Nevin Manimala

Epidemics. 2021 Jun 19;36:100478. doi: 10.1016/j.epidem.2021.100478. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

National influenza pandemic plans have evolved substantially over recent decades, as has the scientific research that underpins the advice contained within them. While the knowledge generated by many research activities has been directly incorporated into the current generation of pandemic plans, scientists and policymakers are yet to capitalise fully on the potential for near real-time analytics to formally contribute to epidemic decision-making. Theoretical studies demonstrate that it is now possible to make robust estimates of pandemic impact in the earliest stages of a pandemic using first few hundred household cohort (FFX) studies and algorithms designed specifically for analysing FFX data. Pandemic plans already recognise the importance of both situational awareness i.e., knowing pandemic impact and its key drivers, and the need for pandemic special studies and related analytic methods for estimating these drivers. An important next step is considering how information from these situational assessment activities can be integrated into the decision-making processes articulated in pandemic planning documents. Here we introduce a decision support tool that directly uses outputs from FFX algorithms to present recommendations on response options, including a quantification of uncertainty, to decision makers. We illustrate this approach using response information from within the Australian influenza pandemic plan.

PMID:34174521 | DOI:10.1016/j.epidem.2021.100478

Nurse Educ Today. 2021 Jun 17;105:105017. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2021.105017. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In high fidelity simulation used in an educational context, measuring the psychological safety levels of students enables the understanding and analysis of the relation between the characteristics of simulation design and the factors that create a psychologically safe environment.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a new measurement of psychological safety in simulation-based learning settings using high fidelity manikins and to validate its reliability and validity.

METHODS: This is a methodological study to develop a scale of Psychological Safety in High Fidelity Simulation. A convenience sample of 242 participants recruited from four universities in Korea was analyzed. The content validity of the scale and feasibility test were conducted to assess the scale’s relevance, and comprehensiveness. An exploratory factor analysis with the principal component method and a varimax rotation, a concurrent validity analysis, and known group comparisons were conducted. Reliability was evaluated through the scale’s internal consistency.

RESULTS: Four factors were extracted, and 14 items were retained for these four factors, accounting for 72% of the total variance: (1) “Dealing with uncertainty (four items),” (2) “being exposed (four items),” (3) “being unsupported (three items),” and (4) “interpersonal risk (three items).” The Psychological Safety in High Fidelity Simulation scale score exhibited a statistically significant positive correlation with the Academic Safety Assessment tool and the Educational Satisfaction Scale in Simulation scores (p 〈001). Cronbach’s α was .91 and ranged from .75 to .88 for the sub-factors.

CONCLUSION: The Psychological Safety in High Fidelity Simulation scale is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the psychological safety of nursing students during high fidelity simulation. The scale reflects the nature of psychological safety based on the elements of simulation education and measures the degree to which specific guidance is useful for nursing educators fostering psychological safety in students.

PMID:34174511 | DOI:10.1016/j.nedt.2021.105017

J Vasc Surg Venous Lymphat Disord. 2021 Jun 23:S2213-333X(21)00304-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jvsv.2021.06.009. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Instent restenosis (ISR) and stent compression (SC) are problems encountered following stenting for chronic iliofemoral venous obstruction (CIVO) that are responsible for a majority of reinterventions. However, characteristics of ISR and SC, in addition to outcomes following reintervention have not been explored in detail and represent the focus of this study.

METHODS: A retrospective analysis of contemporaneously entered EMR data on 578 limbs/patients with initial unilateral iliofemoral venous stents placed from 2014 to 2018 was performed. ISR was estimated from stent and flow channel diameters measured using duplex ultrasound (DUS). SC was estimated from rated stent diameter and actual stent diameter on DUS. Characteristics evaluated included onset of ISR/SC post stent placement and progression over time. Analysis was performed to evaluate risk factors for the development of ISR and SC. Outcomes following reintervention for ISR/SC were also appraised.

RESULTS: 578 limbs underwent stenting for stenotic lesions (NIVL/PTS). ISR was noted in 27% of limbs on post-intervention day 1. The prevalence of ISR increased to 74% by 3 months and stabilized thereafter. SC was noted in 80% of limbs on day 1 and plateaued. Of the variables evaluated as potential risk factors for ISR, IVUS determined stent inflow luminal area and shear rate were found to be significant. For SC, asymmetric stent sizing was a significant risk factor. Over a median follow up of 24 months, 95/578 (16.4%) limbs underwent reintervention for ISR, SC or a combination. The median time to reintervention was 11 months. There was no statistically significant difference in the degree of ISR/SC among patients who underwent reintervention versus those who did not [p>0.05]. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the grade of swelling (p=0.006) and VAS pain scores (p<0.0001) between those who underwent reintervention and those who did not. Primary, primary assisted and secondary patencies at 60 months, following reintervention for ISR was 70%, 98% and 84% respectively, and for SC was 70%, 99% and 84%.

CONCLUSIONS: While ISR and SC are both common following stenting for CIVO, neither are relentlessly progressive. Indication for reintervention must be a recurrence of symptoms with impairment of quality of life and not the percentage of ISR or degree of SC. Post reintervention good outcomes can be expected both in terms of clinical improvement and stent patency. Further study of the impact of shear rate on stent flow is required to help reduce the incidence of ISR.

PMID:34174500 | DOI:10.1016/j.jvsv.2021.06.009

Eur J Radiol. 2021 May 17;141:109778. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109778. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To assess correlations of lean body weight (LBW) calculated with various formulas, total body weight (TBW), body height (BH), body mass index (BMI), body surface area (BSA) and fat-free mass (FFM) with vascular and parenchymal enhancement in multiphasic CT of the liver.

METHOD: Thirty consecutive patients underwent multiphasic CT of the liver using constant iodine dose and flow rate. Contrast enhancement of aorta, portal vein and liver was calculated by measuring mean vascular and parenchymal attenuation in pre-contrast and post-contrast phases. Correlations of TBW, BH, BMI, BSA, FFM, and LBW (calculated with formulas of Boer, Hume, James and Green&Duffull) with enhancement were tested using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. The method of Fieller et al. was used to calculate 95 % confidence intervals. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: Aortal enhancement correlated strongly with TBW, BSA, LBW_Boer and LBW_Hume and moderately with BH, BMI, FFM, LBW_James and LBW_{Green&Duffull}. Liver enhancement in the late arterial phase correlated moderately with TBW, FFM, LBW_Boer, LBW_Hume and LBW_{Green&Duffull} and weakly with BSA. Liver enhancement in the portal venous phase correlated strongly with TBW, BSA, FFM, LBW_Boer, LBW_Hume and LBW_{Green&Duffull}, whereby overlap of the 95 % CI graphs demonstrated that the differences in the correlation coefficients were not statistically significant. Liver enhancement in the delayed phase correlated moderately with BH but did not correlate significantly with any other parameter.

CONCLUSION: Regardless of the form used for calculation, LBW did not correlate statistically significantly stronger than TBW with vascular or parenchymal enhancement of the liver.

PMID:34174486 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109778

Eur J Radiol. 2021 Jun 17;141:109826. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109826. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Atypical lesions found on percutaneous breast biopsy raise specific management issues. The aim of this study was to validate the previous performance of a decision tree defined by Forgeard et al to select a subset of patients at low-risk of surgical diagnostic upgrade that would be eligible for surveillance.

METHODS: A consecutive series of 211 patients diagnosed with ADH on vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB) of clustered microcalcifications alone, then operated in our institution, was reviewed. Histological findings on percutaneous cores were compared with definitive diagnoses on surgical specimens. The rate of cancer underestimation on VAB was analyzed in the four arms and two management attitudes defined in the scheme, using size and quality of microcalcification removal and the number of ADH foci.

RESULTS: Ninety-eight women with ADH met the inclusion criteria. Overall, 20 cancers were diagnosed at surgery, showing a malignancy rate of 44% (17/39 patients) in the surgery group and of 5% (3/59 patients) in the surveillance group, which was not significantly different from the 2% rate in the monitored reference group (p > 0.64). The malignancy rate increased significantly with the size of clustered microcalcifications (0% when < 6mm, 17% when between 6mm and 21 mm, 48% when > 21 mm, p < 0001) and the number of ADH foci on VAB (14% when ≤ 2, 45% when > 2, p < 0.005).

CONCLUSION: Our results corroborate – within the limits of large confidence intervals – those obtained with the reference decision tree. Due to statistical uncertainty, however, they need to be prospectively validated in a broader series.

PMID:34174485 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109826

Hear Res. 2021 Jun 17;408:108296. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2021.108296. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Long-latency mismatch responses to oddball stimuli have recently been observed from anaesthetised rodents. This electrophysiological activity is viewed through 200 to 700 ms post-stimulus; a window that is typically obstructed from analysis by the response to subsequent stimuli in the auditory paradigm. A novel difference waveform computation using two adjoining evoked responses has enabled visualisation of this activity over a longer window than previously available. In the present study, this technique was retroactively applied to data from 13 urethane-anaesthetised mice. Oddball paradigm waveforms were compared with those of a many-standards control sequence, confirming that oddball stimuli evoked long-latency potentials that did not arise from standard or control stimuli. Statistical tests were performed to identify regions of significant difference. Oddball-induced mismatch responses were found to display significantly greater long-latency potentials than identical stimuli presented in an equal-probability context. As such, it may be concluded that long-latency potentials were evoked by the oddball condition. How this feature of the anaesthetised rodent mismatch response relates to human mismatch negativity is unclear, although it may be tentatively linked to the human P3a component, which emerges downstream from mismatch negativity under certain conditions. These results demonstrate that the time dynamics of mismatch responses from anaesthetised rodents are more extensive than previously considered.

PMID:34174482 | DOI:10.1016/j.heares.2021.108296

J Affect Disord. 2021 Jun 18;293:64-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.06.017. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and depression co-occur frequently; however, their relationship remains controversial. This study was conducted primarily to discern heterogeneous patterns of such co-occurring symptoms in Chinese female university students, using a latent profile analysis (LPA), a person-centered statistical approach.

METHODS: The PMS Scale and Beck Depression Inventory were used to examine self-reported PMS and depression symptoms in 701 Chinese female university students. LPA, multinomial logistical regression, and analyses of variance were adopted to investigate latent profiles and their validity.

RESULTS: The LPA results indicated that a four-class solution characterized by low symptoms (57.2%), predominantly PMS (11.3%), predominantly depression (23.7%), and combined PMS-depression (7.8%) patterns fitted the data best. Age, first menstrual experience, and personality factors were associated with differences in nonparallel profiles characteristic of menstrual attitude.

LIMITATIONS: Use of self-report measures can lead to response biases; the cross-sectional design at a single time point limits the examination of changes in symptom characteristics and members within the category over time; and the specific age group limits the generalizability of results.

CONCLUSION: These results confirm that PMS is independent from depression, rather than a variant of depression, and can be used to resolve the controversy regarding the relationship between PMS and depression. The current findings highlight the need for identifying women at high risk for PMS and depression, and promoting interventions individually tailored to their symptom presentations.

PMID:34174472 | DOI:10.1016/j.jad.2021.06.017

Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2021 Jun 23:S1063-4584(21)00808-6. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2021.06.002. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated whether patient-reported outcome trajectories (i.e., changes over time) differed by intraoperative compartmental cartilage lesion pattern over 4-6 years following arthroscopic meniscal surgery.

METHODS: In this ancillary study of the Knee Arthroscopy Cohort Southern Denmark cohort, we intraoperatively categorized cartilage lesions as isolated patellofemoral, isolated tibiofemoral, or combined patellofemoral/tibiofemoral. Participants completed the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) pre-operatively, at 3 and 12 months, and at 4-6 years post-operatively and reported overall satisfaction at final follow-up. Our main outcome was KOOS₄ (grand mean of four subscale means). We evaluated whether KOOS₄ scores changed over time according to cartilage lesion patterns using adjusted mixed linear regression. We also estimated probability of treatment satisfaction using logistic regression.

RESULTS: Of 630 participants with complete cartilage scores, 280 (44%) were women, mean (standard deviation) age was 49 (13) years, and BMI was 27.3 (4.4) kg/m². KOOS₄ scores at baseline were slightly lower in all lesion groups compared to the no lesion group, yet only the combined group was statistically significantly lower. KOOS₄ trajectories were similar across cartilage lesion patterns, but by final follow-up, adjusted mean KOOS₄ scores were 6.8 (95% CI 2.2, 11.4) to 9.8 (1.1, 18.5) points lower in groups with cartilage lesions compared to the no lesion group. Probability of patient-reported satisfaction did not differ statistically by group.

CONCLUSIONS: Though KOOS₄ scores were slightly lower in groups with arthroscopically assessed cartilage lesions compared to the no lesion group, trajectories were similar across all groups.

PMID:34174456 | DOI:10.1016/j.joca.2021.06.002

Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2021 Jun 23:S1063-4584(21)00810-4. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2021.06.004. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Current global guidelines regarding the first-line analgesics (acetaminophen, topical or oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs]) for knee osteoarthritis remain controversial and their comparative risk-benefit profiles have yet to be adequately assessed.

DESIGN: Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched from database inception to March 2021 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing acetaminophen, topical NSAIDs and oral NSAIDs directly or indirectly in knee osteoarthritis. Bayesian network meta-analyses were conducted. A propensity-score matched cohort study was also conducted among patients with knee osteoarthritis in The Health Improvement Network database.

RESULTS: 122 RCTs (47,113 participants) were networked. Topical NSAIDs were superior to acetaminophen (standardized mean difference [SMD]=-0.29, 95% credible interval [CrI]: -0.52 to -0.06) and not statistically different from oral NSAIDs (SMD=0.03, 95% CrI: -0.16 to 0.22) for function. It had lower risk of gastrointestinal adverse effects (AEs) than acetaminophen (relative risk [RR]=0.52, 95%CrI: 0.35 to 0.76) and oral NSAIDs (RR=0.46, 95%CrI: 0.34 to 0.61) in RCTs. In real-world data, topical NSAIDs showed lower risks of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR]=0.59, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52 to 0.68), cardiovascular diseases (HR=0.73, 95%CI: 0.63 to 0.85) and gastrointestinal bleeding (HR=0.53, 95%CI: 0.41 to 0.69) than acetaminophen during the one-year follow-up (n=22,158 participants/group). A better safety profile was also observed for topical than oral NSAIDs (n=14,218 participants/group).

CONCLUSIONS: Topical NSAIDs are more effective than acetaminophen but not oral NSAIDs for function improvement in people with knee osteoarthritis. Topical NSAIDs are safer than acetaminophen or oral NSAIDs in trials and real-world data.

PMID:34174454 | DOI:10.1016/j.joca.2021.06.004

West Afr J Med. 2021 Jun 26;38(6):531-536.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The burden of birth defects is disproportionately higher in developing countries.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the knowledge of risk factors and prevention of birth defects among ante-natal clinic attendees at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study among 415 mothers who presented at the antenatal clinic. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on respondents’ socio-demographic profile, pregnancy, birth history, knowledge on prevention and risk factors for birth defects. Descriptive statistics was used to present results, independent t-test and ANOVA were used to determine the factors associated with mean of overall knowledge of birth defects. Test statistics was done at a 5% level of statistical significance.

RESULTS: The mean age of the women was 31.7 ± 4.8 years. Overall, 93 (22.4%) of the women were above 35 years, 118 (29.9%) were skilled workers and 343 (84.9%) had tertiary education. More than half (219, 52.8%) of the respondents had good knowledge of birth defects (56.4% had good knowledge of prevention and 66.0% had good knowledge of risk factors). Antenatal clinic attendees in their first trimester had higher mean overall knowledge score (8.3 ± 4.9) compared to those in second (7.9 ± 4.5) and third (7.9 ± 4.9) trimesters but this was not statistically significant (p=0.873). However, respondents in skilled/ semi-skilled occupation (8.62) had a significantly higher mean knowledge score compared with those in unskilled occupation/ unemployed (7.33) (p=0.005).

CONCLUSION: Knowledge of birth defects is relatively low among women. To reduce the occurrence and severity of birth defects, there is a need to educate mothers on the knowledge, prevention and importance of screening for birth defects.

PMID:34174180