📄 medicine

Prenatal phenotypes and outcomes of left-sided and duplicated inferior vena cava according to hepatic IVC continuity: a retrospective cohort study

This retrospective cohort study of 167 fetuses with left-sided or duplicated inferior vena cava reveals that while the interrupted hepatic IVC pattern (Type B) is strongly associated with complex cardiac anomalies and left isomerism, the drainage pattern itself does not independently predict fetal death, though it necessitates comprehensive prenatal assessment.

Bin Ma^, Yanfang Wang^, Lan Bu^, Fang Nie2026-10-19
📄 medicine

Rafiq: An Arabic Conversational AI System for Early Depression Detection with Integrated Symptom Monitoring, PHQ-9 Screening, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation

This paper introduces Rafiq, a clinically validated Arabic conversational AI system that integrates a curated mental health knowledge base, a 217-expression PHQ-9 lexicon for symptom detection, and a retrieval-augmented generation pipeline to enable early depression screening and psychoeducation for Arabic-speaking communities.

Alaa Alshurafa, Basem Alijla, Motaz K H SAAD2026-10-19
📄 medicine

Possible Neurosarcoidosis Presenting with Chronic Pachymeningeal Disease, Extensive Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis, and Recurrent Seizures: A Case Report

This case report describes a 42-year-old woman with a 12-year history of progressive neurological decline and extensive cerebral venous thrombosis, initially misdiagnosed as tuberculous meningitis, who was ultimately treated for possible neurosarcoidosis with corticosteroids and methotrexate, resulting in significant clinical improvement despite the lack of definitive histological confirmation.

Kinfemicheal Tilahu Yigzaw2026-10-19
📄 medicine

Induced Abortion and Incident Asthma in Chinese Women: A Prospective Cohort Study with Insights from Baseline Peak Expiratory Flow Measurements

This prospective cohort study of Chinese women found that a history of induced abortion, but not spontaneous pregnancy loss, is independently associated with an increased risk of incident asthma, while also revealing that parity and menopausal timing correlate with objective lung function measures despite self-reported COPD diagnoses showing systematic access bias.

JiaPing Lu, Heng Xu, Qiulian Xu2026-10-19
📄 medicine

Contour-free multi-instance learning versus conventional CT features for preoperative Ki-67 stratification in gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a retrospective comparison

This retrospective study of 61 patients found that contour-free complete-series multi-instance learning applied to dual-phase CT scans did not demonstrate a statistically significant discrimination advantage over conventional CT features for preoperative Ki-67 stratification in gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Bin Tian, Zeng Wang, Zhixia Chen, Jinge Zhang, Xin He, Yili Gu, Ke Zou, Jun Xie, Yu-Xuan Zhang, Xijiao Liu2026-10-19
📄 medicine

Investigating the inhibitory effect of β-sitosterol on liver fibrosis by modulating the p53/Caspase8/Caspase9/Caspase3 signaling pathway

This study demonstrates that β-sitosterol, a monomer component of *Polygonatum sibiricum*, ameliorates liver fibrosis by inducing apoptosis in LX-2 cells and suppressing fibrosis in CCl4-induced mice through the modulation of the p53/Caspase8/Caspase9/Caspase3 signaling pathway.

Yuxin zhang, Weitong Li, Yuting Fan, Haotian Shen, Bin Tang, Yilun Liu, Fengmei Deng, Li Cheng2026-10-19
📄 medicine

Early Childhood Caries Prevention Guidance for Parents in Canada: A Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Recommendation Consistency and Evidence Certainty

This cross-jurisdictional analysis of Canadian public health documents reveals that while provincial and territorial guidance on early childhood caries prevention for parents is largely consistent, the supporting evidence for these recommendations is predominantly of low to very low certainty, highlighting a need for standardized wording and a shared national template to address existing inconsistencies.

Karim Alomar, Lina Marin2026-10-19
📄 medicine

Hyponatremia as a prognostic indicator of mortality and complications in patients with cirrhosis: A Prospective Cross-Sectional Study

This prospective cross-sectional study of 160 cirrhosis patients in Syria demonstrates that hyponatremia (serum sodium ≤130 mEq/L) is significantly associated with greater disease severity, higher frequencies of major complications like hepatic encephalopathy and hepatorenal syndrome, and increased in-hospital mortality.

Yara Al-Amouri, Kenan Alshawish, Ibraheem Alfrouh2026-10-19
📄 medicine

Consumption of ultra-processed foods is positively associated with levels of pro- inflammatory cytokines in postmenopausal women: a cross-sectional study

This cross-sectional study of 565 postmenopausal women in Brazil reveals that higher consumption of ultra-processed foods is positively associated with elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, whereas greater intake of minimally processed foods correlates with reduced inflammation.

Giana Zarbato Longo, Danielle Cristine Guimarães da Silva, Fabrica Geralda Ferreira, Denise Maria de Lima e Silva Galvão (…)2026-10-19