Nevin Manimala

Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 19;15(1):13517. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-98533-8.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the flow rate accuracy and bolus doses of four portable pumps with different mechanisms. We evaluated two electronic (COOPDECH Amy PCA [Amy] and CADD-Solis) and two elastomeric balloon-type pumps (COOPDECH Balloonjector and Rakurakufuser) under the following conditions: placement with an epidural catheter, operation on a shaking table, warming to 32 °C, and at room temperature (control, 25 °C). Amy maintained consistent flow rates across all conditions. The CADD-Solis also exhibited consistent flow rates, with minor yet statistically significant changes upon epidural catheter placement (- 5.0%, P = 0.005) and motion conditions (4.2%, P = 0.015). The Balloonjector and Rakurakufuser exhibited flow rate variations over time, and temperature increases significantly increased flow rates by 24.3% (P < 0.001) and 20.3% (P < 0.001), respectively. Bolus volume accuracy for the Amy, Balloonjector, and Rakurakufuser was not significantly affected under different conditions. The CADD-Solis showed a slight decrease in bolus volume with an epidural catheter (mean difference, 0.3 mL; P = 0.003). The electronic pumps maintained consistent flow rates across various conditions, whereas elastomeric balloon pumps exhibited variable rates influenced by time and temperature, increasing the risk of medication overdose. Bolus dosing accuracy was clinically satisfactory for all pump mechanisms.

PMID:40253460 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-98533-8

Sci Data. 2025 Apr 19;12(1):662. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-04681-x.

ABSTRACT

Unstructured text data have gained popularity in political science, owing to advancements in rigorous ‘text-as-data’ methods that allow extracting insights into election outcomes, candidates’ appeal to voters, ideologies and campaign strategies. Existing datasets on US presidential election campaign speeches are limited in size or source variation, and often contain speeches of different types (debates, rallies, official presidential events, e.g. inauguration), thus lacking consistency in their rhetorical content. The introduced dataset comprises the campaign speeches of the Democratic and Republican tickets for the 2020 US presidential election (1, 056 in total), covering the period between January 2019 and January 2021. Importantly, the dataset dictates specific criteria for the rhetorical structure of the speech ensuring consistency, critical for quantitative analysis. It has been carefully curated, yet only to the necessary extent to still be able to inform studies that require semantic or grammatical/syntactical structure. The provided corpus is hosted on Zenodo and GitHub under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, and it aims to enhance timely studies on US presidential elections with high-quality text data.

PMID:40253428 | DOI:10.1038/s41597-025-04681-x

Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 19;15(1):13577. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-95712-5.

ABSTRACT

Plasma DNA methylation SEPTIN9, Syndecan 2 (SDC2), and Branched Chain Amino Acid Transaminase 1 (BCAT1) tests have served as valuable diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive markers for colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, we analyzed data including 104 eligible CRC patients, 138 colorectal benign diseases, and 106 healthy subjects in our hospital from January 2019 to May 2023. This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Henan Cancer Hospital (Approval No.2018156). A real-time polymerase chain reaction-based gene panel was used to detect the methylation of SEPTIN9, SDC2, and BCAT1. The composite score (P) was calculated according to the cycle threshold (Ct) values of the three methylated genes using the logistic regression equation. The consistency of assay and pathological diagnosis were evaluated with kappa analyzed by IBM SPSS Statistics. The median survival time was obtained by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Statistical figures were all carried out using Origin software. The three genes were found to be significantly methylated in ctDNA of CRC patients compared to patients with colorectal benign diseases and healthy controls. The sensitivity was 86.1%, the specificity was 97.6%, and the area under the curve of 0.929. Positive predictive value (PPV) was 57.2%, and Negative predictive value (NPV) was 99.5%. No statistically significant differences in diagnostic efficiency were observed in relation to different types of stages. Moreover, there was a significant difference in the expression of composite scores between survival periods greater than 1 year and less than 1 year (p < 0.01). The composite score (P) derived from the ctDNA methylation levels of SEPTIN9, SDC2, and BCAT1 can be used for CRC diagnosis with high sensitivity and specificity. A combination of ctDNA methylation was proved to be an effective diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarker in colorectal cancer.

PMID:40253416 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-95712-5

BMC Womens Health. 2025 Apr 19;25(1):197. doi: 10.1186/s12905-025-03730-2.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Questionnaire for Urinary Incontinence Diagnosis (QUID), which was developed for women with urinary incontinence.

METHODS: This cross-sectional, methodological study included 600 female participants aged 18 years and above with Turkish reading and writing skills. Psychometric methods comprised correlation analysis, internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), test-retest reliability, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The QUID, King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ), and Incontinence Severity Index (ISI) were administered consecutively to assess construct validity and diagnostic performance. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

RESULTS: The Turkish version of the QUID demonstrated high validity and reliability in distinguishing stress and urge urinary incontinence. The QUID scores were significantly positively correlated with the KHQ and ISI scores, indicating consistency with the established measures (p < 0.05). The test‒retest reliability analysis confirmed that the QUID scale provided consistent results over time, with high internal consistency reflected by a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.858, which suggests the questionnaire’s stability and reliability for repeated measurements. Additionally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses revealed area under the curve (AUC) values ranging from 0.886 to 0.996 for each subscale, highlighting the high discriminative power of the QUID in distinguishing different types of urinary incontinence effectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that the Turkish version of the QUID is a reliable and valid tool for diagnosing urinary incontinence in clinical practice and may contribute positively to patients’ quality of life by providing an accurate diagnosis.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.

PMID:40253398 | DOI:10.1186/s12905-025-03730-2

BMC Urol. 2025 Apr 19;25(1):95. doi: 10.1186/s12894-025-01784-w.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and comfort of ureteral stents with extraction strings during modified split-leg prone percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL).

METHODS: A prospective, single-centre study was conducted on 100 patients undergoing PCNL for unilateral upper urinary tract stones from April to August 2024. Patients were randomized into two groups: 50 with extraction-string stents and 50 without. Standardized surgical and postoperative protocols were followed. Primary outcomes included pain scores during stent removal, incidence of hematuria and flank pain, stent indwelling time, and cost analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 9.5.0.

RESULTS: The extraction-string group demonstrated significantly lower pain scores during stent removal (0.86 ± 0.62 vs. 5.23 ± 1.74, p < 0.05) and shorter stent indwelling time (16.06 ± 4.48 vs. 60.54 ± 20.4 days, p < 0.05). The incidence of hematuria (8 vs. 29 cases) and flank pain (7 vs. 22 cases) was notably lower in the extraction-string group (p < 0.05). Additionally, each patient in this group saved an average of 1,065 Yuan (145.78 USD) by avoiding cystoscopic removal. No significant differences were observed in postoperative hospitalization days or urinary irritation symptoms (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The use of extraction-string ureteral stents during modified split-leg prone PCNL significantly reduces stent removal pain, enhances procedural convenience, lowers economic burden, and maintains a safety profile comparable to traditional methods. This innovative technique represents a clinically valuable advancement in PCNL surgery.

PMID:40253390 | DOI:10.1186/s12894-025-01784-w

Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 19;15(1):13529. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-90228-4.

ABSTRACT

Recently, superpixel segmentation has been widely employed in hyperspectral image (HSI) classification of remote sensing. However, the structures of land-covers in HSI commonly vary greatly, which makes it difficult to fully fit the boundaries of land-covers by single-scale superpixel segmentation. Moreover, the shape-irregularity of superpixel brings challenge for depth feature extraction. To overcome these issues, a multiscale superpixel depth feature extraction (MSDFE) method is proposed for HSI classification in this article, which effectively explores and integrates the spatial-spectral information of land-covers by adopting multiscale superpixel segmentation, constructing statistical features of superpixel, and conducting depth feature extraction. Specifically, to exploit rich spatial information of HSI, multiscale superpixel segmentation is firstly applied on the HSI. Once superpixels on different scales are obtained, two-dimensional statistical features with a united form are constructed for these superpixels with different spatial shapes. Based on these two-dimensional statistical features, a convolutional neural network is utilized to learn deeper features and classify these depth features. Finally, an adaptive strategy is adopted to fuse the multiscale classification results. Experiments on three real hyperspectral datasets indicate the superiority of the proposed MSDFE method over several state-of-the-art methods.

PMID:40253388 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-90228-4

J Health Popul Nutr. 2025 Apr 19;44(1):126. doi: 10.1186/s41043-025-00877-4.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Stillborn babies are those that are born with no signs of life at or after 28 weeks of gestation or weighing more than 1000 g. It is a public health problem that is overlooked in the global agenda. Individual studies have been conducted with different estimates across countries, making it difficult to understand the national stillbirth rate. Thus, this study aims to better understand stillbirth in Ethiopia and inform policy makers by producing pooled estimates.

METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed between 2013 and 2024 in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The outcomes of interest in the English language were exhaustively searched in different databases, such as PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, HINARI and Google Scholar. Data selection, extraction and quality assessment were performed by two authors independently. Zotero was used for study selection, whereas all the statistical analyses were performed with MEDCALC version 23.2.1 software.

RESULT: Among a total of 1007 studies found in databases and manual citation searches, 35 studies were included in the analysis. The overall pooled stillbirth rate was 68 (95% confidence interval (CI) 52-85) per 1000 births in Ethiopia. Subgroup analysis revealed discrepancies in rates across regions, study years and settings. Subgroup analysis revealed that the pooled estimate of the stillbirth rate of recent studies (2021-2024) is 72 (95% CI, 48-100) per 1000 births, which is higher than the rate of earlier studies (2013-2020), with a rate of 63 (95% CI, 38-93) per 1000 births.

CONCLUSION: The pooled estimate of the stillbirth rate is high in Ethiopia compared with the global target stillbirth rate of 12 per 1000 births, which is set for 2030 and is also higher than African countries. The stillbirth rate has also increased over time in Ethiopia. This might be due to poor maternal health access and utilization, including a significant rate of iodine deficiency, among pregnant women in Ethiopia. The review informs policy makers and program implementers about the burden of stillbirth in Ethiopia. All health sector actors should adjust and improve the quality of maternal health services, with attention given to stillbirth to reach the global target.

PMID:40253383 | DOI:10.1186/s41043-025-00877-4

J Health Popul Nutr. 2025 Apr 19;44(1):125. doi: 10.1186/s41043-025-00814-5.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Despite improvements in child health and nutrition in Ethiopia, undernutrition remains a critical issue, causing half of child deaths. Many severely malnourished children seek treatment at therapeutic feeding centers, but a significant number still die in stabilization centers. This study aimed to estimate survival rates and identify predictors of mortality among children with severe acute malnutrition admitted to public health facilities in Hawassa City, Southern Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: The main aim of this study was to estimate survival status and predictors of mortality among children with severe acute malnutrition admitted to public health facilities at Hawassa City, Southern Ethiopia.

METHOD: A facility-based retrospective cohort study was employed to estimate survival status and predictors among under-five children with severe acute malnutrition admitted to selected health facilities. A total of 476 randomly selected under-five children with SAM from January 2018 to December 31, 2021, participated in the study. Data were analyzed by SPSS IBM version 26. Bivariable and multivariable Cox regression models assessed risk factors. Kaplan- Maier Curve and Long rank test were used to estimate cumulative survival probability and to compare survival status probability across different groups.

RESULTS: Over the 3-year observation period, the overall survival status was, (84.7%), [95% CI; 81.2, 87.8]. The incidence density of death was 3.8/100 person-day. The overall median survival time was 34 [95% CI 32.2-37.5] days. After controlling for other factors, a child who had co-morbidities [AHR = 3.305, 95%; CI: (1.1, 10.9)], and Albendazole [AHR = 5.3, 95%; CI: (1.3, 21.7)] were identified as the independent predictors of the time to death.

CONCLUSION: The findings of this study confirm the mortality rate was higher than in most national studies. A significantly low recovery rate was identified for the children with co-morbidities and those who had not been dewormed. Expanding the immunization programs and deworming programs regularly which link nutrition interventions was recommended to raise the recovery rate.

PMID:40253378 | DOI:10.1186/s41043-025-00814-5

Virol J. 2025 Apr 19;22(1):109. doi: 10.1186/s12985-025-02731-9.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Recent researches indicated a down-regulation of Human beta-defensin2 (HBD2) expression in cervical cancer cells, but the mechanism and clinical significance is not clear yet.

METHODS: In this paper, based on the data from the TCGA database, the bioinformatics analysis provided by the UALCAN server was used. The HBD2 mRNA levels were tested with RT-qPCR in cells and protein concentration in cell cultural supernatant was assayed with ELISA. When the gene of Human papillomavirus type 16 E7 oncoprotein (HPV16 E7) overexpression or knockdown, the protein expression of ASK1 and p38 MAPK was detected by Western blot.

RESULTS: The bioinformatics analysis results implied that mRNA levels of HBD2 in cervical cancer were lower obviously than healthy people. HBD2 mRNA levels and protein in CaSki and SiHa cells increased obviously under the condition of HPV16 E7 gene silence. However, HBD2 mRNA and protein levels decreased significantly in C33A and CaCo2 cells not only under the conditions of treatment with HPV16 E7 gene overexpression, but also the inhibition of ASK1-p38 MAPK pathway by SB-203580 or GS-4997, or shRNA expression plasmid of ASK1 transefction. Moreover, p-ASK1(Thr845), the activity forming protein of ASK1, and p-p38, decreased in C33A and CaCo2 cells accompanied with HPV16 E7 overexpression, while p-ASK1(Ser966) protein, an inhibitory forming protein kept in a same stable levels. The completely opposite patterns of the protein expression in ASK1-p38 MAPK pathway were obtained in CaSki and SiHa cells transfected with HPV16 E7 siRNA sequence. Interestingly, statistical higher levels of phosphorylated p38 and cellular apoptosis rates, were found in SiHa cells exposed in Anisomycin than in DMSO solution. And increased HBD2 protein concentration in cell cultural supernatant and decreased cell survial rates, were confirmed in CaSki and SiHa cells treatment with Anisomycin, at the same time.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results implied that HPV16 E7 suppresses HBD2 expression via the inhibition of the ASK1-p38 MAPK signaling pathway, and this mechanism might be a key way of anti-tumor effect of Anisomycin. This study provided a novel insight into the expression and regulation mechanism of HBD2 in tumors and offered a possible therapeutic strategy by using defensins for cervical cancer in future.

PMID:40253372 | DOI:10.1186/s12985-025-02731-9

Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2025 Apr 18;20(1):188. doi: 10.1186/s13023-025-03722-3.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (PHO) is a rare genetic disorder classified into clinical subtypes and genetic subtypes. Previous clinical studies have primarily focused on case reports and family analyses, largely characterizing the genetic subtypes. However, there remains a long-standing gap in understanding the characteristics of the different clinical subtypes of PHO. This study aimed to determine the distribution of the three clinical subtypes of PHO and compare their clinical characteristics using a large global sample.

METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted in multiple databases to categorize cases into complete form (CO), incomplete form (IN), and fruste form (FR). Statistical analyses were performed to assess clinical differences in a retrospective study design.

RESULTS: Males predominated across all subtypes, whereas females were most prevalent in IN patients (51.1%). IN patients had the highest family history rate (62.1%). Age at onset peaked in adolescence for CO and FR patients, while IN patients exhibited bimodal peaks in early childhood and adolescence. Congenital diseases were more frequent in IN patients (7.8%, P = 0.021), while CO patients had a higher prevalence of digestive system diseases (12.2%, P = 0.007). Urinary prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and PGE Metabolite (PGEM) were consistently elevated in CO and FR patients. In IN patients, urinary PGE2 levels were also increased, but the urinary PGEM levels showed equal proportions of elevation and reduction. Genetic analysis revealed that solute carrier organic anion transporter family member 2A1 (SLCO2A1) mutations were predominant in CO (95 cases, 73.1%) and FR (22 cases, 57.9%) patients, whereas hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (HPGD) mutations were most frequently associated with IN (25 cases, 73.5%).

CONCLUSIONS: The three clinical subtypes of PHO exhibited distinct characteristics with no clear correlation between clinical and genetic subtypes. These findings highlighted the clinical significance of PHO typing and provided valuable insights for diagnosis, differential diagnosis and subtype-specific management strategies.

PMID:40251683 | DOI:10.1186/s13023-025-03722-3