Effects of a nurse-led eHealth programme on functional outcomes and quality of life of patients with stroke: a pooled analysis of randomized controlled trials

BackgroundStroke remains a leading cause of disability worldwide. Nurse-led eHealth programs have emerged as a potentially effective strategy to improve functional outcomes and quality of life in stroke survivors. However, the variability of study designs and outcomes measured across trials necessitates a pooled analysis to comprehensively assess the efficacy of these interventions. This protocol outlines the methodology for a pooled analysis that aims to synthesize evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating nurse-led eHealth interventions for stroke patients.Methods and analysisThis pooled analysis will be conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. We will include RCTs that evaluate nurse-led eHealth programs and report on functional outcomes or quality of life in stroke patients. Comprehensive searches of electronic databases including Pubmed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and PsycINFO will be conducted with a predefined search strategy. Study selection will involve screening titles and abstracts, followed by full-text review using explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data extraction will be undertaken independently by two reviewers. The risk of bias will be assessed through the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Additionally, the quality of evidence for each outcome will be evaluated using the GRADE approach. Meta-analyses will be performed using random-effects models, and heterogeneity will be quantified using the I2 statistic. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses will explore potential sources of heterogeneity.Discussion and conclusionsThis pooled analysis is poised to provide a nuanced understanding of the effectiveness of nurse-led eHealth programs in stroke rehabilitation, leveraging a thorough methodological framework and GRADE tool to ensure robustness and reliability of evidence. The investigation anticipates diverse improvements in patient outcomes, underscoring the potential of personalized, accessible eHealth interventions to enhance patient engagement and treatment adherence. Despite the challenges posed by the heterogeneity of interventions and rapid technological advancements, the findings stand to influence clinical pathways by integrating eHealth into standard care, if substantiated by the evidence. Our study’s depth and methodological rigor possess the potential to initiate changes in healthcare policy, advocating for the adoption of eHealth and subsequent investigations into its cost-efficiency. Ultimately, we aim to contribute rich, evidence-based insights into the burgeoning field of digital health, offering a foundational assessment of its applications in stroke care. Our data is expected to have a lasting impact, not only guiding immediate clinical decisions but also shaping the trajectory of future healthcare strategies in stroke recovery.Systematic review registrationIdentifier (CRD42024520100: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=520100)

Improvement of both human and animal memory by synergy between fructooligosaccharide and L-theanine function establishing a safe and effective food supplement

Abstract Aging is classically associated with a decline of cognitive abilities, especially in relation to memory. While the development of potential treatments for neurodegenerative diseases has been in sharp focus, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a form of age-related memory loss, in the absence of severe functional impairment, a condition experienced by many healthy adults, has received relatively little attention. Advances in this space would make significant contributions to the goal of healthy aging and may also help promote cognitive performance across the wider population. The individual action of either fructooligosaccharide (FOS) or L-theanine, both natural plant-derived molecules, has been tentatively linked with improvements in cognition, but our understanding remains far from complete. We therefore determined the effect of different dose combinations of FOS and L-theanine (termed MT-01/GBL-Memory1) in mice against FOS and L-theanine monotherapy. FOS and L-theanine were found to synergistically enhance murine memory in our animal tests at a dose of 100?mg/kg (coefficient of drug interaction (CDI)

Mechanics in the Production of Mandibular Fractures: A Clinical, Retrospective Case-Control Study.

As the mandible is susceptible to fracture, the aim of this study was to use multivariate logistic regression analysis to identify and distinguish various internal factors that may influence the location of mandibular fractures. The study included 1131 patients with maxillofacial fractures during the period from January 2000 to December 2009 to evaluate the association of mandibular fracture location (unilateral symphysis, body, angle, condylar, or bilateral condylar fractures) with various internal factors. Among the 1131 patients, 869 had mandibular fractures. Data on age, sex, soft tissue injuries, dental trauma, and maxillofacial fracture type were collected and analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. In total, 387, 210, 139, 319, and 172 patients were diagnosed with unilateral symphysis, body, angle, unilateral, or bilateral condylar fractures, respectively. The dental trauma in patients with bilateral condylar fractures differed from that in patients with unilateral condylar fractures. Patients with mandibular fracture (unilateral symphysis, body, unilateral or bilateral condylar) possessed an approximately equal risk of soft tissue injuries in the mandible. Patients with either unilateral or bilateral condylar fractures were associated with a low risk of mandibular angle fracture (OR < 1). Similarly, patients with mandibular angle fracture were associated with a low risk of unilateral or bilateral condylar fractures (OR < 1). Moreover, patients with symphysis fracture were associated with a low risk of bilateral condylar fractures (90 of 387 [23.3%], OR 0.899). By contrast, patients with bilateral condylar fractures were associated with a high risk of symphysis fracture (90 of 172 [52.3%], OR 17.38). Patients with condylar fractures, particularly those with bilateral condylar fractures, were infrequently associated with secondary mandibular fractures. Mandibular fractures tended to have less of an association with midfacial fractures. The occurrence of mandibular fractures is strongly correlated with age, sex, soft tissue injuries, dental trauma, and the pattern and position of the maxillofacial fractures in patients

A Hybrid Fault Diagnosis Approach for Rotating Machinery with the Fusion of Entropy-Based Feature Extraction and SVM Optimized by a Chaos Quantum Sine Cosine Algorithm

As crucial equipment during industrial manufacture, the health status of rotating machinery affects the production efficiency and device safety. Hence, it is of great significance to diagnose rotating machinery faults, which can contribute to guarantee the running stability and plan for maintenance, thus promoting production efficiency and economic benefits. For this purpose, a hybrid fault diagnosis model with entropy-based feature extraction and SVM optimized by a chaos quantum sine cosine algorithm (CQSCA) is developed in this research. Firstly, the state-of-the-art variational mode decomposition (VMD) is utilized to decompose the vibration signals into sets of components, during which process the preset parameter K is confirmed with the central frequency observation method. Subsequently, the permutation entropy values of all components are computed to constitute the feature vectors corresponding to different kind of signals. Later, the newly developed sine cosine algorithm (SCA) is employed and improved with chaotic initialization by a Duffing system and quantum technique to optimize the support vector machine (SVM) model, with which the fault pattern is recognized. Additionally, the availability of the optimized SVM with CQSCA was revealed in pattern recognition experiments. Finally, the proposed hybrid fault diagnosis approach was employed for engineering applications as well as contrastive analysis. The comparative results show that the proposed method achieved the best training accuracy 99.5% and best testing accuracy 97.89%. Furthermore, it can be concluded from the boxplots of different diagnosis methods that the stability and precision of the proposed method is superior to those of others

Proteomic Analysis of Exosomes from Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Tissue Injury

Exosomes are extracellular membranous nanovesicles that mediate local and systemic cell-to-cell communication by transporting functional molecules, such as proteins, into target cells, thereby affecting the behavior of receptor cells. Exosomes originating from adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) are considered a multipotent and abundant therapeutic tool for tissue injury. To investigate ADSC-secreted exosomes and their potential function in tissue repair, we isolated exosomes from the supernatants of ADSCs via ultracentrifugation, characterized them via transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis, and Western blot analysis. Then, we determined their protein profile via proteomic analysis. Results showed that extracellular vesicles, which have an average diameter of 116 nm, exhibit a cup-shaped morphology and express exosomal markers. A total of 1,185 protein groups were identified in the exosomes. Gene Ontology analysis indicated that exosomal proteins are mostly derived from cells mainly involved in protein binding. Protein annotation via the Cluster of Orthologous Groups system indicated that most proteins were involved in general function prediction, posttranslational modification, protein turnover, and chaperoning. Further, pathway analysis revealed that most of the proteins obtained participated in metabolic pathways, focal adhesion, regulation of the actin cytoskeleton, and microbial metabolism. Some tissue repair-related signaling pathways were also discovered. The identified molecules might serve as potential therapeutic targets for future studies

Obstetric and Perinatal Outcomes in Female Cancer Survivors: Protocol of a Pooled Analysis of Population-based Cohort Studies

Abstract Introduction Approximately 80% of children, adolescents and young adults (CAYA) cancer patients are expected to fully recover and survive for five years or more. The reproductive health is a particular area of their concern. Evidence demonstrates that previous therapeutic treatments for cancer and comorbidities may have harmful effects on female fertility and delivery outcomes, which will significantly affect patient quality of life. However, these reports are heterogeneous. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide the up-to-date evidence of associations between cancer and obstetric and perinatal outcomes. Methods and analysis This meta-analysis will be carried out and reported with adherence to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the Cochrane Handbook. We will search online databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase until March, 2022 to identify all relevant cohort studies examining the relationship between cancer and subsequent obstetric and perinatal outcomes. Data extraction from eligible studies will be conducted independently by two unblinded investigators using pre-tested standardized data extraction forms and crosschecked by a senior investigator. Discrepancies will be resolved via discussion until consensus is reached. Methodological quality assessment for each study will be conducted using the Newcastle–Ottawa scale (NOS) tool. We will apply the DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model to calculate the pooled estimates. Further sources of heterogeneity will be explored by performing subgroup analysis based on multiple study characteristics. Potential publication bias will be assessed by inspection of a funnel plot, Begg’s and Egger’s regression tests of funnel plot asymmetry. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval will not be required as all data used for this pooled analysis will be obtained from published cohort studies. The results of this study will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal and conference presentation

Quality and Authenticity Control of Functional Red Yeast Rice—A Review

Red yeast rice (RYR) is made by fermenting the rice with Monascus. It is commonly used in food colorants, dyeing, and wine making in China and its neighboring countries. Nowadays RYR has two forms on the market: common RYR is used for food products, the other form is functional RYR for medicine. However, some researchers reported that commercial lovastatin (structure is consistent with monacolin K) is illegally added to common RYR to meet drug quality standards, so as to imitate functional RYR and sell the imitation at a higher price. Based on current detection methods, it is impossible to accurately distinguish whether functional RYR is adulterated. Therefore, it is especially important to find a way to authenticate functional RYR. In the current review, the advances in history, applications, components (especially monacolins, monacolins detection methods), quality standards, authentication methods and perspectives for the future study of RYR are systematically reviewed

Circling behavior developed in Dmp1 null mice is due to bone defects in the vestibular apparatus

With age, there is a progressive loss of body balance function. Yet, the potential influence of osteoporosis on body balance is largely unknown. Dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) is highly expressed in bone and required for phosphate homeostasis and mineralization. Dmp1 null mice display striking defects in bone structure. In this study we reported circling behavior and hyper reaction to touching in Dmp1 null mice. Our histology, tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining and &#181;CT data showed dramatic changes, such as an expansion of poorly mineralized matrices, in the Dmp1 null porous bony structure in the vestibular apparatus. The targeted re-expression of DMP1 in the Dmp1 null bone fully rescued not only the bone phenotype, but also circling behavior and hyper reaction. Furthermore, X-gal stain and DMP1 immunohistochemistry assay showed that DMP1 was not expressed in neuron cells or balance related cells in the inner ear, suggesting that a defect in the bony labyrinth of the internal ear is indirectly responsible for the circling behavior and/or hyper reaction to touching. Finally, discovery of DMP1 lacZ signal in pericyte-like cells may suggest a new function of DMP1 in angiogenesis.</p