Introduction Preterm infants exhibit heightened vulnerability to morbidity and mortality due to their underdeveloped immune systems and immature gastrointestinal tract. The gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in neonatal health, yet its establishment is influenced by multiple factors, including prematurity, antibiotic exposure, and feeding modalities. This study aimed to examine the interactions among gut bacteriophages, bacterial communities, and clinical variables in preterm infants to identify potential microbial biomarkers associated with health outcomes. Methods We employed metagenomic shotgun sequencing and co-occurrence network analysis to characterize the virome and bacterial communities in 12 preterm neonates at 14 and 28 days post-birth. This approach enabled the identification of dynamic microbial colonization patterns and key bacterial species and bacteriophages associated with clinical parameters. Results Staphylococcus epidermidis exhibited a significant decline over time, whereas Enterococcus faecalis and its associated bacteriophages showed progressive enrichment, becoming predominant by day 28. In contrast, the relative abundances of Clostridioides difficile and Klebsiella pneumoniae remained statistically stable between the two time points (14 vs. 28 days). Discussion These findings suggest that microbial changes during the first month of life may reflect a combination of host developmental processes and external influences, such as antibiotic exposure or delivery mode. The observed microbial signatures provide preliminary insights into early gut microbiota and virome development in preterm infants. However, their functional relevance and long-term stability require confirmation in larger, well-powered longitudinal studies with denser temporal sampling. The enrichment of Enterococcus faecalis may indicate its opportunistic colonization potential in the preterm gut and warrants further investigation regarding its role in gut homeostasis and immune system maturation.

Tularemia is a rare zoonotic infection most often acquired through exposure to infected animals, arthropods, or contaminated food or water. Diagnosis typically involves serologic or PCR testing, but histopathologic findings can be a clue to the diagnosis. Here, we present a case of inguinal lymphadenopathy in an adolescent patient with a history of multiple animal exposures and possible tick bite. Excisional lymph node biopsy showed necrotizing granulomatous inflammation, and the clinical history, histologic findings, and serologic results together led to the diagnosis of ulceroglandular tularemia. This report adds to the limited available literature on the histopathologic findings of tularemia lymphadenitis and discusses the importance of including this entity in the differential diagnosis for necrotizing granulomatous disease.

Alterations in cardiometabolic markers associated with Canada-wide and sector-specific multiple air pollutant exposures.

Arboviral antibody biomarkers and fetomaternal outcomes in pregnant women with and without HIV across Nigeria: A multi-regional cross-sectional study.

Perinatal exposure to polystyrene microplastics induces multigenerational impairment of male reproduction via disrupted steroidogenesis and proteostasis.

Translational toxicokinetics of chloromethylisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone: Radioactivity-associated materials-physiologically based toxicokinetic modeling and human dose extrapolation.

Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) or neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and highly active disease may benefit from early post partum reinitiation of disease-modifying therapy (DMT), but safety data to monoclonal antibody (mAb) use while breastfeeding are limited. This study examined infant development and health following potential mAb exposure during breastfeeding. A prospective monocentric cohort study of infants, born in 2013-2022, in the German MS and Pregnancy Registry, followed up 6-36 months post partum via telephone interviews. 183 infants breastfed during maternal mAb therapy (mAb use during breastfeeding (mAb-BF)) were matched 1:1 (DMT pregnancy exposure) to infants of DMT-naïve mothers (no-DMT-BF). Primary outcomes included developmental delay, systemic antibiotic use, hospitalisation, severe infection and growth. Adjusted regression models estimated the beta coefficient, OR or rate ratio with 95% CI. The study included 366 infants. Among 183 mAb-BF infants, most were breastfed on natalizumab (n=125), followed by ocrelizumab (n=34), rituximab (n=11) and ofatumumab (n=10); three had multiple exposures. Developmental delays occurred in 8.2% mAb-BF and in 7.1% no-DMT-BF infants (p=0.844). A comparable number of infants used a systemic antibiotic (n=33/183, 18.0% vs n=29/183, 15.8%; p=0.676), were hospitalised (n=18/183, 9.8% vs 19/183, 10.4%; p=1.000) or had a severe infection (n=14/183, 7.7% vs n=13/183, 7.1%; p=1.000). The physical growth and adjusted model outcomes were also similar. The results indicate that infants of mothers with neuroimmunological diseases, breastfed under mAbs, did not experience negative consequences for their development and health within the initial 6-36 months of life. This may encourage mothers with highly active disease to breastfeed.

The detection limit of astronomical imaging observations is limited by several noise sources. Some of that noise is correlated between neighboring pixels and exposures, so in principle could be learned and corrected. We present the Astronomical Self-supervised Transformer-based Denoising (ASTERIS) algorithm, which integrates spatiotemporal information across multiple exposures. Benchmarking on mock data indicates that ASTERIS improves detection limits by 1.0 magnitude at 90% completeness and purity, while preserving the point spread function and photometric accuracy. Observational validation using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Subaru telescope identifies previously undetectable features, including low-surface-brightness galaxy structures and gravitationally-lensed arcs. Applied to deep JWST images, ASTERIS identifies three times more redshift ≳ 9 galaxy candidates than previous methods, with rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity 1.0 magnitude fainter.

Background Micro/nanoplastics (MNP) have emerged as ubiquitous environmental contaminants with demonstrated bioaccumulation potential in organisms through multiple exposure pathways, posing substantial health risks globally. While mounting evidence indicates that MNP exposure adversely affects various organ systems including the nervous, reproductive, and digestive systems, the specific mechanisms underlying MNP-induced thyrotoxicity remain enigmatic. Methods 4-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were administered microplastics (MP, 5 μm) or nanoplastics (NP, 50 nm) via intragastric gavage at 30 mg/kg for 4 and 8 weeks. The thyroid architecture and endocrine function were evaluated by histological staining and thyroid hormones ELISA kit. The expression of apoptosis indicators (BCL2, BAX, CASPASE3), inflammatory factors (IL-1β, IL-18, TNF-α) and pyroptosis related-proteins (NLRP3, CASPASE1 and GSDMD), as well as the activity of NF-κB signaling were determined by immunofluorescence. Results We found that MNP exposure induces significant thyrotoxicity characterized by disrupted thyroid follicular architecture, comprised endocrine function, heightened apoptosis, and excessive inflammatory cytokines production, with NP exhibiting a more pronounced effect than MP. Mechanistically, MNP exposure stimulated thyroid follicular cell pyroptosis by upregulation of key pyroptotic mediators including NLRP3, CASPASE1, and GSDMD, driven by NF-κB signaling pathway activation. Conclusion Collectively, these findings provide novel mechanistic insights into MNP-induced thyroid toxicity and highlight the critical role of follicular cell pyroptosis, contributing to our understanding of the adverse health consequences associated with environmental plastic pollution.

Improving healthy food access is one of the most effective strategies to promote healthy eating. However, few studies examined the spatiotemporal characteristics of both healthy and unhealthy food outlets with both absolute and relative metrics and their socioeconomic disparities at a granular scale over time. We aimed to (1) examine the spatiotemporal characteristics of the healthy and unhealthy food environment (characterized by three complementary absolute and relative metrics) in Wuhan, China, during 2012-2022 and (2) investigate the socioeconomic disparities in multidimensional food environments over time. We found that healthy food outlets and unhealthy food outlets were spatially clustered in the same areas rather than being spatially separated. They were co-evolving with an increasing trend over time. In contrast, some areas with only healthy food outlets have transitioned to areas with mixed food availability. Further, healthy and unhealthy food outlets tend to be spatially concentrated in areas with higher socioeconomic status (SES), especially in highly populated areas. This study contributed to the literature by capturing a more holistic and dynamic picture of the urban foodscape over a 10-year period in Wuhan, China; and improving nuanced understanding of the socioeconomic disparities in the multidimensional food environment at a granular scale over time. Our complementary absolute and relative food accessibility metrics could help advance the characterization of healthy-related multiple environment exposures. Our findings could inform equity-based interventions to improve healthy food access in disadvantaged areas with lower socioeconomic status.

To detail acute and delayed contrast reactions associated with contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) in a prospective screening trial. In an institutional review board-approved protocol from October 2019 through July 2024, women with personal history of breast cancer received up to 3 rounds of annual supplemental screening CEM. Intravenous iopamidol (370 mg/mL) was administered via automated injector. Adverse events within 1 week of contrast administration were recorded. A total of 1651 women (mean age at entry: 63.2 years) received 3873 contrast injections (1651, 1326, and 896 in years 1, 2, and 3, respectively). Among 3873 injections, we observed 38 (0.98%) contrast reactions in 35 unique participants, including 25/3873 (0.65%) allergic-like reactions (15/1651 [0.91%] in year 1, 7/1326 [0.53%] in year 2, and 3/896 [0.33%] in year 3), 9/3873 (0.23%) physiologic reactions, and 4/3873 (0.10%) other reactions. Of 25 allergic-like reactions, 20 (80%) were cutaneous (hives/rash). One participant had bronchospasm, 1 had scratchy throat, 1 had shortness of breath, 1 sneezed repeatedly, and 1 had watery eyes. Five allergic-like reactions were delayed, including hives in 4 (2 at 1 day, 1 at 2-3 days, and one 7 days later) and watery eyes in 1; 2 physiologic reactions were delayed. Two of 25 reactions were immediate, and imaging was not completed; medication was given to 15/25 (60%). Allergic-like reactions occurred in 14/3328 (0.42%) examinations in women with prior uneventful iodinated contrast exposure, 10/510 (1.96%) among those naïve to contrast (P <.001), and 1 woman with recurrent but initially unreported reaction in year 1. No allergic-like reactions were observed in 34 examinations (19 women) premedicated for prior allergic contrast reaction. We observed a low rate and usually mild severity of adverse reactions to iodinated contrast in CEM with trained staff.

Background: The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency classifies healthcare workers (HCWs) into five groups based on Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure risk and potential transmission impact to guide TB screening strategies. However, data on actual exposure frequency and latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) incidence across these classifications remain limited. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of HCWs at a tertiary hospital between 2023 and 2024. Baseline LTBI screening was performed for all staff, with annual follow-up testing for Groups 1-4 according to national guidelines. TB exposure history and frequency were investigated and documented by the infection prevention department. LTBI incidence was assessed among HCWs with a negative test in 2023 who underwent repeat testing in 2024. Results: Among 2116 HCWs (27.7% male; mean age, 33 years), TB exposure rates increased with higher risk classification (Group 1: 46.9%, Group 2: 31.3%, Group 3: 18.5%, Group 4: 1.2%, Group 5: 0.6%; p < 0.001), as did the mean number of exposure events per person (1.39, 0.74, 0.31, 0.01, and 0.01, respectively; p < 0.001). The incidence of LTBI was 13/1323 (1.0%). After adjustment, LTBI incidence was associated with ≥2 TB exposure events (adjusted OR, 7.03; 95% CI, 1.87-26.36; p = 0.005), but did not differ significantly by group classification. Conclusions: This study suggests that occupational classification effectively predicts the frequency of TB exposure among healthcare workers. However, LTBI incidence is more closely associated with multiple TB exposure events rather than occupational classification.

Chinese children aged 8 to 10 years can utilize character positional probability-the likelihood of a character appearing at initial or final word positions-as a cue to facilitate word segmentation and identification during novel word learning. Given the distinct roles of initial and final characters in Chinese word recognition, we conducted two parallel experiments to investigate how positional probability influences children's processing during reading. Sixteen two-character pseudowords were constructed as novel target words. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the positional probability of the initial character while keeping the final character constant. In Experiment 2, we reversed this manipulation for the final characters. Each novel word was embedded in six semantically constrained sentence frames. Forty-five children's eye movements were recorded as they read these sentences. Results revealed that novel words containing characters with high positional probability in their preferred positions elicited shorter fixation durations compared to those with low positional probability characters. This effect emerged earlier for initial than for final characters, suggesting that Chinese children are sensitive to positional probability cues associated with both initial and final characters when learning new words during reading, but with a processing advantage for initial characters. Moreover, the positional probability effects remained stable across multiple exposures, indicating that children consistently rely sub-lexical cues such as positional probability before fully forming new lexical representations. Our findings highlight the protracted nature of lexical learning in children and their extended reliance on statistical positional information during early stage of lexical acquisition.

The four dengue virus serotypes (DENV1-4) cause the most prevalent human mosquito-borne viral disease. Dengue is a febrile disease that often results in debilitating body pain and can rapidly progress to severe disease involving shock. People are generally protected after multiple exposures to different serotypes. Memory B cells (MBCs) can contribute to lasting protection against subsequent dengue. To understand how these rare DENV-specific MBCs develop over multiple exposures, we compared samples from cases with primary versus secondary (i.e., multiple) DENV infections. We found that instead of a higher frequency of total DENV-specific MBCs, particular subsets of DENV-specific MBCs were higher and peaked later after multiple exposures. This suggests that a qualitative shift in DENV-specific MBCs may contribute to protective immunity.

We introduce a simple yet effective technique for estimating lighting from a single low-dynamic-range (LDR) image by reframing the task as a chrome ball inpainting problem. This approach leverages a pre-trained diffusion model, Stable Diffusion XL, to overcome the generalization failures of existing methods that rely on limited HDR panorama datasets. While conceptually simple, the task remains challenging because diffusion models often insert incorrect or inconsistent content and cannot readily generate chrome balls in HDR format. Our analysis reveals that the inpainting process is highly sensitive to the initial noise in the diffusion process, occasionally resulting in unrealistic outputs. To address this, we first introduce DiffusionLight [1], which uses iterative inpainting to compute a median chrome ball from multiple outputs to serve as a stable, low-frequency lighting prior that guides the generation of a high-quality final result. To generate high-dynamic-range (HDR) light probes, an Exposure LoRA is fine-tuned to create LDR images at multiple exposure values, which are then merged. While effective, DiffusionLight is time-intensive, requiring approximately 30 minutes per estimation. To reduce this overhead, we introduce DiffusionLight- Turbo, which reduces the runtime to about 30 seconds with minimal quality loss. This 60x speedup is achieved by training a Turbo LoRA to directly predict the averaged chrome balls from the iterative process. Inference is further streamlined into a single denoising pass using a LoRA swapping technique. Experimental results that show our method produces convincing light estimates across diverse settings and demonstrates superior generalization to in-the-wild scenarios. Our code is available at https://diffusionlight.github.io/turbo.

Sex-specific individual and joint associations of multiple environmental exposures with diabetes and obesity in the population-based German National Cohort (NAKO).

Contributions of life-course circumstances to the cognitive function in later life: A retrospective study among Chinese older adults.

Hypospadias is one of the most common genital defects in boys, affecting about 1 in 125 live-born boys. Several studies have examined the association between a single environmental exposure and risk of hypospadias, but few have examined the possible effects of multiple environmental exposures simultaneously. Thus, we aimed to address this gap by examining the association between cumulative maternal prenatal environmental exposures and hypospadias occurrence in offspring. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from 2006 to 2010 Arkansas environmental quality index (EQI), its domains (air, water, land, sociodemographic, and built) and related county-level estimates, matched to data on infants diagnosed with hypospadias and identified from the Arkansas Reproductive Health Monitoring System born 2005-2012. We classified the EQI and its domains into quartiles. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% CI were estimated with Poisson regression analyses with cluster-robust standard error to estimate the association between EQI and the prevalence of hypospadias. There was no statistically significant association between boys born in areas with fair environmental quality compared to those born in areas with better environmental quality (adjusted PR = 1.01; 95% CI = 0.86, 1.18). For the air domain, we observed a higher prevalence of hypospadias among boys born to women living in areas with fair air quality compared to those living in areas with excellent air quality (adjusted PR = 1.18; 95% CI = 1.01, 1.39). Our results suggest that there was no significant association between overall poor environmental quality index and the prevalence of hypospadias. However, poorer air quality was associated with a higher prevalence of hypospadias among offspring.

Preferential boosting of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron lineage-specific immune responses by monovalent XBB.1.5 vaccination.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of synthetic chemicals characterized by a fluorinated carbon chain that confers unique physicochemical properties. Widely used in industrial and consumer products, including textiles, food packaging, and firefighting foams, PFAS are highly persistent in the environment, earning them the designation of "forever chemicals." Their stability contributes to their widespread diffusion across different environmental compartments (water, soil, air) and multiple exposure pathways (e.g., diet). These lead to PFAS bioaccumulation and biomagnification, which poses a substantial threat to both ecosystems and human health. Exposure to PFAS has been associated with a range of adverse health effects, including liver damage, thyroid disease, immunotoxicity, reproductive issues, and various cancers in both humans and animals. While regulatory efforts have led to the phase-out of long-chain PFAS such as perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), emerging research suggest that their short-chain replacements may also raise health concerns. This review applies a One Health framework to explore the interconnected impacts of these contaminants on human, animal, and environmental health. Furthermore, it highlights knowledge gaps that hinder comprehensive risk assessment and management, emphasizing the need for a globally coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to address the multifaceted challenges posed by PFAS.