Revisiting the overlap between autistic and schizotypal traits in the non-clinical population using meta-analysis and network analysis

Background: Identifying modifiable risk factors, such as obesity, to lower the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has gained much interest. However, whether the association is causal remains to be evaluated. Objective: The present study was designed: 1) to make a quantitative assessment of the association between obesity and AD; 2) to validate whether there was a causal association between them; and 3) to provide genetic clues for the association through a network-based analysis. Methods: Two-sample Mendelian randomization (2SMR) analysis, meta-analysis, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, were employed. Results: Firstly, the meta-analysis based on 9 studies comprising 6,986,436 subjects indicated that midlife obesity had 33%higher AD odds than controls (OR = 1.33, 95%CI = [1.03, 1.62]), while late-life obesity were inversely associated with AD risk (OR = 0.57, 95%CI = [0.47, 0.68]). Secondly, 2SMR analysis indicated that there was no causal association between them. Thirdly, CARTPT was identified to be shared by the anti-obesity drug targets and AD susceptibility genes. Further PPI network analysis found that CARTPT interacted with CD33, a strong genetic locus linked to AD. Finally, 2SMR analysis showed that CNR1 could be a protective factor for AD. Conclusion: Multiple bioinformatic analyses indicated that midlife obesity might increase the risk of AD, while current evidence indicated that there was no causal association between them. Further, CARTPT might be an important factor linking the two disease conditions. It could help to better understand the mechanisms underlying the associations between obesity and AD.

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Health Dynamics Through Psychometric Networks in Gynecology, Obstetrics, Reproductive Health And COVID-19 Research

Journal of Gynecology & Reproductive Medicine ◽

10.33140/jgrm.05.007 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

Keyword(s):

Network Analysis ◽

Maternal Health ◽

Reproductive Health ◽

Clinical Importance ◽

Complex Model ◽

Model Systems ◽

Health Conditions ◽

Clinical Population ◽

Concomitant Variables ◽

Health Dynamics

Network analysis offers a valuable methodological and practical contribution to research in gynecology, obstetrics and reproductive health. This analysis enables clinicians to interpret and translate the information derived from their research into better integrated care in the clinical population of interest, allowing them to focus a concrete intervention based on network results, from the perspective of complex model systems. The evaluation of the network reinforces a better explanation of the functioning of various reproductive and maternal health conditions to explain how their etiological mechanisms and concomitant variables interact with each other, of major clinical importance in the current COVID-19 pandemic context.

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Systematic mapping of forensic psychiatry: discovering evolution, trends and current priorities

10.7287/peerj.preprints.27799 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Kapil K Aedma ◽

Ahmed Waqas ◽

Sadiq Naveed ◽

Hafsa Meraj ◽

Maryam Tariq

Keyword(s):

Network Analysis ◽

Sexual Offenders ◽

Forensic Psychiatry ◽

Sex Offender ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Self Control ◽

Middle Income ◽

Psychopathy Checklist Revised ◽

Scant Attention ◽

Funding Opportunities

The expansion of research in forensic neuropsychiatric practice has led to several developments with an interdisciplinary focus in legal systems and psychiatry around the globe. Given the dearth of scientometric analyses in this area, this article will help increase knowledge of publication trends in law and psychiatry, and will also highlight the scant attention given on forensic psychiatry research in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Web of Science (WoS) Network Analysis Interface for Literature Studies (NAILS) platform software was used to conduct statistical and Social Network Analysis (SNA) of citation records, in order to obtain journal rankings based on citations, popularity, and highly cited keywords. A total of 7184 articles were published through November, 2016 in the journals selected for analysis. These items were cited a total of 44,033 times in 25,286 articles and a total of 36,441 times without self-citations in 22,105 articles. The keywords cited most frequently in these journals were psychopathy, risk assessment, delinquency, recidivism, violence, sex offender, aggression, treatment, assessment, adolescents, offenders, prison, mental illness, homicide, prisoners, gender, rehabilitation, sexual offenders, meta-analysis, self-control, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised, suicide, personality disorder, and forensic psychiatry. None of the most influential articles were published from LMICs, and funding opportunities were poor.

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Frailty Levels In Geriatric Hospital paTients (FLIGHT)—the prevalence of frailty among geriatric populations within hospital ward settings: a systematic review protocol

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030147 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. e030147 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Paul Doody ◽

Justin Aunger ◽

Evans Asamane ◽

Carolyn A Greig ◽

Janet Lord ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Meta Analysis ◽

Nursing Home Residents ◽

Operational Definition ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Clinical Population ◽

Primary Data ◽

Cochrane Library ◽

Statistical Heterogeneity ◽

Geriatric Hospital ◽

Hospital Inpatients

IntroductionFrailty is a common and clinically significant condition in geriatric populations, associated with adverse health outcomes such as hospitalisation, disability and mortality. Although there are systematic reviews/meta-analyses assessing the prevalence of frailty in community-dwelling older adults, nursing home residents, and cancer and general surgery patients, there are none assessing the overall prevalence of frailty in geriatric hospital inpatients.Methods and analysisThis review will systematically search and analyse the prevalence of frailty within geriatric hospital inpatients within the literature. A search will be employed on the platforms of Ovid, Web of Science and databases of Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Plus, SCOPUS and the Cochrane Library. Any observational or experimental study design which utilises a validated operational definition of frailty, reports the prevalence of frailty, has a minimum age ≥65 years, attempts to assess the whole ward/clinical population and occurs in hospital inpatients, will be included. Title and abstract and full-text screenings will be conducted by three reviewers. Methodological quality of eligible studies will be assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tool. Data extraction will be performed by two reviewers. If sufficient data are available, a meta-analysis synthesising pooled estimates of the prevalence of frailty and pre-frailty, as well as the prevalence of frailty stratified by age, sex, operational frailty definition, prevalent morbidities, ward type and location, among older hospitalised inpatients will be conducted. Clinical heterogeneity will be assessed by two reviewers. Statistical heterogeneity will be assessed through a Cochran Q test, and an I2test performed to assess its magnitude.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval was not required as primary data will not be collected. Findings will be disseminated through publication in peer reviewed open access scientific journals, public engagement events, conference presentations and social media.PROSPERO registration number79202.

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Meta-analysis of the TAEE project applying social network analysis

IEEE EDUCON 2010 Conference ◽

10.1109/educon.2010.5493061 ◽

2010 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jorge A. Lopez Vargas ◽

Nelson Piedra ◽

Jeanneth Chicaiza ◽

Edmundo Tovar ◽

Manuel Blazques ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Meta Analysis

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Lack of association between the MTHFR C677T variant and migraine with aura in an older population: Could selective survival play a role?

Cephalalgia ◽

10.1177/0333102412469739 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 33 (5) ◽

pp. 308-315 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Ann I Scher ◽

Gudny Eiriksdottir ◽

Melissa Garcia ◽

Preethy Feit ◽

Albert V Smith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factor ◽

Migraine With Aura ◽

Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Mthfr C677t ◽

Clinical Population ◽

Older Population ◽

Simple Simulation ◽

Selective Survival ◽

Measured Effect

Background: Several studies, but not all, of primarily middle-aged or younger adults have suggested that the common MTHFR C677T variant is a genetic risk factor for migraine with aura (MA). Here, we consider whether this variant is associated with MA risk in an older non-clinical population (AGES-Reykjavik cohort). Methods: Participants are a sub-sample ( n = 1976) of subjects from the Reykjavik Study (RS; mean age 50) and its continuation, AGES-RS (mean age 76). We estimated the relative odds of MA in TT versus CC carriers using multinomial logistic regression. As both MA and the TT genotype may be linked with modestly reduced longevity, we performed a simple simulation to illustrate the effect that selective survival may have had on our observed gene–disease association. Results: TT versus CC carriers were at marginally reduced odds of MA (ORTT 0.55 (0.3–1.0), p = 0.07), significantly for women (ORTT 0.45 (0.2–0.9), p = 0.03). Assuming the ‘true’ (e.g. mid-life) effect of the TT genotype is ORTT 1.26, from a recent meta-analysis, our simulation suggested that if 25-year mortality had been (hypothetically) 13% higher in MA subjects with the TT versus CC genotype, the measured effect of the TT genotype on MA would have been attenuated to non-significance (e.g. ORTT 1.00). Our observed protective effect was consistent with the most extreme selective mortality scenario, in which essentially all of the previously reported increased mortality in MA subjects was (hypothetically) found in CT or TT carriers. Conclusion: The MTHFR 677TT genotype was associated with marginally reduced risk of MA in our older population. Our simulation illustrated how even modest selective survival might obscure the apparent effect of a genetic or other risk factor in older populations. We speculate that some of the heterogeneity previously observed for this particular genetic variant may be due to age range differences in the studied populations.

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Neuropsychological outcomes in CHD beyond childhood: a meta-analysis

Cardiology in the Young ◽

10.1017/s104795111700230x ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 421-431 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Rónán Mills ◽

Christopher G. McCusker ◽

Chris Tennyson ◽

Donncha Hanna

Keyword(s):

Verbal Memory ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Cognitive Outcomes ◽

Intellectual Ability ◽

Clinical Population ◽

Verbal Reasoning ◽

Neurodevelopmental Delay ◽

General Intellectual Ability ◽

Genetic Abnormalities ◽

Leave One Out

AbstractBackgroundRisk for neurodevelopmental delay in infants and children with CHD is well established, but longer-term outcomes are equivocal. A meta-analysis was conducted to establish whether cognitive deficits remain beyond childhood – into teenage and young adult years.Methods and resultsA total of 18 unique samples, involving adolescents, teenagers, and adults with CHD significant enough to require invasive intervention, and sourced through searches of Web of Science, MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, and PsychInfo, met the inclusion criteria. These included the use of standardised neuropsychology tests across 10 domains of cognitive functioning and the reporting of effect size differences with controls. Reports of patients with chromosomal or genetic abnormalities were excluded. Pooled effect sizes suggested no significant differences between CHD samples and controls in terms of general intellectual ability and verbal reasoning. However, small–medium effects sizes were noted (0.33–0.44) and were statistically significant within the domains of non-verbal reasoning, processing speed, attention, auditory–verbal memory, psychomotor abilities, numeracy, and literacy with executive functioning also emerging as significant when one study outlier was excluded. We also included quality assurance statistics including Cochran’s Q, T, and I2 statistics, leave-one-out analyses, and assessment of publication bias. These often suggested study variability, possibly related to the heterogeneity of diagnostic groups included, and different tests used to measure the same construct.ConclusionsHeterogeneity indicated that moderators affect cognitive outcomes in CHD. Nevertheless, deficits across cognitive domains were discerned, which are likely to have functional impact and which should inform practice with this clinical population.

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