Tag: pubmed

Subst Use Misuse. 2023 Jun 23:1-10. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2023.2223284. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study tested how individuals anticipate they will respond to opportunities to engage in simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use.

METHODS: Two studies utilizing a within-subjects design were conducted. Study 1 was conducted in Spring 2021 and a replication (Study 2) was conducted in Fall 2021. Participants were presented with pairs of scenarios. One scenario pair compared how willing participants expected to be to get drunk if they were sober vs. high. Another pair compared how willing participants would be to take a hit of marijuana if they were sober vs. drunk. College attending young adults (Study 1: N = 173; female = 81%; Study 2: N = 212; female = 49.1%) with varying degrees of substance use experience were recruited.

RESULTS: In Study 1 participants reported greater willingness to get drunk when sober than when high. This was qualified by a statistically significant interaction whereby differences were greater among those who had more experience with past 30-day heavy drinking. Similar findings emerged for willingness to use marijuana. Participants anticipated greater willingness to use marijuana when sober than when drunk. This was also qualified by a statistically significant interaction whereby differences were greater among experimental or established users of marijuana than among abstainers. Study 2 findings replicated those from Study 1.

CONCLUSIONS: College attending young adults state greater willingness to remain under the influence of one substance than to engage in SAM use when opportunities arise. Simultaneous use of alcohol and marijuana among college students is likely an exception, not the rule. Implications for prevention are discussed.

PMID:37350140 | DOI:10.1080/10826084.2023.2223284

J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2023 Jun 23:19322968231183436. doi: 10.1177/19322968231183436. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Annual national diabetes audit data consistently shows most people with diabetes do not consistently achieve blood glucose targets for optimal health, despite the large range of treatment options available.

AIM: To explore the efficacy of a novel clinical intervention to address physical and mental health needs within routine diabetes consultations across health care settings.

METHODS: A multicenter, parallel group, individually randomized trial comparing consultation duration in adults diagnosed with T1D or T2D for ≥6 months using the Spotlight-AQ platform versus usual care. Secondary outcomes were HbA1c, depression, diabetes distress, anxiety, functional health status, and healthcare professional burnout. Machine learning models were utilized to analyze the data collected from the Spotlight-AQ platform to validate the reliability of question-concern association; as well as to identify key features that distinguish people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as important features that distinguish different levels of HbA1c.

RESULTS: n = 98 adults with T1D or T2D; any HbA1c and receiving any diabetes treatment participated (n = 49 intervention). Consultation duration for intervention participants was reduced in intervention consultations by 0.5 to 4.1 minutes (3%-14%) versus no change in the control group (-0.9 to +1.28 minutes). HbA1c improved in the intervention group by 6 mmol/mol (range 0-30) versus control group 3 mmol/mol (range 0-8). Moderate improvements in psychosocial outcomes were seen in the intervention group for functional health status; reduced anxiety, depression, and diabetes distress and improved well-being. None were statistically significant. HCPs reported improved communication and greater focus on patient priorities in consultations. Artificial Intelligence examination highlighted therapy and psychological burden were most important in predicting HbA1c levels. The Natural Language Processing semantic analysis confirmed the mapping relationship between questions and their corresponding concerns. Machine learning model revealed type 1 and type 2 patients have different concerns regarding psychological burden and knowledge. Moreover, the machine learning model emphasized that individuals with varying levels of HbA1c exhibit diverse levels of psychological burden and therapy-related concerns.

CONCLUSION: Spotlight-AQ was associated with shorter, more useful consultations; with improved HbA1c and moderate benefits on psychosocial outcomes. Results reflect the importance of a biopsychosocial approach to routine care visits. Spotlight-AQ is viable across health care settings for improved outcomes.

PMID:37350136 | DOI:10.1177/19322968231183436

Stat Med. 2023 Jun 23. doi: 10.1002/sim.9768. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Li et al developed a multilevel covariance regression (MCR) model as an extension of the covariance regression model of Hoff and Niu. This model assumes a hierarchical structure for the mean and the covariance matrix. Here, we propose the combined multilevel factor analysis and covariance regression model in a Bayesian framework, simultaneously modeling the MCR model and a multilevel factor analysis (MFA) model. The proposed model replaces the responses in the MCR part with the factor scores coming from an MFA model. Via a simulation study and the analysis of real data, we show that the proposed model is quite efficient when the responses of the MCR model are not measured directly but are latent variables such as the patient experience measurements in our motivating dataset.

PMID:37350103 | DOI:10.1002/sim.9768

J Adv Nurs. 2023 Jun 22. doi: 10.1111/jan.15734. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To explore the resilience of children, six to thirteen years old, living on a Northern Plains American Indian Reservation using a situation specific nursing theory.

BACKGROUND: American Indian and Alaska Native children experience mental health inequities compared to their white peers, including substance use, suicide, depression, and anxiety. Resilience is a strength of children that can be leveraged to improve their mental health.

DESIGN: A parallel convergent mixed methods design.

METHODS: A community advisory board culturally adapted resilience instruments. During two weeks in summer 2022, forty-seven children/caregiver dyads completed surveys about the child’s resilience. Descriptive statistics gave the scores of each child’s personal, relational, and total resilience. A subset of 20 children participated in a semi-structured interview.

RESULTS: Children scored high on overall resilience, and higher on the relational subscale than the personal subscale. Caregiver survey scores were not significantly correlated with their child’s scores and were higher than the children’s scores. Qualitative coding revealed six themes of resilience. Integration of data showed a concordance and expansion of the quantitative data across themes.

CONCLUSION: The children reported high resilience supported by a strong ecosystem of relationships. Resilience, as explained through children’s voices, corroborated with findings from the surveys.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Findings will help nurses across sectors of primary, secondary, and tertiary care create resilience-enhancing interventions and prevent mental health crises in this community.

IMPACT STATEMENT: This findings from this study will inform local mental health interventions on the Reservation. The study provides a reproducible design to adapt to other Indigenous communities.

PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: A community advisory board was a partner in every stage of the study. Children and caregivers participated in data collection.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE WIDER CLINICAL COMMUNITY: This research provides knowledge that will further social justice efforts within nursing to promote health equity across diverse populations.

PMID:37350100 | DOI:10.1111/jan.15734

J Endovasc Ther. 2023 Jun 22:15266028231179419. doi: 10.1177/15266028231179419. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate which treatment method for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), endovascular or open repair, has better outcomes in young patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic review was conducted to identify observational studies or randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared endovascular and open repair of intact AAA in young patients. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CENTRAL were searched up to March 2022 using the Ovid interface. The risk of bias was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS), with a maximum score of 9, or version 2 of the Cochrane risk of bias tool. The certainty of evidence was assessed with the GRADE framework. Primary outcomes were perioperative, overall, and aneurysm-related mortality. Secondary outcomes were reintervention, hospital length of stay, and perioperative complications. Effect measures in syntheses were the odds ratio (OR), risk difference (RD), mean difference (MD), or hazard ratio (HR) and were calculated with the Mantel-Haenszel or inverse variance statistical method and random-effects models.

RESULTS: Fifteen observational studies and 1 RCT were included, reporting a total of 48 976 young patients. Definitions of young ranged from 60 to 70 years. The median score on the NOS was 8 (range: 4-9), and the RCT was judged to be high risk of bias. The perioperative mortality was lower after EVAR (RD: -0.01, 95% CI: -0.02 to -0.00), but the overall and aneurysm-related mortality was not significantly different between EVAR and open repair (HR: 1.38, 95% CI: 0.81 to 2.33; HR: 4.68, 95% CI: 0.71 to 31.04, respectively), as was the hazard of reintervention (HR: 1.50, 95% CI: 0.88 to 2.56). The hospital length of stay was shorter after EVAR (MD: -4.44 days, 95% CI: -4.79 to -4.09), and the odds of cardiac (OR: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.13 to 0.35), respiratory (OR: 0.17, 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.26), and bleeding complications were lower after EVAR (OR: 0.26, 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.64). The level of evidence was low or very low.

CONCLUSION: Patient preferences and perspectives should be considered during shared decision-making process considering the available evidence. EVAR may be considered in young and fit patients with a suitable anatomy.

PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO, CRD42022325051.

CLINICAL IMPACT: Uncertainty surrounds the optimal treatment strategy for abdominal aortic aneurysm in young patients. Meta-analysis of some 48,976 young patients showed that endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) has a lower perioperative mortality and morbidity and a shorter hospital and intensive care unit stay than open surgical repair, but the overall and aneurysm-related mortality in the short to medium term are not significantly different between EVAR and open repair. EVAR can be considered in young patients.

PMID:37350089 | DOI:10.1177/15266028231179419

J Anim Breed Genet. 2023 Jun 22. doi: 10.1111/jbg.12813. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Non-additive genetic effects are well known to play an important role in the phenotypic expression of complex traits, such as fertility and reproduction. In this study, a genome scan was performed using 41,640 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers to identify genomic regions associated with epistatic (additive-by-additive) effects in fertility and reproduction traits in Holstein cattle. Nine fertility and reproduction traits were analysed on 5825 and 6090 Holstein heifers and cows with phenotypes and genotypes, respectively. The Marginal Epistasis Test (MAPIT) was used to identify SNPs with significant marginal epistatic effects at a chromosome-wise 5% and 10% false discovery rate (FDR) level. The -log₁₀ (p) values were adjusted by the genomic inflation factor (λ) to correct for the potential bias on the p-values and minimize the possible effects of population stratification. After adjustments, MAPIT enabled the identification of genomic regions with significant marginal epistatic effects for heifers on BTA5 for age at first insemination, BTA3 and BTA24 for non-return rate (NRR); BTA16 and BTA28 for gestation length (GL); BTA1, BTA4 and BTA17 for stillbirth (SB). For the cow traits, MAPIT enabled the identification of regions on BTA11 for GL, BTA11 and BTA16 for SB and BTA19 for calf size (CZ). An additional approach for mapping epistasis in a genome-wide association study was also proposed, in which the genome scan was performed using estimates of epistatic values as the input pseudo-phenotypes, computed using single-trait animal models. Significant SNPs were identified at the chromosome-wise 5% and 10% FDR levels for all traits. For the heifer traits, significant regions were found on BTA7 for AFS; BTA12 for NRR; BTA14 and BTA19 for GL; BTA19 for calving ease (CE); BTA5, BTA24, BTA25 and in the X chromosome for SB; BTA23 and in the X chromosome for CZ and in the X chromosome for the number of services (NS). For the cow traits, significant regions were found on BTA29 and in the X chromosome for NRR, BTA11, BTA16 and in the X chromosome for SB, BTA2 for GL, BTA28 for CZ, BTA19 for calving to first insemination, and in the X chromosome for NS and first insemination to conception. The results suggest that the epistatic genetic effects are likely due to many loci with a small effect rather than few loci with a large effect and/or a single SNP marker alone do not capture the epistatic effects well. The genomic architecture of fertility and reproduction traits is complex, and these results should be validated in independent dairy cattle populations and using alternative statistical models.

PMID:37350080 | DOI:10.1111/jbg.12813

Trials. 2023 Jun 22;24(1):426. doi: 10.1186/s13063-023-07348-3.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Many randomized trials that aim to assess new or commonly used medical or surgical interventions have been so small that the validity of conclusions becomes questionable.

METHODS: We illustrate the small trial problem using the power calculation of five Cochrane-reviewed studies that compared vertebroplasty versus placebo interventions. We discuss some of the reasons why the statistical admonition not to dichotomize continuous variables may not apply to the calculation of the number of patients required for trials to be meaningful.

RESULTS: Placebo-controlled vertebroplasty trials planned to recruit between 23 and 71 patients per group. Four of five studies used the standardized mean difference of a continuous pain variable (centimeters on the visual analog scale (VAS)) to plan implausibly small trials. What is needed is not a mean effect at the population level but a measure of efficacy at the patient level. Clinical practice concerns the care of individual patients that vary in many more respects than the variation around the mean of a single selected variable. The inference from trial to practice concerns the frequency of success of the experimental intervention performed one patient at a time. A comparison of the proportions of patients reaching a certain threshold is a more meaningful method that appropriately requires larger trials.

CONCLUSION: Most placebo-controlled vertebroplasty trials used comparisons of means of a continuous variable and were consequently very small. Randomized trials should instead be large enough to account for the diversity of future patients and practices. They should offer an evaluation of a clinically meaningful number of interventions performed in various contexts. Implications of this principle are not specific to placebo-controlled surgical trials. Trials designed to inform practice require a per-patient comparison of outcomes and the size of the trial should be planned accordingly.

PMID:37349843 | DOI:10.1186/s13063-023-07348-3

AIDS Res Ther. 2023 Jun 22;20(1):39. doi: 10.1186/s12981-023-00529-9.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In 2016 the WHO declared HIV self-testing and self-sampling an effective and safe test option that can reduce testing barriers. HIV self-tests and self-sampling kits (HIVST/HIVSS) are available for purchase at Dutch community pharmacies since 2019. We investigated the availability and accessibility of HIVST/HIVSS in community pharmacies, and factors associated with test availability.

METHODS: An online survey among all Dutch community pharmacies (n = 1,987) was conducted between April and June 2021. Availability of HIVST/HIVSS and experiences of pharmacists with the test offer were analyzed with descriptive statistics. The association of pharmacy and pharmacists’ characteristics with HIVST/HIVSS availability was explored by logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: In total, 465 pharmacists completed the questionnaire. Of the responding pharmacists, 6.2% (n = 29) offered HIVST/HIVSS. The majority (82.8%) sold between 0 and 20 tests per year. In total, pharmacies sold an estimated 370 HIVST/HIVSS per year. Pharmacies having HIVST/HIVSS available were less often located in moderately-urbanized to rural neighborhoods (OR 0.35, 95%CI 0.16-0.77 versus highly-urbanized), and were less often located in moderate-to-low SES neighborhoods (OR 0.40, 95%CI 0.18-0.88 versus high-SES). Reasons for not offering HIVST/HIVSS by pharmacists were no or little demand (69.3%), and not being familiar with these tests (17.4%). 52% of the pharmacists provided information about testing to test buyers. Reported options to improve the test offer were giving advice about (performing) the test to test buyers (72.4%), placing tests visible on the counter (51.7%), and advertisement (37.9%).

CONCLUSION: HIVST/HIVSS have a limited practical availability in Dutch community pharmacies since their introduction in 2019, especially in lower-urbanized and lower-SES areas. Further research is needed to explore how to expand access to HIVST/HIVSS through community pharmacies in the Netherlands, and how to tailor it to the needs of pharmacy clients.

PMID:37349835 | DOI:10.1186/s12981-023-00529-9

BMC Chem. 2023 Jun 22;17(1):64. doi: 10.1186/s13065-023-00964-9.

ABSTRACT

In addition to its pure form, three accurate, rapid, and simple methods have been established for determining perindopril (PRD) in its tablet form. At pH 9.0 using a borate buffer, developing the three designated methods was successful according to the reaction between PRD and 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl) and the formation of a chromogen (with a yellow color) measurable at 460 nm using the spectrophotometric method (Method I). In addition, the produced chromogen was assessed using the spectrofluorimetric method (Method II) at 535 nm following excitation at 461 nm. Afterward, the same reaction product was separated and determined using the HPLC method with fluorescence detection (Method III). A Promosil C₁₈ stainless steel column (Q7 5 mm particle size, 250-4.6 mm) has proven suitable for separation. The mobile phase adjustment was made at pH 3.0, with a 1.0 mL min ^-1 flow rate; its composition was methanol-sodium dihydrogen phosphate, 0.02 M (60: 40, v/v). Through concentration ranges of 5.0-60.0, 0.5-6.0, and 1.0-10.0 μg mL^-1, the calibration curves were rectilinear for Methods I, II, and III, respectively, with limits of quantification (LOQ) of 1.08, 0.16 and 0.19 μg mL^-1 as well as limits of detection (LOD) of 0.36, 0.05 and 0.06 μg mL^-1. The developed methods were implemented to estimate PRD in tablets, and a comparison between the obtained outcomes utilizing the developed methods as well as obtained from the official method revealed that they were comparable. The official BP method was based on dissolving PRD in anhydrous acetic acid and titrating with 0.1 M perchloric acid, then the potentiometric determination of the end-point. The designated methods were also implemented in content uniformity testing with satisfying results. The reaction pathway proposal was speculated, and according to ICH Guidelines, the statistical evaluation of the data was performed. The three proposed methods were confirmed to be green, eco-friendly and safe to environment using Green Analytical procedure index (GAPI) method.

PMID:37349827 | DOI:10.1186/s13065-023-00964-9

Malar J. 2023 Jun 22;22(1):192. doi: 10.1186/s12936-023-04623-1.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: A better understanding of vector distribution and malaria transmission dynamics at a local scale is essential for implementing and evaluating effectiveness of vector control strategies. Through the data gathered in the framework of a cluster randomized controlled trial (CRT) evaluating the In2Care (Wageningen, Netherlands) Eave Tubes strategy, the distribution of the Anopheles vector, their biting behaviour and malaria transmission dynamics were investigated in Gbêkê region, central Côte d’Ivoire.

METHODS: From May 2017 to April 2019, adult mosquitoes were collected monthly using human landing catches (HLC) in twenty villages in Gbêkê region. Mosquito species wereidentified morphologically. Monthly entomological inoculation rates (EIR) were estimated by combining the HLC data with mosquito sporozoite infection rates measured in a subset of Anopheles vectors using PCR. Finally, biting rate and EIR fluctuations were fit to local rainfall data to investigate the seasonal determinants of mosquito abundance and malaria transmission in this region.

RESULTS: Overall, Anopheles gambiae, Anopheles funestus, and Anopheles nili were the three vector complexes found infected in the Gbêkê region, but there was a variation in Anopheles vector composition between villages. Anopheles gambiae was the predominant malaria vector responsible for 84.8% of Plasmodium parasite transmission in the area. An unprotected individual living in Gbêkê region received an average of 260 [222-298], 43.5 [35.8-51.29] and 3.02 [1.96-4] infected bites per year from An. gambiae, An. funestus and An. nili, respectively. Vector abundance and malaria transmission dynamics varied significantly between seasons and the highest biting rate and EIRs occurred in the months of heavy rainfall. However, mosquitoes infected with malaria parasites remained present in the dry season, despite the low density of mosquito populations.

CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that the intensity of malaria transmission is extremely high in Gbêkê region, especially during the rainy season. The study highlights the risk factors of transmission that could negatively impact current interventions that target indoor control, as well as the urgent need for additional vector control tools to target the population of malaria vectors in Gbêkê region and reduce the burden of the disease.

PMID:37349819 | DOI:10.1186/s12936-023-04623-1