scholarly journals Pupil Reactions to Tactile Stimulation: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana de Mello Gusso ◽  
Gabriele Serur ◽  
Percy Nohama

Pupil dynamics can represent an indirect measure of perception; thus, it has been broadly explored in the auditory and visual fields. Although it is crucial for experiencing the outside world, tactile perception is not well-explored. Considering that, we sought to answer the following question via a systematic review: does normal tactile perception processing modulate pupil dilation in mammals (human or not)? The review process was conducted according to PRISMA Statement. We searched on Periódicos CAPES (Brazil) for the following terms: [(touch) OR (cutaneous stimulation) OR (tactile perception) OR (somatosensory) AND (pupil OR pupillary) NOT blind NOT reflex NOT pain NOT fear NOT noxious NOT autism NOT nerve NOT (pupillary block) NOT glaucoma NOT cataract NOT aneurysm NOT syndrome NOT treatment NOT special education]. From the 6,488 papers found, 4,568 were duplicates, and nine fulfilled the inclusion criteria. All papers found a positive relationship between pupil diameter and tactile perception. We found that the pupil is a reliable indirect measure of brain states and can evaluate norepinephrine (NE)/locus coeruleus (LC) action, stimulus inhibition, arousal, cognitive processes, and affection independently of the stimuli category (visual, auditory, or tactile). We also found that the perceptual tactile processing occurs in similar ways as the other perceptual modalities. We verified that more studies should be done, mostly avoiding low sampling rate recording systems, confounders as cue signs, not automated stimulation, and concurrent stimulus and using more reliable equipment.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R Vago ◽  
Resh Gupta ◽  
Sara Lazar

One potential pathway by which mindfulness-based meditation improves health outcomes is through changes in cognitive functioning. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) was conducted with a focus on assessing the state of the evidence for effects on cognitive processes and associated assays. Here, we comment on confounding issues surrounding the reporting of these and related findings, including 1) criteria that appropriately define an MBI; 2) limitations of assays used to measure cognition; and 3) methodological quality of MBI trials and reporting of findings. Because these issues contribute to potentially distorted interpretations of existing data, we offer constructive means for interpretation and recommendations for moving the field of mindfulness research forward regarding the effects on cognition.


Author(s):  
Sie Kei Wong ◽  
M. Chim ◽  
J. Allen ◽  
A. Butler ◽  
J. Tyrrell ◽  
...  

Abstract There is no consensus on the optimal pCO2 levels in the newborn. We reviewed the effects of hypercapnia and hypocapnia and existing carbon dioxide thresholds in neonates. A systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA statement and MOOSE guidelines. Two hundred and ninety-nine studies were screened and 37 studies included. Covidence online software was employed to streamline relevant articles. Hypocapnia was associated with predominantly neurological side effects while hypercapnia was linked with neurological, respiratory and gastrointestinal outcomes and Retinpathy of prematurity (ROP). Permissive hypercapnia did not decrease periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), ROP, hydrocephalus or air leaks. As safe pCO2 ranges were not explicitly concluded in the studies chosen, it was indirectly extrapolated with reference to pCO2 levels that were found to increase the risk of neonatal disease. Although PaCO2 ranges were reported from 2.6 to 8.7 kPa (19.5–64.3 mmHg) in both term and preterm infants, there are little data on the safety of these ranges. For permissive hypercapnia, parameters described for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD; PaCO2 6.0–7.3 kPa: 45.0–54.8 mmHg) and congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH; PaCO2 ≤ 8.7 kPa: ≤65.3 mmHg) were identified. Contradictory findings on the effectiveness of permissive hypercapnia highlight the need for further data on appropriate CO2 parameters and correlation with outcomes. Impact There is no consensus on the optimal pCO2 levels in the newborn. There is no consensus on the effectiveness of permissive hypercapnia in neonates. A safe range of pCO2 of 5–7 kPa was inferred following systematic review.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Wilks ◽  
R Mcleod ◽  
V Unadkat

Abstract Aim This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to assess this relationship and determine the most appropriate age for recommendation of surgery. Method According to the “Preferred Reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis” (PRISMA) statement, a literature search was performed across Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane library from 1946-2018. Articles examining a relationship between age and myringoplasty or type 1 tympanoplasty success rates were screened. Results 20 articles encompassing data from 2244 procedures were included. The overall results conveyed a clear correlation between increasing age and rising success rate. A t-test was conducted which demonstrated a significant (P = 0.05) transition at aged 10, whereby success rate below age 10 was 70.6% and above 10 was 86%. Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis has uncovered a clear correlation between increasing age and increasing success rate for myringoplasty in the paediatric population. Furthermore, a significant transitional point has been demonstrated at the age of 10 and We hope that knowledge of increased success rates particularly after the age of 10 helps clinicians make more informed decisions about when to operate


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Sharifiheris ◽  
Juho Laitala ◽  
Antti Airola ◽  
Amir M Rahmani ◽  
Miriam Bender

BACKGROUND Preterm birth (PTB) as a common pregnancy complication is responsible for 35% of the 3.1 million pregnancy-related deaths each year and significantly impacts around 15 million children annually across the world. Conventional approaches to predict PTB may neither be applicable for first-time mothers nor possess reliable predictive power. Recently, machine learning (ML) models have shown the potential as an appropriate complementary approach for PTB prediction. OBJECTIVE In this article we systematically reviewed the literature concerned with PTB prediction using ML modeling. METHODS This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA statement. A comprehensive search was performed in seven bibliographic databases up until 15 May 2021. The quality of studies was assessed, and the descriptive information including socio-demographic characteristics, ML modeling processes, and model performance were extracted and reported. RESULTS A total of 732 papers were screened through title and abstract. Of these, 23 studies were screened by full text resulting in 13 papers that met the inclusion criteria. CONCLUSIONS We identified various ML models used for different EHR data resulting in a desirable performance for PTB prediction. However, evaluation metrics, software/package used, data size and type, and selected features, and importantly data management method often varied from study to study threatening the reliability and generalizability of the model. CLINICALTRIAL n.a.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgy Kopanitsa ◽  
Aleksei Dudchenko ◽  
Matthias Ganzinger

BACKGROUND It has been shown in previous decades, that Machine Learning (ML) has a huge variety of possible implementations in medicine and can be very helpful. Neretheless, cardiovascular diseases causes about third of of all global death. Does ML work in cardiology domain and what is current progress in that regard? OBJECTIVE The review aims at (1) identifying studies where machine-learning algorithms were applied in the cardiology domain; (2) providing an overview based on identified literature of the state of the art of the ML algorithm applying in cardiology. METHODS For organizing this review, we have employed PRISMA statement. PRISMA is a set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses, focused on the reporting of reviews evaluating randomized trials, but can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic review. For the review, we have adopted PRISMA statement and have identified the following items: review questions, information sources, search strategy, selection criteria. RESULTS In total 27 scientific articles or conference papers written in English and reporting about implementation of an ML-method or algorithm in cardiology domain were included in this review. We have examined four aspects: aims of ML-systems, methods, datasets and evaluation metrics. CONCLUSIONS We suppose, this systematic review will be helpful for researchers developing machine-learning system for a medical domain and in particular for cardiology.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Schoemann ◽  
Denis O'Hora ◽  
Rick Dale ◽  
Stefan Scherbaum

Mouse cursor tracking has become a prominent method for characterizing cognitive processes, used in a wide variety of domains of psychological science. Researchers have demonstrated considerable ingenuity in the application of the approach, but the methodology has not undergone systematic analysis to facilitate the development of best practices. Furthermore, recent research has demonstrated effects of experimental design features on a number of mouse-tracking outcomes. We conducted a systematic review of the mouse-tracking literature to survey the reporting and spread of mouse variables (Cursor speed, Sampling rate), physical characteris-tics of the experiments (Stimulus position, Response box position) and response requirements (Start procedure, Response procedure, Response deadline). This survey reveals that there is room for improvement in reporting practices, especially of subtler design features that researchers may have assumed would not impact research results (e.g., Cursor speed). We provide recommendations for future best practices in mouse-tracking studies and consider how best to standardize the mouse-tracking literature without excessively constraining the methodological flexibility that is essential to the field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Nthabiseng Nhlapo ◽  
Thywill Cephas Dzogbewu ◽  
Olga de Smidt

An ideal biomaterial should be biointegratable with minimum adverse immune response. Titanium (Ti) and its alloys are widely used biomaterials for manufacturing clinical implants because of their innate biocompatibility. However, the bioinert property of Ti may hinder tissue–implant integration and its bio compatibility nature allows for attachment of bacterial cells on implant surfaces. Nanoparticles (NPs) have been proposed as a possible intervention to overcome these biological shortcomings of Ti-based implants. The aim of the current systematic review was to identify literature that demonstrates enhanced biocompatibility of Ti-based implants by incorporating NPs. Electronic searches were conducted through the PubMed/MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Web of Science and EBSCOhost databases. Studies published in English were extracted, without restrictions on the year of publication, using the following keywords: ‘biocompatibility’, ‘nanoparticles’, ‘titanium’ and ‘implant’. The guidelines stipulated in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement were followed. A total of 630 articles were identified in the initial search and upon reviewing, 21 articles were selected according to the eligibility criteria. The selected literature showed robust evidence to support the hypothesis that the inclusion of NPs improves biocompatibility of Ti implants. The studies further indicated a close correlation between biocompatibility and antibacterial properties, of which NPs have been proven to characteristically achieve both.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pranav Satish ◽  
Alex Freeman ◽  
Daniel Kelly ◽  
Alex Kirkham ◽  
Clement Orczyk ◽  
...  

Introduction The implications of tumour location on mpMRI conspicuity are not fully understood. Identifying topographical correlates that influence conspicuity may improve outcomes. Here, we present the first systematic review and meta-analysis describing the effect of tumour location on prostate cancer conspicuity on mpMRI. Methods Medline, PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane databases were systematically searched and results were assessed as per the PRISMA statement. Differential tumour conspicuity on mpMRI was compared between cancers in the peripheral zone (PZ), transitional zone (TZ), base, apex, anterior and posterior. Meta-analysis was conducted to compare diagnostic odds ratios (DOR) of mpMRI detection for tumours in the PZ and TZ. PROSPERO registration: CRD42021228087. Results Thematic synthesis showed apical and basal tumours had reduced conspicuity compared to mid-gland tumours. Cancer in the TZ demonstrated increased conspicuity on T2-weighted imaging, whilst PZ cancers had higher conspicuity on diffusion-weighted and dynamic contrast enhancement imaging. mpMRI had better diagnostic accuracy for PZ lesions, albeit higher specificity for TZ lesions. Meta-analysis showed an increased DOR for PZ tumours (OR: 7.206 [95% CI: 4.991;10.403], compared to TZ (OR: 5.310 [95% CI: 3.082; 9.151]). However, the test for subgroup differences was not significant (p = 0.2743). Conclusions Cancer in the apex or base of the prostate may be less conspicuous than mid-gland tumours. Similarly, TZ cancer appears to have reduced conspicuity compared to PZ cancer, however, meta-analysis did not show a significant difference between DOR. Future larger studies with prospective datasets are required to clarify the relationship between tumour position and conspicuity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (18) ◽  
pp. 6758
Author(s):  
Mojgan Gharipour ◽  
Majid Barekatain ◽  
Johoon Sung ◽  
Naghmeh Emami ◽  
Ladan Sadeghian ◽  
...  

(1) Background: Obesity and mood disorders are considered as the most prevalent morbidities in many countries. We suppose that epigenetic mechanisms may induce higher rates of obesity in subjects who suffer from mood disorders. In this systematic review, we focused on the potential roles of DNA methylation on mood disorders and obesity development. (2) Methods: This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA statement and registered in Prospero. A systematic search was conducted in MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Central database, EMBASE, and CINHAL. We also conducted a Grey literature search, such as Google Scholar. (3) Results: After deduplication, we identified 198 potentially related citations. Finally, ten unique studies met our inclusion criteria. We have found three overlap genes that show significant DNA methylation changes, both in obesity and depression. Pathway analysis interaction for TAPBP, BDNF, and SORBS2 confirmed the relation of these genes in both obesity and mood disorders. (4) Conclusions: While mechanisms linking both obesity and mood disorders to epigenetic response are still unknown, we have already known chronic inflammation induces a novel epigenetic program. As the results of gene enrichment, pathways analysis showed that TAPBP, BDNF, and SORBS2 linked together by inflammatory pathways. Hypermethylation in these genes might play a crucial rule in the co-occurrence of obesity and mood disorders.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 550
Author(s):  
Marius Nistor ◽  
Martin Schmidt ◽  
Isabel Graul ◽  
Florian Rakers ◽  
René Schiffner

Severe hypogylcemia has been found to induce cerebral damage. While a number of illnesses can lead to hypoglycemic episodes, antidiabetic medications prescribed for glycemic control are a common cause. Considering the rising prevalence of diabetes mellitus in the population, we investigated neuroprotective strategies during hypoglycemia in the form of a systematic review in adherence to the PRISMA statement. A review protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database. A systematic literature search of PubMed, Web of Science, and CENTRAL was performed in September 2018. Based on a predefined inclusion protocol, results were screened and evaluated by two researchers. Both animal experiments and human studies were included, and their risk of bias was assessed with SYRCLE’s and the Cochrane risk of bias tools, respectively. Of a total of 16,230 results, 145 were assessed in full-text form: 27 articles adhered to the inclusion criteria and were qualitatively analyzed. The retrieved neuroprotective strategies could be categorized into three subsets: (1) Energy substitution, (2) hypoglycemia unawareness, and (3) other neuroprotective strategies. While on a study level, the individual results appeared promising, more research is required to investigate not only specific neuroprotective strategies against hypoglycemic cerebral damage, but also its underlying pathophysiological mechanisms.


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