Racial Affinity Caucuses (RACs) as Anti-Racist Pedagogy in an Epidemiology Course.

The University of Washington Department of Epidemiology launched a quarterly virtual anti-racism journal club in spring 2020. After two quarters, students expressed concerns that white students dominated discussions. Students and instructors worked together to amplify the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students using racial affinity caucuses (RACs) as a pedagogical intervention before classroom discussions.

Tuning DLVO Interactions Alters Polymer-Mediated pDNA Delivery in a Cell Type-Dependent Manner.

Polycations bind, protect, and deliver nucleic acid payloads, such as plasmids (pDNA), mRNA, and genome editor proteins, overcoming steep intracellular gene delivery barriers. The size of polycation-pDNA complexes (termed polyplexes) governs transgene expression, cell viability, and cellular internalization pathways. However, researchers struggle to decouple the effect of polyplex size from polycation composition.

: a roundtable on addressing gynaecological health through the life course in South Asia.

A roundtable on gynaecological health in South Asia engaged speakers from four countries to share insights on the current context, challenges and priorities for action in the region. Women's gynaecological needs beyond maternal health are overlooked in most settings, with common ailments underdiagnosed or untreated. While over-medicalisation and a lack of data and evidence are two common challenges, midwife-led programmes, investment in primary health care and nationwide data collection on gynaecological health are promising initiatives.

Beyond the pill: Understanding barriers and enablers to oral and long-acting injectable PrEP among women in sex work in Zambia.

Women engaging in sex work (WESW) in low- and middle-income countries face a disproportionately high risk of HIV infection. This study explores enablers and barriers to the uptake and persistence of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and long-acting injectable PrEP (LAI-PrEP) among WESW in Lusaka, Zambia. We evaluated Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation behavioral domains, using the COM-B model, which affectied behavioral engagement with PrEP services among newly-initiated WESW from community-based safe spaces.

Antimicrobial resistance in a protracted war setting: a review of the literature from Palestine.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an escalating global health crisis. In war-affected regions, where healthcare systems are already compromised, AMR presents an even greater threat. The occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), subjected to chronic war-like conditions, have experienced extensive fragmentation, de-development, and destruction of healthcare.

Glucose- and glutamine-driven de novo nucleotide synthesis facilitates WSSV replication in shrimp.

Background: Viruses rely on host metabolism to complete their replication cycle. White spot syndrome virus (WSSV), a major pathogen in shrimp aquaculture, hijacks host metabolic pathways to fulfill its biosynthetic and energetic needs. Previous studies have demonstrated that WSSV promotes aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect) and glutaminolysis during its replication stage (12 hpi).

Dissecting autonomy in a resource-constrained setting: a descriptive qualitative study of women's decisions on the surgical treatment of early breast cancer in northern Sri Lanka.

Breast cancer treatment is a contested space in which therapeutic decisions often collide with women's values and preferences. In northern Sri Lanka, mastectomy remains the mainstay of surgical treatment of early breast cancer (EBC) despite evidence of equivalent survival following breast conserving surgery (BCS) and radiotherapy. This study explores autonomy in decision-making among women with EBC who were eligible for BCS and underwent mastectomy in northern Sri Lanka.

Whole mitochondrial genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of Gangetic mystus ().

, known as Gangetic mystus, is a freshwater indigenous catfish. The present study represents the first-ever complete mitochondrial genome sequencing of . The whole mitochondrial genome size is 16,554 bp (GenBank accession number OR018997).

Machine Learning Elucidates Design Features of Plasmid Deoxyribonucleic Acid Lipid Nanoparticles for Cell Type-Preferential Transfection.

To broaden the accessibility of cell and gene therapies, it is essential to develop and optimize nonviral, cell type-preferential gene carriers such as lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). While high-throughput screening (HTS) approaches have proven effective in accelerating LNP discovery, they are often costly, labor-intensive, and do not consistently yield actionable design rules that direct screening efforts toward the most relevant chemical and formulation parameters. In this study, we employed a machine learning (ML) workflow, utilizing well-curated plasmid DNA LNP transfection data sets across six cell types, to extract compositional and chemical insights from HTS studies.

Why do women with early breast cancer in Northern Sri Lanka undergo mastectomy? Decision-making and ways forward.

Background: Despite robust evidence confirming equivalent survival rates and better cosmetic outcomes with breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and radiotherapy compared to mastectomy, the rates of mastectomy among women with early breast cancer have not declined significantly in Sri Lanka. This study explores views on the surgical treatment of breast cancer among Northern Sri Lankan women who were eligible for BCS but underwent mastectomy.

Methods: An exploratory descriptive qualitative study was carried out among 15 women who underwent mastectomy for early breast cancer.

The Spatial Distribution of Lipophilic Cations in Gradient Copolymers Regulates Polymer-pDNA Complexation, Polyplex Aggregation, and Intracellular pDNA Delivery.

Here, we demonstrate that the spatial distribution of lipophilic cations governs the complexation pathways, serum stability, and biological performance of polymer-pDNA complexes (polyplexes). Previous research focused on block/statistical copolymers, whereas gradient copolymers, where the density of lipophilic cations diminishes (gradually or steeply) along polymer backbones, remain underexplored. We engineered gradient copolymers that combine the polyplex colloidal stability of block copolymers with the transfection efficiency of statistical copolymers.

Mixed-methods protocol for the WiSSPr study: Women in Sex work, Stigma and psychosocial barriers to Pre-exposure prophylaxis in Zambia.

Introduction: Women engaging in sex work (WESW) have 21 times the risk of HIV acquisition compared with the general population. However, accessing HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) remains challenging, and PrEP initiation and persistence are low due to stigma and related psychosocial factors. The WiSSPr (Women in Sex work, Stigma and PrEP) study aims to (1) estimate the effect of multiple stigmas on PrEP initiation and persistence and (2) qualitatively explore the enablers and barriers to PrEP use for WESW in Lusaka, Zambia.

Low salinity stress increases the risk of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection and gut microbiota dysbiosis in Pacific white shrimp.

Background: Extreme precipitation events often cause sudden drops in salinity, leading to disease outbreaks in shrimp aquaculture. Evidence suggests that environmental stress increases animal host susceptibility to pathogens. However, the mechanisms of how low salinity stress induces disease susceptibility remain poorly understood.

Poly(l-glutamic acid) augments the transfection performance of lipophilic polycations by overcoming tradeoffs among cytotoxicity, pDNA delivery efficiency, and serum stability.

Polycations are scalable and affordable nanocarriers for delivering therapeutic nucleic acids. Yet, cationicity-dependent tradeoffs between nucleic acid delivery efficiency, cytotoxicity, and serum stability hinder clinical translation. Typically, the most efficient polycationic vehicles also tend to be the most toxic.

Synergistic Polymer Blending Informs Efficient Terpolymer Design and Machine Learning Discerns Performance Trends for pDNA Delivery.

Cationic polymers offer an alternative to viral vectors in nucleic acid delivery. However, the development of polymer vehicles capable of high transfection efficiency and minimal toxicity has remained elusive, and continued exploration of the vast design space is required. Traditional single polymer syntheses with large monomer bases are very time-intensive, limiting the speed at which new formulations are identified.

Mortality among persons with tuberculosis in Zambian hospitals: A retrospective cohort study.

Tuberculosis (TB) mortality in Zambia remains high at 86 per 100,000 populations, translating to approximately 15,000 TB-related deaths annually. We conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study to understand predictors, time to death, and probable causes of mortality among persons on TB treatment in Zambia. We reviewed medical records for persons with TB registered in 54 purposively selected hospitals in Zambia between January and December 2019.

"Current", "heated rods", and "hot vapour": why patients refuse radiotherapy as a treatment modality for cancer in northern Sri Lanka.

Purpose: Significant proportions of patients either refuse or discontinue radiotherapy, even in the curative setting, leading to poor clinical outcomes. This study explores patient perceptions that underlie decisions to refuse/discontinue radiotherapy at a cancer care facility in northern Sri Lanka.

Methods: An exploratory descriptive qualitative study was carried out among 14 purposively selected patients with cancer who refused/discontinued radiotherapy.

Decolonising global health research: Shifting power for transformative change.

Recent debates on decolonizing global health have spurred interest in addressing the power asymmetries and knowledge hierarchies that sustain colonial ideas and relationships in global health research. This paper applies three intersecting dimensions of colonialism (colonialism within global health; colonisation of global health; and colonialism through global health) to develop a broader and more structural understanding of the policies and actions needed to decolonise global health research. It argues that existing guidelines and checklists designed to make global health research more equitable do not adequately address the underlying power asymmetries and biases that prevail across the global health research ecosystem.

Developing an agenda for the decolonization of global health.

Colonialism, which involves the systemic domination of lands, markets, peoples, assets, cultures or political institutions to exploit, misappropriate and extract wealth and resources, affects health in many ways. In recent years, interest has grown in the decolonization of global health with a focus on correcting power imbalances between high-income and low-income countries and on challenging ideas and values of some wealthy countries that shape the practice of global health. We argue that decolonization of global health must also address the relationship between global health actors and contemporary forms of colonialism, in particular the current forms of corporate and financialized colonialism that operate through globalized systems of wealth extraction and profiteering.

Identification of a novel, MSC-induced macrophage subtype via single-cell sequencing: implications for intervertebral disc degeneration therapy.

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is a common pathological condition associated with low back pain. Recent evidence suggests that mesenchymal signaling cells (MSCs) promote IVD regeneration, but underlying mechanisms remain poorly defined. One postulated mechanism is via modulation of macrophage phenotypes.

Shrimp SIRT4 promotes white spot syndrome virus replication.

In WSSV pathogenesis, the molecular mechanisms and the key host factors that regulate the viral replication and morphogenesis remain unclear. However, like most viruses, WSSV is known to induce metabolic reprogramming in several metabolic pathways including the host glutamine metabolism, and several recent reports have suggested that the sirtuins SIRT3, SIRT4, and SIRT5, which belong to a family of NAD-dependent deacetylases, play an important role in this regulation. Here we focus on characterizing LvSIRT4 from Litopenaeus vannamei and investigate its role in regulating glutamine dehydrogenase (GDH), an important enzyme that promotes glutaminolysis and viral replication.

Machine Learning Elucidates Design Features of Plasmid DNA Lipid Nanoparticles for Cell Type-Preferential Transfection.

For cell and gene therapies to become more broadly accessible, it is critical to develop and optimize non-viral cell type-preferential gene carriers such as lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). Despite the effectiveness of high throughput screening (HTS) approaches in expediting LNP discovery, they are often costly, labor-intensive, and often do not provide actionable LNP design rules that focus screening efforts on the most relevant chemical and formulation parameters. Here we employed a machine learning (ML) workflow using well-curated plasmid DNA LNP transfection datasets across six cell types to maximize chemical insights from HTS studies and has achieved predictions with 5-9% error on average depending on cell type.