Nevin Manimala

Rev Lat Am Enfermagem. 2021 Nov 8;29:e3485. doi: 10.1590/1518-8345.5104.3485. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: to identify the levels of anxiety and breastfeeding self-efficacy in puerperal women at the intervals of 60, 120, and 180 days postpartum; and to verify the influence of anxiety on breastfeeding self-efficacy among these puerperal women.

METHOD: an analytical, longitudinal and prospective study, conducted with 186 puerperal women, and which used a sociodemographic and obstetric characterization questionnaire, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale – Short Form. The analyses were performed by means of descriptive statistics, and Fisher’s Exact Test was used.

RESULTS: most of the puerperal women presented low levels of trait anxiety (55.4%) and of state anxiety (66.2% at 60 days, 72.8% at 120 days, and 75.5% at 180 days), and a high level of self-efficacy (77.3% at 60 days, 75.3% at 120 days, and 72.1% at 180 days of puerperium). Low levels of trait anxiety and state anxiety were associated with high self-efficacy at 60 days (p=0.0142 and p=0.0159, respectively).

CONCLUSION: it is necessary to pay greater attention to the mental health of puerperal women, considering that those who presented low levels of anxiety had higher levels of self-efficacy, a situation that can result in longer exclusive breastfeeding.

PMID:34755773 | DOI:10.1590/1518-8345.5104.3485

Acta Cir Bras. 2021 Nov 8;36(9):e360904. doi: 10.1590/ACB360904. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The protective effect of silibinin on kidney and lung parenchyma during hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) is explored.

METHODS: Sixty-three Wistar rats were separated into three groups: sham; control (45 min IRI); and silibinin (200 μL silibinin administration after 45 min of ischemia and before reperfusion). Immunohistochemistry and real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were used to evaluate the expression levels of MMP2, MMP3, MMP9, and TIMP2 on kidney and lung.

RESULTS: Comparing sham vs. control groups, confirmed that hepatic IRI increased both renal and lung MMP2, MMP3, MMP9 and TIMP2 expressions starting at 180 min (p<0.001). Comparison of the control vs. silibinin groups showed a statistically significant decrease in the expression levels of MMP2, MMP3, and MMP9 and increase of TIMP2 in kidney and lung parenchyma. The starting point of this decrease was at 120 min after reperfusion, both for kidney and lung parameters, and it was statistically significant at 240 min (p<0.001) for kidney, while silibinin showed a peak of lung protection at 180 min after hepatic reperfusion (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Hepatic IRI causes distant kidney and lung damage, while a statistically significant protective action, both on kidney and lung parenchyma, is conveyed by the intravenous administration of silibinin.

PMID:34755764 | DOI:10.1590/ACB360904

Acta Cir Bras. 2021 Nov 8;36(9):e360903. doi: 10.1590/ACB360903. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate if the perconditioning affects the antioxidant capacity in mesenteric ischemia and reperfusion injury.

METHODS: Twenty-one Wistar rats were assigned into three groups, as follows: Sham, IR and rPER. The animals were subjected to mesenteric ischemia for 30 min. rPER consisted of three cycles of 5-min hindlimb ischemia followed by 5 min hindlimb perfusion at the same time to mesenteric ischemic period. After 5 minutes, blood and 5 cm of terminal ileum were harvested for thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) measurement.

RESULTS: rPER technique was able to reduce intestinal tissue TBARS levels (p<0.0001), but no statistic difference was observed in blood levels between groups, although it was verified similar results in rPER and Sham group. rPER technique also enhanced TEAC levels in both blood (p = 0.0314) and intestinal tissue (p = 0.0139), compared to IR group.

CONCLUSIONS: rPER appears as the most promising technique to avoid IR injury. This technique reduced TBARS levels in blood and intestinal tissue and promoted the maintenance of antioxidant defense in mesenteric acute injury.

PMID:34755763 | DOI:10.1590/ACB360903

Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2021 Nov 8;76:e3069. doi: 10.6061/clinics/2021/e3069. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study explored the clinical efficacy of VitalStim electrical stimulation combined with swallowing function training for patients with dysphagia following an acute stroke.

METHODS: Seventy-two patients with dysphagia following an acute stroke were admitted to our hospital and were further divided into two groups using prospective research methods. There were 36 cases in each group according to the random number table method. The control group received conventional medical treatment and swallowing function training while the experimental group received conventional medical treatment and VitalStim electrical stimulation combined with swallowing function training.

RESULTS: The overall response rate of the experimental group (94.44%) was higher than that of the control group (77.78%), and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Compared with before treatment, the upward and forward movement speeds of the hyoid bone, anterior movement speed, the grading score of the Kubota drinking water test, Caiteng’s grading score, serum superoxide dismutase, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and norepinephrine levels, Fugl-Meyer Assessment score, and multiple quality of life scores of the two groups showed improvement after treatment. While the standard swallowing assessment score, serum malondialdehyde level, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score decreased, the aforementioned indices showed a significant improvement in the experimental group (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that VitalStim electrical stimulation combined with swallowing function is effective for treating dysphagia following an acute stroke. It can effectively improve swallowing, neurological, and limb motor functions, reduce complications, promote physical recovery, and improve overall quality of life of patients.

PMID:34755758 | DOI:10.6061/clinics/2021/e3069

Chem Commun (Camb). 2021 Nov 10. doi: 10.1039/d1cc05610g. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Control of self-sorting regimes is achieved through adjustment of steric interactions in self-assembled coordination cages. The self-assembly regime of dynamic mixtures of heteroleptic cages is followed by HPLC to show that statistical or biased distributions can be selectively obtained, including isolation of a single heteroleptic species.

PMID:34755718 | DOI:10.1039/d1cc05610g

Stud Health Technol Inform. 2021 Nov 8;286:16-20. doi: 10.3233/SHTI210628.

ABSTRACT

Many organizations created COVID-19 dashboards to communicate epidemiologic statistics or community health capabilities with the public. In this paper we used dashboard heuristics to identify common violations observed in COVID-19 dashboards targeted to citizens. Many of the faults we identified likely stem from failing to include users in the design of these dashboards. We urge health information dashboard designers to implement design principles and test dashboards with representative users to ensure that their tools are satisfying user needs.

PMID:34755683 | DOI:10.3233/SHTI210628

Biomed Phys Eng Express. 2021 Nov 9. doi: 10.1088/2057-1976/ac37cb. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The dose rate distributions delivered to 55 prostate and head & neck (H&N) cancer patients treated with a helical TomoTherapy (HT) system were resolved and assessed with regard to pitch and field width defined during treatment planning. Statistical analysis of the studied cases showed that the median treatment delivery time was 4.4 min and 6.3 min for the prostate and H&N cases, respectively. Dose rate volume histogram data for the studied cases showed that the 25% and 12% of the volume of the planning target volumes of the prostate and H&N cases are irradiated with a dose rate of greater or equal to 1 Gy/min. Quartile dose rate (QDR) data confirmed that in HT, where the target is irradiated in slices, most of the dose is delivered to each voxel of the target when it travels within the beam. Analysis of the planning data from all cases showed that this lasts for 68 s (median value). QDRs results showed that using the 2.5 cm field width, 75% of the prescribed dose is delivered to target voxels with a median dose rate of at least 3.2 Gy/min and 4.5 Gy/min, for the prostate and H&N cases, respectively. Systematically higher dose rates were observed for the H&N cases due to the shallower depths of the lesions in this anatomical site. Delivered dose rates were also found to increase with field width and pitch setting, due to the higher output of the system which, in general, results in accordingly decreased total treatment time. The biological effect of the dose rate findings of this work needs to be further investigated using in-vitro studies and clinical treatment data.

PMID:34755680 | DOI:10.1088/2057-1976/ac37cb

Brain Behav Immun. 2021 Oct 29;99:289-298. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2021.10.014. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Increased serum levels of pro-inflammatory biomarkers are consistently associated with cognitive decline. The omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) had been linked to slowing cognitive decline due to their potential anti-inflammatory effects. To our knowledge, the different regiments of pure DHA, pure EPA, and their combination on various associated symptoms of dementia, including a mild form of cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), have never been studied.

METHODS: This multisite, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted at two veteran’s retirement centers and one medical center in central Taiwan between 2013 and 2015. 163 MCI or AD patients were randomly assigned to placebo (n = 40), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 0.7 g/day, n = 41), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 1.6 g/day, n = 40), or EPA (0.8 g/day) + DHA (0.35 g/day) (n = 42) group for 24 months. The results were measured as the cognitive and functional abilities, biochemical, and inflammatory cytokines profiles. Chi-square tests, two-sample t-test, ANOVA, and linear mixedeffects models were conducted with p < 0.05.

RESULTS: 131 (80%) participants had completed the trial with all cognitive, functional, and mood status assessments. The statistically significant difference between the placebo and treatment groups was not determined, concerning the changes in cognitive, functional, and mood status scores, the biochemical profiles, and inflammatory cytokines levels. However, EPA was found to reduce the C-C motif ligands 4 (CCL4) level (p < 0.001). Additionally, EPA could reduce the constructional praxis (p < 0.05) and spoken language ability scores (p < 0.01), and DHA also reduced the spoken language ability score (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Overall, n-3 PUFAs supplements did not reduce cognitive, functional, and depressive symptom outcomes, but spoken language ability and constructional praxis subitems of ADAS-cog. These findings show that attention to clinical heterogeneity in dementia is crucial when studying nutrients interventions, such as n-3 PUFAs. In addition, with small effect size CCL4 is a better indicator than other inflammatory cytokines for EPA treatment response.

PMID:34755655 | DOI:10.1016/j.bbi.2021.10.014

Bioresour Technol. 2021 Oct 29;344(Pt B):126181. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.126181. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This article presents a methodology for determining the kinetic parameters of biomass based on thermogravimetric analysis and the Coats-Redfern procedure with 27 model equations. Maize samples stored for approximately one year were used herein. The first sub-stage of pyrolysis was a first-order reaction with nuclei growth of n = 1, and the second sub-stage indicated a different kinetic order (1.5) of the reaction. The last sub-step showed good convergence with the first-order reaction and nuclei growth of n = 1.5. The activation energy reached up to 71.6 kJ/mol for tżhe selected parts of the stalk fraction, whereas it decreased to 6.5 kJ/mol for the others. A simplified method for approximating the composition of the biomass is also presented. In the composition of stalks, the fraction of hemicellulose was the highest, followed by that of cellulose, whereas in the composition of leaves and whole plant samples, an opposite trend was observed.

PMID:34755652 | DOI:10.1016/j.biortech.2021.126181

Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 9;11(1):22000. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-01057-0.

ABSTRACT

The electrocaloric (EC) effect is the change in temperature and entropy of a material driven by the application of an electric field. Our tight-binding calculations linked to Fermi statistics, show that the EC effect can be produced in trilayer graphene (TLG) structures connected to a heat source, triggered by changes in the electronic density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level when external gate fields are applied on the outer graphene layers. We demonstrate that entropy changes are sensitive to the stacking arrangement in TLG systems. The AAA-stacked TLG presents an inverse EC response (cooling) regardless of the temperature value and gate field potential strength, whereas the EC effect in ABC-stacked TLG remains direct (heating) above room temperature. We reveal otherwise the TLG with Bernal-ABA stacking generates both the direct and inverse EC response within the same sample, associated with gate-dependent electronic transitions of thermally excited charge carriers from the valence band to the conduction band in the band structure. The novel charge carrier electrocaloric effect we propose in quantum layered systems may bring a wide variety of prototype van der Waals materials that could be used as versatile platforms to controlling the thermal response in nanodevices.

PMID:34753972 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-01057-0