By observing how strange particles called anyons dissipate heat, researchers have shown that they can probe the properties of these particles in systems that could be relevant for topological quantum computing.
Pain Physician. 2021 Nov;24(7):E1075-E1083.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Computed tomography (CT)-guided radiofrequency thermocoagulation of lumbar sympathetic nerve has been gradually applied to the treatment of many autonomic nerve disorders, such as plantar hyperhidrosis (PH) and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). The difference in the success rate of operation between the left and right sides is not yet studied.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore a statistically significant difference between the success rate of left and right CT-guided radiofrequency thermocoagulation of lumbar sympathetic nerve and screen the risk factors affecting the success rate of the right surgery.
STUDY DESIGN: This is a single-center retrospective cohort study.
SETTING: The study was carried out in the Pain Department of the affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing College in Jiaxing, China.
METHODS: A total of 86 patients who received CT-guided radiofrequency thermocoagulation of lumbar sympathetic nerve were included in this study approved by the Ethics Committee of the affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University. Nonparametric and chi-square tests were used to compare the operation times, CT scan times, and success rate on the left and right sides. Binary multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to screen the risk factors on the outcome variable.
RESULTS: The bilateral operation time, CT scan times, and success rate differed significantly between the left and right sides (P < 0.05). After univariate analysis, 6 covariates (gender, body mass index, treatment history, operation time, CT scan times, and puncture needle type) were selected. Finally, the multivariate regression model screened out 2 risk factors: the operation time and puncture needle type.
LIMITATIONS: We look forward to increasing the sample size in follow-up studies and exploring relevant conclusions in randomized controlled trials.
CONCLUSION: This study proved that in CT-guided radiofrequency thermocoagulation of the lumbar sympathetic nerve, the difficulty of operation on the right side was significantly high, and the success rate was also lower than that on the contralateral side. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that operation time and type of puncture needle were risk factors affecting the success rate of the operation. These findings laid a foundation for the accomplishment of technical improvement and innovation in the future. A preliminary exploration was carried out to reduce the risk and complications and to improve the success rate of the operation.
PMID:34704717
Pain Physician. 2021 Nov;24(7):E1007-E1013.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Saline or local anesthetic injection into the epidural space increases intracranial pressure (ICP), at least transiently. Measurement of the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) using ocular ultrasonography is one of the noninvasive methods for ICP assessment.
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the different volume on the ONSD and cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) during thoracic epidural saline injection under awake conditions.
STUDY DESIGN: Prospective randomized, controlled trial.
SETTING: An interventional pain management practice in South Korea.
METHODS: This study included 71 patients receiving thoracic epidural catheterization for pain management, following upper abdominal or thoracic surgery. Following successful epidural space confirmation, patients were randomly allocated to receive 5 mL (5 mL group), 10 mL (10 mL group), and 20 mL (20 mL group) of epidural normal saline. Transorbital sonography was performed to measure the ONSD. This was measured at 3 mm posterior to the optic nerve head. An rSO2 was measured using cerebral oximeter sensors.
RESULTS: All 3 groups showed significant increases of ONSD from 10 minutes to 40 minutes as compared to baseline (before procedure). Among the 3 groups, the 20 mL group demonstrated the most significantly increased ONSD, as compared to the 5 mL and 10 mL groups. At the 20 minute and 40 minute time points, the ONSD showed a volume-dependent increase (P = 0.0005, P = 0.014). All 3 groups showed the rSO2 to be distributed between 60~70% without any statistical difference.
LIMITATIONS: We could not determine the returning point of the normalized ONSD value.
CONCLUSION: Twenty milliliters of normal saline epidural injection resulted in a significant increase of ONSD, as compared to the 5 mL and 10 mL groups. Our results also indicate that an increase of ONSD occurs in accordance with the injected volume of normal saline.
PMID:34704711
Pain Physician. 2021 Nov;24(7):E989-E996.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Intraarticular bupivacaine produces sufficient analgesia after arthroscopic knee surgery, but its analgesic duration is short. There is a need to search for an adjuvant with a longer duration of analgesia.
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the duration of analgesia, total rescue analgesic consumptions, pain intensity, adverse effects, and patient satisfaction of dexmedetomidine and fentanyl as adjuvants to intraarticular bupivacaine for analgesia after knee arthroscopy.
STUDY DESIGN: A prospective double-blind randomized controlled study.
SETTING: Zagazig University Hospitals.
METHODS: After ending arthroscopy and 15 minutes before deflation of the tourniquet, 45 patients were randomly allocated into 3 equal groups: Group B (n = 15) received an intraarticular injection of 50 mg (20 mL) bupivacaine 0.25% plus 1 mL saline; group BD (n = 15): received an intraarticular injection of 20 mL bupivacaine 0.25% plus 100 µg (1 mL) dexmedetomidine; and group BF (n = 15) received an intraarticular injection of 20 mL bupivacaine 0.25% plus 50 µg (1 mL) fentanyl.
RESULTS: The BF group had a statistically significant longest duration of analgesia (693.3 ± 22.6 minutes) compared to group the BD (505.8 ± 23.5 minutes) and group B (244.1 ± 17.5 minutes) (P < 0.0001). The total meperidine consumption was statistically significantly decreased in group BF (35 ± 12.6 mg) compared to the BD and B groups (60 ± 12.6 mg and 83.3 ± 15.4 mg respectively) (P < 0.0001). Groups BF and BD showed a highly statistically significant lower postoperative static and dynamic pain scores at 30 minutes, 1, 2, 4, and 6 hours compared to group B. However, group BF was comparable to group BD at the same time intervals. Postoperative static and dynamic pain scores showed a highly statistically significant higher values at 4 hours in group B, 8 hours in group BD, and 12 hours in group BF (P < 0.0001). No significant side effects were observed in the groups. The duration of analgesia was the most important parameter that determined patient satisfaction.
LIMITATIONS: Small sample size and lack of studies that compare both adjuvants.
CONCLUSIONS: Fifty µg of fentanyl as an adjuvant to intraarticular bupivacaine produces effective and safe analgesia after knee arthroscopy as 100 µg of dexmedetomidine and has a longer analgesia duration in the first postoperative 24 hours.
PMID:34704709
Chin Med J (Engl). 2021 Sep 20. doi: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001729. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUNDS: Previous surveys have found that children with iron deficiency (ID) were likely to suffer from early childhood caries (ECC). We aimed to assess the scientific evidence about whether ID is intrinsically related to ECC.
METHODS: The medical subject headings (MeSH) terms and free words were searched on PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and the Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals from March 2020 to September 2020. Two researchers independently screened the articles. Data extraction and cross-checking were performed for the studies that met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis was performed using the Cochrane Collaboration’s Review Manager 5.3 software.
RESULTS: After excluding duplication and irrelevant literature, 12 case-control studies were included in the study. The meta-analysis demonstrated that children with ECC were more likely to have ID (odds ratio [OR] = 2.63, 95% confidence interval [CI]: [1.85, 3.73], P < 0.001). There was no statistically significant association found between the level of serum ferritin and ECC (weighted mean difference (WMD) = -5.80, 95% CI: [-11.97, 0.37], P = 0.07). Children with ECC were more likely to have iron-deficiency anemia (OR = 2.74, 95% CI: [2.41,3.11], P < 0.001). The hemoglobin (HGB) levels in the ECC group were significantly lower compared with that in the ECC-free group (WMD = -9.96, 95% CI: [-15.45, -4.46], P = 0.0004). The mean corpuscular volume (MCV) levels in the ECC group were significantly lower compared with that in the ECC-free group (WMD = -3.72, 95% CI: [-6.65, -0.79], P = 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: ID was more prevalent in children with ECC, and the markers of iron status in the ECC group, such as serum ferritin, HGB, and MCV, were relatively lower than the ECC-free group.
PMID:34704699 | DOI:10.1097/CM9.0000000000001729
Drug Metab Pers Ther. 2020 Sep 2;35(4). doi: 10.1515/dmpt-2020-0115.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The pharmacokinetics of moxifloxacin in plasma and saliva was investigated in this study.
METHODS: The pharmacokinetics of two specialty drugs of moxifloxacin – reference (Ref) and test (Test) preparation – was studied in 18 healthy volunteers after a single oral dose of 400 mg.
RESULTS: It was found that the concentration of moxifloxacin in saliva 3-24 h after taking the drugs was statistically significantly higher than that in plasma. A high correlation was observed between the concentration of moxifloxacin in plasma and saliva of volunteers after taking of Ref and Test. Some pharmacokinetic parameters, calculated by the concentration of moxifloxacin in saliva and plasma, are statistically different. A technique is proposed for extrapolating the concentration of moxifloxacin in plasma according to its concentration in saliva using the established linear relationship between the moxifloxacin in plasma and saliva of volunteers in time interval of 3-24 h after taking Ref. Based on the obtained extrapolated concentration of moxifloxacin, the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated for two studied drugs and did not statistically differ from the parameters calculated according to the data in plasma.
CONCLUSIONS: The developed method of concentration extrapolation allows the use of saliva for pharmacokinetic studies of the tablet preparations of moxifloxacin.
PMID:34704694 | DOI:10.1515/dmpt-2020-0115
Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2021 May 21. doi: 10.1515/ijamh-2021-0026. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The study should show how familiar German first year university students are with mental health issues and what their attitudes are regarding mental illness.
METHODS: The study sample consisted of 293 first year German university students (20.37 years ± 1.88), most of them women (82.9%). The majority (77.6%) was studying a social type subject. An additive focus group consisted of four experts. The participants of the quantitative part were recruited at prevention workshops that were offered during the induction week at the beginning of the semester at 15 German universities. Experts of the focus group were recruited by telephone call. In addition to quantitative analysis, we realized a focus group with experts of our target group concerns and university system. For statistical analysis, we used statistic software programme “SPSS” 24 to conduct t-tests. We used content-analytical evaluation to build a category system.
RESULTS: Every fourth participant reported having had a mental health problem. Male participants had a slightly greater desire for social distance (p=0.008; df=288) and slightly stronger stereotypes (p<0.001; df=289).
CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows that first year university students in Germany have substantial experience with mental health problems.
PMID:34704689 | DOI:10.1515/ijamh-2021-0026
Cancer Med. 2021 Oct 27. doi: 10.1002/cam4.4369. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death in Ethiopian women. About 77.6% of women died of 6294 new cases reported in 2019. Early screening for cervical cancer has substantially reduced morbidity and mortality attributed to it. In Ethiopia, most of the women visit the health facilities at the late stage of the disease in which the offered intervention is not promising. Therefore, we aimed to assess the level of cervical cancer screening uptake and its determinant among women of Ambo town, Ethiopia.
METHODS: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 women aged 20-65 years. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25. Estimates were presented using an odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI. Statistical significance was declared at a p value of <0.05.
RESULTS: In the present study, 392 women were participated giving a response rate of 93%. Only 8.7% (34) of the study participants were received cervical cancer screening in their lifetime. Being in the age group of 30-39 years (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI: 1.22, 8.36), having cervical cancer-related discussions with a healthcare provider (AOR = 3.5; 95% CI: 1.17, 10.7), and knowing the availability of cervical cancer screening service (AOR = 2.8; 95% CI: 1.03, 7.87) were significantly associated with uptake of cervical cancer screening.
CONCLUSION: In this study, cervical cancer screening uptake is very low. Our study identifies clues for determinants of cervical cancer screening uptake. Thus, further studies using a better study design might be helpful to explore determinants of low utilization of CC screening services and suggest an appropriate intervention that increases CC screening uptake in the study area.
PMID:34704666 | DOI:10.1002/cam4.4369
Aging Cell. 2021 Oct 27:e13497. doi: 10.1111/acel.13497. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
The study of parental lifespan has emerged as an innovative tool to advance aging biology and our understanding of the genetic architecture of human longevity and aging-associated diseases. Here, we leveraged summary statistics of a genome-wide association study including over one million parental lifespans to identify genetically regulated genes from the Genotype-Tissue Expression project. Through a combination of multi-tissue transcriptome-wide association analyses and genetic colocalization, we identified novel genes that may be associated with parental lifespan. Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses also identified circulating proteins and metabolites causally associated with parental lifespan and chronic diseases offering new drug repositioning opportunities such as those targeting apolipoprotein-B-containing lipoproteins. Liver expression of HP, the gene encoding haptoglobin, and plasma haptoglobin levels were causally linked with parental lifespan. Phenome-wide MR analyses were used to map genetically regulated genes, proteins and metabolites with other human traits as well as the disease-related phenome in the FinnGen cohorts (n = 135,638). Altogether, this study identified new candidate genes, circulating proteins and metabolites that may influence human aging as well as potential therapeutic targets for chronic diseases that warrant further investigation.
PMID:34704651 | DOI:10.1111/acel.13497
Mol Ecol. 2021 Oct 27. doi: 10.1111/mec.16247. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Understanding selection’s impact on the genome is a major theme in biology. Functionally-neutral genetic regions can be affected indirectly by natural selection, via their statistical association with genes under direct selection. The genomic extent of such indirect selection, particularly across loci not physically linked to those under direct selection, remains poorly understood, as does the time scale at which indirect selection occurs. Here we use field experiments and genomic data in stick insects, deer mice and stickleback fish to show that widespread statistical associations with genes known to affect fitness cause many genetic loci across the genome to be impacted indirectly by selection. This includes regions physically distant from those directly under selection. Then, focusing on the stick insect system, we show that statistical associations between SNPs and other unknown, causal variants result in additional indirect selection in general and specifically within genomic regions of physically linked loci. This widespread indirect selection necessarily makes aspects of evolution more predictable. Thus, natural selection combines with chance genetic associations to affect genome-wide evolution across linked and unlinked loci and even in modest-sized populations. This process has implications for the application of evolutionary principles in basic and applied science.
PMID:34704650 | DOI:10.1111/mec.16247