scholarly journals Association of maternal prenatal selenium concentration and preterm birth: a multicountry meta-analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. e005856
Author(s):  
Nagendra Monangi ◽  
Huan Xu ◽  
Rasheda Khanam ◽  
Waqasuddin Khan ◽  
Saikat Deb ◽  
...  

BackgroundSelenium (Se), an essential trace mineral, has been implicated in preterm birth (PTB). We aimed to determine the association of maternal Se concentrations during pregnancy with PTB risk and gestational duration in a large number of samples collected from diverse populations.MethodsGestational duration data and maternal plasma or serum samples of 9946 singleton live births were obtained from 17 geographically diverse study cohorts. Maternal Se concentrations were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis. The associations between maternal Se with PTB and gestational duration were analysed using logistic and linear regressions. The results were then combined using fixed-effect and random-effect meta-analysis.FindingsIn all study samples, the Se concentrations followed a normal distribution with a mean of 93.8 ng/mL (SD: 28.5 ng/mL) but varied substantially across different sites. The fixed-effect meta-analysis across the 17 cohorts showed that Se was significantly associated with PTB and gestational duration with effect size estimates of an OR=0.95 (95% CI: 0.9 to 1.00) for PTB and 0.66 days (95% CI: 0.38 to 0.94) longer gestation per 15 ng/mL increase in Se concentration. However, there was a substantial heterogeneity among study cohorts and the random-effect meta-analysis did not achieve statistical significance. The largest effect sizes were observed in UK (Liverpool) cohort, and most significant associations were observed in samples from Malawi.InterpretationWhile our study observed statistically significant associations between maternal Se concentration and PTB at some sites, this did not generalise across the entire cohort. Whether population-specific factors explain the heterogeneity of our findings warrants further investigation. Further evidence is needed to understand the biologic pathways, clinical efficacy and safety, before changes to antenatal nutritional recommendations for Se supplementation are considered.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asif Hanif ◽  
Tahira Ashraf ◽  
Khadija Waheed ◽  
Mirza Rizwan Sajid ◽  
Nesrin Guler ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective:  This study is designed to systematically review the prevalence of preterm birth from previously published studies of Pakistan and to find pooled prevalence from available local data. Methodology:  Targeted literature was searched with specific key words such as “preterm birth, prematurity, prevalence and mortality in preterm birth in Pakistan”. Studies with copyright and/or permission issues were excluded. A total of 300 studies were found initially that were somewhat related to the topic, after careful screening only 5 studies met inclusion criteria for cur-rent study. To test the null hypothesis for all studies evaluating effect Cochran's Q was used and P-values with a level of significance of 5%were considered significant. Results:  The pooled prevalence of Preterm Birth was found to be 18.89% using fixed effect, 16.81% using random effect and 18.89% using fixed effect heterogeneity. I-squared for each effect model was > 75%. On applying Chi2 test we obtained significant p-value i.e. p-value < 0.01. Conclusion:  Through this meta-analysis we found one of the highest pooled prevalence of preterm birth in Pakistan. Reducing preterm birth can result in improvement of overall neonatal health and significantly reduce neonatal mortality in future.



2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asif Hanif ◽  
Tahira Ashraf ◽  
Khadija Waheed ◽  
Mirza Rizwan Sajid ◽  
Nesrin Güler ◽  
...  

<p><strong>Objective:  </strong>This study is designed to systematically review the prevalence of preterm birth from previously published studies of Pakistan and to find pooled prevalence from available local data.</p><p><strong>Methodology:</strong><strong>  </strong>Targeted literature was searched with specific key words such as “preterm birth, prematurity, prevalence and mortality in preterm birth in Pakistan”. Studies with copyright and/or permission issues were excluded. A total of 300 studies were found initially that were somewhat related to the topic, after careful screening only 5 studies met inclusion criteria for current study. To test the null hypothesis for all studies evaluating effect Cochran's <em>Q</em> was used and P-values with a level of significance of 5%were considered significant.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong><strong>  </strong>The pooled prevalence of Preterm Birth was found to be 18.89% using fixed effect, 16.81% using random effect and 18.89% using fixed effect heterogeneity. I-squared for each effect model was &gt; 75%. On applying Chi<sup>2</sup> test we obtained significant p-value i.e. p-value &lt; 0.01.</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong><strong>  </strong>Through this meta-analysis we found one of the highest pooled prevalence of preterm birth in Pakistan. Reducing preterm birth can result in improvement of overall neonatal health and significantly reduce neonatal mortality in future.</p>



Author(s):  
Nishita H. Darji ◽  
Devang A. Rana ◽  
Supriya D. Malhotra

Background: Glutamate modulators are having immense potential and are newer entities for treating drug resistant depression. The objectives were to generate statistical evidence on basis of existing data of ketamine, memantine, riluzole and d-cycloserine in resistant depression.Methods: A total of 14 RCTs following PRISMA guidelines and matching inclusion and exclusion criteria were collected of ketamine (5), memantine (3), riluzole (2) and d-cycloserine (4) vs placebo in drug resistant depression. Only RCTs with primary diagnosis of drug resistant depression (Previously on two standard antidepressant therapy) were included. Studies with treatment response rate, 50% reduction in total score of the depression rating scale-Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale or the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale or Beck Depression Inventory was chosen as clinical outcome measure. RevMan 5.3 software was used for the analysis.Results: In ketamine group using random effect model SMD was 2.122 (95% CI 0.659-3.584). P-value was statistically significant (random effect p <0.005 and in fixed effect <0.001). In memantine group, using random effect model -0.963 was SMD and (95% CI -1.958-0.0324). P-value was <0.001, significant in fixed effect. In riluzole group, SMD was -0.564 with (95% CI -3.927-2.799) in random effect. P-value was 0.741. In d-cycloserine group SMD was 0.316 with (95% CI -1.252-1.885) in random effect. P-value was 0.690.Conclusions: Ketamine showed best efficacy followed by memantine. Riluzole and DCS as such have no efficacy although its acts by same glutamate pathway. More molecular based research is required in use of glutamate modulators in resistant depression.



2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (18) ◽  
pp. 6745
Author(s):  
Federica Murgia ◽  
Luigi Atzori ◽  
Ezio Carboni ◽  
Maria Laura Santoru ◽  
Aran Hendren ◽  
...  

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is considered a synucleinopathy because of the intraneuronal accumulation of aggregated α-synuclein (αSyn). Recent evidence points to soluble αSyn-oligomers (αSynO) as the main cytotoxic species responsible for cell death. Given the pivotal role of αSyn in PD, αSyn-based models are crucial for the investigation of toxic mechanisms and the identification of new therapeutic targets in PD. By using a metabolomics approach, we evaluated the metabolic profile of brain and serum samples of rats infused unilaterally with preformed human αSynOs (HαSynOs), or vehicle, into the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Three months postinfusion, the striatum was dissected for striatal dopamine (DA) measurements via High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis and mesencephalon and serum samples were collected for the evaluation of metabolite content via gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis. Multivariate, univariate and correlation statistics were applied. A 40% decrease of DA content was measured in the HαSynO-infused striatum as compared to the contralateral and the vehicle-infused striata. Decreased levels of dehydroascorbic acid, myo-inositol, and glycine, and increased levels of threonine, were found in the mesencephalon, while increased contents of fructose and mannose, and a decrease in glycine and urea, were found in the serum of HαSynO-infused rats. The significant correlation between DA and metabolite content indicated that metabolic variations reflected the nigrostriatal degeneration. Collectively, the metabolomic fingerprint of HαSynO-infused rats points to an increase of oxidative stress markers, in line with PD neuropathology, and provides hints for potential biomarkers of PD.



Author(s):  
Wen-Wen Chang ◽  
Hathaichon Boonhat ◽  
Ro-Ting Lin

The air pollution emitted by petrochemical industrial complexes (PICs) may affect the respiratory health of surrounding residents. Previous meta-analyses have indicated a higher risk of lung cancer mortality and incidence among residents near a PIC. Therefore, in this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the degree to which PIC exposure increases the risk of the development of nonmalignant respiratory symptoms among residents. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to systematically identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research. Finally, we identified 16 study groups reporting 5 types of respiratory symptoms: asthma, bronchitis, cough, rhinitis, and wheezing. We estimated pooled odds ratios (ORs) using random-effect models and investigated the robustness of pooled estimates in subgroup analyses by location, observation period, and age group. We determined that residential exposure to a PIC was significantly associated with a higher incidence of cough (OR = 1.35), wheezing (OR = 1.28), bronchitis (OR = 1.26), rhinitis (OR = 1.17), and asthma (OR = 1.15), although the latter two associations did not reach statistical significance. Subgroup analyses suggested that the association remained robust across different groups for cough and bronchitis. We identified high heterogeneity for asthma, rhinitis, and wheezing, which could be due to higher ORs in South America. Our meta-analysis indicates that residential exposure to a PIC is associated with an increased risk of nonmalignant respiratory symptoms.



2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Guazzelli Pezzali ◽  
Anna K. Shoveller ◽  
Jennifer Ellis

Bile acids (BA) are produced in the liver and conjugated with glycine or taurine before being released into the small intestine to aid with lipid digestion. However, excessive BA losses through feces can occur due to several dietary factors that in turn require greater production of BA by the liver due to a reduction in BA recycling. Consequently, net utilization of taurine and/or glycine is increased. To quantify this impact, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the effect of soluble fiber, diet composition, and species on fecal excretion of BA. After a systematic review of the literature, twelve studies met all inclusion criteria. Dietary carbohydrate, protein, fat, cellulose, cholesterol, soluble fiber and animal species were tested as independent variables. Mixed models were developed treating study as a random effect, and fixed effect variables were retained at P &lt; 0.05 significance and where collinearity was absent between multiple X variables. A total of ten studies comprised of four species [(rat = 5), hamster (n = 1), guinea pig (n = 3) and dog (n = 1)], and 30 observations were evaluated in the final models after outlier removal. Model evaluation was based on the corrected Akaike Information Criteria, the concordance correlation coefficient and the root mean square prediction error. Three base models were developed, examining carbohydrate, protein and fat impacts separately. The best fitting models included the fixed effect of species and the interaction between soluble fiber (yes/no) and dietary carbohydrate, protein or fat (%, as-fed). Increased concentrations of dietary protein and fat resulted in greater fecal excretion of BA (P &lt; 0.05). Conversely, increasing levels of dietary carbohydrate led to lower excretions of BA (P &lt; 0.05). Increased dietary soluble fiber containing ingredients resulted in greater excretion of BA in all models (P &lt; 0.05). Rats had greater excretion of BA compared to hamsters and guinea pigs (P &lt; 0.05) in all models, and also compared to dogs (P &lt; 0.05) in the carbohydrate model. The findings from this meta-analysis indicate that not only soluble fiber, but also increasing levels of dietary fat and protein may result in greater fecal excretion of BA, potentially altering taurine and/or glycine metabolism and affecting the need for diet delivery of these AA.



2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anji Xiong ◽  
Chen Xiong ◽  
Guancui Yang ◽  
Yu Shuai ◽  
Deng Liu ◽  
...  

Objectives: The successful introduction of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as a treatment for renal allograft reduced the incidence of acute rejection. The inspiring effects obtained by the MMF have led to an evaluation of its therapeutic potency on ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). However, there is little evidence of the MMF's efficacy on the AAV. The meta-analysis is carried out to evaluate the efficacy of MMF as a remission induction therapy in AAV.Methods: Up to June 30th, 2020, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase have been searched comprehensively. According to heterogeneity, the pooled remission rates are synthesized by either fixed-effect or random-effect models.Results: The eight included studies comprising 230 patients who were treated with MMF as induction therapy are included in our analysis. The pooled overall remission rate is 74% (95% CI: 0.68–0.80). The remission rate, the infection rate and the rate of leukopenia of four randomized controlled trials aimed at comparing the effects of MMF with cyclophosphamide (CYC) during induction therapy for AAV have no statistical significance (P &gt; 0.05).Conclusion: MMF may be an alternative to CYC for remission induction therapy in AAV with MPO-ANCA, mild to moderate renal involvement and non-life-threatening state. Whether to observe the effect of MMF in AAV or to compare the difference between MMF and CYC in the future studies, risk stratification and subgrouping of AAV patients should be first carried out to correctly identify the AAV subgroup suitable for MMF.



Parasitology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 147 (7) ◽  
pp. 760-774
Author(s):  
Luis Alberto Rivera-Rivas ◽  
Sebastián Lorenzo-Benito ◽  
Diana Belén Sánchez-Rodríguez ◽  
Jesús FT Miranda-Ozuna ◽  
Esly Alejandra Euceda-Padilla ◽  
...  

AbstractTrichomonas vaginalis (Tv) induces host cell damage through cysteine proteinases (CPs) modulated by iron. An immunoproteomic analysis showed that trichomoniasis patient sera recognize various CPs, also some of them are present in vaginal washes (VWs). Thus, the goal of this work was to determine whether TvCP2 is expressed during infection and to assess the effect of iron on TvCP2 expression, localization and contribution to in vitro cellular damage. Western-blotting (WB) assays using TvCP2r and vaginitis patient serum samples showed that 6/9 Tv (+) but none of the Tv (−) patient sera recognized TvCP2r. WB using an anti-TvCP2r antibody and VWs from the same patients showed that in all of the Tv (+) but none of the Tv (−) VWs, the anti-TvCP2r antibody detected a 27 kDa protein band that corresponded to the mature TvCP2, which was confirmed by mass spectrometry analysis. Iron decreased the amount of TvCP2 mRNA and the protein localized on the parasite surface and cytoplasmic vesicles concomitant with the cytotoxic effect of TvCP2 on HeLa cells. Parasites pretreated with the anti-TvCP2r antibody also showed reduced levels of cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction in HeLa cell monolayers. In conclusion, these results show that TvCP2 is expressed during trichomonal infection and plays an important role in the in vitro HeLa cell cytotoxic damage under iron-restricted conditions.



2019 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 197-203
Author(s):  
Karn Wijarnpreecha ◽  
Monia Werlang ◽  
Panadeekarn Panjawatanan ◽  
Paul T Kroner ◽  
Omar Y Mousa ◽  
...  

Background & Aims: Studies have suggested that smokers may have a higher risk of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) although the results have been inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to better characterize the risk of PBC among smokers by identifying all relevant studies and summarizing their results together. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted using Embase and Pubmed/MEDLINE databases from inception to September 2018 to identify all studies which compared the risk of PBC among current, ever and former smokers to non-smokers. Effect estimates from each study were extracted and combined together using the random-effect, generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird. Results: Nine case-control studies with 21,577 participants met the eligibility criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The risk of PBC among ever smokers was significantly higher than non-smokers with the pooled odds ratio (OR) of 1.31 (95% CI, 1.03-1.67; I 2 89%). Subgroup analysis found that the risk was higher in both former smokers (pooled OR 1.36; 95% CI, 1.01-1.84; I 2 75%) and current smokers (pooled OR 1.18; 95% CI, 0.94-1.50; I 2 79%), although the latter did not reach statistical significance. Immunomodulatory and cytotoxic effect of cigarettes were the possible mechanisms behind this increased risk. Conclusions: A significantly increased risk of PBC among individuals who ever smoked was observed in this study, adding to the already long list of harmful health consequences of smoking.



2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. S227-S228
Author(s):  
Abdullah A Alhifany ◽  
Nisrin Bifari ◽  
Yasser Alatawi ◽  
Saad Ullah Malik ◽  
Thamer Almangour

Abstract Background The initial management of Acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection (ABSSSI) is burdensome. It requires empirical antibiotic therapy that covers both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Vancomycin plus aztreonam are the most commonly used antibiotic combination, nonetheless, they have many limitations which limits their use. Hence, many new single agents with MRSA and gram-negative coverage, oral options, and/or good safety profile have been developed to be a potential alternative such as: ceftaroline, ceftobiprole, tigecycline and the recent FDA approved antibiotic (delafloxacin). In the absence of head-to-head trials comparing these agents, we decided to conduct a network meta-analysis for these therapeutic regimens. Methods A Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials identified in PubMed/Medline and Embase databases was conducted. We performed both fixed and random effect models for clinical cure as the primary outcome of interest. Additionally, rankograms were generated using the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) to obtain the treatment ranking probabilities in relation to their relative effect. Results We identified 10 eligible studies involving 4,914 patients. The indirect comparison demonstrated that delafloxacin showed no difference in terms of clinical cure compared with ceftaroline (OR, 0.82, 95% Cr.I 0.39–1.8), ceftobiprole (OR, 0.79, 95% Cr.I 0.32–1.9), SOC (OR, 1.2, 95% Cr.I 0.62–2.4) and tigecycline (OR, 1.0, 95% Cr.I 0.45–2.2) in the fixed effect analysis, nor in the random-effect analysis (OR, 0.8, 95% Cr.I 0.26–2.2; OR, 0.78, 95% Cr.I 0.2–3.0; OR, 1.2, 95% Cr.I 0.51–3.1; and OR, 0.96, 95% Cr.I 0.30–3.0), respectively. Furthermore, the ranking probabilities in the fixed-effect and random-effect analysis showed that ceftaroline was ranked the first in terms of clinical cure (SUCRA, 40.02%) followed by ceftobiprole (SUCRA, 22.80%), delafloxacin (SUCRA, 16.60%), SOC (SUCRA, 13.80%), and then tigecycline (SUCRA, 6.70%). Conclusion Ceftaroline, ceftbiprole, delafoxacin, SOC and tigecycline are similarly effective. However, delafloxacin provides better convenience. Further comparative studies regarding their safety are needed. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.



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