Browse Articles
Discover research articles across all indexed journals
Associations between key macroeconomic determinants and infant mortality in BRICS countries from 2000 to 2025
Abstract Despite economic progress in BRICS countries, infant mortality remains a major public health concern. Existing studies have examined some of its determinants but have rarely considered the heterogeneous associations between DPT and measles immunizations and key macroeconomic and demographic factors in a distributional panel framework. Guided by Grossman’s health capital framework, this study investigates the associations between DPT and measles immunizations, health expenditure, GDP per capita, urbanization, and infant mortality across BRICS countries from 2000 to 2025. The analysis applies panel quantile regression, supported by robustness checks using PCSEs and DKSE, as well as the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test. The results show that DPT and measles immunizations, as well as health expenditure, exhibit mixed associations across quantiles. GDP per capita is negatively associated with infant mortality across much of the distribution, while urbanization shows a less uniform but generally negative association. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality results indicate significant predictive linkages among several variables, though these should not be read as definitive causal effects. Taken together, the findings suggest that BRICS policymakers should give particular attention to strengthening routine immunization systems, improving the allocation and effectiveness of health spending, and aligning broader economic and urban development strategies with child survival objectives.
Reply to: Radiographic Progression With and Without Prostate-Specific Antigen Rise in Patients With Advanced Prostate Cancer Treated With Enzalutamide
A pathogenic CD8⁺ TRM–chemokine axis orchestrates liver fibrosis and provides circulating biomarkers during chronic Clonorchis sinensis infection
Cross-sectional associations between drinking water arsenic and health outcomes in a South Texas Colonias pilot study
Abstract South Texas colonias experience persistent water insecurity and disproportionate environmental health burdens. Although arsenic is a well-established drinking water contaminant, limited community-level research has examined whether chronic low-level exposure below current regulatory standards is associated with adverse health outcomes in colonia residents. From May 2023 to March 2024, we conducted a community-engaged cross-sectional study in two colonias in Hidalgo County, Texas (Santa Amalia in Progreso and South Tower Estates in Alamo). Trained community health workers administered Spanish-language household surveys to collect sociodemographic information and participant self-reported health data, including chronic conditions, cancer history, family-member cancer history within the household, and health-related quality of life measured using the SF-12. Drinking water samples were collected from enrolled households and analyzed for arsenic using atomic absorption spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. We compared SF-12 domain and composite scores to the United States norm of 50 using one-sample t tests and estimated prevalence odds ratios for adverse health outcomes per unit increase in arsenic concentration using multivariable logistic regression. A total of 203 households participated (85% response rate), with most respondents reporting less than a high school education (63.6%) and annual household income below $14,999 (57.1%). All arsenic concentrations were below the EPA and WHO guideline of 10 ppb (median 2.9 ppb; mean 3.0 ppb). The mean physical component score was significantly below the national norm (45.3; 95% CI 43.8 to 46.8), with particularly low general health scores. In adjusted models, higher arsenic concentrations were associated with increased odds of reduced vitality and reporting any chronic condition, while associations with cancer outcomes were imprecise. In two South Texas colonias, drinking water arsenic concentrations were uniformly below regulatory standards, yet residents reported substantially worse physical health than the United States norm, and higher arsenic levels within this low range were associated with select adverse health indicators. These findings support continued investigation of cumulative risks and low-level arsenic exposure in structurally marginalized communities and can inform future biomonitoring, water quality surveillance, and health equity–focused policy discussions.
Long-Term Analysis of Patients With Ewing Sarcoma Included in the Euro-EWING99 Study
PURPOSE Euro-EWING99 study was a large, international, prospective study recruiting patients with Ewing sarcoma (EWS) between 1999 and 2015. It assessed three different clinical questions through randomized trials. We report here the characteristics and outcomes of all patients. METHODS Patients younger than 50 years with EWS were included in the study. They received induction chemotherapy (six courses of vincristine [day 1], ifosfamide [day 1-3], doxorubicin [day 1-3], and etoposide [day 1-3; VIDE], administered every 3 weeks), local therapy (surgery/radiotherapy), and different consolidation treatments according to clinical risk group and trial. The objectives of the study were to describe the entire cohort according to the initial staging group, to describe the survival outcomes (overall survival [OS]; progression-free survival [PFS]; and local control), and to evaluate prognostic factors associated with OS and PFS. RESULTS Three thousand three hundred ninety-five patients were included in the study, including 2,267 with a localized disease, 614 with pleuropulmonary metastases, and 514 with extrapulmonary metastases. Ninety-eight percent of patients received ≥4 neoadjuvant VIDE courses. The modalities of local treatment and consolidation therapy differed among the three staging groups. With a median follow-up of 7.2 years, PFS of the entire cohort was 60.2% and 55.4% at 3 and 5 years, respectively. OS was 72.6% and 64.6% at 3 and 5 years, respectively. In addition to metastatic status at diagnosis, main prognostic factors included patient age, tumor volume, and histologic response both for PFS and OS, independent of metastatic status. CONCLUSION To our knowledge, this study is the largest published series of patients with EWS and may serve as a landmark paper for EWS. It confirms the major prognostic value of the complete histologic response after neoadjuvant therapy.
Microbiome features associated with persistent intestinal carriages of Escherichia coli ST131 in a Southeast Asian cohort study
The impact of retirement on loneliness: Evidence from Australia
Multi-omics and cultivation reveal laminarin-degrading PVC bacteria in the deep sea
Effects of virtual positive psychology interventions on gastrointestinal symptoms and pain catastrophizing in irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized controlled trial
Cell-type specific early perception of nine phytohormones revealed by single-nucleus transcriptomics in Arabidopsis
Waiting time distribution and multifractality analysis of solar flares
Zafirlukast ameliorates skin fibrosis through combined cellular inhibition effect on mast cells and fibroblasts
Human-specific sequence features in HTT exon 1 promote toxic misprocessing via splicing factor SRSF7
Sub-Hertz Optical Transitions in Excited <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>Yb</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math>
Energy recovery and landfill methane emission reduction from municipal solid waste: implications for climate mitigation in Nepal
Deep learning prediction of left atrial structure and function from 12-lead electrocardiograms
Abstract Abnormal cardiac atrial structure and function, termed atrial cardiopathy, typically precedes atrial fibrillation and downstream cardiovascular complications, yet detection is limited by the cost and accessibility of high-quality cardiac imaging. Here we show that a deep learning model trained on 12-lead electrocardiograms paired with 21,749 cardiac magnetic resonance scans from the UK Biobank predicts left atrial structure and function. Model-derived measures of atrial cardiopathy are strongly associated with new-onset atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and ischemic stroke after adjustment for clinical risk factors and biomarkers in two external cohorts, with magnitudes comparable to or greater than those for direct imaging measures and clinical risk factors. The risk of cardioembolic stroke, the hallmark complication of atrial fibrillation, increases 66% per standard deviation of left atrial volume. In exploratory analyses, model measures predict cardiac monitor-detected atrial fibrillation more accurately than a clinical risk prediction tool and NT-proBNP levels. This model is an inexpensive, accessible tool that identifies individuals at high-risk for atrial fibrillation and related complications.