Tag: pubmed

J Biomater Appl. 2025 Aug 13:8853282251369228. doi: 10.1177/08853282251369228. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Although autografts and allografts remain common for bone defect repair, they entail donor-site morbidity, limited availability, and potential immune rejection. The development of tissue engineering has provided a potential solution to overcome these and facilitate effective bone regeneration. Extensive research has confirmed the osteogenic potential of bioactive molecules like Atorvastatin (ATV) and Icariin (ICA). But despite the increasing body of evidence supporting their individual merits, few studies have investigated the synergistic integration of these materials in Nanocomposite scaffolds. A novel three-dimensional scaffold composed of polycaprolactone (PCL), carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCs), and nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA), co-loaded with Icariin and Atorvastatin, and fabricated using the freeze-casting technique, is described. This study aimed to evaluate the scaffold’s effectiveness in promoting calvarial bone regeneration in Wistar rats, contributing to the advancement of biomaterials in bone tissue engineering. Scaffolds containing PCL/CMCs/nHA with 0.1% ICA and 0.1% ATV were fabricated using the freeze-casting method. In vitro assessments were conducted to evaluate the biomechanical and physiological properties of the scaffolds. In vivo experiments involved implanting the scaffolds into calvarial bone defects in six groups of Wistar rats. After 12 weeks, histological analysis was performed to assess bone regeneration, including fibrous tissue formation, bone formation, osteon development, and osteoblast cell numbers and fibroblast cell numbers. After 72 h of incubation, the PCL/CMCs/nHA/ATO/ICA scaffold significantly enhanced cell viability compared to other groups, however, the differences observed between the other groups were not statistically significant. In vivo, results showed significantly greater bone formation, osteon development, and osteoblast numbers in the PCL/CMCs/nHA/ATO/ICA group than in the negative and other groups. The PCL/CMCs/nHA/ATO/ICA scaffold demonstrated superior bone regeneration outcomes, showing comparable performance to autografts in terms of new bone tissue formation, osteon structure, and 72-h cell viability, suggesting its potential as a viable alternative in bone tissue engineering.

PMID:40802859 | DOI:10.1177/08853282251369228

PLoS One. 2025 Aug 13;20(8):e0329390. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0329390. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

Europe’s biodiversity faces increasing pressure from climate change, pollution, and habitat loss, while governments struggle to sustain the monitoring efforts required to respond effectively to these challenges. Addressing this gap calls for a coordinated and inclusive approach that brings together all relevant biodiversity stakeholders to co-design a robust European biodiversity monitoring system. To support this, the Europa Biodiversity Observation Network (EuropaBON) has established one of the most comprehensive biodiversity stakeholder networks in Europe. To analyse this community and support evidence-based improvements, we developed the EuropaBON Stakeholder Dashboard – a dynamic, interactive web application that maps and visualises the EuropaBON stakeholder network’s structure in real-time. Accessible at https://europabon.org/dashboard, the dashboard enables users to explore stakeholder connections across three key dimensions: occupational sector, realm (terrestrial, freshwater, marine), and geographic region. It displays detailed network graphs, an interactive map, and summary statistics that highlight institutional positions in biodiversity data flows (e.g., data users, data providers, or both), levels of participation in EuropaBON activities, and connections to key EU projects and infrastructures. Users can identify the most central and active institutions in the network, filter and download data, and assess coverage across different thematic areas and regions. This tool supports both researchers and policymakers by offering an up-to-date overview of who is involved in biodiversity monitoring across Europe, where collaborations exist, and where further engagement is needed. By combining technological integration with stakeholder participation, the EuropaBON Stakeholder Dashboard enhances transparency, promotes inclusivity, and contributes to a more coordinated and effective biodiversity monitoring landscape in Europe.

PMID:40802850 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0329390

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2025 Aug 13;19(8):e0013375. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0013375. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus and Coxiella burnetii infections are significant public health concerns in East Africa, causing recurring outbreaks. However, the prevalence of these pathogens among febrile patients in Ethiopia remains unknown. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of these infections among febrile patients.

METHODS: A multisite cross-sectional study was conducted among 415 randomly selected adult febrile patients from health facilities in Shinile and Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, between March 01, 2023, and February 28, 2024. Serum samples were tested for the presence of antibodies against RVF virus and C. burnetii infections using various Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assays. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used to detect RVF virus RNA and C. burnetii DNA in blood samples. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify predictive factors. A p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: Of the 402 serum samples analyzed, 21 (5.2%) tested positive for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against RVF virus, and 86 (21.4%) tested positive for C. burnetii Phase I and Phase II antibodies. No RVF virus IgM was detected. Among the C. burnetii antibodies positive sera, 6 (7.0%) were positive for Phase II IgG antibodies. No blood samples tested positive for RVF virus RNA or C. burnetii DNA. Febrile patients aged ≥35 years had significantly higher odds of RVF virus exposure (AOR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.3-7.8). Females (AOR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.1-2.9), rural residents (AOR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.3-4.5), and febrile patients who disposed of dead animals (AOR: 2.6, 95% CI: 1.2-5.6) exhibited significantly higher odds of C. burnetii infection.

CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals significant but underrecognized exposure to RVF virus (5.2%) and C. burnetii (21.4%) infections among febrile patients. Risk factors for RVF included older age, whereas C. burnetii infection was associated with females, rural residents, and exposure to dead animals. Health authorities are advised to consider these infections in the differential diagnosis of fever, implement active surveillance, and target public health interventions.

PMID:40802844 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pntd.0013375

J Clin Psychol. 2025 Aug 13. doi: 10.1002/jclp.70034. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Students enrolled in health sciences programs, similar to practicing healthcare professionals, are at high risk for burnout. Despite the numerous challenges these students face, it is crucial to support their well-being. This study examined the impact of a brief online intervention that combined mindfulness and stretching exercises on mindfulness, self-compassion, and mental well-being among health sciences students.

METHOD: The study employed a randomized control group design with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up assessments. The study group consisted of 38 undergraduate students in the health sciences. The participants in the experimental group attended a six-session online program that integrated mindfulness and stretching exercises. In contrast, the participants in the control group did not receive any treatment. Data were collected using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form, Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale.

RESULTS: The findings revealed that following a six-session online program combining mindfulness and stretching exercises, there were significant differences in mindfulness, self-compassion, and mental well-being scores between experimental and control groups over time. The experimental group showed statistically significant improvements in mindfulness, self-compassion, and mental well-being compared with the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that a brief mindfulness-based stretching exercises program delivered online can effectively enhance mindfulness, self-compassion, and mental well-being among undergraduate students pursuing health sciences. The results support the potential of such interventions to promote psychological well-being among health sciences students.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was not pre-registered.

PMID:40802831 | DOI:10.1002/jclp.70034

PLoS One. 2025 Aug 13;20(8):e0327727. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327727. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

A random sample of 847 households (HHs) in southern Ethiopia was used to assess the impact of HH characteristics, land and livestock ownership, seasonal variations, and agricultural challenges on cereals and legumes, crucial to community livelihoods. A structured survey was integrated into the ODK data collection tool, validated, and used with trained agricultural agents, and analyzed using an R statistical package. Farm productivity was significantly influenced by gender, since male headed HHs produced 25.5% more yield than female headed HHs. Livestock ownership, land cultivation, farm productivity and product utilizations were also varied among the HHs. Furthermore, agricultural practices like labor utilization, fertilizer and composite application, and use of improved seed varieties significantly affected the farm productivity. Besides, maize was identified as the principal and top-priority crop, while common bean (legume) was the second-priority crop for local people. This shows that legumes were important in the region’s agricultural systems, but some farmers experienced reduced productivity due to poor agronomic practices. Consequently, a substantial proportion of farmers (>50%) faced food shortages from February to June, representing the peak of the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season (April to May). Integrating early-maturing legumes in the farming system would help to escape the food shortage periods. Many farmers disclosed that the cost of chemical fertilizers’ was unaffordable, indicating a need for options like use of rhizobia inoculants and showed interest to use on their farms for improved productivities.

PMID:40802795 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0327727

Ocul Immunol Inflamm. 2025 Aug 13:1-9. doi: 10.1080/09273948.2025.2545521. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This retrospective cross-sectional study examined differences in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH D), total IgE, eosinophil levels, and outdoor exposure time in relation to disease severity in children with Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis (VKC). It also assessed these parameters across VKC subtypes.

METHODS: The study included 40 VKC patients and 43 healthy controls. Ophthalmologic examinations, serum 25-OH D, total IgE, eosinophil levels, and outdoor exposure times were evaluated. Disease severity was graded using Bonini’s system. Multinomial logistic regression was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: VKC patients had significantly lower 25-OH D (16.70 ± 5.50 vs. 23.98 ± 7.83 ng/ml, p < 0.001), higher IgE (248.52 ± 161.16 vs. 34.86 ± 17.38 ng/ml, p < 0.001), elevated eosinophils (365.72 ± 182.43 vs. 152.06 ± 80.23 cells/ml, p < 0.001), and reduced outdoor time (136.50 ± 42.39 vs. 210.0 ± 44.40 minutes, p < 0.001) compared to controls. 25-OH D negatively correlated with IgE (r = -0.505, p < 0.001) and eosinophils (r = -0.643, p < 0.001). Elevated IgE was significantly linked to mild-to-moderate VKC severity (OR = 1.120, p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: VKC patients exhibited lower serum 25-OH D and reduced daytime outdoor exposure, likely due to photophobia, compared to controls. No significant association was found between vitamin D or outdoor time and VKC severity. High IgE and eosinophil levels support VKC’s allergic origin. The inverse correlations between 25-OH D, IgE, and eosinophil may suggest an immunomodulatory role. Large-scale, prospective interventional studies are warranted to validate these findings and elucidate causal relationships.

PMID:40802791 | DOI:10.1080/09273948.2025.2545521

PLoS One. 2025 Aug 13;20(8):e0328980. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328980. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects over 10% of the global population and is closely linked to increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Mean corpuscular volume (MCV), a key hematological parameter, has been associated with various clinical outcomes. However, the relationship between MCV and mortality in CKD patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) has not been thoroughly investigated, with previous studies primarily limited to single-center designs.

METHODS: This retrospective multicenter cohort study analyzed data from the eICU-CRD and MIMIC-IV databases. Statistical analyses involved Kaplan-Meier survival curves and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. Restricted cubic splines (RCS) were employed to assess the potential nonlinear relationships between MCV and mortality.

RESULTS: A total of 23,724 patients were included in the analysis. Higher MCV levels were significantly associated with increased 30-day and 90-day in-hospital mortality. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a higher mortality risk in patients with the highest MCV levels. Cox models confirmed that MCV was a significant risk factor for mortality, with hazard ratios indicating an increased risk with each unit increase in MCV. Subgroup analyses consistently showed that elevated MCV levels were associated with a higher mortality risk across different patient groups.

CONCLUSION: This first multicenter study demonstrated that elevated MCV levels are significantly associated with higher short-term mortality in CKD ICU patients, suggesting that MCV could serve as a potential biomarker for risk stratification. Future research should validate these findings and explore the underlying mechanisms.

PMID:40802782 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0328980

Sci Adv. 2025 Aug 15;11(33):eadt9311. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adt9311. Epub 2025 Aug 13.

ABSTRACT

In topology, averaging over local geometrical details reveals robust global features. These are crucial in physics for understanding quantized bulk transport and exotic boundary effects of linear wave propagation in (meta-)materials. Beyond linear Hamiltonian systems, topological physics strives to characterize open (non-Hermitian) and interacting systems. Here, we establish a framework for the topological classification of driven-dissipative nonlinear systems by defining a graph index for their Floquet semiclassical equations of motion. Our index builds upon the topology of vector flows and encodes the particle-hole nature of excitations around all out-of-equilibrium stationary states. Thus, we uncover the topology of nonlinear resonator’s dynamics under external and parametric forcing. Our framework sheds light on the topology of driven-dissipative phases, including under- to overdamped responses and symmetry-broken phases linked to population inversion. We therefore expose the pervasive link between topology and nonlinear dynamics, with broad implications for interacting topological insulators, topological solitons, neuromorphic networks, and bosonic codes.

PMID:40802767 | DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adt9311

PLoS One. 2025 Aug 13;20(8):e0329557. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0329557. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The rise in global temperatures due to climate change has intensified the frequency and severity of heat waves, disproportionately affecting outdoor workers. This is particularly concerning in low- and middle-income countries like Nepal, where inadequate policies and limited awareness leave outdoor workers highly vulnerable. This study explores the knowledge, attitudes, practices (KAP), and perceived risks of heatwaves among outdoor workers in Nepal.

METHODS: A cross-sectional mixed-method study was conducted across eight districts in five provinces of Nepal, surveying 356 outdoor workers from five occupational groups: street vendors, agricultural workers, rickshaw drivers/pullers, laborers, and service workers. Eleven focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to gain deeper insights. Descriptive statistics were used to assess KAP scores, while Kernel-Based Regularized Least Square (KRLS) analysis examined the variations in practice scores among groups. Thematic analysis was applied to FGDs. The quantitative analysis was done in STATA-14, and the qualitative analysis was conducted manually.

RESULTS: The average age of participants in the study was 37.2 years (SD = 10.5), and just over half (57%) were male. On average, they had worked outdoors for about 10.7 years (SD = 8.6). Among all participants, 43% had heard of heatwaves, 86.2% were aware of heat-related incidents, and 78.6% had personally experienced them. Awareness about heatwave was positively associated with the practices of heat protection for the overall sample (practice score = 1.46, p < 0.001). Age was found to be negatively associated with the practices of heat protection (practice score = -0.03, p < 0.001). Compared to females, males had lesser practices of heat protection (practice score = -0.97, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Heatwaves pose significant health risks, particularly for vulnerable outdoor workers who often lack knowledge about protective measures. This highlights an urgent need for government-led interventions and awareness programs at both community and policy levels to address and mitigate heat stress.

PMID:40802719 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0329557

Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 2025 Aug 13:1-8. doi: 10.1080/00365513.2025.2546318. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the potential metabolic markers related to gestational hypothyroidism in early diagnosis, to find new intervention targets, and to provide metabolic pathway information for elucidating the pathogenesis of gestational hypothyroidism.

METHODS: Sixteen patients with gestational hypothyroidism treated in a tertiary hospital of China were enrolled. 20 normal pregnant women and 20 healthy women of childbearing age were also selected as control groups. Fasting serum samples were collected from all participants. The platform of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry was applied for detecting. The principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) models were constructed for metabolic profile analysis. Characteristic metabolites were screened and statistically studied by Mann-Whitney test, and the biological functions and metabolic pathways of characteristic metabolites were further analyzed.

RESULTS: 13 characteristic metabolites were screened. Palmitic acid, phytosphingosine, sphinganine, phytanic acid, palmitic amide, behenic acid, cetoleic acid, cerebronic acid, N-Palmitoylsphingosine, octadecanamidein in gestational hypothyroidism group were significantly higher than those in normal pregnancy group and healthy control group (p < 0.05). The serum levels of three kinds of lysophosphatidylcholine in gestational hypothyroidism group were significantly lower than those in normal pregnancy group and healthy control group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: A total of 13 characteristic metabolites were screened, whose serum levels in the gestational hypothyroidism group had the same changing trend compared to those in the normal pregnancy group and the healthy control group, with statistical differences. This may provide new ideas for early diagnosis and finding new treatment targets for gestational hypothyroidism.

PMID:40802697 | DOI:10.1080/00365513.2025.2546318