Tag: nevin manimala

Wiad Lek. 2023;76(4):799-804. doi: 10.36740/WLek202304115.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To investigate the dynamics of the volumes and outcomes of medical care for patients with skin cancer in Ukraine during 2010-2020.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: Official statistical data from the reports of the Center for Medical Statistics of the Center for public health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the National Cancer Registry for 2010-2020. Statistical and bibliosemantic methods were used in the work.

RESULTS: Results: A decrease in the capacity to provide medical care to patients with skin cancer was identified, as evidenced by a decrease in the number of oncological dispensaries, oncological and examination rooms in outpatient clinics, oncological and radiological beds, with a relatively unchanged level of staffing. An analysis of the main indicators of the organization and activities of medical care for patients with cancer skin revealed problems with early detection of tumors, in particular during preventive examinations, and incomplete coverage of patients with stages I-II of the disease with special treatment. The positive dynamics of melanoma treatment outcome indicators were revealed (increase in accumulation index, 5-year patient survival rate, decrease in lethality and mortality).

CONCLUSION: Conclusions: the organization of medical care for patients with skin tumors, especially non-melanoma ones, needs further improvement in the context of preventive interventions, ensuring the coverage of patients with special treatment.

PMID:37226618 | DOI:10.36740/WLek202304115

Wiad Lek. 2023;76(4):772-777. doi: 10.36740/WLek202304111.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To present a comparative analysis of the educational technologies effectiveness that were used in the process of professional training of masters of dentistry during quarantine restrictions and martial law.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: To perform the set tasks, the following the empirical methods of scientific research were used: quantitative data were collected based on analyzing the results of students’ educational achievements, as well as implementing special questionnaire that was sent to the students of the Faculty of Dentistry of NMU; qualitative data were collected with the help of several focus groups formed from students and teachers of the faculty. Analysis was undertaken using statistical methods (Pearson’s test), and qualitative data were analyzed descriptively.

RESULTS: Results: This paper analyzes the effectiveness of educational technologies used during quarantine restrictions and martial law, the role of phantom classes in providing professional training of dentistry specialists, summarizes the results of a comprehensive analysis of scientific literature, teaching experience at the dental faculty and the results of sociological research (student surveys, discussion in focus groups).

CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the full-scale war unleashed by the russian federation in Ukraine forced to quickly find and implement mixed forms of teaching future masters of dentistry, which, in combination with digital technologies, enables implementing high-quality and effective training.

PMID:37226614 | DOI:10.36740/WLek202304111

Wiad Lek. 2023;76(4):758-764. doi: 10.36740/WLek202304109.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To study the dynamics of gadget use by higher education students of the Bogomolets National Medical University and to assess technological impact on the physical health of students.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: To accomplish the tasks set using theoretical and experimental methods of scientific research: systematic analysis, comparison and generalization of the bibliosemantic method, questionnaires, and interviews with students. Quantitative data collected during the survey of students studying in the «Dentistry», «Pediatrics», «Medicine», «Pharmacy, Industrial Pharmacy», «Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy», and «Medical Psychology» specialties were processed using the MedCalc statistical software, and there was carried out comparative analysis afterwards.

RESULTS: Results: During the quarantine and martial law, medical university students were forced to study distantly or in a mixed format using various gadgets and computers. It is obvious that the physical condition of a person is affected by the duration of their use of various devices. In this paper, therefore, the risks and the researched dynamics of gadget use by higher education students of the Bogomolets National Medical University were identified. Thus, the technological impact on the physical health of students was also defined. Moreover, the data based on the results of height and weigh calculation of higher education students, which used to diagnose types of obesity by anthropometric indicators, were also collected.

CONCLUSION: Conclusions: According to the results of the research, it was established that the students of the Bogomolets National Medical University spent a significant part of their study time sitting in the classroom or at the computer (40 hours weekly average). We found that in the process of distance learning, prolonged sitting at a PC or other gadget (as well as general sedentary lifestyle) has affected the female higher education students majoring in 222 «Medicine» course their body mass index. The time spent using gadgets both in the educational and non-formal education (self-education) processes has increased significantly. We attribute this fact to the emergence of a significant number of online educational resources in the public domain, the growing number of webinars, trainings, and master classes conducted by both domestic and foreign experts online.

PMID:37226612 | DOI:10.36740/WLek202304109

J Food Drug Anal. 2023 Mar 15;31(1):137-151. doi: 10.38212/2224-6614.3447.

ABSTRACT

New psychoactive substances (NPS) have been rapidly emerged as legal alternatives to controlled drugs, which raised severe public health issue. The detection and monitoring of its intake by complete metabolic profiling is an urgent and vital task. Untargeted metabolomics approach has been applied for several NPS metabolites studies. Although the number of such works is relatively limited but with a rapidly growing need. The present study aimed to propose a procedure that includes liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) analysis and a signal selection software, MetaboFinder, programed as a web tool. The comprehensive metabolites profile of one kind of NPS, 4-methoxy-α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone (4-MeO-α-PVP), was studied by using this workflow. In this study, two different concentrations of 4-MeO-α-PVP along with as blank sample were incubated with human liver S9 fraction for the conversion to their metabolites and followed by LC-MS analysis. After retention time alignment and feature identification, 4640 features were obtained and submitted to statistical analysis for signal selection by using MetaboFinder. A total of 50 features were considered as 4-MeO-α-PVP metabolite candidates showing significant changes (p < 0.00001 and fold change >2) between the two investigated groups. Targeted LC-MS/MS analysis was conducted focusing on these significantly expressed features. Assisted by chemical formula determination according to high mass accuracy and in silico MS² fragmentation prediction, 19 chemical structure identifications were achieved. Among which, 8 metabolites have been reported derived from 4-MeO-α-PVP in a previous literature while 11 novel 4-MeO-α-PVP metabolites were identified by using our strategy. Further in vivo animal experiment confirmed that 18 compounds were 4-MeO-α-PVP metabolites, which demonstrated the feasibility of our strategy for screening the 4-MeO-α-PVP metabolites. We anticipate that this procedure may support and facilitate traditional metabolism studies and potentially being applied for routine NPS metabolites screening.

PMID:37224557 | DOI:10.38212/2224-6614.3447

Nucleic Acids Res. 2023 May 24:gkad373. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkad373. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) are expected to play a critical role in precision medicine. Currently, PRS predictors are generally based on linear models using summary statistics, and more recently individual-level data. However, these predictors mainly capture additive relationships and are limited in data modalities they can use. We developed a deep learning framework (EIR) for PRS prediction which includes a model, genome-local-net (GLN), specifically designed for large-scale genomics data. The framework supports multi-task learning, automatic integration of other clinical and biochemical data, and model explainability. When applied to individual-level data from the UK Biobank, the GLN model demonstrated a competitive performance compared to established neural network architectures, particularly for certain traits, showcasing its potential in modeling complex genetic relationships. Furthermore, the GLN model outperformed linear PRS methods for Type 1 Diabetes, likely due to modeling non-additive genetic effects and epistasis. This was supported by our identification of widespread non-additive genetic effects and epistasis in the context of T1D. Finally, we constructed PRS models that integrated genotype, blood, urine, and anthropometric data and found that this improved performance for 93% of the 290 diseases and disorders considered. EIR is available at https://github.com/arnor-sigurdsson/EIR.

PMID:37224538 | DOI:10.1093/nar/gkad373

Nucleic Acids Res. 2023 May 24:gkad445. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkad445. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

We present GePI, a novel Web server for large-scale text mining of molecular interactions from the scientific biomedical literature. GePI leverages natural language processing techniques to identify genes and related entities, interactions between those entities and biomolecular events involving them. GePI supports rapid retrieval of interactions based on powerful search options to contextualize queries targeting (lists of) genes of interest. Contextualization is enabled by full-text filters constraining the search for interactions to either sentences or paragraphs, with or without pre-defined gene lists. Our knowledge graph is updated several times a week ensuring the most recent information to be available at all times. The result page provides an overview of the outcome of a search, with accompanying interaction statistics and visualizations. A table (downloadable in Excel format) gives direct access to the retrieved interaction pairs, together with information about the molecular entities, the factual certainty of the interactions (as verbatim expressed by the authors), and a text snippet from the original document that verbalizes each interaction. In summary, our Web application offers free, easy-to-use, and up-to-date monitoring of gene and protein interaction information, in company with flexible query formulation and filtering options. GePI is available at https://gepi.coling.uni-jena.de/.

PMID:37224532 | DOI:10.1093/nar/gkad445

J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2023 May 24:gbad077. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbad077. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: A meta-analytic review was conducted to assess the effects of healthy aging, amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) on naturalistic autobiographical memory using the Autobiographical Interview, a widely used, standardized assessment that derives measures of internal (episodic) and external (non-episodic) details from freely recalled autobiographical narratives.

METHOD: A comprehensive literature search identified 21 aging, 6 MCI, and 7 AD studies (total N =1556 participants). Summary statistics for internal and external details for each comparison (younger vs. older or MCI/AD vs. age-matched comparison groups) and effect size statistics were extracted and summarized using Hedges’ g (random effects model) and adjusted for the presence of publication bias.

RESULTS: The pattern of reduced internal and elevated external details in aging was robust and consistent across nearly all 21 studies. MCI and – to a greater extent – AD were associated with reduced internal details, whereas the external detail elevation faded with MCI and AD. Although there was evidence of publication bias on reporting of internal detail effects, these effects remained robust after correction.

DISCUSSION: The canonical changes to episodic memory observed in aging and neurodegenerative disease are mirrored in the free recall of real-life events. Our findings indicate that the onset of neuropathology overwhelms the capacity of older adults to draw upon distributed neural systems to elaborate on past experiences, including both episodic details specific to identified events and non-episodic content characteristic of healthy older adults’ autobiographical narratives.

PMID:37224530 | DOI:10.1093/geronb/gbad077

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2023 May 24:dgad287. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgad287. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Two-way relationship between periodontitis and diabetes was advocated. However, bidirectional epidemiological observation is still limited and inconsistent. Using the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan (covering over 99% of the entire population), we estimate the development of diabetes in periodontitis patients or that of periodontitis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), respectively.

METHODS: A total of 11,011 patients with severe periodontitis were recruited from 2000 to 2015. After matching by age, sex, and index date, 11,011 patients with mild periodontitis and 11,011 non-periodontitis controls were registered. Conversely, 157,798 patients with T2DM and 157,798 non-T2DM controls were enrolled, whereas the development of periodontitis was traced. Cox proportional hazards model was performed.

RESULTS: Periodontitis patients tended to have a statistically high risk of having T2DM. Adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) was 1.94 (95% CI 1.49-2.63, p < 0.01) and 1.72 (95% CI 1.24-2.52, p < 0.01) for severe and mild periodontitis groups, respectively. Besides, the patients in severe periodontitis had a high risk of having T2DM compared to that in mild periodontitis [1.17 (95% CI 1.04-1.26, p < 0.001)]. Conversely, the risk of periodontitis increased significantly in patients with T2DM [1.99 (95% CI,1.42-2.48, p < 0.01)]. However, the high risk was observed for the outcome of severe periodontitis [2.08 (95% CI, 1.50-2.66, p < 0.001)], not for that of mild periodontitis [0.97 (95% CI,0.38-1.57, p = 0.462)].

CONCLUSIONS: We suggested the bi-direction is between T2DM and severe periodontitis, but not in mild type.

PMID:37224522 | DOI:10.1210/clinem/dgad287

Eur J Endocrinol. 2023 May 24:lvad052. doi: 10.1093/ejendo/lvad052. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Interpreting laboratory results for transgender individuals who started hormone therapy requires careful consideration, specifically for analytes that have sex-specific reference intervals. In literature, conflicting data exist on the effect of hormone therapy on laboratory parameters. By studying a large cohort, we aim to define what reference category (male or female) is most appropriate to use for the transgender population over the course of gender-affirming therapy.

METHODS: A total of 2201 people (1178 transgender women and 1023 transgender men) were included in this study. We analyzed hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Ht), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), creatinine, and prolactin, at three different time points: pretreatment, during hormone therapy, and after gonadectomy.

RESULTS: For transgender women, Hb and Ht levels decrease after initiation of hormone therapy. The concentration of liver enzymes ALT, AST, and ALP decrease whereas the levels of GGT do not change statistically significantly. Creatinine levels decrease whereas prolactin levels rise in transgender women during gender-affirming therapy. For transgender men Hb and Ht values increase after starting hormone therapy. Liver enzymes and creatinine levels increase statistically significant as well upon hormone therapy while prolactin concentrations decrease. Overall, reference intervals in transgender people after 1 year on hormone therapy resembled those of their affirmed gender.

CONCLUSIONS: Generating transgender-specific reference intervals is not essential to correctly interpret laboratory results. As a practical approach, we recommend to use the reference intervals of the affirmed gender from 1 year onwards after starting hormone therapy.

PMID:37224509 | DOI:10.1093/ejendo/lvad052

J Chromatogr Sci. 2023 May 23:bmad036. doi: 10.1093/chromsci/bmad036. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil that is susceptible to lipid oxidation, which can cause spoilage and the formation of harmful compounds. This study aims to evaluate the impact of Syrian apple and grape vinegar on the oxidative stability of mayonnaise and compare the use of natural antioxidants to synthetic ones such as butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene. The study measured total phenol content, radical scavenging activity, and identified some phenolic compounds by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The rancidity of mayonnaise was examined using peroxide value and thiobarbituric acid number. The fatty acids content in the mayonnaise samples was examined using gas chromatography. Vinegar samples containing high concentrations of phenolic antioxidants showed high ability to scavenge free radicals. The antioxidants in vinegar protected the mayonnaise samples from primary and secondary oxidation, and there was no statistically significant difference between the ratio of unsaturated fatty acids in the samples containing vinegar at the beginning and at the end of the storage period. The study shows the significance of using vinegar to protect mayonnaise from deterioration and increase its shelf life, in addition to its role as a dressing.

PMID:37224456 | DOI:10.1093/chromsci/bmad036