Tag: nevin manimala

JAMA Psychiatry. 2023 May 24. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.1265. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Psychiatric outcomes after COVID-19 have been of high concern during the pandemic; however, studies on a nationwide level are lacking.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the risk of mental disorders and use of psychotropic medication among individuals with COVID-19 compared with individuals not tested, individuals with SARS-CoV-2-negative test results, and those hospitalized for non-COVID-19 infections.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This nationwide cohort study used Danish registries to identify all individuals who were alive, 18 years or older, and residing in Denmark between January 1 and March 1, 2020 (N = 4 152 792), excluding individuals with a mental disorder history (n = 616 546), with follow-up until December 31, 2021.

EXPOSURES: Results of SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing (negative, positive, and never tested) and COVID-19 hospitalization.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Risk of new-onset mental disorders (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, codes F00-F99) and redeemed psychotropic medication (Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification codes N05-N06) was estimated through survival analysis using a Cox proportional hazards model, with a hierarchical time-varying exposure, reporting hazard rate ratios (HRR) with 95% CIs. All outcomes were adjusted for age, sex, parental history of mental illness, Charlson Comorbidity Index, educational level, income, and job status.

RESULTS: A total of 526 749 individuals had positive test results for SARS-CoV-2 (50.2% men; mean [SD] age, 41.18 [17.06] years), while 3 124 933 had negative test results (50.6% women; mean [SD] age, 49.36 [19.00] years), and 501 110 had no tests performed (54.6% men; mean [SD] age, 60.71 [19.78] years). Follow-up time was 1.83 years for 93.4% of the population. The risk of mental disorders was increased in individuals with positive (HRR, 1.24 [95% CI, 1.17-1.31]) and negative (HRR, 1.42 [95% CI, 1.38-1.46]) test results for SARS-CoV-2 compared with those never tested. Compared with individuals with negative test results, the risk of new-onset mental disorders in SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals was lower in the group aged 18 to 29 years (HRR, 0.75 [95% CI, 0.69-0.81]), whereas individuals 70 years or older had an increased risk (HRR, 1.25 [95% CI, 1.05-1.50]). A similar pattern was seen regarding psychotropic medication use, with a decreased risk in the group aged 18 to 29 years (HRR, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.76-0.85]) and elevated risk in those 70 years or older (HRR, 1.57 [95% CI, 1.45-1.70]). The risk for new-onset mental disorders was substantially elevated in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 compared with the general population (HRR, 2.54 [95% CI, 2.06-3.14]); however, no significant difference in risk was seen when compared with hospitalization for non-COVID-19 respiratory tract infections (HRR, 1.03 [95% CI, 0.82-1.29]).

CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: In this Danish nationwide cohort study, overall risk of new-onset mental disorders in SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals did not exceed the risk among individuals with negative test results (except for those aged ≥70 years). However, when hospitalized, patients with COVID-19 had markedly increased risk compared with the general population, but comparable to risk among patients hospitalized for non-COVID-19 infections. Future studies should include even longer follow-up time and preferentially include immunological biomarkers to further investigate the impact of infection severity on postinfectious mental disorder sequelae.

PMID:37223890 | DOI:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.1265

Dement Neuropsychol. 2023 May 5;17:e20220020. doi: 10.1590/1980-5764-DN-2022-0020. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

Group cognitive interventions can promote a sense of self-efficacy to older adults. Due to restrictive social distancing measures in the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face interventions that aimed to promote cognitive health needed to be adapted to a virtual offering.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to analyze the effects of promoting cognitive health in a virtual group intervention for community-living older adults.

METHODS: This is a mixed, prospective, and analytical study. Before and after the intervention, the tests were applied: Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB) and the Subjective Memory Complaints Questionnaire (MAC-Q). Data were collected at semi-structured interviews related to the adoption of memory strategies. Statistical tests were conducted for initial and final intragroup comparison. The qualitative data were assessed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS: A total of 14 participants concluded the intervention. With respect to mnemonic strategies, the most relevant for the qualifier “Did not use it before and started to do so after the group” were association (n=10; 71.4%) and dual-task inhibition (n=9; 64.3%). According to the tests, the intervention improved incidental, immediate, and delayed recall, as well as the perception of memory for “Remembering the name of the person they just met,” “Remembering the telephone number you use at least once a week,” “Remembering where they put an object,” “Remembering news from a magazine article or television program,” and “In general, how would you describe your memory now compared to when you were 40 years old.”

CONCLUSIONS: The synchronous virtual group intervention was shown to be feasible for the elderly in the community who participated in the study.

PMID:37223837 | PMC:PMC10202329 | DOI:10.1590/1980-5764-DN-2022-0020

J Multimorb Comorb. 2023 May 19;13:26335565231173845. doi: 10.1177/26335565231173845. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To identify multimorbidity patterns, by sex, according to sociodemographic and lifestyle in ELSA-Brasil.

METHODS: Cross-sectional study with 14,516 participants from ELSA-Brasil (2008-2010). Fuzzy c-means was used to identify multimorbidity patterns of 2+ chronic morbidities, where the consequent morbidity had to occur in at least 5% of all cases. Association rule (O/E≥1.5) was used to identify co-occurrence of morbidities, in each cluster, by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors.

RESULTS: The prevalence of multimorbidity was higher in women (73.7%) compared to men (65.3%). Among women, cluster 1 was characterized by hypertension/diabetes (13.2%); cluster 2 had no overrepresented morbidity; and cluster 3 all participants had kidney disease. Among men, cluster 1 was characterized by cirrhosis/hepatitis/obesity; cluster 2, most combinations included kidney disease/migraine (6.6%); cluster 3, no pattern reached association ratio; cluster 4 predominated co-occurrence of hypertension/rheumatic fever, and hypertension/dyslipidemia; cluster 5 predominated diabetes and obesity, and combinations with hypertension (8.8%); and cluster 6 presented combinations of diabetes/hypertension/heart attack/angina/heart failure. Clusters were characterized by higher prevalence of adults, married and participants with university degrees.

CONCLUSION: Hypertension/diabetes/obesity were highly co-occurred, in both sexes. Yet, for men, morbidities like cirrhosis/hepatitis were commonly clustered with obesity and diabetes; and kidney disease was commonly clustered with migraine and common mental disorders. The study advances in understanding multimorbidity patterns, benefiting simultaneously or gradually prevention of diseases and multidisciplinary care responses.

PMID:37223823 | PMC:PMC10201182 | DOI:10.1177/26335565231173845

Front Plant Sci. 2023 May 8;14:1146808. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1146808. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: The intensive cropping system and imbalance use of chemical fertilizers to pursue high grain production and feed the fast-growing global population has disturbed agricultural sustainability and nutritional security. Understanding micronutrient fertilizer management especially zinc (Zn) through foliar application is a crucial agronomic approach that could improve agronomic biofortification of staple grain crops. The use of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPBs) is considered as one of the sustainable and safe strategies that could improve nutrient acquisition and uptake in edible tissues of wheat to combat Zn malnutrition and hidden hunger in humans. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the best-performing PGPB inoculants in combination with nano-Zn foliar application on the growth, grain yield, and concentration of Zn in shoots and grains, Zn use efficiencies, and estimated Zn intake under wheat cultivation in the tropical savannah of Brazil.

METHODS: The treatments consisted of four PGPB inoculations (without inoculation, Azospirillum brasilense, Bacillus subtilis, and Pseudomonas fluorescens, applied by seeds) and five Zn doses (0, 0.75, 1.5, 3, and 6 kg ha^-1, applied from nano ZnO in two splits by leaf).

RESULTS: Inoculation of B. subtilis and P. fluorescens in combination with 1.5 kg ha^-1 foliar nano-Zn fertilization increased the concentration of Zn, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the shoot and grain of wheat in the 2019 and 2020 cropping seasons. Shoot dry matter was increased by 5.3% and 5.4% with the inoculation of P. fluorescens, which was statistically not different from the treatments with inoculation of B. subtilis as compared to control. The grain yield of wheat was increased with increasing nano-Zn foliar application up to 5 kg Zn ha^-1 with the inoculation of A. brasilense in 2019, and foliar nano-Zn up to a dose of 1.5 kg ha^-1 along with the inoculation of P. fluorescens in the 2020 cropping season. The zinc partitioning index was increased with increasing nano Zn application up to 3 kg ha^-1 along with the inoculation of P. fluorescens. Zinc use efficiency and applied Zn recovery were improved at low doses of nano-Zn application in combination with the inoculation of A. brasilense, B. subtilis, and P. fluorescens, respectively, as compared to control.

DISCUSSION: Therefore, inoculation with B. subtilis and P. fluorescens along with foliar nano-Zn application is considered a sustainable and environmentally safe strategy to increase nutrition, growth, productivity, and Zn biofortification of wheat in tropical savannah.

PMID:37223804 | PMC:PMC10200892 | DOI:10.3389/fpls.2023.1146808

Ther Adv Hematol. 2023 May 19;14:20406207231170513. doi: 10.1177/20406207231170513. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Thrombocytopenia is a common hematological manifestation in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS; PLWHA). Data on the prognostic relationship and associated factors of thrombocytopenia and HIV infection in China are limited.

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the prevalence of thrombocytopenia, its association with prognosis, and analyzed the associated risk factors among demographic characteristics, comorbidities, hematological and bone marrow indicators.

DESIGN: We collected patients identified as PLWHA in Zhongnan Hospital. The patients were divided into two groups: the thrombocytopenia group and the non-thrombocytopenia group. We analyzed and compared demographic characteristics, comorbidities, peripheral blood cells, lymphocyte subpopulations, infection indicators, bone marrow cytology, and bone marrow morphology of the two groups. Then we analyzed the risk factors for thrombocytopenia and the effect of platelet (PLT) values on the prognosis of patients.

METHODS: Demographic characteristics and laboratory results were obtained from medical records. In contrast to other studies, we included bone marrow cytology and morphology in this study. Data were analyzed with multivariate logistic regression analysis. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to plot 60-month survival curves for the severe, mild, and non-thrombocytopenia groups. The value p < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant.

RESULTS: Among 618 identified PLWHA, 510 (82.5%) were male. Overall, thrombocytopenia was found in 37.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 33.9-41.5%]. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that age ⩾40 years [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.869, 95% CI: 1.052-3.320], combined with hepatitis B (AOR 2.004, 95% CI: 1.049-3.826), high procalcitonin (PCT) count (AOR 1.038, 95% CI: 1.000-1.078) were risk factors of thrombocytopenia in PLWHA. An increased percentage of thrombocytogenic megakaryocytes was a protective factor, with an AOR 0.949 (95% CI: 0.930-0.967). Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the prognosis was worse in the severe than in the mild (p = 0.002) and non-thrombocytopenia groups (p = 0.008).

CONCLUSION: We discovered a general high pervasiveness of thrombocytopenia in PLWHA in China. Age ⩾40 years, combined with hepatitis B virus infection, high PCT, and decreased percentage of thrombocytogenic megakaryocytes indicated a higher risk for developing thrombocytopenia. A PLT count ⩽50 × 10⁹/liter led to a worse prognosis. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment of thrombocytopenia in these patients are useful.

PMID:37223778 | PMC:PMC10201177 | DOI:10.1177/20406207231170513

World Neurosurg X. 2023 Mar 29;19:100189. doi: 10.1016/j.wnsx.2023.100189. eCollection 2023 Jul.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Carotid-cavernous fistulas (CCFs) represent a group of rare, abnormal arteriovenous communications between the carotid arterial system and the cavernous sinuses (CS). CCFs often produce ophthalmologic symptoms related to increased CS pressures and retrograde venous drainage of the eye. Although endovascular occlusion remains the preferred treatment for symptomatic or high-risk CCFs, most of the data for these lesions is limited to small, single-center series. As such, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating endovascular occlusions of CCFs to determine any differences in clinical outcomes based on presentation, fistula type, and treatment paradigm.

METHOD: A retrospective review of all studies discussing the endovascular treatment of CCFs published through March 2023 was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases. A total of 36 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Data from the selected articles were extracted and analyzed using Stata software version 14.

RESULTS: 1494 patients were included. 55.08% were female and the mean age of the cohort was 48.10 years. A total number of 1516 fistulas underwent endovascular treatment, 48.05% of which were direct and 51.95% of which were indirect. 87.17% of CCFs were secondary to a known trauma while 10.18% were spontaneous. The most common presenting symptoms were 89% exophthalmos (95% CI: 78.0-100.0; I² = 75.7%), 84% chemosis (95% CI: 79.0-88.0; I² = 91.6%), 79% proptosis (95% CI: 72.0-86.0; I² = 91.8%), 75.0% bruits (95% CI: 67.0-82.0; I² = 90.7%), 56% diplopia (95% CI: 42.0-71.0; I² = 92.3%), 49% cranial nerve palsy (95% CI: 32.0-66.0; I² = 95.1%), 39% visual decline (95% CI: 32.0-45.0; I² = 71.4%), 32% tinnitus (95% CI: 6.0-58.0; I² = 96.7%), 29% elevated intraocular pain (95% CI: 22.0-36.0; I² = 0.0%), 31% orbital or pre-orbital pain (95% CI: 14.0-48.0; I² = 89.9%) and 24% headache (95% CI: 13.0-34.0; I² = 74.98%). Coils, balloons, and stents were the three most used embolization methods respectively. Immediate complete occlusion of the fistula was seen in 68% of cases and complete remission was seen in 82%. Recurrence of CCF occurred in only 35% of the patients. Cranial nerve paralysis after treatment was observed in 7% of the cases.

CONCLUSIONS: Exophthalmos, Chemosis, proptosis, bruits, cranial nerve palsy, diplopia, orbital and periorbital pain, tinnitus, elevated intraocular pressure, visual decline and headache are the most common clinical manifestations of CCFs. The majority of endovascular treatments involved coiling, balloons and onyx and a high percentage of CCF patients experienced complete remission with the improvement of their clinical symptoms.

PMID:37223772 | PMC:PMC10200966 | DOI:10.1016/j.wnsx.2023.100189

Health Serv Res Manag Epidemiol. 2023 May 18;10:23333928231168119. doi: 10.1177/23333928231168119. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Maternal and infant mortality is a major problem in a developing country like Bangladesh and these deaths are mostly related to incomplete antenatal care (ANC) visits. Adequate ANC visits for women are crucial in controlling maternal and infant mortality.

AIMS: To investigate factors associated with ANC visits among women of reproductive age (15-49) in Bangladesh using the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey 2017-2018 (BDHS) data.

METHODS: This study included 5012 respondents, of whom 2414 women (48.2%) were complete ANC visits and 2598 women (51.8%) were incomplete ANC visits. Quantile regression was used for analysis indicating that the effects of different covariates functioned differently across the utilization of antenatal care visits. The results revealed the women’s educational level, birth order number, sex of household head, and wealth index were highly significant on the lower, middle, and higher quantiles of the number of incomplete ANC visits. Besides, in the higher quantiles (for example, 75% quantile), the place of residence was highly significant. For division variables, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Khulna were highly significant in lower and middle quantiles, while Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, and Rajshahi were insignificant in higher quantiles.

CONCLUSIONS: This study observed that education, wealth index, birth order of children, and place of residence are associated with utilization of ANC visits and significantly influence maternal mortality. These determinations can help healthcare programmers and policymakers to take appropriate policies and programs for complete antennal care visits among pregnant women in Bangladesh. In order to increase the number of ANC visits among women, it is necessary to establish a mutually coordinated and trusting relationship between the government, non-governmental organizations and NGOs.

PMID:37223720 | PMC:PMC10201161 | DOI:10.1177/23333928231168119

Heliyon. 2023 Apr 27;9(5):e15851. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15851. eCollection 2023 May.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Review the current research status of the theory, techniques, and practice of digital humanities in Taiwan.

METHODS: Select the 8 issues of the Journal of Digital Archives and Digital Humanities from its inception in 2018-2021, and the papers of the 5-year International Conference of Digital Archives and Digital Humanities from 2017 to 2021 as the research data, and conduct text analysis of the collected 252 articles.

RESULTS: From the statistical analysis results, the number of practical articles is the largest, followed by tools and techniques, and the least number of theoretical articles. Text tools and literature research are the most concentrated aspects of digital humanities research in Taiwan.

LIMITATIONS: It still needs to be further compared with the current research status of digital humanities in Mainland China.

CONCLUSIONS: Digital humanities in Taiwan focuses on the development of tools and techniques, and practical applications of literature and history, and focuses on Taiwan’s native culture to form its own digital humanities research characteristics.

PMID:37223717 | PMC:PMC10200843 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15851

Heliyon. 2023 May 9;9(5):e16091. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16091. eCollection 2023 May.

ABSTRACT

Meat production and consumption are sources of animal cruelty, responsible for several environmental problems and human health diseases, and contribute to social inequality. Vegetarianism and veganism (VEG) are two alternatives that align with calls for a transition to more ethical, sustainable, and healthier lifestyles. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a systematic literature review of 307 quantitative studies on VEG (from 1978 to 2023), collected from the Web of Science in the categories of psychology, behavioral science, social science, and consumer behavior. For a holistic view of the literature and to capture its multiple angles, we articulated our objectives by responding to the variables of “WHEN,” “WHERE,” “WHO,” “WHAT,” “WHY,” “WHICH,” and “HOW” (6W1H) regarding the VEG research. Our review highlighted that quantitative research on VEG has experienced exponential growth with an unbalanced geographical focus, accompanied by an increasing richness but also great complexity in the understating of the VEG phenomenon. The systematic literature review found different approaches from which the authors studied VEG while identifying methodological limitations. Additionally, our research provided a systematic view of factors studied on VEG and the variables associated with VEG-related behavior change. Accordingly, this study contributes to the literature in the field of VEG by mapping the most recent trends and gaps in research, clarifying existing findings, and suggesting directions for future research.

PMID:37223710 | PMC:PMC10200863 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16091

Heliyon. 2023 May 10;9(5):e16086. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16086. eCollection 2023 May.

ABSTRACT

The artificial bee colony (ABC) optimization algorithm has been widely used to solve the global optimization problems. Many versions of ABC algorithm exist in the literature intending to achieve optimum solution for problems in different domains. Some modifications of the ABC algorithm are general and can be applied to any problem domain, while some are application dependent. This paper proposes a modified version of the ABC algorithm named as, MABC-SS (modified artificial bee colony algorithm with selection strategy), that can be applied to any problem domain. The algorithm is modified in terms of population initialization and update of a bee position using the old and a new food source equation based on the algorithm’s performance in the previous iteration. The selection strategy is measured based on a novel approach called the rate of change. The population initialization in any optimization algorithm plays an important role in achieving the global optimum. The algorithm proposed in the paper uses random and an opposition-based learning technique to initialize the population and updates a bee’s position after exceeding a certain number of trial limits. The rate of change is based on the average cost and is calculated for the past two iterations and compared for a method to be used in the current iteration to achieve the best result. The proposed algorithm is experimented with 35 benchmark test functions and 10 real world test functions. The findings indicate that the proposed algorithm is able to achieve the optimal result in most cases. The proposed algorithm is compared with the original ABC algorithm, modified versions of the ABC algorithm, and other algorithms in the literature using the test mentioned above. The parameters such as population size, number of iterations and runs were kept same for comparison with non-variants of ABC. In case of ABC variants, ABC specific parameters such as abandonment limit factor (0.6) and acceleration coefficient (1) were kept same. Results indicate that in 40% of the traditional benchmark test functions, the suggested algorithm works better than other variants of ABC (ABC, GABC, MABC, MEABC, BABC, and KFABC), while 30% of the traditional benchmark test functions are comparable. The proposed algorithm was compared to non-variants of ABC as well. The results show that the proposed algorithm achieved the best mean result in 50% of the CEC2019 benchmark test functions and in 94% of the classical benchmark test functions. The result is confirmed by Wilcoxon sum ranked test which shows that MABC-SS achieved statistically significant result in 48% of the classical and 70% of the CEC2019 benchmark test functions when compared with the original ABC. Overall, based on assessment and comparison in benchmark test functions used in this paper, the suggested algorithm is superior to others.

PMID:37223708 | PMC:PMC10200850 | DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16086