Tag: pubmed

Virulence. 2021 Oct 13. doi: 10.1080/21505594.2021.1989252. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Streptococcus agalactiae glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), encoded by gapC, is a glycolytic enzyme that is associated with virulence and immune-mediated protection. However, the role of GAPDH in cellular cytokine responses to S. agalactiae, bacterial phagocytosis and colonization of the female reproductive tract, a central host niche, is unknown. We expressed and studied purified recombinant GAPDH (rGAPDH) of S. agalactiae in cytokine elicitation assays with human monocyte-derived macrophage, epithelial cell, and polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) co-culture infection models. We also generated a S. agalactiae mutant that over-expresses GAPDH (oeGAPDH) from gapC using a constitutively active promoter, and analysed the mutant in murine macrophage antibiotic protection assays and in virulence assays in vivo, using a colonization model that is based on experimental infection of the reproductive tract in female mice. Human cell co-cultures produced interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and IL-10 within 24 h of exposure to rGAPDH. PMNs were required for several of these cytokine responses. However, over-expression of GAPDH in S. agalactiae did not significantly affect measures of phagocytic uptake compared to an empty vector control. In contrast, oeGAPDH-S. agalactiae showed a small but statistically significant attenuation for persistence in the reproductive tract of female mice during the chronic phase of infection (10-28 days post-inoculation), relative to the vector control. We conclude that S. agalactiae GAPDH elicits production of multiple cytokines from human cells, and over-expression of GAPDH renders the bacterium more susceptible to host clearance in the female reproductive tract.

PMID:34643172 | DOI:10.1080/21505594.2021.1989252

Rev Esp Salud Publica. 2021 Oct 13;95:e202110132.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Low back pain in childhood and adolescence is considered a predictor of low back pain in adulthood. Sedentary lifestyle is associated with low back pain. This study evaluated the relationship between low back pain and screen time in adolescents 10 to 15 years.

METHODS: Cross-sectional study involving schoolchildren 10 and 15 years from school centers of the urban area in Talavera de la Reina. Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between low back pain and time spent watching. A logistic regression adjusted for confounding variables was performed and represented by the Odds Ratio. Statistical significance was considered for p<0.05.

RESULTS: A total of 1,278 surveys were completed. 31% of schoolchildren reported low back pain in the last 3 months. Statistically significant differences were observed between low back pain with respect to sex and sleep time. Moreover, differences were noticed in the proportion of school-children who report low back pain during the week and use screens more than 2 hours compared to those who report using screens less than 2 hours. These differences were not observed on weekends.

CONCLUSIONS: Although adolescents spend more time in front of screens on weekends, the proportion of adolescents who report low back pain is higher during the week.

PMID:34643186

Int J Neurosci. 2021 Oct 13:1-13. doi: 10.1080/00207454.2021.1986492. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Background: Despite the increase in ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgeries performed for children with hydrocephalus, the potential complications and survival of patients after the procedure remains the major challenge for both clinical and public health aspects. This study intends to assess the survival status and scrutinize the predictive factors of mortality among children after a ventriculoperitoneal shunt.Methods: A retrospective cohort study was employed by reviewing charts of 337 systematically selected children who have undergone a ventriculoperitoneal shunt from 2016 to 2018 in Addis Ababa. The extraction tool was used for data collection, Epi-data version 4.4.2 for data entry, and Stata version-14 for cleaning and analysis. Kaplan-Meier curve, log-rank test, and life table were used to describe the data. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used for analysis. Any variable at p < 0.25 in the bi-variable analysis was fitted to multivariate analysis, and significance was declared at p ≤ 0.05. Then, AHR with 95% CI was used to report the association and test the statistical significance. Finally, texts and tables were used to present the results.Results and Conclusion: The incidence rate of mortality was 58.4 per 1000 child-months of observation with a median survival time of 12 months (95%CI: 9.04-14.96). Communicative hydrocephalus (AHR: 1.99, 95% CI: 1.18-3.36), post-traumatic brain injury (AHR: 7.43, 95% CI: 3.21-16.88), emergency surgery (AHR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.17-3.13) as well as revised shunt procedure (AHR: 8.01, 95% CI: 6.12-13.43) were independent predictors of death. Besides, sunset eye (ARH: 2.01; 95% CI: 1.17-3.47), rapidly increased head size (ARH: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.14-3.37), prolonged antibiotics treatment (AHR: 2.46, 95% CI: 1.82-7.37), and gram-negative infections (AHR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.60-12.64) were also significantly associated. Hence, health professionals ought to give special attention to patients with identified predictors.

PMID:34643151 | DOI:10.1080/00207454.2021.1986492

Health Psychol Rev. 2021 Oct 13:1-67. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2021.1987953. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Physical activity behaviour displays temporal variability, and is influenced by a range of dynamic psychological processes (e.g., affect) and shaped by various co-occurring events (e.g., social/environmental factors, interpersonal dynamics). Yet, most physical activity research tends not to examine the dynamic psychological processes implicated in adopting and maintaining physical activity. Intensive longitudinal methods (ILM) represent one particularly salient means of studying the complex psychological dynamics that underlie and result from physical activity behaviour. With the increased recent interest in using intensive longitudinal data to understand specific dynamic psychological processes, the field of exercise and health psychology is well-positioned to draw from state-of-the-art measurement and statistical approaches that have been developed and operationalized in other fields of enquiry. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of some of the fundamental dynamic measurement and modelling approaches applicable to the study of physical activity behaviour change, as well as the dynamic psychological processes that contribute to such change.

PMID:34643154 | DOI:10.1080/17437199.2021.1987953

Int J Artif Organs. 2021 Oct 13:3913988211051395. doi: 10.1177/03913988211051395. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This was a pilot study to determine the utility of daily lung ultrasound (LUS) in patients requiring veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

DESIGN: This was a prospective, observational study.

SETTING: The study took place in the intensive care unit at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, UK.

PARTICIPANTS: We recruited adult patients receiving VV-ECMO for ARDS.

INTERVENTIONS: All patients received a lung computed tomography (CT) scan and LUS on admission. Bedside chest radiography (CXR) and LUS were done on a daily basis until patients were decannulated.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Daily LUS aeration scores were calculated according to the appearance of four defined patterns. An independent radiologist calculated corresponding scores for CT and CXR, retrospectively. These were checked for correlation with LUS aeration scores. There were statistically significant correlations between LUS versus CT (r = 0.868, p = 0.002) and LUS versus CXR (r = 0.498, p = 0.018) with good agreement and no evidence of proportional bias. LUS was able to detect 13.5% of pleural effusions and 54.2% of pneumothorax that were not picked up on CXR.In most of the patients who were weaned off VV-ECMO, a progressive reduction of LUS aeration scores corresponding to lung re-aeration was observed.

CONCLUSIONS: LUS correlated with findings on CT and CXR for quantifying lung aeration and the clinical presentation of patients. LUS also picked up more pleural effusions and pneumothorax than CXR. Together with traditional imaging techniques, the routine use of LUS should be considered for this patient group.

PMID:34643145 | DOI:10.1177/03913988211051395

OTJR (Thorofare N J). 2021 Oct 13:15394492211050634. doi: 10.1177/15394492211050634. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The rehabilitation strategies used by occupational therapy driver assessors with older drivers with age-related decline or health conditions are not well understood. The objective of the study was to describe driver rehabilitation interventions used by Australian driver assessors, identify factors that guide rehabilitation choices, and identify barriers and facilitators encountered. An online survey was emailed to 300 driver assessors. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize and to rank order participant responses. A total of 148 respondents selected from a combined total of 655 interventions. The four most common rehabilitation methods were (a) graded driving (18%, n = 118), (b) practicing specific maneuvers (17.7%, n = 116), (c) using a modified vehicle (16.9%, n = 111), and (d) graded driving in local areas only (15.1%, n = 99). The most common barrier limiting driver rehabilitation was cost (M = 2.92, SD = 1.24). The most frequently used driver rehabilitation method was on-road training. Practice can be enhanced by collating and evaluating resources, and ensuring effective interventions are more accessible.

PMID:34643144 | DOI:10.1177/15394492211050634

Appl Spectrosc. 2021 Oct 13:37028211050663. doi: 10.1177/00037028211050663. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Tumor detection supported by Raman spectroscopy is becoming increasingly popular, yet the relevance of spectral variation and feature selection retains unclear. Here we determined the correlation and difference between spectral characteristic and feature evaluation for leukocytes and tumor cells. Some peaks were found to show noticeable spectral differences, and their intensity distributions were investigated, finding using Log-Normal distribution to describe Raman intensity pattern may be more appropriate. Further the importance of all Raman features was calculated, where some other peak features occupied the top status. By surveying the intensity variation and feature evaluation for those peaks, we concluded the peak with the highest importance does not correspond to the peak location with the most noticeable intensity difference in spectra. Moreover, the peak-intensity-ratio of I₁₅₁₇/I₇₁₉ associated with protein to nucleic acid level presented the maximum separation, thus it can be recognized as a special indicator to develop an alternative cancer detection. It is inspiring to introduce advanced statistical models into bio-spectroscopic fields but those intrinsic spectral variations rather than classification performance should be valued. Our explorations can provide possibilities to reveal the essences within tumor carcinogenesis based on Raman spectroscopy, further overwhelming the obstacles during the translation into clinical applications.

PMID:34643137 | DOI:10.1177/00037028211050663

Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2021 Oct 13. doi: 10.1080/14737140.2021.1991317. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

IntroductionFor the clinical treatment of cancer patients, coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) can cause serious immune-related problems. Cancer patients, who experience immunosuppression due to the pathogenesis and severity of disease, may become more aggressive due to multiple factors such as age, comorbidities, and immunosuppression. In this pandemic era, COVID-19 causes lymphopenia, cancer cell awakening, inflammatory diseases, and a cytokine storm that worsens disease-related morbidity and prognosis.Areas coveredWe discuss all the risk factors of COVID-19 associated with cancer patients and propose new strategies to use antiviral and anticancer drugs for therapeutic purposes. We bring new drugs, cancers and COVID-19 treatment strategies together to address the immune system challenges face by oncologists.Expert opinionThe chronic inflammatory microenvironment caused by COVID-19 awakens dormant cancer cells through inflammation and autoimmune activation. Drug-related strategies to ensure that clinical treatment can reduce the susceptibility of cancer patients to COVID-19, and possible counter-measures to minimize the harm caused by the COVID-19 have been outlined. The response to the pandemic and recovery has been elaborated which can provide information for long-term cancer treatment and speed up the optimization process.

PMID:34643141 | DOI:10.1080/14737140.2021.1991317

Pediatr Int. 2021 Oct 13. doi: 10.1111/ped.15024. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Many articles recommend early surgery for ovarian hernia to avoid the risk of ovarian torsion. However, while ovarian hernia is known to undergo spontaneous reduction (SR) in early infancy, few reports have described the timing of SR. We therefore investigated the clinical features of SR for ovarian hernia in early infancy.

METHODS: Between 2008 and 2018, a total of 610 girls were diagnosed with inguinal hernia. We focused on infants who had an ovarian hernia onset within three months of age. We retrospectively reviewed the age at the onset of hernia and age at SR. The data were compared statistically using the Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTS: Sixty-one infants with inguinal hernia were included in this study. Thirty-nine patients (64%) had ovarian hernia. The mean age at the onset of hernia was 44 ±17 days of age. Thirty cases underwent SR (77%). A Kaplan Mayer analysis showed that 75% of ovarian hernias underwent SR by 6 months of age. There were no cases of ovarian torsion.

CONCLUSIONS: Since most cases of ovarian hernia underwent SR, patients with ovarian hernia in early infancy might be treated by elective surgery after six months of age.

PMID:34643013 | DOI:10.1111/ped.15024

Sci Rep. 2021 Oct 12;11(1):20252. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-99455-x.

ABSTRACT

The transverse momentum spectra of light nuclei (deuteron, triton and helion) produced in various centrality intervals in Gold-Gold (Au-Au), Lead-Lead (Pb-Pb) and proton-Lead (p-Pb) collisions, as well as in inelastic (INEL) proton-proton (p-p) collisions are analyzed by the blast wave model with Boltzmann Gibbs statistics. The model results are nearly in agreement with the experimental data measured by STAR and ALICE Collaborations in special transverse momentum ranges. We extracted the bulk properties in terms of kinetic freezeout temperature, transverse flow velocity and freezeout volume. It is observed that deuteron and anti-deuteron freezeout later than triton and helion as well as their anti-particles due to its smaller mass, while helion and triton, and anti-helion and anti-triton freezeout at the same time due to isospin symmetry at higher energies. It is also observed that light nuclei freezeout earlier than their anti-nuclei due to the large coalescence of nucleons for light nuclei compared to their anti-nuclei. The kinetic freezeout temperature, transverse flow velocity and kinetic freezeout volume decrease from central to peripheral collisions. Furthermore, the transverse flow velocity depends on mass of the particle which decreases with increasing the mass of the particle.

PMID:34642381 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-99455-x