Twin testosterone transfer hypothesis and the second-to-fourth digit ratio in females of same-sex and opposite-sex twin pairs: An exploratory study.

The twin testosterone transfer (TTT) hypothesis posits that females with male co-twins (opposite-sex, OS) might develop male-typical traits due to higher prenatal testosterone exposure. This study explored whether females of OS have lower 2D:4D digit ratios and higher testosterone levels compared to females of same-sex (SS) twin pairs. Conducted in Tamale from January to December 2022, the study included 40 participants aged 18-27 years: 10 males of OS, 10 females of OS, and 20 females of SS twin pairs.

Robust Automated Harmonization of Heterogeneous Data Through Ensemble Machine Learning: Algorithm Development and Validation Study.

Background: Cohort studies contain rich clinical data across large and diverse patient populations and are a common source of observational data for clinical research. Because large scale cohort studies are both time and resource intensive, one alternative is to harmonize data from existing cohorts through multicohort studies. However, given differences in variable encoding, accurate variable harmonization is difficult.

A single-site randomized controlled trial of partner navigation to HCV treatment for people who inject drugs: a study protocol for the You're Empowered for Treatment Initiation (YETI) partner trial.

Background: Disparities persist in testing and treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV), leaving socially marginalized populations, including people who inject drugs (PWID), less likely to benefit from curative treatment. Linkage services are often insufficient to overcome barriers to navigating the medical system and contextual factors.

Methods: The You're Empowered for Treatment Initiation (YETI) Partner trial is a single-site randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of a two-session behavioral intervention that engages injecting partners as peer navigators for HCV treatment.

Associations of maternal night shift work during pregnancy with DNA methylation in offspring: a meta-analysis in the PACE consortium.

Background: Night shift work during pregnancy has been associated with differential DNA methylation in placental tissue, but no studies have explored this association in cord blood. We aimed to examine associations of maternal night shift work with cord blood DNA methylation.

Methods: A total of 4487 mother-newborn pairs from 7 studies were included.

Changes in nutritional management after gastrointestinal cancer surgery over a 12-year period: a cohort study using a nationwide medical claims database.

Background: Nutritional management in patients after gastrointestinal cancer surgery has changed throughout the 2000s. However, its evolution has not been formally studied. This study aimed to evaluate changes in nutritional management using real-world data.

The effects of training female students in emotion regulation techniques on their social problem-solving skills and social anxiety: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Social anxiety is one of the most prevalent anxiety-related disorders among adolescents with many adverse effects on the social and academic lives of this population. In addition, poor social problem-solving skills can aggravate anxiety in individuals suffering from anxiety. Emotion regulation can help adolescents control and moderate their feelings, thereby enabling them to understand their emotions better, cope with their negative emotions in a positive way, and adopt a more realistic approach to solving their problems.

Internalizing and externalizing symptoms in individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) frequently report psychosocial problems, among which internalizing and externalizing symptoms are the most poorly understood due to limited research and inconsistent evidence. This hinders the overall attendance of their psychosocial needs and has a major impact on their quality of life. Thus, this systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to synthesize existing findings on the degree to which individuals with NF1 experience internalizing and externalizing symptoms, compared with the unaffected population, and explore moderators of the group disparities.

Modifiable risk factors for anemia among women of childbearing age in sub-saharan Africa (2015-2023).

Background: The Sustainable Development Goals Target 2.2 aims to eliminate all forms of malnutrition, including anemia, while the World Health Assembly targets a 50% reduction in anemia among women of childbearing age by 2025. Despite these efforts, global anemia prevalence among women has only slightly decreased from 31% to 30% between 2000 and 2019.

Multimodal treatments and the risk of breast cancer-related lymphedema: insights from a nationally representative cohort in South Korea.

Background: As the roles of chemotherapy (Chemo) and radiation therapy (Radio) in the definitive treatment of breast cancer have expanded, a broader understanding of the factors associated with breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) has become increasingly essential. Therefore, we investigated the association between multimodality treatment and the risk of BCRL.

Methods: In this retrospective study conducted using National Health Insurance data and the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database (2006-2017), 114,638 participants who underwent Surgery (Surg) or Chemo within 6 months after breast cancer diagnosis were enrolled, and the effect of multimodality treatment on the risk of BCRL was analyzed using the Cox proportional-hazards model.

The clinical value of serum sirtuin-1 concentration in the diagnosis of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent chronic liver disease and can affect individuals without producing any symptoms. We aimed to explore the value of serum sirtuin-1 (Sirt-1) in the diagnosis of MASLD.

Methods: This case-control study analyzed data collected from 190 individuals aged 20 to 60 years.

Time to first antenatal care visit and its predictors among women in Kenya: Weibull gamma shared frailty model (based on the recent 2022 KDHS data).

Background: The first trimester of pregnancy is critical for fetal development, making early antenatal care visits essential for timely check-ups and managing potential complications. However, delayed antenatal care initiation remains a public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya. Therefore, this study aimed to assess and provide up-to-date information on time to first antenatal care visit and its predictors among women in Kenya, using data from the most recent 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS).

Analysis methods for covariate-constrained cluster randomized trials with time-to-event outcomes.

Background: Cluster randomized trials, which often enroll a small number of clusters, can benefit from constrained randomization, selecting a final randomization scheme from a set of known, balanced randomizations. Previous literature has addressed the suitability of adjusting the analysis for the covariates that were balanced in the design phase when the outcome is continuous or binary. Here we extended this work to time-to-event outcomes by comparing two model-based tests and a newly derived permutation test.

Nationwide trends in diagnosed sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic use disorders in adolescents and young adults enrolled in Medicaid: 2001-2019.

Background And Aim: Sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic use disorders (SHA-UD) are defined by significant impairment or distress caused by recurrent sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic use. This study aimed to measure trends in the prevalence of SHA-UD diagnoses in adolescent and young adult US Medicaid enrollees from 2001 to 2019.

Design: Annual, cross-sectional study, 2001-2019.

Wealth is health: High economic status in Cameroon correlates with protective gear use in traffic injuries and improved clinical outcomes.

Introduction: Africa is the least motorized populated continent, yet it experiences the highest traffic fatality rate. Despite laws mandating helmet and seatbelt use, data on protective gear use among Cameroonian road traffic injury (RTI) patients remains sparse.

Methods: We extracted Cameroon Trauma Registry data prospectively collected from 10 hospitals during July 2022 to December 2023.

MRI Radiomics Analysis in the Diagnostic Differentiation of Malignant Soft Tissue Myxoid Sarcomas From Benign Soft Tissue Musculoskeletal Myxomas.

Background: Differentiation of benign myxomas and malignant myxoid sarcomas can be difficult with an overlapping spectrum of morphologic MR findings.

Purpose: To assess the diagnostic utility of MRI radiomics in the differentiation of musculoskeletal myxomas and myxoid sarcomas.

Study Type: Retrospective.

Overcoming Missing Data: Accurately Predicting Cardiovascular Risk in Type 2 Diabetes, A Systematic Review.

Understanding is limited regarding strategies for addressing missing value when developing and validating models to predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study aimed to investigate the presence of and approaches to missing data in these prediction models. The MEDLINE electronic database was systematically searched for English-language studies from inception to June 30, 2024.

The left amygdala is genetically sexually-dimorphic: multi-omics analysis of structural MRI volumes.

Brain anatomy plays a key role in complex behaviors and mental disorders that are sexually divergent. While our understanding of the sex differences in the brain anatomy remains relatively limited, particularly of the underlying genetic and molecular mechanisms that contribute to these differences. We performed the largest study of sex differences in brain volumes (N = 33,208) by examining sex differences both in the raw brain volumes and after controlling the whole brain volumes.

Genomics yields biological and phenotypic insights into bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease. Despite high heritability (60-80%), the majority of the underlying genetic determinants remain unknown. We analysed data from participants of European, East Asian, African American and Latino ancestries (n = 158,036 cases with bipolar disorder, 2.

How to Efficiently Annotate Images for Best-Performing Deep Learning-Based Segmentation Models: An Empirical Study with Weak and Noisy Annotations and Segment Anything Model.

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have demonstrated exceptional performance across various image segmentation tasks. However, the process of preparing datasets for training segmentation DNNs is both labor-intensive and costly, as it typically requires pixel-level annotations for each object of interest. To mitigate this challenge, alternative approaches such as using weak labels (e.

Real life outcome analysis of breast cancer brain metastases treated with Trastuzumab Deruxtecan.

Tumor dissemination to the central nervous system (CNS) is almost a rule in the treatment journey of advanced HER2+ breast cancer (BC). Recent results demonstrated high intracranial efficacy with Trastuzumab Deruxtecan (T-DXd). However, a real-world evidence is lacking in literature.

FABP4 as a therapeutic host target controlling SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Host metabolic fitness is a critical determinant of infectious disease outcomes. Obesity, aging, and other related metabolic disorders are recognized as high-risk disease modifiers for respiratory infections, including coronavirus infections, though the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Our study highlights fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4), a key regulator of metabolic dysfunction and inflammation, as a modulator of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis, correlating strongly with disease severity in COVID-19 patients.

Baseline PSMA PET/CT parameters predict overall survival and treatment response in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients.

Objective: Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) is a heterogeneous disease with varying survival outcomes. This study investigated whether baseline PSMA PET/CT parameters are associated with survival and treatment response.

Methods: Sixty mCRPC patients underwent [F]PSMA-1007 PET/CT before treatment with androgen receptor-targeted agents (ARTAs) or chemotherapy.