Comparison of multiple linear regression and machine learning methods in predicting cognitive function in older Chinese type 2 diabetes patients.

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has increased dramatically in recent decades, and there are increasing indications that dementia is related to T2D. Previous attempts to analyze such relationships principally relied on traditional multiple linear regression (MLR). However, recently developed machine learning methods (Mach-L) outperform MLR in capturing non-linear relationships. The present study applied four different Mach-L methods to analyze the relationships between risk factors and cognitive function in older T2D patients, seeking to compare the accuracy between MLR and Mach-L in predicting cognitive function and to rank the importance of risks factors for impaired cognitive function in T2D. METHODS: We recruited older T2D between 60-95 years old without other major comorbidities. Demographic factors and biochemistry data were used as independent variables and cognitive function assessment (CFA) was conducted using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment as an independent variable. In addition to traditional MLR, we applied random forest (RF), stochastic gradient boosting (SGB), Naïve Byer's classifier (NB) and eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost). RESULTS: Totally, the test cohort consisted of 197 T2D (98 men and 99 women). Results showed that all ML methods outperformed MLR, with symmetric mean absolute percentage errors for MLR, RF, SGB, NB and XGBoost respectively of 0.61, 0.599, 0.606, 0.599 and 0.2139. Education level, age, frailty score, fasting plasma glucose and body mass index were identified as key factors in descending order of importance. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our study demonstrated that RF, SGB, NB and XGBoost are more accurate than MLR for predicting CFA score, and identify education level, age, frailty score, fasting plasma glucose, body fat and body mass index as important risk factors in an older Chinese T2D cohort.

Will detrusor acontractility recover after medical or surgical treatment? A longitudinal long-term urodynamic follow-up.

AIMS: Patients with urinary retention due to detrusor acontractility (DA) might regain voiding efficiency (VE) after treatment. This study investigated the long-term outcomes and predictors of recovery following treatment. METHODS: A total of 32 patients with DA were retrospectively identified and enrolled. DA was defined by Pdet .Qmax = 0 cmH2 O and postvoid residual (PVR) > 300 ml determined through videourodynamic study (VUDS). All patients received medical or surgical treatment and were followed up for at least 3 months, during which repeat VUDS was conducted. Detrusor contractility recovery was confirmed when patients were able to void with a Pdet .Qmax ≥ 10 cmH2 O after treatment. RESULTS: Our patients comprised 22 women and 10 men (mean age, 73.2 ± 9.7 years; mean follow-up duration, 1.6 ± 1.8 [0.3-7.4] years). Follow-up VUDS revealed that 14 (43.9%) patients recovered from detrusor contractility, with five patients recovering within 1 year and nine after 1 year. Pdet .Qmax , voided volume, PVR, maximum flow rate, and VE significantly improved in both the recovery and nonrecovery groups. The recovery group had significantly better VE (p = .039) and significantly lower bladder compliance (74.2 ± 83.2 vs. 119 ± 82.6; p = .007) than the nonrecovery group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed an optimum bladder compliance cutoff value of <80 ml/cmH2 O for predicting detrusor contractility recovery with an area under the ROC curve of 0.780. CONCLUSIONS: Among the included patients with DA, 43.9% had detrusor contractility recovery after treatment, with bladder compliance of <80 ml/cmH2 O predicting bladder function recovery.

Videourodynamic analysis of the urethral sphincter overactivity and the poor relaxing pelvic floor muscles in women with voiding dysfunction.

AIMS: Voiding dysfunction due to dysfunctional voiding (DV) and poor relaxation of the external sphincter (PRES) are commonly found among adult women with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) during videourodynamic study (VUDS). This study analyzed the VUDS characteristics of DV and PRES in female voiding dysfunction. METHODS: This retrospective study involved 1914 women aged >18 years with refractory LUTS. The medical records and the VUDS parameters were reviewed. Patients diagnosed with DV and PRES participated in the study. The VUDS characteristics and urethral sphincter activities were compared with those of urodynamically normal women. RESULTS: Of the 1914 women, 325 (17.0%) and 336 (17.6%) were diagnosed with DV and PRES, respectively. Detrusor overactivity (DO) occurred in 60% of the women with DV and in 5.7% of the women with PRES. Patients with DV had significantly increased bladder sensation, lower cystometric bladder capacity (CBC), lower bladder compliance, higher voiding detrusor pressure, smaller voided volume (VV), larger post-void residual volume (PVR), lower voiding efficiency (VE), and higher bladder outlet obstruction index (BOOI) than the women with PRES and the control individuals. Patients with PRES had significantly increased bladder sensation, lower CBC, lower maximum flow rate, smaller VV, larger PVR, and lower VE than the control individuals. CONCLUSIONS: DV and PRES were highly prevalent among the adult women with voiding dysfunction. Patients with DV had VUDS characteristics of BOO and urodynamic DO. The clinical symptoms of PRES were similar to those of DV, but the patients had low detrusor contractility and low DO rates.

Comparison between linear regression and four different machine learning methods in selecting risk factors for osteoporosis in a Chinese female aged cohort.

BACKGROUND: Population aging is emerging as an increasingly acute challenge for countries around the world. One particular manifestation of this phenomenon is the impact of osteoporosis on individuals and national health systems. Previous studies of risk factors for osteoporosis were conducted using traditional statistical methods, but more recent efforts have turned to machine learning approaches. Most such efforts, however, treat the target variable (bone mineral density [BMD] or fracture rate) as a categorical one, which provides no quantitative information. The present study uses five different machine learning methods to analyze the risk factors for T-score of BMD, seeking to (1) compare the prediction accuracy between different machine learning methods and traditional multiple linear regression (MLR) and (2) rank the importance of 25 different risk factors. METHODS: The study sample includes 24 412 women older than 55 years with 25 related variables, applying traditional MLR and five different machine learning methods: classification and regression tree, Naïve Bayes, random forest, stochastic gradient boosting, and eXtreme gradient boosting. The metrics used for model performance comparisons are the symmetric mean absolute percentage error, relative absolute error, root relative squared error, and root mean squared error. RESULTS: Machine learning approaches outperformed MLR for all four prediction errors. The average importance ranking of each factor generated by the machine learning methods indicates that age is the most important factor determining T-score, followed by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), body mass index (BMI), uric acid (UA), and education level. CONCLUSION: In a group of women older than 55 years, we demonstrated that machine learning methods provide superior performance in estimating T-Score, with age being the most important impact factor, followed by eGFR, BMI, UA, and education level.

Comparison between multiple logistic regression and machine learning methods in prediction of abnormal thallium scans in type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been increasing dramatically in recent decades, and 47.5% of T2D patients will die of cardiovascular disease. Thallium-201 myocardial perfusion scan (MPS) is a precise and non-invasive method to detect coronary artery disease (CAD). Most previous studies used traditional logistic regression (LGR) to evaluate the risks for abnormal CAD. Rapidly developing machine learning (Mach-L) techniques could potentially outperform LGR in capturing non-linear relationships. AIM: To aims were: (1) Compare the accuracy of Mach-L methods and LGR; and (2) Found the most important factors for abnormal TMPS. METHODS: 556 T2D were enrolled in the study (287 men and 269 women). Demographic and biochemistry data were used as independent variables and the sum of stressed score derived from MPS scan was the dependent variable. Subjects with a MPS score ≥ 9 were defined as abnormal. In addition to traditional LGR, classification and regression tree (CART), random forest, Naïve Bayes, and eXtreme gradient boosting were also applied. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and area under the receiver operation curve were used to evaluate the respective accuracy of LGR and Mach-L methods. RESULTS: Except for CART, the other Mach-L methods outperformed LGR, with gender, body mass index, age, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, glycated hemoglobin and smoking emerging as the most important factors to predict abnormal MPS. CONCLUSION: Four Mach-L methods are found to outperform LGR in predicting abnormal TMPS in Chinese T2D, with the most important risk factors being gender, body mass index, age, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, glycated hemoglobin and smoking.

Long-Term Follow-Up of Lower Urinary Tract Outcome in Children with Dysfunctional Voiding.

Objective: To investigate the long-term clinical and urodynamic outcomes of a small cohort of children who received short-term urotherapy for confirmed dysfunctional voiding (DV) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Materials and Methods: This study included 26 children with confirmed LUTS and DV via video urodynamic study (VUDS) and received standard urological therapy, pelvic floor muscle training, or surgical intervention in childhood. Their current lower urinary tract conditions were assessed by chart review and direct and telephone interviews. Charts of 14 patients who underwent follow-up VUDS were reviewed to investigate their bladder and voiding dysfunction or follow-up on previous treatment results. The satisfaction of lower urinary tract status was assessed using the global response assessment (GRA) scale. Results: At initial enrolment, the mean age was 9.54 ± 3.88 years, and urological treatment was performed during the first 1−5 years thereafter. Most patients were not regularly followed in the urology clinic. Among the 14 children available for follow-up, a GRA score of 3 was reported by 10 (71.4%) after a mean follow-up period of 10.3 ± 6.74 (range, 2−20) years, indicating satisfactory bladder and voiding conditions. Four children with less favorable outcomes (GRA score of <3) had significantly more post-void residual urine volume at baseline, and 75% of these patients had central nervous system diseases. Daytime incontinence and enuresis rates were significantly decreased at follow-up compared with the baseline. Significantly increased bladder capacity and sensation and significantly decreased voiding detrusor pressure were found on follow-up VUDS. Conclusions: Children with DV who received standard urotherapy upon diagnosis exhibited improved LUTS at a 10-year follow-up. Of the 14 children available for follow-up, 10 (71.4%) reported satisfactory bladder and voiding status without further medication or urotherapy, with significantly decreased voiding detrusor pressure.

Modified transurethral incision of the bladder neck treating primary bladder neck obstruction in young men: a method to improve voiding function and to preserve antegrade ejaculation.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the voiding function, ejaculation status and sexual function after the novel modification of transurethral incision of the bladder neck (TIBN) treating young men with primary bladder neck obstruction (PBNO). METHODS: Using a videourodynamic study, PBNO was diagnosed in 33 young men 27-50 years of age who presented with chronic lower urinary tract symptoms and low urinary flow. TIBN was performed in all patients, with the modification of preserving a portion of the supramontanal tissue during the procedure. International Prostate Symptom Score (I-PSS), quality of life, uroflowmetry, postvoid residual urine, the status of ejaculation and sexual function using the 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) were assessed before, 3 and 24 months after treatment. RESULTS: Follow-up data were available in 32 (97%) and 26 (79%) patients at 3 and 24 months postoperatively, respectively. During the 2-year follow-up, mean I-PSS decreased from 20.7 to 5.9 (p < 0.01). Mean quality of life decreased from 4.2 to 2.3 (p < 0.01). Mean maximum flow increased from 10.7 to 19.2 ml/s (p < 0.01). Mean postvoiding residual urine decreased from 107 to 48 ml (p < 0.01). All patients had antegrade ejaculation postoperatively. Mean IIEF scores did not change significantly (22.6 +/- 2.6 vs. 20.7 +/- 4.3, p = 0.08). Successful overall outcome was achieved in 22 (84.6%) of 26 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Applying this modified TIBN to treat the sexually active young men with PBNO had the advantage of improving voiding function and preserving both antegrade ejaculation and sexual function.

Down regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor is associated with decreased inflammation after intravesical OnabotulinumtoxinA injections combined with hydrodistention for patients with interstitial cystitis--clinical results and immunohistochemistry analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in bladder tissue and improvement of clinical symptoms and inflammatory biomarkers after repeated onabotulinumtoxinA injections in patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS). METHODS: Twenty-one patients with IC/BPS received 4 sets of intravesical 100-U onabotulinumtoxinA injections combined with hydrodistention. Assessments at baseline and 6 months after each treatment included O'Leary-Sant Symptom Score, bladder pain visual analog scale, functional bladder capacity (FBC), grade of glomerulations under cystoscopic hydrodistention, and urodynamic parameters. The bladder specimens at baseline and at the fourth treatment were investigated by western blotting for the expression of VEGF, Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), and phospho-p38 (p-p38), and immunohistochemistry staining for apoptotic and mast cell activity. Six women with genuine stress urinary incontinence served as controls for comparison. RESULTS: The measured immunohistochemical parameters were significantly higher in patients with IC/BPS than the controls. Statistically significant decrease in the expression of VEGF was noted in patients treated with repeated onabotulinumtoxinA injections compared with baseline (0.83 ± 0.28 vs 1.00; P = .016). The apoptotic cell count (0.86 ± 1.00 vs 1.76 ± 1.69; P = .026) and mast cell activity (1.81 ± 2.29 vs 5.82 ± 4.97; P = .009) were also reduced. Significant increases in FBC and global response assessment score were also observed after onabotulinumtoxinA treatment; however, except for mast cell activity, VEGF expression and apoptotic cell count were still significantly higher than the controls. CONCLUSION: Increased VEGF was associated with bladder inflammation and smaller FBC in patients with IC/BPS and decreased after repeated onabotulinumtoxinA injections and hydrodistention, suggesting VEGF plays an important role in the pathogenesis of IC/BPS.

Increased pro-inflammatory cytokines, C-reactive protein and nerve growth factor expressions in serum of patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: The etiology and pathogenesis of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) are unclear. Chronic inflammation is considered the main pathology of IC/BPS. This study measured the serum c-reactive protein (CRP), nerve growth factor (NGF) and pro-inflammatory cytokine/chemokine interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and IL-8 expression in patients with IC/BPS to elucidate the involvement of systemic inflammation in IC/BPS. METHODS: Serum samples were collected from 30 IC/BPS patients and 26 control subjects. The concentrations of serum nerve growth factor (NGF), IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-8 were quantified using a bead-based, human serum adipokine panel kit. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) was also assessed. Differences of serum CRP, NGF, IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-8 levels between the IC/BPS patients and controls were compared, and correlations between CRP and pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokine were also evaluated. RESULTS: The results showed that CRP level (p = 0.031), NGF (p = 0.015) and pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokine IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-8 levels were significantly higher in the patients with IC/BPS than among controls (all p<0.001). Significant associations were observed between IL-1ß and IL-8 (p<0.001), IL-6 and CRP (p = 0.01), IL-6 and IL-8 (p = 0.02), and IL-6 and TNF-α (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Increased pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokine (IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-8) expression in the sera of IC/BPS patients implies not only mast cell activation, but also that other inflammatory mediators play important roles in the pathogenesis of IC/BPS. Thus, for some patients, IC/BPS is considered a chronic inflammatory disease.

Multiple intravesical instillations of low-dose resiniferatoxin in the treatment of refractory interstitial cystitis.

BACKGROUND: Current medications used in the treatment of interstitial cystitis (IC) have limited efficacy. This prospective study investigated the efficacy of multiple intravesical instillations of resiniferatoxin (RTX) at the concentration of 10 nM. METHODS: Patients with proven IC previously treated with traditional medications for more than 6 months without clinical benefit were enrolled. They were excluded if bladder outlet obstruction or urinary tract infection was present. Intravesical instillation of low-dose RTX (10 nM) once weekly for 4 weeks was performed at the outpatient department. International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), 5-Point Pain Scale, and Quality of Life Index (QOL Index) were recorded. A videourodynamic study was done at baseline and 3 months after treatment. RESULTS: The therapeutic results and urodynamic parameters were compared between baseline and 3 months. Thirteen patients, including 10 women and 3 men, were enrolled in this study. The mean duration of IC symptoms was 4.4 +/- 2.5 years. The mean duration of active treatment was 15.3 +/- 8.6 months. One female patient dropped out due to severe bladder pain after RTX instillation. Among the 12 patients who completed the study treatment, subjective assessment revealed that 2 had an excellent therapeutic result, 5 had an improved result and 5 remained unchanged from baseline. The overall satisfactory rate was 58.3%. IPSS, 5-Point Pain Scale, and QOL Index were significantly decreased after RTX treatment. There was no significant increase in mean functional bladder capacity or change in urodynamic parameters. No serious adverse event occurred after RTX treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that multiple intravesical instillations of RTX at the concentration of 10 nM are effective in relieving lower urinary tract symptoms in patients with refractory IC. The treatment is tolerable and suitable for use on an outpatient clinic basis.

Transurethral incision of bladder neck in treatment of bladder neck obstruction in women.

OBJECTIVES: To report our preliminary experience with transurethral incision of the bladder neck in the treatment of female voiding dysfunction due to bladder neck obstruction. Bladder neck obstruction in women is an infrequently diagnosed urologic condition. METHODS: Bladder neck obstruction was diagnosed in 11 women 41 to 80 years of age, who presented with difficult micturition or urinary retention. Preoperative investigations included a full urodynamic examination and urethrocystoscopy. Transurethral bladder neck incision was performed in all patients. Urodynamic results and clinical improvement in voiding symptoms were assessed. RESULTS: Of the 11 patients, 5 had chronic urinary retention and 6 had difficult micturition; 3 also had recurrent urinary tract infection or upper urinary tract deterioration. The most frequent findings on video-urodynamic study were a high voiding pressure plus low flow rate and a narrow bladder neck during voiding on cinefluoroscopy. After treatment, the lower urinary tract symptoms were resolved or improved in all patients. Ten patients resumed spontaneous voiding with a small postvoid residual urine volume; the remaining patient was able to void by abdominal straining after adjuvant urethral botulinum A toxin injection. Urodynamic study revealed a decreased voiding pressure and postvoid residual urine volume and an increased maximal flow rate. The overall satisfactory rate was 91%. CONCLUSIONS: Transurethral incision of the bladder neck is effective in relieving voiding difficulty owing to anatomic or functional bladder neck obstruction in women. A full video-urodynamic evaluation is essential in making the correct diagnosis and formulating a treatment plan.