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Ensuring equitable access to quality HIV care for affected populations in complex sociocultural settings: Lessons from Nigeria

Background HIV infection remains one of the major diseases of public health importance globally with an estimated 40.4 million deaths and 39 million people living with the virus by 2022. About 40 countries are on track to achieve a 95% reduction in AIDS-related mortality by 2030. This progress is however challenged by sub-optimal progress among affected populations (AP), also known as key populations (AP). Society for Family Health (SFH), with about 3 decades of experiences in AP program present in this paper an account of key strategies and innovations in adapting its service provisioning efforts to rapidly changing socio-cultural and political barriers to service delivery among AP in northern Nigeria. Methods SFH is an indigenous nonprofit, non-political, non-governmental organization in Nigeria that has pioneered HIV interventions among AP across most parts of Nigeria. SFH has successfully tailored its interventions to the unique cultural and religious diversity of Nigeria. The predominantly Islamic-orientated population in the northern part of the country and the Christian-oriented population in the southern part, which is culturally inclined to Western orientations, have all been considered in SFH’s comprehensive approach instilling confidence in the effectiveness of its strategies. SFH implemented 3 key strategies to circumvent pervasive socio-cultural and political barriers that hindered successful AP program implementation in northern Nigeria by addressing structural barriers, systems barriers (service-provider and client-related barriers) and by deployment of innovations to optimize program performance. For the purposes of this retrospective cross-sectional study, deidentified routine aggregate program data was utilized to conduct secondary data analysis. Results Between 2019 – 2023, SFH tested a total of 324,391 AP of whom 30,581 were found to be HIV positives yielding overall positivity rate of 9.4%. People who inject drugs (PWID) demonstrated sustained high positivity rate over the 5 years. About 80% of those initiated on treatment were female sex workers (FSW) and men who have sex with men (MSM) contributing to 41.8% and 38.5% respectively. Year on year, the number of AP receiving ART more than doubled in 2020 and grew by 85%, 43% and 30% in 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively. There was progressive increase in VL testing coverage between Year 1 – Year 3 across all the three AP typologies and then steady decline between Year 4 – Year 5. Between Year 1 – Year 2 the viral load suppression was at 91% with remarkable improvement to 97% in Year 3 and Year 4 and at 99% in Year 5. Conclusion The implementation of people-centered, evidence-driven, culturally, and religiously sensitive program enabled SFH to reach a high number of AP in northern Nigeria. This helps improve equity in access to care by AP. There are specific program areas that need continuous improvement including strategies to reach MSM to avoid the evolution of new structural barriers; expansion of PWID programming to optimize all aspects of harm reduction; and sustained sensitization, education, and awareness creation among AP to improve uptake of PrEP and other prevention and care services.

Cathode–Anode Synergy Electrosynthesis of Propanamide via a Bipolar C–N Coupling Reaction

Waist rotation angle as indicator of probable human collision-avoidance direction for autonomous mobile robots

The likelihood of pedestrians encountering autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in smart cities is steadily increasing. While previous studies have explored human-to-human collision avoidance, the behavior of humans avoiding AMRs in direct, head-on scenarios remains underexplored. To address this gap, we conducted a psychophysical experiment to observe how humans react to an AMR approaching directly. The AMR was programmed to approach from various starting points, including a direct path toward participants, and their avoidance movements were recorded. Participants were instructed to evade by moving either right or left, with no strong preference for a particular direction observed. This suggests that avoidance direction is not strictly influenced by individual factors, such as adherence to regional traffic norms. Additionally, motion analysis revealed that participants instinctively twisted their waists in the direction of avoidance before evading. Further experiments assessed the role of waist rotation angle in influencing human comfort during AMR avoidance. The results indicated that early AMR avoidance improved participant comfort. Moreover, using an RGB camera allowed non-contact measuring without sensors, broadening the applicability of the technique. These findings suggest that waist rotation reliably predicts avoidance direction, and non-contact detection methods, such as RGB cameras, show substantial potential for broader applications. Further research will focus on improving the accuracy and robustness of these non-contact techniques.

Tandem Synthesis of N,O-Containing Heterocycles via Nitrite Upcycling at a Trifunctional Cobalt Catalyst

Swin-HSSAM: A green coffee bean grading method by Swin transformer

A novel shifted window (Swin) Transformer coffee bean grading model called Swin-HSSAM has been proposed to address the challenges of accurately classifying green coffee beans and low identification accuracy. This model integrated the Swin Transformer as the backbone network; fused features from the second, third, and fourth stages using the high-level screening-feature pyramid networks module; and incorporated the selective attention module (SAM) for discriminative power enhancement to enhance the feature outputs before classification. Fusion Loss was employed as the loss function. Experimental results on a proprietary coffee bean dataset demonstrate that the Swin-HSSAM model achieved an average grading accuracy of 96.34% for the three grading as well as the nine defect subdivision levels, outperforming the AlexNet, VGG16, ResNet50, MobileNet-v2, Vision Transformer (ViT), and CrossViT models by 3.86%, 2.56%, 0.44%, 4.05%, 5.36%, and 5.40% percentage points, respectively. Evaluations on a public coffee bean dataset revealed that, compared with the aforementioned models, the Swin-HSSAM model improved the average grading accuracy by 1.01%, 0.13%, 4.75%, 0.85%, 0.73%, and 0.27% percentage points, respectively. These results indicate that the Swin-HSSAM model not only achieved high grading accuracy but also exhibited broad applicability, providing a novel solution for the automated grading and identification of green coffee beans.

Chemical Vapor Deposition of “Stand-On” 2D Single-Crystal Flakes

Tyrosine kinase inhibitor, masitinib, limits neuronal damage, as measured by serum neurofilament light chain concentration in a model of neuroimmune-driven neurodegenerative disease

Background Masitinib is an orally administered tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets activated cells of the innate neuroimmune system. We have studied the neuroprotective action of masitinib on the manifestations of experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE) induced axonal and neuronal damage. EAE is a model of neuroimmune-driven chronic neuroinflammation and therefore highly relevant to masitinib’s mechanism of action in neurodegenerative diseases. Importantly, neuronal damage, or prevention thereof, can be rapidly assessed by measuring serum neurofilament light chain (NfL) concentration in EAE-induced mice. Methods EAE induction was performed in healthy female C57BL/6 mice via active MOG 35–55 peptide immunization. Treatments were initiated 14 days post EAE induction. On day-0, 39 mice with established EAE symptoms were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups (n = 13): EAE control, masitinib 50 mg/kg/day (M50), and masitinib 100 mg/kg/day (M100). The treatment started on day-1 and ended on day-15. Blood samples were collected on day-1 and day-8, via tail vein sampling, and on day-15, via intracardiac puncture. Assessments included quantification of serum NfL levels along the disease duration, cytokine quantification at day-15, and clinical assessments. Results Masitinib treatment significantly (p < 0.0001) limited NfL production with respect to control; specifically, relative change in serum NfL concentration at day-8 was 43% and 60% lower for the M50 and M100 groups, respectively. Likewise, for the assessment of absolute serum NfL at day-8 and day-15, there was a significantly lower NfL concentration for masitinib treatment as compared with control. Furthermore, EAE mice treated with masitinib showed significantly lower concentrations of several well-established pro-inflammatory cytokines relative to control at day-15. A beneficial effect of masitinib on functional performance was also observed, with both M50 and M100 groups showing significantly less relative deterioration in grip strength at day-15 as compared with control (p < 0.001). Conclusion This study is the first demonstration that masitinib, a drug that targets the innate as opposed to the adaptive neuroimmune system, can lower serum NfL levels, and by extension therefore, neuronal damage, in a neuroimmune-driven neurodegenerative disease model. Overall, findings indicate that masitinib has a neuroprotective effect under conditions of chronic neuroinflammation and therefore plausible disease-modifying activity across a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases.

Elucidating the Iterative Elongation Mechanism in a Type III Polyketide Synthase

Lobectomy versus sublobar resection on survival in patients with stage T1-2N0M0 small cell lung cancer

Purpose To compare survival outcomes of lobectomy versus sublobar resection in patients diagnosed with stage T1-2N0M0 small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Materials and methods A comprehensive retrospective analysis was conducted using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. The Kaplan-Meier method was utilized to estimate cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) between stage T1-2N0M0 SCLC patients undergoing sublobar resection and those receiving lobectomy. Results A total of 185 patients were included in the analysis, with 64 undergoing sublobar resection and 121 receiving lobectomy. Before propensity score matching, lobectomy was associated with significantly better CSS (hazard ratio [HR] =, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.32, P = 0.006) and OS (HR =, 95% CI: 0.39, P = 0.005) compared to sublobar resection. Multivariable Cox regression analysis confirmed that lobectomy was an independent predictor of improved CSS (HR =, 95% CI: 0.24, P = 0.003) and OS (HR =, 95% CI: 0.36, P = 0.013). After propensity score matching, the differences in CSS (HR =, 95% CI: 0.36, P = 0.177) and OS (HR =, 95% CI: 0.46, P = 0.234) between the two surgical approaches were not statistically significant, Conclusion Lobectomy may offer improved survival outcomes compared to sublobar resection in patients with stage T1-2N0M0 SCLC.

Rabies Virus Targeting NIR-II Phototheranostics

Improved transcriptome assembly and functional annotation of Pleurodeles waltl for regeneration research

In this study, we present an updated transcriptome assembly for the Iberian ribbed newt, Pleurodeles waltl (P. waltl), a widely used model organism in regeneration research. The existing publicly available transcriptome for this species is limited by the inclusion of only three libraries from the limb and two from the heart, tissues of particular interest for regeneration studies. Additionally, the previous annotation was limited, reducing the utility of the dataset for further in-depth research. To provide a more complete transcriptome with a more comprehensive annotation, we utilized 58 previously published and 9 newly sequenced libraries, expanding the available transcriptomic data for key tissues, especially limb and heart tissues. Our assessment demonstrates that the new assembly offers a more comprehensive representation of reads and proteins compared to previous versions. Furthermore, we significantly improved the functional annotation by using the Trinotate pipeline, which includes the identification of complete ORFs, Pfam motifs, gene names, GO terms, and KEGG Orthology, facilitating more robust transcriptomic analyses. We also examined various stages of limb regeneration and development, gaining insights into the key signaling pathways involved. This work provides a valuable resource for researchers investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying P. waltl’s regenerative abilities, enabling more detailed gene expression studies and broader biological insights.

Cs₂AgSbI₆ Nanocrystals: a New Air-Stable Iodide Double-Perovskite (Elpasolite) Semiconductor

Magnetic resonance imaging characteristics and survival outcomes of metaplastic breast carcinoma

Objective Metaplastic breast carcinoma is a rare type of breast carcinoma, and there are limited data about the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of metaplastic carcinoma. This study evaluates the MRI characteristics and prognostic outcomes across metaplastic carcinoma subtypes. Materials and Methods In this retrospective cohort study, a total of 29 patients with histologically confirmed metaplastic carcinoma from 2011 to 2019 were enrolled. Clinical, pathological, and follow-up data, focusing on disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS), are recorded. Breast MRI findings were analyzed and categorized based on BI-RADS 5th edition. Result Among the participants, 19 had squamous carcinoma, 8 had metaplastic carcinoma with mesenchymal differentiation, and 2 had unclassified subtypes. The most common findings were a solitary mass (75.8%), high T2 signal (51.7%), and heterogenous enhancement (65.5%) with a washout kinetic curve (86.2%). The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in the metaplastic carcinoma with mesenchymal differentiation group were significantly higher (mean 1.83 +/- 0.50 x 10-3 mm2/s) in comparison with the squamous carcinoma group (mean 1.12 +/- 0.21 x 10-3 mm2/s). The cut-off point of the ADC value was 1.53x10-3 mm2/s, with a sensitivity of 71.4% and a specificity of 100% (AUC = 0.937). The five-year DFS and OS rates were 63% and 79% across the board, 78% and 89.5% in the squamous group, and 50% and 53% in the mesenchymal differentiation group, respectively, Conclusion Metaplastic breast carcinoma is a diverse and aggressive malignancy with variable prognosis. Our findings indicate that mesenchymal differentiation is characterized by higher ADC values and correlates with a worse prognosis.

Correction: Predictors associated with successful weaning of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and mortality in adult patients with severe acute lung failure: Protocol of a pooled data analysis of cohort studies

A Highly Efficient Molecular Iron(II) Photocatalyst for Concurrent CO₂ Reduction and Organic Synthesis

Revised phylogeny of mouflon based on expanded sampling of mitogenomes

Mouflons are flagship species of the Mediterranean islands where they persist. Once thought to be the remnants of a European wild sheep population, archaeology suggests they were introduced by humans to the islands of Cyprus in the Early Neolithic (~10,000 years ago) and later to Corsica and Sardinia. Their status as truly wild animals remains a subject of debate. To investigate the phylogenetic relationship between these island populations and other domestic and wild sheep from the Mediterranean region, we sequenced 50 mitogenomes of mouflons from Sardinia and Corsica, and modern and ancient Sardinian domestic sheep. A total of 68 additional publicly available mitogenomes were included in the comparative analysis and used to reconstruct the phylogeny of sheep and its closest wild relative, the mouflon (Ovis gmelini). Our study analyzed the evolutionary relationships within the C-E-X and haplogroup B clusters, showing that: a) Cyprus mouflons are more related to Anatolian and Iranian mouflons belonging to the wild haplogroup X, which seems to be basal to the domestic C and E haplogroups; b) Corsican and Sardinian mouflon arise from basal lineages associated with the early European expansion of domestic sheep. These results highlight the phylogenetic distinctiveness of the mouflon populations from the Mediterranean islands, suggesting a revision of their systematic classification and an update of the nomenclature for Sardinian and Corsican mouflons from the current status of subspecies of domestic sheep (Ovis aries musimon) to subspecies of their wild relatives (Ovis gmelini musimon) which would facilitate conservation efforts.

The Role of Cu³⁺ in the Oxygen Evolution Activity of Copper Oxides

Segmentation-based lightweight multi-class classification model for crop disease detection, classification, and severity assessment using DCNN

Leaf diseases in Zea mays crops have a significant impact on both the calibre and volume of maize yield, eventually impacting the market. Prior detection of the intensity of an infection would enable the efficient allocation of treatment resources and prevent the infection from spreading across the entire area. In this study, deep saliency map segmentation-based CNN is utilized for the detection, multi-class classification, and severity assessment of maize crop leaf diseases has been proposed. The proposed model involves seven different maize crop diseases such as Northern Leaf Blight Exserohilum turcicum, Eye Spot Oculimacula yallundae, Common Rust Puccinia sorghi, Goss’s Bacterial Wilt Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. nebraskensis, Downy Mildew Pseudoperonospora, Phaeosphaeria leaf spot Phaeosphaeria maydis, Gray Leaf Spot Cercospora zeae-maydis, and Healthy are selected from publicly available datasets obtained from PlantVillage. After the disease-affected regions are identified, the features are extracted by using the EffiecientNet-B7. To classify the maize infection, a hybrid harris hawks’ optimization (HHHO) is utilized for feature selection. Finally, from the optimized features obtained, classification and severity assessment are carried out with the help of Fuzzy SVM. Experimental analysis has been carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in detecting maize crop leaf diseases and assessing their severity. The proposed strategy was able to obtain an accuracy rate of around 99.47% on average. The work contributes to advancing automated disease diagnosis in agriculture, thereby supporting efforts for sustainable crop yield improvement and food security.

Nonreciprocal Circularly Polarized Lasing from Organic Achiral Microcrystals

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic accuracy after preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy

Objective Aneuploidy accounts for many pregnancy failures and congenital anomalies. Preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) is a screening test applied to embryos created from in vitro fertilization to diminish the chance of an aneuploid conception. The rate of misdiagnosis for both false aneuploidy (false positive) and false euploidy (false negative) test results is unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the rate of misclassification of both aneuploidy and euploidy after PGT-A. Data sources We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central, CINAHL and WHO Clinical Trials Registry from inception until April 10, 2024. The protocol was registered in International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO CRD 42020219074). Methods of study selection We included studies that conducted either a pre-clinical validation of the genetic platform for PGT-A using a cell line, studies that compared the embryo biopsy results to those from the whole dissected embryo or its inner cell mass (WE/ICM), and studies that compared the biopsy results to prenatal or postnatal genetic testing. Tabulation, Integration, and Results Two independent reviewers extracted true and false positives and negatives comparing biopsy results to the reference standard (known karyotype, WE/ICM, pregnancy outcome). For preclinical studies, the main outcome was the positive and negative predictive values. Misdiagnosis rate was the outcome for pregnancy outcome studies. The electronic search yielded 6674 citations, of which 109 were included. For WE/ICM studies (n=40), PPV was 89.2% (95% CI 83.1-94.0) and NPV was 94.2% (95% CI 91.1-96.7, I2=42%) for aneuploid and euploid embryos, respectively. The PPV for mosaic embryos of either a confirmatory mosaic or aneuploid result was 52.8% (95% CI 37.9-67.5). For pregnancy outcome studies (n=43), the misdiagnosis rate after euploid embryo transfer was 0.2% (95% CI 0.0-0.7%, I2=65%). However, the rate for mosaic transfer, with a confirmatory euploid pregnancy outcome, was 21.7% (95% CI: 9.6-36.9, I2=95%). Conclusion The accuracy of an aneuploid result from PGT-A is excellent and can be relied upon as a screening tool for embryos to avoid aneuploid pregnancies. Similarly, the misdiagnosis rate after euploid embryo transfer is less than 1%. However, there is a significant limitation in the accuracy of mosaic embryos.