Tag: pubmed

Sci Rep. 2026 Jun 30. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-58207-5. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Traditional Bayesian network structure learning requires explicit trade-offs among structural complexity, statistical fit, and decision reliability. This study proposes BAPS (Budgeted Acyclicity with Phase-transition Spectral diagnostics), a framework that reformulates structure learning as a budget-controlled optimization problem in which a global edge budget limits the number of selected candidate edges and thereby regulates model capacity. A relaxed QUBO formulation with post-hoc DAG projection explores likelihood-improving structures while recovering feasible directed acyclic graphs; in benchmark experiments, the repair process reduces SHD by 20.6%, 14.9%, and 8.3% on Asia, Insurance, and Barley, indicating improved structural agreement while enforcing feasibility. Spectral diagnostics based on algebraic connectivity serve as descriptive structural indicators for flagging budget regions where repair burden may escalate. A dual-layer credibility framework quantifies uncertainty from parameter and observational sources; credibility interval width contracts by 69-73% under increasing Dirichlet concentration and remains empirically stable in sparse-data conditions where resampling-based methods become unstable due to zero-frequency effects. Across benchmark networks, BAPS achieves the highest BIC gain while maintaining broadly comparable held-out predictive performance relative to established baselines. Overall, BAPS provides a unified framework integrating edge-budget capacity control, structural diagnostics, feasibility repair, and credibility assessment for Bayesian network learning in complex diagnostic environments.

PMID:42380384 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-58207-5

Int Microbiol. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1007/s10123-026-00822-3. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a multidrug-resistant pathogen, highly prevalent in ICU patients and is a rising concern globally. Multidrug resistance (MDR) and virulence of P. aeruginosa has been a major reason linked to the high rates of mortality in both developed and non-developed countries. The study focused specifically on main structural outer membrane proteins mainly oprI and oprL due to their significant role on both virulence and MDR by assessing their MDR from the isolates collected from various healthcare settings in Lahore, Pakistan. A total of 65 isolated were collected from different tertiary care hospitals of Lahore, Punjab. All isolates were identified and characterized using conventional methods. MDR patterns were assessed through disk diffusion method in accordance with CLSI 2024 guidelines. Detection of virulence genes (oprI and oprL) was performed using PCR amplification. Statistical and in silico analysis was performed to analyse the prevalence of P. aeruginosa and identification of potential vaccine targets provide alternative treatment strategies against infections caused by it. Out of all 65 isolates, total of 52 isolates was reportedly positive with P. aeruginosa and showed 100% resistance to β-lactams with high susceptibility to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. Multidrug resistance was reported in 70% isolates of P. aeruginosa. All isolates (100%) harbored the oprL gene while the oprI gene was detected in 85.5% of isolates. In silico characterization revealed strong binding B and T cell epitopes with 100% conservancy as potential multi-epitope candidates that warrant further in vivo and in vitro validation to overcome deadly infections caused by P. aeruginosa. In conclusion, MDR and virulence gene characterization by both molecular and computational methods will aid in developing multi-epitope vaccine candidate that can be tested in vitro and in vivo to overcome MDR and rising mortality rates in Pakistan.

PMID:42380383 | DOI:10.1007/s10123-026-00822-3

Sci Rep. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-58672-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Water immersion is a popular conditioning method; specifically, high-concentration CO₂ hot water immersion (CO₂-HWI) has become more common in recent years. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of CO₂-HWI in conditioning for athletes from both physiological and biochemical perspectives. Ten male university baseball players participated in this randomized crossover trial. Each participant completed three 15-min interventions after team training sessions on separate experimental days: CO₂-HWI (CO₂; water temperature, 40 °C; CO₂ concentration, 1000 ppm), tap HWI (TAP; water temperature, 40 °C), and non-water immersion (NON; room temperature, 25 °C; relative humidity 60%). Measurements were taken before and after the intervention, and change scores were calculated. Differences in change scores among the three conditions were analyzed using the Friedman test. From a physiological perspective, systolic blood pressure showed a significant decrease in the CO₂ vs. NON comparison (p < 0.05), whereas most measures (e.g., core and skin temperatures) showed similar changes in the CO₂ and TAP conditions compared with the NON condition (p < 0.05). From a biochemical perspective, salivary cortisol and secretory immunoglobulin A levels did not show significant changes. Meanwhile, salivary human herpesvirus (HHV-) 7 DNA levels showed a significant decrease in the CO₂ vs. NON comparison (p < 0.05), while changes in HHV-6 DNA levels were not statistically significant. In summary, CO₂-HWI demonstrated comparable effectiveness to TAP-HWI from both physiological and biochemical perspectives. Among these findings, CO₂-HWI may contribute to reductions in systolic blood pressure and salivary HHV-7 DNA levels.

PMID:42380375 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-58672-y

Eur J Pediatr. 2026 Jun 30;185(7):543. doi: 10.1007/s00431-026-07166-0.

ABSTRACT

To assess clinical value, safety, and applicability of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in neonates, focusing on bedside use in intensive care. This retrospective single-center study included 23 neonates undergoing intravenous CEUS between 2010 and 2024, including seven preterm infants. The liver (n = 18) was the most frequently examined organ, followed by kidneys (n = 2), brain (n = 2), and adrenals (n = 1). Findings were compared with MRI (n = 10), CT (n = 3), or biopsy (n = 8), when available. In nine cases, CEUS findings were consistent with clinical course and treatment response only, without an independent reference standard. Among the 14 cases with available reference diagnostics, CEUS established the diagnosis first in ten (71.4%); histological confirmation was available in eight cases, with concordance in five (62.5%). 13 examinations (56.5%) were performed for bedside problem-solving in the neonatal intensive care unit, and no adverse events were observed.

CONCLUSION: CEUS provided clinically relevant diagnostic information in neonates, including preterm and critically ill infants and was well tolerated. CEUS was particularly valuable in hepatic vascular tumors, where it could provide a definite diagnosis, enabled hemodynamic assessment, supported treatment decisions, and aided identification of potentially life-threatening complications. Bedside use enabled timely diagnosis without sedation, intubation, or patient transport, thereby supporting minimal handling. In selected cases, CEUS may reduce the need for cross-sectional imaging. Despite off-label use, our findings suggest a beneficial role for CEUS in neonatal imaging, predominantly for hepatic indications.

WHAT IS KNOWN: • Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is a radiation-free, bedside-compatible imaging technique with an established safety profile in pediatric patients. • Neonatal CEUS experience is limited to small case series, predominantly reporting cerebral applications.

WHAT IS NEW: • CEUS was feasible and well tolerated in neonates including preterm infants, with no adverse events in 23 examinations. • CEUS yielded clinically relevant diagnostic information across a range of indications, primarily hepatic, encompassing both focal lesions and perfusion assessment, supporting clinical decision-making in neonatal care.

PMID:42380351 | DOI:10.1007/s00431-026-07166-0

Support Care Cancer. 2026 Jun 30;34(7):708. doi: 10.1007/s00520-026-10929-y.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Patients with hematological malignancies are vulnerable to psychological distress in times of crisis. We evaluated emotional burden, including demographic and clinical factors associated with war-related fears and depression severity, as well as coping strategies, and care continuity during the 2023-2025 war in Israel and compared findings to a prior COVID-19 survey.

METHODS: A national cross-sectional survey was conducted in September 2025 among Hebrew-speaking patients with hematological malignancies. Data included sociodemographic and clinical items, disease management, fears (Likert scales), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and three open-ended questions analyzed thematically. Results were compared with a similar 2021 COVID-19 survey.

RESULTS: Of 836 patients approached, 188 responded (22%). War affected many patients: 45% had a relative recruited to the army, and 2% reported evacuation or a family member injured/killed. Treatment disruptions were limited (8% delays, 7% alternative therapy, one deferred CAR-T). Depression was frequent (mean PHQ-9 was 10.4 ± 5.6), with 49% in moderate-to-severe ranges, significantly higher than during COVID-19 (9.2 ± 5.9, p = 0.022). Female sex and the wartime period independently predicted depression severity. Mean fear regarding clinic safety was 1.9 ± 1.4 on a 7-point Likert scale and was higher in women, older and lymphoma patients. Thematic analysis revealed fear/anger about war and government (38%) as the most common difficulty, while family support (23%) was the main coping resource.

CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023-2025 war was associated with greater depression severity despite fewer care disruptions. Hematology services should incorporate systematic screening and psychosocial support to safeguard patient well-being during crises.

PMID:42380344 | DOI:10.1007/s00520-026-10929-y

Nat Comput Sci. 2026 Jun 30. doi: 10.1038/s43588-026-00999-7. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Dimensionality-reduction-based visualization is essential for interpreting complex biological data. Yet, unsupervised methods such as t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding, Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection, and Isomap reflect only the dominant data structure, which may not align with the goals of downstream analysis or expert-provided annotations. Existing supervised variants only partially address this mismatch and introduce new limitations. Here we present RF-PHATE, a supervised visualization approach that incorporates expert knowledge to reveal label-relevant structure while suppressing extraneous variation. RF-PHATE uses random forests to learn relationships between features and labels and translates this information into low-dimensional embeddings. RF-PHATE handles large datasets and is suitable for both classification and regression tasks. We demonstrate its use across four case studies, including longitudinal multiple sclerosis data, Raman spectral measurements of antioxidant effects, outcomes of patients with COVID-19, and RNA sequencing data with simulated dropout. These applications highlight RF-PHATE’s ability to enhance interpretability, manage noise and expose meaningful biological structure, suggesting broad potential for improving data exploration and discovery.

PMID:42380342 | DOI:10.1038/s43588-026-00999-7

Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek. 2026 Jul 1;119(7):154. doi: 10.1007/s10482-026-02366-y.

ABSTRACT

River-reservoir systems generate strong hydrological and environmental heterogeneity, often associated with shifts in bacterial communities, yet how spatiotemporal environmental differences jointly shape community variation, assembly processes, and co-occurrence patterns remains poorly resolved at the system scale. Here, we combined 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing with water-quality measurements to characterize bacterial dynamics across sampled riverine and reservoir sections of the Hanjiang River (China) during contrasting seasons. Community composition and diversity differed across sections and seasons, and the distance-decay relationship was steeper in the warm season, suggesting more evident spatial structuring. Assembly mechanisms also shifted: stochastic processes were relatively more prominent in reservoir samples and during the cold season, whereas heterogeneous selection became more evident in warm-season riverine sections. Co-occurrence networks showed seasonal reorganization, transitioning from denser cold-season networks to more modular warm-season structures, with cross-module connectivity increasingly concentrated in topology-defined connector taxa. Among environmental correlates, water temperature-together with covarying conditions reflecting productivity, nutrient availability, and organic-matter status-was consistently associated with community variation, and Threshold Indicator Taxa Analysis (TITAN2) identified a system-specific community-level transition near 19.4 °C along this gradient. Partial least squares path modeling further suggested that temperature was statistically linked to bacterial attributes both directly and indirectly via covarying water-quality conditions, jointly accounting for 66% of community variation within the model. Collectively, these results may support temperature-aware bacterial monitoring and water-quality management in river-reservoir systems.

PMID:42380332 | DOI:10.1007/s10482-026-02366-y

Int Orthop. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1007/s00264-026-06931-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether imageless handheld robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty (rTKA) can achieve time neutrality compared with manual TKA (mTKA) within a standardised workflow, while assessing operating-room (OR) efficiency, environmental impact, and intraoperative workload demand.

METHODS: In this prospective study, 24 consecutive patients undergoing primary TKA were stratified to either rTKA (n = 12) or mTKA (n = 12). A process analysis captured 75 timestamps per case and quantified preparation, surgical, breakdown, turnover, and total OR times. Instrument trays were counted and weighed; reprocessing-related water and electricity consumption and costs were estimated. Perceived workload demand was assessed after both rTKA and mTKA using the NASA Task Load Index.

RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were observed between rTKA and mTKA for any OR time interval (total OR time 79.8 ± 8.1 vs. 75.8 ± 5.3 min, p = 0.19; mean surgical time 40.3 ± 4.2 vs. 37.3 ± 3.9 min, p = 0.10 for rTKA vs. mtKA respectively). The reduction of one tray for rTKA cases corresponded to estimated savings of €13,900, 3,900 L of water, and 140 kWh of electricity in sterilisation based on an annual volume of 250 cases. For rTKA, the NASA-TLX domain scores demonstrated lower perceived workload and frustration for rTKA than for mTKA (all p < 0.001), with a significantly higher perceived performance rating (p = 0.025).

CONCLUSION: Imageless handheld rTKA achieved time neutrality compared with mTKA in a standardised high-volume workflow and was associated with reduced intraoperative workload demand. These findings support the feasibility of integrating handheld robotic assistance without compromising OR efficiency, while potentially improving staff experience and reducing resource utilisation, thereby contributing to value-based arthroplasty care.

PMID:42380330 | DOI:10.1007/s00264-026-06931-y

Eur Radiol. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1007/s00330-026-12705-2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Uterine cancers include endometrial cancer (EC), cervical cancer (CC), and uterine sarcomas, with leiomyosarcoma being the most common subtype. Each tumour type has distinct biological behaviour, imaging features, and treatment approaches. Radiologists must be familiar with normal uterine anatomy and its variations, as well as key imaging characteristics and common patterns of tumour spread to ensure accurate staging and optimal treatment selection. MRI is the imaging modality of choice for evaluating uterine malignancies due to its excellent soft tissue contrast and multiplanar capabilities. Accurate assessment requires dedicated multiparametric protocols, as recommended by the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR), including high-resolution T2-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) sequences when appropriate. 18-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) complements MRI in patients with CC by providing the highest accuracy for detecting lymph-node and distant metastases. CT is mainly used for systemic evaluation. This article presents a practical guide for radiologists, describing the main clinical indications, patient preparation, and tailored MRI protocols. It also highlights key imaging findings that should be evaluated and reported. KEY POINTS: MRI is the preferred imaging modality for evaluating uterine malignancies due to its superior soft tissue contrast and multiplanar capabilities. Common clinical indications include MRI staging of endometrial and cervical cancers, assessment of eligibility for fertility preservation, and characterisation of indeterminate myometrial lesions. Adherence to established imaging guidelines is strongly recommended to ensure high-quality images as well as complete and clinically relevant radiology reports.

PMID:42380325 | DOI:10.1007/s00330-026-12705-2

Sci Rep. 2026 Jun 30;16(1):19929. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-60173-x.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:42380234 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-60173-x