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Background. A large amount of publications had reported the association between incidence of esophageal cancer (EC) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the past decade. However, those papers' results are inconsistent on relationships between T2DM the incidence of EC. Therefore, the objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the relationship between T2DM and the risk of EC (including 2 histological types, esophageal adenocarcinoma [EADC] and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma [ESCC]). Method. We finally extracted 19 articles though Pubmed, Embased, and Cochrane library. Those identify extraction date including 14,312 cases and 24,959,067 control records and then mixed the relative risks (RRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) through STATA. Results. We observed that there are significantly positive correlation between T2DM and EC risk (R R = 1.28 , 95% CI: 1.05-1.57, P = 0.015).Also, our study showed positive correlation between T2DM and EADC (esophageal adenocarcinoma) risk (R R = 1.28 , 95% CI: 1.05-1.57, P < 0.001). What's more, subgroup analysis based on ethnicity represented the Caucasian is more susceptible to EC (R R = 1.28 ,95% CI: 1.10-1.49, P = 0.001). Conclusion. Those results offer a recent epidemiological and integrated evidence to ascertain the correlations between T2DM and incidence of EC. Those results take public health implications on preventing T2DM and then depress the occurrence of EC. Our study also provides referenced information for the prevention. However, some data is still insufficient, and more research should be carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. About 83% and 49% of Liberians live beneath the poverty line of US$1.25/day and experience hunger, respectively. Studies have established that hunger has long-term adverse consequence on truancy among students. However, no national level study has investigated contribution of hunger on truancy among in-school students in Liberia. This paper therefore seeks to examine the association between hunger and truancy among students in Liberia. The study hypothesises that there exists a positive association between hunger and truancy. Methods. This study used the 2017 Liberia Global School-Based Student Health Survey (LGSSHS) and sampled 2,744 students. However, the present study was restricted to 1,613 respondents who had complete information about variable of interest analysed in the study. Hunger and truancy are the main explanatory and outcome variables for this study. At 95% confidence interval, two binary logistic regression models were built with Model I examining relationship between hunger and truancy and Model II controlled for the influence of covariates on truancy. Our findings were reported in odds ratio (OR) and adjusted odds ratio (AOR). All the analysis was done using STATA version 14.0. Results. Descriptively, 46% were truant, and 65% of students ever experienced hunger. Inferentially, students that ever-encountered hunger had higher odds to truancy (AOR = 1.32 , CI = 1.06 -1.65). The odds to be truant also increased among those at 15 years and above (AOR = 2.00 , CI = 1.46 -2.72), who witnessed bullying (AOR = 1.36 , CI = 1.10 -1.68), that felt lonely (AOR = 1.35 , CI = 1.06 -1.71), that currently smoke cigarette (AOR = 2.58 , CI = 1.64 -4.06), and wards whose parents go through their things (AOR = 1.26 , CI = 1.03 -1.55). Conclusions. The study concluded that hunger was associated with truancy among students in Liberia. Additionally, students' age, bullying, feeling lonely, cigarette use, and parental concern also determined truancy. Governments, policy makers, and other partners in education should therefore roll out some school-based interventions, such as the school feeding program, which will help minimise the incidence of hunger among students. Such programs should consider the variations in students' background characteristics in its design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nose is the most prominent structure of the face, influencing facial appearance and profile. Orthodontists have an awareness of facial structures, including nasal morphology, when diagnosing and treatment planning. Maxillofacial surgeons influence facial profile by bimaxillary surgery, improving facial aesthetics and harmony. The aim of this review was to summarize the available methods of analysing nasal morphology and profile, and to assess their complexity. A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase using the following search terms: "nasal profile analysis", "nasolabial angle", and "nasal profile cephalometric" in order to select studies providing knowledge on correlations between occlusion and nasal development, differences between skeletal classes, ethnic variability, and differences between the sexes. Studies concerning genetic disorders were excluded. Finally, 17 full-text papers were analysed, which pertained to nasolabial angle, or facial profile including the nose. Data concerning methods, ethnic group, reference landmarks used, and measurements made were extracted and placed in tables. Numerous methods of nasal profile analysis can be found in the literature. These methods describe various numbers of parameters, which have influence on facial aesthetic. Nasal parameters are correlated to skeletal class and nasolabial angle, positions of upper incisors, and maxillary inclination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous reports have been done to seek the relationship between sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) and the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, definite conclusion has not yet been fully established. We examined whether SAHS increases AF incidence in common population and summarized all existing studies in a meta-analysis. We summarized the current studies by searching related database for potential papers of the association between SAHS and the risk of AF. Studies that reported original data or relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations were included. Sensitivity analyses were performed by omitting each study iteratively and publication bias was detected by Begg’s tests. Eight eligible studies met the inclusion criteria. Fixed effects meta-analysis showed that SAHS increased AF risk in the common population (RR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.53–1.89, P=0.002, I2=69.2%). There was a significant association between mild SAHS and the risk of AF (RR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.28–1.79, P=0.01, I2=78.4%), moderate SAHS (RR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.55–2.27, P=0.017, I2=75.6%), and severe SAHS (RR = 2.16, 95% CI: 1.78–2.62, P<0.001, I2=91.0%). The results suggest that sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome could increase the risk of AF, and the higher the severity of SAHS, the higher risk of atrial fibrillation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. This paper aims to analyze the household financial burden and poverty impacts of cancer treatment in Vietnam. Methods. Under the “ASEAN CosTs in ONcology” study design, three major specialized cancer hospitals were employed to assemble the Vietnamese data. Factors of socioeconomic, direct, and indirect costs of healthcare were collected prospectively through both individual interviews and hospital financial records. Results. The rates of catastrophic expenditure based on the cut-off points of 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% of household’s income were 82.6%, 73.7%, 64.7%, and 56.9%, respectively. 37.4% of the households with patient were impoverished by the treatment costs for cancer. The statistically significant correlates of the impoverishment problem were higher among older patients (40–60 years: 1.77, 95% CI 1.14–2.73; above 60 years: 1.75, 95% CI 1.03–2.98); poorer patients (less than 100% national income: 29, 95% CI 18.6–45.24; less than 200% national income: 2.89, 95% CI 1.69–4.93); patients who underwent surgery alone (receiving nonsurgery treatment: 2.46, 95% CI 1.32–4.59; receiving multiple treatments: 2.4, 95% CI 1.38–4.17). Conclusions. Lots of households were pushed into poverty due to their expenditure on cancer care; more actions are urgently needed to improve financial protection to the vulnerable groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Precisely predicting cancer is crucial for cancer treatment. Gene expression profiles make it possible to analyze patterns between genes and cancers on the genome-wide scale. Gene expression data analysis, however, is confronted with enormous challenges for its characteristics, such as high dimensionality, small sample size, and low Signal-to-Noise Ratio. Results. This paper proposes a method, termed RS_SVM, to predict gene expression profiles via aggregating SVM trained on random subspaces. After choosing gene features through statistical analysis, RS_SVM randomly selects feature subsets to yield random subspaces and training SVM classifiers accordingly and then aggregates SVM classifiers to capture the advantage of ensemble learning. Experiments on eight real gene expression datasets are performed to validate the RS_SVM method. Experimental results show that RS_SVM achieved better classification accuracy and generalization performance in contrast with single SVM, K-nearest neighbor, decision tree, Bagging, AdaBoost, and the state-of-the-art methods. Experiments also explored the effect of subspace size on prediction performance. Conclusions. The proposed RS_SVM method yielded superior performance in analyzing gene expression profiles, which demonstrates that RS_SVM provides a good channel for such biological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) catalyzes the methylation of nicotinamide. Our previous works indicate that NNMT is involved in the body mass index and energy metabolism, and recently the association between a SNP (rs694539) of NNMT and a variety of cardiovascular diseases was reported. At present, more than 200 NNMT single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified in the databases of the human genome projects; however, the association between rs694539 variation and hyperlipidemia has not been reported yet, and whether there are any SNPs in NNMT significantly associated with hyperlipidemia is still unclear. In this paper, we selected 19 SNPs in NNMT as the tagSNPs using Haploview software (Haploview 4.2) first and then performed a case-control study to observe the association between these tagSNPs and hyperlipidemia and finally applied physiological approaches to explore the possible mechanisms through which the NNMT polymorphism induces hyperlipidemia. The results show that a SNP (rs1941404) in NNMT is significantly associated with hyperlipidemia, and the influence of rs1941404 variation on the resting energy expenditure may be the possible mechanism for rs1941404 variation to induce hyperlipidemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Routine targeted temperature management is recommended for comatose adult patients with return of spontaneous circulation after cardiac arrest. However, the role of targeted temperature management in patients resuscitated from nonshockable cardiac arrests remains uncertain. We conducted an updated systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of targeted temperature management in this population. Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were systematically reviewed for studies published between January 2005 and March 2016, in which targeted temperature management was compared with standard care or normothermia for adult patients resuscitated from nonshockable cardiac arrests. A total of 25 trials that included 5715 patients were identified from 10985 relevant papers. Pooled data showed that targeted temperature management not only associated with improved short-term survival (RR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.28–1.57) and neurological function (RR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.39–1.91) but also associated with improved long-term survival (RR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.27–2.12) and neurological recovery (RR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.07–1.90) in observational cohort studies. However, more frequent infectious complications were reported in hypothermia-treated patients (RR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.26–1.70) and the quality of the evidence ranged from moderate to very low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of techniques for soft tissue augmentation in the placement of immediate implants with and without provisionalization and to assess the quality of the reports in the literature. Randomized clinical trials, prospective clinical trials, and case series were included in this review. Clinical questions were formulated and organised according to the PICOS strategy. An electronic search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Scopus, and ISI Web up until June 2016. Interexaminer agreement on eligibility (k=0.842; p=0.103) and quality (k=0.933; p<0.001) was high. Methodological approaches were assessed using criteria based on design related forms designed by the Dutch Cochrane Collaboration. Finally, 14 papers were identified. In two studies, the implant survival was 90%; for the rest of the studies it was 100%. All studies reported favourable aesthetic, biological, and radiographic outcomes. Surgical and biomechanical complications of this technique were not relevant. This technique effectively compensates for the expected loss of volume of the oral soft tissues and maintains high success rates with good aesthetic results over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the outcome of a home-based autism intervention program (HBAIP) in 18- to 40-month-old children newly diagnosed and treatment naïve. Intervention was exclusively implemented at home. Outcome was measured at 3 months and 6 months after intervention and compared with a group of newly diagnosed children with autism who were >40 months at intake but had not received any autism specific clinical management. Aim was also to estimate whether natural development would contribute to gain in skills and compare with the effect of intervention. Five selected parameters of behavior representing social interaction and social communication were used to assess outcome. Results showed a statistically significant improvement between preintervention and postintervention in all the measured parameters. The effect size was large when compared to preintervention and gains were indicated by changes in mean scores and p values within a narrow confidence interval. Highest gains were in first 3 months of postintervention which continued up to 6 months. Although the comparison group was more advanced in the measured skills at intake, they were significantly below the level reached by experimental group at 3 months and 6 months after intervention. This study was registered in the Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry (SLCTR/2009/011). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irreversible airway obstruction (IAO) is a subtype of asthma and relates to poorer prognosis in some asthma patients. However, the prevalence and risk factors for IAO are unknown. A systematic review regarding controlled clinical studies (cohort, case-control studies) on IAO asthma in adult and/or children affected by asthma/early wheeze was performed. Eighteen papers were identified in this study. It was reported that the incidence of IAO at random effects or fixed effects in severe asthma and nonsevere asthma was 0.54 (95% CI: 0.45–0.62) and 0.16 (95% CI: 0.12–0.20), respectively. In IAO asthma, the pooled odds ratio (OR) related to smoking exposure was 2.22 (95% CI: 1.82–2.73), the OR for male, smoking, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) was 2.22 (95% CI: 1.82–2.7), 1.79 (95% CI: 1.46–2.19), and 2.16 (95% CI: 1.05–4.43), respectively, suggesting these factors increase the risk of IAO. However, a decreased OR in IAO asthma was observed due to rhinitis (OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.24–0.40), atopy (OR = 0.584, 95% CI: 0.466–0.732), and atopic dermatitis (OR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.42–0.85), indicating these factors are associated with reduced risk of IAO. IAO in asthma is associated with gender, smoking, FENO, rhinitis, atopy, and atopic dermatitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mind-body practices (MBP) are known to induce electrophysiological and morphological changes, whereas reports related to changes of neurotrophins are surprisingly scarce. Consequently, in the current paper, we focused on the Quadrato motor training (QMT), a newly developed whole-body movement-based MBP, which has been reported to enhance creativity. Here we report the effects of 4 weeks of daily QMT on creativity and proNGF level in two interrelated studies. In Study A, we examined the effects of QMT compared with a walking training (WT) in healthy adults, utilizing the alternate uses task. In contrast with the WT, QMT resulted in increased creativity. In addition, the change in creativity negatively correlated with the change in proNGF levels. In Study B, we examined QMT effects on creativity and additional metacognitive functions in children, using a nonintervention group as control. Similar to Study A, following QMT, we found a negative correlation of proNGF with creativity, as well as working memory updating and planning ability. Together, the current results point to the relationship between increased creativity and decreased proNGF following MBP. Thus, the current research emphasizes the importance of widening the scope of examination of “MBP in motion” in relation to metacognition and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of crocetin (C20H24O4) on methylcholanthrene- (MCA-) induced uterine cervical cancer in mice was studied in this paper. After the mice were treated orally with crocetin, maleic dialdehyde (MDA), polymorphonuclear cells (PMN), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were examined by ELISA or immunohistochemistry. The inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activation in HeLa cells was analyzed using fluorescence microscopy for light microscopic examination. The MCA mice showed a significant increase in plasma MDA, PMN, IL-1β, TNF-α, and nitrates levels. At the same time, the mRNA level of COX-2 in HeLa cells was also significantly increased. These changes were attenuated by crocetin supplementation in the MCA mice. Crocetin supplementation in the MCA mice also showed protection against cervical cancer. These results suggest that crocetin may act as a chemopreventive and an anti-inflammatory agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agent-based modelling is being used to represent biological systems with increasing frequency and success. This paper presents the implementation of a new tool for biomolecular reaction modelling in the open source Multiagent Simulator of Neighborhoods framework. The rationale behind this new tool is the necessity to describe interactions at the molecular level to be able to grasp emergent and meaningful biological behaviour. We are particularly interested in characterising and quantifying the various effects that facilitate biocatalysis. Enzymes may display high specificity for their substrates and this information is crucial to the engineering and optimisation of bioprocesses. Simulation results demonstrate that molecule distributions, reaction rate parameters, and structural parameters can be adjusted separately in the simulation allowing a comprehensive study of individual effects in the context of realistic cell environments. While higher percentage of collisions with occurrence of reaction increases the affinity of the enzyme to the substrate, a faster reaction (i.e., turnover number) leads to a smaller number of time steps. Slower diffusion rates and molecular crowding (physical hurdles) decrease the collision rate of reactants, hence reducing the reaction rate, as expected. Also, the random distribution of molecules affects the results significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to understand disease pathogenesis, improve medical diagnosis, or discover effective drug targets, it is important to identify significant genes deeply involved in human disease. For this purpose, many earlier approaches attempted to prioritize candidate genes using gene expression profiles or SNP genotype data, but they often suffer from producing many false-positive results. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose a meta-analysis strategy for gene prioritization that employs three different genetic resources—gene expression data, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype data, and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data—in an integrative manner. For integration, we utilized an improved technique for the order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to combine scores from distinct resources. This method was evaluated on two publicly available datasets regarding prostate cancer and lung cancer to identify disease-related genes. Consequently, our proposed strategy for gene prioritization showed its superiority to conventional methods in discovering significant disease-related genes with several types of genetic resources, while making good use of potential complementarities among available resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives. Adverse conditions in the prenatal environment and in the first years of life are independently associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. This paper aims to study the relation between birthweight, growth in the first year of life, and subclinical atherosclerosis in adults. Methods. 88 adults aged between 20 and 31 were submitted to sociodemographic qualities, anthropometric data, blood pressure measurements, metabolic profile, and evaluation of subclinical atherosclerosis. Results. Birthweight <2,500 grams (g) was negatively correlated with (a) increased waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), according to regression coefficient (RC) equal to −0.323, 95% CI [−0.571, −0.075] P<0.05; (b) diastolic blood pressure (RC = −4.744, 95% CI [−9.017, −0.470] P<0.05); (c) low HDL-cholesterol (RC = −0.272, 95% CI [−0.516, −0.029] P<0.05); (d) frequency of intima-media thickness (IMT) of left carotid >75th percentile (RC = −0.242, 95% CI [−0.476, −0.008] P<0.05). Birthweight >3,500 g was associated with (a) BMI >25.0 kg/m2, (RC = 0.317, 95% CI [0.782, 0.557] P<0.05); (b) increased waist circumference (RC = 0.284, 95% CI [0.054, 0.513] P<0.05); (c) elevated WHR (RC = 0.280, 95% CI [0.054, 0.505] P<0.05); (d) minimum subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) (RC = 4.354, 95% CI [0.821, 7.888] P<0.05); (e) maximum SAT (RC = 7.095, 95% CI [0.608, 13.583] P<0.05); (f) right lobe of the liver side (RC = 6.896, 95% CI [1.946, 11.847] P<0.001); (g) frequency’s right lobe of the liver >75th percentile (RC = 0.361, 95% CI [0.169, 0.552] P<0.001). Weight gain in the first year of life was inversely correlated with (a) mean IMT of left carotid (RC = −0.046, 95% CI [−0.086, −0.006] P<0.05; (b) frequency IMT of left carotid >75th percentile (RC = −0.253, 95% CI [−0.487, −0.018] P<0.05); (c) mean IMT (RC = −0.038, 95% CI [0.073, −0.002] P<0.05); (d) the frequency of the mean IMT >75th percentile (RC = −0.241, 95% CI [−0.442, −0.041] P<0.05). Conclusions. Adults birthweight <2,500 g and >3,500 g and with insufficient weight gain in the first year of life have showed different metabolic phenotypes, but all of them were related to subclinical atherosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]