Tag: pubmed

Integr Environ Assess Manag. 2023 Jul 15. doi: 10.1002/ieam.4812. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

There is increasing interest in further developing the plant protection product environmental risk assessment, particularly within the European Union, to include the assessment of soil microbial community composition, as measured by metabarcoding approaches. However, to date, there has been little discussion as to how this could be implemented in a standardised, reliable, and robust manner suitable for regulatory decision making. Introducing metabarcoding-based assessments of the soil microbiome into the plant protection product risk assessment would represent a significant increase in the degree of complexity of the data that needs to be processed and analysed in comparison to the existing risk assessment on in-soil organisms. The bioinformatics procedures to process DNA sequences into community compositional datasets currently lack standardisation, while little information exists on how this data should be used to generate regulatory endpoints and the ways in which these endpoints should be interpreted. Through a thorough and critical review, we explore these challenges. We conclude that currently, we do not have a sufficient degree of standardisation or understanding of the required bioinformatics and data analysis procedures to consider their use in an environmental risk assessment context. However, we highlight critical knowledge gaps and the further research required to understand whether metabarcoding-based assessments of the soil microbiome can be utilised in a statistically and ecologically relevant manner within a plant protection product risk assessment. Only once these challenges are addressed can we consider if and how we should use metabarcoding as a tool for regulatory decision making to assess and monitor ecotoxicological effects on soil microorganisms within an environmental risk assessment of plant protection products.

PMID:37452668 | DOI:10.1002/ieam.4812

Integr Environ Assess Manag. 2023 Jul 15. doi: 10.1002/ieam.4813. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The Fundão Dam breached on 5 November 2015 (the “Event”), resulting in the release of tailings, water, scoured sediment/soil and other debris to downstream watercourses. Statistical analyses using historical and recent water quality measurements were conducted to assess the extent to which water quality in the Rio Doce was recovering to baseline conditions. A review of station-/parameter-specific water quality time series in the Rio Doce revealed two challenges: pre-Event data imbalance and seasonality. Due to the combined effects of these two factors, data gathered from Rio Doce water quality stations before the Event likely underestimated concentration ranges and limited the usefulness of common recovery assessment techniques such as times series and water quality standard exceedance analyses. These challenges were addressed by calculating quarterly and watershed-specific river-to-tributary ratios. R code was used to produce spatiotemporal time series for 44 investigated parameters that were measured both before and after the Fundão event. The water quality recovery durations shown by the parameter-/region-specific river-to-tributary ratio time series indicated that: (a) turbidity provides the most conservative measure for water quality recovery; (b) chemical parameters associated with the tailings, like manganese and iron recovered faster than turbidity, and (c) other investigated parameters unrelated to the tailings showed either no discernable impact or rapid recovery after the Fundão event. The resulting parameter-/region-specific river-to-tributary ratio time series provided reliable and quantifiable estimates of water quality recovery durations. The water quality in the region furthest from Fundão Dam, in Espírito Santo, recovered one year after the Event, while water quality in the closest region to Fundão Dam, upstream of Risoleta Neves (Candonga) Dam, recovered 4.2 years after the Event.

PMID:37452664 | DOI:10.1002/ieam.4813

Public Health Res (Southampt). 2023 Jun;11(5):1-102. doi: 10.3310/WTMH3198.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: E-cigarettes are a popular smoking-cessation tool. Although less harmful than tobacco, use of e-cigarettes by non-smokers should be prevented. There is concern about the use of e-cigarettes by young people and that e-cigarettes may renormalise smoking. In May 2016, Tobacco Products Directive regulations aimed to reduce e-cigarettes’ appeal to young people.

AIMS: To examine the effects of the Tobacco Products Directive regulations on young people’s use of e-cigarettes, and the role of e-cigarettes in renormalising smoking.

DESIGN: A mixed-method natural experimental evaluation combining secondary analyses of survey data, with process evaluation, including interviews with young people, policy stakeholders, retailers and trading standards observers, and observations of retail settings.

SETTINGS: Wales, Scotland and England.

PARTICIPANTS: Survey participants were aged 13-15 years, living in England, Scotland or Wales and participated in routinely conducted surveys from 1998 to 2019. Process evaluation participants included 14- to 15-year-olds in England, Scotland and Wales, policy stakeholders, trading standards offices and retailers.

INTERVENTION: Regulation of e-cigarettes, including bans on cross-border advertising, health warnings and restrictions on product strength.

COMPARISON GROUP: Interrupted time series design, with baseline trends as the comparator.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was ever e-cigarette use. Secondary outcomes included regular use, ever and regular smoking, smoking attitudes, alcohol and cannabis use.

DATA CAPTURE AND ANALYSIS: Our primary statistical analysis used data from Wales, including 91,687 young people from the 2013-19 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children and School Health Research Network surveys. In Scotland, we used the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey and in England we used the Smoking Drinking and Drug Use surveys. The process evaluation included interviews with 73 young people in 2017 and 148 young people in 2018, 12 policy stakeholders, 13 trading standards officers and 27 retailers. We observed 30 retail premises before and after implementation. Data were integrated using the Medical Research Council’s process evaluation framework.

RESULTS: Ever smoking continued to decline alongside the emergence of e-cigarettes, with a slight slowing in decline for regular use. Tobacco Products Directive regulations were described by stakeholders as well implemented, and observations indicated good compliance. Young people described e-cigarettes as a fad and indicated limited interaction with the components of the Tobacco Products Directive regulations. In primary statistical analyses in Wales [i.e. short (to 2017) and long term (to 2019)], growth in ever use of e-cigarettes prior to Tobacco Products Directive regulations did not continue after implementation. Change in trend was significant in long-term analysis, although of similar magnitude at both time points (odds ratio 0.96). Data from England and Scotland exhibited a similar pattern. Smoking followed the opposite pattern, declining prior to the Tobacco Products Directive regulations, but plateauing as growth in e-cigarette use stalled.

LIMITATIONS: Alternative causal explanations for changes cannot be ruled out because of the observational design.

CONCLUSIONS: Young people’s ever and regular use of e-cigarettes appears to have peaked around the time of the Tobacco Products Directive regulations and may be declining. Although caution is needed in causal attributions, findings are consistent with an effect of regulations. Our analysis provides little evidence that e-cigarettes renormalise smoking. More recent data indicate that declines in smoking are plateauing.

FUTURE WORK: International comparative work to understand differences in use of e-cigarettes, and tobacco, within varying regulatory frameworks is a priority.

STUDY REGISTRATION: This study is registered as ResearchRegistry4336.

FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme and will be published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 11, No. 5. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

PMID:37452656 | DOI:10.3310/WTMH3198

Adv Mater. 2023 Jul 15:e2305074. doi: 10.1002/adma.202305074. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Producing indispensable hydrogen and oxygen for social development via water electrolysis shows more prospects than other technologies. Although electrocatalysts have been explored for centuries, a universal activity descriptor for both hydrogen-evolving (HER) and oxygen-evolving reactions (OER) has not been developed. Moreover, a unifying concept has not been established to simultaneously understand HER/OER mechanisms. Here, we rationally bridge the relationships between HER/OER activities in three common electrolytes and over 10 representative material properties on 12 3d-metal-based model oxides through statistical methodologies. Orbital charge-transfer energy (Δ) can serve as an ideal universal descriptor, where a neither too large nor too small Δ (∼1 eV) with optimal electron-cloud density around Fermi level affords the best activities, fulfilling Sabatier’s principle. Systematic experiments and computations unravel that pristine oxide with Δ ≈ 1 eV possesses metal-like high-valence configurations and active lattice-oxygen sites to help adsorb key protons in HER and induce lattice-oxygen participation in OER, respectively. After reactions, partially generated metals in HER and high-valence hydroxides in OER dominate proton adsorption and couple with pristine lattice-oxygen activation, respectively. These can be successfully rationalized by the unifying orbital charge-transfer theory. This work provides the foundation of rational material design and mechanism understanding for many potential applications. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:37452655 | DOI:10.1002/adma.202305074

Int Endod J. 2023 Jul 15. doi: 10.1111/iej.13955. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To assess the clinical and radiographic outcome of partial pulpotomy by comparing MTA Angelus and Total Fill BC, as pulpotomy agents, in mature teeth with deep caries and symptoms indicative of irreversible pulpitis.

METHODOLOGY: The study was designed as parallel-two arm, double blind, randomized superiority clinical trial (RCT) registered at www.

CLINICALTRIALS: gov (NCT04870398). Symptomatic mature permanent teeth with deep caries fulfilling the inclusion criteria were randomly treated using either MTA Angelus or Total Fill BC. Partial pulpotomy was performed and following complete haemostasis, the capping material was placed over the remaining pulp tissue and a postoperative periapical radiograph was taken. Clinical and radiographic follow-up evaluation was performed for a median time of 2 years whereas levels of pain intensity were evaluated preoperatively and for 7 days after intervention using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). For the primary outcome, (failure/success of treatment), Kaplan-Meier survival curves for the capping materials were plotted and a log-rank test for equality of survivor functions was applied. A multivariable random effects Cox Regression model was also applied. For the secondary outcome, (post-operatively reported pain), a multivariable mixed effects ordinal logistic regression was structured.

RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-seven teeth in 123 patients underwent partial pulpotomy using randomly either MTA Angelus (N=74), or Total Fill BC (n=63). The percentage failure for MTA Angelus and Total Fill BC was 10.8% (8/74) and 17.5% (11/63) respectively, but the difference was not statistically significant (adjusted HR: 1.83; 95%CI: 0.68, 4.91; p= 0.23). Weak evidence was found that secondary caries involvement may impose 3.54 times greater hazard for treatment failure (adjusted HR: 3.54; 95%CI: 1.00, 12.51; p= 0.05). For each passing minute of procedural bleeding control, there was also 57% higher hazard for treatment failure (adjusted HR: 1.57; 95%CI: 0.99, 2.48; p=0.05). The odds for higher post-operative pain were 4.73 times greater for the Total Fill BC compared to MTA Angelus (adjusted OR: 4.73; 95%CI: 2.31, 9.66; p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Both materials exhibited similar and favorable outcome rates after partial pulpotomy in teeth with deep caries and symptoms of irreversible pulpitis. Total Fill BC was associated with higher level of postoperative pain intensities.

PMID:37452640 | DOI:10.1111/iej.13955

Br J Educ Psychol. 2023 Jul 15:e12625. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12625. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Home mathematics environment (HME) research has focused on parent-child interactions surrounding numerical activities as measured by the frequency of engaging in such activities. However, HME survey questions have been developed from limited perspectives (e.g., Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27, 2012, 231; Journal of Social Issues, 64, 2008, 95; Early childhood mathematics education research: Learning trajectories for young children, Routledge, New York, 2009), by researchers from a small subset of countries (15; Psychological Bulletin, 147, 2020, 565), which may skew our interpretations.

AIMS AND SAMPLE: This study broadened international representation by leveraging secondary data from the 2019 TIMSS to examine the variation of the frequency and reliability of the HME scale and its relation to children’s mathematical achievement. Across 54 countries, 231,138 parents and children (M_age = 10.22 years; 51% male) participated in the larger study.

METHODS: Parents completed a retrospective home environment survey and children were assessed on mathematics skills. Basic frequency descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients, and Pearson’s r correlation coefficients were used to assess variability across countries.

RESULTS: Findings suggested that families in certain countries engaged in home mathematics activities more frequently than families in other countries; however, the HME scale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency across families in all countries (M α = .79; range = [.73, .89]). Further, the average relation between HME and mathematical achievement was r = .15 with a range between r = .02 to r = .41.

CONCLUSION: Our results indicate substantial variation across countries in the HME-mathematical achievement association. These findings underscore the importance of international representation in advancing research on the diversity of a child’s home environment.

PMID:37452611 | DOI:10.1111/bjep.12625

Int J Rheum Dis. 2023 Jul 15. doi: 10.1111/1756-185X.14828. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To investigate nurses’ opinions and practices regarding psychological support and patient-centered care (PCC) for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

METHOD: Registered nurses engaged in rheumatic care in Japan were asked to complete the questionnaire regarding nurses’ perceived necessity, understanding, and implementation of psychological support, and six patient supports related to PCC, using a seven-point Likert scale. Correlation on practice between psychological support and PCC was evaluated.

RESULTS: A total of 53 nurses participated. Nurses indicated high necessity of providing psychological support, whereas implementation was statistically significantly lower than necessity and motivation. Nurses’ answers showed significantly lower implementation compared with understanding regarding basic concepts of psychological support: listening, empathy, acceptance, open questions, and closed questions. Most nurses (54.7%) sometimes provided psychological support, followed by often (34.0%), always (5.7%), and not at all (5.6%). Perceived necessity of PCC was rated high. However, its implementation was significantly lower than necessity for all evaluated cares, such as patients’ need-based support and support to patients’ families, related to PCC. Positive correlations were observed between the implementation of psychological support and PCC. Nurses stressed the importance of psychological support for patient education and shared decision-making.

CONCLUSION: This preliminary study indicated that most nurses considered psychological support and PCC necessary, but their implementation was relatively low. As psychological support is also crucial to shared decision-making, in addition to PCC, barriers to its implementation should be addressed to improve patients’ outcomes and quality of life.

PMID:37452602 | DOI:10.1111/1756-185X.14828

J Magn Reson Imaging. 2023 Jul 15. doi: 10.1002/jmri.28915. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Increased afterload in aortic stenosis (AS) induces left ventricle (LV) remodeling to preserve a normal ejection fraction. This compensatory response can become maladaptive and manifest with motion abnormality. It is a clinical challenge to identify contractile and relaxation dysfunction during early subclinical stage to prevent irreversible deterioration.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the changes of regional wall dynamics in 3D + time domain as remodeling progresses in AS.

STUDY TYPE: Retrospective.

POPULATION: A total of 31 AS patients with reduced and preserved ejection fraction (14 AS_rEF: 7 male, 66.5 [7.8] years old; 17 AS_pEF: 12 male, 67.0 [6.0] years old) and 15 healthy (6 male, 61.0 [7.0] years old).

FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 1.5 T Magnetic resonance imaging/steady state free precession and late-gadolinium enhancement sequences.

ASSESSMENT: Individual LV models were reconstructed in 3D + time domain and motion metrics including wall thickening (TI), dyssynchrony index (DI), contraction rate (CR), and relaxation rate (RR) were automatically extracted and associated with the presence of scarring and remodeling.

STATISTICAL TESTS: Shapiro-Wilk: data normality; Kruskal-Wallis: significant difference (P < 0.05); ICC and CV: variability; Mann-Whitney: effect size.

RESULTS: AS_rEF group shows distinct deterioration of cardiac motions compared to AS_pEF and healthy groups (TI_{AS_rEF} : 0.92 [0.85] mm, TI_{AS_pEF} : 5.13 [1.99] mm, TI_healthy : 3.61 [1.09] mm, ES: 0.48-0.83; DI_{AS_rEF} : 17.11 [7.89]%, DI_{AS_pEF} : 6.39 [4.04]%, DI_healthy : 5.71 [1.87]%, ES: 0.32-0.85; CR_{AS_rEF} : 8.69 [6.11] mm/second, CR_{AS_pEF} : 16.48 [6.70] mm/second, CR_healthy : 10.82 [4.57] mm/second, ES: 0.29-0.60; RR_{AS_rEF} : 8.45 [4.84] mm/second; RR_{AS_pEF} : 13.49 [8.56] mm/second, RR_healthy : 9.31 [2.48] mm/second, ES: 0.14-0.43). The difference in the motion metrics between healthy and AS_pEF groups were insignificant (P-value = 0.16-0.72). AS_rEF group was dominated by eccentric hypertrophy (47.1%) with concomitant scarring. Conversely, AS_pEF group was dominated by concentric remodeling and hypertrophy (71.4%), which could demonstrate hyperkinesia with slight wall dyssynchrony than healthy. Dysfunction of LV mechanics corresponded to the presence of myocardial scarring (54.9% in AS), which reverted the compensatory mechanisms initiated and performed by LV remodeling.

DATA CONCLUSION: The proposed 3D + time modeling technique may distinguish regional motion abnormalities between AS_pEF, AS_rEF, and healthy cohorts, aiding clinical diagnosis and monitoring of AS progression. Subclinical myocardial dysfunction is evident in early AS despite of normal EF.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 1.

PMID:37452574 | DOI:10.1002/jmri.28915

Transfusion. 2023 Jul 14. doi: 10.1111/trf.17484. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The identification of blood donors at risk of developing low hemoglobin (Hb) and subsequent intervention is expected to reduce donation-induced iron deficiency and low Hb among blood donors. This study explores the effects of ferritin-guided iron supplementation for female first-time donors implemented in four of five administrative regions in Denmark.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We included 45,919 female first-time donors in this study. Hb values were determined in donations of included donors during a 2-year follow-up period. For each region, an intervention group (after implementation) and a control group (before implementation) were defined. The primary outcome was Hb below the donation threshold (7.8 mmol/L ~ 12.5 g/dL) at the time of donation, in the control group, and the intervention group, using logistic regression. The secondary outcome was the number of donations per donor given during the follow-up period.

RESULTS: We observed a statistically significant decrease in the risk of female first-time donors experiencing a donation with low Hb after ferritin-guided iron supplementation was introduced: Odds ratio, 0.82; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.71-0.95. We found a statistically significant increase in the number of donations per donor during the follow-up period after intervention; rate ratio: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.02-1.08.

DISCUSSION: Ferritin-guided iron supplementation led to a significant reduction in the occurrence of low hemoglobin (Hb) levels among Danish female first-time blood donors. The intervention was additionally associated with an increase in the number of donations per donor.

PMID:37452554 | DOI:10.1111/trf.17484

J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl). 2023 Jul 14. doi: 10.1111/jpn.13861. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The application of hay feeding devices, such as the use of hay nets or slow feeders, can help with the management of weight in ponies; however, there is still a lack of knowledge regarding their effect on equine posture. Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess the effect of different feeding devices on the posture of ponies using morphometric analysis. Two different breed types, Shetland type (SH, n = 5) versus Welsh Cob type (WC, n = 4), were fed the same forage in four different ways: on the ground (G), using a fully filled haynet (HF), using a partially filled haynet (HL) and using a slow-feeder hay box (HB). Video recordings were obtained and then geometric morphometric analysis was applied. Breed morphology was confirmed by body morphometric measurements. Data were analysed statistically using one-way ANOVA, canonical variate analysis (CVA), principal component analysis (PCA), partial least-squares (PLS) analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Moreover, a mixed model was performed to study differences in mandibular angle. SH and WC ponies were shown to have significantly different body morphometric measurements. The geometric morphometric analysis results showed that ponies arch their back and modify their neck shape differently according to the feeding method and their morphological group. For the neck, the SH and WC ponies adapted similarly to the use of small-holed hay nets, but their posture varied when feeding from the ground or hay box. The back postures consistently differed according to the breed type and feeding method. The mandibular angle for both breed types was reduced with all the feeding devices compared to feeding from the ground. Further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effects of slow-feeding devices on posture and mandibular angle, taking into consideration animals with different morphologies.

PMID:37452526 | DOI:10.1111/jpn.13861