Category: Statistics

Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2025 Feb 14. doi: 10.1007/s12015-025-10852-5. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported the effectiveness of stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (SC-EVs) in disease treatment. However, the efficacy of SC-EVs for severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) remains uncertain. This systematic review aimed to analyze and evaluate the effect of SC-EVs in the treatment of SAP in animal models by summarizing data from published studies.

METHODS: We searched Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science databases to identify preclinical studies investigating the therapeutic effect of SC-EVs on SAP. The primary outcome was the histopathological scores of pancreatic tissues, including inflammation, edema, and necrosis. Other outcome measures included levels of amylase, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α. Eligible studies were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. SYRCLE checklist was adopted to assess the quality and bias risks of included studies. Mean differences and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using the inverse variance method with a random effects model. All statistical analyses were performed using RevMan 5.3 software.

RESULTS: A total of 8 studies including 126 animals were included. The results of meta-analysis revealed that SC-EVs treatment significantly reduced pancreatic histopathologic scores (total score: MD = -5.17, 95% CI: -5.79, -4.55; inflammation score: MD = -1.44, 95% CI: -1.70, -1.19; edema score: MD = -1.42, 95% CI: -1.75, -1.09; necrosis score: MD = -1.42, 95% CI: -1.80, -1.04), inhibited pro-inflammatory factor release (IL-6: SMD = -3.20, 95% CI: -4.51, -1.88; TNF-α SMD = -5.18, 95% CI: -6.96, -3.40), and enhancing the release of anti-inflammatory factors (IL-10 SMD = 4.15, 95% CI: 2.49, 5.81). Further subgroup analyses displayed SC-EVs treatment obviously attenuated animal pancreatic pathologic injury in traumatic pancreatitis and drug-induced acute pancreatitis, and the effect of SC-EVs to inhibit TNF-α secretion in the drug-induced SAP model was correlated with the dose of SC-EVs injection.

CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis displayed that SC-EVs were correlated with SAP injury alleviation and pancreas function reservation. Research into the treatment of SAP with SC-EVs is still in its early stage, necessitating further comprehensive investigations in the future to elucidate the therapeutic mechanisms of SC-EVs and their potential application in SAP.

PMID:39964640 | DOI:10.1007/s12015-025-10852-5

Trop Anim Health Prod. 2025 Feb 18;57(2):68. doi: 10.1007/s11250-025-04307-9.

ABSTRACT

In the study, data obtained from OvineSNP50K SNP chips using the Illumina® iScan platform for Eşme sheep were used. The integrated haplotype score (iHS) and runs of homozygosity (ROH) statistical approaches were used to identify selection signatures. Using the iHS analysis, it was discovered that there are 10 genomic regions and 51 genes on ovine chromosomes 1, 9, 11, and 12 that are under selection. Three genomic regions and 97 genes on ovine chromosomes 6 and 11 were found to be under selection using the ROH analysis. Candidate genes associated with economic and ecological traits were detected using both approaches. Among the genetic diversity parameters considered in this study, the minor allele frequency (MAF), the genetic distance between individuals (D), as well as observed (Ho) and expected heterozygosities (He) values were 0.300, 0.309, 0.388, and 0.390, respectively. The obtained Ho, He and D values indicate a moderate level of genetic diversity. The ratio of polymorphic SNPs (PN) was 0.947, and the average values of F_ROH and F_HOM were 0.030 and 0.029, respectively. Considering the PN value obtained in the study, it is evident that the SNPs in the population exhibit a high level of polymorphism at 94.7%. While the F_ROH value obtained indicates high genetic diversity among the individuals in the present study, the F_HOM value suggests that the population is predominantly composed of heterozygous individuals. As a result, evidence indicating genetic advancements have been made for target traits in breeding programs within the population. Additionally, candidate genes suitable for future molecular marker-supported breeding programs have been identified. In addition, a better understanding of the genetic structure and production potential of the population has been achieved. Findings have shown that Eşme sheep are a breed with high meat production potential and strong adaptation abilities.

PMID:39964635 | DOI:10.1007/s11250-025-04307-9

Aging Clin Exp Res. 2025 Feb 18;37(1):39. doi: 10.1007/s40520-025-02958-0.

ABSTRACT

AIM: This research sought to investigate the possible connection between anemia and various parameters of comprehensive geriatric assessment in elderly individuals diagnosed with Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB). To our knowledge, this investigation represents the first attempt to examine how anemia impacts patients suffering from DLB.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study encompassed 147 DLB patients from a single geriatric outpatient clinic. The study defined anemia as hemoglobin levels under 12 g/dL for women and 13 g/dL for men. Patients’ demographic information, coexisting medical conditions, and results from comprehensive geriatric evaluations were also recorded.

RESULTS: Participants in the study had an average age of 85.4 ± 7.1 years. Anemia was present in 46.9% of the patients. Significant disparities were noted between individuals with and without anemia regarding the occurrence of congestive heart failure (CHF), polypharmacy, geriatric depression, and insomnia (all p < 0.05). After controlling for age, gender, and CHF in the multivariate analysis, the association between anemia and both the quantity of medications used [OR: 1.15 (95% CI:1.01-1,31)] and Geriatric Depression Scale-15 scores [OR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.78-0.98] remained statistically significant (p < 0.05) when comparing anemic patients to non-anemic individuals.

CONCLUSION: In the present study almost one in two older patients with DLB were anemic. Anemia is associated with presence of CHF, higher number of drugs and depressive mood in DLB. It is recommended that healthcare providers should recognize the importance of anemia and its associated effects when treating older adults with DLB. This approach may lead to more effective management and treatment of this complex condition.

PMID:39964627 | DOI:10.1007/s40520-025-02958-0

Behav Genet. 2025 Feb 18. doi: 10.1007/s10519-025-10213-5. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Diverse tests of cognitive abilities correlate about 0.30 phenotypically and about 0.60 genetically. Their phenotypic overlap defines general cognitive ability (g), driven largely by genetic overlap. Consequently, much of our understanding of the genetic landscape of specific cognitive tests likely reflects g rather than the tests themselves. Removing this g-associated genetic variance will sharpen research on cognitive tests. Here, we use Genomic Structural Equation Modelling (Genomic SEM) to remove shared genetic variance among 12 diverse cognitive tests that capture verbal and nonverbal cognitive domains. We applied Genomic SEM to summary statistics from the largest genome-wide association studies of verbal tests (GenLang Consortium, five tests) and largely nonverbal tests (UK Biobank, seven tests) to chart the genetic landscape of the 12 tests independent of g as compared to uncorrected cognitive tests. We found that SNP heritabilities were nearly as high for the tests corrected for g as uncorrected: the average SNP heritability was 0.16 (SE = 0.02) for the uncorrected tests and 0.13 (SE = 0.02) for the tests corrected for g. Despite this, the genetic landscape of the cognitive tests transformed after controlling for genomic g. The matrix of positive genetic correlations for the cognitive tests (average 0.45) disappeared after g-correction, and some strong negative correlations emerged; for instance, Memory and Word (-0.72), Fluid and Symbol (-0.72), and Tower and Spelling (-0.79). The summary statistics for these g-corrected cognitive tests can be used by researchers to create polygenic scores that focus on the specificity of the tests.

PMID:39964619 | DOI:10.1007/s10519-025-10213-5

Clin Auton Res. 2025 Feb 18. doi: 10.1007/s10286-025-01110-2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a complex disorder with serious health consequences, while its etiology remains largely elusive.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the genetic landscape of POTS using genomic approaches in a unique pediatric cohort.

METHODS: We conducted a combined genome wide genotyping and whole exome sequencing (WES) study to systemically examine the molecular mechanisms of POTS pathogenesis. The patients were genotyped as two independent cohorts: a family cohort of 100 complete families and a case-control cohort of 207 unrelated European cases and 4063 ethnicity-matched control subjects. The WES component consisted of a subset of the genotyped subjects, including 87 unrelated European cases and 2719 unrelated European control subjects.

RESULTS: The heterogeneous phenotype of POTS made achieving genome-wide significance improbable. Instead, 5670 SNPs with nominal significance (P < 0.05) were identified in both the family and case-control cohorts, with effects in the same direction. We conducted an over-representation analysis (ORA) by considering all genes that showed nominal significance. The ORA identified gene sets linked to cell-cell junction, early estrogen response, and substance-related disorders with statistical significance. Moreover, WES revealed 55 genes with genome-wide significance through rare variant burden analysis, harboring 92 variants classified as pathogenic or likely pathogenic by ClinVar.

CONCLUSIONS: This study showcases the complex interplay between common and rare genetic variants in POTS development, marking a pioneering step forward in deciphering its complex etiologies. The insights from this research enrich our understanding of POTS, offering new avenues for precise treatment strategies and highlighting areas for further research.

PMID:39964606 | DOI:10.1007/s10286-025-01110-2

Stat Med. 2025 Feb 28;44(5):e70005. doi: 10.1002/sim.70005.

ABSTRACT

Individualized modeling has become increasingly popular in recent years with its growing application in fields such as personalized medicine and mobile health studies. With rich longitudinal measurements, it is of great interest to model certain subject-specific time-varying covariate effects. In this paper, we propose an individualized time-varying nonparametric model by leveraging the subgroup information from the population. The proposed method approximates the time-varying covariate effect using nonparametric B-splines and aggregates the estimated nonparametric coefficients that share common patterns. Moreover, the proposed method can effectively handle various missing data patterns that frequently arise in mobile health data. Specifically, our method achieves subgrouping by flexibly accommodating varying dimensions of B-spline coefficients due to missingness. This capability sets it apart from other fusion-type approaches for subgrouping. The subgroup information can also potentially provide meaningful insight into the characteristics of subjects and assist in recommending an effective treatment or intervention. An efficient ADMM algorithm is developed for implementation. Our numerical studies and application to mobile health data on monitoring pregnant women’s deep sleep and physical activities demonstrate that the proposed method achieves better performance compared to other existing methods.

PMID:39963885 | DOI:10.1002/sim.70005

J Evid Based Med. 2025 Mar;18(1):e70002. doi: 10.1111/jebm.70002.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: With a steadily rising prevalence, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was a leading global cause of liver-related health problems. In the clinical management of NAFLD, various western pharmaceuticals were widely utilized. This network meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of common western medications for NAFLD patients.

METHODS: We systematically reviewed and screened articles based on predesigned criterion about western medications for NAFLD, which were from Embase, Cochrane Library, PubMed, CNKI, WanFang, and China Science and Technology Journal Database until August 1, 2024. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials of patients aged 18 or older with NAFLD, comparing Western medicines to placebos or other Western medicine treatments. The risk of bias assessment tool 2.0 from the Cochrane system was used to assess the quality of the included articles. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted using WinBUGS 1.4.3 with a random-effects model and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. Treatment rankings were based on Surface Under the Cumulative Ranking Curve (SUCRA) values, and heterogeneity was assessed with I² and Q statistics. The outcomes were analyzed in WinBUGS and visualized using Stata 14.0, generating network plots and cumulative probability rankings to compare treatment effects. The systematic review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024509176).

RESULTS: Based on 37 included articles involving 7673 patients, pioglitazone demonstrated the most significant effects in resolving nonalcoholic steatohepatitis without worsening fibrosis, increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and achieving a ≥ 2-point reduction in NAFLD activity scores (odds ratio [OR] = 0.09, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.01 to 0.81), with a SUCRA probability of 91.4%. Aldafermin showed remarkable effects in improving liver function markers, including alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, with cumulative probabilities of 90% for ALT and 69.8% for AST. Cluster analysis revealed that Resmetirom and Aldafermin were superior options for enhancing liver function, while pioglitazone emerged as the best treatment for the comprehensive improvement of NAFLD.

CONCLUSIONS: Pioglitazone outperformed other western medicines in terms of overall efficacy when treating NAFLD, but Aldafermin and Resmetirom showed superior improvement in liver function. This study provided a certain level of support for the use of specific clinical medications.

PMID:39963857 | DOI:10.1111/jebm.70002

J Atten Disord. 2025 Feb 18:10870547251319861. doi: 10.1177/10870547251319861. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the percentage of U.S. working-age (18- to 64-year-old) adults in 2023 who self-reported ever being diagnosed with ADHD by a health care professional.

METHOD: We analyze data from the 2023 National Wellbeing Survey (N = 7,053) to estimate self-reported lifetime ADHD diagnosis status among working-age adults, overall and by sex, age, race/ethnicity, nativity, education, and rural-urban residence.

RESULTS: Among U.S. working-age adults in 2023, we estimate that 13.9% (95% confidence interval [13.0%, 15.0%]) self-reported ever being diagnosed with ADHD by a health care professional. We find statistically significant variation by each of the demographic variables analyzed, with higher rates among working-age adults who are female, younger, non-Hispanic White, U.S.-born, less well-educated, and residing in metro areas with 250,000 to 1 million people (relative to those living in metro areas with 1+ million population).

CONCLUSION: The percentage of U.S. working-age adults who self-report in 2023 that they have ever been diagnosed with ADHD by a health care professional (13.9%) is substantially higher than estimates from 2012 (4.25%) and a 2023 estimate of 7.8% among adults of all ages (18+ years). The increase over time may reflect changes in diagnostic criteria for children and adults, greater acceptance of adult diagnosis, over- and mis-diagnosis, and methodological issues. The difference between the 2023 estimates likely reflects study-specific differences in the constructs measured, the age range of the samples, and methodological differences in the online panels used for sampling, in quality control approaches, and in post-survey weight construction. Additional data collection and empirical research is needed to validate or refine provisional estimates based on samples drawn from online panels, and to determine explanations for the observed increase over time.

PMID:39963833 | DOI:10.1177/10870547251319861

Oncologist. 2025 Feb 6;30(2):oyae320. doi: 10.1093/oncolo/oyae320.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The impact of concurrent proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) use on the prognosis of patients with breast cancer undergoing cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKIs) treatment is currently uncertain. Considerable divergence exists regarding the clinical studies. In this study, we aim to perform a comprehensive analysis to evaluate the influence of concomitant PPI use on the effectiveness and adverse effects of CDKIs in patients with breast cancer.

METHODS: This study encompassed all pertinent clinical studies published up to the present, following the PRISMA guidelines. The study used hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) as a summary statistic and used fixed or random effects models for pooled estimation.

RESULTS: This study incorporated 10 research articles involving 2993 participants. Among patients with breast cancer undergoing treatment with CDKIs, the simultaneous administration of PPIs was associated with a notable reduction in overall survival (HR = 2.00; 95% CI, 1.35-2.96). Nevertheless, no substantial correlation was observed between the simultaneous utilization of PPIs and the progression-free survival (PFS) of patients (HR = 1.30; 95% CI, 0.98-1.74). PFS did not change significantly when considering different drugs, treatment lines, or regions alone. Furthermore, the simultaneous administration of PPIs was found to result in a notable decrease in the incidence of grades 3/4 risk factors (OR = 0.63, 95% CI, 0.46-0.85).

CONCLUSION: The concurrent administration of PPIs did not result in significant alterations in the risk of disease advancement among patients with breast cancer undergoing CDKIs treatment. The utilization of PPIs led to a decrease in the adverse effects linked to the administration of CDKIs.

PMID:39963828 | DOI:10.1093/oncolo/oyae320

Oncologist. 2025 Feb 6;30(2):oyaf021. doi: 10.1093/oncolo/oyaf021.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Traveling to healthcare facilities, particularly in the case of patients requiring frequent visits and repeated treatments, such as cancer patients, is associated with substantial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Moreover, travel burdens can delay diagnosis and negatively influence prognosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 2004, a programme called territorial oncology care (TOC) was initiated in the province of Piacenza (northern Italy) to relieve travel burdens by providing treatment closer to patients’ residences. Patient management is performed by oncologists traveling from the city hospital’s oncologic ward to rural centers. Patients are managed at 3 rural hospitals and a health center called Casa della Salute. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed all files containing the schedules of patients enrolled in the TOC programme from 2 January 2017 to 31 December 2022. We calculated the driving distance (in kilometers) to the outpatient facility closest to each patient’s residence and the CO2 emissions saved compared with the distance to the city hospital.

RESULTS: A total of 2132 cancer patients on active treatment were enrolled in the TOC programme during the study period. The total travel saved by treating patients closer to their residences over this 6-year period amounted to 1 975 105 km, representing carbon emission savings of 241.56 tonnes.

CONCLUSION: Our findings show a significant reduction (241.56 tonnes) of CO2 emissions for the entire cohort of patients over a period of 6 years.Cancer patients’ travel burdens and associated carbon emissions can be substantially reduced by programmes such as TOC.

PMID:39963827 | DOI:10.1093/oncolo/oyaf021