Nevin Manimala

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 3;16(3):e0246698. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246698. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

In all competitions where results are based upon an individual’s performance the question of whether the outcome is a consequence of skill or luck arises. We explore this question through an analysis of a large dataset of approximately one million contestants playing Fantasy Premier League, an online fantasy sport where managers choose players from the English football (soccer) league. We show that managers’ ranks over multiple seasons are correlated and we analyse the actions taken by managers to increase their likelihood of success. The prime factors in determining a manager’s success are found to be long-term planning and consistently good decision-making in the face of the noisy contests upon which this game is based. Similarities between managers’ decisions over time that result in the emergence of ‘template’ teams, suggesting a form of herding dynamics taking place within the game, are also observed. Taken together, these findings indicate common strategic considerations and consensus among successful managers on crucial decision points over an extended temporal period.

PMID:33657110 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0246698

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 3;16(3):e0241156. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241156. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Based on some previous observational studies, there is a theory that suggests a potential relationship between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) colonization and celiac disease (CeD); however, the type of this relationship is still controversial. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore all related primary studies to find any possible association between CeD and human H. pylori colonization.

DATA SOURCES: Studies were systematically searched and collected from four databases and different types of gray literature to cover all available evidence. After screening, the quality and risk of bias assessment of the selected articles were evaluated.

SYNTHESIS METHODS: Meta-analysis calculated pooled odds ratio (OR) on the extracted data. Furthermore, heterogeneity, sensitivity, subgroups, and publication bias analyses were assessed.

RESULTS: Twenty-six studies were included in this systematic review, with a total of 6001 cases and 135512 control people. The results of meta-analysis on 26 studies showed a significant and negative association between H. pylori colonization and CeD (pooled OR = 0.56; 95% CI = 0.45-0.70; P < 0.001), with no publication bias (P = 0.825). The L’Abbé plots also showed a trend of having more H. pylori colonization in the control group. Among subgroups, ORs were notably different only when the data were stratified by continents or risk of bias; however, subgroup analysis could not determine the source of heterogeneity.

CONCLUSIONS: According to the meta-analysis, this negative association might imply a mild protective role of H. pylori against celiac disease. Although this negative association is not strong, it is statistically significant and should be further considered. Further investigations in both molecular and clinic fields with proper methodology and more detailed information are needed to discover more evidence and underlying mechanisms to clear the interactive aspects of H. pylori colonization in CeD patients.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER (PROSPERO): CRD42020167730 https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=167730.

PMID:33657108 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0241156

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 3;16(3):e0245158. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245158. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

Do individuals modify their bodies in order to be unique? The present study sought to investigate need for uniqueness (NfU) subcomponents as possible motives for modifying one’s body. To this end, the study obtained information from 312 participants about their NfU (using the German NfU-G global scale and three sub-scales) and their body modifications (tattoos, piercings, and extreme body modifications such as tongue splitting). By analyzing the three subcomponents of NfU, the study was able to investigate the differential relationship of the sub-scales with the outcome measures, which facilitated a fine-grained understanding of the NfU-body-modification relationship. The study found that tattooed, pierced, and extreme-body-modified individuals had higher NfU-G scores than individuals without body modifications. Moreover, it seemed that individuals with tattoos took a social component into consideration while lacking concern regarding others’ reaction toward their tattoos, although not wanting to cause affront. Pierced and extreme-body-modified individuals, contrarily, tended to display a propensity to actively flout rules and not worry about others’ opinions on their modifications. However, although statistically significant, the effect size (d) for the NfU-G differences in the tattooed and pierced participants’ mean scores was small to medium in all three subcomponents. The extreme-body-modified group presented medium and medium to large effects. Further, the study observed that the number of body modifications increased with an increasing NfU in tattooed and pierced individuals. These findings demonstrated multifaceted interrelations between the NfU, its subcomponents, and the three kinds of body modifications investigated in the present study.

PMID:33657106 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0245158

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 3;16(3):e0241653. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241653. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Toxoplasma gondii is a worldwide protozoan parasite that could infect virtually all warm-blooded animals, including humans. Our study aimed to investigate the prevalence of T. gondii infection in college students at Anhui province, China and to assess risk factors for T. gondii infection in college students. Moreover, growing studies demonstrated the association between T. gondii infection and host behavioral changes. We also studied the linkage between T. gondii and physical education (PE) scores of college students.

METHODS: A total of 2704 serum samples of medical school students attending physical education lessons were collected from September 2017 to September 2019 and evaluated for T. gondii IgG antibodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Questionnaires and statistical analysis were used to determine the risk factors for T. gondii infection. We also analysed PE scores of T. gondii -infected students and T. gondii-uninfected students.

RESULTS: The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii was 11.5%. The main risk factors related to T. gondii infection in college students were cat in the household and gardening or agriculture activity. Furthermore, in the basketball group and the soccer group, scores of T. gondii seropositive students were significantly higher than those of seronegative students, while in other sports there was no difference between scores of T. gondii-infected students and T. gondii uninfected students.

CONCLUSION: This is the first report of T. gondii seroprevalence in college students in Anhui province, China.

PMID:33657102 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0241653

PLoS Comput Biol. 2021 Mar 3;17(3):e1008811. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008811. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Forecasting the risk of pathogen spillover from reservoir populations of wild or domestic animals is essential for the effective deployment of interventions such as wildlife vaccination or culling. Due to the sporadic nature of spillover events and limited availability of data, developing and validating robust, spatially explicit, predictions is challenging. Recent efforts have begun to make progress in this direction by capitalizing on machine learning methodologies. An important weakness of existing approaches, however, is that they generally rely on combining human and reservoir infection data during the training process and thus conflate risk attributable to the prevalence of the pathogen in the reservoir population with the risk attributed to the realized rate of spillover into the human population. Because effective planning of interventions requires that these components of risk be disentangled, we developed a multi-layer machine learning framework that separates these processes. Our approach begins by training models to predict the geographic range of the primary reservoir and the subset of this range in which the pathogen occurs. The spillover risk predicted by the product of these reservoir specific models is then fit to data on realized patterns of historical spillover into the human population. The result is a geographically specific spillover risk forecast that can be easily decomposed and used to guide effective intervention. Applying our method to Lassa virus, a zoonotic pathogen that regularly spills over into the human population across West Africa, results in a model that explains a modest but statistically significant portion of geographic variation in historical patterns of spillover. When combined with a mechanistic mathematical model of infection dynamics, our spillover risk model predicts that 897,700 humans are infected by Lassa virus each year across West Africa, with Nigeria accounting for more than half of these human infections.

PMID:33657095 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008811

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 3;16(3):e0246785. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246785. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

The availability of reliable socioeconomic data is critical for the design of urban policies and the implementation of location-based services; however, often, their temporal and geographical coverage remain scarce. We explore the potential for insurance customers data to predict socioeconomic indicators of Swiss municipalities. First, we define a features space by aggregating at city-level individual customer data along several behavioral and user profile dimensions. Second, we collect official statistics shared by the Swiss authorities on a wide spectrum of categories: Population, Transportation, Work, Space and Territory, Housing, and Economy. Third, we adopt two spatial regression models exploring both global and local geographical dependencies to investigate their predictability. Results show consistently a correlation between insurance customer characteristics and official socioeconomic indexes. Performance fluctuates depending on the category, with values of R2 > 0.6 for several target variables using a 5-fold cross validation. As a case study, we focus on predicting the percentage of the population using public transportation and we discuss the implications on a regional scope. We believe that this methodology can support official statistical offices and it could open up new opportunities for the characterization of socioeconomic traits at highly-granular spatial and temporal scales.

PMID:33657089 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0246785

J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2021 Feb 27. doi: 10.1097/JCP.0000000000001374. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE/BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of needing to switch the initial treatment of a stimulant to the alternative family in newly referred, medication-naive adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) initiating treatment with stimulants.

METHODS/PROCEDURES: Subjects were 49 unmedicated adults (18-45 years old) with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders (Fifth Edition) ADHD who initiated treatment with a stimulant. Before the clinical assessment with an expert clinician, participants completed the Adult Self-Report, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version, Emotional Dysregulation Subscale of the Barkley Current Behavior Scale-Self-report, and Mind Wandering Questionnaire. The rate of switching was examined using information from the electronic medical record for up to three clinical follow-up visits. Comparisons were made between those who did and did not need to switch on baseline demographic and clinical characteristics.

FINDINGS/RESULTS: Sixty-seven percent of ADHD patients were initially prescribed a methylphenidate product, and 33%, an amphetamine product. Forty-one percent of ADHD patients needed to switch from their initially prescribed stimulant family within 90 days of initiating treatment because of poor tolerability. Whereas the rate of switching was significantly higher in those initially prescribed methylphenidate, the rate of patients who required changes in formulation (long- to short-acting and vice versa) or additional antianxiety or antidepressant treatment (“strugglers”) was higher in those taking amphetamine. Switchers were more impaired on the Adult Self-Report Intrusive scale, whereas nonswitchers were more impaired on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Inhibit and Task Monitor scales. However, these findings were small and of unclear clinical significance.

IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: Forty-one percent of medication-naive adults with ADHD initiating stimulant treatment required a switch from the initially prescribed stimulant family to the alternative one because of poor tolerability. Switching could not be adequately predicted by baseline demographic or clinical characteristics. These findings call for improved efforts to help identify predictors of response to stimulant treatment in adults with ADHD to avoid unnecessary delays in identifying a safe and effective treatment for these patients.

PMID:33657069 | DOI:10.1097/JCP.0000000000001374

J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2021 Feb 28. doi: 10.1097/JCN.0000000000000798. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Although several authors have analyzed the effects of spirituality on stroke survivors’ physical functioning and on their own caregiver’s outcomes, such as quality of life, only few authors have explored the interaction between spirituality and anxiety and depression using a dyadic approach.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of spirituality in the stroke survivor-caregiver dyad and specifically on anxiety and depression in both parties.

METHODS: A total of 217 stroke survivor-caregiver dyads were enrolled at discharge from several rehabilitation hospitals in central and southern Italy. The actor-partner interdependence model was used to analyze the dyadic data. To verify the differences in the effects between survivors and caregivers, comparisons were made between the χ2 values of the model in which actor and partner effects were constrained to be equal.

RESULTS: The average age of stroke survivors and their caregivers at baseline was 71.2 and 52.7 years, respectively. Among the stroke survivors, there were slightly more men than women, whereas 65% of the caregivers were women. Most stroke survivors had had an ischemic stroke. Four statistically significant actor effects were identified. Higher survivors’ and caregivers’ spirituality was associated with higher survivor and caregiver anxiety. The only significant partner effect that was identified was the association between stroke survivor spirituality and caregiver depression.

CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of studying spirituality in the population with stroke. Spirituality seems to play an important protective role in both stroke survivors’ and caregivers’ depression but not in anxiety.

PMID:33657064 | DOI:10.1097/JCN.0000000000000798

Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2021 Feb 27. doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000001740. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare the efficacy of an online and a traditionally delivered undergraduate elective courses in improving medical students’ disability related knowledge and attitudes.

METHODS: A randomized controlled design was implemented. Participants were medical students randomly assigned into summer 8-week disability and the society (OT100) online course, OT100 traditional course, or Wellness and Life Styles (PT100) control. Demographics were collected in addition to participants’ level disability knowledge and Attitudes Toward People with Disability scale scores (ATDP) one week prior to the semester and one week after it. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) using general linear model (GLM) was conducted to evaluate groups’ differences in main outcome measures.

RESULTS: In total, 198 undergraduate medical students successfully completed the study conditions; OT100 online (n = 74), OT100 traditional (n = 59), and PT100 (n = 65). OT100 groups (traditional and online) change scores were statistical similar for disability knowledge (p = 0.966) and attitudes (p = 0.705) but significantly better (p < 0.001) than the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: OT100 course delivered traditionally or regular appeared effective in improving medical students’ disability knowledge and ATDP. More studies are needed to create effective methods improving healthcare professionals’ disability related knowledge and attitudes.

PMID:33657029 | DOI:10.1097/PHM.0000000000001740

Br J Gen Pract. 2021 Mar 2:BJGP.2020.0178. doi: 10.3399/BJGP.2020.0178. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In England, general practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors working to a national contract. Since 2017 the contract requires GPs to use electronic tools to proactively identify moderate and severe frailty in people aged 65 and over and offer interventions to help those identified to stay well and maintain independent living. Little is currently known about GPs’ views of this contractual requirement.

AIM: To explore GPs’ views of identifying frailty and offering interventions for those living with moderate or severe frailty.

DESIGN AND SETTING: Sequential mixed-methods study of GPs in the East Midlands region of England (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire) between January and May 2019.

METHODS: Survey of GPs by online questionnaire, followed by semi-structured interview. Based on survey responses GPs with a range of views on identifying frailty, GP and practice characteristics, were selected for interview. Questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics. Interview transcripts were analysed using framework analysis.

RESULTS: 188 (6.1%) GPs responded to the survey and 18 GPs were interviewed. GPs were broadly supportive of identifying frailty, but felt risk-stratification tools lacked sensitivity and specificity and wanted evidence showing clinical benefit. Frailty identification increased workload and was under-resourced, with limited time for, and access to necessary interventions. GPs felt they lacked knowledge about frailty and more education was required.

CONCLUSION: Proactively identifying and responding to frailty in primary care requires GP education, highly sensitive and specific risk-stratification tools, access to interventions to lessen the impact of frailty and adequate resourcing to achieve its potential clinical impact.

PMID:33657008 | DOI:10.3399/BJGP.2020.0178