Publications by authors named "Mylinh Duong"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study explores immune response changes in COVID-19 patients, focusing on leukocyte levels, eosinophil activity, and cytokine profiles during hospitalization.
  • - Researchers collected serum samples and medical data within the first 10 days of infection, finding increased levels of certain cytokines but decreased eosinophil levels in COVID-19 patients compared to hospitalized controls.
  • - The findings suggest a complex immune response in COVID-19, with low eosinophil activity and high cytokine levels, indicating the need for more research on immune biomarkers and treatment approaches.
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Background: Limited data exist on post-severe COVID-19 functional trajectory, particularly considering premorbid status. We characterized 1-year functional recovery post-hospitalization for COVID-19, highlighting predictors of long-term recovery.

Methods: We enrolled adult patients with lab-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalized for COVID-19 sequelae, from five major Ontario, Canada hospitals in a prospective cohort study.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the use of laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS) to analyze exhaled breath samples for early detection of SARS-CoV-2 in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, addressing the limitations of RT-PCR testing.
  • A total of 135 patients were enrolled, and breath samples were analyzed, achieving an accuracy of 72.2%-81.7% in distinguishing between SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative cases, outperforming traditional VOC models.
  • The findings suggest that this ML-based breathprint method is a promising, non-invasive diagnostic tool that can be easily implemented, enhancing early detection and treatment of respiratory pathogens.
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There are limited data on individual risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection (including unrecognized infection). In this seroepidemiologic substudy of an ongoing prospective cohort study of community-dwelling adults, participants were thoroughly characterized pre-pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 infection was ascertained by serology.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the role of alarmin cytokines in COVID-19, especially their effect on immune response and disease severity, while exploring the influence of genetic variations and sex differences.
  • Researchers measured levels of specific cytokines (IL-33 and IL-25) in COVID-19 patients, finding them elevated compared to non-COVID patients, suggesting their potential as treatment targets.
  • Genetic analysis revealed that certain genetic variations are associated with protective effects against severe COVID-19 and highlight the importance of considering individual genetic and sex factors in treatment strategies.
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Background: Globally, household air pollution (HAP) is a major environmental hazard that affects respiratory health. However, few studies have examined associations between HAP and lung function decline and respiratory disease and mortality.

Methods: We used data from the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study and examined adults residing in 240 rural communities in 11 low- and middle-income countries where HAP from cooking with solid fuels is common.

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Lung function depends primarily on the strength of the intercostal muscles and the diaphragm, which is indirectly related to handgrip strength (HGS). This study aims to determine the predictability of lung functions using HGS among healthy adults of Malay ethnicity in Malaysia. This study also aims to compare the equation using HGS with equations without HGS, such as the Global Lung Initiative (GLI).

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Introduction: Portable spirometers are commonly used in longitudinal epidemiological studies to measure and track the forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC). During the course of the study, it may be necessary to replace spirometers with a different model. This raise questions regarding the comparability of measurements from different devices.

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Objectives: The dosing interval of a primary vaccination series can significantly impact on vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy. The current study compared 3 dosing intervals for the primary vaccination series of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, on humoral immune response and durability against SARS-CoV-2 ancestral and Beta variants up to 9 months post immunization.

Methods: Three groups of age- and sex-matched healthcare workers (HCW) who received 2 primary doses of BNT162b2 separated by 35-days, 35-42 days or >42-days were enrolled.

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Unlabelled: Despite the known clinical importance of hypoxemia and pneumonia, there is a paucity of evidence for these variables with respect to risk of mortality and short-term outcomes among those hospitalised with COVID-19.

Objective: Describe the prevalence and clinical course of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 based on oxygenation and pneumonia status at presentation and determine the incidence of emergent hypoxaemia or radiographic pneumonia during admission.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted using a Canadian regional registry.

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Article Synopsis
  • A pilot study evaluated the effectiveness of low-dose ferumoxytol for improving 3D MR neurography of the brachial plexus by suppressing vascular signals and enhancing nerve visibility.
  • The study involved 12 volunteers and showed that the use of ferumoxytol significantly increased vascular suppression (from 0% to 98%) and nerve visualization (from 4%-63% to 36%-100%).
  • Despite improvements in image quality, the level of motion artifacts remained unchanged, indicating that ferumoxytol positively affects nerve imaging without impacting motion-related issues.
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Background And Objective: The major contributing risk factors to airflow obstruction (AO) in China remain largely unknown. We examined the environmental and lifestyle risk factors of unrecognized AO in the baseline of a population-based cohort drawn from 115 urban and rural communities across 12 provinces in China.

Methods: Amongst 46,285 adults recruited from 2005 to 2009, 3686 were identified with AO on spirometry (defined by the ratio of forced expiratory volume in the first second to forced vital capacity <0.

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Introduction: To examine the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) misclassification and the associated burden of symptoms, healthcare utilisation and physical performance status in the Canadian general population. This information is presently lacking from large population-based studies with high-quality spirometry data that can be generalised to the general population.

Methods: The prevalence of self-reported physician-diagnosed COPD and the concordance with spirometry airflow obstruction (AO) were assessed in a cross-sectional cohort of Canadian older adults.

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Background: Low lung function is associated with high mortality and adverse cardiopulmonary outcomes. Less is known of its association with broader health indices such as self-reported respiratory symptoms, perceived general health, and cognitive and physical performance. The present study seeks to address the association between forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), an indicator of lung function, with broad markers of general health, relevant to aging trajectory in the general population.

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Background: Separate studies suggest that the risks from smoking might vary between high-income (HICs), middle-income (MICs), and low-income (LICs) countries, but this has not yet been systematically examined within a single study using standardised approaches. We examined the variations in risks from smoking across different country income groups and some of their potential reasons.

Methods: We analysed data from 134 909 participants from 21 countries followed up for a median of 11·3 years in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) cohort study; 9711 participants with myocardial infarction and 11 362 controls from 52 countries in the INTERHEART case-control study; and 11 580 participants with stroke and 11 331 controls from 32 countries in the INTERSTROKE case-control study.

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Introduction: COVID-19 is an international public health crisis with more than 132 million infections worldwide. Beyond acute infection, emerging data indicate patients diagnosed with COVID-19 may experience persistent sequelae similar to survivors of sepsis or acute respiratory syndromes, including mobility limitations and fatigue. However, there is limited evidence on the trajectory of functional recovery in those hospitalised with COVID-19.

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Objective: To describe the sociodemographic characteristics associated with e-cigarette ever use and to examine the impact of e-cigarette ever use on lung function impairment in an ageing population.

Design: A cross-sectional analysis of data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Setting: A national stratified sample of 44 817 adults living in Canadian provinces.

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Background: Recent studies have demonstrated that even in the absence of lung impairment as determined by spirometry, smoking and respiratory symptoms are associated with poor overall health and well-being. However, this relationship is not well defined; and it remains unclear the degree to which symptoms are related to poor health, independent of smoking. This is of particular importance to older adults, as they are more likely to exhibit respiratory symptoms and are, therefore, at risk of not receiving appropriate treatment if they have never smoked and have normal spirometry.

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Risk prediction scores are important tools to support clinical decision-making for patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The objective of this paper was to validate the 4C mortality score, originally developed in the United Kingdom, for a Canadian population, and to examine its performance over time. We conducted an external validation study within a registry of COVID-19 positive hospital admissions in the Kitchener-Waterloo and Hamilton regions of southern Ontario between March 4, 2020 and June 13, 2021.

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Background: The incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients with COVID-19 and its association with mortality and disease severity is understudied in the Canadian population.

Objective: To determine the incidence of AKI in a cohort of patients with COVID-19 admitted to medicine and intensive care unit (ICU) wards, its association with in-hospital mortality, and disease severity. Our aim was to stratify these outcomes by out-of-hospital AKI and in-hospital AKI.

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Objectives: To examine ridge dimensional changes and histologic parameters of healing when ridge preservation (RP) was performed at molar sites using dense polytetrafluoroethylene (dPTFE) membrane alone, without a bone graft.

Material And Methods: Eighteen patients had molar extraction and RP using dPTFE membrane alone. Ridge dimensions were measured using two standardized cone beam computerized tomography (CBCT) scans taken within 72 h and 3 months following extraction.

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Inflammatory biomarkers may be associated with disease severity and increased mortality in COVID-19 patients but have not been studied in North American populations. We sought to determine whether a set of commonly ordered inflammatory biomarkers can predict 28-day mortality. We analyzed a multi-centered (four) COVID-19 registry cohort from March 4th to December 7th, 2020.

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