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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Reversal of viral and epigenetic HLA class I repression in Merkel cell carcinoma

J Clin Invest. 2022 Jul 1;132(13):e151666. doi: 10.1172/JCI151666.

ABSTRACT

Cancers avoid immune surveillance through an array of mechanisms, including perturbation of HLA class I antigen presentation. Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive, HLA-I-low, neuroendocrine carcinoma of the skin often caused by the Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV). Through the characterization of 11 newly generated MCC patient-derived cell lines, we identified transcriptional suppression of several class I antigen presentation genes. To systematically identify regulators of HLA-I loss in MCC, we performed parallel, genome-scale, gain- and loss-of-function screens in a patient-derived MCPyV-positive cell line and identified MYCL and the non-canonical Polycomb repressive complex 1.1 (PRC1.1) as HLA-I repressors. We observed physical interaction of MYCL with the MCPyV small T viral antigen, supporting a mechanism of virally mediated HLA-I suppression. We further identify the PRC1.1 component USP7 as a pharmacologic target to restore HLA-I expression in MCC.

PMID:35775490 | DOI:10.1172/JCI151666

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Value of combined detection of serum amyloid A, C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in differential diagnosis of respiratory tract infection in children of China

Ann Med. 2022 Dec;54(1):1732-1737. doi: 10.1080/07853890.2022.2064542.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnostic value of combined detection of serum amyloid A (SAA), C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) in children with bacteria or non-bacterial respiratory tract infection.

METHODS: 200 children with respiratory tract infections diagnosed in our hospital were included in the study. According to the results of the aetiological examination, they were divided into bacterial infection group and non-bacterial infection group. At the same time, 100 healthy children admitted to the hospital for physical examination during the same period were selected as the healthy subjects control group. Changes in serum SAA, PCT and CRP in three groups were compared. Comparison of a positive rate of the single index and combined detection were performed. Children with bacterial infections were treated with conventional antibiotics. The changes in serum SAA, PCT and CRP in the infection group before and after treatment were compared. The efficacy of SAA, PCT and CRP alone and in combination was compared.

RESULTS: The serum SAA, PCT and CRP levels in the bacterial infection group were higher than those in the non-bacterial infection group and healthy children, and the differences were statistically significant. The positive detection rates and combined detection rates of serum SAA, PCT and CRP in the bacterial infection group were higher than those in the non-bacterial infection group and the healthy subject’s control group. After conventional antibiotic treatment, serum SAA, PCT and CR levels in children with bacterial infection were significantly decreased.

CONCLUSION: The combined detection based on SAA, CRP and PCT can effectively identify and diagnose respiratory tract infection in children, providing a certain reference for the promotion of the diagnostic scheme. Key messagesSerum SAA, PCT and CRP were highly expressed in children with respiratory tract infection, and the expression level was the highest in children with bacterial pneumonia.The combined detection of serum SAA, CRP and PCT indicators have higher diagnostic efficiency and can effectively make a differential diagnosis of respiratory tract infection in children.

PMID:35775463 | DOI:10.1080/07853890.2022.2064542

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Nevin Manimala Statistics

Using hybrid consistent fuzzy preference relations-importance-performance analysis model to improve shared decision-making quality based on orthopaedic nurses’ perceptions

J Clin Nurs. 2022 Jun 29. doi: 10.1111/jocn.16427. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To understand key factors for shared decision-making (SDM) and the quality improvement of nursing decisions in the orthopaedic clinical environment.

METHOD: This study applied the consistent consistent fuzzy preference relations (CFPRs) and importance-performance analysis (IPA) methods to explore the attribute weights and SDM performance, respectively. The dataset was collected from 16 orthopaedic clinical nurses’ experiences in a third-grade and first-level general hospital in Taizhou, China. This study was performed according to the STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines.

RESULTS: The results showed that “I made clear to my patient or patient’s family that a nursing care decision needs to be made”, “I explained the advantages and disadvantages of the nursing care options to my patient or patient’s family” and “I told my patient or patient’s family that there are different nursing care options for caring his/her medical condition” were key factors for affecting SDM. The statistical significance confidence and difference error of weight results were 98.321% and 1.679%, respectively. In addition, “I asked my patient or patient’s family which nursing care option he/she prefers” was the key factor for improving orthopaedic clinical nursing in the case hospital.

CONCLUSION: The hybrid CFPRs-IPA model can help hospital managers effectively understand the key factors of SDM quality and improve the orthopaedic clinical nursing performance from nurses’ perspectives.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: A quantitative decision-making model can help nurses understand the key factors affecting the quality of SDM in nursing decision-making and promote nursing decision-making and patient-centred nursing service quality. A series of corresponding SDM training courses (i.e. concepts, knowledge and skills) can be provided for hospital and nursing department managers to maximise the potentially available resources.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The clinical care process should be committed to involving patients in their care decisions and also provide an opportunity for patients to gain a comprehensive understanding of the care decision-making process in order to inform future patient contributions to care decisions.

PMID:35775418 | DOI:10.1111/jocn.16427

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Comparison of bracket bond failure with the aerosol-generating and novel non-aerosol-generating bonding techniques during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic among orthodontic patients: A retrospective cohort study

Dent Med Probl. 2022 Apr-Jun;59(2):187-193. doi: 10.17219/dmp/146791.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, dentists must avoid the aerosol-generating procedures during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the rate of bracket bond failure with the aerosol-generating and non-aerosol generating bonding techniques.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on a sample of 44 patients (880 teeth), equally divided into 2 groups: the conventional aerosol-generating bonding technique (ABT); and the novel non-aerosol-generating bonding technique (NABT). The rate of bracket survival and total number of bracket breakages in the 2 groups were assessed by means of the survival regression analysis. The influence of pre-treatment factors, such as the sagittal jaw relationship (ANB), the Frankfort-mandibular plane angle (FMA), overjet, overbite, and upper and lower crowding, on the rate of bracket survival was also evaluated.

RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference between ABT and NABT in terms of bracket survival. The mean bracket survival with ABT was 176.21 ±77.89 days and with NABT it was 162.53 ±83.34 days. The novel technique showed a hazard ratio of bracket survival of 2.99 as compared to the conventional method. There was a statistically significant influence of overjet on the rate of bracket survival (p = 0.010). The posterior segment had a higher rate of bracket failure as compared to the anterior segment in NABT, which was statistically significant (p < 0.001). However, this difference was statistically non-significant in the case of ABT.

CONCLUSIONS: There was an increased rate of bracket failure with NABT as compared to ABT. The rate of bracket breakages in the anterior quadrants was comparable for both bonding techniques.

PMID:35775411 | DOI:10.17219/dmp/146791

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YouTube™ as a source of information on vitamin D: A content-quality analysis

Dent Med Probl. 2022 Apr-Jun;59(2):263-270. doi: 10.17219/dmp/143078.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: YouTube™ is considered a convenient and popular platform to seek healthcare information, which is uploaded by people of various professions.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the content and the quality of the YouTube videos containing information about vitamin D for children.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A YouTube search was performed using the terms ‘vitamin D for children’ and ‘vitamin D deficiency in children’. Two independent reviewers scored the videos with the use of a customized 11-point scoring scheme and the 5-point Global Quality Scale (GQS) to assess the content and the quality of each video. The videos were further classified into poor, moderate and good videos. The Kruskal-Wallis and χ2 tests as well as Spearman’s correlation coefficient were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: In a total of 120 videos screened, 70 videos were included. They had a median content score of 4 and a median GQS score of 3. According to the information included in the videos and their overall quality, most of the videos were categorized as moderate (n = 33; 47.14% and n = 32; 45.71%, respectively). Good-quality videos had statistically significantly higher content scores as compared to the other groups (p = 0.001). A positive correlation was found between the content score and the GQS score (ρ = 0.434; p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Most of the videos on YouTube about vitamin D were rated as moderate according to the sufficiency of the information and also their overall quality. This suggests that health organizations need to make further efforts to create good-quality medical content on popular social media platforms, such as YouTube.

PMID:35775413 | DOI:10.17219/dmp/143078

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Analgesic Effects of Vilazodone, Indatraline, and Talsupram in a Rat Model of Neuropathic Pain

Turk J Pharm Sci. 2022 Jun 27;19(3):336-342. doi: 10.4274/tjps.galenos.2021.41514.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Drugs that inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, norepinephrine, and/or dopamine are widely used for treating depressive disorders and have emerged as effective drugs for neuropathic pain. They have no substantial anti-nociceptive effects but are considered, with gabapentin/pregabalin, first-line drugs for neuropathic pain.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, three different antidepressant agents were used in different doses to investigate their anti-hyperalgesic effects in rat models of neuropathic pain using hot plate and tail flick methods. They have different mechanisms of action; vilazodone hydrochloride is a selective serotonin inhibitor and a 5-HT1A partial agonist; talsupram hydrochloride is a selective noradrenaline inhibitor, and it has a high affinity for noradrenaline transporter (NET), whereas indatraline hydrochloride is a triple reuptake inhibitor that inhibits transporters for 5-HT (SERT), dopamine (DAT), and NET.

RESULTS: All the drugs used in the experiment were found to have an anti-hyperalgesic effect in both tests compared to the sham group. When anti-hyperalgesic effects of the three agents were compared to each other, it was found that talsupram hydrochloride was significantly more effective than the two other drugs in hot plate test. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the tail flick test. Indatraline hydrochloride was more effective than vilazodone hydrochloride at the same doses in the tail flick test.

CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that three drugs are effective analgesics in rat models of neuropathic pain and inhibition of noradrenaline reuptake represents the cornerstone of analgesic mechanisms of effective antidepressants.

PMID:35775407 | DOI:10.4274/tjps.galenos.2021.41514

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In Vitro Activity of Some Medicinal Plants on Blood Coagulation

Turk J Pharm Sci. 2022 Jun 27;19(3):330-335. doi: 10.4274/tjps.galenos.2021.14603.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The concern for finding natural and curative agents without adverse side effects has prompted the interest in discovering hemostatic agents from plants. Therefore, in vitro activity of Aizoon hispanicum L. (Aizoaceae), Centaurea hyalolepis Boiss. (Asteraceae), Heliotropium maris-mortui Zohary. (Boraginaceae), Parietaria judaica L. (Urticaceae), Polygonum arenarium Waldst. & Kit. (Polygonaceae), and Verbascum sinuatum L. (Scrophulariaceae) on blood coagulation was estimated by two common tests, which are the prothrombin time test (PT) and the activated partial thromboplastin time test (aPTT).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The extracted powders from the plants under this study were adjusted to be 50 mg/mL. Then, in vitro effect of these extracts on the platelet poor plasma samples was measured by an automated coagulation analyzer using PT and aPTT tests.

RESULTS: Based on the obtained results, all plant extracts affected the coagulation cascade by rising either PT or aPTT or both, except for V. sinuatum extract, which reduced only aPTT value. Moreover, the recorded PT values showed that A. hispanicum, H. maris-mortui, and P. arenarium significantly prolonged the PT (p<0.05). Additionally, the results clearly showed that V. sinuatum acted as a coagulant agent based on aPTT values, while all other plants, in contrast, acted as strong anticoagulants. Among the plant species under study, A. hispanicum, H. maris-mortui, and P. arenarium extracts prolonged both PT and aPTT significantly (p<0.05). This could be referred to their additional effect on the common pathway. However, C. hyalolepis, P. judaica, and V. sinuatum showed no significant effect on PT values (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION: The positive recorded data from this research could serve as identification of new hemostatic remedies that could be used for the commercial economic purposes and for managing several cardiovascular diseases.

PMID:35775406 | DOI:10.4274/tjps.galenos.2021.14603

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Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults with Chronic Kidney Disease

Turk J Pharm Sci. 2022 Jun 27;19(3):305-313. doi: 10.4274/tjps.galenos.2021.94556.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use (PIMU) in adults above the age of 65 with chronic kidney disease (CKD) according to the American Geriatric Society Beers Criteria (Beers), Screening Tool of Older People’s Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions Criteria (STOPP) and medication appropriateness index (MAI) 30 criteria and to compare them to justify their use in this specific patient group.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective and descriptive study conducted between October 1st, 2019 and March 18th, 2020 at Ibni Sina Hospital, Nephrology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University.

RESULTS: Among 269 patients discharged from the hospital during the study period, 100 of them were eligible for the study. The mean age was 73.3 ± 6.9 years and 51.9% of them were male. The prevalence of 35 PIMU was 91%, 42%, and 70% according to the Beers, STOPP, and MAI criteria, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in terms of prevalence among 3 criteria (p<0.001). Beer detected more PIMU (11.3% vs. 6.4%) and had higher sensitivity among older adults with CKD (0.97 vs. 0.56) compared to the STOPP criteria. Most patients had at least one drug-drug interaction (DDIs) in their discharge prescription (93%) and DDI was one of the main contributors of PIMU. Proton pump inhibitors were the most common medication associated with PIMU in all 3 criteria.

CONCLUSION: The prevalence of PIMU was high among older adults with CKD at discharge according to these criteria. To improve the prescriptions after hospital discharge, it is considered appropriate to use Beers criteria under guidance of a clinical pharmacist.

PMID:35775387 | DOI:10.4274/tjps.galenos.2021.94556

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Expression patterns of uPAR, TF and EGFR and their potential as targets for molecular imaging in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Oncol Rep. 2022 Aug;48(2):147. doi: 10.3892/or.2022.8359. Epub 2022 Jul 1.

ABSTRACT

The clinical introduction of molecular imaging for the management of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) relies on the identification of relevant cancer‑specific biomarkers. The application of three membrane‑bound receptors, namely urokinase‑type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR), tissue factor (TF) and EGFR have been previously explored for targeted imaging and therapeutic strategies in a broad range of solid cancers. The present study aimed to investigate the expression patterns of uPAR, EGFR and TF by immunohistochemistry (IHC) to evaluate their potential for targeted imaging and prognostic value in OPSCC. In a retrospective cohort of 93 patients with primary OPSCC, who were balanced into the 45 human papillomavirus (HPV)‑positive and 48 HPV‑negative groups, the IHC‑determined expression profiles of uPAR, TF and EGFR in large biopsy or tumor resection specimens were analyzed. Using the follow‑up data, overall survival (OS) and recurrence‑free survival were measured. Specifically, associations between survival outcome, biomarker expression and clinicopathological factors were examined using Cox proportional hazards model and log‑rank test following Kaplan‑Meier statistics. After comparing the expression pattern of biomarkers within the tumor compartment with that in the adjacent normal tissues, uPAR and TF exhibited a highly tumor‑specific expression pattern, whereas EGFR showed a homogeneous expression within the tumor compartment as well as a consistent expression in the normal mucosal epithelium and salivary gland tissues. The positive expression rate of uPAR, TF and EGFR in the tumors was 98.9, 76.3 and 98.9%, respectively. No statistically significant association between biomarker expression and survival outcome could be detected. Higher uPAR expression levels had a trend towards reduced OS according to results from univariate analysis (P=0.07; hazard ratio=2.01; 95% CI=0.92‑4.37). Taken together, these results suggest that uPAR, TF and EGFR may be suitable targets for molecular imaging and therapy in OPSCC. In particular, uPAR may be an attractive target owing to their high positive expression rates in tumors and a highly tumor‑specific expression pattern.

PMID:35775375 | DOI:10.3892/or.2022.8359

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Derivation and validation of risk prediction for posttraumatic stress symptoms following trauma exposure

Psychol Med. 2022 Jul 1:1-10. doi: 10.1017/S003329172200191X. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are common following traumatic stress exposure (TSE). Identification of individuals with PTSS risk in the early aftermath of TSE is important to enable targeted administration of preventive interventions. In this study, we used baseline survey data from two prospective cohort studies to identify the most influential predictors of substantial PTSS.

METHODS: Self-identifying black and white American women and men (n = 1546) presenting to one of 16 emergency departments (EDs) within 24 h of motor vehicle collision (MVC) TSE were enrolled. Individuals with substantial PTSS (⩾33, Impact of Events Scale – Revised) 6 months after MVC were identified via follow-up questionnaire. Sociodemographic, pain, general health, event, and psychological/cognitive characteristics were collected in the ED and used in prediction modeling. Ensemble learning methods and Monte Carlo cross-validation were used for feature selection and to determine prediction accuracy. External validation was performed on a hold-out sample (30% of total sample).

RESULTS: Twenty-five percent (n = 394) of individuals reported PTSS 6 months following MVC. Regularized linear regression was the top performing learning method. The top 30 factors together showed good reliability in predicting PTSS in the external sample (Area under the curve = 0.79 ± 0.002). Top predictors included acute pain severity, recovery expectations, socioeconomic status, self-reported race, and psychological symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: These analyses add to a growing literature indicating that influential predictors of PTSS can be identified and risk for future PTSS estimated from characteristics easily available/assessable at the time of ED presentation following TSE.

PMID:35775366 | DOI:10.1017/S003329172200191X