Browse Articles

Carboxyhemoglobin tracks acute arterial desaturation in healthy volunteers: a pooled analysis of four controlled desaturation studies

Epidemiology of hepatitis B virus co-infection among people living with HIV in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa

Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) share transmission routes and are associated with morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding the prevalence and demographic predictors of HBV co-infection among people living with HIV (PLWH) can inform integrated screening and treatment strategies. Methods We analyzed enrollment data from the African Cohort Study (AFRICOS), a prospective study of participants aged ≥15 years with and without HIV across 12 clinical sites in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria. HBV was diagnosed via hepatitis B surface antigen (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA). Descriptive statistics summarized HBV prevalence by HIV status and demographic characteristics. Relative risk (RR) of HBV among PLWH compared to people without HIV was calculated. Among PLWH, multivariable logistic regression identified odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for factors independently associated with HBV co-infection. Results Among 4,241 participants with valid HBV results, 3,439 were PLWH. HBV prevalence was 4.7% among PLWH and 4.2% among people without HIV (RR: 1.10; 95% CI: 0.77–1.59). Among PLWH, HBV prevalence was highest in Nigeria and lowest in Kenya (11.1% vs. 2.6%, p < 0.001), higher among males than females (6.7% vs. 3.2%, p < 0.001, and highest in participants aged ≥40 years and lowest in participants aged 15–19 years (5.8% vs. 0.2%, p < 0.001). In multivariable analysis, male sex (OR: 2.22 [95%CI: 1.59–3.09]), Nigeria residence (OR: 5.19 [95%CI: 3.35–8.05]), and age ≥ 40 (OR: 2.99 [95%CI: 1.74–5.13]) were independently associated with HBV co-infection. Conclusion Routine HBV screening and targeted interventions are needed within HIV programs, especially for older males and in high-prevalence settings like Nigeria.

Teleconnection-driven winter sea surface temperature regime shift and ecosystem reorganization in the western part of the East/Japan Sea

Performance optimization design for constructed wetland coupled with microbial fuel cell for rural domestic sewage treatment

A vertical-flow constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell (CW-MFC) was established with Acorus calamus as the wetland vegetation for rural domestic wastewater treatment under low-temperature winter conditions. Response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with central composite design (CCD) was used to optimize three key electrode parameters: electrode plate projection coefficient (PC), inter-electrode distance (ID), and external resistance (ER), and to evaluate their effects on COD removal efficiency. Compared with the standalone constructed wetland (CW), the CW-MFC system significantly improved wastewater treatment performance: the effluent COD concentration of the CW was 66.14 mg/L, exceeding the first-class discharge limit (60.00 mg/L) specified in the “Water Pollutant Discharge Standard for Rural Domestic Sewage Treatment Facilities” (DB51/2626–2019). In contrast, the effluent COD concentrations of the CW-MFC system ranged from 18.81 to 54.06 mg/L, all meeting the aforementioned first-class standard, with a significantly higher COD removal rate than the CW (P < 0.05). After electrode parameter optimization, the optimal configuration was determined as PC = 0.33, ID = 272.94 mm, and ER = 1619.31 Ω. Under these optimized conditions, the CW-MFC system achieved a COD removal efficiency of 89.14%, which was consistent with the model-predicted value (88.06%) with a deviation of <1.2%. This confirmed that electrode parameter optimization effectively enhanced the treatment performance of the CW-MFC system. These findings could contribute new perspectives to the performance optimization of CW-MFC systems applied to decentralized rural domestic sewage treatment, particularly under low-temperature winter scenarios.

Attentional Disengagement during External and Internal Distractions Reduces Neural Speech Tracking in Background Noise

Within-situation disengagement—the mental withdrawal during conversations in acoustically challenging environments—is a common experience of older people with hearing difficulties. Yet, most research on the neural mechanisms of attentional disengagement from speech listening has focused on the distraction by one competing speaker, whereas within-situation disengagement is often characterized by distraction toward external visual stimuli or internal thoughts and occurs in situations with ambient, multitalker background masking. Across three electroencephalography (EEG) experiments in human participants of either sex, the current study examined how disengagement due to external and internal distractions affect the neural tracking of speech masked by different levels of multitalker babble (speech in quiet, +6 dB, and −3 dB SNR). We observed enhanced early neural responses (<0.2 s) to the speech envelope for speech masked by background babble compared with speech in quiet (Experiments 1–3), suggesting stochastic facilitation. Importantly, neural tracking of the speech envelope was reduced when individuals were distracted by a visual-stimulus stream (Experiment 2) and by internal thought and imagination (Experiment 3). There were some indices suggesting the greatest disengagement-related decline in neural speech tracking occurs for the most difficult speech-masking condition, but this was not consistent across all measures. The current data show that disengagement due to external and internal distractions yield decreases in neural speech tracking, potentially suggesting converging neural pathways through which gain is downregulated in auditory cortex. These results indicate that disengagement from listening can be identified through noninvasive neural measures.

A low-complexity subtraction-based weighting coefficient for synthetic aperture ultrasound imaging

Do family physicians with focused practice or Care of the Elderly training practice differently than others? A population-based, propensity score-matched cohort study

Background Family physicians play a key role in the care of older adults, yet the impact of additional geriatric training or focused practice remains unclear. Objective We compared performance on established clinical practice measures among family physicians with/without evidence of elderly-focused practice or training. Methods We used linked administrative data to conduct a population-based, propensity score-matched cohort study. Participants included family physicians in Ontario, Canada with rostered patients in 2019. Using logistic regression, we established propensity scores to match physicians with a focused alternative funding plan and/or a Certificate of Added Competence in ‘Care of the Elderly’ at a 1:4 ratio to a control group without focused practices or added competence certificates. We compared 11 practice-based measures endorsed by Canadian clinicians and researchers, adjusting for physician factors, medical practice characteristics, and primary care activities. Results We identified 232 family physicians with elderly-focused practices or training and 928 comparable controls. While differences in study group clinical practices were not statistically significant for most processes, they were in three areas. More physicians with elderly-focused practice or training conducted testing aligned with the most recent Canadian Consensus on Dementia and were more likely to prescribe potentially inappropriate medications and antipsychotics to older attached patients. Conclusions We observed limited to no differences in clinical practice measures between family physicians with ‘Care of the Elderly’ focused practice or certification to those without. The lack of differences may reflect true performance, the effect of uniform constraints of primary care practice, or inherent limitations of objective performance measurement.

Uncertainty estimation and probabilistic skull shape reconstruction using bayesian neural networks

Effects of resistance exercises on rotator cuff muscle mechanical characteristics in shoulders with and without rotator cuff tears

Background Rotator cuff tears are the primary cause of shoulder pain, often managed with resistive exercise. Understanding how rotator cuff muscles respond to low-intensity rehabilitation-based exercise is critical for optimizing rehabilitation strategies, yet these responses remain poorly characterized. Methods This study investigated changes in shear wave speed, cross-sectional area, and strength of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles following a 30-repetition isometric contraction protocol at 20% of isometric volitional contraction in shoulders with and without rotator cuff tears. Three-way mixed ANOVAs with repeated measures were performed to evaluate the main effects of tear status, baseline vs post-exercise, passive and active conditions on supraspinatus and infraspinatus as well as the interaction between main effect and cross-sectional area and shear wave speed. Results Twenty participants were assessed using ultrasound imaging pre- and post-exercise. The findings revealed that participants with rotator cuff tears experienced a significant reduction in passive supraspinatus shear wave speed ( p  = 0.0021), indicative of increased muscle compliance, while asymptomatic participants exhibited no significant change. Cross-sectional area increased significantly post-exercise in both groups under active conditions (asymptomatic group: p  = 0.0046 and symptomatic group: p  = 0.0020), though no change was observed in rotator cuff tear participants during passive testing ( p  = 0.8900). Strength assessments showed marked declines in both groups following exercise ( p -values <0.005), reflecting peripheral weakness. Conclusion These findings suggest that rotator cuff tears are associated with maladaptive reductions in supraspinatus muscle stiffness during acute exercise, potentially impairing functional capacity and necessitating longer recovery periods. In contrast, asymptomatic participants maintain supraspinatus stiffness despite weakness, underscoring differential adaptation to low-intensity exercise.

Scraping

A cross-sectional study on the associations between serum metal exposure and thyroid hormones in chinese pregnant women

Testing the oceanic dispersal potential of Caribbean fleshy-fruited plants

Thalassochory, or dispersal by ocean currents, shapes island biogeographical processes. However, the potential of fleshy-fruited plants to utilize this dispersal method is understudied. We selected 14 fleshy-fruited species found in coastal Caribbean plant communities and assessed their thalassochoric dispersal potential by measuring the period during which they could both float and remain viable in saltwater. We then determined the thalassochoric connectivity between 44 Caribbean islands by analyzing the paths of 1198 drifter buoys that passed through the Caribbean between 1991 and 2019. We found a significant, positive trend for fruits with greater thalassochoric dispersal potential to be found on more islands and significant variation in the floating potential of Caribbean fleshy-fruited plants (0–90 + days), with the species with the greatest floating potential ( Chrysobalanus icaco ) feasibly being able to disperse viable seeds between the most geographically distant (2600 km) pair of islands in the Caribbean. However, we could not tie thalassochoric connectivity to either individual species distributions or community composition across our 14 fleshy-fruited species. Geographic distance, the isolation metric traditionally used in island biogeography studies, could not explain distribution or community patterns either, while human usage was identified as an alternative significant predictor of species range size. Our results thus illustrate the challenges associated with identifying drivers of distribution patterns across the Caribbean archipelagos. While we assert that future studies, such as those examining genetic connectivity of plant populations in the context of thalassochoric connectivity, are needed, this study serves as a crucial first step in understanding the role of sea currents in the distribution of fleshy-fruited plants.

Sparse-to-dense coding transformation between hippocampal areas CA3 and CA1

Research on motor diagnosis and maintenance decision-making technology based on DCCNN-L transformer and fault knowledge graph

Antifungal efficacy of microencapsulated oligoDNAs through whey protein concentrate (WPC) as coated protein against Verticillium dahliae

Verticillium dahliae is a devastating soil-borne fungal pathogen causing wilting in over 400 plant species, leading to significant economic losses. While nucleic acid-based biocontrol strategies like dsRNA-induced consistent with gene-silencing activity show promise, their application is hindered by poor environmental stability and high production costs. Double-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides (oligoDNAs) offer a stable and cost-effective alternative, but require efficient delivery systems. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the efficacy of novel antifungal microcapsules, encapsulating oligoDNAs (targeting the Clp-1 and HiC-15 genes of V. dahliae ) within a whey protein concentrate (WPC) matrix via electrospraying, for controlling Verticillium wilt. The physicochemical properties of the microcapsules were characterized using SEM, TEM, DLS, FTIR, XRD, TGA, DSC, and BET. Antifungal activity was assessed through in vitro colony growth assays and fluorescence microscopy to visualize oligoDNA uptake. In planta efficacy was evaluated on tomato seedlings by calculating the Disease Index (DI) and Area Under the Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC) over 30 days. Characterization confirmed the successful formation of spherical, oligoDNA-loaded WPC microcapsules with enhanced thermal stability. In vitro , the encapsulated oligoDNA (oligoDNA159 + 166) significantly inhibited fungal colony growth compared to controls, while WPC alone showed no effect. Fluorescence microscopy revealed that Cy3-labeled oligoDNA associated with fungal hyphae, producing discrete punctate signals consistent with cellular uptake, though definitive confirmation of intracellular localization requires higher-resolution imaging techniques. In the greenhouse trial, the encapsulated oligoDNA treatment exhibited the strongest suppression, with a mean DI of 50 (± 10.0) on day 30, corresponding to a 47% reduction compared to the pathogen control. This study demonstrates that WPC-encapsulated oligoDNA is an effective, sustainable, and specific biocontrol agent against V. dahliae . The dual mode of action—direct inhibition of fungal growth and potential host-induced resistance—positions this technology as a promising, environmentally friendly strategy for managing vascular wilt diseases.

Timing, Movement, and Reward Contributions to Prefrontal and Striatal Ramping Activity

Across species, prefrontal and striatal neurons exhibit time-dependent ramping activity, defined as a consistent monotonic change in the firing rate across temporal intervals. However, it is unclear if ramping activity is related to the cognitive process of estimating time or to other behavioral factors such as anticipating reward or regulating movements. Here, we harnessed two novel approaches to determine how these factors contribute to prefrontal and striatal ramping activity in male and female mice performing an interval timing task. First, to determine how movement contributes to ramping activity, we tracked movement velocity using DeepLabCut as well as task-specific movements while recording prefrontal or striatal ensembles during interval timing. We found that time was more accurately decoded by ramping neurons than movement-modulated neurons, with the exception of prefrontal velocity-modulated neurons. Second, to disambiguate temporal signals from anticipatory reward signals, we compared activity patterns in neurons that were recorded during interval timing to the same neurons recorded during a pavlovian conditioning task. We found more ramping activity and more accurate temporal decoding by neuronal ensembles during interval timing compared with pavlovian conditioning. Together, these data quantify contributions of time estimation, movement, and reward anticipation in prefrontal and striatal ensembles, and they suggest that ramping is a cognitive signal that estimates time. Our results provide insight into how prefrontal and striatal ensembles multiplex information to effect temporal control of action.

Association of triglyceride–cholesterol–body weight index with in-hospital mortality in critically ill patients with heart failure

Knowledge, attitudes and practices towards malaria in a peri-urban Cameroonian village: Persistent silent transmission despite satisfactory awareness

Malaria remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, including Cameroon, despite ongoing control efforts. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) studies are essential for identifying behavioural determinants of persistent transmission in communities especially in those of rural areas. To assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards malaria in a Cameroonian village and investigate their association with parasitological prevalence in a peri-urban Cameroonian village and investigate their association with parasitological prevalence, highlighting silent transmission in the population. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Emana village (Cameroon) involving 249 participants for parasitological screening (microscopy) and a subgroup of 104 with complete sociodemographic data. KAP scores were analysed using non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H, Spearman correlation). Malaria prevalence was evaluated using chi-square tests and univariate logistic regression. Categories were regrouped when necessary for complementary analyses. Knowledge and attitudes were generally satisfactory and homogeneous across the population, with no significant association with sociodemographic factors (all p > 0.05). Practices were generally poor but significantly better among women than men (p = 0.014). Overall malaria prevalence was 24.9%, significantly higher in the 5–18 years age group (13.25%, p = 0.027), highlighting silent and persistent transmission in this age bracket. No significant associations were observed with occupation or household size; education showed heterogeneous trends depending on category grouping. Despite satisfactory knowledge and positive attitudes, a persistent knowledge-to-practice gap exists, across subgroups, contributing to silent transmission. These findings support targeted interventions: strengthened messaging, and enhanced surveillance in all categories particularly the 5–18 years age group. Complementary qualitative studies could further explore specific practical barriers.

A federated deep learning framework with distributed hybrid character-level and attention mechanisms for scalable and cost-efficient fake news detection

A blockchain-based multi-authority hierarchical attribute encrypted data sharing scheme in the Internet of Medical Things

With the rapid development of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), the secure and efficient sharing of massive amounts of sensitive medical data has become a core challenge. Addressing the limitations of existing Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) schemes, such as the lack of data source authentication, computational redundancy, and single-point-of-failure risks when handling hierarchical data, this paper proposes a blockchain-based multi-authority hierarchical attribute-based encryption scheme. First, the scheme integrates a Distributed Key Generation (DKG) protocol and combines threshold BLS signature technology to establish a collaborative authentication mechanism, thereby enhancing the verification of data source authenticity. Additionally, a dynamic update mechanism ensures the long-term security of collaborative key management. Second, the scheme optimizes the encryption logic for structured data by constructing a hierarchical access tree, and introduces a multi-authority collaboration mechanism and proxy re-encryption (PRE) technology to mitigate single-point-of-failure risks and enable efficient user permission revocation. Security analysis demonstrates that the scheme is resistant to chosen-plaintext attacks (IND-CPA) and collusion attacks by authorities under standard models. Meanwhile, the DKG protocol has been proven to satisfy validity, robustness, confidentiality, and resistance to Sybil attacks. Performance evaluation indicates that the CP-ABE algorithm in this scheme outperforms existing solutions in terms of computational and storage overhead. In large-scale testing on a 100-node Hyperledger Fabric environment, the system achieved a consensus latency of approximately 280 ms and a key update propagation delay of 1.52 s, validating the feasibility of deploying this solution in real-world IoMT environments with limited resources and certain real-time requirements.