Tag: pubmed

J Crohns Colitis. 2025 Aug 8:jjaf132. doi: 10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjaf132. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: We investigated the correlations between patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and other measures of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) activity.

METHODS: A systematic literature review was performed up to June 2022. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. A descriptive analysis was performed. The search protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022383899).

RESULTS: Nineteen studies assessed correlations between PROMs and clinical, endoscopic, and laboratory measures of disease activity in IBD. In Crohn’s disease (CD), weak positive correlations were reported for PROMs (e.g. the two-item patient reported outcome [PRO-2], mobile Health Index [mHI] for CD) and endoscopic scores, more often the Simple Endoscopic Score for CD (SES-CD). In ulcerative colitis (UC), PROMs like PRO-2, the Monitor IBD at Home rectal bleeding item and the mHI, showed weak-to-moderate correlations with the Mayo endoscopic subscore (MES). PROMs also demonstrated limited concordance with laboratory measures such as faecal calprotectin (FCP) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in both CD and UC. The substantial heterogeneity in study designs precluded a structured analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: Although current PROMs offer valuable complementary insights into IBD control from the patient’s perspective, they cannot replace objective measures of IBD activity. Future research should focus on refining PROMs and generating composite indices to improve their accuracy and usefulness.

PMID:40795293 | DOI:10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjaf132

J Trop Pediatr. 2025 Aug 8;71(5):fmaf034. doi: 10.1093/tropej/fmaf034.

ABSTRACT

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends Xpert® MTB/RIF (Xpert) and its advanced version, Xpert® MTB/RIF Ultra (Xpert Ultra), as first-line diagnostic tests for detecting pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and rifampicin resistance in children suspected of having the disease. Respiratory specimens (gastric lavage/bronchoalveolar lavage/sputum/endotracheal aspirate) obtained from 116 children with presumptive PTB were simultaneously processed using liquid medium culture, Xpert assay, and Xpert Ultra assay. Among the specimens from 116 children, six were excluded due to culture contamination (n = 5) or error in Xpert Ultra results (n = 1). Among the remaining 110 specimens, 20 were positive by liquid culture. The former and latter, of the two comparator tests gave a sensitivity of 90% and 95%, respectively. The respective specificity was 93.3% and 88.9%. Xpert Ultra showed a statistically significant slightly higher sensitivity than Xpert. Xpert Ultra showed slightly higher sensitivity than Xpert, with a minimal loss in specificity, partly due to the inclusion of trace results, which help detect paucibacillary cases.

PMID:40795255 | DOI:10.1093/tropej/fmaf034

Genetics. 2025 Aug 7:iyaf158. doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyaf158. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Testing inferred haplotype genealogies for association with phenotypes has been a longstanding goal in human genetics given their potential to detect association signals driven by allelic heterogeneity – when multiple causal variants modulate a phenotype – in both coding and noncoding regions. Recent scalable methods for inferring locus-specific genealogical trees along the genome, or representations thereof, have made substantial progress towards this goal; however, the problem of testing these trees for association with phenotypes has remained unsolved due to the growth in the number of clades with increasing sample size. To address this issue, we introduce several practical improvements to the kalis ancestry inference engine, including a general optimal checkpointing algorithm for decoding hidden Markov models, thereby enabling efficient genome-wide analyses. We then propose LOCATER, a powerful new procedure based on the recently proposed Stable Distillation framework, to test local tree representations for trait association. Although LOCATER is demonstrated here in conjunction with kalis, it may be used for testing output from any ancestry inference engine, regardless of whether such engines return discrete tree structures, relatedness matrices, or some combination of the two at each locus. Using simulated quantitative phenotypes, our results indicate that LOCATER achieves substantial power gains over traditional single marker testing, ARG-Needle, and window-based testing in cases of allelic heterogeneity, while also improving causal region localization. These findings suggest that genealogy-based association testing will be a fruitful approach for gene discovery, especially for signals driven by multiple ultra-rare variants.

PMID:40795253 | DOI:10.1093/genetics/iyaf158

J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2025 Aug 7:gbaf151. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaf151. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Recent studies suggest that the association between social participation and mental health may change with age, although the direction of this relationship is unclear. While some suggest that the mental health benefits of social participation decline with age, others argue they become more important in later life. In this paper, we suggest a context-dependent divergence in aging trajectories: whereas urban older adults continue to gain mental health benefits from social participation, their rural counterparts gradually stop deriving such benefits over time.

METHODS: We drew on four waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS, 2011-2018; N = 16,233; 53,056 person-years) to examine how social participation shapes depressive symptoms among adults aged 45 and older. Growth curve models were employed to assess the age-related trajectories of the effects of social participation on depressive symptoms, and interaction terms were introduced to analyze urban-rural differences.

RESULTS: A significant three-way interaction (Informal Social Participation × Rural × Age) revealed that the mental health benefits of informal social participation increased with age among urban older adults but gradually declined among their rural counterparts. This divergence became statistically significant at around age 60 and continued to widen thereafter, indicating a growing urban advantage in the protective effects of informal engagement over time.

DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that the mental health benefits of social participation change with age in ways shaped by residential context, highlighting the need to consider how urban and rural environments differently influence aging trajectories.

PMID:40795235 | DOI:10.1093/geronb/gbaf151

Blood Adv. 2025 Aug 12:bloodadvances.2025017004. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2025017004. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), a life-threatening complement-mediated disorder, is now treatable with terminal complement inhibitors like eculizumab. Although effective, these therapies are costly and increase susceptibility to infections, notably meningococcal disease, raising concerns about long-term use. The optimal duration of complement inhibition remains unclear, prompting efforts to explore the possibility of treatment discontinuation. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the benefits and risks of stopping terminal complement inhibitor therapy in aHUS. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL for studies of continuing vs. stopping anti-complement treatment in aHUS. Of 3303 identified studies, 13 observational studies (3 case-control, 10 cohort) comprising 584 patients were included. Overall, continuing treatment was associated with an approximately 76% reduction in the odds of relapse (odds ratio [OR] 0.24, 95% CI: 0.09 to 0.62; p= 0.01.) Study design influenced results: cohort studies showed a more modest effect (OR=0.40 (95% CI: 0.15 to 1.09), while case-control studies reported inflated estimates (OR=0.04 (95%CI: 0.02 to 0.08); subgroup interaction p=0.03). Patients with various genetic variants [CFH, CFHdel, MCP] had decreased relapse with continued therapy when case-control studies were included in the analysis. When the analysis was restricted to cohort studies, the effects became uncertain [statistically non-significant with large confidence intervals]. While current evidence is insufficient to provide personalized guidance on which patients with aHUS can safely discontinue anti-complement therapy, findings from higher-quality studies-which show no statistical difference between continued and discontinued treatment-suggest that discontinuation may be possible for at least some patients.

PMID:40795230 | DOI:10.1182/bloodadvances.2025017004

J Antimicrob Chemother. 2025 Aug 7:dkaf295. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkaf295. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The spread of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (CR-GNB) related to nosocomial infections is an important public health challenge, and polymyxins have become the last line of defence against CR-GNB. In this study, we aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of different polymyxins.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included neurocritical care patients with CR-GNB pneumonia. The efficacy and safety were compared in original and inverse probability of treatment weighting cohorts. A subgroup analysis was further conducted to explore the impact of augmented renal clearance status at baseline on treatment efficacy.

RESULTS: Of the 331 patients included, 90 received colistin sulphate, 187 received polymyxin B, and 54 received colistin methanesulfonate sodium. Compared with colistin sulphate, colistin methanesulfonate sodium significantly reduced the clinical failure rate on Day 7 (20.8% versus 37.2%, P = 0.034) and 28-day mortality rate (6.2% versus 16.9%, P = 0.013) and improved the microbiological eradication rate on Day 28 (94.8% versus 84.2%, P = 0.013). The colistin methanesulfonate sodium group also had a lower mortality rate (6.2% versus 15.7%, P = 0.005) and clinical failure rate on Day 28 (17.1% versus 27.4%, P = 0.020) than the polymyxin B group. However, colistin methanesulfonate sodium was more nephrotoxic than colistin sulphate and polymyxin B (P = 0.001 and P = 0.004, respectively). Subgroup analysis revealed no statistical difference in clinical failure rate and mortality risk between the three groups.

CONCLUSIONS: For CR-GNB pneumonia in neurocritical care patients, intravenous colistin methanesulfonate sodium may provide a useful treatment option, but vigilance is warranted for nephrotoxicity.

PMID:40795180 | DOI:10.1093/jac/dkaf295

Subst Use Misuse. 2025 Aug 12:1-10. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2025.2546505. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered a multicomponent intervention called Local Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response (LOOPR). Five sites (Bell, KY, Boone, WV, Manchester, NH, St. Francois, MO, and Ware, GA) were selected to implement academic detailing (AD). AD is a strategy for communicating safer opioid prescribing practices to clinicians. This is the first study to assess changes in county-level opioid prescribing behaviors after implementing a multicomponent prevention program emphasizing AD.

OBJECTIVES: We examined three opioid prescribing behaviors (percentage of opioid prescribers in the top centile nationally, opioid prescribing rate, and average number of opioid prescriptions per prescriber) before and after program implementation in each site and a paired control. We used paired interrupted time series to examine the effect of LOOPR on each outcome for each site and control.

RESULTS: Five jurisdictions incorporated AD as part of LOOPR. In addition, Bell County, KY implemented three other interventions (coalition establishment, communication campaign, and community-based overdose prevention program). Manchester City, NH (community-based overdose prevention program and public health/public safety partnership) and St. Francois, MO (communication campaign and public health/public safety partnership) implemented two additional interventions. Boone County, WV and Ware County, GA only incorporated AD. Though not always statistically significant, all sites showed decreasing or stabilizing trends after implementation of LOOPR for most outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS/IMPORTANCE: This study shows AD is a versatile strategy and customizable activity that can be implemented in many settings as a separate activity or integrated with various prevention programs, making it particularly suitable for community-level interventions.

PMID:40795158 | DOI:10.1080/10826084.2025.2546505

J Public Health (Oxf). 2025 Aug 7:fdaf092. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdaf092. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Migration involves a risk of mental health problems, including stress, anxiety, and depression. This study systematically reviewed social determinants of mental health problems among South Asian migrants living in industrialized countries.

METHODS: Four databases (PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and PsycINFO) were searched for observational studies published between 2000 and 2025. The social ecological model was used as a theoretical framework. Studies that included adult South Asian migrants using validated mental health tools were included. Social determinants of mental health were identified through extraction of social factors that demonstrated statistically significant associations with mental health problems. The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO and followed PRISMA guidelines.

RESULTS: Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression ranged from 23% to 59%, 20% to 50%, and 9% to 47%, respectively. Common social determinants of mental health problems were age, gender, marital status, social support, language, education, and employment. Being older, female, unmarried, or unemployed or having less social support or lower education, or facing language barriers were major factors influencing mental health problems.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings warrant the development and implementation of policies focused on addressing these social determinants of mental health problems and improving access to and utilization of mental health services.

PMID:40795145 | DOI:10.1093/pubmed/fdaf092

Eur Heart J. 2025 Aug 7:ehaf441. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf441. Online ahead of print.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:40795129 | DOI:10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf441

JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Aug 1;8(8):e2526418. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.26418.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:40794411 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.26418