Purpose: High clinical workload is associated with worse patient and hospital outcomes and is a well-established driver of clinician burnout. Trainees may be particularly exposed, shouldering both clinical and educational responsibilities. Evidence-based work design offers a data-driven approach to healthcare work but relies on robust workload measurements. Trainee workload remains poorly characterized, as commonly used […]
Imbalance-Aware Optimal Transport Learning for Cost-Effective Diabetic Retinopathy Screening
Abstract Background Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading cause of vision loss and blindness. AI models have been instrumental in providing an alternative solution to real-life medical treatment which are costly and sometimes not readily available in developing and underdeveloped nations. However, most of the existing AI models are developed with high-quality clinical […]
Predicting Musculoskeletal Adverse Events During Moderate- to High-Intensity Walking Training in Chronic Stroke
Background: Moderate- to high-intensity walking training (M-HIT) is an established intervention for improving walking capacity in chronic stroke. Musculoskeletal (MSK) adverse events commonly occur during M-HIT, yet tools to identify individuals at higher risk are limited. Baseline clinical characteristics may provide insight into susceptibility to training-related MSK adverse events during M-HIT. Thus, this study aimed […]
Herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA is less prevalent in persons with Alzheimers disease and genetic factors modify the effect
INTRODUCTION: Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) has been implicated in Alzheimers disease (AD). METHODS: Reads from Alzheimers Disease Sequencing Project whole-genome sequencing data collected from brain (2,203 AD; 616 controls) and blood (8,908 AD; 15,768 controls) were aligned to viral genomes. Generalized linear mixed-models tested for the effect of HSV-1 DNA on AD, and we performed […]
Soluble CD27 as an indicator of autoimmune disease in severe psychiatric disorders
T-cell activation may be contributing to severe psychiatric disorders. Soluble CD27 (sCD27) – a marker for T-cell activation and disease activity in several autoimmune diseases – was evaluated as a tool for distinguishing T-cell activity in selected patients with severe psychiatric disorders, multiple sclerosis (MS), and controls. We hypothesise that elevated sCD27 levels will be […]
Evaluating Individual Level Performance of Polygenic Risk Scores Using Early Onset High Genetic Risk Coronary Artery Disease as a Benchmark
Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) are typically validated using population-level metrics, masking variability in individual-level risk prediction and hindering clinical translation. To address this, we introduced a novel framework using a "benchmark" cohort (N=1184) of "unexpected coronary artery disease (CAD)": early-onset patients (<55 years) with a clinical profile of low 10-year risk, no diabetes or severe […]
Sex moderates apolipoprotein E ε4 effects on sleep expression and memory retention
Introduction: Sleep-dependent memory consolidation differs by sex and maybe disrupted by Alzheimer disease (AD) risk. Whether sex moderates associations between apolipoprotein E varepsilon4(APOE varepsilon4) status, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and memory remains unclear. Methods: Eighty cognitively unimpaired older adults completed a word-pair memory task with encoding and immediate testing occurring prior to overnight polysomnography […]
Validation of methods for forecasting the frequency of non-vaccine serotypes after introduction or switch of a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
Background To anticipate the impact of new pneumococcal vaccines and guide future updates, accurate forecasts of changes in non-vaccine serotypes (NVTs) are needed. We developed and evaluated three models that incorporated different assumptions about the way in which NVTs will increase and generated ensemble predictions for the frequency of NVTs in different post- pneumococcal conjugate […]
Loneliness as a Pathway Linking Hearing Decline to Cognitive Aging: Longitudinal and Genetic Evidence
Age-related hearing loss is linked to loneliness and poorer cognitive health, but it remains unclear whether loneliness helps explain associations between hearing difficulties and cognitive performance or dementia, and whether these patterns reflect causal pathways or shared underlying liability. In this preregistered study, we triangulated analyses across multiple data sources spanning approximately 18 years of […]
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on childhood immunization coverage in Indonesia: lesson learned from a nationwide analysis of the Expanded Programme on Immunization
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted childhood immunization programmes in many countries worldwide. However, evidence on its impact in low and middle-income countries remains limited. This study examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on childhood immunization coverage across 514 districts in Indonesia and identified district-level associated factors. Methods: We conducted a nationwide longitudinal analysis of […]
Association between Physical Function and Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study
Background Poor physical function has been associated with higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, the association between physical function and atrial fibrillation (AF) remains understudied. The comprehensive investigation of the association between physical function and incident AF risk could highlight a novel target for AF prevention. Methods A total of 4,803 participants without diagnosed AF […]
Adiposity and inflammation mediate altered metabolic profiles in individuals with opioid use disorder
Previous studies have linked opioid use to altered metabolic profiles, but findings have been inconsistent and mechanisms remain unclear. One potential mechanism involves increased adiposity, leading to chronic low-grade inflammation that elevates metabolic risk. Here, we examined metabolic profiles in individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) and matched non-OUD controls, focusing on the sequential mediating […]