Nevin Manimala

Sex Reprod Healthc. 2020 Dec 23;28:100588. doi: 10.1016/j.srhc.2020.100588. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study aims at exploring the present situation of the delivery place and the impact of social networks on the choice of delivery place among the ethnic women in Bangladesh.

METHODS: Data were collected through face to face interviews using a structured questionnaire from a sample of 205 married ethnic – Garo and Mandai – women in Madhupur Upazilla of Tangail district. A stepwise binary logistic regression analysis is run to explain the impact of social networks on the choice of delivery place (the place where the women actually did deliver a baby) of ethnic women in Bangladesh.

RESULTS: Descriptive statistics show that of the total deliveries 37.7% among Garo- and 13% among Mandai women take place in institutions (hospitals and clinics). The regression model reveals that next to ethnicity and husband’s occupation, network size has a significant positive relationship, while reproductive health-related constraints have a significant negative relationship with the choice of delivery place of ethnic women. Based on these, this study suggests that if the social networks of ethnic women increase, the probability of their institutional delivery may increase.

CONCLUSION: The personal social networks of ethnic women may motivate them on their choice of institutional delivery in Bangladesh. This finding may contribute to the development of pathways to stimulate ethnic women’s reproductive health behaviour in the developing countries context.

PMID:33631702 | DOI:10.1016/j.srhc.2020.100588

J Biomech. 2021 Feb 12;119:110316. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2021.110316. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Understanding gait differences in context of group differences is dependent on statistical testing methods and time normalization techniques (TN). The method induces a relationship of both with one another. As to our knowledge, there has been no investigation into their relation so far. To show empirically what effects may be of importance, we use SPM with linear time interpolation (LI) and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) separately for data of a study on stair ascent kinematics between two groups. There is a slight difference in statistical significance for the comparison of LI and DTW. LI-uniquely significant time highlight differences due to in-group time-variations, whereas DTW-uniqueness is tied to qualitative differences of homogeneous events. The comparison of stair ascent kinematics with DTW shows more pronounced evidence for backlift-like strategies for the older group, although trunk angles are kept more extended as to ensure stabilty. Thus, the difference in SPM from TN is slight but important, if there is need to mirror said effects methodically.

PMID:33631663 | DOI:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2021.110316

Brain Lang. 2021 Feb 22;215:104930. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.104930. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Conventional metaphor, irony, and literal language processing were compared. Thirty right-handed participants (21-34 years) performed a sequential-statement ERP-paradigm. A left-frontal Late Anterior Negative Slow Wave (LANSW, 450-1000 ms) was significantly greater for metaphors and by visual tendency greater for irony, compared to literal statements. A centroparietal N400 (300-450 ms) and a centroparietal right-dominant “Late N400” (450-600 ms) were by statistical and visual tendency greater for metaphors. Left PCC and left lingual gyrus activity was significantly higher in metaphors compared to literal statements (eLORETA; 450-1000 ms). A statistical trend indicated higher parahippocampal gyrus activity in metaphors and ironies. N400 results are discussed considering changing processing techniques and a renewed semantic conflict. The Late N400 was associated with the construct of “associativeness”. The LANSW was related to metaphorical mapping, frame-shifting processes, integration of meanings, and memory processes. eLORETA results were discussed considering metaphorical mapping, creation of mental images, conventionality, valence, memory processes, and divergent thinking.

PMID:33631658 | DOI:10.1016/j.bandl.2021.104930

J Psychiatr Res. 2021 Feb 13;136:296-305. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.02.008. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: This study explored the behavioural responses and anxiety symptoms of the general adult population in Japan during the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

METHODS: A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted between 12th and May 13, 2020. Quota sampling was used to attain equal gender and age distributions representative of the Japanese population.

RESULTS: A total of 4127 complete responses were analysed. Higher educational level (B = 0.045, p = 0.002) and household income (B = 0.04, p = 0.009) were associated with a higher increase in preventive measures when comparing before and after the state of emergency was declared. The highest reported social anxiety was a feeling of fear (65.6%), followed by embarrassment (43.8%), keeping infection a secret (41.3%), avoidance (41.3%), and stigma (25.5%). A total of 86.1% of the respondents reported moderate to severe anxiety. The partial least square-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) revealed that being female has the greatest effect (B = 0.246, p < 0.0001) on higher current preventive measures, followed by social anxiety (B = 0.119; p = 0.001) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores (B = 0.153; p < 0.001). Perceived susceptibility (B = 0.033, p = 0.020), knowing someone who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 (B = 0.097, p < 0.001), higher income (B = 0.079, p < 0.001) and educational level (B = 0.045; p = 0.004) all had a small but significant effect on influencing levels of preventive measures.

CONCLUSIONS: A moderate level of preventive practices found in this study indicates the need to encourage behavioural change to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The provision of mental health services is warranted as anxiety symptoms are prevalent.

PMID:33631655 | DOI:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.02.008

J Neurol Sci. 2021 Jan 7;422:117310. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2021.117310. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To assess the value of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology in early diagnosis of patients with tuberculous meningitis (TBM).

METHODS: 56 patients with clinically suspected TBM who came to Shandong Provincial Chest Hospital from February 2, 2018 to August 2, 2018 were prospectively included, and the clinical diagnosis and treatment outcomes were followed up. NGS was performed for the cerebrospinal fluid specimens submitted for test on the BGISEQ-100 platform of Tianjin Huada Gene Research Institute and the obtained pathogen sequences were compared with the pathogen data to get the final results. The NGS results were positive for detecting the unique matching sequence of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) complex and negative for no unique matching sequence. Patients confirmed with TBM should have at least one of the following four items: cerebrospinal fluid MTB culture positive, smear positive, Xpert MTB/RIF test positive, or MTB nucleic acid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test positive; clinically diagnosed patients were those with clinically suspected TBM and effective anti-tuberculosis treatment; non-TBM patients were those with other pathogenic basis or clinical exclusion of TBM. The sensitivity and specificity of NGS in early diagnosis of TBM were analyzed.

RESULTS: 22 patients were confirmed with TBM, of which 13 were positive for Xpert MTB/RIF test, 6 were positive for cerebrospinal fluid MTB culture, 5 were positive for MTB nucleic acid PCR test, 12 patients were clinically diagnosed with TBM, and there were 16 cases of non-TBM patients. Among confirmed and clinically diagnosed patients, 20 cases of MTB complex were detected by NGS technology, with a sensitivity of 58.8% (20/34) and specificity of 100% (16/16). Among confirmed patients, the sensitivity of NGS was 63.6% (14/22). Of the 50 specimens that were simultaneously subjected to traditional methods, Xpert MTB/RIF test and NGS, the specificity of the three methods was 100% (16/16) based on clinical diagnosis, and the sensitivity was 29.4% (10/34), 38.2% (13/34), and 58.8% (20/34) respectively. The difference of sensitivity between the first two detection methods and NGS was statistically significant (McNemar test, p = 0.013, x² = 5.786 and p = 0.065, x² = 3.273). The sensitivity of traditional methods combined with NGS was as high as 82.4% (28/34).

CONCLUSIONS: NGS technology could rapidly detect the MTB complex in cerebrospinal fluid with significant sensitivity and specificity, which could be used as an early diagnosis index of TBM. NGS combined with MTB culture could increase the detection rate.

PMID:33631643 | DOI:10.1016/j.jns.2021.117310

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2021 Feb 22;213:112074. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112074. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Synthetic musks (SMs) have drawn worldwide attention, as they are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic to many organisms. There is not enough information on the bioaccumulation and trophodynamic behavior of SMs in freshwater food webs to reliably understand the associated ecological risks. In this study, the concentrations of six SM congeners in fifteen aquatic species from Lake Chaohu, China, was investigated. The total concentrations of the six SMs ranged from 0.29 to 59.7 ng/g dry weight (median, 4.41) in fish muscle tissue and in the whole body tissues of small fish species and shrimps. Galaxolide (HHCB) and tonalide (AHTN) were the predominant congeners, accounting for 65.0% and 28.5% of the total SM concentration, respectively. On the whole, the total concentrations of SMs in livers and gills were 0.18-32.8 and 0.84-254 times higher than those in muscle tissues in fish species, respectively. In the food web of Lake Chaohu, cashmeran (DPMI) and HHCB showed a trend towards trophic magnification, and AHTN tended to show trophic dilution, but these trends were not statistically significant. This suggested that the trophic transfer of these chemicals through the food web was strongly influenced by many factors, including tissue-specific distribution within individuals at higher trophic levels. More investigation into the trophic transfer of SMs in aquatic ecosystems and the factors influencing uptake is needed.

PMID:33631637 | DOI:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112074

Health Place. 2021 Feb 22;68:102529. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102529. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In the 1930s United States, urban neighborhoods were graded on their desirability for investment (often based on race), a process known as “redlining.” This study examined how historical redlining relates to current disparities in an important health determinant: tobacco retailer density. Analyses were conducted for thirteen Ohio cities using negative binomial models that accounted for retailer spatial dependence and controlled for present-day sociodemographic characteristics. Findings indicated that as grades increased from “Best” to “Still Desirable” to “Definitely Declining” and “Hazardous,” retailer density increased monotonically. These results highlight the persisting impacts of redlining and how disparities, once intentionally created, can be perpetuated over time.

PMID:33631601 | DOI:10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102529

Acta Psychol (Amst). 2021 Feb 22;215:103274. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103274. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Regarding the effects of joint action on visual memory, previous research has focused on the memory of a single object that a participant and their co-actor attended together (i.e., a shared situation), while the literature on memory has demonstrated that spatial regularity composed of multiple objects can also be learned. We aimed to examine whether the visuospatial regularity of the co-actor’s attended objects could be strongly encoded. We repeatedly presented the same configuration of two targets and two sets of distractors in different colors (i.e., blue and red) to participants. In Experiment 1, pairs of participants simultaneously searched for the same target in the joint group while individual participants searched for the target alone in the single group. As a result, greater facilitation in reaction time was observed in earlier epochs in the joint group, reinforced by the learning of visuospatial regularity, compared to the single group. Experiment 2 examined whether the co-actor’s attended context could be strongly encoded although two persons simultaneously searched for different targets (i.e., parallel situation) such that one searched for the blue target and the other for the red target. The results showed no evidence regarding participants’ learning visuospatial regularity of the co-actor’s attended objects, indicating that co-actor’s learning information cannot be shared in this situation. This study revealed that facilitation of visuospatial learning in joint action would require two individuals to attend to the same objects when they perform the task.

PMID:33631557 | DOI:10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103274

Eur J Cancer. 2021 Feb 22;147:84-94. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2021.01.014. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM OF THE STUDY: Benefit from temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy in the treatment of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-wild-type glioblastoma is essentially limited to patients with O⁶-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter-methylated tumours. Recent studies suggested that telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter hotspot mutations may have an impact on the prognostic role of the MGMT status in patients with glioblastoma.

METHODS: MGMT promoter methylation and TERT promoter mutation status were retrospectively assessed in a prospective cohort of patients with IDH-wild-type glioblastoma of the German Glioma Network (GGN) (n = 298) and an independent retrospective cohort from Düsseldorf, Germany, and Zurich, Switzerland (n = 302).

RESULTS: In the GGN cohort, but not in the Düsseldorf/Zurich cohort, TERT promoter mutation was moderately associated with inferior outcomes in patients with MGMT promoter-unmethylated tumours (hazard ratio 1.74; 95% confidence interval: 1.07-2.82; p = 0.026). TERT promoter mutations were not associated with better outcomes in patients with MGMT promoter-methylated tumours in either cohort. The two different TERT promoter hotspot mutations (C228T and C250T) were not linked to distinct outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of two independent cohorts of patients with glioblastoma did not confirm previous data, suggesting that TERT promoter mutations confer an enhanced benefit from TMZ in patients with MGMT promoter-methylated glioblastoma. Thus, diagnostic testing for TERT promoter mutations may not be required for prediction of TMZ sensitivity in patients with IDH-wild-type glioblastoma.

PMID:33631540 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejca.2021.01.014

Psychiatry Res. 2021 Feb 15;298:113807. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113807. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

As a biopsychosocial marker of aging, subjective age (i.e., the age individuals feel regardless of their actual age) was related to many health issues in the elderly. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether subjective age is associated with subsequent cognition and dementia risk in middle-aged and older adults. Samples were drawn from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Participants reported their subjective ages at the baseline (2004/2005), and their cognitive functions were measured after 10 years (2014/2015). Newly diagnosed dementias were recorded between 2006/2007 to 2014/2015. Overall, 6,475 adults aged 50 years or older were included in the current analyses. The relationship between subjective age reported at baseline and cognition assessed ten years later was modeled using multiple linear regression models. Compared to participants who reported a younger subjective age, those who reported an older subjective age were more likely to have poorer cognition after ten years (β = -0.705, P = .002 for memory, β = -1.567, P = .001 for executive function). A Cox proportional hazard regression model suggested that older subjective age was an independent risk factor for incident dementia (HR = 1.737, 95% CI =1.060-2.848). Other than chronological age, subjective age could also be considered as an important predictor for the development of cognitive dysfunction.

PMID:33631534 | DOI:10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113807