Rapid post-release adaptation of released orphan elephants from a rescue centre to a national park in Sri Lanka based on faecal glucocorticoid metabolite analyses.

Rewilding and species reintroductions are increasingly important conservation strategies, involving both captive-bred and wild-rescued animals, with the goal of restoring ecosystems and supporting populations of threatened species. Over the past 30 years, the Elephant Transit Home in Sri Lanka has rescued and rehabilitated more than 150 orphaned elephant calves that were subsequently released back into the wild. Understanding how rehabilitation and release processes affect the welfare status of these calves can provide valuable information on factors affecting release outcomes.

Academic global health collaboration: the Ruhuna-Duke partnership.

The role of institutional partnerships is increasingly recognized as a means of advancing our collective efficacy in improving public health. Shared challenges related to infectious and chronic diseases, as well as social determinants of health including environmental stressors, have led to a growth in academic global health collaborations. Triggered by the 2004 tsunami, the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, and Duke University, USA, established an educational and research collaboration that has been sustained and broadened over two decades.

First clinical diagnosis of FAME3 via commercial Long-Read sequencing reveals mosaic repeat expansion in MARCHF6 gene.

Familial Adult Myoclonic Epilepsy type 3 (FAME3) is a rare autosomal dominant disorder characterized by cortical tremor and epilepsy, caused by a noncoding pentanucleotide repeat expansion (TTTTA/TTTCA) in the MARCHF6 gene. Conventional genetic testing often fails to detect this expansion due to its repetitive structure and intronic location. We evaluated a 61-year-old woman with refractory myoclonic and generalized tonic-clonic seizures, whose prior genetic testing-including exome and genome sequencing-was non-diagnostic.

Sex-stratified piRNA expression analysis reveals shared functional impacts of perinatal lead (Pb) exposure in murine hearts.

The landscape of PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) expression in the heart is poorly understood, particularly regarding sex differences. Altered piRNA expression has been reported in cardiovascular disease (CVD), and although exposure to the metal lead (Pb) is strongly associated with CVD risk, no studies have investigated Pb's effects on cardiac piRNAs. This study aimed to characterize piRNA expression in the murine heart and assess sex-specific effects of human-relevant maternal Pb exposure on adult offspring cardiac piRNA expression.

Psychometric properties of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale: a systematic review.

Background: Patient reported outcomes are increasingly being assessed in many studies due to the demand for reliable and valid measures that enable assessment of such outcomes and comparison of scores between different populations. The Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) and its shorter version (SWEMWBS) are widely used questionnaires that assess subjective mental well-being at the population level. The scales have been translated into many languages and are being used in a variety of settings to assess well-being.