Category: Statistics

J Food Sci. 2025 Nov;90(11):e70640. doi: 10.1111/1750-3841.70640.

ABSTRACT

Meat and vegetable processing wastewaters are challenging to treat due to high concentrations of recalcitrant organic compounds-such as fats, oils, and cellulose-that resist conventional degradation. This study systematically evaluated the use of 915 MHz microwave (MW) processing, focusing on the effects of specific energy flux (SEF, in J/kg·s), total solids (TS) concentration, and flow rate on enzymatic activity and physicochemical properties. In vegetable processing wastewater, optimized MW conditions (SEF = 3,244.21 J/kg·s, TS = 2%) maximized cellulase activity (50.09 U/mL) and glucose release (0.1551 mg/mL), whereas higher TS (4%) reduced treatment efficacy. In meat processing wastewater, increased SEF (up to 2,775.51 J/kg·s) enhanced lipase activity (29.88 U/mL, 0.45 mg/mL), reduced viscosity and density, and altered the organic acid profile by increasing propionic acid and decreasing acetic acid. Statistical analysis confirmed SEF as the primary driver of biochemical and thermal changes (R² > 0.89). These results demonstrate that optimized 915 MHz MW processing is a scalable, sustainable, and regulatory-compliant technology for food industry wastewater management. The approach improves enzymatic hydrolysis, biodegradability, and resource recovery, while reducing environmental impact and operational costs. Further research is recommended to validate these findings under full-scale industrial conditions.

PMID:41239817 | DOI:10.1111/1750-3841.70640

Curr Drug Res Rev. 2025;17(3):471-480. doi: 10.2174/0125899775313919240822102906.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Breast milk is the preferred source of nutrition for premature infants. Galactagogues are used in initiation, induction, and maintenance of lactation. This study examined the effectiveness of fenugreek on prolactin levels and milk volume (primary outcomes), neonatal weight gain, breastfeeding satisfaction, and side effects (secondary outcomes).

METHODS: This triple-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted on 68 mothers with preterm newborns less than 32 weeks in Al-Zahra and Taleghani hospitals in Tabriz-Iran. Participants were randomly allocated into fenugreek and placebo groups. About 500 mg of fenugreek and placebo capsules were administered to the participants three times a day, from the fifth day after delivery to the 14th day. Breast milk volume was measured on the fourth day after delivery (one day before the intervention), the seventh day, and the fifteenth day after the intervention. Prolactin levels were measured in the morning before and after the intervention.

RESULTS: On the seventh day of the intervention, milk volume was significantly higher in the fenugreek group than in the placebo group (p =0.017). Nevertheless, no statistically significant difference was observed between groups in milk volume (p =0.073) and prolactin level (p =0.324) on day 15. Moreover, no statistically significant difference was observed between groups regarding newborn weight after intervention (p =0.172) or satisfaction with breastfeeding (p =0.484). None of the participants reported any side effects.

CONCLUSIONS: Fenugreek increases milk volume but has no significant effect on prolactin levels. Further trials with larger sample sizes should be performed to obtain conclusive results.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: IRCT20120718010324N62.

PMID:41239794 | DOI:10.2174/0125899775313919240822102906

Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2025 Nov 14. doi: 10.1111/aogs.70093. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Survival and healthcare for patients with congenital heart disease have improved, and the number of pregnancies among women of childbearing age with congenital heart disease has increased. Our aim was to investigate obstetric outcomes in a large retrospective, national registry study of women with congenital heart disease compared to controls.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included women over 18 years of age from the Swedish Registry of Congenital Heart Disease. Each case was matched with 10 controls from Statistics Sweden, based on the mother’s birth year and birth county and all were subsequently linked to the Swedish Medical Birth Register. We included 7998 pregnancies in women with congenital heart disease and 84 799 in controls during 1973-2020.

RESULTS: The mean age at delivery for women with congenital heart disease and controls was 28.7 (±5.0) and 28.7 (±5.1) years, respectively. Women with congenital heart disease smoked less, had a shorter gestation and a higher incidence of delivery by Cesarean section compared to controls. The likelihood of Cesarean section was increased in women with congenital heart disease compared to controls: odds ratio 1.45 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.37-1.54). Compared to controls, women with congenital heart disease had an increased likelihood of giving birth to small-for-gestational-age neonates: odds ratio 1.40 (95% CI 1.23-1.58). The association regarding small-for-gestational-age remained after adjusting for body mass index, age, smoking, comorbid diseases and preeclampsia. Women with congenital heart disease had an increased likelihood of prematurity compared to controls: odds ratio 1.47 (95% CI 1.35-1.59). The likelihood of Cesarean section, small-for-gestational-age neonates and prematurity was higher in women with severe congenital heart disease than mild/moderate congenital heart disease, both compared to controls.

CONCLUSIONS: In this large national case-control study in women with congenital heart disease, we showed an increased likelihood of giving birth prematurely by Cesarean section, and having a small-for-gestational-age neonate compared to matched controls. The likelihood seems even higher in women with severe congenital heart disease. Further research is needed to explore the underlying reasons for the high rates of Cesarean section in women with congenital heart disease.

PMID:41239781 | DOI:10.1111/aogs.70093

Br J Math Stat Psychol. 2025 Nov 14. doi: 10.1111/bmsp.70016. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Reliability evaluation is critical in fields such as psychology and medicine to ensure accurate diagnosis and effective treatment management. When participants are evaluated by the same raters, a two-way ANOVA model is suitable to model the data, with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) serving as the reliability metric. In these domains, the ICC for agreement (ICCa) is commonly used, as the values of the measurements themselves are of interest. Designing such reliability studies requires determining the sample size of participants and raters for the ICCa. Although procedures for sample size determination exist based on the expected width of the confidence interval for the ICCa, there is limited work on hypothesis testing. This paper addresses this gap by proposing procedures to ensure sufficient power to statistically test whether the ICCa exceeds a predetermined value, utilizing confidence intervals for the ICCa. We compared the available confidence interval methods for the ICCa and proposed sample size procedures using the lower confidence limit of the best performing methods. These procedures were evaluated considering the empirical power of the hypothesis test under various parameter configurations. Furthermore, these procedures are implemented in an interactive R shiny app, freely available to researchers for determining sample sizes.

PMID:41239778 | DOI:10.1111/bmsp.70016

Biotechnol J. 2025 Nov;20(11):e70157. doi: 10.1002/biot.70157.

ABSTRACT

Two persistent challenges in adeno-associated virus (AAV) manufacturing are AAV particle aggregation and the separation of full and empty AAV capsids in ion-exchange (IEX) chromatography processes, which add to AAV purification, formulation, and quality control challenges. AAV empty capsids and AAV aggregates are both considered product-related impurities by regulatory agencies. AAV full capsids, which contain the genetic payload, is the AAV species that has the therapeutic value. Thus, it is necessary to continuously improve the control of AAV aggregation and the ratio of full to empty capsids during AAV downstream bioprocessing. We investigated a novel approach that significantly improves aggregation control of AAV serotype 2 (AAV2). The novel approach consisted of a systematic study, involving Design of Experiment (DoE), using common formulation excipients (namely, small sugars and ionic salts) to understand the effect of critical process parameters (excipient type, excipient concentration, and pH) on a critical quality attribute (AAV aggregates). With this approach, we observed a statistically significant reduction in AAV2 particle aggregation in solution. Results suggest that this aggregation-control approach could provide insight into potentially being able to create a new strategy for improving the separation of full and empty AAV2 capsids in anion exchange (AEX) chromatography.

PMID:41239772 | DOI:10.1002/biot.70157

Health Expect. 2025 Dec;28(6):e70467. doi: 10.1111/hex.70467.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, various reports have emerged regarding persistent symptoms associated with Covid-19. Nevertheless, there is insufficient data on the persistence of symptoms over time. This study sought to estimate the prevalence of persistent symptoms 12 months after Covid-19 infection and identify predictors of long Covid in adults living in the State of Paraná, southern Brazil, according to the level of severity of Covid-19 infection.

METHOD: An observational and cross-sectional survey was conducted with Brazilian adults diagnosed with Covid-19, as assessed from data available in two official Covid-19 notification databases in Brazil, using telephone interviews. Descriptive statistics, tests of associations and simple and multiple binary logistic regression analysis were used to identify predictors of long Covid.

RESULTS: In total, 1033 adults participated in the study. The overall prevalence of long Covid was 60.3% (n = 623). Prevalence was higher in women (67.7%), people aged between 50 and 59 years (65.8%) and in individuals who received treatment in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during the acute phase of Covid-19 infection (74.4%, n = 241). The risk factors associated with a greater chance of developing long Covid were: female (OR 2.38; 95% CI 1.55; 3.66), living in the Brazilian northwest health macro-region (OR 2.20; 95% CI 1.21; 4.00), presenting multimorbidity (OR 1.86; 95% CI 1.06; 3.28), having an average of six symptoms in the acute phase of Covid-19 (OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.17; 1.28) and having received treatment in an ICU (OR 4.86; 95% CI 2.83; 8.35) and inpatient ward (OR 2.45; 95% CI 1.47; 4.09).

CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the high prevalence of long Covid and support the formulation of health policies capable of minimising the consequences on the population, on the services offered by professionals and on health systems.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The study topic’s importance was based on the patients’ experiences in the author’s previous research and the need to develop patient-centred care.

PMID:41239762 | DOI:10.1111/hex.70467

Colorectal Dis. 2025 Nov;27(11):e70307. doi: 10.1111/codi.70307.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Acute abscess-forming pilonidal sinus disease (PSD) is treated surgically, with lateral incision and drainage (I&D) considered the gold standard; however, the risk of re-operation is unknown.

AIM: To evaluate re-operation rates following abscess-forming PSD treatment with lateral I&D, and to identify factors influencing re-operation rates.

METHODS: Using data from nationwide Danish databases covering 2010-2021, we identified patients diagnosed with abscess-forming PSD undergoing lateral I&D as the initial treatment for PSD. Patients were followed up until re-operation, death, emigration, or the end of the study period. Stratified by sex, the risk of re-operation was reported as a cumulative incidence function (CIF). To explore risks, we used Cox regression analysis to calculate crude and age-adjusted hazard ratios (aHR).

RESULTS: Of 8251 (62% male) patients included, 2455 underwent re-operation for PSD. The overall five-year CIF was 32% for males and 33% for females. In males, the five-year CIF decreased from 47% among 0- to 16-year-olds to 14% among 50+ year-olds. In females, the corresponding numbers were 37% and 13%, respectively. A family history of PSD was found to increase re-operation risk, especially among female patients (aHR: 1.64 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.39-1.93)). The risk increases following the second and third consecutive I&D procedures to 52% and 69% in males, and to 57% and 64% in females, respectively.

CONCLUSION: As roughly two-thirds of patients do not require additional surgery, our findings do not support mandatory follow-up with definitive surgery for all PSD patients undergoing I&D. For certain high-risk subgroups, however, subsequent definitive surgery may be appropriate.

PMID:41239746 | DOI:10.1111/codi.70307

Colorectal Dis. 2025 Nov;27(11):e70309. doi: 10.1111/codi.70309.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:41239745 | DOI:10.1111/codi.70309

Medicine (Baltimore). 2025 Nov 14;104(46):e45738. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000045738.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the clinical improvement of the incremental dosage regimen in allergic rhinitis (AR) patients with low response to sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT). This retrospective study included 65 AR patients with low response to dust mite SLIT after 6-month treatment. Patients were divided into regular-dose (RD) group (n = 23) and high-dose (HD) group (n = 42). The RD group maintained the previous standard dose, while the HD group received the higher tolerated dose and further categorized into 2 subgroups based on increased doses. Total nasal symptoms score (TNSS), total medication score (TMS), combined symptom and medication score (CSMS), and visual analog scale were compared at baseline, 6 months, and 1 year. Safety was assessed by reported adverse events (AEs).There were no significant differences between RD and HD groups at baseline and 6 months. However, patients in the HD group showed significantly lower TNSS, TMS, CSMS, and visual analog scale at 1 year compared to the RD group (all P <.01). Continued improvements in TNSS, TMS, and CSMS were only found in the HD group from 6-month to 1-year treatment (all P <.01). Moreover, there was no statistical difference between HD subgroups at any follow-up points. In addition, a higher proportion of patients in the HD group discontinued medication. No difference was observed in AEs between RD and HD groups. Dose increment after 6-month SLIT treatment could significantly enhance efficacy in low-response AR patients over a 1-year course without raising the risk of AEs.

PMID:41239732 | DOI:10.1097/MD.0000000000045738

Medicine (Baltimore). 2025 Nov 14;104(46):e45928. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000045928.

ABSTRACT

Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer (ChatGPT), a large language model developed by OpenAI, has shown potential in healthcare communication and patient education. However, its performance in specialized medical domains, such as pituitary adenomas (PAs), remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the reliability and consistency of ChatGPT in answering PA-related questions. We hypothesized that ChatGPT would demonstrate high reliability in responding to general patient-oriented queries but lower reliability for specialized clinical questions. A total of 256 PA-related questions were collected from patients and families, clinical practice guidelines, and medical question banks. Each question was input into ChatGPT (GPT-4, March 2025 version), and the generated responses were independently reviewed by 2 senior neurosurgeons. Any discrepancies in their assessments were resolved by a third neurosurgeon with over 30 years of clinical experience. Responses were categorized as completely correct, partially correct but usable, partially correct, or incorrect. Responses rated as completely correct or partially correct but usable were considered reliable. Consistency was assessed based on the stability of response quality across similar question types. Comparisons were made by question type (general vs professional) and source using univariate analysis. Among the 256 responses, 143 (55.8%) were completely correct, 68 (26.6%) were partially correct but usable, 19 (7.4%) were partially correct, and 26 (10.2%) were incorrect. Overall, 82.4% of the responses were considered reliable, and 68.4% demonstrated consistency. Reliability was significantly higher for general questions than for professional ones (95.0% vs 78.6%, OR = 5.182, 95% CI: 1.545-17.378, P = .003), and for guideline-derived questions compared to question bank-derived ones (100.0% vs 75.7%, OR = 1.321, 95% CI: 1.214-1.437, P = .017). Differences in consistency across subgroups were not statistically significant. ChatGPT exhibits high reliability and moderate consistency in answering PA-related questions, especially for general and guideline-based content. It may serve as a supplementary source of patient information but should not replace professional medical consultation, particularly in complex or surgical contexts. As this study was conducted in an artificial testing environment without validation in real patient consultations, the generalizability of the findings remains limited.

PMID:41239728 | DOI:10.1097/MD.0000000000045928