Tag: pubmed

PLoS One. 2025 Nov 7;20(11):e0336111. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0336111. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

The trans-theoretical model of behavior change (TTM) is widely used to assess an individual’s readiness to perform the new behavior and categorizes the behavior change into five stages: “pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.” This study focuses on assessing smoking cessation counseling practices (SCC) among Jordanian healthcare providers (HCPs) across various settings using the TTM. A cross-sectional study was conducted among HCPs (i.e., pharmacists, nurses, physicians, and dentists) working in private and public healthcare settings, using an online self-administered questionnaire. A total of 443 HCPs were included. One-third of HCPs reported asking patients if they smoked at their “first visit only.” Only 24.2% advised every patient to stop smoking, while 17.6% went beyond to assist smokers to make quit attempts, and (16.5%), assessed the willingness of the patients to quit and arrange follow-up quit attempts (10.6%). Only 28.4% of HCPs received training on SCC techniques. The majority of HCPs had a moderate level of confidence in performing SCC practices. HCPs in the private sector were more likely to be active in SCC practices than those in the public sector. Dentists and physicians were more involved in SCC practices than nurses and pharmacists. The study found a significant relationship between HCPs’ stage of change, self-efficacy, and performing SCC practices. This study affords a better understanding of the HCPs’ SCC practices. HCPs are found not to fully perform the “5 As” guidelines in their practices. Future efforts should focus on training and developing education programs that encourage HCPs to perform SCC practice.

PMID:41202117 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0336111

PLoS One. 2025 Nov 7;20(11):e0335445. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0335445. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

The coral microbiome can strongly influence coral health, development, and resilience. While larval settlement is fundamental for coral restoration efforts using assisted larval propagation, post-settlement survival remains a major challenge. The study of lab-bred Orbicella faveolata settlers (LBOFS) microbiome has been proposed due to its potential role in coral adaptation processes. However, there is limited information about LBOFS bacterial communities and comparisons between different growth conditions and life-cycle stages have not been conducted. Using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing, we analyzed the structure and composition of LBOFS-associated bacteria and compared them to those from outplanted LBOFS and wild settlers. We also compared the microbiomes of settlers to adult colonies. The LBOFS bacterial community was composed of 4224 ASVs with the Orders Kiloniellales, Rhodobacterales, Cytophagales, Cyanobacteriales, and Flavobacteriales being the most abundant across the samples, with a rare biosphere consisting of 44.6% relative abundance. A Principal Coordinates Analysis and a PERMANOVA indicated significantly different bacterial community structures based on settler growth conditions and life-cycle stage. Linear discriminant analysis Effect Size analysis identified specific taxa whose differential abundances contributed to the observed differences. For settler growth conditions, the differences were mainly due to the Order Cyanobacteriales for LBOFS, SAR202 clade for outplanted settlers, and Microtrichales for wild samples. Statistical analysis of functional prediction showed significant differences only in nitrogen fixation for LBOFS. For life-cycle stage, LEfSe revealed that the Orders Cytophagales and Cyanobacteriales exhibited the highest differential abundances in adults and settlers, respectively. Functional prediction revealed that nitrogen fixation and oxygenic photoautotrophy were more enriched in settlers, whereas nitrate reduction and anaerobic chemoheterotrophy were more enriched in adults. This study highlighted the bacterial taxa and predicted metabolic processes that could potentially contribute to coral settler functioning, providing a valuable baseline for future research to enhance their survival rates using probiotics.

PMID:41202107 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0335445

PLoS One. 2025 Nov 7;20(11):e0336255. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0336255. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Adverse pregnancy outcomes continue to pose a significant global public health challenge, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Although preconception care (PCC) interventions are advised to address this problem, their adoption remains inadequate, supported by scarce evidence particularly in conflict-impacted areas such as Tigray, Ethiopia, where rates of poor outcomes like neural tube defects are notably higher than in other regions. This study investigates the experience of pregnant women regarding the use of PCC in the Tigray, northern Ethiopia.

METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 31 to August 16, 2024, involving 764 pregnant women in their first or second trimester. Participants were consecutively enrolled from clusters until the predetermined sample size was achieved. Data were collected through interviewer-administered questionnaires in accordance with World Health Organization, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and national guidelines. PCC uptake was measured as the receipt of any service component (screening, counseling, or management) during healthcare consultations. We used SPSS version 27.0 to analyze PCC uptake and its associated factors. Descriptive and binary logistic regression statistics were used in the analysis. Finally, data was presented using text, tables, and figures as appropriate.

RESULTS: In this study, the overall uptake of PCC services was 7.2%. All participants in the current pregnancy were exposed to at least one risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Factors such as women’s decision-making power, having information about PCC, HIV screening during the current pregnancy, and perceived susceptibility to preconception risks showed a statistically significant positive association with the uptake of PCC services.

CONCLUSION: The uptake of PCC services was very low. Addressing the low uptake of PCC services requires a multifaceted strategy, including public health campaigns via media and social forums, strengthened health extension programs, and the integration of a reproductive life plan tool to improve health-seeking behavior among women.

PMID:41202106 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0336255

PLoS Comput Biol. 2025 Nov 7;21(11):e1013691. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013691. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Understanding microbial interactions is fundamental for exploring population dynamics, particularly in microbial communities where interactions affect stability and host health. Generalized Lotka-Volterra (gLV) models have been widely used to investigate system dynamics but depend on absolute abundance data, which are often unavailable in microbiome studies. To address this limitation, we introduce an iterative Lotka-Volterra (iLV) model, a novel framework tailored for compositional data that leverages relative abundances and iterative refinements for parameter estimation. The iLV model features two key innovations: an adaptation of the gLV framework to compositional constraints and an iterative optimization strategy combining linear approximations with nonlinear refinements to enhance parameter estimation accuracy. Using simulations and real-world datasets, we demonstrate that iLV surpasses existing methodologies, such as the compositional LV (cLV) and the generalized LV (gLV) model, in recovering interaction coefficients and predicting species trajectories under varying noise levels and temporal resolutions. Applications to the lynx-hare predator-prey, Stylonychia pustula-P. caudatum mixed culture, and cheese microbial systems revealed consistency between predicted and observed relative abundances showcasing its accuracy and robustness. In summary, the iLV model bridges theoretical gLV models and practical compositional data analysis, offering a robust framework to infer microbial interactions and predict community dynamics using relative abundance data, with significant potential for advancing microbial research.

PMID:41202104 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013691

Environ Sci Technol. 2025 Nov 7. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5c06700. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Estuaries and adjacent waters are highly productive ecosystems, but are increasingly stressed by urbanization and climate change. Understanding long-term shifts in fish communities is critical for sustainable management, yet remains limited by scarce historical data. Here, we applied quality-controlled sedimentary DNA (sedDNA) metabarcoding, combining contamination prevention, stringent data filtering, and statistical calibration, to reconstruct ca. 100 years of fish diversity dynamics in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) area, southern China. The monitored sedDNA data sets revealed that changes in fish communities in the PRE can be categorized into four distinct historical phases: the 1930s-1950s, 1950s-1970s, 1970s-1990s, and 1990s-2020s. Taxonomic and functional richness peaked around the 1970s but declined sharply thereafter. Small-bodied and omnivorous species gradually gave way to larger-bodied and warm-water species, reflecting a shift in trophic and habitat preferences over time. Invasive species, such as Oreochromis niloticus and Coptodon zillii, became increasingly dominant, whereas indigenous species markedly declined. Multivariate analyses showed that urbanization primarily affected taxonomic diversity, while climate drivers shaped functional traits and community structure, with invasive species acting as key mediators of ecological disruption. Overall, these results offer new insights into the century-scale fish diversity dynamics under compounded urbanization and climatic pressures, and highlight sedDNA as a powerful tool for reconstructing historical biomonitoring records.

PMID:41202103 | DOI:10.1021/acs.est.5c06700

Microb Genom. 2025 Nov;11(11). doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.001555.

ABSTRACT

Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses multiple type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) to manipulate eukaryotic cells, kill competing microbes and take up nutrients. Bacterial strains are known to differ in their T6SS apparatus and the toxic effector proteins responsible for killing. The ability to eliminate competitors has been repeatedly demonstrated in lab studies, but much less is known about effector genotypes during infection. We used comparative genomics to test for the presence and absence of T6SS effector genes in over 450 clinical P. aeruginosa isolates from people with cystic fibrosis in Copenhagen (Denmark) and complemented these findings with data of 52 isolates from people with cystic fibrosis in London (UK). We found natural variation in the occurrence and combination of effector genes. Patients were typically infected with isolates that differ in their effector gene sets but show no statistically significant association between the number of effector genes and chronic infection. Isolates with a pair of T6SS effector and immunity genes and isolates without these genes, which would be expected to kill each other based on existing work in the laboratory, were found on the same individual. Taking the isolates’ phylogeny and sampling times into account, we identified five putative loss events of effector genes during infection. Although the impact of our findings for infected individuals will require further investigation, we demonstrate the extent of strain-level variation in T6SS effector genes in clinical isolates.

PMID:41201843 | DOI:10.1099/mgen.0.001555

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Nov 11;122(45):e2515667122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2515667122. Epub 2025 Nov 7.

ABSTRACT

We propose a mathematical framework that we call quantum, higher-order Fourier analysis. This generalizes the classical theory of higher-order Fourier analysis, which led to many recent advances in number theory and combinatorics. We define a family of “quantum measures” on linear transformations on a Hilbert space, that reduce in the case of diagonal matrices to the uniformity norms introduced by Timothy Gowers. We show that our quantum measures and our related theory of quantum higher-order Fourier analysis characterize the Clifford hierarchy, an important notion of complexity in quantum computation. In particular, we give a necessary and sufficient analytic condition that a unitary is an element of the [Formula: see text] level of the Clifford hierarchy.

PMID:41201827 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2515667122

JAMA Health Forum. 2025 Nov 7;6(11):e253986. doi: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.3986.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities are disproportionately affected by the US overdose epidemic. Structural inequalities, encompassing social, economic, and infrastructural dimensions, have been increasingly theorized as fundamental drivers of these disparities.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether there is an association between neighborhood-level structural racism and opioid-involved overdose deaths in an urban area.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This ecological serial cross-sectional study of 796 census tracts (2017-2019) and 792 census tracts (2020-2022) in Chicago, Illinois, used a geospatial and intersectional analytic approach. A quasi-Poisson spatial regression was conducted to examine associations between neighborhood-level structural racism and census tract-level opioid-involved overdose deaths before the COVID-19 pandemic (2017-2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022). Eigenvector spatial filtering was used to control for residual spatial autocorrelation. Population density was also accounted for in the regression model. Two structural racism indicators (historical redlining and contemporary racialized economic segregation) were combined to develop an index that captures 4 distinct neighborhood intersectional groups of racism over an 80-year period. Average marginal effect calculations were also performed to support the interpretability of the findings. Data were analyzed from February 19, 2024, to July 3, 2025.

EXPOSURE: A combined measure of 2 structural racism indicators (historical redlining and contemporary racialized economic segregation).

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Overdose deaths were aggregated to census tracts; the main outcome measure was the number of overdose deaths at the census tract-level.

RESULTS: The total sample sizes were 796 census tracts before the COVID-19 pandemic (2017-2019) and 792 census tracts during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022). As defined by the study’s combined measure of structural racism, census tracts with high levels of racism in the past and/or present showed statistically significantly higher number of fatal overdoses compared with tracts with low levels of racism both in the past and present. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic (ie, 2017-2019), tracts with high sustained levels of structural racism past and present had, on average, over 2 more fatal overdoses per tract compared with sustained advantaged tracts (average marginal effect, 2.60; 95% CI, 2.02-3.19; P < .001). During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022), tracts that were advantaged in the past but experienced high present-day segregation had, on average, almost 4 more fatal overdoses per tract compared with sustained advantaged tracts (average marginal effect, 3.81; 95% CI, 1.94-5.68; P < .001). The overall burden of overdose death was higher for all neighborhood groups during the pandemic compared with before the pandemic.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: These findings provide preliminary evidence that structural racism could be a root cause of opioid-involved overdose deaths. Future research is needed to identify mechanisms linking structural racism to overdose deaths and to develop effective policies and programs to reduce fatal overdose rates.

PMID:41201811 | DOI:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.3986

JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Nov 3;8(11):e2540170. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.40170.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: The Planetary Health Diet (PHD) integrates health and environmental sustainability, yet its association with chronic disease outcomes remains underexplored, particularly among women with a history of gestational diabetes (GD), who are at elevated risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the associations of adherence to the PHD with risks of T2D, CVD, and long-term weight change among women with a history of GD.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study used data from the Nurses’ Health Study II. A subset of participants with a history of GD was followed up from June 1991 to June 2021. Data were analyzed from February 1, 2024, to April 9, 2025.

EXPOSURES: Adherence to the PHD was assessed using the Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI), which was derived from food frequency questionnaires administered every 4 years.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for the risk of T2D and CVD. Associations between PHDI changes and concurrent 4-year weight changes were evaluated using multivariable marginal models with generalized estimating equations.

RESULTS: During 120 465 person-years of follow-up among 4633 women with a history of GD (mean [SD] age, 38.9 [6.1] years), 90 incident CVD cases (38 myocardial infarction [MI] and 52 stroke) and 1053 incident T2D cases were observed. Women in the highest tertile of the PHDI had a 63% lower risk of MI (HR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.16-0.86; P for trend = .01) compared with those in the lowest tertile, independent of body mass index (BMI) and other covariates. Higher PHDI was also associated with a lower risk of overall CVD and T2D; however, mediation analysis indicated that BMI accounted for 79.6% (95% CI, 16.5%-98.7%; P < .001) of the association with T2D and 15.1% (95% CI, 2.8%-52.5%; P = .02) of the association with CVD. Notably, decreasing PHDI was associated with greater weight gain (P for trend < .001), with the group experiencing the largest 4-year decrease in PHDI showing a mean weight gain of 2.3 (95% CI, 2.0-2.6) kg.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cohort study of women with a history of GD, higher PHDI was associated with lower risk of myocardial infarction and better weight management. These findings also emphasize the importance of postpartum weight management to reduce the risk of progression from GD to T2D and CVD.

PMID:41201804 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.40170

JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Nov 3;8(11):e2542269. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.42269.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: With a warming climate, it is essential to have up-to-date and spatiotemporally resolved quantification of the national mortality burden attributable to nonoptimal temperatures.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mortality burden associated with heat and cold in the entire contiguous US from 2000 to 2020.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This case series assessed death records from the National Center for Health Statistics for all counties within the contiguous US from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2020. The study used 2-stage modeling, with the first stage being a case-crossover design with county-specific conditional logistic regression of mortality on daily mean temperature incorporating distributed lag nonlinear models and the second stage pooling the estimates by metaregression. Based on the estimated exposure-response functions for temperature and mortality, attribution analyses for low and high temperatures were performed. Calendar time trends were analyzed, and stratified analyses by cause of death and demographic factors (ie, age, sex, and marital status) were performed. This analysis was conducted from August 9, 2024, to June 16, 2025.

EXPOSURES: Daily mean temperature and dewpoint temperature at a 4-km resolution for the contiguous US from the Parameter-Elevation Relationships on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) climate database.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: All-cause mortality and 7 specific causes, including endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases; mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders; nervous system diseases; circulatory diseases; respiratory diseases; digestive diseases; and external causes.

RESULTS: A total of 54 223 429 deceased individuals were included in the analyses. Most decedents were 65 years or older (73.4%); 50.2% were male, 37.4% were married, and 35.1% were widowed. Both low and high temperatures were associated with increased odds of death within 0 to 6 days. Compared with the minimum mortality temperature, temperatures at the 5th and 95th percentiles were associated with odds ratios (ORs) of 1.057 (95% CI, 1.051-1.064) and 1.011 (95% CI, 1.009-1.013), respectively. The excess annual deaths attributable to low and high temperatures were estimated to be 45 992 (95% CI, 28 639-63 202) and 3414 (95% CI, 1650-5173), respectively, with regional variations and an increase in the high temperature burden from 2670 annual deaths during the 2000-2009 period to 4091 during the 2010-2020 period. Heterogeneity existed by cause of death, age, sex, and marital status.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this case series, nonoptimal temperatures were critical environmental contributors associated with mortality burden, with differential vulnerability by geographic location, cause of death, and demographic factors. These findings highlight the need for urgent actions against temperature-related health burdens through tailored climate and public health strategies, considering the local context and demographic profiles.

PMID:41201802 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.42269