Using structural equation modeling to predict orofacial pain-related outcomes

Objectives: To test if the structure of a proposed theoretical model comprised of specific observed variables clustered to measure three latent variables of anxiety, depression, and fatigue exhibited good global fit with the observed data and had adequate reliability using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A secondary objective was to use structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the direct effect of the latent variables of depression, anxiety, and fatigue on orofacial pain outcomes. Methods: Subjects were evaluated and treated at an orofacial pain clinic between 2009 and 2014. Those who completed a battery of psychosocial and pain-related questionnaires were invited to participate in an online survey assessing pain outcomes 3-8 years later. Results: Of 1499 eligible participants that were invited to complete the online survey, 280 provided complete data. Of those, 27% were no longer having an orofacial pain complaint. The initially proposed model structure was modified due to misspecifications. The modified model exhibited adequate global fit indexes (χ2= 111.54 (47), .001, RMSEA = .07 (.053, .087), CFI =.971, SRMR=.495) and acceptable measures of reliability. None of the proposed predictors of the modified model had a direct effect on pain outcomes (p \u3e .05) in the SEM analysis. Discussion: The findings suggest that neither fatigue nor psychological factors were significant predictors of orofacial pain outcomes. Approximately 75% of the participants continued to have an orofacial pain complaint. Future research should explore if these associations are sample-, diagnosis-, or gender-specific

Assessment of Factors Involved in Non-Adherence to Infant Hearing Diagnostic Testing

Abstract Introduction: Delayed diagnosis of pediatric hearing loss can cause delays in cognitive and social development. This study described the sociodemographic factors associated with delayed timing of a final hearing diagnosis after an abnormal newborn hearing screening (NBHS). Methods: Parent-infant dyads were recruited after being referred for further audiologic testing on an abnormal result from the NBHS. Results: Of the 53 participants, 55% (n=29) did not receive a final diagnosis by the recommended 3 months of age. Of those with a delayed diagnosis, 45% (n=13) had their first appointment within 3 months, but a delay was caused by an inconclusive or abnormal auditory brainstem response (ABR), middle ear pathology, or the presence of risk factors requiring additional testing. In a univariate analysis, older parental age (OR: 0.90, 95% CI: [0.82, 0.99]) and more total children in the household ([OR: 0.66, 95% CI: {0.18, 2.49}] for 1 child vs. 2 and [OR: 0.14, 95% CI: {0.03, 0.69}] for 1 children vs. 3 or more) were shown to were shown to significantly increase the odds of a delayed diagnosis, whereas younger infant age at first appointment (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: [0.92, 0.99]) was shown to significantly decrease the odds of a delayed diagnosis. In multivariate analyses, delayed diagnosis was also decreased by younger infant age at the initial appointment (OR=0.94, 95% CI: [0.90, 0.99]). Conclusions: Parental age, number of total children in the household, and timing of first appointment may predict delayed diagnosis. Because many patients with a delayed diagnosis attended an appointment within 3 months, further standardization of the process and targeted interventions for families could improve chances of achieving a diagnosis within the first appointment

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/‘proxy’ AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele