Nevin Manimala

Ecol Appl. 2021 Oct 9:e02470. doi: 10.1002/eap.2470. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Habitat selection is a fundamental animal behavior that shapes a wide range of ecological processes, including animal movement, nutrient transfer, trophic dynamics and population distribution. Although habitat selection has been a focus of ecological studies for decades, technological, conceptual and methodological advances over the last 20 years have led to a surge in studies addressing this process. Despite the substantial literature focused on quantifying the habitat-selection patterns of animals, there is a marked lack of guidance on best analytical practices. The conceptual foundations of the most commonly applied modeling frameworks can be confusing even to those well versed in their application. Further, there has yet to be a synthesis of the advances made over the last 20 years. Thus, there is a need for both synthesis of the current state of knowledge on habitat selection, and guidance for those seeking to study this process. Here, we provide an approachable overview and synthesis of the literature on habitat-selection analyses (HSAs) conducted using selection functions, which are by far the most applied modeling framework for understanding the habitat-selection process. This review is purposefully non-technical and focused on understanding without heavy mathematical and statistical notation, which can confuse many practitioners. We offer an overview and history of HSAs, describing the tortuous conceptual path to our current understanding. Through this overview, we also aim to address the areas of greatest confusion in the literature. We synthesize the literature outlining the most exciting conceptual advances in the field of habitat-selection modeling, discussing the substantial ecological and evolutionary inference that can be made using contemporary techniques. We aim for this paper to provide clarity for those navigating the complex literature on HSAs while acting as a reference and best practices guide for practitioners.

PMID:34626518 | DOI:10.1002/eap.2470

Int J Clin Pract. 2021 Oct 9:e14973. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.14973. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Pandemics are states of disease that occur worldwide and sharply increase in populations. It causes life events which trigger anxiety, depression, anger, sleep deprivation, emotional distress and stress. World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic on March 11, pointing to the over 118,000 cases in over 110 countries. Many healthcare workers became ill during the pandemic and some among them died. In this study we aimed to evaluate and compare level of stress against COVID-19 pandemic among doctors from Turkey and Italy.

METHODS: This research is a cross-sectional study in which Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) are administered online via social networks. All data collection tools were delivered to individuals between 1-15 June 2020 and filled in online with Google Forms application. In total 618 individuals were included in this study and all of them were medical doctors.

RESULTS: Higher PS and STS levels were found related to woman gender, being married, working in pandemic hospital and older ages. Stress levels were found statistically higher in Turkish doctors comparing to Italian doctors for both stress scales (Turkish/Italian PSS:20.18±7.90/ 19.35±6.71, STSS: 44.19±13.29/ 38.83±13.74).

CONCLUSION: The number of doctors per 1,000 of population is lower and per capita visits to a physician is higher in Turkey comparing to Italy. Besides pandemic, these heavier working conditions, increased weekly working hours can cause stress for Turkish doctors. Reporting information such this study and international collaborations are essential to plan future prevention strategies. We need to strengthen international ties and build more international collaborations rather than staying within our national silos. Additionally, interventions to promote mental well-being in health care professionals exposed to COVID-19 need to be immediately implemented.

PMID:34626512 | DOI:10.1111/ijcp.14973

Int J Clin Pract. 2021 Oct 9:e14969. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.14969. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Obesity and overweight are significant public health problems due to higher risk for coronary artery disease (CAD). It is very important to determine new predictive markers to identify the CAD risk in obese and overweight. To aim this, we analyzed HDL-C subgroups (HDL2-C and HDL3-C) and their paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) activity in obese, overweight and normal weight subjects.

METHOD: 71 obese, 40 overweight and 30 healthy subjects as a control group were enrolled the study. Serum lipids levels were determined with enzymatic colorimetric method. Further, PON-1 activities and HDL-C levels were determined by spectrophotometric methods. Non-HDL3-C concentrations were calculated with the subtraction of HDL3-C from total HDL-C.

RESULTS: The mean serum levels of total HDL-C, HDL3-C, Non-HDL3-C and ApoA1 were higher in control group than obese and overweight groups. There were a statistically significant difference between obese and control group in terms of Lp(a), hsCRP and HOMA index. Higher total PON-1, non-HDL3 PON-1 and HDL3 PON-1 activities were found in the control group compared to obese and overweight groups. Total HDL was weakly negative correlated with the HOMA index, BMI and waist circumference. There was a weak negative correlation between non-HDL3-C and waist circumference.

CONCLUSION: Altered HDL-subgroups pattern and decreased PON-1 activities may cause increased risk for CVD in obese and overweight individuals. Therefore determination of HDL subgroups and their PON-1 activity may improve risk prediction compared with measuring total HDL-C levels and its PON-1 activity alone. Body weight and insulin resistance appear to have a role in the decreased HDL-C levels and PON-1activity in obese. Further studies should be conducted to shed more light on impacts of these markers in CVD.

PMID:34626508 | DOI:10.1111/ijcp.14969

Int J Clin Pract. 2021 Oct 9:e14968. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.14968. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM OF THE STUDY: Subconjunctival hemorrage (SCH) is a frequent bleeding manifestation and a common cause of visits to the primary care. Trauma in young patients and vascular damage such as hypertension in the elderly are the most common causes of SCH and the prevalence of hematological diseases is less than 1%. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of congenital or acquired bleeding disorders in patients with once or recurrent SCH.

METHODS USED TO CONDUCT THE STUDY: It is a retrospective study and included fifty-two patients with SCH whose etiologic factor was not detected. Hemostatic tests were studied in 52 patients (25 male and 27 females). All patients included were evaluated for congenital or acquired bleeding disorder and SCH with once and those with 2 or more were compared for the laboratory results.

RESULTS OF THE STUDY: Type I von Willebrand disease (vWD) was diagnosed in one patient with recurrent SCH and one patient with single SCH (3.8%). The prevalence of patients with type 1 vWD in the study was not statistically significant when compared with the frequency of vWD in the normal population. Fibrinogen level was found to be statistically higher in patients who had SCH once than those who had recurrent SCH. But fibrinogen level was in normal range in all patients.

CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE STUDY AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: There was no increase in the incidence of congenital or acquired bleeding disorder in SCH compared to normal population. Fort this reason, it was thought there was no need for evaluation for bleeding disordes in spontaneous SCH.

PMID:34626507 | DOI:10.1111/ijcp.14968

Int J Clin Pract. 2021 Oct 9:e14975. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.14975. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To assess impact of pre-specified patient characteristics on efficacy and safety of subcutaneous tanezumab in patients with osteoarthritis (OA).

METHODS: Data were pooled from two (efficacy; N = 1545) or three (safety; N = 1754) phase 3 placebo-controlled trials. Change from baseline to week 16 in Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) Pain, WOMAC Physical Function, and patient global assessment of OA (PGA-OA) scores was compared between tanezumab (2.5 and 5 mg) and placebo groups via analysis of covariance. Treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were summarized descriptively. Analyses were done in patient subgroups (male or female; age <65, ≥65, or ≥75 years; body mass index [BMI] <25, 25 to <30, 30 to <35, or ≥35 kg/m² ; diabetes or no diabetes; baseline WOMAC Pain score <7 or ≥7; and Kellgren-Lawrence [KL] grade 2, 3, or 4 in the index joint) and the overall population).

RESULTS: In all subgroups, improvements in WOMAC Pain were numerically greater and often statistically significant (P < .05) for both tanezumab groups compared with placebo. Results were similar for WOMAC Function and PGA-OA. TEAE profiles were generally consistent across subgroups and similar to the overall population (i.e., slightly higher rates of TEAEs, serious TEAEs, and severe TEAEs with tanezumab relative to placebo) with a few exceptions. Exceptions included females reporting slightly more TEAEs with tanezumab than males, and patients with diabetes reporting slightly more severe TEAEs with tanezumab than patients without diabetes. Additionally, TEAEs were more frequent with tanezumab than placebo in the age ≥65 and ≥75 years, but not the age <65 years, subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS: Efficacy and safety/tolerability of tanezumab may not be meaningfully impacted by gender, age, BMI, diabetes status, baseline pain severity or KL grade in the index joint. Conclusions are limited by low patient number in some subgroups.

PMID:34626502 | DOI:10.1111/ijcp.14975

Database (Oxford). 2021 Oct 9;2021:baab060. doi: 10.1093/database/baab060.

ABSTRACT

Following the European Commission No. 1332/2008 regulation and the consequent necessity of a scientific evaluation of food enzymes (FEs) for their approval for sale on the European Union market, many FE dossiers have been submitted to the European Commission and various documents currently co-exist. In order to centralize all relevant information in one structured location that is easily accessible to support enforcement laboratories and the competent authorities, we developed a web application, called Food Enzyme Database (FEDA). FEDA allows searching and collection of information originating from many different sources in one centralized portal. Queries can be performed using key information types, which include information on the producing company, production source (strain type, genetically modified microorganism status), type of enzyme protein and evaluation status with employed evaluation criteria. The database contains all current publicly available information. Centralizing all information coupled with intuitive searching functionality also allows the generation of general statistics regarding the current market situation. FEDA is open access and is freely available at the following location: https://feda.sciensano.be. Database URL : https://feda.sciensano.be.

PMID:34626475 | DOI:10.1093/database/baab060

Acta Reumatol Port. 2021 Jul-Sep;46(3):218-229.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Biobanks for research (BBR) have enormous value for research, including those specifically oriented to chronic diseases. Knowing public attitudes and perceptions is key to design and implement patient-centered BBR. We assessed patient awareness, perception and choices among rheumatology outpatients regarding aging biobanking activities.

METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of patients, aged 50 or older, attending an outpatient rheumatology tertiary department. Demographic data and perceptions about biobanking were collected and statistical analysis was performed.

RESULTS: 132 valid questionnaires were obtained (mean age: 63,4; 68,2% female; mean education years: 8,35). 61,7% of respondents did not know the specific term “biobank”, 57,7% knew they could donate biological material for BBR, 89,9% agreed with these infrastructures and 88,3% would consider participation Those participants with more years of education were more knowledgeable and prone to biobank participation. Willingness to participate in BBR was mainly related (86,4%) to the advancement of scientific knowledge and not individual gain. Scientific research institutes were indicated as the most adequate institutions to manage BBR. Informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality ranked as top requisites for biobank participation. 61,3% of respondents expressed their agreement with aging biobanks, considering these as a sign of respect for specific problems of people of older ages such as higher disease burdens.

CONCLUSION: Knowledge of biobanks was found to be limited. Participants were positive toward the setting up of biobanks in general and patient-centered aging biobanks in particular. Knowledge about biobanks and acceptance were higher among participants with higher education years.

PMID:34626462

Oncol Ther. 2021 Oct 9. doi: 10.1007/s40487-021-00173-1. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Regorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Despite providing a statistically significant survival benefit, a substantial number of patients fail to respond to or continue with treatment, which has resulted in an unmet clinical need for a biomarker of regorafenib efficacy.

METHODS: The JACCRO CC-12 study was a prospective, multicenter, single-arm phase II trial designed to evaluate the usefulness of [¹⁸F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) as an imaging biomarker of regorafenib in patients with mCRC that progressed after standard chemotherapies. FDG-PET and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) were performed before and after treatment with regorafenib 160 mg once daily 3 weeks on/1 week off. The primary end point was the change in the maximum standardized uptake value in the lesion with the highest uptake at pre-treatment FDG-PET. The secondary end points included overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), the objective response rate (ORR), safety, and the correlation between FDG-PET and CT.

RESULTS: Twenty patients were enrolled from November 2014 to March 2016, 17 of whom were evaluated for metabolic and morphological changes. Metabolic response with FDG-PET was partial response (PR) in one case (5.9%), stable disease (SD) in four (23.5%), and progressive disease (PD) in 12 (70.6%). The metabolic response rate was 5.9%. On CT imaging, no complete response or PR was observed, and the ORR was 0%. Median PFS and OS were 1.7 and 9.8 months, respectively. The median PFS of patients who achieved PR or SD by FDG-PET was 3.7 months, whereas that of those assessed as PD was 1 month (p = 0.13). The median OS of patients who achieved PR or SD by FDG-PET was 13.0 months, whereas that of patients assessed as PD was 10.6 months (p = 0.43). Frequent adverse events were palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome, hypertension, loss of appetite, and fatigue.

CONCLUSIONS: In this study, FDG-PET failed to demonstrate usefulness as an early imaging biomarker of regorafenib in patients with mCRC.

PMID:34626349 | DOI:10.1007/s40487-021-00173-1

Infect Dis Ther. 2021 Oct 9. doi: 10.1007/s40121-021-00537-0. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Healthcare-associated (HCA) infections represent a growing public health problem. The aim of this study was to compare community-onset healthcare associated (CO-HCA) bacteremic urinary tract infections (BUTI) and hospital-acquired (HA)-BUTI with special focus on multidrug resistances (MDR) and outcomes.

METHODS: ITUBRAS-project is a prospective multicenter cohort study of patients with HCA-BUTI. All consecutive hospitalized adult patients with CO-HCA-BUTI or HA-BUTI episode were included in the study. Exclusion criteria were: patients < 18 years old, non-hospitalized patients, bacteremia from another source or primary bacteremia, non-healthcare-related infections and infections caused by unusual pathogens of the urinary tract. The main outcome variable was 30-day all-cause mortality with day 1 as the first day of positive blood culture. Logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with clinical cure at hospital discharge and with receiving inappropriate initial antibiotic treatment. Cox regression was used to evaluate 30-day all-cause mortality.

RESULTS: Four hundred forty-three episodes were included, 223 CO-HCA-BUTI. Patients with CO-HCA-BUTI were older (p < 0.001) and had more underlying diseases (p = 0.029) than those with HA-BUTI. The severity of the acute illness (Pitt score) was also higher in CO-HCA-BUTI (p = 0.026). Overall, a very high rate of MDR profiles (271/443, 61.2%) was observed, with no statistical differences between groups. In multivariable analysis, inadequate empirical treatment was associated with MDR profile (aOR 3.35; 95% CI 1.77-6.35), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (aOR 2.86; 95% CI 1.27-6.44) and Charlson index (aOR 1.11; 95% CI 1.01-1.23). Mortality was not associated with the site of acquisition of the infection or the presence of MDR profile. However, in the logistic regression analyses patients with CO-HCA-BUTI (aOR 0.61; 95% CI 0.40-0.93) were less likely to present clinical cure.

CONCLUSION: The rate of MDR infections was worryingly high in our study. No differences in MDR rates were found between CO-HCA-BUTI and HA-BUTI, in the probability of receiving inappropriate empirical treatment or in 30-day mortality. However, CO-HCA-BUTIs were associated with worse clinical cure.

PMID:34626347 | DOI:10.1007/s40121-021-00537-0

Prev Sci. 2021 Oct 9. doi: 10.1007/s11121-021-01297-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Internationally, youth crime is a significant social problem. Violent youth crime has been rising over the past decade in the state of Victoria, Australia. Communities That Care (CTC) is a coalition training process designed to prevent youth crime. There has been limited evaluation outside the USA. Using a non-experimental design, this study employed official state crime statistics to evaluate the impact on crime as the five-phase CTC process was implemented between 2010 and 2019 across communities in Victoria. The standard five-phase CTC implementation cycle was supplemented with universal programs to reduce sales and supply of alcohol to underage youth (under 18 years). Growth models evaluated community trends in youth crime (all, person, property and deception and other), comparing communities that implemented CTC at phase 4 or greater with communities that had not implemented CTC. In accord with the hypotheses, the study found significant reductions in crimes associated with CTC over the period between 2010 and 2019. A 2% annual reduction in risk was observed for crimes against persons for all age groups (IRR = 0.98, 95% CI [0.96, 0.998]). A 5% annual reduction was observed for crimes of property and deception for adolescents aged between 10 and 17 years (IRR = 0.95, 95% CI [0.90, 0.99]). These findings support CTC as an intervention for preventing youth crime at a population level. Future studies should evaluate intervention mechanisms and economic benefits.

PMID:34626325 | DOI:10.1007/s11121-021-01297-6