Articles

Modeling the interplay between demography, social contact patterns, and SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the South West Shewa Zone of Oromia Region, Ethiopia

COVID-19 spread may have a dramatic impact in countries with vulnerable economies and limited availability of, and access to, healthcare resources and infrastructures. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, a low pre...

Authors: Filippo Trentini, Giorgio Guzzetta, Margherita Galli, Agnese Zardini, Fabio Manenti, Giovanni Putoto, Valentina Marziano, Worku Nigussa Gamshie, Ademe Tsegaye, Alessandro Greblo, Alessia Melegaro, Marco Ajelli, Stefano Merler and Piero Poletti

Reporting of harms in oncological clinical study reports submitted to the European Medicines Agency compared to trial registries and publications—a methodological review

An accurate and comprehensive assessment of harms is a fundamental part of an accurate weighing of benefits and harms of an intervention when making treatment decisions; however, harms are known to be underrep...

Authors: Asger S. Paludan-Müller, Perrine Créquit and Isabelle Boutron

Dexamethasone induces an imbalanced fetal-placental-maternal bile acid circulation: involvement of placental transporters

The use of prenatal dexamethasone remains controversial. Our recent studies found that prenatal dexamethasone exposure can induce maternal intrahepatic cholestasis and have a lasting adverse influence on bile ...

Authors: Wen Huang, Jin Zhou, Juanjuan Guo, Wen Hu, Guanghui Chen, Bin Li, Yajie Wen, Yimin Jiang, Kaili Fu, Huichang Bi, Yuanzhen Zhang and Hui Wang

Machine learning for subtype definition and risk prediction in heart failure, acute coronary syndromes and atrial fibrillation: systematic review of validity and clinical utility

Machine learning (ML) is increasingly used in research for subtype definition and risk prediction, particularly in cardiovascular diseases. No existing ML models are routinely used for cardiovascular disease m...

Authors: Amitava Banerjee, Suliang Chen, Ghazaleh Fatemifar, Mohamad Zeina, R. Thomas Lumbers, Johanna Mielke, Simrat Gill, Dipak Kotecha, Daniel F. Freitag, Spiros Denaxas and Harry Hemingway

Cost-effectiveness modelling to optimise active screening strategy for gambiense human African trypanosomiasis in endemic areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (gHAT) has been brought under control recently with village-based active screening playing a major role in case reduction. In the approach to elimination, we investigate ho...

Authors: Christopher N. Davis, Kat S. Rock, Marina Antillón, Erick Mwamba Miaka and Matt J. Keeling

Research priorities for Long Covid: refined through an international multi-stakeholder forum

Authors: Gail Carson

Dietary intake of trans fatty acids and breast cancer risk in 9 European countries

Trans fatty acids (TFAs) have been hypothesised to influence breast cancer risk. However, relatively few prospective studies have examined this relationship, and well-powered analyses according to hormone recepto...

Authors: Michèle Matta, Inge Huybrechts, Carine Biessy, Corinne Casagrande, Sahar Yammine, Agnès Fournier, Karina Standahl Olsen, Marco Lukic, Inger Torhild Gram, Eva Ardanaz, Maria-José Sánchez, Laure Dossus, Renée T. Fortner, Bernard Srour, Franziska Jannasch, Matthias B. Schulze…

Deep learning-based six-type classifier for lung cancer and mimics from histopathological whole slide images: a retrospective study

Targeted therapy and immunotherapy put forward higher demands for accurate lung cancer classification, as well as benign versus malignant disease discrimination. Digital whole slide images (WSIs) witnessed the...

Authors: Huan Yang, Lili Chen, Zhiqiang Cheng, Minglei Yang, Jianbo Wang, Chenghao Lin, Yuefeng Wang, Leilei Huang, Yangshan Chen, Sui Peng, Zunfu Ke and Weizhong Li

Using Mendelian randomization study to assess the renal effects of antihypertensive drugs

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and/or in combination with calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are generally recommended as the first-line antihypertensive therapy for people with hypertension and k...

Authors: Jie V. Zhao and C. Mary Schooling

Puberty timing and markers of cardiovascular structure and function at 25 years: a prospective cohort study

Whether earlier onset of puberty is associated with higher cardiovascular risk in early adulthood is not well understood. Our objective was to examine the association between puberty timing and markers of card...

Authors: Gillian M. Maher, Lisa Ryan, Fergus P. McCarthy, Alun Hughes, Chloe Park, Abigail Fraser, Laura D. Howe, Patricia M. Kearney and Linda M. O’Keeffe

Greater public health impact of COVID-19 antigen detection tests

Authors: Akiko Kowada

Evaluation of glycemic traits in susceptibility to COVID-19 risk: a Mendelian randomization study

Observational studies suggest poorer glycemic traits and type 2 diabetes associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) risk although these findings could be confounded by socioeconomic position. We condu...

Authors: Shiu Lun Au Yeung, Jie V Zhao and C Mary Schooling

Accurate diagnosis of colorectal cancer based on histopathology images using artificial intelligence

Accurate and robust pathological image analysis for colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis is time-consuming and knowledge-intensive, but is essential for CRC patients’ treatment. The current heavy workload of path...

Authors: K. S. Wang, G. Yu, C. Xu, X. H. Meng, J. Zhou, C. Zheng, Z. Deng, L. Shang, R. Liu, S. Su, X. Zhou, Q. Li, J. Li, J. Wang, K. Ma, J. Qi…

Severe mental illness and mortality and coronary revascularisation following a myocardial infarction: a retrospective cohort study

Severe mental illness (SMI), comprising schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression, is associated with higher myocardial infarction (MI) mortality but lower coronary revascularisation rates. Previous...

Authors: Kelly Fleetwood, Sarah H. Wild, Daniel J. Smith, Stewart W. Mercer, Kirsty Licence, Cathie L. M. Sudlow and Caroline A. Jackson

The trends and associated adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes of labour neuraxial analgesia among vaginal deliveries in China between 2012 and 2019: a real-world observational evidence

There is a lack of national report of the labour neuraxial analgesia (NA) rates in China in recent years, especially after the national promotion policy. The adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes associated ...

Authors: Yi Mu, Xiaodong Wang, Yanping Wang, Zheng Liu, Mingrong Li, Xiaohong Li, Qi Li, Jun Zhu, Juan Liang and Haidong Wang

Investigating the relationships between unfavourable habitual sleep and metabolomic traits: evidence from multi-cohort multivariable regression and Mendelian randomization analyses

Sleep traits are associated with cardiometabolic disease risk, with evidence from Mendelian randomization (MR) suggesting that insomnia symptoms and shorter sleep duration increase coronary artery disease risk...

Authors: Maxime M. Bos, Neil J. Goulding, Matthew A. Lee, Amy Hofman, Mariska Bot, René Pool, Lisanne S. Vijfhuizen, Xiang Zhang, Chihua Li, Rima Mustafa, Matt J. Neville, Ruifang Li-Gao, Stella Trompet, Marian Beekman, Nienke R. Biermasz, Dorret I. Boomsma…

Understanding the value of dietary indices prior to research application

Authors: Mary Foong-Fong Chong

Relationship between diet quality scores and the risk of frailty and mortality in adults across a wide age spectrum

Beyond intakes of total energy and individual nutrient, eating patterns may influence health, and thereby the risk of adverse outcomes. How different diet measures relate to frailty—a general measure of increa...

Authors: Kulapong Jayanama, Olga Theou, Judith Godin, Leah Cahill, Nitin Shivappa, James R. Hébert, Michael D. Wirth, Yong-Moon Park, Teresa T. Fung and Kenneth Rockwood

A follow-up study shows that recovered patients with re-positive PCR test in Wuhan may not be infectious

Previous studies showed that recovered coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients can have a subsequent positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS...

Authors: Xiaomin Wu, Zengmiao Wang, Zhenyu He, Yapin Li, Yating Wu, Huaiji Wang, Yonghong Liu, Fanghua Hao and Huaiyu Tian

Insulin resistance, diabetic kidney disease, and all-cause mortality in individuals with type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study

It is unclear whether insulin resistance (IR) contributes to excess mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes independent of diabetic kidney disease (DKD), which is strongly associated with IR and is a major ...

Authors: Giuseppe Penno, Anna Solini, Emanuela Orsi, Enzo Bonora, Cecilia Fondelli, Roberto Trevisan, Monica Vedovato, Franco Cavalot, Gianpaolo Zerbini, Olga Lamacchia, Antonio Nicolucci and Giuseppe Pugliese

Reducing youth suicide: systems modelling and simulation to guide targeted investments across the determinants

Reducing suicidal behaviour (SB) is a critical public health issue globally. The complex interplay of social determinants, service system factors, population demographics, and behavioural dynamics makes it ext...

Authors: Jo-An Occhipinti, Adam Skinner, Frank Iorfino, Kenny Lawson, Julie Sturgess, Warren Burgess, Tracey Davenport, Danica Hudson and Ian Hickie

Cost-effectiveness of a stepwise cardiometabolic disease prevention program: results of a randomized controlled trial in primary care

Cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) are the major cause of death worldwide and are associated with a lower quality of life and high healthcare costs. To prevent a further rise in CMD and related healthcare costs, e...

Authors: Daphne M. Stol, Eelco A. B. Over, Ilse F. Badenbroek, Monika Hollander, Mark M. J. Nielen, Roderik A. Kraaijenhagen, François G. Schellevis, Niek J. de Wit and G. Ardine de Wit

Effects of maternal folic acid supplementation during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy on neurocognitive development in the child: an 11-year follow-up from a randomised controlled trial

Maternal folic acid (FA) supplementation before and in early pregnancy prevents neural tube defects (NTD), but it is uncertain whether continuing FA after the first trimester has benefits on offspring health. ...

Authors: Aoife Caffrey, Helene McNulty, Mark Rollins, Girijesh Prasad, Pramod Gaur, Joel B. Talcott, Caroline Witton, Tony Cassidy, Barry Marshall, James Dornan, Adrian J. Moore, Mary Ward, J. J. Strain, Anne M. Molloy, Marian McLaughlin, Diane J. Lees-Murdock…

Quantifying the potential value of antigen-detection rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19: a modelling analysis

Testing plays a critical role in treatment and prevention responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to nucleic acid tests (NATs), antigen-detection rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) can be more accessible, b...

Authors: Saskia Ricks, Emily A. Kendall, David W. Dowdy, Jilian A. Sacks, Samuel G. Schumacher and Nimalan Arinaminpathy

Vegetable intake and the risk of bladder cancer in the BLadder Cancer Epidemiology and Nutritional Determinants (BLEND) international study

Although a potential inverse association between vegetable intake and bladder cancer risk has been reported, epidemiological evidence is inconsistent. This research aimed to elucidate the association between v...

Authors: Evan Yi-Wen Yu, Anke Wesselius, Siamak Mehrkanoon, Mieke Goosens, Maree Brinkman, Piet van den Brandt, Eric J. Grant, Emily White, Elisabete Weiderpass, Florence Le Calvez-Kelm, Marc J. Gunter, Inge Huybrechts, Elio Riboli, Anne Tjonneland, Giovanna Masala, Graham G. Giles…

Mendelian randomization—a powerful tool to study the causal effects of atrial fibrillation on loss of brain volume

Authors: Laura Andreasen

Correction to: Built environmental characteristics and diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: N. R. den Braver, J. Lakerveld, F. Rutters, L. J. Schoonmade, J. Brug and J. W. J. Beulens

Excess mortality for care home residents during the first 23 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in England: a national cohort study

To estimate excess mortality for care home residents during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, exploring associations with care home characteristics.

Authors: Marcello Morciano, Jonathan Stokes, Evangelos Kontopantelis, Ian Hall and Alex J. Turner

Sensitivity and specificity of the Bamberg Dementia Screening Test’s (BDST) full and short versions: brief screening instruments for geriatric patients that are suitable for infectious environments

Currently, many patients suffering from dementia do not have a diagnosis when admitted to geriatric hospitals. This is the case despite an increased risk of complications affecting the length of stay and outco...

Authors: Wolfgang Trapp, Susanne Röder, Andreas Heid, Pia Billman, Susanne Daiber and Göran Hajak

Automated detection of lung nodules and coronary artery calcium using artificial intelligence on low-dose CT scans for lung cancer screening: accuracy and prognostic value

Artificial intelligence (AI) in diagnostic radiology is undergoing rapid development. Its potential utility to improve diagnostic performance for cardiopulmonary events is widely recognized, but the accuracy a...

Authors: Jordan Chamberlin, Madison R. Kocher, Jeffrey Waltz, Madalyn Snoddy, Natalie F. C. Stringer, Joseph Stephenson, Pooyan Sahbaee, Puneet Sharma, Saikiran Rapaka, U. Joseph Schoepf, Andres F. Abadia, Jonathan Sperl, Phillip Hoelzer, Megan Mercer, Nayana Somayaji, Gilberto Aquino…

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of eliminating cervical cancer through a tailored optimal pathway: a modeling study

The World Health Assembly has adopted a global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer. However, neither the optimal pathway nor the corresponding economic and health benefits have been evaluated. We take China ...

Authors: Changfa Xia, Xiaoqian Xu, Xuelian Zhao, Shangying Hu, Youlin Qiao, Yong Zhang, Raymond Hutubessy, Partha Basu, Nathalie Broutet, Mark Jit and Fanghui Zhao

Meat consumption and risk of 25 common conditions: outcome-wide analyses in 475,000 men and women in the UK Biobank study

There is limited prospective evidence on the association between meat consumption and many common, non-cancerous health outcomes. We examined associations of meat intake with risk of 25 common conditions (othe...

Authors: Keren Papier, Georgina K. Fensom, Anika Knuppel, Paul N. Appleby, Tammy Y. N. Tong, Julie A. Schmidt, Ruth C. Travis, Timothy J. Key and Aurora Perez-Cornago

Optimizing antiviral treatment for seasonal influenza in the USA: a mathematical modeling analysis

Seasonal influenza remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the USA. Despite the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation promoting the early antiviral treatment of high-risk pat...

Authors: Matan Yechezkel, Martial L. Ndeffo Mbah and Dan Yamin

The epidemiologic impact and cost-effectiveness of new tuberculosis vaccines on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in India and China

Despite recent advances through the development pipeline, how novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccines might affect rifampicin-resistant and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (RR/MDR-TB) is unknown. We investigated the...

Authors: Chathika K Weerasuriya, Rebecca C Harris, C Finn McQuaid, Fiammetta Bozzani, Yunzhou Ruan, Renzhong Li, Tao Li, Kirankumar Rade, Raghuram Rao, Ann M Ginsberg, Gabriela B Gomez and Richard G White

Glycolysis-associated lncRNAs identify a subgroup of cancer patients with poor prognoses and a high-infiltration immune microenvironment

Long noncoding (lnc)RNAs and glycolysis are both recognized as key regulators of cancers. Some lncRNAs are also reportedly involved in regulating glycolysis metabolism. However, glycolysis-associated lncRNA si...

Authors: Kuo-Hao Ho, Tzu-Wen Huang, Chwen-Ming Shih, Yi-Ting Lee, Ann-Jeng Liu, Peng-Hsu Chen and Ku-Chung Chen

Sex differences in systemic metabolites at four life stages: cohort study with repeated metabolomics

Males experience higher rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) than females, but the circulating traits underpinning this difference are poorly understood. We examined sex differences in systemic metabolites me...

Authors: Joshua A. Bell, Diana L. Santos Ferreira, Abigail Fraser, Ana Luiza G. Soares, Laura D. Howe, Deborah A. Lawlor, David Carslake, George Davey Smith and Linda M. O’Keeffe

Following the science? Comparison of methodological and reporting quality of covid-19 and other research from the first wave of the pandemic

Following the initial identification of the 2019 coronavirus disease (covid-19), the subsequent months saw substantial increases in published biomedical research. Concerns have been raised in both scientific a...

Authors: Terence J. Quinn, Jennifer K. Burton, Ben Carter, Nicola Cooper, Kerry Dwan, Ryan Field, Suzanne C. Freeman, Claudia Geue, Ping-Hsuan Hsieh, Kris McGill, Clareece R. Nevill, Dikshyanta Rana, Alex Sutton, Martin Taylor Rowan and Yiqiao Xin

Relation of severe COVID-19 to polypharmacy and prescribing of psychotropic drugs: the REACT-SCOT case-control study

The objective of this study was to investigate the relation of severe COVID-19 to prior drug prescribing.

Authors: Paul M. McKeigue, Sharon Kennedy, Amanda Weir, Jen Bishop, Stuart J. McGurnaghan, David McAllister, Chris Robertson, Rachael Wood, Nazir Lone, Janet Murray, Thomas M. Caparrotta, Alison Smith-Palmer, David Goldberg, Jim McMenamin, Bruce Guthrie, Sharon Hutchinson…

Maternal dietary quality, inflammatory potential and childhood adiposity: an individual participant data pooled analysis of seven European cohorts in the ALPHABET consortium

Mounting evidence suggests that maternal diet influences pregnancy and birth outcomes, but its contribution to the global epidemic of childhood obesity has not as yet been definitively characterized. We invest...

Authors: Ling-Wei Chen, Adrien M. Aubert, Nitin Shivappa, Jonathan Y. Bernard, Sara M. Mensink-Bout, Aisling A. Geraghty, John Mehegan, Matthew Suderman, Kinga Polanska, Wojciech Hanke, Agnieszka Jankowska, Caroline L. Relton, Sarah R. Crozier, Nicholas C. Harvey, Cyrus Cooper, Mark Hanson…

The impact of local and national restrictions in response to COVID-19 on social contacts in England: a longitudinal natural experiment

England’s COVID-19 response transitioned from a national lockdown to localised interventions. In response to rising cases, these were supplemented by national restrictions on contacts (the Rule of Six), then 1...

Authors: Christopher I. Jarvis, Amy Gimma, Kevin van Zandvoort, Kerry L. M. Wong and W. John Edmunds

Lower iodine storage in the placenta is associated with gestational diabetes mellitus

The micronutrient iodine is essential for a healthy intrauterine environment and is required for optimal fetal growth and neurodevelopment. Evidence linking urinary iodine concentrations, which mainly reflects...

Authors: Kristof Y. Neven, Bianca Cox, Charlotte Cosemans, Wilfried Gyselaers, Joris Penders, Michelle Plusquin, Harry A. Roels, Karen Vrijens, Ann Ruttens and Tim S. Nawrot

C₂HEST score predicts clinical outcomes in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a secondary analysis of the TOPCAT trial

The C₂HEST score has been validated for predicting AF in the general population or post-stroke patients. We aimed to assess whether this risk score could predict incident AF and other clinical outcomes in heart f...

Authors: Weihao Liang, Yuzhong Wu, Ruicong Xue, Zexuan Wu, Dexi Wu, Jiangui He, Yugang Dong, Gregory Y. H. Lip, Wengen Zhu and Chen Liu

Exit strategies: optimising feasible surveillance for detection, elimination, and ongoing prevention of COVID-19 community transmission

Following implementation of strong containment measures, several countries and regions have low detectable community transmission of COVID-19. We developed an efficient, rapid, and scalable surveillance strate...

Authors: K. Lokuge, E. Banks, S. Davis, L. Roberts, T. Street, D. O’Donovan, G. Caleo and K. Glass

Serum transferrin as a biomarker of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha activity and hepatocyte function in liver diseases

Serum transferrin levels represent an independent predictor of mortality in patients with liver failure. Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4α) is a master regulator of hepatocyte functions. The aim of this...

Authors: Nurdan Guldiken, Josepmaria Argemi, Berivan Gurbuz, Stephen R. Atkinson, Martin Oliverius, Petr Fila, Karim Hamesch, Tony Bruns, Joaquín Cabezas, Juan J. Lozano, Jelena Mann, Sheng Cao, Philippe Mathurin, Vijay H. Shah, Christian Trautwein, Mark R. Thursz…

Implications of the ACC/AHA risk score for prediction of heart failure: the Rotterdam Study

Despite the growing burden of heart failure (HF), there have been no recommendations for use of any of the primary prevention models in the existing guidelines. HF was also not included as an outcome in the Am...

Authors: Banafsheh Arshi, Jan C. van den Berge, Bart van Dijk, Jaap W. Deckers, M. Arfan Ikram and Maryam Kavousi

Independent and combined associations between fast-food outlet exposure and genetic risk for obesity: a population-based, cross-sectional study in the UK

Characteristics of the built environment, such as neighbourhood fast-food outlet exposure, are increasingly recognised as risk factors for unhealthy diet and obesity. Obesity also has a genetic component, with...

Authors: Thomas Burgoine, Pablo Monsivais, Stephen J. Sharp, Nita G. Forouhi and Nicholas J. Wareham

Serum neurofilament light and tau as prognostic markers for all-cause mortality in the elderly general population—an analysis from the MEMO study

Neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a cytoskeletal protein component whose release into blood is indicative of neuronal damage. Tau is a microtubule-associated protein in neurons and strongly associated with ov...

Authors: Nicole Rübsamen, Aleksandra Maceski, David Leppert, Pascal Benkert, Jens Kuhle, Heinz Wiendl, Annette Peters, André Karch and Klaus Berger

Characteristics and mortality rates among patients requiring intermediate care: a national cohort study using linked databases

Adults increasingly live and die with chronic progressive conditions into advanced age. Many live with multimorbidity and an uncertain illness trajectory with points of marked decline, loss of function and inc...

Authors: Catherine J. Evans, Laura Potts, Ursula Dalrymple, Andrew Pring, Julia Verne, Irene J. Higginson and Wei Gao

High intake of vegetables is linked to lower white blood cell profile and the effect is mediated by the gut microbiome

Chronic inflammation, which can be modulated by diet, is linked to high white blood cell counts and correlates with higher cardiometabolic risk and risk of more severe infections, as in the case of COVID-19.

Authors: Cristina Menni, Panayiotis Louca, Sarah E. Berry, Amrita Vijay, Stuart Astbury, Emily R. Leeming, Rachel Gibson, Francesco Asnicar, Gianmarco Piccinno, Jonathan Wolf, Richard Davies, Massimo Mangino, Nicola Segata, Tim D. Spector and Ana M. Valdes

Poor cardiovascular health is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in apparently healthy sub-Saharan African populations: an H3Africa AWI-Gen study

The cardiovascular health index (CVHI) introduced by the American Heart Association is a valid, accessible, simple, and translatable metric for monitoring cardiovascular health in a population. Components of t...

Authors: Engelbert A. Nonterah, Nigel J. Crowther, Abraham Oduro, Godfred Agongo, Lisa K. Micklesfield, Palwendé R. Boua, Solomon S. R. Choma, Shukri F. Mohamed, Herman Sorgho, Stephen M. Tollman, Shane A. Norris, Frederick J. Raal, Diederick E. Grobbee, Michelé Ramsay, Michiel L. Bots and Kerstin Klipstein-Grobusch