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Screening for asymptomatic mpox in at-risk populations: A cross-sectional study
Background Mpox is a viral disease caused by an orthopoxvirus called monkeypox virus. It experienced a significant increase in cases in 2022 worldwide, mostly with sexual transmission. The possibility of hidden circulation of this infection among asymptomatic individuals remains unclear. Methods This is a multi-centre, observational cross-sectional study conducted in a sexually transmitted infections (STIs) clinic in its referral hospital between July and October 2023 in Madrid, Spain. Pharyngeal and rectal swab samples were collected from each participant and processed to detect bacterial STIs and mpox. Socio-demographic, clinical and behavioural data were collected, and a descriptive analysis was performed. Results A total of 343 asymptomatic participants were included. The prevalence of asymptomatic mpox infection was 0.3% (n = 1) and the only positive case developed symptoms shortly after sampling, ruling out a fully asymptomatic infection. The percentage of vaccinated individuals was 36.1%. 13.2% had previously contracted mpox. Other STIs were detected in 21.6% of participants. Conclusions Although routine screening for asymptomatic bacterial sexually transmitted infections is strongly recommended in at-risk individuals, testing for asymptomatic mpox should be evaluated based on the specific context and population. Additionally, the ongoing cases of mpox in Spain are likely not related to the presence of asymptomatic carriers.
What now for the global plastics treaty?
Production system establishment and in vitro study of CD19/CD3ε bite antibody secreted from Pichia pastoris
Abstract Blinatumomab is an anti-cancer Bispecific T-cell Engager (BiTE) antibody drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). It targets CD3ε, which is expressed on T cells and concomitantly targets CD19, an antigen specifically expressed in B-cell leukemia. Blinatumomab-bound T cells are activated to secrete perforin and granzyme, which induce cell death in B-cell leukemia. Blinatumomab is produced in the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell expression system in consideration of post-translational modification (PTM) and immunogenicity. Although the characteristics of CHO cells are similar to those of other mammalian cells, it has low yield and high production cost. In this study, we developed the yeast species Pichia pastoris -produced BiTE antibody targeting CD19 and CD3ε, herein called P. pastoris (p)-blinatumomab, which is in-house produced blinatumomab. Approximately 1.2 mg/L CD19/CD3ε-targeting BiTE antibody (p-blinatumomab) was produced from the P. pastoris by transformation with the pHIL-S1 plasmid vector encoding the sequence of blinatumomab, which was 2.4 times higher than that produced in the CHO cell expression system based on the previous study. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay verified that the antigen binding affinity of the purified p-blinatumomab protein for CD19 and CD3ε antigens was 1.86 and 1.43 times higher than that of the commercial blinatumomab, BLINCYTO, respectively. In addition, flow cytometry confirmed that p-blinatumomab had a similar antigen binding affinity to CD19- and CD3ε-overexpressing cells compared to the BLINCYTO. In conclusion, we suggest that P. pastoris is a useful system for expressing and producing BiTE antibody platforms for therapeutic drugs.
Calcium scoring during 18F-FDG PET/CT in cancer indications: Improving cardiovascular risk stratification and prevention
Purpose Coronary artery calcium (CAC) can be assessed on 18F-FDG PET/CT in oncology patients. We evaluated the proportion of oncology patients referred for PET/CT imaging in whom systematic CAC scoring could reclassify cardiovascular (CV) risk and modify primary cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention strategies. Materials and methods This prospective study included 190 cancer patients undergoing 18F-FDG PET/CT in oncological indications at our institution between June and July 2024. Data on CV risk factors, personal/family CVD history, and current treatments were collected. CAC scores were assessed visually and automatically on CT scans. Patients’ CV risk was reclassified according to CAC scores and compared with their current lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) and cardiology follow-up. Results A total of 190 subjects were analyzed (mean age 65 ± 13 years, 64% female, mean Framingham Risk Score 17.2 ± 9.2%). Patients were categorized as follows according to CAC: 24.7% (N = 47) no CAC, 36.8% (N = 70) mild, 21.6% (N = 41) moderate, and 16.8% (N = 32) severe CAC. Among them, 56.3% (N = 107) had a previous consultation with a cardiologist, 30.0% (N = 57) were on LLT, and 6.8% (N = 13) had a history of CVD. Based on CAC scoring, 43% (N = 81) could be reclassified in a different CVD risk category and 49% (N = 93) required changes in primary CVD prevention through LLT adjustments or initiating follow-up for high risk of CVD. Conclusion Systematic CAC assessment on PET/CT imaging could enhance CV risk stratification and prevention in oncology patients.
Combined effects of insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia on cardiometabolic multimorbidity in Chinese middle-age and older adults: a longitudinal cohort study
Progression of carotid intima-media thickness, visceral fat accumulation and metabolic derangement in people living with HIV initiating antiretroviral therapy: A prospective cohort study at Thailand’s tertiary care center
Background Combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) has extended life expectancy for people with HIV, but long-term treatment is associated with adverse changes in body composition and cardiovascular risk. We evaluated 36-month changes in adiposity, metabolic parameters, and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in Thai adults initiating ART. Methods A prospective cohort of 132 ART-naïve adults was followed for 36 months. Assessments at baseline, 12, 24, and 36 months included anthropometry; body composition by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA); metabolic and renal indices; and bilateral carotid ultrasound. Longitudinal changes were analyzed using non-parametric tests, and correlations were examined between cIMT and body composition or metabolic measures. Results Virological suppression exceeded 90% and CD4 counts improved steadily. However, notable adiposity changes were observed. Median BMI and waist circumference increased (both p < 0.01); total fat mass rose by 6.7%; visceral adipose tissue (VAT) increased by 33%; and the android/gynoid ratio exceeded 1.0 by 24 months, reflecting central fat redistribution. Fasting glucose increased (p < 0.05) while HOMA-β declined (p < 0.05), indicating early β-cell dysfunction; lipid profiles remained stable. Mean cIMT increased across arterial segments, most prominently at the carotid bifurcations (right: 0.644 mm at baseline to 0.729 mm at 36 months; + 0.085 mm; left: 0.675 mm at baseline to 0.756 mm at 36 months; + 0.081 mm both p < 0.01). Right bifurcation cIMT correlated positively with BMI, waist circumference, VAT, fasting glucose, and total cholesterol (all p < 0.05). Conclusions Despite durable viral suppression and immune recovery, long-term ART was associated with central fat accumulation and progressive cIMT thickening, particularly at the carotid bifurcations. These findings underscore the need for cardiometabolic risk monitoring as part of routine HIV care to identify early changes that precede overt disease.
Universities can harness AI to make learning intuitive
The influence of traditional regional architectural culture on Neo-Chinese style furniture design: a case study of the lingnan region in China
COVID-19 breakthrough infections during the circulation of Delta and Omicron variants in Tirana, Albania, April 2021–March 2022
Background COVID-19 breakthrough cases raised crucial questions about vaccine effectiveness, implications for public health, and the dynamics of viral transmission. We described vaccine breakthrough infections in Tirana during the Delta (01/07/2021-12/15/2021) and Omicron (16/12/2021–31/03/2022) periods, to better inform mitigation and vaccination strategies. Methods We extracted data from 01/04/2021–31/03/2022 (study period) from two systems: the Albanian infectious disease surveillance system, and the national vaccination database. We defined a COVID-19 case as a resident of Tirana who tested (RT-PCR/antigen) positive for SARS-CoV-2 on a respiratory specimen. We defined vaccine breakthrough infection as having a COVID-19 positive specimen collected ≥14 days after the primary series of vaccines (2 doses). We calculated risk of breakthrough infection using the total number of fully vaccinated individuals as denominator and risk ratios (RR) using binomial regression. Results During the study period, 23,875 cases were reported in Tirana; 36% (291,445/800,000) individuals were fully vaccinated and among those, 9,156 (3.1%) breakthrough infections were detected. The median time from vaccination to breakthrough infection was 149 (IQR:102–209) days. The risk of breakthrough infection was higher in 0–39-year-olds (RR = 3.01;95%CI = 2.78–3.27) and during the Omicron period (RR = 32; 95%CI = 30.00–34.91). Those receiving Gam-COVID ((RR = 1.64;95%CI = 1.39–2.02), ChAdOx1-S/Vaxzervria (RR = 1.56;95%CI = 1.48–1.65), or BNT162b2-Comirnaty (RR = 1.36;95%CI = 1.31–1.41) had a higher risk of breakthrough infection compared with those vaccinated with CoronaVac. Conclusions Incidence of COVID-19 breakthrough infection was significantly higher during the Omicron period and among younger individuals in Tirana. The substantially elevated risk associated with Omicron variant breakthrough infection and the decline in infection protection after a 5-month period, warrants close monitoring and rapid adaptation of vaccination strategies, including promoting booster vaccination to reduce breakthrough infections in the future.
Environmental treaties are paralysed — here’s how we can do better
Efficient adsorption of bisphenol A using magnetically recyclable nanocomposites with Box Behnken optimization
ALGA-DenseNet ground-based cloud classification network based on multi-scale features
Automatic recognition of ground-based clouds is crucial for meteorology and especially for the operational safety of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), but it is challenged by variable cloud shapes, complex lighting, and background interference. This paper introduces ALGA-DenseNet, an improved DenseNet model with a multi-scale attention mechanism. The model employs Color Jitter to enhance image robustness and improve learning of intra-class variations and inter-class differences. It incorporates Adaptive Local and Global Attention (ALGA) to merge features, enhancing feature selection. Additionally, it integrates mixed and depthwise separable convolutions to optimize multi-scale feature extraction, reducing parameters and computational complexity. Furthermore, integrating a Vision Transformer (ViT) and Dynamic Multi-head Attention (DMA) enhances representation of complex cloud features. Experimental results show recognition accuracies of 97.94% on the TJNU (Tianjin Normal University) Ground-based Cloud Dataset (GCD) and 97.25% on the Cirrus Cumulus Stratus Nimbus (CCSN) dataset. This indicates the model’s capability for fine-grained, multi-scale extraction of cloud textures, shapes, and color features, along with strong generalization performance.
Serum GDF15 as a supportive biomarker in female fibromyalgia patients based on a prospective case-control study
Association between obesity and mortality from hematological malignancies among Japanese adults: The Japan Collaborative Cohort study
Obesity is a growing global health concern and has been associated with increased mortality from various cancer types, including hematological malignancies. However, evidence for this association in Asian populations, particularly among Japanese adults, remains limited. Thus, this study aimed to examine the association between obesity and mortality due to hematological malignancies. Data from 97,073 participants in the Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) Study were analyzed. The participants were followed for a mean duration of 17 years. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using self-reported height and weight and categorized as underweight (<18.5 kg/m²), normal-weight (18.5–24.9 kg/m²), overweight (25.0–29.9 kg/m²), and obesity (≥30.0 kg/m²). Mortality data for hematological malignancies were obtained from death certificates. Cause-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models, with adjustments made for demographic, lifestyle, and socioeconomic factors. During follow-up, 479 died from hematological malignancies, including lymphoma (n = 200), multiple myeloma (n = 107), and leukemia (n = 166; 106 myeloid leukemia). Compared with normal-weight individuals, those classified as obese exhibited a significantly higher risk of mortality from all hematological malignancies (HR: 1.78; 95% CI: 1.02–3.11), multiple myeloma (HR: 2.75; 95% CI: 1.09–6.94), leukemia (HR: 2.47; 95% CI: 1.07–5.69), and particularly myeloid leukemia (HR: 3.89; 95% CI: 1.66–9.11). No significant association was observed between BMI and lymphoma-related mortality. Obesity is significantly associated with increased mortality from multiple myeloma and leukemia, especially myeloid leukemia, in Japanese adults. These findings underscore the importance of obesity as a modifiable risk factor for certain hematological malignancies in this population.
Investigation of the CO2 adsorption isotherms on activated carbon by statistical physics treatment
GCACL-Rec: A study on conversational recommendation via global context-aware and multi-view contrastive adversarial joint learning
Session-based recommendation (SBR) aims to provide personalized recommendations based on anonymous user click sequences. Although existing methods have achieved notable progress, most focus solely on user preferences within a single session, overlooking item transitions across sessions, which limits their ability to model complex behavior patterns. To address this, we propose GCACL-Rec, a model that enhances dynamic modeling by incorporating global item transition information. It constructs a multi-scale graph structure using Multi-scale graph neural networks (MSGNN) and introduces a relative multi-head attention mechanism (RMA) to enhance cross-session dependency modeling. In addition, a multi-view contrastive-adversarial joint learning strategy (MPACL) is adopted to distinguish better relevant from irrelevant information and extract user intent more effectively. During prediction, we use a hybrid structure that combines a neural decision forest (NDF) with the softmax function to enable fine-grained decision optimization and improve feature discrimination and accuracy. Experiments on the Diginetica, Tmall and RetailRocket benchmark datasets show that GCACL-Rec outperforms existing methods, demonstrating clear advantages in cross-session recommendation tasks.
How do you know what I know you know? Steven Pinker on common knowledge
Lectin pathway components and autoantibodies as novel immunological biomarkers in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients from Western India
Abstract The lectin pathway of complement aids in removing apoptotic cells and maintenance of tissue homeostasis. However, its role in SLE pathogenesis remains unknown. This study aimed to assess the association of ficolins, mannose-binding lectin (MBL), and other pathogen recognition molecules (PRMs) of the lectin pathway and their corresponding autoantibodies with various clinical manifestations and disease activity in SLE patients from Western India. In this cross-sectional study, 282 clinically diagnosed SLE patients were included. Serum levels of ficolins, antigenic MBL, MBL-associated serine proteases (MASPs), MBL-associated protein 44 (MAp44), Collectin liver-1 (CL-L1), and their corresponding autoantibodies were quantified using ELISA. Group differences were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U tests, while associations/relationships were evaluated using chi-square tests and Spearman’s correlations. Serum levels of ficolin-2 ( p < 0.001 ), MASP-3 ( p = 0.030 ), and MAp44 ( p < 0.001 ) were significantly elevated, while antigenic MBL ( p < 0.001 ) and MASP-1 ( p < 0.001 ) were significantly reduced in SLE patients compared to healthy controls (HCs). Renal involvement was associated with elevated ficolin-1 ( p = 0.009 ), while hematological manifestations were linked to reduced MASP-1 ( p = 0.018 ), MASP-3 ( p = 0.002 ), and MAp44 ( p = 0.002 ) levels. Mucocutaneous manifestations were associated with elevated MAp44 ( p < 0.001 ) and anti-ficolin-1 ( p = 0.038 ) autoantibodies. Anti-ficolin-1 ( p = 0.001 ), anti-ficolin-2 ( p = 0.001 ), and anti-ficolin-3 ( p < 0.001 ) autoantibodies were significantly elevated in SLE patients compared to HCs. Anti-ficolin-2 autoantibodies were negatively correlated with ficolin-2 ( r =-0.153, p = 0.015). Anti-MBL antibodies were correlated with SLEDAI ( r = 0.169, p = 0.007) and anti-dsDNA antibodies ( r = 0.178, p = 0.005). These findings indicate altered levels of lectin pathway-associated PRMs and their corresponding autoantibodies in SLE. Their association with clinical manifestations, disease activity, and complement-related parameters, suggest their potential as novel biomarkers in SLE.
Ontogenetic shifts in space use and habitat selection of tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) in The Bahamas
Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) display notable variation in behavior, movement patterns, and habitat use, which reflects ontogenetic shifts in diet and access to habitat types. In this study, we analyzed a comprehensive five-year dataset (2018–2023) of acoustically tagged tiger sharks (n = 39) across two island regions in The Bahamas. Network analysis revealed life-stage-specific differences in space use and habitat selection, with a significant correlation between motility (measured as edge density within arrays) and shark size (fork length, FL). Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) indicated that female sub-adult tiger sharks (225–250 cm FL) exhibited broader and more interconnected movements than juvenile and mature sharks, which were closely associated with shallow seagrass habitats. For male tiger sharks, fork length showed a positive linear relationship with edge density. We estimated fork length at the time of first detection for analysis, rather than measurements taken at tagging, and emphasize the importance of this approach when examining ontogenetic patterns in tiger sharks, which exhibit rapid growth during early life stages. Additionally, adult, and sub-adult sharks were recorded at receiver stations along the east coast of the U.S., highlighting large-scale partial migratory behavior and reiterating the need for transboundary conservation strategies.