Nevin Manimala

BMC Oral Health. 2025 May 22;25(1):763. doi: 10.1186/s12903-025-06149-1.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of ScholarGPT, ChatGPT-4o and Google Gemini in responding to queries pertaining to endodontic apical surgery, a subject that demands advanced specialist knowledge in endodontics.

METHODS: A total of 30 questions, including 12 binary and 18 open-ended queries, were formulated based on information on endodontic apical surgery taken from a well-known endodontic book called Cohen’s pathways of the pulp (12th edition). The questions were posed by two different researchers using different accounts on the ScholarGPT, ChatGPT-4o and Gemini platforms. The responses were then coded by the researchers and categorised as ‘correct’, ‘incorrect’, or ‘insufficient’. The Pearson chi-square test was used to assess the relationships between the platforms.

RESULTS: A total of 5,400 responses were evaluated. Chi-square analysis revealed statistically significant differences between the accuracy of the responses provided applications (χ² = 22.61; p < 0.05). ScholarGPT demonstrated the highest rate of correct responses (97.7%), followed by ChatGPT-4o with 90.1%. Conversely, Gemini exhibited the lowest correct response rate (59.5%) among the applications examined.

CONCLUSIONS: ScholarGPT performed better overall on questions about endodontic apical surgery than ChatGPT-4o and Gemini. GPT models based on academic databases, such as ScholarGPT, may provide more accurate information about dentistry. However, additional research should be conducted to develop a GPT model that is specifically tailored to the field of endodontics.

PMID:40405212 | DOI:10.1186/s12903-025-06149-1

Hum Resour Health. 2025 May 22;23(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s12960-025-00991-8.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The English National Health Service (NHS) strives for a fair, diverse, and inclusive workplace, but Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) representation in senior leadership roles remains limited. To address this, a large multi-hospital acute NHS Trust introduced an inclusive recruitment programme, requiring ethnically and gender diverse interview panels and a letter to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) explaining hiring manager’s candidate choice. This generated large amount of valuable structured and free-text data, but manual analysis to derive actionable insights is challenging, limiting efforts to evaluate and improve such equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) recruitment initiatives.

METHODS: Using this routinely collected recruitment data from the programme between September 2021 to January 2024, we used natural language processing artificial intelligence techniques, triangulated with secondary data analysis, to evaluate the programme’s effectiveness in increasing the number of BME appointees to senior leadership roles. Multivariate logistic regression identified recruitment factors that influence the odds of BME candidates applying, being shortlisted or offered a role compared to white candidates. Topic and sentiment analysis revealed thematic trends and tone of candidate assessments, stratified by hiring manager and candidate characteristics. Normalised average interview scores were also compared by job grades and candidate characteristics.

RESULTS: The requirement for hiring managers to write a letter to the CEO explaining recruitment decisions raised the odds of a BME candidate being offered a role by 1.7 times [95% CI 1.2-2.3] compared to white candidates. However, white candidates still had higher overall odds of being offered senior roles. BME candidates scored lower in interviews, with BME women twice as likely (p < 0.05) to receive negative assessments compared to white women.

CONCLUSIONS: The Letter to the CEO component of the inclusive recruitment programme increased BME representation in senior leadership roles, but inequities still persist in the recruitment process, reflecting national NHS recruitment trends. While the initiative marks progress, further strategies are needed to ensure equitable recruitment, career development, and retention. Artificial intelligence tools, such as natural language processing, provide effective methods to evaluate and enhance EDI recruitment initiatives by analysing routinely collected recruitment data to identify areas for improvement and establish best practices.

PMID:40405205 | DOI:10.1186/s12960-025-00991-8

Malar J. 2025 May 22;24(1):161. doi: 10.1186/s12936-025-05249-1.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Malaria remains a major public health problem in Cameroon where it accounts for high rates of morbidity and mortality. The management of the disease has been made worst in the North West region of Cameroon and in Dumbu in particular by the on-going socio-political crisis since 2016, which has limited the transport of drugs to this community and has also forced the inhabitants of this community to rely on traditional concoctions for treatment with the notion that it is cheap. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of malaria, assess the malaria awareness level, the treatment-seeking behaviours, and its implications on the prevalence of malaria in the Dumbu community.

METHODS: Questionnaires were administered to consented individuals. Blood samples were collected by finger prick using sterile lancets and blood films prepared on well labelled glass slides. The dry blood films were stained using a 3% Giemsa staining solution for 30 min. Data was collected were later analysed using SPSS.

RESULTS: Out of the 385 persons screened, malaria was recorded in 107 persons (27.8%). Those in the age group 11-25 years old were the most infected with malaria prevalence of 32.3% (41/127) while those in the age group ≥ 50 years recorded the least prevalence [19.3% (11/57)] and the difference was not significant (χ² = 3.716, p = 0.294). Yaoundé quarter recorded the highest prevalence 32.7% (35/107) and males were more infected than females. On awareness level, they have heard of malaria and knew its causal agent to be an infected mosquito, 48.3% considered fever as the sign of the infection. Sixty-nine-point 8 percent (69.8%) of the population rushes to the health centre for treatment while 5.6% prefers herbal treatment.

CONCLUSION: Malaria is still a health challenge in this area and people infected should be advised to seek treatment, whenever they have malaria from a health facility to ensure that the treatment given is appropriate.

PMID:40405204 | DOI:10.1186/s12936-025-05249-1

BMC Palliat Care. 2025 May 22;24(1):141. doi: 10.1186/s12904-025-01753-y.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Pediatric palliative care (PPC) aims to alleviate suffering, improve quality of life, and facilitate decision-making for patients, families, and healthcare professionals. Specifically, PPC in neonatal patients influences their quality of life by considering the fragility and complexity of their diagnoses when performing clinical interventions. However, to date, data on newborn patients and their specialized palliative care needs is limited. Therefore, this study aims to describe the clinical characteristics of neonatal patients requiring pediatric palliative care in a specialized center of health in a low- and middle-income country in Latin America.

METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study. Neonatal patients with at least 40 weeks of corrected gestational age were included. A review of medical records was conducted to obtain information about clinical outcomes and medical management. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed considering the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the patients. The therapeutic strategies implemented were described, comparing deceased and surviving patients using the Chi2 test, Mann-Whitney U test, or Fisher’s Exact test.

RESULTS: 263 individuals were included, of which 55.13% (n = 145) were males. The median gestational age was 35 weeks (IQR 28-38), and the median birth weight was 1,119 g (IQR 610-1760). The most frequent diagnosis was trisomy 21 in 30% (n = 79), followed by severe congenital heart disease in 25.5% (n = 67). The median length of hospitalization was 25 days (IQR 8-53), adherence to the established palliative care plan was 99.6% (n = 262), and 58% (n = 152) of patients required weekly follow-up by pediatric palliative care. Additionally, 81.37% (n = 214) received social work support, and 94.68% received spiritual support. Regarding clinical outcomes, 140 patients died. Among these, respiratory distress (n = 135, 96.42%) and seizures (n = 87, 54.37%) were the most frequent symptoms in the last 24 h of life. Deceased patients had a higher NEOMOD score and lower gestational age, which were statistically significant compared to surviving patients.

CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of a palliative care program in a neonatal unit facilitates multidisciplinary care that provides comfort to patients with life-limiting conditions and supports their families. Our findings highlight the importance of strengthening advanced care planning both prenatal and postnatal, being essential strategies in care.

PMID:40405201 | DOI:10.1186/s12904-025-01753-y

Comput Biol Chem. 2025 May 18;119:108511. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2025.108511. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease based on gene expression data extracted from microarrays is still an open field of research. Due to the availability of whole-genome data through microarrays technology, diagnosis accuracy is expected to be improved. Despite the high potential of the data prepared by the technology, their analysis on different platforms shows that they may differ for different samples concerning biomarker status. This affects the diagnosis accuracy because of the existing bias between two experimental conditions. To address this problem, we propose a pipeline-based approach to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease using statistical analysis of biological data combined with artificial intelligence techniques. At first, the B-statistics and a new score based on a gene interaction network are used to evaluate genes. The B-statistics helps us to find differentially expressed genes. The new score, called the evidence score, measures the compliance level of the differentially expressed genes with past biological evidence. Next, we use artificial intelligence methods to find the subset of genes that define high separability between normal and affected samples. To this end, we employed a genetic algorithm to find the optimal subset. The performance of the pipeline was compared with other state-of-the-art methods. The results indicate that the proposed method can obtain fruitful predictive performance for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. All the codes implemented in this study are available online at https://github.com/HamedKAAC/AD-gene-selection.

PMID:40403352 | DOI:10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2025.108511

Clin Radiol. 2025 Apr 17;86:106933. doi: 10.1016/j.crad.2025.106933. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: This study compares image quality, contrast agent dosage, and radiation exposure between an advanced precision scanning technique and traditional computed tomography angiography (CTA) scanning methods of the lower limb.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cohort of 89 patients with suspected lower limb arterial disease was randomly assigned to precise (A) and traditional (B) CTA scanning. group A used variable helical pitch (VHP), while group B used a standard pitch scanning technique. Computed tomography values and image noise were assessed at five anatomical locations, including the lumbar 4 level (abdominal aorta), iliac artery level, popliteal artery level, ankle joint level, and dorsal foot level in both groups. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were computed for each segment, followed by statistical analysis.

RESULTS: Both subjective (SNR, CNR, and CT values) and objective evaluations (evaluation scores of two radiologists) demonstrated superior image quality of lower extremity arteries in group A. The subjective metric was significantly higher in lower limb CTA, particularly at the ankle and dorsum of foot images (all P<0.001), and the subjective score for group A was 21% higher than that of group B (P<0.05). In terms of patients’ radiation dose and contrast agent dosage, group A exhibited a 16.23% reduction in radiation dose and a 12.28% reduction in contrast agent dosage compared to group B, respectively (both P<0.001).

CONCLUSION: The use of VHP in CTA scanning enhances distal blood vessel visualisation, improves image quality, and reduces radiation exposure and contrast agent consumption, offering substantial clinical benefits.

PMID:40403343 | DOI:10.1016/j.crad.2025.106933

Clin Radiol. 2025 Apr 26;86:106942. doi: 10.1016/j.crad.2025.106942. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIM: The aim of this study was to determine whether intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) can differentiate benign, intermediate, and malignant soft-tissue tumours (STTs) of the extremities and trunk.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively recruited 100 STT patients (32, 15, and 53 patients with benign, intermediate, and malignant tumours, respectively). The patients underwent IVIM and DKI, and the following parameters were measured: standard apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), perfusion fraction (f), true diffusion coefficient (D_slow), pseudo-diffusion coefficient (D_fast), water diffusion heterogeneity index (α), distributed diffusion coefficient (DDC), mean diffusivity (MD), and mean kurtosis (MK). Statistical analyses were performed using receiver operating characteristic curves, the Kruskal-Wallis H test, and post hoc test with Bonferroni correction.

RESULTS: Standard ADC, D_slow, DDC, and MD values gradually decreased from benign to intermediate and malignant STTs. Intermediate STTs displayed a lower f value than benign tumours (P=0.029). The MK value was higher in malignant tumours than in intermediate and benign tumours (P=0.021 and <0.001, respectively). The DDC value best differentiated benign tumours from nonbenign (intermediate and malignant) tumours (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.884, 0853, and 0.892, respectively). The optimal MK cut-off value for differentiating intermediate and malignant tumours was 0.65 (sensitivity: 73.33%, specificity: 81.13%, accuracy: 79.41%).

CONCLUSION: IVIM and DKI parameters were helpful for differentiating benign, intermediate, and malignant STTs and can complement conventional MRI, with DDC and MK values showing high diagnostic efficacy.

PMID:40403342 | DOI:10.1016/j.crad.2025.106942

JCO Glob Oncol. 2025 May;11:e2400525. doi: 10.1200/GO-24-00525. Epub 2025 May 22.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The lack of culturally appropriate tools is a key obstacle to the identification of unmet social needs in the cancer population of Nigeria. To support sustainable strategies for social needs screening and intervention, this study aimed to develop and validate a health-related social needs screening tool for the prostate cancer population in Nigeria.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was performed in three stages at three Nigerian tertiary hospitals: (1) instrument adaptation using the Health Leads social needs screening toolkit as the primary framework, which involved domain specification and question item prioritization through three rounds of Delphi surveys among 15 health care workers, 15 patients with prostate cancer, and 15 caregivers; (2) face validation among 10 patients with prostate cancer through cognitive interviews for feedback on format, language clarity, ease of answering, comprehensiveness and applicability, and then member checking to review and approve question modifications; and (3) pilot testing for reliability analysis and readability assessment among 30 patients with prostate cancer. Descriptive and inferential statistics and qualitative analysis were performed.

RESULTS: During the first Delphi round, the highest three of the 10 top-ranking domains were financial resource strain (84%), sociodemographics (80%), and behavioral/mental health (80%). For single-question item prioritization, an agreement was reached in the employment, education, social isolation, and supports domains during the second round, and for the remaining domains during the third round. The format, clarity, ease of answering, and comprehensiveness of seven question items were modified, and two question items were substituted during face validation. The modified tool had a Cronbach’s α of .67 and was considered appropriate for second-grade readers.

CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this study developed the first screening tool with acceptable internal validity and understandability to assess social needs in the prostate cancer population of Nigeria.

PMID:40403311 | DOI:10.1200/GO-24-00525

Obstet Gynecol. 2025 May 22. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000005937. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the association between doula support and cesarean delivery compared with standard of care.

DATA SOURCES: We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies comparing in-person intrapartum doula support with standard care. We searched studies published in Ovid Medline, Embase.com, Scopus, Cochrane Central, and ClinicalTrials.gov before August 30, 2024. The primary outcome was cesarean delivery. Secondary outcomes included operative vaginal delivery, low 5-minute Apgar score, and regional anesthesia.

METHODS OF STUDY SELECTION: Titles, abstracts, and articles were screened and reviewed by two authors. Eighteen studies were included in the final analysis (n=367,662): eight RCTs (n=2,497) and 10 observational studies (n=365,165). The primary analysis was restricted to RCTs. Additional analyses were limited to studies that were observational, high quality (Downs and Black quality score in top quartile), or RCTs conducted in the United States.

TABULATION, INTEGRATION, AND RESULTS: Random-effects models were used to calculate pooled relative risks (RRs) and weighted mean difference. Heterogeneity was assessed with the Cochran Q test and I2 statistic. Intrapartum doula support was associated with a lower rate of cesarean delivery compared with standard care in RCTs (n=7, 17.5% doula support vs 23.6% standard care, pooled RR 0.71, 95% CI, 0.53-0.95). However, there were substantial study heterogeneity (I2=60.1%) and borderline evidence of small-study effects, which could suggest publication bias (Harbord test P=.046). Patients receiving intrapartum doula support in RCTs had significantly lower rates of operative vaginal delivery (n=5, 7.9% doula support vs 13.2% standard care, pooled RR 0.64, 95% CI, 0.44-0.94, I2=46.0%) but no difference in low 5-minute Apgar score (n=3, 1.6% doula support vs 4.1% standard care, pooled RR 0.47, 95% CI, 0.16-1.34; I2=0%) or regional anesthesia (n=7, 57.3% doula support vs 69.5% standard care, pooled RR 0.64, 95% CI, 0.36-1.12, I2=98.75%). Findings were similar in a sensitivity analysis limited to high-quality studies. Doula support was associated with lower cesarean delivery rates among all subgroup analyses except RCTs in the United States (four studies, 16.1% doula support vs 22.2% standard care, pooled RR 0.71, 95% CI, 0.47-1.06).

CONCLUSION: Intrapartum doula support was associated with lower rates of cesarean delivery. Results were consistent across study types and when limited to high quality studies; however, significant heterogeneity and concern for publication bias were noted.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO, CRD42023423577.

PMID:40403310 | DOI:10.1097/AOG.0000000000005937

J Med Internet Res. 2025 May 22;27:e65101. doi: 10.2196/65101.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea, a common symptom of gastrointestinal infections, can lead to severe complications and is a major cause of emergency department (ED) visits.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored the temporal association between internet search queries for diarrhea and its synonyms and ED visits for diarrhea-related symptoms.

METHODS: We used data from the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) and NAVER (Naver Corporation), South Korea’s leading search engine, from January 2017 to December 2021. After identifying diarrhea synonyms using ChatGPT, we compared weekly trends in relative search volumes (RSVs) for diarrhea, including its synonyms and weekly ED visits. Pearson correlation analysis and Granger causality tests were used to evaluate the relationship between RSVs and ED visits. We developed an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average with Exogenous Variables (ARIMAX) model to further predict these associations. This study also examined the age-based distribution of search behaviors and ED visits.

RESULTS: A significant correlation was observed between the weekly RSV for diarrhea and its synonyms and weekly ED visits for diarrhea-related symptoms (ranging from 0.14 to 0.51, P<.05). Weekly RSVs for diarrhea synonyms, such as “upset stomach,” “watery diarrhea,” and “acute enteritis,” showed stronger correlations with weekly ED visits than weekly RSVs for the general term “diarrhea” (ranging from 0.20 to 0.41, P<.05). This may be because these synonyms better reflect layperson terminology. Notably, weekly RSV for “upset stomach” was significantly correlated with weekly ED visits for diarrhea and acute diarrhea at 1 and 2 weeks before the visit (P<.05). An ARIMAX model was developed to predict weekly ED visits based on weekly RSVs for diarrhea synonyms with lagged effects to capture their temporal influence. The age group of <50 years showed the highest activity in both web-based searches and ED visits for diarrhea-related symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that weekly RSVs for diarrhea synonyms are associated with weekly ED visits for diarrhea-related symptoms. By encompassing a nationwide scope, this study broadens the existing methodology for syndromic surveillance using ED data and provides valuable insights for clinicians.

PMID:40403303 | DOI:10.2196/65101