PLoS ONE
Articles in this Issue
From the jaws of the “Leviathan”: A sperm whale tooth from the Valencina Copper Age Megasite
During the excavations undertaken in 2018 at the Nueva Biblioteca sector of the Valencina Copper Age mega-site, in south-west Spain, an exceptional sperm-whale tooth was found inside a non-burial pit....
Association between early-pandemic food assistance use and subsequent food security trajectories among households in Washington State during the first three years of the COVID-19 pandemic
Background Research on COVID-19’s impact on food insecurity has primarily relied on cross-sectional data or long recall periods, with limited investigations into longitudinal patterns or the role of f...
Overexpression of LINC00672 promotes autophagy in Alzheimer’s disease by upregulating GPNMB
Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible neurodegenerative brain disorder, and autophagy crafts a new dawn on AD therapeutics. However, whether LINC00672 exerts its biological effects in...
Perceiving speech from a familiar speaker engages the person identity network
Numerous studies show that speaker familiarity influences speech perception. Here, we investigated the brain regions and their changes in functional connectivity involved in the use of person-specific...
Deep VMD-attention network for arrhythmia signal classification based on Hodgkin-Huxley model and multi-objective crayfish optimization algorithm
Recent research for arrhythmia classification is increasingly based on AI-driven approaches, which are primarily grounded in ECG data, but often neglect the mathematical foundations of cardiac electro...
Efficacy and immunogenicity of rKVAC85B in a BCG prime-boost regimen against H37Rv and HN878 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains
Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection accounted for 1.3 million deaths worldwide in 2022. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the only licensed vaccine against tuberculosis (TB); however, it has limited...
Examining the impact of social media usage on start-ups performance: Mediating role of brand image
Social media has emerged as an assertive communication and brand-building tool in the dynamic entrepreneurship landscape. This study explores the influence of social media usage on the performance of...
The role of AI in reducing maternal mortality: Current impacts and future potentials: Protocol for an analytical cross-sectional study
Background Maternal and newborn mortality remains a critical public health challenge, particularly in resource-limited settings. Despite global efforts, Kenya continues to report high maternal mortali...
Forecasting acute childhood malnutrition in Kenya using machine learning and diverse sets of indicators
Objectives Malnutrition is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for children under-5 globally. Low- and middle-income countries, such as Kenya, bear the greatest burden of malnutrition. The Keny...
A systematic review and meta-analysis of yoga for arterial hypertension
Background This systematic review and meta-analysis is an update to prior research to evaluate the effects of yoga for managing prehypertension and hypertension. Methods Medline/PubMed, Scopus and t...
Comprehensive analysis and experiment validation of five cuproptosis-related genes in prognosis, immune infiltration and metabolic characterization of pancreatic cancer
Background Cuproposis is a new-found mechanism of cell death, and the role of cuproposis-related genes (CRGs) in pancreatic cancer prognosis remains uncertain. Methods DECRGs were identified from TC...
Pot-pollen DNA barcoding as a tool to determine the diversity of plant species visited by Ecuadorian stingless bees
Identifying the main species of plants from where Ecuadorian stingless bees collect pollen is one of the key objectives of management and conservation improvement for these insects. This study aims to...
A pilot pragmatic randomized controlled trial of a 12-month Healthy Lifestyles Program: A collaborative care model for chronic conditions addressing behavioural change
Background Lifestyle or behavioural changes can help to address the burden associated with chronic diseases. However, they take time and use of multiple techniques or strategies tailored to a person’s...
Fragment-based drug discovery for transthyretin kinetic stabilisers using a novel capillary zone electrophoresis method
A Capillary Zone Electrophoresis (CZE) fragment screening methodology was developed and applied to the human plasma protein Transthyretin (TTR), normally soluble, but could misfold and aggregate, caus...
Correction: Efficacy and safety of prazequantel for the treatment of Schistosoma mansoni infection across different transmission settings in Amhara Regional State, northwest Ethiopia
Comparison of three algorithms for estimating crop model parameters based on multi-source data: A case study using the CROPGRO-Soybean phenological model
Accurate prediction of crop phenological stage is essential for evaluating management strategies and assessing crop responses to environmental changes. In this work, we modified Non-dominated Sorting...
A Novel approach to ship valuation prediction: An application to the supramax and ultramax secondhand markets
Accurate ship valuations are very important in ship sales and purchase (S&P) transactions and for marine insurance purposes. It is equally important to select an appropriate valuation methodology....
Anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress and associated risk factors among out-of-school girls in western Kenya
Background Many adolescent girls drop out of school in sub-Saharan Africa. Mental health problems in this population and their risk factors are a neglected research area. Methods This community-base...
The effect of early pregnancy ALT elevation on neonatal birth weight: The mediating role of gestational diabetes mellitus
Elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in early pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are linked to an increased rate of large for gestational age (LGA) births. Additionally,...
Bridging the knowledge-practice gap: A cross-sectional survey assessing physician knowledge, attitude and practice toward complementary and alternative medicine
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widely used in multiple countries, including Saudi Arabia, yet its integration into mainstream healthcare requires evidence-based guidance. However, lit...
Pavement crack identification method based on IOtsu-Dd algorithm
Rapid identification of highway cracks is greatly significant for highway maintenance. In recent years, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to collect images of road cracks for automatic recognition h...
Physical activity interventions for the cardiac population: A generic logic model based on intervention mapping
Regular physical activity constitutes a crucial secondary prevention behaviour for people who have had an acute cardiac event. Nonetheless, sustained physical activity levels of the cardiac population...
Modeling protective meningococcal antibody responses and factors influencing antibody persistence following vaccination with MenAfriVac using machine learning
Meningococcal meningitis poses a significant public health burden in the meningitis belt region of sub-Saharan Africa. The introduction of the meningococcal PsA-TT vaccine (MenAfriVac®) has successful...
Prevalence of family-based elder abuse and its associated factors in Gandaki Province of Western Nepal: A cross-sectional study
Background Elder abuse is a rarely discussed public health and human rights issue in Nepal, largely due to traditional values emphasizing reverence for parents. These cultural norms can discourage rec...
Influence of open-top chambers induced climate warming on secondary metabolic profile of culturally and medicinally important plants of Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindukush
Plants native to colder climates, higher elevations, or semi-arid regions have more phenolic compounds in their organs. Faced with the current climate crisis, the effects of global heating with overgr...