Cost-effectiveness of leveraging existing HIV primary health systems and community health workers for hypertension screening and treatment in Africa: An individual-based modeling study.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality is increasing in Africa, largely due to undiagnosed and untreated hypertension. Approaches that leverage existing primary health systems could improve hypertension treatment and reduce CVD, but cost-effectiveness is unknown. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of population-level hypertension screening and implementation of chronic care clinics across eastern, southern, central, and western Africa.

A systematic in vitro study of the effect of normoglycaemic and hyperglycaemic conditions on the biochemical and cellular interactions of clinically-available wound dressings with different physicochemical properties.

Diabetic foot, leg ulcers and decubitus ulcers affect millions of individuals worldwide leading to poor quality of life, pain and in several cases to limb amputations. Despite the global dimension of this clinical problem, limited progress has been made in developing more efficacious wound dressings, the design of which currently focusses on wound protection and control of its exudate volume. The present in vitro study systematically analysed seven types of clinically-available wound dressings made of different biomaterial composition and engineering.

Meta-analyses of Culex blood-meals indicates strong regional effect on feeding patterns.

Understanding host utilization by mosquito vectors is essential to assess the risk of vector-borne diseases. Many studies have investigated the feeding patterns of Culex mosquitoes by molecular analysis of blood-meals from field collected mosquitoes. However, these individual small-scale studies only provide a limited understanding of the complex host-vector interactions when considered in isolation.

Combating trade in illegal wood and forest products with machine learning.

Trade in wood and forest products spans the global supply chain. Illegal logging and associated trade in forest products present a persistent threat to vulnerable ecosystems and communities. Illegal timber trade has been linked to violations of tax and conservation laws, as well as broader transnational crimes.

Needs Assessment to Guide the Development of a Pediatric Survivorship Program to Promote the Physical and Psychological Well-being of Children After Cancer Treatment.

Background: Studies have provided insights into the major challenges and needs of young children who survive cancer. Many such challenges are related to a lack of support during the patient's transition back to normal life. Survivorship programs are designed to help survivors cope with potential late effects of treatment and to provide psychosocial support.

Radar versus optical: The impact of cloud cover when mapping seasonal surface water for health applications in monsoon-affected India.

Surface water plays a vital role in the spread of infectious diseases. Information on the spatial and temporal dynamics of surface water availability is thus critical to understanding, monitoring and forecasting disease outbreaks. Before the launch of Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) missions, surface water availability has been captured at various spatial scales through approaches based on optical remote sensing data.

Long-term wage inequality in imperial China: From 202 BCE to 1912 CE.

This paper attempts to describe and explain the long-term evolution of wage inequality in imperial China, covering over two millennia from the Han dynasty to the Qing dynasty (202 BCE-1912 CE). Based on historical government records of official salaries, commodity prices, and agricultural productivity, we convert various forms of salaries to equivalent rice volumes and comparable salary benchmarks. Wage inequality is measured by salary ratios and (partial) Gini coefficients between official and peasant classes as well as within the official class.

Insulin therapy adherence and its associated factors among diabetic patients in a Ghanaian primary care hospital.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global health problem. Adherence to intensive insulin therapy is necessary to achieve better glycemic control in types 1 and 2 DM. This study aimed to evaluate the extent of adherence to insulin therapy, its predictors and to identify barriers to its adherence.

The effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on self-reported interoception and mental health.

Background: Atypical interoception has been observed across multiple mental health conditions, including anxiety disorders and depression. Evidence suggests that not only pathological anxiety, but also heightened levels of state anxiety and stress are associated with interoceptive functioning. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the recent Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on self-reported interoception and mental health, and their relationship.

Weight trajectories in aging humanized APOE mice with translational validity to human Alzheimer's risk population: A retrospective analysis.

Translational validity of mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is variable. Because change in weight is a well-documented precursor of AD, we investigated whether diversity of human AD risk weight phenotypes was evident in a longitudinally characterized cohort of 1,196 female and male humanized APOE (hAPOE) mice, monitored up to 28 months of age which is equivalent to 81 human years. Autoregressive Hidden Markov Model (AHMM) incorporating age, sex, and APOE genotype was employed to identify emergent weight trajectories and phenotypes.

Surgical Site Infection after Craniotomy in Neuro-Oncology (SINO): A protocol for an international prospective multicentre service evaluation across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Introduction: Given its proximity to the central nervous system, surgical site infections (SSIs) after craniotomy (SSI-CRAN) represent a serious adverse event. SSI-CRAN are associated with substantial patient morbidity and mortality. Despite the recognition of SSI in other surgical fields, there is a paucity of evidence in the neurosurgical literature devoted to skin closure, specifically in patients with brain tumors.

Diabetes Risk After Treatment for Childhood and Young Adult Cancer.

Objective: Diabetes is a potential late consequence of childhood and young adult cancer (CYAC) treatment. Causative treatments associated with diabetes have been identified in retrospective cohort studies but have not been validated in population-based cohorts. Our aim was to define the extent of diabetes risk and explore contributory factors for its development in survivors of CYAC in the United Kingdom.

Exploiting the similarity of dissimilarities for biomedical applications and enhanced machine learning.

The "similarity of dissimilarities" is an emerging paradigm in biomedical science with significant implications for protein function prediction, machine learning (ML), and personalized medicine. In protein function prediction, recognizing dissimilarities alongside similarities provides a more detailed understanding of evolutionary processes, allowing for a deeper exploration of regions that influence biological functionality. For ML models, incorporating dissimilarity measures helps avoid misleading results caused by highly correlated or similar data, addressing confounding issues like the Doppelgänger Effect.

Low agreement and frequent invalid controls in two SARS-CoV-2 T-cell assays in people with compromised immune function.

T-cell response plays an important role in SARS-CoV-2 immunogenicity. For people living with HIV (PWH) and solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients there is limited evidence on the reliability of commercially available T-cell tests. We assessed 173 blood samples from 81 participants (62 samples from 35 PWH; 111 samples from 46 SOT recipients [lung and kidney]) with two commercial SARS-CoV-2 Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) release assays (IGRA; SARS-CoV-2 IGRA by Euroimmun, and IGRA SARS-CoV-2 by Roche).

Transitions in intensive care: Investigating critical slowing down post extubation.

Complex biological systems undergo sudden transitions in their state, which are often preceded by a critical slowing down of dynamics. This results in longer recovery times as systems approach transitions, quantified as an increase in measures such as the autocorrelation and variance. In this study, we analysed paediatric patients in intensive care for whom mechanical ventilation was discontinued through removal of the endotracheal tube (extubation).

Understanding emotional and health indicators underlying the burnout risk of healthcare workers.

Burnout of healthcare workers is of increasing concern as workload pressures mount. Burnout is usually conceptualised as resulting from external pressures rather than internal resilience and although is not a diagnosable condition, it is related to help seeking for its psychological sequelae. To understand how staff support services can intervene with staff heading for burnout, it is important to understand what other intrapsychic factors are related to it.

Unveiling diabetes onset: Optimized XGBoost with Bayesian optimization for enhanced prediction.

Diabetes, a chronic condition affecting millions worldwide, necessitates early intervention to prevent severe complications. While accurately predicting diabetes onset or progression remains challenging due to complex and imbalanced datasets, recent advancements in machine learning offer potential solutions. Traditional prediction models, often limited by default parameters, have been superseded by more sophisticated approaches.

mettannotator: a comprehensive and scalable Nextflow annotation pipeline for prokaryotic assemblies.

Summary: In recent years there has been a surge in prokaryotic genome assemblies, coming from both isolated organisms and environmental samples. These assemblies often include novel species that are poorly represented in reference databases creating a need for a tool that can annotate both well-described and novel taxa, and can run at scale. Here, we present mettannotator-a comprehensive, scalable Nextflow pipeline for prokaryotic genome annotation that identifies coding and non-coding regions, predicts protein functions, including antimicrobial resistance, and delineates gene clusters.

Integrated care management for patients following acute stroke: a systematic review.

Background: Contemporary stroke care is moving towards more holistic and patient-centred integrated approaches, however, there is need to develop high quality evidence for interventions that benefit patients as part of this approach.

Aim: This study aims to identify the types of integrated care management strategies that exist for people with stroke, to determine whether stroke management pathways impact patient outcomes, and to identify elements of integrated stroke care that were effective at improving outcomes.

Design: Systematic review with meta-analysis.

Lipid-induced condensate formation from the Alzheimer's Aβ peptide triggers amyloid aggregation.

The onset and development of Alzheimer's disease is linked to the accumulation of pathological aggregates formed from the normally monomeric amyloid-β peptide within the central nervous system. These Aβ aggregates are increasingly successfully targeted with clinical therapies at later stages of the disease, but the fundamental molecular steps in early stage disease that trigger the initial nucleation event leading to the conversion of monomeric Aβ peptide into pathological aggregates remain unknown. Here, we show that the Aβ peptide can form biomolecular condensates on lipid bilayers both in molecular assays and in living cells.

Treatment With Avacopan in Patients With Respiratory Tract Manifestations of Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis.

Objective: The ADVOCATE trial demonstrated that treatment of active granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) with avacopan was noninferior in achieving remission at week 26 and superior for sustained remission at week 52 compared with a prednisone taper. This analysis of ADVOCATE evaluated the efficacy and safety of avacopan in patients with ear, nose, throat (ENT), or lung manifestations.

Methods: This post hoc analysis included patients enrolled in ADVOCATE with ENT or lung manifestations at baseline.

CRYAB is upregulated and predicts clinical prognosis in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (KIRC) is the most prevalent subtype of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), accounting for 70% to 80% of all RCC cases. The CRYAB (αB-crystallin) gene is broadly expressed across various human tissues, yet its role in KIRC progression remains unclear. This study aims to elucidate the function of CRYAB in KIRC progression and to assess its potential as a biomarker for early diagnosis, therapeutic targeting, and prognosis.

mHealth-Based Diabetes Prevention Program for Chinese Mothers With Abdominal Obesity: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Among people with abdominal obesity, women are more likely to develop diabetes than men. Mobile health (mHealth)-based technologies provide the flexibility and resource-saving opportunities to improve lifestyles in an individualized way. However, mHealth-based diabetes prevention programs tailored for busy mothers with abdominal obesity have not been reported yet.

Polygenic risk discriminates Lewy body dementia from Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Lewy body dementia (LBD) shares genetic risk factors with Alzheimer's disease (AD), including apolipoprotein E (APOE), but is distinguishable at the genome-wide level. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) may therefore improve diagnostic classification.

Methods: We assessed diagnostic classification using AD-PRS excluding APOE (AD-PRS ), APOE risk score (APOE-RS), and plasma phosphorylated tau 181 (p-tau181), in 83 participants with LBD, 27 with positron emission tomography amyloid beta (Aβ)positive mild cognitive impairment or AD (MCI+/AD), and 57 controls.

Reference-Based Multiple Imputation for Longitudinal Binary Data.

Introduction: In clinical trials, a treatment policy strategy is often used to handle treatment nonadherence. However, estimation in this context is complicated when data are missing after treatment deviation. Reference-based multiple imputation has been developed for the analysis of a longitudinal continuous outcome in this setting.