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Open Forum Infectious Diseases Feb 2021is the leading health care-associated pathogen, but clinicians lack a test that can reliably differentiate colonization from infection. Health care costs attributed to...
BACKGROUND
is the leading health care-associated pathogen, but clinicians lack a test that can reliably differentiate colonization from infection. Health care costs attributed to are substantial, but the economic burden associated with false positives is poorly understood.
METHODS
A propensity score matching model for cost per hospitalization was developed to estimate the costs of both true infection and false positives. Predictors of positivity used to estimate the propensity score were age, Charlson comorbidity index, white cell count, and creatinine. We used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cycle threshold to identify and compare 3 groups: (1) true infection, (2) colonization, and (3) negative.
RESULTS
A positive test was associated with $3018 higher unadjusted hospital cost. Among the 3 comparisons made with propensity-matched negative controls (all positives [+$179; = .934], true positives [-$1892; = .100], and colonized positives), only colonization was associated with significantly increased (+$3418; = .012) cost. Differences in lengths of stay (all positives 0 days, = .126; true 0 days, = .919; colonized 1 day, = .019) appeared to underly cost differences.
CONCLUSIONS
In the first cost analysis to utilize PCR cycle threshold to differentiate colonization, we found high propensity-matched hospital costs associated with colonized but not true positives. This unexpected finding may be due to misdiagnosis of non- diarrhea or unadjusted factors associated with colonization.
PubMed: 33575420
DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofaa630 -
International Journal of Environmental... Aug 2022(1) Background: Previous research revealed that increased loneliness resulted in decreased meaning in life (MIL). Little is known, however, about the underlying...
(1) Background: Previous research revealed that increased loneliness resulted in decreased meaning in life (MIL). Little is known, however, about the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. The aim of the study was to determine if the set of positive evaluations of oneself, one's life, and one's future discussed by Caprara as positive orientation (POS) was a mediator between loneliness and MIL. (2) Methods: A sample of 304 Polish participants aged 19-45 ( = 25.61 years, = 6.1) completed the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, the Presence subscale of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, and the Positivity Scale. (3) Results: The study showed that loneliness was negatively associated with POS and MIL, while POS and MIL were positively correlated with each other. It also turned out that POS partially mediated the relationship between loneliness and MIL. (4) Conclusions: The results suggest that, by inhibiting POS, loneliness makes it difficult to perceive life as meaningful. The interrelationships between loneliness, POS, and MIL are discussed in light of the evolutionary theory of loneliness.
Topics: Humans; Loneliness; Poland; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 36011582
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19169948 -
Journal of Personalized Medicine May 2023Psychological well-being is a good predictor of several health outcomes in cardiovascular disease patients (adherence, quality of life, and healthy behaviors). The...
Psychological well-being is a good predictor of several health outcomes in cardiovascular disease patients (adherence, quality of life, and healthy behaviors). The perception of health control and a positive orientation seem to have a beneficial effect on health and well-being. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of the health locus of control and positivity in the psychological well-being and quality of life of cardiovascular patients. A total of 593 cardiac outpatients completed the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, the Positivity Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at baseline (January 2017) and 9 m later (follow-up; = 323). A Spearman rank correlation coefficient and a structural equation modeling approach were determined to explore the relationships between those variables both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. A cross-sectional correlation analysis at baseline revealed that the internal health locus of control and positivity were negatively associated with anxiety ( = -0.15 and -0.44, s < 0.01) and depression ( = -0.22 and -0.55, s < 0.01) and positively associated with health-related quality of life ( = 0.16 and 0.46, s < 0.01). Similar outcomes were found at follow-up and in longitudinal correlations. According to the path analysis, positivity was found to be negatively associated with anxiety and depression level at baseline (β = -0.42 and -0.45, s < 0.001). Longitudinally, positivity was negatively associated with depression (β = 0.15, < 0.01) and together with the internal health locus of control, was positively associated with health-related quality of life (β = 0.16 and 0.10, respectively, s < 0.05). These findings suggest that focusing on the health locus of control and especially positivity may be crucial in enhancing the psychological well-being of patients in the context of cardiac care. The potential impact of these results on future interventions is discussed.
PubMed: 37241043
DOI: 10.3390/jpm13050873 -
Indian Journal of Surgical Oncology Mar 2023Breast carcinoma is now the most common cancer in the world. In view of its high mortality, there is a need to identify new prognostic biomarkers. Both IMP3 and SLUG...
Breast carcinoma is now the most common cancer in the world. In view of its high mortality, there is a need to identify new prognostic biomarkers. Both IMP3 and SLUG have been implicated in cancer metastasis. This was a retrospective study conducted on 60 breast carcinoma cases using tissue microarrays. Demographic and clinicopathological details were recorded. Immunohistochemistry for IMP3 and SLUG was performed and evaluated in terms of percentage-cell-positivity and intensity of staining. A proforma was used to store data and was analyzed using SPSS v20. IMP3 positivity was found in 87% breast carcinoma cases and was significantly associated with tumor size ( = 0.03) and TNM stage ( = 0.024). IMP3 staining intensity showed significant association with histological grade ( = 0.009), TNM stage ( = 0.036), and molecular subtype ( = 0.03). SLUG immunoexpression was seen in 90% breast carcinoma cases and was significantly associated with TNM stage ( = 0.006). SLUG staining intensity was significantly associated with age ( = 0.025) and TNM stage ( = 0.004). IMP3 and SLUG immunopositivity and their staining intensities were significantly associated ( <0.001, <0.001). IMP3 and SLUG percentage cell positivities were also significantly correlated ( <0.001). IMP3 and SLUG are, thus, poor prognostic markers with a role in tumor invasiveness and aggressiveness via epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Hence, IMP3 and SLUG-based targeted therapies may be useful in the treatment of breast carcinoma.
PubMed: 37363710
DOI: 10.1007/s13193-023-01735-7 -
Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy Jul 2022The rapid antigen detection tests (RADTs) for SARS-CoV-2 infection could contribute to the clinical and public health strategies for managing COVID-19. This umbrella... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
The rapid antigen detection tests (RADTs) for SARS-CoV-2 infection could contribute to the clinical and public health strategies for managing COVID-19. This umbrella review aimed to explore the accuracy and sensitivity of RADTs for SARS-CoV-2 by assessing the incidence of false positivity associated with them.
AREAS COVERED
Meta-analyses and systematic reviews on the sensitivity and specificity of commercially available RADTs with data on false-positive results were identified by searching the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases from inception to 31 March 2022. All meta-analyses and systematic reviews on the sensitivity and specificity of rapid antigen tests were included. Data on the author and year, included studies, index tests, sample size, false negatives, false positives, and study quality based on AMSTAR 2 (Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews) rating were extracted from the included meta-analyses and systematic reviews.
EXPERT OPINION
The false positivity rates in the included studies ranged from 0.0% - 4.0%. This study summarizes the available evidence on the incidence of false positivity in RADTs and shows it is less than 4.0%. Therefore, our findings imply that RADTs can be an appropriate, economic, and rapid detection method for mass screening of COVID-19.
Topics: COVID-19; Humans; Meta-Analysis as Topic; SARS-CoV-2; Sensitivity and Specificity; Systematic Reviews as Topic
PubMed: 35452591
DOI: 10.1080/14787210.2022.2070152 -
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Apr 2019Social media play an important role in plastic surgery, yet there are limited studies in the literature to guide plastic surgeons' social networking practices. To...
BACKGROUND
Social media play an important role in plastic surgery, yet there are limited studies in the literature to guide plastic surgeons' social networking practices. To address this deficiency and provide further insight, the authors set out to investigate the public's attitude toward plastic surgery using Twitter, a popular social media platform. The authors examined a large body of messages (tweets) related to plastic surgery using novel techniques of natural language processing and sentiment analysis.
METHODS
The authors collected over 1 million tweets with the keywords "plastic," "cosmetic," "aesthetic," and "reconstruction" surgery spanning from 2012 to 2016 from the Twitter Gardenhose feed. Using hedonometrics, the authors extracted the average happiness/positivity (havg) of tweets and created word-shift graphs to determine the most influential words.
RESULTS
The positivity scores for keywords "plastic," "cosmetic," "aesthetic," and "reconstruction" surgery were 5.72, 6.00, 6.16, and 6.09, respectively. In relation to "plastic," keywords "cosmetic" and "aesthetic" were more positive because they lacked antagonistic words, such as "fake," "ugly," "bad," "fails," or "wrong." The keyword "reconstruction," however, was more positively associated than the term "plastic" because of an increase in positive words, such as "honor," "amazing," "successful," and "respect."
CONCLUSIONS
Tweets containing the term "plastic" surgery trended toward negativity, and may be explained by the increase in unfavorable, associative words. Conversely, related terms such as "aesthetic," "cosmetic," and "reconstruction" were more favorably regarded because of the lack of antagonistic words and the presence of supportive words. The authors' results are informative and may serve to guide plastic surgeons' social media practices.
Topics: Attitude to Health; Esthetics; Happiness; Humans; Perception; Social Media; Surgery, Plastic; Terminology as Topic
PubMed: 30921153
DOI: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000005445 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2021HIV self-testing (HIV-ST) is an innovative strategy to increase HIV case identification. This analysis shares the outcomes of HIV-ST implementation within the Zimbabwe...
HIV self-testing (HIV-ST) is an innovative strategy to increase HIV case identification. This analysis shares the outcomes of HIV-ST implementation within the Zimbabwe HIV Care and Treatment (ZHCT) project for the period October 2018-March, 2020. We extracted HIV-ST data for the period October 2018 to March 2020 from the project database and assessed (1) the proportion of reactive HIV-ST results; (2) the concordance between reactive HIV-ST results against rapid confirmatory HIV tests using Determine™ and Chembio™ in parallel; and (3) the monthly contribution of HIV-ST to total HIV positive individuals identified within project. The Chi-square test was used to assess for statistical differences in HIV positivity between age groups, by sex and district; as well as the difference in HIV positivity between the HIV-ST and index and mobile testing strategies. Between October 2018 and March 2020, the ZHCT project distributed 11,983 HIV-ST kits; 11,924 (99.8%) were used and 2,616 (21.9%) were reactive. Of the reactive tests, 2,610 (99.8%) were confirmed HIV positive giving a final positivity rate of 21.9%, and a concordance rate of 99.8% between the HIV-ST results and the confirmatory tests. Proportion of reactive results differed by age-groups ( < 0.001); with the 35-49 years having the highest positivity rate of 25.5%. The contribution of HIV-ST to total new positives increased from 10% in October 2018 to 80% at the end of March 2020 ( < 0.001). Positivity rates from HIV-ST were significantly different by age-groups, sex and district ( = 0.04). Additionally, index and mobile testing had a higher positivity rate compared to HIV-ST ( < 0.001). The ZHCT project has successfully scaled up HIV self-testing which contributed significantly to HIV case finding. Countries should consider using the lessons to scale-up the intervention which will contribute in reaching under-served and undiagnosed populations.
Topics: Adult; Diagnostic Tests, Routine; HIV Infections; HIV Testing; Humans; Middle Aged; Self-Testing; Zimbabwe
PubMed: 33834013
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.606376 -
Cognitive Processing Aug 2023This study aimed to examine whether Japanese participants condition spoken words' meanings to written pseudowords. In Survey 1, we selected spoken words associated with...
This study aimed to examine whether Japanese participants condition spoken words' meanings to written pseudowords. In Survey 1, we selected spoken words associated with negative (α = .91) and positive (α = .79) features for Experiment 1 and passive (α = .90) and active (α = .80) features for Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, participants evaluated four written pseudowords' emotional valence using a 7-point semantic differential scale (1: negative; 7: positive) before and after conditioning spoken words with negative, neutral, or positive features to each pseudoword. In the conditioning phase, participants read each pseudoword, listened to a spoken word, and verbally repeated each spoken word. The results showed that a pseudoword was conditioned to spoken words with positive and negative features. In Experiment 2, participants evaluated four pseudowords' activeness using a 7-point semantic differential scale (1: passive; 7: active) before and after conditioning spoken words of passive, neutral, and active features to each written pseudoword. In the conditioning phase, the participants read each written pseudoword, listened to a spoken word, and repeated the spoken word. The results showed that the activeness evaluations were more increased for pseudowords conditioned to spoken words of active and neutral features after conditioning than before conditioning but were unchanged for a pseudoword conditioned to those with passive features before and after conditioning. Additonally, Survey 2's results showed that although the positiveness and activeness responses of the words used in Experiments 1 and 2 were controlled well, the lack of significant differences among positiveness responses of words may influence the evaluative conditioning in Experiment 2. That is, when participants condition passive (low arousal) words' activeness (arousal) ratings to those of pseudowords, words' positiveness (valence) ratings would be important in the evaluative conditioning. Our findings suggest that participants can condition spoken word meanings of preference and activeness to those of written pseudowords. It also indicates that linguistically evaluative conditioning's effects are robust in a non-alphabetic language.
Topics: Humans; Auditory Perception; East Asian People; Emotions; Language; Reading; Writing; Speech; Language Arts
PubMed: 37450232
DOI: 10.1007/s10339-023-01138-0 -
Sexually Transmitted Diseases Jul 2017Repeat chlamydia detection after treatment is common, and there is concern that treatment failure may be a cause. (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
BACKGROUND
Repeat chlamydia detection after treatment is common, and there is concern that treatment failure may be a cause.
METHODS
Within a randomized trial, we established a prospective cohort of 600 participants with anogenital chlamydia diagnoses (200 each of women, heterosexual men, and men who have sex with men [MSM]). Participants were invited for repeat testing at 3 months and to complete a behavioral survey at 4 months. Positive samples were analyzed for organism DNA load and genovar. We estimated repeat chlamydia positivity, reinfection and treatment failure rates, and investigated the biological and behavioral factors associated with a repeat positive test.
RESULTS
A total of 290 participants (100 women, 89 heterosexual men, 101 MSM) were retested at 1 to 4 months, with 43 repeat positives, including 26 classed as reinfection and 9 as treatment failures. Comparing MSM with heterosexual men and women combined, repeat positivity was higher (20.8% vs 11.6%, P = 0.04), and treatment failure was higher (6.9% vs 1.1%, P = 0.01), but there was no difference in reinfection rates (11.9% vs 7.4%, P = 0.21). Among MSM, the odds of repeat positivity increased by 90% with each additional log organism load in the original specimen (baseline) (adjusted odds ratio, 1.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.2). Among heterosexuals, the odds of repeat positivity decreased by 10% with each additional week delay in being retested for chlamydia (adjusted odds ratio, 0.9; 95% confidence interval, 0.8-0.9).
CONCLUSIONS
Positive retests were more common among MSM than heterosexuals. Treatment failure was more common in MSM with rectal chlamydia, reinforcing concerns about azithromycin treatment failure.
Topics: Adult; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Australia; Azithromycin; Chlamydia Infections; Chlamydia trachomatis; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Genital Diseases, Female; Genital Diseases, Male; Heterosexuality; Homosexuality, Male; Humans; Male; Mass Screening; Patient Compliance; Prospective Studies; Rectal Diseases; Recurrence; Treatment Failure; Young Adult
PubMed: 28608791
DOI: 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000000616 -
Apophenia as the disposition to false positives: A unifying framework for openness and psychoticism.Journal of Abnormal Psychology Apr 2020Positive symptoms of schizophrenia and its extended phenotype-often termed psychoticism or positive schizotypy-are characterized by the inclusion of novel, erroneous...
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia and its extended phenotype-often termed psychoticism or positive schizotypy-are characterized by the inclusion of novel, erroneous mental contents. One promising framework for explaining positive symptoms involves apophenia, conceptualized here as a disposition toward false-positive errors. Apophenia and positive symptoms have shown relations to openness to experience (more specifically, to the openness aspect of the broader openness/intellect domain), and all of these constructs involve tendencies toward pattern seeking. Nonetheless, few studies have investigated the relations between psychoticism and non-self-report indicators of apophenia, let alone the role of normal personality variation. The current research used structural equation models to test associations between psychoticism, openness, intelligence, and non-self-report indicators of apophenia comprising false-positive error rates on a variety of computerized tasks. In Sample 1, 1,193 participants completed digit identification, theory of mind, and emotion recognition tasks. In Sample 2, 195 participants completed auditory signal detection and semantic word association tasks. Psychoticism and the openness aspect were positively correlated. Self-reported psychoticism, openness, and their shared variance were positively associated with apophenia, as indexed by false-positive error rates, whether or not intelligence was controlled for. Apophenia was not associated with other personality traits, and openness and psychoticism were not associated with false-negative errors. Findings provide insights into the measurement of apophenia and its relation to personality and psychopathology. Apophenia and pattern seeking may be promising constructs for unifying the openness aspect of personality with the psychosis spectrum and for providing an explanation of positive symptoms. Results are discussed in the context of possible adaptive characteristics of apophenia as well as potential risk factors for the development of psychotic disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Adult; Cognition; Creativity; Female; Humans; Intelligence; Male; Models, Psychological; Personality; Personality Inventory; Problem Solving; Psychotic Disorders; Young Adult
PubMed: 32212749
DOI: 10.1037/abn0000504