📄 medicine

A National Assessment of the Availability, Utilisation and Impact of Digital Learning Resources Among Nigerian Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study

This nationwide cross-sectional study of 784 Nigerian medical students reveals that despite widespread device ownership, significant disparities persist in access to essential institutional digital resources, which are critical for enhancing students' perceived global competitiveness.

Joshua Adejo Okpanachi, Paul Tunde Kingpriest, Luke Onyedikachi Itodo, Angel Oluwabukola Adaji, Moshood Abiodun Adebayo (…)2026-07-20
📄 medicine

Latent profiles of eating disorder symptoms among transgender, gender diverse, and cisgender people with lived experience of eating disorders: associations with neurodivergent traits and gender dysphoria

This study identifies four distinct eating disorder symptom profiles among transgender, gender diverse, and cisgender individuals, revealing that the profile characterized by avoidant eating without typical eating disorder cognitions is uniquely associated with gender dysphoria and neurodivergent traits, thereby highlighting the need for transdiagnostic approaches and dual diagnoses of ARFID and anorexia nervosa in these populations.

Kai S. Thomas, Grace H. Williams, Max Keith, Hannah Blackbrook, Rox Bainbridge, Jamie Merry, LEADING Lived Experience Ad (…)2026-07-20
📄 medicine

Governance, Accountability and Post-Deployment Monitoring Preferences for AI Integration in West African Clinical Practice: A Mixed-Methods Study

This mixed-methods study of West African clinicians and technical experts reveals a strong preference for independent regulatory oversight, transparent accountability mechanisms, and real-time monitoring to ensure safe and equitable AI integration in clinical practice, while highlighting significant concerns regarding vendor control and clinician liability.

Benjamin S. Chudi Uzochukwu, Yakubu Joel Cherima, Ugo Uwadiako Enebeli, Chinyere Cecelia Okeke, Adaora Chinelo Uzochukwu (…)2026-07-20
📄 medicine

Sudden and Unexplained Post-partum Cardiac Arrest in a Patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Case Report

This case report describes a woman with well-controlled systemic lupus erythematosus who experienced sudden, life-threatening post-partum cardiac arrest due to biventricular dysfunction and severe mitral regurgitation, highlighting that lupus alone can pose significant pregnancy risks and challenging the assumption that regurgitant lesions are benign, while also demonstrating that successful subsequent pregnancies are possible with careful multidisciplinary management.

Anna Miele, Lakshmi Tummala2026-07-20
📄 medicine

Economic Burden of Oral Diseases, Barriers to Care, and Opportunities for Health System Reform in Rural Lucknow: A Mixed-Method Study

This mixed-method study reveals that rural residents of Lucknow face a severe oral health crisis characterized by high disease prevalence and low care utilization due to significant financial, structural, and socio-cultural barriers, underscoring the urgent need for affordable, community-based interventions and systemic health reforms.

Vinay Kumar Gupta, Nishita Kankane, Abhishek Mehta, Manu Raj Mathur, Siddharth Joel David, Archita Agarwal, Vaitarni Van (…)2026-07-20
📄 medicine

Performance of Vaccine Cold Chain System in Northern Sudan based on World Health Organization Effective Vaccine Management Indicators

A facility-based cross-sectional study in Northern Sudan utilizing WHO Effective Vaccine Management indicators reveals that while the vaccine cold chain system demonstrates strong performance in staffing, equipment availability, and temperature recording, it faces critical vulnerabilities in energy stability, equipment maintenance, and the use of advanced monitoring technologies that require urgent intervention to ensure long-term reliability.

Moaaz Abdelrasol, Monzer Hamed, Mohamed Ali Alzain, Alhaj. S. M. Ali2026-07-20
📄 medicine

PVN CRF/CRF-R1 signaling links stress to bowel dysfunction, anxiety-like behavior, and colonic barrier injury and is modulated by electroacupuncture in IBS-D-like mice

This study demonstrates that paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN) CRF/CRF-R1 signaling drives stress-induced bowel dysfunction, anxiety, and colonic barrier injury in IBS-D-like mice through a brain–gut–barrier mechanism, which can be effectively alleviated by electroacupuncture via modulation of this pathway.

Guoming Shen, Shun Huang, Chuqiao Shen, Chen Xu, Xiyang Wang, Jiangang Xu, Nannan Tian, Kan Ding, Hao Wang2026-07-20
📄 medicine

Walking difficulty as a marker of high health need and education-related healthcare response in older adults: a cross-national multicohort study

This cross-national multicohort study demonstrates that walking difficulty serves as a pragmatic marker for identifying older adults with high health needs and reveals that, even after adjusting for these needs, healthcare response remains inequitably distributed by education level across multiple countries.

Long Chen, Moxuan Wu, Hui Li, Ninggang Liang, Dan Xing, Hu Li, Jianhao Lin2026-07-20
📄 medicine

Baicalin-Loaded MOF-818 Nanozyme for Ischemic Stroke Treatment via ROS Scavenging and Neuroinflammation Suppression

This study demonstrates that Baicalin-loaded MOF-818 nanozymes effectively treat ischemic stroke by synergistically scavenging reactive oxygen species, suppressing neuroinflammation through microglial polarization, and inhibiting neuronal apoptosis, thereby significantly improving neurological recovery in rats.

Wei Shen, YuChen Wang, Xiaosong Zhu, xiaojuan Chen, xianjun Wang, fengyuan Che2026-07-20