Digital Commons Network^™

Circulating Metabolites, Genetics And Lifestyle Factors In Relation To Future Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes, Jun Li, Jie Hu, Huan Yun, Zhendong Mei, Xingyan Wang, Kai Luo, Marta Guasch-Ferré, Xikun Han, Buu Truong, Jordi Merino, Chengyong Jia, Miguel Ruiz-Canela, Casey M Rebholz, Eun Hye Moon, Taryn Alkis, Guning Liu, Jie Yao, Xiyuan Zhang, Bianca C Porneala, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Thomas J Wang, Josée Dupuis, Elizabeth Selvin, Xiuqing Guo, Shilpa N Bhupathiraju, Jennifer A Brody, Yongmei Liu, Alexis C Wood, Kari E North, Su Yon Jung, Ching-Ti Liu, Nona Sotoodehnia, Simin Liu, Lesley F Tinker, A Heather Eliassen, Joann E Manson, Jose C Florez, Robert E Gerszten, Clary B Clish, Liming Liang, Rozenn N Lemaitre, Katherine L Tucker, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Miguel Angel Martínez-González, Kathryn M Rexrode, James B Meigs, Eric Boerwinkle, Robert C Kaplan, Frank B Hu, Bing Yu, Qibin Qi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The human metabolome reflects complex metabolic states affected by genetic and environmental factors. However, metabolites associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk and their determinants remain insufficiently characterized. Here we integrated blood metabolomic, genomic and lifestyle data from up to 23,634 initially T2D-free participants from ten cohorts. Of 469 metabolites examined, 235 were associated with incident T2D during up to 26 years of follow-up, including 67 associations not previously reported across bile acid, lipid, carnitine, urea cycle and arginine/proline, glycine and histidine pathways. Further genetic analyses linked these metabolites to signaling pathways and clinical traits central to T2D pathophysiology, including …

Harmonizing Neuropsychological Test Data Across Prospective Studies, Rosita Shishegar, James D. Doecke, Yen Ying Lim, Pierrick Bourgeat, Vincent Dore, Bhargav Tallapragada, Simon M. Laws, Tenielle Porter, Samantha Burnham, Azadeh Feizpour, Ashley Gillman, Michael Weiner, Jason Hassenstab, Christopher C. Rowe, Victor L. Villemagne, Colin L. Masters, Jurgen Fripp, Hamid Sohrabi, Paul Maruff

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) research relies on large datasets and advanced statistical models. However, individual population studies often lack sufficient sample size for conclusive results. Harmonizing cognitive test data across studies can address this gap, despite differences in testing protocols. This study harmonizes cognitive data from three major AD cohorts to support robust clinical–pathological modelling. Methods: Information from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (N = 1446); Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (N = 1764); and Open Access Series of Imaging Studies-3 (N = 440) were integrated, including cognitive scores, demographics, genetics, and clinical and neuroimaging data. Neuropsychological tests relevant to …

February 2026, Swosu Rural Health Center

RURAL ROCKS

• Current Indications for Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) Inhibitors
• CMS unveils LEAD, its new 10-year accountable care model
• UnitedHealthcare pauses effort to cut RPM coverage after stating the tech has 'no evidence'
• Walgreens unveils PharmStart to strengthen tech-to-pharmacist pipeline
• Rural Health Transformation Program awards announced—Here's who's getting the most in FY2026
• FDA Grants Two National Priority Vouchers
• 2026 Outlook: Hybrid care companies poised for growth driven by economic, policy tailwinds
• Brain Drain: Retail pharmacy struggles to retain pharmacists, pharmacy technicians
• The 5 biggest challenges facing retail pharmacy
• Retail pharmacy must mine the gaps
• CMS Establishes Office of Rural Health Transformation Nationwide …

Three-Dimensional Displacement Of Upper Cervical Vertebrae In Severe Mandibular Deviation Caused By Condylar Hyperplasia: A Tomographic Segmentation Study, Claudia Milena Ramírez, Rodrigo Cárdenas-Perilla, Luis Eduardo Almeida, Diego Fernando López

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: To evaluate the three-dimensional (3D) angular displacement (Roll, Yaw, and Pitch) of the upper cervical vertebrae (C1, C2, and C3) in patients with severe mandibular deviation (MD) due to condylar hyperplasia (CH), utilizing a computed tomography (CT)-based segmentation approach. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study included 50 patients with MD ≥ 6 mm caused by hemimandibular elongation (HE) or a hybrid form (HF) of CH. The skull, mandible, and cervical vertebrae (C1–C3) were segmented using 3D Slicer software. Angular deviations (Pitch, Yaw, Roll) were measured relative to the Frankfurt plane. Patients were categorized by the side of CH (right or …

Mastering The First Year Of Ownership, Amrita Patel Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This column provides a reflective look at the first year of dental practice ownership, describing it as a mix of exhilaration and pressure. It highlights the importance of transitioning from a clinical mindset to one focused on financial clarity, cash flow variability, and team dynamics. The author discusses the necessity of developing efficient systems to resolve bottlenecks and understanding the patient base on a deeper level. The piece emphasizes that leadership confidence grows through action and adjustment.

How Do I Avoid Burning Out My Staff?, Jodi Schafer Sphr, Shrm-Scp

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This column details the financial advantages of utilizing MDA-endorsed vendors to improve practice profitability. It explains the vetting process performed by volunteers to ensure vendors offer meaningful discounts and vetted solutions. The source highlights specific services, such as PPO fee negotiation, dental marketing, and insurance verifications, which can save a practice over $58,000 annually. By leveraging collective bargaining, members gain access to revenue-boosting solutions without exhaustive trial-and-error searching.

Quantitative Echocardiography Markers To Denote Severity Of Tricuspid Regurgitation Compared To Cardiac Mri In Single Right Ventricle Variants, Tony Zunica, Daniel Forsha, Janelle Noel-Macdonnell, Anmol Goyal

Posters

Background: Single right ventricle and Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) are congenital heart diseases that require multiple palliative surgeries to create a single right ventricular system. 25-30% of these patients develop significant tricuspid regurgitation (TR), which is associated with worse outcomes among all stages of palliation. Echocardiography remains the cornerstone imaging modality for serial evaluation in these patients. However, estimating tricuspid regurgitation is highly subjective in the pediatric population, necessitating need for reliable and reproducible quantitative echocardiography markers. Currently, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is considered the gold standard for quantification of tricuspid regurgitation with good accuracy and reproducibility. Objectives/Goal: Our …

Adapt Vr In Dental Education: Boosting Preclinical Skill And Self-Confidence, Shehabeldin Mohamed Saber Prof.Dr.

Dentistry

Introduction: Preclinical dental training requires extensive feedback and repetition, which traditional manikin exercises often lack. Adapt VR is a cost-effective, immersive system that delivers interactive, adaptive training with real-time feedback. Methods: This comparative study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Adapt VR system in preclinical training. A total of 126 third-year dental students were randomly assigned to an Adapt VR Group 1 (n = 63), acquiring VR learning experience before practicing on laboratory simulators, or a control group (n = 63) who started their training on simulators directly. After practising Class I and II cavity preparations, laboratory performance was …

Transcriptomics And Metabolomics Analysis Reveal Cell Subpopulations Of Trophoblast Cells Associated With Preeclampsia, Xiaojun Zhu, Ying Jiang, Lilin Wang, Peiyue Jiang, Zixing Zhong, Hetong Li, Caihong Zheng, Lujiao Chen, Juan Wei, Xishi Lin, Peng Ding, Zehua Dong, Xiaosheng Wang, Qiong Luo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Placental abnormalities are central to preeclampsia (PE), yet the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this dysfunction remain unclear. We applied a multi-layered, integrative approach to investigate placental tissue from patients with PE and matched controls. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq; GSE173193) and bulk RNA sequencing (bulk RNA-seq; GSE203507) datasets were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus. The scRNA-seq dataset included two PE and two control samples, whereas the bulk RNA-seq dataset focused on eight early-onset PE and five uncomplicated term births. Trophoblast subpopulations were identified via scRNA-seq, and pseudotime analysis was used to trace differentiation trajectories. Differential expression and pathway enrichment …

Intraoperative Care And Complications Of Symptomatic Adolescent And Young Adult Patients Undergoing Laparoscopy To Diagnose And/Or To Treat Endometrioses: A Multi-Institutional Review., Jacquelyn R. Evans, Katherine Bergus, Lindsey Asti, Lesley L. Breech, Ruiqi Cen, Yuan Yuan Gong, S Paige Hertweck, Holly R. Hoefgen, Anne H. Horne, Ashli A. Lawson, Seema Menon, Kathleen E. O'Brien, Shashwati Pradhan, Brenna Rachwal, Yolanda R. Smith, Priya Suvarna, Sarah Van Son, Geri Hewitt

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

STUDY OBJECTIVE: This multi-institutional, retrospective study explores the risks of laparoscopy for diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis to facilitate shared medical decision-making in patients age < 22 years old with chronic pain considering surgery.

METHODS: A retrospective review of patients less than 22 years old who had surgically proven endometriosis at eight pediatric hospitals was completed. Patient demographics, operative interventions, concurrent procedures, and complications were evaluated.

RESULTS: There were 284 patients with pathologically confirmed endometriosis with a median age of 16.86 years (15.51, 18.06). During the index procedure, diagnostic biopsy alone was performed (35.92%), followed by ablation (29.93%), excision (20.07%), excision and ablation (12.68%), and cryoablation (1.41%). Most common …

A Word From The Writing Team (February 2026), Pam Walter, Mfa, Laura Deloretta, Phd

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Prevalence And Risk Factors For Laparoscopic Managed Ectopic Pregnancies At A Tertiary Referral Hospital - A 10-Year Synopsis: A Cross Sectional Study, Steve Mutiso, Eric Mugambi

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Background Ectopic pregnancies (EP) are a common pregnancy associated complication. They are associated with significant morbidity, and rarely mortality, if not managed properly. EP have a myriad of predisposing factors that help identify patients at risk and facilitate early diagnosis and intervention. We set out to conduct an audit of EP managed surgically at our hospital for a 10-year period and discern the incidence, prevalence and risk factors of their occurrence.

Methods This study was designed as a Retrospective Clinical Audit based at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH). Study population was all women admitted to AKUH with a diagnosis …

Prediction Of First And Multiple Antiretroviral Therapy Interruptions In People Living With Hiv: Comparative Survival Analysis Using Cox And Explainable Machine Learning Models, Donald Salami, Emily Koech, Janet Turan, Kristen Stafford, Lilly Nyagah, Stephen Ohakanu, Anthony Ngugi, Manhattan Charurat

Institute for Human Development, East Africa

Background: The Cox proportional hazards (CPH) model is a common choice for analyzing time-to-treatment interruptions in patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART), valued for its straightforward interpretability and flexibility in handling time-dependent covariates. Machine learning (ML) models have increasingly been adapted for handling temporal data, with added advantages of handling complex, nonlinear relationships and large datasets, and providing clear practical interpretations.

Objective: This study aims to compare the predictive performance of the traditional CPH model and ML models in predicting treatment interruptions among patients on ART, while also providing both global and individual-level explanations to support personalized, data-driven interventions …

Wellness Connection Newsletter February 2026, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Himmelfarb Liaison Letter - February 2026, The George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letters

No abstract provided.

Clinical Presentation, Risk Factors And Outcome Of Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria Infection In Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation: A Multinational Case-Control Study, Mario Fernández-Ruiz, Sasinuch Rutjanawech, Carlos Mejía-Chew, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The clinical and microbiological features of infection due to non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) after hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) remain poorly understood.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective, multinational case-control study that included HSCT recipients (≥12 years) diagnosed with NTM disease between January 2008 and December 2018. Controls were HSCT recipients with no evidence of NTM disease, matched (1:2 ratio) by participating center and post-transplant survival. Logistic regression on matched pairs was used to investigate risk factors for NTM disease.

RESULTS: We included 25 cases of NTM disease. The most common HSCT type was allogeneic from unrelated donor (72.0%) after myeloablative conditioning …

Multi-Modal Pediatric Critical Care Datamart For Extracorporeal Support Prediction And Decision Support, Miranda Edmunds, Aditi Gupta, Inez Oh, Levi Kaster, Jonathan Sagel, Andrew Michelson, Yuyao Zhuge, Philip Payne, Ahmed Said

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVES: To develop a multimodal pediatric critical care datamart supporting predictive modeling and decision support tool development, integrating high-resolution physiologic and clinical data and future clinical deployment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed a continuously expanding datamart integrating electronic health record data, high-resolution telemetry, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)-domain datasets. The platform links static and longitudinal time-series variables with expert-curated neurologic outcomes for both ECMO and non-ECMO patients, enabling trajectory-based analyses.

RESULTS: The datamart currently includes 25 762 pediatric patients, of whom 395 received ECMO support. The datamart captures granular longitudinal physiologic, laboratory, medication, and telemetry data suitable for dynamic predictive …

Associations Of Child Amygdala Development With Borderline Personality Symptoms During Adolescence, Anna Constantino-Pettit, Kirsten Gilbert, Kiran Boone, Katherine Luking, Benjamin Geselowitz, Rebecca Tillman, Diana Whalen, Joan Luby, Deanna M Barch, Alecia Vogel

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The current understanding of the neural correlates of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is limited, but some evidence suggests that alterations in limbic structures play a role in adult BPD. The developmental course of structural neural differences in BPD is unknown. Whether there is specificity for structural alterations in BPD compared to other psychiatric presentations, such as major depressive disorder (MDD), remains unexplored. In the current study, we examined childhood trajectories of 2 limbic regions that have been implicated in BPD, hippocampal and amygdala volume, as they relate to adolescent BPD symptoms compared to MDD symptoms.

METHODS: Participants (n = …

"Another One Bite The Dust-It Happens So Much In Black Neighborhoods": Structural Barriers And Grassroots Resources Among Black Men Who Use Drugs Facing Fentanyl-Era Overdose And Treatment Disparities, Devin E Banks, Kaytryn D Campbell, Maria E Paschke, Rashmi Ghonasgi, Bridget Coffey, Jameala Jones, Brittany Blanchard, Ryan W Carpenter, Daje Bradshaw, Rachel P Winograd

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Black men in the United States have been disproportionately impacted by fatal drug overdose since the proliferation of synthetic opioids like fentanyl. This community based participatory research study examined determinants of overdose risk and substance use treatment disparities among Black men based on their lived experience.

METHODS: Between February and December 2023, we enrolled 35 Black men reporting past-30-day opioid use to complete semi-structured qualitative interviews. Interviews were analyzed by a team of academic and community-based coders with lived experience using an inductive-deductive approach to thematic analysis.

RESULTS: Six key themes were identified. Four themes described racism-related inequities posing …

Supporting Emergency Department Patients Experiencing Homelessness, Antony Hsu, Michael A Light, Callan Fockele, Samantha Hay, Stephen Y Liang, Wendy Macias-Konstantopoulos, Carla B Brim, William Weber

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Homelessness is a growing public health crisis across the United States. Emergency physicians are uniquely positioned to address immediate medical concerns and the underlying social drivers of health for patients experiencing homelessness. Initiating coordination of care in the emergency department addresses their hierarchy of needs and can help support patient movement through the department. Practice adaptations described include early engagement; trauma-informed care approach; addressing unmet nonmedical needs; establishing safe dispositions; documenting homelessness, substance use disorder, and linkages to care; clinical practice adaptations; and palliative care approaches. Programs and initiatives outside of the emergency department described include street medicine and government …

Analysis Of Pediatric Cervical Spine Injury Evaluation Workflow In The Emergency Department, Annie J Truelove, Megan E Gregory, Fahd A Ahmad, Sean P Pajak, Nicole C Hammer, Daniel Corwin, Leah Tzimenatos, Scott O King, Matthew Szadkowski, Martin J Herman, Julie C Leonard

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVES: The decision to image children for cervical spine injuries (CSI), an uncommon injury with high associated morbidity and mortality, is complex. X-rays and computed tomography are often used to screen for CSI; however, radiation exposure increases lifetime cancer risk. We recently developed a CSI prediction rule to inform pediatric imaging decisions. To guide implementation, we conducted a workflow analysis of CSI screening in children after blunt trauma.

METHODS: We interviewed emergency departments (ED) and trauma clinicians at 21 hospitals following the applied cognitive task analysis task diagram, knowledge audit, and simulation interview approaches. Interviews were coded using a combined …

Seeg-Guided Responsive Neurostimulation To Treat Neocortical Epilepsy: A Multicenter Retrospective Study Of The Efficacy And Safety Of Depth Electrode-Mediated Neuromodulation, Sina Sadeghzadeh, Jon T Willie, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVES: Pivotal trials have established the effectiveness of the Responsive Neurostimulation System (RNS® System) in treating focal epilepsy. In clinical trials, depth leads were primarily used to treat mesial temporal seizure onsets while cortical strip leads were used to treat neocortical seizure onsets. Here, we systematically analyze the safety and efficacy of stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG)-guided depth leads to provide responsive stimulation to neocortical gray matter.

METHODS: Patients were stratified as strong responders (>median cohort seizure reduction %), weak responders (>0% and ≤median cohort seizure reduction %), and anti-responders (≤0%) based on percent seizure reduction at 1 year post-implant (1-Y). …

A Systemic Selective Modified Mrna Delivery Platform For Preventing Chemotherapy-Induced Cardiotoxicity, Jimeen Yoo, Mengcheng Shen, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Doxorubicin (Dox) is a widely employed chemotherapeutic agent, but its use is clinically limited by dose-accumulative cardiotoxicity. More specifically, Dox induces oxidative stress and causes pro-apoptotic ceramide accumulation in cardiomyocytes (CMs). Acid ceramidase (AC) modified mRNA (modRNA) has been shown to reduce ceramide levels and protect the heart following ischemic injury; however, therapeutic modRNA applications have been hindered by the need for invasive delivery. Here, we present a platform for minimally intrusive transmission of modRNA to the heart. This CM-selective modRNA translational system (cmSMRTs) is encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles for intravenous (IV) delivery to enable systemic administration with high cardiac …

Management Of Mechanical Ventilation In Emergency Medicine: A Scoping Review, Robert J Klemisch, Mitchell S Hymowitz, Ryan J Alcantara, Brendan F Mullan, Margaret L Davis, Rachel Blume, Nicholas J Johnson, Brian M Fuller

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVES: Invasive mechanical ventilation is used for approximately 250,000 emergency medicine (EM) patients annually and continues to increase. Despite rising volumes, EM clinicians receive limited training in ventilation management. Much of the existing evidence is derived from other environments, which may not fully apply to the unique conditions of EM. This scoping review broadly categorizes literature on invasive ventilation specific to EM patients and clinicians and identifies knowledge gaps to direct future research.

METHODS: Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews Checklist guidelines, this review comprehensively mapped the literature on optimizing invasive mechanical ventilation …

Loss Of Beta-Cell Identity And Function As A Mechanism Of Secondary Failure Of Sulfonylurea Therapy In Diabetes, Sumit Patel, Zihan Yan, Maria S Remedi

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Sulfonylureas, commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes (T2D), often lose effectiveness over time when used as monotherapy; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To investigate the mechanisms of sulfonylurea failure, glibenclamide-releasing pellets were implanted in KK mice, a polygenic model that spontaneously develops T2D. KK mice receiving placebo pellets (KK-Placebo) developed hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance. Notably, KK mice implanted with glibenclamide (KK-Glib) showed improved blood glucose levels during the first 7 days, returning to KK-Placebo levels thereafter. KK-Glib mice exhibited reduced plasma insulin levels and insulin secretion in response to a glucose challenge compared with the …

The Death To Onchocerciasis And Lymphatic Filariasis (Dolf) Project: Accomplishments And Ongoing Research, Peter U. Fischer, Christopher L. King, Philip J. Budge, Gary J. Weil, Dolf Consortium

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The Death to Onchocerciasis and Lymphatic Filariasis (DOLF) project conducts clinical and translational research to accelerate the global elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) and onchocerciasis (river blindness). Research needs were identified during several meetings of experts and helped study design. Over the last 15 years the project has conducted mass drug administration (MDA) studies and clinical trials with outstanding research teams in 11 countries that have led to many important discoveries. For example, DOLF studies showed that annual MDA was as effective as semiannual MDA for LF elimination and that semiannual MDA with albendazole alone can eliminate LF in areas …

Lightweight Open-Source Large Language Models Versus Ctakes For Information Extraction From Discharge Summaries: Tobacco Smoking Status Test Case, David M Dávila-García, Matthew J Schuelke, Adam B Wilcox

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVES: To compare lightweight open-source large language models (LLMs) with cTAKES, a state-of-the-art natural language processing (NLP) system, in an information extraction task from hospitalization discharge summaries.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two readers annotated 250 randomly sampled adult discharge summaries (BJC HealthCare, 2018-2023) for tobacco smoking status as "Smoker," "Never smoker," "Unknown." Six LLMs (Llama-3 [1B-70B], gpt-oss-20B, MedGemma-27B) and cTAKES extracted smoking status from summaries. Performance was benchmarked against consensus annotations using weighted F1-score, macro F1-score, and per-class F1-scores and a noninferiority test.

RESULTS: Inter-reader agreement was excellent (κ = 0.91). LLM size (2.3-47.3 GB) and inference time (2.5-14.5 s/note) varied. …

Effects Of Dual-Eligible Integrated Care Plans On Medicaid Enrollment And Retention: Evidence From The Implementation Of Medicare-Medicaid Plans, Eric T Roberts, Eliza Macneal, Kenton J Johnston, José F Figueroa

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Medicare and Medicaid are separate programs that together cover 13 million low-income older adults and people with disabilities, known as dual-eligible individuals. Concern about a lack of coordination across Medicare and Medicaid has prompted the development of Integrated Care Programs (ICPs). Although the primary goal of ICPs is to coordinate financing and care across Medicare and Medicaid, ICPs may also influence whether low-income individuals obtain or keep Medicaid. We evaluated whether the rollout of Medicare-Medicaid Plans (MMPs)-one of the largest ICPs-was associated with changes in Medicaid take-up and retention among Medicare beneficiaries residing in high-poverty zip codes. Using a stacked …

Catatonia And Elevated Mortality: A Population-Wide Cohort Study With Healthy, Sibling, And Schizophrenia Spectrum Controls, Chih-Wei Hsu, Yang-Chieh Brian Chen, Marco Solmi, Chih-Sung Liang, Mu-Hong Chen, Yao-Hsu Yang, Liang-Jen Wang, Edward Chia-Cheng Lai

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Aim: To determine whether catatonia is associated with increased long-term all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

Methods: Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Database (2000-2022), we assembled a population-based cohort of all adults (≥18 years) with catatonia and matched each to four controls without catatonia on sex and birthdate. Mortality was compared between (1) individuals with catatonia and their unaffected siblings and (2) individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with catatonia and those with schizophrenia spectrum disorders without catatonia. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality; secondary outcomes were natural- and unnatural-cause deaths. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated with …

Uncovering Predictors Of Bipolar Ii Conversion To Bipolar I: A Machine Learning Analysis Of National Health Records In Taiwan, Chih-Wei Hsu, Yang-Chieh Brian Chen, Liang-Jen Wang, Kuo-Chuan Hung, Mu-Hong Chen, Eduard Vieta, Chien-Yuan Chen, Chih-Sung Liang, Andre F Carvalho

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Bipolar II disorder (BD-II) can progress to bipolar I disorder (BD-I), carrying profound psychosocial consequences. However, limited research has investigated the transition from BD-II to BD-I. Our study uses machine learning to predict the conversion using real-world data.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (2000-2013) to identify adults diagnosed with BD-II. A predictive model for BD-I conversion was developed using extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), incorporating demographic factors, healthcare utilization, comorbidities, and psychotropic medication use. The dataset was randomly divided into development (80 %) and test (20 %) sets. Model performance …