bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impacts of climate change on diarrhoeal disease hospitalisations: how does the Global Warming Targets of 1.5 - 2°C affect Dhaka, Bangladesh?
Authors: Haque Farhana , Lampe Fiona C , Hajat Shakoor , Stavrianaki Katerina , Hasan S. M. Tafsir , Faruque ASG , Ahmed Tahmeed , Jubayer Shamim , Kelman Ilan 
Published: April 2024

AbstractDhaka is one of the world’s densely populated cities and faces significant public health challenges including high burden of diarrhoeal diseases. Climate change is intensifying existing environmental problems including urban heat island effect and poor water quality. While numerous epidemiological studies have linked meteorological factors to diarrhoeal diseases in Bangladesh, assessment of the impacts of future climate change on diarrhoeal diseases is scarce. We provide the assessment of climate change impacts on diarrhoeal disease in Dhaka and project future health risks under climate change scenarios. About 3 million acute diarrhoea cases presenting to the Dhaka Hospital of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh (icddr,b) during 1981 - 2010 were linked to daily temperature, rainfall and humidity and association investigated using time series adapted negative binomial regression models employing constrained distributed lag linear models. The findings were applied to climate projections to estimate future risks of diarrhoea under various global warming scenarios. There was a significantly raised risk of diarrhoea hospitalisation in all ages with daily mean temperature (RR: 3.4, 95% CI: 3.0 – 3.7) after controlling for the confounding effects of heavy rainfall, humidity, autocorrelations, day of the week effect, long-term time, and seasonal trends. Using the incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 1.034, temperature increases based on the global warming targets of 1.5 – 2°C could result in an increase of diarrhoea hospitalisations by 4.5 – 7.4% in all age groups by the 2100s. These effects were more pronounced among <5 children where the predicted temperature increases could raise diarrhoea hospitalisation by 5.7% - 9.4%. Diarrhoea hospitalisation will increase significantly in Dhaka even if the global warming targets adopted by the Paris Agreement is reached. This underscores the importance of preparing the city for management and prevention of diarrhoeal diseases.
Enabling a Learning Public Health System: Enhanced Surveillance of HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections
Authors: Nieva Harry Reyes , Zucker Jason , Tucker Emma , Castor Delivette , Yin Michael T. , Gordon Peter , Elhadad Noémie 
Published: April 2024

SummarySexually transmitted infections (STIs) continue to pose a substantial public health challenge in the United States (US). Surveillance, a cornerstone of disease control and prevention, can be strengthened to promote more timely, efficient, and equitable practices by incorporating health information exchange (HIE) and other large-scale health data sources into reporting. New York City patient-level electronic health record data between January 1, 2018 and June 30, 2023 were obtained from Healthix, the largest US public HIE. Healthix data were linked to neighborhood-level information from the American Community Survey. In this cross-sectional study, we compared patients who received a test or tested positive for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and/or HIV with patients who were untested or tested negative, respectively, using generalized estimating equations with logit function and robust standard errors. Among 1,519,121 tests performed for chlamydia, 1,574,772 for gonorrhea, and 1,200,560 for HIV, 2%, 0.6% and 0.3% were positive for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HIV, respectively. Chlamydia and gonorrhea co-occurred in 1,854 cases (7% of chlamydia and 21% of gonorrhea total cases). Testing behavior was often incongruent with geographic and sociodemographic patterns of positive cases. For example, people living in areas with the highest levels of poverty were less likely to test for gonorrhea but almost twice as likely to test positive compared to those in low poverty areas. Regional HIE enabled review of testing and cases using granular and complementary data not typically available given existing reporting practices. Enhanced surveillance spotlights potential incongruencies between testing patterns and STI risk in certain populations, signaling potential under- and over-testing. These and future insights derived from HIE data may be used to continuously inform public health practice and drive further improvements in provision and evaluation of services and programs.
Trend of new cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus infections in two health facilities in the Northern Cameroon between 2021-2022
Authors: Djataou Patrice , Djuidje Marceline Ngounoue , Nguefack-Tsague Georges , de Dieu Anoubissi Jean , Kameni Joel Kadji , Tiga Aline , Elong Elise , Djaouda Moussa , Ndjolo Alexis , Nkenfou Céline Nguefeu 
Published: April 2024

AbstractHIV/AIDS continues to be a global public health problem. Studies of the incidence and prevalence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that may contribute to or aggravate its acquisition remain an effective means of prevention. In recent years, terrorist groups have established themselves in the northern regions of Cameroon. This insecurity has led to a large influx of refugees with no information about their HIV and STI status. Given this above mentioned situation, this study aimed to assess the incidence and prevalence of HIV and STI and their associated risk factors in order to adjust strategies to monitor the epidemic. A cohort of 684 consenting participants from the North and Far North were enrolled in the study in 2021 and followed up in 2022 to measure the incidence and prevalence of HIV and to assess some associated risk factors. Each participant was administered a pretested questionnaire to collect sociodemographic variables and risk behaviors. Anti-HIV Ab, HBsAg (Hepatitis B Surface Antigen), TPHA (Treponema PallidumHemagglutination Assay) tests were performed. The data were compiled using EPI Info 7.5.2 for epidemiological analyses. The association between co-infections of HIV, Hepatitis, and syphilis and HIV incidence was evaluated using the Chi-2 test. The HIV incidence and overall prevalence were 1.63% (163/10,000 population) and 3.8%, respectively. The HIV incidence increased from 0.27% in 2017 (DHS) to 1.63% in the North and Far North regions as found in our study. The incidences of syphilis and hepatitis B were 1.03% and 4.56%, respectively. Factors associated with HIV acquisition included religion (Muslims being more infected, P<0.03), unprotected sex with a new partner (P<0.007), having a sex worker as a partner (P<0.0001), and co-infection with syphilis and hepatitis B (P<0.05). The findings also link increased HIV incidence to insecurity and population displacement. In HIV prevention strategies, it is important to consider the security and political stability context as well as HIV-associated infections such as hepatitis B and syphilis.
Identification of ovarian high-grade endometrioid-type tumors through multi-omics analysis: JGOG3025-TR2 study
Authors: Takamatsu Shiro , Hillman R. Tyler , Yoshihara Kosuke , Baba Tsukasa , Shimada Muneaki , Yoshida Hiroshi , Kajiyama Hiroaki , Oda Katsutoshi , Mandai Masaki , Okamoto Aikou , Enomoto Takayuki , Matsumura Noriomi 
Published: April 2024

AbstractObjectiveThere is considerable interobserver variability in the differential diagnosis between ovarian high-grade endometrioid carcinoma (HGEC) and ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) due to their histopathological similarities. While the association between homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) and platinum sensitivity and PARP inhibitors is well established in HGSC, the molecular characteristics of HGEC remain unclear.MethodsFresh-frozen tissue samples from 15 ovarian HGECs and 274 ovarian HGSCs morphologically diagnosed by central pathology review in the Japanese Gynecological Oncology Group (JGOG) were subjected to targeted DNA sequencing, RNA sequencing, DNA methylation array, and SNP array analysis. Tumors were classified by unsupervised clustering based on copy number variation signatures. External datasets including 555 ovarian HGSCs and 287 endometrial high-grade carcinomas from The Cancer Genome Atlas project (TCGA-OV and TCGA-UCEC) were also analyzed.ResultsFour distinct groups were identified in the JGOG cohort. C1 (n=41) showedCCNE1amplification and poor survival. C2 (n=160) and C3 (n=59) showed a high frequency ofBRCAalterations with moderate and low aneuploidy, respectively. C4 (n=22) was characterized by favorable survival, higher frequency of HGEC, absence of bothBRCAalteration andCCNE1amplification, and low levels of HRD score, ploidy, intra-tumoral heterogeneity, cell proliferation rate, andWT1gene expression. Additionally, C4 exhibited a normal endometrium-like DNA methylation profile and was defined as an “HGEC-type” tumor. The HGEC-type tumors were also identified in TCGA-OV and TCGA-UCEC.ConclusionsOvarian HGEC-type tumors exhibit non-HRD status, a favorable prognosis, and endometrial differentiation, and may comprise a subset of tumors diagnosed as HGSC.
The Spectrum from Overt Primary Aldosteronism to Mild Dysregulated Aldosterone Production in Incidentally Discovered Adrenocortical Adenomas
Authors: Uslar Thomas , Olmos Roberto , Burnier Alberth , Sanfuentes Benjamín , Böhm Pauline , Orellana Maria Paz , Guarda Francisco J. , Huete Álvaro , Mertens Nicolás , Besa Cecilia , Andía Marcelo , Majerson Alejandro , Cartes Jaime , Fardella Carlos , Allende Fidel , Solari Sandra , Vaidya Anand , Baudrand Rene 
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACTBackgroundIncidental adrenocortical adenomas (IA) are common. Current guidelines suggest screening for primary aldosteronism (PA) only in cases of hypertension or hypokalemia. This study aimed to evaluate the spectrum from overt PA to mild dysregulated aldosterone production with a sensitive protocol irrespective of blood pressure (BP) and potassium in patients with IA.Methods254 consecutive patients (excluding hypercortisolism) were evaluated. The spectrum of PA was defined as a suppressed renin plus the following criteria: 1)Overt PA: aldosterone-to-renin-ratio (ARR) >30 ng/dL-to-ng/mL/hr, plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) >15ng/dL, and/or 24h urinary aldosterone >10 ug/24h; 2)Moderate PA: ARR 20-30 ng/dL-to-ng/mL/hr, PAC 10-15 ng/dL; 3)Mild dysregulated aldosterone production: ARR <20 ng/dL-to-ng/mL/hr and PAC >5-10 ng/dL.Results35% (n=89/254) met criteria for PA spectrum, 20% (34/89) were initially normotensive and 94% (84/89) normokalemic. Overt, moderate, and mild groups were 10%, 12%, and 13%. There were trends across groups of clinical severity: systolic BP (153±19, 140±14, 137±14 mmHg, p-trend<0.05), resistant hypertension (50%, 23%, 7% p-trend=<0.001), daily defined dose of antihypertensives (DDD) (3.2±1.6, 1.2±1.5, 0.4±0.6 p-trend=0.001), and lower eGFR (75.5±30.8, 97.8±38.5, 101±25.5, p-trend<0.01). At follow-up (mean 28±15 months), 87% had treatment with MR antagonists or surgery with decreased systolic BP relative to clinical severity, −31.3 ±23, −12.7 ±19, and −11.4 ±19 mmHg, (p-trend<0.001). Similar trends were observed for DDD, with significant increase in renin.ConclusionsThere is a prevalent spectrum of clinically-relevant PA and dysregulated aldosterone production in IA, irrespective of BP or potassium, usually undetected. Aldosterone-directed treatment improved BP and normalized renin even in milder cases.GRAPHIC ABSTRACT
Efficacy of a physical activity regimen on visual outcomes among persons newly diagnosed with abnormal glucose tolerance: Study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial
Authors: Antiri Ebenezer Oduro , Hormenu Thomas , Ansah Edward Wilson , Ocansey Stephen , Arthur Rudolf Aaron , Awlime-Ableh Eric , Salifu Iddrisu , Nyane Benjamin , Gabla Augustine Mac-Hubert , Paku Juliet Elikem 
Published: April 2024

AbstractBackground: Abnormal Glucose Tolerance (AGT), which encompasses diabetes and prediabetes, is a growing health problem globally. It is affecting millions and predisposing such patients to several complications, including ocular complications. Physical activity has been found to improve glycemic levels, but the specific effect on visual outcomes in a newly diagnosed African population with AGT is yet to be explored fully. This pilot randomized controlled trial seeks to evaluate the efficacy of a physical activity intervention among newly diagnosed persons with AGT in Cape Coast, Ghana.Methods: An ostensibly healthy population will be screened for AGT. Persons newly diagnosed with AGT will be recruited into the randomized controlled trial. About 50 newly diagnosed participants with AGT will undergo a 12-week moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) intervention, specifically exercises that burn more than 3.0 metabolic equivalents (METs), to ascertain its effect on their visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, central visual field and diabetic retinopathy status. The participants will be randomized into a physical activity intervention group and a control group. Assessments will be done at baseline, and treatment outcomes will be done on the last day of the intervention for each participant.Discussion: Physical activity is a proven lifestyle intervention that reduces glycemic levels in people with AGT. Unfortunately, many persons are unaware of their high level of glucose tolerance, which is associated with the deterioration of vision. This study intends to investigate and present findings on the advantages of physical activity interventions on visual outcomes among people with AGT. The study holds promise in informing evidence-based interventions for persons with AGT in poor economies.
Recovery and discharge time between remimazolam tosylate and propofol in hysteroscopy anesthesia: a randomized controlled study
Authors: Lin Xiangyi , Chen Shengjie , Liang Huiyan 
Published: April 2024

AbstractBackgroundHysteroscopy is considered the gold standard for the evaluation and treatment of uterine and endometrial lesions, but the operation is accompanied by severe pain, so it needs to be performed under anesthesia. Currently, a new sedative drug, remimazolam tosilate, can be used in digestive endoscopy and bronchoscopy. We will study its effect on hysteroscopy and its impact on patient recovery time and hospital discharge time.MethodsNinety-five patients undergoing hysteroscopy were randomly divided into two groups and received an initial dose of 0.2 mg/kg remimazolam tosilate (R group) and an initial dose of 2 mg/kg propofol (P group) as anesthetics during the examination. The primary end point was anesthesia recovery time (the time required for the patient’s MOAA/S score to reach 5 from the cessation of drug use) and hospital discharge time (the time required for the patient’s PADS score to reach 9 from the cessation of drug use). Secondary endpoints were first-dose sedation success rate, incidence of hypotension, and injection pain.ResultsAge(P =0.825), height(P =0.174), weight(P =0.667) and ASA grade (P =0.972) were not significantly different between the two groups. The recovery time in the R group was significantly shorter than that in the P group (P =0.019), and the data kurtosis in the R group was higher than that in the P group (1.19 vs −0.56), but there was no significant difference in the time to hospital discharge (P =0.696). There was no significant difference in the success rate of the first dose of sedation between the two groups (P =0.362), but the incidence of hypotension during anesthesia (P =0.001) and the incidence of injection pain (P =0.001) in the R group was significantly lower than those in P group.ConclusionsRemimazolam tosilate is suitable for hysteroscopy anesthesia and can reduce intraoperative hypotension and injection pain during the examination, a more optimal dosage or target-controlled infusion model still needs to be further explored.
A Structural Proteome Screen Identifies Protein Mimicry in Host-Microbe Systems
Authors: Penunuri Gabriel , Wang Pingting , Corbett-Detig Russell , Russell Shelbi L 
Published: April 2024

SummaryHost-microbe systems are evolutionary niches that produce coevolved biological interactions and are a key component of global health. However, these systems have historically been a difficult field of biological research due to their experimental intractability. Impactful advances in global health will be obtained by leveragingin silicoscreens to identify genes involved in mediating interspecific interactions. These predictions will progress our understanding of these systems and lay the groundwork for futurein vitroandin vivoexperiments and bioengineering projects. A driver of host-manipulation and intracellular survival utilized by host-associated microbes is molecular mimicry, a critical mechanism that can occur at any level from DNA to protein structures. We applied protein structure prediction and alignment tools to explore host-associated bacterial structural proteomes for examples of protein structure mimicry. By leveraging theLegionella pneumophilaproteome and its many known structural mimics, we developed and validated a screen that can be applied to virtually any host-microbe system to uncover signals of protein mimicry. These mimics represent candidate proteins that mediate host interactions in microbial proteomes. We successfully applied this screen to other microbes with demonstrated effects on global health,Helicobacter pyloriandWolbachia, identifying protein mimic candidates in each proteome. We discuss the roles these candidates may play in importantWolbachia-induced phenotypes and show thatWobachiainfection can partially rescue the loss of one of these factors. This work demonstrates how a genome-wide screen for candidates of host-manipulation and intracellular survival offers an opportunity to identify functionally important genes in host-microbe systems.
In Silico Generation of Gene Expression profiles using Diffusion Models
Authors: Lacan Alice , André Romain , Sebag Michele , Hanczar Blaise 
Published: April 2024

AbstractMotivationRNA-seq data is used for precision medicine (e.g., cancer predictions), which benefits from deep learning approaches to analyze complex gene expression data. However, transcriptomics datasets often have few samples compared to deep learning standards. Synthetic data generation is thus being explored to address this data scarcity. So far, only deep generative models such as Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have been used for this aim. Considering the recent success of diffusion models (DM) in image generation, we propose the first generation pipeline that leverages the power of said diffusion models.ResultsThis paper presents two state-of-the-art diffusion models (DDPM and DDIM) and achieves their adaptation in the transcriptomics field. DM-generated data of L1000 landmark genes show better predictive performance over TCGA and GTEx datasets. We also compare linear and nonlinear reconstruction methods to recover the complete transcriptome. Results show that such reconstruction methods can boost the performances of diffusion models, as well as VAEs and GANs. Overall, the extensive comparison of various generative models using data quality indicators shows that diffusion models perform best and second-best, making them promising synthetic transcriptomics generators.Availability and implementationData processing and full code available at:https://forge.ibisc.univevry.fr/alacan/rna-diffusion.gitContactalice.lacan@univ-evry.frSupplementary informationSupplementary data are available atBioRxivonline.
Brilacidin, a novel antifungal agent againstCryptococcus neoformans
Authors: Diehl Camila , Pinzan Camila Figueiredo , de Castro Patrícia Alves , Delbaje Endrews , Carnero Laura C. García , Sánchez-León Eddy , Bhalla Kabir , Kronstad James W. , Kim Dong-gyu , Doering Tamara L. , Alkhazraji Sondus , Mishra Nagendra N. , Ibrahim Ashraf S. , Yoshimura Mami , Isuhuaylas Luis Alberto Vega , Pham Lien Thi Kim , Yashiroda Yoko , Boone Charles , dos Reis Thaila Fernanda , Goldman Gustavo H. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractCryptococcus neoformanscauses cryptococcosis, one of the most prevalent fungal diseases, generally characterized by meningitis. There is a limited and not very effective number of drugs available to combat this disease. In this manuscript, we show the host defense peptide mimetic brilacidin (BRI) as a promising antifungal drug againstC. neoformans. BRI is able to affect the organization of the cell membrane, increasing fungal cell permeability. We also investigated the effects of BRI against the model systemSaccharomyces cerevisiaeby analyzing libraries of mutants grown in the presence of BRI. InS. cerevisiae, BRI also affects the cell membrane organization, but in addition the cell wall integrity pathway and calcium metabolism.In vivoexperiments show BRI significantly reducesC. neoformanssurvival inside macrophages and partially clearsC. neoformanslung infection in an immunocompetent murine model of invasive pulmonary cryptococcosis. We also observed that BRI interacts with caspofungin (CAS) and amphotericin (AmB), potentiating their mechanism of action againstC. neoformans. BRI+CAS affects endocytic movement, calcineurin, and mitogen activated protein kinases. Our results indicate that BRI is a novel antifungal drug against cryptococcosis.ImportanceInvasive fungal infections have a high mortality rate causing more deaths annually than tuberculosis or malaria. Cryptococcosis, one of the most prevalent fungal diseases, is generally characterized by meningitis and is mainly caused by two closely related species of basidiomycetous yeasts,Cryptococcus neoformansandCryptococcus gattii. There are few therapeutic options for treating cryptococcosis and searching for new antifungal agents against this disease is very important. Here, we present brilacidin (BRI) as a potential antifungal agent againstC. neoformans. BRI is a small molecule host defense peptide mimetic that has previously exhibited broad-spectrum immunomodulatory/anti-inflammatory activity against bacteria and viruses. BRI alone was shown to inhibit the growth ofC. neoformans, acting as a fungicidal drug, but surprisingly also potentiated the activity of caspofungin (CAS) against this species. We investigated the mechanism of action of BRI and BRI+CAS againstC. neoformans. We propose BRI as a new antifungal agent against cryptococcosis.