6 research outputs found
Exploring global linguistic nuances: analyzing region-specific inflectional morpheme frequency in ICNALE
No full textAbstract This study investigates region-specific inflectional morpheme frequencies within the ICNALE Corpus, exploring significant global linguistic intricacies. Through a quantitative, corpus-based approach, it conducts a comprehensive contrastive analysis, leveraging the extensive accessibility of the online ICNALE. Despite inherent limitations in data collection primarily reliant on interviews and written compositions within the ICNALE Corpus, the study offers illuminating insights into how diverse linguistic backgrounds influence the usage of inflectional morphemes in English. The findings bring to light interesting patterns in possessive usage, reflecting variations among ESL learners in acquiring grammatical features. Additionally, it highlights complexities in acquiring comparative and superlative degrees, aligning with challenges encountered by learners in mastering specific inflections. Analyses of plural noun inflections, subject-verb agreement, past tense, past participle, and present participle usage underscore the multifaceted influences of language background, acquisition stages, and instructional emphasis on learners’ morphological patterns. Future inquiries could further investigate the impact of instructional methodologies on inflectional morpheme acquisition, undertake comparative studies across proficiency levels and age groups, explore morphological transfer from learners’ native languages, and deepen comprehension of cognitive processes guiding effective learning strategies. These endeavors hold promise in refining pedagogical methodologies and enriching language learning experiences for diverse learner cohorts
Which Behaviour Change Techniques may help Waterpipe smokers to quit? An expert consensus using a Modified Delphi Technique
Full text linkIntroduction: Waterpipe smoking is addictive and harmful. The determinants of waterpipe smoking may differ from those of cigarette smoking; therefore, behavioral approaches to support quitting may also differ between these two tobacco products. While some evidence exists on effective behavioral change techniques (BCTs) to facilitate cigarette smoking cessation, there is little research on waterpipe smoking cessation. Methods: Twenty-four experts were selected from the author lists of peer-reviewed, randomized controlled trials on waterpipe smoking cessation. They were invited to two rounds of a consensus development exercise using modified Delphi technique. Experts ranked 55 BCTs categorized further into those that promote; “awareness of harms of waterpipe smoking and advantages of quitting” (14), “preparation and planning to quit” (29), and “relapse prevention and sustaining an ex-smoker identity” (12) on their potential effectiveness. Kendall’s W statistics was used to assess agreement. Results: Fifteen experts responded in round 1 and 14 completed both rounds. A strong consensus was achieved for BCTs that help in “relapse prevention and sustaining ex-smoker identity” (w = 0.7; p < .001) and a moderate for those that promote “awareness of harms of waterpipe smoking and advantages of quitting” (w = 0.6; p < .001) and “preparation and planning to quit” (w = 0.6; p < .001). Providing information on the consequences of waterpipe smoking and its cessation, assessing readiness and ability to quit, and making people aware of the withdrawal symptoms, were the three highest-ranking BCTs. Conclusion: Based on expert consensus, an inventory of BCTs ordered for their potential effectiveness can be useful for health professionals offering cessation support to waterpipe smokers. Implications: Waterpipe smoking is addictive, harmful, and gaining global popularity, particularly among youth. An expert consensus on behavior change techniques, likely to be effective in supporting waterpipe smokers to quit, has practice and research implications. Smoking cessation advisors can use these techniques to counsel waterpipe smokers who wish to quit. Behavioral and public health scientists can also use these to develop and evaluate behavioral support interventions for this client group
Cytisine for smoking cessation in patients with tuberculosis: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial
Full text linkDogar O, Keding A, Gabe R, et al. Cytisine for smoking cessation in patients with tuberculosis: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. The Lancet. Global health. 2020;8(11):e1408-e1417.BACKGROUND: Smoking cessation is important in patients with tuberculosis because it can reduce the high rates of treatment failure and mortality. We aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety of cystine as a smoking cessation aid in patients with tuberculosis in Bangladesh and Pakistan.; METHODS: We did a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, trial at 32 health centres in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Eligible patients were adults (aged >18 years in Bangladesh; aged >15 years in Pakistan) with pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosed in the previous 4 weeks, who smoked tobacco on a daily basis and were willing to stop smoking. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive behavioural support plus either oral cytisine (9 mg on day 0, which was gradually reduced to 1·5 mg by day 25) or placebo for 25 days. Randomisation was done using pregenerated block randomisation lists, stratified by trial sites. Investigators, clinicians, and patients were masked to treatment allocation. The primary outcome was continuous abstinence at 6 months, defined as self-report (of not having used more than five cigarettes, bidis, a water pipe, or smokeless tobacco products since the quit date), confirmed biochemically by a breath carbon monoxide reading of less than 10 parts per million. Primary and safety analysis were done in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with the International Standard Randomised Clinical Trial Registry, ISRCTN43811467, and enrolment is complete.; FINDINGS: Between June 6, 2017, and April 30, 2018, 2472 patients (1527 patients from Bangladesh; 945 patients from Pakistan) were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive cytisine (n=1239) or placebo (n=1233). At 6 months, 401 (32·4%) participants in the cytisine group and 366 (29·7%) participants in the placebo group had achieved continuous abstinence (risk difference 2·68%, 95% CI -0·96 to 6·33; relative risk 1·09, 95% CI 0·97 to 1·23, p=0·114). 53 (4·3%) of 1239 participants in the cytisine group and 46 (3·7%) of 1233 participants in the placebo group reported serious adverse events (94 events in the cytisine group and 90 events in the placebo group), which included 91 deaths (49 in the cytisine group and 42 in the placebo group). None of the adverse events were attributed to the study medication.; INTERPRETATION: Our findings do not support the addition of cytisine to brief behavioural support for the treatment of tobacco dependence in patients with tuberculosis.; FUNDING: European Union Horizon 2020 and Health Data Research UK.; TRANSLATIONS: For the Bengali and Urdu translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved
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Schizophrenia risk conferred by rare protein-truncating variants is conserved across diverse human populations
No full textSchizophrenia (SCZ) is a chronic mental illness and among the most debilitating conditions encountered in medical practice. A recent landmark SCZ study of the protein-coding regions of the genome identified a causal role for ten genes and a concentration of rare variant signals in evolutionarily constrained genes1. This recent study—and most other large-scale human genetics studies—was mainly composed of individuals of European (EUR) ancestry, and the generalizability of the findings in non-EUR populations remains unclear. To address this gap, we designed a custom sequencing panel of 161 genes selected based on the current knowledge of SCZ genetics and sequenced a new cohort of 11,580 SCZ cases and 10,555 controls of diverse ancestries. Replicating earlier work, we found that cases carried a significantly higher burden of rare protein-truncating variants (PTVs) among evolutionarily constrained genes (odds ratio = 1.48; P = 5.4 × 10−6). In meta-analyses with existing datasets totaling up to 35,828 cases and 107,877 controls, this excess burden was largely consistent across five ancestral populations. Two genes (SRRM2 and AKAP11) were newly implicated as SCZ risk genes, and one gene (PCLO) was identified as shared by individuals with SCZ and those with autism. Overall, our results lend robust support to the rare allelic spectrum of the genetic architecture of SCZ being conserved across diverse human populations. © 2023, The Author(s).Open access articleThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]
Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study
Full text linkBackground: Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods: We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung's disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings: We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung's disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middle-income countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in low-income countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation: Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030. Funding: Wellcome Trust
Schizophrenia risk conferred by rare protein-truncating variants is conserved across diverse human populations
No full textSchizophrenia (SCZ) is a chronic mental illness and among the most debilitating conditions encountered in medical practice. A recent landmark SCZ study of the protein-coding regions of the genome identified a causal role for ten genes and a concentration of rare variant signals in evolutionarily constrained genes(1). This recent study-and most other large-scale human genetics studies-was mainly composed of individuals of European (EUR) ancestry, and the generalizability of the findings in non-EUR populations remains unclear. To address this gap, we designed a custom sequencing panel of 161 genes selected based on the current knowledge of SCZ genetics and sequenced a new cohort of 11,580 SCZ cases and 10,555 controls of diverse ancestries. Replicating earlier work, we found that cases carried a significantly higher burden of rare protein-truncating variants (PTVs) among evolutionarily constrained genes (odds ratio = 1.48; P = 5.4 x 10(-6)). In meta-analyses with existing datasets totaling up to 35,828 cases and 107,877 controls, this excess burden was largely consistent across five ancestral populations. Two genes (SRRM2 and AKAP11) were newly implicated as SCZ risk genes, and one gene (PCLO) was identified as shared by individuals with SCZ and those with autism. Overall, our results lend robust support to the rare allelic spectrum of the genetic architecture of SCZ being conserved across diverse human populations.Peer reviewe
