Tag: pubmed

Appl Neuropsychol Child. 2022 Jul 19:1-10. doi: 10.1080/21622965.2022.2099742. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Concussion is a heterogeneous injury involving symptoms and impairment that represent multiple domains (e.g., anxiety, cognitive, vestibular). Network analysis, a modeling technique that estimates relationships among symptoms, provides a statistically sound and clinically practical method for evaluating these interrelationships. The purpose of this study was to examine, using network analysis, relationships among clinical assessments and multidomain symptom report within a sample of adolescent patients following a concussion. Participants included 326 patients (49.7% female) aged 10-21 years presenting to a concussion specialty clinic within 28 days of a diagnosed concussion. Participants completed the Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) and Vestibular-Ocular Motor Screening (VOMS) tool at initial visit. Network models were applied to PCSS symptoms initially, and then applied to VOMS and PCSS symptom data together. Dizziness (Expected influence (EI) = 1.10) and sadness (EI = 1.91) were most central (i.e., highest cumulative partial correlations) to the symptom network. Numerous interdomain relationships were supported, including irritability with mental fogginess (edgeweight = 0.12), dizziness with headache (edgeweight = 0.16), and dizziness with vision problems (edgeweight = 0.13). Community analyses resulted in VOMS groupings by domain (e.g., vestibular) and symptom (e.g., dizziness). The findings suggest a more direct focus on symptom interrelationships, such as how dizziness contributes to emotional symptoms, may help guide and better target treatments. Also, results suggest grouping VOMS assessment by symptom (e.g., dizziness) and item (e.g., vestibular-ocular reflex) may better reflect underlying impairments reflected by these symptom-item combinations.

PMID:35853233 | DOI:10.1080/21622965.2022.2099742

J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2022 Jun 6. doi: 10.1097/FJC.0000000000001313. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

We sought to examine incidence and predictors of eosinophilic myocardial hypersensitivity (EMH) in a cohort of patients in the home inotrope program of a quaternary cardiac transplant centre. Patients on home inotropes with progression to heart transplantation or ventricular assist device between January 2000 to May 2020 were included. EMH was diagnosed by the presence of an interstitial predominate eosinophilic infiltrate within the myocardium by experienced cardiac pathologists. From a cohort of 74 patients, 58% (43) were on dobutamine and 42% (31) were on milrinone. Dobutamine was associated with EMH incidence of 14% (6/43), with zero cases in the milrinone cohort. Mean age was 52±12 years, 22% female. Majority (62%) were non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathies, the remainder were ischaemic cardiomyopathy. Dobutamine dose (250 [200-282] vs. 225 [200-291] mcg/min) and duration of therapy (41 [23-79] vs. 53 [24-91] days) was similar between those with and without EMH. Median change in eosinophil count was 0.31×109/L in the EMH group compared to only 0.03×109/L in the non-EMH cohort, p=0.02. Increase in peripheral eosinophil count of >0.20×109/L demonstrated good discrimination between those with and without EMH, c-statistic 0.83 (95% CI 0.66-1.0). Heart failure hospitalisation occurred in 83% of the EMH group versus 59% in the non-EMH group, p=0.26. Requirement for VAD was significantly higher in the EMH group (83% vs. 41%, p=0.05). In conclusion, EMH occurred in 14% of patients receiving home dobutamine. Rising eosinophil count should prompt physicians to consider EMH and switch to milrinone to avoid possible escalation to VAD.

PMID:35853194 | DOI:10.1097/FJC.0000000000001313

Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2022 Jul 14. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000004369. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

STUDY DESIGN: Laboratory study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the biomechanical competence and fracture characteristics of the odontoid process.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Odontoid fractures of the second cervical vertebra (C2) is the most common fracture type in cervical- and spine in general in the elderly. However, very little is known about the underlying biomechanical fracture mechanisms.

METHODS: A total of 42 human C2 specimens were Scanned using a QCT, divided in 6 groups, and subjected to combined quasi-static loading at -15°, 0°, and 15° in sagittal plane and -50° and 0° in transverse plane until fracture. Bone mineral density (BMD), height, state of the fusion of the ossification centers, stiffness, yield load, and ultimate load were assessed.

RESULTS: While the lowest values for stiffness, yield, and ultimate load were observed at load inclination of 15° in the sagittal plane, no statistically significant differences could be observed between the six groups (P=0.235, P=0.646, and P=0.505, respectively). BMD was positively correlate with the yield (r²=0.350, P<0.001), and ultimate load (r²=0.955, P<0.001), but not with the stiffness (r²=0.082, P=0.07). The analysis of the mechanical quantitates for specimens with clearly distinguishable fusion of the ossification centers (26 specimens) reveled less differences between the mean values.

CONCLUSION: Load direction plays a subordinate role in traumatic fractures of the odontoid process. BMD was associated with significant correlation to the biomechanical outcomes. Thus, odontoid fractures appear to be the results of an interaction between the load magnitude and bone quality.

PMID:35853162 | DOI:10.1097/BRS.0000000000004369

Am J Sports Med. 2022 Jul 19:3635465221108187. doi: 10.1177/03635465221108187. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Posterior tibial slope (PTS) has recently gained increased attention for its possible role in anterior cruciate ligament and posterior cruciate ligament injury. The possible differences among age, sex, and ethnicity in PTS have not yet been reported.

PURPOSE: To describe demographic variances of proximal tibial anatomy and to detect differences in regard to ethnicity, sex, and age.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.

METHODS: In total, 250 cadaveric specimens with full-body computerized tomography scans from the New Mexico Descendant Imaging Database were randomly selected (inclusion/exclusion criteria: older than 18 years, complete imaging of the knee without previous surgery or arthroplasty) and reviewed by 3 independent observers measuring medial posterior tibial slope (MPTS), lateral posterior tibial slope (LPTS), and global posterior tibial slope (PTS), which was calculated as the mean of the MPTS and LPTS. Individuals were evenly divided among male and female and ethnicities/races: African American/Black, Asian American, Hispanic, Native American, and White. Intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated for interobserver reliability and analysis of variance statistical testing to determine statistical significance between groups. Fisher exact test was also used to understand PTS differences among ethnicities when looking at clinically significant values for potential ligamentous injury.

RESULTS: Measurements were obtained from 250 specimens with a mean age of 49.4 years (range, 19 to 103 years). The mean PTS was 8.92° (range, -9.4° to 14.95°). Asian Americans had a 1.7° greater mean MPTS than Whites (P = .016), and African Americans/Blacks had a 1.6° greater mean PTS than Whites (P = .022). No difference in mean PTS was seen between age and sex. When looking at clinically significant PTS, 61 (24.4%) individuals had tibial slopes <6° or >12°, 32 (12.8%) and 29 (11.6%), respectively. Statistically significant differences were seen among ethnicities with PTS <6° (P = .017) but not with PTS >12° (P = .106). No sex-based differences were seen in the percentage of specimens with a PTS of >12° or <6°.

CONCLUSION: Among ethnicities, African Americans/Blacks and Asian Americans have increased PTS in comparison with Whites. Nearly 25% of individuals have clinically significant slopes of <6° or >12°, with no difference in tibial slope among sex or age groups.

PMID:35853159 | DOI:10.1177/03635465221108187

J Clin Lab Anal. 2022 Jul 19:e24606. doi: 10.1002/jcla.24606. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Several studies have interrogated the molecular pathways and their interacting genes underlying bladder cancer (BCa) tumorigenesis, yet, the role of homeobox genes is still poorly understood. Specifically, HOXA13, which plays an important role as a major actor in the urogenital tract’s development.

METHODS: Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was performed to inspect the differential expression of HOXA13 protein in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and non-tumoral tissues. A semiquantitative scoring system was adopted to evaluate the IHC labeling. Correlation to clinical parameters was performed by descriptive statistics. Overall survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model. The functional HOX A13 protein association networks (PPI) were obtained using String 11.0 database.

RESULTS: HOX A13 exhibited cytoplasmic and nuclear staining. Its expression levels were lower in high-grade NMIBC (HG NMIBC) compared to low-grade ones (LG NMIBC). The expression of HOX A13 was correlated to tumor grade (LG/HG) (p = 0.036) and stage (TA/T1) (p = 0.036). Nevertheless, its expression was not correlated to clinical parameters and was not able to predict the overall survival of patients with HG NMIBC. Finally, PPI analysis revealed that HOX A13 seems to be a part of a molecular network holding mainly PBX1, MEIS, ALDH1A2, HOX A10, and HOX A11.

CONCLUSION: The deregulation of HOX A13 is not associated with the prognosis of BCa. It seems to be rather implicated in the early initiation of urothelial tumorigenesis and thus may serve as a diagnostic marker in patients with NMIBC. Further experimentations on larger validation sets are mandatory.

PMID:35853090 | DOI:10.1002/jcla.24606

PLoS One. 2022 Jul 19;17(7):e0270872. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270872. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

In this article, we present a methodology which takes as input a collection of retracted articles, gathers the entities citing them, characterizes such entities according to multiple dimensions (disciplines, year of publication, sentiment, etc.), and applies a quantitative and qualitative analysis on the collected values. The methodology is composed of four phases: (1) identifying, retrieving, and extracting basic metadata of the entities which have cited a retracted article, (2) extracting and labeling additional features based on the textual content of the citing entities, (3) building a descriptive statistical summary based on the collected data, and finally (4) running a topic modeling analysis. The goal of the methodology is to generate data and visualizations that help understanding possible behaviors related to retraction cases. We present the methodology in a structured step-by-step form following its four phases, discuss its limits and possible workarounds, and list the planned future improvements.

PMID:35853087 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0270872

PLoS Genet. 2022 Jul 19;18(7):e1010299. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010299. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In recent work, Wang et al introduced the “Sum of Single Effects” (SuSiE) model, and showed that it provides a simple and efficient approach to fine-mapping genetic variants from individual-level data. Here we present new methods for fitting the SuSiE model to summary data, for example to single-SNP z-scores from an association study and linkage disequilibrium (LD) values estimated from a suitable reference panel. To develop these new methods, we first describe a simple, generic strategy for extending any individual-level data method to deal with summary data. The key idea is to replace the usual regression likelihood with an analogous likelihood based on summary data. We show that existing fine-mapping methods such as FINEMAP and CAVIAR also (implicitly) use this strategy, but in different ways, and so this provides a common framework for understanding different methods for fine-mapping. We investigate other common practical issues in fine-mapping with summary data, including problems caused by inconsistencies between the z-scores and LD estimates, and we develop diagnostics to identify these inconsistencies. We also present a new refinement procedure that improves model fits in some data sets, and hence improves overall reliability of the SuSiE fine-mapping results. Detailed evaluations of fine-mapping methods in a range of simulated data sets show that SuSiE applied to summary data is competitive, in both speed and accuracy, with the best available fine-mapping methods for summary data.

PMID:35853082 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1010299

IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst. 2022 Jul 19;PP. doi: 10.1109/TNNLS.2022.3190509. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Multiarmed Bandit (MAB) algorithms identify the best arm among multiple arms via exploration-exploitation trade-off without prior knowledge of arm statistics. Their usefulness in wireless radio, Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics demand deployment on edge devices, and hence, a mapping on system-on-chip (SoC) is desired. Theoretically, the Bayesian-approach-based Thompson sampling (TS) algorithm offers better performance than the frequentist-approach-based upper confidence bound (UCB) algorithm. However, TS is not synthesizable due to Beta function. We address this problem by approximating it via a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG)-based architecture and efficiently realize the TS algorithm on Zynq SoC. In practice, the type of arms distribution (e.g., Bernoulli, Gaussian) is unknown, and hence, a single algorithm may not be optimal. We propose a reconfigurable and intelligent MAB (RI-MAB) framework. Here, intelligence enables the identification of appropriate MAB algorithms in an unknown environment, and reconfigurability allows on-the-fly switching between algorithms on the SoC. This eliminates the need for parallel implementation of algorithms resulting in huge savings in resources and power consumption. We analyze the functional correctness, area, power, and execution time of the proposed and existing architectures for various arm distributions, word length, and hardware-software codesign approaches. We demonstrate the superiority of the RI-MAB algorithm and its architecture over the TS and UCB algorithms.

PMID:35853057 | DOI:10.1109/TNNLS.2022.3190509

PLoS One. 2022 Jul 19;17(7):e0271232. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271232. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Cysticercosis and Neurocysticercosis (NCC) can be studied using several animal species in experimental models which contributes to the understanding of the human form of the disease. Experimental infections of Taenia spp. are vital in explaining the modes of transmission of the parasite and helps the understanding of transmission of the parasite in humans and thus may be useful in designing therapeutic and immune-prophylactic studies to combat the disease. Thus, this systematic review aims to explore the existing experimental animal models to the understanding of cysticercosis in both humans and animals and elucidate the risk factors of cysticercosis and identify the Taenia spp. used in these models.

METHODOLOGY: We systematically identified all publications from the Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Pubmed regarding experimental animal models using Taenia spp. that cause cysticercosis in both humans and animals. 58 studies were identified for eligibility. Of these, only 48 studies met the inclusion criteria from which data extraction was done and presented descriptively.

RESULTS: Pigs, cattle, gerbils, mice, rats, voles, monkeys, cats, dogs, and goats were used in which T. solium, T. saginata, T. saginata asiatica, T. crassiceps and T. asiatica were studied. The routes used to induce disease were; oral, intravenous, subcutaneous, intramuscular, intraperitoneal, intraarterial, intracranial, intraduodenal, and surgical routes using eggs, oncospheres, and proglottids. Besides, the establishment of infection using eggs and oncospheres was affected by the route used to induce infection in the experimental animals. The cysticerci recovery rate in all the experimental studies was low and the number of animals used in these experiments varied from 1 to 84. Although not analysed statistically, sex, age, and breed of animals influenced the cysticerci recovery rate. Additionally, the cysticerci recovery rate and antibody-antigen levels were shown to increase with an increase in the dose of oncospheres and eggs inoculated in the animals. Contrasting results were reported in which the cysticerci recovery rate decreased with an increase in the dose of eggs inoculated.

CONCLUSION: This review describes the various animal experiments using Taenia species that cause cysticercosis highlighting the animals used, age and their breed, the routes of infection used to induce disease and the sample size used, and the cysticerci recovery rate in these animal models.

PMID:35853079 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0271232

PLoS One. 2022 Jul 19;17(7):e0269930. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269930. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, adopted a “go hard, go early” approach to eliminate COVID-19. Although Ardern and her Labour party are considered left-leaning, the policies implemented during the pandemic (e.g., police roadblocks) have the hallmarks of Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). RWA is characterized by three attitudinal clusters (authoritarian aggression, submission, and conventionalism). The uniqueness of the clusters, and whether they react to environmental change, has been debated. Here, in the context of the pandemic, we investigate the relationship between political orientation and RWA. Specifically, we measured political orientation, support for New Zealand’s major political parties, and RWA among 1,430 adult community members. A multivariate Bayesian model demonstrated that, in the middle of a pandemic, both left-leaning and right-leaning individuals endorsed items tapping authoritarian submission. In contrast to authoritarian submission, and demonstrating the multidimensional nature of RWA, we observed the typical relationships between political orientation and authoritarian aggression and conventionalism was observed.

PMID:35853036 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0269930