Publications

# indicates corresponding author. All journal metrics are taken from Clarivate’s Journal Citation Report (JCR) from the time of publication. JIF = Journal impact factor.

  • Xu W, Chen T, Zhang W, Sakal C#, Li X#. Associations of Ultraprocessed Food Intake, Wearable-Measured Lifestyle Factors, and Genetic Susceptibility With Incident Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes (2026, JIF = 9.3, JCR rank 13/198 [93.7%] in Endocrinology & Metabolism). https://doi.org/10.2337/db26-0395

  • Xu W, Sakal C, Zhang W, Chen T, Wang C, Zhao Q, Li X#. Daily eating window duration and dietary intake shape 24-hour glycemic patterns in type 2 diabetes: a functional data analysis approach. BMC Medicine (2026, JIF = 8.7, JCR rank 21/336 [93.9%] in Medicine, General & Internal). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-026-05105-2

  • Sakal C, Xu W, Zhang W, Li X#. Associations of physical activity bout duration and fragmentation with future dementia, depression, and anxiety: a multi-modal UK Biobank study. Translational Psychiatry (2026, JIF = 7.5, JCR rank 17/293 [94.4%] in Psychiatry). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-04272-3

  • Zhang W, Chen T, Xu W, Sakal C, Li X#. Img2Gene: Debiased Spatially Resolved Transcriptomics with Biological Context from Pathology Images. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics (2026, JIF = 7.7, JCR rank 23/266 [91.5%] in Computer Science, Information Systems). 10.1109/JBHI.2026.3681769

  • Zhang W, Liu X, Chen T, Xu W, Sakal C, Nie X, Wang L, Li X#. Bridging Imaging and Genomics: Domain Knowledge Guided Spatial Transcriptomics Analysis. Information Fusion (2025, JIF = 15.5, JCR rank 4/204 [98.3%] in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inffus.2025.103746

  • Zhang W, Xu W, Chen T, Sakal C, Li X#. Integrating images and genomics for multi-modal cancer survival analysis via mixture of experts. Information Fusion (2025, JIF = 15.5, JCR rank 4/204 [98.3%] in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inffus.2025.103521

  • Sakal C, Chen T, Xu W, Zhang W, Yang Y, Li X#. Towards proactively improving sleep: machine learning and wearable device data forecast sleep efficiency 4-8 hours before sleep onset. SLEEP (2025, JIF 4.9, JCR rank 33/286 [88.6%] in Clinical Neurology). https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaf113

  • Sakal C, Li T, Li J, Li X#. Predicting poor performance on cognitive tests among older adults using wearable device data and machine learning: a feasibility study. npj Aging (2024, JIF 4.1, JCR rank 22/74 [70.9%] in Geriatrics and Gerontology). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-024-00177-x

  • Sakal C, Zhao W, Xu W, Li X#. Effects of caffeine on accelerometer measured sleep and physical activity among older adults under free-living conditions. BMC Public Health (2024, JIF 3.5, JCR rank 85/408 [79.3%] in Public, Environmental & Occupational Health). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20115-6‍ ‍

  • Sakal C, Li T, Li J, Yang C, Li X#. Association Between Sleep Efficiency Variability and Cognition Among Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Accelerometer Study. JMIR Aging (2024, JIF 5.0, JCR rank 1/47 [100%] in Gerontology). 10.2196/54353

  • Sakal C, Li T, Li J, Li X#. Identifying Predictive Risk Factors for Future Cognitive Impairment Among Chinese Older Adults: Longitudinal Prediction Study. JMIR Aging (2024, JIF 5.0, JCR rank 1/47 [100%] in Gerontology). 10.2196/53240

  • Sakal C, Li J, Xiang YT, Li X#. Development and validation of the Chinese Geriatric Depression Risk calculator (CGD-risk): A screening tool to identify elderly Chinese with depression. Journal of Affective Disorders (2022, JIF 6.5, JCR rank 32/267 [88.2%] in Clinical Neurology). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.09.034

Preprints

  • Sakal C, Tong C, Xu W, Zhang W, Li X. The Role of Bout Duration in the Relationship between Physical Activity and Mortality: A Prospective Multi-Cohort Accelerometer Study. Preprint, SSRN link.

Posters, Presentations, and Talks

  • Sakal C. The Role of Wearable Digital Health Technologies in Supporting Vulnerable Persons and Shaping the Future of Healthy Aging. Invited talk, the 2nd Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Healthy Aging Policy Dialogue, 2026. Dalian, China.

  • Sakal C. Physical Activity Promotion Amid Population Aging: Opportunities and Environmental Considerations. Invited talk, Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Population Aging and Environmental Health Policy Dialogue, 2026. Guangzhou, China.

  • Sakal C, Li X. Daytime activity attenuates associations between sleep efficiency and mortality among older adults. Poster presentation, Gerontological Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting, 2024. Seattle, USA.

  • Sakal C. Polars as an alternative to Pandas for data science. Guest Lecture, City University of Hong Kong Department of Data Science, 2024. Hong Kong, China

  • Sakal C. An introduction to the Polars library for data science. Guest lecture, City University of Hong Kong Department of Data Science, 2023. Hong Kong, China

Funding

  • Project Title: 利用人工智能和可穿戴技术推动数字健康管理与健康老龄化. Funder: Guangdong and Hong Kong Universities “1+1+1” Joint Research Collaboration Scheme. Funding: ¥1,200,000. Funding period: 2 years.

Peer Review Experience

  • npj Digital Medicine

  • npj Aging

  • Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR)

  • JMIR mHealth and uHealth

  • JMIR Aging

  • JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

  • Scientific Reports

  • BMC Public Health

  • BMC Geriatrics

  • Annals of General Psychiatry

  • JMIR Medical Informatics

  • JMIR Research Protocols

  • JMIR Formative Research

  • Online Journal of Public Health Informatics

  • Aging Clinical and Experimental Research