Tag: nevin manimala

JAMA Neurol. 2022 Oct 10. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.3185. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: No lifestyle-based randomized clinical trial directly targets psychoaffective risk factors of dementia. Meditation practices recently emerged as a promising mental training exercise to foster brain health and reduce dementia risk.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of meditation training on brain integrity in older adults.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Age-Well was a randomized, controlled superiority trial with blinded end point assessment. Community-dwelling cognitively unimpaired adults 65 years and older were enrolled between November 24, 2016, and March 5, 2018, in France. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to (1) an 18-month meditation-based training, (2) a structurally matched non-native language (English) training, or (3) no intervention arm. Analysis took place between December 2020 and October 2021.

INTERVENTIONS: Meditation and non-native language training included 2-hour weekly group sessions, practice of 20 minutes or longer daily at home, and 1-day intensive practices.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Primary outcomes included volume and perfusion of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insula. Main secondary outcomes included a global composite score capturing metacognitive, prosocial, and self-regulatory capacities and constituent subscores.

RESULTS: Among 137 participants (mean [SD] age, 69.4 [3.8] years; 83 [60.6%] female; 54 [39.4%] male) assigned to the meditation (n = 45), non-native language training (n = 46), or no intervention (n = 46) groups, all but 1 completed the trial. There were no differences in volume changes of ACC (0.01 [98.75% CI, -0.02 to 0.05]; P = .36) or insula (0.01 [98.75% CI, -0.02 to 0.03]; P = .58) between meditation and no intervention or non-native language training groups, respectively. Differences in perfusion changes did not reach statistical significance for meditation compared with no intervention in ACC (0.02 [98.75% CI, -0.01 to 0.05]; P = .06) or compared with non-native language training in insula (0.02 [98.75% CI, -0.01 to 0.05]; P = .09). Meditation was superior to non-native language training on 18-month changes in a global composite score capturing attention regulation, socioemotional, and self-knowledge capacities (Cohen d, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.19-0.85]; P = .002).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The study findings confirm the feasibility of meditation and non-native language training in elderly individuals, with high adherence and very low attrition. Findings also show positive behavioral effects of meditation that were not reflected on volume, and not significantly on perfusion, of target brain areas.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02977819.

PMID:36215061 | DOI:10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.3185

Prosthet Orthot Int. 2022 Oct 1;46(5):459-465. doi: 10.1097/PXR.0000000000000159. Epub 2022 Jul 1.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the thicknesses of intact talar cartilage, tibialis anterior (TA), gastrocnemius medialis (GCM), and gastrocnemius lateralis (GCL) muscles of traumatic unilateral transtibial amputees with that of nonamputated individuals by ultrasound and to investigate the relationship between cartilage and muscle thickness measurements with clinical parameters.

METHODS: Thirty-six patients with unilateral traumatic transtibial amputation, and 36 age-matched, sex-matched, and body mass index-matched nonamputated controls were included in this cross-sectional study. Subjects’ talar cartilage, TA, GCM, and GCL muscle thickness measurements were performed using musculoskeletal ultrasound. Other outcome measures were 6-minute walking test, the Foot and Ankle Outcome Score, and Short Form-36.

RESULTS: TA and GCM muscles were thicker on the intact limbs of the patients than those of the controls (p = 0.015 and p = 0.014, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference in talar cartilage and GCL muscle thicknesses when patients were compared with control subjects. Talar cartilage thickness was positively correlated with body mass index, 6-minute walking test, and sport and recreation subscale score of the Foot and Ankle Outcome Score. TA and GCM muscle thicknesses were positively correlated with the duration of prosthesis use and role limitations because of the physical health subscale score of Short Form-36.

CONCLUSIONS: TA and GCM muscles were found to be thickened on the intact sides of traumatic unilateral transtibial amputees. The correlations between lower leg muscle thicknesses and clinical parameters suggest that the observed thickness change is not necessarily pathological and has potential impact on function at least in our young cohort.

PMID:36215056 | DOI:10.1097/PXR.0000000000000159

J Agromedicine. 2022 Oct 10:1-10. doi: 10.1080/1059924X.2022.2134243. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Farmers are disproportionally affected by depression and suicide. Social connectedness has been shown to reduce depression and suicide among the general population but its impact on farmers is less well-known. Our previous research indicated that farmers who had cooperative resources and social support reported decreased symptoms of depression. However, it was unclear whether farmers who were not cooperative members or utilized resources from non-cooperative organizations differed from cooperative farmers in mental health.

METHODS: A survey consisted of online self-completion and phone interviews was conducted among 307 participants (197 co-op, 110 non-co-op) to examine whether Midwest (north central United States) cooperative and non-cooperative farmers differ in perceived stress and symptoms of depression and whether potential differences were impacted by program use, program satisfaction, and social support.

RESULTS: Cooperative farmers reported lower perceived stress and symptoms of depression than non-cooperative farmers and the difference was statistically significant for perceived stress. Use of educational programs, such as training and mentorship, was associated with decreased perceived stress but not symptoms of depression. Satisfaction with programs and social support were associated with decreased perceived stress and symptoms of depression. Program satisfaction was observed to have more associations with decreased perceived stress and symptoms of depression than program use.

CONCLUSIONS: Results reveal that organizational resources and social support can mitigate mental health risks among farmers. This study highlighted an opportunity for future investigation of social connectedness in addressing farmers’ mental health.

PMID:36215041 | DOI:10.1080/1059924X.2022.2134243

Nucleic Acids Res. 2022 Oct 10:gkac859. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac859. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Elucidating the role of 3D architecture of DNA in gene regulation is crucial for understanding cell differentiation, tissue homeostasis and disease development. Among various chromatin conformation capture methods, HiChIP has received increasing attention for its significant improvement over other methods in profiling of regulatory (e.g. H3K27ac) and structural (e.g. cohesin) interactions. To facilitate the studies of 3D regulatory interactions, we developed a HiChIP interactions database, HiChIPdb (http://health.tsinghua.edu.cn/hichipdb/). The current version of HiChIPdb contains ∼262M annotated HiChIP interactions from 200 high-throughput HiChIP samples across 108 cell types. The functionalities of HiChIPdb include: (i) standardized categorization of HiChIP interactions in a hierarchical structure based on organ, tissue and cell line and (ii) comprehensive annotations of HiChIP interactions with regulatory genes and GWAS Catalog SNPs. To the best of our knowledge, HiChIPdb is the first comprehensive database that utilizes a unified pipeline to map the functional interactions across diverse cell types and tissues in different resolutions. We believe this database has the potential to advance cutting-edge research in regulatory mechanisms in development and disease by removing the barrier in data aggregation, preprocessing, and analysis.

PMID:36215037 | DOI:10.1093/nar/gkac859

Nucleic Acids Res. 2022 Oct 10:gkac863. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac863. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Cotton is an important economic crop, and many loci for important traits have been identified, but it remains challenging and time-consuming to identify candidate or causal genes/variants and clarify their roles in phenotype formation and regulation. Here, we first collected and integrated the multi-omics datasets including 25 genomes, transcriptomes in 76 tissue samples, epigenome data of five species and metabolome data of 768 metabolites from four tissues, and genetic variation, trait and transcriptome datasets from 4180 cotton accessions. Then, a cotton multi-omics database (CottonMD, http://yanglab.hzau.edu.cn/CottonMD/) was constructed. In CottonMD, multiple statistical methods were applied to identify the associations between variations and phenotypes, and many easy-to-use analysis tools were provided to help researchers quickly acquire the related omics information and perform multi-omics data analysis. Two case studies demonstrated the power of CottonMD for identifying and analyzing the candidate genes, as well as the great potential of integrating multi-omics data for cotton genetic breeding and functional genomics research.

PMID:36215030 | DOI:10.1093/nar/gkac863

Int Ophthalmol. 2022 Oct 10. doi: 10.1007/s10792-022-02480-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To synthesize existing evidence on adverse events, complications, and unfavorable outcomes of current treatment modalities for treatment-requiring retinopathy of prematurity (TR-ROP).

METHODS: PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Scopus, EMBASE, Trip Database, and the gray literature available were searched. Randomized Clinical Trials and observational studies comparing the adverse events of intravitreal anti-VEGF injections (bevacizumab, ranibizumab, aflibercept, pegaptanib, conbercept) and laser photocoagulation (LPC) as treatment modalities for infants with TR-ROP were included. The main outcomes compared between the two treatment modalities were: 1. Refractive Errors and Biometry Parameters, 2. Adverse events, complications, and unfavorable outcomes, 3. Disease Recurrence/Disease Regression/Need for retreatment, 4. Neurodevelopmental Outcomes.

RESULTS: Higher quality studies concluded that LPC leads to greater rates of myopia than intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment while the rate of adverse events and of unfavorable neurodevelopmental outcomes is similar. However, there was controversy among the included studies concerning the rate of ROP recurrence between intravitreal anti-VEGF injections and LPC.

CONCLUSION: There is need for future primary studies assessing the adverse events of intravitreal anti-VEGF injections compared with LPC as treatment modalities for infants with TR-ROP.

PMID:36214992 | DOI:10.1007/s10792-022-02480-6

Ann Nucl Med. 2022 Oct 10. doi: 10.1007/s12149-022-01794-w. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate immunohistochemical staining of sodium iodide symporter (NIS) and its effect on response to I-131 therapy in differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients.

METHODS: We evaluated NIS expression, the intracellular distribution of NIS, iodine-131 uptake in residual tissues on post-ablation I-131 whole body scan, and the ablation status after 100 mCi I-131 therapy. We also investigated NIS expression and localization in tumoral paraffin-embedded tissues.

RESULTS: In this retrospective study, 35 patients (mean age 44.17 ± 12.9 years, 27 female, 8 male) were studied. Twenty-one of these patients responded to radioiodine therapy, and 14 did not. NIS expression and iodine-131 uptake in residual tissues post-ablation I-131 whole body scan were not statistically significant. When we compared the patients who responded to radioiodine therapy and the poor responder group, NIS expression and iodine-131 uptake in residual tissues did not demonstrate statistically significant difference [(p = 0.308) (p = 0.985) respectively]. 47.6% of the patients in the successful ablation group and 85.7% in the unsuccessful ablation group had intracellular NIS immunostaining. The difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.139). 52.4% of the patients in the successful ablation group and 7% in the unsuccessful ablation group had NIS immunostaining at the basolateral membrane. The difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, we did not find any significant difference between successful and unsuccessful ablation groups in terms of NIS expression; however, we concluded that the intracellular (cytoplasmic) localization of NIS is one of the leading causes of ablation failure regardless of NIS expression in DTC patients.

PMID:36214955 | DOI:10.1007/s12149-022-01794-w

Mol Biol Rep. 2022 Oct 10. doi: 10.1007/s11033-022-07922-z. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: IL-23 receptor (IL-23R) dysregulation has been shown to have critical roles in pathogenesis of different autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) via suppression of regulatory T cells (Tregs) as well as differentiation, expansion, and survival of T helper 17 (Th17) cells, followed by upregulation of interleukin 17 (IL-17). Here, we assessed the association of a functional microRNAs (miRNAs)-related single nucleotide polymorphism (miR-SNPs: rs10889677) in IL-23R, which was correlated with its overexpression and increased risk for SLE and RA in the Iranian population.

METHODS: Genotype and allele distribution of rs10889677 variant were investigated in 105 RA patients, 100 SLE cases and 105 healthy controls via polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method.

RESULTS: Our findings suggested that AA genotype, but not AC genotype, was associated with increased risk of RA (AA vs. CC; OR: 3.27; 95%CI [1.467-7.551]). The allele A was more frequent in RA group compared to controls (A allele vs. C allele; OR: 1.92; 95%CI [1.282-2.894]). This common variant was not significantly correlated with SLE risk in our population (P > 0.05). However, stratification analysis indicated that RA patients with AA genotype show higher serum concentration levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) (P: 0.008). No obvious correlation was noticed between different genotypes in SLE cases, except for a slight difference in terms of oral ulcer manifestation incidence (P: 0.038).

CONCLUSION: This study suggests a significant relationship between rs10889677 variant in IL-23R with increased risk of RA and some clinical features in RA and SLE patients.

PMID:36214949 | DOI:10.1007/s11033-022-07922-z

Sleep Breath. 2022 Oct 10. doi: 10.1007/s11325-022-02726-8. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between smoking and subjective sleep quality in the Korean adult population.

METHODS: We designed a cross-sectional survey using data from the 2018 Korean Community Health Service Conditions Survey and selected smoking status as our variable of interest. We divided the participants into people who currently, never, and formerly smoked, those who smoked < 20 cigarettes/day, and those who smoked > 20 cigarettes/day. Subjective sleep quality was analyzed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: A total of 174,665 participants were enrolled. People who formerly and currently smoked were found to have poorer subjective sleep quality than those who never smoked. The odds of poor subjective sleep quality in people who smoked > 20 cigarettes/day were 1.15 times (95% confidence interval: 1.09-1.21) for men and 1.51 times (95% confidence interval: 1.22-1.86) for women, compared with men and women who never smoked.

CONCLUSIONS: Smoking was negatively associated with subjective sleep quality. Smoking cessation programs and lifestyle improvement education may be justifiable to improve the quality of sleep in Korean adults.

PMID:36214946 | DOI:10.1007/s11325-022-02726-8

Sleep Breath. 2022 Oct 10. doi: 10.1007/s11325-022-02721-z. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of nasal pillows with standard nasal masks in the treatment of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

METHODS: A digitalized search was carried out in four different databases including PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and CENTRAL using relevant keywords along with a manual search in relevant journals. All comparative studies comparing outcomes of using a nasal pillow with the use of standard nasal masks for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in patients with OSA were included. The qualitative analysis was carried out by tabulating the demographic data. The quantitative data were subjected to meta-analysis. The quality of comparative studies (both retrospective and prospective cohorts) was evaluated using New-castle Ottawa scale (NOS).

RESULTS: A total of 14 studies (eight prospective and six retrospective) were included in the review. Of them, five studies were randomized and were of cross-over study design. No significant differences were observed in achieved CPAP and residual apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) levels between the nasal pillow and nasal mask with SMD – 0.05 95% CI [- 0.18, 0.09], p = 0.50 and SMD – 0.13 95% CI [- 0.28, 0.03], p = 0.12, respectively. However, nasal pillow usage was associated with better CPAP adherence with a difference of only + 0.29 min/night as compared to a standard nasal mask, with SMD 0.29 95% CI [0.07, 0.50], p = 0.009.

CONCLUSION: Nasal pillow and standard nasal mask were equally effective in terms of residual AHI level and achieved similar therapeutic CPAP pressures. However, the difference in CPAP adherence between groups, though statistically significant, is of questionable clinical significance.

PMID:36214944 | DOI:10.1007/s11325-022-02721-z