Category: Statistics

ChemSusChem. 2026 Apr 14;19(7):e70598. doi: 10.1002/cssc.70598.

ABSTRACT

Platinum-based catalysts are the core components for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Although platinum catalysts on nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) show promising MOR activity, the coupled variation between Pt and NC during synthesis obscures their individual contributions. Herein, a solid-phase interface reaction (SIR) successfully decouples their interactions, clarifying the role of each component. We define the ripple effect as the long-range electronic modulation induced by Pt-N coordination, which modulates the electronic state of Pt active sites in a long-range manner and thus significantly accelerates MOR reaction kinetics. Based on this, a metal-free catalytic promoter was developed. When combined with commercial 5 wt% Pt/C, the resulting Pt/C@NC-6hr composite exhibits 1.67 times and twice the mass activity of 5 and 20 wt% Pt/C. Furthermore, statistical results indicate that the mass activity derived solely from the Pt on NC is 4.74 times higher than that of the original 5 wt% Pt/C catalyst, demonstrating a remarkably substantial activity enhancement. After 3600 s chronoamperometry at 0.75 V (vs. RHE), it maintains superior current density. This work elucidates the mechanism of microenvironment-enhanced Pt catalysis via the ripple effect and offers a practical strategy for improving commercial Pt/C.

PMID:41904957 | DOI:10.1002/cssc.70598

Brain Behav. 2026 Apr;16(4):e71325. doi: 10.1002/brb3.71325.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Cannabis use among university students is a growing concern, particularly in demanding medical programs. We estimated prevalence, identified predictors, and compared coping strategies among medical students in Uganda.

DESIGN AND METHODS: Cross-sectional survey of 318 undergraduates at Kampala International University (Western Campus). Cannabis use and hazardous/disordered use were screened with CUDIT-R (hazardous 8-11; probable use disorder ≥12, DSM-5-TR aligned). Coping was measured with the Brief COPE. Predictors were assessed using logistic regression; coping differences with the Wilcoxon rank-sum test.

RESULTS: Cannabis use prevalence was 30.8% (n = 98); 7.6% met criteria for hazardous use and 9.4% for probable cannabis use disorder. Independent predictors of use were being separated (AOR = 12.00), being single (AOR = 3.45), Catholic faith (AOR = 2.76), and longer time at campus (AOR = 1.16 per year). Users reported higher emotion-focused and avoidant coping; problem-focused coping did not differ.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Cannabis use among Ugandan medical students is common and associated with relationship status, religion, and time at campus. Coping profiles suggest greater reliance on maladaptive strategies among users. Findings support campus policies and mental-health programs that integrate substance-use screening and strengthen adaptive coping skills.

PMID:41904942 | DOI:10.1002/brb3.71325

Acta Psychol (Amst). 2026 Mar 26;265:106694. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106694. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Previous research has demonstrated that basing self-esteem on performance in a specific context can yield both favorable and adverse outcomes. To assist high achievers whose performance is strongly connected to their self-worth, an important initial step is to identify when this becomes problematic. From a theoretical standpoint, we hypothesize that shame following performance failure may help explain the association between basing self-esteem on performance and negative outcomes related to performance and health. That is, it may be when basing self-esteem on performance develops into shame following performance failure that such consequences emerge. To explore this hypothesis, we conducted a cross-sectional study with 176 elite athletes to examine whether shame following performance failure statistically mediates the associations between basing self-esteem on performance and competitive anxiety and athlete burnout. The findings in the present study were consistent with the idea that shame following performance failure could play a key explanatory role. Initial analyses showed significant direct associations between basing self-esteem on performance and five out of six dimensions of competitive anxiety and athlete burnout, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.42** to -0.22**. However, when shame following performance failure was statistically tested as a potential mediator, these direct effects were substantially reduced and became non-significant (ranging from 0.08 to -0.02). This pattern is statistically consistent with mediation, although it should not be interpreted causally given the cross-sectional nature of the data. Despite limitations, this study may offer an important step toward a better understanding of when, and under what circumstances, basing self-esteem on performance leads to negative outcomes.

PMID:41904927 | DOI:10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106694

Cytokine. 2026 Mar 27;202:157139. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2026.157139. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype, characterized by a lack of targeted therapies and poor prognosis. The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a pivotal role in TNBC progression, with immune mediators such as cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and immune checkpoints driving inflammation, angiogenesis, and immune evasion.

METHODS: We conducted a comparative analysis of 81 immune-related proteins in serum samples from 137 participants: 49 healthy controls (HC), 63 non-TNBC (NTNBC) patients, and 25 TNBC patients. Protein expression was quantified using multiplex immunoassays (ProcartaPlex and MILLIPLEX MAP® panels). Statistical analyses included principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical clustering, receive operating curves (ROC), and pathway enrichment to identify diagnostic biomarkers and molecular networks associated with TNBC aggressiveness. Ou results revealed distinct immune dysregulation in TNBC, characterized by significant overexpression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-12p70, IL-8), chemokines (MIP-1α, Fractalkine), growth factors (VEGF-A, SCF), and immune checkpoints (LAG-3, PD-L1). ROC curve analyses identified LAG-3, Fractalkine, and VEGF-A as the top biomarkers distinguishing healthy controls from TNBC, while IL-5, IL-27, and TNF-β effectively discriminated TNBC from NTNBC. Cytokine network analysis highlighted TSLP, IL-12p70, and IL-17 A as central hubs coordinating Th1/Th17 inflammatory responses, stromal remodeling, and immune evasion, with strong interactions between IL-17 A-ENA-78-SCF and IL-3-IL-21 axes driving TNBC aggressiveness. Stratified analyses further demonstrated stage, grade, and metastasis revealed that IL-12p70, MIP-1α, and IL-18 were elevated in late-stage TNBC; IL-17 A, IL-5, and TWEAK were significantly overexpressed in high-grade tumors; and IFN-γ, IL-8, CTLA-4 and TSLP peaked in metastatic TNBC.

CONCLUSION: Our findings identify immune mediator panels as promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for TNBC.

PMID:41904922 | DOI:10.1016/j.cyto.2026.157139

Neural Netw. 2026 Mar 21;201:108885. doi: 10.1016/j.neunet.2026.108885. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Sentiment analysis remains challenging due to the complex, intertwined relationships among sentiment expressions, contextual cues, and emotional features distributed across heterogeneous data sources. Conventional deep learning and transformer-based models often treat sentiments as isolated units, failing to capture these rich, multi-perspective interactions. To address these limitations, this study introduces a Two-Fold Multi-Perspective Heterogeneous Graph Neural Network (TFMPHGNN) that jointly models sentiment, emotion, and contextual dependencies within a dual-stage heterogeneous graph framework. The first stage employs a meta-path-based encoder integrated with a capsule network to capture hierarchical semantic relationships among sentiment-emotion-context nodes, while the second stage utilizes a multi-channel graph convolutional network (MC-GCN) to learn complementary topological, semantic, and collaborative representations of sentiment-emotion pairs. A variational autoencoder (VAE) further denoises and refines latent embeddings. Experiments on the newly developed VaKSent-2025 corpus show that TFMPHGNN outperforms eight state-of-the-art graph-based baselines by 4.67% in accuracy, 2.7% in F1-micro, and 4.2% in F1-weighted, with statistical significance testing confirming the reliability of these gains. An extended ablation analysis further demonstrates that the collaborative fusion channel achieves 0.9387 accuracy, representing improvements of 7.5% and 7.9% over the topological-only and semantic-only channels, respectively, underscoring the synergistic value of integrating multiple graph perspectives. Collectively, these results indicate that TFMPHGNN effectively captures complex sentiment-emotion interdependencies and offers a robust, interpretable framework for fine-grained sentiment understanding.

PMID:41904902 | DOI:10.1016/j.neunet.2026.108885

Comput Biol Chem. 2026 Mar 24;123:109027. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2026.109027. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Chemical graph theory has provided a rigorous framework to represent molecular structure with graphs and hence, topological indices could be derived in a systematic way and bear enough predictive power. In fact, these indices are critical in the studies of Quantitative Structure Property Relationship (QSPR), as they relate molecular structure to measurable physicochemical properties. Present research focuses on pharmaceuticals for Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and aims to outline the power of topological indices in modelling the physicochemical properties of the commonly used 10 UTIs drugs. Topological indices are first calculated, and then quadratic and cubic polynomial regression models were formulated and compared. Models are evaluated based on statistical criteria to decide on the best-fitted predictive model. Since there is a limited number of observations, Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation (LOOCV) was conducted to confirm the reliability/robustness of the model. Additionally, drugs have been ranked using Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) approaches based on combined values of their structural and property descriptors. The results show that the quadratic regression was validated as the optimal model and consistent SAW and TOPSIS rankings. This paper also showcases the relevance of topological descriptors in QSPR based drug analysis.

PMID:41904899 | DOI:10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2026.109027

Int Dent J. 2026 Mar 27;76(3):109530. doi: 10.1016/j.identj.2026.109530. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The successful completion of orthodontic treatment largely depends on the accuracy of bracket placement. This study aimed to compare the impact of virtual simulation and traditional training on bonding, while also exploring student feedback regarding their learning journey.

METHODS: Twenty dental interns with no experience in orthodontics were randomly assigned either to a traditional training group (Group A) or a virtual simulation training group (Group B). Following their respective trainings, students placed orthodontic brackets on head-simulator models. Three-dimensional bracket deviations (mesiodistal, vertical, and buccolingual) from an ideal reference were quantified using the Geomagic Studio software. Participants’ motivation and satisfaction were also assessed with the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) motivation and learning experience satisfaction questionnaires. Due to the non-normal distribution of the data, the Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare differences between two groups.

RESULTS: The virtual simulation group had less deviation in bracket positioning in the mesiodistal and buccolingual directions than the traditional training group (P < .05). There was no statistically significant difference in the vertical directions (P > .05). Furthermore, the virtual simulation group scored higher in all questionnaire domains, although most of the differences were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION: Within the limitations of this pilot study, differences in selected aspects of the accuracy of bracket positioning were found to be associated with virtual simulation training. The findings suggest that virtual simulation provides learning outcomes comparable to those of traditional training without compromising technical accuracy from an educational perspective. Adoption of this technology is a great addition to modern dental educational curricula. However, more research with larger sample sizes is necessary. With the pilot nature of the study and limited statistical power, the results must be treated with caution.

PMID:41904887 | DOI:10.1016/j.identj.2026.109530

Ann Cardiol Angeiol (Paris). 2026 Mar 27;75(2):102010. doi: 10.1016/j.ancard.2026.102010. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Hypertension in a public health problem in Cameroon. Its adequate management involves the assessment of global cardiovascular risk. This assessment is not always feasible using recommended methods.

OBJECTIVE: Assess the association between hyperuricemia and SCORE2 cardiovascular risk in non-diabetic hypertensive patients aged 40 to 69 years in North Cameroon.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study using a 2022-2023 screening database of employees of an agroindustry. Hyperuricemia was defined as serum uric acid level greater than 70mg/L or a past history of gout. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure greater or equal to 140mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure greater or equal to 90mmHg. We calculated cardiovascular risk using SCORE2. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0.

RESULTS: We included 588 participants (97.3% men) with a median age of 50 years [46-54]. Most patients had either a high (64.1%) or very high (34.7%) estimated cardiovascular risk. There was no significant difference in the median SCORE2 in patients with or without hyperuricemia.

CONCLUSION: Hyperuricemia is not associated to cardiovascular risk in a group of non-diabetic hypertensive patients in North Cameroon. However, our sample is not representative of the general population with hypertension.

PMID:41904884 | DOI:10.1016/j.ancard.2026.102010

Oral Oncol. 2026 Mar 27;176:107957. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2026.107957. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In 2018, an initiative at the authors’ institution aimed at reducing routine prophylactic tracheostomies for head and neck reconstructions with free flaps was implemented. Discussion between the surgical team and anesthesia about if a tracheostomy should be performed became the standard of care. The safety of this selective approach is assessed.

METHODS: Retrospective review of patients ≥18-years who underwent a free flap for oral or oropharyngeal primaries from 2015 to 2021 at a single centre. Statistical analysis included subgroup analysis of patients pre-vs. post-2018.

RESULTS: A total of 411 patients were included. Prophylactic tracheostomy rates decreased from 92.6% to 42.7% pre-2018 to post-2018. There was no significant difference in airway compromise or flap failure rates with non-tracheostomy. Post-2018, variables associated with tracheostomies included oropharynx primaries, advanced clinical nodal disease, and bilateral neck dissection (p < 0.05). On multivariate regression, surgical time (OR 1.182, p < 0.001), anesthetic time (OR 1.165, p < 0.001) and advanced clinical nodes (OR 1.304, p < 0.05) had increased odds of tracheostomy post-2018, while scapula vs. radial forearm free flaps had decreased odds (OR 0.717, p < 0.05). Patients with tracheostomies had longer hospital stays and more observed post-operative complications (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Prophylactic tracheostomies can be safely avoided in select patients undergoing oral and oropharyngeal free flaps, with no difference in airway or flap failure complications. These findings support multidisciplinary discussion between surgical and anesthetic teams regarding the indications for tracheostomies in head and neck cases. Further prospective studies are needed to identify exact criteria for tracheostomies in head and neck reconstructions with free flaps.

PMID:41904868 | DOI:10.1016/j.oraloncology.2026.107957

Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2026 Mar 19;100:138-147. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2026.03.018. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Depression is a common and debilitating comorbidity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), adversely affecting glycemic control, complicating disease management, and increasing mortality risk. Non-pharmacological therapies are increasingly used to alleviate depression in T2DM, but their comparative efficacy remains unclear. This network meta-analysis (NMA) aims to compare the efficacy of different non-pharmacological therapies for depression in patients with T2DM, while also evaluating their effects on anxiety and glycemic control.

METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, EBSCO, Cochrane Library, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang, VIP, and CBM from the inception of each database until May 9, 2025, to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effects of seven non-pharmacological therapies on depression in patients with T2DM. When reported in the included trials, we also analyzed anxiety and glycemic control as secondary outcomes. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data according to predefined criteria, and assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool 2.0. The relative effectiveness of therapies was ranked using the Surface Under the Cumulative Ranking curve (SUCRA). Statistical analysis used R and Stata 15.0.

RESULTS: This NMA included 68 RCTs reporting depression outcomes from 10,090 patients. Among these trials, 28 also reported anxiety outcomes and 46 also reported glycemic control outcomes. The results demonstrated that acupoint therapy (SMD = -1.25, 95%CI [-2.13, -0.38]), comprehensive nursing intervention (SMD = -1.14, 95%CI [-1.75, -0.52]), and cognitive behavioral therapy (SMD = -1.11, 95%CI [-1.54, -0.67]) were more effective than usual care for improving depression in T2DM patients. For anxiety level reduction, exercise therapy (SMD = -1.51, 95%CI [-2.56, -0.47]) showed the greatest improvement among the therapies evaluated. Acupoint therapy (SMD = -2.24, 95%CI [-3.66, -0.82]) and exercise therapy (SMD = -1.56, 95%CI [-2.42, -0.70]) were associated with glycated hemoglobin reduction compared to usual care.

CONCLUSIONS: Acupoint therapy may be the most effective therapy for improving both depression levels and glycemic control in patients with T2DM, whereas exercise therapy may be the preferred option for reducing anxiety. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution due to the limited number of head-to-head trials and the moderate to low quality of evidence for most comparisons. Future high-quality RCTs should be conducted to validate these findings.

PMID:41904854 | DOI:10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2026.03.018