Tag: statistics

BMC Public Health. 2022 May 24;22(1):1040. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13211-y.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: General population normative values for the widely used health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measure, European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire – Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30), are available for a range of countries. These are mostly countries in northern Europe. However, there is still a lack of such normative values for southern Europe. Therefore, this study aims to provide sex-, age- and health condition-specific normative values for the general Italian population for the EORTC QLQ-C30.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study is based on Italian EORTC QLQ-C30 general population data previously collected in an international EORTC project comprising over 15,000 respondents across 15 countries. Recruitment and assessment were carried out via online panels. Quota sampling was used for sex and age groups (18‍-‍39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69 and ≥ 70 years), separately for each country. We applied weights to match the age and sex distribution in our sample with UN statistics for Italy. Along with descriptive statistics, linear regression models were estimated to describe the associations of sex, age and health condition with the EORTC QLQ-C30 scores.

RESULTS: A total of 1,036 respondents from Italy were included in our analyses. The weighted mean age was 49.3 years, and 536 (51.7%) participants were female. Having at least one health condition was reported by 60.7% of the participants. Men reported better scores than women on all EORTC QLQ-C30 scales but diarrhoea. While the impact of age differed across scales, older age was overall associated with better HRQoL as shown by the summary score. For all scales, differences were in favour of participants who did not report any health condition, compared to those who reported at least one.

CONCLUSION: The Italian normative values for the EORTC QLQ-C30 scales support the interpretation of HRQoL profiles in Italian cancer populations. The strong impact of health conditions on EORTC QLQ-C30 scores highlights the importance of adjusting for the impact of comorbidities in cancer patients when interpreting HRQoL data.

PMID:35610611 | DOI:10.1186/s12889-022-13211-y

BMC Nurs. 2022 May 24;21(1):125. doi: 10.1186/s12912-022-00909-y.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Most ICU nurses feel overwhelmed by the variety of alarms at the same time. Therefore, nurses experience very stressful situations in relation to many responsibilities and care demands. This stressful condition has recently been exacerbated by COVID-19 and potentially endangers patient safety. The aim of this study was to investigate the alarm fatigue and moral distress of ICU nurses in COVID-19 crisis.

METHOD: This is a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study (April-May 2021). Sampling was done by convenience among ICU nurses affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Data were collected using Nurses’ alarm fatigue and the moral distress scale (MDS). Data were analyzed using ANOVA, independent t-test and multivariate logistic regression.

RESULT: The results showed that the mean score of alarm fatigue was moderate)19.08 ± 6.26 (and moral distress was low (33.80 ± 11.60). The results showed that there was a significant relationship between alarm fatigue and related training courses)P = .012(.So that, alarm fatigue in nurses who were trained in working with ventilators and alarm settings was significantly less than other nurses. Also, a significant relationship was found between moral distress and marital status(P = .001) and Shift type(P = .01). On the other hand, the risk of alarm fatigue was higher in participants who have a PhD. The results showed that no significant correlation was found between alarm fatigue and moral distress (r = 0.111, P = 0.195).

CONCLUSION: It is suggested that practical training courses on alarm management be included in the curriculum and the ICU nurses should have practical training before starting work in the ICU and on an annual basis. In order to protect nurses and ensure quality care of patients, nurse managers should reduce the number of rotating shifts of ICU nurses.

PMID:35610610 | DOI:10.1186/s12912-022-00909-y

BMC Public Health. 2022 May 24;22(1):1037. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13448-7.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Although Bangladesh has an impressive track record in the reduction of maternal and child mortality, tetanus, a dreadful disease, impedes the way to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) in this respect. Sufficient doses of tetanus toxoid containing vaccine during pregnancy ensure immunity against tetanus to mothers as well as newborns. Since inequalities persist across vaccination programs globally, in this paper, an attempt has been made to examine whether tetanus toxoid immunization (TTI) status among the women of reproductive age in Bangladesh for their most recent live birth born preceding 2 years of the survey changes with their living standard index (LSI).

METHODS: Five domains of deprivation such as energy use, improved sanitation, drinking water, housing and assets ownership were used to compute the LSI using a approach proposed by Alkire and Foster. The adjusted association between LSI and TTI was established by using logistic regression model. For the purpose of statistical analysis, a nationally representative cross-sectional data extracted from Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (BMICS), 2019 have been used.

RESULT: The bivariate analysis revealed that 79.5% (95% CI 78.0-81.0) of women with low and 83.1% (95% CI 81.3-84.9) with moderate living standards had sufficient vaccination coverage for their most recent pregnancies while this percentage was higher for the women who belonged to high living standard (85.2, 95% CI = 84.2-86.2). A strong evidence for greater odds of sufficient immunization with TT among the women maintaining a high standard of living (AOR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.08-1.42, p < 0.01) was found from regression analysis.

CONCLUSION: The results depict existing living standard disparity with respect to TT vaccination coverage among women in Bangladesh. Present research suggests that immunization campaigns need to be conducted especially for the disadvantaged people to improve their health care and immunization service utilization among women within the age bracket of 15 to 49. This study proposed a scientific way to enhance TT vaccination among Bangladeshi women, which could help Bangladesh attain a widespread tetanus protection and thus, meet the SDGs for maternal and child mortality reduction.

PMID:35610604 | DOI:10.1186/s12889-022-13448-7

BMC Bioinformatics. 2022 May 11;23(Suppl 3):172. doi: 10.1186/s12859-022-04716-9.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and their spacers are important components of prokaryotic CRISPR-Cas systems. In order to analyze the CRISPR loci of multiple genomes more intuitively and comparatively, here we propose a visualization analysis tool named CrisprVi.

RESULTS: CrisprVi is a Python package consisting of a graphic user interface (GUI) for visualization, a module for commands parsing and data transmission, local SQLite and BLAST databases for data storage and a functions layer for data processing. CrisprVi can not only visually present information of CRISPR direct repeats (DRs) and spacers, such as their orders on the genome, IDs, start and end coordinates, but also provide interactive operation for users to display, label and align the CRISPR sequences, which help researchers investigate the locations, orders and components of the CRISPR sequences in a global view. In comparison to other CRISPR visualization tools such as CRISPRviz and CRISPRStudio, CrisprVi not only improves the interactivity and effects of the visualization, but also provides basic statistics of the CRISPR sequences, and the consensus sequences of DRs/spacers across the input strains can be inspected from a clustering heatmap based on the BLAST results of the CRISPR sequences hitting against the genomes.

CONCLUSIONS: CrisprVi is a convenient tool for visualizing and analyzing the CRISPR sequences and it would be helpful for users to inspect novel CRISPR-Cas systems of prokaryotes.

PMID:35610585 | DOI:10.1186/s12859-022-04716-9

BMC Psychiatry. 2022 May 24;22(1):355. doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-04005-y.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED) are eating disorders (EDs) characterized by recurrent binge eating. They are associated with medical complications, impaired adaptive function and often a high BMI, for which a multidisciplinary treatment approach may be needed. This study explored the efficacy of a novel intervention integrating Cognitive Behavioural Therapy- Enhanced (CBT-E) and weight management for people with recurrent binge eating episodes and high BMI with respect to physical, psychopathological and quality of life outcomes.

METHODS: Ninety-eight adults diagnosed with BN, BED, or Other Specified/Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED/UFED) and BMI ≥ 27 to <40 kg/m² were randomized to a multidisciplinary approach, the Healthy APproach to weIght management and Food in Eating Disorders (HAPIFED) or to CBT-E. Metabolic parameters, health-related quality of life, general psychological and ED symptoms and ED diagnostic status outcomes are reported. Data were analyzed with mixed effects models adopting multiple imputed datasets where data were missing.

RESULTS: Both HAPIFED and CBT-E showed statistical significance for the time effect, with reduction in stress (p < 0.001), improvement in mental health-related quality of life (p = 0.032), reduction in binge eating severity (p < 0.001), and also in global ED symptoms scores (p < 0.001), with the significant changes found at end of treatment and sustained at 12-month follow-up. However, no statistical significance was found for differences between the interventions in any of the outcomes measured. Despite a high BMI, most participants (> 75%) had blood test results for glucose, insulin, triglycerides and cholesterol within the normal range, and 52% were within the normal range for the physical component of quality of life at baseline with no change during the trial period.

CONCLUSION: Integrating weight and ED management resulted in comparable outcomes to ED therapy alone. Although adding weight management to an ED intervention had no adverse effects on psychological outcomes, it also had no beneficial effect on metabolic outcomes. Therefore, more intense weight management strategies may be required where indicated to improve metabolic outcomes. Safety will need to be concurrently investigated.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: US National Institutes of Health clinical trial registration number NCT02464345 , date of registration 08/06/2015. Changes to the present paper from the published protocol paper (Trials 18:578, 2015) and as reported in the Trial registration (clinicaltrials.gov) are reported in Supplementary File 1.

PMID:35610603 | DOI:10.1186/s12888-022-04005-y

J Am Chem Soc. 2022 May 24. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c02297. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Many chemical reactions, such as multistep catalytic cycles, are cascade reactions in which a series of transient intermediates appear and disappear stochastically over an extended period. The mechanisms of such reactions are challenging to study, even in ultrafast pump-probe experiments. The dimerization of a van der Waals dimer of [60]fullerene producing a short carbon nanotube is a typical cascade reaction and is probably the most frequently studied in carbon materials chemistry. As many as 23 intermediates were predicted by theory, but only the first stable one has been verified experimentally. With the aid of fast electron microscopy, we obtained cinematographic recordings of individual molecules at a maximum frame rate of 1600 frames per second. Using Chambolle total variation algorithm processing and automated cross-correlation image matching analysis, we report on the identification of several metastable intermediates by their shape and size. Although the reaction events occurred stochastically, varying the lifetime of each intermediate accordingly, the average lifetime for each intermediate structure could be obtained from statistical analysis of many cinematographic images for the cascade reaction. Among the shortest-living intermediates, we detected one that lasted less than 3 ms in three independent cascade reactions. We anticipate that the rapid technological development of microscopy and image processing will soon initiate an era of cinematographic studies of chemical reactions and cinematic chemistry.

PMID:35609254 | DOI:10.1021/jacs.2c02297

JCO Oncol Pract. 2022 May 24:OP2100748. doi: 10.1200/OP.21.00748. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The Cannabis Consultation Service (CCS) is an innovative pharmacist-led resource at the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre. Its mandate is to provide education and guide patients through access and appropriate use of high-quality plant-derived cannabinoids (PDCs). Our objective was to describe the CCS, explain its processes, and characterize patient disposition with respect to use of PDCs.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients referred to the CCS from July 13, 2020, to March 05, 2021. We used descriptive statistics to report on the patient population and service metrics.

RESULTS: During the 34-week period, 96 patients accessed the CCS (median age, 61 years). The top reasons for CCS consultation were management of cancer pain, insomnia, and general interest. Medical cannabis was supported as an option in 44/96 patients. Reasons for not supporting PDC use included lack of indication, potential drug interaction/contraindication, or requiring treatment with first-line therapy. Of the 40 patients requiring a medical document, 22 initiated therapy. The most common product used was a 2:50 THC:CBD (Tetrahydrocannabinol:Cannabidiol) cannabis oil. At the date of last contact, few patients remained on therapy because of lack of benefit, patient choice, and/or hesitancy.

CONCLUSION: Despite patients with cancer having interest in seeking PDCs for symptom management, only a few initiated and continued therapy. Pharmacists have an opportunity to advise patients and the oncology team on the risks and benefits of PDCs. These results can be used to support the development of medical cannabis programs by oncology centers and focus future research priorities.

PMID:35609230 | DOI:10.1200/OP.21.00748

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 May 31;119(22):e2118636119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2118636119. Epub 2022 May 24.

ABSTRACT

SignificanceRandom Forests (RFs) are among the most successful machine-learning algorithms in terms of prediction accuracy. In many domain problems, however, the primary goal is not prediction, but to understand the data-generation process-in particular, finding important features and feature interactions. There exists strong empirical evidence that RF-based methods-in particular, iterative RF (iRF)-are very successful in terms of detecting feature interactions. In this work, we propose a biologically motivated, Boolean interaction model. Using this model, we complement the existing empirical evidence with theoretical evidence for the ability of iRF-type methods to select desirable interactions. Our theoretical analysis also yields deeper insights into the general interaction selection mechanism of decision-tree algorithms and the importance of feature subsampling.

PMID:35609192 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2118636119

ASAIO J. 2022 May 24. doi: 10.1097/MAT.0000000000001775. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

A retrospective study was performed examining the trend of inflammatory markers, including D-dimers, in 29 COVID-19 patients requiring veno-venous (VV) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support. We observed that COVID-19 patients with pre-cannulation D-dimer levels >3,000 ng/mL had a significantly shorter time from admission to cannulation (4.78 vs. 8.44 days, p = 0.049) compared to those with D-dimer <3,000 ng/mL. Furthermore, patients with D-dimer >3,000 ng/mL had a trend of lower pH (7.24 vs. 7.33), higher pCO2 (61.33 vs. 50.69), and higher vasoactive inotropic score (7.23 vs. 3.97) at time of cannulation, however, these were not statistically significant. This cohort of patients also required a longer duration of ECMO support (51.44 vs. 31.25 days). However, 13 patients required at least one ECMO-circuit exchange and 16 patients did not require any exchanges. There was a consistent drop in D-dimer values after every circuit exchange, which was not observed in any of the other examined inflammatory markers, including ferritin, lactate dehydrogenase, or C-reactive protein. We propose that elevated D-dimer levels (>3,000 ng/mL) reflect increased disease severity in COVID-19, and predict a longer ECMO course. Once on ECMO, however, the D-Dimer level consistently decreased with every circuit exchange, which may reflect thrombus within the oxygenator rather than just disease severity.

PMID:35609187 | DOI:10.1097/MAT.0000000000001775

Perm J. 2021 Oct 25;26(1):11-20. doi: 10.7812/TPP/21.024.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Effective, equity-promoting interventions implemented by health care systems are needed to address health care disparities and population-level health disparities. We evaluated the impact of a clinical decision support tool to improve evidence-based thiazide diuretic prescribing among Black patients to address racial disparities in hypertension control.

METHODS: We employed an interrupted time series design and qualitative interviews to evaluate the implementation of the tool. Our primary outcome measure was the monthly rate of thiazide use among eligible patients before and after implementation of the tool (January 2013-December 2016). We modeled month-to-month changes in thiazide use for Black and White patients, overall, and by sex and medical center racial composition. We conducted key informant interviews to identify modifiable facilitators and barriers to implementation of the tool across medical centers.

RESULTS: Of the 318,720 patients, 15.5% were Black. We observed no change in thiazide use or blood pressure control following the implementation of the tool in either racial subgroup. There was a slight but statistically significant reduction (2.32 percentage points, p < 0.01) in thiazide use among Black patients following the removal the tool that was not observed among White patients. Factors affecting the tool’s implementation included physician and pharmacist resistance to thiazide use and a lack of ongoing promotion of the tool.

DISCUSSION: The clinical decision support tool was insufficient to change prescribing practices and improve blood pressure control among Black patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Future interventions should consider physician attitudes about thiazide prescribing and the importance of multilevel approaches to address hypertension disparities.

PMID:35609161 | DOI:10.7812/TPP/21.024