Tag: nevin manimala

Ecancermedicalscience. 2026 Mar 12;20:2093. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2026.2093. eCollection 2026.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: São Tomé and Príncipe, a small island developing state, relies heavily on medical evacuations for specialised cancer care. This country does not yet have a population-based cancer registry. Therefore, limited data exist on cancer epidemiology in this population.

OBJECTIVE: To characterise the profile of cancer among patients evacuated from São Tomé and Príncipe for medical treatment abroad.

METHODS: Descriptive study of medical evacuation records from the Ministry of Health’s Patient Evacuation Board (2019-2025). Descriptive statistics were reported for patient demographics, year of evacuation, primary diagnosis, referring speciality, number of evacuations per patient and if travelled with an escort.

RESULTS: Of 1,066 total evacuations, 413 (38.7%) were cancer-related. Cancer patients had a mean age of 48.3 ± 18.7 years with female predominance (58.6%). Breast cancer was most frequent (24.7%), followed by prostate (17.9%) and cervical cancer (9.4%). Most patients (76.9%) required single evacuation, with cancer patients more likely to have multiple evacuations.

CONCLUSION: Cancer represents a substantial burden among medical evacuees, with patterns suggesting opportunities for enhanced prevention and early detection programs. The high evacuation rate highlights critical gaps in local oncological capacity. Establishing a population-based cancer registry would enhance epidemiological data and inform public health strategies.

PMID:42131878 | PMC:PMC13161590 | DOI:10.3332/ecancer.2026.2093

J Saudi Heart Assoc. 2026 May 2;38(2):3. doi: 10.37616/2212-5043.1499. eCollection 2026.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Accurate patient centring at the computed tomography (CT) scanner isocentre is essential for optimising radiation dose. This study aimed to quantify positioning errors, assess their relationship with radiation dose, and estimate the potential dose reduction achievable with optimal centring.

METHODS: This retrospective observational study included adult patients (≥18 years) who underwent electrocardiography (ECG)-gated cardiac CT angiography between January 2023 and July 2025 at a tertiary hospital. Scans were performed using Siemens SOMATOM Force dual-source CT systems. Vertical and lateral deviations from the scanner isocentre were calculated from scout images using integrated analytics within the institutional dose monitoring platform (Qaelum NV, Leuven, Belgium). Radiation dose indices, including the volume-weighted CT dose index (CTDI_vol) and dose length product (DLP), were extracted from DICOM dose reports. Statistical analyses comprised descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, multivariable regression, and simulation of potential dose reductions with ideal centring.

RESULTS: Data from 399 patients were evaluated. Significant off-centring (>10 mm) occurred in 83% of scans in the anteroposterior (AP) direction and 50% laterally. Severe AP off-centring (>30 mm) was present in 39% of cases. Off-centring showed no independent association with CTDI_vol or DLP after adjustment for body mass index (BMI), age, and sex. Male patients demonstrated significantly greater off-centring in both the AP (p = 0.048) and lateral (p = 0.037) directions, and BMI category was significantly associated with off-centring magnitude in the AP (p = 0.031) and lateral (p = 0.022) directions. Literature-based scenario modelling suggested that ideal centring could hypothetically reduce mean CTDI_vol by approximately 12%, with a similar reduction in DLP.

CONCLUSION: Patient off-centring was highly prevalent in cardiac CT examinations. No independent association between off-centring and radiation dose was observed when adjusting for BMI, age, and sex. Literature-based scenario modelling suggests that meaningful radiation dose reductions may be achievable with optimum centring, although this requires prospective confirmation.

PMID:42131871 | PMC:PMC13166806 | DOI:10.37616/2212-5043.1499

Alzheimers Dement. 2026 May;22(5):e71458. doi: 10.1002/alz.71458.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Subtle symptoms, like subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and minor neuropsychological deficits (MNPD), can improve the risk stratification in preclinical Alzheimer´s disease (AD) but their importance is insufficiently elaborated.

METHODS: We pooled data from cognitively normal individuals participating in three longitudinal cohort studies (N = 13,192, 8,359[63.3%] female, mean [SD] age 71.0[8.4]).

RESULTS: Compared to participants without SCD and MNPD (SCD-/MNPD-), SCD-/MNPD+, SCD+/MNPD-, and SCD+/MNPD+ participants had an increased risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia, including in amyloid-positive individuals. Focusing on SCD+/MNPD+ participants triples the positive predictive value of amyloid biomarker testing for the 5-year prediction of MCI and reduces the required samples size for trials in preclinical AD to one fourth, compared to considering all cognitively normal participants regardless of subtle symptoms.

DISCUSSION: SCD and MNPD offer a powerful approach for risk stratification in preclinical AD, which can improve clinical trial designs, risk counseling, and future case identifications for early treatment.

PMID:42129577 | DOI:10.1002/alz.71458

Nat Cancer. 2026 May 13. doi: 10.1038/s43018-026-01161-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Over 50% of persons with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with standard-of-care concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) and durvalumab consolidation progress or die within 18 months. Here adults with untreated, unresectable stage III NSCLC were randomized to nivolumab plus CCRT followed by consolidation with nivolumab plus ipilimumab (arm A) or nivolumab alone (arm B) or CCRT followed by consolidation with durvalumab (arm C). The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) in arm A versus arm C and secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), PFS in arm B versus arm C, response rates and safety. At a median follow-up of 30.5 months, there was no statistically significant difference in the primary endpoint of PFS in the nivolumab plus ipilimumab arm versus durvalumab arm (hazard ratio (HR): 0.95, 96% confidence interval (CI): 0.77-1.19; P = 0.65). Descriptive OS analysis showed no improvement (HR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.87-1.43). Nivolumab alone did not improve PFS or OS versus durvalumab (PFS, HR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.69-1.04; OS, HR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.76-1.24). Nivolumab plus ipilimumab and nivolumab alone plus CCRT resulted in increased pneumonitis. These results emphasize the need for novel efficacious treatments for these individuals. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04026412 ).

PMID:42129521 | DOI:10.1038/s43018-026-01161-y

Commun Med (Lond). 2026 May 13. doi: 10.1038/s43856-026-01646-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: We aimed to investigate associations between newborn metabolite concentrations and the development of early-life wheezing and asthma. Our goal was to advance understanding of pathways involved in childhood asthma pathogenesis and identify potential targets for disease prevention.

METHODS: Our study populations included children enrolled in two Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) cohorts (INSPIRE, discovery; Healthy Start, replication) with linked newborn screening metabolic and outcome data (4-year recurrent wheeze and 5-year current asthma). We used elastic net penalized regression, followed by multivariable logistic regression, to determine metabolite-wheeze and metabolite-asthma associations. We secondarily assessed whether metabolite-asthma associations differed by asthma phenotype in the discovery cohort.

RESULTS: Among 1554 INSPIRE children, the prevalence of recurrent wheeze and current asthma is 11% and 18%, respectively. Newborn concentrations of butyrylcarnitine + isobutyrylcarnitine (C4) and decenoylcarnitine (C10:1) are associated with recurrent wheeze (C4: aOR 0.75 [95% CI 0.59, 0.95]; C10:1: aOR 1.42 [95% CI 1.13, 1.78]), while linoleoylcarnitine (C18:2) and citrulline (CIT) are associated with current asthma (C18:2: aOR 1.20 [95% CI 1.02, 1.41]; CIT: aOR 0.74 [95% CI 0.58, 0.93]). The effect size and directionality of the association between C18:2 and childhood asthma is similar in Healthy Start (n = 518), although the relationship is not statistically significant. C18:2 is additionally associated with increased odds of non-allergic asthma compared to no asthma in INSPIRE.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest biologic pathways that may be involved in childhood asthma pathogenesis and support investigation of the mechanisms underlying these relationships given the potential for targeted prevention strategies.

PMID:42129510 | DOI:10.1038/s43856-026-01646-y

Sci Rep. 2026 May 13;16(1):15058. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-52851-7.

ABSTRACT

A novel stereological framework to generate synthetic three-dimensional cellular material structures using Voronoi tessellations is presented. While conventional investigations of microstructural features rely on costly and often destructive three-dimensional imaging techniques, our method enables the reconstruction of 3D cellular structures from two-dimensional planar-sectional image data. By representing 3D cell architectures through Voronoi tessellations, we obtain an analytical representation requiring only three parameters per cell, ensuring efficient storage and computational processing. Our framework employs a differentiable approximation of Voronoi tessellations combined with a discriminator neural network in an adversarial learning context, enabling gradient-based optimization of tessellation parameters to generate random 3D cellular structures with statistically similar 2D planar sections as observed in measured 2D image data. We demonstrate the framework on image data of various cellular materials including metallic alloys, biological cells, and foam structures. The presented framework shows state-of-the-art capability of stereologically reconstructing 3D cellular microstructures, while introducing a low-parameter representation, preserving physical interpretability, and ensuring computational efficiency.

PMID:42129505 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-52851-7

Sci Rep. 2026 May 13. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-52827-7. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Mycoplasmas are known for being fastidious, with scientists still struggling to propagate them in vitro. Improving their culture is vital for future research, despite limited metabolomics studies available. This study explored the chemical composition changes in four liquid media (A, B, C, D) inoculated with Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), aiming to uncover overlooked metabolic features. We used Direct Analysis in Real Time High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (DART-HRMS) across five time points over 71 h. Integration of DART-HRMS data with statistical analysis showed that media A and D initially contained higher glucose levels, which declined over time. Lactic acid levels rose in all media, with signals reaching saturation at the latest time points. Subsequent pathway enrichment analysis revealed an unexpected overexpression of arginine metabolism. Spermidine accumulation in certain media suggests a potential link to inhibited biofilm formation, opening questions about polyamine function in MG. Histidinal accumulation indicated an unpredicted amino acid synthesis capability in a mycoplasma and MG’s inability to convert arginine into glutamic acid. Additionally, MG was observed to utilize creatine when present. These findings highlight the importance of metabolomics in understanding enigmatic microorganisms like mycoplasmas, reaffirming that environmental factors drive alternative metabolic routes in MG and opening new research avenues.

PMID:42129501 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-52827-7

Sci Rep. 2026 May 13. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-52289-x. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study compared two widely used biomechanical models-Plug-in Gait (PiG) and Conventional Gait Model 2.3 (CGM2.3)-during overground walking (WALK) and single-leg squats (SLS) in 24 healthy adults. Data was collected using a 20-camera Vicon system and force plates. Static trials were analyzed with medial knee and ankle markers to align joint axes across models. Kinematic and kinetic outputs were compared using root mean square differences (RMSD) and statistical parametric mapping (SPM) paired t-tests. During WALK, PiG produced greater internal rotation at the knee (RMSD 17.8°, p < 0.001) and hip (RMSD 5.0°, p < 0.001), and smaller sagittal-plane flexion angles (RMSD 2.6° knee, 2.3° hip) compared with CGM2.3. In single-leg squats, these discrepancies increased to 29.1° and 9.0°, respectively, with sagittal-plane differences of 4.4° at the knee and 5.1° at the hip. CGM2.3 yielded higher knee flexion moments (31% in WALK, 104% in SLS), while PiG produced higher frontal-plane knee moments (28% and 89%). The differences were most pronounced at deeper flexion angles. These results demonstrate that biomechanical outcomes differ systematically between models, emphasizing the impact of model selection on joint kinematics and kinetics in human movement analysis.

PMID:42129499 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-52289-x

Sci Rep. 2026 May 13. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-52543-2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In this study, we explore the (2+1)-dimensional Heisenberg ferromagnetic spin chain (HFSC) equation because of its significant role in modeling the nonlinear spin-wave propagation and magnetic excitations in ferromagnetic materials. The aim is to develop exact analytical solutions of the model through two different methods: a modified (addendum-type) Kudryashov method and a unified Riccati equation method. These methods provide a range of exact wave solutions, such as periodic, hyperbolic, trigonometric and rational structures, which exhibit a rich nonlinear behavior of the model. The solutions are discussed and depicted graphically in 2D and 3D forms, exhibiting stable, bounded, and finite propagation of waves without singularities. A key novelty of this study lies in the combined application of the two analytical methods to the HFSC model, which has not been extensively explored in previous literature. The outcome indicates the success and compatibility of these methods in describing the nonlinear behavior of spin-wave structures. The results could be applied for the study of nonlinear magnetic structures and may find applications in spintronics and modeling of ferromagnetic materials.

PMID:42129492 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-52543-2

Sci Rep. 2026 May 13. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-52883-z. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

High predictive accuracy is frequently misinterpreted as evidence of causal understanding or population-level signal. Models can exploit spurious correlations, confounding, or protocol-induced artefacts, while post-hoc explanations may faithfully describe model behaviour yet remain misleading about the underlying phenomenon. We propose a framework that separates three layers of evidence: (i) causal relations in the phenomenon, (ii) population-level statistical dependence, and (iii) finite-sample, protocol-dependent predictive effects. This separation clarifies why predictive success and feature attributions do not license mechanistic interpretations without additional assumptions. Under log-loss and Bayes-risk-consistent protocols, the population predictive value of adding a feature equals the conditional mutual information, providing a principled reference for “true signal”. Using controlled simulations, we illustrate that bootstrap resampling can induce persistent false positives by amplifying chance correlations, and that SHAP can assign high importance to confounded variables while remaining faithful to the fitted model. These results suggest that “feature importance” is best treated as protocol-bounded evidence, and that interpretation benefits from reporting the protocol, robustness checks, and the intended inferential scope.

PMID:42129446 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-52883-z