Tag: statistics

Rev Med Inst Mex Seguro Soc. 2022 May 2;60(3):249-257.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic caused hospital reconversion throughout Mexico and it was scarce information about its development in second-level intensive care units (ICU).

OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical characteristics related to COVID-19 mortality in a second-level ICU.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Observational, cohort, retrospective, and analytical study. Demographic variables, medical history, as well as clinical, ventilatory and laboratory characteristics, and complications of patients admitted to ICU from March to November 2020 due to acute respiratory failure were recorded. Patients were divided into two groups: improvement or death. Lost data were imputed by normal multivariated regression. Descriptive statistics and inferencial analysis were made to determine the risk of significant variables against the death outcome with Cox regression.

RESULTS: 60% of patients were male. In-hospital mortality was 55%. An older age (44.4 ± 12.1 vs. 50.7 ± 12.1, p = 0.01), higher APACHE II score (8 (10-13) vs. 15 (11-21), p < 0.001), larger onset-symptom time to ICU (10.1 ± 4.0 vs. 12.0 ± 5.3 days, p = 0.049) and a lower oxygen saturation (78.2 ± 16.%5 vs. 71.1 ± 17.9%, p = 0.017) were significantly asociated characteristics to mortality. Average of stay at ICU was 8 days.

CONCLUSIONS: A higher age, more days from beginning of symptoms to hospital admission, and lower oxygenation at admission were pre-admission determining factors for risk of death, while cardiovascular, renal complications and hyperglycemia were the in-hospital determinants.

PMID:35759745

Anal Chem. 2022 Jun 27. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c00287. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Here, we develop a sensitive method for glucose-containing disaccharide analysis by 1-(4-carboxyphenyl)-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (CPMP) derivatization using mass spectrometry. The intense anion of [M – H]^– (m/z 759) was observed for CPMP-labeled disaccharides in a negative mode. After derivatization, its sensitivity was significantly increased with the limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQ) ranging from 3.90 to 8.67 ng L^-1 and 12.99 to 28.92 ng L^-1, respectively. During CID-MS/MS analysis, the fragment patterns of CPMP derivatized disaccharides in the negative mode were simpler and clearer than their counterparts in a positive mode, which further could be applied to distinct and relatively quantitative isomeric disaccharides with ultrahigh sensitivity and good reproducibility. The great linear relationships could be achieved under wider concentration ratios from 0.01 to 20 compared to the previous report. Eventually, the developed methodology was applicable to identify isomeric disaccharides in beers. No sucrose was discovered. All beers contain 1,4- and 1,6-linked disaccharides. Some of them also have a mixture of 1,2- and 1,3-linked disaccharides. Through the integration of statistical analysis, beers with different production processes were finally discriminated, and the relative quantification of isomaltose and maltose was realized. In general, this method is sensitive, fast, and reliable for the discrimination and relative quantification of isomeric disaccharides in complex matrices. This study provides a new idea for the structural analysis of oligosaccharides in food, plants, and animals and an important theoretical basis for the exploration of new functions of oligosaccharides.

PMID:35759693 | DOI:10.1021/acs.analchem.2c00287

Plast Reconstr Surg. 2022 Jun 28. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000009434. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative hemostasis should be performed with great caution since bleeding is a huge enemy of patient safety during surgery. Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a lysine synthetic derivate that inhibits fibrinolysis and diminishes the bleeding by blocking the 5 lysine-binding sites for plasminogen.

PURPOSE: We are comparing the efficacy of tranexamic acid vs. placebo as a hemostatic agent in liposculpture procedures.

METHODS DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: We conducted a multicenter, double-blinded, randomized, controlled clinical trial in patients who were scheduled for liposculpture in 3 plastic surgery centers (Colombia and Mexico) between January 2019 and February of 2020. Interventions: 141 patients were randomly assigned into three groups: Intravenous (1 gr of TXA), subcutaneous (1 gr of TXA) and placebo (Normal Saline). 47 patients were assigned to each group. 30 patients were male and 111 were female. Main outcome: Evaluate the amount of postoperative bleeding between groups. The primary outcome was measured by the hemoglobin (Hb) point loss at day 1 (Preoperative Hb minus Hb at day 1 postop) and the Hb (mg/dl) point loss at day 5 (Preoperative Hb minus Hb at day 5 postop).

RESULTS: We found the Intravenous intervention group to have a greater hemoglobin level than the other two groups on both the first postoperative day (P=0.0001) and the fifth postoperative day (P=0.001). There were no statistical differences in Hb values between the placebo and the subcutaneous intervention groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Intravenous Tranexamic acid is a good therapeutic choice to implement on liposculpture procedures to decrease postoperative bleeding.

PMID:35759637 | DOI:10.1097/PRS.0000000000009434

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Jul 5;119(27):e2119015119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2119015119. Epub 2022 Jun 27.

ABSTRACT

Controlled electrobreakdown of graphene is important for the fabrication of stable nanometer-size tunnel gaps, large-scale graphene quantum dots, and nanoscale resistive switches, etc. However, owing to the complex thermal, electronic, and electrochemical processes at the nanoscale that dictate the rupture of graphene, it is difficult to generate conclusions from individual devices. We describe here a way to explore the statistical signature of the graphene electrobreakdown process. Such analysis tells us that feedback-controlled electrobreakdown of graphene in the air first shows signs of joule heating-induced cleaning followed by rupturing of the graphene lattice that is manifested by the lowering of its conductance. We show that when the conductance of the graphene becomes smaller than around 0.1 G₀, the effective graphene notch width starts to decrease exponentially slower with time. Further, we show how this signature gets modified as we change the environment and or the substrate. Using statistical analysis, we show that the electrobreakdown under a high vacuum could lead to substrate modification and resistive-switching behavior, without the application of any electroforming voltage. This is attributed to the formation of a semiconducting filament that makes a Schottky barrier with the graphene. We also provide here the statistically extracted Schottky barrier threshold voltages for various substrate studies. Such analysis not only gives a better understanding of the electrobreakdown of graphene but also can serve as a tool in the future for single-molecule diagnostics.

PMID:35759664 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2119015119

J Homosex. 2022 Jun 27:1-17. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2022.2087480. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Since the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community may be exposed to violence, discrimination, stigma, exclusion, and maltreatment due to their sexual orientation while accessing healthcare services, understanding, and improving the attitudes of future’s health care professionals toward LGBTI individuals seem essential. This descriptive and cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the homophobia among medical, nursing, pharmacy, and healthcare sciences students and examine the related factors. The study included 2,531 students from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and other health sciences (midwifery, nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy, management of healthcare facilities) disciplines. Homophobia was measured with the Hudson and Ricketts Homophobia Scale. After getting ethical and institutional approvals, data were collected and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests. Medical students had the lowest homophobia score, and their mean score was significantly lower than other students. There was a significant difference between students’ scores according to years of study, age, sex, acquaintance with LGBTI individuals, providing healthcare services to an LGBTI person, and opinions on providing care. Although homophobia scores of nursing, pharmacy, and other health sciences students were lower than the medical students’, policies and expansive content regarding LGBTI should be in place in all health science educational institutes, including medical schools, to prevent students from holding homophobic and prejudicial attitudes against LGBTI individuals.

PMID:35759634 | DOI:10.1080/00918369.2022.2087480

Plast Reconstr Surg. 2022 Jun 28. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000009466. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Scars are a vexing sequela of surgery. Microneedling, also known as Minimally Invasive Percutaneous Collagen Induction (MIPCI), has demonstrated impressive improvements in chronic acne scars; however, no evidence exists for treating post-surgical scars during active wound healing. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the utility and safe use of MIPCI in acute post-surgical scars.

METHODS: Twenty-five subjects who underwent surgery had scars treated with 3 treatments of MIPCI in the postoperative period. Scar assessment was measured by Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS), Patient & Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) and Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (GAIS) after each of the 3 treatments and at final 2 month follow up.

RESULTS: Patients had positive improvement in VSS, POSAS and GAIS at 16-week post treatment initiation evaluation compared to initial measurement (p value<0.001). No statistically significant differences were noted when comparing the age of the patient, location of scars or Fitzpatrick Phototype Scales between patients. However, when comparing patients who began treatment early (week 6 to 7 post-op) to those who began treatment late (week 13 to 16 postop), there was a statistically significant difference in the POSAS group (p value <0.04).

CONCLUSIONS: Post-surgical scars treated with MIPCI in the maturation and remodeling phase had no adverse outcomes. Interestingly, our data shows treatment initiated early in the maturation phase (6-7 weeks post-op) while natural collagen formation was tapering off demonstrated improved aesthetic outcomes compared to treatments initiated late in the maturation phase (13-16wk post-op).

PMID:35759632 | DOI:10.1097/PRS.0000000000009466

J Healthc Qual. 2022 Jul-Aug 01;44(4):240-252. doi: 10.1097/JHQ.0000000000000327.

ABSTRACT

Interventions to improve medication nonadherence in transplantation have recently moved from a focus on motivation and intention, to a focus on person-level quality improvement strategies. These strategies link adherence to established daily routines, environmental cues, and supportive people. The objective of this evaluation was to estimate the cost of implementation and the cost-effectiveness of a person-level intervention shown to increase medication adherence. To estimate the intervention costs, a direct measure microcosting approach was used after key informant interviews with project champions and a review of implementation expenditures. Cost-effectiveness was calculated by comparing the incremental implementation costs and healthcare costs associated with nonadherence to the incremental percent adherent, defined as the percent of patients who took greater or equal to 85% of their medication doses, for each pairwise comparison. The intervention was low-resource to implement, costing approximately $520 to implement per patient, and was associated with significant improvements in medication adherence. These implementation costs were more than outweighed by the expected healthcare savings associated with improvements in adherence. This person-level intervention is a low-cost, efficacious intervention associated with significant statistical and clinical improvements in medication adherence in adult kidney transplant recipients.

PMID:35759613 | DOI:10.1097/JHQ.0000000000000327

Environ Sci Technol. 2022 Jun 27. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c08673. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) for disease monitoring is highly promising but requires consistent methodologies that incorporate predetermined objectives, targets, and metrics. Herein, we describe a comprehensive metagenomics-based approach for global surveillance of antibiotic resistance in sewage that enables assessment of 1) which antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are shared across regions/communities; 2) which ARGs are discriminatory; and 3) factors associated with overall trends in ARGs, such as antibiotic concentrations. Across an internationally sourced transect of sewage samples collected using a centralized, standardized protocol, ARG relative abundances (16S rRNA gene-normalized) were highest in Hong Kong and India and lowest in Sweden and Switzerland, reflecting national policy, measured antibiotic concentrations, and metal resistance genes. Asian versus European/US resistomes were distinct, with macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin, phenicol, quinolone, and tetracycline versus multidrug resistance ARGs being discriminatory, respectively. Regional trends in measured antibiotic concentrations differed from trends expected from public sales data. This could reflect unaccounted uses, captured only by the WBS approach. If properly benchmarked, antibiotic WBS might complement public sales and consumption statistics in the future. The WBS approach defined herein demonstrates multisite comparability and sensitivity to local/regional factors.

PMID:35759608 | DOI:10.1021/acs.est.1c08673

Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2022;122(5. Vyp. 2):52-57. doi: 10.17116/jnevro202212205252.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a relative telomere length in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) before and after a 6-month course of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Seventy-five men participated in the study, including 50 men with OSA (the main group 1) and 25 men without OSA (the control group). The average age in the total group was 53.4±3.6 years. Thirty-five men completed the study (the main group 2). According to the design, night polysomnography (PSG) was performed for all the subjects, blood sampling to assess the length of telomeres was carried out in the morning according to the standard method. The values of the relative telomere length were obtained using the difference between the values of the threshold cycles for telomeric DNA and the reference gene albumin (∆CCt). After clarifying the diagnosis, CPAP was applied for 6 months.

RESULTS: Statistically significant indicators of PSG were revealed: a decrease in NREM 3 in patients with OSA compared to controls (89.3±15.8 versus 150±23.4 minutes), an increase in NREM1-2 in OSA (296.2±31.1 and 170.1±24.5, respectively), REM was 84.6±15.4 in the main group and 118.5±19.5 in the control group. CPAP therapy conducted for 6 months (at least 4-5 nights a week, lasting at least 5-6 hours of night sleep) demonstrated a significant improvement in the qualitative and quantitative parameters of sleep. In patients of the main group 1, there is a shortening of the telomere length compared with the control group (p<0.001). With the elimination of hypoxia and improvement of the structure of sleep after CPAP, there was an increase in the telomere lengths in the main group 1 from 0.28 [0.24-0.29] to 0.32 [0.30-0.34] in the main group 2 (p=0.03). The telomers length in the control group was 0.53 [0.50-0.55].

CONCLUSION: Intermittent hypoxia and fragmentation of sleep in OSA leads to shortening of telomeres. CPAP, by eliminating the pathophysiological triggers of OSA, contributes to an increase in telomeres lengths and can slow down the premature aging in OSA.

PMID:35759567 | DOI:10.17116/jnevro202212205252

PLoS Comput Biol. 2022 Jun 27;18(6):e1010271. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010271. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

While deep learning models have seen increasing applications in protein science, few have been implemented for protein backbone generation-an important task in structure-based problems such as active site and interface design. We present a new approach to building class-specific backbones, using a variational auto-encoder to directly generate the 3D coordinates of immunoglobulins. Our model is torsion- and distance-aware, learns a high-resolution embedding of the dataset, and generates novel, high-quality structures compatible with existing design tools. We show that the Ig-VAE can be used with Rosetta to create a computational model of a SARS-CoV2-RBD binder via latent space sampling. We further demonstrate that the model’s generative prior is a powerful tool for guiding computational protein design, motivating a new paradigm under which backbone design is solved as constrained optimization problem in the latent space of a generative model.

PMID:35759518 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010271