Tag: pubmed

J Biopharm Stat. 2026 Jul 16:1-17. doi: 10.1080/10543406.2026.2685280. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

By early 2023, there were over 100 gene, cell and RNA products approved globally (Chancellor et al. 2023). The way in which autologous cell and cell-based gene therapy products are administered can include multiple treatment stages, at times including leukapheresis, optional bridging therapy during manufacturing, conditioning regimen, and one or more doses of product. This brings important considerations in the development of the statistical analysis plan for clinical trials of autologous cell and cell-based gene therapies, including application of the estimand framework for key facets. In this article, we review all of the FDA currently approved autologous cell and cell-based gene therapy products as examples as they apply to general considerations for the statistical analysis plan as well as more in-depth discussion of treatment exposure, safety and efficacy analyses, and other aspects.

PMID:42460470 | DOI:10.1080/10543406.2026.2685280

Acta Odontol Scand. 2026 Jul 16;85:416-424. doi: 10.2340/aos.v85.46468.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effects of cervical headgear (CHG) timing on costs and orthodontic outcome.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty-seven participants with Class II malocclusion were randomized into two groups. In the early group (EG, n = 33), CHG treatment began after the eruption of first upper molars. In the later-timed group (LG, n = 34), CHG treatment began nearly 2 years later. Orthodontic outcome was evaluated when CHG ended and at the end of follow-up using the Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) index and Little’s Irregularity Index (LII). Costs were calculated using medical records, estimated chairside times and average personnel and material costs.

RESULTS: The mean total costs including personnel and material costs during the follow-up were higher in the EG (€416) compared with the LG (€364) (p = 0.043). No statistically significant differences between the groups were found in the PAR and in the LII scores at the end of follow-up. The number of visits during CHG treatment was higher in the EG (13.3) compared with the LG (10.4) (p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: Earlier initiation of CHG treatment increased the personnel and material costs, number of appointments, and chairside time. Based on the PAR and in the LII scores, the orthodontic outcome of CHG treatment was equal regardless of the timing of the treatment. If orthodontic treatment during mixed-dentition stage is considered, it would be justified from an economic perspective to favor treatment during late mixed-dentition.

PMID:42460461 | DOI:10.2340/aos.v85.46468

Pain Res Manag. 2026;2026(1):e3699422. doi: 10.1155/prm/3699422.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Medication-overuse headache (MOH) is a disabling secondary headache arising from frequent acute medication intake in individuals with preexisting primary headache. Behavioral and psychosocial factors may perpetuate medication overuse. As a reduction of acute medication intake is essential for remission, educational and behavioral interventions are commonly used; however, their effectiveness remains uncertain.

OBJECTIVES: To systematically evaluate the effectiveness of educational and behavioral interventions on acute medication use, headache frequency, and headache-related disability in patients with MOH, and to assess short- and longer-term outcomes compared to usual care.

METHODS: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to January 2026 for randomized controlled trials evaluating educational or behavioral interventions in adults with MOH. Outcomes included reduction of acute medication use, headache frequency, and headache-related disability. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed where appropriate.

RESULTS: Six trials (610 participants) were included. Brief educational interventions were associated with clinically meaningful reductions in acute medication use and headache frequency. Multiple-session interventions, compared to minimal intervention, were associated with additional mean reductions in acute medication use of approximately 3 days per month and in headache frequency of 2.6 days per month at 3 months and 0.8 days per month at 12 months; however, between-group differences were not statistically significant. Substantial heterogeneity was observed.

CONCLUSIONS: Brief educational interventions may be considered as a potentially useful component of MOH care. Multisession interventions may offer additional benefit but remain inconclusive because of heterogeneity and limited evidence. Further high-quality trials are needed to define optimal strategies.

PMID:42460454 | DOI:10.1155/prm/3699422

Comput Brain Behav. 2023 Nov 6;7(2):255-267. doi: 10.1007/s42113-023-00184-3. eCollection 2024 Jun.

ABSTRACT

The race model for stop signal processing is based on the assumption of context independence between the go and stop process. Recent empirical evidence inconsistent with predictions of the independent race model has been interpreted as a failure of context independence. Here we demonstrate that, keeping context independence while assuming stochastic dependency between go and stop processing, one can also account for the observed violations. Several examples demonstrate how stochastically dependent race models can be derived from copulas, a rapidly developing area of statistics. The non-observability of stop signal processing time is shown to be equivalent to a well known issue in random dependent censoring.

PMID:42460438 | PMC:PMC13298679 | DOI:10.1007/s42113-023-00184-3

Comput Brain Behav. 2024 Apr 8;7(2):242-254. doi: 10.1007/s42113-024-00200-0. eCollection 2024 Jun.

ABSTRACT

We apply cognitive modeling to improve the wisdom of the crowd in a spatial knowledge task. Participants provided point estimates for where 48 US cities are located and then, using the point estimate as a center point, chose a radius large enough that they believed the resulting circle was certain to contain the city’s location. Simple and radius-weighted arithmetic averages of the individuals’ point estimates produced more accurate group answers than the majority of individuals. These statistical aggregates, however, assume there are no differences in individual expertise nor in the difficulty of locating different cities. Accordingly, we develop a set of cognitive models to infer group estimates that make various assumptions about individual expertise and differences in city difficulty. The model-based estimates generally outperform the statistical averages. The models are especially accurate if they allow for individual differences in expertise that can vary city by city. We replicate this finding by applying the same cognitive models to data reported by Mayer and Heck (2023) in which participants provided point estimates for the locations of European cities.

PMID:42460437 | PMC:PMC13298622 | DOI:10.1007/s42113-024-00200-0

Comput Brain Behav. 2023 Oct 26;7(2):207-224. doi: 10.1007/s42113-023-00183-4. eCollection 2024 Jun.

ABSTRACT

The timing of intervals in both humans and nonhuman animals is susceptible to imprecision, leading to trial-to-trial variations in timed behaviors. A notable statistical characteristic of this timing behavior is the linear increase in the standard deviation of timed responses as the intervals become longer, known as time-scale invariance. Although the exact mechanism responsible for this property is not yet fully understood, “time cells” have emerged as a potential mechanism, particularly in relation to interval timing within the episodic memory system. These specialized networks of neurons exhibit sequential firing, with each neuron becoming active during a specific phase of the timed experiment. Notably, the resulting “ramping wave” decelerates during later phases of the timed event, and the duration of cell activity increases over time. In this paper, we propose a new model of a biological neural network composed of time cells, utilizing integrate-and-fire neurons with slow after-hyperpolarization currents and varying resting membrane potentials. This proposed network does not rely on any specific network architecture apart from self-excitation. Remarkably, the network successfully reproduces the experimentally observed ramping activity, with the standard deviation of spike times among the participating neurons increasing linearly with the average spike time. Furthermore, the results of the model are consistent with the experimental findings, providing additional evidence for its accuracy and validity.

PMID:42460436 | PMC:PMC13298657 | DOI:10.1007/s42113-023-00183-4

Comput Brain Behav. 2023 Nov 21;7(2):225-241. doi: 10.1007/s42113-023-00190-5. eCollection 2024 Jun.

ABSTRACT

Human observers are known to frequently act like Bayes-optimal decision-makers. Growing evidence indicates that the deployment of the visual system may similarly be driven by probabilistic mental models of the environment. We tested whether eye movements during a dynamic interception task were indeed optimised according to Bayesian inference principles. Forty-one participants intercepted oncoming balls in a virtual reality racquetball task across five counterbalanced conditions in which the relative probability of the ball’s onset location was manipulated. Analysis of pre-onset gaze positions indicated that eye position tracked the true distribution of onset location, suggesting that the gaze system spontaneously adhered to environmental statistics. Eye movements did not, however, seek to minimise the distance between the target and foveal vision according to an optimal probabilistic model of the world and instead often reflected a ‘best guess’ about onset location. Trial-to-trial changes in gaze position were, however, found to be better explained by Bayesian learning models (hierarchical Gaussian filter) than associative learning models. Additionally, parameters relating to the precision of beliefs and prediction errors extracted from the participant-wise models were related to both task-evoked pupil dilations and variability in gaze positions, providing further evidence that probabilistic context was reflected in spontaneous gaze dynamics.

PMID:42460434 | PMC:PMC13298623 | DOI:10.1007/s42113-023-00190-5

Ann Gastroenterol. 2026 May-Jun;39(3):360-371. doi: 10.20524/aog.2026.1064. Epub 2026 Apr 24.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide, however, the risk of newly-diagnosed CRC and its related mortality after polypectomy have not been conclusively determined.

METHODS: Prospective cases with polypectomy were identified in the UK Biobank. The age- and sex-standardized incidence ratio (SIR) and standardized mortality ratio (SMR) were calculated to assess the risk of CRC between the removal group and both the non-index-colonoscopy group (no record of diagnostic colonoscopy) from the UK Biobank and the general population in England. We also estimated the effect of removal compared with the polyp-free group using a competing risk model.

RESULTS: During a median follow up of 10 (1-44) years (51,136 person-years), 78 incident CRCs (153/100,000 person-years), and 16 CRC-specific deaths (31/100,000 person-years) were identified in the removal group. Compared with the general population in England, the removal group had a similar risk of incident CRC (SIR 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.64-1.01; P=0.060), whereas the CRC-specific mortality was 52% lower (SMR 0.48, 95%CI 0.28-0.78; P=0.004). Compared with the non-index-colonoscopy group, CRC-specific deaths after polyp removal were not significantly different (SMR 1.64, 95%CI 0.94-2.66; P=0.050). Compared with the polyp-free group, the risks of incidence and mortality in the removal group were both greater (incidence: adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 6.17, 95%CI 4.36-8.74; P<0.001; mortality: adjusted HR 3.25, 95%CI 1.65-6.41; P<0.001).

CONCLUSION: Polypectomy reduced but not eliminated the risk of CRC for polyp-positive participants to the level of the general population, reinforcing the importance of procedural quality and tailored surveillance strategies.

PMID:42460415 | PMC:PMC13372444 | DOI:10.20524/aog.2026.1064

Indian J Psychol Med. 2026 Jul 12:02537176261464362. doi: 10.1177/02537176261464362. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Mental health experts commonly rely on subjective interviews and resource-intensive projective tools to assess adolescent mental health problems. A validated Hindi version of the depression, anxiety, and stress scale for youth-21-item (DASS-Y-21) remains unavailable for the Indian adolescent population.

METHODS: The present study aimed to translate and validate DASS-Y-21 into Hindi among juvenile delinquents in India. The study complied with COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health measurement instruments and STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology guidelines for reporting findings. This study utilized a cross-sectional design with purposive sampling to study 351 Hindi-speaking male juvenile delinquents within the age range of 10-19 years from two detention centers across Delhi, India. The analysis was conducted in four stages: (a) descriptive statistics, (b) reliability testing, (c) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and (d) Rasch analysis.

RESULTS: All recruited participants were males with a mean age of 16.3 (±1.18) years. Descriptive and normality analysis suggested higher variability in the data. The item-rest correlations ranged from moderate to high levels. Item drop test revealed Cronbach’s (α) and McDonald’s (ω) values > 0.90. In CFA, the comparative fit index, Tucker-Lewis index, standardized root mean square residual, and root mean square error of approximation, the model showed good fit. The rating scale method (RSM) had a lower log-likelihood value (-7,989) than the partial credit model (PCM) (-7,870). CFA confirmed the good fit of the 3-factor model of DASS-Y among Indian Hindi-speaking juvenile delinquents. In Rasch analysis, PCM indicated moderate difficulty for the items.

CONCLUSION: The study translated DASS-Y-21 into Hindi and evaluated its psychometric properties among Indian juvenile delinquents. Reliability tests confirm good internal consistency. Both PCM and RSM models demonstrated adequate fit with slight differences in log-likelihood values.

PMID:42460413 | PMC:PMC13368774 | DOI:10.1177/02537176261464362

Comput Brain Behav. 2024 Dec 11;8(2):249-261. doi: 10.1007/s42113-024-00231-7. eCollection 2025 Jun.

ABSTRACT

Processing fluency, which describes the subjective sensation of ease with which information is processed by the sensory systems and the brain, has become one of the most popular explanations of aesthetic appreciation and beauty. Two metrics have recently been proposed to model fluency: the sparsity of neuronal activation, which describes the concentration of activity in a subset of neurons, and the statistical typicality of activations, which describes how well the encoding of a stimulus matches a reference representation of stimuli of the category to which it belongs. Using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) as a model for the human visual system, this study compares the ability of these metrics to explain variation in facial attractiveness. Our findings show that the sparsity of neuronal activations is a more robust predictor of facial attractiveness than statistical typicality. Refining the reference representation to a single ethnicity or gender does not increase the explanatory power of statistical typicality. However, statistical typicality and sparsity predict facial beauty based on different layers of the CNNs, suggesting that they describe different neural mechanisms underlying fluency.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42113-024-00231-7.

PMID:42460408 | PMC:PMC13298650 | DOI:10.1007/s42113-024-00231-7