Grape seed extract (GSE), one of the world's bestselling dietary supplements, is prone to frequent adulteration with chemically similar compounds. These frauds can go unnoticed within the supply chain due to the use of unspecific standard analytical methods for quality control. This research aims to develop a near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) method for the rapid and non-destructive quantitative evaluation of GSE powder in the presence of multiple additives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Dental care avoidance affects individuals' oral health status. There is limited literature examining the context of dental avoidance behavior.
Aim: The aim of the study is to examine attitudes toward dental care services among adults.
Background: Despite the burden of low back pain (LBP) there is no currently accepted definition for its recovery, nor is there a gold standard for measurement. In addition, it is currently unclear how the perspective of patients are used in making recovery determinations. The purpose of this mixed study systematic review across both quantitative and qualitative literature was to (1) explore how recovery has been defined and measured for patients experiencing LBP, and (2) examine how the perspectives of patients and providers for recovery of LBP align or differ.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMilk powders are becoming a major attraction for many industrial applications due to their nutritional and functional properties. Different types of powdered milk, each with their own distinct chemical compositions, can have different functionalities. Consequently, the development of rapid monitoring methods is becoming an urgent task to explore and expand their applicability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This quality improvement initiative aimed to standardize the diagnosis of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD).
Study Design: A multidisciplinary team developed clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of NEC within the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). The diagnosis rate of NEC per 100 at-risk admissions was the primary outcome measure.
Distal sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DSPN) is the earliest detectable and the most frequent microvascular complication in diabetes mellitus. Several studies have previously demonstrated correlations between cardiovascular risk factors in diabetic patients and independent risk factors for diabetic neuropathy. Our objective was to retrospectively analyze data from diabetic patients in the North-East region of Hungary who underwent neuropathy screening at the Diabetic Neuropathy Center, University of Debrecen, between 2017 and 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction/background: Neck pain is a burdensome condition associated with pain, disability, and economic cost. Neck pain has been associated with observable changes in neuromuscular function and biomechanics. Prior research shows impairments in kinematic control, including reduced mobility, velocity, and smoothness of cervical motion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProtein adulteration is a common fraud in the food industry due to the high price of protein sources and their limited availability. Total nitrogen determination is the standard analytical technique for quality control, which is incapable of distinguishing between protein nitrogen and nitrogen from non-protein sources. Three benchtops and one handheld near-infrared spectrometer (NIRS) with different signal processing techniques (grating, Fourier transform, and MEM-micro-electro-mechanical system) were compared with detect adulteration in protein powders at low concentration levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the psychometric properties of Pressure Pain Detection Threshold (PPDT) measures in people with hand or wrist injuries.
Study Design And Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL databases were searched to identify eligible studies evaluating psychometric properties of PPDT in samples composed of at least 50% of people with hand or wrist injury. The Consensus-based Standards for the Measurement of Health Instruments' risk of bias checklist was used to critically appraise the included studies, and qualitative synthesis was performed by pooling the results of all studies that presented the same measurement property using Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation.
Corneal transplantation (keratoplasty) is necessary when various disorders result in corneal opacities with severe visual loss that cannot be treated conservatively, or the regular structure and curvature of the cornea is distorted, and its function is lost. Among human transplantation, keratoplasty is the most successful surgical procedure. In recent decades, penetrating keratoplasties have been increasingly replaced by lamellar techniques, where only the abnormal layer of the cornea is transplanted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Under-explored to date are the interacting influences of patient sex on multi-modal evaluation techniques that tap different domains of the pain experience.
Objectives: The primary aim of Study 1 was to explore the accuracy of sex-specific personal pain beliefs in relation to quantitative pain indicators within sexes, and the secondary objective was to compare the accuracy of sex-specific personal pain beliefs in relation to quantitative pain indicators between sexes. The primary objective of Study 2 was to explore the accuracy of sex-specific personal pain beliefs and self-rated pain severity within sexes, and the secondary objective was to compare sex-specific personal pain beliefs and pain severity ratings between sexes.
Purpose: To support primary care physicians (PCPs) and their patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), we created a series of evidence-based whiteboard educational videos for patients with knee OA. In a previous study we piloted these videos with patients to understand their acceptability and impact. The purpose of this study was to explore PCPs' perspectives to understand the utility of novel patient education videos to support management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProtective cellular immune responses have been difficult to study in fish, due to lack of basic understanding of their T cell populations, and tools to study them. Cellular immunity is thus mostly ignored in vaccination and infection studies compared to humoral responses. High throughput sequencing, as well as access to well assembled genomes, now advances studies of cellular responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Low back pain can lead to substantial decline in physical functioning. For disabling pain not responsive to conservative management, surgical intervention can enhance physical functioning. Measurements of physical functioning include patient-reported outcome measures and physical outcome measures using evaluations of impairments, performance on a standardised task or activity in a natural environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Intramedullary hematoma is an uncommon, serious neurological disease, representing a diagnostic challenge. The preferred treatment is surgical. In most of the cases the lesion can be identified macroscopically.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: This protocol describes the methods for a mixed study systematic review aiming to explore the definitions and measurements of recovery in patients with low back pain, and how perspectives of recovery differ between patients and providers. This review will be the first to review the concept of recovery in patients with low back pain across both quantitative and qualitative literature.
Methods And Analysis: This protocol has been designed and reported in line with Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols.
Background: The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis have been implicated in conditioned pain modulation (CPM). As there has recently been a push to identify meaningful CPM responses based on ± 2 SEM of the test stimulus, we sought to evaluate if meaningful CPM had relationships with both SNS and HPA axis reactivity.
Methods: 50 university-aged healthy participants (25 males, 25 females) underwent evaluation of pressure pain detection threshold (PPDT), conditioned pain modulation (CPM), galvanic skin response (GSR) and salivary cortisol before and after a cold pressor test (CPT).
Objectives: To conduct a systematic search and synthesis of evidence about the measurement properties of the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) as patient-reported outcome measures in neck pain research.
Methods And Materials: CINAHL, Embase, PsychInfo, and MedLine databases were searched to identify studies evaluating the psychometric properties of the NPRS and the VAS used in samples of which >50% of participants were people with neck pain. Quality and consistency of findings were synthesized to arrive at recommendations.