Tag: pubmed

J Public Health Res. 2021 Sep 24. doi: 10.4081/jphr.2021.2346. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In recent years, consumption of E-cigarettes has increased dramatically. Several studies have focused on the prevalence of E-cigarettes among specific groups of people, using it as a substitute to traditional cigarettes, or the participant knowledge regarding risks. This research was aimed on E-cigarettes’ prevalence and its association to several factors in the general population of Western Saudi Arabia.

DESIGN AND METHODS: Using an observational cross-sectional study, data were collected from (n=465) above 18 years old smokers during the survey at public attractions. A validated self-administered questionnaire acquired from previous studies was employed to insure the suitability for the general population of Jeddah Saudi Arabia. Sample size was calculated via Raosoft@ and adults of either gender were included in the study. Descriptive or inferential statistical analysis was performed using SPSS.

RESULTS: The preponderance of e-cigarette smokers used entertainment as the reason for smoking, with an average of (33.9%). Although one reason for e-cigarette consumption was to cease traditional smoking, results showed an average of (49.4%), which is the majority of those who attempted to cease traditional smoking via e-cigarette, did not succeed in quitting traditional smoking. This study also demonstrated that participant that believed that e-cigarette is beneficial had a higher chance to cease conventional smoking than who did not (32.1% versus 14.6%) which is significant (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, this study estimated the prevalence of e-cigarette consumption among the population of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia along with assessment of elements which help increase the overall e-cigarette consumption in Jeddah.

PMID:34558883 | DOI:10.4081/jphr.2021.2346

Swiss Med Wkly. 2021 Sep 23;151:w30027. doi: 10.4414/smw.2021.w30027. eCollection 2021 Sep 13.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: In Switzerland, certain patients with disabilities and reduced working ability are entitled to a disability pension granted by the Swiss Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO). The aim was to assess the evolution of disability pension and work capacity after kidney transplantation and thereby pilot the procedures linking FSIO data with Swiss Transplant Cohort Study (STCS) data.

METHODS: The current study pilot tested the record linkage of FSIO data with data from the STCS in a single-centre, observational setting. Patients were requested to consent to the use of their Swiss social security number (SSSN) for the purpose of record linkage. A privacy preserving trust centre approach was implemented with blinded statistical analysis.

RESULTS: Between May 2008 and December 2015, 282 working-age renal transplant recipients of the University Hospital of Basel transplant centre were eligible for inclusion and 136 (48%, median age 48 years) consented to the use of their social security number and record linkage. The FSIO datasets of all patients were successfully retrieved and linked to STCS data in the trust centre and were numerically analysable. Yearly FSIO allowance data were available for the entire study duration. Fifty-five patients (40%) were registered as disability insurance recipients (DIR). In the entire population, the proportion of working patients slightly decreased from 76% to 72% between the pre-transplant and the post-transplant period. This was due to the lower proportion of patients working after transplantation in DIR compared with non-recipients (non-DIR) (DIR: 60% before vs 44% after; non-DIR: 83% before vs 88% after). In the DIR group, the proportion of patients not working increased from 36% to 49%, whereas in non-DIR the proportion changed only marginally (14% to 12%). The average disability insurance allowance was CHF 1172 per month. It changed from CHF 1135 before transplantation to CHF 1209 after transplantation (p = 0.59).

CONCLUSIONS: In the Swiss healthcare and social insurance system, record linkage studies combining clinical datasets with data from FSIO are feasible but associated with great efforts and resource needs. The lack of changes in disability allowances after kidney transplantation should be further investigated in the nationwide setting.

PMID:34558884 | DOI:10.4414/smw.2021.w30027

Yonsei Med J. 2021 Oct;62(10):936-942. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2021.62.10.936.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: A critical indicator of the overall survival of patients with high-grade glioma is the successful isolation of tumor mesenchymal stem-like cells (tMSLCs), which play important roles in glioma progression. However, attempts to isolate tMSLCs from surgical specimens have not always been successful, and the reasons for this remain unclear. Considering that the amount of surgical high-grade glioma specimens varies, we hypothesized that larger surgical specimens would be better for tMSLC isolation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We assessed 51 fresh, high-grade glioma specimens and divided them into two groups according to the success or failure of tMSLC isolation. The success of tMSLC isolation was confirmed by plastic adherence, presenting antigens, tri-lineage differentiation, and non-tumorigenicity. Differences in characteristics between the two groups were tested using independent two sample t-tests, chi-square tests, or Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

RESULTS: The mean specimen weights of the groups differed from each other (tMSLC-negative group: 469.9±341.9 mg, tMSLC positive group: 546.7±618.9 mg), but the difference was not statistically significant. The optimal cut-off value of specimen weight was 180 mg, and the area under the curve value was 0.599.

CONCLUSION: Our results suggested a minimum criterion for specimen collection, and found that the specimen amount was not deeply related to tMSLC detection. Collectively, our findings imply that the ability to isolate tMSLCs is determined by factors other than the specimen amount.

PMID:34558873 | DOI:10.3349/ymj.2021.62.10.936

J Public Health Res. 2021 Sep 24. doi: 10.4081/jphr.2021.2132. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Developmental dental anomalies are seen as abnormalities in tooth size, shape, position, and structure due to multiple reasons during various stages of tooth development. These anomalies can create disturbances in dental arch lengths and occlusions. Hence, it is very important to treat, recognise and perform proper treatment. The purpose of this study was to find out the prevalence and distribution of selected developmental anomalies in shape, size and position of teeth in the Saudi population of Taif Region.

DESIGN AND METHODS: The study was based on the clinical examination of 2481 adults who are Saudi nationals came for dental treatment from September 2019 to February 2020, at Taif University Dental Hospital, Saudi Arabia. These patients were examined clinically for developmental dental anomalies affecting shape, size and position.

RESULTS: We found that a total of 512 individuals (20.63%) had developmental anomalies and out of which 386 persons (15.56%) had at least one developmental dental anomaly. The frequency and distribution of anomalies of shape and size, number and position were 46.8%, 26.9% and 42.9% respectively. In the present study, 15.56% individuals exhibited at least one anomaly, 8.54% subjects had more than one anomalies and 79.36%.did not any developmental anomaly. On comparison, statistical significant results were seen between different groups of anomalies.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study had varying results for the prevalence rate of selected dental anomalies. This variation in results might be due racial differences or discrepancy in sample size or/and diagnostic or inclusion criteria. Treatment of developmental anomalies necessitates a multidisciplinary approach and mostly may comprise of orthodontic correction or prosthetic replacement.

PMID:34558880 | DOI:10.4081/jphr.2021.2132

Hepatol Commun. 2021 Aug 24. doi: 10.1002/hep4.1796. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Physical frailty and impaired cognition are common in patients with cirrhosis. Physical frailty can be assessed using performance-based tests, but the extent to which impaired cognition may impact performance is not well characterized. We assessed the relationship between impaired cognition and physical frailty in patients with cirrhosis. We enrolled 1,623 ambulatory adult patients with cirrhosis waiting for liver transplantation at 10 sites. Frailty was assessed with the liver frailty index (LFI; “frail,” LFI ≥ 4.4). Cognition was assessed at the same visit with the number connection test (NCT); continuous “impaired cognition” was examined in primary analysis, with longer NCT (more seconds) indicating worse impaired cognition. For descriptive statistics, “impaired cognition” was NCT ≥ 45 seconds. Linear regression associated frailty and impaired cognition; competing risk regression estimated subhazard ratios (sHRs) of wait-list mortality (i.e., death/delisting for sickness). Median NCT was 41 seconds, and 42% had impaired cognition. Median LFI (4.2 vs. 3.8) and rates of frailty (38% vs. 20%) differed between those with and without impaired cognition. In adjusted analysis, every 10-second NCT increase associated with a 0.08-LFI increase (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.07-0.10). In univariable analysis, both frailty (sHR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.43-1.87) and impaired cognition (sHR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.04-1.10) associated with wait-list mortality. After adjustment, frailty but not impaired cognition remained significantly associated with wait-list mortality (sHR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.33-1.79). Impaired cognition mediated 7.4% (95% CI, 2.0%-16.4%) of the total effect of frailty on 1-year wait-list mortality. Conclusion: Patients with cirrhosis with higher impaired cognition displayed higher rates of physical frailty, yet frailty independently associated with wait-list mortality while impaired cognition did not. Our data provide evidence for using the LFI to understand mortality risk in patients with cirrhosis, even when concurrent impaired cognition varies.

PMID:34558844 | DOI:10.1002/hep4.1796

Hepatol Commun. 2021 Sep 1. doi: 10.1002/hep4.1813. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The benefit of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for the treatment of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) remains controversial. To identify predictors of jaundice resolution after ERCP and whether resolution is associated with improved patient outcomes, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of 124 patients with jaundice and PSC. These patients underwent endoscopic biliary balloon dilation and/or stent placement at an American tertiary center, with validation in a separate cohort of 102 patients from European centers. Jaundice resolved after ERCP in 52% of patients. Median follow-up was 4.8 years. Independent predictors of jaundice resolution included older age (P = 0.048; odds ratio [OR], 1.03 for every 1-year increase), shorter duration of jaundice (P = 0.059; OR, 0.59 for every 1-year increase), lower Mayo Risk Score (MRS) (P = 0.025; OR, 0.58 for every 1-point increase), and extrahepatic location of the most advanced biliary stricture (P = 0.011; OR, 3.13). A logistic regression model predicted jaundice resolution with area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.67 (95% confidence interval, 0.5-0.79) in the validation set. Independent predictors of death or transplant during follow-up included higher MRS at the time of ERCP (P < 0.0001; hazard ratio [HR], 2.33 for every 1-point increase), lower total serum bilirubin before ERCP (P = 0.031; HR, 0.91 for every 1 mg/dL increase), and persistence of jaundice after endoscopic therapy (P = 0.003; HR, 2.30). Conclusion: Resolution of jaundice after endoscopic treatment of biliary strictures is associated with longer transplant-free survival of patients with PSC. The likelihood of resolution is affected by demographic, hepatic, and biliary variables and can be predicted using noninvasive data. These findings may refine the use of ERCP in patients with jaundice with PSC.

PMID:34558848 | DOI:10.1002/hep4.1813

Hepatol Commun. 2021 Jun 12. doi: 10.1002/hep4.1752. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant cancer with one of the highest mortality rates. Des-γ-carboxyprothrombin (DCP) is an HCC serologic surveillance marker that can complement the low sensitivity of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). DCP exists in the blood as a mixture of proteoforms from an impaired carboxylation process at glutamic acid (Glu) residues within the N-terminal domain. The heterogeneity of DCP may affect the accuracy of measurements because DCP levels are commonly determined using an immunoassay that relies on antibody reactivity to an epitope in the DCP molecule. In this study, we aimed to improve the DCP measurement assay by applying a mass spectrometry (MS)-based approach for a more inclusive quantification of various DCP proteoforms. We developed a multiple-reaction monitoring-MS (MRM-MS) assay to quantify multiple noncarboxylated peptides included in the various des-carboxylation states of DCP. We performed the MRM-MS assay in 300 patients and constructed a robust diagnostic model that simultaneously monitored three noncarboxylated peptides. The MS-based quantitative assay for DCP had reliable surveillance power, which was evident from the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values of 0.874 and 0.844 for the training and test sets, respectively. It was equivalent to conventional antibody-based quantification, which had AUROC values at the optimal cutoff (40 mAU/mL) of 0.743 and 0.704 for the training and test sets, respectively. The surveillance performance of the MS-based DCP assay was validated using an independent validation set consisting of 318 patients from an external cohort, resulting in an AUROC value of 0.793. Conclusion: Due to cost effectiveness and high reproducibility, the quantitative DCP assay using the MRM-MS method is superior to antibody-based quantification and has equivalent performance.

PMID:34558815 | DOI:10.1002/hep4.1752

Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2021 Sep 24. doi: 10.1002/pds.5361. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Our objective was to calculate the positive predictive value (PPV) of the ICD-9 diagnosis code for angioedema when physicians adjudicate the events by electronic health record review. Our secondary objective was to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of physician adjudication.

METHODS: Patients from the Cardiovascular Research Network previously diagnosed with heart failure who were started on angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) during the study period (July 1, 2006 through September 30, 2015) were included. A team of two physicians per participating site adjudicated possible events using electronic health records for all patients coded for angioedema for a total of five sites. The PPV was calculated as the number of physician-adjudicated cases divided by all cases with the diagnosis code of angioedema (ICD-9-CM code 995.1) meeting the inclusion criteria. The inter-rater reliability of physician teams, or kappa statistic, was also calculated.

RESULTS: There were 38 061 adults with heart failure initiating ACEI in the study (21 489 patient-years). Of 114 coded events that were adjudicated by physicians, 98 angioedema events were confirmed for a PPV of 86% (95% CI: 80%, 92%). The kappa statistic based on physician inter-rater reliability was 0.65 (95% CI: 0.47, 0.82).

CONCLUSIONS: ICD-9 diagnosis code of 995.1 (Angioneurotic edema, not elsewhere classified) is highly predictive of angioedema in adults with heart failure exposed to ACEI. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:34558760 | DOI:10.1002/pds.5361

Mol Ecol Resour. 2021 Sep 24. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.13513. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In the last five years, interest in close-kin mark-recapture (CKMR), a variant of mark-recapture that uses genetically inferred kin as “recaptures,” has grown dramatically. However, understanding the basis of CKMR, and properly implementing it, remains challenging. This paper describes an R package, CKMRpop, for simulating age-structured populations with user-specified demography, reproductive dispersion (allowing for different ratios of effective to census size), and random sampling of individuals. Using compiled code for the simulation makes it feasible to simulate populations of millions of individuals. From the simulation output, pairs of sampled individuals related within a user-specified number of generations are found. Such pairs form the foundation for CKMR inference, and simulating them provides insight for understanding the statistical basis for CKMR and for assessing the feasibility of CKMR in different scenarios. We predict that CKMRpop will serve as an important tool for researchers contemplating CKMR estimation of population size. Further more, the methods presented here for identifying and categorizing relationships beyond half-siblings allow a more complete picture of the wide variety of kin pairs encountered in populations. This identifies the fraction of kin pairs that may not be the target of a CKMR experiment, but may be inadvertently mistaken for a more closely related “target” kin pair. Additionally, as more distant kin categories will likely be accurately inferred from increasingly available and inexpensive whole genome resequencing, understanding the distributions of more distant relationships in populations is a first step toward broadening the scope of CKMR to include them.

PMID:34558810 | DOI:10.1111/1755-0998.13513

J Clin Apher. 2021 Sep 24. doi: 10.1002/jca.21940. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Transplantation of peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) mobilized by cytokines is increasingly applied to treat patients with hematologic diseases, such as lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, etc. Successful hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) increasingly depends on the collection of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from peripheral blood. Peripheral vein (PV) is the most common type of blood access. When the blood vessels are not well filled and the blood flow is insufficient, the machine will appear repeated low pressure alarm or pipeline coagulation, which seriously affects the collection efficiency. A peripheral artery (PA) is utilized for drawing blood, while a peripheral vein is used for blood return, that is a way to perform apheresis. The advantages of PA are that it ensures adequate extracorporeal circulation blood flow, stable blood flow rate, simple operation, and relatively low price. However, there are very few studies on the efficacy of peripheral arterial access for HSCs collection. Therefore, this retrospective study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of PA and PV access for PBSCs collection.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 150 apheresis procedures on 26 patients and 95 healthy donors collected by PV or PA access from March 1, 2020 to March 1, 2021. We compared the CD34+ cell count, collection efficiency (CE), duration of processing a single blood volume, number of low-pressure alarms, average blood flow rate and number of punctures between the two groups. Also, we analyzed adverse events.

RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the quality of apheresis blood components between the PA group and the PV group. The CD34+ cells collected was 274.16 ± 216.31 × 10⁶ in the PV group and 246.63 ± 127.94 × 10⁶ in the PA group. The CE in the PA group was 49.50 ± 9.88%, higher than 42.39 ± 14.62% in the PV group. The duration of processing a single blood volume was 90.67 ± 15.35 min in the PV group and 79.68 ± 10.28 min in the PA group. The number of low-pressure alarms in the PA group was 0.38 ± 0.98, <2.42 ± 1.76 in the PV group, and the average blood flow rate in the PA group was 59.27 ± 2.18, higher than 54.21 ± 3.41 in the PV group. The difference was statistically significant (P < .05). The Number of punctures was 1.35 ± 0.75 in the PA group and 1.41 ± 1.01 in the PV group. There was no statistically significant difference.

CONCLUSION: Peripheral artery is a safe, reliable, economical, convenient, and fast vascular access, which opens a new way to the establishment of vascular access for PBSCs collection.

PMID:34558738 | DOI:10.1002/jca.21940