Tag: statistics

Clin Nurs Res. 2022 Oct 26:10547738221132096. doi: 10.1177/10547738221132096. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Smoking adversely affects tuberculosis (TB) outcomes and may be associated with depression and anxiety among people diagnosed with TB in Botswana. We conducted a cross-sectional study among patients newly diagnosed with TB in Gaborone, Botswana, evaluating factors associated with self-reported cigarette smoking. We performed Poisson regression analyses with robust variance to examine whether depressive and anxiety symptoms were associated with smoking. Among 180 participants with TB enrolled from primary health clinics, depressive symptoms were reported in 47 (26.1%) participants and anxiety symptoms were reported in 85 (47.2%) participants. Overall, 45 (25.0%) participants reported current smoking. Depressive symptoms were associated with a higher prevalence of smoking (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR]: 2.04; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.29-3.25) in the adjusted analysis. The association between anxiety symptoms and smoking did not reach statistical significance (aPR: 1.26; 95% CI: 0.77-2.05). Future studies should further investigate these associations when addressing TB care.

PMID:36285635 | DOI:10.1177/10547738221132096

NMR Biomed. 2022 Oct 26:e4856. doi: 10.1002/nbm.4856. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) is applied to gain insights into the microstructural organization of brain tissues. However, the reproducibility of DKI outside brain white matter, particularly in combination with advanced estimation to remedy its noise sensitivity, remains poorly characterized. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the variability and reliability of DKI metrics while correcting implausible values with a fit method called mean-kurtosis (MK)-Curve. A total of 10 volunteers (four women, age: 41.4±9.6 years) were included and underwent two MRI examinations of the brain. The images were acquired on a clinical 3T scanner and included a T1-weighted image and a diffusion sequence with multiple diffusion weightings suitable for DKI. Region of interest analysis of common kurtosis and tensor metrics derived with the MK-Curve DKI fit was performed including intra-class correlation (ICC) and Bland-Altman (BA)plot statistics. A p-value <.05 was considered statistically significant. The analyses showed good to excellent agreement of both kurtosis tensor- and diffusion tensor-derived MK-Curve corrected metrics (ICC values: in the range 0.77 – 0.98 and 0.87 – 0.98,resp.) with the exception of, two DKI derived metrics (Axial kurtosis in cortex: ICC=0.68, and radial kurtosis in deep grey matter: ICC =0.544). Non-MK-Curve corrected kurtosis tensor-derived metrics ranged between 0.01 – 0.52 and diffusion tensor-derived metrics between 0.06 – 0.66 indicating poor to moderate reliability. No structural bias was observed in the Bland-Altman plots for any of the diffusion metrics. In conclusion, MK-Curve corrected DKI metrics of the human brain can be reliably acquired in white and grey matter at 3T and DKI metrics have good to excellent agreement in a test-retest setting.

PMID:36285630 | DOI:10.1002/nbm.4856

J Magn Reson Imaging. 2022 Oct 26. doi: 10.1002/jmri.28487. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are microscopic brain hemorrhages with implications for various diseases. Automated detection of CMBs is a challenging task due to their wide distribution throughout the brain, small size, and visual similarity to their mimics. For this reason, most of the previously proposed methods have been accomplished through two distinct stages, which may lead to difficulties in integrating them into clinical workflows.

PURPOSE: To develop a clinically feasible end-to-end CMBs detection network with a single-stage structure utilizing 3D information. This study proposes triplanar ensemble detection network (TPE-Det), ensembling 2D convolutional neural networks (CNNs) based detection networks on axial, sagittal, and coronal planes.

STUDY TYPE: Retrospective.

SUBJECTS: Two datasets (DS1 and DS2) were used: 1) 116 patients with 367 CMBs and 12 patients without CMBs for training, validation, and testing (70.39 ± 9.30 years, 68 women, 60 men, DS1); 2) 58 subjects with 148 microbleeds and 21 subjects without CMBs only for testing (76.13 ± 7.89 years, 47 women, 32 men, DS2).

FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: A 3 T field strength and 3D GRE sequence scan for SWI reconstructions.

ASSESSMENT: The sensitivity, FP_avg (false-positive per subject), and precision measures were computed and analyzed with statistical analysis.

STATISTICAL TESTS: A paired t-test was performed to investigate the improvement of detection performance by the suggested ensembling technique in this study. A P value < 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS: The proposed TPE-Det detected CMBs on the DS1 testing set with a sensitivity of 96.05% and an FP_avg of 0.88, presenting statistically significant improvement. Even when the testing on DS2 was performed without retraining, the proposed model provided a sensitivity of 85.03% and an FP_avg of 0.55. The precision was significantly higher than the other models.

DATA CONCLUSION: The ensembling of multidimensional networks significantly improves precision, suggesting that this new approach could increase the benefits of detecting lesions in the clinic.

EVIDENCE LEVEL: 1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 2.

PMID:36285604 | DOI:10.1002/jmri.28487

Per Med. 2022 Oct 26. doi: 10.2217/pme-2022-0031. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Aim: To assess pharmacists’ and physicians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices toward therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) service at the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357. Materials & methods: This was a single-site cross-sectional study where all practicing pharmacists and physicians were eligible to participate. Results: A statistically significant difference in the knowledge scores between pharmacists and physicians (p = 0.022) was found. In general, attitudes toward TDM among pharmacists and physicians were positive. Regarding practices, pharmacists were more likely than physicians to agree or strongly agree that they have studied some scientific references on TDM (p = 0.034), but more physicians recommend the TDM service (p = 0.046). Conclusion: A multidisciplinary educational program in Egypt for TDM for both medicine and pharmacy staff will improve interprofessional collaboration in the clinical setting, leading to better personalized medication management.

PMID:36285598 | DOI:10.2217/pme-2022-0031

J Hepatobiliary Pancreat Sci. 2022 Oct 26. doi: 10.1002/jhbp.1256. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The Japanese Society of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery (JSHBPS) nomogram was developed to predict disease-free survival in patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) undergoing upfront hepatectomy. However, the utility of the nomogram in patients with resected CRLM remains unknown in the current situation in which treatment strategies are changing with advances in drugs.

METHODS: Patients in the initial nomogram cohort (n = 727) and validation cohort (n=2,225) were divided into the upfront hepatectomy and preoperative chemotherapy groups. The nomogram was validated by measuring calibration and discrimination in the two cohorts. Calibration curves were plotted, and survival probabilities were compared. Finally, to quantify the discrimination power, we estimated the concordance index (C-index).

RESULTS: In the upfront hepatectomy group, the C-index was 0.63, the suitable cutoff value of the Beppu score was 7, and adjuvant chemotherapy was significantly effective limited to high-risk patients (Beppu score ≥ 7). The C-index was 0.56 in the preoperative chemotherapy group.

CONCLUSIONS: The JSHBPS nomogram remains beneficial for patients undergoing upfront hepatectomy in the recent era but is less effective for patients undergoing hepatectomy after chemotherapy. Patients with a Beppu score ≥ 7 showed high-risk recurrence, and adjuvant chemotherapy should be recommended for these patients.

PMID:36285571 | DOI:10.1002/jhbp.1256

Andrologia. 2022 Oct 26:e14626. doi: 10.1111/and.14626. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the use of corpus cavernosum electromyography (CC-EMG) recording as a diagnostic tool for identifying the presence of pelvic autonomic dysfunction (PAD) in patients with LUTS and concurrent ED. Fifty patients were included in the study, and the electromyographic and urodynamic findings were compared. The 50% relaxation degree was accepted as a threshold value for PAD. According to relaxation degree in CC-EMG recordings, patients were grouped as; Group 1 (with PAD) = 23 patients with a relaxation degree of less than 50%. Group 2 (without PAD) = 27 patients with a relaxation degree greater than 50%. The mean age of the patients was 58 ± 3.2 (50-71) years. The comparison of the urodynamic parameters and transrectal ultrasound revealed that the postvoiding residual urine volume (PVR) (p = 0.0007), P det Q_max (p = 0.0005), and P det compliance (0.003) values were statistically significantly lower in Group 2. The mean IIEF-5 and IIEF-15 scores of the patients in Group 1 were 2.5 ± 0.7 and 8.1 ± 1.1 respectively. In Group 2, mean IIEF-5 and IIEF-15 scores were 7.2 ± 2.9, and 17.2 ± 3.5 (p: 0.00023 and p: 0.0009). The mean I-PSS score was 22.8 ± 3 in Group 1 and 16 ± 2.3 in Group 2 (p = 0.001). The mean relaxation degree (RD) in Group I was 30.73 ± 6.8%, and in Group 2 was 66.3 ± 5.1%. The mean amplitude values of the patients in Group I were 261.41 ± 112.97 before papaverine injection, and in Group 2 were 246 ± 101.28 respectively. The inter-group difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The mean amplitude value of the patients in Group I after papaverine injection was 182.73 ± 60.71, and in Group 2, that value was 83.2 ± 29.19. The inter-group difference was also significant (p < 0.05). Increased electrical bursts and decreased relaxation responses on CC-EMG indirectly indicated an increase in the contractility of the bladder sphincter. Therefore, we concluded that CC-EMG could be a diagnostic tool for PAD and cavernous autonomic dysfunction.

PMID:36285558 | DOI:10.1111/and.14626

J Card Surg. 2022 Oct 26. doi: 10.1111/jocs.17062. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia following open-heart surgery. Agents with antioxidant properties may reduce postoperative complications like postoperative AF (POAF) in patients undergoing open-heart surgery. This study was conducted to assess the effect of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in prevention of AF following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

METHODS: Three hundred patients who underwent CABG surgery were entered in the study. Patients with contraindications for beta-blockers and patients were simultaneously replacing or repairing the valve with open-heart surgery were excluded. The patients were randomly divided into two groups (n = 150) and they were received NAC plus carvedilol or carvedilol. The patients were monitored for 5 days after surgery and the incidence of AF during hospitalization was recorded.

RESULTS: AF was detected in 14 patients in the NAC with Carvedilol group (9.33%) and 23 patients in Carvedilol group (15.33%). There was no significant difference in the incidence of POAF between the two groups (p value = 0.112). The result of multivariable regression model represented that although the incidence of POAF was lower in NAC plus carvedilol group, it wasn’t statistically significant (p value = 0.10).

CONCLUSIONS: NAC was not associated with a decreased incidence of AF following CABG surgery.

PMID:36285551 | DOI:10.1111/jocs.17062

J Card Surg. 2022 Oct 26. doi: 10.1111/jocs.17061. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Degenerative mitral valve (MV) regurgitation (DMR) shows significative mitral annulus (MA) alterations; mitral valve repair (MVR) seeks to restore annular geometry and function, and the current use of flexible band seams to respect most annular mobility reducing parietal stress. Parameters of MV geometry obtained by 3D transesophageal echocardiography (3D-TTE) analysis are crucial for surgical planning and postoperative success. The aim of this study was to assess, by means of a dedicated software, the variations of MA geometry and function in patients affected by DMR compared to controls and after MVR with flexible band.

METHODS: We enrolled 32 patients (cases) with severe DMR who underwent MVR using flexible band; we compare this group with 20 controls. The TEE with 3D MV images acquisition was performed in both groups and then analyzed in postprocessing by using a dedicated software.

RESULTS: There were no anthropometrics differences between cases and controls, both presented normal left ventricular ejection fraction. DMR group showed a significant increase of annulus dimensional parameters (p = .001) and alteration of nonplanarity comparing to controls (p < .05). The annuloplasty with flexible band induces a considerable reduction of MV dimensions comparing to preoperative data and restores physiological mobility and nonplanarity. There were no statistical differences between postoperative DMR and controls data, except for nonplanarity parameters (p ~.05), maybe influenced by hemodynamic settings.

CONCLUSIONS: MVR with annuloplasty using flexible band appears able to reinstate a more physiological anatomic conformation of the MA, without compromising its dynamic properties.

PMID:36285550 | DOI:10.1111/jocs.17061

Int Angiol. 2022 Oct 26. doi: 10.23736/S0392-9590.22.04958-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: SCORE2 and SCORE2-OP algorithms and associated online calculators provide a new and easy method of estimating the 10-year cardiovascular risk in apparently healthy Europeans. The aim of the study was to determine the performance of these algorithms in terms of discrimination and calibration in the cohort of the Cyprus Epidemiological Study on Atherosclerosis (CESA), not only for the 10-year risk for myocardial infarction (MI), stroke and cardiovascular death, but also for all types of atherosclerotic cardiovascular events (ASCVE).

METHODS: SCORE2 and SCORE2-OP for low-risk regions were calculated in a non-diabetic subset of CESA consisting of 908 people (mean age±SD: 57.8±10.5; range 40-89; 58.8% female) using baseline risk factors. Mean follow-up was 13.2±3.7 years (range 1-17) with 89 primary endpoints (MI, stroke and cardiovascular death) and 136 secondary endpoints (primary endpoints, angina, cardiac failure, coronary revascularisation, transient ischaemic attack, claudication and critical limb ischaemia).

RESULTS: The C-statistic for the prediction of the primary endpoint for all ages was 0.76 (95% CI 0.70 to 0.81) and the observed 10-year event rate was similar to the predicted one. However, the observed 10-year rate for secondary events was similar to the estimated one only when the algorithm for highrisk regions was used.

CONCLUSIONS: SCORE2 and SCORE2-OP moderate risk algorithms performs well in the Cypriot population for predicting the 10-year risk for MI, stroke and fatal cardiovascular disease. However, an estimate of the 10-year risk for all ASCVD events is best calculated from the high-risk algorithm.

PMID:36285529 | DOI:10.23736/S0392-9590.22.04958-6

Int Angiol. 2022 Oct 26. doi: 10.23736/S0392-9590.22.04811-8. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Understanding prothrombotic factors is important in vascular surgery for surgical planning, preoperative evaluation, and post-operative management. The purpose of this study was to investigate ethnicity-based differences in coagulation between East Asian and Western cohorts by comparing patency rates after infrainguinal bypass surgery.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A review of infrainguinal bypass patients was conducted for East Asian (including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) and Western (North American and European) studies between 1990 and 2015 within the Journal of Vascular Surgery. The number of patent grafts at 1-year and 5-years were calculated from reported patency rates for PTFE grafts, Dacron grafts, all prosthetic grafts, autogenous grafts, and all grafts. Statistical analysis was performed using Chi-square test for each graft type at each time point.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: A total of 9972 grafts from 50 studies were included in our review. There were 3592 grafts from East Asian patients and 6380 grafts from Western patients. There was a statistically significant (p<0.05) difference between East Asian and Western cohorts in both 1-year and 5-year patency rates for PTFE, all prosthetic, and all grafts.

CONCLUSIONS: East Asians had significantly higher patency rates after infrainguinal bypass surgery for PTFE, all prosthetic, and all graft types compared with Westerners, showing an ethnicity-based difference in thrombosis. Further research is needed to identify the specific genetic or dietary influences causing this significant difference.

PMID:36285528 | DOI:10.23736/S0392-9590.22.04811-8