scholarly journals Trends of popularity of cardiac biomarkers: Insights from Google Trends

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Lippi ◽  
Camilla Mattiuzzi ◽  
Gianfranco Cervellin

This study was aimed at assessing the trend of worldwide popularity, thus likely reflecting usage, of conventional cardiac biomarkers, including cardiac troponins, myoglobin and creatine kinase MB (CK-MB). Google Trends was interrogated using a combination of the three search terms “troponin” AND “myoglobin” AND “CK-MB”, with a time limit set between January 1, 2014 (i.e., the oldest searchable year) and present time (i.e., August 13, 2018). The raw data were entered into an Excel worksheet and reported as cumulative Google Trends scores per week for each cardiac biomarker. The popularity score of myoglobin and CK-MB has displayed a significantly decreasing trend since the 2004, whilst that of troponin has exhibited an apparently paradoxical Ushape behavior, with a more pronounced increase during the past 10 years. The correlation between time and cumulative Google searches was significant for all biomarkers, being r= 0.40 (P<0.001) for troponin, r= -0.45 (P<0.001) for myoglobin and r= - 0.79 (P<0.001) for CK-MB. The score of overall Google searches for troponin was approximately 2.5-fold and 8.5-fold higher than for myoglobin and CK-MB, respectively. When the analysis was limited to the past ten years, the correlation between time and cumulative Google searches became even stronger for troponin (r= 0.85; P<0.001), remained virtually identical for CK-MB (r= -0.80; P<0.001), whilst it was no longer significant for myoglobin (r= - 0.13; P=0.150). The graphical analysis of Google search frequency also showed that CK-MB appears to be popular in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Japan, Poland and Romania, myoglobin seems popular in Uruguay, Bolivia, Denmark, Kazakhstan and in some African Nations, whilst troponin is mostly predominant in the remaining parts of the world. The results of this study suggest that, despite all available guidelines share the principle that cardiac troponin should be considered the one and only reference biomarker for diagnosing myocardial ischemia, CK-MB and especially myoglobin are still popular worldwide, especially in certain geographic areas.

Lupus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 886-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Radin ◽  
S Sciascia

Objective People affected by chronic rheumatic conditions, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), frequently rely on the Internet and search engines to look for terms related to their disease and its possible causes, symptoms and treatments. ‘Infodemiology’ and ‘infoveillance’ are two recent terms created to describe a new developing approach for public health, based on Big Data monitoring and data mining. In this study, we aim to investigate trends of Internet research linked to SLE and symptoms associated with the disease, applying a Big Data monitoring approach. Methods We analysed the large amount of data generated by Google Trends, considering ‘lupus’, ‘relapse’ and ‘fatigue’ in a 10-year web-based research. Google Trends automatically normalized data for the overall number of searches, and presented them as relative search volumes, in order to compare variations of different search terms across regions and periods. The Menn–Kendall test was used to evaluate the overall seasonal trend of each search term and possible correlation between search terms. Results We observed a seasonality for Google search volumes for lupus-related terms. In the Northern hemisphere, relative search volumes for ‘lupus’ were correlated with ‘relapse’ (τ = 0.85; p = 0.019) and with fatigue (τ = 0.82; p = 0.003), whereas in the Southern hemisphere we observed a significant correlation between ‘fatigue’ and ‘relapse’ (τ = 0.85; p = 0.018). Similarly, a significant correlation between ‘fatigue’ and ‘relapse’ (τ = 0.70; p < 0.001) was seen also in the Northern hemisphere. Conclusion Despite the intrinsic limitations of this approach, Internet-acquired data might represent a real-time surveillance tool and an alert for healthcare systems in order to plan the most appropriate resources in specific moments with higher disease burden.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Sofi-Mahmudi ◽  
Erfan Shamsoddin ◽  
Peyman Ghasemi ◽  
Mona Nasser ◽  
Bita Mesgarpour

Objective To assess the association between the lockdowns due to COVID-19 and global online searches for toothache using Google Trends (GT). Methods We investigated GT online searches for the search terms toothache and tooth pain, within the past five years. The time frame for data gathering was considered as the initiation and end dates of national/regional lockdowns in each country. Relative search volumes (RSVs) for online Google Search queries in 2019 was considered as the control. We analysed data after normalising based on the Internet penetration rate. We used one-way ANOVA to identify statistical difference for RSVs between 2020 and 2016-2019 for each country. A linear regression model was used to assess whether there is a correlation between RSVs in 2020 and gross domestic production, COVID-19 deaths, dentists' density, YLDs of oral conditions, Internet access, lockdown duration, Education Index, and dental expenditure per capita. Results The results of worldwide RSVs for toothache and tooth pain also showed significantly higher values in 2020 compared to the previous four years. Of 23 included countries in our study, 16 showed significantly increased RSVs during the lockdown period compared to the same periods in the past four years. There was a statistically significant relationship between difference of RSVs means in 2020 and in 2016-2019 combined with percent of urban residency (B=-1.82; 95% CI: (-3.38, -0.26); p=0.026) and dental expenditure per capita (B=-0.42; 95% CI: (-0.80, -0.05); p=0.031) (R2=0.66). Conclusion Generally, the interest in toothache and tooth pain has significantly increased in 2020 compared to the last four years. This could implicitly reinforce the importance of dental care, as urgent medical care worldwide. Governments' expenditure on oral healthcare and the rate of urban residency, could be mentioned as important factors to direct general populations' online care-seeking behaviour with regard to dental pain.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (51) ◽  
pp. e2107848118
Author(s):  
Marten Scheffer ◽  
Ingrid van de Leemput ◽  
Els Weinans ◽  
Johan Bollen

The surge of post-truth political argumentation suggests that we are living in a special historical period when it comes to the balance between emotion and reasoning. To explore if this is indeed the case, we analyze language in millions of books covering the period from 1850 to 2019 represented in Google nGram data. We show that the use of words associated with rationality, such as “determine” and “conclusion,” rose systematically after 1850, while words related to human experience such as “feel” and “believe” declined. This pattern reversed over the past decades, paralleled by a shift from a collectivistic to an individualistic focus as reflected, among other things, by the ratio of singular to plural pronouns such as “I”/”we” and “he”/”they.” Interpreting this synchronous sea change in book language remains challenging. However, as we show, the nature of this reversal occurs in fiction as well as nonfiction. Moreover, the pattern of change in the ratio between sentiment and rationality flag words since 1850 also occurs in New York Times articles, suggesting that it is not an artifact of the book corpora we analyzed. Finally, we show that word trends in books parallel trends in corresponding Google search terms, supporting the idea that changes in book language do in part reflect changes in interest. All in all, our results suggest that over the past decades, there has been a marked shift in public interest from the collective to the individual, and from rationality toward emotion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Yang Wang ◽  
Nai-jun Tang

Abstract Background Salmonella infection (salmonellosis) is a common infectious disease leading to gastroenteritis, dehydration, uveitis, etc. Internet search is a new method to monitor the outbreak of infectious disease. An internet-based surveillance system using internet data is logistically advantageous and economical to show term-related diseases. In this study, we tried to determine the relationship between salmonellosis and Google Trends in the USA from January 2004 to December 2017. Methods We downloaded the reported salmonellosis in the USA from the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) from January 2004 to December 2017. Additionally, we downloaded the Google search terms related to salmonellosis from Google Trends in the same period. Cross-correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results The results showed that 6 Google Trends search terms appeared earlier than reported salmonellosis, 26 Google Trends search terms coincided with salmonellosis, and 16 Google Trends search terms appeared after salmonellosis were reported. When the search terms preceded outbreaks, “foods” (t = 2.927, P = 0.004) was a predictor of salmonellosis. When the search terms coincided with outbreaks, “hotel” (t = 1.854, P = 0.066), “poor sanitation” (t = 2.895, P = 0.004), “blueberries” (t = 2.441, P = 0.016), and “hypovolemic shock” (t = 2.001, P = 0.047) were predictors of salmonellosis. When the search terms appeared after outbreaks, “ice cream” (t = 3.077, P = 0.002) was the predictor of salmonellosis. Finally, we identified the most important indicators of Google Trends search terms, including “hotel” (t = 1.854, P = 0.066), “poor sanitation” (t = 2.895, P = 0.004), “blueberries” (t = 2.441, P = 0.016), and “hypovolemic shock” (t = 2.001, P = 0.047). In the future, the increased search activities of these terms might indicate the salmonellosis. Conclusion We evaluated the related Google Trends search terms with salmonellosis and identified the most important predictors of salmonellosis outbreak.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Sofi-Mahmudi ◽  
Erfan Shamsoddin ◽  
Peyman Ghasemi ◽  
Ali Mehrabi Bahar ◽  
Mansour Shaban Azad ◽  
...  

Objective: To assess the association between the lockdowns due to COVID-19 and online searches for toothache in Iran using Google Trends (GT). Methods: We investigated GT online searches for the search term دندان درد within the past five years. The time frame for data gathering was considered as the initiation and end dates of lockdown in Iran. Relative search volumes (RSVs) for online Google Search queries in 2019 was considered as the control. We performed one-way ANOVA statistical test to identify whether there is a statistical difference for RSV scores between the year 2020 and 2016-2019 for the whole country. Then we investigated the possible association of RSVs in provinces with dentists density, prevalence of current daily smokers, Human Development Index (HDI), Internet access, and fluoride concentration in water with linear regression. A p-value<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: When comparing 2020 with previous four years, there is a statistically significant difference between RSVs of 2020 with all previous years combined and each of these years (P<0.001 for all of them). In the linear model for the year 2020, HDI (B=-3.29, 95% CI: (-5.80, -0.78), P=0.012), fluoride concentration (B=-0.13, 95% CI: (-0.24, -0.03), P=0.017), and prevalence of daily smokers (B=0.33, 95% CI: (0.13, 0.53), P=0.002) were significantly associated with RSVs. These covariates were not statistically significant for other years, except for Internet access in 2016 (B=-1.13, 95% CI: (-2.26, 0.00), P=0.050). Conclusion: The RSVs for toothache in 2020 have significantly increased due to COVID-19-imposed lockdowns compared to the same period of the year in the past four years. knowing that this period mostly overlaps with the national holidays of Nowruz in Iran, reinforces the impacts of lockdowns on people CSB about toothache. In the subnational scale, the RSVs were significantly correlated with HDI, fluoride concentration, and number of daily smokers which emphasizes the role of socioeconomic factors in dental health and care-seeking behaviour.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Yuan ◽  
Guangrui Huang ◽  
Haixu Jiang ◽  
Wenbin Liu ◽  
Ting Wang ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Norovirus is a contagious disease leading to vomiting and diarrhea. The transmission of norovirus spreads quickly and easily in various ways. Because effective methods to prevent or treat norovirus have not been discovered, it is important to rapidly recognize and report norovirus outbreaks in the early phase. Internet search has been a useful method for people to access information immediately. With the precise record of Internet search trends, Internet search has been a useful tool to manifest infectious disease outbreaks. OBJECTIVE In this study, we tried to discover the correlation between Internet search terms and norovirus infection. METHODS The Internet search trend data of norovirus were obtained from Google Trends. We used cross-correlation analysis to discover the temporal correlation between norovirus and other terms. We also used multiple linear regression with the stepwise method to recognize the most important predictors of Internet search trends and norovirus. In addition, we evaluated the temporal correlation between actual norovirus cases and Internet search terms in New York, California, and USA. RESULTS Some Google search terms such as gastroenteritis, vomiting, and watery diarrhea were coincided with norovirus Google Trends. Some Google search terms such as contagious, Norwalk virus, travel presented earlier than norovirus Google Trends. Some Google search terms such as dehydration, bar, and restaurant presented several months later than norovirus Google Trends. We found that the symptoms of gastroenteritis, including vomiting and watery diarrhea, were important factors that were significantly correlated with norovirus Google Trends. In actual norovirus cases of New York, California, and USA, some Google search terms presented coincided, earlier, or later than actual norovirus cases. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides novel strategy-based Internet search evidence regarding the epidemiology of norovirus.


1967 ◽  
Vol 18 (01/02) ◽  
pp. 198-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald S Reno ◽  
Walter H Seegers

SummaryA two-stage assay procedure was developed for the determination of the autoprothrombin C titre which can be developed from prothrombin or autoprothrombin III containing solutions. The proenzyme is activated by Russell’s viper venom and the autoprothrombin C activity that appears is measured by its ability to shorten the partial thromboplastin time of bovine plasma.Using the assay, the autoprothrombin C titre was determined in the plasma of several species, as well as the percentage of it remaining in the serum from blood clotted in glass test tubes. Much autoprothrombin III remains in human serum. With sufficient thromboplastin it was completely utilized. Plasma from selected patients with coagulation disorders was assayed and only Stuart plasma was abnormal. In so-called factor VII, IX, and P.T.A. deficiency the autoprothrombin C titre and thrombin titre that could be developed was normal. In one case (prethrombin irregularity) practically no thrombin titre developed but the amount of autoprothrombin C which generated was in the normal range.Dogs were treated with Dicumarol and the autoprothrombin C titre that could be developed from their plasmas decreased until only traces could be detected. This coincided with a lowering of the thrombin titre that could be developed and a prolongation of the one-stage prothrombin time. While the Dicumarol was acting, the dogs were given an infusion of purified bovine prothrombin and the levels of autoprothrombin C, thrombin and one-stage prothrombin time were followed for several hours. The tests became normal immediately after the infusion and then went back to preinfusion levels over a period of 24 hrs.In other dogs the effect of Dicumarol was reversed by giving vitamin K1 intravenously. The effect of the vitamin was noticed as early as 20 min after administration.In response to vitamin K the most pronounced increase was with that portion of the prothrombin molecule which yields thrombin. The proportion of that protein with respect to the precursor of autoprothrombin C increased during the first hour and then started to go down and after 3 hrs was equal to the proportion normally found in plasma.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-171
Author(s):  
Nāṣir Al-Dīn Abū Khaḍīr

The ʿUthmānic way of writing (al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī) is a science that specialises in the writing of Qur'anic words in accordance with a specific ‘pattern’. It follows the writing style of the Companions at the time of the third caliph, ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān, and was attributed to ʿUthmān on the basis that he was the one who ordered the collection and copying of the Qur'an into the actual muṣḥaf. This article aims to expound on the two fundamental functions of al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī: that of paying regard to the ‘correct’ pronunciation of the words in the muṣḥaf, and the pursuit of the preclusion of ambiguity which may arise in the mind of the reader and his auditor. There is a further practical aim for this study: to show the connection between modern orthography and the ʿUthmānic rasm in order that we, nowadays, are thereby able to overcome the problems faced by calligraphers and writers of the past in their different ages and cultures.


Author(s):  
Daiva Milinkevičiūtė

The Age of Enlightenment is defined as the period when the universal ideas of progress, deism, humanism, naturalism and others were materialized and became a golden age for freemasons. It is wrong to assume that old and conservative Christian ideas were rejected. Conversely, freemasons put them into new general shapes and expressed them with the help of symbols in their daily routine. Symbols of freemasons had close ties with the past and gave them, on the one hand, a visible instrument, such as rituals and ideas to sense the transcendental, and on the other, intense gnostic aspirations. Freemasons put in a great amount of effort to improve themselves and to create their identity with the help of myths and symbols. It traces its origins to the biblical builders of King Solomon’s Temple, the posterity of the Templar Knights, and associations of the medieval craft guilds, which were also symbolical and became their link not only to each other but also to the secular world. In this work we analysed codified masonic symbols used in their rituals. The subject of our research is the universal Masonic idea and its aspects through the symbols in the daily life of the freemasons in Vilnius. Thanks to freemasons’ signets, we could find continuity, reception, and transformation of universal masonic ideas in the Lithuanian freemasonry and national characteristics of lodges. Taking everything into account, our article shows how the universal idea of freemasonry spread among Lithuanian freemasonry, and which forms and meanings it incorporated in its symbols. The objective of this research is to find a universal Masonic idea throughout their visual and oral symbols and see its impact on the daily life of the masons in Vilnius. Keywords: Freemasonry, Bible, lodge, symbols, rituals, freemasons’ signets.


Author(s):  
Stefan Bauer

How was the history of post-classical Rome and of the Church written in the Catholic Reformation? Historical texts composed in Rome at this time have been considered secondary to the city’s significance for the history of art. The Invention of Papal History corrects this distorting emphasis and shows how history-writing became part of a comprehensive formation of the image and self-perception of the papacy. By presenting and fully contextualizing the path-breaking works of the Augustinian historian Onofrio Panvinio (1530–68), this book shows what type of historical research was possible in the late Renaissance and the Catholic Reformation. Historiography in this period by no means consisted entirely of commissioned works written for patrons; rather, a creative interplay existed between, on the one hand, the endeavours of authors to explore the past and, on the other hand, the constraints of patronage and ideology placed on them. This book sheds new light on the changing priorities, mentalities, and cultural standards that flourished in the transition from the Renaissance to the Catholic Reformation.


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