Tag: pubmed

Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2026 Apr 29. doi: 10.1007/s40368-026-01212-z. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This multicentre pilot study examined whether intraoral scanners (IOS) enhance oral health competence in paediatric patients and their caregivers compared with conventional verbal oral health instructions (OHI).

METHODS: Sixty children aged 6-14 years and their caregivers from three European university centres were randomly assigned to a control group (verbal OHI) or an intervention group (verbal OHI + IOS visualisation). Children were stratified into age groups: (6-8, 9-11, 12-14 years). Calibrated dentists performed standardised examinations and delivered OHI. In the intervention arm, an IOS scan was obtained and the 3D model was used to explain individual clinical findings. Comprehension of clinical findings was assessed after the consultation using age-adapted questionnaires. Children in the intervention group additionally rated their IOS experience using a visual analogue scale (VAS, 0-100%). Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis tests.

RESULTS: Children in the intervention group achieved higher comprehension scores (4.40 ± 1.61 vs. 3.33 ± 1.81; p = 0.019). Caregivers also scored higher in the intervention group (5.03 ± 1.25 vs. 4.10 ± 1.37; p = 0.008). Benefits were greatest in children aged 6-11 years. VAS ratings indicated acceptance: scanning was perceived as “fun” (83.8%), “informative” (81.3%) and “enjoyable to watch” (88.6%). Tip size was rated appropriate (68.7%), whilst agreement with “boring” (25.9%) and “painful” (24.1%) was low. The dentist’s explanation was rated as clear (94.8%).

CONCLUSION: IOS improved communication and understanding of oral health findings in paediatric dentistry, particularly amongst younger children and their caregivers.

PMID:42053901 | DOI:10.1007/s40368-026-01212-z

Clin Transplant. 2026 May;40(5):e70546. doi: 10.1111/ctr.70546.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Kidney transplantation (KT) improves survival and quality of life for older adults with kidney failure, yet older adults may be referred less often. We aimed to compare KT referral, waitlist activation, and transplantation rates by age in a contemporary Canadian cohort.

METHODS: We examined adult patients with kidney failure (initiating maintenance dialysis or referred for preemptive KT) in Nova Scotia from 2010 to 2020. Transplant-eligible patients aged 18-80 years were categorized by age (≤60, >60-70, and >70-80 years). Multivariable Fine and Gray subdistribution hazard and logistic regression models assessed time to transplant referral, odds of waitlist activation, and time to transplantation, adjusting for demographics, comorbidities, and frailty.

RESULTS: Of 1153 patients, 785 were potentially eligible for KT. Adjusted subdistribution hazard ratios (aSHR) for transplant referral were significantly lower for older groups (aSHR 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.57-0.93 for >60-70 years and aSHR 0.24, 95% CI: 0.17-0.34 for >70-80 years). There were no significant differences in odds of waitlisting if referred (odds ratio 0.76, 95% CI: 0.45-1.29 for >60-70 years and 0.74, 95% CI: 0.30-1.86 for >70-80 years) or in time to transplantation if waitlisted (aSHR 0.79, 95% CI: 0.55-1.13 for >60-70 years and aSHR 0.55, 95% CI: 0.28-1.08 for >70-80 years).

CONCLUSION: Older adults in Nova Scotia, Canada, experience significantly lower kidney transplant referral rates, with no differences in waitlist activation or time to transplant. Interventions to improve access to transplant for older individuals should focus on improving KT referral.

PMID:42053900 | DOI:10.1111/ctr.70546

Saudi Pharm J. 2026 Apr 29;34(2):23. doi: 10.1007/s44446-026-00078-y.

ABSTRACT

The optimal management strategy for hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis (HTGAP) remains uncertain, despite widespread use of treatment modalities including insulin therapy, heparin infusion, and plasmapheresis. Current evidence supporting the effectiveness and safety of these interventions is limited, leading to ongoing debate about their role in HTGAP treatment. This study aimed to synthesize the available evidence on the efficacy and safety of various management strategies for HTGAP. Following PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews, we conducted a comprehensive search of the following electronic databases from their inception until October 2024: PubMed, EMBASE, Science Direct, Cochrane library, ProQuest, and Scopus. Studies were included if they were human-based quantitative study design involving a comparison group. The quality assessment tools applied were Jadad scale and CASP tool. Fourteen eligible studies were included in this review were the majority of which were cohort studies (n = 12) with (n = 10) followed a retrospective observational study design. Plasmapheresis significantly reduced triglyceride levels in six studies, while hemofiltration showed similar effectiveness in two studies. Plasmapheresis also demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in length of hospital stay across four studies. The majority of the studies (n = 12) reported no statistically significant effect on mortality. Safety reporting was notably limited, with only four studies documenting treatment-related adverse events. Plasmapheresis and hemofiltration show potential benefits in HTGAP management, but definitive conclusions regarding efficacy and safety remain challenging due to heterogeneous data and limited high-quality studies. Further robust research is needed to establish a well-informed consensus on optimal treatment strategies.

PMID:42053867 | DOI:10.1007/s44446-026-00078-y

Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2026 Apr 29. doi: 10.1007/s11548-026-03673-5. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Patient-specific templates (STs) are widely adopted to guide drilling and cutting in orthopaedic procedures. Their intraoperative placement typically relies on visual and tactile assessment, without feedback on positioning accuracy. This work proposes a minimal, low-cost augmented reality (AR) method for intraoperative verification of template placement, designed for the brief and constrained nature of this task.

METHODS: A miniature camera is rigidly mounted on the surgical template and preoperatively calibrated. During placement, live images are augmented with virtual renderings of the patient’s bone model, generated from preoperative CT/MR data and displayed from the same fixed viewpoint. Correct alignment occurs only when the template reaches its planned pose, without requiring tracking systems, registration procedures, or head-mounted displays. Template placement was evaluated on a patient-specific phantom by thirteen participants, with and without AR guidance. Feasibility was further assessed through ex vivo tests on animal tissue involving seven users.

RESULTS: In phantom experiments, AR guidance was associated with improved placement accuracy (mean error 2.23 mm vs. 3.62 mm without AR, p = 0.0093). In ex vivo trials, all AR-guided osteotomy lines remained within ±2 mm of the planned trajectory suggesting experimental feasibility. However, the difference between conditions did not reach statistical significance.

CONCLUSION: Current literature lacks simple, inexpensive, and workflow-compatible methods for verifying the placement of surgical templates. The proposed approach may provide a simple method for intraoperative visual feedback without tracking hardware or complex AR systems, potentially supporting more consistent template positioning. However, its effectiveness may depend on surgical exposure and anatomical context.

PMID:42053864 | DOI:10.1007/s11548-026-03673-5

Mol Neurobiol. 2026 Apr 29;63(1):596. doi: 10.1007/s12035-026-05896-8.

ABSTRACT

Chronic fatigue is a debilitating symptom linked to mitochondrial dysfunction which lacks comprehensive genetic insights. This study aims to investigate mitochondrial-related genes associated with chronic fatigue and explores therapeutic targets. We conducted summary-data-based Mendelian randomization (SMR) and Bayesian colocalization analyses using blood eQTL data (n = 31,684) and fatigue GWAS data (n = 449,019). Mitochondrial-related genes were sourced from MitoCarta3.0. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) analysis and gene expression detection in rat models of fatigue were employed to enhance the robustness of our findings. Drug-gene interactions were screened via Drug SIGnatures (DSigDB) database and DrugBank database, followed by molecular docking and phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) for safety and pleiotropic effects evaluation. SMR identified nine mitochondrial-related genes, with AKAP10 (OR = 1.012) and MTHFD1L (OR = 1.027) showing robust colocalization and causal links to chronic fatigue. TSMR analysis also indicated significant causal relationships of AKAP10 (OR = 1.017, 95% CI = 1.011-1.023, p = 8.15e-08) and MTHFD1L (OR = 1.046, 95% CI = 1.002-1.091, p = 0.041) with chronic fatigue. Consistently, in fatigue model rats, the expression levels of Akap10 and Mthfd1l were significantly upregulated in both hippocampal and quadriceps tissues (p = 0.021, p = 0.003, p = 0.027, p = 0.001, respectively). Molecular docking revealed strong binding affinities (below -7.0 kcal/mol) between AKAP10, MTHFD1L and repurposed drugs (e.g., irinotecan, digoxin). PheWAS indicated that both AKAP10 and MTHFD1L exhibit no significant associations with other traits at the gene level. Mitochondria-related genes AKAP10 and MTHFD1L are promising targets for the treatment of chronic fatigue. Structural modification of existing drugs targeting these genes may lead to novel therapeutic approaches, which warrants further molecular and pharmacological validation to confirm their potential application in fatigue treatment.

PMID:42053855 | DOI:10.1007/s12035-026-05896-8

Int Wound J. 2024 Feb;21(2):e14689. doi: 10.1111/iwj.14689.

ABSTRACT

This study systematically evaluates the effect of body mass index on the occurrence of wound infections and complications in patients undergoing liver cancer surgery through a meta-analysis. A computerized search was conducted, from database inception to October 2023, in PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang databases for studies related to the impact of body mass index on patients undergoing liver cancer surgery. Two researchers independently selected studies based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the quality. Data analysis was performed using Stata 17.0 software. A total of 8 studies, encompassing 21 030 liver cancer surgery patients, were included. The analysis revealed that patients with a higher body mass index had a significantly higher incidence of wound infection (odds ratio [OR] = 2.36, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.21-4.60, p = 0.012) and complications (OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.11-2.24, p = 0.011) compared to the control group. Additionally, the hospital stay for higher body mass index patients was longer than that for the control group (standard mean difference [SMD] = -1.09, 95% CI: -4.71 to 2.53, p = 0.556), although this difference was not statistically significant. The study indicates that liver cancer surgery patients with higher body mass index were at an increased risk of postoperative wound infection and complications. This finding highlights the importance of considering body mass index as a factor in the management and care of patients undergoing liver cancer surgery.

PMID:42052914 | DOI:10.1111/iwj.14689

Int Wound J. 2024 Feb;21(2):e14653. doi: 10.1111/iwj.14653.

ABSTRACT

The topical application of the vancomycin in spine surgery is an effective method of reducing the incidence of postsurgical infections. However, there are differences in the prophylactic strategies used for various spinal surgeries. Therefore, the primary aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of the intra-wound vancomycin during spine surgery. For this purpose, 100 studies were identified through different databases and search engines with various search terms such as ‘intrawound vancomycin in surgery’, ‘intrawound applications of vancomycin’, ‘vancomycin in surgery’, ‘intraoperative vancomycin’, ‘vancomycin spinal surgeries’, ‘treating surgical site infections in spinal surgeries using vancomycin’, ‘spinal surgery’, ‘vancomycin in spinal surgery’, ‘spine surgery’, ‘topical vancomycin’ and ‘local vancomycin’. Furthermore, the identified studies were reviewed thoroughly and finally, 19 studies were selected for meta-analysis. The selected studies were included based on the inclusion criteria and data was extracted from the selected studies. The pool of the statistically significant studies was further analysed using the ‘meta’ package of R version 4.3.2. The analysed data resulted in statistically significant results with a p-value <0.001 and the heterogeneity at 50% suggesting that the meta-analysis results may be significant in supporting the application of vancomycin at surgical sites to reduce the surgical site infections and eventually improve the postoperative conditions by reducing the long hospital stays.

PMID:42052912 | DOI:10.1111/iwj.14653

Int Wound J. 2024 Feb;21(2):e14561. doi: 10.1111/iwj.14561.

ABSTRACT

A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the impact of transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy (TSV) over 20 G vitrectomy on wound healing, as well as the requirements for closing the wound in order to treat vitreoretinal diseases. Among the 500 cases who had been treated with vitrectomy to September 2023, 250 were treated by transconjunctiva without vitrectomy and 250 were treated with 20 G vitrectomy. The odds ratio (OR) and mean difference (MD) of 95% confidence interval (CI) were computed to evaluate the influence of wound opening and closing on vitrectomy diseases. The evaluation of vitreoretinal diseases was performed with either a random-or fixed-effect model, which involved TSV compared to 20 G vitrectomy. Compared to 20 G vitrectomy, the opening time of the wound in TSV was less (MD, -2.03; 95% CI, -2.87, -1.19; p < 0.0001); Compared to 20 G vitrectomy, the closing time of the wound was less (MD, -4.84; 95% CI, -6.38, -3.03; p < 0.0001); Nevertheless, there were no statistically significant differences in the incidence of vitreous haemorrhage after TSV surgery compared with 20 G vitrectomy (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.25, 2.18; p = 0.59). TSV vitrectomy can shorten the duration of the operation and speed up the healing of the wound. It is suggested that additional studies be carried out with a larger sample size in order to verify this conclusion.

PMID:42052905 | DOI:10.1111/iwj.14561

Mol Biol Evol. 2026 Apr 29:msag113. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msag113. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Positive and balancing selection on pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) is widely thought to target ligand-binding domains and affect the specificity of recognition of different pathogens. Alternatively, positive/balancing selection on PRRs could affect general responsiveness by targeting for example signaling domains or cis-regulatory variation. Studies of a wild rodent (the bank vole, Clethrionomys glareolus) have shown that Tlr2-a lipoprotein-binding PRR-is highly polymorphic with divergent haplotypes and signatures of balancing selection, and that Tlr2 genotype is associated with susceptibility to Borrelia afzelii infection in the wild. To investigate what aspect of Tlr2 function has been under selection, we here perform integrated population genetic and functional analyses. Ex vivo infection experiments show that the protective Tlr2 haplotype produces a stronger proinflammatory response to B. afzelii compared to the haplotype associated with susceptibility. Tlr2 genotype has a similar, albeit not statistically significant, effect on responsiveness to the phylogenetically distant pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes. We find that the strongest signature of balancing selection is 4.6 kb upstream of the Tlr2 coding sequence, near a putative enhancer, and that Tlr2 exhibits allele-specific expression such that the protective haplotype is more expressed. Collectively these results indicate that balancing selection has primarily acted on cis-regulatory variation affecting the general responsiveness via Tlr2-signaling rather than on polymorphisms affecting Tlr2 ligand-binding specificity.

PMID:42052896 | DOI:10.1093/molbev/msag113

Int Wound J. 2024 Feb;21(2):e14695. doi: 10.1111/iwj.14695.

ABSTRACT

This meta-analysis systematically evaluates the impact of negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) on surgical-site wound infection after vascular surgery. A comprehensive computerized search was conducted, from database inception to November 2023, in PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the application of NPWT in vascular surgery. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted data, and conducted quality assessments based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software. A total of 11 RCTs involving 1597 vascular surgery patients were included. The analysis revealed that the application of NPWT in vascular surgery significantly reduced the incidence of wound infections (OR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.32-0.58, p < 0.001) and complications (OR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.27-0.58, p < 0.001). Additionally, NPWT was found to decrease the occurrence of both superficial wound infections (OR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.36-1.12, p = 0.12) and deep wound infections (OR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.19-1.16, p = 0.10), although these differences were not statistically significant. This study indicates that NPWT, compared with conventional treatment methods, has significant advantages in preventing postoperative wound infections and complications in vascular surgery patients and is therefore worthy of widespread clinical adoption.

PMID:42052881 | DOI:10.1111/iwj.14695