Combined Effects of tDCS and Language/Cognitive Intervention on the Naming of Dementia Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Author(s):  
Haewon BYEON

Background: The evidence of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) treatment effects on dementia is still insufficient. This study aimed to prove the scientific basis of tDCS by conducting a meta-analysis of previous studies that examined the effects of tDCS on the naming of patients with dementia. Methods: The literature search was conducted for publications published from Jan 2000 to Jun 2019 using four academic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library). This study found 129 publications by searching academic databases according to the PRISMA protocol. Among them, irrelevant studies were excluded, and finally, 4 studies were meta-analyzed. Results: The score of the quality assessment on five studies ranged from 21 to 26 points, rated good or better. Meta-analysis results, tDCS had no significant effect on the improvement of naming ability of dementia. On the other hand, the effect size of the tDCS intervention + language/cognitive training was significant ‘large effect (SMD=0.72, 95% CI: 0.05, 1.39)’. Conclusion: This combination of tDCS and language/cognitive training significantly improved the naming ability of dementia patients.

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 1163-1173
Author(s):  
Feng Ling Wang ◽  
Qian Yun Tang ◽  
Lu Lu Zhang ◽  
Jing Jing Yang ◽  
Yu Li ◽  
...  

This study aims to systematically evaluate the efficacy of mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) in improving mental health and quality of life for people with dementia. Comprehensive literature search was performed using the PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and CINAHL databases from their inception till June 26, 2019. In total, nine articles met the eligibility criteria and were included. The results of the meta-analysis showed a statistically significant decrease in depressive symptoms (SMD = −0.39, 95% CI: − 0.62 to − 0.15), in people with dementia who were treated with MBI. However, there were no significant improvements in anxiety, stress, or quality of life. These findings suggest that MBI is a promising alternative to conventional interventions in the treatment of depression among dementia patients and warrant further study.


Author(s):  
Zhixiang Mou ◽  
Xu Zhang

AbstractBackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly worldwide and seriously threatens human health since December 2019. However, information about acute kidney injury (AKI) during COVID-19 infection is limited. Some studies thought that presence of AKI is very common and cannot be ignored, while some studies pointed that AKI only is a rare incident during COVID-19 infection. This meta-analysis aimed to find out the truth of COVID-19 related AKI and to provide stronger evidence.MethodsTwo authors independently performed a literature search using PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library fulfilled the pre-specified criteria until April 25, 2020 to include studies reported the necessary clinic characteristics, then the incidence of AKI, incidence of required RRT, the mortality with AKI and the death risk with AKI during COVID-19 infection were pooled for statistical analysis by Open Meta-Analyst software to get conclusions.FindingsIt was found that the incidence of AKI in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infection is low, only about 3.8%; the in-hospital mortality with AKI in COVID-19 infected patients is reach up to 32.6%; the death risk with AKI in COVID-19 infected patients is about 16.1 times higher than those without AKI.ConclusionsThis meta-analysis indicated AKI during COVID-19 infection should be pay more attention, it maybe a strong red flag to death risk. It is still need additional studies to support the conclusions and to explore the AKI mechanism during COVID-19 infection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1108-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Schwingshackl ◽  
Kai Nitschke ◽  
Jasmin Zähringer ◽  
Karin Bischoff ◽  
Szimonetta Lohner ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The relation between meal frequency and measures of obesity is inconclusive. Therefore, this systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) set out to compare the isocaloric effects of different meal frequencies on anthropometric outcomes and energy intake (EI). A systematic literature search was conducted in 3 electronic databases (Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science; search date, 11 March 2019). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included with ≥2 wk intervention duration comparing any 2 of the eligible isocaloric meal frequencies (i.e., 1 to ≥8 meals/d). Random-effects NMA was performed for 4 outcomes [body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), fat mass (FM), and EI], and surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) was estimated using a frequentist approach (P-score: value is between 0 and 1). Twenty-two RCTs with 647 participants were included. Our results suggest that 2 meals/d probably slightly reduces BW compared with 3 meals/d [mean difference (MD): −1.02 kg; 95% CI: −1.70, −0.35 kg) or 6 meals/d (MD: −1.29 kg; 95% CI: −1.74, −0.84 kg; moderate certainty of evidence). We are uncertain whether 1 or 2 meals/d reduces BW compared with ≥8 meals/d (MD1 meal/d vs. ≥8 meals/d: −2.25 kg; 95% CI: −5.13, 0.63 kg; MD2 meals/d vs. ≥8 meals/d: −1.32 kg; 95% CI: −2.19, −0.45 kg) and whether 1 meal/d probably reduces FM compared with 3 meals/d (MD: −1.84 kg; 95% CI: −3.72, 0.05 kg; very low certainty of evidence). Two meals per day compared with 6 meals/d probably reduce WC (MD: −3.77 cm; 95% CI: −4.68, −2.86 cm; moderate certainty of evidence). One meal per day was ranked as the best frequency for reducing BW (P-score: 0.81), followed by 2 meals/d (P-score: 0.74), whereas 2 meals/d performed best for WC (P-score: 0.96). EI was not affected by meal frequency. In conclusion, our findings indicate that there is little robust evidence that reducing meal frequency is beneficial.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Zhang ◽  
Biqing Zhu ◽  
He Zhang ◽  
Jianxin Liang ◽  
Wenting Zeng

Background. The inconsistent finding was between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). This meta-analysis is to explore this relationship in Asia.Methods. A literature search was performed using PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library to October 30, 2015. Pooled incidence rate and OR with 95% CI were calculated using STATA 11.0.Results. Thirty-nine studies were included. The pooled incidence rate of CCA patients with HBV infection was 31% (95% CI 22%–39%). The pooled OR showed increased risk of CCA incidence with HBV infection (OR = 2.72, 95% CI 1.90–3.88), especially in ICC (OR = 3.184, 95% CI 2.356–4.302), while it showed no risk in ECC (OR = 1.407, 95% CI 0.925–2.141). Also, the pooled OR showed increased risk of ICC and ECC incidence (OR = 6.857, 95% CI 4.421–10.633 and OR = 1.740, 95% CI 1.260–2.404) in patients with HBsAg+/HBcAb+. The pooled OR showed increased risk of ICC incidence (OR = 1.410, 95% CI 1.095–1.816) in patients with HBsAg−/HBcAb+.Conclusion. It is suggested that HBV infection is associated with an increased risk of CCA in Asia. Two HBV infection models (HBsAg+/HBcAb+ and HBsAg−/HBcAb+) increase the risk of CCA, and patients with HBsAg−/HBcAb+ also had a risk of ICC. This trial is registered with PROSPEROCRD42015029264.


Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 980
Author(s):  
Ka-Young Kim ◽  
Ki-Young Shin ◽  
Keun-A. Chang

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disease, affects approximately 50 million people worldwide, which warrants the search for reliable new biomarkers for early diagnosis of AD. Brain-derived exosomal (BDE) proteins, which are extracellular nanovesicles released by all cell lineages of the central nervous system, have been focused as biomarkers for diagnosis, screening, prognosis prediction, and monitoring in AD. This review focused on the possibility of BDE proteins as AD biomarkers. The articles published prior to 26 January 2021 were searched in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library to identify all relevant studies that reported exosome biomarkers in blood samples of patients with AD. From 342 articles, 20 studies were selected for analysis. We conducted a meta-analysis of six BDE proteins and found that levels of amyloid-β42 (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 1.534, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.595–2.474), total-tau (SMD = 1.224, 95% CI: 0.534–1.915), tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (SMD = 4.038, 95% CI: 2.312-5.764), and tau phosphorylated at serine 396 (SMD = 2.511, 95% CI: 0.795–4.227) were significantly different in patients with AD compared to those in control. Whereas, those of p-tyrosine-insulin receptor substrate-1 and heat shock protein 70 did not show significant differences. This review suggested that Aβ42, t-tau, p-T181-tau, and p-S396-tau could be effective in diagnosing AD as blood biomarkers, despite the limitation in the meta-analysis based on the availability of data. Therefore, certain BDE proteins could be used as effective biomarkers for AD.


BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenchao Zhang ◽  
Xiaolei Ren ◽  
Lin Qi ◽  
Chenghao Zhang ◽  
Chao Tu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background In recent years, emerging studies have demonstrated critical functions and potential clinical applications of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in osteosarcoma. To further validate the prognostic value of multiple lncRNAs, we have conducted this updated meta-analysis. Methods Literature retrieval was conducted by searching PubMed, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library (last update by October 2, 2019). A meta-analysis was performed to explore association between lncRNAs expression and overall survival (OS) of osteosarcoma patients. Relationships between lncRNAs expression and other clinicopathological features were also analyzed respectively. Results Overall, 4351 patients from 62 studies were included in this meta-analysis and 25 lncRNAs were identified. Pooled analyses showed that high expression of 14 lncRNAs connoted worse OS, while two lncRNAs were associated with positive outcome. Further, analysis toward osteosarcoma clinicopathologic features demonstrated that overexpression of TUG1 and XIST indicated poor clinical parameters of patients. Conclusions This meta-analysis has elucidated the prognostic potential of 16 lncRNAs in human osteosarcoma. Evidently, desperate expression and functional targets of these lncRNAs offer new approaches for prognosis and therapy of osteosarcoma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e000648
Author(s):  
Gilles Jadd Hoilat ◽  
Mohamad Fekredeen Ayas ◽  
Judie Noemie Hoilat ◽  
Ahmed Abu-Zaid ◽  
Ceren Durer ◽  
...  

BackgroundHepatic encephalopathy (HE) is defined as brain dysfunction that occurs because of acute liver failure or liver cirrhosis and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Lactulose is the standard of care till this date; however, polyethylene glycol (PEG) has gained the attention of multiple investigators.MethodsWe screened five databases namely PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Embase from inception to 10 February 2021. Dichotomous and continuous data were analysed using the Mantel-Haenszel and inverse variance methods, respectively, which yielded a meta-analysis comparing PEG versus lactulose in the treatment of HE.ResultsFour trials with 229 patients were included. Compared with lactulose, the pooled effect size demonstrated a significantly lower average HE Scoring Algorithm (HESA) Score at 24 hours (Mean difference (MD)=−0.68, 95% CI (−1.05 to –0.31), p<0.001), a higher proportion of patients with reduction of HESA Score by ≥1 grade at 24 hours (risk ratio (RR)=1.40, 95% CI (1.17 to 1.67), p<0.001), a higher proportion of patients with a HESA Score of grade 0 at 24 hours (RR=4.33, 95% CI (2.27 to 8.28), p<0.0010) and a shorter time to resolution of HE group (MD=−1.45, 95% CI (−1.72 to –1.18), p<0.001) in favour of patients treated with PEG.ConclusionPEG leads to a higher drop in the HESA Score and thus leads to a faster resolution of HE compared with lactulose.


2020 ◽  
pp. 030089162097586
Author(s):  
Pratik Tripathi ◽  
Zhen Li ◽  
Yaqi Shen ◽  
Xuemei Hu ◽  
Daoyu Hu

Background: The impact of magnetic resonance imaging–detected extramural vascular invasion (mrEMVI) in distant metastasis is well known but its correlation with prevalence of lymph node metastasis is less studied. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the prevalence of nodal disease in mrEMVI–positive and negative cases in rectal cancer. Methods: Following guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, a systematic literature search in PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and EMBase was carried out to identify relevant studies published up to May 2019. Results: Our literature search generated 10 studies (863 and 1212 mrEMVI–positive and negative patients, respectively). The two groups (mrEMVI–positive and negative) were significantly different in terms of nodal disease status (odds ratio [OR] 3.15; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.12–4.67; p < 0.001). The prevalence of nodal disease was 75.90% vs 52.56% in the positive mrEMVI vs negative mrEMVI group, respectively ( p < 0.001). The prevalence of positive lymph node in positive mrEMVI patients treated with neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT/CRT) (OR 2.47; 95% CI 1.65–3.69; p < 0.001) was less compared with the patients who underwent surgery alone (OR 6.25; 95% CI 3.74–10.44; p < 0.001). Conclusion: The probability of positive lymph nodes in cases of positive mrEMVI is distinctly greater compared with negative cases in rectal cancer. Positive mrEMVI indicates risk of nodal disease prevalence increased by threefold in rectal cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1144-1152
Author(s):  
Ping Huang ◽  
Zhenfen Wang ◽  
Qian Liu ◽  
Guohao Cai

Colorectal cancers common tumors that develop in the large intestines. The incidence of colorectal cancer is second only to gastric and esophageal cancers. Both S-1 and capecitabine are the third-generation fluorouracil-based chemotherapeutic drugs. We hope to summarize the therapeutic effects of tecotae and capecitabine in patients with colorectal cancer through this Meta-analysis. We performed a meta-analysis of the findings in the current literature. We performed a systematic review of outcomes associated with S-1 and capecitabine used to treat advanced colorectal cancer based on findings from both English and Chinese publications listed in PubMed, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang, EBSCO, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library. End-points included ORR, DCR, OS, and PFS; adverse events (grades 1–2 and 3–4) were also evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3. A total of 12 studies were eventually included, involving a total of 3,375 patients. Of this group, 1,683 and 1,692 patients underwent treatment with S-1 or capecitabine, respectively. There were no greatly differences with respect to ORR, DCR, or OS; however, PFS was bettered in the group of S-1 compared to those treated with capecitabine. The incidence of leukopenia, diarrhea and anorexia were all higher among those in S-1 group compared to the capecitabine group, but a higher incidence of hand-foot syndrome was linked with use of capecitabine. Use of S-1 for the treatment of colorectal cancer may result in superior outcomes when compared to use of capecitabine.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong-Lan Tang ◽  
Xiao Chen ◽  
Chang-Guo Zhu ◽  
Zhong-wei Li ◽  
Yong Xia ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The present meta-analysis examined the diagnostic accuracy of T2 Candida for candidiasis. Methods The literature databases, such as PubMed, Embase, DVIO, Cochrane library, Web of Science, and CNKI, were searched on T2 Candida detection. Results A total of 8 articles, comprising of 2717 research subjects, were included in the study. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.91 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.88–0.94) and 0.94 95% CI: 0.93–0.95), respectively. The pooled positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio was 10.16 (95% CI: 2.75–37.50) and 0.08 (95% CI: 0.02–0.35), respectively. The combined diagnostic odds ratio is 133.65 95% CI: 17.21–1037.73), and the AUC of SROC is 0.9702 [(SE = 0.0235), Q* = 0.9201(SE = 0.0381)]. Conclusions The current evidence supported that T2 Candida has high accuracy and sensitivity and is of major clinical significance in the diagnosis of Candida infection.


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