Tag: pubmed

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2022 Nov 9;10(11):e37234. doi: 10.2196/37234.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Digital health interventions are efficacious in health-promoting behaviors (eg, healthy eating and regular physical activity) that mitigate health risks and menopausal symptoms in midlife. However, integrated evidence-based knowledge about the mechanisms of change in these interventions is unclear.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to evaluate studies on behavior change techniques (BCTs) and mechanisms of change in digital health interventions aimed at promoting health-enhancing behaviors in midlife women (aged 40-65 years).

METHODS: A systematic literature search of the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials in the Cochrane Library was conducted. In total, 2 independent reviewers selected the studies for inclusion, extracted data, and completed BCT mapping of eligible studies. The mechanism of action and intervention functions of eligible studies were evaluated using the behavior change wheel framework. Reporting of psychological theory use within these interventions was explored using the Theory Coding Scheme. Mode of delivery, psychological theory, and BCTs were presented as descriptive statistics.

RESULTS: In total, 13 interventions (including 1315 women) reviewed used 13 (SD 4.30, range 6-21) BCTs per intervention on average. The “Shaping knowledge” and “Repetition and substitution” behavior change categories were used most frequently, with 92% (12/13) of the interventions implementing at least one of the BCTs from these 2 categories. Only 13.98% (169/1209) of the 93 available BCTs were used, with “Instructions on behaviour” most frequently used (12/13, 92%). The behavior change wheel mapping suggests that half of the intervention content aimed to increase “Capability” (49/98, 50% of the intervention strategies), “Motivation” (41/98, 42%), and “Opportunity” (8/98, 8%). “Behavioural Regulation” was the most frequently used mechanism of action (15/98, 15%), followed by increasing “Knowledge” (13/98, 13%) and “Cognitive and Interpersonal skills” (10/98, 10%). A total of 78% (7/9) of the intervention functions were used in the studies to change behavior, primarily through “Enablement” (60/169, 35.5%), whereas no study used “Restriction” or “Modelling” functions. Although 69% (9/13) of the interventions mentioned a psychological theory or model, most (10/13, 77%) stated or suggested rather than demonstrated the use of a theoretical base, and none reported explicit links between all BCTs within the intervention and the targeted theoretical constructs. Technological components were primarily based on web-based (9/13, 69%) modes of delivery, followed by phone or SMS text message (8/13, 62%) and wearables (7/13, 54%).

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this review indicate an overall weak use of theory, low levels of treatment fidelity, insignificant outcomes, and insufficient description of several interventions to support the assessment of how specific BCTs were activated. Thus, the identified limitations in the current literature provide an opportunity to improve the design of lifestyle health-enhancing interventions for women in midlife.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42021259246; https://tinyurl.com/4ph74a9u.

PMID:36350694 | DOI:10.2196/37234

Nucleic Acids Res. 2022 Nov 9:gkac966. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac966. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Large biobank-scale whole genome sequencing (WGS) studies are rapidly identifying a multitude of coding and non-coding variants. They provide an unprecedented resource for illuminating the genetic basis of human diseases. Variant functional annotations play a critical role in WGS analysis, result interpretation, and prioritization of disease- or trait-associated causal variants. Existing functional annotation databases have limited scope to perform online queries and functionally annotate the genotype data of large biobank-scale WGS studies. We develop the Functional Annotation of Variants Online Resources (FAVOR) to meet these pressing needs. FAVOR provides a comprehensive multi-faceted variant functional annotation online portal that summarizes and visualizes findings of all possible nine billion single nucleotide variants (SNVs) across the genome. It allows for rapid variant-, gene- and region-level queries of variant functional annotations. FAVOR integrates variant functional information from multiple sources to describe the functional characteristics of variants and facilitates prioritizing plausible causal variants influencing human phenotypes. Furthermore, we provide a scalable annotation tool, FAVORannotator, to functionally annotate large-scale WGS studies and efficiently store the genotype and their variant functional annotation data in a single file using the annotated Genomic Data Structure (aGDS) format, making downstream analysis more convenient. FAVOR and FAVORannotator are available at https://favor.genohub.org.

PMID:36350676 | DOI:10.1093/nar/gkac966

J Feline Med Surg. 2022 Nov 9:1098612X221125570. doi: 10.1177/1098612X221125570. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the use of procalcitonin (PCT) as a biomarker in differentiating bacterial infections from viral infections in cats. In addition, the relationship between PCT and mortality rate was also examined.

METHODS: Forty-five cats were included in the study. The cats were categorised into two groups: bacterial (n = 20) and viral (n = 25) infection. Serum PCT level and PCT mRNA expression were analysed from blood samples collected before treatment.

RESULTS: Serum PCT level and PCT mRNA expression of the cats with presumed bacterial infection were higher than those with viral infection (P = 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed an area under the ROC curve value of 0.888 for serum PCT and 0.850 for PCT mRNA expression. There was no statistically significant difference among respiratory, urinary and gastrointestinal tract infections regarding serum PCT level and PCT mRNA expression in the presumed bacterial infection group (P = 0.741 and P = 0.141, respectively). In the presumed bacterial infection group, serum PCT level and PCT mRNA expression in the non-surviving cats were higher than those of the surviving cats (P = 0.021 and P = 0.026, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Serum PCT level and PCT mRNA expression were considered efficient biomarkers in cats to distinguish a bacterial infection from a viral infection. Moreover, ROC curve analysis was highly accurate in the discriminative capacity of these two parameters. PCT level and PCT mRNA expression offer substantial assistance in an efficient therapeutic approach and in avoiding unnecessary antibiotic use in feline clinical practice, particularly in emergency patients and those with non-specific clinical signs, decreasing the mortality rate. However, it should be noted that these data are only research data. More detailed future studies are needed.

PMID:36350675 | DOI:10.1177/1098612X221125570

Nucleic Acids Res. 2022 Nov 9:gkac990. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac990. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Massively parallel reporter assay (MPRA) is a high-throughput method that enables the study of the regulatory activities of tens of thousands of DNA oligonucleotides in a single experiment. While MPRA experiments have grown in popularity, their small sample sizes compared to the scale of the human genome limits our understanding of the regulatory effects they detect. To address this, we develop a deep learning model, MpraNet, to distinguish potential MPRA targets from the background genome. This model achieves high discriminative performance (AUROC = 0.85) at differentiating MPRA positives from a set of control variants that mimic the background genome when applied to the lymphoblastoid cell line. We observe that existing functional scores represent very distinct functional effects, and most of them fail to characterize the regulatory effect that MPRA detects. Using MpraNet, we predict potential MPRA functional variants across the genome and identify the distributions of MPRA effect relative to other characteristics of genetic variation, including allele frequency, alternative functional annotations specified by FAVOR, and phenome-wide associations. We also observed that the predicted MPRA positives are not uniformly distributed across the genome; instead, they are clumped together in active regions comprising 9.95% of the genome and inactive regions comprising 89.07% of the genome. Furthermore, we propose our model as a screen to filter MPRA experiment candidates at genome-wide scale, enabling future experiments to be more cost-efficient by increasing precision relative to that observed from previous MPRAs.

PMID:36350674 | DOI:10.1093/nar/gkac990

Environ Health Perspect. 2022 Nov;130(11):116001. doi: 10.1289/EHP11015. Epub 2022 Nov 9.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Exposome research aims to describe and understand the extent to which all the exposures in human environments may affect our health over the lifetime. However, the way in which humans interact with their environment is socially patterned. Failing to account for social factors in research exploring the exposome may underestimate the magnitude of the effect of exposures or mask inequalities in the distribution of both exposures and outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to describe the extent to which social factors appear in the exposome literature, the manner in which they are used in empirical analyses and statistical modeling, and the way in which they are considered in the overall scientific approach.

METHODS: We conducted a scoping review of the literature using three databases (PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science) up to January 2022. We grouped studies based on the way in which the social variables were used in the analyses and quantified the type and frequency of social variables mentioned in the articles. We also qualitatively described the scientific approach used by authors to integrate social variables.

RESULTS: We screened 1,001 records, and 73 studies were included in the analysis. Fifty-five ($\sim 75\%$) used social variables as exposures or confounders or both, and a wide array of social variables were represented in the articles. Individual-level social variables were more often found, especially education and race/ethnicity, as well as neighborhood-level deprivation indices. Half of the studies used a hypothesis-free approach and the other half, a hypothesis-driven approach. However, in the latter group, of 35 studies, only 8 reported and discussed at least one possible social mechanism underlying the relationship observed between the social variable and the outcome.

DISCUSSION: Social factors in exposome research should be considered in a more systematic way, considering their role in structuring both the specific external and the internal exposome. Doing so could help to understand the mechanisms of construction and, potentially, alleviate social inequalities in health and mitigate the emergence of new ones. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11015.

PMID:36350665 | DOI:10.1289/EHP11015

J Feline Med Surg. 2022 Nov 9:1098612X221127102. doi: 10.1177/1098612X221127102. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Hyperthyroidism is a common endocrinopathy affecting middle-aged to elderly cats, with multisystemic repercussions. Hyperthyroid humans show decreased lung compliance and increased cardiac output with subsequent left heart failure leading to pulmonary capillary congestion. Prognosis worsens with the development of increased pulmonary vascular pressures (ie, pulmonary hypertension [PH]) in hyperthyroid humans. The effect of excess thyroid hormone concentration on pulmonary arterial hemodynamics is unknown in cats. Assessing pulmonary vascular pressures in veterinary medicine relies heavily on echocardiographic measurements performed at the level of the heart and pulmonary trunk. This study investigated right-sided cardiac and pulmonary arterial hemodynamics in hyperthyroid cats using echocardiography.

METHODS: Echocardiographic examinations of hyperthyroid cats identified through a bi-institutional database search were reviewed for the determination of systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and 20 other metrics. Values were compared with those of a healthy cat group using non-parametric statistical analyses.

RESULTS: Systolic PAP could not be determined in 23/26 hyperthyroid and 13/14 healthy cats owing to unmeasurable tricuspid regurgitation flow velocity. Hyperthyroid cats were roughly twice as old (P <0.001) and had 2-4-fold higher respiratory rates (P <0.001) than healthy cats. Hyperthyroid cats showed an increase in acceleration time-to-ejection time ratio of pulmonary flow (1.4-fold, P = 0.001), pulmonary artery velocity time integral (1.2-1.6-fold, P = 0.001), maximal pulmonary velocity (1.3-1.7-fold, P = 0.002), stroke volume (1.5-fold, P = 0.001) and cardiac output (1.6-fold, P <0.001) vs healthy cats. None of the other echocardiographic metrics reached statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Systolic PAP estimation proved unsuitable as a sole measurement for the assessment of PH in hyperthyroid cats owing to the frequent inability to interrogate tricuspid regurgitant flow velocity. Hyperthyroid cats have altered echocardiographic measures of pulmonary hemodynamics dissimilar to those reported in hyperthyroid humans. Differential effects of thyrotoxic cardiomyopathy on ventricular systolic function may underlie species differences.

PMID:36350661 | DOI:10.1177/1098612X221127102

Nucleic Acids Res. 2022 Nov 9:gkac1010. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac1010. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The NHGRI-EBI GWAS Catalog (www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas) is a FAIR knowledgebase providing detailed, structured, standardised and interoperable genome-wide association study (GWAS) data to >200 000 users per year from academic research, healthcare and industry. The Catalog contains variant-trait associations and supporting metadata for >45 000 published GWAS across >5000 human traits, and >40 000 full P-value summary statistics datasets. Content is curated from publications or acquired via author submission of prepublication summary statistics through a new submission portal and validation tool. GWAS data volume has vastly increased in recent years. We have updated our software to meet this scaling challenge and to enable rapid release of submitted summary statistics. The scope of the repository has expanded to include additional data types of high interest to the community, including sequencing-based GWAS, gene-based analyses and copy number variation analyses. Community outreach has increased the number of shared datasets from under-represented traits, e.g. cancer, and we continue to contribute to awareness of the lack of population diversity in GWAS. Interoperability of the Catalog has been enhanced through links to other resources including the Polygenic Score Catalog and the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, refinements to GWAS trait annotation, and the development of a standard format for GWAS data.

PMID:36350656 | DOI:10.1093/nar/gkac1010

JAMA Netw Open. 2022 Nov 1;5(11):e2240985. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.40985.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Persistent symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection are an emerging public health problem. The duration of these symptoms remains poorly documented.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the temporal dynamics of persistent symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection and the factors associated with their resolution.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study involved 53 047 participants from 3 French adult population-based cohorts (CONSTANCES [Consultants des Centres d’Examens de Santé], E3N/E4N, and Nutrinet-Santé) who were included in a nationwide survey about SARS-CoV-2 infection. All participants were asked to complete self-administered questionnaires between April 1 and June 30, 2020. Variables included sociodemographic characteristics, comorbid conditions, COVID-19 diagnosis, and acute symptoms. Blood samples were obtained for serologic analysis between May 1 and November 30, 2020, from patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection defined as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay immunoglobulin G antispike detection confirmed with a neutralization assay. A follow-up internet questionnaire was completed between June 1 and September 30, 2021, with details on persistent symptoms, their duration, and SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosis by polymerase chain reaction.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Persistent symptoms were defined as symptoms occurring during the acute infection and lasting 2 or more months. Survival models for interval-censored data were used to estimate symptom duration from the acute episode. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated for age, sex, and comorbid conditions. Factors associated with the resolution of symptoms were assessed.

RESULTS: A total of 3972 participants (2531 women [63.7%; 95% CI, 62.2%-65.2%]; mean [SD] age, 50.9 [12.7] years) had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Of these 3972 participants, 2647 (66.6% [95% CI, 65.1%-68.1%]) reported at least 1 symptom during the acute phase. Of these 2647 participants, 861 (32.5% [95% CI, 30.8%-34.3%]) reported at least 1 persistent symptom lasting 2 or more months after the acute phase. After 1 year of follow-up, the estimated proportion of individuals with complete symptom resolution was 89.9% (95% CI, 88.7%-90.9%) with acute symptoms. Older age (>60 years; HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.68-0.90), female sex (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.58-0.70), history of cancer (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47-0.79), history of tobacco consumption (HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.73-0.88), high body mass index (≥30: HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.63-0.89), and high number of symptoms during the acute phase (>4; HR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.39-0.48) were associated with a slower resolution of symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cross-sectional study, persistent symptoms were still present in 10.1% of infected individuals at 1 year after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Given the high level of cumulative incidence of COVID-19, the absolute prevalent number of people with persistent symptoms is a public health concern.

PMID:36350653 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.40985

JAMA Netw Open. 2022 Nov 1;5(11):e2241137. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.41137.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Mobile health (mHealth) smartphone apps are becoming increasingly popular among older adults, although the reactive care approach of these apps has limited their usability.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of an interactive mHealth program supported by a health-social partnership team on quality of life (QOL) among community-dwelling older adults in Hong Kong.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a 3-group, randomized clinical trial conducted in 5 community centers in Hong Kong from December 1, 2020, to April 30, 2022, with a last follow-up date of January 31, 2022. Participants included older adults aged at least 60 years who were living within the service area, used a smartphone, and had at least 1 of the following problems: chronic pain, hypertension, or diabetes. Data were analyzed from May 1 to 10, 2022.

INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomly assigned to the mHealth with interactivity (mHealth+I) group, mHealth group, or control group. Participants in the mHealth+I group received the mHealth app and nurse case management supported by a health-social partnership team. The mHealth group received the mHealth app only. The control group received no mHealth app or health-social care services.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was the change in QOL from baseline to 3 months after completion of the intervention.

RESULTS: Among 221 participants (mean [SD] age 76.6 [8.0] years; 185 [83.7%] women), 76 were randomized to the control group, 71 were randomized to the mHealth group, and 74 were randomized to the mHealth+I group. The most common chronic diseases or problems were hypertension (147 participants [66.5%]), pain (144 participants [65.2%]), cataracts (72 participants [32.6%]), and diabetes (61 participants [27.6%]). At 3 months after the intervention and compared with the intervention group, there were no statistically significant differences in either the physical component summary (mHealth+I: β = -1.01 [95% CI, -4.13 to 2.11]; P = .53; mHealth: β = 0.22 [95% CI, -3.07 to 3.50]; P = .90) or the mental component summary (mHealth+I: β = -0.87 [95% CI, -4.42 to 2.69]; P = .63; mHealth: β = 1.73 [95% CI, -1.89 to 5.34]; P = .35) QOL scores. Only secondary outcomes, including self-efficacy (β = -2.31 [95% CI, -4.26 to -0.36]; P = .02), systolic blood pressure (β = -2.30 [95% CI, -5.00 to -0.13]; P = .04), pain levels (β = 1.18 [95% CI, 0.52 to 2.00]; P = .02), and health services utilization (β = 0.98 [95% CI, 0.32 to 2.09]; P = .048) improved in the mHealth+I group compared with the control group.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This randomized clinical trial found no difference in the primary outcome between the mHealth+I group and the control group confirming that there were no incremental benefits to adding interactivity in mHealth programs for older adults with chronic diseases.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT03878212.

PMID:36350651 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.41137

Nucleic Acids Res. 2022 Nov 9:gkac1003. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac1003. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) established the Bioinformatics Resource Center (BRC) program to assist researchers with analyzing the growing body of genome sequence and other omics-related data. In this report, we describe the merger of the PAThosystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC), the Influenza Research Database (IRD) and the Virus Pathogen Database and Analysis Resource (ViPR) BRCs to form the Bacterial and Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center (BV-BRC) https://www.bv-brc.org/. The combined BV-BRC leverages the functionality of the bacterial and viral resources to provide a unified data model, enhanced web-based visualization and analysis tools, bioinformatics services, and a powerful suite of command line tools that benefit the bacterial and viral research communities.

PMID:36350631 | DOI:10.1093/nar/gkac1003