Category: Statistics

Med Teach. 2026 Jan 7:1-8. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2025.2607517. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the effectiveness of three retrieval practice strategies: re-solving virtual patient (VP) cases, answering multiple-choice questions (MCQs), and answering short answer questions (SAQs), on long-term memory retention of medical students using a VP simulation platform.

METHODS: Eighty fifth-year medical students participated in a stratified randomized trial conducted in three phases. In the initial learning phase, participants completed a 14-item baseline test (seven MCQs and seven SAQs) to assess prior knowledge and enable stratified randomization. They then engaged with two clinical cases using the Paciente 360^® VP platform. One week later, participants were randomly assigned to one of three retrieval practice conditions: re-solving the original VP cases, answering 24 related MCQs, or answering 24 related SAQs. Six weeks after the intervention, participants completed a 40-item retention test (20 MCQs and 20 SAQs), which included both previously encountered and novel questions to assess long-term retention and transfer of learning.

RESULTS: Participants in the SAQ condition demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in performance over time, while those in the re-solving the virtual case and MCQ conditions maintained their knowledge levels. No significant differences were observed between performance on repeated versus novel questions or between MCQs and SAQs.

CONCLUSIONS: Retrieval practice using VP simulations supports knowledge retention, with SAQs yielding the greatest improvement from baseline. Comparable performance on repeated and novel questions suggests that retrieval practice may also promote transfer of learning to new clinical scenarios.

PMID:41503782 | DOI:10.1080/0142159X.2025.2607517

Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2025 Dec;21(1):2476332. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2025.2476332. Epub 2025 Mar 18.

ABSTRACT

With the gradual improvement in tumor immunotherapy, the incidence of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) has increased. However, according to current research, the relationship between irAEs and prognosis remains a contentious issue. This study used bibliometrics research to investigate hotspots and future trends on the relationship between irAEs and prognosis and to serve as a resource for researchers in this field. In the core literature database of Web of Science, the keywords immune checkpoint inhibitors(ICIs), immune-related adverse events, prognosis were used to search for the articles and reviews in the field of irAEs and prognosis. Set the time parameter to January 2007 to December 2023. Visualization analysis software CiteSpace 6.1.R6, VOSviewer1.6.18 and Carrots2 were used to conduct quantitative statistical and visual research on the author, institution, country, keyword, publication, cited literature, research status, research hotspots and development trends of the relevant research. The analytic research was based on original articles and reviews. 724 articles from 308 countries led by China(147)，the United States(131), and Japan(105) were included. The most popular tumor type is melanoma, small-cell lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma. The focus topics in this field encompass “Myasthenia gravis,” “neurotoxicity,” “liver damage,” “head and neck adverse events,” “colitis,” and “skin adverse events.” This study has provided a valuable reference for future research in this field. Combination therapy, predictive biomarkers, patients’ preexisting conditions, glucocorticoids, prognostic indicators, ICI rechallenge, and other topics could become research hotspots which will help us to identify useful information from complex big data and provide a basis for precise medicine for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

PMID:41503777 | DOI:10.1080/21645515.2025.2476332

Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2025 Dec;21(1):2547514. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2025.2547514. Epub 2025 Aug 25.

ABSTRACT

Neisseria meningitidis infections can cause life-threatening meningitis and septicemia. In Europe, serogroup B (MenB) is the leading cause of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD), particularly in young children. Genomic surveillance of circulating MenB strains through whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides a powerful tool to assess the potential impact of vaccination strategies, including the 4CMenB vaccine, which is available for infants from 2 months of age. Here, we present a retrospective WGS-based analysis of clinical MenB IMD cases (n = 311) recovered in Belgium from 2016 to 2022 by the Belgian National Reference Center. High-quality WGS data were obtained for 281 of these strains, demonstrating high genetic diversity of the antigen targets included in the 4-component meningococcal serogroup B vaccine 4CMenB (fHbp, PorA, NHBA and NadA) and at the 4CMenB Antigen Sequence Types (BAST) level. Novel antigen combinations, not yet assigned a BAST ID, were detected in 23.5% of isolates. Vaccine coverage was predicted using the Genetic Meningococcal Antigen Typing System (gMATS) and the Meningococcal Deduced Vaccine Antigen Reactivity (MenDeVAR) index. Of the 281 strains, 79.5% (lower limit-upper limit: 68.0-91.5%) were predicted to be covered by the vaccine by gMATS, and 80.7% (lower limit-upper limit: 66.5-95.4%) by MenDeVAR. No evidence of variation in vaccine coverage was found throughout the study period nor between different age groups, demonstrating the broad applicability of 4CMenB. This study highlights the benefits of a pathogen surveillance program and the need for experimental characterization of continuously evolving antigenic subvariants of Neisseria meningitidis.

PMID:41503773 | DOI:10.1080/21645515.2025.2547514

Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2025 Dec;21(1):2552062. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2025.2552062. Epub 2025 Aug 26.

ABSTRACT

Patients with asthma are at increased risk of respiratory infections, especially from seasonal influenza. Vaccination is critical for disease management, but uptake remains low, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Vaccine literacy (VL) may influence vaccination behavior. This study aimed to assess VL among asthmatic adults in Jordan and examine its relationship with influenza vaccination, considering demographic, attitudinal, and clinical factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 400 adults with asthma. Participants completed the Arabic version of the Vaccine Literacy Assessment tool (HLVa-Ar), a vaccine attitude scale, a vaccination practices survey, a sociodemographic sheet, and the GINA asthma symptoms test. Binary logistic regression identified predictors of influenza vaccination. The results indicated that only 29.1% of participants reported receiving the influenza vaccine. The median VL score was 34 (IQR: 27-41) out of a maximum score of 56. Regression analysis showed that higher VL scores were significantly associated with increased odds of vaccination (OR = 1.053, 95% CI: 1.024-1.083, p <.001). A more positive attitude toward vaccination also predicted higher vaccination rates (OR = 1.286, 95% CI: 1.167-1.418, p <.001). Conversely, participants earning less than 500 JOD per month were less likely to be vaccinated (OR = 0.450, 95% CI: 0.257-0.787, p = .005). The results confirmed that VL significantly influences vaccination practices. Public health strategies should focus on improving VL, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, to enhance vaccine uptake and asthma control.

PMID:41503772 | DOI:10.1080/21645515.2025.2552062

Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2025 Dec;21(1):2550096. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2025.2550096. Epub 2025 Aug 26.

ABSTRACT

The efficacy and safety of adding immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with potentially resectable gastric cancer (GC) are uncertain. This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant ICIs plus chemotherapy in patients with potentially resectable GC. We retrospectively collected clinical data from patients with potentially resectable GC who received neoadjuvant treatment followed by gastrectomy at the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from 2021 to 2023. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the differences in pathological tumor response (tumor regression grade, TRG) between neoadjuvant programmed cell death-(ligand)1 [PD-(L)1] blockade plus chemotherapy [neoadjuvant immunotherapy (IO) group] and chemotherapy alone (neoadjuvant chemotherapy group). Event-free survival (EFS) and treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were also observed. A total of 220 patients were retrospectively included in the analysis, among whom 96 (43.6%) received PD-(L)1 blockade plus chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment, and 124 (56.4%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Higher pathological complete response (pCR) rate (21 of 96, 21.9% vs. 9 of 124, 7.2%, P = .004) and TRG0/1 rate (36 of 96, 37.5% vs. 22 of 124, 17.7%, P = .001) were detected in the neoadjuvant IO group. By the last follow-up, the median EFS time had not been reached in the two groups. The combined regimen of PD-(L)1 blockade plus chemotherapy was well-tolerated. In patients with potentially resectable GC, neoadjuvant ICIs plus chemotherapy resulted in higher pCR rates than did neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone. However, the difference in EFS rates was not statistically significant.

PMID:41503769 | DOI:10.1080/21645515.2025.2550096

Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2025 Dec;21(1):2550050. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2025.2550050. Epub 2025 Aug 25.

ABSTRACT

DANFLU-1 was an open-label, pragmatic feasibility trial which randomized persons aged 65 to 79 years to high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine (HD-IIV) or standard-dose inactivated influenza vaccine (SD-IIV). The trial found that HDIV was associated with a reduced incidence of death and hospitalization for influenza or pneumonia as compared to SDIV. Bayesian analysis offers a framework for probabilistic interpretation of trial data and provides a method for incorporating prior information into the analysis. This study presents a post-hoc, Bayesian re-analysis of the DANFLU-1 trial. We conducted a Bayesian re-analysis of the DANFLU-1 trial, which randomly assigned 12,477 adults (65-79 years) 1:1 to HDIV or SDIV during the 2021/2022 season. The trial used Danish nationwide registers for data collection including baseline and follow-up data. This re-analysis applied neutral non-informative, evidence-based, and neutral skeptical priors. The evidence-based priors were informed solely by randomized trials published before DANFLU-1. Relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) with 95% credible intervals (CrI), and posterior probabilities were estimated using Bayesian log-binomial regression models. Probabilities of rVE >0%, 10% and 20% were estimated. The findings were consistent across different priors. There was a greater than 95% probability of any benefit (i.e. rVE >0%) for all-cause mortality and hospitalization due to pneumonia/influenza, regardless of the prior used. For pneumonia/influenza hospitalization, the probabilities of rVE >10% were at least 95% with the non-informative and evidence-based priors, while it was 93.2% with the skeptical prior. For all-cause mortality, the probabilities of rVE > 10% ranged from 91.1% to 98.4% across priors. For the remaining outcomes, including cardiorespiratory hospitalization and any hospitalization, the probabilities of of rVE >10% ranged from 25.0% to 59.0% across priors. This Bayesian re-analysis of DANFLU-1 demonstrated robust results, with high probabilities of any benefit (rVE >0%) for all-cause mortality and hospitalization due to pneumonia/influenza. We also found high probabilities of an rVE > 10% for both outcomes, indicating robust findings supportive of clinical benefit. As a feasibility trial, the findings warrant further Bayesian investigation of adequately powered trials.

PMID:41503767 | DOI:10.1080/21645515.2025.2550050

Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2025 Dec;21(1):2550054. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2025.2550054. Epub 2025 Aug 25.

ABSTRACT

While HPV vaccination is effective in prevention of many HPV-associated cancers, only 61.4% of US adolescents were up to date on their HPV vaccinations in 2023. In the period following the COVID-19 pandemic, a decrease in vaccine uptake was reported, along with a rise in vaccine hesitancy. This study aimed to understand these changes to HPV vaccination and vaccine hesitancy that occurred following the COVID-19 pandemic from providers’ perspectives. We conducted 1-hour interviews with 12 participants over video calls that were then de-identified and transcribed. Eleven out of 12 providers noticed changes in their patients’ attitudes toward vaccines after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many providers mentioned COVID vaccine hesitancy impacting the reputation of unrelated vaccinations. Other notable topics included an overwhelming volume of health information, polarization of viewpoints, and lack of trust in authority. Future research would include a larger, more diverse pool of provider participants, as well as incorporate patient interviews. The results of this study emphasize the need to promote health literacy and rebuild trust between patients and the healthcare system to combat vaccine hesitancy.

PMID:41503766 | DOI:10.1080/21645515.2025.2550054

Aging Ment Health. 2026 Jan 7:1-19. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2026.2612737. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Older women in the U.S. report higher rates of poor mental health than older men. Increased physical activity is often recommended to older adults, as it is associated with improved neurocognitive function, mood regulation, and greater social participation. Functional fitness training has been shown to have several benefits for adults, but it is unknown if this exercise modality can have mental health benefits for older women.

METHOD: A systematic literature search was conducted among CINAHL, Global Health, PsycInfo, SportsDiscus, and Web of Science databases with no publication date restrictions for articles describing the mental health outcomes of functional fitness interventions among samples that included women aged 60+ years of age.

RESULTS: Twenty-one articles from 12 countries were analyzed and assessed for risk of bias. Fifteen articles (71%) aligned with our research hypothesis that functional fitness training incurs statistically significant mental health benefits for older women, with outcomes such as reduced anxiety and/or depression and improved general mental health, social functioning, and/or quality of life. Moderate-intensity functional fitness exercise appeared to be as beneficial as high-intensity.

CONCLUSION: Few studies analyzed their results by sex/gender and most studies did not utilize samples of healthy, community-dwelling adults, so recommendations for future research are discussed.

PMID:41503751 | DOI:10.1080/13607863.2026.2612737

Cogn Emot. 2026 Jan 7:1-16. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2025.2606074. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Trypophobia is the phenomenon in which individuals report a range of aversive responses when seeing clusters of small holes. Since the phenomenon was first described in the peer-reviewed literature in 2013, approximately 60 papers have appeared directly concerned with the condition. There have also been hundreds of news articles in both online and print media. In the present review of the literature, we examine why trypophobia is likely to occur. Four explanations have been posited in the past decade. These state that the stimuli (1) induce cortical hyperexcitability via the image statistics they possess, (2) signal the presence of a dangerous/poisonous animal, (3) cue the observer to the presence of disease and (4) are aversive due to a form of social learning. We argue that the available evidence points to the disease avoidance hypothesis as the most likely account of the phenomenon.

PMID:41503743 | DOI:10.1080/02699931.2025.2606074

J Sep Sci. 2026 Jan;49(1):e70348. doi: 10.1002/jssc.70348.

ABSTRACT

The objective was to achieve accurate origins discriminations of flos of Lonicerae japonicae, especially those from the genuine and non-genuine producing areas. An integration strategy was proposed based on machine learning, combining ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-ion mobility chromatography data fusion for geographical origins discrimination of flos of Lonicerae japonicae. Sixty-one batches of flos of Lonicerae japonicae samples from different origins were determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-ion mobility chromatography. Multivariate statistical analysis, including principal component analysis and partial least-squares discriminant analysis were performed for the classification with an accuracy of 80.33% and 96.72%, respectively. Variable importance in projection (VIP>1) screened 9 nonvolatile differential constituents and 32 volatile differential constituents, respectively. The results of machine learning models combined with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-ion mobility chromatography data fusion indicated that the multilayer perceptron, logistic, gradient boosting decision tree, and Decision Tree (CART)) combined with a middle-level data fusion approach, achieve 100% classification accuracy with the training set. Among them, the multilayer perceptron algorithm achieved 100% accuracy for both the training and testing sets. These findings provide methodology support for tracing the origin of flos of Lonicerae japonicae.

PMID:41503737 | DOI:10.1002/jssc.70348