Relationship between handgrip strength and timed up-and-go test on hospitalization costs in older adults: a population-based study.

Background: Weak handgrip strength and slow timed up-and-go (TUG) time are known risk factors for hospitalization among older adults; however, few studies have investigated the relationships between these physical tests and future hospitalization costs.

Methods: We used data from 13,613 participants in the population-based Singapore Chinese Health Study who underwent assessment for handgrip strength and TUG time at a mean age of 74 years. Hospitalization costs for the subsequent year, among those who survived for at least one year thereafter, were ascertained via linkage with administrative healthcare finance data.

Fall risk factors and mitigation strategies for hematological malignancy patients: insights from a qualitative study using the reason model.

Purpose: Our study aim was to understand the (human and organizational) factors influencing fall risk among people with hematological malignancies using the Reason model as a framework, providing insights that can inform the development of safe and effective fall management strategies.

Methods: Purposive sampling was employed to conduct semi-structured interviews with 13 people with hematological malignancies and 12 nurses from the hematology department of a tertiary grade A hospital in Guangzhou from December 2023 to February 2024. The topic analysis method was utilized to analyze the interview data.

Predicting academic procrastination of students based on academic self-efficacy and emotional regulation difficulties.

Academic procrastination is one of the major factors that can be a serious obstacle for students to achieve academic progress and success. This research aimed to investigate and predict academic procrastination based on academic self-efficacy and emotional regulation difficulties of students of one of the medical sciences universities in southern Iran in 2024. This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 290 students of different fields in the south of Iran between January and April 2024.

Assessment of environmental impacts of heavy metal pollution in rice in Nanning, China.

Nowadays rice has become one of the world's staple foods. Rice in southern China is also a staple food for everyone, however, with the development of China's industrialization model, many industrial areas may be contaminated by heavy metals, leading to contamination of the agricultural areas. With the development of recent years, Nanning has become a heavily industrial development area, and rice is also a favourite staple food.

Disrupted HIV care during COVID-19 pandemic associated with increased disabilities among people living with HIV in Belize.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted disabilities among people living with HIV; however, data on the association between COVID-19 pandemic-related healthcare disruptions and disabilities among people living with HIV is limited. We aimed to evaluate the association between COVID-19-affected HIV care behaviors and disability domains among people living with HIV in Belize. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Western Regional Hospital and Southern Regional Hospital between August and October 2021 among people living with HIV in Belize aged ≥ 21 years and on antiretroviral therapy.

Photoacoustic Imaging with Attention-Guided Deep Learning for Predicting Axillary Lymph Node Status in Breast Cancer.

Rationale And Objectives: Preoperative assessment of axillary lymph node (ALN) status is essential for breast cancer management. This study explores the use of photoacoustic (PA) imaging combined with attention-guided deep learning (DL) for precise prediction of ALN status.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included patients with histologically confirmed early-stage breast cancer from 2022 to 2024, randomly divided (8:2) into training and test cohorts.

Heterogeneity of the Treatment Effect with PARP Inhibitors in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer: A Living Interactive Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background And Objective: Selection of patients harboring mutations in homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes for treatment with a PARP inhibitor (PARPi) is challenging in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). To gain further insight, we quantitatively assessed the differential efficacy of PARPi therapy among patients with mCRPC and different HRR gene mutations.

Methods: This living meta-analysis (LMA) was conducted using the Living Interactive Evidence synthesis framework.

Mucin1 N-domain variant contributes to dry eye syndrome in diabetes by increasing immature mucus secretory granules.

Background: Diabetes-associated dry eye syndrome (DMDES) affects 20-54 % of diabetes, leading to ocular irritation and blurry vision. Decreased conjunctival goblet cell mucus secretion is one of the major pathological processes of DMDES. This study aims to investigate the mechanism of mucus granule maturation and secretion disturbance in DMDES.

Downregulated TFPI2 accelerates skin aging by repressing cell cycle via PI3K/Akt/CDC6 pathway.

Tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2 (TFPI2) is known to regulate the proliferation of various cell types and tumor tissues; however, its role in the process of skin aging has not been elucidated. In this study, we identify TFPI2 as a potential antagonist of aging. Our findings indicate that TFPI2 expression is downregulated in aging skin tissues and senescent human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs), and that the depletion of TFPI2 accelerates the senescence of HDFs and the aging of skin.

Length of hospital stay in adolescents receiving high-dose oral contraceptive pills with and without conjugated equine estrogen for the treatment of acute abnormal uterine bleeding.

Study Objective: Compare the length of hospital stay of adolescents admitted for severe anemia (hemoglobin ≤ 8 g/dL) due to acute abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) treated with high-dose combined oral contraceptive pills (HD-OCPs) versus those treated with HD-OCPs and intravenous conjugated equine estrogen, also referred to as dual therapy.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This is a single institution retrospective cohort study of adolescents hospitalized for the management of acute AUB and severe anemia between July 1, 2004, to January 1, 2020. Subjects were excluded if they were pregnant, had a malignancy, thrombocytopenia, treated with other hormonal therapies, or if bleeding stopped prior to admission.

Ovarian sex cord-stromal cell tumors and the risk of sex hormone-sensitive cancers.

Background: Sex cord-stromal cell tumors (SCST) are rare tumors of the ovary. Some of the SCSTs secrete hormone originating from the sex or stromal cell of the ovaries. Previous studies have indicated an increased risk of breast and endometrial cancers.

Embracing the Future of Clinical Trials in Radiotherapy: An NRG Oncology CIRO Technology Retreat Whitepaper on Pioneering Technologies and AI-Driven Solutions.

This white paper examines the potential of pioneering technologies and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven solutions in advancing clinical trials involving radiotherapy. As the field of radiotherapy evolves, the integration of cutting-edge approaches such as radiopharmaceutical dosimetry, FLASH radiotherapy, image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), and AI promises to improve treatment planning, patient care, and outcomes. Additionally, recent advancements in quantum science, linear energy transfer/relative biological effect (LET/RBE), and the combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy create new avenues for innovation in clinical trials.

Integration of 168,000 samples reveals global patterns of the human gut microbiome.

The factors shaping human microbiome variation are a major focus of biomedical research. While other fields have used large sequencing compendia to extract insights requiring otherwise impractical sample sizes, the microbiome field has lacked a comparably sized resource for the 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing commonly used to quantify microbiome composition. To address this gap, we processed 168,464 publicly available human gut microbiome samples with a uniform pipeline.

Deciphering chondrocyte diversity in diabetic osteoarthritis through single-cell transcriptomics.

The pathophysiological distinctions between osteoarthritis (OA) and diabetic osteoarthritis (DOA) are critical yet not well delineated. In this study, we employed single-cell RNA sequencing to clarify the unique cellular and molecular mechanisms underpinning the progression of both conditions. We identified a novel subpopulation of chondrocytes in DOA, termed 'Heat Shock' chondrocytes, marked by the expression of distinct molecular markers including HSPA1A, HSPA1B, HSPB1, and HSPA8.

Effect of perioperative analgesia on immunity in lung cancer.

COX inhibitors are frequently used for pain management during the perioperative period and may influence tumor progression and the tumor microenvironment by modulating inflammation and immune responses. This study investigates the effects of COX inhibitors on tumor growth and the immune microenvironment. In vivo experiments demonstrate that COX inhibitors can reduce tumor cell growth, elevate PD-L1 expression on tumor cells, and enhance the proportion of myeloid cells within the tumor immune microenvironment.

Medical loss ratio's role in the large group insurer market.

Objectives: To assess trends in the medical loss ratio (MLR) and understand how health insurance premiums in the large group market are driven by medical claims spending and insurer margins.

Study Design: Study of approximately 500 insurers covering more than 40 million lives annually in the large group market that submitted an MLR submission form (2014-2022).

Methods: We assessed trends in the MLR, premiums, medical claims spending, administrative costs, quality improvement spending, and margins among all insurers in the large group market.

The prevalence of aortic stenosis in Māori undergoing clinically indicated echocardiography compared to New Zealand Europeans.

Aim: There are limited data on the prevalence of calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) in Māori and known inequities in outcomes after aortic valve intervention. Our study aimed to investigate the prevalence of CAVD in Māori.

Methods: Data from initial clinically indicated echocardiograms performed between 2010 to 2018 in patients aged ≥18 years were linked to nationally collected outcome data.

Pathways from violence exposure to medication non-adherence: exploration of mental health symptoms and coping in people living with HIV in the U.S. South.

In the current study, we examine associations between exposure to violence and antiretroviral medication adherence in persons with HIV (PWH) in a southern city in the United States. We include investigation of a variety of violence exposures including childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, witnessing family violence, lifetime violence exposures and current stress related to violence experiences, as well as neighborhood violence exposure. We examined associations between violence exposures and adherence and mediational pathways between these variables including mental health symptoms - specifically depressive, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms - as well as coping strategies.

Discovery of Novel Hydrazide-Based HDAC3 Inhibitors as Epigenetic Immunomodulators for Cancer Immunotherapy.

Based on our previous work, a series of imidazole-based small molecules were designed and synthesized as HDAC3 inhibitors. Among them, compound showed selective HDAC3 inhibition activity with an IC of 53 nM (SI = 75 for HDAC3 over HDAC1). Further studies revealed that could dose-dependently induce the expression of PD-L1 in MC38 cells by activating the PD-L1 transcription.

Transanal vs Laparoscopic Total Mesorectal Excision and 3-Year Disease-Free Survival in Rectal Cancer: The TaLaR Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Previous studies have demonstrated the advantages of short-term histopathological outcomes and complications associated with transanal total mesorectal excision (TME) compared with laparoscopic TME. However, the long-term oncological outcomes of transanal TME remain ambiguous. This study aims to compare 3-year disease-free survival of transanal TME with laparoscopic TME.

ANKRD11 binding to cohesin suggests a connection between KBG syndrome and Cornelia de Lange syndrome.

Ankyrin Repeat Domain-containing Protein 11 () is a causative gene for KBG syndrome, a significant risk factor for Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS), and a highly confident autism spectrum disorder gene. Mutations of lead to developmental abnormalities in multiple organs/tissues including the brain, craniofacial and skeletal bones, and tooth structures with unknown mechanism(s). Here, we find that ANKRD11, via a short peptide fragment in its N-terminal region, binds to the cohesin complex with a high affinity, implicating why mutation can cause CdLS.

Early intervention in eating disorders: introducing the chronopathogram.

Eating disorders (EDs) pose significant challenges to mental and physical health, particularly among adolescents and young adults, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating risk factors. Despite advancements in psychosocial and pharmacological treatments, improvements remain limited. Early intervention in EDs, inspired by the model developed for psychosis, emphasizes the importance of timely identification and treatment initiation to improve prognosis.

Prediction models for the complication incidence and survival rate of dental implants-a systematic review and critical appraisal.

Purpose: This systematic review aims to assess the performance, methodological quality and reporting transparency in prediction models for the dental implant's complications and survival rates.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases. Peer-reviewed studies that developed prediction models for dental implant's complications and survival rate were included.

The Brussels consensus for non-invasive ICP monitoring when invasive systems are not available in the care of TBI patients (the B-ICONIC consensus, recommendations, and management algorithm).

Background: Invasive systems are commonly used for monitoring intracranial pressure (ICP) in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and are considered the gold standard. The availability of invasive ICP monitoring is heterogeneous, and in low- and middle-income settings, these systems are not routinely employed due to high cost or limited accessibility. The aim of this consensus was to develop recommendations to guide monitoring and ICP-driven therapies in TBI using non-invasive ICP (nICP) systems.

Conflict at work and incident chronic low back pain: a retrospective cohort of more than 101,000 adults from Germany.

Purpose: Little is known about the relationship between conflict at work and incident chronic low back pain (CLBP). Thus, this retrospective cohort study analyzed the association between conflict at work and the five-year incidence of CLBP in adults living in Germany.

Methods: This study included individuals aged 18-65 years reporting conflict at work for the first time in one of 1,293 general practices in Germany between 2005 and 2022 (index date).