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The Association between Presence of Comorbidities and COVID-19 Severity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Get PDFSeveral studies reported the accompaniment of severe COVID-19 with comorbidities. However, there is not a systematic evaluation of all aspects of this association. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to assess the association between all underlying comorbidities in COVID-19 infection severity. Methods: Electronic literature search was performed via scientific search engines. After the removal of duplicates and selection of articles of interest, 28 studies were included. A fixed-effects model was used; however, if heterogeneity was high (I2 > 50) a random-effects model was applied to combine the data. Results: A total of 6,270 individuals were assessed (1,615 severe and 4,655 non-severe patients). The median age was 63 (95 confidence interval CI: 49-74) and 47 (95% CI: 19-63) years in the severe and non-severe groups, respectively. Moreover, about 41% of patients had comorbidities. Severity was higher in patients with a history of cerebrovascular disease: OR 4.85 (95% CI: 3.11-7.57). The odds of being in a severe group increase by 4.81 (95% CI: 3.43-6.74) for a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This was 4.19 (95% CI: 2.84-6.19) for chronic lung disease and 3.18, 95% CI: 2.09-4.82 for cancer. The odds ratios of diabetes and hypertension were 2.61 (95% CI: 2.02-3.3) and 2.37 (95% CI: 1.80-3.13), respectively. Conclusions: The presence of comorbidities is associated with severity of COVID-19 infection. The strongest association was observed for cerebrovascular disease, followed by CVD, chronic lung disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. © 2021 S. Karger AG. All rights reserved
Disability and its association with psychological factors in multiple sclerosis patients
No full textBackground: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological, and immune-mediated demyelinating disease. Psychological factors in MS disease and psychosocial interventions based on these factors have a major role in the adjustment of MS patients toward their disease. The aim of the study was to compare the psychological components of happiness, psychological well-being, love of life, meaning in life, and somatic health between MS patients with low Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores and MS patients with higher EDSS scores. Method: A sample of 128 patients with MS was recruited. Patients were administered the EDSS, the Self-Rating Scale of Happiness (SRH), the World Health Organization-five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), the Love of Life Scale (LLS), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15). Patients with EDSS>3 (cases) and EDSS�3 (controls) were compared. Results: The cases had lower scores for happiness, love of life, psychological well-being, meaning in life, the present of meaning in life subscale, and somatic health, compared with the controls. The differences between cases and controls remained statistically significant after controlling for age and sex. Conclusion: Positive health promotion and education intervention programs to reduce disability and increase MS patients' well-being should be one of the priorities in the Iran healthcare system for MS patients. Therapists should take these components into account when working with MS patients with moderate and severe disability. © 2021 Elsevier B.V
Reliability of B-mode ultrasonography to measure lumbar multifidus muscle dimensions in patients with unilateral lumbar disc herniation
No full textObjectives: To evaluate Ultrasound Imaging (USI) reliability for measurement of lumbar multifidus (LMF) muscle thickness and cross sectional area (CSA) at rest and during contraction in patients with unilateral lumbar disc herniation. Setting: Laboratory. Design: Reliability Study. Participants: Thirty patients, aged 25�50 years (37.55 ± 9.55), with unilateral L4-L5 lumbar disc herniation participated in this study. Main outcome measures: Thickness and CSA of LMF were measured using B-mode ultrasound by two raters in prone position. Results: Same day and multiple day inter-rater and same day intra-rater reliability showed good to excellent reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.70 to 0.91). Also standard error of measurement and minimal detectable change for USI reliabilities ranged from 0.06 to 0.57 and 0.16 to 1.31, respectively. Conclusions: Reliability of USI for measurements of LMF muscle thickness and CSA was high, and consistent with previous studies conducted on reliability of USI to measure LMF dimensions in other populations. © 202
Non-coding RNAs modulate function of extracellular matrix proteins
Get PDFThe extracellular matrix (ECM) creates a multifaceted system for the interaction of diverse structural proteins, matricellular molecules, proteoglycans, hyaluronan, and various glycoproteins that collaborate and bind with each other to produce a bioactive polymer. Alterations in the composition and configuration of ECM elements influence the cellular phenotype, thus participating in the pathogenesis of several human disorders. Recent studies indicate the crucial roles of non-coding RNAs in the modulation of ECM. Several miRNAs such as miR-21, miR-26, miR-19, miR-140, miR-29, miR-30, miR-133 have been dysregulated in disorders that are associated with disruption or breakdown of the ECM. Moreover, expression of MALAT1, PVT1, SRA1, n379519, RMRP, PFL, TUG1, TM1P3, FAS-AS1, PART1, XIST, and expression of other lncRNAs is altered in disorders associated with the modification of ECM components. In the current review, we discuss the role of lncRNAs and miRNAs in the modification of ECM and their relevance with the pathophysiology of human disorders such as cardiac/ lung fibrosis, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, asthma, osteoarthritis, and cancers. © 2021 The Author(s
Prevalence of Subclinical Hypothyroidism in Chronic Kidney Disease in a Population-based Study: Tehran Thyroid Study
Get PDFBackground: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a rising public health concern that has detrimental effects on cardiovascular health and overall survival. Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) has been associated with poor outcomes in the general population. It is thought to be more prevalent in CKD subjects, and their coexistence may contribute to poor outcomes in these patients. We aimed to determine the prevalence of SCH in CKD. Methods: Using data from the Tehran thyroid study, which is a prospective population-based cohort study, adult subjects with an estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) of 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 or less were selected for studying the prevalence of thyroid abnormalities, as well as other known cardiovascular risk factors. Results: Of 5,626 subjects recruited, 823 (14.6) individuals had CKD. Individuals with CKD were older, heavier, had a higher prevalence of diabetes, higher serum thyrotropin, and thyroid peroxidase anti-body levels, but lower free thyroxine levels. The prevalence of SCH was 7.3 and 5.2 (P < 0.001) in kidney disease and non-kidney disease subjects, respectively. However, there was no difference in the risk of SCH between CKD and non-CKD subjects after adjustment for age, sex, BMI, smoking, and TPOAb (OR: 1.28; 95CI, 0.89 - 1.83). None of the metabolic markers compared between the CKD subgroups of those with and without SCH remained statistically significantly different after adjusting for age and gender. Conclusions: The prevalence of SCH was not higher in CKD after controlling for confounding factors. Besides, CKD subjects with and without SCH had no different metabolic parameters. © 2021, International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism
PCL/gelatin scaffolds and beta-boswellic acid synergistically increase the efficiency of CGR8 stem cells differentiation into dopaminergic neuron: A new paradigm of Parkinson's disease cell therapy
No full textParkinson's disease is a progressive degenerative disorder in the central nervous system, which is distinguished by the death of dopamine-producing nerve cells. Levodopa, a dopamine precursor drug, is the current standard of care of symptomatic treatment for Parkinson's disease. However, the long-term use of the drug is associated with the development of motor fluctuations and dyskinesias. Cellular therapies aim to deploy fetal dopaminergic neurons as a means to replace the missing dopamine-producing cells. The present study aims to study the impact of beta-boswellic acid (BBA) coupled with poly ε-caprolactone (PCL)/gelatin scaffolds on the dopaminergic differentiation course of CGR8 embryonic stem cells (ESCs). For this purpose, CGR8 ESCs were cultured on PCL/gelatin scaffolds and a five-step protocol was employed to be promoted the neural differentiation of CGR8 ESCs. Gene expression analysis by real-time qPCR demonstrated that PCL/gelatin scaffolds along with BBA treatment impose synergistic effects on the derivation of dopaminergic-like cells from CGR8 ESCs. Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography confirmed the functionality of the derived neurons by demonstrating the efficient secretion of dopamine in response to stimuli. Our results suggested that the generation of functional dopaminergic-like cells from CGR8 ESCs was increased and supported by PCL/gelatin scaffolds and BBA treatment can heighten the efficiency. The result of this study may open insight into Parkinson's disease cell therapy and provide future directions for tissue engineering aimed at the treatment of Parkinson's disease. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LL
Fusion of convolution neural network, support vector machine and Sobel filter for accurate detection of COVID-19 patients using X-ray images
Get PDFThe coronavirus (COVID-19) is currently the most common contagious disease which is prevalent all over the world. The main challenge of this disease is the primary diagnosis to prevent secondary infections and its spread from one person to another. Therefore, it is essential to use an automatic diagnosis system along with clinical procedures for the rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 to prevent its spread. Artificial intelligence techniques using computed tomography (CT) images of the lungs and chest radiography have the potential to obtain high diagnostic performance for Covid-19 diagnosis. In this study, a fusion of convolutional neural network (CNN), support vector machine (SVM), and Sobel filter is proposed to detect COVID-19 using X-ray images. A new X-ray image dataset was collected and subjected to high pass filter using a Sobel filter to obtain the edges of the images. Then these images are fed to CNN deep learning model followed by SVM classifier with ten-fold cross validation strategy. This method is designed so that it can learn with not many data. Our results show that the proposed CNN-SVM with Sobel filter (CNN-SVM + Sobel) achieved the highest classification accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 99.02, 100 and 95.23, respectively in automated detection of COVID-19. It showed that using Sobel filter can improve the performance of CNN. Unlike most of the other researches, this method does not use a pre-trained network. We have also validated our developed model using six public databases and obtained the highest performance. Hence, our developed model is ready for clinical application. © 2021 Elsevier Lt
Correction to: Psychometric properties of the SF-6Dv2 in an Iranian breast cancer population (Breast Cancer, (2021), 28, 4, (937-943), 10.1007/s12282-021-01230-3)
Get PDFThe original version of this article unfortunately published with an incorrect funding number. The correct funding information should read as below. The Publisher regrets for the error. Funding This study was funded by Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services (26473). © 2021, The Japanese Breast Cancer Society
The effect of play-based occupational therapy on symptoms and participation in daily life activities in children with cancer: A randomized controlled trial
No full textIntroduction: This study aimed to investigate the effect of play-based occupational therapy on symptoms and participation in daily life activities in hospitalized children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Method: A total of 25 children (mean age = 9.28 ± 0.95 years, range = 7�12 years) with cancer undergoing chemotherapy were enrolled and randomly assigned to a play-based occupational therapy group (n = 12) or control group (n = 13). The intervention group received eight 1-hour play-based occupational therapy sessions, and the control group received traditional occupational therapy services. Participation in daily life activities, therapy-related symptoms, pain, anxiety, and fatigue were evaluated. Results: Total mean scores of participation in daily life activities in the intervention group in the diversity of activities (p = 0.001, d = 1.39), intensity of participation (p = 0.001, d = 1.86), with whom done (p = 0.005, d = 1.22), enjoyment (p = 0.003, d = 1.33), and parents� satisfaction (p = 0.003, d = 1.33) were significantly higher than the control group. Symptoms decreased in both groups; however, this trend had a significant difference in the intervention group for the therapy-related symptom checklist (p = 0.001, d = 1.68), pain (p = 0.001, d = 1.61), anxiety (p = 0.001, d = 1.58), and fatigue (p = 0.002, d = 1.39) scores. Conclusion: A 2-week course of inpatient play-based occupational therapy is an effective approach in the reduction of cancer symptoms, therapy-related symptoms, and the participation facilitation, of children with cancer in daily life activities. © The Author(s) 2021
Introducing a new method of retinoscopy for refraction of infants and young children: The �Mirza� tele lens retinoscopy
Get PDFPurpose: This study aimed to evaluate the refractive error of the uncooperative infants and children with the new method of retinoscopy called the tele-lens (�Mirza�) retinoscopy. Methods: In the �Mirza� tele-lens retinoscopy, the examiner placed the trial lenses in 1/3 distance between the tested eye person and peephole of the retinoscope (22.2 cm far from the spectacle plane). First, the optical calculations were done to find the correction factors for this new method of retinoscopy. Second, the dry standard and �Mirza� tele-lens retinoscopy were performed in 78 eyes from 39 children aged 7�12 years with good cooperation and next, the procedure was repeated using cyclopentolate drops and then the results of the two methods were compared, and at the end, the dry �Mirza� tele-lens retinoscopy was done in the 60 eyes of 31 uncooperative infants with a mean age of 21.85 ± 8.79 months for evaluating the feasibility of the �Mirza� tele-lens retinoscopy procedure. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland�Altman plot for assessment of agreement between the findings of two retinoscopic methods in dry and cyclo conditions were used. Results: The comparison between the dry standard and �Mirza� tele-lens retinoscopic results with means of 1.39 ± 1.43 and1.36 ± 1.39, respectively were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Besides, comparing the mean cycloplegic results of two methods (standard vs. �Mirza� tele-lens), the difference was not statistically significant (2.37 ± 1.44 vs. 2.41 ± 1.37) (p > 0.05). Moreover, Two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed no significant retinoscopy method � use of drops interaction (P = 0.103) in comparing two methods of the standard and �Mirza� tele-lens retinoscopy. ICC results indicated high agreement between two methods in both dry (ICC = 0.993) and cyclo (ICC = 0.989) conditions. Conclusions: The �Mirza� tele-lens retinoscopy method can be performed with satisfactory results in infants and children who do not cooperate for the standard procedure of measuring the refractive errors. © 2020 Spanish General Council of Optometr