Financial stress has been proposed as an economic determinant of depression. However, there is little systematic analysis of different dimensions of financial stress and their association with depression. This paper reports a systematic review of 40 observational studies quantifying the relationship between various measures of financial stress and depression outcomes in adults. Most of the reviewed studies show that financial stress is positively associated with depression. A positive associa...| journals.plos.org
Background Dietary guidelines recommend avoiding foods high in saturated fat. Yet, emerging evidence suggests cardiometabolic benefits of dairy products and dairy fat. Evidence on the role of butter, with high saturated dairy fat content, for total mortality, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes remains unclear. We aimed to systematically review and meta-analyze the association of butter consumption with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes in general populations. ...| journals.plos.org
Social media has created networked communication channels that facilitate interactions and allow information to proliferate within professional academic communities as well as in informal social circumstances. A significant contemporary discussion in the field of science communication is how scientists are using (or might use) social media to communicate their research. This includes the role of social media in facilitating the exchange of knowledge internally within and among scientific comm...| journals.plos.org
The aim of the present study was to investigate whether children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have a deficit in time perception. Twelve ASD children of normal intelligence and twelve typically developing children (TD) - matched on sex, chronological age, and mental age – performed four temporal bisection tasks that were adapted to the population. Two short (0.5 to 1 s and 1.25 to 2.5 s) and two long duration ranges (3.12 to 6.25 s and 7.81 to 16.62 s) were thus examined. The finding...| journals.plos.org
Background We performed the first meta-analysis of clinical studies by investigating the effects of eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy on the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and subjective distress in PTSD patients treated during the past 2 decades. Methods We performed a quantitative meta-analysis on the findings of 26 randomized controlled trials of EMDR therapy for PTSD published between 1991 and 2013, which were identified t...| journals.plos.org
The popularity of breathwork as a therapeutic tool for psychological distress is rapidly expanding. Breathwork practices that increase ventilatory rate or depth, facilitated by music, can evoke subjective experiential states analogous to altered states of consciousness (ASCs) evoked by psychedelic substances. These states include components such as euphoria, bliss, and perceptual differences. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the profound subjective effects of high ventilatio...| journals.plos.org
Background Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy via floatation (floatation-REST) is a behavioral intervention designed to attenuate exteroceptive sensory input to the nervous system. Prior studies in anxious and depressed individuals demonstrated that single sessions of floatation-REST are safe, well-tolerated, and associated with an acute anxiolytic and antidepressant effect that persists for over 48 hours. However, the feasibility of using floatation-REST as a repeated intervention in ...| journals.plos.org
Background Prevention and reduction of excessive use of alcohol represents damages to society in general. In turn, arterial hypertension is the main attributable risk factor premature life lost years and disability. Objective To investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and high blood pressure in participants of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil). Methodology A baseline data of total of 7,655 participants volunteers between 35 and 74 years of age, of...| journals.plos.org
Using data from all those born in a single week in 1958 in Britain we track associations between short pain and chronic pain in mid-life (age 44) and subsequent health, wellbeing and labor market outcomes in later life. We focus on data taken at age 50 in 2008, when the Great Recession hit and then five years later at age 55 in 2013 and again at age 62 in 2021 during the Covid pandemic. We find those suffering both short-term and chronic pain at age 44 continue to report pain and poor general...| journals.plos.org
Forcibly displaced individuals typically encounter daily stressors, which can negatively impact mental health above and beyond direct exposure to war-related violence, trauma and loss. Understanding the perspectives of war affected communities regarding daily stressors can enhance the integration of mental health into local primary care. The aim of the current study was to explore how daily stressors are conceptualized in a post-conflict setting. Data collection was completed with 53 adult pa...| journals.plos.org
Purpose in life predicts both health and longevity suggesting that the ability to find meaning from life’s experiences, especially when confronting life’s challenges, may be a mechanism underlying resilience. Having purpose in life may motivate reframing stressful situations to deal with them more productively, thereby facilitating recovery from stress and trauma. In turn, enhanced ability to recover from negative events may allow a person to achieve or maintain a feeling of greater purpo...| journals.plos.org
Assessing the relationships between emoji use and traits related to communication and interpersonal skills can provide insights into who employs emojis and the psychological mechanisms underlying computer-mediated communications. This online study investigated associations between emoji use frequency, attachment style, and emotional intelligence across genders and relationship types in a Mechanical Turk sample of 320 adults (≥18y; 191 women, 123 men, and 4 transgender individuals). Correlat...| journals.plos.org
Parrots (Aves, Psittaciformes) in captivity have been reported to show dance behaviour in response to music, which may involve complex cognitive processes including imitation, vocal learning and entrainment. Dance behaviour in parrots may be indicative of a positive welfare state raising the possibility of using music as a form of environmental enrichment. In this study we studied dance behaviour in cockatoos (Cacatuidae) through an online video study and a playback experiment. First, we iden...| journals.plos.org
Mortality from collisions with vessels is one of the main human causes of death for large whales. Ship strikes are rarely witnessed and the distribution of strike risk and estimates of mortality remain uncertain at best. We estimated ship strike mortality for blue humpback and fin whales in U.S. West Coast waters using a novel application of a naval encounter model. Mortality estimates from the model were far higher than current minimum estimates derived from stranding records and are closer ...| journals.plos.org
Objective Investigate the association between adverse childhood experiences and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) in a population-based cohort in Trøndelag county, Norway. Materials and methods We linked data from the third (2006–2008) or fourth (2017–2019) survey of the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) and the Medical Birth Registry of Norway for 6679 women. Multiple logistic regression models were used to examine the association between adverse childhood experiences and pre-pregnancy B...| journals.plos.org
The objective of this study was to describe the use of computed tomography (CT) for diagnosis of mechanical gastrointestinal (GIT) obstruction in canines and felines. Medical records of 130 canines and felines that underwent an abdominal CT scan between 2013 and 2015 at a specialty referral hospital for suspected gastrointestinal tract (GIT) obstruction were reviewed. Images were evaluated by a single board-certified radiologist for the presence of foreign material, evidence of obstruction, a...| journals.plos.org
We describe the real-time movements of the last of the marine mega-vertebrate taxa to be satellite tracked – the giant manta ray (or devil fish, Manta birostris), the world's largest ray at over 6 m disc width. Almost nothing is known about manta ray movements and their environmental preferences, making them one of the least understood of the marine mega-vertebrates. Red listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as ‘Vulnerable’ to extinction, manta rays are known ...| journals.plos.org
Gretchen Stevens and colleagues use information from demographic reproductive health surveys to estimate the global, regional, and country levels, patterns, and trends in infertility between 1990 and 2010.| journals.plos.org
Excavations at the Longtan Cave, Hexian, Anhui Province of Eastern China, have yielded several hominin fossils including crania, mandibular fragments, and teeth currently dated to 412±25 ka. While previous studies have focused on the cranial remains, there are no detailed analyses of the dental evidence. In this study, we provide metric and morphological descriptions and comparisons of ten teeth recovered from Hexian, including microcomputed tomography analyses. Our results indicate that the...| journals.plos.org
Free-swimming larvae of tropical corals go through a critical life-phase when they return from the open ocean to select a suitable settlement substrate. During the planktonic phase of their life cycle, the behaviours of small coral larvae (<1 mm) that influence settlement success are difficult to observe in situ and are therefore largely unknown. Here, we show that coral larvae respond to acoustic cues that may facilitate detection of habitat from large distances and from upcurrent of preferr...| journals.plos.org
Theory suggests that personality traits evolved to have costs and benefits, with the effectiveness of a trait dependent on how these costs and benefits relate to the present circumstances. This suggests that traits that are generally viewed as positive can have a ‘dark side’ and those generally viewed as negative can have a ‘bright side’ depending on changes in context. We test this in a sample of 220 UK medical students with respect to associations between the Big 5 personality trait...| journals.plos.org
There are increasing reports of cognitive and psychological declines related to occupational stress in subjects without psychiatric premorbidity or major life trauma. The underlying neurobiology is unknown, and many question the notion that the described disabilities represent a medical condition. Using PET we recently found that persons suffering from chronic occupational stress had limbic reductions in the 5-HT1A receptor binding potential. Here we examine whether chronic work-related stres...| journals.plos.org
Expanding spatial presentation from two-dimensional profile transects to three-dimensional ocean mapping is key for a better understanding of ocean processes. Phytoplankton distributions can be highly patchy and the accurate identification of these patches with the context, variability, and uncertainty of measurements on relevant scales is difficult to achieve. Traditional sampling methods, such as plankton nets, water samplers and in-situ vertical sensors, provide a snapshot and often miss t...| journals.plos.org
Author summary The pig is considered to be a “mixing vessel” for influenza viruses because it can be infected by both human and avian influenza viruses. This mixing of viruses could potentially produce novel recombinant strains that are more adaptable to humans or other mammals. The permissive mechanism that allows pig cells to be infected with avian influenza virus is largely unknown. Here we reveal that the pig cellular protein ANP32A has a unique 106V/156S signature, different from tha...| journals.plos.org
It has been demonstrated that, on their own, both exercise and stimulation from the environment can improve cognitive function and well-being in older adults. The combined effect of exercising in the outdoor environment on psychological function is less well studied. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of an outdoor cycling intervention on cognitive function and mental health and well-being in older adults. A total of 100 older adults took part in the study (aged 50–8...| journals.plos.org
Since the 1960s, East African athletes, mainly from Kenya and Ethiopia, have dominated long-distance running events in both the male and female categories. Further demographic studies have shown that two ethnic groups are overrepresented among elite endurance runners in each of these countries: the Kalenjin, from Kenya, and the Oromo, from Ethiopia, raising the possibility that this dominance results from genetic or/and cultural factors. However, looking at the life history of these athletes ...| journals.plos.org
The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are ...| journals.plos.org
Song lyrics are rich in meaning. In recent years, the lyrical content of popular songs has been used as an index of culture’s shifting norms, affect, and values. One particular, newly uncovered, trend is that lyrics of popular songs have become increasingly simple over time. Why might this be? Here, we test the idea that increasing lyrical simplicity is accompanied by a widening array of novel song choices. We do so by using six decades (1958–2016) of popular music in the United States (N...| journals.plos.org
Despite evidence of their importance to marine ecosystems, at least 32% of all chondrichthyan species are estimated or assessed as threatened with extinction. In addition to the logistical difficulties of effectively conserving wide-ranging marine species, shark conservation is believed to have been hindered in the past by public perceptions of sharks as dangerous to humans. Shark Week is a high-profile, international programming event that has potentially enormous influence on public percept...| journals.plos.org
Background Cold-water immersion (CWI) has gained popularity as a health and wellbeing intervention among the general population. Objective This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the psychological, cognitive, and physiological effects of CWI in healthy adults. Methods Electronic databases were searched for randomized trials involving healthy adults aged ≥ 18 years undergoing acute or long-term CWI exposure via cold shower, ice bath, or plunge with water temperature ≤15...| journals.plos.org
Despite longstanding oyster cooking recommendations, outbreaks associated with cooked oysters still occur. A survey of U.S.-based restaurants was conducted to investigate common cooking practices, including steaming, baking, and roasting. Target restaurants were identified using Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes and surveyed through live phone interviews and online. The questionnaire included open- and closed-ended questions for restaurant staff, including chefs and managers, wit...| journals.plos.org
Author summary Thousands of dengue cases are reported in non-endemic countries each year due to returning travelers having been infected in tropical and subtropical regions. However, the true number of dengue illnesses among travelers is unknown because not all cases seek medical care and an unknown proportion of those who do are not diagnosed or reported to health authorities. Consequently, travelers and their medical providers do not have accurate information on the risk of acquiring dengue...| journals.plos.org
Scholars and policy-makers know a lot about the ways offshore financial centers compete with one another to offer secrecy to elites, but still know too little about how and why elites take up these offerings to conceal their assets and identities offshore. This paper fills the gap in knowledge by examining the distinct patterns for achieving offshore secrecy among elites in 65 countries. We take a cross-national comparative perspective, showing that the patterns are contingent in part on poli...| journals.plos.org
The opportunity to return to medical school within a two-year window gave me the room to think — and breathe. I chose to use this time to pursue a master’s in public health, a degree I had intended to pursue later in my career. During that first semester, I began to engage in research with the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine, a place where I found a deep sense of purpose. During my undergraduate studies, I minored in Theatre, but I had never considered how I could me...| journals.plos.org
People who have experienced trauma, especially adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are at risk of experiencing subsequent emotional and mental health difficulties. South Asian countries have high prevalence rates of CSA and other forms of complex trauma. Despite the requirement for mental health support for trauma survivors in South Asia, their needs are poorly understood, and specific interventions are still in their infancy. We aimed to explore the views of mental health profess...| journals.plos.org
Background Overtreatment is a cause of preventable harm and waste in health care. Little is known about clinician perspectives on the problem. In this study, physicians were surveyed on the prevalence, causes, and implications of overtreatment. Methods 2,106 physicians from an online community composed of doctors from the American Medical Association (AMA) masterfile participated in a survey. The survey inquired about the extent of overutilization, as well as causes, solutions, and implicatio...| journals.plos.org
Global scholarly publishing has been dominated by a small number of publishers for several decades. This paper revisits the data on corporate control of scholarly publishing by analyzing the relative shares of scholarly journals and articles published by the major publishers and the “long tail” of smaller, independent publishers, using Dimensions and Web of Science (WoS). The reduction of expenses for printing and distribution and the availability of open-source journal management tools m...| journals.plos.org
Author summary In this study, we explored how people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may rely more on body-based (proprioceptive) senses than on visual information when interacting with their surroundings. Using a custom videogame, HaptiKart, we designed a fun and engaging driving task to measure this sensory preference. Players drove a virtual car using a steering wheel that could be set to delay either visual or proprioceptive feedback, allowing us to observe how each type of feedback a...| journals.plos.org
Energy production in the United States for domestic use and export is predicted to rise 27% by 2040. We quantify projected energy sprawl (new land required for energy production) in the United States through 2040. Over 200,000 km2 of additional land area will be directly impacted by energy development. When spacing requirements are included, over 800,000 km2 of additional land area will be affected by energy development, an area greater than the size of Texas. This pace of development in the ...| journals.plos.org
Author summary The effects of climate change on human health are becoming more evident, but we often overlook one crucial factor: how extreme weather events influence our behaviors and, in turn, the spread of infectious diseases. In this study, we explore the role of wildfire-induced behavioral changes on the transmission of airborne diseases, focusing on the U.S. West Coast wildfires of September 2020. Our findings show that wildfires led to a dramatic increase in indoor activities, creating...| journals.plos.org
Successful navigation of our complex social world requires the capability to recognize and judge the relative status of others. Hence, social comparison processes are of great importance in our interactions, informing us of our relative standing and in turn potentially motivating our behavior. However, so far few studies have examined in detail how social comparison can influence interpersonal decision-making. One aspect of social decision-making that is of particular importance is cooperativ...| journals.plos.org
Author summary Together, unsafe water, unimproved sanitation, poor hygiene, and dirty environment make it easier for people, especially babies, in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) to catch enteric diseases. Generally, babies can get sick when they drink dirty water, eat contaminated food, do not wash their hands, play in dirty environment, or stay with other sick people. But what is the riskiest behavior for babies as they are growing up in LMICs is unknown. In this study, the authors ...| journals.plos.org
Introduction Although caring for a child with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) can have positive outcomes, parents may be at a greater risk of depression and anxiety, due to a number of associated stressors, such as increased caregiver demands and financial strain. This systematic review updates previous data, exploring the relationship between parenting a child with IDD and parental depression and anxiety. Methods Five electronic databases were searched for eligible English-...| journals.plos.org
Despite the last decade’s development of optogenetic methods for artificially manipulating engrams, and subsequent claims that there is a consensus that memories are stored in ensembles of synaptic connections, it remains unclear to what degree there truly is unanimity within the neuroscientific community about the neurophysiological basis of long-term memory. We surveyed 312 neuroscientists, comprising one cohort of experts on engram research and another of general neuroscientists, to asse...| journals.plos.org
Diatoms are ancestrally photosynthetic microalgae, but the genus Nitzschia has lost photosynthesis to become free-living secondary heterotrophs. This study shows how a single horizontal gene transfer from marine bacteria, followed by substantial gene duplication and neofunctionalization, led to alginate catabolism and access to a new ecological niche involving brown algal polysaccharides.| journals.plos.org
In a Formal Comment, Rees and Wackernagel defend their global Ecological Footprint calculations against criticisms in this issue of PLOS Biology that they are potentially misleading.| journals.plos.org
How can countries balance work incentives and access to welfare without violating the principle that work shall always be strictly preferred to welfare? In a context in which wages stagnate or drop, and benefit levels are reduced due to austerity measures, the welfare versus work paradox arises. This research shows analytically that when both wages and benefits approach the subsistence level, welfare becomes preferable to work, violating the work incentive principle. The policy implication of...| journals.plos.org
Author summary Mobile technology in healthcare has been widely used in Indonesia. SMARThealth (Systematic Medical Appraisal Referral Treatment) is among them, and it has been piloted and implemented in the Malang district of East Java province, Indonesia, since 2016. SMARThealth is a mobile device-based clinical decision support system (CDSS) to help primary healthcare workers improve optimal preventive treatment in primary healthcare. This paper evaluates whether this intervention would redu...| journals.plos.org
Contact investigations are crucial for tuberculosis (TB) control, yet the temporal dynamics of disease progression among exposed contacts remain poorly understood. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 44,106 contacts linked to 6,243 index TB cases diagnosed between 2009 and 2023. During the 15-year follow-up, 454 contacts developed TB disease, with 43.4% being incident cases. Using time-to-event analysis with left truncation to account for varying follow-up times, and mixed effect Cox...| journals.plos.org
The global energy system has a relatively small land footprint at present, comprising just 0.4% of ice-free land. This pales in comparison to agricultural land use– 30–38% of ice-free land–yet future low-carbon energy systems that shift to more extensive technologies could dramatically alter landscapes around the globe. The challenge is more acute given the projected doubling of global energy consumption by 2050 and widespread electrification of transportation and industry. Yet unlike g...| journals.plos.org
Community firearm violence (CFV), including fatal and non-fatal shootings that result from interpersonal violence, disproportionately harms people from marginalized racial groups. News reporting on CFV can further exacerbate these harms. However, examining the effects of harmful news reporting on CFV on individuals, communities, and society is hindered by the lack of a consensus definition of harmful reporting on CFV. In this study, we aimed to define harmful reporting on CFV. We used a modif...| journals.plos.org
Background Diastasis recti abdominis (DRA) is the separation of the rectus abdominis muscles along the linea alba, often occurring during pregnancy due to hormonal and mechanical changes. While DRA usually resolves post-childbirth, some women experience persistent issues. Exercise may help reduce the inter-rectus distance, though more research is needed. Objectives Analyze the immediate and long-term effects of hypopressive and conventional abdominal exercises on inter-rectus distance (IRD) i...| journals.plos.org
Student evaluations of teaching are widely believed to contain gender bias. In this study, we conduct a randomized experiment with the student evaluations of teaching in four classes with large enrollments, two taught by male instructors and two taught by female instructors. In each of the courses, students were randomly assigned to either receive the standard evaluation instrument or the same instrument with language intended to reduce gender bias. Students in the anti-bias language conditio...| journals.plos.org
Communities of practice (COP) are informal (sometimes formal) groupings of professionals with shared interests that form to facilitate the exchange of expertise and shared learning or to function as professional support networks. We analyse a dataset on the size of COPs and show that their distribution has a fractal structure similar to that found in huntergatherer social organisation and the structure of human personal social networks. Small communities up to about 40 in size can be managed ...| journals.plos.org
Urban street trees offer cities critical environmental and social benefits. In New York City (NYC), a decadal census of every street tree is conducted to help understand and manage the urban forest. However, it has previously been impossible to analyze growth of an individual tree because of uncertainty in tree location. This study overcomes this limitation using a three-step alignment process for identifying individual trees with ZIP Codes, address, and species instead of map coordinates. We...| journals.plos.org
Author Summary A breed of the horse typically consists of individuals sharing very similar aesthetic and performance traits. However, a great deal of variation in traits exists between breeds. The range of variation observed among breeds can be illustrated by the size difference between the Miniature horse (0.74 m and 100 kg) and draft horse (1.8 m and 900 kg), or by comparing the optimum racing distance of the Quarter Horse (1/4 mile) to that of the Arabian (100 miles or more). In this study...| journals.plos.org
Variants of the MSTN gene encoding myostatin are associated with muscle hypertrophy phenotypes in a range of mammalian species, most notably cattle, dogs, mice, and humans. Using a sample of registered Thoroughbred horses (n = 148), we have identified a novel MSTN sequence polymorphism that is strongly associated (g.66493737C>T, P = 4.85×10−8) with best race distance among elite racehorses (n = 79). This observation was independently validated (P = 1.91×10−6) in a resampled group of Tho...| journals.plos.org
Background Canine urothelial carcinoma is the most common form of canine bladder cancer. Treatment with chemotherapy has variable response rates leading to most dogs succumbing to their disease within a year. Cannabidiol is an emerging treatment within the field of oncology. In reported in vivo studies, cannabidiol has induced apoptosis, reduced cell migration, and acted as a chemotherapy sensitizer in various human tumor types. The aim of this study was to characterize the effects of cannabi...| journals.plos.org
Commuters who spend long hours on roads are exposed to high levels of traffic related air pollutants (TRAPs). Despite some well-known multiple adverse effects of TRAPs on human health, limited studies have focused on mitigation strategies to reduce these effects. In this study, we measured fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ultrafine particle (UFP) concentrations inside and outside 17 taxis simultaneously while they were driven on roadways. The drivers’ urinary monohydroxylated polycyclic ...| journals.plos.org
The relaxation response (RR) is the counterpart of the stress response. Millennia-old practices evoking the RR include meditation, yoga and repetitive prayer. Although RR elicitation is an effective therapeutic intervention that counteracts the adverse clinical effects of stress in disorders including hypertension, anxiety, insomnia and aging, the underlying molecular mechanisms that explain these clinical benefits remain undetermined. To assess rapid time-dependent (temporal) genomic changes...| journals.plos.org
A combination of cross-sectional serological data from Southern China and mathematical modeling reveals key aspects of the human immune system's response to seasonal influenza infection.| journals.plos.org
As global awareness, science, and policy interventions for plastic escalate, institutions around the world are seeking preventative strategies. Central to this is the need for precise global time series of plastic pollution with which we can assess whether implemented policies are effective, but at present we lack these data. To address this need, we used previously published and new data on floating ocean plastics (n = 11,777 stations) to create a global time-series that estimates the averag...| journals.plos.org
Mounting evidence shows overall insect abundances are in decline globally. Habitat loss, climate change, and pesticides have all been implicated, but their relative effects have never been evaluated in a comprehensive large-scale study. We harmonized 17 years of land use, climate, multiple classes of pesticides, and butterfly survey data across 81 counties in five states in the US Midwest. We find community-wide declines in total butterfly abundance and species richness to be most strongly as...| journals.plos.org
Background Resolving threats to widely distributed marine megafauna requires definition of the geographic distributions of both the threats as well as the population unit(s) of interest. In turn, because individual threats can operate on varying spatial scales, their impacts can affect different segments of a population of the same species. Therefore, integration of multiple tools and techniques — including site-based monitoring, genetic analyses, mark-recapture studies and telemetry — ca...| journals.plos.org
The sexual division of labor among human foraging populations has typically been recognized as involving males as hunters and females as gatherers. Recent archeological research has questioned this paradigm with evidence that females hunted (and went to war) throughout the Homo sapiens lineage, though many of these authors assert the pattern of women hunting may only have occurred in the past. The current project gleans data from across the ethnographic literature to investigate the prevalenc...| journals.plos.org
It is now widely accepted that novel infectious disease can be a leading cause of serious population decline and even outright extinction in some invertebrate and vertebrate groups (e.g., amphibians). In the case of mammals, however, there are still no well-corroborated instances of such diseases having caused or significantly contributed to the complete collapse of species. A case in point is the extinction of the endemic Christmas Island rat (Rattus macleari): although it has been argued th...| journals.plos.org
For millennia, healing and psychoactive plants have been part of the medicinal and ceremonial fabric of elaborate rituals and everyday religious practices throughout Mesoamerica. Despite the essential nature of these ritual practices to the societal framework of past cultures, a clear understanding of the ceremonial life of the ancient Maya remains stubbornly elusive. Here we record the discovery of a special ritual deposit, likely wrapped in a bundle, located beneath the end field of a Late ...| journals.plos.org
Purpose The objectives of this study were to describe the distribution of all runners' performances in the largest marathons worldwide and to determine which environmental parameters have the maximal impact. Methods We analysed the results of six European (Paris, London, Berlin) and American (Boston, Chicago, New York) marathon races from 2001 to 2010 through 1,791,972 participants' performances (all finishers per year and race). Four environmental factors were gathered for each of the 60 rac...| journals.plos.org
High levels of acute and chronic stress are known to impair problem-solving and creativity on a broad range of tasks. Despite this evidence, we know little about protective factors for mitigating the deleterious effects of stress on problem-solving. Building on previous research showing that self-affirmation can buffer stress, we tested whether an experimental manipulation of self-affirmation improves problem-solving performance in chronically stressed participants. Eighty undergraduates indi...| journals.plos.org
Author Summary Neuroscience is held back by the fact that it is hard to evaluate if a conclusion is correct; the complexity of the systems under study and their experimental inaccessability make the assessment of algorithmic and data analytic technqiues challenging at best. We thus argue for testing approaches using known artifacts, where the correct interpretation is known. Here we present a microprocessor platform as one such test case. We find that many approaches in neuroscience, when use...| journals.plos.org
Despite the popularity of New Year’s resolutions, current knowledge about them is limited. We investigated what resolutions people make when they are free to formulate them, whether different resolutions reach differing success rates, and whether it is possible to increase the likelihood of a resolution’s success by administering information and exercises on effective goal setting. Participants (N = 1066) from the general public were randomized into three groups: active control, some supp...| journals.plos.org
Lateralized brain regions subserve functions such as language and visuospatial processing. It has been conjectured that individuals may be left-brain dominant or right-brain dominant based on personality and cognitive style, but neuroimaging data has not provided clear evidence whether such phenotypic differences in the strength of left-dominant or right-dominant networks exist. We evaluated whether strongly lateralized connections covaried within the same individuals. Data were analyzed from...| journals.plos.org
Questions on the timing and the center of the Indo-European language dispersal are central to debates on the formation of the European and Asian linguistic landscapes and are deeply intertwined with questions on the archaeology and population history of these continents. Recent palaeogenomic studies support scenarios in which the core Indo-European languages spread with the expansion of Early Bronze Age Yamnaya herders that originally inhabited the East European steppes. Questions on the Yamn...| journals.plos.org
Gephi is a network visualization software used in various disciplines (social network analysis, biology, genomics…). One of its key features is the ability to display the spatialization process, aiming at transforming the network into a map, and ForceAtlas2 is its default layout algorithm. The latter is developed by the Gephi team as an all-around solution to Gephi users’ typical networks (scale-free, 10 to 10,000 nodes). We present here for the first time its functioning and settings. Fo...| journals.plos.org
Atrophy of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) occurs with aging, resulting in impaired episodic memory. Aerobic fitness is positively correlated with total hippocampal volume, a heavily studied memory-critical region within the MTL. However, research on associations between sedentary behavior and MTL subregion integrity is limited. Here we explore associations between thickness of the MTL and its subregions (namely CA1, CA23DG, fusiform gyrus, subiculum, parahippocampal, perirhinal and entorhinal...| journals.plos.org
Author summary Simulations are ubiquitous throughout statistical genetics in order to generate data with known properties, enabling tests of inference methods and analyses of real world processes in settings where experimental data are challenging to collect. Simulating genetic data for relatives in a pedigree requires the synthesis of chromosomes parents transmit to their children. These chromosomes form as a mosaic of a given parent’s two chromosomes, with the location of switches between...| journals.plos.org
The COVID-19 pandemic stimulated the interest of scientists, decision makers and the general public in short-term mortality fluctuations caused by epidemics and other natural or man-made disasters. To address this interest and provide a basis for further research, in May 2020, the Short-term Mortality Fluctuations data series was launched as a new section of the Human Mortality Database. At present, this unique data resource provides weekly mortality death counts and rates by age and sex for ...| journals.plos.org
Global declines in insects have sparked wide interest among scientists, politicians, and the general public. Loss of insect diversity and abundance is expected to provoke cascading effects on food webs and to jeopardize ecosystem services. Our understanding of the extent and underlying causes of this decline is based on the abundance of single species or taxonomic groups only, rather than changes in insect biomass which is more relevant for ecological functioning. Here, we used a standardized...| journals.plos.org
In humans, naturally acquired microchimerism has been observed in many tissues and organs. Fetal microchimerism, however, has not been investigated in the human brain. Microchimerism of fetal as well as maternal origin has recently been reported in the mouse brain. In this study, we quantified male DNA in the human female brain as a marker for microchimerism of fetal origin (i.e. acquisition of male DNA by a woman while bearing a male fetus). Targeting the Y-chromosome-specific DYS14 gene, we...| journals.plos.org
Publication bias resulting from so-called "p-hacking" is pervasive throughout the life sciences; however, its effects on general conclusions made from the literature appear to be weak.| journals.plos.org
Author summary In this paper we demonstrate that marine-fed farmed salmon is an inefficient way to produce nutritious seafood, and that directing wild-caught ‘feed’ fish towards human consumption could maximise nutrient production while also relieving pressure on fisheries stocks. Substantial growth in aquaculture is required to sustain growing global demand for animal-source foods, with potential for the sector to provide all 177 million tonnes of additional animal-source food needed wor...| journals.plos.org
Assessment of researchers still rarely includes considerations related to trustworthiness, rigor, and transparency. This Essay presents the Hong Kong Principles (HKPs), developed as part of the 6th World Conference on Research Integrity, with a specific focus on the need to drive research improvement by ensuring that researchers are explicitly recognized and rewarded for behavior that leads to trustworthy research.| journals.plos.org
Author summary One in 10 individuals is affected by diabetes, a condition involving abnormal regulation of blood glucose. Currently, diabetes is assessed using single-time or average measurements of blood glucose, without consideration for how blood glucose fluctuates over time. We used continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology to evaluate how blood glucose fluctuates in individuals over time. We found that many individuals considered nondiabetic by standard measures, in fact, experience...| journals.plos.org
Author summary Computers are now essential in all branches of science, but most researchers are never taught the equivalent of basic lab skills for research computing. As a result, data can get lost, analyses can take much longer than necessary, and researchers are limited in how effectively they can work with software and data. Computing workflows need to follow the same practices as lab projects and notebooks, with organized data, documented steps, and the project structured for reproducibi...| journals.plos.org
Background Since 1990, the world’s homicide rate has declined by nearly 20%. While prior research has documented parallel homicide declines across many individual countries, the causes of a shared international homicide decline remain unknown. Drawing on a worldwide process of population ageing, and on research linking age to criminal activity, this study investigates the contribution of global demographic shifts to the international homicide decline. Methods We draw from (1) a High Coverag...| journals.plos.org
Context The treatment for transsexualism is sex reassignment, including hormonal treatment and surgery aimed at making the person's body as congruent with the opposite sex as possible. There is a dearth of long term, follow-up studies after sex reassignment. Objective To estimate mortality, morbidity, and criminal rate after surgical sex reassignment of transsexual persons. Design A population-based matched cohort study. Setting Sweden, 1973-2003. Participants All 324 sex-reassigned persons (...| journals.plos.org
Objective To examine associations between recalled access to gender-affirming hormones (GAH) during adolescence and mental health outcomes among transgender adults in the U.S. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, a cross-sectional non-probability sample of 27,715 transgender adults in the U.S. Using multivariable logistic regression adjusting for potential confounders, we examined associations between access to GAH during early adolescence (age 14–1...| journals.plos.org
Nine recently reported parapsychological experiments appear to support the existence of precognition. We describe three pre-registered independent attempts to exactly replicate one of these experiments, ‘retroactive facilitation of recall’, which examines whether performance on a memory test can be influenced by a post-test exercise. All three replication attempts failed to produce significant effects (combined n = 150; combined p = .83, one-tailed) and thus do not support the existence o...| journals.plos.org
In a meta-analysis, Julianne Holt-Lunstad and colleagues find that individuals' social relationships have as much influence on mortality risk as other well-established risk factors for mortality, such as smoking.| journals.plos.org
Long-term adverse experiences following psychedelic use can persist for weeks, months, or even years, and are relatively unexplored in psychedelic research. Our convergent mixed-method study gained quantitative and qualitative data from 608 participants who reported extended difficulties following psychedelic experiences. Data was gathered on the context of use, the nature and duration of the challenges they experienced (including a written description of these), plus a range of possible risk...| journals.plos.org
Author summary Artificial intelligence (AI) systems hold great promise to improve medical care and health outcomes. As such, it is crucial to ensure that the development of clinical AI is guided by the principles of trust and explainability. Measuring AI medical knowledge in comparison to that of expert human clinicians is a critical first step in evaluating these qualities. To accomplish this, we evaluated the performance of ChatGPT, a language-based AI, on the United States Medical Licensin...| journals.plos.org
Background Estimates of health care costs associated with excess weight are needed to inform the development of cost-effective obesity prevention efforts. However, commonly used cost estimates are not sensitive to changes in weight across the entire body mass index (BMI) distribution as they are often based on discrete BMI categories. Methods We estimated continuous BMI-related health care expenditures using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 2011–2016 for 175,726 respond...| journals.plos.org
Purpose In on-line forums, parents have reported that their children seemed to experience a sudden or rapid onset of gender dysphoria, appearing for the first time during puberty or even after its completion. Parents describe that the onset of gender dysphoria seemed to occur in the context of belonging to a peer group where one, multiple, or even all of the friends have become gender dysphoric and transgender-identified during the same timeframe. Parents also report that their children exhib...| journals.plos.org
Author summary Increasing evidence has been gathered to support the bat origin of SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in the past decade. However, none of the currently known bat SARSr-CoVs is thought to be the direct ancestor of SARS-CoV. Herein, we report the identification of a diverse group of bat SARSr-CoVs in a single cave in Yunnan, China. Importantly, all of the building blocks of SARS-CoV genome, including the highly variable S gene, ORF8 and ORF3, could be found in the genomes of different ...| journals.plos.org
Published research findings are sometimes refuted by subsequent evidence, says Ioannidis, with ensuing confusion and disappointment.| journals.plos.org
