Nevin Manimala

Nucleosides Nucleotides Nucleic Acids. 2022 Sep 8:1-11. doi: 10.1080/15257770.2022.2118768. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Considering the role of miR-146a in the control of inflammation, we assessed the importance of two miR-146a polymorphisms (rs2910164 and rs57095329) in the development and severity of ulcerative colitis (UC) in Iran. Genomic DNA of 150 cases with UC and 200 healthy individuals were genotyped using the PCR-RFLP technique. Statistical analyses were performed using Med Calc software. The miR-146a rs2910164 C allele was significantly associated with increased risk of UC. Individuals carrying the CC (rs2910164) were more than fourfold higher risk of UC relative to wild type homozygotes. The combined GC + CC genotypes were also associated with increased UC risk. We also found that the rs2910164 CC genotype was associated with a severe form of the disease However, the distribution of variant allele and genotypes of rs57095329 did not differ between the cases and controls. In conclusion, miR-146a rs2910164 polymorphism may play a role in UC. To confirm our findings, additional well-designed studies in diverse ethnic populations are required.

PMID:36075029 | DOI:10.1080/15257770.2022.2118768

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2022 Sep 8:keac512. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keac512. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Survival and death prognostic factors of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients varied during the last decades. We aimed to update the 5- and 10-year survival rates and identify prognostic factors in a multicentre cohort of Italian SSc patients diagnosed after 2009.

METHODS: Patients who received a diagnosis of SSc after January 1st, 2009, and were longitudinally followed up in 4 Italian Rheumatologic Centres were retrospectively assessed up to December 31st, 2020. Overall survival of SSc patients was described using the Kaplan-Meier method. Predictors of mortality at 10-year follow-up were assessed by the Cox-regression model. A comparison of our cohort with the Italian general population was performed by determining the standardized mortality ratio (SMR).

RESULTS: A total of 912 patients (91.6% females, 20% dcSSc) were included. Overall survival rates at 5 and 10 years were 94.4%, and 89.4% respectively. The SMR was 0.96 (95% CI 0.81-1.13), like that expected in the Italian general population. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with pulmonary hypertension (PH) significantly reduced survival (p< 0.0001). Main death predictors were male gender (HR = 2.76), diffuse cutaneous involvement (HR = 3.14), older age at diagnosis (HR = 1.08), PAH (HR = 3.21), ILD-associated PH (HR = 4.11), comorbidities (HR = 3.53), and glucocorticoid treatment (HR = 2.02).

CONCLUSIONS: In the last decade, SSc patients have reached similar mortality of that expected in the Italian general population. Male gender, diffuse cutaneous involvement, comorbidities, and PAH with or without ILD represent the main poor prognostic factors.

PMID:36074979 | DOI:10.1093/rheumatology/keac512

Altern Ther Health Med. 2022 Sep 9:AT7483. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

CONTEXT: Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is a common critical illness, and stress hyperglycemia is the greatest independent risk factor for poor prognoses in critically ill patients. Enteral nutrition can not only provide an essential energy source for the body and improve a patient’s intestinal micro-ecology but also can play a critical role in blood glucose management, especially for blood glucose variability.

OBJECTIVE: The study intended to investigate the effects of different enteral nutrition preparations, including a slow-release starch, on blood glucose variability, nutritional status, inflammatory indexes, and prognosis for patients with SAP with stress hyperglycemia.

DESIGN: The research team designed a retrospective analysis of SAP patients’ data.

SETTING: The study took place in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Ruijin Hospital of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in Shanghai, China.

PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 129 SAP patients with stress hyperglycemia, who had a random blood glucose of ≥11.1 mmol/L and who had been admitted to the department at the hospital between January 2013 and December 2018.

INTERVENTION: After the recovery of intestinal function, Patients were inserted a nasointestinal feeding tube below the ligament of Treitz to deliver enteral nutrition. According to the presence or absence of enteral nutrition preparations containing slow-release starch in the nutritional therapy, the research team divided patients into an intervention group (n = 63) that received a protein-based, enteral nutrition preparation containing slow-release starch and a control group (n = 66) that received a protein- or short-peptide-based, enteral nutrition preparation containing no slow-release starch.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Postintervention for both groups, the research team measured the total amount of insulin used. At baseline and postintervention, the team measured for both groups: (1) the blood glucose variability: the average value of blood glucose (GLU AVE), standard deviation of blood glucose (GLU SD), coefficient of variation of blood glucose (GLU CV), large amplitude of glycemic excursions (GLU LAGE), and nutrition indicators-serum albumin (ALB), serum pre-albumin (PA), serum total protein (TP), and hemoglobin (HB); (2) the inflammatory markers: total amount of white blood cells (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), and procalcitonin (PCT); and (3) prognostic indicators: the length of ICU stay, total length of hospital stay, and 60-day and 90-day mortality.

RESULTS: The intervention group used significantly less insulin than the control group did, at 12.23 ± 6.74 and 35.31 ± 12.79 IU/d, respectively (P ≤ .05). Postintervention for 2 weeks, the blood glucose variability in the intervention group showed a decline. Between baseline and postintervention, the following significant decreases in blood glucose variability occurred for the group (P ≤ .05): (1) the GLU AVE from 14.27 ± 2.27 to 10.84 ± 1.97, (2) the GLU SD from 2.76 ± 1.48 to 2.15 ± 0.88, (3) the GLU CV from 20.1 ± 8.93 to 16.2 ± 3.61, and (4) the GLU LAGE from 7.9 ± 4.3 to 6.2 ± 2.5. Between baseline and postintervention, the following significant increases in blood glucose variability occurred for the control group (P ≤ .05): (1) the GLU AVE from 11.2 ± 2.3 to 12.1 ± 1.9, (2) the GLU SD from 1.9 ± 1.09 to 3.2 ± 1.0, (3) the GLU CV from 16.2 ± 6.2 to 19.6 ± 7.8, and (4) the GLU LAGE from 4.6 ± 2.6 to 5.0 ± 2.6. Postintervention, the GLU AVE, GLU SD, and GLU CV in the intervention group were significantly lower than those in the control group (p≤0.05). For nutritional indicators, the levels of ALB, PA, and TP in both groups significantly increased between baseline and postintervention (P ≤ .05), but HB didn’t increase. However, no statistically significant differences existed between the groups (P > .05). For inflammatory markers, the total WBCs, CRP, and PCT in both groups significantly declined between baseline and postintervention (P ≤ .05). However, the decline in CRP in the intervention group was greater, from 154.5 ± 64.8 to 8.4 ± 6.8, than that of the control group, from 155.2 ± 88.4 to 15.6 ± 13.4, but no statistically significant differences existed between the groups (P > .05). The length of ICU stay and total length of hospital stay in the intervention group, from 53.9 ± 5.21 d and 74.7 ± 9.18 d, respectively, were significantly shorter than those in the control group, at 25.9 ± 4.89 and 43.6 ± 7.98 , respectively (P ≤ .05). The 60-day and 90-day mortality in the intervention group were significantly lower than those in the control group, at 0% and 0% compared to 2.8% and 6.9%, respectively (P ≤ .05).

CONCLUSIONS: The application of enteral nutrition preparation containing sustained-release starch in treatment of SAP patients with stress hyperglycemia, may increase nutrition indicators quickly, significantly reduce blood glucose variability, improve inflammatory markers, shorten the length of ICU stay and hospital stay, and decrease the mortality.

PMID:36074968

Altern Ther Health Med. 2022 Sep 9:AT7498. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The demand for “energy healing” is growing rapidly in the United States and other developed countries. To date, scanty clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate its clinical safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness.

PRIMARY STUDY OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of the Blessed TRI 360TM capsule (Biofield Energy Treated Proprietary Dietary Supplement Capsules Powered by the Trivedi Effect®).

METHODS/DESIGN: A total of 77 adult subjects (male and female) aged 20-45 years with one or more psychological symptoms were enrolled in the trial. The subjects were randomized into two groups: placebo control and treatment group. The treatment group (n = 35) received the Blessed TRI 360TM capsule twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. The placebo control group (n = 42) did not receive any treatment/capsule.

SETTING: An open-label, single-center, randomized controlled trial (RCT).

PARTICIPANTS: Adult human subjects (male and female) with one or more psychological symptoms.

INTERVENTION: Biofield energy treated proprietary capsule.

PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Psychological questionnaire scores and functional physiological biomarkers.

RESULTS: Psychological and mental health symptoms were statistically and significantly reduced in the subjects taking the Blessed TRI 360TM capsule compared to the placebo group on both days 90 and 180. Furthermore, levels of functional physiological biomarkers were higher in the intervention group compared to the placebo group: vitamins (C, B12, and D3 active metabolites), neurotransmitters (acetylcholine, noradrenaline, and dopamine), hormones (17-β-estradiol, oxytocin, and insulin), antioxidant enzyme (catalase), and anti-aging protein (klotho). Additionally, proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-8, IFN-γ, and IL-2), progesterone, and oxidative stress markers (MDA and oxidized-LDL) were lower in the Blessed TRI 360TM group than the placebo group after the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, the Blessed TRI 360TM dietary supplement capsule was found to be safe and tolerable. It significantly improved psychological symptoms and mental disorders and simultaneously improved different functional physiological biomarkers that led to an improvement in the overall health and quality of life of the adult subjects.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ECR/147/Inst/GJ/2013/RR-16.

PMID:36074965

Altern Ther Health Med. 2022 Sep 9:AT7466. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of the Milch technique on quality of life (QoL) in patients with anterior dislocation of the shoulder joint.

METHODS: A total of 126 patients undergoing manual reduction for anterior dislocation of the shoulder in our hospital from January 2021 to January 2022 were prospectively enrolled in this study. The randomized number table method was used to divide patients into the study group (63 patients) and the control group (63 patients). The study group was treated with a modified Milch technique while the control group was treated with the Hippocratic method. Success rate and complications were compared to evaluate the effectiveness of manual reduction. Clinical assessment of shoulder function included the Constant-Murley Score and visual analog scale (VAS) before, during and after manual reduction.

RESULTS: The success rate of primary and secondary reduction in the study group was significantly higher than in the control group (87.30% vs 61.90, respectively; P = .001; 11.11% vs 25.40%, respectively; P = .038). The failure rate in the study group was significantly lower than in the control group (1.59% vs 12.70%, respectively; P = .015). The time required for reduction in the study and control groups was 58.87 ± 7.92 seconds and 93.09 ± 8.01 seconds, respectively; a significant difference (t = -24.113; P < .001). There was no statistically significant difference in VAS scores before and during reduction in the 2 groups. After reduction, VAS scores in the study group were significantly lower than in the control group (1.02 ± 0.01 vs 1.14 ± 0.26, respectively; P < .001). There were no significant differences in pain level, activities of daily living, joint range of motion or muscle strength between the 2 groups before and after reduction (P > .05). After reduction, health status, emotional function, mental health, physiological function, physiological function, physical pain, vitality and social function scores in the study group were significantly higher than in the control group (P < .05). There were 4 avulsion fractures and 2 humeral fractures in the control group; no complications occurred in the study group, with a significant difference (χ2 = 6.289; P = .012).

CONCLUSION: The Milch technique can improve the QoL in patients with anterior dislocation of the shoulder, and the success rate of the reduction is high.

PMID:36074960

J Cell Physiol. 2022 Sep 8. doi: 10.1002/jcp.30872. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The high level of progesterone and 17β-estradiol ratio (P4/E2) in follicular fluid has been considered as a biomarker of follicular atresia. CYP11A1, the crucial gene encoding the rate-limiting enzyme for steroid hormone synthesis, has been reported differently expressed in the ovary during follicular atresia. However, the regulation mechanism of CYP11A1 expression during follicular atresia still remains unclear. Here, we have demonstrated that lnc2300, a novel pig ovary-specific highly expressed cis-acting long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) transcribed from chromosome 7, has the ability to induce the expression of CYP11A1 and inhibit the apoptosis of porcine granulosa cells (GCs). Mechanistically, lnc2300, mainly located in the cytoplasm of porcine GCs, sponges and suppresses the expression of miR-365-3p through acting as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA), which further relieves the inhibitory effects of miR-365-3p on the expression of CYP11A1. Besides, CYP11A1 is validated as a direct functional target of miR-365-3p in porcine GCs. Functionally, lnc2300 is an antiapoptotic lncRNA that reduces porcine GC apoptosis by inhibiting the proapoptotic function of miR-365-3p. In summary, our findings reveal a cis-acting regulation mechanism of CYP11A1 through lncRNA, and define a novel signaling pathway, lnc2300/miR-365-3p/CYP11A1 axis, which is involved in the regulation of GC apoptosis and follicular atresia.

PMID:36074900 | DOI:10.1002/jcp.30872

J Feline Med Surg. 2022 Sep 8:1098612X221114851. doi: 10.1177/1098612X221114851. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to describe a biomechanical testing protocol to reproduce ex vivo craniodorsal hip luxation specific to the feline model, and evaluate the biomechanical properties of an intact hip joint compared with the fixation strength of two different techniques of extra-articular hip stabilisation.

METHODS: Eighteen hip joints (femur and hemipelvis) were harvested from nine mature feline cadavers. CT was performed for each hip joint so that a biomechanical base specific to each joint morphotype could be created using computer-aided design. The biomechanical bases were then produced using a three-dimensional printer to secure the hip joints during testing. A total of 34 biomechanical compression tests were performed. Eighteen compression tests were performed in the control group, of which two fractured. The remaining 16 hip joints were then randomly assigned either to group A (hip joints stabilised with an extra-articular ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) implant secured by an interference screw [n = 8]) or to group B (hip joints stabilised with a UHMWPE iliofemoral suture [n = 8]).

RESULTS: Mean ± SD yield, failure load and linear stiffness in the control group were 616 ± 168 N, 666 ± 158 N and 231 ± 50 N/mm, respectively. The relative fixation strength (% of intact joint) before hip luxation in groups A and B was 43.8% and 34.7%, respectively. No statistical difference was found between groups A and B for yield and failure load. However, the reoccurrence of craniodorsal hip luxation was higher in group B than in group A, in 5/8 and 0/8 tests, respectively. Moreover, in group A, the extra-articular UHMWPE implant induced caudodorsal hip luxation, reported as failure mode in 7/8 cases.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This modified biomechanical protocol for testing craniodorsal hip luxation in a feline model was validated as repeatable and with acceptable variance. The extra-articular UHMWPE implant stabilisation technique proved to be more efficient in avoiding reoccurrence of craniodorsal hip luxation than UHMWPE iliofemoral suture.

PMID:36074899 | DOI:10.1177/1098612X221114851

IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell. 2022 Sep 8;PP. doi: 10.1109/TPAMI.2022.3205036. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Multi-output Gaussian process (MGP) has been attracting increasing attention as a transfer learning method to model multiple outputs. Despite its high flexibility and generality, MGP still faces two critical challenges when applied to transfer learning. The first one is negative transfer, which occurs when there exists no shared information among the outputs. The second challenge is the input domain inconsistency, which is commonly studied in transfer learning yet not explored in MGP. In this paper, we propose a regularized MGP modeling framework with domain adaptation to overcome these challenges. More specifically, a sparse covariance matrix of MGP is constructed using convolution process, where penalization terms are added to adaptively select the most informative outputs for knowledge transfer. To deal with the domain inconsistency, a domain adaptation method is proposed by marginalizing inconsistent features and expanding missing features to align the input domains among different outputs. Statistical properties of the proposed method are provided to guarantee the performance practically and asymptotically. The proposed framework outperforms state-of-the-art benchmarks in comprehensive simulation studies and one real case study of a ceramic manufacturing process. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method in dealing with both the negative transfer and the domain inconsistency.

PMID:36074880 | DOI:10.1109/TPAMI.2022.3205036

IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. 2022 Sep 8;PP. doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2022.3205167. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Chest X-ray (CXR) is commonly performed as an initial investigation in COVID-19, whose fast and accurate diagnosis is critical. Recently, deep learning has a great potential in detecting people who are suspected to be infected with COVID-19. However, deep learning resulting with black-box models, which often breaks down when forced to make predictions about data for which limited supervised information is available and lack inter-pretability, still is a major barrier for clinical integration. In this work, we hereby propose a semantic-powered explainable model-free few-shot learning scheme to quickly and precisely diagnose COVID-19 with higher reliability and transparency. Specifically, we design a Report Image Explanation Cell (RIEC) to exploit clinically indicators derived from radiology reports as interpretable driver to introduce prior knowledge at training. Meanwhile, multi-task colla-borative diagnosis strategy (MCDS) is developed to construct [Formula: see text]-way [Formula: see text]-shot tasks, which adopts a cyclic and collaborative training approach for producing better generalization performance on new tasks. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves competitive results (accuracy of 98.91%, precision of 98.95%, recall of 97.94% and F1-score of 98.57%) to diagnose COVID-19 and other pneumonia infected categories, even with only 200 paired CXR images and radiology reports for training. Furthermore, statistical results of comparative experiments show that our scheme provides an interpretable window into the COVID-19 diagnosis to improve the performance of the small sample size, the reliability and transparency of black-box deep learning mod-els. Our source codes will be released on https://github.com/AI-medical-diagnosis-team-of-JNU/SPEMFSL-Diagnosis-COVID-19.

PMID:36074872 | DOI:10.1109/JBHI.2022.3205167

J Public Health Manag Pract. 2022 Sep 5. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001549. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

CONTEXT: The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) became a law in 1986, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) was mandated to promulgate rules to regulate the inspection, management, and abatement of asbestos-containing building materials (ACBM) in schools. This study describes 10 years (2008-2017) of AHERA compliance site inspection data conducted by the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH).

OBJECTIVES: To establish the level to which inspected NJ schools comply with AHERA regulations, to characterize compliance deficiencies including those that may lead to increased asbestos exposure risk to students and school employees, and to determine whether age, type, and geographic location of school impacted the likelihood of noncompliance.

DESIGN: Information collected during 456 unique inspections between 2008 and 2017 was analyzed.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Inspections were conducted at public and private schools in New Jersey. These included elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as charter and vocational/technical schools.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression modeling of 3 factors, school type, geographical region, and school age.

RESULTS: NJDOH inspectors found damage to friable ACBM in 50% (n = 229) of the schools and fiber release episodes in 27% of inspections (n = 121). The case of schools failing to attach warning labels on or immediately adjacent to ACBM was the most frequently noted compliance deficiency over the 10-year period. The modeling output showed that compliance was associated with the type of school and geographical region.

CONCLUSIONS: Inspected schools during the 10-year period were in serious noncompliance with AHERA regulations. This included deficiencies that demonstrate a potential exposure to asbestos such as missing ACBM in management plans, damaged ACBM, lack of protection of short-term workers and custodial staff, and the identification of fiber release episodes. Modeling results of specific school characteristics can help direct limited resources to mitigate potential asbestos exposures.

PMID:36074796 | DOI:10.1097/PHH.0000000000001549