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SCORCH2: A Generalized Heterogeneous Consensus Model for High-Enrichment Interaction-Based Virtual Screening
Get PDFThe discovery of effective therapeutics remains a complex, costly, and time-consuming endeavor, characterized by high failure rates and significant resource investments. A central bottleneck in early-stage drug discovery is identifying suitable hit compounds with moderate affinity for known biological targets. Although advancements occur, current in silico virtual screening methods are subject to limitations, including model overfitting, data bias, and constrained interpretability in their predictive processes. In this study, we present SCORCH2, a machine learning-based framework designed to simultaneously enhance the performance and interpretability of virtual screening by leveraging interaction features. Comparing with its predecessor SCORCH, SCORCH2 exhibits superior predictive accuracy and generalizability across a wide range of biological targets. Importantly, SCORCH2 demonstrates robust hit identification capabilities on previously unseen targets, indicating strong transferability. Furthermore, SCORCH2 obviates the need for meticulous docking pose selection, streamlining the screening process. These advances highlight the potential of SCORCH2 as a valuable tool in accelerating drug discovery campaigns
Silent Voices: Uncovering Women’s Absence in Veterinary Surgery Publications
Get PDFObjectiveTo determine the factors associated with an author being female in Veterinary Surgery journal publications from 2002 to 2023.Study designRetrospective observational study.Sample populationA total of 2881 Veterinary Surgery papers published between 2002 and 2023.MethodsAuthor gender was inferred using the Gender API and verified manually where necessary; only binary categories (male/female) were assigned. Statistical models (frequentist and Bayesian logistic regressions) were used to predict author gender based on publication year, author order (first, second, last), and surgical emphasis.ResultsOverall, 36% of the authors were female, with 43% of first authors, 37% of second authors, and 28% of last authors being women. The proportion of female first authors increased from 29% in 2010 to 60% in 2022, while female last authors ranged from 10% in 2002 to 36% in 2023. The likelihood of an author being female was influenced by the publication year, being the last author, and the subject of orthopaedics.ConclusionCompared with the demographics of the profession, women remain underrepresented in Veterinary Surgery authorships, particularly in senior author positions and orthopaedic papers.Disciplinary significanceThe underrepresentation of female authors highlights persistent gender disparities in veterinary surgery research. Further research is required to understand the factors that influence female authorship, so that institutions and journals can implement targeted initiatives to promote gender equity
Editorial for Special Issue for Journal of Fish Disease
Get PDFThe global aquaculture industry is experiencing rapid growth, with a significant contribution to food security worldwide. A significant challenge to this is the increase of emerging and re-emerging diseases in recent years that result in significant economic losses for various global aquaculture industries. To mitigate the negative impact of these diseases, rapid discovery, characterisation and diagnosis of causative agents and risk factors is crucial. It is also essential to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach to the investigation and control of emerging diseases. This special issue aimed to collect high-quality work focused on the discovery, diagnosis and characterisation of emerging diseases, as well as topical reviews on emerging diseases of farmed aquatic species.The special issue we are presenting here covers a broad spectrum of emerging infectious diseases, including viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic pathogens from diverse geographical locations. The range of host species covered is wide, and this issue includes studies that provide critical insights into pathogen threats affecting crustaceans, finfish and molluscs. This is achieved through 16 peer-reviewed publications, including 10 clinical case studies, six pathogenesis and/or pathogen characterisation studies, one diagnostic method study and one literature review. We provide a brief summary of the topics covered below
Safety of Using Risk Stratification Along With High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin in the Emergency Department: A Secondary Analysis
Get PDFBackground: Implementation of an early rule-out pathway for myocardial infarction using high-sensitivity cardiac troponin to risk stratify patients reduces length of stay and hospital admission. Whether gains are similar in low- and intermediate-risk patients and those discharged were correctly identified as being at lower risk of future cardiovascular events is uncertain. Objectives: This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of risk stratification with high-sensitivity cardiac troponin in patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome stratified as low and intermediate risk. Methods: In this secondary analysis of a stepped-wedge cluster-randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the effectiveness and safety of risk stratification with high-sensitivity cardiac troponin in 31,492 consecutive patients who presented with suspected acute coronary syndrome and identified as low (<5 ng/L) or intermediate (5 ng/L to 99th percentile) risk at presentation. The primary effectiveness outcome was length of hospital stay. The primary safety outcome was subsequent myocardial infarction or cardiac death at 1 year. Results: Of 31,492 patients (59 ± 17 years, 45% women), 17,299 (54.9%) and 14,193 (45.1%) were low and intermediate risk, respectively. Following implementation, length of stay was reduced in low-risk (6.9 ± 3.2 vs 4.7 ± 2.8 hours: difference 2.2; 95% CI: 0.7-3.7 hours) and intermediate-risk (15.8 ± 4.7 vs 11.0 ± 4.9 hours: difference 4.8; 95% CI: 3.8-5.8 hours) patients (P < 0.001 for both). Discharge from the emergency department increased in low-risk (62% [4,962 of 7,941] vs 83% [7,747 of 9,358]; adjusted OR: 3.31; 95% CI: 3.06-3.57) and intermediate-risk (36% [2,445 of 6,759] vs 55% [4,095 of 7,434]; adjusted OR: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.92-2.21) patients. Following implementation, patients discharged were at lower risk of myocardial infarction or cardiac death at 1 year (1.5% [112 of 7,407] vs 1.0% [124 of 11,842]; adjusted HR [aHR]: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.50-0.86), whether stratified as low (0.6% vs 0.3%; aHR: 0.46; 95% CI: 0.26-0.83) or intermediate (3.4% vs 2.4%; aHR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.55-0.99) risk at presentation. Conclusions: Risk stratification with high-sensitivity cardiac troponin reduced length of stay and increased discharge from the emergency department in both low- and intermediate-risk patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome. Patients discharged from the emergency department were at lower risk of subsequent myocardial infarction or cardiac death at 1 year.</p
Viral Memories: A Qualitative Study Protocol for Exploring Gay Men’s Memories and Experiences of AIDS, HIV, and COVID-19 in the UK (ES/X003604/1)
Get PDFThis protocol discusses a qualitative study about gay men’s memories and experiences of HIV/AIDS, and COVID-19. The study aims to understand the various ways in which younger and older gay men drew on their memories of HIV and AIDS to navigate COVID-19 and how, in turn, their experiences of COVID-19 re-shaped their memories of HIV and AIDS. To generate this knowledge, fifty semi-structured online interviews were conducted with gay men aged 23 to 82 years old living in the UK. This protocol details the context for the research, how it was conducted and some key methodological and ethical considerations when researching memory and COVID-19 experience
Changes in metazoan functional diversity across the Cambrian Radiation and the first Phanerozoic mass extinction: the Cambrian Sinsk Event
Get PDFThe Sinsk Event (approx. 513.5 million years ago, Ma) is the first Phanerozoic mass extinction, marking the end of the canonical Cambrian Radiation. We reconstruct taxonomic and functional diversity patterns of skeletal metazoans from the Siberian Platform during the Cambrian Radiation and across the Sinsk Event from approximately 529 Ma to 508 Ma, to investigate the changing occupation of functional space and the evolution of functional traits during the radiation, and the role of these in extinction selectivity at the Sinsk extinction and subsequent recovery. During the radiation, functional richness increased before taxonomic richness as new groups with novel traits emerged and diversified. Taxonomic richness declined sharply at the Sinsk, but thereafter increased rapidly while functional richness continued to decline until approx. 508 Ma, indicating a post-extinction decoupling. While there is limited evidence of extinction selectivity at the Sinsk, certain functional traits are associated with post-extinction recovery from approximately 511 Ma to 508 Ma. Groups with novel functional traits associated with motility, diversified feeding modes and broad water depth tolerances diversified rapidly, while sessile, inshore filtrators and heavily calcified taxa which had been dominant prior to the extinction either failed to recover or became extinct. The Sinsk Event therefore marks a significant transition in marine ecosystem function
Affective and Physiological Responses to Immersive Intangible Cultural Heritage Experiences in Extended Reality
Get PDFAs part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Bridging the Past, Present and Future (INT-ACT) project, we investigate how Extended Reality (XR) technologies can meaningfully engage users with cultural content by monitoring their physiological and affective responses. While immersive XR systems offer new ways of exploring heritage, their impact on users’ internal states remains underexplored. In this study, we present a multimodal experimental setup using EmotiBit, a wearable biosensing platform, to monitor real-time physiological signals during cultural XR interaction. Participants were evaluated across three activities representing varying cognitive and sensory loads: immersive interaction with the INT-ACT XR Demonstrator, composing work emails (a low-stimulation control task), and passive movie watching. Our aim is to quantify how cultural XR experiences influence biosignals such as electrodermal activity and heart rate. The findings reveal distinct physiological patterns across conditions, suggesting that biosignal monitoring can inform the design of adaptive XR environments that are responsive to user states. This work contributes to INT-ACT’s broader objective of creating intelligent, inclusive, and emotionally resonant cultural heritage experiences.<br/
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and barriers to vaccination in South Africa
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic created significant social, economic and health-related challenges. The rapid development of vaccines that could help curb transmission and mortality from the virus was vital. The University of Johannesburg/Human Sciences Research Council (UJ/HSRC) COVID-19 Democracy survey was established as a cross-sectional online and telephone survey designed to provide rapid response data to inform the pandemic response. Between December 2020 and November 2021, the survey fielded questions about vaccine acceptance, hesitancy and structural barriers to vaccination. Drawing from the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) Vaccine Hesitancy Determinants Matrix, this article explores the intersection of contextual and individual reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. We find that young people, particularly those aged 18–24 years, were the most vaccine-hesitant. Also, White adults exhibited more than double the odds of hesitancy of Black African adults, yet were also much more likely to be vaccinated. The article explores this seeming paradox by analysing explanations for vaccine hesitancy as well as considering structural barriers to vaccination. Explanations for vaccine hesitancy mostly related to concerns about side effects, the effectiveness of the vaccine and distrust in the vaccine and/or government. In contrast, structural barriers, such as a lack of information about where to receive a vaccination and vaccination sites being inaccessible, may have deterred those who were broadly favourable about vaccination from accessing one. Overall, our analysis illustrates the importance of understanding health crises as more than medical problems but as fundamentally social problems. It is therefore vital that social science research informs future responses to public health emergencies.</p
Equity in protection:bridging global data gaps for an EBV vaccine-a systematic review and meta-analysis
Get PDFINTRODUCTION: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is linked to multiple malignancies and autoimmune conditions, with different disease burdens globally. Pharmaceutical companies and researchers are placing substantial investment in the development of EBV vaccines. To ensure optimal vaccine roll-out, particularly in resource-limited settings, it is essential to have data on the age at acquisition of EBV. This study aimed to systematically review and meta-analyse seroprevalence by age and country, WHO region and country income level, identify knowledge gaps, and determine an approach to bridge these gaps.METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science were searched on 22 March 2022 for studies that measured EBV seroprevalence by age. An updated search was conducted on 22 October 2022. There were no language restrictions. Papers were assessed for quality using an adapted version of the Downs and Black checklist. Seroprevalence by age was estimated using a fixed-effect (country) or random-effects (WHO region and income) meta-analysis. This review has been registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022349900).RESULTS: Only one country (USA) had enough data for a country meta-analysis. WHO regional analyses revealed the Western Pacific region to have a higher seroprevalence in younger age groups than other WHO regions. Country income level better explained seroprevalence trends per age. Middle-income countries displayed a quicker rise to balance seroprevalence than high-income countries, with a 30% absolute increase in 0- to 4-year-olds in middle-income than in high-income countries (59% [95% CI 28 to 91%, I2=99%] vs 29% [95% CI 16 to 41%, I2=99%]).CONCLUSION: This first meta-analysis producing estimates of EBV seroprevalence by age provides crucial information to guide governments when using a vaccine for EBV. However, data variability and limited consistency of methodologies and EBV seroprevalence measurements hindered comprehensive meta-analyses across all WHO regions and countries. This study provides an interim framework for the extrapolation of seroprevalence using country-specific income levels to aid vaccine roll-out decisions.PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42022349900.</p
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