Tag: statistics

J Hum Nutr Diet. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1111/jhn.13008. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Rates of cancer survival are increasing, with more people living with and beyond cancer. Lifestyle recommendations for cancer survivors are based largely on extrapolation from cancer prevention recommendations. This feasibility study was designed to investigate diet and physical activity variables linked to primary prevention and digital behaviour change interventions in cancer survivors and delivered by an oncology dietitian to plan for future research.

METHODS: In this two-month feasibility study, participants who had completed treatment for colorectal cancer were invited to complete online food diaries, physical activity assessment, attend fortnightly telephone consultations with an oncology dietitian and complete an evaluation form. The baseline food diaries were used to help participants pick two lifestyle changes to focus on throughout the intervention. Demographic and clinical data were analysed using descriptive statistics.

RESULTS: In total, 996 patients were screened for eligibility; of these, 78 were eligible to approach and 69 were approached, resulting in 20 participants consenting to take part. Overall, the intervention was acceptable with 65% of participants completing an online food diary and 70% engaging with the dietitian over the telephone. The intervention received good feedback with 100% of those completing the evaluation form reporting they felt supported and found it helpful.

CONCLUSION: This study offers preliminary evidence that a lifestyle intervention delivered by an oncology dietitian using digital behaviour change interventions (DBCIs) to cancer survivors is feasible and accepted by participants and providers.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT03849352 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:35320595 | DOI:10.1111/jhn.13008

Obes Surg. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1007/s11695-022-05995-0. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) has gained acceptance worldwide. However, SG has its own complications that need a specialized management. Omentopexy is a technique in which the sleeved part of the stomach is fixed to the greater omentum.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The present work aimed to investigate the potential effect of omentopexy on the upper GIT disturbances in patients with severe obesity and undergoing LSG.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study included patients who were recruited for LSG in our institution from June 2019 to October 2020. Patients having no upper GIT symptoms, no esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) GERD signs, and no hiatus hernia were eligible for the study. Patients were randomly enrolled into the omentopexy group (underwent LSG with omentopexy) and the non-omentopexy group (underwent LSG only). Patients were followed up 1 month, 3 months, and 1 year after the operation. EGD was performed at the 1-year follow-up.

RESULTS: Forty-five patients constituted the omentopexy group and forty-six constituted the non-omentopexy group. Omentopexy was associated with significant reduction in the early post LSG upper GIT symptoms, and less EGD evident reflux esophagitis at the 1-year follow-up (statistically non-significant).

CONCLUSION: The current work adds a new evidence of the omentopexy benefits in patients undergoing sleeve gastrostomy, with an overall better outcome in regard to the upper GIT upset and GERD compared to LSG alone.

PMID:35320488 | DOI:10.1007/s11695-022-05995-0

Hernia. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1007/s10029-022-02586-x. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic techniques have been used and refined in hernia surgery for several years. The aim of this study was to compare an established method such as laparoscopic intra-peritoneal onlay mesh repair (lap. IPOM) with ventral Transabdominal Preperitoneal Patch Plasty (ventral-TAPP) in abdominal wall hernia repair.

METHODS: Patient-related data of 180 laparoscopic ventral hernia repairs between June 2014 and August 2020 were extracted from our prospectively maintained database. Of these patients, 34 underwent ventral-TAPP and 146 lap. IPOM. After excluding hernias with a defect size > 5 cm and obtaining balanced groups with propensity-score matching, a comparative analysis was performed in terms perioperative data, surgical outcomes and cost-effectiveness.

RESULTS: Propensity-score matching suggested 27 patients in each of the two cohorts. The statistical evaluation showed that intake of opiates was significantly higher in the lap. IPOM group compared to ventral-TAPP patients (p = 0.001). The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score after lap. IPOM repair was significantly higher at movement (p = 0.008) and at rest (p = 0.023). Also, maximum subjective pain during hospital stay was significantly higher in the lap. IPOM group compared to ventral-TAPP patients (p = 0.004). No hernia recurrence was detected in either group. The material costs of ventral-TAPP procedure (34.37 ± 0.47 €) were significantly lower than those of the lap. IPOM group (742.57 ± 128.44 € p = 0.001). The mean operation time was 65.19 ± 26.43 min in the lap. IPOM group and 58.65 ± 18.43 min in the ventral-TAPP cohort. Additionally, the length of hospital stay in the lap. IPOM cohort was significantly longer (p = 0.043).

CONCLUSION: Ventral-TAPP procedures represent an alternative technique to lap. IPOM repair to reduce the risk of complications related to intra-peritoneal position of mesh and fixating devices. In addition, our study showed that postoperative pain level, material costs and hospital stay of the ventral-TAPP cohort are significantly lower compared to lap. IPOM patients.

PMID:35320438 | DOI:10.1007/s10029-022-02586-x

Ir J Med Sci. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1007/s11845-022-02981-4. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Individual susceptibility to develop acute respiratory distress syndrome is related to age and most frequent comorbidities. So far, it is known that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) primarily infects the type II pneumocytes in humans, with the help of transmembrane serine protease type 2 (TMPRSS2). Up to now, the only known transcriptional promoters of genes coding TMPRSS2 are androgenic. Theoretically, the elevated level of androgens or androgen receptors would lead to a higher expression of TMPRSS2 and a higher level of viremia as a consequence.

AIM: The aim of our research was to indirectly investigate if the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection is dependent on the expression of androgen receptors.

METHODS: This observational study analysed male patients hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 infection with respect to the length of hospitalisation, the outcome of the disease, the type of necessary oxygen support and the presence of comorbidities and hairiness. In hairiness estimation, we used an adapted version of the Hamilton-Norwood scale and the presence of the Gabrin sign.

RESULTS: In total, 208 patients were enrolled in the study. There were statistically significant differences comparing the average age of patients with the different types of alopecia when groups were divided according to the presence of the Gabrin sign (t = 4.958, p > 0.01). The outcomes and the type of needed minimal oxygen support, compared with the type of alopecia in the case of Gabrin + / – classification showed a statistically significant difference in the outcome of the disease (p = 0.027). There were no statistically significant differences in the distribution of comorbidities among alopecia groups, but hypertension was related to poor COVID-19 prognosis.

CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the Gabrin sign and hypertension are related to a poor COVID-19 prognosis.

PMID:35320487 | DOI:10.1007/s11845-022-02981-4

Environ Monit Assess. 2022 Mar 23;194(4):290. doi: 10.1007/s10661-022-09936-3.

ABSTRACT

The mountain ecosystem is highly vulnerable to climate changes fraught with a multitude of problems related to environment, food, and nutritional security. Quantification of the soil fertility status can provide an efficient way to devise strategies for sustainable crop production. The lack of information on the soil fertility status prompted us to delineate the spatial variability of the soil attributes, viz., pH, electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic carbon (OC), and the macronutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)). The extensive soil sampling was carried out from the apple orchards (AO) and potential areas under agricultural land (AL) in Kinnaur region of cold desert, Trans-Himalaya, India. Descriptive statistics was employed for the exploratory analysis of data representing a wide variation (coefficient of variation, CV = 5.70-58.62%). The available N and P, categorized as low (< 280 kg ha^-1) to medium (280-560 kg ha^-1) and low (4-10 kg ha^-1) to high (> 25 kg ha^-1), respectively, were the main limiting factors in crop production. The availability of the K was categorized as medium (118-280 kg ha^-1) to high (> 280 kg ha^-1). The geostatistical analysis was carried out to check the spatial dependency in the dataset. The principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out and the dominant PCs were used in fuzzy c-means clustering for the delineation of management zones (MZs). The management zones highlight the need for area-specific interventions for ameliorating soil degradation and increasing apple productivity. The soil nutrient maps in spatial scale would help to provide precise fertilizer recommendations for sustainable production and environmental conservation.

PMID:35320425 | DOI:10.1007/s10661-022-09936-3

Eur Radiol. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1007/s00330-022-08611-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed amongst trigeminal neuralgia (TN) patients with neurovascular contact (NVC) to 1) investigate the association of the demographic and radiologic factors/variables with TN occurrence, and 2) develop a screening tool for TN/TN-affected nerves based on the factors/variables associated with it.

METHODS: Eighty-five TN patients were recruited, and 121 trigeminal nerves with NVC were derived from them. Based on MRI sequences, including balanced turbo field echo and enhanced T1 high-resolution isotropic volume excitation, radiologic factors/variables for each nerve, from the offending vessel to the presence of nerve displacement, were identified by a neuroradiologist and a neurosurgeon. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from clinical notes. Logistic regression was performed to assess the association of the factors/variables with TN occurrence (i.e., affected vs. unaffected nerves).

RESULTS: Three factors/variables were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with TN occurrence amongst patients with NVC: nerve laterality, vertebral artery (VA) involvement, and the presence of nerve displacement. The nerves with VA involvement, those on the right side, and those with nerve displacement exhibited a significantly higher likelihood/odd of being affected by TN, compared to those without VA involvement, those on the left side, and those without nerve displacement, respectively. Based on these factors/variables, a screening tool/nomogram with acceptable accuracy was established (C-statistic/AUC = 0.80).

CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed an association of the three radiologic factors/variables with TN occurrence. A screening tool for TN/TN-affected nerves was established based on them. The findings may lay a foundation for an improvement of the diagnosis and clinical management of TN.

KEY POINTS: • VA involvement and nerve displacement could be identified using MRI, and are significantly associated with TN occurrence. • A potential objective screening tool/nomogram for TN/TN-affected nerves could be established based on the three radiologic factors/variables: VA involvement, the presence of nerve displacement, and nerve laterality. • The screening accuracy of the tool/nomogram is acceptable as the C-statistic is 0.80.

PMID:35320409 | DOI:10.1007/s00330-022-08611-y

Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1007/s00259-022-05762-4. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Concern is growing about long-term side effects of differentiated thyroid cancer treatment, most notably radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy. However, published studies on the subject have had heterogeneous cohorts and conflicting results. This review seeks to provide an updated evaluation of published evidence, and to elucidate the risk of second primary malignancies (SPMs), especially secondary hematologic malignancies (SHMs), attributable to RAI therapy.

METHODS: An extensive literature search was performed in Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE and In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE Epub Ahead of Print, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and PubMed. Studies regarding RAI-induced SPMs or a dose-response relationship between RAI therapy and SPMs were identified, 10 of which were eligible for the analysis. We evaluated risk of bias in each study and judged quality of evidence (QOE) across all studies using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations approach.

RESULTS: For the outcome “SPM”, the relative effect (relative risk, hazard ratio, or odds ratio) of RAI vs. no RAI ranged from 1.14 to 1.84 across studies, but most results were not statistically significant. For the outcome “SHM”, reported relative effects ranged from 1.30 to 2.50, with 2/3 of the studies presenting statistically significant results. In 7/8 of the studies, increased risk for SPM was shown with increasing cumulative RAI activity. QOE was “very low” regarding SPM after RAI and regarding a dose-response relationship, and “low” for SHM after RAI.

CONCLUSION: Based on low quality evidence, an excess risk for the development of SPM cannot be excluded but is expected to be small.

PMID:35320386 | DOI:10.1007/s00259-022-05762-4

Biol Cybern. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1007/s00422-022-00929-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Seminal work by A. Winfree and J. Guckenheimer showed that a deterministic phase variable can be defined either in terms of Poincaré sections or in terms of the asymptotic (long-time) behaviour of trajectories approaching a stable limit cycle. However, this equivalence between the deterministic notions of phase is broken in the presence of noise. Different notions of phase reduction for a stochastic oscillator can be defined either in terms of mean-return-time sections or as the argument of the slowest decaying complex eigenfunction of the Kolmogorov backwards operator. Although both notions of phase enjoy a solid theoretical foundation, their relationship remains unexplored. Here, we quantitatively compare both notions of stochastic phase. We derive an expression relating both notions of phase and use it to discuss differences (and similarities) between both definitions of stochastic phase for (i) a spiral sink motivated by stochastic models for electroencephalograms, (ii) noisy limit-cycle systems-neuroscience models, and (iii) a stochastic heteroclinic oscillator inspired by a simple motor-control system.

PMID:35320405 | DOI:10.1007/s00422-022-00929-6

Intensive Care Med. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1007/s00134-022-06670-9. Online ahead of print.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:35320369 | DOI:10.1007/s00134-022-06670-9

Anal Bioanal Chem. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1007/s00216-022-04006-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Schistosomiasis, caused by the human parasite Schistosoma mansoni, is one of the WHO-listed neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and it has severe impact on morbidity and mortality, especially in Africa. Not only the adult worms but also their eggs are responsible for health problems. Up to 50% of the eggs produced by the female worms are not excreted with the feces but are trapped in the host tissue, such as the liver, where they provoke immune responses and a change in the lipid profile. We built up a database with 372 infection markers found in livers of S. mansoni-infected hamsters, using LC-MS/MS for identification, followed by statistical analysis. Most of them belong to the lipid classes of phosphatidylcholines (PCs), phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs), and triglycerides (TGs). We assigned some of these markers to specific anatomical structures by applying high-resolution MALDI MSI to cryosections of hamster liver and generating ion images based on the marker list from the LC-MS/MS experiments. Furthermore, enrichment and depletion of several markers were visualized.

PMID:35320368 | DOI:10.1007/s00216-022-04006-6