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Eur Respir J 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Respiratory muscle weakness is common in neuromuscular disorders and leads to significant respiratory difficulties. Therefore, reliable and easy assessment of respiratory muscle structure and function in neuromuscular disorders is crucial. In the last decade, ultrasound and MRI emerged as promising imaging techniques to assess respiratory muscle structure and function. Read More

PLoS One 2021 15;16(4):e0249941. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Sports Research Centre, Department of Sport Sciences, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Elche, Alicante, Spain.

In tennis, coaches consider balance fundamental for the acquisition of skilled motor performance. However, the potential relationship between balance and tennis expertise and performance has not been explored yet. Therefore, this study assessed the relationship between balance and tennis performance using linear and non-linear parameters through 1) the comparison of tennis players of different ages and levels of expertise, and 2) analyzing the relationship between balance and tennis serving speed and accuracy. Read More

Oncol Nurs Forum 2021 05;48(3):291-307

Virginia Commonwealth University.

Problem Identification: Although frailty is an important parameter in treatment planning and in predicting prognosis and overall survival among patients with hematologic malignancies and recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, frailty assessment tools are not standardized in clinical care settings. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the literature on frailty assessment tools in these patient populations.

Literature Search: A systematic search of CINAHL®, Embase®, MEDLINE®, PubMed®, and Web of Science was performed using keywords and controlled vocabulary for the concepts "bone marrow transplants," "hematologic neoplasms," and "frailty. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Apr 13;11(1):8047. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, The University of Hong Kong, 3/F Ap Lei Chau Clinic, 161 Main Street, Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong.

This study aimed to evaluate the associations between variability of lipid parameters and the risk of kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol ratio and triglyceride were specifically addressed in this study. This retrospective cohort study included 105,552 patients aged 45-84 with type 2 diabetes mellitus and normal kidney function who were managed under Hong Kong public primary care clinics during 2008-2012. Read More

World J Surg Oncol 2021 Apr 13;19(1):115. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Surgery, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.

Background: The reliability of the registered ligation level of the inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) in the Swedish Colorectal Cancer Registry has been questioned. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate this parameter in the registry by comparing the registered ligation levels with a postoperative computed tomography angiography (CT-angiography) in patients operated for rectal cancer.

Methods: Patients operated for rectal cancer at two Swedish university hospitals were prospectively included between December 2016 and December 2019. Read More

Pediatr Res 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Health Sciences, Public University of Navarra, Navarrabiomed-IdiSNA, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra (CHN), Pamplona, Spain.

Background: We aimed to determine the reference values to define an age-specific normal range of controlled attenuation parameter (CAP, a measure of liver steatosis) and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) values assessed by ultrasound-based transient elastography in adolescents without underlying liver disease.

Methods: A total of 462 participants were included in this cross-sectional study using data from NHANES 2017-2018. LSM and CAP were carried out using the FibroScan® M-probe. Read More

Neural Netw 2021 Mar 26;141:11-29. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing, China. Electronic address:

In deep learning tasks, the update step size determined by the learning rate at each iteration plays a critical role in gradient-based optimization. However, determining the appropriate learning rate in practice typically relies on subjective judgment. In this work, we propose a novel optimization method based on local quadratic approximation (LQA). Read More

Trials 2021 Apr 9;22(1):264. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany.

Background: Patients with mild to moderate depressive symptoms can have limited access to regular treatment; to ensure appropriate care, low-threshold treatment is needed. Effective online interventions could increase the supply of low-threshold treatment. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of online interventions. Read More

Behav Res Methods 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 15906, 1001 NK, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Linear regression analyses commonly involve two consecutive stages of statistical inquiry. In the first stage, a single 'best' model is defined by a specific selection of relevant predictors; in the second stage, the regression coefficients of the winning model are used for prediction and for inference concerning the importance of the predictors. However, such second-stage inference ignores the model uncertainty from the first stage, resulting in overconfident parameter estimates that generalize poorly. Read More

Can J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2021 26;2021:6662760. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Advanced Regional Research Center in Gastroenterology and Hepatology, "Victor Babeş" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 156, Liviu Rebreanu Bv., Timişoara 300723, Romania.

Chronic liver diseases (CLDs) are a public health problem, even if frequently they are underdiagnosed. Hepatic steatosis (HS), encountered not only in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) but also in chronic viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, etc., plays an important role in fibrosis progression, regardless of CLD etiology; thus, detection and quantification of HS are imperative. Read More

IEEE Trans Image Process 2021 14;30:4263-4274. Epub 2021 Apr 14.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a widely used imaging technique to assess brain tumor. Accurately segmenting brain tumor from MR images is the key to clinical diagnostics and treatment planning. In addition, multi-modal MR images can provide complementary information for accurate brain tumor segmentation. Read More

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2021 22;12:611147. Epub 2021 Mar 22.

Metabolic Unit, CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Padova, Italy.

Glucagon is secreted from the pancreatic alpha cells and plays an important role in the maintenance of glucose homeostasis, by interacting with insulin. The plasma glucose levels determine whether glucagon secretion or insulin secretion is activated or inhibited. Despite its relevance, some aspects of glucagon secretion and kinetics remain unclear. Read More

Brachytherapy 2021 Apr 3. Epub 2021 Apr 3.

Department of Radiology, American Radiology Association, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX.

Purpose: The American College of Radiology (ACR), American Brachytherapy Society (ABS), American College of Nuclear Medicine (ACNM), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), and Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) have jointly developed a practice parameter on selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) or radioembolization for treatment of liver malignancies. Radioembolization is the embolization of the hepatic arterial supply of hepatic primary tumors or metastases with a microsphere yttrium-90 brachytherapy device.

Materials And Methods: The ACR -ABS -ACNM -ASTRO -SIR -SNMMI practice parameter for SIRT or radioembolization for treatment of liver malignancies was revised in accordance with the process described on the ACR website (https://www. Read More

Medicina (Kaunas) 2021 Mar 5;57(3). Epub 2021 Mar 5.

Trauma Hospital Berlin, Trauma Hospital Linz (ret), HLMedConsult, A-4020 Leonding, Austria.

In burn medicine, the percentage of the burned body surface area (TBSA-B) to the total body surface area (TBSA) is a crucial parameter to ensure adequate treatment and therapy. Inaccurate estimations of the burn extent can lead to wrong medical decisions resulting in considerable consequences for patients. These include, for instance, over-resuscitation, complications due to fluid aggregation from burn edema, or non-optimal distribution of patients. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2021 Mar 4;21(5). Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Department of Computer Software, ICT, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34113, Korea.

Sarcopenia can cause various senile diseases and is a major factor associated with the quality of life in old age. To diagnose, assess, and monitor muscle loss in daily life, 10 sarcopenia and 10 normal subjects were selected using lean mass index and grip strength, and their gait signals obtained from inertial sensor-based gait devices were analyzed. Given that the inertial sensor can measure the acceleration and angular velocity, it is highly useful in the kinematic analysis of walking. Read More

Antibiotics (Basel) 2021 Mar 25;10(4). Epub 2021 Mar 25.

Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Farmacia, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS), Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, 41013 Seville, Spain.

Vancomycin is commonly used as a treatment for neonatal infections. However, there is a lack of consensus establishing the optimal vancomycin therapeutic regimen and defining the most appropriate PK/PD parameter correlated with the efficacy. A recent guideline recommends AUC-guided therapeutic dosing in treating serious infections in neonates. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2021 Mar 3;21(5). Epub 2021 Mar 3.

Cognitive and People-Centric Computing Labs (COPELABS), Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal.

This work addresses the problem of target localization in three-dimensional wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The proposed algorithm is based on a hybrid system that employs angle of arrival (AOA) and received signal strength (RSS) measurements, where the target's transmit power is considered as an unknown parameter. Although both cases of a known and unknown target's transmit power have been addressed in the literature, most of the existing approaches for unknown transmit power are either carried out recursively, or require a high computational cost. Read More

Antibiotics (Basel) 2021 Mar 3;10(3). Epub 2021 Mar 3.

Louis Bolk Institute, Kosterijland 3-5, 3981 AJ Bunnik, The Netherlands.

Due to the excessive use of antibiotic and antimycotic treatments, the risk of resistant microbes and fungi is rapidly emerging. Previous studies have demonstrated that many women with (recurrent) urinary tract infection (UTI) and/or vaginal infections (VIs) welcome alternative management approaches to reduce the use of antibiotics and antifungals and avoid short- and long-term adverse effects. This study aims to determine which complementary medicine (CM) and self-care strategies are being used by women suffering from (recurrent) UTI and VI in The Netherlands and how they perceive their effectiveness in order to define directions for future research on safety, cost-effectiveness, and implementation of best practices. Read More

Pharmaceutics 2021 Mar 10;13(3). Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Cellular Neurobiology and Molecular Chemistry of the Central Nervous System Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), 02071 Albacete, Spain.

The success on the design of new oral nanocarriers greatly depends on the identification of the best physicochemical properties that would allow their diffusion across the mucus layer that protects the intestinal epithelium. In this context, particle tracking (PT) has arisen in the pharmaceutical field as an excellent tool to evaluate the diffusion of individual particles across the intestinal mucus. In PT, the trajectories of individual particles are characterized by the mean square displacement (), which is used to calculate the coefficient of diffusion () and the anomalous diffusion parameter () as MSD=4Dτα. Read More

Intensive Crit Care Nurs 2021 Mar 29:103041. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

Deakin University: School of Nursing and Midwifery & Centre for Quality and Patient Safety in the Institute for Health Transformation, 1 Gheringhap St, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia; Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research - Eastern Health Partnership, 2/5 Arnold St, Box Hill, Victoria 3128, Australia. Electronic address:

Objective: The aim of this review was to explore use of the pre-Medical Emergency Team (pre-MET) tier of Rapid Response Systems to recognise and respond to adult ward patients experiencing early clinical deterioration.

Methods: A scoping review of studies published in English reporting on use of a pre-MET tier in adult ward patients was conducted. Three databases were searched (Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE) for studies published between January 1995 and September 2020. Read More

Pilot Feasibility Stud 2021 Apr 1;7(1):92. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Primary Care Centre Versus Arthritis, School of Medicine, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK.

Background: Plantar heel pain (PHP) is common and impacts negatively on physical function and quality of life. Initial treatment usually comprises analgesia and self-management advice (SMA), with referral to a physiotherapist or podiatrist recommended only when symptoms persist. Systematic reviews highlight limitations of existing evidence for the effectiveness of exercises and orthoses. Read More

Behav Res Methods 2021 Mar 31. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Institute of Human Resource Management, College of Management, National Sun Yat-sen University, 70 Lienhai Rd, Kaohsiung, 80424, Taiwan.

In the social and behavioral sciences, observed variables of mixed scale types (i.e., both continuous and categorical observed variables) have long been included in structural equation models. Read More

Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo) 2021 ;69(4):400-406

Department of Pharmacy Practice & Science, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka.

Oral mucositis is one of the most common adverse effects of radiation and chemotherapy in treatments of cancers. Some clinical guidelines have focused on the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis, and thus, a mouthwash containing drugs is often recommended. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the disappearance time and palatability in the oral cavities of healthy volunteers in foams prepared from different concentrations of the three viscosity grades of methylcellulose (SM-4, -100, -400). Read More

An Acad Bras Cienc 2021 24;93(1):e20190346. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

China University of Mining and Technology, School of Resources and Geosciences, 1 University Rd, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116 China.

Based on the leakage of the coalbed methane (CBM) drilling engineering practice of Luan mining area in China, the author determines the safe drilling fluid density range for the stable borehole wall based on borehole wall collapse and fracture pressure. Such parameters as the drilling fluid hydraulic parameters (including pump pressure, pump power and displacement, nozzle diameter, bit pressure drop, bit hydraulic horsepower, circulation pressure drop, impact force and jet velocity) and drilling parameters (including weight-on-bit, drilling rotary speed, bit tooth wear) in each borehole section are optimized. Taking the lowest drilling cost as the controlling target, the drilling parameter optimization model is designed and solved by the genetic algorithm. Read More

Int Orthod 2021 Mar 27. Epub 2021 Mar 27.

Chairman, Postgraduate School of Orthodontics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.

Objective: The twofold aim of the present investigation was to: 1. evaluate the degree of mid-palatal suture (MPS) maturation via CBCT in relation to patient age, and 2. to determine whether there was a correlation between quantitative (i. Read More

Behav Res Methods 2021 Mar 29. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

Department of Psychology, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8 Street, DM 381B, Miami, FL, 33199, USA.

Researchers frequently wish to make incremental validity claims, suggesting that a construct of interest significantly predicts a given outcome when controlling for other overlapping constructs and potential confounders. Once the significance of such an effect has been established, it is good practice to also assess and report its magnitude. In OLS regression, this is easily accomplished by calculating the change in R-squared, ΔR, between one's full model and a reduced model that omits all but the target predictor(s) of interest. Read More

Can J Cardiol 2021 Mar 26. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

McGill University Health Centre, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

The 2021 guidelines primary panel selected clinically relevant questions and produced updated recommendations, on the basis of important new findings emerging since the 2016 guidelines. In subjects with clinical atherosclerosis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, most subjects with diabetes or chronic kidney disease, and those with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) ≥5 mmol/L, statin therapy continues to be recommended. We have introduced the concept of lipid/lipoprotein treatment thresholds for intensifying lipid-lowering therapy with non-statin agents, and have identified the secondary prevention patients who have been shown to derive the largest benefit from intensification of therapy with these agents. Read More

Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2021 Mar 29. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.

Objectives: We investigated whether the age shock index (SI) was associated with coronary plaque characteristics in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) using optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Background: The age SI is a simple clinical parameter that effectively predicts poor clinical outcomes among patients with STEMI.

Methods: This retrospective study evaluated 408 STEMI patients who underwent 3-vessel OCT during emergency percutaneous coronary interventions at a single center between January 2017 and October 2018. Read More

Am J Epidemiol 2021 Mar 29. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

Department of Epidemiology and Department of Statistics University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

Lash et al. (Am. J. Read More

Stat Anal Data Min 2021 Apr 8;14(2):129-143. Epub 2021 Jan 8.

Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Buffalo New York USA.

Graphs can be used to represent the direct and indirect relationships between variables, and elucidate complex relationships and interdependencies. Detecting structure within a graph is a challenging problem. This problem is studied over a range of fields and is sometimes termed community detection, module detection, or graph partitioning. Read More