Health status and morphometrics of Galápagos magnificent frigatebirds () determined by hematology, biochemistry, blood gas, and physical examination.

The magnificent frigatebird ( MFB) is a widely distributed seabird. It has breeding areas in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean (extending along Central America up to Baja California) (Schreiber & Burger, 2001). The (MFB-Gal) subspecies is native to the Galápagos Islands.

Trajectories and social determinants of child cognitive development: a prospective cohort study from infancy through middle childhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background: Over a third of children globally do not meet their developmental potential, and children living in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are most vulnerable. Understanding the contextual factors that influence cognitive development for children in LMICs is crucial to inform and develop interventions. We sought to characterize developmental trajectories of cognition in Bangladeshi children and identify salient social determinants.

Accelerating evidence generation: Addressing critical challenges and charting a path forward.

Efficient evidence generation to assess the clinical and economic impact of medical therapies is critical amid rising healthcare costs and aging populations. However, drug development and clinical trials remain far too expensive and inefficient for all stakeholders. On October 25-26, 2023, the Duke Clinical Research Institute brought together leaders from academia, industry, government agencies, patient advocacy, and nonprofit organizations to explore how different entities and influencers in drug development and healthcare can realign incentive structures to efficiently accelerate evidence generation that addresses the highest public health needs.

High recent PrEP adherence with point-of-care urine tenofovir testing and adherence counselling among young African women: results from the INSIGHT cohort.

Introduction: Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) account for two-thirds of new HIV infections in Africa. African AGYW have had high uptake of oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) but low adherence, which might be improved by point-of-care adherence monitoring with tailored counselling.

Methods: From August 2022 to July 2023, we conducted a PrEP demonstration project with sexually active AGYW ages 16-30 years from 20 sites in South Africa, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia.

Schistosomiasis transmission: A machine learning analysis reveals the importance of agrochemicals on snail abundance in Rwanda.

Background: Schistosomiasis is an important snail-borne parasitic disease whose transmission is exacerbated by water resource management activities. In Rwanda, meeting the growing population's demand for food has led to wetlands reclamation for cultivation and increased agrochemical enrichment for crop production. However, the ecological consequences of agrochemical enrichment on schistosomiasis transmission remain unexplored.

Designing host-associated microbiomes using the consumer/resource model.

Unlabelled: A key step toward rational microbiome engineering is sampling of realistic microbial communities that correspond to desired host phenotypes, and vice versa. This remains challenging due to a lack of generative models that simultaneously capture compositions of host-associated microbiomes and host phenotypes. To that end, we present a generative model based on the mechanistic consumer/resource (C/R) framework.

Biomass enhancement and activation of transcriptional regulation in sorghum seedling by plasma-activated water.

Introduction: Recent advancements in agricultural technology have highlighted the potential of eco-friendly innovations, such as plasma-activated water (PAW), for enhancing seed germination, growth, and biomass production.

Methods: In this study, we investigated the effects of PAW irrigation on young sorghum seedlings through phenotypic and transcriptional analyses. We measured growth parameters, including seedling height, stem thickness, and biomass, across five sorghum varieties: BTx623, Sodamchal, Noeulchal, Baremae, and Hichal.

Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine versus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis.

Background: High-grade resistance to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in East and Southern Africa has prompted numerous trials evaluating intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine as an alternative to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine.

Methods: We conducted individual participant data meta-analyses of randomised trials comparing IPTp with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine on maternal, birth, and infant outcomes. We searched the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, ClinicalTrials.

Advancing pharmacometrics in Africa-Transition from capacity development toward job creation.

Trained pharmacometricians remain scarce in Africa due to limited training opportunities, lack of a pharmaceutical product development ecosystem, and emigration to high-income countries. The Applied Pharmacometrics Training (APT) fellowship program was established to address these gaps and specifically foster job creation for talent retention. We review the APT program's progress over 3 years and encourage collaboration to enhance local clinical data analysis in Africa.

The heterogeneity among people re-engaging in antiretroviral therapy highlights the need for a differentiated approach: results from a cross-sectional study in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Introduction: Disengagement and re-engagement with antiretroviral therapy (ART) are common in South Africa, but routine monitoring is insufficient to inform policy development. To address this gap, Anova implemented the 2020 National Adherence Guidelines' re-engagement standard operating procedure (re-engagement SOP) and collected additional data to describe the characteristics of re-engagement visits to inform HIV programmes.

Methods: Between July and December 2022, we conducted a study at nine primary healthcare facilities in Johannesburg.

Effect of a multicomponent, person-centred care intervention on client experience and HIV treatment outcomes in Zambia: a stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised trial.

Background: Recipients of health services value not only convenience but also respectful, kind, and helpful providers. To date, research to improve person-centred HIV treatment has focused on making services easier to access (eg, differentiated service delivery) rather than the interpersonal experience of care. We developed and evaluated a person-centred care (PCC) intervention targeting practices of health-care workers.

Serodynamics: A primer and synthetic review of methods for epidemiological inference using serological data.

We present a review and primer of methods to understand epidemiological dynamics and identify past exposures from serological data, referred to as serodynamics. We discuss processing and interpreting serological data prior to fitting serodynamical models, and review approaches for estimating epidemiological trends and past exposures, ranging from serocatalytic models applied to binary serostatus data, to more complex models incorporating quantitative antibody measurements and immunological understanding. Although these methods are seemingly disparate, we demonstrate how they are derived within a common mathematical framework.

A New Species of Pontella Dana, 1846 and New Record of Pontella surrecta Wilson (1950) (Copepoda, Calanoida, Pontellidae) from Indonesian Waters, with Notes on Their Species-Groups.

A new species of Pontella Dana, 1846 from Indonesian waters is herein described. Pontella mayalibit n. sp.

A review of the Oriental Copelatus latipes complex, with the description of two new species (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Copelatinae).

The Copelatus latipes species complex is introduced for Oriental species of Copelatus Erichson, 1832 belonging to the C. irinus group and characterised by the presence of processes on the ventral side of the median lobe of the aedeagus, forming a "beak-shaped" structure. The complex comprises six species, including two newly described taxa: Copelatus bezdeki Sheth, Ghate & Hájek, 2018 (India), C.

The Gould's Toucanet Selenidera gouldii (Natterer, 1837) (Aves: Ramphastidae) as a monotypic species.

The Gould's Toucanet Selenidera gouldii (Natterer, 1837) occurs mainly in eastern Amazonia, with a geographically isolated population in the northeast Brazilian state of Ceará. Based on two male specimens from the latter population that appeared to have a smaller body and bill with a relatively large black patch, Pinto & Camargo (1961) described the subspecies S. g.

The burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors by state in the USA, 1990-2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 provides a comprehensive assessment of health and risk factor trends at global, regional, national, and subnational levels. This study aims to examine the burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors in the USA and highlight the disparities in health outcomes across different states.

Methods: GBD 2021 analysed trends in mortality, morbidity, and disability for 371 diseases and injuries and 88 risk factors in the USA between 1990 and 2021.

The CARES classroom observation tool: Psychometrics of an observational measure of culturally responsive practices.

There is growing interest in improving and assessing teachers' use of culturally responsive practices (CRP) in the classroom, yet relatively few research-based approaches exist to address these measurement gaps. This article presents findings on the psychometric properties of a newly developed classroom observation measure of CRP, called the CARES Observational Assessment Tool, where CARES refers to five theorized domains of CRP. We used a sample of 268 30-min video observations across urban classrooms (Grades 4-9) from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2014).

Working Chance: Peirce's Semiotic Contrasted With Benner's Intuition and Illustrated Through a Semiosis of a Novel Event in the Context of Nursing.

As a practicing clinical nurse, a phenomenon I experienced at times was the sudden acute sense that something was going wrong with a person in care at the sub-critical unit in the hospital where I worked. In fact, many hospital nurses have their story of "something's not right" in relation to a person they were caring for/with, in that the day started with them on a coherent path to healing and then suddenly the nurse feels something is going very wrong, and yet there is nothing observable that would justify such a feeling. This feeling would be called "intuition" by many nurses, a concept most notably theorized in nursing by Patricia Benner in her extensive program of scholarship.

Risk assessment of careHPV testing for the detection of cervical precancerous lesions: 5-year follow-up of a screening program in China.

Background: CareHPV is a highly promising screening HPV assay that functions as a simplified and rapid point-of-care test, making it particularly well-suited for low-resource areas. It exhibits high sensitivity for detecting cervical precancerous lesions in cross-sectional study design. However, there is still limited evidence on the long-term protection of careHPV testing in the practical setting.

Correction: Genomic analyses of fairy and fulmar prions (Procellariidae: Pachyptila spp.) reveals parallel evolution of bill morphology, and multiple species.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.