Nevin Manimala

Vet Surg. 2022 May 2. doi: 10.1111/vsu.13817. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To compare ultrasonographic and computed tomographic findings in neonatal foals prior to surgical repair of rib fractures as well as postoperative outcomes in foals with and without preoperative thoracic computed tomography (CT). Study design Retrospective cohort study. Sample population 43 neonatal foals undergoing surgical treatment of rib fractures between 2013 and 2021.

METHODS: Medical records were reviewed for age, sex, delivery method, comorbidities, presurgical anesthetic time, surgical time, number and location of fractured ribs identified with ultrasound and CT, number and location of ribs surgically repaired, survival to discharge, and post-mortem findings. Statistical analyses were performed using chi-square, Fisher’s exact, and t-tests.

RESULTS: Twenty-two foals underwent surgical repair of rib fractures after preoperative CT from 2019-2021 (median: 4/18/20) and 21 foals were anesthetized (20 underwent repair) for surgical repair of rib fractures without preoperative CT from 2013-2020 (median: 4/9/15). Ultrasound and CT findings differed in number and location of fractured ribs in 13/17 (76%) foals (p = .049). More cranially positioned ribs were identified as fractured with CT than with ultrasonography (p = .035). Survival to discharge was improved when foals underwent CT (20/22, 91%) than when they did not (12/20, 60%, p = .019).

CONCLUSION: Ultrasound findings differed from CT findings in most foals. Foals evaluated with CT were more likely to survive to hospital discharge.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: When available, CT is recommended prior to surgical repair of rib fractures in neonatal foals.

PMID:35500138 | DOI:10.1111/vsu.13817

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 May 10;119(19):e2120808119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2120808119. Epub 2022 May 2.

ABSTRACT

SignificanceDeep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is highly effective for treating the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the neural mechanisms by which DBS acts are unknown. PD symptoms are tied to altered brain rhythms in basal ganglia (BG) and particularly the striatum. We develop a biophysical model of a BG neural pathway and show how beta oscillations can emerge throughout BG in PD. We then establish a mechanism by which DBS in STN can interrupt these abnormal rhythms and restore the brain’s capability to produce and regulate normal rhythms lost with dopamine depletion. Our research suggests mechanisms to leverage striatal gamma and theta oscillations to counter aberrant dynamics and enhance the therapeutic effects of DBS.

PMID:35500112 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2120808119

J Am Chem Soc. 2022 May 2. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c02391. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This Communication describes polarity inversion in molecular rectification and the related mechanism. Using a supramolecular engineered, ultrastable, binary-mixed self-assembled monolayer (SAM) composed of an organic molecular diode (SC₁₁BIPY) and an inert reinforcement molecule (SC₈), we probed a rectification ratio (r)-voltage relationship over an unprecedentedly wide voltage range (up to |3.5 V|) with statistical significance. We observed positive polarity in rectification at |1.0 V| (r = 107), followed by disappearance of rectification at ∼|2.25 V|, and then eventual emergence of new rectification with the opposite polarity at ∼|3.5 V| (r = 0.006; 1/r = 162). The polarity inversion occurred with a span over 4 orders of magnitude in r. Low-temperature experiments, electronic structure analysis, and theoretical calculations revealed that the unusually wide voltage range permits access to molecular orbital energy levels that are inaccessible in the traditional narrow voltage regime, inducing the unprecedented in situ inversion of polarity.

PMID:35500106 | DOI:10.1021/jacs.2c02391

Coron Artery Dis. 2022 Apr 15. doi: 10.1097/MCA.0000000000001148. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to explore the effect of different doses of atorvastatin on collateral formation in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with coronary atherosclerosis.

METHODS: The study included 218 CAD patients who received treatment between January 2017 and January 2020 at our hospital. They were assigned to the high-dose group (40 mg atorvastatin) and the low-dose group (20 mg atorvastatin) using the random table method with 109 patients per group. The blood lipid levels, TNF-α, hs-CRP, NO, and coronary atherosclerosis collateral formation before and after treatment in the two groups were compared, and favorable factors of good coronary artery collateral circulation were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: LDL-C, TG, and TC levels decreased, whereas HDL-C levels increased in the two groups after treatment. The high-dose group had lower LDL-C, TG, and TC levels but higher HDL-C levels than the low-dose group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). TNF-α and hs-CRP levels decreased while NO levels increased in both groups after treatment. The high-dose group had lower TNF-α and hs-CRP levels but higher NO levels than the low-dose group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: High-dose atorvastatin could blood lipid levels of modulate CAD patients and promote coronary atherosclerosis collateral formation. In addition, hypertension, LDL-C, HDL-C, TNF-α, hs-CRP, and NO were independent determinants of good coronary artery collateral circulation.

PMID:35500098 | DOI:10.1097/MCA.0000000000001148

J Public Health Manag Pract. 2022 Apr 5. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001527. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The linking of surveillance data sets has increasingly become an essential public health activity. We compared a traditional method in North Carolina (NC) with a newer collaborative approach when linking Hospital Discharge Data (HDD) and NC Violent Death Reporting System (NC-VDRS) data. We found the collaborative approach to be superior, enabling wider ownership combined with subject matter expertise the traditional method lacked. We used Link Plus and Match*Pro software for linkage, which had similar matching results. However, the collaborative process using Match*Pro resulted in fewer matches requiring review and enabled better case adjudication and collaboration between partners. Of the 1361 unique suicides that matched to HDD, 44% (n = 599) had multiple prior hospitalizations. Public health needs to innovate and enable partners to foster solutions when traditional methods are dated and result in less reliable data. The process outlined builds consensus, increases trust, and ultimately saves time.

PMID:35500087 | DOI:10.1097/PHH.0000000000001527

Sociol Health Illn. 2022 May 2. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13476. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Research has shown a link between gender, violence, and suicide. This relationship is complex, and few empirical studies have explored suicide and family and interpersonal violence perpetrated by men. Drawing on a coronial dataset of suicide cases and a mixed methods design, this study integrated a quantitative analysis of 155 suicide cases with a qualitative analysis of medico-legal reports from 32 cases. Findings showed different types and patterns of family and intimate partner violence for men who died by suicide. Men used violence in response to conflict, but also to dominate women. Cumulative, interwoven effects of violence, mental illness, alcohol and other drug use, socioeconomic, and psychosocial circumstances were observed in our study population. However, the use of violence and suicidal behaviour was also a deliberate and calculated response by which some men sought to maintain influence or control over women. Health and criminal justice interventions served as short-term responses to violence, mental illness, and suicidal behaviour, but were of limited assistance.

PMID:35500037 | DOI:10.1111/1467-9566.13476

PLoS Comput Biol. 2022 May 2;18(5):e1010061. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010061. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

While hierarchical experimental designs are near-ubiquitous in neuroscience and biomedical research, researchers often do not take the structure of their datasets into account while performing statistical hypothesis tests. Resampling-based methods are a flexible strategy for performing these analyses but are difficult due to the lack of open-source software to automate test construction and execution. To address this, we present Hierarch, a Python package to perform hypothesis tests and compute confidence intervals on hierarchical experimental designs. Using a combination of permutation resampling and bootstrap aggregation, Hierarch can be used to perform hypothesis tests that maintain nominal Type I error rates and generate confidence intervals that maintain the nominal coverage probability without making distributional assumptions about the dataset of interest. Hierarch makes use of the Numba JIT compiler to reduce p-value computation times to under one second for typical datasets in biomedical research. Hierarch also enables researchers to construct user-defined resampling plans that take advantage of Hierarch’s Numba-accelerated functions.

PMID:35500032 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010061

PLoS Comput Biol. 2022 May 2;18(5):e1010045. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010045. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Identifying structural differences among proteins can be a non-trivial task. When contrasting ensembles of protein structures obtained from molecular dynamics simulations, biologically-relevant features can be easily overshadowed by spurious fluctuations. Here, we present SINATRA Pro, a computational pipeline designed to robustly identify topological differences between two sets of protein structures. Algorithmically, SINATRA Pro works by first taking in the 3D atomic coordinates for each protein snapshot and summarizing them according to their underlying topology. Statistically significant topological features are then projected back onto a user-selected representative protein structure, thus facilitating the visual identification of biophysical signatures of different protein ensembles. We assess the ability of SINATRA Pro to detect minute conformational changes in five independent protein systems of varying complexities. In all test cases, SINATRA Pro identifies known structural features that have been validated by previous experimental and computational studies, as well as novel features that are also likely to be biologically-relevant according to the literature. These results highlight SINATRA Pro as a promising method for facilitating the non-trivial task of pattern recognition in trajectories resulting from molecular dynamics simulations, with substantially increased resolution.

PMID:35500014 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010045

PLoS One. 2022 May 2;17(5):e0267641. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267641. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

Ultrasound devices are common in muscle physiology laboratories due to their ease of use and validity to assess skeletal muscle characteristics. The current study assessed the reliability of ultrasound skeletal muscle image analysis across multiple raters with limited experience. Vastus lateralis (VL), rectus femoris (RF), and first dorsal interosseus (FDI) images were separately analyzed by three novice raters to determine muscle thickness (MT), cross-sectional area (CSA), and echo-intensity (EI). Separate analyses of variance (ANOVA) assessed statistical differences between and within raters. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) between (inter-rater) and within (intra-rater) raters, the standard error of the measurement (SEM) and minimal difference needed to be considered real were calculated. Inter-rater reliability was high for the VL and RF (ICC: 0.984-0.999), while the FDI was lower (0.614-0.962). Further, intra-rater reliability was greater than 0.961 for each rater. SEM values calculated for inter-rater reliability expressed as a percentage of the mean ranged from 0.4-5.8% across variables. Similarly, SEM values for intra-rater reliability were between 0.8-5.8%, 0.6-3.6%, and 0.4-3.2% for Raters 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Despite this, significant differences (p<0.05) between raters were observed for RF MT and EI, VL CSA and EI, and FDI MT, suggesting that potentially more measurement trials or greater practice time may be necessary to reduce systematic error among multiple raters. Post-image acquisition processing is reliable among and within raters as determined through ICCs and SEMs. This study provided consistent results among three separate novice raters given the same training, a unique yet realistic setting in muscle physiology laboratories.

PMID:35500010 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0267641

Sociol Health Illn. 2022 May 2. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13474. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Previous research on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy lacks a gender perspective, and it is unclear whether gender intersects with socioeconomic status to co-produce inequalities in people’s intent to take vaccines. The current study draws on intersectionality theory and uses data from the 2021 US Household Pulse Survey (n = 50,359). Both bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were conducted. The results suggest that American women had a higher vaccine hesitancy rate than men. Gender interacts with socioeconomic status to shape people’s vaccine hesitancy in a complex way. Specifically, women living in poverty or currently working were more vaccine-hesitant, while poverty and employment status did not affect men’s vaccine hesitancy. However, not having a college education contributed to both women’s and men’s COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Moreover, women were more worried about the safety of the vaccine, but men’s hesitancy tended to be driven by lower perceptions of COVID-19 dangers and belief in conspiratorial claims.

PMID:35500003 | DOI:10.1111/1467-9566.13474