Risk ratios, odds ratios, and hazard ratios are three common, but often misused, statistical measures in clinical research. In this paper, the authors dissect what each of these terms define, and provide examples from the medical literature to illustrate each of these statistical measures. Finally, the correct and incorrect methods to use these measures are summarized.

Objectives: This narrative review aims to provide a comprehensive and clinically relevant synthesis of logistic regression applications in clinical medicine, particularly in risk prediction and diagnostic modeling. Key objectives include evaluating best practices, addressing common pitfalls, and outlining validation techniques when using logistic regression to analyze binary outcomes such as disease presence versus absence. Methods: The review synthesizes data from 41 peer-reviewed articles spanning from 1987 to 2025, selected from databases including PubMed, MEDLINE, and Scopus using keywords including “logistic regression,” “clinical medicine,” “diagnostic studies,” “prognostic models,” “odds ratio,” and “model validation.” The narrative approach was chosen to integrate findings from various study designs, allowing for a broad discussion on the advantages and limitations of logistic regression in clinical research. The manuscript details key methodological considerations such as the appropriate coding of continuous and categorical variables, verification of core assumptions (e.g., linearity in the log-odds, independence of observations, absence of perfect separation), and adherence to sample size requirements. In addition, the review highlights the importance of splitting datasets into training, validation, and testing subsets, and incorporates performance metrics including sensitivity, specificity, precision, and F1 scores. Results: The review reveals that logistic regression remains a cornerstone technique in clinical risk prediction due to its interpretability and robust framework for handling binary outcomes. Findings indicate that logistic regression models, when appropriately validated, significantly enhance diagnostic accuracy and provide reliable risk estimates through odds ratios and confidence intervals. The review identifies that data integrity, proper variable categorization, and rigorous assumption checks are critical for avoiding model misclassification. Furthermore, visual tools like violin plots are highlighted for their utility in comparing distributions of predicted probabilities across different outcome groups. Real-world examples demonstrate that factors such as biomarker levels (e.g., troponin in acute coronary syndrome) and patient characteristics (e.g., albumin levels, BMI in postoperative infections) are effectively modeled using logistic regression, leading to clinically meaningful inferences. Conclusion: Logistic regression is an indispensable tool in clinical research for predicting binary outcomes and informing evidence-based practice. By integrating a detailed discussion of best practices, common pitfalls, and model validation techniques, the manuscript offers a definitive guide for clinicians and researchers. It emphasizes that rigorous adherence to methodological standards—from data preparation to performance evaluation—can significantly improve predictive accuracy and clinical decision-making. This study hopes to serve as a valuable reference to clinicians, and explain statistical and machine learning topics in a clinical context that is easily understood and widely accessible.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become the new reference standard in first-line HCC treatment, replacing tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as sorafenib. Many clinical trials with different combinations are already in development to validate novel immunotherapies for the treatment of patients with HCC. Adoptive cell therapy (ACT), also known as cellular immunotherapy, with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) or gene-modified T cells expressing novel T cell receptors (TCR) may represent a promising alternative approach to modify the immune system to recognize tumor cells with better clinical outcomes. In this review, we briefly discuss the overview of ACT as a promising treatment modality in HCC, along with recent updates of ongoing clinical trials.

Recent comprehensive genomic studies including single-cell RNA sequencing and characterization have revealed multiple processes by which protein-coding and noncoding RNA processing are dysregulated in many cancers. More specifically, the abnormal regulation of mRNA and precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) processing, which includes the removal of introns by splicing, is frequently altered in tumors, producing multiple different isoforms and diversifying protein expression. These alterations in RNA processing result in numerous cancer-specific mRNAs and pathogenically spliced events that generate altered levels of normal proteins or proteins with new functions, leading to the activation of oncogenes or the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes. Abnormally spliced pre-mRNAs are also associated with resistance to cancer treatment, and certain cancers are highly sensitive to the pharmacological inhibition of splicing. The discovery of these alterations in RNA processing has not only provided new insights into cancer pathogenesis but identified novel therapeutic vulnerabilities and therapeutic opportunities in targeting these aberrations in various ways (e.g., small molecules, splice-switching oligonucleotides (SSOs), and protein therapies) to modulate alternative RNA splicing or other RNA processing and modification mechanisms. Some of these strategies are currently progressing toward clinical development or are already in clinical trials. Additionally, tumor-specific neoantigens produced from these pathogenically spliced events and other abnormal RNA processes provide a potentially extensive source of tumor-specific therapeutic antigens (TAs) for targeted cancer immunotherapy. Moreover, a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms associated with aberrant RNA processes and the biological impact they play might provide insights into cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis. Our goal is to highlight key alternative RNA splicing and processing mechanisms and their roles in cancer pathophysiology as well as emerging therapeutic alternative splicing targets in cancer, particularly in gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies.

Radiotherapy can be limited by pneumonitis, which is impacted by innate immunity, including pathways regulated by TRAIL death receptor DR5. We investigated whether DR5 agonists could rescue mice from toxic effects of radiation and found that 2 different agonists, parenteral PEGylated trimeric TRAIL (TLY012) and oral TRAIL-inducing compound (TIC10/ONC201), could reduce pneumonitis, alveolar wall thickness, and oxygen desaturation. Lung protection extended to late effects of radiation including less fibrosis at 22 weeks in TLY012-rescued survivors versus unrescued surviving irradiated mice. Wild-type orthotopic breast tumor–bearing mice receiving 20 Gy thoracic radiation were protected from pneumonitis with disappearance of tumors. At the molecular level, radioprotection appeared to be due to inhibition of CCL22, a macrophage-derived chemokine previously associated with radiation pneumonitis and pulmonary fibrosis. Treatment with anti-CCL22 reduced lung injury in vivo but less so than TLY012. Pneumonitis severity was worse in female versus male mice, and this was associated with increased expression of X-linked TLR7. Irradiated mice had reduced esophagitis characterized by reduced epithelial disruption and muscularis externa thickness following treatment with the ONC201 analog ONC212. The discovery that short-term treatment with TRAIL pathway agonists effectively rescues animals from pneumonitis, dermatitis, and esophagitis following high doses of thoracic radiation exposure has important translational implications.

Despite the relatively high incidence of ovarian cysts, particularly in premenopausal women, cyst rupture may on occasion present painfully and require surgical intervention to resolve. Particularly in the case of ruptured hemorrhagic ovarian cysts, resulting hemoperitoneum can create a risk of further adverse events including hypovolemic shock; proper identification and management of such cases are therefore critical. This case focuses on a 22-year-old female that presented to the emergency department (ED) with suprapubic pain in the lower left quadrant of the abdomen. Ultrasonography and computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis revealed a ruptured hemorrhagic corpus luteum cyst of the left ovary and secondary hemoperitoneum. Patient treatment required laparoscopic left ovarian cyst wall removal, with the removal of hemoperitoneum.