Search Results (1,800)

Background/Objectives: Preterm infants have higher fat mass and lower lean mass at term-corrected age; however, whether these differences persist into preschool age remains unclear. This prospective observational cohort study aimed to compare body composition between very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) preterm (gestational age < 33 weeks) children and their term-born counterparts aged 5–6 years. Methods: Anthropometric data, body composition, blood biochemical parameters, and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR index) were compared between the preterm and term groups. Results: The study included 96 children (57 preterm and 39 term-born). Although lean mass index and fat mass index were comparable between groups, preterm children exhibited significantly higher insulin levels and HOMA-IR values after adjustment (p = 0.003 and p = 0.004, respectively). Within the preterm cohort, overweight/obesity was associated with higher trunk and total fat percentages, as well as higher HOMA-IR, compared with those of normal-weight or underweight children (all adjusted p < 0.001). Weight growth velocity from 2 to 5 years was positively associated with serum insulin, HOMA-IR, and both trunk and total body fat percentages. Additionally, girls in both groups displayed significantly higher trunk and total body fat percentages than boys. Conclusions: Children born very preterm with VLBW had higher fasting insulin levels and HOMA-IR, despite generally comparable DXA-derived LMI, FMI, and fat distribution at preschool age. Overweight status and rapid early childhood weight gain may contribute to increased metabolic risk in this population, highlighting the need for early metabolic monitoring and growth management. Future large-scale, long-term studies are required to confirm these findings. Full article

Johne’s disease (JD), caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), is typically acquired early in life, yet detection of exposure during this period remains challenging. This study evaluated whether MAP-specific antibodies are passively transferred from dam to calf and detectable in neonatal calf serum, and whether these titres reflect early-life exposure to MAP. Neonatal calves (n = 38) from a commercial dairy herd were blood sampled within the first 10 days of life as part of routine assessment of passive transfer. Serum total protein (STP) was measured to assess colostrum intake, and residual serum was analysed for MAP antibody titres using an indirect ELISA. Multivariable linear regression was used to evaluate associations between calf MAP antibody titres, STP, and dam JD serological status. Calf serum MAP antibody titres were positively associated with STP (p < 0.001) and differed according to dam serological status, with higher titres observed in calves born to MAP-seropositive dams (p = 0.025). A significant interaction between STP and dam status indicated that the relationship between passive transfer efficiency and MAP antibody levels varied by dam infection status. These findings support the biological plausibility of passive transfer of MAP-specific antibodies via colostrum and suggest that neonatal calf serology may reflect exposure to an early-life epidemiological risk period associated with maternal MAP exposure and the calving environment rather than infection status within the calf itself. Given the modest sample size and single-herd design, these findings should be interpreted as exploratory and hypothesis-generating. Full article

The Cambodian genocide occurred between April 1975 and January 1979. Over one-third of Cambodia’s population perished, and many survivors suffer physical and mental health consequences. This study examines lasting influences of the Cambodian genocide on Cambodia’s population structure and on adult health and health behavior. To illustrate the legacy of decreased fertility and increased mortality during the genocide, population pyramids (1975, 1985, 2014, 2022) were generated using data from the United Nations Population Division. For comparison, population pyramids for the neighboring country of Thailand were generated. To examine the enduring health sequelae of the genocide, nationally representative Demographic and Health survey data (2014, 2021–2022) were used to compare smoking behaviors and stunted growth of women born shortly before and during the genocide (1972–1979) with women born shortly after the genocide (1980–1987). Cambodia’s population pyramids reveal a long-term paucity of individuals in the 1970s birth cohorts not observed for Thailand. Compared to women born shortly after the genocide, women with early-life exposure to the genocide were more likely to report smoking in adulthood and to have experienced stunted growth. The genocide impacted Cambodia’s population structure and affected the health and health behaviors of early childhood genocide survivors into adulthood. These findings imply life course and intergenerational impacts. Full article

Background and Objectives: Appendectomy during pregnancy is associated with preterm birth, but downstream neonatal outcomes, neonatal intensive care resource use, and caregiver-reported psychological symptom burden remain insufficiently characterized. We aimed to compare neonatal infection rates, NICU resource utilization, and caregiver psychosocial outcomes between preterm infants born after maternal appendectomy during pregnancy and preterm controls frequency-matched by gestational-age strata without antecedent non-obstetric surgery. Methods: In this single-center prospective cohort study (March 2023–December 2025), 121 preterm infants were enrolled: 54 born after maternal appendectomy during pregnancy (31 laparoscopic, 23 open) and 67 non-surgical preterm controls. Neonatal outcomes included culture-confirmed infection, death, or major neonatal morbidity, and neonatal intensive care resource metrics. Caregiver outcomes were assessed near discharge using the 36-Item Short Form Survey, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Group comparisons used normality-guided parametric or non-parametric tests and multivariable logistic regression; subgroup and mediation analyses were exploratory. Mediation analyses explored indirect pathways. Results: Culture-confirmed infection was numerically more frequent in appendectomy-group neonates than in controls (35.2% versus 20.9%; p = 0.078), but this difference was not statistically significant. NICU length of stay was significantly longer (47.3 ± 14.8 vs. 41.2 ± 12.6 days; p = 0.014), and caregiver Patient Health Questionnaire-9 depressive symptom scores were higher (12.4 ± 4.3 vs. 9.6 ± 3.8; p < 0.001). Open appendectomy and negative histopathology subgroups showed the strongest adverse signals. Exploratory mediation analysis suggested that a substantial portion of the appendectomy-caregiver depression association statistically co-varied with prolonged hospitalization (Sobel p = 0.008); this exploratory pathway analysis does not establish a causal mediation pathway. Conclusions: Preterm infants born after maternal appendectomy during pregnancy showed non-significant numerical increases in infection outcomes, significantly higher neonatal intensive care resource use, and higher caregiver-reported psychological symptom scores compared with non-surgical preterm controls, with open surgery and negative appendectomy representing clinically complex subgroups with less favorable exploratory signals. Full article

Objectives: Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, a spirochete bacterium responsible for Lyme borreliosis—the most common tick-borne infection in North America and Europe—can trigger the production of antiphospholipid antibodies. These antibodies target host lipids such as cardiolipin (CL), phosphatidic acid (PA), phosphatidylcholine (PC), and phosphatidylserine (PS), which the spirochete incorporates into its membrane from the surrounding environment. Although antiphospholipid antibodies are typically associated with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), they may also arise during infections, including Lyme borreliosis. This study aimed to develop and optimize several enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for measuring various antiphospholipid antibodies in patients with Lyme borreliosis. Methods: Thirty patients diagnosed with Lyme borreliosis were enrolled: ten with solitary erythema migrans (EM), ten with multiple EM (MEM), and ten with late manifestations known as acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA). Forty healthy blood donors served as controls. Four distinct antiphospholipid antibody ELISAs were developed, each using a different phospholipid coating: CL, PA, PC, and PS. Serum of APS patient was used as a positive control and for standard curve generation. Results: All four ELISAs were successfully established and demonstrated good measurement precision. Significant differences in antiphospholipid antibody levels and positivity rates were observed between Lyme borreliosis patients and healthy blood donors. Notably, levels of antibodies directed against PA (aPA), PC (aPC), and PS (aPS), both IgG and IgM, were significantly higher in patients with late Lyme borreliosis, manifested as ACA, compared to healthy blood donors. In contrast, anti-CL (aCL) levels did not differ significantly between groups. Patients with ACA also showed the highest frequency of multiple antiphospholipid antibody positivity, with 7 out of 10 patients testing positive for three or more antiphospholipid antibodies. Conclusions: Accurate and precise in-house ELISAs for the detection of aCL, aPA, aPC, and aPS using APS sera as standard material were developed and validated for the analysis of samples of patients with Lyme borreliosis. Our data suggest that antiphospholipid antibody levels—specifically aPA, aPC, and aPS—differ across clinical manifestations of Lyme borreliosis, with the greatest increases observed in patients with ACA. Full article

This study evaluated the effects of dietary S-abscisic acid (S-ABA) supplementation on reproductive performance and piglet growth in multiparous sows under commercial farming conditions. A total of 65 Landrace × Yorkshire multiparous sows were allocated to one of three dietary treatments: a basal diet (control); a basal diet supplemented with 1 ppm S-ABA; or a basal diet supplemented with 10 ppm S-ABA. The experimental period was set from weaning through the subsequent weaning (approximately 147 days), encompassing the non-pregnant, gestation, and lactation phases. Reproductive performance parameters, including the number of piglets born, the number of piglets weaned, and piglet body weight at birth and at weaning, were recorded, in addition to general health observations of sows and piglets. 1 ppm S-ABA supplementation significantly increased the number of piglets born compared to control (p < 0.05). Both 1 ppm and 10 ppm S-ABA supplementation resulted in a significantly higher number of piglets weaned (p < 0.05) and average piglet weaning weight (p < 0.01) compared with control, with no apparent differences in measured piglet survival outcomes among treatment groups. No additional benefits were observed when the supplementation level was increased from 1 ppm to 10 ppm. These findings suggest that dietary S-ABA supplementation at low inclusion levels may positively influence sow reproductive performance and piglet growth under practical feeding conditions. Full article

In Cambodia, livestock production plays an important role in the national economy and food security, yet tick-borne diseases remain an underrecognized constraint on animal health and productivity. Domestic animals may also serve as reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens in this predominantly rural setting. To address the lack of baseline molecular data on tick-borne pathogens in Cambodia, we conducted a cross-sectional study of ticks collected from November 2022 to April 2023 across 24 provinces. Ticks were collected from various hosts and environments, including cats, cattle, dogs, goats, pangolins, pythons, wild pigs, and bat cave floors, representing urban, rural, farm, wildlife rescue center, and forest fringe habitats. A total of 1526 ticks belonging to nine species were pooled into 352 samples and screened using conventional PCR (cPCR) targeting Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Babesia, and Coxiella. Additionally, a subset of Rhipicephalus microplus ticks was analyzed using metatranscriptomic next-generation sequencing (NGS). Rhipicephalus microplus ticks collected from cattle tested positive for Anaplasma marginale (1.1% of pools) and Ehrlichia minasensis (0.9% of pools), whereas Rhipicephalus linnaei ticks collected from dogs were positive for Anaplasma platys (0.3% of pools) and Babesia canis (2.0% of pools). A high prevalence of Coxiella-like endosymbionts (15.6% of pools) was found in R. microplus from both cattle and goats. Metatranscriptomic analysis also identified six tick-associated viruses in R. microplus from cattle; with Guangdong tick manly virus being the most dominant (32.5% of samples); followed by Zhangzhou Totiv tick virus 1 (15.0%), Jingmen tick virus (5.0%), and Mogiana tick virus; Rhipicephalus-associated rhabdo-like virus; and Rhipicephalus-associated flavi-like virus; each at 2.5%. These findings provide the first molecular evidence of numerous bacterial, protozoal, and viral pathogens circulating in R. microplus and R. linnaei in Cambodia. The study highlights the need for integrated One Health surveillance to better understand, prevent, and control tick-borne diseases in the region. Full article

Despite a large number of African-born individuals residing in the United States, there is a significant disparity in how this community accesses and utilizes mental health treatment. Low screening rates for common mental health concerns is one crucial part of ongoing inequities in mental healthcare access. Willingness to engage in screening is negatively impacted by a lack of culturally responsive ways to make screening more acceptable and stigma with mental health. This study therefore aimed to examine the perceived acceptability and utility of community-developed patient vignettes created to increase willingness to be screened for common mental health concerns. Employing a qualitative approach, a community advisory board (CAB) (n = 5) was enlisted to co-develop vignettes outlining an African community member’s symptoms of anxiety and subsequent help-seeking behavior. Two focus groups of community members (n = 18) provided qualitative feedback on the vignettes and shared their general attitudes towards mental health and recommendations for mental health screening and treatment in the African community. Using a hybrid inductive and deductive qualitative descriptive approach and classifying responses based on the socioecological model, four major themes emerged from the data: (1) between support and strain: the role of family; (2) reducing stigma: community voices as education; (3) culture as a barrier and a bridge; and (4) the importance of stories that reflect lived experience. Overall, participants were receptive to the culturally-responsive mental health vignettes and provided fruitful suggestions for how these stories can be used to reduce stigma and increase willingness to seek screening and treatment in African-born residents of the United States. Full article

Background/Objectives: Dengue prevention in rural Amazonian communities is shaped by knowledge, household feasibility, sociocultural dynamics, institutional continuity, and trusted communication. This study explored behavioral, sociocultural, and institutional barriers to dengue prevention and control in rural communities of the Peruvian Amazon. Methods: An exploratory qualitative study with an ethnographic orientation, informed by the Communication for Behavioural Impact (COMBI) framework, was conducted in three anonymized rural settlements in San Martín, Peru. The qualitative corpus included 120 adults, 84 in-depth interviews, six focus group discussions with 36 participants, 22 household and community observation records, 13 institutional communication materials, and seven local operational documents. Data were analyzed using an inductive thematic approach and triangulated across participant profiles, settlements, and sources. Results: Dengue was widely recognized as a mosquito-borne disease, but the central finding was a gap between general awareness and practical, routine application. Participants’ understanding of breeding sites, warning signs, and feasible source reduction was uneven. Prevention was mainly reactive, increasing after nearby cases, alerts, or fumigation, but weakening when risk was not visible. Irregular water supply, water storage, waste accumulation, gendered domestic labor, competing household priorities, reluctance to confront neighbors, and intermittent institutional action limited sustained prevention. Fumigation was perceived as the most visible institutional response, while communication was more credible when mediated by trusted local actors. Conclusions: Dengue prevention requires locally feasible household practices, safe water-storage guidance, trusted communicators, neighborhood coordination, continuous pre-outbreak engagement, and intersectoral support. Full article

We develop a comparative synthesis of quantum-information geometry beyond complex numbers, with emphasis on what different algebraic frameworks contribute to information-processing structure rather than on their formal novelty alone. The organizing idea is a layer-by-layer test of the standard complex Hilbert-space formalism: each non-complex or deformed framework modifies the scalar field, phase group, projective state space, Born-probability semantics, composition rule, measurement geometry, symmetry algebra or representation category. The central thesis is that such frameworks are physically meaningful when they identify which assumptions make complex quantum mechanics operationally stable: positive probabilities, associative multipartite composition, reversible dynamics, experimentally testable phases, locality constraints, informationally complete measurements, error bases and clear operational semantics. Real quantum theory probes the necessity of complex phases and local tomography; quaternionic quantum mechanics probes non-Abelian phase while retaining associativity and admitting complex embeddings; octonionic proposals probe the boundary where exceptional geometry survives but generic circuit composition is obstructed by non-associativity; Jordan algebras test ordered probabilistic state spaces; Clifford algebras and Bott periodicity provide the spinorial and topological grammar connecting gates, Hopf maps and periodic dimensions; and quantum-group or q-deformed constructions probe coproducts, braiding and representation categories rather than scalar amplitudes. We distinguish three roles that are often conflated: genuine hypercomplex kinematics, Hopf-fibration coordinates for ordinary complex multipartite entanglement, and deformed algebraic or categorical structures. The resulting map separates established equivalence and experimental-constraint results from useful representation tools and speculative programs, while identifying concrete open problems for non-complex quantum information. Full article

Dengue is the most prevalent arthropod-borne viral disease, caused by infection with the dengue virus (DENV). Severe dengue is characterized by significant vasculopathy involving a proinflammatory and procoagulant state associated with increased vascular permeability. However, the host–virus interactions driving this process remain incompletely elucidated. Monocytes (Mø) are primary target cells during DENV infection and actively release extracellular vesicles, like microparticles (MPs), mediating intercellular communication, contributing to dengue pathogenesis. Here, we evaluated whether MPs released by DENV-infected monocytes represent a previously underappreciated mechanism contributing to dengue-associated vascular dysfunction. The vascular endothelium plays a determining role in the response to injury because it functions as a regulatory interface during hemostasis (coagulation–fibrinolysis–inflammation) and by preserving the endothelial barrier. We found that these vesicles transport viral proteins (E and NS1), exhibit a procoagulant profile that promotes thrombin generation, and enhance endothelial vascular cell (EVC) activation. DENV-infected THP-1 Mø MPs interaction induces a shift toward a procoagulant, proinflammatory, and proadherent phenotype, characterized by increased expression of PAR-1, TF, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1, reflecting the establishment of a sustained HMEC-1 EVC activation that compromises vascular barrier integrity. This leads to increased permeability, a hallmark of DENV-associated vasculopathy and a central event in the progression to severe dengue. Full article

Rhizoctonia solani is a necrotrophic phytopathogenic fungus that causes disease in various crops. In agriculture, many crops suffer from root or seedling rot caused by this soil-borne pathogen, whereas cabbage and rice develop lesion-like symptoms on aboveground tissues. Diseases caused by R. solani are generally controlled using chemical fungicides; however, environmentally friendly alternatives are needed for sustainable agriculture. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of lecithin, a mixture of phospholipids previously registered in Japan as an agrochemical for controlling cucumber powdery mildew, against Rhizoctonia diseases. In cabbage, foliar spraying of 0.2–1.0% soybean lecithin effectively suppressed leaf symptoms caused by R. solani isolate RhiCa-2, which was identified as AG-1 IB. In rice and Brachypodium distachyon, 0.2–1.0% lecithin significantly suppressed leaf symptoms induced by R. solani AG-1 IA. Hyphal staining of inoculated leaves revealed reduced hyphal density on lecithin-treated leaves. Consistently, hyphal growth of R. solani on cellophane placed on water agar was retarded by lecithin treatment. However, 5.0% lecithin induced phytotoxicity in B. distachyon. Egg yolk-derived lecithin also exhibited disease-suppressive activity in cabbage and B. distachyon, with efficacy comparable to that of soybean lecithin under the conditions tested. These results suggest that lecithin suppresses foliar infection by R. solani, at least in part, through direct inhibitory effects on fungal hyphae, and may serve as a potential alternative material for disease control in sustainable crop production. Full article

Lumpy skin disease (LSD), a vector-borne viral disease of cattle, re-emerged in Italy in June 2025 after six years of absence in Europe, affecting the island of Sardinia, which had previously been disease-free. The insular setting, the predominance of extensive cattle farming systems, and the rapid implementation of control measures provided a unique opportunity to investigate epidemic dynamics and evaluate vaccination effectiveness under field conditions. This study aimed to describe the epidemiological pattern of the first epidemic season (June–October 2025), estimate key transmission parameters, and assess vaccination effectiveness at the farm level. Confirmed outbreaks consistent with local transmission and notified between 20 June and 26 October 2025 were analyzed to characterize epidemic transmission dynamics, while vaccination effectiveness was assessed over an extended follow-up period through 31 December 2025. The between-farm basic reproduction number (R₀) was estimated from the early exponential growth phase using log-linear regression and doubling time calculations. Spatio-temporal clustering was assessed using Kulldorff’s scan statistic under a Poisson model, accounting for the population at risk. Vaccination effectiveness was evaluated using a time-dependent Cox proportional hazards model with a 21-day post-vaccination lag. A total of 79 outbreaks were confirmed, of which 68 were consistent with local transmission. Affected farms included a total of 3443 cattle, with morbidity, mortality, and case fatality rates of 14.4%, 7.0%, and 31.1%, respectively. The exponential growth phase lasted four weeks, with an estimated growth rate of 0.366 per week and a doubling time of 1.89 weeks. The estimated R₀ ranged from 1.55 to 1.92, depending on the assumed generation time, indicating moderate but sustained transmission. The median apparent spatial spread velocity was 4.8 km/day. Spatio-temporal analysis identified a single highly significant cluster in the central-eastern area, accounting for approximately 27% of outbreaks (RR = 58.06; p < 0.001). Vaccination was associated with a substantial reduction in outbreak risk (HR = 0.18; 95% CI: 0.06–0.51; p = 0.001), corresponding to an estimated effectiveness of approximately 82% at the farm level. The 2025 Sardinian epidemic was characterized by moderate transmissibility and strong spatial clustering during the early phase. Rapid implementation of vaccination was associated with a significant reduction in outbreak risk, even under conditions of high infection pressure. The integration of spatio-temporal analyses and time-dependent modeling proved essential to support evidence-based control strategies in newly affected regions. Full article

Among the many quasiprobability representations of quantum mechanics, the family of Kirkwood–Dirac (KD) representations has come to the foreground in recent years. Each such KD representation is determined by the choice of two complementary complete sets of commuting observables $\widehat{A}$ and $\widehat{B}$ with respect to which it is Born-compatible, meaning that it correctly reproduces their Born probabilities for every state. In this paper, we identify what property uniquely characterizes the KD representations among all such $\widehat{A}$ and $\widehat{B}$ Born-compatible quasiprobability representations. For that purpose, we first define a natural notion of a quantum conditional expectation of an observable $\widehat{X}$, given an observable $\widehat{Y}$, in a state $\widehat{\rho }$, as a best estimator, and we show that it has the basic properties generally expected of a conditional expectation. We then show that only the KD representations provide a notion of conditional, expectation given $\widehat{B}$ (or given $\widehat{A}$) that coincides with the above quantum conditional expectation. As a byproduct of our analysis, we show a state-dependent no-go theorem. We prove that, if the quantum conditional expectation of an observable $\widehat{X}$, given an observable $\widehat{Y}$ in a state $\widehat{\rho }$ admits an anomalous value (meaning a value lying outside the interval $[x_{min},x_{max}]$), then there cannot exist a Born-compatible joint probability distribution $\mu (x,y)$ for $\widehat{X}$ and $\widehat{Y}$ in the state $\widehat{\rho }$ for which the associated conditional probability $\mu \left(x\right|y)$ yields a conditional expectation that coincides with the quantum conditional expectation. We further apply our findings to revisit a standard model for phase estimation in quantum metrology. We show in particular that, within the real sector of a given KD representation, the classical Fisher information of this phase estimation problem vanishes identically. Full article

This paper presents up-to-date technical solutions for mitigating vibration and structure-borne noise in buildings, caused mainly by urban infrastructure. It is intended to draw attention to the problem of noise and vibration pollution, against which people and buildings should be protected rationally and properly according to the concept of sustainable development as it relates to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector (one common sector). It reviews different passive methods of protection against vibration impacts, such as those provided by the elastic support of structures, emphasizing their advantages and limitations. The application of optional solutions using suitable elastomeric materials is presented through examples of various special-purpose buildings designed and built in recent years. The implemented mitigation measures are described in detail and briefly evaluated in the context of ensuring effective vibration isolation that complies with stringent requirements related to the accepted level of vibro-acoustic influence in the considered facilities. The paper provides an overview of the practice-oriented application of an elastic support technique in the design and realization of buildings, which enhances the vibro-acoustic comfort of their occupants and users. The general aspects of sustainability in the context of types of elastomeric vibro-isolating materials are also discussed. Full article