Tag: pubmed

Rev Bras Ginecol Obstet. 2022 Feb 9. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1742404. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the historical clinical outcomes of children with myelomeningocele (MMC) meeting the criteria for fetal surgery, but who underwent postnatal primary repair.

METHODS: Data from children undergoing postnatal MMC repair between January 1995 and January 2015 were collected from the Neurosurgery Outpatient Clinic’s medical records. Children were included if they had ≥ 1 year of postoperative follow-up and met the criteria for fetal surgery. The children’s data were then stratified according to whether they received a shunt or not. The primary outcome was mortality, and secondary outcomes were educational delays, hospitalization, recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), and renal failure.

RESULTS: Over the 20-year period, 231 children with MMC were followed up. Based on clinical data recorded at the time of birth, 165 (71.4%) qualify of fetal surgery. Of the 165 patients, 136 (82.4%) underwent shunt placement. The mortality rate was 5.1% in the group with shunt and 0% in the group without, relative risk (RR) 3.28 (95% confidence interval, 95% CI, 0.19-55.9). The statistically significant RRs for adverse outcomes in the shunted group were 1.86 (95% CI, 1.01-3.44) for UTI, 30 (95% CI, 1.01-537) for renal failure, and 1.77 (95% CI, 1.09-2.87) for hospitalizations.

CONCLUSION: Children with MMC qualifying for fetal surgery who underwent shunt placement were more likely to have recurrent UTIs, develop renal failure, and be hospitalized. Since approximately half of the shunt procedures could be avoided by fetal surgery, there is a clinical benefit and a possible financial benefit to the implementation of this technology in our setting.

PMID:35139573 | DOI:10.1055/s-0042-1742404

Ophthalmic Res. 2022 Feb 9. doi: 10.1159/000522219. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is known to impact the structure and function of the ocular vascular system and is an established risk factor for many eye diseases. This study aimed to detect the blood flow in the optic disc and macula in patients with essential hypertension and to analyze its correlation with serum cystatin C (Cys-C) levels.

METHODS: This single center, cross-sectional study included 100 patients with primary hypertension without hypertensive retinopathy, who were divided into an experimental group (50 cases, 50 eyes) with elevated serum Cys-C levels and a control group (50 cases, 50 eyes) with normal serum Cys-C . The optic disc and macular vessel density (VD) and vascular perfusion density (PD) were assessed using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Data such as the area, perimeter, and circularity of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) were analyzed.

RESULTS: There were statistically significant between-group differences in the VD and PD of the optic disc (P<0.05). Spearman correlation analysis of related indicators revealed that serum Cys-C was positively correlated with creatinine, uric acid, and FAZ circularity (P<0.05). Furthermore, serum Cys-C was negatively correlated with optic disc VD and PD in some regions(P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: In patients with essential hypertension, serum Cys-C is negatively correlated with VD and PD in the inner layer of the optic disc (zone 10).

PMID:35139514 | DOI:10.1159/000522219

Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2022 Jan 23;216:106650. doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2022.106650. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Retinal vessels provide valuable information when diagnosing or monitoring various diseases affecting the retina and disorders affecting the cardiovascular or central nervous systems. Automated retinal vessel segmentation can assist clinicians and researchers when interpreting retinal images. As there are differences in both the structure and function of retinal arteries and veins, separating these two vessel types is essential. As manual segmentation of retinal images is impractical, an accurate automated method is required.

METHODS: In this paper, we propose a convolutional neural network based on serially connected U-nets that simultaneously segment the retinal vessels and classify them as arteries or veins. Detailed ablation experiments are performed to understand how the major components contribute to the overall system’s performance. The proposed method is trained and tested on the public DRIVE and HRF datasets and a proprietary dataset.

RESULTS: The proposed convolutional neural network achieves an F₁ score of 0.829 for vessel segmentation on the DRIVE dataset and an F₁ score of 0.814 on the HRF dataset, consistent with the state-of-the-art methods on the former and outperforming the state-of-the-art on the latter. On the task of classifying the vessels into arteries and veins, the method achieves an F₁ score of 0.952 for the DRIVE dataset exceeding the state-of-the-art performance. On the HRF dataset, the method achieves an F₁ score of 0.966, which is consistent with the state-of-the-art.

CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method demonstrates competitive performance on both vessel segmentation and artery vein classification compared with state-of-the-art methods. The method outperforms human experts on the DRIVE dataset when classifying retinal images into arteries, veins, and background simultaneously. The method segments the vasculature on the proprietary dataset and classifies the retinal vessels accurately, even on challenging pathological images. The ablation experiments which utilize repeated runs for each configuration provide statistical evidence for the appropriateness of the proposed solution. Connecting several simple U-nets significantly improved artery vein classification performance. The proposed way of serially connecting base networks is not limited to the proposed base network or segmenting the retinal vessels and could be applied to other tasks.

PMID:35139461 | DOI:10.1016/j.cmpb.2022.106650

Ophthalmologica. 2022 Feb 9. doi: 10.1159/000522263. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Macular edema can be a cause of visual loss in eyes undergoing vitrectomy with epiretinal membrane(ERM) peeling.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of combined vitrectomy with intravitreal corticosteroid injection for ERM.

METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature review by searching PubMed, Embase, and Medline up to December 2020 for studies that evaluated the effect of intravitreal corticosteroid injection during vitrectomy for ERM. Follow-up data on postoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular thickness (CMT) were collected and pooled using the standard mean deviation (SMD) with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Heterogeneity was statistically quantified using I2 statistics, and a meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model.

RESULTS: Eight studies provided data on a total sample of 443 eyes. The meta-analysis revealed that concomitant intravitreal corticosteroid administration during vitrectomy contributed to a significant reduction in CMT than vitrectomy alone at 3 months after operation (pooled SMD = -0.353; 95% CI, -0.594 to -0.111; p = 0.004). However, between the two groups, no significant difference was found in CMT reduction at 1 and 6 months after operation and in postoperative BCVA improvement at 1, 3, and 6 months after operation.

CONCLUSION: Combined treatment with vitrectomy and intravitreal corticosteroid injection may accelerate CMT reduction 3 months after ERM surgery. However, it did not result in a significant change in CMT and BCVA compared with vitrectomy alone at the end of follow-up.

PMID:35139513 | DOI:10.1159/000522263

Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2022 Feb 1;216:106677. doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2022.106677. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a device that measures the amount of light absorbed by the blood vessel, blood, and tissues, which can, in turn, translate into various measurements such as the variation in blood flow volume, heart rate variability, blood pressure, etc. Hence, PPG signals can produce a wide variety of biological information that can be useful for the detection and diagnosis of various health problems. In this review, we are interested in the possible health disorders that can be detected using PPG signals.

METHODS: We applied PRISMA guidelines to systematically search various journal databases and identified 43 PPG studies that fit the criteria of this review.

RESULTS: Twenty-five health issues were identified from these studies that were classified into six categories: cardiac, blood pressure, sleep health, mental health, diabetes, and miscellaneous. Various routes were employed in these PPG studies to perform the diagnosis: machine learning, deep learning, and statistical routes. The studies were reviewed and summarized.

CONCLUSIONS: We identified limitations such as poor standardization of sampling frequencies and lack of publicly available PPG databases. We urge that future work should consider creating more publicly available databases so that a wide spectrum of health problems can be covered. We also want to promote the use of PPG signals as a potential precision medicine tool in both ambulatory and hospital settings.

PMID:35139459 | DOI:10.1016/j.cmpb.2022.106677

Microb Pathog. 2022 Feb 6:105439. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2022.105439. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Houseflies (Musca domestica) are important mechanical vectors for the transmission of pathogenic microorganisms. In this study, 129 houseflies (69 males and 60 females) were collected from 10 different environmental sources and a laboratory population was used. The surface microbiota of houseflies was identified by Next-Generation Sequencing. Staphylococci from the surfaces of houseflies were selectively isolated and their virulence genes, antibiotic susceptibilities, biofilm formation, and clonal relatedness were determined. Metagenomic analysis results demonstrated that Staphylococcus, Bacillus, and Enterococcus were mostly present on the surface of houseflies at the genus level. Additionally, the isolated 32 staphylococcal strains were identified as Staphylococcus sciuri (n = 11), S. saprophyticus (n = 9), S. arlettae (n = 6), S. xylosus (n = 4), S. epidermidis (n = 1) and S. gallinarum (n = 1). tetK, tetM, tetL, ermC, msrAB, and aad6 genes were found to carry by some of the staphylococcal strains. The strains were mostly resistant to oxacillin, penicillin, and erythromycin and three strains were multi-drug resistant. There was a statistical difference between housefly collection places and antibiotic resistance of isolated staphylococci to penicillin G, gentamicin, and erythromycin (p < 0.05). Biofilm test showed that 17 strains were strong biofilm formers, and it plays important role in the transmission of these bacteria on the surface of houseflies. Staphylococcal strains showed extracellular proteolytic and lipolytic activity in 31 and 12 strains, respectively. Closely related species were found in PFGE analysis from different environmental sources. By this study, surface microbiota and carriage of pathogenic staphylococci on the surfaces of houseflies and their virulence properties were elucidated.

PMID:35139420 | DOI:10.1016/j.micpath.2022.105439

Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2022 Jan 29;154:111058. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2022.111058. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Within the UK, the majority of paediatric tracheostomy care is delivered by parents and carers at home. To facilitate this, extensive in-hospital training is delivered by a variety of health care professionals. Our goal was to assess carer perceptions of this process and highlight areas in which we can further improve our service and the training for other hospital providers of paediatric tracheostomy care.

METHODS: A mixed method approach was adopted. In Phase I, qualitative data from five semi-structured interviews with carers of children with a tracheostomy were thematically analysed and subsequently used to develop a questionnaire. In Phase II, the piloted questionnaire was distributed via telephone, email or post to all eligible caregivers who had been tracheostomy trained at GOSH in the last three years (n = 92). Qualitative and quantitative data were analysed using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics respectively.

RESULTS: Thirty-five completed questionnaires were received (38% response rate). Overall participants were highly satisfied with the training provided (mean score 8.42 on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)). Carer identified areas requiring improvement were caregiver education pre-tracheostomy; emergency and complication training; supervision and training post hospital discharge; training schedule; emotional support; and support from community healthcare teams. These findings led to multiple subsequent interventions to further improve the carer training programme including training videos, psychology provision on request and increased community training.

CONCLUSION: Although the evaluation of the service revealed high participant satisfaction in home carer training overall, in-depth analysis of caregivers’ experiences indicated common themes in the tracheostomy training service where further support would be beneficial. A carer-centred rather than health professional focus on training needs will allow future attention to be directed to areas of need identified by carers themselves as important to improve the tracheostomy training programme.

PMID:35139446 | DOI:10.1016/j.ijporl.2022.111058

J Dent. 2022 Feb 6:104049. doi: 10.1016/j.jdent.2022.104049. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this RCT was to compare the caries preventive efficacy and the slowing down of previous caries lesions of toothpastes containing fluoride biomimetic hydroxyapatite (HA) complex compared to sodium monofluorophosphate fluoridated toothpastes in Italian schoolchildren. To validate this hypothesis a triple-blind randomized clinical trial was designed.

METHODS: In total 610 children (4-5 and 6-7 years) were enrolled. Four toothpastes, two containing fluoride-substituted hydroxyapatite (HAF) (1000 and 1450 ppmF) and magnesium-, strontium-, carbonate-substituted hydroxyapatite, in a chitosan matrix and two Mono fluoridated toothpastes (1000 and 1450 ppmF) were randomly administered during 24 months to two groups with younger children (G_young) and to two groups with older children (G_old), those containing 1450 ppmF. ICDAS was used to score lesions as initial (up to score 2), moderate (scores 3-4) and severe (scores 5-6). The children were instructed to brush for two minutes three times/day. Caries examination was repeated at 12 and 24 months. The efficacy of the treatment was assessed by calculating the reduction in Risk Ratio (RR) and the number needed to treat (NNT). Results; Overall, 518 patients (G_young=268; G_old=250) concluded the trial. The drop-rate was 11.84% for G_young and 17.22% for G_old. The caries increment at 24-month evaluation was statistically lower in the primary dentition in the HAF arms compared to the traditional fluoridated arms (0.18 vs 0.27 p=0.04 in G_young and 0.16 vs 0.30 p=0.01 in G_old for severe lesions). In the permanent dentition (G_old), caries increase was also statistically lower in the HAF arm, both for initial and severe lesions (0.09 vs 0.17 p=0.02 and 0.18 vs 0.28 p=0.01, respectively). In primary dentition, children receiving HAF Toothpaste had a RR of 39% (G_young) and 38% (G_old), compared to children receiving traditional Toothpastes. The RR in the permanent dentition was 29% in children treated with HAF toothpaste. Conclusions; The use of toothpastes containing biomimetic hydroxyapatite and fluoride reduces caries increment in children over a period of 2 years more than traditional fluoridated toothpastes.

PMID:35139410 | DOI:10.1016/j.jdent.2022.104049

Transplant Cell Ther. 2022 Feb 6:S2666-6367(22)00058-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jtct.2022.02.002. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary chronic graft versus host disease (p-cGvHD) is a highly morbid, late complication of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The 2014 NIH cGvHD consensus criteria require a tissue biopsy or a drop in spirometry (with other features) to establish the diagnosis of p-cGvHD. Unfortunately, children are often incapable of performing spirometry, which can delay the diagnosis of this condition. Multiple breath washout testing (MBW) can detect abnormal pulmonary physiology in older children and adults after HSCT, but its feasibility and utility have not been assessed in younger children and in those who cannot perform spirometry.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we assess the feasibility and sensitivity of MBW to detect p-cGvHD in children as young as 3 years of age following HSCT STUDY DESIGN: : We performed a cross sectional analysis of children age 3 to 18 years, between 100 days and 5 years after allogenic HSCT. Participants were recruited from the HSCT population at BC Children’s Hospital (Vancouver, Canada). All participants attempted nitrogen MBW and children age 6 years and over attempted spirometry. Non-parametric statistical techniques were employed; descriptive statistics used median (interquartile range [IQR]) and group medians were compared using Wilcoxon rank-sum test RESULTS: : Twenty-six children, median age 11.0 (range 3.6-18.5) years, were recruited a median of 26.4 (IQR 15.7, 51.8) months after HSCT. Six of the 26 children (23%) had a clinical diagnosis of p-cGvHD. MBW was successful in all (26/26, 100%) participants. The lung clearance index (LCI; the primary outcome of MBW) was higher in those with a history of p-cGvHD (median 11.8 [IQR 9.6, 18.7]) than in those with no history of cGvHD (median 7.7 [IQR 7.1, 8.0]; p=0.001) or a history of extra-pulmonary cGvHD (median 7.5 [IQR 6.9, 7.6], p=0.007). A threshold LCI=9 resulted in a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 90% for the correct identification of clinically diagnosed p-cGvHD using MBW (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve is 0.97 [95%CI 0.80, 0.99]) Spirometry was successful in most (17/26, 65%) participants. Similar to LCI, FEV1/FVC could distinguish between p-cGvHD and no cGvHD (p=0.02) and extrapulmonary cGvHD (p=0.01). FEV1 alone could not distinguish between either of these groups (p=0.87, p=0.24 respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: MBW is feasible in young children after HSCT and in those who cannot perform spirometry. LCI has high discriminative power for correctly identifying p-cGvHD but these preliminary results require confirmation in a larger validation cohort.

PMID:35139399 | DOI:10.1016/j.jtct.2022.02.002

Am J Hum Genet. 2022 Feb 3:S0002-9297(22)00009-X. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.01.009. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have revolutionized human genetics, allowing researchers to identify thousands of disease-related genes and possible drug targets. However, case-control status does not account for the fact that not all controls may have lived through their period of risk for the disorder of interest. This can be quantified by examining the age-of-onset distribution and the age of the controls or the age of onset for cases. The age-of-onset distribution may also depend on information such as sex and birth year. In addition, family history is not routinely included in the assessment of control status. Here, we present LT-FH++, an extension of the liability threshold model conditioned on family history (LT-FH), which jointly accounts for age of onset and sex as well as family history. Using simulations, we show that, when family history and the age-of-onset distribution are available, the proposed approach yields statistically significant power gains over LT-FH and large power gains over genome-wide association study by proxy (GWAX). We applied our method to four psychiatric disorders available in the iPSYCH data and to mortality in the UK Biobank and found 20 genome-wide significant associations with LT-FH++, compared to ten for LT-FH and eight for a standard case-control GWAS. As more genetic data with linked electronic health records become available to researchers, we expect methods that account for additional health information, such as LT-FH++, to become even more beneficial.

PMID:35139346 | DOI:10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.01.009