Tag: statistics

Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 9;13(1):2340. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-29485-0.

ABSTRACT

In this article, the flow of ternary nanofluid is analysed past a stretching sheet subjected to Thomson and Troian slip condition along with the temperature jump. The ternary nanofluid is formed by suspending three different types of nanoparticles namely [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] into water which acts as a base fluid and leads to the motion of nanoparticles. The high thermal conductivity and chemical stability of silver was the main cause for its suspension as the third nanoparticle into the hybrid nanofluid [Formula: see text]. Thus, forming the ternary nanofluid [Formula: see text]. The sheet is assumed to be vertically stretching where the gravitational force will have its impact in the form of free convection. Furthermore, the presence of radiation and heat source/sink is assumed so that the energy equation thus formed will be similar to most of the real life applications. The assumption mentioned here leads to the mathematical model framed using partial differential equations (PDE) which are further transformed to ordinary differential equations (ODE) using suitable similarity transformations. Thus, obtained system of equations is solved by incorporating the RKF-45 numerical technique. The results indicated that the increase in the suspension of silver nanoparticles enhanced the temperature and due to density, the velocity of the flow is reduced. The slip in the velocity decreased the flow speed while the temperature of the nanofluid was observed to be increasing.

PMID:36759730 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-29485-0

Br J Cancer. 2023 Feb 9. doi: 10.1038/s41416-023-02187-0. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In observational studies, the risk of immortal-time bias (ITB) increases with the likelihood of early death, itself increasing with age. We investigated how age impacts the magnitude of ITB when estimating the effect of surgery on 1-year overall survival (OS) in patients with Stage IV colon cancer aged 50-74 and 75-84 in England.

METHODS: Using simulations, we compared estimates from a time-fixed exposure model to three statistical methods addressing ITB: time-varying exposure, delayed entry and landmark methods. We then estimated the effect of surgery on OS using a population-based cohort of patients from the CORECT-R resource and conducted the analysis using the emulated target trial framework.

RESULTS: In simulations, the magnitude of ITB was larger among older patients when their probability of early death increased or treatment was delayed. The bias was corrected using the methods addressing ITB. When applied to CORECT-R data, these methods yielded a smaller effect of surgery than the time-fixed exposure approach but effects were similar in both age groups.

CONCLUSION: ITB must be addressed in all longitudinal studies, particularly, when investigating the effect of exposure on an outcome in different groups of people (e.g., age groups) with different distributions of exposure and outcomes.

PMID:36759725 | DOI:10.1038/s41416-023-02187-0

Br J Cancer. 2023 Feb 9. doi: 10.1038/s41416-023-02164-7. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Iron is an essential micronutrient with differing intake patterns and metabolism between men and women. Epidemiologic evidence on the association of dietary iron and its heme and non-heme components with colorectal cancer (CRC) development is inconclusive.

METHODS: We examined baseline dietary questionnaire-assessed intakes of total, heme, and non-heme iron and CRC risk in the EPIC cohort. Sex-specific multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed using Cox regression. We modelled substitution of a 1 mg/day of heme iron intake with non-heme iron using the leave one-out method.

RESULTS: Of 450,105 participants (318,680 women) followed for 14.2 ± 4.0 years, 6162 (3511 women) developed CRC. In men, total iron intake was not associated with CRC risk (highest vs. lowest quintile, HR_Q5vs.Q1:0.88; 95%CI:0.73, 1.06). An inverse association was observed for non-heme iron (HR_Q5vs.Q1:0.80, 95%CI:0.67, 0.96) whereas heme iron showed a non-significant association (HR_Q5vs.Q1:1.10; 95%CI:0.96, 1.27). In women, CRC risk was not associated with intakes of total (HR_Q5vs.Q1:1.11, 95%CI:0.94, 1.31), heme (HR_Q5vs.Q1:0.95; 95%CI:0.84, 1.07) or non-heme iron (HR_Q5vs.Q1:1.03, 95%CI:0.88, 1.20). Substitution of heme with non-heme iron demonstrated lower CRC risk in men (HR:0.94; 95%CI: 0.89, 0.99).

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest potential sex-specific CRC risk associations for higher iron consumption that may differ by dietary sources.

PMID:36759722 | DOI:10.1038/s41416-023-02164-7

Int J Nurs Pract. 2023 Feb 9:e13140. doi: 10.1111/ijn.13140. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for cognitive impairment in advanced cancer patients and to develop predictive models based on these risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Cancer-related cognitive impairment seriously affects the quality of life of advanced cancer patients. However, neural network models of cognitive impairment in patients with advanced cancer have not yet been identified.

DESIGN: A cross-sectional design was used.

METHODS: This study collected 494 questionnaires between January and June 2022. Statistically significant clinical indicators were selected by univariate analysis, and the artificial neural network model and logistic regression model were used for multivariate analysis. The predicted value of the model was estimated using the area under the subject’s working characteristic curve.

RESULT: The artificial neural network and the logistic regression models suggested that cancer course, anxiety and age were the major risk factors for cognitive impairment in advanced cancer patients. All the indexes of artificial neural network model constructed in this study are better than those of the logistic model.

CONCLUSION: The artificial neural network model can better predict the risk factors of cognitive impairment in patients with advanced cancer. Better prediction will enable nurses and other healthcare professionals to provide better targeted and timely support.

PMID:36759715 | DOI:10.1111/ijn.13140

Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 9;13(1):2294. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-29556-2.

ABSTRACT

Infections with enteric pathogens have a high mortality and morbidity burden, as well as significant social and economic costs. Poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions are the leading risk factors for enteric infections, and prevention in low-income countries is still primarily focused on initiatives to improve access to improved WASH facilities. Rural communities in developing countries, on the other hand, have limited access to improved WASH services, which may result in a high burden of enteric infections. Limited information also exists about the prevalence of enteric infections and management practices among rural communities. Accordingly, this study was conducted to assess enteric infections and management practices among communities in a rural setting of northwest Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1190 randomly selected households in a rural setting of northwest Ethiopia. Data were collected using structured and pretested interviewers-administered questionnaire and spot-check observations. We used self-reports and medication history audit to assess the occurrence of enteric infections among one or more of the family members in the rural households. Multivariable binary logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with enteric infections. Statistically significant association was declared on the basis of adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and p value < 0.05. Out of a total of 1190 households, 17.4% (95% CI: 15.1, 19.7%) of the households reported that one or more of the family members acquired one or more enteric infections in 12 months period prior to the survey and 470 of 6089 (7.7%) surveyed individuals had one or more enteric infections. The common enteric infections reported at household-level were diarrhea (8.2%), amoebiasis (4.1%), and ascariasis (3.9%). Visiting healthcare facilities (71.7%), taking medications without prescriptions (21.1%), and herbal medicine (4.5%) are the common disease management practices among rural households in the studied region. The occurrence of one or more enteric infections among one or more of the family members in rural households in 12 months period prior to the survey was statistically associated with presence of livestock (AOR: 2.24, 95% CI:1.06, 4.75) and households headed by uneducated mothers (AOR: 1.62, 95% CI: (1.18, 2.23). About one-fifth of the rural households in the studied region reported that one or more of the family members had one or more enteric infections. Households in the study area might acquire enteric infections from different risk factors, mainly poor WASH conditions and insufficient separation of animals including their feces from human domestic environments. It is therefore important to implement community-level interventions such as utilization of improved latrine, protecting water sources from contamination, source-based water treatment, containment of domestic animals including their waste, community-driven sanitation, and community health champion.

PMID:36759710 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-29556-2

Eye (Lond). 2023 Feb 9. doi: 10.1038/s41433-023-02442-x. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Anticholinergic drugs are widely prescribed for many medical conditions. However, data on the association of anticholinergic burden with dry eye disease (DED) are limited. In this study, we aimed to examine the relationship between anticholinergic burden and DED.

METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we evaluated a total of 120 participants who underwent ophthalmological examination between February 2021 and February 2022. The drugs used by the patients in the last 2 months were recorded from the institute’s electronic data system. Anticholinergic burden was assessed using the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale.

RESULTS: The mean age of those patients was 59.0 ± 11.6 years and more than half (n = 33, 64.7%) were women. Patients with DED had significantly higher Charlson comorbidity index scores (p = 0.01), lower Schirmer test values (p = 0.01), higher Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores (p = 0.01), and higher anticholinergic burden (p = 0.01). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between ACB and OSDI scores (r = 0.22, p = 0.02) and a negative correlation between ACB scores and Schirmer test values (r = -0.46, p = 0.01). After adjusting for potential confounding factors (age, gender, and comorbidities), each 1-point increase in anticholinergic burden was found to result in a 2.97-fold increase in the risk of DED (OR: 2.97, 95% confidence interval: 1.22-7.24, p = 0.02).

CONCLUSION: Anticholinergic burden appears to be associated with DED. Therefore, greater caution in prescribing anticholinergic drugs for adult patients may be important in reducing the rates of many adverse outcomes.

PMID:36759707 | DOI:10.1038/s41433-023-02442-x

Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 9;13(1):2359. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-29453-8.

ABSTRACT

The evolvement in digital media and information technology over the past decades have purveyed the internet to be an effectual medium for the exchange of data and communication. With the advent of technology, the data has become susceptible to mismanagement and exploitation. This led to the emergence of Internet Security frameworks like Information hiding and detection. Examples of domains of Information hiding and detection are Steganography and steganalysis respectively. This work focus on addressing possible security breaches using Internet security framework like Information hiding and techniques to identify the presence of a breach. The work involves the use of Blind steganalysis technique with the concept of Machine Learning incorporated into it. The work is done using the Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG) format because of its wide use for transmission over the Internet. Stego (embedded) images are created for evaluation by randomly embedding a text message into the image. The concept of calibration is used to retrieve an estimate of the cover (clean) image for analysis. The embedding is done with four different steganographic schemes in both spatial and transform domain namely LSB Matching and LSB Replacement, Pixel Value Differencing and F5. After the embedding of data with random percentages, the first order, the second order, the extended Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Markov features are extracted for steganalysis.The above features are a combination of interblock and intra block dependencies. They had been considered in this paper to eliminate the drawback of each one of them, if considered separately. Dimensionality reduction is applied to the features using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Block based technique had been used in the images for better accuracy of results. The technique of machine learning is added by using classifiers to differentiate the stego image from a cover image. A comparative study had been during with the classifier names Support Vector Machine and its evolutionary counterpart using Particle Swarm Optimization. The idea of cross validation had also been used in this work for better accuracy of results. Further parameters used in the process are the four different types of sampling namely linear, shuffled, stratified and automatic and the six different kernels used in classification specifically dot, multi-quadratic, epanechnikov, radial and ANOVA to identify what combination would yield a better result.

PMID:36759703 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-29453-8

Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 9;13(1):2341. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-29307-3.

ABSTRACT

We often express our thoughts through words, but thinking goes well beyond language. Here we focus on an elementary but basic thinking process, disjunction elimination, elicited by elementary visual scenes deprived of linguistic content, describing its neural and oculomotor correlates. We track two main components of a nonverbal deductive process: the construction of a logical representation (A or B), and its simplification by deduction (not A, therefore B). We identify the network active in the two phases and show that in the latter, but not in the former, it overlaps with areas known to respond to verbal logical reasoning. Oculomotor markers consistently differentiate logical processing induced by the construction of a representation, its simplification by deductive inference, and its maintenance when inferences cannot be drawn. Our results reveal how integrative logical processes incorporate novel experience in the flow of thoughts induced by visual scenes.

PMID:36759690 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-29307-3

Leukemia. 2023 Feb 9. doi: 10.1038/s41375-022-01784-x. Online ahead of print.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:36759685 | DOI:10.1038/s41375-022-01784-x

Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 9;13(1):2311. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-29554-4.

ABSTRACT

Transferring patients between emergency departments (EDs) is a complex but important issue in emergency care regionalization. Social network analysis (SNA) is well-suited to characterize the ED transfer pattern. We aimed to unravel the underlying transfer network structure and to identify key network metrics for monitoring network functions. This was a retrospective cohort study using the National Electronic Referral System (NERS) database in Taiwan. All interhospital ED transfers from 2014 to 2016 were included and transfer characteristics were retrieved. Descriptive statistics and social network analysis were used to analyze the data. There were a total of 218,760 ED transfers during the 3-year study period. In the network analysis, there were a total of 199 EDs with 9516 transfer ties between EDs. The network demonstrated a multiple hub-and-spoke, regionalized pattern, with low global density (0.24), moderate centralization (0.57), and moderately high clustering of EDs (0.63). At the ED level, most transfers were one-way, with low reciprocity (0.21). Sending hospitals had a median of 5 transfer-out partners [interquartile range (IQR) 3-7), while receiving hospitals a median of 2 (IQR 1-6) transfer-in partners. A total of 16 receiving hospitals, all of which were designated base or co-base hospitals, had 15 or more transfer-in partners. Social network analysis of transfer patterns between hospitals confirmed that the network structure largely aligned with the planned regionalized transfer network in Taiwan. Understanding the network metrics helps track the structure and process aspects of regionalized care.

PMID:36759680 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-29554-4