Nevin Manimala

Ethn Health. 2022 Aug 28:1-11. doi: 10.1080/13557858.2022.2116631. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Racial disparities in care and outcome have been demonstrated for several cancers, but it is not clear that a similar discrepancy exists for pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, there are limited data describing the pancreatic cancer experience of Pacific Islanders. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the clinical characteristics, treatment, and outcomes of Pacific Islander patients with pancreatic cancer.

DESIGN: We obtained data for a consecutive sample of pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients who presented to the largest hospital in Hawaii from 1 January 2000, through 31 December 2019. Analyses were performed for the entire population and separately for patients who had their cancer resected. Overall survival was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards regression models were constructed to determine the prognostic capacity of clinical and pathologic factors.

RESULTS: A total of 1040 patients were included in the final analysis. Pacific islanders presented at a significantly younger age compared to Whites or Asians and had the highest Medicaid rate. There were no statistically significant racial differences in stage at presentation or treatments. We did not demonstrate an association between race and survival on univariate analysis, nor after adjusting for demographic and tumor factors. Age, stage, and treatment were significantly associated with survival for both univariate and multivariate analyses.

CONCLUSION: We did not demonstrate disparate outcomes among Pacific Islanders with pancreatic cancer. This is likely due in part to the absence of a screening test and the notable poor prognosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Furthermore, equity in treatment may have contributed to racial parity in survival.

PMID:36036201 | DOI:10.1080/13557858.2022.2116631

Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot. 2022 Aug 28:1-12. doi: 10.1080/17457300.2022.2109679. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study aims to evaluate the perception of safety and security in informal transport in Tunisia. This research employs a questionnaire-based survey of passengers and drivers of informal transport in Tunisia. Interviews were conducted with 215 informal transport Tunisian drivers and 255 Tunisian passengers, all above 18 years of age. Analyses have been made by employing several multivariate statistical analyses. Results showed that personal attributes of informal transport drivers influence their decision to violate traffic laws and to display risky driving behaviors. It was also found that driver skills, personality, education, experience, quality of the car, and information about the road congestion are the main factors influencing safety and security in informal transport. Non-compliance with the law by informal drivers leads to aberrant habits and behaviors as well as to a driving style beyond recognized standards. Informal drivers, police and local authorities are the parties involved in the low safety and security aspects of informal transport. It can be concluded that this study underlines that improving safety and security in informal transport cannot be achieved without improving awareness of the role of traffic laws and the need for their enforcement.

PMID:36036198 | DOI:10.1080/17457300.2022.2109679

Omega (Westport). 2022 Aug 27:302228221124358. doi: 10.1177/00302228221124358. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The current study aimed to determine the relationship between fear of death and their caregiver roles in nurses during the COVID-19. The research data were collected with the personal information form, the Thanatophobia scale, the Scale of Nurses’ Attitudes to Their Caregiver Roles (SNACR), the Google Questionnaire Form. Of the nurses participating in the study, 16.1% were diagnosed with COVID-19. The current study found statistically significant differences among the thanatophobia mean scores of the groups composed according to the variables; age, gender, marital status, job position, voluntarily choosing the profession, satisfaction with the department, having had a COVID-19 diagnosis, personal assessments about their own COVID-19 knowledge, and evaluating the COVID-19 disease as fatal. In addition, there were statistically significant differences among the SNACR mean scores of the groups according to their evaluations about gender, income level, working experience as a nurse, being diagnosed with COVID-19, and their COVID-19 knowledge. The current study found no correlation between the nurses’ Thanatophobia scale score and SNACR score.

PMID:36036194 | DOI:10.1177/00302228221124358

Indian Pediatr. 2022 Aug 26:S097475591600449. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of delirium and its risk factors among children admitted to a Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

METHOD: A descriptive study in which consecutive patients admitted to the PICU over a period of 12 months were screened daily for delirium using the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium (CAPD) score. Treatment-related and demographic variables were collected and analyzed. The statistically significant risk factors for delirium were analyzed by multivariable logistic regression for independent associations.

RESULTS: Among the 476 screened patients, 96 (20.2%) developed delirium. The independent risk factors associated with the development of delirium were respiratory failure (P<0.001), administration of benzodiazepines during PICU stay (P<0.001), and presence of multiple (≥2) risk factors for delirium (P<0.001). The mean length of PICU stay was significantly higher among delirious subjects with P<0.001.

CONCLUSION: Delirium is a frequent complication in critically ill children, and recognition of associated factors may assist in early diagnosis and focussed management.

PMID:36036188

Nurs Forum. 2022 Aug 29. doi: 10.1111/nuf.12795. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Communication and collaboration with colleagues are crucial for new graduate nurses (NGNs) because of the adaptation to both the healthcare system and professional role. Therefore, working units with effective collaboration among nurses may increase new graduates’ work readiness.

AIM: This study aimed to determine the relationship between the perceptions of nurse-nurse collaboration and the work readiness level among NGNs.

METHODOLOGY: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out with 198 NGNs in four private hospitals affiliated with a university. A self-administered questionnaire, including a personal information form, the Nurse-Nurse Collaboration Scale, and Work Readiness Scale, was used to collect data. Data analysis was performed using descriptive tests, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients.

RESULTS: NGNs had moderate perceptions of nurse-nurse collaboration, with a median score of 2.46 (2.23-2.88) out of 4. Work readiness among NGNs was moderate, with a median score of 304 (270-332) out of 460. There was a statistically significant correlation between nurse-nurse collaboration and work readiness (r_s = 0.26; p < .001).

CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that improving nurse-nurse collaboration is an effective way to increase work readiness among NGNs.

PMID:36036181 | DOI:10.1111/nuf.12795

J Int Med Res. 2022 Aug;50(8):3000605221119366. doi: 10.1177/03000605221119366.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the time to severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and risk factors among confirmed COVID-19 cases in Southern Ethiopia.

METHOD: This two-center retrospective cohort study involved patients with confirmed COVID-19 from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021. Kaplan-Meier graphs and log-rank tests were used to determine the pattern of COVID-19 severity among categories of variables. Bivariable and multivariable Cox proportional regression models were used to identify the risk factors of severe COVID-19.

RESULTS: Four hundred thirteen patients with COVID-19 with a mean age of 41.9 ± 15.3 years were involved in the study. There were 194 severe cases (46.9.1%), including 77 (39.6%) deaths. The median time from symptom onset to severe COVID-19 was 8 days (interquartile range: 7-12 days). The risk factors for severe COVID-19 were age >65 (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] = 2.65, 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 1.02, 3.72), cough (AHR = 1.59, 95%CI: 1.39, 2.84), chest pain (AHR = 1.47, 95%CI: 1.34, 2.66), headache (AHR = 2.04, 95%CI: 1.43, 2.88), comorbidity (AHR = 1.3, 95%CI: 1.01, 2.04), asthma (AHR = 1.6. 95%CI: 1.04, 2.24), and symptom onset to admission more than 5 days (AHR = 0.48, 95%CI: 0.34, 0.68).

CONCLUSION: Patients with symptoms and comorbidities should be closely monitored.

PMID:36036178 | DOI:10.1177/03000605221119366

Int J Audiol. 2022 Aug 27:1-11. doi: 10.1080/14992027.2022.2114024. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Subjective promontory stimulation is used to evaluate cochlear implant (CI) candidacy, but the test reliability is low. Electrically evoked auditory brainstem response (EABR) can verify the function of the auditory system objectively. This study’s procedure uses a trans-tympanic rounded bent-tip electrode to perform pre-operative EABR under local anaesthesia (LA-TT-EABR) using MED-EL Software and Hardware. This study aimed to determine usability and effectiveness for CI candidates.

DESIGN: We hypothesised that LA-TT-EABR waveforms of good quality would be related to successful hearing outcomes. We assumed that the duration of hearing loss/deafness was a confounding factor to study outcomes.

STUDY SAMPLE: 19 borderline CI candidates.

RESULTS: Positive LA-TT-EABR results were confirmed in 14 patients. LA-TT-EABR’s mean latency was 2.05 ± 0.31 ms (eII/eIII) and 4.24 ± 0.39 ms (eIV/eV). Latencies weren’t statistically different from intra-operative EABR elicited by basal CI contacts. All positive LA-TT-EABR patients benefitted from CI and speech performance improved one year after implantation. One patient with negative LA-TT-EABR was cochlear-implanted and had no hearing sensation.

CONCLUSIONS: LA-TT-EABR is a tool in the frame of pre-operative objective testing the auditory pathway. It seems useful for clinical testing CI candidacy. Based on this study’s outcomes, LA-TT-EABR should be recommended for uncertain CI candidates.

PMID:36036176 | DOI:10.1080/14992027.2022.2114024

Drug Deliv. 2022 Dec;29(1):2773-2783. doi: 10.1080/10717544.2022.2115165.

ABSTRACT

Based on the administration convenience, transmucosal buccal drug delivery allows special strength points over peroral routes for systemic delivery. It could achieve local or systemic effect and boost drugs’ bioavailability for agents with first pass metabolism. The current study aimed to manufacture and optimize a lavender oil-based nanoemulsion loaded with zaleplon and incorporate it into fast-disintegrating tablets to promote its dissolution and oral bioavailability via oral mucosa. Zaleplon-loaded nanoemulsions were devised with various levels of lavender oil (10% to 25%), the surfactant Sorbeth-20 (35% to 65%), and the co-surfactant HCO-60 (20% to 40%); the extreme vertices mixture statistical design was adopted. The droplet size and drug-loading efficiency were the evaluated. The optimal formulation was transformed into self-nanoemulsified lyophilized tablets (ZP-LV-SNELTs), which were tested for their uniformity of content, friability, and disintegration time with in-vitro release. Finally, the pharmacokinetic parameters of the ZP-LV-SNELTs were determined and compared with those of marketed formulations. The optimal nanoemulsion had a droplet size of 87 nm and drug-loading capacity of 185 mg/mL. ZP-LV-SNELTs exhibited acceptable friability and weight uniformity and a short disintegration time. The in-vitro release of ZP-LV-SNELTs was 17 times faster than that of the marketed tablet. Moreover, the optimal ZP-LV-SNELTs increased the bioavailability of zaleplon in rabbits by 1.6-fold compared with the commercial tablets. Hence, this investigation revealed that ZP-LV-SNELTs delivered zaleplon with enhanced solubility, a fast release, and boosted bioavailability thru oral mucosa which provided a favorable route for drug administration which is suggested to be clinically investigated in future studies.

PMID:36036168 | DOI:10.1080/10717544.2022.2115165

Cogn Sci. 2022 Sep;46(9):e13189. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13189.

ABSTRACT

Synesthetes can be distinguished from nonsynesthetes on a variety of experimental tasks because their concurrent synesthetic experiences can affect task performance if these experiences match or conflict with some aspect of the stimulus. Here, we tested grapheme-color synesthetes and nonsynesthetic control participants using a novel perceptual similarity task to assess whether synesthetes’ concurrent color experiences influence perceived grapheme similarity. Participants iteratively arranged graphemes and, separately, their associated synesthetic colors in a display, such that similar items were placed close together and dissimilar items further apart. The resulting relative inter-item distances were used to calculate the pair-wise (dis)similarity between items in the set, and thence to create separate perceptual representational dissimilarity matrices (RDMs) for graphemes and colors, on an individual basis. On the assumption that synesthetes’ similarity judgments for graphemes would be influenced by their concurrent color experiences, we predicted that grapheme and color RDMs would be more strongly correlated for synesthetes than nonsynesthetes. We found that the mean grapheme-color RDM correlation was indeed significantly higher in synesthetes than nonsynesthetes; in addition, synesthetes’ grapheme-color RDM correlations were more likely to be individually statistically significant, even after correction for multiple tests, than those of nonsynesthetes. Importantly, synesthetes’ grapheme-color RDM correlations were scaled with the consistency of their grapheme-color associations as measured by their Synesthesia Battery (SB) scores. By contrast, the relationship between SB scores and grapheme-color RDM correlations for nonsynesthetes was not significant. Thus, dissimilarity analysis quantitatively distinguished synesthetes from nonsynesthetes, in a way that meaningfully reflects a key aspect of synesthetic experience.

PMID:36036150 | DOI:10.1111/cogs.13189

Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2022;122(8. Vyp. 2):72-76. doi: 10.17116/jnevro202212208272.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the informativity, sensitivity and specificity of the method of assessing gait function in patients with ataxia and post-stroke hemiparesis using the LA-1 «Laser Analyzer of Kinematic Gait Parameters».

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Main tempo-rhythm and spatial gait parameters were assessed in groups of healthy people of young (n=30) and middle (n=30) age. At the second stage, the gait parameters of healthy people were compared with those of patients with ataxia due to vertebrobasilar stroke (n=30) and with post-stroke hemiparesis (n=30). The following parameters were evaluated: the average length and duration of step, the standard deviation of step length, the standard deviation of step duration, coefficient of variability for step length & duration.

RESULTS: The high sensitivity and specificity of the method were established. Standard values were determined for all indicators in groups of healthy people and statistically significant features of the main gait parameters for these syndromes were identified. There were an increase in the step length and duration, standard deviation of step length and duration, step variability coefficients, and a decrease in walking speed. Conclusion. The results are in line with those of earlier studies on the gait change in patients with post-stroke disorders. The LA-1 method can be recommended for clinical use.

PMID:36036147 | DOI:10.17116/jnevro202212208272