Androgen Receptor Gene CAG Repeat Polymorphism Regulates the Metabolic Effects of Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Male Postsurgical Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism by Giacomo Tirabassi, Nicola delli Muti, Giovanni Corona, Mario Maggi, Giancarlo Balercia

“…In male postsurgical hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, shorter AR gene CAG tract length seems to yield greater metabolic improvement after TRT, independently of the effects of concomitant pituitary-function replacement therapies.…”
Get full text

Determinants of Facility-Based Childbirth in Indonesia by Ferry Efendi, Ani Rihlatun Ni’mah, Setho Hadisuyatmana, Heri Kuswanto, Linlin Lindayani, Sarni Maniar Berliana

“…An odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was employed to outline the independent variables for the determinants, including maternal age and education, place of residence, involvement in decision-making, employment status, economic status, and number of antenatal care visits. …”
Get full text

Metformin dosage and galectin-3 levels: insights from PCOS patients preparing for IVF by Valentina N. Nikolić, Milan Stefanović, Milan Stefanović, Dejan Mitić, Dejan Mitić, Slavica Sunarić, Vladana Stojiljkovic, Hristina Trajković, Aleksandra Ignjatović, Dragana Stokanović

“…These findings challenge prior assumptions and suggest that galectin-3 may be regulated via pathways independent of metformin pharmacokinetics. Notably, the correlation between galectin-3 levels and metformin concentration was either absent or weak after adjusting for the daily dose, indicating that treatment duration and dosage, rather than absolute drug levels, may more critically influence galectin-3. …”
Get full text

A Social Diffusion Model with an Application on Election Simulation by Jing-Kai Lou, Fu-Min Wang, Chin-Hua Tsai, San-Chuan Hung, Perng-Hwa Kung, Shou-De Lin, Kuan-Ta Chen, Chin-Laung Lei

“…We compare the proposed model with other well-known models such as independent cascade. It turns out that our model consistently outperforms other models. …”
Get full text

Secondary Smoking and Early Childhood Caries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by Bella Weijia Luo, Ivy Guofang Sun, Sophia Siu Chee Chan, Chun Hung Chu

“…Objective: This study aimed to systematically review the relationship between secondary smoking and early childhood caries (ECC) among preschool children. Method: Two independent reviewers systematically searched English publications with keywords in PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Scopus, and Embase to identify publications reporting on secondary smoking and ECC for children under 71 months. …”
Get full text

Feasibility of YOLOX computer model-based assessment of knee function compared with manual assessment for people with severe knee osteoarthritis by Tao Yang, Jie Zhao, Ben Wang, Li Wang, Hengzhe Bao, Bing Li, Wen Luo, Huiwen Zhao, Jun Liu

“…To assess the computer model’s automatic evaluation of knee joint function, MedCalc 20 statistical software was used to analyze the consistency of the Lequesne functional index between the computer model’s automated determinations and manual independent assessments. Results The weighted kappa coefficients between the doctors’ assessments and the software system’s assessments were 0.76 (95% confidence intervals:0.59 ~ 0.92) for climbing up and down stairs, 0.64 (95% confidence intervals:0.45 ~ 0.82) for walking on uneven floors, and 0.68 (95% confidence intervals:0.53 ~ 0.84) for the Lequesne functional index, indicating good consistency between the assessments of the software system and doctors. …”
Get full text

Decline of adolescent smoking in Ireland 1995–2015: trend analysis and associated factors by Shasha Li, Sheila Keogan, Luke Clancy, Keishia Taylor

“…Dependent variable is whether a respondent is a smoker in last 30 days. Independent variables include gender, survey years, perceived ease of access to cigarettes, perceived risk of smoking, perceived relative wealth, parental monitoring, maternal relationship, family structure, truancy and peer smoking.Results Smoking prevalence has dropped from 41% in 1995 to 13% in 2015. …”
Get full text

The Incidence of Nosocomial Bloodstream Infections in Children With Congenital Heart Disease Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: A Retrospective Study by Mohammad Mehdi Rajabi, Behdad Gharib, Mohammad Reza Mirzaaghayan

“…Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive statistics (including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (including Chi-square and Independent t-test) in SPSS version 23. The results showed that the incidence of BSIs in pediatric CHD patients after cardiac surgery was 3.21%. …”
Get full text

Optimizing data collection for obstetrical ultrasound research at the primary health care level in rural Uganda by Renny Ssembatya, Abimbola Leslie, Kristen DeStigter, Erika M. Edwards, Joyce Nayiga, Samalie Nakibirango, Julian P. Arapa, Nicholas Bahati, Blandina Busingye, Thomas Eremu, Mary Nakafeero, Micheal F. Ssenoga, Frank B. Williams, Delia Horn

“…Results Of 2,397 enrolled pregnant women, 1,977 (82.5%) had complete outcome data. Upon independent expert audit, the data were >80% accurate for 10/11 variables and >90% accurate for 6/11 variables. …”
Get full text

Taking Time: A Mixed Methods Study of Parkinson’s Disease Caregiver Participation in Activities in Relation to Their Wellbeing by Lia Prado, Rebecca Hadley, Dawn Rose

“…Linear regression revealed a significant relationship between nonparticipation in daily activities and stress levels for female caregivers only, whereby the more independent the person with PD was, the lower the stress of the caregiver. …”
Get full text

Development and validation of the Women Autonomy Scale for measuring psychosocial freedom from conventional gender roles by Waqar Husain, Farrukh Ijaz, Muhammad Ahmad Husain, Achraf Ammar, Khaled Trabelsi, Haitham Jahrami

“…Women’s autonomy, defined as the ability to make independent choices across various life domains, remains inadequately measured by existing scales. …”
Get full text

The environmental impact of health care for musculoskeletal conditions: A scoping review. by Bayden J McKenzie, Romi Haas, Giovanni E Ferreira, Chris G Maher, Rachelle Buchbinder

“…We searched MEDLINE and Embase from inception to 2 May 2022 using keywords for environmental health and musculoskeletal conditions, and performed keyword searches using Google and Google Scholar. Two independent reviewers screened studies. One author independently charted data, verified by a second author. …”
Get full text

Determinants of Mortality among Adult HIV-Infected Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy in a Rural Hospital in Southeastern Nigeria: A 5-Year Cohort Study by Kelechi N. Eguzo, Adegboyega K. Lawal, Cynthia E. Eseigbe, Chisara C. Umezurike

“…Results. 78 (7.3%) patients died with 15.6% lost to followup. Significant independent predictors of mortality include age (>45), sex (male > female), baseline CD4 stage (<200), and ART combination. …”
Get full text

Stabilization of Soft Clay Soil by the Reinforcement of Single Bottom Ash Silica Fume (BASF) Column by Ng Jun Shen, Muzamir Hasan, Tan Kah Yee

“…The use of correlation technique had streamlined the complexity of the independent variables and verified the reliability of the results through the R2 value. …”
Get full text

Zinc Deficiency and the Recurrence of Clostridium difficile Infection after Fecal Microbiota Transplant: A Retrospective Cohort Study by Blake A. Niccum, Daniel J. Stein, Brian W. Behm, R. Ann Hays

“…We hypothesized that zinc levels were an independent predictor of CDI recurrence after FMT. Methods. …”
Get full text

Network analyses of brain tumor multiomic data reveal pharmacological opportunities to alter cell state transitions by Brandon Bumbaca, Jonah R. Huggins, Marc R. Birtwistle, James M. Gallo

“…Simulation results were input into a boosted tree machine learning model which predicted the cell states or phenotypes of GBM patients from an independent public data source, the Glioma Longitudinal Analysis (GLASS) Consortium. …”
Get full text

Comparative Analysis of Acral Melanoma in Chinese and Caucasian Patients by Kai Huang, Yu Xu, Emmanuel M. Gabriel, Subhasis Misra, Yong Chen, Sanjay P. Bagaria

“…Male gender, Breslow thickness, ulceration, and positive sentinel lymph nodes were independent poor prognostic factors on multivariate analysis. …”
Get full text

Effects of Predation-Induced Emigration on a Landscape Ecological Model by James T. Cronin, Nalin Fonseka, Jerome Goddard, Ratnasingham Shivaji, Xiaohuan Xue

“…We examine three predation functional responses—constant yield, Holling Type I, and Holling Type III—and three emigration patterns: density-independent, positive density-dependent, and negative density-dependent emigration. …”
Get full text

The effect of pomegranate peel extract and apple cider vinegar as an irrigants in disinfecting the necrotic primary root canal by Anas Mando, Mohannad Laflouf, Hassan Achour, Samar Ali Alsalameh, Yasser Alsayed Tolibah

“…Between-groups comparisons were made using One-Way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, and Independent Samples tests. The significance level was set at α = 0.05. …”
Get full text

Optimization of Bi2O3, TiO2, and Sb2O3 Doped ZnO-Based Low-Voltage Varistor Ceramic to Maximize Nonlinear Electrical Properties by Masoumeh Dorraj, Azmi Zakaria, Yadollah Abdollahi, Mansor Hashim, Seyedehmaryam Moosavi

“…A quadratic model was established as a functional relationship between three independent variables and alpha. According to the results, the optimum values of Bi2O3, TiO2, and Sb2O3 were obtained 0.52, 0.50, and 0.30, respectively. …”
Get full text