Tag: pubmed

Matern Child Nutr. 2021 Jun 15:e13231. doi: 10.1111/mcn.13231. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) interventions can positively affect optimal nutritional practices. This study evaluated the added value of a virtual facilitator tool to an enhanced community conversation (ECC) programme to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practice among children under the Growth through Nutrition Activity programme in Ethiopia. The study used a quasi-experimental design with a control group. Pregnant and/or lactating women were the study population for both study groups. The intervention (ECC + VF) group received all the same components as the control group but had the addition of in-person ECC meetings supplemented with audio-recorded virtual facilitators (VF) sessions designed to complement the monthly meeting lesson or topic. A difference in difference analysis was employed using generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) in Stata version 15.0 (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX). A p-value of less than or equal to 0.05 was considered significant for all tests. Accordingly, a 13.6% change in iron folic acid (IFA) intake for 3 months and above was observed in the intervention group. Even though not statistically significant, large to moderate positive changes in child minimum diet diversity (20%), minimum acceptable diet (18%) and women diet diversity (7.9%) were observed in the intervention group. This study identified the use of virtual facilitators as a modality to transmit standard nutrition messages during ECC programmes for optimal IYCF practices. The findings strengthen the notion that using a combination of SBCC approaches has advantage over a single method in improving important nutritional practices.

PMID:34132054 | DOI:10.1111/mcn.13231

Int J Clin Pract. 2021 Jun 15:e14537. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.14537. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) and falls. Potentially relevant articles that examine the association between hip, knee, radiological, and self-reported OA and falls were retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science up until March of 2020.

METHODS: The pooled risk ratios (RRs) as well as their related 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Statistic and subgroup analyses were performed. A total of 21 studies involving 146,965 participants were included.

RESULTS: No association was found between hip OA and falls. The pooled RRs value suggested a higher prevalence of falls in knee OA patients (RR=1.35, 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.51, P<0.00001) and self-reported OA (RR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.23 to 1.45, P<0.00001) than in non-OA subjects. The pooled RR value suggested no difference between prevalence of falls in radiological OA patients compared to non-OA subjects (RR=1.82, 95% CI: 0.89 to 3.73, P=0.10). Both radiological and self-reported knee OA seem to be positively associated with falls, while no obvious association was found between hip OA and falls.

CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, knee OA is a risk factor for falls which should be closely monitored.

PMID:34132007 | DOI:10.1111/ijcp.14537

J Obstet Gynaecol Res. 2021 Jun 15. doi: 10.1111/jog.14889. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: We compared the effectiveness of the Babu and Magon uterine closure technique and unlocked double-layer uterine closure on the integrity and thickness of the uterine scar.

METHODS: A randomized double-blind trial was performed at Hazrat-e Rasoul -e-Akram Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from March 2018 to December 2019, in 72 pregnant women who were candidates for cesarean section for the first time. Women were randomly assigned to the Babu and Magon uterine closure technique (intervention group, n = 34) or double-layer closure of the uterine incision (control group, n = 38). The primary outcome of the study was the frequency of myometrial defects at the site of the scar (niche), and a large niche. Secondary outcomes, including the time taken for uterine closure and postpartum hemorrhage (early and late), were compared between groups.

RESULTS: Adjacent myometrium thickness (AMT) between the two groups was not statistically significant. A niche was reported in 23.5% (8/34) and 50% (19/38) of women in the intervention and controls, respectively (p = 0.02). A large niche was reported in 2.9% (1/34) and 23.7% (9/38) of women in the intervention and controls, respectively (p < 0.01). The duration of uterine closure was not statistically significant between the two groups. Hemoglobin levels did not differ significantly between groups during the first 24 h post-surgery.

CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed that the technique of uterine closure is one of the main potential determinants of myometrial healing. The Babu and Magon uterine closure technique seems to lead to tissue alignment during suturing and consequently cause better myometrial healing, although this issue calls for well-founded longer studies of appropriate design.

PMID:34131999 | DOI:10.1111/jog.14889

Int J Clin Pract. 2021 Jun 15:e14536. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.14536. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive disease characterized by degeneration in the upper and lower motor neurons of the corticospinal tract, brain stem and spinal cord. Recent studies have revealed that the disease does not present solely with motor neuron involvement. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to investigate the presence of cardiac autonomic impairment in patients diagnosed with ALS.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: A total of 61 patients, who were diagnosed with ALS according to the Revised El Escorial Criteria (R-EEC) were included in this prospective study, in addition to the 29 healthy individuals, who were included in the study as controls. In order to assess the cardiac autonomic involvement, the presence of orthostatic hypotension was investigated, transthoracic echocardiography, and 24-hour electrocardiogram (ECG) using a Holter monitor were performed.

RESULTS: Orthostatic hypotension was detected in 14 (22.2%) patients. Holter ECG results of the patient group revealed statistically significantly lower heart rate variability (HRV) indicators in the time domain (SDNN, SDANN, SDNN index, rMSSD, and pNN50) and in the frequency domain (HF, LF, and VLF) than those of the control group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Contrary to the popular opinion, cardiac autonomic dysfunction in patients with ALS can occur at any stage of the disease. Therefore, it is recommended that the patients are evaluated via periodic examinations during the follow-up period for cardiac autonomic involvement.

PMID:34132003 | DOI:10.1111/ijcp.14536

New Phytol. 2021 Jun 15. doi: 10.1111/nph.17558. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Global vegetation and land-surface models embody interdisciplinary scientific understanding of the behaviour of plants and ecosystems, and are indispensable to project the impacts of environmental change on vegetation and the interactions between vegetation and climate. However, systematic errors and persistently large differences among carbon and water cycle projections by different models highlight the limitations of current process formulations. In this review, focusing on core plant functions in the terrestrial carbon and water cycles, we show how unifying hypotheses derived from eco-evolutionary optimality (EEO) principles can provide novel, parameter-sparse representations of plant and vegetation processes. We present case studies that demonstrate how EEO generate parsimonious representations of core, leaf-level processes that are individually testable and supported by evidence. EEO approaches to photosynthesis and primary production, dark respiration, and stomatal behaviour are ripe for implementation in global models. EEO approaches to other important traits, including the leaf economics spectrum and applications of EEO at the community level are active research areas. Independently tested modules emerging from EEO studies could profitably be integrated into modelling frameworks that account for the multiple time scales on which plants and plant communities adjust to environmental change.

PMID:34131932 | DOI:10.1111/nph.17558

Spec Care Dentist. 2021 Jun 15. doi: 10.1111/scd.12616. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: The present study investigated if recurrent manifestation of oral herpes lesions is associated with other factors and impacts the oral health-related quality of life in para-athletes.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The studied population was composed of a convenience sample of 370 Brazilian para-athletes. All included individuals answered questionnaires and were submitted to an oral examination. A self-reported questionnaire addressed demographic and oral health data, including the recurrent manifestation of oral herpes lesions. The Oral Health Impact Profile was also applied in its reduced version with 14 questions (OHIP-14). The population was categorized according to results from previous competitions into a high-performance level, medium-performance level, and regional-performance level. Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests, odds ratio calculation, logistic regression analysis, and t-tests were performed (α = 5%). Sixty (16.2%) para-athletes reported recurrent manifestations of oral herpes lesions. Para-athletes with sleep bruxism (p = .007) and awake bruxism (p = .048) had a higher chance of reporting oral herpes lesions. Type of breathing was also associated with oral herpes lesions (p = .031). The OHIP-14 mean distribution among the groups was not statistically significant (p > .05).

CONCLUSION: Bruxism and type of breathing were associated with self-reported oral herpes lesions in Brazilian para-athletes.

PMID:34131935 | DOI:10.1111/scd.12616

J Magn Reson Imaging. 2021 Jun 15. doi: 10.1002/jmri.27768. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: While reference values of left atrial (LA) deformation parameters in Western populations have been established, reference data in healthy Asian populations are limited.

PURPOSE: To establish age- and sex-specific reference values for LA strain and strain rate (SR) based on a large sample of healthy Chinese adults using magnetic resonance-feature tracking (MR-FT).

STUDY TYPE: Retrospective.

POPULATION: Four hundred and eight healthy Chinese adults (220 males, aged 43.5 ± 11.5 years; 188 females, aged 45.3 ± 12.8 years).

FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 1.5 T/balanced steady-state free precession.

ASSESSMENT: Reservoir strain (ε_s ), conduit strain (ε_e ), booster strain (ε_a ), peak positive SR (SRs), peak early negative SR (SRe), and peak late negative SR (SRa) were obtained by MR-FT.

STATISTICAL TESTS: We used Shapiro-Wilk test, Student’s t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, linear regression, and coefficient of determination (r² ).

RESULTS: Women demonstrated significantly greater LA strain (ε_s [%]: 44.0 ± 9.9 vs. 38.3 ± 8.7; ε_e [%]: 26.7 ± 8.0 vs. 22.3 ± 6.8; ε_a [%]: 17.3 ± 4.4 vs. 16.0 ± 3.8) and SR (SRs [/second]: 1.8 ± 0.5 vs. 1.6 ± 0.4; SRe [/second]: -2.5 ± 0.9 vs. -2.1 ± 0.7; SRa [/second]: -1.9 ± 0.6 vs. -1.8 ± 0.5) than men. For both sexes, aging was significantly associated with decreased ε_s , SRs, ε_e , and SRe (r² = 0.07, r² = 0.05, r² = 0.19, and r² = 0.24 for men; r² = 0.13, r² = 0.11, r² = 0.31, and r² = 0.46 for women), and significantly increased ε_a (r² = 0.03 and r² = 0.05 for men and women). There was no significant correlation between age and SRa in both sexes (P = 0.057 and P = 0.377 for men and women, respectively).

DATA CONCLUSION: We provide age- and sex-specific reference values for LA strain and SR based on a large sample of healthy Chinese adults using MR-FT.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3 TECHNICAL EFFICACY STAGE: 5.

PMID:34131972 | DOI:10.1002/jmri.27768

Psychon Bull Rev. 2021 Jun 15. doi: 10.3758/s13423-021-01958-1. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Attention is an important resource for prioritizing information in working memory (WM), and it can be deployed both strategically and automatically. Most research investigating the relationship between WM and attention has focused on strategic efforts to deploy attentional resources toward remembering relevant information. However, such voluntary attentional control represents a mere subset of the attentional processes that select information to be encoded and maintained in WM (Theeuwes, Journal of Cognition, 1[1]: 29, 1-15, 2018). Here, we discuss three ways in which information becomes prioritized automatically in WM-physical salience, statistical learning, and reward learning. This review integrates findings from perception and working memory studies to propose a more sophisticated understanding of the relationship between attention and working memory.

PMID:34131892 | DOI:10.3758/s13423-021-01958-1

J Small Anim Pract. 2021 Jun 16. doi: 10.1111/jsap.13387. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To determine the median survival time (MST) of dogs with nasal carcinoma treated with toceranib phosphate.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The databases of four Spanish referral hospitals were retrospectively searched for dogs with a diagnosis of nasal tumours presented between January 2015 and October 2020. Dogs treated with radiotherapy or other chemotherapies prior toceranib were excluded.

RESULTS: Twenty-three dogs with a confirmed nasal carcinoma treated with toceranib phosphate and with a CT scan for initial staging according to Adams Modified Staging System were included. Nine dogs had a stage III nasal carcinoma whereas 14 dogs had a stage IV nasal carcinoma. No dog had stages I and II nasal carcinoma. The median overall survival time was 139 days. The difference between the MST between dogs with stages III and IV was not statistically significant [P = 0.6, 140 days for stage III (range 46-401) vs 120 days for stage IV (range 23-600)]. Overall, dogs with epistaxis achieved a longer median survival (166 days) than dogs without epistaxis (83 days). Toceranib phosphate was generally well tolerated. Most dogs had an initial clinical benefit followed by progressive disease.

SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first study to report the MST in dogs with stages III and IV nasal carcinoma treated with toceranib phosphate. This retrospective study showed that toceranib phosphate decreases the clinical signs associated with nasal carcinomas.

PMID:34131916 | DOI:10.1111/jsap.13387

Mol Biol Rep. 2021 Jun 15. doi: 10.1007/s11033-021-06461-3. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Fatty acid binding protein 5 (FABP5) is elevated in psoriatic keratinocytes and could be involved in systemic metabolic disturbances in psoriasis. The aim of the study was to evaluate serum FABP5 in obese and non-obese psoriatic patients, to assess the relationship between FABP5 and the duration, severity of the disease, inflammatory and metabolic markers and influence of treatment with narrowband-ultraviolet B (NB-UVB). Seventy-four patients (30 treated with NB-UVB) with psoriasis were enrolled in the study. The serum concentrations of FABP5 were measured using Human FABP5 Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay kit. Serum fatty acids were measured by gas-liquid chromatography. Serum FABP5 levels in psoriatic patients were higher versus control group (P < 0.001). FABP5 in patients with PASI > 20 was higher compared to the mild group (PASI < 10) (P < 0.001) and serum FABP5 correlated positively with PASI score (r = 0.41, P < 0.001). There was also positive correlation between FABP5 and basic inflammation indices. Decrease of PASI after NB-UVB treatment (P < 0.001) was observed and accompanied by decrease of the serum FABP5 (P = 0.007). FABP5 is a potential marker of psoriasis, its severity and clinical outcome after therapy with NB-UVB. FABP5 may reflect metabolic disturbances in psoriatic patients.

PMID:34131888 | DOI:10.1007/s11033-021-06461-3