Nevin Manimala

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2026 Mar 23. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6c02193. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

We report the use of lipid membrane-coated quartz nanopipettes to enhance exosome detection via resistive pulse sensing. By exploiting the self-assembly and compositional versatility of lipid molecules, nanopipettes were functionalized with lipid membranes comprising neutral and cationic lipids, with or without cholesterol, to modulate surface charge and membrane viscosity. Using bovine milk-derived exosomes as a model system, we demonstrate a marked improvement in capture rate and a reduction in nonspecific adsorption. This improvement further enabled statistical analysis of translocation times and signal amplitudes, providing significant insights into the interactions between exosomes and lipid membranes during nanopore passage under an applied electric field.

PMID:41872023 | DOI:10.1021/acsami.6c02193

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2026 Mar 24:keag127. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keag127. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To systematically review the spectrum of urological manifestations and fertility outcomes reported in FMF patients, excluding renal amyloidosis-related involvement.

METHODS: A systematic search was conducted according to PRISMA 2020 Guidelines in PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library, up to 4 July 2025. Studies include FMF patients with a confirmed urological pathology were eligible. Data was extracted and presented through descriptive statistics.

RESULTS: A total of 110 records were published between 1973 and 2025. Of which 38 met the inclusion criteria (14 case reports, 10 case series, 10 cross-sectional, and four cohort studies) and covered a total of 2,040 patients (mean age 23.35±16 years; 43.2% female). Results included acute scrotum (n = 64) with 75% of recurrence, testicular amyloidosis (n = 40) confirmed with biopsy, epididymo-orchitis (n = 25) with fever present in 84%, testicular torsion (n = 4), hydrocele (n = 4), and bladder amyloidosis (n = 2). Among 189 semen analyses reported, azoospermia and oligospermia were in 26.9% and 14.8% of cases. Infertility was reported in patients with testicular amyloidosis.

CONCLUSION: Our study results show that acute scrotum and epididymo-orchitis were the most frequent urological manifestations in FMF, and testicular amyloidosis and fertility impairment were also notable. These findings highlight the importance of considering urological involvement as part of the FMF spectrum in clinical practice.

PMID:41872020 | DOI:10.1093/rheumatology/keag127

Bioinformatics. 2026 Mar 23:btag140. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btag140. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

MOTIVATION: Despite the widely recognized importance of replicability in biological research, computational methods to quantify irreplicability and identify irreplicable instances remain underdeveloped. This paper presents an efficient and robust computational framework to address this gap.

RESULTS: To tackle the challenge of defining an acceptable level of intrinsic heterogeneity among replicable studies, we introduce a distinguishability criterion, ensuring that replicable effects, while potentially heterogeneous, can be distinguished from zero effects and maintain consistent directions with high probability. We implement a Bayesian model criticism approach, reporting a Bayesian p-value to identify potential irreplicable instances. Through numerical experiments, we demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methods in detecting batch effects in high-throughput experiments and identifying instances of the publication bias. Finally, we apply the framework to multi-tissue eQTL data from the GTEx consortium, uncovering tissue-specific eQTLs that represent biological heterogeneity across tissues.

AVAILABILITY: An R package DiscRep implementing our method is available on GitHub (https://github.com/PengWang96/DiscRep).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

PMID:41872019 | DOI:10.1093/bioinformatics/btag140

J Gynecol Oncol. 2026 Mar;37(2):e58. doi: 10.3802/jgo.2026.37.e58.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of hospital surgical volume and hospital region on overall survival (OS) in patients with ovarian cancer.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study utilized nationwide claims data from Korea (2012-2020) to analyze ovarian cancer patients who underwent surgery. Hospitals were classified as high-volume (≥20) or low-volume (<20) based on the annual volume of upfront ovarian cancer surgeries. Propensity score matching (PSM) (1:1) addressed confounder imbalances between the groups. OS was assessed via Kaplan-Meier analysis, log-rank tests, and Cox regression, with subgroup analyses by cancer stage.

RESULTS: A total of 11,510 patients were included in the cohort (high-volume: 8,241; low-volume: 3,269), with 3,236 matched pairs identified through PSM. Compared with low-volume hospitals, treatment at high-volume hospitals was associated with a 21% reduction in mortality risk (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]=0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.70-0.89). This survival advantage persisted across localized/regional (aHR=0.77; 95% CI=0.63-0.95) and distant-stage disease (aHR=0.81; 95% CI=0.71-0.92). In contrast, hospital location (capital vs. noncapital) was not significantly associated with OS in the entire cohort (aHR=1.09; 95% CI=0.97-1.21) or in stage-specific analyses.

CONCLUSION: These findings highlight that instead of simply distributing hospitals geographically, establishing high-volume surgical centers is crucial to improving survival outcomes for patients with ovarian cancer.

PMID:41871963 | DOI:10.3802/jgo.2026.37.e58

Vox Sang. 2026 Mar 23. doi: 10.1111/vox.70248. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Liquid plasma (LQP) stands out as an alternative to thawed plasma (TP) for emergent transfusions due to its longer shelf-life. We aimed to measure fibrinogen, protein C (PC), protein S (PS), factor V (FV), factor VII (FVII) and factor VIII (FVIII) activity in LQP, quantify how these factors’ levels change during storage and characterize how they compare in LQP and TP.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Coagulation factor activities were measured on days 15, 26 and 27 for LQP (n = 26) and Day 5 for TP (n = 31). Bayesian statistics was used to compare coagulation factor activity and quantify changes in activity during storage.

RESULTS: Fibrinogen and PC activity on Day 26 in LQP (LQP26) was comparable to that on Day 5 in TP (TP5) with posterior mean activity of 257 versus 246 mg/dL and 100.4% versus 108.7%, respectively. FV, FVII and FVIII had lower activity in LQP26 compared to TP5, with posterior mean activities of 42.6% versus 72.0%, 55.0% versus 59.7% and 48.8% versus 59.2%, respectively. PS in LQP26 was low, with posterior mean activity of 28.0%, which was less than half that of TP5 at 66.4%. From Day 15 to Day 26, FVII in LQP decreased at a rate of 3.49% per day, whereas fibrinogen, PC, PS, FV and FVIII activity in LQP remained relatively stable.

CONCLUSION: LQP26 has comparable activities of fibrinogen, PC and FVII as TP5, lower activities of FV and PS and slightly lower activity of FVIII. LQP is a viable alternative for use in emergency transfusions and massive transfusion protocols.

PMID:41871962 | DOI:10.1111/vox.70248

Health Promot J Austr. 2026 Apr;37(2):e70176. doi: 10.1002/hpja.70176.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Media reporting of migrant drowning deaths can serve multiple purposes, including advocacy, improving data, and supporting inclusive policy development. However, such drownings remain underexamined in both public discourse and academic research. This study investigates how migrants are portrayed in Australian newspaper coverage of drowning between 2020 and 2025, and how these portrayals shape public understanding, reinforce or challenge systemic inequities, and align with the equity goals of the Australian Water Safety Strategy 2030.

METHODS: A total of 82 articles from Australia’s six highest-readership newspapers were analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis guided by Mullet’s General Analytical Framework, alongside Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis to identify patterns of power, ideology, and representation. Media language was manually coded, and keyword frequencies were tallied to explore how responsibility and risk are framed.

RESULTS: Coverage consistently portrayed migrants as at-risk ‘newcomers’, with official voices represented by lifesaving bodies, councils, and aquatic educators, shaping responses. Drowning risk was often individualised, while structural determinants such as access to lessons or facilities were inconsistently reported. Parallel narratives positioned aquatic participation as a marker of ‘Australian’ identity, implicitly othering migrants. At the same time, some reports highlighted multilingual programs, subsidised lessons, and infrastructure investment, pointing to systemic interventions. These representations both reinforced individual responsibility and underscored structural inequities.

CONCLUSIONS: Australian news media shape public understanding of drowning risk, but coverage tends to emphasise individual adaptation over structural causes. Greater consistency in reporting systemic barriers and prevention initiatives is needed to support equity-oriented water safety strategies. SO WHAT?: Aligning media representation with the Australian Water Safety Strategy 2030 requires greater inclusion of migrant voices, consistent reporting of systemic barriers, and framing prevention in equity-oriented terms. Collaboration between journalists and water safety agencies could help shift coverage from episodic tragedy to sustained public health communication.

PMID:41871948 | DOI:10.1002/hpja.70176

Gut. 2026 Mar 23:gutjnl-2025-337436. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2025-337436. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The gut-liver axis plays a critical role in liver disease progression; however, how gut microbial ecology and function vary across disease stages remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE: To define stage-specific microbial and functional signatures and evaluate their diagnostic potential.

DESIGN: We analysed faecal samples from 1168 individuals spanning healthy controls, fatty liver, hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma by 16S rRNA sequencing, with a subset (n=141) profiled by shotgun metagenomics. To increase statistical power and enable external validation, 2376 publicly available metagenomic datasets, including 734 liver-related, were integrated. Machine learning-based multicohort analysis was used to identify microbial biomarkers, assess risk factors and classify disease stages.

RESULTS: Microbial diversity declined and a low-richness enterotype expanded with disease severity. Machine learning revealed a discordance in hepatitis, which lacked taxonomic markers but was defined by a conserved functional signature of biosynthetic upregulation. In contrast, advanced stages featured consistent markers like Ligilactobacillus and Veillonella, with strain-level evidence confirming oral-gut transmission. Functional profiling delineated a metabolic continuum from anabolic precursor synthesis in hepatitis to virulence factor production in cirrhosis and putrefactive metabolism in carcinoma. Comparative analysis confirmed that these signatures were distinct from those in non-liver metabolic and oncologic disorders. Importantly, the expansion of oral-derived Veillonella spp and the low-richness enterotype were significantly associated with increased mortality.

CONCLUSION: This large-scale study delineates stage-dependent ecological and functional remodelling of the gut microbiome across liver diseases. These findings highlight the potential of microbiome-based markers for non-invasive diagnosis and prognostic risk stratification in liver diseases.

PMID:41871945 | DOI:10.1136/gutjnl-2025-337436

Br J Ophthalmol. 2026 Mar 23:bjo-2025-329212. doi: 10.1136/bjo-2025-329212. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The bispectral electroencephalography (BSEEG) method is a simple one-channel quantitative electroencephalography approach that yields a single index, with higher scores previously associated with more severe delirium in older adults. We prospectively measured BSEEG scores in 21 patients over 60 years old before and 1 month after cataract surgery. BSEEG scores significantly decreased after surgery (p=0.001), and this decrease significantly correlated with improvement in best-corrected visual acuity (r=0.52; p=0.02). Improved visual function after cataract surgery was associated with lower BSEEG scores.

PMID:41871919 | DOI:10.1136/bjo-2025-329212

BMJ Open Gastroenterol. 2026 Mar 23;13(1):e002153. doi: 10.1136/bmjgast-2025-002153.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Selective inhibition of interleukin (IL)-23 through antagonism of the IL-23p19 subunit has demonstrated clinical efficacy in inflammatory bowel disease, but the molecular changes underlying the efficacy outcomes have not yet been described. Here, we provide a detailed evaluation of the cellular and molecular changes associated with guselkumab treatment in patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) from the QUASAR Phase IIb induction study.

METHODS: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging induction study, patients (n=313) were randomised (1:1:1) to receive intravenous guselkumab 200 or 400 mg or placebo at weeks 0, 4, and 8. Colon biopsy samples were collected at weeks 0 and 12, enabling molecular profiling by bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq, n=257), single-cell RNA sequencing (n=52), and flow cytometry (n=30). Serum proteomic profiling was also performed at weeks 0, 4, and 12 (n=302).

RESULTS: Guselkumab treatment significantly reduced pro-inflammatory serum proteins by week 4 with continued decline through week 12, compared with placebo. Unsupervised analysis of tissue gene modules revealed significant changes in transcriptional states related to pro-inflammatory and epithelial repair pathways, which were most pronounced in patients who achieved histological-endoscopic mucosal improvement (HEMI) at week 12, an important tissue-based end point. Single-cell analyses supported a decrease in the cellular abundance of pro-inflammatory and an increase in mucosal cell types in tissue following treatment.

CONCLUSION: This analysis of guselkumab in UC demonstrated changes in key pathways and cell types that are associated with achieving important clinical end points including HEMI at week 12.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04033445.

PMID:41871904 | DOI:10.1136/bmjgast-2025-002153

Clin Obes. 2026 Apr;16(2):e70077. doi: 10.1111/cob.70077.

ABSTRACT

Metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) is an effective treatment for severe obesity but remains substantially underutilized. Limited data exist on outpatient counselling patterns preceding surgical uptake. Using electronic health record data, we conducted a 10-year retrospective cohort study of adults with body mass index ≥ 40 kg/m². The primary outcome was documentation of the MBS discussion. Secondary outcomes included MBS receipt and demographic factors associated with documented discussion. Among 60 574 eligible patients, only 7.6% had documented MBS discussion. Overall, 1.2% underwent MBS. Surgery occurred in 12.1% of patients with documented discussion compared with 0.3% without discussion. Patients with documented discussion were younger (median, 42 vs. 47 years), had higher BMI (median, 46.8 vs. 42.0 kg/m²), and were more often female. Eligible women were more likely than men to have documented discussion (8.7% vs. 5.5%). Black patients had higher discussion rates than White patients, despite known downstream disparities in MBS utilization. Documented MBS discussion is rare but represents a critical inflection point in surgical uptake. Demographic differences in counselling suggest clinician- and system-level factors influence access before referral, highlighting outpatient counselling as a key target to improve equitable MBS utilization.

PMID:41871890 | DOI:10.1111/cob.70077