Tag: pubmed

Gen Dent. 2021 May-Jun;69(3):73-77.

ABSTRACT

Irreversible pulpitis is an acute, brief, and painful condition. Oxytocin, cortisol, and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) are released by the body in response to pain and emotional stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of salivary cortisol, sIgA, and oxytocin among patients with irreversible pulpitis. This was an ethically approved case-control study comparing 90 cases of irreversible pulpitis and 40 healthy individuals. Five study groups were established: nonpregnant female pulpitis, pregnant female pulpitis, male pulpitis, healthy (nonpregnant) female control, and healthy male control. Pregnant women in the first trimester were enrolled in the study. Participants received both clinical and radiographic examinations, completed a simple questionnaire related to food intake, habits, and anxiety, and their pain levels were recorded on a visual analog scale in which 0 represented no pain and 10 represented the worst possible pain. Unstimulated saliva samples were collected to measure oxytocin, sIgA, and cortisol levels. Dental pulp specimens were obtained and stained with hematoxylin and eosin to evaluate the agreement between clinical and histologic pulpal diagnoses. The statistical analysis included analysis of variance and Tukey tests. The majority of patients (37%) recorded a score of 8 (severe pain) on the visual analog scale, while a score of 10 (worst possible pain) was recorded only by pregnant women (3%). There was no statistically significant difference among healthy subjects for all salivary samples. Oxytocin levels increased significantly in nonpregnant (P < 0.5) and pregnant (P < 0.001) women with pulpitis. Cortisol (P < 0.01) and sIgA (P < 0.001) levels were significantly elevated only in pregnant women with pulpitis. The results of the present study indicate that acute dental pain during pregnancy can be considered as a pregnancy risk factor because of the resulting elevated oxytocin and cortisol levels.

PMID:33908883

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021 Apr 28;9(4):e26161. doi: 10.2196/26161.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia, and its prevalence is increasing. Early diagnosis is important to reduce the risk of stroke. Mobile health (mHealth) devices, such as single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) devices, have been introduced to the worldwide consumer market over the past decade. Recent studies have assessed the usability of these devices for detection of AF, but it remains unclear if the use of mHealth devices leads to a higher AF detection rate.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of the research was to conduct a systematic review of the diagnostic detection rate of AF by mHealth devices compared with traditional outpatient follow-up. Study participants were aged 16 years or older and had an increased risk for an arrhythmia and an indication for ECG follow-up-for instance, after catheter ablation or presentation to the emergency department with palpitations or (near) syncope. The intervention was the use of an mHealth device, defined as a novel device for the diagnosis of rhythm disturbances, either a handheld electronic device or a patch-like device worn on the patient’s chest. Control was standard (traditional) outpatient care, defined as follow-up via general practitioner or regular outpatient clinic visits with a standard 12-lead ECG or Holter monitoring. The main outcome measures were the odds ratio (OR) of AF detection rates.

METHODS: Two reviewers screened the search results, extracted data, and performed a risk of bias assessment. A heterogeneity analysis was performed, forest plot made to summarize the results of the individual studies, and albatross plot made to allow the P values to be interpreted in the context of the study sample size.

RESULTS: A total of 3384 articles were identified after a database search, and 14 studies with a 4617 study participants were selected. All studies but one showed a higher AF detection rate in the mHealth group compared with the control group (OR 1.00-35.71), with all RCTs showing statistically significant increases of AF detection (OR 1.54-19.16). Statistical heterogeneity between studies was considerable, with a Q of 34.1 and an I² of 61.9, and therefore it was decided to not pool the results into a meta-analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the results of 13 of 14 studies support the effectiveness of mHealth interventions compared with standard care, study results could not be pooled due to considerable clinical and statistical heterogeneity. However, smartphone-connectable ECG devices provide patients with the ability to document a rhythm disturbance more easily than with standard care, which may increase empowerment and engagement with regard to their illness. Clinicians must beware of overdiagnosis of AF, as it is not yet clear when an mHealth-detected episode of AF must be deemed significant.

PMID:33908885 | DOI:10.2196/26161

J Med Internet Res. 2021 Apr 28;23(4):e26261. doi: 10.2196/26261.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology has been rapidly adopted in clinical practice, with the scope extended to early diagnosis, disease classification, and treatment planning. As the number of requests for NGS genomic testing increases, substantial efforts have been made to deliver the testing results clearly and unambiguously. For the legitimacy of clinical NGS genomic testing, quality information from the process of producing genomic data should be included within the results. However, most reports provide insufficient quality information to confirm the reliability of genomic testing owing to the complexity of the NGS process.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to develop a Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)-based web app, NGS Quality Reporting (NGS-QR), to report and manage the quality of the information obtained from clinical NGS genomic tests.

METHODS: We defined data elements for the exchange of quality information from clinical NGS genomic tests, and profiled a FHIR genomic resource to enable information exchange in a standardized format. We then developed the FHIR-based web app and FHIR server to exchange quality information, along with statistical analysis tools implemented with the R Shiny server.

RESULTS: Approximately 1000 experimental data entries collected from the targeted sequencing pipeline CancerSCAN designed by Samsung Medical Center were used to validate implementation of the NGS-QR app using real-world data. The user can share the quality information of NGS genomic testing and verify the quality status of individual samples in the overall distribution.

CONCLUSIONS: This study successfully demonstrated how quality information of clinical NGS genomic testing can be exchanged in a standardized format. As the demand for NGS genomic testing in clinical settings increases and genomic data accumulate, quality information can be used as reference material to improve the quality of testing. This app could also motivate laboratories to perform diagnostic tests to provide high-quality genomic data.

PMID:33908889 | DOI:10.2196/26261

Gen Dent. 2021 May-Jun;69(3):46-51.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to compare the effects of different combinations of adhesive bases and restorative materials on the fracture strength and mode of maxillary premolars with mesio-occlusodistal (MOD) cavities after mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) pulpotomy. Ninety-six extracted human maxillary premolars were divided into 8 groups (n = 12). Group 1 (negative control) consisted of intact teeth. In the other teeth, MOD and endodontic access cavities were prepared, and a layer of MTA was placed. Group 2 was left unrestored as the positive control. Group 3 was restored with a glass ionomer cement (GIC) base and amalgam. The remaining groups were restored with a microhybrid composite after application of different bases: 4, resin-modified GIC (RMGIC); 5, zirconia-reinforced GIC (ZRGIC); 6, self-adhesive flowable composite (SAFC); 7, self-adhesive resin cement (SARC); and 8, short fiber-reinforced composite (SFRC). After fracture strength testing via continuous compressive axial loading, the fracture mode was classified as restorable or unrestorable. Data were analyzed using 1-way analysis of variance and post hoc Tamhane tests (P < 0.05). The fracture strength of the negative control group was significantly higher than that of all other groups (P < 0.001). The fracture strengths of groups 2 and 3 were not significantly different (P > 0.05) from each other but were significantly lower (P = 0.002) than those of all composite-restored groups. Group 8 showed a significantly greater fracture strength than group 4 (P < 0.001). Unlike GIC/amalgam, all of the base/composite restoration groups partly restored the strength of pulpotomized premolars. Although their fracture strengths were statistically similar, the fracture modes were more favorable in groups with SAFC or SARC bases than in groups with RMGIC or ZRGIC bases. The SFRC/composite specimens revealed advantages in both fracture strength and fracture mode compared to RMGIC/composite specimens.

PMID:33908878

Gen Dent. 2021 May-Jun;69(3):52-56.

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the effect of fiber post customization and laser application on the results of pull-out tests in endodontically treated teeth. Forty-eight bovine incisors were stored in aqueous 2% formaldehyde (pH 7.0) for 30 days. At the end of the storage period, the incisors were scraped with No. 11/12 periodontal curettes, rinsed with water and sodium bicarbonate, and stored in 0.9% saline solution for 7 days. Roots with similar shape and dimensions were selected and sectioned to a standard 17-mm length. Root canals were prepared and filled to a depth of 12 mm. The roots were divided into 4 groups (n = 12): 1, conventional fiber post and no laser application; 2, customized fiber post and no laser application; 3, conventional fiber post and laser application; and 4, customized fiber post and laser application. After removal of the obturation material for post space preparation, the canals were enlarged, and a laser beam was applied to the roots of teeth in groups 3 and 4 as an auxiliary disinfection procedure. After cementation of the posts, a pull-out test was performed using an axial tensile load at 0.5 mm/min in a universal testing machine. Analysis of variance and the Tukey test were used for statistical analysis of the results. The mean (SD) maximum tensile force was 10.18 (4.73) kgf in group 1, 38.89 (6.49) kgf in group 2, 27.74 (10.07) kgf in group 3, and 38.92 (6.89) kgf in group 4. These values were significantly higher in groups 2 and 4 than in group 1 (P < 0.05). The customization of fiber posts used for the restoration of pulpless teeth resulted in significantly (P < 0.05) greater pull-out test values, a thinner cement layer, and improved retention.

PMID:33908879

Pediatr Pulmonol. 2021 Apr 27. doi: 10.1002/ppul.25413. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in China, leading to worldwide morbidity and mortality, including depression and anxiety. As the pandemic spread throughout Italy, mental health concerns increased for people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF), who are at greater risk. The aim was to pilot a Telehealth Psychological Support Intervention for pwCF and caregivers to reduce stress, depression, and anxiety during the lockdown in Italy in March 2020.

METHODS: This intervention utilized cognitive behavioral skills (e.g., cognitive reframing). Participants included 16 pwCF and 14 parents, who completed four individual telehealth sessions with a psychologist. Stress ratings, Patient Health Questionnaire and General Anxiety Disorder, PHQ-8 and GAD-7, were completed, in addition to Feasibility and Satisfaction ratings.

RESULTS: Ratings of stress significantly decreased from pre- to post-testing for pwCF (paired t(14) = -4.06, p < .01) and parents (paired t = -5.2, p < .001). A large percentage of both groups scored in the clinical range for depression and anxiety at baseline (pwCF: depression/anxiety = 71%; parents: depression = 57%; anxiety = 79%); a large proportion (20%-40%) reported moderate to severe symptomatology. Significant reductions in depression for pwCF were found (pre: M = 8.0 to post: M = 4.7; paired t(14) = 2.8, p < .05) but not anxiety (pre: M = 6.9 to post: M = 5.6, t(14) = 1.2, p = NS-non-significant). Parental depression decreased for parents (pre: M = 6.4 to post: M = 5.1, t(14) = -2.5, p < .05), but not anxiety (pre: M = 8.1 to post: M = 7.9, t(14) = -0.2, p = NS). Feasibility and Satisfaction were positive.

CONCLUSION: This telehealth intervention yielded reductions in stress and depression for participants. Anxiety did not significantly decrease, possibly because COVID was ongoing. This feasible, satisfactory intervention was effective for improving mental health.

PMID:33905614 | DOI:10.1002/ppul.25413

J Perinat Med. 2021 Apr 27. doi: 10.1515/jpm-2021-0069. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To explore attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination among perinatal women.

METHODS: A nationwide online, cross-sectional survey was conducted in Qatar from 15th October 2020 to 15th November 2020 with voluntary participation open to all adult residents. Of the respondents, the population group for this study comprised the 341 pregnant and breastfeeding participants. The survey utilized a composite questionnaire incorporating a validated instrument to measure vaccine attitudes. The responses were recorded and analysed with statistical analysis being performed with SPSS software. Outcome measures included intentions towards vaccination and potential factors influencing vaccine hesitancy (contextual factors, vaccine specific concerns and group/individual influences).

RESULTS: Perinatal women exhibited a vaccine hesitancy rate of 25% towards COVID-19 immunisation. The main concerns of the group were of infection risks and main factor determining vaccine hesitancy was of vaccine specific safety concerns. Previous vaccine “acceptors” showed vaccine hesitancy to COVID-19 immunisation. A third of the group cited non availability of the vaccine as a concern.

CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 vaccine trials amongst pregnant and lactating women have lagged behind those for general populations and this has compounded concerns around safety in this special group. Perinatal women constitute a vulnerable group and play an important role in vaccination of wider family members. This study highlights the need for trials and data for COVID-19 vaccine in this group to be able to achieve appreciable numbers needed for herd immunity and ultimately control of the pandemic.

PMID:33905622 | DOI:10.1515/jpm-2021-0069

Nurse Educ. 2021 May-Jun 01;46(3):138-139. doi: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000000884.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:33905636 | DOI:10.1097/NNE.0000000000000884

Trop Med Int Health. 2021 Apr 27. doi: 10.1111/tmi.13595. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: With scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) children, treatment failure and switch to subsequent ART regimens is common. Our objectives were to evaluate switching practices and identify factors associated among children and adolescents failing their first-line ART.

METHODS: A facility-based survey study was conducted in a cohort of children living with HIV experiencing virological failure (VF) at the Essos Hospital Centre of Yaounde, Cameroon. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire and key variables were: (a) VF defined as viral load (VL) >1,000 copies/mL, (b) rate of switch to second-line, and (c) reason(s) for switching ART. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the association between study variables, and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: A total of 106 children experiencing VF were enrolled: median age was 8 [interquartile range (IQR): 3-15] years; 60.38% were boys and 39.62% were orphans of one/both parents. A proportion of 69% were at the WHO clinical stage III/IV and 13.21% had were experiencing immunological failure (CD4<200 cells/mm³ ). The median duration on first-line ART was 36 [IQR: 7-157] months prior to detecting VF, and the rate of switch to second-line ART was 70.75% (75/106). Delay in switching ART after a confirmed VF was 11 [IQR: 7-16] months. After switch to second-line ART, the median time to achieve undetectable VL (<40 copies/mL) was 14 [IQR: 9-21] months. Multivariate analysis revealed that only children with viral rebound (aOR=0.09; 95%CI=0.03-0.24) were less likely to be switched. Of note, being orphaned (aOR=0.35 (0.11-1.11), biological sex (aOR=1.77, IC=0.60-5.29), and immune status (aOR=0.19 IC=0.03-1.31, 0.09) had no significant effect on switching to second-line ART.

CONCLUSION: In this pediatric population experiencing VF after about 3-4 years from ART initiation, the majority are switched to second-line ART after a delay of almost one year. Delayed switch to second-line was driven essentially by viral rebound, underscoring the need for close viral monitoring.

PMID:33905593 | DOI:10.1111/tmi.13595

Med Phys. 2021 Apr 27. doi: 10.1002/mp.14902. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Despite the widespread availability of in-treatment room cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging, due to the lack of reliable segmentation methods, CBCT is only used for gross set up corrections in lung radiotherapies. Accurate and reliable auto-segmentation tools could potentiate volumetric response assessment and geometry-guided adaptive radiation therapies. Therefore, we developed a new deep learning CBCT lung tumor segmentation method.

METHODS: The key idea of our approach called cross modality educed distillation (CMEDL) is to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to guide a CBCT segmentation network training to extract more informative features during training. We accomplish this by training an end-to-end network comprised of unpaired domain adaptation (UDA) and cross-domain segmentation distillation networks (SDN) using unpaired CBCT and MRI datasets. UDA approach uses CBCT and MRI that are not aligned and may arise from different sets of patients. The UDA network synthesizes pseudo MRI from CBCT images. The SDN consists of teacher MRI and student CBCT segmentation networks. Feature distillation regularizes the student network to extract CBCT features that match the statistical distribution of MRI features extracted by the teacher network and obtain better differentiation of tumor from background. The UDA network was implemented with a cycleGAN improved with contextual losses separately on Unet and dense fully convolutional segmentation networks (DenseFCN). Performance comparisons were done against CBCT only using 2D and 3D networks. We also compared against an alternative framework that used UDA with MR segmentation network, whereby segmentation was done on the synthesized pseudo MRI representation. All networks were trained with 216 weekly CBCTs and 82 T2-weighted turbo spin echo MRI acquired from different patient cohorts. Validation was done on 20 weekly CBCTs from patients not used in training. Independent testing was done on 38 weekly CBCTs from patients not used in training or validation. Segmentation accuracy was measured using surface Dice similarity coefficient (SDSC) and Hausdroff distance at 95th percentile (HD95) metrics.

RESULTS: The CMEDL approach significantly improved (p < 0.001) the accuracy of both Unet (SDSC of 0.83 ± 0.08; HD95 of 7.69 ± 7.86mm) and DenseFCN (SDSC of 0.75 ± 0.13; HD95 of 11.42 ± 9.87mm) over CBCT only 2DUnet (SDSC of 0.69 ± 0.11; HD95 of 21.70 ± 16.34mm), 3D Unet (SDSC of 0.72 ± 0.20; HD95 15.01 ± 12.98mm), and DenseFCN (SDSC of 0.66 ± 0.15; HD95 of 22.15 ± 17.19mm) networks. The alternate framework using UDA with the MRI network was also more accurate than the CBCT only methods but less accurate the CMEDL approach. Limitation includes analysis on a modest sized dataset.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate feasibility of the introduced CMEDL approach to produce reasonably accurate lung cancer segmentation from CBCT images. Further validation on larger datasets is necessary for clinical translation.

PMID:33905558 | DOI:10.1002/mp.14902