Association between maternal sexually transmitted diseases and birth defects in the United States: A nationwide population-based study.

Purpose: We estimated the association between maternal sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the risk of specific birth defects among live singleton births in the United States (US).

Methods: We conducted a population-based study using data from birth certificates for 14,602,822 live singleton births occurring from 2016 to 2019 in the US. We used logistic regression to estimate the associations between three maternal STDs (chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis) and the risk of four specific birth defects (gastroschisis, cleft lip with or without cleft palate, spina bifida, and hypospadias), adjusting for socio-demographic and pregnancy-related factors.

SuperGLUE facilitates an explainable training framework for multi-modal data analysis.

Single-cell multi-modal data integration has been an area of active research in recent years. However, it is difficult to unify the integration process of different omics in a pipeline and evaluate the contributions of data integration. In this article, we revisit the definition and contributions of multi-modal data integration and propose a strong and scalable method based on probabilistic deep learning with an explainable framework powered by statistical modeling to extract meaningful information after data integration.

Adults With Congenital Heart Disease Have an Increased Prevalence of Autoimmunity.

Background: Adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) individuals have increased risk of noncardiac comorbidities including cancer and infections. Whether they are at increased risk of autoimmunity is unknown.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to understand the association of ACHD and risk for autoimmunity.

Language impairment in temporal lobe epilepsy: insights from a meta-analysis of fMRI studies.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is frequently associated with language impairment. This meta-analysis quantitatively synthesized data from 12 functional neuroimaging studies, including 390 TLE patients and 356 healthy controls (age range: 8.1-70 years; 57.

ENLITE PD: A Randomized Clinical Trial of Light Therapy for Impaired Sleep in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Light therapy (LT) in Parkinson's disease improves sleep. Specific LT parameters require further study, including optimal frequency.

Objectives: We aimed to determine if once- or twice-daily bright white light therapy (BWLT) improves sleep.

Current Landscape of Children's Surgery in Africa: A Multicenter Analysis of 16,000 Cases.

Background: Although prior studies have estimated the burden of pediatric surgical disease in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through statistical modeling and hospital- or household-based surveys, few large-scale descriptions of procedures and outcomes have been published. We aimed to describe the epidemiology and outcomes of children's surgical care at multiple centers across Africa.

Methods: Perioperative clinical data were collected prospectively from 2018 to 2023 at 17 hospitals in 11 African countries using a preexisting tool.

Pridopidine in early-stage manifest Huntington's disease: a phase 3 trial.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a rare, neurodegenerative disorder for which only symptomatic treatments are available. The PROOF-HD study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of pridopidine, a selective Sigma-1 receptor agonist, in HD. The primary and key secondary endpoints, change in total functional capacity (TFC) and composite Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (cUHDRS) score at week 65, were not met in the overall population.

Impulsivity and neuroticism share distinct functional connectivity signatures with alcohol-use risk in youth.

Increases in impulsivity and negative affect (e.g., neuroticism) are common during adolescence and are both associated with risk for alcohol-use initiation and other risk behaviors.

A semi-empirical Bayes approach for calibrating weak instrumental bias in sex-specific Mendelian randomization studies.

Strong sex differences exist in sleep phenotypes and also cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, sex-specific causal effects of sleep phenotypes on CVD-related outcomes have not been thoroughly examined. Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis is a useful approach for estimating the causal effect of a risk factor on an outcome of interest when interventional studies are not available.

An Olive Oil-Based High-Fat Diet Promotes Obesity-Driven Metastasis of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Obesity is strongly associated with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving obesity-induced TNBC progression could facilitate development of precision dietary intervention strategies. Here, we used murine models of obesity induced by different high-fat diets (HFDs) to examine their impact on TNBC progression.

Topography and environmental deficiencies are associated with chikungunya virus exposure in urban informal settlements in Salvador, Brazil.

Background: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus with a significant global public health burden. Delineating the specific contributions of individual behaviour, household, natural and built environment to CHIKV transmission is important for reducing risk in urban informal settlements but challenging due to their heterogeneous environments. The aim of this study was to quantify variation in CHIKV seroprevalence between and within four urban communities in a large Brazilian city, and identify the respective contributions of individual, household, and environmental factors for seropositivity.

"An HIV Free Generation": A Qualitative Inquiry Into Mapping Intersectional Discourses of Preexposure Prophylaxis for Women Among Female Nurses in Rural South Africa.

South Africa has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world, with women and girls bearing the greatest burden. Although HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is effective, data on its implementation in rural South Africa remain limited. Our study explores how female nurses in Msinga, South Africa, navigate communal hopes and anxieties regarding PrEP for women.

Long COVID in People With Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Managing long COVID in people with multiple sclerosis and related disorders (pwMSRD) is complex due to overlapping symptoms. To address evidence gaps, we evaluated long COVID susceptibility in pwMSRD versus controls and its associations with multi-domain function and disability.

Methods: In this multicenter cross-sectional study, participants completed a survey covering 71 post-infection symptoms, distinguishing new-onset from worsening symptoms.

Children's Understanding of How Past Experience Shapes Future Expectations.

As adults, we do not expect ignorant agents to behave randomly or always get things wrong. Instead, we expect them to act reasonably, guided by past experiences. We test whether 4-to-6-year-olds share this intuition and use it to infer others' knowledge, or whether they rely on a simple "ignorance = error" heuristic identified in past work.

Autophagy and Bacterial infections.

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved cellular process that is prominent during bacterial infections. In this review article, we discuss how direct pathogen clearance via xenophagy and regulation of inflammatory products represent dual functions of autophagy that coordinate an effective antimicrobial response. We detail the molecular mechanisms of xenophagy, including signals that indicate the presence of an intracellular pathogen and autophagy receptor-mediated cargo targeting, while highlighting pathogen counterstrategies, such as bacterial effector proteins that inhibit autophagy initiation or exploit autophagic membranes for replication.

Outcomes and Safety of Catheter Ablation in the Elderly.

Catheter ablation has emerged as a first-line therapy for many arrhythmias. However, data on the safety and outcomes of catheter ablation in the elderly population remain limited. Here, we aimed to study the outcomes of catheter ablation in octogenarians.

Case Report: A novel CXCR4 variant (p.S341Y) in a family with a pathogenic NFKB1 variant and variable clinical manifestations.

WHIM syndrome is typically caused by C-terminal gain-of-function variants in , yet clinical heterogeneity suggests additional genetic modifiers. We investigated a family in which the 22-year-old proband harbored two heterozygous variants: a novel missense variant, c.1022C>A (p.

Multifunctional Binding Interface Drives Near-Unity CO Selectivity in Acidic CO Electrolysis.

The electrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO) reduction is challenged by the parasitic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) especially in acidic media. Here, we elaborate that redox-active isoindigo, acting as a multifunctional co-catalyst, can pre-activate CO-bound intermediates and suppress HER upon the synergistic effects of Lewis acid-base adduct formation, intramolecular hydrogen-bond interaction, and interfacial water structure modulation. Modifying a silver catalyst with isoindigo substantially decreases the energy barrier for CO-to-*COOH conversion, which is regarded as the potential-limiting step of carbon monoxide production.

Interfacial Self-Assembly of Sugars at Nanoscale Membranes Leads to Micron-Scale, Spectroscopically Ice-Like Chiral Suprastructures of Water.

Life requires chemical chiral specificity. The emergence of enantioselectivity is unknown but has been linked to diverse scenarios for the origin of life, ranging from an extraterrestrial origin to polarization-induced effects, and magnetic field-induced mineral templating. These scenarios require an originating mechanism and a subsequent enhancement step, leading to widespread chiral specificity.

Perceptions of the Benefits and Risks of Novel Therapies for Type 1 Diabetes: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: Novel therapies, including disease-modifying and cell replacement therapies, may preserve or replace beta cells in people with type 1 diabetes. This study sought to understand how people living with type 1 diabetes or caring for someone with type 1 diabetes perceive the benefits and risks of novel therapies.

Methods: Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 26 participants in the United States: four adolescents and 12 adults with type 1 diabetes, and 10 caregivers of children with type 1 diabetes.

Stentplasty for treating symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease following failure of medical therapy.

Purpose: Endovascular treatment of intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) remains challenging due to procedural risks and stroke recurrence. Previous trials have favored aggressive medical therapy. In patients refractory to medical therapy, 'stentplasty' using expandable and retrievable devices may provide a safer alternative to balloon angioplasty by allowing controlled submaximal vessel dilation without flow arrest.

Toward Imaging of the GABA Transporter Type 1 In Vivo: Quantitative Evaluation of 4 Novel PET Radiotracers in Nonhuman Primates.

The main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system is γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). GABA transporter type 1 (GAT-1) is the principal GABA transporter in the brain, and it plays a crucial role in modulating GABA signaling. Its potential role in several neuropsychiatric disorders makes it an important target to study.