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PubMed2026

Temporal shifts in gyrA mutation types and sublineage replacement in ST11 Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis over a decade (2014-2023): A genomic epidemiological study in Guangxi, China.

The overuse or abuse of antibiotics drives the global health threat of antimicrobial resistance. Although bans on certain veterinary antibiotics, such as colistin, have proven effective, the impact of fluoroquinolone stewardship on the evolution of the foodborne pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) remains unclear. Here, we conducted a decade-long (2014-2023) retrospective longitudinal genomic epidemiological analysis of 441 ST11 S. Enteritidis isolates from Guangxi, China, alongside a global reference dataset of 4297 genomes. Our aim was to elucidate the effect of real-world antibiotic stewardship on the shift of gyrA point mutations and lineage distribution. Surveillance identified three global epidemic clade sublineages (GEC-L2, L3, L4), with the multidrug-resistant GEC-L4 (i.e., GC-c or MMC2), characterized by the gyrA mutation with amino acid substitution D87Y, being domestically dominant (70.07%, 309/441). Following China's 2016 ban on the veterinary use of critical fluoroquinolones, the proportion of the highly resistant GEC-L4 sublineage decreased continuously (from 86.84% in 2017 to 56.00% in 2023), while the less resistant GEC-L3 sublineage (i.e., GC-b or MMC1), mainly characterized by gyrA D87G, increased simultaneously (from 13.16% to 44.00%). This phenomenon might be attributed to the fact that the GEC-L4 sublineage exhibited a higher fitness cost compared with the GEC-L3 sublineage, as confirmed by the competition assay. A Random Forest Model validated that the gyrA mutation with amino acid substitution D87Y was the paramount feature for these sublineages' identification. In contrast, global data showed a continuous increase in gyrA mutations (from 8.63% in 2006 to 68.85% in 2024), primarily D87Y (from 1.44% to 31.15%) and D87N (from 4.32% to 22.95%), correlating with rising average fluoroquinolone consumption. This study provides direct genomic evidence that national-level antibiotic stewardship can drive the replacement of highly resistant sublineages with moderately resistant ones. These findings offer crucial scientific evidence for evaluating the impact of antibiotic management policies and inform strategies for the rational use of antimicrobials.

China↗

PubMed1979

Cancer of the breast. Screening.

Screening is a more complicated issue than has been indicated in this chapter. Long-term followup is essential to exclude misleading initial impressions, and survival predictions must stand this test. The problem of interval cancers must be acknowledged, and methods of developing more cost-effective systems that might provide even broader coverage of the population at risk have to be considered. Suffice it to say that mass screening for breast cancer can be accomplished. Large numbers of American women are sufficiently concerned about this disease to participate, as evidenced by the success of the National Cancer Institute/American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Projects. It has been demonstrated that breast cancers so small that they would previously be considered a pathological curiosity are detected with surprising frequency. The ultimate effect on survival time by this screening can of course only be determined after passage of time, but there is every reason to believe that it represents one of the really great advances in detection-diagnosis in recent history. The chief detection modality is mammography, and it is to be expected that technological advances in this area will permit images of even greater reliability and resolution at a level of radiation exposure that will be acceptable to everyone. The definitive role of thermography in detection of breast disease has yet to be fully determined. The maximal scientific benefit and the true impact of the screening demonstration projects will be realized only after long-term followup of the 280,000 participants.

Adult↗

PubMed2025

Problematic use of sustainability claims in recent scientific literature on crop gene technologies: toward improving practices and communication.

There is growing interest in the role of agricultural genomics, including biotechnology, in enhancing the "sustainability" of food production systems. However, as "sustainability" becomes more frequently linked to the goals of agricultural genomics, a critical question arises: what claims are made about "sustainability" and how is the concept of "sustainability" defined in the scholarly literature on agricultural genomics? Using a structured analysis of the recent scientific literature, this article investigates increasingly frequent claims about "sustainability," including how this term is defined and measured in the field of agricultural genomics. It argues that more transparent definitions and clearer metrics, tied to appropriate scholarly literature, are crucial for improving the coherence, impact, and credibility of research in agricultural genomics.

Crops, Agricultural↗

PubMed1979

Industrial emission of cadmium in Japan.

Direct emission of cadmium into air and water in Japan has been controlled on the basis of the Emission and Effluent Standards. Environmental quality in these media has been improved, but delayed effects of these emissions in the past are now manifest by contamination of agricultural acreage in various parts of this country. Special land improvement projects are therefore required, and cost allocation should be made on the basis of scientific assessment of natural background. An impact assessment on accidental release of potential sources of cadmium dispersed in the water system should be made on the basis of inventory surveillance. Assessment of natural background can practically be made by two means. One is to examine the vertical distribution of cadmium in a soil profile and to search for a subsurface layer in which there can be no contamination. Another is the use of the Zn/Cd ratio as an index of pollution, a value of 400 being suggested as a screening level. The transport of cadmium was found to occur principally in particulate form, and sampling and analysis of water together with suspended solid after a heavy rainfall is suggested as a useful means for assessing the character of a catchment area and for planning the improvement of land surface in mining districts.

Agriculture↗

PubMed2026

A 12-week, double-blind, quasi-randomized, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Coleus forskohlii (Forcslim) on body weight loss.

BACKGROUND: Overweight and obesity have emerged as a global epidemic, significantly impacting human health. Traditional usage and growing scientific evidence suggest that Coleus forskohlii extract (Forcslim) may aid in reducing excess body weight and fat. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Forcslim supplementation in overweight individuals. METHODS: A quasi-randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted in 60 overweight subjects aged 20-70 years over a period of 12 weeks. The participants were assigned to receive either Forcslim or placebo. The key outcome measures included body weight, body mass index (BMI), body composition, and anthropometric parameters. Additionally, lipid profile parameters and safety markers (including metabolic, hepatic, and cardiovascular indicators) were assessed throughout the study duration. RESULTS: Compared to the placebo group, the Forcslim group showed significant reductions in waist circumference (-1.83 cm; p < 0.01) and body weight (-1.93 kg; p < 0.001). Significant improvements in anthropometric parameters were observed exclusively in the Forcslim group. Furthermore, triglyceride (TG) levels were significantly reduced (p < 0.01), while high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels showed a significant increase (p = 0.001). No clinically significant changes were observed in metabolic markers, liver and muscle enzyme levels, heart rate, blood pressure, or reported adverse effects, indicating a favorable safety profile. CONCLUSIONS: Forcslim demonstrated significant anti-obesity effects, including reductions in body weight, waist circumference, and improvements in the lipid profile. These findings suggest that C. forskohlii extract supplementation may serve as a safe and effective alternative to synthetic anti-obesity drugs.

Humans↗

PubMed1978

Proposal for a program in particle-beam radiation therapy in the the United States. A report from the Committee for Radiation Oncology Studies (CROS) and its Particle Subcommittee.

The Program for Particle Therapy proposes utilization of hospital-based particle generators in a nationwide program to evaluate, through meaningful clinical trials, particle radiation therapy and the impact its utilization can have in cancer care. The scientific rationale for use of particle therapy compared to conventional radiation in the effort to achieve uncomplicated local control of cancer, to heal, cure and palliate the patient, indicates the advantages of particle therapy consist of either or both a) enhanced biological effect and b) physical properties leading to improvement in dose distribution. It has been estimated that in tho control local-regional cancer. Any new modality enabling the therapist to increase dose to tumor, while sparing critical normal tissue, can enhance local control and benefit systemic therapy. Limited clinical trials to date warrant further definitive clinical study of particle beams. Physical and biologic considerations of fast-neutron beams have been essentially completed; equipment design, availability, and predicted reliability are good; and the medical community has indicated support of further study. A major clinical investigation can be implemented to provide the scientific basis for judging clinical merit of use of high LET radiations. Concurrently, the first phase of work can be started with protons, negative pions, and heavy ions. It is anticipated that clinical results will accrue much more rapidly with hospital-based units for clinical trials; this Program proposes this transfer of particle technology from the laboratory to such hospital-based facilities in two phases, over a 10-year period.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗

PubMed1975

Combination versus single agent chemotherapy: a review of the basis for selection of drug treatment of cancer.

In a period of a little over 20 years, chemotherapy of cancer has evolved from a period of empiricism with little impact on the cancer problem to become part of a sound medical discipline with firm scientific underpinning playing an increasingly important role in the control of cancer. This progress has come from an increasing knowledge of cancer biology and pharmacology and the application of this knowledge to improved design of clinical trials, with due consideration to the intricacies of the natural history of each disease in question. Now that the chemotherapeutic tools are sharpened, their use in combinations with other modalities in the previously unfamiliar setting of the patient with early stages of the disease promises to lead to an even more exciting chapter in clinical cancer research in the next decade.

Adenoma, Islet Cell↗

PubMed2026

Towards microplastic bioremediation: Fungal degradation of pristine and pretreated high-density polyethylene and polystyrene.

Microplastic (MP) contamination has become a significant ecological issue because of its enduring existence in the ecosystem and its possible negative impacts. Therefore, using degrading strategies to eliminate these stubborn polymers has been a subject of scientific research. However, the currently used degradation methods are relatively inefficient. Given the pervasiveness of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Polystyrene (PS) and their resistance to biodegradability, disposal strategies are critical and must be addressed. This manuscript examines the biodegradation of pristine and UV-treated HDPE and PS MPs by Aspergillus flavus species in minimal growth media over 70 days. The maximum weight loss observed at 70 days for pristine HDPE and PS in sole carbon source (SCS) media was (29.33 ± 0.28) % and (17.67 ± 0.35) %, respectively. Whereas, for UV-treated HDPE and PS MPs, the % weight reduction was (33 ± 0.21) % and (25 ± 0.19) %, respectively. UV-treated MPs exhibited greater weight reduction, as UV induced oxygenated functional groups enhance polymer susceptibility to enzymes, thereby promoting biodegradation. HDPE MPs typically show a higher proportion of particles in the lower size range compared to PS MPs. This assertion was based on the weight loss, particle size distribution, and SEM analysis. Furthermore, chemical changes were evaluated using Fourier transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, which also displayed chemical oxidation occurring during biodegradation. Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) results indicate that UV pretreatment enhances biodegradability by promoting chain scission. These findings further suggest that this fungus's natural and ubiquitous occurrence in terrestrial and marine environments may actively contribute to MP biodegradation while requiring few nutrients.

Microplastics↗

PubMed2026

Assessment of the impact of manual curation in BioCyc.

INTRODUCTION: BioCyc is an extensive collection of databases of genomic and pathway information for microorganisms and model eukaryotes. These organismal databases integrate diverse biological data by combining computationally inferred information, data imported from other databases, and, for selected organisms, literature-based manual curation. This study investigates the magnitude and significance of annotation changes performed during the curation of 10 prokaryotic genomes to better understand the rate of erroneous annotations and the value of BioCyc curation. METHODS: We identified curation changes by finding cases where the annotation of the protein at the start of the curation process differed from its annotation at the end of the process. RESULTS: We found that across a sample of curated databases (n = 10), the annotation of 6,753, or 25.6% of the proteins in the pooled protein dataset (n = 26,126) were modified. Assessment of considerable sampling fractions of these proteins found that a median of 62% (mean of 52.9%) represented functionally informative name changes, rather than stylistic annotation changes. These results were then extrapolated to total proteins with name changes with uncertainty quantified via finite population correction, indicating that most Tier 2 Biocyc PGDBs received hundreds of functionally informative name changes during manual curation. On average 363, or13% (±5.4% SD) of the proteins encoded in each genome received functionally informative annotation changes, ranging from 5.3% (Streptococcus pneumoniae D39V) to 22.7% (Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 8325). DISCUSSION: These findings demonstrate a substantial improvement in the accuracy of manually curated BioCyc databases compared with automated annotation pipelines. This result is particularly impactful as the rate of downstream propagation of erroneous annotations across biological databases can significantly compromise scientific discovery.

annotation errors↗

PubMed2026

Immune dysregulatory disorders: perspective from solving a diagnostic odyssey.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Inborn errors of immunity (IEIs), once considered rare disorders characterized primarily by recurrent infections, are now recognized as a rapidly expanding group of diseases encompassing autoimmunity, autoinflammation, allergy, malignancy, and immune dysregulation. Advances in next-generation sequencing, functional immunology, and systems biology have revealed overlap between traditionally distinct disease categories and highlighted the complexity of genotype-phenotype relationships. RECENT FINDINGS: While this evolution has led to the discovery of hundreds of previously unrecognized disorders, it has also challenged conventional diagnostic paradigms and demonstrated how patients may have care spread across multiple specialties, without a clear medical home. These discoveries have also highlighted ongoing challenges translating scientific findings to the clinic including difficulties in accessing genomic testing, interpretation of variants of uncertain significance, impacts of incomplete penetrance and somatic mosaicism, and limited availability of specialized functional assays. Emerging computational approaches, including artificial intelligence, offer opportunities to accelerate diagnosis but cannot replace comprehensive clinical evaluation or longitudinal physician-patient relationships. SUMMARY: This perspective examines how the diagnostic odyssey for immune dysregulatory disorders has evolved, side-by-side with the changing framework for diagnosing rare immune diseases. We propose an integrated approach combining clinical phenotyping, genomics, functional validation, and multidisciplinary expertise to unite ongoing discovery between clinicians and scientists, diagnostics, and patient outcomes.

diagnostic odyssey↗

PubMed2026

Advancing One Health genomics in Africa: opportunities and challenges for outbreak and antimicrobial resistance control.

SUMMARYAfrica's ongoing struggles with emerging epidemics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) underscore the urgency of integrating pathogen genomics and surveillance systems into the continent's One Health strategy, particularly given the existing limitations in preparedness and technological resources. This review brings together current evidence on the growth of sequencing infrastructure, the development of regional genomic hubs, and the establishment of governance frameworks, while identifying critical challenges in data integration, bioinformatics capacity, and sustainable financing. Special focus is placed on the lack of African-based genomic data, with our analysis showing that only 1.82% of the global total is available. Case studies illustrate the immense potential and importance of pathogen genomics, giving policymakers a tangible sense of its impact. These examples demonstrate how genomic technologies integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming outbreak response, AMR surveillance, and stewardship programs by enabling early detection of zoonotic threats, mapping transmission pathways, and guiding vaccine development. However, to fully realize this scientific intel, it is essential to embed One Health pathogen surveillance within strong policy and system frameworks to ensure the translation of technical progress into lasting institutional capacity and sustainable impact. Long-term implementation depends on coordinated investment and advocacy across four interdependent pillars: data architecture, governance and sovereignty, human capital, and technical capacity.

Humans↗

PubMed1979

Von Garrelts' uroflowmeter. A technical evaluation.

Von Garrelts' uroflowmeter, commercially available, was tested at different true flow rates and jet velocities. The impact geometry was varied. Results show that flow-rate recording with von Garrelts' uroflowmeter is little influenced by variations of these parameters, and the instrument can be recommended for scientific and routine clinical use.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗

PubMed1977

[The evaluation of principles for the prevention and control of animal epidemics during the second half of the 18th century according to a contemporary monograph, from a current viewpoint].

Reference is made to the third edition of a handbook published 1800 in which experience in preventing and controlling animal diseases is given in the form of standards together with conclusions, the latter being related primarily to the incidence of cattle plague in the second half of the 18th century. The points made in the handbook are related to the history of veterinary medicine, with particular emphasis being laid on today's national veterinary services and the legal provisions which are now in effect for the prevention and control of high risk. Since production relations and productive forces were on a different level then, both the consequences of high-risk animal diseases and action for protection often had deterimental impact upon agricultural production and led to the ruin of many poorer farmers and dependent peasants. The substance of the prevention and control principles was not only adequate, but to some extent is valid even today, notwithstanding the much higher scientific basis on which many problems are tackled in our days. A set of strict rules had been established, and offenders had to expert severe punishment. Yet, in the class society of that time penalty rules differed for 'masters' and 'inferiors'. The handbook is of enlightening importance as a basisfor deliberate application of codes and standards.

Animals↗

PubMed2025

Meta-analysis models with group structure for pleiotropy detection at gene and variant level using summary statistics from multiple datasets.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have highlighted the importance of pleiotropy in human diseases, where one gene can impact 2 or more unrelated traits. Examining shared genetic risk factors across multiple diseases can enhance our understanding of these conditions by pinpointing new genes and biological pathways involved. Furthermore, with an increasing wealth of GWAS summary statistics available to the scientific community, leveraging these findings across multiple phenotypes could unveil novel pleiotropic associations. Existing selection methods examine pleiotropic associations one by one at a scale of either the genetic variant or the gene, and thus cannot consider all the genetic information at the same time. To address this limitation, we propose a new approach called MPSG (Meta-analysis model adapted for Pleiotropy Selection with Group structure). This method performs a penalized multivariate meta-analysis method adapted for pleiotropy and takes into account the group structure information nested in the data to select relevant variants and genes (or pathways) from all the genetic information. To do so, we implemented an alternating direction method of multipliers algorithm. We compared the performance of the method with other benchmark meta-analysis approaches such as GCPBayes, PLACO, and ASSET by considering as inputs different kinds of summary statistics. We provide an application of our method to the identification of potential pleiotropic genes between breast and thyroid cancers.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Psychoanalysis and suggestion].

In the history of psychoanalysis the problem of suggestion has been a central one. At first it involved the necessity to establish the psychoanalytic technique as independent scientific paradigm in contrast to persuasion and hypnosis. However, it was not only the symptom-oriented suggestion that had to be given up for scientific reasons and reasons of treatment technique. Since professional and human factors as well could have influenced the psychoanalytic situation to revert to the traditional "suggestion", Freud has given some technical considerations (e.g. the mirror-analogy), that were meant to counteract the confusion of the psychoanalytic technique with the persuasive one that had to come up to late. The discovery of the transference phenomena has further complicated the problem. It became obvious that the capacity of the analyst to exert an influence and to have impact, originated in very basic human categories and their specific psychogenetic developments and distortions. This understanding contributed to the development of psychoanalytic theories of suggestibility. Until the present day the discovery of the transference phenomena has determined the discussions of psychoanalytic technique in term of the relationship between the special and general therapeutic factors (i.e. interpretation versus relationship). The departure from the therapeutic mode of persuasive suggestion and the introduction of psychoanalytic technique signaled the revolutionary paradigm of Sigmund Freud, i.e. the active participation of the patient and the process of observation. Often scientific problems related to this pradigm and suggestion are discussed concurrently.

Humans↗

PubMed2023

Water a major source of endocrine-disrupting chemicals: An overview on the occurrence, implications on human health and bioremediation strategies.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are toxic compounds that occur naturally or are the output of anthropogenic activities that negatively impact both humans and wildlife. A number of diseases are associated with these disruptors, including reproductive disorders, cardiovascular disorders, kidney disease, neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders, and cancer. Due to their integral role in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, packaging companies, agro-industries, pesticides, and plasticizers, the scientific awareness on natural and artificial EDCs are increasing. As these xenobiotic compounds tend to bioaccumulate in body tissues and may also persist longer in the environment, the concentrations of these organic compounds may increase far from their original point of concentrations. Water remains as the major sources of how humans and animals are exposed to EDCs. However, these toxic compounds cannot be completely biodegraded nor bioremediated from the aqueous medium with conventional treatment strategies thereby requiring much more efficient strategies to combat EDC contamination. Recently, genetically engineered microorganism, genome editing, and the knowledge of protein and metabolic engineering has revolutionized the field of bioremediation thereby helping to breakdown EDCs effectively. This review shed lights on understanding the importance of aquatic mediums as a source of EDCs exposure. Furthermore, the review sheds light on the consequences of these EDCs on human health as well as highlights the importance of different remediation and bioremediation approaches. Particular attention is paid to the recent trends and perspectives in order to attain sustainable approaches to the bioremediation of EDCs. Additionally, rigorous restrictions to preclude the discharge of estrogenic chemicals into the environment should be followed in efforts to combat EDC pollution.

Animals↗

PubMed1976

Can program evaluation be saved from its enthusiasts?

Program evaluation--the use of scientific techniques to measure the value of an agency's work--has become the focus of major attention and enthusiasm in mental health service planning and administration. However, the author points out that completed program evaluation studies are few in number and provide no evidence of great impact on the operation of programs or agencies and that unrealistic enthusiasm for program evaluation can lead to unrealistic rejection when performance fails to reach promise. He concludes that program evaluation should be applied only when it can have an impact, i.e., in a limited number of carefully selected cases.

Community Mental Health Services↗

PubMed2026

Evaluating the persistence of semen under controlled environmental conditions.

When semen is deposited at a crime scene, it may be exposed to harmful environmental conditions. It is important to understand to what extent the different components of semen, specifically acid phosphatase (AP), prostate specific antigens (PSA), sperm and DNA, may become less detectable after exposure to high temperatures and varying levels of humidity. In this study, semen (50 μL) was deposited onto squares of black cotton and exposed to 45 °C and a relative humidity (RH) of 10 or 80% for 0, 7, 14, 21 or 28 days (n = 5 per day, per climate condition). Source testing included AP test reagent, ABAcard® p30 immunoassay kits, and hematoxylin and eosin staining. DNA was extracted using the DNA IQ™ System (Promega, Australia) and quantified using Quantfiler Trio™ (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Australia). Over the 28-day period under both RH conditions, the time taken for a positive AP test to develop increased significantly (p < 0.01) and the number of sperm observed decreased significantly (p < 0.01). All ABAcard® p30 tests were positive regardless of exposure time or conditions. No impact on the quantity of DNA recovered was observed when semen was exposed to 45 °C and 10% RH, with a higher median quantity of DNA recovered at day 28 compared to day 0. In contrast, when the RH was raised to 80%, the median quantity of DNA recovered was substantially less at day 28 (81.5 ng, IQR: 87.5 ng) compared to day 0 (181.5 ng, IQR: 1172.4 ng). This study highlights the impact that temperature and RH may have on the persistence of AP, PSA, sperm and DNA over time.

Humans↗