OBJECTIVES: Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for persons with dementia (PwD) have yielded mixed results, possibly attributable to the fact that little is known about the validity and reliability of trait mindfulness self-report measures in PwD. This narrative review sought to identify studies involving self-reported trait mindfulness and other clinical measures that may hold information on the convergent validity and reliability of these measures in PwD. METHODS: Scientific databases were searched for studies involving PwD and mindfulness assessments. RESULTS: N = 426 studies from PubMed and N = 156 from PsychInfo databases were reviewed. Four cross-sectional studies were identified that allowed inferences about the validity of mindfulness measures. A qualitative review indicated that convergent validity with other measures varied with sample heterogeneity and cognitive impairment. Merely one MBI included self-reported trait mindfulness, however without reporting sample-specific validity or reliability. CONCLUSIONS: Despite efforts to implement MBIs in PwD, information on basic methodological psychometric issues is minimal. Future studies ought to address the validity and reliability of self-reported mindfulness in detail across different stages of dementia. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Results of MBIs need to be considered cautiously. Basic information about psychometric properties of mindfulness self-report measures is required and these measures need to be included systematically in MBIs.
- MeSH
- Dementia * psychology therapy MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Psychometrics methods MeSH
- Reproducibility of Results MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Mindfulness * methods MeSH
- Self Report * standards MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Review MeSH
Many tasks in forensic examination of handwritten documents require classification of writing instruments that have ink of similar properties as the ink found on a questioned document. In this paper, we propose a new methodology for non-destructive identification of inks based on optical properties and reflectance spectra of the ink, measured from handwriting strokes. Building on this methodology, we developed an interactive database that we call the "Pen Ink Library", which lists 718 various writing instruments and enables systematic comparison and semi-automatic search of writing instruments, using the measured characteristics of their ink. To highlight the significance and applicability of the database, we additionally exploit the large amounts of collected measurements to design computer-based data analysis methods for classification and comparative analysis of ink samples. For validation of the semi-automatic search functionality of the Pen Ink Library we performed a series of blind tests using twenty randomly selected writing instruments. Here, an instrument with the same brand and model was found in nine cases, and an instrument with a different brand and model, but with identical spectrum and optical parameters, was found in five cases. Cross-validation of the computer-based data analysis methods on the measurements from the database yielded above 90% accuracy of the classification method and 5.3% to 12.7% error rate of the comparative analysis method.
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
BACKGROUND: Understanding population health trends and their key determinants is essential for planning health services and implementing effective interventions. One of these determinants may be national cultural characteristics that are related to various health outcomes and health-related behaviours. However, little is known about their potential association to overall burden of disease. Thus, this study examined whether cultural characteristics expressed by Hofstede indexes are associated with the burden of disease. METHODS: We used data from open-source databases - Hofstede's Cultural Index, the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) and the Human Development Index (HDI). The final sample comprised 69 countries covering all the continents. The burden of disease was measured using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years lived with disabilities (YLD), and years of life lost (YLL). National cultural characteristics were measured using Hofstede's dimensions. Bayesian correlation analyses were conducted to assess the relationships between cultural dimensions and health outcomes, stratified by countries' HDI levels. RESULTS: In countries with a very high HDI, there was strong evidence (Bayes Factor > 10) of a positive correlation of Power distance with the total disability-adjusted life years (r = 0.448) and years of life lost (r = 0.528), and Individualism (r = 0.667) and Indulgence (r = 0.494) with years lived with disabilities. In contrast, Long-term orientation negatively correlated of with years lived with disabilities (r = -0.527) and Indulgence with disability-adjusted life years (r = -0.437) and years of life lost (r = -0.537). Further, Power distance and Indulgence were correlated with the majority of the GBD indicators and Individualism with a few GBD indicators. In countries with a high and medium HDI, strong evidence of the associations was found in only a few cases. CONCLUSION: We found a correlation between national cultural characteristics and burden of disease. Policy-makers should consider integrating cultural factors into public health strategies to better align healthcare interventions with the local population's values and behaviours. Moreover, cross-cultural research and collaboration should increase to understand how cultural influences can be used to mitigate disease burdens and improve health outcomes globally. This study also opens a potentially new research area within population health research.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to evaluate widespread dietary supplements (DSs) use among the military population. There is no recent study to comprehensively evaluate the prevalence of DS use among the military population. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to present an overview and estimate of the overall prevalence of DSs use among the military population. METHODS: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were searched up to September 2023 using relevant keywords. All original articles written in English evaluating the prevalence of DSs use among the military population were eligible for this study. The risk of bias assessment of the included studies was done using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist. The meta-analysis was performed utilizing a random-effects model and STATA software. RESULTS: In total, 32 cross-sectional studies were included in this review. The prevalence rate of DS use in the overall military population was 57% (95% CI: 49-64); this rate was higher in the studies that were carried out in the USA and the studies with a sample size lower than 10,000 members. Eleven studies reported adverse effects (AEs) following DSs use in the military population, the pooled effect size of them was 13.0% (95% CI: 6-20). The most common AEs reported by military personnel were abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea, however, they did not include any serious complications. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that the prevalence of DSs use among the military personnel was high. Moreover, some studies reported AEs following DSs use such as gastrointestinal symptoms. Promotion of knowledge and informed attitudes regarding the DSs use in the military population could be useful.
The aim of this study was to determine prevalence of smokers and ex-smokers in the older diabetes population in Europe and to evaluate the relationship with various sociodemographic and lifestyle risk factors. This epidemiological study used Wave 8 of the multidisciplinary and cross-national SHARE database, which includes cross-sectional data on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks of individuals aged 50 and over from 27 European countries. Among the 6,903 participants with diabetes, 12.2% were current smokers, 29.9% were former smokers and 57.9% had never smoked. Among countries' diabetes populations, the highest prevalence of ex-smokers (57.6%) with a low prevalence of smokers (9.5%) was seen in the Netherlands. The highest prevalence of never-smokers (84.2%) was found in Latvia, with the lowest prevalence of ex-smokers (7.9%). Austria had the highest prevalence of current smokers (17.9%) along with a below-average prevalence of ex-smokers (26.5%) was seen in Austria. Normal weight, being overweight, lower education, living without a partner, living in larger cities, drinking alcohol in the last 7 days, lower age, and being male were associated with a higher risk of being a current smoker. The study shows high prevalence of smoking among the older diabetes population in Europe and provides data on the association of smoking with several risk factors and country-specific differences in smoking prevalence.
- MeSH
- Diabetes Mellitus * epidemiology MeSH
- Smoking * epidemiology MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Smoking Cessation * statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Prevalence MeSH
- Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
- Risk Factors MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Life Style MeSH
- Check Tag
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Geographicals
- Europe MeSH
BACKGROUND: Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) represent an innovative therapeutic approach with the potential to impact the treatment of rare diseases significantly. Although authorised centrally in the European Union, their market launch differs across Member States (MS). This study aimed to describe the ATMP market availability in MS and explore potential influencing factors, providing insights into specific barriers beyond pricing and reimbursement policies. METHODS: ATMP availability was defined as the product launch in each MS. Data was collected through open governmental sources, databases, and communication with national competent authorities. Spearman's correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the relationship between ATMP availability and their characteristics (time since granting marketing authorisation, target patient population size, and cost). RESULTS: We collected the availability data on 18 ATMPs from 23 EU MS. Market uptake varied significantly, with Germany (89%), France and Italy (61%) leading. Estonia and Latvia confirmed that no ATMP has been launched on their markets yet. Six ATMPs were available in more than one-third of the analysed MS. No significant correlation was observed between ATMP availability and analysed product characteristics except for time dependency for CAR T-cell therapies. CONCLUSION: Beyond pricing and reimbursement processes, the ATMP commercialisation in particular MS is influenced by the marketing authorisation holder's decision and capacity. ATMPs face product-specific challenges in achieving EU-wide availability, including complex manufacturing, distribution, and administration processes. To increase the accessibility of innovative ATMP-based treatments, implementing the cross-border access framework or individual ATMP production under the hospital exemption is essential, especially in underserved MS.
- MeSH
- Reimbursement Mechanisms * MeSH
- European Union MeSH
- Rare Diseases therapy MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
OBJECTIVES: In an effort to maintain the technical aspects of traditional prosthetic surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR) while reducing invasiveness and facilitate options for concomitant operations, transaxillary lateral mini-thoracotomy endoscopic robotic-assisted aortic valve replacement (RAVR) has been introduced. The present data highlight the contemporary international collaborative experience. METHODS: All consecutive patients undergoing standardized RAVR across 10 international sites (1/2020-7/2024) were evaluated using a central database with 1 year follow-up. RESULTS: A total of 300 patients were analysed with a median predicted risk of 1.6% with aortic stenosis in 85.7%, nearly half with bicuspid valves. Biological prostheses were implanted in 220 (73.3%) with a median valve size 23 mm, 10% receiving aortic root enlargement, with 17% of all patients undergoing concomitant procedures. Median cross-clamp 120 min with no conversions to sternotomy. Median length of stay was 5 days, 4.3% with prolonged ventilation, 1.7% renal failure, 1.0% stroke and 8.3% required re-thoracotomy for evacuation of haemothorax. There were two 30-day operative mortalities (0.7%). The new permanent pacemaker rate for the full cohort was 2.6%. Of 163 patients with complete 1-year clinical and echocardiographic follow-up, mean aortic valve gradient was 10 mmHg and all but 2 patients (1.2%) had trace to no prosthetic or paravalvular insufficiency. CONCLUSIONS: RAVR is safe and effective, providing the reproducible benefits of surgical AVR while affording a less invasive approach that permits the opportunity for concomitant procedures. For low and intermediate risk patients with aortic valve disease, RAVR is a potential reproducible alternative for patients and heart teams.
- MeSH
- Aortic Valve * surgery MeSH
- Aortic Valve Stenosis * surgery MeSH
- Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation * methods adverse effects mortality MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Longitudinal Studies MeSH
- Follow-Up Studies MeSH
- Robotic Surgical Procedures * methods adverse effects mortality statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Heart Valve Prosthesis MeSH
- Thoracotomy methods MeSH
- Treatment Outcome MeSH
- Check Tag
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Multicenter Study MeSH
Permeability is an important molecular property in drug discovery, as it co-determines pharmacokinetics whenever a drug crosses the phospholipid bilayer, e.g., into the cell, in the gastrointestinal tract, or across the blood-brain barrier. Many methods for the determination of permeability have been developed, including cell line assays (CACO-2 and MDCK), cell-free model systems like parallel artificial membrane permeability assay (PAMPA) mimicking, e.g., gastrointestinal epithelia or the skin, as well as the black lipid membrane (BLM) and submicrometer liposomes. Furthermore, many in silico approaches have been developed for permeability prediction: meta-analysis of publicly available databases for permeability data (MolMeDB and ChEMBL) was performed to establish their usability. Four experimental and two computational methods were evaluated. It was shown that repeatability of the reported permeability measurement is not great even for the same method. For the PAMPA method, two different permeabilities are reported: intrinsic and apparent. They can vary in degrees of magnitude; thus, we suggest being extra cautious using literature data on permeability. When we compared data for the same molecules using different methods, the best agreement was between cell-based methods and between BLM and computational methods. Existence of unstirred water layer (UWL) permeability limits the data agreement between cell-based methods (and apparent PAMPA) with data that are not limited by UWL permeability (computational methods, BLM, intrinsic PAMPA). Therefore, different methods have different limitations. Cell-based methods provide results only in a small range of permeabilities (-8 to -4 in cm/s), and computational methods can predict a wider range of permeabilities beyond physical limitations, but their precision is therefore limited. BLM with liposomes can be used for both fast and slow permeating molecules, but its usage is more complicated than standard transwell techniques. To sum up, when working with in-house measured or published permeability data, we recommend caution in interpreting and combining them.
- MeSH
- Madin Darby Canine Kidney Cells MeSH
- Caco-2 Cells MeSH
- Blood-Brain Barrier metabolism MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Liposomes * chemistry MeSH
- Membranes, Artificial MeSH
- Cell Membrane Permeability physiology MeSH
- Permeability * MeSH
- Dogs MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Dogs MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Meta-Analysis MeSH
Lipidomics and metabolomics communities comprise various informatics tools; however, software programs handling multimodal mass spectrometry (MS) data with structural annotations guided by the Lipidomics Standards Initiative are limited. Here, we provide MS-DIAL 5 for in-depth lipidome structural elucidation through electron-activated dissociation (EAD)-based tandem MS and determining their molecular localization through MS imaging (MSI) data using a species/tissue-specific lipidome database containing the predicted collision-cross section values. With the optimized EAD settings using 14 eV kinetic energy, the program correctly delineated lipid structures for 96.4% of authentic standards, among which 78.0% had the sn-, OH-, and/or C = C positions correctly assigned at concentrations exceeding 1 μM. We showcased our workflow by annotating the sn- and double-bond positions of eye-specific phosphatidylcholines containing very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs), characterized as PC n-3-VLC-PUFA/FA. Using MSI data from the eye and n-3-VLC-PUFA-supplemented HeLa cells, we identified glycerol 3-phosphate acyltransferase as an enzyme candidate responsible for incorporating n-3 VLC-PUFAs into the sn1 position of phospholipids in mammalian cells, which was confirmed using EAD-MS/MS and recombinant proteins in a cell-free system. Therefore, the MS-DIAL 5 environment, combined with optimized MS data acquisition methods, facilitates a better understanding of lipid structures and their localization, offering insights into lipid biology.
- MeSH
- Data Mining * methods MeSH
- Phosphatidylcholines metabolism chemistry MeSH
- HeLa Cells MeSH
- Mass Spectrometry methods MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Lipidomics * methods MeSH
- Lipids chemistry analysis MeSH
- Metabolomics methods MeSH
- Fatty Acids, Unsaturated metabolism chemistry MeSH
- Software MeSH
- Tandem Mass Spectrometry methods MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is characterized by profound and early deficits in social cognition (SC) and executive functions (EF). To date it remains unclear whether deficits of the respective cognitive domains are based on the degeneration of distinct brain regions. In 103 patients with a diagnosis of bvFTD (possible/probable/definite: N = 40/58/5) from the frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) consortium Germany cohort (age 62.5±9.4 years, gender 38 female/65 male) we applied multimodal structural imaging, i.e. voxel-based morphometry, cortical thickness (CTH) and networks of structural covariance via source based morphometry. We cross-sectionally investigated associations with performance in a modified Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET; reflective of theory of mind - ToM) and five different tests reflective of EF (i.e. Hamasch-Five-Point Test, semantic and phonemic Fluency, Trail Making Test, Stroop interference). Finally, we investigated the conjunction of RMET correlates with functional networks commonly associated with SC respectively ToM and EF as extracted meta-analytically within the Neurosynth database. RMET performance was mainly associated with gray matter volume (GMV) and CTH within temporal and insular cortical regions and less within the prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas EF performance was mainly associated with prefrontal regions (GMV and CTH). Overlap of RMET and EF associations was primarily located within the insula, adjacent subcortical structures (i.e. putamen) and the dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC). These patterns were more pronounced after adjustment for the respective other cognitive domain. Corroborative results were obtained in analyses of structural covariance networks. Overlap of RMET with meta-analytically extracted functional networks commonly associated with SC, ToM and EF was again primarily located within the temporal and insular region and the dlPFC. In addition, on a meta-analytical level, strong associations were found for temporal cortical RMET correlates with SC and ToM in particular. These data indicate a temporo-frontal dissociation of bvFTD related disturbances of ToM and EF, with atrophy of the anterior temporal lobe being critically involved in ToM deficits. The consistent overlap within the insular cortex may be attributable to the multimodal and integrative role of this region in socioemotional and cognitive processing.
- MeSH
- Executive Function * physiology MeSH
- Frontotemporal Dementia * pathology diagnostic imaging physiopathology psychology MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging * MeSH
- Brain diagnostic imaging pathology MeSH
- Neuropsychological Tests * MeSH
- Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Social Cognition MeSH
- Theory of Mind * physiology MeSH
- Check Tag
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
