Tag: statistics

Pak J Biol Sci. 2022 Jan;25(6):509-515. doi: 10.3923/pjbs.2022.509.515.

ABSTRACT

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Smokers are poorly protected against pathogens. Many studies have focused on the concentrations of complement components in comparison to smokers while ignoring the practical sequencing of complement components. There are numerous methods for estimating haemolytic activity (CH50%), all of which need a large number of samples and dilution, in addition to a typically expensive test kit. This novel study attempts to use statistical analysis and use the non-linear regression ‘power equation’ to extract the CH50% by using 5 serum dilutions only. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> The power equation can multiply the five practical dilutions into hundreds of mathematical loops within the sample range. The (CH50%) value is highly accurate for both the study and comparison sample and was evaluated in11 smokers. <b>Results:</b> The results were contrasted with a control composed of 11 individuals, matched by age and sex. The power equation showed a 6.48% significant reduction in (CH50%) in smokers compared with non-smokers, where a 17.54% reduction was observed. <b>Conclusion:</b> The current study suggests a decrease in the function of the classical complement pathway (CH50%) in smokers. On the other hand, the study provided a new statistical pattern, linking the practical values with default values within the range of dilution and formulating an equation that could be used to extract the value of CH50% with high accuracy.

PMID:36098186 | DOI:10.3923/pjbs.2022.509.515

Pak J Biol Sci. 2022 Jan;25(6):495-500. doi: 10.3923/pjbs.2022.495.500.

ABSTRACT

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Ginger (<i>Zingiber officinale</i> (Wild). Roscoe) is a plant that has long been used as a medicinal herb for humans, so it has been grown and popularized in the Mekong Delta Provinces, but the research systematic genetics has not been given much attention. The current study evaluated the genetic characteristics of some ginger samples collected in eight provinces in the Mekong Delta based on morphological characteristics and ITS gene sequence regions. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> Samples of Ginger varieties were collected in eight provinces, fresh leaf samples were collected and stored frozen at -20°C. Ginger morphology observation and description based on improved plant research methods. Total DNA extraction of ginger leaf samples was extracted from fresh leaf samples according to the extraction procedure by the modified CTAB method. <b>Results:</b> The phenotypes of the samples like length, leaf width, flower length and fruit diameter were significantly different between growing regions due to different environmental and farming conditions. Genetic relationship analysis showed that there are two distinct groups. Group I has 5 ginger samples from G8-Vinh Long, G4-Ben Tre, G2-Ca Mau, G5-Dong Thap and G6-Hau Giang provinces and group II includes ginger varieties belonging to G7-Ho Chi Minh City, G1-An Giang Province and G3-City. Can Tho. <b>Conclusion:</b> Samples/cultivars collected from eight provinces in the Mekong Delta showed variation in agronomic characteristics, but only stem height and length changes were statistically significantly different. Genotyping most of the samples belonged to the species <i>Zingiber officinale</i> (Wild) Roscoe.

PMID:36098184 | DOI:10.3923/pjbs.2022.495.500

Pak J Biol Sci. 2022 Jan;25(6):476-484. doi: 10.3923/pjbs.2022.476.484.

ABSTRACT

<b>Background and Objective:</b> The RVF virus cause diseases in newborn puppies, kittens, sheep, goats, cattle, camels, buffaloes and also humans. The RVF disease was first detected among livestock by veterinary officers. The disease causes abortions in animals. The goal of this study was to evaluate the immune response and the haematological profile associated with inactivated RFV vaccine locally produced in Egypt in young puppies and sheep. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> Through vaccination, both young puppies and sheep with local produced inactivated RVF vaccine with 2 doses with 2 weeks interval and evaluate the immune response by SNT and ELISA as well as haematological parameters at 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post-vaccination. The variance between vaccinated groups and also non-vaccinated groups were compared by using a one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). <b>Results:</b> The findings showed that young puppies had a strong response to antibodies after two doses of the RVF vaccine within the 2 week interval. The neutralization indices (NI) values in young puppies at different periods after RVF vaccination reported the value of 1.08±0.03, 1.23±0.04, 1.30±0.03 and 1.45±0.02 after 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post-vaccination, respectively. Parallel to this the ELISA OP values were 0.30±0.00, 0.39±0.03, 0.52±0.05 and 0.75±0.02 after 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post-vaccination, respectively. Nearly similar immune response was noticed in sheep with NI values of 1.15±0.02, 1.27±0.02, 1.42±0.05 and 1.55±0.03 at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post-vaccination, respectively. In the same site the ELISA OP values were 0.34±0.00, 0.47±0.01, 0.68±0.00, 0.77±0.00. After 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post-vaccination respectively that are also similar to that in puppies. The haematological profile reported a significant decrease after the 1st week followed by a transient increase after booster dose at 2nd week except for the monocytes that increase after 1st week then decreases after 2nd week post-vaccination. <b>Conclusion:</b> Young puppies are similar to sheep in developing antibodies after vaccination with the RFV vaccine with no statistically significant effect within different batches. In addition, ELISA can replace the SNT for evaluation of the immune response. Young puppies are quite equal to sheep for the illustration of neutralizing antibodies for RFV vaccine. Sero-negative puppies can be easily obtained because dogs are not included in the vaccination program of RVF and so they can be used as a good model to determine the efficacy of the RVF vaccine.

PMID:36098182 | DOI:10.3923/pjbs.2022.476.484

Pak J Biol Sci. 2022 Jun;25(7):619-626. doi: 10.3923/pjbs.2022.619.626.

ABSTRACT

<b>Background and Objective:</b> There is ample evidence that the consumption of fruits and vegetables, with a high content of secondary metabolites, favours better human health. In the same sense, the application of organic fertilizers has favoured the content of phenolic compounds and a greater antioxidant capacity in various crops. Factoring that the application of Vermicompost (VC) increases the nutritional quality of plants. This research determined the content of soluble solids, biochemical components and the antioxidant capacity of the melon fruits (<i>Cucumis melo</i> L.) developed under shade net conditions with VC as a source of fertilization. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> During the 2020 spring-summer season, a hybrid melon Honeydew type was grown under five mixtures of VC: River sand (RS), with ratios 0:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4. Nutrient Steiner solution was applied only in the first mixture (control) while VC was used as an organic nutrient for all other mixtures. The five formulated mixtures, with five replications, were randomly distributed. The total phenolic content, total flavonoids, antioxidant capacity and the total soluble solids of the melon fruit were determined. Data obtained were statistically analyzed by analysis of variance and means were compared by Tukey 0.05 test. <b>Results:</b> The ANOVA indicates that no statistical differences were registered for any of the variables under study, however, the levels of the parameters were high. <b>Conclusion:</b> VC treatment of melon fruit is proven to be a promising source of nutrients to plants increasing their natural antioxidants and content of soluble solids.

PMID:36098168 | DOI:10.3923/pjbs.2022.619.626

Chin Clin Oncol. 2022 Aug;11(4):31. doi: 10.21037/cco-21-147.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Recent work has demonstrated multiple measures of citation-based scholarly activity. Measures including Hirsch index (h-index), h-index limited to first author manuscripts (hf), h-index limited to first or second author only manuscripts (hs), and g-index have been associated with radiation oncology resident choice of academic versus private practice career. To date, there has been no evaluation of the progression of citation-based scholarly activity during residency.

METHODS: A list of United States radiation oncology residents from the graduating class of 2022 [postgraduate year two (PGY-2) academic year of 2018-2019] was obtained through internet investigation. Citation-based scholarly activity was collected and calculated from searches of the Scopus bibliometric citation database for h-index, hf, hs, and g-index for each resident as previously described. Calculations were derived in June 2018 for the postgraduate year one (PGY-1) year, and in June 2019 for the PGY-2 year. Fisher’s exact test was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: Analysis of 195 residents from the 2022 class revealed that the citation-based scholarly activity significantly increased from PGY-1 to PGY-2 for h-index (2.6 to 3.2; P=0.047) and g-index (4.0 to 5.1; P=0.045), but not for hf (1.0 to 1.3; P=0.170) or hs (1.5 to 1.9; P=0.065). Underrepresented minority race/ethnicity (African-American/Hispanic) did not impact the significance of the h-index and g-index findings.

CONCLUSIONS: From the PGY-1 to PGY-2 academic year, residents significantly increased in citation-based academic productivity, with an increase in the proportion of residents with a cited first-or-second author manuscript. Further study is necessary to determine how this trend persists in future years.

PMID:36098102 | DOI:10.21037/cco-21-147

Stat Med. 2022 Sep 13. doi: 10.1002/sim.9563. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Ultrahigh and high dimensional data are common in regression analysis for various fields, such as omics data, finance, and biological engineering. In addition to the problem of dimension, the data might also be contaminated. There are two main types of contamination: outliers and model misspecification. We develop an unique method that takes into account the ultrahigh or high dimensional issues and both types of contamination. In this article, we propose a framework for feature screening and selection based on the minimum Lq-likelihood estimation (MLqE), which accounts for the model misspecification contamination issue and has also been shown to be robust to outliers. In numerical analysis, we explore the robustness of this framework under different outliers and model misspecification scenarios. To examine the performance of this framework, we conduct real data analysis using the skin cutaneous melanoma data. When comparing with traditional screening and feature selection methods, the proposed method shows superiority in both variable identification effectiveness and parameter estimation accuracy.

PMID:36098057 | DOI:10.1002/sim.9563

Circulation. 2022 Sep 13:101161CIRCULATIONAHA122059755. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.059755. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Women and men with heart failure (HF) and preserved ejection fraction may differ in their clinical characteristics and their response to therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of sex on the effects of empagliflozin in patients with HF and preserved ejection fraction enrolled in the EMPEROR-Preserved trial (Empagliflozin Outcome Trial in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction).

METHODS: The effects of empagliflozin on the primary outcome of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for HF and on secondary outcomes (including total HF hospitalization, cardiovascular and all-cause mortality, and Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire scores) were compared in women and men in the overall cohort and in subgroups defined by left ventricular ejection fraction (41%-49%, 50%-59%, and ≥60%). The effects of empagliflozin on physiological measures, including changes in systolic blood pressure, uric acid, hemoglobin, body weight, and natriuretic peptide levels, were also assessed.

RESULTS: Of the 5988 patients randomized, 2676 (44.7%) were women. In the placebo arm, women tended to have lower risk for adverse outcomes, including a lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 0.69 [95% CI, 0.56, 0.84]). Compared with placebo, empagliflozin reduced the risk of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for HF to a similar degree in both sexes (hazard ratio, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.69, 0.96] for men; and hazard ratio, 0.75 [95% CI, 0.61, 0.92] for women; P_interaction=0.54). Sex did not modify the relationship between empagliflozin and outcomes across ejection fraction groups. Similar results were seen for secondary outcomes and physiological measures. Compared with placebo, empagliflozin improved the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Clinical Summary Score to a similar extent in both sexes (1.38 for men versus 1.63 for women at 52 weeks; P_interaction=0.77); the results were similar for Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire overall summary score and total summary score.

CONCLUSIONS: Empagliflozin produced similar benefits on outcomes and health status in women and men with HF and preserved ejection fraction.

REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.

CLINICALTRIALS: gov; Unique identifier: NCT03057951.

PMID:36098051 | DOI:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.059755

Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2022 Sep 13:zwac208. doi: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwac208. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The relationship between vegetable consumption and hypertension occurrence remains poorly characterized in sub-Saharan Africa.

AIM: This study assessed the association of vegetable consumption with odds of hypertension among indigenous Africans.

METHODS: We harmonized data on prior vegetable consumption and hypertension occurrence (defined as one of the following conditions; systolic blood pressure ≥140 or diastolic blood pressure ≥90mmHg or previous diagnosis or use of antihypertensive medications) from 16,445 participants across five African countries (Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Burkina Faso) from the SIREN and AWI-Gen studies. Vegetable consumption (in servings/week) was classified as ‘low’ (<6). ‘moderate’ (6-11), ‘sufficient’ (12-29) and ‘high’ (≥30). Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of hypertension were estimated by categories of vegetable consumption (using ‘low’ consumption as reference), adjusting for sex, age in years, family history of cardiovascular diseases, education, smoking, alcohol use, physical inactivity, body mass index, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidaemia using logistic regressions at P < 0.05.

RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 53·0 (+/-10·7) years, and 7,552 (45·9%) were males, while 7,070 (42·9%) had hypertension. Also, 6,672(40·6%) participants had ‘low’ vegetable consumption, and 1,758(10·7%) had ‘high’ vegetable consumption. Multivariable-adjusted OR for hypertension by distribution of vegetable consumption (using ‘low’ consumption as reference), were 1·03 (95% CI: 0·95, 1·12) for ‘moderate’ consumption; 0·80 (0·73, 0·88) for ‘sufficient’ and 0·81 (0·72, 0·92) for ‘high’ consumption, P-for-trend <0·0001.

CONCLUSION: Indigenous Africans who consumed at least twelve servings of vegetables per week were less likely to be found hypertensive, particularly among males and young adults.

PMID:36098047 | DOI:10.1093/eurjpc/zwac208

Lancet Healthy Longev. 2021 Nov;2(11):e712-e723. doi: 10.1016/S2666-7568(21)00248-8. Epub 2021 Oct 22.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Integrating primary prevention into care pathways for older adults is a core strategy of healthy ageing, but evidence remains limited. We aimed to determine whether incorporating a multidomain intervention into primary health care could improve standard value-based health outcomes and quality of life.

METHODS: For this Taiwan Integrated Geriatric Care (TIGER) study, a pragmatic randomised controlled trial, we recruited community-dwelling outpatients aged 65 years or older with at least three chronic medical conditions. We excluded people with malignancies undergoing chemotherapy, people with a life expectancy of less than 12 months, or people who were insufficiently able to communicate with study staff. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to usual care or to the integrated multidomain intervention using block randomisation. The integrated multidomain intervention entailed 16 2-h sessions per year, comprising communal physical exercise, cognitive training, nutrition and disease education, plus individualised treatment by specialists in integrated geriatric care. The primary outcome was changes from baseline quality of life, based on 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) scores, at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Intervention effects were analysed per protocol using a generalised linear mixed model. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03528005.

FINDINGS: Between June 25, 2018, and Feb 15, 2019, 628 participants were screened, of whom 398 were assigned to the integrated multidomain intervention (n=199) or to usual care (n=199). 335 (84%) participants completed the 12-month follow-up. Compared with the usual care group, the integrated multidomain intervention group had significantly higher mean SF-36 physical component scores across all timepoints (overall difference 0·8, 95% CI 0·2-1·5; p=0·010), but differences at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months did not reach statistical significance. The SF-36 mental component scores did not differ significantly overall, but were significantly higher in the integrated multidomain intervention group at the 12-month follow-up (55·3 [SD 7·6] vs 57·2 [7·0]; p=0·019). No serious adverse events occurred.

INTERPRETATION: Incorporating multidomain interventions into integrated health care improved quality of life. Our standardised protocol is amenable to inclusion in policies to promote value-based care and healthy ageing.

FUNDING: National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan, and Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.

PMID:36098028 | DOI:10.1016/S2666-7568(21)00248-8

Pain Manag. 2022 Sep 13. doi: 10.2217/pmt-2022-0053. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Aim: The current study compared the effectiveness of remote electrical neuromodulation (REN) to that of standard-care medications for acute treatments of migraine, using a within-subjects design. Materials & methods: Post-hoc within-subject analysis was performed on data from 78 adult chronic migraine patients who participated in a clinical trial with REN, on four end points: single-treatment pain relief, single-treatment pain freedom, consistency of pain relief and consistency of pain freedom. Results: No statistical differences were found between REN and the tested medications, in any of the effectiveness outcomes: single-treatment pain relief p = 0.056, single-treatment pain freedom p = 0.532, consistency of pain relief p = 0.369, consistency of pain freedom p = 1.00. Conclusion: The results suggest that REN may provide an effective non-pharmacological alternative for standard care abortive medications in individuals impacted by chronic migraine.

PMID:36097974 | DOI:10.2217/pmt-2022-0053