Nevin Manimala

Neuroimage Clin. 2022 Feb 7;33:102956. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.102956. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Rolandic epilepsy is the most common form of epileptic encephalopathy, characterized by sleep-potentiated inferior Rolandic epileptiform spikes, seizures, and cognitive deficits in school-age children that spontaneously resolve by adolescence. We recently identified a paucity of sleep spindles, physiological thalamocortical rhythms associated with sleep-dependent learning, in the Rolandic cortex during the active phase of this disease. Because spindles are generated in the thalamus and amplified through regional thalamocortical circuits, we hypothesized that: 1) deficits in spindle rate would involve but extend beyond the inferior Rolandic cortex in active epilepsy and 2) regional spindle deficits would better predict cognitive function than inferior Rolandic spindle deficits alone. To test these hypotheses, we obtained high-resolution MRI, high-density EEG recordings, and focused neuropsychological assessments in children with Rolandic epilepsy during active (n = 8, age 9-14.7 years, 3F) and resolved (seizure free for > 1 year, n = 10, age 10.3-16.7 years, 1F) stages of disease and age-matched controls (n = 8, age 8.9-14.5 years, 5F). Using a validated spindle detector applied to estimates of electrical source activity in 31 cortical regions, including the inferior Rolandic cortex, during stages 2 and 3 of non-rapid eye movement sleep, we compared spindle rates in each cortical region across groups. Among detected spindles, we compared spindle features (power, duration, coherence, bilateral synchrony) between groups. We then used regression models to examine the relationship between spindle rate and cognitive function (fine motor dexterity, phonological processing, attention, and intelligence, and a global measure of all functions). We found that spindle rate was reduced in the inferior Rolandic cortices in active but not resolved disease (active P = 0.007; resolved P = 0.2) compared to controls. Spindles in this region were less synchronous between hemispheres in the active group (P = 0.005; resolved P = 0.1) compared to controls; but there were no differences in spindle power, duration, or coherence between groups. Compared to controls, spindle rate in the active group was also reduced in the prefrontal, insular, superior temporal, and posterior parietal regions (i.e., “regional spindle rate”, P < 0.039 for all). Independent of group, regional spindle rate positively correlated with fine motor dexterity (P < 1e-3), attention (P = 0.02), intelligence (P = 0.04), and global cognitive performance (P < 1e-4). Compared to the inferior Rolandic spindle rate alone, models including regional spindle rate trended to improve prediction of global cognitive performance (P = 0.052), and markedly improved prediction of fine motor dexterity (P = 0.006). These results identify a spindle disruption in Rolandic epilepsy that extends beyond the epileptic cortex and a potential mechanistic explanation for the broad cognitive deficits that can be observed in this epileptic encephalopathy.

PMID:35151039 | DOI:10.1016/j.nicl.2022.102956

Arch Oral Biol. 2022 Feb 3;135:105368. doi: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2022.105368. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: It is unclear whether tea infusions with or without sucrose supplementation alter oral biofilm development, so we evaluated the effect of unsweetened and sucrose-sweetened black and green tea infusions on in vitro saliva-derived biofilms.

DESIGN: Biofilms were developed from human saliva for 20 h in cell-free 25% human saliva within static glass-bottom microplates. During biofilm development, biofilms were treated with either (i) unsweetened black tea, (ii) unsweetened green tea, (iii) 10% sucrose-sweetened black tea, (iv) 10% sucrose-sweetened green tea (v) deionized water (negative control), or (vi) 10% sucrose (positive control). Biofilms were incubated at 37 °C in 5% CO₂. After 20 h of development, biofilms were imaged using a CLSM, and biofilm architecture and viability were evaluated.

RESULTS: All the tea infusions reduced biofilm biomass and altered some other biofilm architectural outcomes (e.g., biofilm surface area) compared to the control groups. Statistically significant differences in biofilm biomass, number of objects, surface area, and convex-hull porosity were observed between biofilms treated with green and black tea. The addition of sugar to tea did not significantly modify the ability of tea to alter biofilm architecture. Only the treatment of biofilms with unsweetened black tea significantly reduced bacterial viability.

CONCLUSIONS: While both teas reduced biofilm biomass and altered biofilm architecture, black tea had an enhanced effect that may relate to this tea’s observed antimicrobial activity. The addition of sucrose to tea infusions did not appear to reduce the impact of either tea in modifying oral biofilm architecture.

PMID:35151028 | DOI:10.1016/j.archoralbio.2022.105368

Neural Netw. 2022 Feb 1;148:194-205. doi: 10.1016/j.neunet.2022.01.016. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

High quality end-to-end speech translation model relies on a large scale of speech-to-text training data, which is usually scarce or even unavailable for some low-resource language pairs. To overcome this, we propose a target-side data augmentation method for low-resource language speech translation. In particular, we first generate large-scale target-side paraphrases based on a paraphrase generation model which incorporates several statistical machine translation (SMT) features and the commonly used recurrent neural network (RNN) feature. Then, a filtering model which consists of semantic similarity and speech-word pair co-occurrence was proposed to select the highest scoring source speech-target paraphrase pairs from candidates. Experimental results on English, Arabic, German, Latvian, Estonian, Slovenian and Swedish paraphrase generation show that the proposed method achieves significant and consistent improvements over several strong baseline models on PPDB datasets (http://paraphrase.org/). To introduce the results of paraphrase generation into the low-resource speech translation, we propose two strategies: audio-text pairs recombination and multiple references training. Experimental results show that the speech translation models trained on new audio-text datasets which combines the paraphrase generation results lead to substantial improvements over baselines, especially on low-resource languages.

PMID:35151006 | DOI:10.1016/j.neunet.2022.01.016

J Pak Med Assoc. 2021 Dec;71(12):2794-2798. doi: 10.47391/JPMA.01-1351.

ABSTRACT

Competency in referral writing skill is needed by doctors for which they are not adequately trained. Although there has been a lot of discussion on improvement of skills for writing consultation letters, still priority is not given to this important task. Ideally there should be a course with assessment for teaching and learning medical referral writing skills for students. Currently, there is no such tool to assess the way communication letters are written. An 18-point assessment scale has been developed through Delphi technique to improve the quality of referral letters. The objective of the present study was to design a structured Proforma for writing referrals, with the consensus of seven participants using Delphi. The place of study was Rawalpindi medical university and allied hospitals. Results were finalised after the acceptance of structured referral by selected participants through Delphi. The response rate was 70%. The validity and interrater reliability were calculated using SPSS25. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.7 and Kappa was 0.3. Both were statistically significant. The designed Proforma for writing referrals, with its interrater reliability calculated, seems effective for writing effective and structured referrals. The study further recommends training junior doctors in making effective referrals.

PMID:35150540 | DOI:10.47391/JPMA.01-1351

J Pak Med Assoc. 2021 Dec;71(12):2748-2754. doi: 10.47391/JPMA.1784.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To analyse outcomes of breast conservation surgery and to identify the factors that could have affected the outcomes.

METHODS: The retrospective study was conducted at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan, and comprised data of breast conservation surgery cases done between January 2011 and October 2014 in order to cover up for the 5-year follow-up of the last enrolled patient. Data, obtained through the institutional information and database system, included disease-recurrence, 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival. Data was statistically analysed using SPSS 20.

RESULTS: Of the 553 cases, 417(75%) had no loco-regional recurrence or distant metastasis, while 136(25%) had some form of loco-regional, distant or contralateral metastasis at 5-year follow-up. In patients who had recurrence or metastasis, only progesterone receptor status, nodal status and mode of treatment showed significant association (p<0.05). Mortality at 5-year follow-up was 77(14%). Amongst the patients who died, only progesterone receptor status and nodal status had significant association (p<0.05). Five-year overall survival for the cohort was 476(86%), whereas 5-year disease-free survival was 409(74%).

CONCLUSION: Breast conservation surgery was found to have favourable outcomes, while progesterone status, nodal involvement and mode of treatment significantly affected the outcome.

PMID:35150532 | DOI:10.47391/JPMA.1784

Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Dec;33(Suppl 13):399-404.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: It is required to determine death anxiety of nursing students so that they who will become healthcare professionals can cope with the fast-spreading and high-mortality diseases such as COVID-19 infection upon graduation, can communicate with infected and dying patients, and can provide patients with the necessary support and care. The purpose of this study is to determine the death anxiety experienced by nursing students due to COVID-19, the related factors.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This descriptive and correlational study was completed between June and September 2020. The data were collected by using the Socio-demographic and COVID-19 Pandemic Information Form and Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). The student nurses who agreed to participate in the study were asked to fill out an online questionnaire that was sent by the researchers. The study was conducted with 115 nursing students.

RESULTS: The DAS mean scores of the nursing students were found to be 8.01±1.96. When the correlation between DAS scores of the nursing students and their knowledge and attitudes regarding COVID-19 pandemic was examined, it was determined that as their anxiety levels about transmission of coronavirus increased, DAS scores also increased (p=0.037). The scores of death anxiety scale decreased as the level of students’ attention to events other than coronavirus, their level of comforting themselves and their belief mentioning that they would heal if they catch coronavirus increased (p<0.05). No statistically significant correlation was found between DAS scores and other knowledge and attitudes of nursing students regarding COVID-19 pandemic (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: It would be an effective method to provide the training to nursing students, in order to change their negative attitudes and awareness towards COVID-19 related death anxiety and to improve their coping skills for death anxiety and help to reduce the burden of anxiety.

PMID:35150515

Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Dec;33(Suppl 13):387-391.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 spread rapidly around the world, causing an acute infectious pneumonia pandemic. COVID-19 first seen in our country since 11 March 2020 in Turkey have also taken an epidemic form. Many social restrictions have been imposed to slow the spread, such as quarantine practices, curfews, restrictions on travel between countries / cities, restrictions on collective activities and social distance practices. In our country, formal education was suspended by the Higher Education Council and it was recommended that all processes including assessment and evaluation be carried out online. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the psychological effects of Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Medicine students due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

METHOD: 607 students gave opinions for the study (n=607). Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Test was preferred in the study because it was preferred in international studies.

RESULTS: Students’ mean GAD-7 score was calculated as 10.24±3.95. 3 (0.5%) of the students were mild, 339 (55.8) were moderate, 168 (27.7%) were high and 97 (16%) were in serious anxiety. The average of anxiety of preclinical students (10.50±4.06) was calculated to be higher than the clinical period students (9.80±3.72) and a statistically significant difference was found between the two groups (p=0.028). 61 of the participants (10%) had COVID-19 positivity in themselves or in their relatives. The average of the students who had COVID-19 positivity in themselves or their close environment (11.37±4.34) was higher than the students who did not (10.12±3.89), and there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p=0.034). In our cross-sectional descriptive study, students’ GAD-7 mean score was 10.24±3.95, which shows that students of Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Medicine also had high prevalent anxiety disorders during the COVID-19 epidemic, in line with the current literature. As a result of this study in which we evaluated the psychological conditions of our students during the pandemic period.

CONCLUSION: Considering that the long-term effects of anxiety disorders will continue, we believe that it will be appropriate to plan activities for post-epidemic anxiety rehabilitation of our students in the evaluation of our post-epidemic education program.

PMID:35150513

Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Dec;33(Suppl 13):357-363.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to compare the fear levels and sleep problems of nurses working in wards where patients with COVID-19 are hospitalized and nurses working in wards without COVID-19 patients.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This descriptive, cross-sectional research was conducted on 211 nurses using a web-based online survey in Turkey (including 104 nurses working in wards where patients with COVID-19/107 nurses working in wards where patients without COVID-19).

RESULTS: When the COVID-19 Fear Scale mean scores of the nurses working in wards where patients with/without COVID-19 were compared, it was determined that the difference between the groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). When the sleep problems experienced were compared according to the Post-Sleep Inventory, it was determined that the difference between the groups was not statistically significant (p>0.05). There was a moderately significant and positive correlation between the nurses’ mean scores for the COVID-19 Fear Scale and Post-Sleep Inventory.

CONCLUSIONS: It was determined that as the fear levels of nurses increased, they experienced more sleep problems.

PMID:35150509

Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Dec;33(Suppl 13):308-313.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence and clinical features of non-melanoma tumors of the head and neck, as well as the validity of surgical therapy in their treatment.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study included 530 patients who were operated in the Otorhinolaryngology department of the Livno County Hospital.

RESULTS: In 295 cases (65.1%), it was basal cell carcinoma of the skin and was followed by squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, in 119 cases (29.9%) while the remaining 5% of cases referred to other non-melanoma skin carcinomas. Statistically significant, the most common non-melanoma skin carcinoma was basal cell carcinoma (χ²=625,67; df=4; p<0.01). The most co mmon localization was the skin of the nose (24.2%), which proved to be statistically significant (χ²=290.824; df=5; p=0.00). All patients underwent classic surgery, and in 358 cases (89.5%) the tumor was completely removed, while in 40 cases (10.5%) the tumor was partially removed which proved to be statistically significant (χ²=254,08; df=1; p=0.00).

CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study fully confirm the assertion that classical surgery is the method of choice in the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers and in the vast majority it is proven to be sufficient.

PMID:35150500

Psychiatr Danub. 2021 Dec;33(Suppl 13):297-303.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Colon cancer is one of the most common malignancies. Numerous studies suggest an association between resilience and quality of life in colon cancer patients. The aim of this study was to explore the association between resilience and quality of life in people with colon cancer.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 200 subjects at the Oncology Clinic of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar. Data were collected in the period between April 2019 and June 2021. A socio-demographic questionnaire specifically designed for this study, a CD-RISC-25 scale for assessing resilience, and a WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire for assessing quality of life were used for collecting data.

RESULTS: A statistically significant positive association of resilience with all domains of quality of life was found. The mental health domain contributed the most statistically significantly positively to the level of resilience. Patients who were not married had a statistically significantly higher level of resilience compared to married, divorced and widowed patients. No statistically significant difference was found in resilience levels relative to other socio-demographic factors and cancer stage. Patients treated with a combination of surgery and chemotherapy had a statistically significantly higher level of resilience compared to patients treated with other therapeutic methods.

CONCLUSIONS: Higher level of resilience statistically significantly contributes to a higher level of quality of life in people with colon cancer.

PMID:35150498