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Journal articleWhitaker M, Rodrigues S, Cooke G, et al., 2025,
How COVID-19 affected academic publishing: a three-year study of 17 million research papers
, International Journal of Epidemiology, ISSN: 0300-5771 -
Journal articleGregson S, Moorhouse L, Maswera R, et al., 2025,
Gender Norms and Structural Barriers to Use of HIV Prevention in Unmarried and Married Young Women in Manicaland, Zimbabwe: An HIV Prevention Cascade Analysis
, Gates Open Research, Vol: 8, Pages: 22-22<ns3:p>Background Gender norms against adolescent girls and young women (AGYW)’s having pre-marital sex and using condoms in marriage are included as barriers to motivation to use condoms in HIV prevention cascades. Representative data on gender norms are needed to test this assumption. Methods General-population survey participants in Manicaland, Zimbabwe (ages≥15, N=9803) reported agreement/disagreement with statements on gender norms. AGYW at risk of HIV infection reported whether community views discouraged condom use. Multivariable logistic regression was used to measure associations between AGYW’s perceiving negative gender norms and condom HIV prevention cascades. Results 57% of men and 70% of women disagreed that ‘If I have a teenage daughter and she has sex before marriage, I would be ok with this’; and 41% of men and 57% of women disagreed that ‘If I have a teenage daughter, I would tell her about condoms’. 32% and 69% of sexually-active HIV-negative unmarried AGYW, respectively, said negative community views were important in their decisions to use condoms and their friends were not using condoms. In each case, those who agreed had lower motivation to use condoms. Fewer unmarried AGYW with friends not using condoms used condoms themselves (39% <ns3:italic>vs.</ns3:italic> 68%; age- and site-adjusted odds ratios (aOR)=0.29, 95%CI, 0.15-0.55). 21% of men and 32.5% of women found condom use in marriage acceptable. 74% and 93% of married AGYW at risk, respectively, said negative community views influenced their decisions to use condoms and their friends did not use condoms. Fewer married AGYW reporting friends not using condoms were motivated to use condoms but no difference was found in their own condom use (4.1% <ns3:italic>vs.</ns3:italic> 6.9%; aOR=0.57, 95%CI, 0.08-2.66). Conclusions Negative gender norms can form a barrier to motivation to use condoms in unmarried and married AGYW at r
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Journal articleDan S, Ling Z, Chen Y, et al., 2025,
Addressing survey fatigue bias in longitudinal social contact studies to improve pandemic preparedness
, Scientific Reports, Vol: 15, ISSN: 2045-2322Social contact surveys are an important tool to assess infection risks within populations, and the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions on social behaviour during disease outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics. Numerous longitudinal social contact surveys were conducted during the COVID-19 era, however data analysis is plagued by survey fatigue, a phenomenon whereby the average number of social contacts reported declines with the number of repeat participations and as participants’ engagement decreases over time. Using data from the German COVIMOD Study between April 2020 to December 2021, we demonstrate that survey fatigue varied considerably by sociodemographic factors and was consistently strongest among parents reporting children contacts (parental proxy reporting), students, middle-aged individuals, those in full-time employment and those self-employed. We find further that, when using data from first-time participants as gold standard, statistical models incorporating a simple logistic function to control for survey fatigue were associated with substantially improved estimation accuracy relative to models with no survey fatigue adjustments, and that no cap on the number of repeat participations was required. These results indicate that existing longitudinal contact survey data can be meaningfully interpreted under an easy-to-implement statistical approach addressing survey fatigue confounding, and that longitudinal designs including repeat participants are a viable option for future social contact survey designs.
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Journal articleSlavinska A, Jauneikaite E, Meškytė U, et al., 2025,
Genomic characterization of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from normally sterile human body fluids in Lithuania from 2016 to 2021
, Microbial Genomics, Vol: 11, ISSN: 2057-5858Listeria monocytogenes is a saprophytic gram-positive bacterium and opportunistic foodborne pathogen that can cause listeriosis in humans. The incidence of listeriosis has been rising globally and, despite antimicrobial treatment, the mortality rates associated with the most severe forms of listeriosis such as sepsis, meningitis and meningoencephalitis remain high. The notification of listeriosis in humans is mandatory in Lithuania, and up to 20 cases are reported annually. However, no studies have described the detailed virulence and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of any clinical L. monocytogenes strains in Lithuania. Accordingly, this study aimed to describe the antibiotic susceptibility of invasive L. monocytogenes and perform in-depth characterization of strains isolated from patients with neuroinfections through whole-genome sequencing. A total of 70 isolates were collected, mostly from infected patients aged 65 or older, between 2016 and 2021 : 41 (58.6%) from blood, 19 (27.1%) from cerebrospinal fluid, 5 (7.1%) from wounds, 1 (1.4%) from pleural fluid and 1 (1.4%) from a brain abscess. Two phylogenetic lineages were identified—I (n = 16/70, 22.9%) and II (n = 54/70, 77.1%)—along with three serogroups—IIa (n = 53/70, 75.7%), IVb (n = 16/70, 22.9%), and IIc (n = 1/70, 1.4%). Genomic analysis of 20 isolates showed a high level of diversity with seven genotypes: ST6 (n = 6), ST155 (n = 5), ST8 (n = 4), ST504 (n = 2) and singletons for ST37, ST451 and ST2. Phylogenetic analysis clustered these isolates into two clades defined by serogroups IVb and IIa. Notably, five isolates were clustered tightly together (difference of 6–48 core SNPs from reference and 0, 4 or 44 SNPs from each other) with ST155, previously reported in a European outbreak. Comparison with publicly available L. monocytogenes genomes did not identify unique clusters or genotypes. No acquired antimicrobial resistance genes were identified. Our study highlights
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Journal articleRomanello M, Beggs PJ, Cai W, et al., 2025,
From crisis to opportunity: a united response to Trump's attacks on climate action
, Lancet, Vol: 405, Pages: 1647-1650, ISSN: 0140-6736 -
Journal articleCluver L, Makangila G, Hillis S, et al., 2025,
Protecting Africa's children from extreme risk: a runway of sustainability for PEPFAR programmes
, Lancet, Vol: 405, Pages: 1700-1712, ISSN: 0140-6736PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), a landmark US foreign health policy, is recognised for saving 26 million lives from HIV. PEPFAR investments have also had life-saving impacts for children across sub-Saharan Africa through childhood HIV prevention, care, and treatment, ensuring 7·8 million babies were born HIV-free, supporting 13 million orphaned and vulnerable children, and protecting 10·3 million girls from sexual abuse. In this Health Policy, we review data from UNAIDS, UNICEF, World Bank, Violence Against Children Surveys, SPECTRUM model data, and Population-based HIV Impact Assessments; synthesise PEPFAR reports; conduct in-depth interviews; search PubMed for programme effectiveness evidence; and review economic reports. PEPFAR support is associated with substantial collateral benefits for the USA and Africa, including a four-fold increase in export of US goods to Africa, and US$71·6 billion in total goods trade between the USA and Africa in 2024. PEPFAR-supported countries in Africa are committed to ownership of HIV responses by 2030—overall, PEPFAR-supported countries in sub-Saharan Africa have progressively increased their co-financing of their health systems through domestic government and private expenditure from $13·7 billion per year in 2004 to $42·6 billion per year in 2021. The feasibility of a 5-year transition to country-led sustainability is supported by evidence of innovative cost-saving models of delivery, including through faith-based and community-based organisations, and high return-on-investment for PEPFAR programmes. There are also collateral benefits of PEPFAR for US and Africa national security and health security, for example, reducing forced migration and increasing capacity to control emerging transborder infectious disease threats. Risks in sub-Saharan Africa remain acute: one in five girls (younger than 18 years) experience rape or sexual assault; one in ten children (younger
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Journal articleRawson T, Morgenstern C, Knock E, et al., 2025,
A mathematical model of H5N1 influenza transmission in US dairy cattle
, Nature Communications, ISSN: 2041-1723 -
Journal articleMousa A, Cuomo-Dannenburg G, Thompson H, et al., 2025,
Impact of dhps mutations on sulfadoxine pyrimethamine protective efficacy and implications for malaria chemoprevention
, Nature Communications, Vol: 16, ISSN: 2041-1723Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is recommended for perennial malaria chemoprevention in young children in high burden areas across Africa. Mutations in the dihydropteroate synthase (dhps) gene (437 G/540E/581 G) associated with sulfadoxine resistance vary regionally, but their effect on SP protective efficacy is unclear. We retrospectively analyse time to microscopy and PCR-confirmed re-infection in seven efficacy trials including 1639 participants in 12 sites across Africa. We estimate the duration of SP protection against parasites with different genotypes using a Bayesian mathematical model that accounts for variation in transmission intensity and genotype frequencies. The longest duration of SP protection is >42 days against dhps sulfadoxine-susceptible parasites and 30.3 days (95%Credible Interval (CrI):17.1-45.1) against the West-African genotype dhps GKA (437G-K540-A581). A shorter duration of protection is estimated against parasites with additional mutations in the dhps gene, with 16.5 days (95%CrI:11.2-37.4) protection against parasites with the east-African genotype dhps GEA (437G-540E-A581) and 11.7 days (95%CrI:8.0-21.9) against highly resistant parasites carrying the dhps GEG (437G-540E−581G) genotype. Using these estimates and modelled genotype frequencies we map SP protection across Africa. This approach and our estimated parameters can be directly applied to any setting using local genomic surveillance data to inform decision-making on where to scale-up SP-based chemoprevention or consider alternatives.
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Journal articleYan X, Liu Y, Chen F, et al., 2025,
The efficacy and effectiveness of enterovirus A71 vaccines against hand, foot, and mouth disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis
, PLoS One, Vol: 20, ISSN: 1932-6203Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) is a major cause of severe hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) among children in the Asia-Pacific region. Here we review randomised clinical trial data and post-licensure effectiveness studies of inactivated EV-A71 vaccines following their development and licensure in China since late 2015.We searched PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection, Elsevier ScienceDirect, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang Data on 20 May 2024 with no date restriction in English and Mandarin, using key terms including “EV-A71”, “enterovirus 71”, “hand, foot, and mouth disease”, “HFMD”, “vaccine”, “efficacy”, “effectiveness”, “protection” and “impact”. Phase III randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting vaccine efficacy and observational studies on effectiveness were eligible for inclusion. We excluded studies that evaluated non-laboratory confirmed HFMD associated outcomes, abstracts, reviews, comments, animal studies, cross-sectional studies, and modelling studies. Summary measures of vaccine efficacy and effectiveness were based on random-effects models.After screening, 14 articles were eligible for inclusion, including 6 reporting 4 different phase III RCTs. Estimated efficacy of 2 doses of EV-A71 vaccine against EV-A71 associated HFMD 1 year after vaccination ranged from 90.0% to 97.9%, with an overall estimate for all products of 95.6% (95% Confidence Interval: 92.1, 97.5). Efficacy remained high at 26 months post-vaccination, ranging from 94.7% to 94.8%. The estimated overall effectiveness of 2-dose vaccination against any EV-A71-HFMD across five test-negative case-control studies was 84.3% (95% CI: 75.2, 90.0) among children aged 0–12 years. Effectiveness was higher in older children compared to younger children (85.3% (72.9, 92.1) vs. 79.8% (61.2, 89.5)) and higher against severe compared with non-severe EV-A71-HFMD (
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Journal articleBurger R, Bell-Mandla N, Harper A, et al., 2025,
Does enhanced HIV prevention, diagnosis, and linkage to care reduce hospitalisation in high HIV-burden communities in Zambia and South Africa? findings from the HPTN 071 (PopART) randomised trial
, Plos Global Public Health, Vol: 5The objective of this study is to explore if a community-based HIV combination prevention intervention reduced inpatient hospitalisations in Zambia and South Africa by diagnosing HIV and TB in earlier stages of disease progression, thereby preventing severe disease and new infections. As part of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 071 trial, hospitalisation data from a cohort of 16 968 consenting randomly sampled adults aged 18–44 years were collected between 28 November 2013 and 16 November 2018 across 21 communities in Zambia and South Africa across three study arms. Arm A included annual visits by Community HIV-care Providers (CHiPs) and universal linkage to care for ART initiation for all PLWH (irrespective of CD4 count); arm B included annual CHiPs visits and ART per local guidelines; control arm C received the standard of care provided at government clinics, including HIV testing and ART offered according to local guidelines. For this study, we used a cluster-level two-stage analysis and adjusted for covariates that were unbalanced across intervention arms. Covariates included in the models were the cluster’s baseline HIV prevalence and hospitalisation rate and data on the respondent’s gender, age, educational attainment, and socio-economic status. Out of the pooled sample of 13 964 responses from the three post-baseline surveys, 439 (3.14%) reported hospitalisation in the past 12 months – 234 (1.68%) when excluding hospital admissions for births or injury. Comparing hospitalisations in the intervention and control arm clusters, the estimated adjusted risk ratio was 1.03 [0.64–1.66] for the full sample and 0.82 [0.39–1.74] for PLWH. We find no compelling evidence of impact of the HPTN071 (PopART) community-wide combination HIV prevention intervention on in-patient hospitalisation among a general population sample.
This data is extracted from the Web of Science and reproduced under a licence from Thomson Reuters. You may not copy or re-distribute this data in whole or in part without the written consent of the Science business of Thomson Reuters.
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