Nevin Manimala

J Oral Rehabil. 2021 Apr 29. doi: 10.1111/joor.13177. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Discomfort encountered during oral processing may cause food avoidance and increase the risk of malnutrition in older adults. The aim of the present survey was to explore the relationships between oral health and the oral discomfort experienced while eating in senior people.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, oral discomfort was assessed in a sample of 119 independently-living participants aged between 35 and 81 years. Statistical analyses were used to identify categorical variables associated with food-related oral discomfort, including age, oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL), saliva secretion, occluding support, oral diseases, and denture use.

RESULTS: Food-related oral discomfort concerned 28.5% of the participants. Within the sample study, the risk of experiencing food-related oral discomfort was increased for participants perceiving average (OR= 7.968, CI95%= 2.603-24.381, p=0.000) or poor OHQoL (OR= 17.109, CI95%= 4.398-66.552, p=0.000), and presenting strictly fewer than 7 occlusal functional units (OFUs) (OR=3.396, CI95%= 1.206-9.561, p=0.020). Textured foods including fibrous (66.6%), heterogenous (60.6%) and grainy foods (42.4%) were mostly cited as food-related oral discomfort trigger factors. Within the 66-80 years group, participants having 0-6 OFUs were four times more likely to experience oral discomfort related to fibrous foods than participants having more than 7 OFUs (OR=4.812, CI95%=1.192-19.415, p=0.024). Within this group, participants having their teeth replaced by denture were also four times more likely to develop oral discomfort related to foods with heterogeneous textures (OR=4.714, CI95%=1.030-21.562, p=0.045) and grainy foods (OR=7.285, CI95%=1.308-40.568, p=0.023) than non-denture wearers.

CONCLUSION: Poor oral health conditions may generate oral discomfort with foods in the elderly especially with fibrous, heterogenous and grainy textures, and thus affect mealtime experience.

PMID:33914929 | DOI:10.1111/joor.13177

Biometrics. 2021 Apr 29. doi: 10.1111/biom.13483. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

A prominent threat to causal inference about peer effects in social science studies is the presence of homophily bias, that is, social influence between friends and families is entangled with common characteristics or underlying similarities that form close connections. Analysis of social study data has suggested that certain health conditions such as obesity and psychological states including happiness and loneliness can spread between friends and relatives. However, such analyses of peer effects or contagion effects have come under criticism because homophily bias may compromise the causal statement. We develop a regression-based approach which leverages a negative control exposure for identification and estimation of contagion effects on additive or multiplicative scales, in the presence of homophily bias. We apply our methods to evaluate the peer effect of obesity in Framingham Offspring Study. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:33914905 | DOI:10.1111/biom.13483

Genome Biol Evol. 2021 Apr 29:evab089. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evab089. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Codon bias is common to all organisms and is the result of mutation, drift, and selection. Selection for the efficiency and accuracy of translation is well recognized as a factor shaping the codon usage. In contrast, fewer studies report the control of the rate of translation as an additional selective pressure influencing the codon usage of an organism. Experimental molecular evolution using RNA virus populations is a powerful tool for the identification of mechanisms underlying the codon bias. Indeed, the role of deoptimized codons on the co-translational folding has been proven in the capsids of two fecal-orally transmitted picornaviruses, poliovirus and the hepatitis A virus, emphasizing the role of the frequency of codons in determining the phenotype. However, most studies on virus codon usage rely only on computational analyses, and experimental studies should be encouraged to clearly define the role of selection on codon evolution.

PMID:33914886 | DOI:10.1093/gbe/evab089

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 29;16(4):e0250814. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250814. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Unsafe disposal of children’s stool makes children susceptible to fecal-oral diseases and children remain vulnerable till the stools of all children are disposed of safely. There is a paucity of data on spatial distribution and factors associated with unsafe child stool disposal in Ethiopia. Previous estimates, however, do not include information regarding individual and community-level factors associated with unsafe child stool disposal. Hence, the current study aimed (i) to explore the spatial distribution and (ii) to identify factors associated with unsafe child stool disposal in Ethiopia.

METHODS: A secondary data analysis was conducted using the recent 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey data. A total of 4145 children aged 0-23 months with their mother were included in this analysis. The Getis-Ord spatial statistical tool was used to identify high and low hotspots areas of unsafe child stool disposal. The Bernoulli model was applied using Kilduff SaTScan version 9.6 software to identify significant spatial clusters. A multilevel multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with unsafe child stool disposal.

RESULTS: Unsafe child stool disposal was spatially clustered in Ethiopia (Moran’s Index = 0.211, p-value< 0.0001), and significant spatial SaTScan clusters of areas with a high rate of unsafe child stool disposal were detected. The most likely primary SaTScan cluster was detected in Tigray, Amhara, Afar (north), and Benishangul-Gumuz (north) regions (LLR: 41.62, p<0.0001). Unsafe child stool disposal is more prevalent among households that had unimproved toilet facility (AOR = 1.54, 95%CI: 1.17-2.02) and those with high community poorer level (AOR: 1.74, 95%CI: 1.23-2.46). Higher prevalence of unsafe child stool disposal was also found in households with poor wealth quintiles. Children belong to agrarian regions (AOR: 0.62, 95%CI 0.42-0.91), children 6-11 months of age (AOR: 0.65, 95%CI: 0.52-0.83), 12-17 months of age (AOR: 0.68, 95%CI: 0.54-0.86), and 18-23 months of age (AOR: 0.58, 95%CI: 0.45-0.75) had lower odds of unsafe child stool disposal.

CONCLUSIONS: Unsafe child stool disposal was spatially clustered. Higher odds of unsafe child stool disposal were found in households with high community poverty level, poor, unimproved toilet facility, and with the youngest children. Hence, the health authorities could tailor effective child stool management programs to mitigate the inequalities identified in this study. It is also better to consider child stool management intervention in existing sanitation activities considering the identified factors.

PMID:33914836 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0250814

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 29;16(4):e0251000. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251000. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The burden to fight with Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has lied to frontline health care workers that are putting themselves at a higher risk in the battle against the disease. This study aimed to assess the exposure health risks of COVID-19 among frontline healthcare workers in the Amhara region, Ethiopia.

METHOD: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted on public health workers from May to August 2020. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire via email and telegram services. Both descriptive statistics and bivariate followed by multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify distribution patterns and factors associated with exposure risks to COVID-19. Odds ratio with 95% Confidence Interval (CI), and a P-value of <0.05 was used to determine statistical significance.

RESULT: A total of 418 health care workers participated in the study with a response rate of 99.1%. The majority of the study participants 310(74.2%), were males, and 163(39%) were nurses/ midwives respectively. More than half of the respondents 237(56.7%), had reported that they didn`t have face-to-face contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient. Among the respondents, 173(41.4%), 147(35.2%), 63(15.1%), and 65(15.6%) of the health professionals had always used gloves, medical masks, face shield, or goggles/protective glasses, and disposable gown, respectively. In this study, age between 25-34 years (AOR = 0.20), age between 35-44 years (AOR = 0.13), family size of >6 (AOR = 3.77), work experience of 21-30 years (AOR = 0.01), and good handwashing habit (AOR = 0.44) were the protective factors against COVID-19. On the other hand, perception of non-exposure to COVD 19 (AOR = 9.56), and poor habit of decontamination of high touch areas (AOR = 2.52) were the risk factors associated with confirmed COVID 19 cases among health care workers.

CONCLUSION: Poor adherence to personal protective equipment use and aseptic practices during and after health care interactions with patients were identified. Strategies should be implemented to institute effective and sustainable infection control measures that protect the health care workers from COVID-19 infection.

PMID:33914826 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0251000

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 29;16(4):e0250872. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250872. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Risk communication is a key component of public health interventions during an outbreak. As the coronavirus pandemic unfolded in late 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was at the forefront in the development of risk communication strategies. The WHO introduced a range of activities with the purpose of enabling the public to avail verified and timely information on COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Given the various WHO activities to protect the public health during COVID-19, it is important to investigate the extent of familiarity and uptake of the WHO recommendations among the public during the first wave of the pandemic.

METHODS: To do this, we conducted a large-scale Pan-European survey covering around 7500 individuals that are representative of populations from seven European countries, collected online during April 2-April 15, 2020. We use descriptive statistics including proportions and correlations and graphical representations such as bar charts to analyze and display the data.

RESULTS: Our findings suggest that information from the WHO in the context of COVID-19 is well trusted and acted upon by the public. Overall familiarity and adherence were quite high in most countries. Adherence was higher for social distancing recommendations compared to hygiene measures. Familiarity and adherence were higher among older, female, and highly educated respondents. However, country level heterogeneities were observed in the level of trust in information from the WHO, with countries severely affected by the pandemic reporting lower levels of trust.

CONCLUSION: Our findings call for efforts from health authorities to get regular feedback from the public on their familiarity and compliance with recommendations for preventive measures at all stages of the pandemic, to further develop and adapt risk communication as the pandemic evolves.

PMID:33914814 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0250872

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 29;16(4):e0250826. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250826. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

We report on the results of a measurement study carried out on a commuter bus in Dublin, Ireland using the Google/Apple Exposure Notification (GAEN) API. This API is likely to be widely used by Covid-19 contact tracing apps. Measurements were collected between 60 pairs of Android handset locations and are publicly available. We find that the attenuation level reported by the GAEN API need not increase with distance between handsets, consistent with there being a complex radio environment inside a bus caused by the metal-rich environment. Changing the people sitting in a pair of seats can cause variations of ±10dB in the attenuation level reported by the GAEN API. Applying the rule used by the Swiss Covid-19 contact tracing app to trigger an exposure notification to our bus measurements we find that no exposure notifications would have been triggered despite the fact that all pairs of handsets were within 2m of one another for at least 15 mins. Applying an alternative threshold-based exposure notification rule can somewhat improve performance to a detection rate of 5% when an exposure duration threshold of 15 minutes is used, increasing to 8% when the exposure duration threshold is reduced to 10 mins. Stratifying the data by distance between pairs of handsets indicates that there is only a weak dependence of detection rate on distance.

PMID:33914810 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0250826

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 29;16(4):e0250955. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250955. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Although the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to rage worldwide, clinical and laboratory studies of this disease have been limited in many countries. We investigated the epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory findings of COVID-19 infected patients to identify the effective indicators correlated with the disease.

METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted at King Abdullah Hospital in Bisha Province, Saudi Arabia, from March 20 to June 30, 2020. Patients of different age groups were confirmed as having COVID-19 infection using a real-time polymerase chain reaction. The demographic, clinical, and laboratory data of the patients were statistically analyzed.

RESULTS: Of the 132 patients, 85 were male and 47 were female, with a mean age of 50.9 years (SD±16.7). The patients were elderly (n = 29) and adults (n = 103). Of these, 54 (40.9%) had comorbidities, (25%) were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), and 12 (9.1%) died. On admission, the main clinical manifestations were fever (84.1%), cough (64.4%), shortness of breath (25%), chest pain (20.5%), and fatigue (18.2%). In all patients, increased neutrophils and decreased lymphocytes were observed. Patients’ lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was elevated. C-reactive protein (CRP) was elevated in 48.5%, D-dimer in 43.2%, and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in 40.9% of patients. The elderly showed higher neutrophil (p = 0.011) and lower lymphocyte (p = 0.009) counts than adults. Glucose, creatine kinase-MB, LDH, bilirubin, D-dimer, and ESR were significantly higher in the elderly than in the adults. The COVID-19 death group had a higher leucocyte count (p = 0.036), and higher urea (p = 0.029) and potassium (p = 0.022) than the recovered group but had a lower hemoglobin concentration (p = 0.018). A significant association was determined between COVID-19 death and the presence of cardiovascular disease (χ2(1) = 16.297, p<0.001), hypertension (χ2(1) = 12.034, p = 0.001), renal failure (χ2(1) = 3.843, p = 0. 05), old age (t (130) = 4.9, p <0.001), and ICU admission (χ2(1) = 17.6 (1), p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Investigating some of the laboratory and clinical parameters could help assess the disease progression, risk of mortality, and follow up patients who could progress to a fatal condition.

PMID:33914805 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0250955

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 29;16(4):e0250778. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250778. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Pooling (or combining) and analysing observational, longitudinal data at the individual level facilitates inference through increased sample sizes, allowing for joint estimation of study- and individual-level exposure variables, and better enabling the assessment of rare exposures and diseases. Empirical studies leveraging such methods when randomization is unethical or impractical have grown in the health sciences in recent years. The adoption of so-called “causal” methods to account for both/either measured and/or unmeasured confounders is an important addition to the methodological toolkit for understanding the distribution, progression, and consequences of infectious diseases (IDs) and interventions on IDs. In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and in the absence of systematic randomization of exposures or interventions, the value of these methods is even more apparent. Yet to our knowledge, no studies have assessed how causal methods involving pooling individual-level, observational, longitudinal data are being applied in ID-related research. In this systematic review, we assess how these methods are used and reported in ID-related research over the last 10 years. Findings will facilitate evaluation of trends of causal methods for ID research and lead to concrete recommendations for how to apply these methods where gaps in methodological rigor are identified.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will apply MeSH and text terms to identify relevant studies from EBSCO (Academic Search Complete, Business Source Premier, CINAHL, EconLit with Full Text, PsychINFO), EMBASE, PubMed, and Web of Science. Eligible studies are those that apply causal methods to account for confounding when assessing the effects of an intervention or exposure on an ID-related outcome using pooled, individual-level data from 2 or more longitudinal, observational studies. Titles, abstracts, and full-text articles, will be independently screened by two reviewers using Covidence software. Discrepancies will be resolved by a third reviewer. This systematic review protocol has been registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020204104).

PMID:33914795 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0250778

Anal Methods. 2021 Apr 29;13(16):1925-1929. doi: 10.1039/d1ay00240f.

ABSTRACT

Our study involved a simple, sensitive voltammetric method of determining either carbonate or bicarbonate ions independently with azomethine-H and a disposable pencil graphite electrode. The reduction of azomethine-H-carbonate complexes at approximately -930 mV formed in acetic acid-acetate buffer solution (pH: 4.25) was evaluated as a response. Among the results, the limits of detection and analytical ranges for carbonate ions were 3.7 μg L-1 and 9.9-700.0 μg L-1 and for bicarbonate ions were 9.0 μg L-1 and 35.0-700.0 μg L-1, and the relative standard deviations for carbonate and bicarbonate ions ranged from 1.33% and 6.93% at different concentrations. After the proposed method was applied to water, sparkling water, seawater and baking powder samples, the results were statistically evaluated and compared with those obtained from the potentiometric auto-titration system. Last, the complex stoichiometry of both carbonate and bicarbonate ions was comprehensively investigated with fluorescence and 1H-NMR spectroscopy.

PMID:33913940 | DOI:10.1039/d1ay00240f