Tag: nevin manimala

CJEM. 2025 Apr 24. doi: 10.1007/s43678-025-00906-5. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a single dose of nebulized glucocorticoids (dexamethasone or budesonide) compared to a placebo in relieving sore throat symptoms. The primary outcome was complete symptom resolution at 24 h. Secondary objectives included evaluating pain scores at 48 h, time to pain relief within 7 days, absenteeism, and ED visits or hospital admissions for acute pharyngitis (AP) symptoms or complications within 7 days.

METHODS: This multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial was conducted across three EDs targeting patients over 5 years old with acute pharyngitis, excluding those with recent steroid or antibiotic use, adenotonsillectomy, or pregnancy. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: nebulized dexamethasone, budesonide, or placebo. Pain severity was assessed using a numeric rating scale from 0 to 10. Analysis involved descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests to compare outcomes across treatment groups.

MAIN RESULTS: A total of 163 patients with AP were enrolled. No significant difference in the primary outcome, complete symptom resolution at 24 h, was observed between the glucocorticoids (dexamethasone, budesonide) and placebo groups, with relative risks of 2.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.8-5.1) and 1.1 (95% CI 0.9-1.2), respectively. Among secondary outcomes, time to pain relief was significantly shorter in the glucocorticoid groups (mean onset: 2.6 h for dexamethasone, 3.1 h for budesonide) compared to the placebo group (4.1 h; p = 0.003). There were no significant differences in pain scores at 48 h, ED re-attendance, hospital admissions, or absenteeism. All treatments were well-tolerated, with no significant adverse events reported.

CONCLUSION: Despite a statistically significant earlier onset of pain relief, the study found no significant difference in complete resolution of sore throat at 24 or 48 h between glucocorticoids and placebo groups. Therefore, the routine use of nebulized steroids for managing acute pharyngitis may not be warranted, emphasizing the importance of maintaining standard care practices and considering alternative adjunct therapies.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Clinicaltrial.com NCT04027322. Date: 07/18/2019.

PMID:40272745 | DOI:10.1007/s43678-025-00906-5

AIDS Behav. 2025 Apr 24. doi: 10.1007/s10461-025-04744-5. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative aims to reduce new HIV infections by 90% by 2030 in the United States (US). However, rising sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates exacerbate the bidirectional infection risk between HIV and STIs. Most research on STIs among people with HIV (PWH) has focused on high-risk groups, resulting in limited data on broader populations. This study addresses that gap by examining the incidence and risk factors for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis in a statewide cohort of PWH in South Carolina. Data from South Carolina’s HIV and STI surveillance systems were linked, and all PWH aged 18 and older who were diagnosed with HIV between 2007 to April 2018 were included. Cohort demographics were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests, and a Cox Proportional Hazards model examined time to first STI after HIV diagnosis. The study found an increase in the incidence of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis over the study period. Young adults, men, Black individuals, MSM, and urban residents were found to be at increased risk for STI diagnosis. Clinical risk factors associated with increased STI risk included lower initial CD4 counts, and higher initial viral loads. The findings underscore a considerable STI burden among PWH in South Carolina. To mitigate STI transmission in the context of HIV, targeted interventions for high-risk populations are needed.

PMID:40272742 | DOI:10.1007/s10461-025-04744-5

J Mol Neurosci. 2025 Apr 24;75(2):56. doi: 10.1007/s12031-025-02354-3.

ABSTRACT

Emerging evidence suggests that sleep deprivation may contribute to cancer risk. However, the genetic association between sleep deprivation and glioblastoma (GBM) remains unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the causal relationship between sleep traits and GBM using genome-wide association study (GWAS) data of sleep duration, sleeplessness, GBM, and immune cell traits from the UK Biobank and FinnGen databases. Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were conducted to assess potential causal links between sleep traits and GBM risk. Mediation analysis was performed to identify immune mediators affected by sleep duration that might influence GBM development. Single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) was utilized to examine cellular subpopulation changes in brain tissue from sleep-deprived (SD) and ad libitum sleep mice. Additionally, a mouse model of sleep deprivation was established for transcriptomic analysis. We found a significant causal association between reduced sleep duration and increased GBM risk (IVW OR = 6.000 × 10^-5, P = 0.003, Bonferroni P = 0.025). Sleeplessness also emerged as a potential risk factor for GBM (OR-IVW = 20.221, P = 0.038). Mediation analysis identified CD80 expression on plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) as a mediator in the association between sleep duration and GBM, with a mediation effect of 0.256. SnRNA-seq confirmed significant alterations in CD80 + pDCs in sleep-deprived mice. Transcriptomic analysis of SD mice demonstrated upregulation of GBM-related markers (Egfr, Tert, and Mgmt) and associated signaling pathways. These findings suggest a potential causal link between insufficient sleep and increased GBM risk, highlighting the importance of sleep management for GBM patients.

PMID:40272711 | DOI:10.1007/s12031-025-02354-3

Atten Percept Psychophys. 2025 Apr 24. doi: 10.3758/s13414-025-03062-1. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In action control research, stimulus features are assumed to get bound to response features and integrated into an event file. Repetition of any feature leads to retrieval of this event file, causing interference with the current action, depending on whether features repeat or change. It is known that the location of a stimulus works as a feature in these processes. Location is usually operationalized as the absolute position of the stimulus; however, the significance of a particular stimulus location is often only revealed when its position relative to other context stimuli is considered as well. In two experiments (N_total = 100), we investigated under which conditions which form of location-absolute or relative-is used for binding and retrieval processes. It was shown that solely absolute stimulus location is used when there is a unique absolute target stimulus position for each possible relative target stimulus location. As soon as the target stimulus’ locations can no longer be conclusively defined by its absolute position, relative stimulus locations are used in binding and retrieval processes as well. Results are discussed in terms of prioritization processes and the idea of context-dependent processing of position deviances. Taken together, this reveals a flexible use of location as a feature in action control processes.

PMID:40272710 | DOI:10.3758/s13414-025-03062-1

Head Neck Pathol. 2025 Apr 24;19(1):43. doi: 10.1007/s12105-025-01750-w.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma is the most common malignant tumor of the salivary gland. MEC harboring MAML2 rearrangement has a favorable prognosis. This study investigated the histologic and locational diversity of head and neck mucoepidermoid carcinoma, clinicopathologic characteristics, and associations with CRTC1/3::MAML2 fusion.

METHODS: Patients with head and neck mucoepidermoid carcinoma (n = 128) treated from February 2004 to December 2016 were included. Retrospective analysis encompassed clinical data, pathologic findings, and prognoses, with concurrent performance of fluorescence in situ hybridization to detect MAML2 rearrangement.

RESULTS: The 128 head and neck mucoepidermoid carcinomas comprised 76 parotid gland, 29 oral cavity, 10 submandibular/sublingual, 8 pharynx, 2 lip, 2 sinonasal cavity, and 1 larynx MEC. The parotid gland was the most common site (59%), and the classic subtype was predominant (69%). MAML2 fusion was detected in 84% of analyzed cases and was strongly associated with low-grade tumors (P < 0.001). MAML2-negative cases exhibited higher rates of lymphovascular invasion, nodal metastasis, and poorer outcomes. Tumors in the parotid, submandibular gland, sublingual gland, oral cavity, and oropharynx, showed more frequent MAML2 rearrangement, than nasopharynx, larynx, lip, and paranasal sinus origin (P < 0.001). The classic and Warthin-like subtypes showed higher MAML2 rearrangement than other subtypes (P = 0.001). MAML2 fusion status was a statistically significant predictor of overall survival by univariate (P = 0.039) and multivariate (P = 0.048) analyses.

CONCLUSION: The presence MAML2 fusion is a favorable prognostic marker in mucoepidermoid carcinoma, with its prevalence varying by location and subtype. Its varying prevalence across locations and subtypes highlights its significant prognostic relevance. These findings underscore the importance of molecular testing and histopathologic evaluation in predicting clinical outcomes.

PMID:40272673 | DOI:10.1007/s12105-025-01750-w

Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2025 Apr 24. doi: 10.1007/s11548-025-03359-4. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Cerebral digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is a standard imaging technique in image-guided interventions for visualizing cerebral blood flow and therapeutic guidance thanks to its high spatio-temporal resolution. To date, cerebral perfusion characteristics in DSA are primarily assessed visually by interventionists, which is time-consuming, error-prone, and subjective. To facilitate fast and reproducible assessment of cerebral perfusion, this work aims to develop and validate a fully automatic and quantitative framework for perfusion DSA.

METHODS: We put forward a framework, perfDSA, that automatically generates deconvolution-based perfusion parametric images from cerebral DSA. It automatically extracts the arterial input function from the supraclinoid internal carotid artery (ICA) and computes deconvolution-based perfusion parametric images including cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), mean transit time (MTT), and Tmax.

RESULTS: On a DSA dataset with 1006 patients from the multicenter MR CLEAN registry, the proposed perfDSA achieves a Dice of 0.73(±0.21) in segmenting the supraclinoid ICA, resulting in high accuracy of arterial input function (AIF) curves similar to manual extraction. Moreover, some extracted perfusion images show statistically significant associations (P=2.62e $–$ 5) with favorable functional outcomes in stroke patients.

CONCLUSION: The proposed perfDSA framework promises to aid therapeutic decision-making in cerebrovascular interventions and facilitate discoveries of novel quantitative biomarkers in clinical practice. The code is available at https://github.com/RuishengSu/perfDSA .

PMID:40272658 | DOI:10.1007/s11548-025-03359-4

Discov Oncol. 2025 Apr 24;16(1):602. doi: 10.1007/s12672-025-02388-4.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is a common malignancy in men, with its pathogenesis not yet fully elucidated. Recent years have seen increased attention on the relationship between lipid metabolism abnormalities and prostate cancer risk. This study aims to explore the potential causal relationships between serum lipid metabolites and prostate cancer risk using Mendelian randomization methods.

METHODS: This study employed Mendelian randomization methods to analyze the relationship between various serum lipid metabolites (including phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidylethanolamines, phosphatidylinositols, etc.) and prostate cancer risk using GWAS datasets from the UK Biobank. The research analyzed data from 182,625 participants of European descent, including 9132 prostate cancer cases and 173,493 controls. Multiple statistical methods were used for analysis, including inverse variance weighted method, MR Egger regression method, and weighted median approach. Results were presented through forest plots, funnel plots, and scatter plots.

RESULTS: The study found that most serum lipid metabolites likely do not have strong causal relationships with prostate cancer risk. However, some metabolites showed weak associations: phosphatidylethanolamine (16:0_20:4) levels demonstrated a weak negative correlation with prostate cancer risk, while phosphatidylinositol (18:0_20:4) levels showed a weak positive correlation. The consistency of results across most analytical methods enhanced the reliability of these findings.

CONCLUSION: This study provides important insights into the complex relationship between serum lipid metabolites and prostate cancer risk. Although most lipid metabolites may not be strong determinants of prostate cancer risk, certain specific metabolites may have weak associations.

PMID:40272633 | DOI:10.1007/s12672-025-02388-4

Int J Urol. 2025 Apr 24. doi: 10.1111/iju.70085. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prostate cancer screening, patient characteristics, and clinical outcomes by comparing data before and after the pandemic at a Japanese institution.

METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at Toho University Sakura Medical Center, including 955 patients who underwent prostate biopsy between March 2018 and May 2022. The study period was divided into pre-pandemic (March 2018 to March 2020) and post-pandemic (April 2020 to May 2022) phases. Data on demographic characteristics, referral patterns, clinical presentation, and biopsy results were collected. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate differences in key clinical parameters before and after the onset of the pandemic.

RESULTS: The median age of patients undergoing prostate biopsy increased significantly during the post-pandemic period (71.0 years before vs. 73.0 years after, p < 0.01). Referrals from PSA screening decreased significantly (13.5% before vs. 9.0% after, p = 0.03), whereas referrals from office urologists increased (29.8% before vs. 38.0% after, p < 0.01). The overall detection rate of prostate cancer remained stable (62.0% before vs. 67.0% after, p = 0.10). However, the proportion of higher Gleason grade groups (4 and 5) increased significantly after the pandemic (46.8% before vs. 68.1% after, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic led to notable changes in prostate cancer screening practices and an increase in higher-grade cancer diagnoses. These findings highlight the importance of maintaining robust cancer screening programs and ensuring timely diagnosis during public health crises to mitigate adverse clinical outcomes.

PMID:40270432 | DOI:10.1111/iju.70085

Stud Health Technol Inform. 2025 Apr 24;324:264-269. doi: 10.3233/SHTI250199.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic strained healthcare systems, with Tyrol, Austria, as an early hotspot due to Alpine tourism. Variants like Alpha, Delta, and Omicron influenced infection and hospitalization trends.

OBJECTIVES: To assess how different variants affected hospital occupancy, sick leave, and infection rates in Tyrol.

METHODS: Daily data on infections, hospital occupancy, and variants from 2020-2022 were analyzed using statistical trend assessments.

RESULTS: Sick leave peaked at 38,542 days in early 2022 during the Omicron wave. Hospital occupancy rose significantly during Alpha and Omicron surges, despite milder disease severity for Omicron. Preventive measures temporarily reduced absenteeism.

CONCLUSION: Highly transmissible variants caused significant healthcare strain despite lower severity. Adaptable crisis management strategies are essential for mitigating future pandemic impacts.

PMID:40270423 | DOI:10.3233/SHTI250199

Stud Health Technol Inform. 2025 Apr 24;324:234-239. doi: 10.3233/SHTI250194.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Standardizing laboratory data is essential for interoperability and secondary use in clinical research and healthcare. However, many laboratory information systems (LIS) still rely on internal codes rather than internationally recognized terminologies, hindering data exchange, queryability, and integration into health data infrastructures.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to automate the extraction and mapping of internal lab codes to LOINC to improve structured data integration by utilizing web scraping and terminology mapping, we sought to create a FHIR-compliant ConceptMap.

METHODS: Guided by key requirements for structured data integration, we developed a Python-based workflow to extract and process laboratory data from an internal lab index. Using Selenium, BeautifulSoup, and Pandas, the extracted data was mapped to LOINC codes and transformed into a FHIR-compliant ConceptMap.

RESULTS: The workflow extracted 2,870 analytes, mapping 768 (27%) to LOINC. The automated process demonstrated feasibility and scalability.

CONCLUSION: The approach enables structured laboratory data integration but highlights the need for direct LIS integration and expanded LOINC coverage for legacy data.

PMID:40270418 | DOI:10.3233/SHTI250194