Tag: pubmed

J Clin Ultrasound. 2022 May 7. doi: 10.1002/jcu.23220. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To determine the long-term fetal cardiac effects of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women recovered from moderate COVID-19 with fetal echocardiography (ECHO).

METHODS: Forty-five pregnant women that recovered from moderate COVID-19 (CRG) 4 weeks after the infection confirmation, were compared with 45 gestational and maternal age-matched control groups (CG) in terms of demographic features fetal cardiac morphological (sphericity index, cardiothoracic ratio), and functional (myocardial performance index, mitral E/A, tricuspid E/A, mitral and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion) parameters.

RESULTS: There was no difference in demographic features between the groups. Fetal cardiac morphologic parameters were found to be similar between the two groups. When the fetal cardiac functional assessment of the two groups was compared, only mitral E/A ratio results were found to be statistically significantly lower in the CRG than in the control group (p = 0.030).

CONCLUSION: The fetal heart does not seem to be negatively affected by COVID-19 after recovery from moderate infection. These results about the fetal effect of SARS-CoV-2 may improve our limited knowledge of the utility of fetal ECHO in pregnant women who recovered from COVID-19.

PMID:35524502 | DOI:10.1002/jcu.23220

Brief Bioinform. 2022 May 6:bbac172. doi: 10.1093/bib/bbac172. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Clustering analysis is widely used in single-cell ribonucleic acid (RNA)-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data to discover cell heterogeneity and cell states. While many clustering methods have been developed for scRNA-seq analysis, most of these methods require to provide the number of clusters. However, it is not easy to know the exact number of cell types in advance, and experienced determination is not always reliable. Here, we have developed ADClust, an automatic deep embedding clustering method for scRNA-seq data, which can accurately cluster cells without requiring a predefined number of clusters. Specifically, ADClust first obtains low-dimensional representation through pre-trained autoencoder and uses the representations to cluster cells into initial micro-clusters. The clusters are then compared in between by a statistical test, and similar micro-clusters are merged into larger clusters. According to the clustering, cell representations are updated so that each cell will be pulled toward centers of its assigned cluster and similar clusters, while cells are separated to keep distances between clusters. This is accomplished through jointly optimizing the carefully designed clustering and autoencoder loss functions. This merging process continues until convergence. ADClust was tested on 11 real scRNA-seq datasets and was shown to outperform existing methods in terms of both clustering performance and the accuracy on the number of the determined clusters. More importantly, our model provides high speed and scalability for large datasets.

PMID:35524494 | DOI:10.1093/bib/bbac172

Int Wound J. 2022 May 7. doi: 10.1111/iwj.13801. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This retrospective study aimed to explore the clinical efficacy of chitosan-based hydrocolloid dressing in treating chronic refractory wounds. A total of 80 patients with chronic refractory wounds were randomly divided into the control group (n = 40) and the study group (n = 40). The control group was given inert saline gauze, while the study group was given chitosan-based hydrocolloid dressing. After 3 weeks of treatment, the wound healing efficiency, itching pain score, changes in the wound area, dressing change frequency, and cost were measured. There was a significant difference in the wound healing effect (t = 2.738), and degree of pain (t = 4.76) between the study and control groups, after 3 weeks of treatment. Similarly, a prominent reduction in the itching frequency (t = 8.62), and wound area (t = 6.379) was observed in the study group compared to the control group (P < .05). Moreover, the frequency and total cost of dressing change in the study group were also lower than the control group and the difference was statistically significant (P < .05). To summarise, the application of chitosan-based hydrocolloid dressing in treating chronic refractory can effectively alleviate pain, accelerate wound healing, relieve itching pain, and reduce the overall cost and frequency of dressing change.

PMID:35524492 | DOI:10.1111/iwj.13801

Int Wound J. 2022 May 7. doi: 10.1111/iwj.13820. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of chitosan-based gel dressing on wound infection, synechia, and granulations after endoscopic sinus surgery of nasal polyps. A systematic literature search until March 2022 incorporated 386 subjects after endoscopic sinus surgery of nasal polyps at the beginning of the study; 187 were using chitosan-based gel dressing, and 199 were control. Statistical tools like the dichotomous method were used within a random or fixed-influence model to establish the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to evaluate the influence of chitosan-based gel dressing on wound infection, synechia, and granulations after endoscopic sinus surgery of nasal polyps. Chitosan-based gel dressing had significantly lower wound infection (OR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.25-0.92, P = 0.03), and synechia (OR, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.13-0.50, P < 0.001) compared with control in subjects with endoscopic sinus surgery of nasal polyps. However, no significant difference was found in granulations between chitosan-based gel dressing and control in subjects with endoscopic sinus surgery of nasal polyps. Chitosan-based gel dressing had significantly lower wound infection, synechia compared with control in subjects with endoscopic sinus surgery of nasal polyps, and no significant difference in granulations. Further studies are required to validate these findings.

PMID:35524493 | DOI:10.1111/iwj.13820

Biometrics. 2022 May 7. doi: 10.1111/biom.13685. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of biobanks and large public clinical datasets enables their integration with a smaller amount of locally gathered data for the purposes of parameter estimation and model prediction. However, public datasets may be subject to context-dependent confounders and the protocols behind their generation are often opaque; naively integrating all external datasets equally can bias estimates and lead to spurious conclusions. Weighted data integration is a potential solution, but current methods still require subjective specifications of weights and can become computationally intractable. Under the assumption that local data is generated from the set of unknown true parameters, we propose a novel weighted integration method based upon using the external data to minimize the local data leave-one-out cross validation (LOOCV) error. We demonstrate how the optimization of LOOCV errors for linear and Cox proportional hazards models can be rewritten as functions of external dataset integration weights. Significant reductions in estimation error and prediction error are shown using simulation studies mimicking the heterogeneity of clinical data as well as a real-world example using kidney transplant patients from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:35524490 | DOI:10.1111/biom.13685

Infancy. 2022 May 7. doi: 10.1111/infa.12474. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Congenital hearing loss offers a unique opportunity to examine the role of sound in cognitive, social, and linguistic development. Children with hearing loss demonstrate atypical performance across a range of general cognitive skills. For instance, research has shown that deaf school-age children underperform on visual statistical learning (VSL) tasks. However, the evidence for these deficits has been challenged, with mixed findings emerging in recent years. Here, we used a novel approach to examine VSL in the action domain early in development. We compared learning between deaf and hearing infants, prior to cochlear implantation (pre-CI), and a group of toddlers post implantation (post-CI). Findings revealed a significant difference between deaf and hearing infants pre-CI, with evidence for learning only in the hearing infants. However, there were no significant group differences between deaf and hearing toddlers post-CI, with both groups demonstrating learning. Further, VSL performance was positively correlated with language scores for the deaf toddlers, adding to the body of evidence suggesting that statistical learning is associated with language abilities. We discuss these findings in the context of previous evidence for group differences in VSL skills, and the role that auditory experiences play in infant cognitive development.

PMID:35524478 | DOI:10.1111/infa.12474

J Diabetes Investig. 2022 May 7. doi: 10.1111/jdi.13825. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: We previously reported that sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) treatment was associated with an improvement of the albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). The present study clarified how concomitant insulin treatment (IT) with SGLT2i therapy influences the renal composite outcome (RCO).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 624 Japanese patients with T2DM and CKD who underwent SGLT2i treatment. The renal composite outcome was set as progression of the stage of albuminuria or a ≥15% decrease in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) per year. We developed a cohort model of patients managed with and without IT (Ins [+], Ins [-]) using propensity score matching methods. Furthermore, all patients in our study population were stratified into quintiles according to their propensity score.

RESULTS: The incidence of the RCO was in Ins (+) patients significantly higher than that in Ins (-) (p=0.033). The estimated hazard ratio for the RCO was 1.55 (p=0.035) in Ins (+) patients. The change in the eGFR and ACR in the groups did not statistically significant. The analysis, which was based on the quintiles revealed a statistically significant difference between the Ins (+) and Ins (-) groups (p=0.01); the odds ratio for the RCO in patients managed with IT was 2.20 (p=0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: Concomitant administration of IT with SGLT2is influenced the RCO in Japanese patients with T2DM and CKD. We might need to consider the influence of concomitant agents on the renoprotective effects of SGLT2i therapy.

PMID:35524473 | DOI:10.1111/jdi.13825

Clin Oral Implants Res. 2022 May 6. doi: 10.1111/clr.13949. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the 3-year implant-related outcomes following alveolar ridge preservation in periodontally compromised molar sockets.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty implants were placed in 26 patients following either ridge preservation (test, n = 16) or natural healing (control, n = 14) at deficient molar extraction sites after a 6-month healing period. The need for additional augmentation procedures at implant placement was recorded. Patients were assessed for 3 years following a definitive restoration. Patient information being collected are modified plaque index, the modified sulcus bleeding index, the peri-implant probing depth clinically, and alterations of marginal bone level (MBL) radiographically.

RESULTS: There was a 100% survival rate of implants in both groups after 3-year follow-up. During implant placement operation, 35.7% in the control group and 6.3% in the test group required additional augmentation procedures. No statistically significant differences were determined for peri-implant parameters and marginal bone levels between the two groups. The overall mean difference of MBL was 0.072 mm (95% CI [-0.279, 0.423]) during the 3 years of follow-up. The success rate was 81.2% in the test and 78.6% in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: Implants placed into periodontally compromised molar extracted sites after ridge augmentation resulted comparable outcomes to implants placement at naturally healed sites after 3-year functional loading.

PMID:35524437 | DOI:10.1111/clr.13949

J Clin Pharm Ther. 2022 May 7. doi: 10.1111/jcpt.13676. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Although there are accelerated approval pathways based on data of small populations and surrogate endpoints, the concern that these pathways authorize the use of inefficacious drugs based on limited data from earlier phase clinical trials remains. We retrospectively investigated the efficacy of anticancer drugs, which were approved or whose development was terminated in small and large clinical trials, and verified whether small clinical trials could reflect the results for efficacy in large clinical trials.

METHODS: All anticancer drugs approved in Japan or whose development was terminated from 2015 to 2019 were searched. The median overall survival (OS), median progression-free survival (PFS), and overall response rates (ORR) between small clinical trials (sample size ≤100) and large clinical trials (sample size >100) with identical target populations and treatment settings were compared. Simple linear regression analysis, Spearman’s correlation analysis, and paired sample t-test were performed.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A total of 61 comparable small and large clinical trials were identified. For all endpoints, statistically significant linear trends and correlation were detected (p < 0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in the median PFS and ORR between small and large clinical trials. The mean differences of both clinical trials were -0.102 months and -1.531%, respectively.

WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: Even when the sample size of the clinical trial was increased, the efficacy data of anticancer drugs could not be changed significantly. These results supported the accelerated approval pathway based on the promising efficacy data of small populations in anticancer drug development.

PMID:35524471 | DOI:10.1111/jcpt.13676

Scand J Caring Sci. 2022 May 6. doi: 10.1111/scs.13086. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Screening immigrant mothers for postpartum depression has been shown to be challenging for health care professionals in handling cultural implications of postpartum depression, communicating through interpreter and applying translated versions of the screening scale.

AIM: The aim of the study was to test the feasibility of an evidence-based educational intervention for Child Health Services nurses in screening non-native-speaking immigrant mothers for postpartum depression.

ETHICS: The approval was obtained from Swedish Ethical Review Authority, 2018/1063.

METHOD: Thirty Child Health Services nurses who conducted screening with assistance of interpreter at least three times per year participated. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04167709) and a one-group pretest-posttest experimental design was applied. Data on the participants’ acceptability and response to outcomes of the intervention were collected by an evaluation questionnaire, the Clinical Cultural Competency Training Questionnaire, the General Self-efficacy Scale and by self-reported data on general performance of the task. Descriptive statistics were used to present the results of the evaluation questionnaire and general performance of the task. Paired t-test were used to compare the scores on the General Self-efficacy scale, while Wilcoxon signed-ranked test was used to compare the scores on the Clinical Cultural Competency Training Questionnaire. Qualitative data were analysed by content analysis.

RESULTS: All 30 participants stated that they found the content of the intervention satisfying. The intervention was shown to provide new knowledge and improved their ability to meet the requirements linked to the screening procedure. The intervention affected their self-estimated cultural competence in some aspects but not their self-efficacy or general performance of the task.

CONCLUSIONS: The intervention was found feasible but require adjustment in the design of the practical training sessions. The use of the provided material, a comic strip on parental support and interpreter information needs further evaluation.

PMID:35524434 | DOI:10.1111/scs.13086