Tag: statistics

Comput Biol Med. 2021 Dec 30;141:105163. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.105163. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and the host ACE2 receptor plays a vital role in the entry to the cell. Among which the hotspot residue 501 is continuously subjected to positive selection pressure and induces unusual virulence. Keeping in view the importance of the hot spot residue 501, we predicted the potentially emerging structural variants of 501 residue. We analyzed the binding pattern of wild type and mutants (Spike RBD) to the ACE2 receptor by deciphering variations in the amino acids’ interaction networks by graph kernels along with evolutionary, network metrics, and energetic information. Our analysis revealed that N501I, N501T, and N501V increase the binding affinity and alter the intra and inter-residue bonding networks. The N501T has shown strong positive selection and fitness in other animals. Docking results and repeated simulations (three times) confirmed the structural stability and tighter binding of these three variants, correlated with the previous results following the global stability trend. Consequently, we reported three variants N501I, N501T, and N501V could worsen the situation further if they emerged. The relations between the viral fitness and binding affinity is a complicated game thus the emergence of high affinity mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 RBD brings up the question of whether or not positive selection favours these mutations or not?

PMID:34979405 | DOI:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.105163

Am J Emerg Med. 2021 Dec 28;53:54-58. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2021.12.056. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Space travel is expected to grow in the near future, which could lead to a higher burden of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in astronauts. Current methods to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation in microgravity perform below earth-based standards in terms of depth achieved and the ability to sustain chest compressions (CC). We hypothesised that an automated chest compression device (ACCD) delivers high-quality CC during simulated micro- and hypergravity conditions.

METHODS: Data on CC depth, rate, release and position utilising an ACCD were collected continuously during a parabolic flight with alternating conditions of normogravity (1 G), hypergravity (1.8 G) and microgravity (0 G), performed on a training manikin fixed in place. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Withney U test were used for comparison purpose.

RESULTS: Mechanical CC was performed continuously during the flight; no missed compressions or pauses were recorded. Mean depth of CC showed minimal but statistically significant variations in compression depth during the different phases of the parabolic flight (microgravity 49.9 ± 0.7, normogravity 49.9 ± 0.5 and hypergravity 50.1 ± 0.6 mm, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: The use of an ACCD allows continuous delivery of high-quality CC in micro- and hypergravity as experienced in parabolic flight. The decision to bring extra load for a high impact and low likelihood event should be based on specifics of its crew’s mission and health status, and the establishment of standard operating procedures.

PMID:34979409 | DOI:10.1016/j.ajem.2021.12.056

J Pediatr Nurs. 2021 Dec 31;63:46-51. doi: 10.1016/j.pedn.2021.12.018. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Evidence-based practice (EBP) within healthcare leads to improved patient outcomes, high-quality care, job satisfaction, reduced turnover, professional autonomy, and validates nursing practice. Although a plethora of research focuses on implementing EBP, there has been little attention on assessing organizational readiness for integration. The primary aims of this study were to explore nursing beliefs and attitudes about EBP and explore the culture and readiness among pediatric nurses for system-wide integration of EBP.

DESIGN AND METHODS: This study was a quantitative, cross-sectional survey-based study conducted at a large pediatric health system.

RESULTS: Overall pediatric nurses had a mean score of 61.78 ± 9.32 on the EBPB (n = 396). Results of the EBPB Scale and OCRSIEP showed no statistical difference between nursing roles EBPB scores; however, nursing leaders had higher scores than any other nursing role. The OCRSIEP had a mean score of 84.98 ± 19.53 (n = 388).

CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that pediatric nurses believe that EBP results in the best clinical care for patients and can improve clinical care, but they lack the skills and time necessary to engage in the process. This study found that increasing awareness of EBP resources and developing EBP competencies may assist pediatric nurse leaders with EBP integration into daily practice.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Increasing visibility and competencies of EBP may positively impact organizational readiness by increasing confidence needed to remove identified barriers and engrain EBP in the organization’s culture.

PMID:34979382 | DOI:10.1016/j.pedn.2021.12.018

Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2021 Dec 23;95:28-34. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2021.12.014. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Despite substantial clinical and pathophysiological differences, the characteristics of tremor in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) patients bear certain similarities. The presented study delineates tremor-related structural networks in these two disorders.

METHODS: 42 non-advanced PD patients (18 tremor-dominant, 24 without substantial tremor), 17 ET, and 45 healthy controls underwent high-angular resolution diffusion-weighted imaging acquisition to reconstruct their structural motor connectomes as a proxy of the anatomical interconnections between motor network regions, implementing state-of-the-art globally optimised probabilistic tractography.

RESULTS: When compared to healthy controls, ET patients exhibited higher structural connectivity in the cerebello-thalamo-cortical network. Interestingly, the comparison of tremor-dominant PD patients and PD patients without tremor yielded very similar results – higher structural connectivity in tremor-dominant PD sharing multiple nodes with the tremor network detected in ET, despite the generally lower structural connectivity between basal ganglia and frontal cortex in the whole PD group when compared to healthy controls.

CONCLUSION: The higher structural connectivity of the cerebello-thalamo-cortical network seems to be the dominant tremor driver in both PD and ET. While it appears to be the only tremor-related network in ET, its combination with large scale hypoconnectivity in the frontal cortico-subcortical network in PD may explain different clinical features of tremor in these two disorders.

PMID:34979362 | DOI:10.1016/j.parkreldis.2021.12.014

J Mol Graph Model. 2021 Dec 28;112:108119. doi: 10.1016/j.jmgm.2021.108119. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) are the largest family of cell surface receptors in vertebrates. Their abundance and role in nearly all physiological systems make GPCR the largest protein family targeted for development of pharmaceuticals. Ligand discovery aimed at identification of chemical tools and drug leads is aided by molecular docking simulations that allow critical analysis of the potential interactions between small molecules and proteins in resulting complexes. However, blind assessments of ligand pose quality and affinity prediction have thus far not provided broadly generalizable performance expectations for docking into experimentally-characterized GPCR targets. Likewise, the relative importance of receptor activation state and ligand function differences have also not been systematically assessed. This study compares performance when docking ligands of varied function into varied GPCR activation states in the absence of extensive resampling of the input GPCR structure, and only limited sidechain flexibility after ligand placement. Simulations were performed using 37 experimental structures of 11 Class A GPCR crystallized in multiple activation states (giving rise to 37 self-docking and 68 cross docking simulations). Our results show that one specific subset of cross-docking simulations gave results of similar quality to self-docking. Median ligand RMSD values for top-scored poses were 1.2 Å and 2.0 Å for self-docking and State_Match/Function_Match cross-docking, respectively. The distributions of ligand RMSD values were not statistically different for these two conditions, according to a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Therefore, docking performance against GPCR targets can be estimated in advance based on docking target structure activation states, with higher accuracy expected when docking agonists into active state structures and inverse agonists or antagonists into inactive state structures. Receptor conformational sampling in advance of docking or receptor conformational adjustment after docking are more likely to produce substantial improvements for other pairings of receptor activation state and ligand function.

PMID:34979368 | DOI:10.1016/j.jmgm.2021.108119

Oper Dent. 2022 Jan 3. doi: 10.2341/20-270-L. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the effects of hydrothermal treatment on four types of monolithic, translucent, yttria-stabilized, tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (Y-TZPs).

METHODS AND MATERIALS: Two commercially available Y-TZP brands-SuperfectZir High Translucency (Aidite Technology Co, China) and Katana HT (Kuraray Noritake Dental, Japan) were assessed. For each brand of Y-TZP, materials of four coloring types, including noncolored (NC), colored by staining (CS), precolored (PC), and multilayered (ML) specimens were investigated after hydrothermal aging in an autoclave at 134°C/0.2 MPa for 0 (control group), 5, 10, and 20 hours. The tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transformation, surface roughness, flexural strength, and structural reliability (Weibull analysis) were measured and statistically analyzed (α=0.05). The subsurface microstructure was analyzed with scanning electron microscopy.

RESULTS: The group ML exhibited the lowest flexural strength and Weibull characteristic strength among the four coloring types (p<0.05). Slight increases in the monoclinic phase volume, flexural strength, and Weibull characteristic strength were observed after hydrothermal aging (pall<0.05). Regardless of coloring type, no significant effects of aging on the Weibull modulus or surface roughness were found for the tested materials. Compared with the Katana HT cross-sections, the SuperfectZir High Translucency cross-sections exhibited a similar but thicker transformation zone.

CONCLUSIONS: The coloring procedure and material type were found to affect the mechanical properties and aging resistance of translucent monolithic Y-TZP ceramics. Regardless of the aging time, the surface roughness of the tested Y-TZP ceramics remained unchanged.

PMID:34979031 | DOI:10.2341/20-270-L

Int J Pharm Pract. 2022 Jan 3:riab083. doi: 10.1093/ijpp/riab083. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Literature assessing the optimal means of providing academic advisement in pharmacy education is limited. The objective of this study was to describe students’ perception of advising within a school of pharmacy.

METHODS: A 27-question survey was developed utilizing Qualtrics and sent to all students at one school of pharmacy. Baseline descriptive data regarding frequency and format of meeting with the assigned advisor were collected, as well as students’ opinions of these meetings.

KEY FINDINGS: Of 282 students who were sent the survey, 90 responded (31.9%). The majority of students preferred to meet with their faculty advisor in a group as compared with one-on-one (59 versus 29, 67%). Most students found the advisor/advisee relationship beneficial (n = 77, 85%).

CONCLUSIONS: There was no statistically significant difference in student perception of the quality or value of advisor/advisee meetings between students who met in a group or one-on-one with their advisors.

PMID:34979023 | DOI:10.1093/ijpp/riab083

Oper Dent. 2022 Jan 3. doi: 10.2341/20-236-C. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the bleaching gel application site on chromatic changes and postoperative sensitivity in teeth. Thirty patients were selected and allocated to three groups (n=10 per group), according to the location of the gel: GI, cervical application; GII, incisal application; and GIII, total facial. The amount and time of application of the 35% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) gel were standardized. Color changes were analyzed by ΔE and Wid (bleaching index), using the values obtained in the readings conducted on a digital spectrophotometer in the cervical (CRs) and incisal regions (IRs) of the teeth. Spontaneous sensitivity was assessed using the questionnaire, and the stimulated sensitivity caused by the thermosensory analysis (TSA). The analysis occurred in five stages: baseline, after the first, second, and third whitening sessions (S), and 14 days after the end of the whitening, using the linear regression statistical model with mixed effects and post-test by orthogonal contrasts (p<0.05). Although the IR was momentarily favored, at the end of the treatment, the restriction of the application site provided results similar to those obtained when the gel was applied over the entire facial surface. Regarding sensitivity, only the GI showed spontaneous sensitivity. In the TSA, GIII had less influence on the threshold of the thermal sensation. It was concluded that the chromatic alteration does not depend on the gel application site. Spontaneous sensitivity is greater when the gel is concentrated in the cervical region (CR), and the teeth remain sensitized by thermal stimuli even after 14 days.

PMID:34979026 | DOI:10.2341/20-236-C

Gen Dent. 2022 Jan-Feb;70(1):72-77.

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the quantity of metal artifacts produced by dental implants placed in different mandibular regions using various cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) protocols. Titanium implants were placed in 4 regions (incisor, canine, premolar, and molar) of an artificial mandible and subjected to CBCT examinations with the mandibular model placed in different positions within the field of view (FOV) and imaged with different FOV and voxel sizes. An axial section of the cervical region of each implant was selected for artifact quantification. The artifacts were measured by normalizing the actual standard deviation (ASD) of the voxel values. Kruskal-Wallis and Student-Newman-Keuls tests were used to compare the tooth regions and the different positions of the mandible. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare changes in FOV and voxel size. The intraobserver agreement was calculated using the intraclass correlation coefficient. The significance level was 5%. The incisor region showed significantly more artifacts than other regions (P = 0.0315). No statistically significant difference was found when the position of the mandible varied within the FOV (P = 0.7418). Smaller FOV and smaller voxels produced more artifacts (P < 0.0001). The quantity of metal artifacts was affected by FOV and voxel size as well as by anatomical region. Variation of the mandible location within the FOV did not affect the artifacts as defined by the normalized ASD of the voxel values.

PMID:34978995

Gen Dent. 2022 Jan-Feb;70(1):51-55.

ABSTRACT

The objectives of the present study were to compare measurements of pharyngeal airway subregions on lateral cephalometric (LC) and cone beam computed tomographic (CBCT) images in relation to skeletal classes and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these imaging formats for this type of assessment. The CBCT images were assessed via both multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) and 3-dimensional (3D) reconstruction. The LC and CBCT images from 107 patients were classified according to skeletal class: I, n = 35; II, n = 35; and III, n = 37. Linear measurements of the subdivisions of the upper airway were performed on the LC, MPR, and 3D images. In addition, area and volumetric measurements were performed on the MPR images. The relationships among imaging methods, skeletal class, and pharyngeal thirds were assessed by means of a 1-way analysis of variance (α = 0.05). No statistically significant differences in the linear, area, or volumetric measurements of the upper airway subregions were found among the skeletal classes (P > 0.05). For the linear measurements in the oropharynx and hypopharynx, greater values were observed for the LC images than for the MPR and 3D images (P ≤ 0.05). Based on the study findings, MPR images should be preferred for visualization of the pharyngeal airway subregions. However, LC imaging is preferable to 3D reconstruction.

PMID:34978991