esotropia, stereopsis, and complications were examined before and after treatment in both groups.

RESULTS: The refractive status of 78 patients with AACE was mostly myopic refractive error. In general, the angle of esotropia at distance was larger than which at near, with a statistically significant difference. At follow-up assessments of 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after treatment, the total effective rates of the surgical group and the BTXA group were 100% and 90.48%, respectively. The residual angle of esotropia of both groups was lower after treatment. Additionally, the incidence rate of complications in the BTXA group was significantly lower than that in the surgical group.

CONCLUSION: AACE occurs mostly in people with myopic refractive errors and is associated with prolonged near work. Besides surgical treatment, micro-injection of BTXA is also an effective and safe treatment for AACE.

PMID:35502413 | PMC:PMC9056260 | DOI:10.1155/2022/5001594

Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2022 Apr 26;15:1261-1268. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S354023. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The aim of the present work was to investigate whether hepatitis C virus treatment by directly acting antivirals obligate shifting patients with type 2 diabetes from oral hypoglycemic drugs to insulin therapy.

METHODS: This was a prospective study including 92 treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection and type 2 diabetes who were eligible for treatment with directly acting antivirals (sofosbuvir + daclatasvir ± ribavirin). Patients in the study were divided into two groups; group 1 included 22 patients on insulin therapy and group 2 included 70 patients on oral antidiabetic medications. Patients were advised to keep on their anti-diabetic treatment.

RESULTS: All our patients achieved sustained virologic response with significantly lower HbA_1c 12 weeks after the end of therapy (p. values 0.001 for group 1 and group 2). There was no statistically significant difference in HbA_1c level post-treatment between both groups (p. value 0.352).

CONCLUSION: Achievement of sustained virologic response using interferon free, directly acting antivirals-based regimen was associated with significantly lower HbA_1c 12 weeks after the end of therapy. The type of treatment used for type 2 diabetes (oral drugs or insulin) did not affect improved glycemic control observed after achieving sustained virologic response.

PMID:35502409 | PMC:PMC9056022 | DOI:10.2147/DMSO.S354023

J Big Data. 2022;9(1):47. doi: 10.1186/s40537-022-00591-6. Epub 2022 Apr 28.

ABSTRACT

Twitter has been responsible for some major stock market news in the recent past, from rogue CEOs damaging their company to very active world leaders asking for brand boycotts, but despite its impact Twitter has still not been as impactful on markets as traditional news sources. In this paper we examine whether daily news sentiment of several companies and Twitter sentiment from their CEOs have an impact on their market performance and whether traditional news sources and Twitter activity of heads of government impact the benchmark indexes of major world economies over a period spanning the outbreak of the SAR-COV-2 pandemic. Our results indicate that there is very limited correlation between Twitter sentiment and price movements and that this does not change much when returns are taken relative to the market or when the market is calm or turbulent. There is almost no correlation under any circumstances between non-financial news sources and price movements, however there is some correlation between financial news sentiment and stock price movements. We also find this correlation gets stronger when returns are taken relative to the market. There are fewer companies correlated in both turbulent and calm economic times. There is no clear pattern to the direction and strength of the correlation, with some being strongly negatively correlated and others being strongly positively correlated, but in general the size of the correlation tends to indicate that price movement is driving sentiment, except in the turbulent economic times of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic in 2020.

PMID:35502408 | PMC:PMC9047470 | DOI:10.1186/s40537-022-00591-6

BMC Bioinformatics. 2022 May 2;23(1):155. doi: 10.1186/s12859-022-04691-1.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Recent deep sequencing technologies have proven to be valuable resources to gain insights into the expression profiles of diverse tRNAs. However, despite these technologies, the association of tRNAs with diverse diseases has not been explored in depth because analytical tools are lacking.

RESULTS: We developed a user-friendly tool, tRNA Expression Analysis Software Utilizing R for Easy use (tReasure), to analyze differentially expressed tRNAs (DEtRNAs) from deep sequencing data of small RNAs using R packages. tReasure can quantify individual mature tRNAs, isodecoders, and isoacceptors. By adopting stringent mapping strategies, tReasure supports the precise measurement of mature tRNA read counts. The whole analysis workflow for determining DEtRNAs (uploading FASTQ files, removing adapter sequences and poor-quality reads, mapping and quantifying tRNAs, filtering out low count tRNAs, determining DEtRNAs, and visualizing statistical analysis) can be performed with the tReasure package.

CONCLUSIONS: tReasure is an open-source software available for download at https://treasure.pmrc.re.kr and will be indispensable for users who have little experience with command-line software to explore the biological implication of tRNA expression.

PMID:35501677 | DOI:10.1186/s12859-022-04691-1

Biol Trace Elem Res. 2022 May 3. doi: 10.1007/s12011-022-03258-8. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In this study, it was investigated whether there are trace element abnormalities in epileptic patients, the relationship of trace elements with fatigue and depression, and whether trace elements contribute to the development of fatigue and depression. A total of 87 people, 48 epileptic cases and 39 controls, were included in our study. Trace element levels of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and selenium (Se) were measured in a single session on the study day by the same team. Beck Depression Inventory, Fatigue Severity Scale, Mood State Scale, and SF-36 Quality of Life scales were administered to all participants by the same person. The results were compared statistically. Depression rate was found as 35.4% and fatigue rate was 45.8% in epileptics. Se, Cu, and Mn levels were significantly higher in epileptics (p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in Zn and Pb levels (p > 0.05). In the study, a moderate positive correlation was found between fatigue and depression (r = 0.346, p = 0.016). Fatigue severity scale (FSS) and Beck depression inventory (BDI) scores were found to be significantly higher in epileptics (p < 0.05). Total mood scale (TMS) mean score was compared between patient and control groups, and the difference between the groups was statistically significant (p < 0.005). It was observed that fatigue and depression are more common in epileptics, and there may be abnormalities in trace element plasma levels in epileptics, and it was determined that trace elements did not show a significant difference between those with and without fatigue and depression, and trace elements did not show a significant correlation with fatigue and depression.

PMID:35501663 | DOI:10.1007/s12011-022-03258-8

Sleep Breath. 2022 Apr 30. doi: 10.1007/s11325-022-02630-1. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Prolonged atrial conduction and inhomogeneous sinus impulse propagation may play a role in the initiation and maintenance of atrial tachyarrhythmias. Such a process could be reflected in inter-lead P-wave duration differences known as “P-wave dispersion” (PWD). Abnormal PWD may be related to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). A meta-analysis of the available publications was conducted.

METHODS: A MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar search from 2000 to 2021 was performed. The keywords used for search were apnea AND “P wave dispersion.” Case-control studies and surveys were selected as long as they included healthy subjects and subjects with diagnosed OSAS who did not have any other major health problems. PWD values and correlations between apnea-hypopnea indices (AHI) and PWD were used as outcome measures.

RESULTS: Ten studies met the inclusion creteria, encompassing 773 patients with OSAS and 347 healthy controls. The mean ages of the patients with OSAS ranged from 6.9 to 58.8 years. The estimated average Hedges’s g standardized mean difference in PWD values was equal to 1.883 (95% CI: 1.140 to 2.626, p < 0.001). The estimated average Fisher r-to-z transformed correlation coefficient between AHI and PWD was equal to 0.530 (95% CI: 0.075 to 0.985, p = 0.0225). Meta-regression analysis failed to find statistically significant correlations between the effect sizes and the mean age, male proportion, and the body mass index in the OSAS groups.

CONCLUSION: OSAS is associated with increased PWD, which may predispose to atrial tachyarrythmias.

PMID:35501617 | DOI:10.1007/s11325-022-02630-1

Eye (Lond). 2022 May 2. doi: 10.1038/s41433-022-02033-2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To establish a potential relationship between diabetic retinopathy (DR) and different stages of cognitive impairment METHODS: Literature searches were conducted on PubMed and EMBASE, with keywords “diabetic retinopathy” and “cognitive impairment”. Inclusion criteria were original human studies, and English language. Quality of studies was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment (NOSGEN). The register number of this study on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) is CRD42021236747. The main outcome measures were odds ratios (OR) and risk ratios (RR) for cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, respectively. Meta-regression was performed to evaluate the effects of potential moderator variables, including, age, onset age of diabetes mellitus (DM), duration of DM, and HbA1c.

RESULTS: Twenty-five studies (17 cross-sectional and 8 longitudinal studies) with a total of 1,963,914 subjects, were included. Among the cross-sectional studies, the pooled ORs of any cognitive impairment, early stage of cognitive impairment and dementia in subjects with DR (95% confidence interval) were 1.48 (1.08-2.02), 1.59 (1.01-2.51), and 1.13 (0.86-1.50), respectively. Among the longitudinal studies, the pooled RRs of any cognitive impairment, early stage of cognitive impairment, and dementia in subjects with DR (95% confidence interval) were 1.35 (1.12-1.65), 1.50 (1.06-2.12), and 1.31 (1.03-1.66), respectively. Meta-regression showed age, onset age of DM, duration of DM, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were not statistically associated with the outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS: The presence of DR in DM patients indicates both higher odds of prevalent cognitive impairment and escalated risks of developing cognitive impairment in the future.

PMID:35501601 | DOI:10.1038/s41433-022-02033-2

Int J Bipolar Disord. 2022 May 3;10(1):13. doi: 10.1186/s40345-022-00259-3.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Efficacy trials of medications and/or psychological interventions for bipolar disorders (BD) aim to recruit homogenous samples of patients who are euthymic and such populations show high levels of adherence to the treatments offered. This study describes a secondary analysis of a large-scale multi-centre pragmatic effectiveness randomized controlled trial (RCT) of cognitive behaviour therapy plus treatment as usual (CBT) or treatment as usual alone (TAU) and explores outcomes in individuals who were: (i) recruited in depressive episodes, or (ii) receiving suboptimal doses of or no mood stabilizers (MS).

METHODS: Data were extract on two separate subsamples (out of 253 RCT participants). Sample 1 comprised 67 individuals in a depressive episode (CBT: 34; TAU: 33); Sample 2 comprised 39 individuals receiving suboptimal MS treatment (CBT: 19; TAU: 20). Survival analyses (adjusted for confounding variables) were used to explore recovery in Sample 1 and relapse in Sample 2.

RESULTS: In Sample 1 (individuals with depression), Cox proportional hazards regression model revealed that the median time to recovery was significantly shorter in the CBT group (10 weeks; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 8, 17) compared to the TAU group (17 weeks; 95% CI 9, 30) [Adjusted Hazard Ratio (HR) 1.89; 95% CI 1.04, 3.4; p < 0.035]. In Sample 2 (suboptimal MS), the median time to any relapse was significantly longer in the CBT group compared to the TAU group (~ 35 versus ~ 20 weeks; Adjusted HR 2.01; 95% CI 1.01, 3.96; p < 0.05) with the difference in survival time to first depressive relapse also reaching statistical significance (X² = 14.23, df 6, p 0.027).

CONCLUSIONS: Adjunctive use of CBT appears to have benefits for individuals diagnosed with BD who are highly representative of the patients seen in routine clinical practice, but often excluded from efficacy RCTs. However, as this is a secondary analysis of 42% of the original RCT sample, it is important to replicate these findings in independent larger scale studies specifically designed for purpose.

PMID:35501581 | DOI:10.1186/s40345-022-00259-3