Nevin Manimala

N Z Med J. 2022 Jul 1;135(1557):38-48.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: The costs of being a medical student are large and increasing, and many students need to work part-time to meet financial pressures. This study explores the impact that part-time extracurricular paid work during the academic year has on medical student wellbeing, their interactions with the curriculum, and the effect of COVID-19 on work in 2020.

METHODS: An online survey in 2020 gathered demographic, quantitative and qualitative information from medical students and their work experiences. Descriptive statistics analysed quantitative data; qualitative data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS: Of the 36% (n=530) of students who responded, 255 (49%) reported undertaking paid part-time work, with 59 (24%) reporting they would not be able to remain studying if they did not work. When interacting with the medical programme, 43% of students reported their work conflicted with scheduled medical school commitments, and 70% reported conflicts between work and individual study. COVID-19 disrupted 57% of paid work during the year. Impacts on students’ wellbeing were both positive and negative. Positive aspects included developing new skills, self-confidence and resilience. Working also provided an escape from the study demands of the medical programme. Negative aspects were predominantly about the increased stress working had on students, specifically on the impact of paid work on their own health.

CONCLUSIONS: Almost half of medical students work part-time while studying. Understanding the perceived implications that part-time work has on student education and wellbeing could help medical schools provide appropriate advice and pastoral support for their students.

PMID:35772111

Asia Pac J Ophthalmol (Phila). 2022 May 1;11(3):279-286. doi: 10.1097/APO.0000000000000523.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To investigate the longitudinal changes in the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness after epiretinal membrane (ERM) vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling, examine associations between pRNFL thickness and central retinal sensitivity, and identify predictors of postoperative pRNFL thickness.

DESIGN: Prospective, observational, cohort study.

METHODS: This study enrolled 82 eyes of 82 Japanese patients that underwent surgery for unilateral idiopathic ERM, with their fellow eyes as controls. pRNFL thickness was measured in 4 (superior, temporal, inferior, and nasal) quadrants preoperatively and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. Microperimetry was performed at 12 months postoperatively to evaluate central retinal sensitivity. Regression tree analysis was performed to predict pRNFL thickness at 12 months postoperatively.

RESULTS: The temporal quadrant showed continuous pRNFL thinning after surgery, reaching statistical significance at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively (all P < 0.001). The pRNFL thicknesses in the fellow eyes significantly increased at all postoperative time points (all P < 0.001). At 12 months postoperatively, the average central retinal sensitivity was significantly correlated with the temporal pRNFL thickness in the eyes with ERM (r = 0.372, P < 0.001); no significant correlation was found in the fellow eyes. Regression tree analysis showed that the preoperative pRNFL thickness in the temporal quadrant and patient age were the main determinants of the temporal pRNFL thickness at 12 months postoperatively.

CONCLUSIONS: The risk of deterioration of central retinal sensitivity after ERM vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane peeling should be considered for patients with thin temporal pRNFLs and older adults.

PMID:35772086 | DOI:10.1097/APO.0000000000000523

PLoS One. 2022 Jun 30;17(6):e0270630. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270630. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Varicella is a contagious disease caused by varicella-zoster virus and varicella vaccine (VarV) is the most effective way to prevent and control varicella. Despite high VarV coverage there were still varicella outbreaks in schools and kindergartens. We aim to analyze the epidemiological characteristics of varicella outbreaks in Huangpu District, Shanghai, China from 2011 to 2020.

METHODS: For varicella outbreaks, case information and vaccination history were collected. Mann-Kendall test and descriptive methods were used to analyzed the trend and epidemiological catachrestic of varicella outbreaks.

RESULTS: A total of 57 varicella outbreaks were reported from 2011 to 2020, including 30 outbreaks (52.6%) in primary schools. The results of the Mann-Kendall trend test (z = 1.97, p = 0.049) showed an upward trend in the number of cases during the study period, but the trend change was not statistically significant. Emergency vaccination was carried out in 42 (73.7%) outbreaks which influenced the duration of the epidemic (F = 4.53, p = 0.0379). A total of 573 varicella cases were reported, including 357 cases (62.3%) who had received at least one dose of varicella vaccine.

CONCLUSIONS: The number of varicella outbreaks has not changed significantly in the decade from 2011 to 2020. The strategy of varicella vaccination, the development and application of varicella vaccine, and the control measures after the occurrence of varicella outbreaks need to be optimized. In addition to vaccination, as a disease transmitted by contact, quarantine measures, good personal hygiene, environmental disinfection, and ventilation are also important.

PMID:35772068 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0270630

JCO Precis Oncol. 2022 Jun;6:e2100462. doi: 10.1200/PO.21.00462.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:35772048 | DOI:10.1200/PO.21.00462

J Clin Oncol. 2022 Jun 30:JCO2102962. doi: 10.1200/JCO.21.02962. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The combination of oxaliplatin and fluoropyrimidine for 6 months is one of the standard options for adjuvant therapy for high-risk stage II and III colorectal cancers (CRCs). The optimal duration of oxaliplatin to diminish neurotoxicity without compromising efficacy needs to be clarified.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This open-label, randomized, phase III, noninferiority trial randomly assigned patients with high-risk stage II and III CRC to 3 and 6 months of oxaliplatin with 6 months of fluoropyrimidine groups (3- and 6-month arms, respectively). The primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS), and the noninferiority margin was a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.25.

RESULTS: In total, 1,788 patients were randomly assigned to the 6-month (n = 895) and 3-month (n = 893) arms, and 83.6% in the 6-month arm and 85.7% in the 3-month arm completed the treatment. The neuropathy rates with any grade were higher in the 6-month arm than in the 3-month arm (69.5% v 58.3%; P < .0001). The 3-year DFS rates were 83.7% and 84.7% in the 6-month and 3-month arms, respectively, with an HR of 0.953 (95% CI, 0.769 to 1.180; test for noninferiority, P = .0065) within the noninferiority margin. Among patients with stage III CRC treated by capecitabine plus oxaliplatin, the 3-year DFS of the 3-month arm was noninferior as compared with that of the 6-month arm with an HR of 0.713 (95% CI, 0.530 to 0.959; P = .0009). However, among patients with high-risk stage II and stage III CRC treated by infusional fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin, the noninferiority of the 3-month arm compared with the 6-month arm was not proven.

CONCLUSION: This study suggests that adding 3 months of oxaliplatin to 6 months of capecitabine could be considered an alternative adjuvant treatment for stage III CRC (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01092481).

PMID:35772045 | DOI:10.1200/JCO.21.02962

Dev Sci. 2022 Jun 30:e13300. doi: 10.1111/desc.13300. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Since speech is a continuous stream with no systematic boundaries between words, how do pre-verbal infants manage to discover words? A proposed solution is that they might use the transitional probability between adjacent syllables, which drops at word boundaries. Here, we tested the limits of this mechanism by increasing the size of the word-unit to 4 syllables, and its automaticity by testing asleep neonates. Using markers of statistical learning in neonates’ EEG, compared to adult behavioral performances in the same task, we confirmed that statistical learning is automatic enough to be efficient even in sleeping neonates. We also revealed that: 1) Successfully tracking transition probabilities in a sequence is not sufficient to segment it 2) Prosodic cues, as subtle as subliminal pauses, enable to recover words segmenting capacities 3) Adults’ and neonates’ capacities to segment streams seem remarkably similar despite the difference of maturation and expertise. Finally, we observed that learning increased the overall similarity of neural responses across infants during exposure to the stream, providing a novel neural marker to monitor learning. Thus, from birth, infants are equipped with adult-like tools, allowing them to extract small coherent word-like units from auditory streams, based on the combination of statistical analyses and auditory parsing cues. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:35772033 | DOI:10.1111/desc.13300

Med Mycol. 2022 Jun 30:myac048. doi: 10.1093/mmy/myac048. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Malassezia are common yeasts in human skin microbiome. Under certain conditions these yeasts may cause disease from skin disorders to systemic infections. In the absence of clinical breakpoints, epidemiological cutoff values (ECVs) are useful to differentiate isolates with acquired or mutational resistance. The aim of this work was to propose tentative ECVs of Malassezia furfur, M. sympodialis, M. globosa for fluconazole (FCZ), itraconazole (ITZ), voriconazole (VCZ), ketoconazole (KTZ) and amphotericin B (AMB). A total of 160 isolates (80 M. furfur, 50 M. sympodialis and 30 M. globosa) were tested. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by modified broth microdilution method (CLSI). ECVs were estimated by ECOFFinder software and two-fold dilutions beyond the mode. ITZ, KTZ and VCZ showed the lowest MICs. The highest MIC and widest ranges were for FCZ and AMB. For ITZ, KTZ and VCZ both ECVs were similar. For FCZ, AMB especially M. furfur, modal ECVs were lower than values obtained by statistical method. When MIC distribution is the only data available, ECV could provide information to help guide therapy decisions. In that drug/species combination in which different peaks in the MIC distribution were observed, difference between both ECV was greater. This is the first study that provides ECV data of 160 Malassezia yeasts. Although ECVs cannot be used as predictors of clinical response, identification of non wild-type isolates suggests that it may be less likely to respond to a given antifungal agent.

PMID:35772016 | DOI:10.1093/mmy/myac048

Blood. 2022 Jun 30:blood.2022015727. doi: 10.1182/blood.2022015727. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

While venous thromboembolism (VTE) is an important treatment and disease-related complication in myeloma, a validated risk-prediction model including disease-specific variables such as cytogenetics or tumor burden is lacking. The aim of our study was to develop a new risk-prediction model for VTE in the context of modern anti-myeloma therapy. All consecutive patients diagnosed at Cleveland Clinic during 2008-2018 and with available data on baseline candidate risk-factors constituted the derivation cohort. The primary outcome was VTE (deep venous thrombosis/pulmonary embolism) within one year of treatment initiation. A multivariable model was utilized and weights were derived from subdistribution hazard ratios (sHR) to construct a risk-score. The model was validated both by internal bootstrap validation and in an external validation cohort. The derivation cohort consisted of 783 patients. A 5 component risk-prediction tool, named PRISM score, was developed, including the following variables: prior VTE, prior surgery, immunomodulatory drug (IMiD) use, abnormal metaphase cytogenetics, and Black race. The c-statistic of the model was 0.622 (95% CI, 0.567-0.674). The model stratified patients into low, intermediate, and high-risk, with 12-month cumulative VTE incidence of 2.7%, 10.8%, and 36.5% respectively. Risk of VTE increased significantly with increasing score in both derivation and external validation datasets, with the sHR per 1-point increase being 1.28 (95% CI, 1.19-1.39; p<0.001) and 1.23 (95% CI, 1.07-1.41; p=0.004) respectively. While PRISM score can guide clinicians in identifying patients at a high risk of VTE, additional external validation is necessary for incorporation into routine clinical practice.

PMID:35772005 | DOI:10.1182/blood.2022015727

Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2022 Jun 30. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2021.0091. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne disease that can be contracted by direct contact with viremic animals or humans. Domestic animals are accidental hosts and contribute to the spread and amplification of the virus. The main objective of this study was to provide updated information related to CCHF virus (CCHFV) infection in Southern Romania by assessing the seroprevalence of CCHF in small ruminants (sheep and goats) using a double-antigen sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and by detection of CCHFV in engorged ticks and serum samples using real-time RT-PCR. The overall seroprevalence of CCHF in small ruminants was 37.7% (95% CI 31.7 to 43.7). No statistical seroprevalence difference was observed between the two species of ruminants (p = 0.76), but a significant difference was established between the locations (p < 0.01). No CCHFV RNA was detected in tick pools and small ruminant’s sera tested by real-time RT-PCR, although the high seroprevalence to CCHFV among ruminants indicates that CCHV or a closely related virus circulates in Southern Romania.

PMID:35772004 | DOI:10.1089/vbz.2021.0091

J Biopharm Stat. 2022 Jun 30:1-24. doi: 10.1080/10543406.2022.2065505. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Torsades de pointes (TdP) is an irregular heart rhythm characterized by faster beat rates and potentially could lead to sudden cardiac death. Much effort has been invested in understanding the drug-induced TdP in preclinical studies. However, a comprehensive statistical learning framework that can accurately predict the drug-induced TdP risk from preclinical data is still lacking. We proposed ordinal logistic regression and ordinal random forest models to predict low-, intermediate-, and high-risk drugs based on datasets generated from two experimental protocols. Leave-one-drug-out cross-validation, stratified bootstrap, and permutation predictor importance were applied to estimate and interpret the model performance under uncertainty. The potential outlier drugs identified by our models are consistent with their descriptions in the literature. Our method is accurate, interpretable, and thus useable as supplemental evidence in the drug safety assessment.

PMID:35771997 | DOI:10.1080/10543406.2022.2065505