Nevin Manimala

Ter Arkh. 2025 Jun 8;97(5):463-470. doi: 10.26442/00403660.2025.05.203250.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To systematize data on the trends of the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection among the Moscow adult population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and the Russian Science Citation Index were searched for studies published between January 1, 1985, and February 7, 2025, inclusive. Publications were selected based on an analysis of their titles and abstracts. Included were peer-reviewed publications in Russian and English containing data on the prevalence of H. pylori among the adult population of Moscow, studies using validated methods for the diagnosis of H. pylori based on serological, urease respiratory tests, histological and molecular methods, as well as publications containing detailed statistical processing of data suitable for inclusion in the meta-analysis.

RESULTS: The final analysis included seven studies totaling 7,581 subjects (the overall mean age of all subjects was 48.28±13.20 years). The overall prevalence of H. pylori infection in the adult population of Moscow in the analyzed pool of studies for 18 years (2006-2024) was 66.534% (95% confidence interval [CI] 42.097-86.989), including 78.661% (95% CI 59.400-92.910) when using serological diagnostic methods and 48.473% (95% CI 32.331-64.781) when using the ¹³C-urease respiratory test. Studies conducted before 2015 showed the prevalence of H. pylori infection of 81.294% (95% CI 67.202-92.109), 68.028% (95% CI 29.383-95.895) in 2015-2020, and 39.860% (95% CI 33.993-45.877) after 2020. The meta-regression analysis revealed a statistically significant decrease in the prevalence of H. pylori depending on the year of the study (regression coefficient for the year -4.22 (95% confidence interval -6.27–2.17; p<0,0099).

CONCLUSION: The meta-analysis showed a gradual regression in the prevalence of H. pylori infection in Moscow, the largest metropolis in Russia and Europe. However, infection prevalence in the adult population remains relatively high, supporting the need for continued programs of timely diagnosis of H. pylori and subsequent eradication therapy to reduce the risk of associated diseases.

PMID:40561491 | DOI:10.26442/00403660.2025.05.203250

Ter Arkh. 2025 Jun 8;97(5):434-442. doi: 10.26442/00403660.2025.05.203228.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disease and one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. The role of vitamin D in the etiology and development of OA is still unclear, but it may be important for both diagnosis and timely therapy.

AIM: To evaluate the relationship of vitamin D levels with clinical and instrumental parameters in OA in a cross-sectional study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 171 patients aged 40-75 with confirmed knee OA according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification, stage I-III (according to Kellgren and Lawrence). All patients signed informed consent. The mean age was 53.5±9.94 years, body mass index (BMI) was 29.8±6.4 kg/m², and disease duration was 3 [1; 7] years. For each patient, a case record form was filled out, including anthropometric indicators, medical history, clinical examination data, an assessment of knee joint pain according to the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), WOMAC, and the patient’s general health condition (PGHC). All patients underwent standard radiography, knee ultrasound examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (WORMS), densitometry of the lumbar spine and femoral neck, and laboratory tests. Statistical processing of the data was performed using the Statistica 10 software.

RESULTS: Normal vitamin D values (≥30 ng/mL) were found in 62 (36.3%) patients, low levels (<30 ng/mL) in 109 (63.7%) patients, insufficiency (<30 ng/mL and >20 ng/mL) in 66 (38.6%) patients, and deficiency (<20 ng/mL) in 43 (25.1%). Patients were divided into three groups according to the presence or absence of vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency: Group 1 included patients with normal vitamin D levels, Group 2 included patients with insufficiency, and Group 3 included patients with vitamin D deficiency. Patients of the three groups were comparable in age and disease duration but differed significantly in body weight, BMI, and waist measurement (higher in groups with reduced vitamin D values; p<0.05). Also, these patients had significantly higher VAS pain scores, total WOMAC and its components (pain, stiffness, and dysfunction), PGHC, and worse KOOS. More patients in Groups 2 and 3 had OA of the hip and hand joints, clinically detected synovitis, flat feet, and quadriceps muscle hypotrophy. Ultrasound examination significantly more often revealed a reduction of cartilage tissue on both the anteromedial and anterolateral surfaces of the knee joint; MRI showed more often osteitis in the medial condyles of the femur and tibia (p<0.05 for all values).

CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that low blood vitamin D levels (insufficiency/deficiency) were associated with a more severe knee OA. These patients had a large body weight, BMI, higher VAS pain values, WOMAC index (overall and its components), worse KOOS, PGHC, and smaller cartilage sizes in the medial parts of the knee joint (according to ultrasound); such patients were significantly more likely to have osteitis in the medial parts of the femur and tibia according to MRI. Also, stage II and III knee OA and OA of other localizations, clinically detected synovitis, quadriceps hypotrophy, and flat feet were more common.

PMID:40561487 | DOI:10.26442/00403660.2025.05.203228

JMIR Infodemiology. 2025 Jun 25;5:e65835. doi: 10.2196/65835.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: There has been an increase in the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases in Malaysia. This can be prevented and managed through the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors, including not smoking, avoiding alcohol consumption, maintaining a balanced diet, and being physically active. The growing importance of using social media to deliver information on healthy behaviors has led health care professionals (HCPs) to lead these efforts. To ensure effective delivery of information on healthy lifestyle behaviors, HCPs should begin by understanding users’ current opinions about these behaviors and whether the users are receptive to recommended health practices. Nevertheless, there has been limited research conducted in Malaysia that aims to identify the sentiments and content of posts, as well as how well users’ perceptions align with recommended health practices.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine social media posts related to various lifestyle behaviors, by using a combination of sentiment analysis to analyze users’ sentiments and manual content analysis to explore the content of the posts and how well users’ perceptions align with recommended health practices.

METHODS: Using keywords based on lifestyle behaviors, posts originating from X (formerly known as Twitter) and published in Malaysia between November and December 2022 were scraped for sentiment analysis. Posts with positive and negative sentiments were randomly selected for content analysis. A codebook was developed to code the selected posts according to content and alignment of users’ perceptions with recommended health practices.

RESULTS: A total of 3320 posts were selected for sentiment analysis. Significant associations were observed between sentiment class and lifestyle behaviors (χ26=67.64; P<.001), with positive sentiments higher than negative sentiments for all lifestyle behaviors. Findings from content analysis of 1328 posts revealed that most of the posts were about users’ narratives (492/1328), general statements (203/1328), and planned actions toward the conduct of their behavior (196/1328). More than half of tobacco-, diet-, and activity-related posts were aligned with recommended health practices, whereas most of the alcohol-related posts were not aligned with recommended health practices (63/112).

CONCLUSIONS: As most of the alcohol-related posts did not align with recommended health practices, the findings reflect a need for HCPs to increase their delivery of health information on alcohol consumption. It is also important to ensure the ongoing health promotion of the other 3 lifestyle behaviors on social media, while continuing to monitor the discussions made by social media users.

PMID:40561482 | DOI:10.2196/65835

JMIR Res Protoc. 2025 Jun 25;14:e68517. doi: 10.2196/68517.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Suicide in local jails occurs at a higher rate than in the general population, requiring improvements to risk screening methods. Current suicide risk screening practices in jails are insufficient: They are commonly not conducted using validated screening instruments, not collected by clinically trained professionals, and unlikely to capture honest responses due to the chaotic nature of booking areas. Therefore, new technologies could improve such practices. Several studies have indicated that machine learning (ML) models considerably improve accuracy and have positive predictive value in detecting suicide risk compared with practice as usual (PAU). This study will use administrative data and ML modeling to improve suicide risk detection at jail booking.

OBJECTIVE: This study is primarily focused on gathering preliminary information about the feasibility and practicality of using administrative data and ML modeling for suicide risk detection but also incorporates elements of hypothesis testing pertaining to clinical outcomes.

METHODS: The study uniquely contributes to our understanding of suicide risk by further validating an existing ML model developed and previously validated by the Mental Health Research Network using Medicaid outpatient health care claims data. This validation uses complete claims data on a sample of approximately 6000 individuals booked into 2 diverse jails in a midwestern state. This model validation uses 313 unique demographic and clinical characteristics from 5 years of historical health care data. It detects suicide risk in jails and postrelease by using merged jail, Medicaid, and vital records data. The study will use jail administrative data for September 1, 2021, through February 28, 2022; Medicaid records data for September 1, 2016, through March 31, 2023; and vital records data for March 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

RESULTS: First, the algorithm will be validated on the data gathered for the jail sample using the C-statistic and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Second, the resulting model will be compared with the jails’ suicide identification PAU to assess risk and detection of identified suicide attempts and deaths from intake through 120 days and 13 months after jail release. The funding timeline for this project is August 1, 2022, through July 31, 2025. The algorithm’s predictions and actual event incidence will be linked and validated in the spring of 2025, with results ready for publication in the fall of 2025.

CONCLUSIONS: The study will also investigate implementation factors, such as feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness, to optimize jail uptake. Interview data on the implementation factors will be gathered in the summer of 2025, with expected dissemination in 2026. We hypothesize that a combination of intake screening PAU and the ML model will be the optimal approach, in that the combination will be more accurate and can have practical application in this context.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/68517.

PMID:40561472 | DOI:10.2196/68517

J Med Internet Res. 2025 Jun 25;27:e71211. doi: 10.2196/71211.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates remain disproportionately low among Hispanic and Latino populations compared to non-Hispanic White populations. While artificial intelligence (AI) shows promise in health care delivery, concerns exist that AI-based interventions may disadvantage non-English-speaking populations due to biases in development and deployment.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a multilingual AI care agent in engaging Spanish-speaking patients for CRC screening compared to that with English-speaking patients.

METHODS: This retrospective analysis examined an AI-powered outreach initiative at WellSpan Health in Pennsylvania and Maryland during September 2024. The study included 1878 patients (517 Spanish-speaking, 1361 English-speaking) eligible for CRC screening who lacked active web-based health profiles. A multilingual AI conversational agent conducted personalized telephone calls in the patient’s preferred language to provide education about CRC screening and facilitate fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kit requests. The primary outcome was the FIT test opt-in rate, with secondary outcomes including connect rates and call duration. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, bivariate comparisons, and multivariate logistic regression.

RESULTS: Spanish-speaking patients demonstrated significantly higher engagement across all measures than English-speaking patients with respect to FIT test opt-in rates (18.2% vs 7.1%, P<.001), connect rates (69.6% vs 53.0%, P<.001), and call duration (6.05 vs 4.03 minutes, P<.001). Demographically, Spanish-speaking patients were younger (mean age 57 vs 61 years, P<.001) and more likely to be female (49.1% vs 38.4%, P<.001). In multivariate analysis, Spanish language preference remained an independent predictor of FIT test opt-in (adjusted odds ratio 2.012, 95% CI 1.340-3.019; P<.001) after controlling for demographic factors and call duration.

CONCLUSIONS: AI-powered outreach achieved significantly higher engagement among Spanish-speaking patients, challenging the assumption that technological interventions inherently disadvantage non-English-speaking populations. The 2.6-fold higher FIT test opt-in rate among Spanish-speaking patients represents a notable departure from historical patterns of health care disparities. These findings suggest that language-concordant AI interactions may help address longstanding disparities in preventive care access. Study limitations include its single health care system setting, short duration, and lack of follow-up data on completed screenings. Future research should assess long-term adherence and whether higher engagement translates to improved clinical outcomes.

PMID:40561471 | DOI:10.2196/71211

Brief Bioinform. 2025 May 1;26(3):bbaf297. doi: 10.1093/bib/bbaf297.

ABSTRACT

Protein side-chain packing (PSCP), the problem of predicting side-chain conformations given a fixed backbone structure, has important implications in the modeling of structures and interactions. However, despite the groundbreaking progress in protein structure prediction pioneered by AlphaFold, the existing PSCP methods still rely on experimental inputs, and do not leverage AlphaFold-predicted backbone coordinates to enable PSCP at scale. Here, we perform a large-scale benchmarking of the predictive performance of various PSCP methods on public datasets from multiple rounds of the Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction challenges using a diverse set of evaluation metrics. Empirical results demonstrate that the PSCP methods perform well in packing the side-chains with experimental inputs, but they fail to generalize in repacking AlphaFold-generated structures. We additionally explore the effectiveness of leveraging the self-assessment confidence scores from AlphaFold by implementing a backbone confidence-aware integrative approach. While such a protocol often leads to performance improvement by attaining modest yet statistically significant accuracy gains over the AlphaFold baseline, it does not yield consistent and pronounced improvements. Our study highlights the recent advances and remaining challenges in PSCP in the post-AlphaFold era.

PMID:40561466 | DOI:10.1093/bib/bbaf297

Alcohol Alcohol. 2025 May 14;60(4):agaf034. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agaf034.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Lithuania, a European country, has a history of high alcohol consumption per capita. To reduce harm, Lithuania has implemented the World Health Organization ‘best buys’ for alcohol control policies, notably two taxation policies in 2008 and 2017. Taxation may affect segments of the population differently; to explore this question, we investigated the effects on liver cirrhosis.

AIMS: To analyze the effect of taxation on liver cirrhosis hospitalizations and mortality across four age groups in Lithuania.

METHODS: Using a general additive mixed model, we tested taxation on monthly hospitalization and mortality rates between 2001 and 2022 (n = 264 months) across four age groups (young adults: 15-34, middle-aged adults: 35-54, older adults: 55-74, and seniors: 75+ years of age, respectively). We computed standardized hospitalizations and mortality rates (admissions and deaths per 100 000 people) based on summed counts of alcoholic liver disease and fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver according to the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision.

FINDINGS: Taxation was associated with the largest downward trend in liver cirrhosis mortality among middle-aged and older adults, equivalent to two fewer deaths per 100 000 individuals. In older adults and seniors, taxation was associated with downward trends in hospitalizations, but effects were less robust.

CONCLUSION: Taxation may lead to decreases in liver cirrhosis mortality across all age groups but appears to be less consistently impactful for hospitalizations. Younger and middle-aged individuals may experience increased hospitalizations. Taxation appears to impact subsections of the population differently.

PMID:40561461 | DOI:10.1093/alcalc/agaf034

Plast Reconstr Surg. 2025 Jul 1;156(1):147e-156e. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000011864. Epub 2024 Nov 11.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Assessing the methodologic and reporting quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in plastic surgery is crucial in maintaining the standards of evidence-based practice. Previous evaluations underscored deficiencies in reporting and methodology, prompting a call for improvement. This review scrutinizes the methodologic and reporting standards of RCTs published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (PRS) from 2013 to 2022.

METHODS: The authors conducted a review of RCTs published in PRS from 2013 to 2022. Methodologic quality of RCTs was assessed using the Jadad score and a modified Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. Additional relevant data were gathered to assess reporting quality, ascertain predictors of methodologic quality, and identify temporal trends.

RESULTS: A total of 146 RCTs were reviewed. The mean Jadad score was 2.96 ± 1.21, and the average risk-of-bias score was 5.65 ± 2.14, indicating moderate methodologic quality. Trials assessing surgical techniques or medical devices were associated with poorer methodologic quality compared with drug interventions. Breast trials showed one of the highest methodologic scores, but this declined over time. Overall reporting standards were suboptimal, with nearly half of the trials failing to explicitly state primary outcomes or analysis sets. No significant temporal trends were observed.

CONCLUSIONS: RCTs published in PRS between 2013 and 2022 exhibited moderate methodologic quality. The authors’ findings underscore the importance of transparent reporting and methodologic rigor in advancing evidence-based practices in plastic surgery. By adhering to established methodologic standards and reporting guidelines, researchers can enhance the reliability and impact of their studies.

PMID:40561451 | DOI:10.1097/PRS.0000000000011864

Plast Reconstr Surg. 2025 Jul 1;156(1):11e-24e. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000011861. Epub 2024 Nov 18.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In small-breasted individuals with gender dysphoria (GD), the concentric periareolar approach is typically the preferred method for mastectomy. However, this method carries a notable risk of hypertrophic scars and changes in areolar dimensions. In this article, the authors introduce the periareolar interlocking suture (PIS) as a new scar-minimizing procedure with a low complication rate and high level of patient satisfaction.

METHODS: The corresponding author (A.W.) performed a concentric periareolar mastectomy combined with PIS and waterjet-assisted liposuction in patients with small breasts (A to B cup) and good skin quality and elasticity. Outcome measures included complication rates, patient satisfaction (based on the BODY-Q Chest and Nipples scales and scar appearance), nipple sensitivity, and rate of surgical corrections.

RESULTS: Between April of 2017 and December of 2023, the corresponding author (A.W.) conducted 2312 mastectomies in 1156 individuals with GD, with 410 breasts treated using concentric periareolar mastectomy combined with PIS and waterjet-assisted liposuction. The mean patient age was 23 years; the mean hospital stay was 4 days; and the mean operative time was 96.1 minutes. The overall complication rate was 7.8%, with acute hematomas occurring in 4.6% of cases. Secondary revisions were necessary in 2.2% of cases. Patient satisfaction, measured using the BODY-Q scale, was statistically significant and very high.

CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with GD are well informed and increasingly demand aesthetically pleasing outcomes. Whenever feasible, procedures with minimal scarring are preferred. The technique presented here resulted in a high level of patient satisfaction, preserved nipple sensitivity, and a low rate of complications and secondary aesthetic corrections in a carefully selected cohort of patients with small breasts.

CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, IV.

PMID:40561441 | DOI:10.1097/PRS.0000000000011861

Otol Neurotol. 2025 Jun 12. doi: 10.1097/MAO.0000000000004583. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To identify the clinical features of sensorineural tinnitus patients who achieved complete symptom resolution or “cure” after tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) and to determine significant factors that influence tinnitus resolution duration after TRT.

METHODS: A retrospective analysis of sensorineural tinnitus patients who underwent TRT and achieved a cure between January 2017 and January 2022 was performed. Cure of tinnitus was defined as patients experiencing symptoms for less than 5 minutes of awareness per day. Clinical information, including demographics, tinnitus duration, audiometric results, and therapeutic response, was examined.

RESULTS: A total of 1,027 patients who achieved a cure for tinnitus were included, with more females (65.4%, n = 672) than males (35.6%, n = 355). The median age was 57 years (range, 12-92), with most having unilateral tinnitus (73.3%, n = 753). More than half had tinnitus with hearing loss (53.3%, n = 549), and the majority was under Jastreboff’s tinnitus category 2 (38.7%, n = 397). The median duration of tinnitus before consult was 12 months in range (range, 1-480), whereas the median duration before tinnitus resolution after TRT was 17 months (range, 1-96). In Jastreboff’s tinnitus categories, category 4 had the longest resolution time (median, 18 months) and category 1 the shortest (median, 15 months), but the difference was not statistically significant. A moderate correlation was observed between age and tinnitus resolution duration (Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.391, p < 0.05) and between tinnitus duration before consult and tinnitus resolution duration (Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.355, p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: TRT seems to be a promising treatment option for patients with sensorineural tinnitus. The time to achieve this cure may range from a few months to years after TRT, indicating the heterogeneity of the mechanism and therapeutic response. The younger patients and the earlier management after the onset of tinnitus seem to be good prognostic factors for a shorter tinnitus cure time after TRT.

PMID:40561436 | DOI:10.1097/MAO.0000000000004583