Tag: statistics

Cancer Radiother. 2025 May 23;29(3):104644. doi: 10.1016/j.canrad.2025.104644. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Despite its slow growth pattern, adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lacrimal gland poses challenges due to its high recurrence rate. The rarity of this entity hinders the establishment of prospective studies and a consensus on optimal treatment strategies. Herein, we aim to report the results of patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lacrimal gland treated with hypofractionated stereotactic body radiations or conventionally-fractionated radiations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included patients with non-metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lacrimal gland treated with a curative-intent from 2006 to 2019. Patient data, tumour characteristics, treatment details, and follow-up information were collected. Recurrence patterns, oncologic outcomes, and toxicity were assessed.

RESULTS: We evaluated the data of 12 patients with a median 29years of age who received stereotactic body radiotherapy (n=5) or conventionally-fractionated radiotherapy (n=7). After a median follow-up of 98months, the overall local control rate was 50 %, with recurrences mostly marginal to the radiotherapy field. Although the 10-year overall survival rate was a promising 92 %, the respective rate for local recurrence-free survival was 37 %, which was significantly lower in patients who received stereotactic body radiotherapy (20 %) compared to patients who had with conventionally-fractionated radiotherapy (72 %). Although not statistically significant, patients in the stereotactic body radiotherapy arm encountered a higher rate of severe late toxicity (80 % versus 17 % in the conventionally-fractionated radiotherapy arm, P=0.07). The overall eye preservation rate was 64 %, all eye-losses due to local recurrence.

CONCLUSION: Our findings raise concerns about using stereotactic body radiotherapy for adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lacrimal gland based on increased rates of severe late toxicity and local recurrence. Conventional radiotherapy techniques should be applied to these patients to successfully control the local tumour with less toxicity.

PMID:40411927 | DOI:10.1016/j.canrad.2025.104644

J Low Genit Tract Dis. 2024 Oct 1;28(4):365-370. doi: 10.1097/LGT.0000000000000835.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop a mobile application for vulvar self-examination and to examine its effect on performing vulvar self-examination.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a quasi-experimental study. Forty-seven women accepted to participate. The mobile application was uploaded to the women’s phones and the women’s vulvar self-examination practices were followed through the application for 6 months. Obtained data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and the McNemar’s test.

RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 35.34 ± 9.85 years. Initially, out of all the participants, none performed vulvar self-examination, 95.7% did not regularly have their yearly gynecological examination, 29% did not have pap smear, and 91.5% had no information about vulvar self-examination. In the third month after the mobile application was downloaded, 68.1% were performing vulvar self-examination and this percentage decreased to 57.4% in the sixth month without a significant difference (p < .05). The women reported that they had difficulty in performing the examination in the first follow-up and did not have time to do it in the second follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS: The mobile application increased the rate of examination, and there was no significant difference in the number of the women performing the examination between the follow-ups.

PMID:40411888 | DOI:10.1097/LGT.0000000000000835

Adv Physiol Educ. 2025 May 24. doi: 10.1152/advan.00199.2024. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In response to a decline in the numeracy skills and confidence of first year Biomedical science undergraduate students, a series of quizzes was developed to encourage students to practice their numeracy skills with topic-related problems. The quizzes were created using existing tools in the online learning platform Blackboard (Blackboard Inc). The organisation of the quizzes included repetition and a gamification element to encourage engagement by students. Analysis of pre- and post-assessment data as well as a final subject-related test demonstrate a statistically significant improvement of the test scores in the students who engage with the quizzes compared to those who did not. The confidence of the students who completed all the quizzes also improved. This strategy and configuration of quizzes could easily be adapted to topics other than numeracy.

PMID:40411799 | DOI:10.1152/advan.00199.2024

STAR Protoc. 2025 May 22;6(2):103835. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2025.103835. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Event-related potentials (ERPs), measured using electroencephalography (EEG), are electrical brain potentials related to specific events, such as the presentation of visual stimuli. In this protocol, we describe steps for designing an ERP experimental task, measuring EEG, preprocessing EEG data in MATLAB, and exporting ERP data for statistical analyses. This protocol is intended to be applicable to common ERP experiments in cognitive neuroscience. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Pütz and colleagues.¹.

PMID:40411787 | DOI:10.1016/j.xpro.2025.103835

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2025 May 24:keaf278. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaf278. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Antinuclear antibody (ANA) positivity has been observed in patients with steatotic liver disease (SLD); however, the link between SLD and ANA-positive connective tissue diseases remains unexplored. We aimed to evaluate the association between SLD and risk of systemic sclerosis (SSc), a representative ANA-positive connective tissue disease.

METHODS: A longitudinal population-based cohort study using a Korean nationwide database was conducted. The analysis included 4,413 719 individuals who participated in a national health screening program in 2012, with a mean follow-up period of 9.21 ± 1.05 years. Participants were categorized based on SLD status into four groups: no SLD, metabolic dysfunction-associated liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-related liver disease (MetALD), and alcohol-related liver disease (ALD). The main outcome measure was incident SSc. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the association between SLD and risk of incident SSc.

RESULTS: Among the 4,413 719 individuals, 2,827 907 (64.07%) had no SLD, 1,344 494 (30.46%) had MASLD, 165 475 (3.75%) had MetALD, and 75 843 (1.72%) had ALD. Compared with individuals without SLD, those with MASLD (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.612 [1.276, 2.038]), MetALD (adjusted HR: 1.575 [0.816, 3.040]), and ALD (adjusted HR: 3.063 [1.635, 5.739]) had a higher risk of incident SSc, with MASLD and ALD reaching statistical significance. The risk was the highest among individuals with ALD.

CONCLUSION: SLD was linked to an increased risk of incident SSc. These findings underscore the need for effective monitoring and management of SLD, particularly by reducing excessive alcohol consumption, to lower the risk of incident SSc.

PMID:40411763 | DOI:10.1093/rheumatology/keaf278

Br J Radiol. 2025 May 24:tqaf074. doi: 10.1093/bjr/tqaf074. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: We proposed a parameter, the circumference derived diameter (CDD), to size the stent-graft implanted in the thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR), and evaluated the variation and repeatability compared with the transverse diameter (TD) measured in the cross-sectional (axial) plane of computed tomography angiography (CTA).

METHODS: Fifty patients undergoing TEVAR in our center from June 2016 to July 2017 were enrolled retrospectively. The circumference of the aortic wall at the proximal landing zone (PLZ) was measured on the segment plane orthogonal to the centerline. The TD of the aortic wall at PLZ was measured in the cross-sectional (axial) plane. Three observers independently measured both CDD and TD for each patient twice with the interval of a month. The statistics was used to investigate the variation and repeatability of CDD and TD.

RESULTS: Bland-Altman plot exhibited no statistical difference in terms of main effects of both methods and simple effects of each observer (P > .05), whereas mean difference of > 3 mm (the general size interval of off-the-shelf stent-grafts) between CDD and TD was observed in 7/37 (18.9%) patients. CDD exhibited a significant consistency in both intra-observer and inter-observer variability (P>.05). Whereas, TD exhibited greater absolute mean differences than CDD in both variability tests (intra-observer: -0.210 ± 0.776 mm vs. 0.014 mm ± 0.291, P < .0056; inter-observer: 0.578 ± 0.382 mm vs. 0.188 ± 0.143 mm, P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS: Combining with the requirement of current clinical practice and available stent-graft specifications, CDD was a potential substitute parameter for sizing aortic geometry before TEVAR, with higher repeatability and less intra-observer and inter-observer variability.

ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: We propose a parameter, circumference derived diameter (CDD) which has the potential to be a substitute parameter to size the stent-graft precisely before TEVAR.

PMID:40411754 | DOI:10.1093/bjr/tqaf074

J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2025 May 24:ocaf075. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocaf075. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains a challenge due to symptom variability and comorbidities. Linguistic analysis offers an innovative approach to identify PTSD symptoms and severity. This systematic review aimed at identifying linguistic features associated with PTSD, assessing the quality and limitations of existing studies, summarizing the predictive performance of identified models, and describing the clinical utility of these models.

MATERIALS: A comprehensive search was conducted across multiple databases, resulting in the identification of 593 articles. After screening and eligibility assessment, 58 studies were included.

METHODS: Data extraction focused on study characteristics, methodology, and performance metrics. We assessed the risk of bias using the PROBAST and conducted both a narrative synthesis and a meta-analysis.

RESULTS: Linguistic features such as pronoun use, emotional valence, cognitive processing words, narrative length, discourse disorganization, temporal orientation, specific lexical fields (death, anxiety, sensory-perception details), and disfluencies were commonly investigated. The meta-analysis revealed a pooled area under the curve of 0.81, indicating the high performance of classification models. However, significant publication bias and heterogeneity were noted. Only 8 studies were rated with a low risk of bias, highlighting common issues such as inadequate control groups, unvalidated linguistic tools, unvalidated diagnosis tools, and low rigor in statistical analysis.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Linguistic markers showed potential for enhancing PTSD diagnoses, but the contemporary research was limited by methodological inconsistencies and biases. Future research should focus on standardized tools, symptom-focused studies, and interdisciplinary collaboration to improve the robustness and clinical applicability of findings.

PMID:40411747 | DOI:10.1093/jamia/ocaf075

Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2025 May 24. doi: 10.1007/s11548-025-03396-z. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study investigates the effectiveness of synthetic training data in predicting 2D landmarks for 3D intraoral reconstruction in cleft lip and palate patients. We take inspiration from existing landmark prediction and 3D reconstruction techniques for faces and demonstrate their potential in medical applications.

METHODS: We generated both real and synthetic datasets from intraoral scans and videos. A convolutional neural network was trained using a negative-Gaussian log-likelihood loss function to predict 2D landmarks and their corresponding confidence scores. The predicted landmarks were then used to fit a statistical shape model to generate 3D reconstructions from individual images. We analyzed the model’s performance on real patient data and explored the dataset size required to overcome the domain gap between synthetic and real images.

RESULTS: Our approach generates satisfying results on synthetic data and shows promise when tested on real data. The method achieves rapid 3D reconstruction from single images and can therefore provide significant value in day-to-day medical work.

CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that synthetic training data are viable for training models to predict 2D landmarks and reconstruct 3D meshes in patients with cleft lip and palate. This approach offers an accessible, low-cost alternative to traditional methods, using smartphone technology for noninvasive, rapid, and accurate 3D reconstructions in clinical settings.

PMID:40411726 | DOI:10.1007/s11548-025-03396-z

J Robot Surg. 2025 May 24;19(1):233. doi: 10.1007/s11701-025-02396-0.

ABSTRACT

Robotic bariatric surgery (RBS) is increasingly adopted worldwide. This study aims to evaluate the implementation and evolution of RBS at a high volume center over five years, focusing on operative time (OT), operating room (OR) efficiency, and cost outcomes. A prospective analysis was conducted on patients undergoing elective RBS between July 2021 and March 2025 at ARNAS G. Brotzu, Cagliari. Metrics included OT, OR session time, and surgical volume. Variables analyzed included OT, OR session time, and surgical volume. Efficiency metrics such as overall OR efficiency, defined as OR session time/OT (Eff1), and robotic console utilization, defined as OR session time/console time (Eff2) were derived. Cost analysis incorporated OR activation time, surgeon and material costs. Statistical analyses included t-tests, Pearson’s correlation, and linear regression. 100 robotic-assisted procedures were recorded. Robotic adoption increased from 4.06% in 2021 to 38.98% in 2025. A learning curve (LC) was identified, with a significant OT reduction after the first 34 Roux-en-Y gastric bypass cases (p = 0.001). Full robotic manual anastomosis showed a notable cost decrease in later cases (p < 0.0001). Increased surgical volume correlated with both reduced OT (r = – 0.58) and improved Eff1 (r = – 0.49, p = 0.005). However, Eff2 changes were not statistically significant (r = – 0.31, p = 0.09), underscoring the need for team-wide coordination. RBS in high-volume centers enhance OR efficiency and cost-effectiveness over time. The LC, surgical volume, and institutional workflows were key factors in optimizing efficiency, highlighting the importance of a collective LC for the entire surgical team.

PMID:40411713 | DOI:10.1007/s11701-025-02396-0

Eur Phys J E Soft Matter. 2025 May 24;48(4-5):27. doi: 10.1140/epje/s10189-025-00489-0.

ABSTRACT

A novel field theoretical approach towards modelling dynamic networking in complex systems is presented. An equilibrium networking formalism which utilises Gaussian fields is adapted to model the dynamics of particles that can bind and unbind from one another. Here, networking refers to the introduction of instantaneous co-localisation constraints and does not necessitate the formation of a well-defined transient or persistent network. By combining this formalism with Martin-Siggia-Rose generating functionals, a weighted generating functional for the networked system is obtained. The networking formalism introduces spatial and temporal constraints into the Langevin dynamics, via statistical weights, thereby accounting for all possible configurations in which particles can be networked to one another. A simple example of Brownian particles which can bind and unbind from one another demonstrates the tool and that this leads to results for physical quantities in a collective description. Applying the networking formalism to model the dynamics of cross-linking polymers in a mixture, we can calculate the average number of networking instances. As expected, the dynamic structure factors for each type of polymer show that the system collapses once networking is introduced, but that the addition of a repulsive time-dependent potential above a minimum strength prevents this. The examples presented in this paper indicate that this novel approach towards modelling dynamic networking could be applied to a range of synthetic and biological systems to obtain theoretical predictions for experimentally verifiable quantities.

PMID:40411700 | DOI:10.1140/epje/s10189-025-00489-0