Tag: pubmed

Pediatr Obes. 2023 Jul 17:e13066. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.13066. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Electronic phenotyping is a method of using electronic-health-record (EHR) data to automate identifying a patient/population with a characteristic of interest. This study determines validity of using EHR data of children with overweight/obesity to electronically phenotype evidence of clinician ‘attention’ to high body mass index (BMI) and each of four distinct comorbidities.

METHODS: We built five electronic phenotypes classifying 2-18-year-old children with overweight/obesity (n = 17,397) by electronic/health-record evidence of distinct attention to high body mass index, hypertension, lipid disorders, fatty liver, and prediabetes/diabetes. We reviewed, selected and cross-checked random charts to define items clinicians select in EHRs to build problem lists, and to order medications, laboratory tests and referrals to electronically classify attention to overweight/obesity and each comorbidity. Operating characteristics of each clinician-attention phenotype were determined by comparing comprehensive chart review by reviewers masked to electronic classification who adjudicated evidence of clinician attention to high BMI and each comorbidity.

RESULTS: In a random sample of 817 visit-records reviewed/coded, specificity of each electronic phenotype is 99%-100% (with PPVs ranging from 96.8% for prediabetes/diabetes to 100% for dyslipidemia and hypertension). Sensitivities of the attention classifications range from 69% for hypertension (NPV, 98.9%) to 84.7% for high-BMI attention (NPV, 92.3%).

CONCLUSIONS: Electronic phenotypes for clinician attention to overweight/obesity and distinct comorbidities are highly specific, with moderate (BMI) to modest (each comorbidity) sensitivity. The high specificity supports using phenotypes to identify children with prior high-BMI/comorbidity attention.

PMID:37458161 | DOI:10.1111/ijpo.13066

Vet Pathol. 2023 Jul 17:3009858231186189. doi: 10.1177/03009858231186189. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Phocine distemper virus (PDV) is a significant cause of mortality for phocid seals; however, the susceptibility of otariids to this virus is poorly understood. The authors used a lymph-node explant culture system from California sea lions (Zalophus californianus, CSL) to investigate: (1) the role of signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAM) and nectin-4 in PDV infection and their cellular expression patterns, (2) if PDV induces transcriptional regulation of cell-entry receptors, and (3) the involvement of apoptosis in PDV infection. PDV replicated in the lymph-node explants with peak replication 3 days post-infection (dpi), but the replication was not sustained 4 to 5 dpi. The PDV+ cells co-localized SLAM and nectin-4. These cells expressed IBA1, indicating a histiocytic lineage. Comparison of receptor expression between infected and mock-infected lymph nodes suggested transcriptional downregulation of both receptors during the initial stage of infection and upregulation during the late stage of infection, but the values lack of statistical significance. Cleaved caspase-3+ cells were slightly increased in the infected lymph nodes compared with the mock-infected lymph node from 1 to 4 dpi, but without statistical significance, and a few apoptotic cells co-expressed PDV. The results suggest that lymph-node explants might be an important model to study PDV pathogenesis. CSLs have the potential to be infected with PDV, as they express both cell-entry receptors in histiocytes. The lack of statistical significance in the PDV replication, transcriptional regulation of viral receptors, and changes in apoptosis suggest that although CSL might be infected by PDV, they might be less susceptible than phocid species.

PMID:37458158 | DOI:10.1177/03009858231186189

Health Psychol Rev. 2023 Jul 17:1-107. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2023.2236180. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AbstractConsiderable research has examined how involvement in gay-affiliated communities is associated with sexual health behaviors in sexual minority men (i.e., gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men), yet findings in this domain are often contradictory and inconclusive. This systematic review aimed to (a) synthesize the related empirical literature, and (b) identify potential factors driving inconsistent findings. Peer-reviewed publications were included if they contained quantitative data and at least one measure of the statistical association between gay community involvement and sexual health behavior. The search strategy was implemented in six databases and returned 6,409 articles, of which 86 met the inclusion criteria. There was considerable heterogeneity in how gay community involvement was assessed across studies. Although gay community involvement was consistently associated with greater engagement in protective behaviors across studies, the association between gay community involvement and risk behaviors appeared to depend on how gay community involvement was conceptualized and measured (e.g., nightlife involvement vs. political activism). Findings emphasize a need for studies that employ validated measures that reflect the multidimensional nature of gay community involvement, as well as research designs better suited to address the causal effects of community involvement on HIV/STI transmission and prevention.

PMID:37458157 | DOI:10.1080/17437199.2023.2236180

Allergy. 2023 Jul 17. doi: 10.1111/all.15815. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The urban ambient air quality has been largely improved in the past decade. It is unknown whether childhood asthma prevalence is still increasing in ever top-ranking city of Shanghai, whether the improved air quality is beneficial for children’s asthma and what time window of exposure plays critical roles.

METHODS: Using a repeat cross-sectional design, we analyzed the association between early life exposure to particles and wheezing/asthma in each individual and combined surveys in 2011 and 2019, respectively, in 11,825 preschool children in Shanghai.

RESULTS: A significantly lower prevalence of doctor-diagnosed asthma (DDA) (6.6% vs. 10.5%, p < 0.001) and wheezing (10.5% vs. 23.2%, p < 0.001) was observed in 2019 compared to 2011. Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5 ), coarse particles (PM_2.5-10 ) and inhalable particles (PM₁₀ ) was decreased in 2019 by 6.3%, 35.4%, and 44.7% in uterus and 24.3%, 20.2%, and 31.8% in infancy, respectively. Multilevel log-binomial regression analysis showed exposure in infancy had independent association with wheezing/DDA adjusting for exposure in uterus. For each interquartile range (IQR) increase of infancy PM_2.5 , PM_2.5-10 and PM₁₀ exposure, the odds ratios were 1.39 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.24-1.56), 1.51 (95% CI:1.15-1.98) and 1.53 (95% CI:1.27-1.85) for DDA, respectively. The distributed lag non-linear model showed the sensitive exposure window (SEW) was 5.5-11 months after birth. Stratified analysis showed the SEWs were at or shortly after weaning, but only in those with <6 months of exclusive breastfeeding.

CONCLUSIONS: Improved ambient PM benefits in decreasing childhood asthma prevalence. We firstly reported the finding of SEW to PM at or closely after weaning on childhood asthma.

PMID:37458141 | DOI:10.1111/all.15815

Stat Med. 2023 Aug 15;42(18):3145-3163. doi: 10.1002/sim.9769. Epub 2023 May 15.

ABSTRACT

Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) studies utilize regression models to explain the variance of gene expressions with genetic loci or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, regression models for eQTL are challenged by the presence of high dimensional non-sparse and correlated SNPs with small effects, and nonlinear relationships between responses and SNPs. Principal component analyses are commonly conducted for dimension reduction without considering responses. Because of that, this non-supervised learning method often does not work well when the focus is on discovery of the response-covariate relationship. We propose a new supervised structural dimensional reduction method for semiparametric regression models with high dimensional and correlated covariates; we extract low-dimensional latent features from a vast number of correlated SNPs while accounting for their relationships, possibly nonlinear, with gene expressions. Our model identifies important SNPs associated with gene expressions and estimates the association parameters via a likelihood-based algorithm. A GTEx data application on a cancer related gene is presented with 18 novel eQTLs detected by our method. In addition, extensive simulations show that our method outperforms the other competing methods in bias, efficiency, and computational cost.

PMID:37458069 | DOI:10.1002/sim.9769

J Xray Sci Technol. 2023 Jul 13. doi: 10.3233/XST-230095. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: By providing both functional and anatomical information from a single scan, digital imaging technologies like PET/CT and PET/MRI hybrids are gaining popularity in medical imaging industry. In clinical practice, the median value (SUVmed) receives less attention owing to disagreements surrounding what defines a lesion, but the SUVmax value, which is a semi-quantitative statistic used to analyse PET and PET/CT images, is commonly used to evaluate lesions.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to build an image processing technique with the purpose of automatically detecting and isolating lesions in PET/CT images, as well as measuring and assessing the SUVmed.

METHODS: The pictures are separated into their respective lesions using mathematical morphology and the crescent region, which are both part of the image processing method. In this research, a total of 18 different pictures of lesions were evaluated.

RESULTS: The findings of the study reveal that the threshold is satisfied by both the SUVmax and the SUVmed for most of the lesion types. However, in six instances, the SUVmax and SUVmed values are found to be in different courts.

CONCLUSION: The new information revealed by this study needs to be further investigated to determine if it has any practical value in diagnosing and monitoring lesions. However, results of this study suggest that SUVmed should receive more attention in the evaluation of lesions in PET and CT images.

PMID:37458060 | DOI:10.3233/XST-230095

Int J Risk Saf Med. 2023 Jun 21. doi: 10.3233/JRS-220066. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Healthcare organizations are among high-risk organizations due to the nature of their work as well as structural, physical and technological complexities. Accordingly, it is very important to use risk management and control programs in all departments of these organizations.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted for the first time to evaluate the risk management status of the operating room and laboratory departments of Hamadan hospitals in 2022.

METHODS: In this descriptive-observational cross-sectional study, laboratory and operating room departments were selected as the research environment. To conduct this research, a valid and reliable questionnaire was used to collect data, and the data were analyzed using the SPSS 22 statistical software.

RESULTS: The findings of the present study showed that the overall mean score of risk management status for the laboratory and operating room departments was 2.66 ± 0.15 and 2.89 ± 0.13, respectively. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the research components based on work experience, education level, and gender.

CONCLUSION: It is suggested that the laboratory and operating room departments should focus more on adopting policies and solutions to improve the position of risk management, training and budget allocation for risk management.

PMID:37458049 | DOI:10.3233/JRS-220066

J Alzheimers Dis. 2023 Jul 10. doi: 10.3233/JAD-230434. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Neuroinflammation and the activation of microglial cells are among the earliest events in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, direct observation of microglia in living people is not currently possible. Here, we indexed the heritable propensity for neuroinflammation with polygenic risk scores (PRS), using results from a recent genome-wide analysis of a validated post-mortem measure of morphological microglial activation.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether a PRS for microglial activation (PRSmic) could augment the predictive performance of existing AD PRSs for late-life cognitive impairment.

METHODS: First, PRSmic were calculated and optimized in a calibration cohort (Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), n = 450), with resampling. Second, predictive performance of optimal PRSmic was assessed in two independent, population-based cohorts (total n = 212,237). Finally, we explored associations of PRSmic with a comprehensive set of imaging and fluid AD biomarkers in ADNI.

RESULTS: Our PRSmic showed no significant improvement in predictive power for either AD diagnosis or cognitive performance in either external cohort. Some nominal associations were found in ADNI, but with inconsistent effect directions.

CONCLUSION: While genetic scores capable of indexing risk for neuroinflammatory processes in aging are highly desirable, more well-powered genome-wide studies of microglial activation are required. Further, biobank-scale studies would benefit from phenotyping of proximal neuroinflammatory processes to improve the PRS development phase.

PMID:37458040 | DOI:10.3233/JAD-230434

J Alzheimers Dis. 2023 Jul 10. doi: 10.3233/JAD-230288. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The theory of executive attention (Fuster, 2015) suggests considerable plasticity regarding when specific neurocognitive operations are recruited to bring executive tasks to fruition.

OBJECTIVE: We tested the hypothesis that differing neurocognitive operations are recruited upon the initiation of a response, but that other distinct neurocognitive operations are recruited towards the middle or end of a response.

METHODS: The Backward Digit Span Test (BDST) was administered to 58 memory clinic patients (MCI, n = 22; no-MCI, n = 36). Latency to generate all correct 5-span responses was obtained. Statistical analyses found that optimal group classification was achieved using the first and third digit backward. First and third response latencies were analyzed in relation to verbal working memory (WM), visual WM, processing speed, visuospatial operations, naming/lexical access, and verbal episodic memory tests.

RESULTS: For the first response, slower latencies were associated with better performance in relation to verbal WM and visuospatial test performance. For the third response, faster latencies were associated with better processing speed and visuospatial test performance.

CONCLUSION: Consistent with the theory of executive attention, these data show that the neurocognitive operations underlying successful executive test performance are not monolithic but can be quite nuanced with differing neurocognitive operations associated with specific time epochs. Results support the efficacy of obtaining time-based latency parameters to help disambiguate successful executive neurocognitive operations in memory clinic patients.

PMID:37458036 | DOI:10.3233/JAD-230288

J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2023 Jul 3. doi: 10.3233/BMR-220408. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Physical therapists use dry needling (DN) and percutaneous needle electrolysis (PNE) to treat musculoskeletal pain.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of PNE vs. DN in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain.

METHODS: This systematic review and meta-analysis was based on the PICOS and PRISMA protocols. The PubMed, PEDro, Cochrane Library, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar databases were searched for randomized clinical trials measuring pain intensity in various musculoskeletal syndromes using PNE and DN. Pain outcome measures were the visual analog scale or the numerical pain rating scale. Risk of bias was assessed according to Cochrane guidelines and quality of evidence was reported using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach (GRADE). Standardized mean differences were calculated using random effects models.

RESULTS: The meta-analysis of the six included studies showed that the overall effect of PNE vs. DN for pain reduction was statistically significant at -0.74 (95% confidence interval [CI], -1.34 to -0.14) with a large effect size (SMD =-0.41; 95% CI, -0.75 to -0.08), albeit clinically insignificant in the short, medium, and long term. Risk of bias was generally low with moderate-level evidence due to the overall effect heterogeneity and the small sample.

CONCLUSIONS: Moderate-quality evidence showed that PNE is slightly more effective than DN in reducing pain. However, because the results were not clinically significant, we cannot recommend the application of PNE over DN. More high-quality studies comparing the two interventions are needed to draw firm conclusions.

PMID:37458028 | DOI:10.3233/BMR-220408