Category: Statistics

Support Care Cancer. 2026 Jun 30;34(7):708. doi: 10.1007/s00520-026-10929-y.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Patients with hematological malignancies are vulnerable to psychological distress in times of crisis. We evaluated emotional burden, including demographic and clinical factors associated with war-related fears and depression severity, as well as coping strategies, and care continuity during the 2023-2025 war in Israel and compared findings to a prior COVID-19 survey.

METHODS: A national cross-sectional survey was conducted in September 2025 among Hebrew-speaking patients with hematological malignancies. Data included sociodemographic and clinical items, disease management, fears (Likert scales), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and three open-ended questions analyzed thematically. Results were compared with a similar 2021 COVID-19 survey.

RESULTS: Of 836 patients approached, 188 responded (22%). War affected many patients: 45% had a relative recruited to the army, and 2% reported evacuation or a family member injured/killed. Treatment disruptions were limited (8% delays, 7% alternative therapy, one deferred CAR-T). Depression was frequent (mean PHQ-9 was 10.4 ± 5.6), with 49% in moderate-to-severe ranges, significantly higher than during COVID-19 (9.2 ± 5.9, p = 0.022). Female sex and the wartime period independently predicted depression severity. Mean fear regarding clinic safety was 1.9 ± 1.4 on a 7-point Likert scale and was higher in women, older and lymphoma patients. Thematic analysis revealed fear/anger about war and government (38%) as the most common difficulty, while family support (23%) was the main coping resource.

CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023-2025 war was associated with greater depression severity despite fewer care disruptions. Hematology services should incorporate systematic screening and psychosocial support to safeguard patient well-being during crises.

PMID:42380344 | DOI:10.1007/s00520-026-10929-y

Nat Comput Sci. 2026 Jun 30. doi: 10.1038/s43588-026-00999-7. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Dimensionality-reduction-based visualization is essential for interpreting complex biological data. Yet, unsupervised methods such as t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding, Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection, and Isomap reflect only the dominant data structure, which may not align with the goals of downstream analysis or expert-provided annotations. Existing supervised variants only partially address this mismatch and introduce new limitations. Here we present RF-PHATE, a supervised visualization approach that incorporates expert knowledge to reveal label-relevant structure while suppressing extraneous variation. RF-PHATE uses random forests to learn relationships between features and labels and translates this information into low-dimensional embeddings. RF-PHATE handles large datasets and is suitable for both classification and regression tasks. We demonstrate its use across four case studies, including longitudinal multiple sclerosis data, Raman spectral measurements of antioxidant effects, outcomes of patients with COVID-19, and RNA sequencing data with simulated dropout. These applications highlight RF-PHATE’s ability to enhance interpretability, manage noise and expose meaningful biological structure, suggesting broad potential for improving data exploration and discovery.

PMID:42380342 | DOI:10.1038/s43588-026-00999-7

Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. 2026 Jul 1;119(7):154. doi: 10.1007/s10482-026-02366-y.

ABSTRACT

River-reservoir systems generate strong hydrological and environmental heterogeneity, often associated with shifts in bacterial communities, yet how spatiotemporal environmental differences jointly shape community variation, assembly processes, and co-occurrence patterns remains poorly resolved at the system scale. Here, we combined 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing with water-quality measurements to characterize bacterial dynamics across sampled riverine and reservoir sections of the Hanjiang River (China) during contrasting seasons. Community composition and diversity differed across sections and seasons, and the distance-decay relationship was steeper in the warm season, suggesting more evident spatial structuring. Assembly mechanisms also shifted: stochastic processes were relatively more prominent in reservoir samples and during the cold season, whereas heterogeneous selection became more evident in warm-season riverine sections. Co-occurrence networks showed seasonal reorganization, transitioning from denser cold-season networks to more modular warm-season structures, with cross-module connectivity increasingly concentrated in topology-defined connector taxa. Among environmental correlates, water temperature-together with covarying conditions reflecting productivity, nutrient availability, and organic-matter status-was consistently associated with community variation, and Threshold Indicator Taxa Analysis (TITAN2) identified a system-specific community-level transition near 19.4 °C along this gradient. Partial least squares path modeling further suggested that temperature was statistically linked to bacterial attributes both directly and indirectly via covarying water-quality conditions, jointly accounting for 66% of community variation within the model. Collectively, these results may support temperature-aware bacterial monitoring and water-quality management in river-reservoir systems.

PMID:42380332 | DOI:10.1007/s10482-026-02366-y

Int Orthop. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1007/s00264-026-06931-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether imageless handheld robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty (rTKA) can achieve time neutrality compared with manual TKA (mTKA) within a standardised workflow, while assessing operating-room (OR) efficiency, environmental impact, and intraoperative workload demand.

METHODS: In this prospective study, 24 consecutive patients undergoing primary TKA were stratified to either rTKA (n = 12) or mTKA (n = 12). A process analysis captured 75 timestamps per case and quantified preparation, surgical, breakdown, turnover, and total OR times. Instrument trays were counted and weighed; reprocessing-related water and electricity consumption and costs were estimated. Perceived workload demand was assessed after both rTKA and mTKA using the NASA Task Load Index.

RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were observed between rTKA and mTKA for any OR time interval (total OR time 79.8 ± 8.1 vs. 75.8 ± 5.3 min, p = 0.19; mean surgical time 40.3 ± 4.2 vs. 37.3 ± 3.9 min, p = 0.10 for rTKA vs. mtKA respectively). The reduction of one tray for rTKA cases corresponded to estimated savings of €13,900, 3,900 L of water, and 140 kWh of electricity in sterilisation based on an annual volume of 250 cases. For rTKA, the NASA-TLX domain scores demonstrated lower perceived workload and frustration for rTKA than for mTKA (all p < 0.001), with a significantly higher perceived performance rating (p = 0.025).

CONCLUSION: Imageless handheld rTKA achieved time neutrality compared with mTKA in a standardised high-volume workflow and was associated with reduced intraoperative workload demand. These findings support the feasibility of integrating handheld robotic assistance without compromising OR efficiency, while potentially improving staff experience and reducing resource utilisation, thereby contributing to value-based arthroplasty care.

PMID:42380330 | DOI:10.1007/s00264-026-06931-y

Eur Radiol. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1007/s00330-026-12705-2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Uterine cancers include endometrial cancer (EC), cervical cancer (CC), and uterine sarcomas, with leiomyosarcoma being the most common subtype. Each tumour type has distinct biological behaviour, imaging features, and treatment approaches. Radiologists must be familiar with normal uterine anatomy and its variations, as well as key imaging characteristics and common patterns of tumour spread to ensure accurate staging and optimal treatment selection. MRI is the imaging modality of choice for evaluating uterine malignancies due to its excellent soft tissue contrast and multiplanar capabilities. Accurate assessment requires dedicated multiparametric protocols, as recommended by the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR), including high-resolution T2-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) sequences when appropriate. 18-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) complements MRI in patients with CC by providing the highest accuracy for detecting lymph-node and distant metastases. CT is mainly used for systemic evaluation. This article presents a practical guide for radiologists, describing the main clinical indications, patient preparation, and tailored MRI protocols. It also highlights key imaging findings that should be evaluated and reported. KEY POINTS: MRI is the preferred imaging modality for evaluating uterine malignancies due to its superior soft tissue contrast and multiplanar capabilities. Common clinical indications include MRI staging of endometrial and cervical cancers, assessment of eligibility for fertility preservation, and characterisation of indeterminate myometrial lesions. Adherence to established imaging guidelines is strongly recommended to ensure high-quality images as well as complete and clinically relevant radiology reports.

PMID:42380325 | DOI:10.1007/s00330-026-12705-2

Sci Rep. 2026 Jun 30;16(1):19929. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-60173-x.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:42380234 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-60173-x

Sci Rep. 2026 Jun 30. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-59917-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Despite efforts to increase gender diversity in leadership, women remain undervalued, mainly due to gender stereotypes portraying females as less competent and of lower status. This study employs a novel mixed-gender dyad collaborative task with electroencephalography (EEG) and dipole source localization to investigate the neural mechanisms underpinning gender-biased rejection decisions in a real-time social context. In half of the trials, the male participants were designated as decision-makers, who evaluated their female partners’ suggestions and provided the final team answer. EEG data collected from the male low-biased (LB) and high-biased (HB) groups, classified according to the Implicit Association Test (IAT), were analyzed during the decision periods which resulted in the rejection of female answers. The HB group rejected their female partners’ choices at 57% in trials with conflict, which was similar in the LB group (55%). However, many rejections by the HB group resulted in wrong decisions (54%) which was significantly lower in the LB group (34%). Although criterion-based bias index from the signal detection theory could not explain this difference, a novel biased-rejection index (BRI), which measured the costly rejection behavior, could significantly separate the two male groups. Dipole source localization based on EEG during the entire decision period revealed significantly lower middle frontal gyrus (MFG), but higher inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) activation in the HB group compared to the LB group. Temporal dynamics analysis (resolution: 0.34 s) further showed (but not at a statistically-significant level) less activation in MFG for the HB group during the early stage, and a similar trend in SFG during the middle stage of cognitive processing. On the other hand, the moment magnitudes of IFG dipoles during the entire decision period were significantly correlated with the IAT D-scores, i.e. less IFG activation with lower implicit bias. Given the limitations of the study (lack of EEG from female decision-makers and 10-20 system montage), these findings suggest altered lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) activations as part of the neural correlates of gender-biased undervaluation of female contributions during a collaborative task.

PMID:42380222 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-59917-6

Nat Commun. 2026 Jun 30. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-74651-3. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Intense tropical cyclones (TCs), which pose serious threats to human life and property, often occur within a short period of time each year, known as the intense TC season. Changes in the lengths of intense TC seasons under climate change are critical scientific and socioeconomic issues. While trends in overall TC seasons have been widely studied, the response of intense TC seasons to climate change remains underexplored. Here, we show that intense TC seasons have been lengthening globally since 1980, with statistically significant increasing trends ranging from 9.9-13.8 days/decade across all basins, equivalent to 7.4-21.9% increase in intense TC season lengths per decade. This is primarily due to the enhancing probability of off-season TCs experiencing rapid intensification, which is partly driven by oceanic warming. Meanwhile, changes in background atmospheric circulation play a role in the complexity of intense TC seasonality change. As a result, off-season TCs are more likely to develop into intense TCs. The findings in this study indicate an increasing exposure of human societies to intense TC risks outside historical seasonal norms. This suggests the urgent need for preparation and mitigation measures for the potential risks of intense TCs under future climate change.

PMID:42380198 | DOI:10.1038/s41467-026-74651-3

Sci Rep. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-58835-x. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Substitution boxes (S-boxes) are a type of nonlinear component which provides confusion and robustness to cryptanalysis in modern symmetric ciphers. Due to the requirements of lightweight encryption (LWE) systems to achieve a high degree of security while minimizing computational overhead, we propose chaos-driven constructions of highly nonlinear S-boxes using permutations of the logistic map to create bijective and statistically randomized substitution patterns. We have extensively evaluated the cryptographic strength of our proposed S-box using standard metrics, including Nonlinearity (NL), Strict Avalanche Criteria (SAC), Bit Independence Criteria (BIC), Balancedness, Differential Approximation Probability (DAP), and Linear Approximation Probability (LAP). Our proposed S-box has demonstrated competitive performance with existing S-boxes by achieving average nonlinearity values of 112.75 and SAC/BIC values very close to ideal thresholds. To demonstrate practical applicability, we have integrated the proposed S-box into an image encryption scheme, where statistical analyses confirm near ideal entropy and negligible pixel correlation, demonstrating strong resistance to both statistical and differential attacks. Additionally, our proposed scheme has achieved comparable levels of security within a smaller number of rounds than traditional methods, thus enhancing both computational efficiency and throughput, making it suitable for real-time and resource-constrained multimedia security applications.

PMID:42380173 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-58835-x

Nat Commun. 2026 Jun 30. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-74759-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The Mid-Pleistocene Transition ( ~ 1200-650 ka) marked a shift to 100-kyr glacial cycles, despite no significant change in insolation cyclicity. In this study, a high-resolution pollen record from the southwestern Iberian margin, combined with climate modeling, reveals a three-phase climate evolution linked to boreal summer insolation amplitude. In the early phase ( ~ 1200-930 ka), strong insolation minima shifted westerlies north, boosting ice accumulation, while maxima promoted melting, limiting ice growth. The middle phase ( ~ 930-790 ka) followed regoliths loss and featured weaker insolation extremes, leading to the southward migration of the westerlies, mega-droughts and greater ice buildup. In the late phase ( ~ 790-680 ka), stronger minima pushed westerlies north, aligning with longer, colder glacials. These findings suggest that changes in insolation amplitude drove shifts in westerly wind patterns, influencing hydroclimate and ice sheet development, and may have contributed to the transition to 100-kyr glacial cycles.

PMID:42380158 | DOI:10.1038/s41467-026-74759-6