Category: Statistics

Sci Rep. 2026 Apr 1. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-46945-5. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In situ and satellite-based oceanographic data are essential to understanding marine dynamics. In this study, we explore the ability of seawater temperature profiles along the water column, reconstructed from data collected by satellite-tagged loggerhead sea turtles, to capture ocean thermal structures. Temperature and depth data collected by seven loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) equipped with satellite tags in the Adriatic and northern Ionian Seas were compared with Copernicus Marine model products. Discrepancies between observed and CMEMS MedFS data primarily occur at intermediate (15 to 50 m) and greater depths (50 to 100 m), especially during summer and winter seasons, when stratification and limited deep-water observations reduce accuracy. These differences were most pronounced in dynamically complex areas such as the Western Adriatic Coastal Current (WACC) region and in the northern and middle Adriatic Seas, where fine-scale coastal processes and intense winter cooling challenge the resolution of both the CMEMS MedFS data and the animal-borne sensors. Although limited in sample size, the dataset offers a valuable opportunity to evaluate the additional observational insights provided by animal-borne sensors in challenging oceanographic environments, emphasizing the complementary role of turtle-borne observations within existing monitoring networks.

PMID:41917382 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-46945-5

Esophagus. 2026 Apr 1. doi: 10.1007/s10388-026-01199-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In the global phase 3 RATIONALE-306 study (NCT03783442), first-line tislelizumab plus chemotherapy showed significant overall survival (OS) benefit versus chemotherapy alone for unresectable locally advanced/metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We report post hoc results for the Japanese subgroup.

METHODS: Eligible Japanese patients were randomized (1:1) to tislelizumab 200 mg or placebo every 3 weeks plus chemotherapy (cisplatin plus fluoropyrimidine) and included in the Japanese analysis set. Endpoints included OS, progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), OS in patients with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) Tumor Area Positivity (TAP) score ≥ 10%, and safety.

RESULTS: Overall, 66/649 (10.2%) patients were randomized in Japan (n = 33 per arm). After a minimum follow-up of 37.9 months (data cutoff November 24, 2023), tislelizumab plus chemotherapy showed improvements in median OS versus placebo plus chemotherapy (24.5 vs. 15.1 months; hazard ratio [HR]: 0.75; 95% CI 0.43-1.30). An improvement in OS was also seen in patients with PD-L1 TAP score ≥ 10% (HR: 0.79; 95% CI 0.26-2.36). There was improvement in median PFS (HR: 0.77; 95% CI 0.45-1.32) and a higher ORR (63.6% vs. 45.5%) in the tislelizumab plus chemotherapy versus placebo plus chemotherapy arm, respectively. Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) with tislelizumab plus chemotherapy versus placebo plus chemotherapy occurred in, respectively, 45.5% versus 36.4% (any-grade) and 27.3% versus 6.1% (grade ≥ 3) of patients. No TRAE-related deaths occurred.

CONCLUSIONS: After 3 years, first-line tislelizumab plus chemotherapy demonstrated sustained efficacy and a tolerable safety profile in Japanese patients with unresectable locally advanced/metastatic ESCC, consistent with the global RATIONALE-306 population.

PMID:41917381 | DOI:10.1007/s10388-026-01199-y

Eur J Pediatr. 2026 Apr 1;185(4):232. doi: 10.1007/s00431-026-06873-y.

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have suggested an association between certain allergic diseases and school bullying among children. However, there is still a lack of population-based evidence concerning any allergic disease, especially among East Asian populations. This observational study aimed to examine the association between childhood allergic diseases and school bullying. A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 3114 students from primary and secondary schools in Longhua district, Shenzhen, China. Data on physician-diagnosed allergic disease and school bullying among children were collected via self-administered structured questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We further evaluated whether sex, body mass index (BMI), and household economic status modified the association between allergic disease and school bullying. A total of 989 cases of childhood allergic diseases, including atopic dermatitis (13.8%), food allergies (7.8%), allergic rhinitis (18.5%), and asthma (1.2%), were identified. Logistic regression analysis revealed that children with allergies were more likely to experience bullying at school, both those with any allergic disease and those specifically diagnosed with atopic dermatitis, food allergies, or asthma. The associations between allergic diseases and school bullying among children and adolescents were independent of sex, BMI classification, and household economic status.

CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests a link between allergic diseases and exposure to school bullying among children and adolescents. These findings emphasise the importance of increasing awareness of the risk of school bullying among young people with allergic diseases.

WHAT IS KNOWN: • Childhood allergic diseases, including atopic dermatitis, food allergies, and asthma, are associated with an increased risk of school bullying. • Population-based evidence from East Asian populations is lacking regarding the association between these allergic diseases and bullying.

WHAT IS NEW: • This large cross-sectional study of 3114 schoolchildren in Shenzhen, China, confirms that children with allergic diseases-particularly atopic dermatitis, food allergy, or asthma-are at increased risk of experiencing school bullying. • The results of this study further demonstrated that in this East Asian population, the link between childhood allergic diseases and school bullying remained consistent regardless of sex, BMI classification, or household economic status.

PMID:41917342 | DOI:10.1007/s00431-026-06873-y

Int J Clin Oncol. 2026 Mar 31. doi: 10.1007/s10147-026-03023-0. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Excessive accumulation of visceral adipose tissue (VAT), or obesity, has an association with cholangiocarcinoma prognosis. We hypothesized that qualitative assessment of VAT would have prognostic significance as well as quantitative assessment. The aim of this study was to measure ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) uptake in visceral fat by ¹⁸F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT) and to investigate the prognostic significance of the qualitative assessment of VAT.

METHODS: We retrospectively studied 103 patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma who underwent surgical resection from April 2017 to April 2023. ¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT was performed before surgery, and the standardized uptake value (SUV) of VAT and blood pool were measured. The VAT-to-blood pool SUV ratio (VBR) was calculated as the ratio of VAT-SUV to blood pool SUV.

RESULTS: The optimal VBR cutoff value to predict overall survival (OS) was 0.360. Compared with the low VBR group, the high VBR group was significantly associated with lower body mass index, skeletal muscle index, visceral fat area, subcutaneous fat area, and liver SUV. In the multivariate analysis, patients with a high VBR had poorer OS compared with those with a low VBR. Moreover, the VBR was significantly higher in patients with vs without malnutrition by the GLIM criteria. The VBR showed the lowest Akaike information criteria statistic value among the assessed parameters, indicating that it had the best ability to predict OS.

CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that the VBR, determined by ¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT, is associated with the malnutrition and poor OS after resection of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

PMID:41917337 | DOI:10.1007/s10147-026-03023-0

Sci Rep. 2026 Mar 31. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-46709-1. Online ahead of print.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:41917306 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-46709-1

Sci Rep. 2026 Mar 31. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-46559-x. Online ahead of print.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:41917258 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-46559-x

Sci Rep. 2026 Mar 31. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-46811-4. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Real-time cybersecurity systems continue to have a significant problem in detecting breaches in dynamic and highly unbalanced network streams. An online evolving spiking neural network (OeSNN-UAD) and an integrated extreme learning machine (ELM) as an analytical readout optimizer are combined with spiking convolutional layers for spatiotemporal feature extraction in this paper’s unified hybrid SCNN-OeSNN-ELM framework. In order to provide discriminative temporal representations, Gaussian Receptive Fields (GRFs) encode streaming inputs into spike trains, which are then processed by spiking convolutional layers. These characteristics are then supplied into a developing OeSNN reservoir whose output connections are analytically optimized by the ELM, allowing for low-memory operation, online adaptation, and quick, non-iterative learning without the need for labeled input. The suggested framework routinely outperforms current spiking-based baselines (Vacuum Spiker and Hybrid SNN-IOMT), as shown by experiments on the Numenta Anomaly Benchmark (NAB) under a streaming protocol and robustness validation on CIC-IDS2017. The model’s relative detection increases are usually between 3 and 10% on NAB and 3 and 6% on CIC-IDS2017, and it delivers moderate but statistically significant improvements across precision, recall, F1-score, balanced accuracy, and MCC. The framework also shows enhanced latency and energy efficiency due to its event-driven spiking computing and analytical ELM optimization.

PMID:41917255 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-46811-4

Sci Rep. 2026 Mar 31. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-46350-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The study of associations between an individual’s age and imaging and non-imaging data is an active research area that attempts to aid understanding of the effects and patterns of aging. In this work, we have conducted a supervoxel-wise association study between both volumetric and tissue attenuation features in coronary computed tomography angiograms (CCTA) and the chronological age of a subject, to understand the localized changes in morphology and CT attenuation (as a measure of tissue density) with age. To enable a supervoxel-wise correlation study, we developed a novel method based on image segmentation, inter-subject image registration, and robust supervoxel-based correlation analysis to achieve a statistical association study between the images and age. We evaluated the registration methodology in terms of the Dice coefficient for the heart chambers and myocardium, and the inverse consistency of the transformations, showing that the method works well in most cases with high overlap and inverse consistency. In a sex-stratified study conducted on a subset of [Formula: see text] images from the SCAPIS study, the supervoxel-wise analysis was able to find localized associations with age outside of the commonly segmented and analyzed sub-regions, and several substantial differences between the sexes in the association of age and volume.

PMID:41917232 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-46350-y

Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2026 Mar 31. doi: 10.1007/s00266-026-05761-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Stabilizing the nasal tip is often one of the most challenging aspects of rhinoplasty, and various factors can lead to its deviation. This paper presents a new technique called the backstay suture to improve nasal tip stability.

METHODS: In this longitudinal case series study (Level III evidence), conducted in accordance with STROBE guidelines, data were collected from all patients treated with the backstay suture from 2017 to 2023. Patients with incomplete information were excluded. Patients were assessed preoperatively and up to twelve months postoperatively. Outcomes included patient-reported satisfaction, the presence of postoperative nasal tip deviation assessed by three facial plastic surgeons, and the need for reoperation or additional procedures recorded as binary outcomes.

RESULTS: A total of 147 patients met the inclusion criteria. The overall satisfaction rate was 85.7% and was comparable to weighted literature estimates (p = 0.36). The nasal obstruction rate was 12.2% (p = 0.82), and the overall reoperation rate was 12.2% (p = 0.82). Minor revision surgeries accounted for 88.8% of reoperations. Nasal tip deviation requiring correction occurred in four patients (2.7%), which was significantly lower than the weighted average reported in the literature (z = – 2.52, p = 0.0118, 95% CI: 0.1-5.3%). Three of these patients had preoperative deviations, and one presented with weak cartilage support. Multivariate logistic regression analysis did not identify age, sex, or deformity type as statistically significant predictors of dissatisfaction, reoperation, or postoperative nasal tip deviation.

CONCLUSIONS: The backstay suture technique was associated with a low rate of postoperative nasal tip deviation in this case series and may represent a useful adjunct in selected rhinoplasty cases. Further comparative studies are warranted to better define its role relative to other stabilization techniques.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

PMID:41917227 | DOI:10.1007/s00266-026-05761-y

Sci Rep. 2026 Mar 31. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-45461-w. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

To examine the associations between immune-inflammatory status and exercise capacity and psychological status in hospitalized patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD), and to inform multidimensional patient characterization. In this cross-sectional study, consecutively hospitalized patients with AECOPD were enrolled and classified into Grade I, II, and III according to predefined severity criteria. General clinical data were collected. Peripheral blood T-lymphocyte subsets (CD3⁺%, CD4⁺%, CD8⁺%, and CD4⁺/CD8⁺ ratio) and inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, WBC, and hs-CRP) were measured. Exercise capacity, symptom burden, psychological status, and activities of daily living were assessed using the 6-minute walk test (6MWT), modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea scale, Borg scale, COPD Assessment Test (CAT), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale. Group differences across severity grades were compared, and correlation analyses were performed to evaluate relationships between immune-inflammatory markers and clinical outcomes. Across increasing AECOPD severity grades, CD3⁺% and CD4⁺% decreased, whereas CD8⁺% showed a non-significant increasing trend. Inflammatory markers such as IL-8, WBC, and hs-CRP increased with severity grade, whereas IL-6 and TNF-α did not show significant overall differences across the three groups. The 6MWT distance decreased with higher severity grade, and Borg, CAT, HADS-A, and HADS-D scores increased. mMRC and ADL did not show statistically significant overall differences across severity grades. CD4⁺% and the CD4⁺/CD8⁺ ratio were positively correlated with 6MWT distance and negatively correlated with CAT, while CD8⁺% was negatively correlated with 6MWT distance and ADL and positively correlated with CAT.Among inflammatory markers, several showed significant correlations with 6MWT distance, Borg, CAT, and selected psychological or ADL outcomes, while others were non-significant. In hospitalized AECOPD patients, immune-inflammatory profiles varied across severity grades and were associated with exercise capacity, symptom burden, psychological status, and daily functioning. Integrating immune-inflammatory markers with functional and psychological assessments may support more comprehensive characterization of patients. Prospective multicenter studies are warranted to evaluate prognostic utility and clarify temporal relationships.

PMID:41917220 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-45461-w