Nevin Manimala

Mar Pollut Bull. 2025 May 28;218:118172. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.118172. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The Bohai Sea, a semi-enclosed marginal sea in northeastern China, plays a critical role in regional coastal ecotourism and marine biodiversity. However, intensifying industrialization and urban expansion have raised significant environmental concerns, particularly regarding trace metal contamination in coastal sediments that threaten both ecosystem services and the long-term viability of ecotourism. This study evaluates the spatial distribution, ecological risk levels, and potential sources of key trace metals-Cu, Cd, As, Pb, Zn, Cr, and Hg-across five prominent coastal tourism and ecological zones: Shuangtaizi Estuary, Jinzhou Bay, Luanhekou Estuary, Bohai Bay, and Laizhou Bay. A total of 108 surface sediment samples were collected in August 2015 and analyzed using a suite of geochemical risk assessment models, including the Contamination Factor (CF), Geo-accumulation Index (Igeo), Pollution Load Index (PLI), and Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI). Results revealed elevated ecological risk from Hg and Cd, particularly in Jinzhou Bay, where concentrations exceeded background levels and posed substantial threats to sediment quality and marine life. Igeo values indicated variable contamination, ranging from unpolluted to highly polluted conditions, with Jinzhou Bay identified as a critical hotspot. Multivariate statistical analyses (PCA and HCA) attributed Hg, Cd, and As primarily to anthropogenic sources, while Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cr were linked to natural geological inputs. Although over 90 % of samples for most metals were below the Threshold Effect Concentration (TEC), 33.3 % of As and 15.7 % of Hg samples fell between TEC and the Probable Effect Concentration (PEC), posing moderate ecological risks. These findings underscore the urgent need for targeted pollution mitigation and environmental governance, especially in industrially impacted areas, to safeguard coastal ecotourism and preserve the ecological resilience of the Bohai Sea.

PMID:40440882 | DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.118172

Sleep Med. 2025 May 14;133:106567. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2025.106567. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Sleep apnea is suggested to be associated with cancer risk, but results are heterogenous, and few studies are population-based. We aimed to assess risk associations between self-reported witnessed apnea during sleep and specific cancers in a population-based cohort.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study analyzed questions on witnessed sleep apnea in relation to incident cancer in the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study. Cancer diagnoses were derived from the Swedish Cancer Registry and characterized as 12 different cancer types. Cox regression models adjusted for age, sex, ever smoking, body mass index, and education were used to assess risk associations.

RESULTS: In total, 82,059 participants were included, and 10,668 (13 %) reported witnessed sleep apnea. They were followed for 9.0 (SD 4.7) years and 4030 incident cancers were diagnosed. Self-reported witnessed sleep apnea was independently associated with incident lung cancer with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 1.78 (95 %CI 1.16, 2.73) p = 0.008 and breast cancer aHR, 1.39 (95 %CI 1.04, 1.84) p = 0.023. The risk for lung cancer was driven by an association with lung adenocarcinoma aHR, 2.16 (95 %CI 1.19, 3.91) p = 0.01. There was a multiplicative effect on ever smoking and reporting witnessed apnea for lung cancer with an aHR, 5.27 (95 %CI 3.07, 9.05) p < 0.001.

CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported witnessed sleep apnea is associated with an increased risk of developing lung- and breast cancer. There is a multiplicative effect of reporting witnessed sleep apnea and ever-smoking with an over 5 times increase on the hazard for lung cancer.

PMID:40440874 | DOI:10.1016/j.sleep.2025.106567

Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2025 May 24;312:114083. doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2025.114083. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of ‘Physio-EndEA’, a multimodal 9-week supervised exercise intervention, on fatigue, health-related physical fitness, sleep quality, mental health, gastrointestinal complaints, and sexual function in women with endometriosis unresponsive to conventional therapy.

METHODS: This randomized controlled trial included 31 patients randomly allocated to the ‘Physio-EndEA’ group (n = 16) or the control group (n = 15). The primary outcome, fatigue, was evaluated using the Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS). Secondary outcomes included health-related physical fitness [lumbar strength (back dynamometer), lumbar flexibility (Schöber test), body balance (Flamingo test) and cardiorespiratory fitness (6-minute walking test, 6MWT)], sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI), anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), digestive complaints (Gastrointestinal quality of life index, GIQLI), and sexual function (Female sexual function index, FSFI). Outcomes were measured at baseline, post-intervention, and at one year. Statistical (between-group analyses of covariance) and clinical effects were analyzed by intention-to-treat. The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT03979183.

RESULTS: After the intervention and at 1 year, the ‘Physio-EndEA’ group showed significantly improved fatigue compared with the control group, with large size effects (d > 0.80). Post-intervention improvements were also observed in the intervention group for lumbar strength, cardiorespiratory fitness, anxiety, depression, and digestive complaint scores. Improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, anxiety and digestive complaints were maintained at the 1-year follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS: A 9-week supervised multimodal therapeutic exercise program is effective in ameliorating a broad range of endometriosis-related impairments, suggesting that ‘Physio-EndEA’ is a promising strategy for reducing symptom burden in women with endometriosis unresponsive to conventional treatment.

PMID:40440865 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2025.114083

Seizure. 2025 May 21;130:92-99. doi: 10.1016/j.seizure.2025.05.014. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Anxiety is a prevalent psychiatric comorbidity in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), however, limited attention has been given to the dynamic characteristics of TLE coexisting with anxiety.The aim of this study was to examine abnormal resting-state Electroencephalography (EEG) microstate dynamics in TLE patients with anxiety disorders compared with TLE patients without anxiety disorders and healthy controls.

METHODS: Ninety participants in this study: 30 healthy controls (HC), 30 TLE patients with anxiety (PAS), and 30 TLE patients without anxiety (nPAS). The dynamic changes in the entire brain were detected using a 21-channel EEG for microstate analysis. This study comprehensively compared the mean duration, frequency of occurrence, time coverage, and transition probability of each microstate(A, B, C, D) among the three groups. Rigorous statistical methods were employed to ensure the robustness and validity of the research findings.

RESULTS: The results of EEG microstate analysis revealed that the occurrence frequency and time coverage of microstate B (visual network) in the PAS were significantly reduced compared to the nPAS. Compared to HC and nPAS groups, patients with PAS exhibited alterations in the probability of EEG microstate transitions: an increase in transitions from the microstate C (salience network) to the microstate A (auditory network), a decrease in transitions from the dorsal microstate C (salience network) and microstate D (attention network) to the microstate B (visual network). These changes suggest heightened overall network alertness, impaired attention-visual pathway function, and decreased stability of the attention network.

CONCLUSION: Our research reveals that anxiety disorders in individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy are characterized by heightened alertness, impaired attention-visual integration, and instability of the dorsal attention network. This highlights the significant impact of anxiety on brain network remodeling and cognitive control deficits. Changes in EEG microstate dynamics may serve as a novel biomarker for psychiatric complications associated with epilepsy.

PMID:40440857 | DOI:10.1016/j.seizure.2025.05.014

Sci Total Environ. 2025 May 28;985:179724. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179724. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

New Approach Methods (NAMs) encompass a wide range of data types; it is increasingly common to have highly multi-dimensional data (e.g., cellular, molecular and gene expression effects) on the same chemicals. In addition, chemical structure descriptors (for mono-constituent substances) or fractional composition (for complex substances) inform similarity hypotheses for read-across. Still, the utility of these multi-dimensional datasets for decision-making is difficult to ascertain. To address this challenge, we hypothesized that correlation and mediation analyses methods can be used to uncover significant and interpretable relationships in complex NAMs datasets. We used previously published data on 141 petroleum UVCBs (substances of unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products and biological materials) that included (i) characterization of the polycyclic aromatic compound (PAC) content, (ii) 42 bioactivity measurements from 12 human cell types, and (iii) transcriptomic data from 6 cell types. We explored the relationships among data types and determined how these data can be used for bioactivity-based prioritization. We found that PAC content was highly informative for bioactivity prediction, while the addition of transcriptomic data provided modest improvements. We then applied the statistical procedure of mediation analysis to uncover relationships among transcriptomics, PAC, and bioactivity. The strongest relationships appeared to be nearly completely mediated, and phenotypes with high transcriptomic mediation tended to have high correlation with PAC content. This study shows how a mediation analysis approach can be used to uncover relationships in multi-dimensional NAMs datasets and provides further insights into strategies for hazard prioritization using a combination of transcriptomic and bioactivity data.

PMID:40440850 | DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179724

Food Chem. 2025 May 24;488:144693. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.144693. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Flavor deterioration during juice processing limits industrial-scale pomegranate juice (PJ) production. To evaluate the effects of thermal and non-thermal processing on PJ flavor, three samples-pasteurized (PS), high-temperature short-time treated (HTST), and ultrasound-treated (US)-were analyzed against a fresh control (FJ). Totally 144 volatiles were identified by the combination of GC-MS and GC × GC-TOF-MS. Among, 16 was screened out as key aroma-active compounds of different PJs through GC-olfactometry/aroma intensity and relative odor activity values analysis. Quantitative descriptive analysis revealed pronounced variations in cooked flavor intensity across thermally processed samples (PS, HTST), while US exhibited a sensory profile comparable to FJ. Partial least squares regression aligned with the sensory profile. Further OPLS-discriminant analysis identified 8 and 11 key markers differentiating FJ from processed PJs, and thermal (PS, HTST) from non-thermal (US) treated PJs, respectively. Precursor addition elucidated formation pathways of major off-flavor compounds (dimethyl sulfide, methanethiol) in processed PJs.

PMID:40440840 | DOI:10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.144693

Gigascience. 2025 Jan 6;14:giaf052. doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giaf052.

ABSTRACT

Unsupervised clustering is a powerful machine-learning technique widely used to analyze high-dimensional biological data. It plays a crucial role in uncovering patterns, structures, and inherent relationships within complex datasets without relying on predefined labels. In the context of biology, high-dimensional data may include transcriptomics, proteomics, and a variety of single-cell omics data. Most existing clustering algorithms operate directly in the high-dimensional space, and their performance may be negatively affected by the phenomenon known as the curse of dimensionality. Here, we show an alternative clustering approach that alleviates the curse by sequentially projecting high-dimensional data into a low-dimensional representation. We validated the effectiveness of our approach, named automated projection pursuit (APP), across various biological data modalities, including flow and mass cytometry data, scRNA-seq, multiplex imaging data, and T-cell receptor repertoire data. APP efficiently recapitulated experimentally validated cell-type definitions and revealed new biologically meaningful patterns.

PMID:40440093 | DOI:10.1093/gigascience/giaf052

Nord J Psychiatry. 2025 May 29:1-4. doi: 10.1080/08039488.2025.2511072. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: In October 2022, the psychiatric emergency service PAB (in Danish: Psykiatrisk Akutberedskab) in the Capital Region of Denmark expanded its operations from an off-hours service to a 24/7 operational model. The PAB offers telephone and outreach services for people with psychiatric emergencies on professional request. The aim of this study was to describe the activities and evaluate the perceived usefulness of PAB’s 24/7 model.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study utilized a quantitative research approach, with data collection conducted during daytime hours of weekdays from October 2022 through September 2023, covering the first year of PAB’s 24/7 operations. The on-call psychiatrist documented requisitions from which statistical data have been compiled. The sample is comprised of 830 requisitions.

RESULTS: There was a recognizable demand for PAB in the Capital Region during weekday daytime hours. Most requisitions were made by family physicians and staff at sheltered homes. The majority of requisitions were considered relevant for PAB. Telephone consultations and mobile outreach services were utilized equally. Data from 2022 and 2023 exhibited similar activity patterns.

CONCLUSIONS: This brief report concludes that there is a clinically relevant need for PAB in the Capital Region of Denmark. PAB is a competent psychiatric emergency service that provides a qualified mobile crisis assessment with subsequent relevant action, and the strategic collaboration between psychiatrists and law enforcement enhances its efficiency. The clinical benefits derived from extended operational hours justify the associated costs.

PMID:40440091 | DOI:10.1080/08039488.2025.2511072

JAMA Netw Open. 2025 May 1;8(5):e2512689. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.12689.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Hip fractures present a substantial public health challenge, with projections of more than 500 000 per year by 2040. As such, frailty indices such as the Revised Risk Analysis Index (RAI) and the Modified Five-Item Frailty Index (mFI-5) have been recently investigated as metrics for preoperative risk stratification for these patients.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the accuracy of frailty, as measured by the RAI and the mFI-5, for estimating 30-day mortality following surgically managed hip fractures.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cross-sectional analysis used the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement database. Patients aged 65 years old with surgically managed traumatic hip fracture from 2015 to 2019 were included. Frailty was evaluated using the RAI, a 5-domain scale with 14 weighted variables graded from 0 to 81, and the mFI-5, a 2-domain scale with 5 unweighted variables graded from 0 to 5; for both, a higher score denotes worse frailty. Data collection occurred from May to June 2024.

EXPOSURE: Diagnosis of hip fracture and undergoing surgical fixation, hemiarthroplasty, or total hip arthroplasty.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Multivariable regression was conducted to assess the estimating value of frailty scales. Discriminatory accuracy was assessed using a receiver operating characteristic curve and quantified using a C-statistic.

RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 114 359 patients (70 038 female [69.9%]; median [IQR] age, 84 [77-89] years) with 51 071 prefrail patients (44.7%) according to the mFI-5 and 31 883 very frail patients (27.9%) according to the RAI comprising the largest frailty groups. Increasing frailty status was associated with greater odds ratio (OR) for 30-day mortality for both the mFI-5 (prefrail OR, 1.35 [95% CI, 1.24-1.47]; frail OR, 2.11 [95% CI, 1.94-2.30]; severely frail OR, 3.53 [95% CI, 3.20-3.90]; P < .001 for all) and RAI (normal OR, 1.55 [95% CI, 1.35-1.79]; frail OR, 2.97 [95% CI, 2.59-3.42]; very frail OR, 6.17 [95% CI, 5.38-7.08]; P < .001 for all). The RAI demonstrated superior discriminatory accuracy for 30-day mortality compared with the mFI-5 (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.72-0.73] vs 0.61 [95% CI, 0.60-0.62]; P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cross-sectional study of 114 359 patients, the RAI demonstrated superior odds and discriminatory accuracy for estimating 30-day mortality following surgical management of hip fractures. The RAI may be considered as a risk stratification tool for orthopedic surgeons to adjunct surgical planning, thereby reducing postoperative mortality.

PMID:40440016 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.12689

JAMA Netw Open. 2025 May 1;8(5):e2512941. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.12941.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Migrant and refugee populations are increasing globally, and children and adolescents in these populations are particularly susceptible to mental disorders. North Korean refugee (NKR) youths now living in South Korea share a culture, language, and history with South Korean (SK) youths, making these 2 groups suitable for studying the environmental factors in psychiatric health.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the risk of developing mental illness and individual psychiatric disorders among NKR youths and SK youths.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study obtained data from Korea’s National Health Insurance Service claims database from 2005 to 2021. Participants were aged 1 to 18 years between 2007 and 2010 who had no prior psychiatric claims, whether as outpatients or inpatients. Children and adolescents of the SK general population matched 1:10 on sex and age were compared with the NKR youth population. Statistical analyses were performed from August 2024 to March 2025.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Risk, presented as hazard ratio (HR), of developing psychiatric disorders in NKR youths compared with SK youths. This risk was assessed using a Cox proportional hazards regression model and Kaplan-Meier time-to-event probabilities.

RESULTS: In total, 1618 NKR youths (810 males [50.1%]; mean [SD] age, 9.48 [4.62] years) and 308 927 SK youths (194 331 females [62.9%]; mean [SD] age, 11.80 [4.72] years) were included in this study. NKR youths showed a significantly higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders (HR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.17-1.43) compared with SK youths. Individual psychiatric disorder risks were higher for NKR youths, including posttraumatic stress disorder (HR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.34-4.06; P = .003), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (HR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.32-2.11; P < .001), bipolar affective disorders (HR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.20-2.15; P < .001), major depressive disorder (HR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.33-1.75; P < .001), and anxiety (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.11-1.42; P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cohort study, compared with SK youths, NKR youths showed a significantly higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders overall and individual psychiatric disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and anxiety. This finding is important for establishing medical and educational service plans and policies for the increasing number of refugee youths in South Korea.

PMID:40440014 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.12941