Tag: pubmed

Cortex. 2022 Jan 31;149:101-122. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.12.015. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

A growing number of studies claim to decode mental states using multi-voxel decoders of brain activity. It has been proposed that the fixed, fine-grained, multi-voxel patterns in these decoders are necessary for discriminating between and identifying mental states. Here, we present evidence that the efficacy of these decoders might be overstated. Across various tasks, decoder patterns were spatially imprecise, as decoder performance was unaffected by spatial smoothing; 90% redundant, as selecting a random 10% of a decoder’s constituent voxels recovered full decoder performance; and performed similarly to brain activity maps used as decoders. We distinguish decoder performance in discriminating between mental states from performance in identifying a given mental state, and show that even when discrimination performance is adequate, identification can be poor. Finally, we demonstrate that simple and intuitive similarity metrics explain 91% and 62% of discrimination performance within- and across-subjects, respectively. These findings indicate that currently used across-subject decoders of mental states are superfluous and inappropriate for decision-making.

PMID:35219121 | DOI:10.1016/j.cortex.2021.12.015

Foot (Edinb). 2021 Oct 22;50:101871. doi: 10.1016/j.foot.2021.101871. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The aim was to compare the minimally invasive (MIS) chevron osteotomy to the well-established open chevron osteotomy for the correction of hallux valgus deformity.

METHODS: Two retrospective cohorts of patients treated with MIS or open chevron osteotomy for hallux valgus correction, matched for age and gender with a minimum follow up of six months were reviewed. Functional outcomes were evaluated using pre and post-operative Manchester Oxford Foot and Ankle Questionnaire (MOXFQ), Visual Analog Score (VAS) for pain and the Unified Elective Orthopaedic Score (UnEOS). Two independent, blinded examiners evaluated the radiographic correction of hallux valgus (HV) and intermetatarsal (IM) angle.

RESULTS: A Total of 54 cases (27 per study group) with a mean follow-up of 25.9 months were included in the study. Pre-operatively, VAS (p = 0.76) and MOXFQ (p = 0.46) scores and HV angle (p = 0.1) were comparable in both groups. However, IM angle was significantly larger in the MIS group (p = 0.005). Post-operatively there was significant improvement in VAS and MOXFQ scores as well as significant correction of the HV and IM angles (p < 0.0001) for both groups. Comparing the two procedures, there was no significant difference between groups for VAS (p = 0.34), MOXFQ scores (p = 0.56) and HV angles (p = 0.069) but the MIS technique was significantly better in improving the IM angle (p = 0.016). The post-operative UnEOS score and the Satisfaction UnEOS domain reached excellent levels for the entire cohort with no statistical difference between the two groups (p = 0.2 and 0.28 respectively).

CONCLUSION: Results show MIS chevron osteotomy provides better radiographic correction of the IM angle but functional outcomes for all parameters were comparable to the open technique. It can therefore be considered at least equivalent to standard open surgery when compared using validated Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).

PMID:35219131 | DOI:10.1016/j.foot.2021.101871

J Clin Neurosci. 2022 Feb 22;98:240-247. doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2022.02.028. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

High grade gliomas (HGGs) are aggressive brain tumors associated with poor prognosis despite advances in surgical treatment and therapy. Navigated tumor resection has yielded improved outcomes for patients. We compare 5-ALA, fluorescein sodium (FS), and intraoperative MRI (IMRI) with no image guidance to determine the best intraoperative navigation method to maximize rates of gross total resection (GTR) and outcomes. A frequentist network meta-analysis was performed following standard PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO registration CRD42021268659). Surface-under-the-cumulative ranking (SUCRA) analysis was executed to hierarchically rank modalities by the outcomes of interest. Heterogeneity was measured by the I² statistic. Publication bias was assessed by funnel plots and the use of Egger’s test. Statistical significance was determined by p < 0.05. Twenty-three studies were included for analysis with a total of 2,643 patients. Network meta-analysis comparing 5-ALA, IMRI, and FS was performed. The primary outcome assessed was the rate of GTR. Analysis revealed the superiority of all intraoperative navigation to control (no navigation). SUCRA analysis revealed the superiority of IMRI + 5-ALA, IMRI alone, followed by FS, and 5-ALA. Overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) were also examined. FS (vs. control) was associated with improved OS, while IMRI was associated with improved PFS (vs. control, FS, and 5-ALA). Intraoperative navigation using IMRI, FS, and 5-ALA lead to greater rates of GTR in HGGs. FS and 5-ALA also yielded improvement in OS and PFS. Further studies are needed to evaluate differences in survival benefit, operative duration, and cost.

PMID:35219089 | DOI:10.1016/j.jocn.2022.02.028

Appl Ergon. 2022 Feb 23;101:103719. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2022.103719. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Musculoskeletal complaints (MSCs) arise during nursing education. We examined cross-sectional associations between self-reported MSCs and both sociodemographic and workplace characteristics in different clinical placement settings. We included two observations among three cohorts of third-year Dutch nursing students (total N = 711) of the undergraduate nursing program of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Questionnaire data on sociodemographic, physical and psychosocial work characteristics, and MSCs were used. Generalized estimating equation analysis for repeated measurements with backward elimination was used to examine associations with MSCs. In total, 79% of students experienced MSCs. Female sex (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.22-0.62), lifting and bending (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.03), physical job demands (OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.68-3.22) and need for recovery (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.03), were statistically significantly associated with overall MSCs. Models for regional complaints are also presented in this article. Nursing school and clinical placement staff should consider these factors when dealing with nursing students with MSCs.

PMID:35219107 | DOI:10.1016/j.apergo.2022.103719

EBioMedicine. 2022 Feb 23;77:103895. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.103895. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Endometrial cancer is a common gynaecological cancer with increasing incidence and mortality. In the last decade, endometrial cancer genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have provided a resource to explore aetiology and for functional interpretation of heritable risk variation, informing endometrial cancer biology. Indeed, GWAS data have been used to assess relationships with other traits through correlation and Mendelian randomisation analyses, establishing genetic relationships and potential risk factors. Cross-trait GWAS analyses have increased statistical power and identified novel endometrial cancer risk variation related to other traits. Functional analysis of risk loci has helped prioritise candidate susceptibility genes, revealing molecular mechanisms and networks. Lastly, risk scores generated using endometrial cancer GWAS data may allow for clinical translation through identification of patients at high risk of disease. In the next decade, this knowledge base should enable substantial progress in our understanding of endometrial cancer and, potentially, new approaches for its screening and treatment.

PMID:35219087 | DOI:10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.103895

Acta Psychol (Amst). 2022 Feb 21;225:103539. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103539. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on all aspects of daily life and triggered a swell of anxiety across the world. Some suggest this emotional response to the pandemic can be explained through death anxiety (DA), a transdiagnostic dimension associated with numerous psychological disorders. However, it remains unclear as to whether DA is a unidimensional or multidimensional construct. The primary aim of this study was to examine the underlying structure of the Death Anxiety Inventory-Revised (DAI-R; Tomás-Sábado et al., 2005) and assess its associations with mental health and demographic variables during the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve these aims, we utilized data from Waves 1 (N = 2205: collected between March 23 and March 28, 2020) and 2 (N = 1406: collected between April 22 and May 1, 2020) of the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC), a multi-wave nationally representative study. Results showed that a 4-factor model provided the best fit to the data compared to a unidimensional and 4-factor second-order model. Further analyses showed that DA at Wave 1 was positively associated with somatic symptoms, paranoia, depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress symptoms at Wave 2, supporting previous research that suggests that the fear of death is predictive of psychopathology. Significantly, the factor labelled ‘Thoughts about Death’ at Wave 1 was the strongest predictor of the five main psychological variables at Wave 2, after statistically controlling for the other latent variables. These findings highlight the transdiagnostic nature of DA and support this important diagnostic construct becoming a measure of mental health more generally within the population. It is hoped that this research will shine a light on those suffering from DA and become a catalyst for increased therapeutic intervention, funding, and research in this area.

PMID:35219041 | DOI:10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103539

Neural Netw. 2022 Feb 10;149:95-106. doi: 10.1016/j.neunet.2022.02.001. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Lifelong Learning (LL) refers to the ability to continually learn and solve new problems with incremental available information over time while retaining previous knowledge. Much attention has been given lately to Supervised Lifelong Learning (SLL) with a stream of labelled data. In contrast, we focus on resolving challenges in Unsupervised Lifelong Learning (ULL) with streaming unlabelled data when the data distribution and the unknown class labels evolve over time. Bayesian framework is natural to incorporate past knowledge and sequentially update the belief with new data. We develop a fully Bayesian inference framework for ULL with a novel end-to-end Deep Bayesian Unsupervised Lifelong Learning (DBULL) algorithm, which can progressively discover new clusters without forgetting the past with unlabelled data while learning latent representations. To efficiently maintain past knowledge, we develop a novel knowledge preservation mechanism via sufficient statistics of the latent representation for raw data. To detect the potential new clusters on the fly, we develop an automatic cluster discovery and redundancy removal strategy in our inference inspired by Nonparametric Bayesian statistics techniques. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using image and text corpora benchmark datasets in both LL and batch settings.

PMID:35219032 | DOI:10.1016/j.neunet.2022.02.001

J Complement Integr Med. 2022 Feb 28. doi: 10.1515/jcim-2021-0457. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Radiation-induced mucositis (RIOM) is one of the most common side effects from head and neck radiotherapy. Several reagents have been introduced to manage the symptom; however, there is still a limited number of effective reagents. Herbal mouthwashes with payayor (Clinacanthus nutans Lindau) and fingerroot (Boesenbergia rotunda) were tested their efficacies in preventing and reducing severity of RIOM in comparison with normal saline with sodium bicarbonate.

METHODS: One hundred twenty patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy participated in the study and were randomly assigned into three treatment groups using block randomization method. The participants were assigned one of the three mouthwashes for use throughout their radiotherapy course and were assessed for their mucositis scores from week one to six into their radiotherapy course as well as at one-month follow-up. Body mass index was also measured for comparison of nutritional status.

RESULTS: The two mouthwashes were similarly effective in prophylaxis of RIOM in term of severity. The averaged mucositis scores were less than two for all groups. For the onset of RIOM, both herbal mouthwashes could slightly delay the symptom but not statistically significant. Patients’ body mass index across the three treatment groups was also comparable. The patients were largely satisfied with all the mouthwashes with no clear preference on any of them.

CONCLUSIONS: Prophylactic treatment of RIOM using herbal mouthwashes could substitute the current standard of normal saline with bicarbonate. A different formulation of the two herbs could potentially improve the prophylactic outcome.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NO: NCT03359187.

PMID:35218685 | DOI:10.1515/jcim-2021-0457

J Perinat Med. 2022 Feb 25. doi: 10.1515/jpm-2021-0632. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Among patients with placenta retention, the risk factors of massive blood loss remain unclear. In this study, a secondary data analysis was conducted to construct a predictive risk model for postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in this particular population.

METHODS: A prediction model based on the data of 13 hospitals in the UK, Uganda, and Pakistan, from December 2004, to May 2008 was built. A total of 516 patients and 14 potential risk factors were analyzed. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression (LASSO) model was used to optimize feature selection for the PPH risk model. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to build a prediction model incorporating the LASSO model. Discrimination and calibration were assessed using C-index and calibration plot.

RESULTS: Among patients with placenta retention, the incidence of PPH was 62.98% (325/526). Risk factors in the model were country, number of past deliveries, previous manual removal of placenta, place of placenta delivery, and how the placenta was delivered. In these factors, patients in the low-income country (i.e., Uganda) (OR: 1.753, 95% CI=1.055-2.915), retained placentas delivered in the theater (OR: 2.028, 95% CI=1.016-4.050), and having placentas partially removed by controlled cord traction (cct), completely removed manually (OR: 4.722, 95% CI=1.280-17.417) were independent risk factors. The C-statistics was 0.702.

CONCLUSIONS: By secondary data analysis, our study constructed a prediction model for PPH in patients with placenta retention, and identified the independent risk factors.

PMID:35218688 | DOI:10.1515/jpm-2021-0632

Clin Exp Dent Res. 2022 Feb 26. doi: 10.1002/cre2.550. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of intralesional platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections compared to intralesional triamcinolone acetonide (TA) injections in the treatment of erosive oral lichen planus (EOLP).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty patients with EOLP were assigned randomly to either PRP or TA group. Patients received weekly intralesional injections for 4 weeks, and then followed up for 3 months on regular visits every 2 weeks. Pain scores using numerical pain score and clinical score were recorded by a blinded assessor each visit for all patients and remission score at the end of the trial was recorded.

RESULTS: Both groups showed significant improvement in the clinical parameters (pain and clinical score) “p = .001.” Regarding remission of the lesions, 80% of patients in the PRP group showed complete remission compared to 70% in the TA group. However, there is no statistical significance when comparing the two groups in pain score, clinical score, or remission.

CONCLUSIONS: PRP injections could be considered as an effective alternative single treatment modality for EOLP. The protocol for this study registered in Clinicaltrials.gov registry under the identifier number: NCT03293368.

PMID:35218680 | DOI:10.1002/cre2.550